Her head ached. The sensation is nothing she has ever felt. Groggily, her eyes opened. Her vision was blurry, unfocused and it hurt so much.
With a whimper, she slowly sat up. The bed she lay in shifted and immediately her hand went to her stomach as it dipped and rolled.
"It's nausea," a male voice broke the silence.
She moaned and held her thumping head in her hand before looking up to the darkened corner where the voice came from.
She took a deep breath. The sensation of emptiness in her mind alarmed her.
Why did she feel this way?
She looked around. Her mind, a foggy mess, took in the unfamiliar bedroom.
She panicked.
"Where am I?" She asked.
Silence was her answer.
"Why am I here?" She pressed for another answer.
"You are here..." The voice began, "Because you are needed."
She listened as the voice grew closer and out of the dark corner a man appeared at the foot of the bed.
"You?" She gasped inching back in fear. She began to tremble as he inched closer and sat down at her side.
"Hello little one," he smiled.
His familiar face beamed with a jovial grin that could weaken any human. His eyes sparkled with mischief as he reached up and caressed her cheek.
She went still with fright and shock as she felt the burning heat of his touch.
Pearly white teeth flashed as he settled close to her.
"From the look on that pretty face, I take it you know who I am?" His voice rumbled.
She swallowed and nodded.
His expectant gaze held hers. Waiting for her to answer. But she couldn't.
"Go on say it." He urged her to.
She licked her lips and pressed further back against the headboard. His stern gaze held hers.
"Say it!" The finality in his tone demanded it.
"Apollyon," she whispered.
Flames slowly licked at his irises in satisfaction. Indeed, she did know who he was.
She recoiled further away from him. The sheets tangled in her grip pressed to her chin as her eyes filled with tears.
"I take it that my dear brothers' nighttime stories of me were not good were they little angel?" He snided before reaching for her and pulling her close.
She did not answer.
He chuckled. "Who would have thought I would be spoken about or remembered?"
She swallowed as he slowly glided his thumb up to wipe a falling tear off her cheek.
"I have probably been described as a monster," he murmured.
She could not respond. She dared not.
Of course, he was a monster. She heard stories about him. Horrible ones.
He was the Angel of death and destruction.
And he was here...
"You're scaring her," another voice joined in as the door clicked shut.
He lowered his hand from her cheek and stood slowly to face the intruder.
The moment the figure stepped closer and revealed himself, relief filled her immediately and just as fast she jumped off the bed and lunged into his arms.
"Danté," she whispered, burying her face in his chest.
She trembled like a leaf in his hold. He felt helpless and guilty that she would run to him. He felt something he could not describe but it was familiar. It was something he hadn't felt for centuries as he jerkily wrapped his arm around her.
"I see you two have already met," Apollyon smiled.
"You can say that," Danté mumbled before averting his gaze from the demon-angels taunting grin.
She pulled away to rest her trusting gaze on him. He could have sworn at that instant, that the dead rock of a heart in his chest twinged.
"Take me back to Maddox, Danté, please," she pleaded with tear filled eyes.
He swallowed nervously. Deep down he couldn't deny her. But then again he could not go against his Sires orders either.
The thought of her possibly getting angry with him, set him on edge. It can be fatal and he needed to tread carefully where she was concerned.
"I'm afraid I can't do that, Hannah," he murmured.
"But why?" She sniffles. He eyed her tentatively. By that look of fearful desperation on her face, he didn't have the courage to really tell her why.
"Because we need you, buttercup," Apollyon chimed in.
She watched as Danté's gaze, now heated, shot to the demon behind her.
Apollyon returned a grin that turned sinister.
"What?" It's the truth," he chuckled stepping close to them, circling them slowly like a hungry caged lion.
"You're valuable to us, we need you for your blo-." He was cut off immediately as Danté with lightning speed lunged for him and shoved him out the door.
In a matter of seconds, her door was shut and she was now alone again standing there confused.
He shoved Apollyon with force through the halls to the other side entering a living room. He stood his ground. He hadn't moved a muscle, his intense stare unwavering from the demon angel as he chuckled with mirth, stood straight and fixed his wrinkled shirt.
"Damn, remind me to take you with me when I'm in a rush at Neiman Marcus."
Dante said nothing.
As if enjoying the tension, Apollyon smiled and with a heavy sigh, he lowered himself gracefully onto the seat at his side.
"I see I stepped on a few of your corns with what I was about to say," he cheerfully looked up at Danté with a menacing gleam.
"Why the hell would you even tell her that?" Danté spat impatiently looking at Apollyon play off a false innocent look.
"Why are you mad about that? After all, honesty is our best policy, isn't it?"
"Torturing and taunting her isn't. Not when light as bright as the sun can pour from her pores out of rage and disintegrate this whole house."
"Hmmm," Apollyon shrugged. "I see your dilemma."
Danté's jaw ticked in agitation. And his stare hardened but he did not respond. He couldn't.
His face remained emotionless and his mind void of thought, Danté remained utterly unreadable. He needed to proceed carefully. He couldn’t afford for Apollyon to see how this deep down affected him. How terrified he was.
"If I weren't mistaken, I would say you are smitten with her," Apollyon mused, his tone laced with dark humor. His eyes slid to Danté, studying him blatantly.
"I must admit, she is beautiful. Heavenly, you might say" he purred.
"Honestly, I never would have thought you were capable of such feelings."
"I'm not," Danté said tightly.
"Well, then you better act accordingly because we don't have time to waste," He stood abruptly facing Danté with malevolent intent.
"The sooner we turn her over, the sooner I can be on my way to bigger and better things."
"You and me both. Your presence here is very well overdue," Danté mumbled.
He watched as Apollyon turned and walked away in another direction before he himself returned to the room where Hannah was held.
With each step he took, he was struggling with a serious and dangerous decision. To let her go, escape and suffer the consequences of his actions or do as he was ordered.
Turn her over to his king.
He stopped at the door and braced himself for what was to come. He gently turned the knob and entered. His vision immediately adjusted to the darkened room and noticed her sitting on the bed.
"Hannah?" He called to her.
But she did not answer.
He reached over to the light switch. The soft glow of light illuminated enough of the room towards the bed.
She lay huddled in ball near the headboard. The slight moan from her had him at her side instantly.
"Hannah?" He pulled her up and immediately gasped.
"Danté, it hurts," she cried out in tears.
Drenched in sweat and pale, she begged to make the pain go away.
"Maddox," she whimpered before rolling over to her sides.
He frantically pressed his palm to her forehead and pulled them away. He cursed as he pulled her close. Fear drove up his spine and tightened his throat.
The elixir that they poured in her drink to knock her out, was it a poison of some sort?
She moaned again.
With another curse, he stood and dug into his pocket for his phone. He swiped the screen and with shaky hands, he dialed the last number he never thought he would ever call.
He listened to the ringing until the gruff voice on the other end answered. It was dark, raspy and lethal.
"I have Hannah, I can't go into too much detail as to why. But you need to come get her," Danté said.
Her cry pierced the quietness of the room and he tightened his eyes shut.
"Now, you need to get her now, Maddox," he hissed through the phone.
"What the hell did you do to my mate?" Maddox growled. The rumble of his distorted voice could be felt through the phone.
"Nothing. I swear. But,she isn't well," He insisted staring frantically out the window. His gaze then lifted to the brightness of the full moon.
His eyes bulged as he looked at her on the bed.
Impatiently, he rattled off the directions on where they will meet and then he hung up.
"Shit.... shit.... shit .....," he murmured.
He turned to look at her as she weakly tossed and turned on the bed.
He walked quickly to the bed and gathered her up into his arms.
"Maddox," she moaned again.
He pressed his lips to her forehead flinching with the heat.
"I'm taking you to him, sweetheart, just bear with me," he held her close as he opened the window and carefully climbed out on the ledge.
Tightly he held her as he dove off the 5th story ledge to the garden below. Without looking back, he took off in superspeed towards the meeting point he agreed to meet with Maddox at.
Minutes passed by before he made his way across the large remote clearing in time to see three cars pull up.
He tightened his grip on Hannah as she began to shiver. One by one, men stepped out of the cars and made their way to the sides letting Maddox through.
"I'm just here to give her back, I'm not looking for any trouble."
"You found trouble the moment you took her from me," Maddox growled out.
"The important thing is I brought her back," Dante responded with agitation.
Maddox stepped close until he was arm's length from Danté. His nostril flared with the sudden new scent of his mate. Something was wrong.
Terribly wrong.
He reached for her without a second thought and pulled her out of Dantés' arms then held her tight. He nearly dropped to his knees with a curse as he felt her skin.
She was on fire.
"What the hell did you do?" He roared looking up at Danté with a deadly glare.
Feral red eyes gleamed up at him as he stood his ground and bared his fangs to the Alpha.
"I said, I didn't do anything," he insisted.
He watched as Maddox stood with her and turned away before barking orders for them to retreat.
The ride home was an agonizing one. His heart was hammering in his chest and his blood was pounding in his ears as he jumped out of his truck and entered the house; immediately going up to their bedroom.
He placed her on the bed, he cursed inwardly as he pulled away the sheets and saw her. She was writhing in agony and pain.
"Hannah," he whispered, reaching for her. He took a huge gulp of air, feeling his own hands tremble a little as he caressed her hot skin.
He did not understand what was happening. What she was going through. He could feel it. Koda could feel it. And it was strong.
"Is she okay?" Maddox turned to find Nikki standing gazing at her, worry tormenting her face. The soft side of him empathisized with her worry and guilt for leaving his mate alone. But the brutal possessive Alpha within forged through too soon.
"I need you to call the pack doctor and tell him to come quickly," he ordered gruffly, turning to Hannah, his hand rose up and gently brushed away a damp curl from her cheek.
He looked back at Nikki, whose eyes were round with sadness as she nodded. Her face crumpled as if she understood that he was upset.
He turned to face Hannah the moment she cried out. Frantically he pulled her into his arms. She contorted in pain and a blood-curdling scream tore from her throat.
He lay her gently on the bed and ran to the door. Fear gripped him as he yelled for them to hurry with finding the pack doctor.
In that instant, Brody was running towards him. Alert with the sudden shock on his cousin's face and color draining from it.
He sniffed the change in the air.
"Maddox, we have a situation in the living room. You need to come down now!"
"I'm not going anywhere I'm not leaving her like this." He growled.
"Bro, please. You really do need to go downstairs." Brody insisted, fear written all over his face.
They turned to look at Hannah.
Hesitating, Maddox finally turned away and charged down the hall towards the steps with Brody right behind him. They made it quickly down the hall until they stepped through the livingroom and stopped.
His nostrils flared. His gaze landed on three tall armor- wearing men with wings as they turned to face him.
"Who the hell are you?" He growled.
The tallest of the three stepped forward.
"I'm Micheal, and we have come for Hannah."
*******
Here we go and the plot thickens.
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