Chapter 6

Evelyn POV

Groaning, I sit up, my hand going to my head as I feel a migraine coming on. Man, I had the strangest dream. I rub my eyes and look around my room. Only it isn’t my room. The startling reality of my dream comes back to me, and I realise it wasn’t a dream. 

“Bout time you woke up. You have been asleep for hours,” says a voice behind me. I spin around on the bed and come face to face with black inhuman eyes watching me. Panic grips me as I throw myself off the bed, my heart pounding against my ribs. The man gets up walking around the bed towards me, and the door opens making my eyes dart to it. In walks the other man from the alleyway. 

“Stay away from me,” I tell them with my hands out, trying to find an escape. My neck was searing with pain when I turn my head to look for a window. My hand goes to my neck, and I feel blood staining my fingers. The man with hypnotic green eyes leans against the doorframe, watching, and I suddenly feel trapped and claustrophobic. I back up only to come in contact with a dresser, the objects on top rattle and something falls off. 

“I am Thaddeus, that is Ryland, and we mean you no harm,” says the man leaning on the door.

“You bit me,” I said, looking at the man with black eyes. His chest was bare, and I couldn’t stop my eyes from wandering down his chest to his abs and V-line as it escapes into the waistband of his pants. The man clears his throat and I shake my head, snapping myself out of the weird daze that came over me. 

“You done checking me out?” he asks, raising an eyebrow at me. I feel my face heat as a blush spreads across my cheeks.

“I wasn’t” I stutter, and he moves toward me. Panic seizes me, and I run toward the door in the room's corner before throwing it open and running through it. Cursing when I realise it is a wardrobe and not a bathroom with a window to escape from. 

I hear a knock on the door before I hear the man’s amused voice on the other side of the door. “Knock, knock” he says, and I feel panic grip me. Looking around the walk-in, I find nothing useful to aid in my escape. Looking up, I see the metal bar with clothes hanging on it, and yank it, pulling it from its braces. The clothes sliding off and hitting the floor with a soft thud. Backing up, I face the door.

He knocks again, and my heart skips a beat as I watch the door handle twist. When it opens, I swing the bar, aiming for his head, but hit his shoulder. He grips the bar, yanking me towards him, and I bring my knee up, hitting him between the legs. He groans, clutching his now aching balls, and I grab the pole and dart past him only for him to catch my ankle. I fall face first onto the carpet with a soft thud, knocking the air from my lungs. The other man watching amused from the door, which angers me as I roll on my back. 

The man’s grip on my ankle tightens as he drags me toward him, and I raise my other foot kicking him in the chest. He reaches out, snaring my other foot in his vice like grip and holding it to the floor before shoving my legs apart and pressing his body between my thighs. “Keep fighting, I love it when they struggle,” he says, and I feel his erection pressing into me. Lifting my head, I headbutt him, instantly regretting it as my head throbs, and I realise I hurt myself more than him. His lip is bleeding while I feel like I just head-butted a brick wall.

“She is a feisty little one,” he mutters, wiping his lip. I struggle against him. I see Orion walk in, pushing past the man standing at the door watching the scene in front of him unfold.

“What are you doing? Get off her,” he says, shoving his shoulder. 

“Well, fucking help then. Where have you been anyway?” the man asks Orion. The man hops off me, and I scramble to sit up when Orion grabs my face. I feel fog slip over me, and I try to shake it off. 

“Don’t be scared, we won’t hurt you,” he says as I feel a wave of ease rush over me, all fear leaving me as I look at his dazzling eyes, hypnotised by his words. He lets go of my face and I lean back, his face searching mine.

“This is Ryland, and he is Thaddeus. They won’t hurt you, Evelyn,” he says pointing between both men. Thaddeus moves closer, sitting on the end of the bed I woke up on. Ryland stands up, staring down at me. 

“Why am I here? And you bit me.”

“I didn’t bite you, I marked you. Well, I suppose they are actually the same thing,” he says in his husky voice, making me shiver. He smirks before holding his hand out to me to help me up, but I ignore it. Getting up myself, I step away from him. 

“Marked me?” I say, trying to process his words. I had heard the term before. Everyone knew about shifters after the world turned to shit, dark creatures revealing themselves for the first time. Making the world realise exactly what was lurking in the shadows. The stories people told around campfires suddenly becoming reality. 

“Yes, you belong to us now,” he says, and I shake my head. 

“I want to go home. Take me home, Orion,” I tell Orion and he looks up at me sadly. 

“You won’t be going home, Evelyn, you belong with us now.”

“No, I belong at home,” I tell him, walking past both of them only for Thaddeus to get up from the bed and block my exit. I felt something strange wash over me, and I fought the urge to shiver as dread consumed me. Something was seriously off about him. Even with Orion saying I shouldn’t fear them, something about Thaddeus had me on edge. The negative energy coming off him in waves makes me want to run, my blood turning ice cold in my veins as he looked down at me. He was tall and very broad. I only came up to the centre of his chest. There was something really bad about him, something evil, dark, and twisted. 

He reached his hand up, his hand cupping my cheek as and his thumb brushing my lips. I felt a shiver run up my spine and sparks rush over my skin. It was unsettling, and I didn’t know if I wanted to cringe or lean into his hand. 

“You’re not leaving. I can’t let you go now,” he says making me look up at him. His eyes watch me with a hunger I had never seen before, a cross between wanting to rip me apart and feast on my blood, or something all-consuming. Either one, I didn’t like the idea of. I go to move around him when his hand moves to my arm, gripping it tightly, and fear rushes through me at the tightness of his grip. 

“I said you’re not leaving. It would be in your best interest not to provoke me,” he said, his tone emotionless and cold as I try to walk out of the room. 

“Thaddeus?” Orion snaps, making me look at him. I find both Ryland and Orion looking at Thaddeus with worried expressions on their faces. My eyes move to his, and I gasp at what I see. His eyes are completely black, like staring into the eyes of a demon. Black veins ripple under his eyes and down his cheeks. The air leaves my lungs and my throat, restricting when I notice the fangs protruding from his top and bottom lips. My entire body trembles in fear as he looks down at me, and I take a step back. My stomach turns upside down, and the thought of throwing up becomes a real possibility as I feel fear knot my stomach and goosebumps raise on my skin. 

Fear makes me step back away from him. He steps closer like a predator when suddenly the lights flicker and my pulse rises.

“Thaddeus, get a grip of yourself,” Ryland’s voice rings out in the darkness. 

“You’re him, aren’t you?” I whisper, just realising I wasn’t just in the presence of shifters but the dark ones. The men responsible for destroying the world. Destroying lives. 

He chuckles and I feel my hair stand on end. “And who is that?” His voice is coldly calm. 

“The dark king” I stutter, something in me snapping me out of my fear. As adrenaline runs through me, I run, taking off out the door. Looking for an exit, a way out of this maze of a place. I see a door and run for it, my legs hitting the tiled floor in panic. Just as I reach for the handle, I find myself spun around and pinned against the door. Thaddeus’s hand wraps around my throat as he presses himself extremely close. His entire body pressed against mine as his head drops to my neck and he inhales deeply, running his nose from my shoulder to my jaw.

“The things I want to do to you. The things I will do to you,” he says with a groan. Tears brim in my eyes as they start burning. Orion and Ryland I notice behind him walking toward us. 

“Orion,” I gasp. 

Both of them step on either side of him. And I watch as he reacts to their touch and his eyes go to his shoulder where Ryland’s hand rests. I feel a hand press between our bodies, and I feel Orion grab Thaddeus’s crotch and Thaddeus presses himself against me and into his hand. “Focus on me Thaddeus, you don’t want to hurt her,” Orion whispers to him before pressing his chest into Thaddeus’s back. 

Thaddeus leans back into him as his hand slips from my throat to my chest. 

Knowing if I move he may just kill me, I freeze as his hand cups my breast through my shirt, squeezing and palming it.

“I want her,” he growls, but it almost sounds like a purr leaving his lips. 

“And you will have her, but you need to let her go,” Orion tells him. I shiver at his words, and Thaddeus’s eyes dart to mine like bottomless pits. I can’t tear my eyes from his as they swallow me whole.

“She isn’t going anywhere, Thaddeus. Focus on me,” Orion tells him.

“She is trying to leave me.” He groans as I feel Orion’s hand between us rubbing him harder, and I can feel his enormous length against my stomach. Ryland’s hand runs over his chest, and Thaddeus moans at their touch. I can’t help the arousal at watching them touch him. 

“You’re not leaving, are you, Evelyn?”

 My eyes snap to Ryland at his words, and I can see he is trying to warn me to agree with him. “No, I will stay,” I gasp out, my heart thumping in my chest erratically at his warning. Thaddeus groans before he moves closer, his lips crashing against mine hungrily as he devours my lips, forcing his tongue into my mouth. I freeze, letting him have the control he wants. Fighting the urge to shove him off and away from me. 

His kiss is demanding, and his hand snakes into my hair as he tangles his fingers and yanks my head back. His lips moving down my jaw to my neck, and I look to Orion helplessly as Thaddeus assaults my skin with his lips. Ryland tugs his face away from me, kissing him hard with the same sort of hunger Thaddeus has. Thaddeus lets me go and steps away, all but attacking him as Ryland pulls him away from me. Orion tugs me to him, and I follow him. Anything to get away from that beast of a man.