The Phoenix Prophecy: Nova

“Is the human awake?” Ragnor’s shoulders ripple in the moonlight. He’ll be changing soon. But for now, he’s still human.

“Not yet. I have men watching him.” I step out of the shadows and into his eye-line, forcing him to look at me. Above us, a sharp wind snaps through the trees. The leaves rustle. Dark clouds are moving across the sky.

“I want you watching him.” Ragnor flexes his fingers, bunching them into tight fists at his sides. He towers over me. Grasping my chin, pinching it tight, his eyes roam my face. “Yours should be the first face he sees. We need this to work. You need to make this work.”

When he lets me go, it’s with a shove that sends me stumbling back. I butt up against a nearby tree. The bark scratches my shoulder.

Even now, after twenty years as his rejected, forsaken, abandoned mate, I crave his presence. His closeness. His love.

The black, heavy knowledge that I’ll never have any of those things gnaws at my bones when I’m near him.

He is waiting for me to respond. “Yes, Master.” I duck my head. The she-wolf inside me wants to howl, but I refuse to allow it.

“And you know what to do when he wakes?”

“Persuade him to expose the girl.”

Ragnor’s eyes flash with a darkness that makes me shudder. He both loathes and craves the girl. I can see it, feel it, in the way he talks about her. Only the stars know what he will do if he’s ever alone with her.

He knots his fingers together behind his back. “From division comes unity.” He steps closer to me. I can feel his breath on my cheek as he leans in. “We need this story to explode. We need every human on the planet to despise our little witch for what she did to her poor, innocent boyfriend. Because the more they hate us, the more we will rally others to our cause.”

“I understand, Ragnor.” I swallow forcefully. My mouth is dry. There’s a question on the tip of my tongue, but I’ve no idea how he’ll respond if I ask it. “Ragnor?”

He’s walking away from me, his muscles quivering with the desire to shift, but stops and spins back around.Property belongs to Nôvel(D)r/ama.Org.

“If she’s the one… The Phoenix…”

“My source is certain. There is no question. It is her.” He’s staring me down, daring me to challenge him.

“Then why not simply destroy her? She’s weak. Untrained. She has no idea who she is. We could take her out tonight. The two of us.” I sidle closer and reach out to stroke his bulging upper arm. Leaning in, I press my lips close to his ear and whisper, “Rip out her pretty little throat and play with her entrails.”

A low growl vibrates in Ragnor’s throat. I can feel the wolf in him pacing. He breathes out a heavy breath and snarls, “Would you enjoy that?”

“I can taste her already.”

His hand is on my waist. His fingers move to my belt. His big, thick fingers. His other hand moves to my neck. He takes a fistful of my hair and tugs my head back. I wait for him to put his lips on me. Lick my throat. Press up against me.

But then he pulls harder. He jerks my head back and slams it into the tree trunk behind me. I whimper, pain ricocheting through my skull, and he throws me to the floor. “No one kills the girl except me. I say when we’re done with her. Me!” He crouches down, his face inches from mine. “Until I’ve figured out what she can do, what I can make her do, she lives.”

“Yes, Master. I’m sorry.” I cower back, trembling.

“And when I’m done with her…” A smile curls his lips. “Well, by the time I’m finished, she’ll be begging you to slaughter her.”