Slaves of the Night

Chapter 10 - You're Mine Now

Chapter 10: You're Mine Now

  He had to be lying. Bluffing. Anything. There was just no way that Ian had the power in him to break the bond between me and Tristan. But if I was so sure of being able to call his bluff, why was I practically shaking in fear? Now, it could be because he was only mere inches from having his face close up on mine, but it could also be because somewhere, deep down, I knew that he was telling the truth. It was just the glint in his eyes that made me gulp down my anxiety; he knew he had me trapped and loved watching me squirm.

  “Yeah… right,” I tried to scoff sarcastically, but it came out raspy. My throat was suddenly so dry and I could feel my pulse point throb through the mark that Tristan had given me, a warning sign. Right now, that was the only thing tying me and him no matter what happened. I was almost positive that he could sense my utter distress through the link, but had no way to prove it. He could be going on his merry way through the woods, hunting for the man that was coincidentally right in front of me--knowing nothing.

  Ian cocked his head to the side, silver irises boring into my eyes. I refused to back down, if this ended up being a ploy I didn’t want to be the one to cave. He has no control over me. I repeated my mantra over and over, hoping that it would be true. “You think I’m lying? Well, we’ll see if you still think so when I’m done with you.”

  Next thing I knew he hauled me up from my sitting position so I was pinned standing against the wall. A course of adrenaline kicked through me again and the courage helped me lash out at him, attempting a backhand to his face. But he saw the movement before it could come into contact with his face and snatched my hand from midair by the wrist before slamming it against the wall along with my other arm. With my arms being immobilized, I hardly noticed him using his lower body weight to press my legs back too, leaving me totally helpless.

  I barely caught a glance of his face again--his eyes morphed into an animalistic black filled with hunger and canines extended enough to harm—before he dove in for my neck. There was a second of hesitation on his part, his warm breath basking on my neck that sent shivers of fear down my spine. He isn’t going to do what I think he is going to do… I felt his teeth sink into the skin on the opposite side that Tristan’s mark was, the sudden jolt causing me to let out a scream. Whatever physical pain Wes or Jay had caused me in the past twenty-four hours was nothing in comparison to the psychological torture that was flashing through my mind. Even my wolf was writhing in pain; this wasn’t supposed to happen, she-wolves weren’t meant to have two mates marking them. I couldn’t believe it was even me when my scream turned bloodcurdling, my mind was already far away as I watched the strings that held me and Tristan together be snipped in half. Flashes of pictures came to my mind of Tristan suddenly dropping to the ground as he cried out in the same agony I was going through. If there had been no notice of anything being wrong with me, he now knew that everything was terribly destroyed. As much pain as I was in, I hated seeing him suffering so. I wanted to shut my eyes towards everything but it had to be part of the transition; to watch my other half slowly dissolve from my subconscious.

  With one action Ian was replacing himself as my mate and erasing Tristan’s presence from my very soul. He was tearing it apart, piece by bloody piece, as he deepened the bite with an inhuman growl emanating from deep within his chest. I could now understand why Jay had turned away when Ian had stalked towards me; this had to look horrible from any aspect. It wasn’t beautiful or by instinct, like a claiming that was supposed to happen between two people meant for one another. It wasn’t even natural.

  While it felt like an hour of torture, it had probably only lasted a few seconds before Ian released me to crumble back on the ground. Tears were streaming down my face as I cried at the loss of Tristan. I had lost the connection to the man I was in love with and his image was replaced by the demon who filled my every nightmare. There was no longer the tightly strained connection that had me going mad. Instead, it was an incredibly short leash because I was tied to the person in front of me.