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22
River breaks the water’s surface with a strangling gasp.
A hot burning sensation spreads along the bridge of her nose and head, as she had mistakenly inhaled a lungful of water once they plunged into the freezing water. The impact had stolen her breath, and she reflexively released Hadrius.
River coughs violently while her arms flail about, reaching for any sort of anchor and flat ground. There is none. Dark water rolls over her face and the roaring waterfall begins to dim as the black serpentine river slowly meanders further from the foaming base.
She struggles to swim, but does not know how, and resorts to maintaining a rather pitiful doggy paddle that still periodically submerges her beneath the icy waters.
Something hard wraps around her waist from behind and she gasps again, reflexively swallowing a bellyful of water. The arm pulls her back against a chest as they break the water’s surface again, this time more steadily and she’s he
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The Beast's Slave 23
Never in his lifetime did Hadrius think he would ever stand before his Alpha, Luna and council members with a sickly human in his arms.The council hall is a large dome-shaped building with rows of seated members that form a half-circle, and at the centre lies a raised platform.Before him sit six judges and between the judges lies the Alpha and his pregnant Luna, whose gazes linger on him, not once lowering to the human.On numerous occasions, Hadrius had participated in the judging council, usually overhearing martial cases and those that required the death penalty as a deciding factor.Not once did he presume himself to be a Lycan that would be summoned before them; like a specimen, he stands beneath their scrutinizing, prodding gazes that regard him with an air of speculation. Some noses wrinkle in blatant revulsion at the sight of the mortal, and their saline stench of adventure.Despite his significantly old age, the Alpha looks no older than
The Beast's Slave 24
Thump.Thump.Thump.The periodic pounding against the bed’s headboard is what stirs River from her sickly state of slumber. With a struggle, she carefully peels her fever laden eyes open and blinks up at the unfamiliar darkened ceiling. Consciousness ebbs into her body at an unhurried state - she feels the softness beneath her, a light sheet cast over her clothed torso, and a warm sodden cloth placed on her forehead.Thump.Thump.Thump.Her eyes sweep sideways, and she stretches a hand out, feeling the cold empty spaces all around. The bed is by far the largest she had ever been on, seemingly endless and could fit six people quite comfortably. The thumping does not stop, and her cracked lips tug downwards at the corner in mild vexation at being disrupted.Her body feels weak as she begins to rise, feet hovering tentatively over the carpeted floor. It sinks with a soft sigh, and she groans in turn, rising to her feet and
The Beast's Slave 25
River falls back on the bed with a startled huff of breath.She swings her fist, but Hadrius’ is faster - his hand clamps down on her wrist with vicious ease and bears it over her head. Obsidian eyes dancing mirthfully throughout her hasty yet futile fight, he catches her other hand and pins it above her head, then stretches her struggling torso high.“Tsk tsk,” Hadrius clicks his tongue languidly, conscious of her trembling, rage-filled body beneath his. He sinks into her hips with an indulgent sigh, the length of his flaming cock flat on her lower abdomen. “Naughty mate.”Hadrius watches as his human’s face twists into a snarl, a rather cute vicious one. The bridge of her nose crinkles, upper lip rolling back as she dares to bare her teeth at him. “You’re not putting that infected stick in me.”“Oh,but I will.”For emphasis, he shifts his hips against her own, grinding his co
The Beast's Slave 26
River is in agony.The fever had broken during the night, yet as her sickness abated, the burning sensation along her neck increased tenfold. She is unable to sleep throughout the night, lying stiffly on her back, staring fixed at the ceiling.Her jaw aches terribly. Hadrius had been firm and insistent on her marking him despite possessing blunt, mundane teeth. Unlike his deadly canines, she could barely pierce his skin — and her irritation only grew as he instructed her on how to properly bite him. The lecture unnerved her for it seemed to border cannibalism.She bit. She bit again. And when that failed, she growled and chewed on his shoulder, trying to rip at his skin like it was a piece of dried jerky.In the end, she had successfully marked him - if marking could be considered a brutal blue-purple colour with vague dental indents.By the time dawn arrived, River was fatigued and cranky.“The Alpha and council will be awaiting
The Beast's Slave 27
River stares after Hadrius.He walks ahead of her, each step faster than the last, harder - more deliberate. There is anger in the manner in which he carries himself, it rolls off of him in scalding waves that scorch River’s skin as she trails after him.She keeps a healthy distance, should the warlord decide to turn and end her life out of pure rage.Alpha Novus had dismissed them after the speculation and talk, but Hadrius did not leave. Instead, the Lycan stood unmoving, a hardness that edged at the corners of his bottomless eyes that watched Novus. River stared between the two men, sensing a power trip as both were unwilling to step down.Novus exhaled dismissively; “She is not your mate.”“She is,” Hadrius stated, something sharp in his voice.It irked River how nonchalant Novus was of his beta’s relationship. Then again, she had just learned that he had a mate and child who died.River glances
The Beast's Slave 28
They did not speak to each other for three days.River spends them purposefully avoiding the warlord after her rather dogged outburst, and in hindsight, she does feel shame for hitting the woman as the pillow was intended for the smug man.Avoiding him was not difficult as his schedule was demanding of the majority of his time.Being the Alpha’s Beta, Hadrius spends the majority of daylight in the palace; at meetings discussing politics; plotting the expansion of boundaries, financial terms, war, the next annual raid; and most importantly, the hellhounds that seemed to have sprung out of nowhere. Now threatening their borders.Though he is busy, Hadrius had made sure she was just as active - having assigned her four tutors which she met at 8 AM for Latin, calculus, geography and history - all of which she loathed with a burning passion but could not decline.Perhaps this was his silent way of punishing her for disrupting his moment.It
The Beast's Slave 29
He leads her back into the palace but down another labyrinth of hallways and doors until they finally halt before a circular wooden barrier. Hadrius pushes it open. Each footfall is as quiet as a shadow. The hallway opens to a bath chamber, walls of different fluorescent mosaic colours beneath glass tiles. River’s steps falter as she takes in the spectacle before her. The chamber curves like a cave, natural luminescent lights glowing from the walls and ceilings, illuminating the thin mist of steam that rises from the large bath to drift around her ankles.Her skin grows damp.She inhales mint eucalyptus and spots a nude female servant dropping two dollops of hardened oils into the water.“Enter the bath, I will join you in a moment.” Hadrius turns away, leaving her alone in the room. She stands by awkwardly, uncertain as to why he would want her in the bath, but the waters steamed invitingly and it wouldn’t hurt to take a quick dip.
The Beast's Slave 30
When Hadrius wakes, it is not the soft pleasant fluttering of drooping eyelids, neither is it a peaceful rousing that pulls from slumber but rather, a violent upright startled, his fingertips aching, hot as embers from a bonfire, with the visibility of wolf claws that had begun to drop during the nightmare. His bare torso glows with perspiration, large chest heaving upwards, darkened hair sleek against his temples and nape of his neck.He blinks into the semi-light room, slants of golden bands slipping from partially drawn curtains. For a moment, he is disoriented and slightly frustrated, heart still thundering from the nightmare of hellhounds of the hooded cloak that reaches for him. But then something shifts beside him- his eyes cut sideways as something brushes his calf, an incoherent murmur from the girl as she rolls over, clearly undisturbed by his inhuman ways.Hadrius watches her a moment, the soft curve of her cheek, clustered freckles behind her eye shaded by
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