The Fallen King: The Bellum Sisters 4 (paranormal erotic romance) (16 page)

At the end of the hall stood a heavy
looking wooden door with a rounded metal hatch. She knew who was behind that
even before Aidan opened the door.

“Abbigail! Where is she!” came a
roar.

She’d recognize that voice anywhere.
It made her heart jump and her feet walk faster. She reached the door before
the man Aidan did. He eyed her strangely as if trying to figure her out. Well,
she had news for him; she didn’t trust him either. Maybe this was just the
break she’d been looking for. She’d just have to wait and see. But first, she
had to see him to make sure that he was alive and well. It felt like a driving
need inside her to make sure with her own eyes that he wasn’t injured.

“I’ll kill you all!” His voice
rang down the corridor.

Aidan stopped by the door and
waited until she met his eyes to speak. “Just what is he to you?”

Her throat closed up. What was
he? Friend, not so much. Lover, nope. Enemy, that was closer.

“He-he’s just a friend okay. Let
me see him, please.” She hated to beg but she’d do it if she had to.

Watching her closely, Aidan grabbed
the latch and pulled the door open. Abby all but ran inside. Her stomach
dropped at what she saw.

An even larger cage stood in this
room as if that was its sole purpose. Alrik clung to the metal bars of the
cage. Heavy metal shackles bound his wrists and ankles to a large metal loop on
the wall behind him giving him only so much space to walk. Blood smudged the
metal from where they’d dug into his wrists.

Abby couldn’t hide her reaction,
she ran to him. Her hands closed around his on the bars and for some reason
tears welled in her eyes. “Alrik.”

She closed her eyes to hide her
growing weakness for him and listened to the sound of his heavy breathing.

“What have they done to you?” he
said. Anger, no,
fury
laced his words. He was seething. The look in his
eyes was something she’d never seen before. He was not in control. He had gone
past that point and had snapped. The look made her shiver and sent a bolt of
fear into her belly even though she knew he wouldn’t hurt her.

Abby looked up at his gorgeous
face. Blood covered his lips making them bulge, and his left eye was so swollen
the skin around it had turned a dark purple. “Did they beat you?” She couldn’t
keep the sound of hysteria out of her voice.

A tic pulsed at the line of his
bearded jaw. “I’m fine. What have they done to you?”

“Well, nothing really. Alrik,
they said something about a challenge and I don’t know what they’re talking
about.”

She felt his hands curl tighter
around the bars beneath her hands. His gaze darkened with fury and he pinned
that lethal look at Aidan. “She is mine.”

“That remains to be seen.”

Abby turned sideways so she could
watch them both.

“She’s here with me right now. That
shows you everything you need to know.”

Aidan shrugged. “Shows she has a
kind heart, that is all. The men will appreciate that all the more.”

“Alrik, what’s a challenge?”
What
do I do?
sh
e wanted to say.

Alrik pulled himself into the
bars with a bicep curl then his dark gaze locked on hers. “They will fight over
you. Whoever wins gets to keep you, use you however they want. They will take
your body, Abbigail. These men are savages.”

“Not without your wish, I assure
you,” Aidan added hastily.

Abby’s head started spinning.
“What? Use me?” She knew what he meant but still trying to believe that it was
happening to her was an entirely different thing.

“Yes, Abby. Use you as a man does
a woman. Let me out of here, Aidan, or I swear—”

“You swear what? You’ll break
through the bars? I doubt it. They’ve held stronger men than you.” Aidan
stalked like a predator to the cage. “Let me ask you,
king
, how does it
feel to be on the other side of the bars?”

Alrik roared. Abby barely had
time to move to the side before he lashed through the cage, his arms swiping
hard for Aidan. Aidan ducked easily to the side, a satisfied smile on his lips.
The chains didn’t let him reach far but if Aidan hadn’t moved he would have
caught him.

“It doesn’t feel good, does it?”
taunted Aidan.

Suddenly, Aidan grabbed her arm
and started pulling her away. She fought it, digging her feet in. Spinning back
around she grabbed onto the bars one last time. She met Alrik’s worried gaze.
“What do I do?”

“I will kill them all.”

The way he said it, with such a
dead finality, sent a chill down her spine. He meant it. He would find a way to
get out of there and he would kill every last one of them.

“I don’t want you to kill
anyone.” His gaze flickered with surprise then he stared off beyond her
shoulder at Aidan. “If anyone touches her, I’ll slaughter every one of you.
There will be no mercy.” He didn’t say it in a threatening way but in a casual
‘this is how it’s going to be’ way. That made it scarier.

Aidan didn’t give him a chance to
say anything else; he latched onto her waist and pulled her kicking and
screaming from the room. She screamed loud enough for the whole castle to hear,
but no matter how loud or how hard she kicked, he didn’t let her go. She stared
into Alrik’s eyes as the door slammed shut, blocking him out. She’d never felt
this raw feeling before, like she was being peeled away from something so
necessary to her.

Aidan set her down and she
whirled on him, enraged. Her hand shot out and caught his cheek with a hard
slap. His head jerked to the side. She flinched at the cracking sound and took
a step back as panic engulfed her.

She’d just hit her captor. No way
in her mind could this bode well for her. Aidan’s head slowly turned back to
her. Something hot and earthy filled his eyes, startling her. When he stepped
towards her, she flinched and threw her hands up in front of her face to catch
a blow. But it never came. Something else did.

Her hands were jerked down in a
rough grip, and then her body thrust up against his. His mouth came down a
second later and ravaged hers. She tried to process it, but her mind struggled
to keep up with all that had happened. All she knew was that he was kissing her
like a man dying for his last touch. It was hard and swift and when he pulled away,
they were both panting.

“I will win you at the
challenge.”

It was a promise if she’d ever
heard one.

She shook her head in denial but
he only jerked her back upstairs. She followed him like a zombie, which worked
for her because it gave her a minute to process all that had happened in such a
short span of time.

 After they made it back upstairs,
they forced her to sit at a table with food and drink shoved in front of her.
She ate and drank like a zombie…little bites and sips. She just tuned out all
the demons around her watching her with hungry eyes.

Her mind ran over that kiss and
all she could think was—he didn’t kiss like Alrik did.

Chapter Twelve

After picking at her food, Aidan
and two other big men, one with golden blonde hair cut at his shoulders and
another with dark red hair that fell down to his chest, showed her to her room.
They locked her inside with a resounding click.

While the thought of being locked
inside a strange room scared her, it also gave her some courage to sleep. Just
not a good sleep. She woke throughout the night, her gaze sweeping the room for
strange men only to fall back asleep when she found none. It felt strange to
sleep without Alrik near. Her gut churned with worry over him. Had they beaten
him? How was he? A part of her actually wanted him to break down the bars and
come grab her, just minus the slaughtering part.

When the door unlocked the next
morning, she followed the golden haired demon and the redheaded demon solemnly
downstairs. She felt like she was walking her last steps to the death chamber.
Only, they wouldn’t kill her. No, they wanted to use her. Her hands were slick
with sweat and she wiped them repeatedly down her pants. They led her down a
different hallway this time and into a room big enough to be a ballroom. It
looked like it could hold many long tables but it was devoid of anything--save
many demons standing around the sides of the room. Their gazes were on her
immediately, traveling over her body in a way that made her skin crawl. She
wanted Alrik so badly she felt physically ill with it. Her stomach clenched and
she swore if she but bent over she’d vomit.

Aidan waited at the front of the
room. He looked every bit the commander standing tall, his chin up. His eyes
smoldered at her. The two guards let go of her in front of him then took
positions on either side of the room with the others.

“What’s going on?” she asked. She
had a feeling she knew but she had to hear it.

“Today we will hold a challenge
for the rights of the human, Abbigail,” Aidan announced in a loud, ringing
voice. The demons murmured to each other.

An excited energy floated in the
air. The men wore no shirts. They stretched their arms and bounced on their
feet in anticipation. They actually wanted to do this.

A part of her hoped that maybe
they wouldn’t really want to participate in the events. Maybe they’d realize
how crazy this was or that she wasn’t all that attractive. Maybe.

As a simultaneous roar whooped
from the men, her hopes were quickly dashed.

“Abbigail,” her gaze went to
Aidan. He was speaking to her and no one else. “Today we will fight but not to
the death.” That didn’t relieve her in the least. “The winner will become your
new master.”

She shook her head in denial. “I
won’t do it. I won’t touch any of you.”

Anger flashed in his eyes. “You
must.”

She crossed her arms and took a
step back. “Unless you plan to force me, I won’t take any of you.
Ever
.
And I’ll fight every single moment of it.” She said it with every bit of energy
inside her.

Her words must have registered
because unease flickered in his gaze. “And just what would it take for you to
accept us?”

Her eyebrows rose. He gave her an
option? She thought quickly. Then it hit her. “If you win me will you let me
go? I don’t belong here. I want to go home.” She left out the part about Alrik
kidnapping her. For some reason she didn’t want to say anything that might make
him look bad. Right now, he was the better choice by a long shot.

He slowly shook his head and her
hopes crashed to the floor. He wouldn’t let her go. “I can’t do that,” he said
almost gently, “we need you. More than you could ever know.” Her breath caught.
Maybe if things were different, if she was someone different meeting him under
different circumstances, she could like him. But he wasn’t Alrik and he would
never free her.

“Then let Alrik fight in the
challenge.” The words burst from her mouth before she thought twice about it.

Aidan jerked in surprise, and
then he laughed low and deep. “Never.”

“That’s my choice. Let him have
his chance. Without him, I wouldn’t even be here. Let him have his chance to
win me.”

He ground his jaw, irritation
creasing his forehead. “Why should I do that?”

It hurt to say it. Her body
physically rebelled at the idea. “Because if you do then I’ll willingly let the
winner take me.” Her voice nearly broke saying it. It was a huge promise to
make.

His eyes flared, lips flattened
as he contemplated it.

A demon standing on the side
stepped forward. “What is taking so long? I wish to start this and claim my
prize!”

“Silence!” commanded Aidan.

Other demons started speaking out
until the entire room filled with an aggressive, hostile energy. Aidan eyed his
men, his jaw working hard, and then he looked back down at her.

“I will do this for you under one
condition.”

Her breath caught. “What’s that?”

He didn’t answer, just grabbed
her hand, and pulled her towards a door behind him. To the room he shouted,
“Give us a minute. She needs to be convinced.” That didn’t sound good.

She had a feeling he was lying
but didn’t say anything. The door shut behind them, muting out the bellows of
rage and anger shouted after them. Aidan led her deep into the castle until
they came upon another door. Inside he locked it with a piece of wood barring
the door by two metal rungs.

He turned to her and she balled
her hands into fists. “And what exactly do you want?”

He let out an uneasy laugh. He
reached for her and though she flinched, he grabbed her shoulders. His eyes
bore into hers. She had no choice but to look back at him. “You swear to follow
through with your promise?”

“Yes,” she said though her voice
wavered.

He released her and walked in an
agitated circle, running his hand through his shaggy black hair. “I am not like
the others.”

She’d noticed but didn’t say so.