The Alpha's Oracle (SAMPLE, IronMoon #1)

The Monster Who Eats Fear

Even if whatever they breathed in would kill them.

That's what the Bond was like. That's what the Bond did. It was alive and sacred. It couldn't be created from nothing, so clearly there had been some potential between Gabel and I. That was a horrifying thought. I didn't want to have anything in common with him.

The next thing I remembered I was in the back of a luxurious black car with Alpha Gabel. It was just him and I. I didn't want to be near him. But I was. One of his goons drove, and there was another car in front and behind us.

Gabel ignored me and paid a lot of attention to his phone.

I was too frightened to say anything. He was a crazy sadist with delusions of grandeur and he scared the crap out of me.

And now I was bound to him. I could have run to the ends of the earth and jumped into the abyss of space and still wouldn't be free of him.

But after two hours of driving my fear had dulled to something like a toothache and I got up the courage to ask. "Why?"

He looked up from his phone. "Why what, buttercup?"

Buttercup? When had I gotten a pet name? I didn't want a pet name. Especially not that one. "Why did you Mark me? You've given me power over you and you don't even know who I am."

He smirked. "I wanted a challenge. I want to see if I can resist the lure of the Bond."

Confirmed: he was crazy.

So that begged a question. Resisting the Bond drove a wolf crazy. If Gabel was already crazy, did that mean the Bond wouldn't affect him?

It was a terrifying thought.

Worse yet, would I go crazy? If he was resisting the Bond, and that denied me the Bond, could it drive me insane? We were bound together now, at our very souls, and we could affect each other. We would soon become distantly aware of the other's emotions, or how far away they were, or even feel pain if they were in great pain.

I don't know where my courage to keep talking came from. Maybe it came from him. "So torturing dozens of packs isn't challenge enough."

"It's gotten a little too easy. As you can see. I just picked up my phone," he put his phone to his ear like a toddler playing with a toy telephone. "And called Jermain and said I was on my way."

Bond or not, I despised him in that moment, and I'm sure he felt it. "So it's true. You want to be a King Alpha."

Another satisfied smirk. "My secret is safe with you, buttercup."

Cursed Bond! I couldn't betray him without condemning myself. But I could still think he was a cruel, depraved monster. I didn't have to love him. I would not love him. I would not love him.

"Don't you want to know about you and I, buttercup?" he prodded.

"No." I ignored the sensation of a sore tooth deep within me.

He kept talking. I wished he'd shut up. "We'll let everyone think you will be my Queen. So you can get comfortable in case the Bond wins."

"If you thought the Bond might win, why'd you take the chance?"

He was using something sacred, a gift from the Moon, for his own personal amusement. It was blasphemy.

Another grin. This one made my blood turn to ice and a little corner of me shriveled away from him in fear.

He felt it. He liked it.

He liked feeling my terror. And because of the Bond, I enjoyed his enjoyment. I enjoyed him torturing me.

This was blasphemy. This was a pervision. This was anthema. This was not what the Bond was for!

He just smiled like slow honey pouring over his perfect lips. "Because that's what makes it fun, buttercup. A fight you know you'll win isn't interesting. I smelled that scent on you. I've smelled it at least a dozen times before. I could have had a dozen Bondmates by now. But you are a Seer. You'll be useful either way. My own personal pet Seer."

He cupped my chin in his fingers. I yanked away, "Shut up! This is blasphemy!"

"Don't growl at me, buttercup. That's not very nice." His eyes darkened like a storm to a burning green-blue shade and his lips curled over his teeth.

I cringed and pressed myself backwards into the car's door, as far as I could get from him. His violent intentions burned through the Bond and grabbed my heart with fear. He was a monster.

Then he hesitated and cocked his head as if he heard something. Then he chuckled, low in his throat. "So that is the Bond." He looked back at me with sharp eyes. "You feel my malevolence. You feel my enjoyment. I feel your terror. Do you think that is the same sort of terror I make others feel?"

My voice quavered and fat tears rolled down my cheeks. "What's wrong with you?"

He just laughed at me.