Fated Desire: A Paranormal Romance Novel (The Twisted Destiny Saga Book 1) (14 page)

CHAPTER 26

Cora stood on top of a snow-covered mountain. She glanced around. There were many others and they stretched for miles in the distance. The sky was blanketed in the darkness of the night. A crescent moon rose in the sky, offering the only illumination: a sliver of weak light. She looked down at herself to find that she was wearing a flowing, white gown. A wedding dress? She felt something on her head and touched it. A tiara.

“My bride,” a voice whispered in the wind.

And then he stood before her. The source of the voice. Luca.

“And what a ravishing sight she is,” another voice spoke.

Luca smiled at her as Michael suddenly appeared beside him.

“Get out. You shouldn’t be able to breach my dreams,” Cora said. Since she and Ryan had bonded, she’d been able to block Luca and keep him out.

“Your pain has left you weaker than normal,” Michael explained. “Making this little visit possible.”

“Pain? How do you know about that?”

“We made it happen. As you know, Luca is able to affect you and touch your magic. With my power and his access we were able to trigger your power…unnaturally…hence your agony. If you’d let it out in the first place, this wouldn’t be possible. So, I thank you for your ignorance of what you truly are, my dear.”

“Why? What do you want?”

“Only what was promised, my princess,” Luca said, approaching her, his eyes dark with desire.

She held up her hands. “Stop. Remember what happened the last time you tried to do this.”

“Ah, yes. Don’t worry, you won’t be doing that today.”

Her eyes narrowed in fury. “I can promise you that I will do far worse this time, if you touch me.”

Luca laughed. “You won’t want to.”

“What?” she snapped.

“Not after I compel you.”

“You cannot compel me.”

“I can when you are weak. And Michael is here to ensure that you remain in just enough agony in reality to keep you that way here.”

“It won’t work.”

“That’s why we’re here: to test this little theory of ours,” Michael told her. “And we’ll know soon enough. If Luca is able to make you beg him, we’ll know it works.”

A rush of terror gripped her. What if they’re right? “No, stay back!” she yelled at Luca as he continued his approach. She thrust out her palm. But to her shock, nothing happened. “What? What’s happening?” she murmured to herself.

“I am blocking you, my dear,” Michael told her.

Cora shook her head vehemently as she told Luca, “No, I will stop you.”

He laughed. “You can’t even stop me from doing this,” he said as he snapped his fingers. Instantly, she felt a sudden chill. She looked down at herself and saw that she was no longer wearing a wedding dress. Instead she stood only in a tiny, black robe that barely covered her ass. She shivered and pulled the robe tight across her chest to conceal her exposed cleavage.

“Mmm…much better. I never did go in for the whole purity thing. And feel free to resist me for as long as you can—it just makes me want to fuck you harder.”

“I am Ryan’s wife. He will kill you, if you touch me.”

“Yes, wolves are extremely territorial. This will anger him greatly. But it will hurt him more. And that’s exactly what he deserves.”

“Because of what his father did all those years ago?”

“Because of the shame that it caused me!”

“Let it go, Luca. He has.”

“Has he? He’s declared war on me. Do you really think that it has nothing to do with you? We kept you from him for years. Oh, trust me, he hasn’t let anything go.”

Before she could respond, his hands gripped her arms painfully and he jerked her towards him. She closed her eyes and turned her head away to avoid his gaze.

“Let me tell you a little secret. I can compel you without looking at you. I am no ordinary vampire. I am the Vampire Prince. All I need is close proximity and my voice.”

She shuddered against him and tried to push him off her, but her strength was next to none, thanks to Michael’s interference. He was blocking her with great success.

“Now…” Luca began in a velvety smooth tone, “…stop struggling.”

She seized her struggles instantly at the sound of his words. She couldn’t stop herself from doing so. Shit, it was working!

“Good girl. Now open your eyes and look at me.”

Her eyes snapped open and met his gaze. She saw the triumphant smirk on his face.

“Respond to me like you mean it,” he ordered, just before his lips crashed against hers.

And she did respond, kissing him back as insistently as he kissed her. She felt his tongue demanding access and she opened her mouth, allowing him inside. He tasted her wildly, his tongue massaging hers with ruthless determination. Behind the powerful haze of his compulsion, she was screaming out in her head, willing him to stop, to release her. But she couldn’t summon her words to the surface. They were being held back by him, along with her free will.

He pulled back and she gasped, trying to catch her breath.

“Delicious,” he said, licking his lips.

His hands slipped inside her robe and he summoned his claws. She writhed against him as he raked them over her breasts and down her stomach, drawing blood and making her scream in agony. And then his tongue was on her, licking the wounds, tasting her blood. He turned to Michael and said, “Such powerful blood. I can see why you’ve coveted her power for so long.”

Michael nodded and smiled. “Enjoy her for now, my prince. When I’m done with her there won’t be a drop of blood left to spill.”

Luca turned back to her and rubbed his thumb over her slit. She wasn’t wet at all.

“You’re not ready for me, princess. This will hurt a lot then,” he said, before thrusting a finger inside her. He ignored her screams and held her against him as he started to pump his finger in and out of her pussy, despite its obvious resistance. “You will take it,” he demanded. “Beg me for it. Beg me to finger-fuck you until you’re raw.”

“Please…fuck me…hurt me,” she struggled to get out.

“There is some resistance now,” Luca called over his shoulder to Michael. The words should have come easily from her.

“Something’s…interfering…on the outside. I am not sure what. Hurry it along, Luca. Take her!”

“Sorry, princess. We’re gonna have to skip the foreplay,” Luca said, reaching for his belt.

But, before he could get any further, her hand shot out and gripped his neck. She hauled him off the floor and squeezed hard, making him gag. His eyes widened in shock as he looked at her. She was dressed now, in her own clothes, her signature biker attire. And there was fury in her eyes. She felt Michael rush her and she shot out her palm, holding him back with her silver magic.

“I will kill you here and in the real world,” she said, seething.

An explosion of white light shot through the dark night inside the dream. All three of them looked up at the sky to see a rip in the fabric of the dream. Something was trying to force itself through. Two shimmering, ivory gates.

“The gates to the White Realm!” Michael exclaimed.

“Get…the…location,” Luca struggled to rasp against Cora’s tight grip around his neck.

“Already working on it.”

“No!” Cora screamed.

But then the dream suddenly disappeared.

Cora woke up suddenly. It took her a moment to realize that she was screaming. She glanced around frantically.

She was in some sort of forest.

And she was in Ryan’s arms.

A white-haired woman, wearing a black velvety dress that flowed down to the floor was speaking to her. Her eyes seemed gentle, reassuring, even. It took her a while to regain her equilibrium and get her bearings.

“Center yourself. Breathe,” the woman was saying.

“Cora! Cora!” Ryan called.

She stopped struggling and looked up at him. “I’m okay. I’m good,” she said. “Put me down.”

He did as she asked. “Is the pain gone, my love?”

She nodded. “Yeah. I feel fine. Angry. But fine.”

“Angry?”

“Luca and Michael were in my dream. Luca compelled me to….”

Ryan grasped her arms and pulled her to him gently. “Compelled you to do what?”

She looked away in distress as she said, “To let him take me.”

Ryan’s eyes flashed with fury. “He tried to rape you?” he thundered, releasing her and thrusting his fist into a trunk of a nearby tree. The force of his punch took out a good chunk of it. He roared with fury, the sound of his voice vibrating the very ground beneath their feet.

“Ryan,” the strange woman called to him.

“I’d calm down, if I were you, before you shift, brother. The White Realm won’t allow a wolf passage, even if you are fucking the King’s daughter,” Luca’s voice came suddenly.

He was standing a few feet away, flanked by an army of more than twenty vampires, along with two of Michael’s wolves.

“I will
kill
you!” Ryan thundered. “You dare to touch my wife? I’ll rip your undead heart out of your fucking chest!”

Luca smiled at Ryan’s pained reaction. “Incredibly tight, isn’t she? Especially when her body is resisting. It didn’t bother me, though. I quite enjoyed her screaming in agony, while I finger-fucked her into submission.”

Ryan roared and lunged forward. But Cora’s hand on his arm stopped him.

“Please, Ryan. There are too many. It’s what he wants,” she told him.

“He hurt you,” he said, resisting her attempt to pull him back.

“There will be another time. Please, baby. Please.”

Ryan kept his furious glared fixed on Luca.

Please, baby. Step back. We can’t take them all. And the wolves are here. I don’t want any of us to suffer that pain from their poison again. I am angry as well. It was me who went through it. And I need you right now, so please stay here with me.

Ryan’s gaze left Luca and he turned to her, having heard her thoughts. His gaze softened and she could see the pain in his eyes, pain for her and what she’d had to endure at Luca’s hands. He stepped back and wrapped his arm around her protectively.

Enraged that Ryan had calmed down, Luca signaled his army to attack.

“Stop!” the mysterious woman bellowed.

She clapped her hands and a shimmering wall appeared between them and Luca’s army. A magical barrier.

Luca snarled. “You cannot hold it against so many of us for so long. You are out of practice, witch. It’s a shame the princess’s magic is so unstable, or you could have pushed us back.” He took a step back and called out, “Michael! Some assistance here!”

A gust of cold wind ripped through the forest and Michael appeared in a flash of vampire speed beside Luca. He smiled as he took in the scene in front of him.

“Shaye, it’s been a couple of lifetimes.”

Shaye? That’s her name.

Michael went on, “Say, didn’t you and the wolf have a thing once?”

Shaye caught Cora’s eye and looked away awkwardly.
Oh, so she’s Ryan’s ex-girlfriend, the one he went to for help?
“Stop it, Michael!” Cora ordered, feeling bad for the awkward situation that Shaye was in, even though she was just trying to help her and Ryan. “No one cares.”

Michael turned his attention to Ryan. “Planning to stay on your leash, wolf? Or, would you rather let loose?”

As Ryan emitted a low growl at Michael, a sharp pain shot through Cora’s belly. She grabbed at herself and Ryan eyed her out of the corner of his eye.

What’s wrong, my love? Are you hurt?

No. Just an ache. Probably just hungry. It’s been a while.

I need to get us out of here.

Where is ‘here’?

We’re standing at the gates to the White Realm.

What?

But Luca’s voice interrupted their telepathic conversation. “Shaye, you can’t hold that barrier
and
conjure the gates. It’s one or the other.”

Suddenly, Cora collapsed on the grass, gripping her stomach.

Ryan dropped to his knees beside her. “What’s wrong? What is it, my love?” he asked, frantically.

“
‘My love’
? How sickenly sweet of you, Ry,” Luca commented, derisively.

Ryan didn’t pay him any mind. Instead, his full attention was on her. She could see the anxiety and worry in his eyes. He was frantic that she was hurting.

He stroked her hair gently and whispered, “Talk to me, Cora.”

“I’m okay. It’s…it’s gone now,” she said, trying to get to her feet.

Ryan pulled her to her feet with ease and held her against him protectively. He eyed Shaye in question, hoping she might know what was wrong with his wife.

She gazed at Cora and her eyes widened in sudden realization.

“What? What is it?” Ryan asked.

“Do you know what’s wrong with me?” Cora pressed her.