“Oh, he’s so pretty, so sparkly!” the fae bitches exclaimed as they dragged soapy sponges over my bare skin.
I sat in the massive tub with my legs tucked against my chest, head buried in my knees.
With a whoosh, I breathed in through my nose and out through my mouth.
It didn’t help.
The void consumed me, and I sunk into the swirling abyss of despair. I was back in my own personal hell.
It had been years since I’d been this exposed, this empty and alone. My black heart writhed in my chest.
Six years, to be exact.
That was how long I’d been free of this hell.
At a hundred years old, it felt like I’d lived free of chains for only a blink of an eye. I had tasted freedom and loved it.
But it had all been for nothing.
The sponges dragging across my exposed back might as well have been daggers cutting me open.
I’d worked hard to escape this realm and live. Escape from the mindless beast I’d become—the hollow shell of rage, hatred, and bloodlust.
Just to find myself back in the same prison.
The only things that kept me from sinking so deep into the void were twin sparks of anger that kept me tethered to reality.
Jax and Sadie.
How dare Ascher betray us?
How dare the horned bastard fucking hurt them?
Drugged and weak, I’d woken up to watch Jax’s and Sadie’s limp bodies dragged out of the palace hall. I’d failed them both.
If I could go back in time, I would slit the fucking cat’s throat and beat Ascher until he begged and cried for his life.
Then I would torture him for days. No, years.
I would hang him up by his toes and slowly cut every inch of flesh off his body.
He didn’t deserve mercy.
But Jax and Sadie—I wouldn’t let them break like I had. It would be over my dead, immortal body that the fae took the light from their eyes.
First, I had to survive my personal hell, gird my loins, and stomach the fae’s advances.
If I played along like a good toy, the queen might not hurt Jax and Sadie.
It was my only hope.
The fae queen was too powerful to defeat. She was covered with powerful enchantments that protected her from harm.
It was infuriating.
The only way to kill an elite fae was to rip out their heart and eat it. The stronger the fae, the harder it was to attack them.
Since the queen was the most powerful person in the realm, she was basically un-killable.
All we could do was try to survive her. I’d done it before, so I could do it again.
As the servants bathed me and tittered over my jeweled muscles, I couldn’t help but compare them to Sadie.
They were so fucking giggly it made me want to rip my hair out.
Their voices were too high, their eyes too soft and vapid. I missed Sadie’s deep, raspy voice and blood-red eyes that were sharp and cold.
She gave as hard as she took. She didn’t fucking giggle and touch men against their will.
Even drowning in a maelstrom of pain, I couldn’t help but dream of her cranberry wine.
Only a day ago, her juices had dripped down my face, and she’d been completely at my mercy.
Fuck.
I slammed my fists against my forehead.
My hands were cuffed in front of me and bound by ten-foot enchanted chains nailed into the wall. The restraints were a joke.
If I really wanted to, I could easily snap the fae servants’ necks.
The queen knew this and had done it on purpose. She probably wanted me to lose my shit so she could broadcast the violence to the realm.
Every move the bitch made was calculated for maximum shock value. Calculated to increase her power and her control.
I wanted to play into her hand and kill the woman touching me.
However, instead of murdering every servant in the room, I imagined Jax’s calm strength and Sadie’s fiery passion. They wouldn’t approve if I mindlessly slaughtered fae women.
With a deep breath, I tried to pretend I wasn’t half-drowning in the dark void where my soul should have been—an abyss that held an endless capacity for violence.
A servant brushed her hand near my groin, and I shoved my shoulder into her side.
She fell over with an overdramatic shriek and cried like a baby. I’d barely touched her. Sadie would have punched me in the throat.
I slammed my cuffed fists into my forehead and growled with frustration. If they hurt her, I didn’t know what I would do.
I was worried about Jax, but he was a fucking mammoth of a man who was over a century old. He could take care of himself.
In contrast, Sadie was young and inexperienced. She was only twenty years old, for sun god’s sake. She needed our protection.
She was also so short and petite that a stiff fucking wind could blow her over. The more I thought about her stature, the more agitated I became.
I needed to figure out where she was.
A part of me was shocked by my own thoughts. Somehow, I’d done the unthinkable: I was obsessed with a woman.
When Sadie had been pinned against the wall and surrendered beneath me, something had shifted inside of me. She might be an annoying little terror, but she was my terror.
No one else was going to fucking taste cranberry wine.
Ever.
Rage built inside my chest, so fast and explosive that I bellowed into the room. Servants screamed and ran.
The thought of someone else touching Sadie, some fucking fae, was too much for my psyche to take. I pushed closer to the void.
A servant’s voice quivered as she pointed at the bed and said, “The queen wants you on the bed now. We’re going to start.”
I stood up slowly, but I didn’t look at her. I didn’t talk to women, especially not fae women.
Sadie was the only woman I talked to. She didn’t count.
As I sloshed water out of the tub, the servant skittered back in terror, but her eyes clouded with lust as she stared down at my cock, at the jewels embedded in it.
Fae coveted pretty, shiny things, and I’d never met anyone else with jewels embedded in their skin.
I sauntered across the room like I was unbothered by her stare, like it didn’t disgust me.
Lounging on the bed, I glared at the purple crystal levitating in the middle of the room. It was pointed directly at me, enchanted to broadcast my every move across the realm.
The fuckers.
I was back in the opulent room they had trapped me in before. The room where they’d forced me to have sex with the powerful men and women who’d paid to sample the exotic snake shifter with the jeweled cock.
Once again, I was lying on red velvet sheets and a black comforter. They hadn’t redecorated in the last six years.
It was like they’d preserved it on purpose, like they’d been waiting for me to be back.
I breathed deeply and rested my arms casually behind my head. I’d survived this once before, so I could survive it again.
All I had to do was put on a little performance. Then I could find Sadie and Jax.
Maybe I would hold whoever the fae sent in as a hostage? Maybe I would play the good little toy and wait until my captors let their guard down? Maybe I would attack.
All I had to do was stay calm and survive.
I breathed deeply, shoved the void down, ignored the bile that crept up my throat, and pretended my stomach didn’t burn with pain.
There was a commotion in the hall.
A new fae cunt on her way to sample the exotic Cobra. I hated the bitch, and I hadn’t even met her.
The door opened.
For a second, my eyes flickered to snake eyes and the golden sunlit room transformed into a shadowy space. Servants gave off bright-blue heat signatures as they hurried into the hall.
A small figure with a bright-red heat signature stood in the doorway. The figure gave off a ruby temperature I’d only seen on freshly spilled blood.
Intrigued, I shifted my eyes back.
For a second, time stopped. Sadie stood in the doorway.
Naked.
Her gorgeous body stole my breath. She was delicate and stunning. Long white hair hung in a silky sheet down to her butt, and her golden skin sparkled in the sunshine.
Then I saw them.
Awful marks covered her torso—a brutal patchwork of stark white scars.
The type of wounds that only years of repeated abuse could create.
The type of wounds that could only mark the prepubescent flesh of an immortal ABO.
Since Sadie was an alpha, that meant some dead fucker had brutally beaten her as a child.
Every time I’d taunted her for wearing a sweatshirt while running or called her a prude for hiding to change flashed through my mind like a horror film.
The void splintered.
It took all my willpower not to launch myself off the bed and scream into her face until she told me who hurt her.
I also wanted to fall to my knees and beg for her forgiveness.
My anger won.
I imagined the fucktard that had marred her golden skin so brutally. They wouldn’t die; oh fuck no, they would bleed for all eternity.
I would ensure it.
“Go to the bed,” a fae guard barked as he walked through the door and shoved Sadie forward.
He dared to touch her.
He dared to run his flesh across her golden skin and mix his scent with that of cranberry wine.
In a blur, I leaped off the bed and grabbed his hands, my long chains clinking behind me.
After seeing the abuse Sadie had suffered, I was more void than man. More animal than person.
If the queen wanted violence, she would fucking get it.
I grabbed the guard’s arm with my cuffed hands, twisted my body around, and popped his arm out of the socket.
As he screamed, I wrapped the chain around his neck and pulled with all my might.
Guards stood at the door, watching me as the fucker choked to death beneath me.
No one moved to help. The levitating crystal circled around us and broadcasted my every move.
The entire fae realm was watching me choke the man to death. They were probably salivating at the violence.
Since he was a lowly guard and only the elite fae could harness the elements, he was no match for my alpha strength.
Sadie raised her eyebrow as I slammed the guard into the floor and stomped on his neck.
There was a loud crack as I crushed his windpipe.
“Was that necessary?” she asked dryly. Her cherry nipples were on display, her hands on her tiny waist, and the apex of her thighs was bare.
We both stood there naked.
A dark thought filtered through my blood-lusting brain: there was no clothing in the way of me taking her.
The guard’s blood was splattered across my pale skin. Like blood across fresh snow.
At that moment, I was more beast than man.
My muscles strained with the urge to pounce on Sadie, to throw her over my shoulder and ravage her.
But I forced myself to saunter slowly toward her.
My much larger body dwarfed her petite frame. I leaned forward and whispered into her ear, “He touched what was mine. No one else is allowed to smell like cranberries. Only me.”
Sadie shivered with her pupils blown out, and the intoxicating scent of cranberry wine wrapped around me.
I groaned as she licked her ridiculously plush lip and stared up at me.
“On the bed!” a guard yelled from the hall, but the coward didn’t set foot in the room.
Sadie slowly walked forward, showing off her ridiculously cute heart-shaped butt, and more fucking scars.
My skin itched with lust as my heart contorted with rage.
I’d never been so turned on and so angry at the same time. My thick cock bobbed against my abs as I walked forward, and I wished it would just settle down.
I wanted to own her, possess her, protect her. I wanted to brand her name across my black heart, carve her name into my flesh so she wouldn’t feel alone in her scars.
Everyone would know I’d claimed her as mine, that her vengeance was mine to dole out.
I breathed deeply and tried to calm my throbbing erection.
She was naked and covered in scars, manhandled by guards, and I was aroused by her.
I was a piece of shit.
Like a fucking little kitten, she gently sat on the edge of the bed, but her ruby eyes were sharp, her jaw set with determination. She was nobody’s victim.
Sadie asked, “So what now? I just wanted to say that even though you’re super hot and, sure, I kind of want to…do you, what happened in the closet was a mistake. It was a moment of weakness that won’t happen again.”
Her voice was low and raspy, and my cock jolted at the sound. It was almost so distracting that I didn’t hear what she said.
Almost.
I stepped forward slowly, and the levitating stone flashed in my peripheral vision.
From experience, I knew the stone was broadcasting our every move to millions of fae across the realm, and I’d forgotten about its presence.
Fuck, everyone could see her naked body.
It was mine, not theirs.
As quickly as I could, I grabbed a blanket off the ground and wrapped Sadie in it. It was hard to maneuver with my hands chained, but there was no fucking way I was letting the entire realm see her.
Her little golden face and red-streaked white hair peeked out from the top of the thick blankets, and she looked adorable. Like a harmless bean that needed protection.
I smirked at her. “So, Kitten, you want to do me?”
Her forehead wrinkled as she frowned. “Oh my sun god, Princess was a bad enough name. Don’t start calling me Kitten. Also, no, I said it was a mistake. Are you deaf or just dumb?”
I smirked at her; she was so cute when she got angry.
A little cat with claws. Hell, her alpha bark was so weak I had to swallow down a laugh every time she used it.
If I hadn’t seen her shifted form, a giant saber-toothed tiger with massive fangs, I never would have believed she was actually an alpha.
I leaned forward and whispered softly in her ear because I didn’t want the entire realm hearing our conversation.
My warm breath tickled her ear, and she shivered beneath me. “Kitten, the only mistake was me not fucking you in the closet like I should have. I said you were mine, and I meant it.”
She opened her mouth to argue, and I moved my head so our faces were aligned. I snaked my tongue inside her plush lips.
I put my bound hands over her head, trapped her in the cage of my arms, and slowly consumed her.
Her tongue sparred with mine, and she arched closer to me. She tasted like sweet cranberry wine, and I wanted to get drunk on the taste for the rest of my miserable life.
The room grew thick with the scent of my frost mixing with her sweetness.
My erection strained and my gut twisted with the need to take her and make her mine, to etch her name across my heart in icy letters.
She moaned and arched beneath me.
Her delicate nipples strained through the blanket and rubbed against my bare torso. She mewled as I deepened the kiss, giving her everything I had.
It wasn’t a kiss; it was a promise.
I pulled my arms back, and her high golden cheekbones flushed a delicate pink, her ruby eyes were hooded with desire, and her red highlights framed her stunning features.
Her lush lips were slightly parted, pupils blown out with arousal.
She said with a deep voice that was even raspier than usual, “Still doesn’t mean shit.”
I groaned aloud; my dick leaped at her sinful voice.
My fucking kitten was killing me.
Everything about her challenged me. She made me want to toss her around until she submitted to my dominance, until she surrendered beneath me.
“But it’s okay. I can do this.” Sadie nodded and breathed deeply like she was talking about going for a run or learning a fighting maneuver.
Not like she was being forced to have sex with a male in front of the entire fae realm.
Even after her scars had been bared for all to see, even after the guard had touched her naked flesh, she was worried about me.
Something inside me broke.
I growled at her, “Remember, Kitten, you belong to me and only me. Anyone touches you, they die. Anyone looks at you, they die. Understood?”
Her ruby eyes sparked with fire. “Um, hard no. I belong to myself, and I’m an alpha, even though you keep forgetting. Just because I let you put a finger in my ass, that does not somehow make you my owner—”
I knocked her out with a crack across the face.
My stomach twisted in horror as she slumped back, even though I’d held back and hit her as gently as possible.
I pulled the blanket up so it covered her unconscious body.
She was wrong.
It wasn’t okay.
I wasn’t taking her fucking virginity in front of the entire fae realm.
Her body belonged to me and me alone, no matter what she said or thought.
She would realize eventually.
I stood guard over her prone form and spoke loudly to the queen through the enchanted stone, “If you don’t release me, Sadie, and Jax right now, I will reveal to the entire realm why you have to wrap this diamond collar around my neck. I’ll reveal the secret of my shifter ability.”
It was the one calling card I had, and I wasn’t going to waste it until I had to.
For some reason, when the fae queen had found out about it last time, she had panicked and sworn me to secrecy.
As a stipulation of me not revealing it to anyone, she’d released me from the realm, from my chains.
It was the only reason I’d found freedom six years ago.
At the time, I had agreed with the queen to keep it a secret because I’d just wanted to get away. It had been a tool to be used for another day.
This was the day.
When she’d sent Sadie through the door, all bets were off.
There was no way in fuck I was playing her game if she was going to put Sadie in harm’s way.
Suddenly, the fae queen appeared in the doorway in a flurry of spiderwebs and silk. Her dark eyes glowed pure black with rage.
She grabbed the enchanted stone that was levitating in the middle of the room into her fist. Her flames burned the stone to ash and it crumbled through her hands.
I said to her, “If you don’t fucking release me, Sadie, and Jax right now, I will tell the realm the first chance I get. Put me anywhere near a stone and the secret’s out.”
At the end of the day, I was profit to her.
Elite fae women paid to fuck me, and my celebrity status brought more gold and riches into her hands. If she couldn’t put me in front of a camera, then I was of no use to her.
Instead of screaming with frustration like I expected, the queen smiled. “Oh, Cobra, there is so much more to your celebrity than just sex. Don’t think I don’t have other plans for you.”
She had to be lying.
I was the fucking sex icon of the entire fae realm. What else was my purpose if it wasn’t to be chained to a bed?
I said nothing back, just stared and let her see the depth of my hatred—the depth of the void within my soul.
If she weren’t so powerful, I would have tried to wrap my chains around her neck and rip her heart out with my hands.
I would love to eat it.
My mouth watered at the thought of tasting her heart.
But her flames would stop me before I got close, and I couldn’t act until Sadie was safe.
The queen kept smiling, and I fantasized about smashing her head until her brain gore splattered everywhere. The imagery calmed me.
She taunted, “I was going to go easy on you. Let you stay in the palace, all comfortable and pampered, but now your fate is sealed.”
Then the queen turned and walked out the door.
“Assistant Laerke!” the queen yelled down the hall, and a young girl sprinted to her in a rush. The queen ordered, “Sign the alphas up for the Fae Games. It appears Cobra wants to compete.”
My legs shook, and I ran my bound hands across Sadie’s silky hair. Her breathing was even, and she looked almost relaxed, wrapped up in the blanket.
I wanted to howl with rage.
The Fae Games were a violent, bloodthirsty showdown that made the human gladiator Colosseum look like a kids’ playground.
When the guards came and reached for Sadie’s prone body, I lost my shit.
With all my strength, I battered them with my fists and knees.
Guards streamed into the room in a never-ending rush and overwhelmed me. They slammed my flesh with batons that glowed with the queen’s blue flames.
My last thought before I passed out—when I woke up, I would kill every guard that had touched my kitten.
I would bathe in their blood.
