The Alpha's Daydream ✔️

Chapter 61

It sickened Malachi, and he pulled in great drafts of air to soothe his pounding chest and roiling stomach.

"Malachi, what's going on?" Ariella's soft voice, stained with confusion and etched with desperation, reached him over the dozen yards of leaf-littered forest floor. A few demons sulked between them, Seneca paced deep in thought, and Ariella looked like she wanted to take them all out.

He held her gaze, her large brown eyes wide in fear, and pleaded with his own for her to leave. "Ariella, you need to get out of here. I don't think I can hold off any longer," he grunted and squeezed his eyes shut again as another wave of pain like sharpened knives raked over his skin.

"I'm not leaving you!" she whimpered, and it broke his heart even more. The bond between them was still tangible, tying him to her, sending her breath like a gentle caress over his skin even though they were metres apart. He could feel her heart racing in her chest, her hands clenched in anger as she watched him closely, and he railed against the injustice of this.

He'd only ever wanted her gone, out of this darkness and misery, free to live a beautiful and innocent life away from him. But the ties were too strong. Their emotions were already entwined, and it was all because he'd marked her and ruined any chance of happiness for her.

Watching her fight against the demons who had captured her, he felt some pride at the beautiful way she fought. She was strong, skillful, and determined. Yet still no match for the unnatural strength of demons. She, along with everyone from his pack here tonight, was condemned to a brutal death unless Seneca had a change of heart and rained down sunshine and blessings on them all.

A twist as unlikely as him growing wings and flying away from this fate.

"That thing can kill you, as you've already witnessed," Ariella said boldly, her voice trembling and her wrists once more bound by the strange element that even now sapped his own strength. Her eyes were on Seneca, and Malachi shivered when he saw the red moonlight reflected in the sharp blade in her hands.

"I know," Seneca responded, her lips lifted in a sly way. The expression made him run cold with dread. "That's what makes this so delightful," she then turned to him, her obsidian eyes colliding with his own, and this time, when she approached and ran the flat of the blade over his chest, he shivered with delight.

It was magnetic, this ancient dagger that seemed to vibrate with the energy of the dark Prince, and Malachi felt honoured to have it pressed against his skin. He felt the power strumming through his veins, bringing life to every cell, and he needed more. He craved more, and when he looked up at the eclipsed moon, he knew every year of his life had prepared him for this moment.

This moment where he would finally shed this weak skin and become the powerful being he had always wanted to be.

Seneca trailed her fingers lovingly over his face and down his neck, the motherly bond pulsing and soothing, then she said loudly for all to hear, "This mortal body shall inhibit you no more, my dear Malachi. You will be free to serve our Prince, the giver of true power and destiny."

He'd heard the rhetoric, the stories of this demon Prince who had led the rebellion against the King, but he had never believed it much less thought he would be involved in it. Yet here was his mother, whispering words in an ancient tongue, so wild and wonderful that he felt them reverberate in his very heart.

He wanted this power, and he wanted it to wash through his trembling body and erase every weakness and flaw. He couldn't wait to feel true freedom.

"Just do it. I'm ready!" He roared, his voice deep and rough, vibrating with tightly-wound tension as it echoed around them. Looking to his right, he saw a tear sliding down Ariella's cheek, her face crumpled with defeat, and he winked at her. Soon, she would see just what kind of mate she belonged to. She was his, and anything stupid he'd said to her, he would make up for it. He would show her exactly how much he loved her.