TWENTY-SIX
Caspian
Metal bit into my wrists and ankles, the iron burning marks into my skin. It wasn’t as painful as it would have been if I’d been a full-blooded fae, but it affected me. Shan was chained up in a similar fashion, except his chains were made of darkness, crafted by the fallen angel. They prevented him from calling on anything more than the tiniest hint of light, not that there was much light to call upon here.
The air smelled different the second I’d stumbled through that portal and been restrained on the other side.
This wasn’t Earth, not anymore. We’d been moved into the demon realm, which made Freya’s chances of finding and freeing us significantly lower.
Lust gnawed at me as soon as the adrenaline of the fight wore off, my cock hard in my pants. The men who had manhandled me into this cell had been marginally tempting, which was a concern.
I’d killed at least five people in the lead up to getting captured, their deaths stoking the fire. The resulting lust was hitting me hard and fast.
Shan could tell, both through our bond and because of my scent. It was heightened, setting off a reaction in him, too. Despite us being bound in the same cell, we were kept so far apart we couldn’t touch. Fuck, neither of us could even move our hands far enough to touch our cocks to take the edge off.
If I’d been able to, I would have.
With that many kills… I didn’t want to know what would happen if I went feral. I latched onto every hint of arousal I could grab, even if it left a sour taste in my mouth.
“Shan,” I said, glancing at the bars keeping us in this cell. “Are you sure you can’t…”
I trailed off as he strained his arms again, barely getting close enough to graze his bulge. That tiny hint of arousal felt like the beginning of a feast until it didn’t go any further. Then I was left wanting. “I can’t, love. I’m sorry. We’ll figure it out.”
Tears welled in my eyes. I tried to bring my hands to my cock too, but any movement made me release a hiss of pain. These shackles fuckingburned.
How would we figure it out?
We were locked up, and I had mere hours before I devolved and became a monster. I would be grateful for my inability to reach my mate, then. If I could reach him, I might kill him. The thought horrified me. I tried to focus on any surrounding arousal, ignoring the inevitability of my descent into madness, but was grateful for the distraction when Grey appeared on the other side of the bars.
Shan grit his teeth and glared, but waited for Kylan’s right-hand man to speak.
He didn’t.
All he did was stare into the cell where we sat on the cold, damp floor. Other scents swirled around us, some heavy with fear. We weren’t the only ones in this dungeon recently, which was intriguing because Kylan wasn’t known to keep prisoners. Then again, I was sure sometimes short-term ones could be beneficial to him.
Like us.
There was maybe one additional prisoner in this area, but the rest had been removed from here, likely after very short stays.
After a while, Grey lifted a clipboard I hadn’t realized was hanging by his side, making a couple notes with a quill pen. I’d forgotten about how archaic Zemterra was said to be. That was probably why these cells were so horrendous. They couldn’t power wash the damn things. Although, would they if they could? Maybe not. Sitting in a bath of scents steeped in fear was another level of torture.
“Are you going to stare at us all fucking night?” Shan said after too many tense seconds had passed.
My body was stiff from the effort of being on high alert, watching Grey. Would he do anything? He could attack at any time, and we would be helpless to move out of the path of anything he threw at us.
It might even be a welcome relief at this point.
The pain would distract me from the gnawing lust. My eyes were no doubt black, which thankfully wasn’t giving away my condition — incubus eyes could go dark from fury, too. Grey probably assumed that. Soon, I wouldn’t be able to hide the monster inside. When the lust turned to bloodlust, when I lost myself to it and began straining against the bonds, not caring about the injury to my wrists, they would know.
There had to be a way to stop it from happening.
I didn’t want them to be able to use my nature against me.
“I’ve got better things to do,” Grey said coolly. “I’m only trying to determine how confident you are she’s going to come save you.”
Having confirmation we were bait filled me with rage, my hands clenching into fists where they were bound by my side. My blood cooled, then boiled, the anger coursing through me unnaturally strong.
Shutting my eyes, I tried to breathe through it, avoiding the desire to submit to the beast inside me. Shan reached through our bond, trying to comfort me without words. He and Grey were probably locked in a staring match, Shan refusing to give up any details on whether our mate would come for us.
