Chapter Four: Daerius

Mate? What the hell is that supposed to mean Madox? I growl at my wolf.

What do you think it means Daerius? That girl is your mate and you are about to torture her! He snarls at me.

Why would I be mates with a creature other than a wolf, especially one like a witch or oh god, what if she is a dragon? I say, disgust seeping into my words.

Well then you are just going to have to get over it. The longer you avoid her, the stronger the bond is going to grow until you won’t be able to even look at her without wanting to tear her clothes off. I can practically hear him smirking.

I cut off the link, knowing that my wolf is probably right, hell, he’s always right.

Find out what kind of creature she is, I tell my Beta who stands in front of the girl. She is quite beautiful actually, with long red hair and dark green eyes. Her skin is tan, and she has curves in all the right places.

I snap out of my trance when I hear my Beta growl. Luckily the glass isn’t soundproof so I can still hear everything.

“Pure adrenaline, which is going to make this hurt a lot worse,” my Beta says waving over one of the guards. I’m guessing she has been ignoring his questions.

She looks at the syringe in the guard’s hand and panic flashes across her face.

Beta Mykael takes the syringe from the guard and stands in front of the girl.

"Last chance, what are you?” He asks, his voice sounding almost frustrated.

“You’re the genius you figure it out,” She snorts. He grits his teeth and moves to put the syringe in her neck.

She suddenly kicks her boot across his face and has her legs wrapped around his neck within seconds. He drops the syringe and it shatters against the stone floor. The guards move to get her legs off my Beta but stop when she glares warningly.

“Don’t even think about it. Take one step closer and your Beta is dead,” she growls, tightening her legs around his neck. I can’t help but be impressed.

See, I told you, you won’t be able to hate her for long, Madox says, his voice smug.

I can hear my Beta gasping for air, his fingers clawing at her legs. I see his claws extend from his hand and slice across the girl’s thighs.

She cries out once before pulling her legs tighter and clenching her jaw against the pain. My Beta’s body suddenly slacks, but she continues to hold onto him. A growl builds in my throat at the incompetence of my Beta and the strength of this girl.

Less than a minute later she drops his body and kicks it away. My guards immediately reach him and lift him over the shoulders.

Take him to the infirmary, I order them.

“Can someone please tell me where the hell I am?” The girl suddenly growls looking through the glass.

My jaw is clenched, and I am breathing rather heavily. I am pissed that she knocked out my Beta, but then also that my Beta hurt my mate.

I leave the room and walk to the other door.

I open it and come to stand just a few feet from the girl. Madox is threatening to take over and it takes nearly everything I have to hold him back.

“It would make this so much simpler if you would just tell us what you are? Not many creatures can put on a light show like that, so we have already determined you are either a witch or a dragon,” I growl, and the smell of fear fills the air.

“There is no such thing as dragons,” She scoffs, rolling her eyes.

“So, you are a witch?” I ask, raising an eyebrow. I would much rather her be a witch than a dragon, I sigh internally.

“Sure, I’m a witch, there, happy?” She mutters, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

In less than a second, I have her pinned to the wall with my hand wrapped around her throat. She gasps for air, and her legs thrash around.

Her feet hit me several times, but I can barely feel it through my rage. This girl is going to be dead soon if she doesn’t start cooperating! I think with a snarl.

I suddenly feel a blistering heat in the skin of my hand and let go of her neck with a pained growl. My hand is red, and blisters are starting to form where her neck burned me.

“Bitch,” I hiss, glaring at her.

“That’s not very nice,” she mutters obnoxiously. This is completely useless! I growl.

I roll my eyes and sigh in defeat. I stalk out of the room, muttering curse words under my breath and rubbing my hand that now feels as if it is on fire.

I head straight for the infirmary and one of my pack doctors takes a look at it. What concerns me is that it should have healed by now, but it actually looks worse.

“Only magic would have caused a burn this bad,” the doctor says.

“Any chance you would know what kind of magic?”

“A dragon is generally the best with fire, but a witch can easily recreate such magic. Especially if she was a specialist in the element,” he tells me, and I growl in frustration. This is getting nowhere!

Try to piss her off, she will easily make a mistake if she is angry enough, she could accidentally reveal what she is, Madox suggests.

Why didn’t you mention this before? I ask him.

You were being an asshole, I wanted you to suffer not knowing what creature our mate is, he snickers, and I cut him off.

The doctor puts a salve on my hand and wraps it before I leave. I return to the room and see the girl is extremely pale and panic is written across her face.

I smirk and walk inside. Her eyes immediately snap towards me and her eyes widen in fear.

“Are you ready to tell me what you are?” I ask, my voice low and deadly.

She barely shakes her head and I snarl. I mind link some of my guards who come in quickly. I jerk my head towards the girl and two guards pin her up against the wall.

Another guard retrieves the torture tools from the table beside the wall and moves towards her. I give him a nod and he takes a knife, dragging it slowly and deeply across the girl’s stomach.

She gasps in pain, tears welling up in her eyes. I see her bite down hard and clench her fists but doesn’t cry out. Madox snarls at the pain of our mate but I push him to the back of my mind.

I nod again and he takes the knife and stabs it through her arm. She screams but it is suddenly cut off. I look at her and see that she is keeping her mouth shut tightly.

This is really starting to piss me off, I snarl.

I snatch the knife from the guard and hold it up against the girl’s cheek. She flinches as the blade presses onto her skin.

“What are you?” I growl angrily. She glares into my eyes and I see a flash of defiance making me grit my teeth.

I slice the blade across her face, making a red line from the corner of her lip to her ear. She closes her eyes and breathes deeply but doesn’t even utter a single cry.

I yell in frustration and slam my fist into her stomach. She gasps and her face contorts in pain. Madox is screaming at me but I ignore him.

Suddenly the girl’s eyes turn a flaming red and she snarls. The chains holding her up are snapped like breadsticks.

She punches one guard and he falls to the ground completely unconscious. My eyes widen in shock and I start to back up, almost scared at this girl’s sudden change.

After snapping the other guards’ necks, her flaming eyes look right at me.

“You need to let me go,” she demands. Her voice is different, it is deeper and extremely powerful.

“And why should I do that?” I reply, my voice hoarse and breathless. My wolf is going insane, I want to mark her right now, but I don’t know why.

“Because a lot of people are going to die if you keep me here,” she says, and I laugh. Suddenly a growl echoes through the room and I look at her.

“Now why would that happen?”

“Dragons don’t like being locked up.”