𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐑𝐄𝐃𝐄𝐌𝐏𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 ( 𝐌𝐱𝐌 ) [ DARK ROMANCE ]

Chapter 35 | PHASE THREE: Terror

I frown, taken aback by that. How the hell did Dax know about my date with Dylan?

"How did you-"

"Come now," Dax tsks. "I know your every move, my love and it pains me to know that you've stopped so low to accept a wolf as your mate, especially one as sloppy as that one."

That pissed me off. . . To hear him speak of my blessing so carelessly, he had the utmost audacity to do so.

Pushing off the tree that I'd plastered myself to, I stalk forward through the fog, ducking and weaving around fallen logs, low hanging branches and the many, many tall trees that lined this portion of the forest until I stop at the edge of this branch of stream from the mighty Silver River.

The fog was less dense here as I narrow my eyes at a shadowy figure across the stream, amongst the trees, green eyes glowing back at me through the thickened fog.

I turn my lip up, fists clenching at my sides at what I knew to be him. "Fuck you, Dax, don't you speak ill of my blessing. I do not belong to you and I am not your property."

"I do own you, Raiden," Dax whispers through the brushing wind. "My brandings say so," That's when I watch as he finally emerges from the fog, his very being standing just a stream away.

His brandings?

My eyes travel down to the markings on my chest and shoulders. . . The ones that glowed the same green hue that his eyes had, the same green hue that his dark magic had.

"Do you remember the night that I gave my brandings to you?" Dax questions, his voice causing the urge to breakdown right here at his feet.

I remember everything. . . everything that this man had inflicted upon me, especially that night that he'd forced these brandings on me.

And as if he sensed my hesitation, Dax whistles. The sound forcing me to stumble back from such a gut crippling panic. . . the sound that I've heard for four years of my life that meant eyes on him or punishment would follow.

And my body betrays me, it obeys him in an instant, my eyes locking back onto his and when they do, he sighs happily.

"My brandings that lay across your skin Raiden, don't just lay atop your flesh," Dax explains, his head tilting to the side as he studies me. "They are soul deep, the same dark magic that flows through my veins, flows through yours. We are connected for eternity, our souls permanently tied."

I blink, hating that I had cut that Warlock Maxx off when he was so interested in my brandings. Now his interest in them made much more sense.

"I do own you, pretty kitten," Dax smiles softly and I scoff at the name that he'd so easily uttered. "I own your mind, your soul, your body,"

I flinch when he says that, the many years of our time flashing before my eyes, forces a growl out of me. One so deep rooted, so strong, so powerful that it scares even me. . . I was a fucking cub. . . a cub just coming into his maturity, into his solitude, into his own only for it all to be taken from me in this very section of the forest.

Dax took everything from me. . .

My life. . . My innocence

The first four years of my solitude, my heart, my mind, my urge to fight, my soul, my confidence, my faith and my hope in people to do the right thing.

Dax took it all. . . and he never showed even an ounce of regret for it. All he'd shown was that damned smile, the same way that he wore so effortlessly right now.