The Alpha's Temptation

As soon as Tania heard them leaving, Tania tossed the furs aside. She rushed to the secret passage door of the room and opened it. Eltanin walked in and she pressed her mouth to stop laughing. He smiled and picked her up by the waist with his left hand. She wrapped her arms around his neck. He grabbed the back of her head and pulled her to his lips. He walked her to the bed where they lay side by side.

“Do you think King Biham would come back?” she asked as he pulled her closer to his chest.

“He won’t. And we came back just in time.”

She giggled. “You closed the door just in time to stay hidden.” As soon as Morava left the tent, they couldn’t keep their hands off each other, but they also knew that she would go and tattletale to her father about it. They had rushed back to the palace under the invisibility spell.

“You are tired,” he said as he curled his arm around her waist. “Sleep.”

“King Biham wouldn’t allow me to leave Pegasii,” she said with a sigh, turning on her back. Absent-mindedly, she took the locket out of her gown and played with the tangerine soul stone. White light pulsated in it and throbbed before exploding and then dimming completely.

Eltanin watched the stone in horror. His heart thudded against his ribcage. It was the first time he saw it pulsating with light. “What is this?” he asked, dreading the answer.

Tania stilled and stopped playing with it. A rough exhale slipped through her lips as she put it back inside. “It is nothing.” How could she say that Menkar had a piece of her soul with him? She changed the topic immediately.

Eltanin cupped her cheek and forced her to look at him. “What is it, Tania? I am not asking, so don’t hide.” Eather started spilling out of it and spilled on the edges. His wolf was beginning to rise. “Tell me the truth,” he said in a guttural voice. He wanted to shift because his wolf had sensed that their mate was in danger. ‘Shred the man into pieces who had put her in this condition. I want b***d.’

She bit her l*p as she stared into his raven black eyes, breathing raggedly. “Eltanin…” A crease formed on her forehead as tension rippled through the air. “It is—”

“A soul stone,” he completed her sentence.

She gasped. “You know about it?”

“I would have never known had it not pulsated with your energy,” he growled.

She lowered her eyelashes as her vision became blurry.

“Who has your soul?” he asked. He had a tough time controlling his beast. It wanted to come out and roar and howl. Seeing their mate hurting, it was hurting.

“The High Priest of Cetus Monastery,” she said and removed his arm from her waist. She sat down on the bed and propped up her pillow. Resting on them, she looked at the blank space in front of her. ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀ​ꪶ​

Eltanin felt his world came crashing down. His mate’s soul was locked with magic so dark that it was banned from Araniea thousands of years back. And Menkar practiced that magic? He dug his claws into his palms as rage coated the air. His entire body shook hard to control it. To lock it before the need to rip Menkar into so many pieces that all the priests of Araniea would think twice before practicing dark magic. His eyes twitched.

If his mate’s soul was locked then how would he free her? And why did Menkar steal a piece of her soul? If he had it, then Tania wasn’t free.”When did this happen?” he asked with a coldness that could cut through the air like ice shards. He knew that she was a spy, but he didn’t know that she was a spy who could never leave her Master.

“When he bought me from my grandmother… I was five years old…”

Bile rose in his throat. He too got up, his mind and limbs going numb. If Menkar came to know that she was his mate, then he was never going to release her soul. Eltanin knew that Menkar was a dark man. He just didn’t know of his depravity until Tania revealed it. “Tell me everything Tania,” he said. This was the most important link in his future. If he mated Tania without freeing her soul, what would be the repercussions?

Tania hadn’t had a chance to say anything about what Biham told her. So, at first, she chose to say that. “I am Biham’s daughter.”

His head reeled with that information. “What?”

She nodded. “The reason why he isn’t leaving me is not because I haven’t healed. It is because I am his daughter, or according to him, I am the true heir of Pegasii.”

Shock blasted through him. He suspected that she was of royal lineage, but he never thought she would be Morava’s sister. “What do you mean true heir?” he asked in a hoarse voice, his heart beating so fast that he could hear it in his ears.

“My mother Kinshra was a fae who had come to meet King Biham along with a group of courtiers led by King Ian of Vilinski.” She sighed. “Biham found out that Kinshra was his mate, but at that time, he was married to Sirrah. I don’t know much, but Biham was forced to reject Kinshra by the Elders. Kinshra ran away for fear of her life, because she was pregnant.”

Tania closed her eyes remembering her dreams. “I was taken care of by Kinshra’s maid Cordea and her husband Arthur. I regarded them as my real parents. But they were murdered. They died in a fire that razed our hut down.” She placed her finger on her temple and rubbed her forehead as a dull headache started forming. “After that I was given to Cordea’s mother, who sold me to Menkar.” Image of how he stole her soul flashed across her mind. “I don’t know why but he—” she pursed her lips, remembering the pain she underwent. “He took a part of my soul.”

Eltanin was aghast. The bastard performed dark magic on his mate when she was only five. He pulled Tania and made her lie on his chest that was hurting as hell. He buried his nose in her hair and wrapped his arms tightly around her. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier, Tania?” his voice was pained. A tear rolled out of his eye and fell on her cheek. He was going to make Menkar pay for it and then kill him slowly and painfully. There was so much going on in his life. Why Fate suddenly rolled its ball at lightning speed. Or rather rolled a boulder.

“I didn’t want to bother you…” she said, as her own tears mingled with his.

“Bother me?” he chuckled. “There is not a moment when I am not bothered about you.” He held her tightly in his arms for a long time. “So, this is why you don’t have a tattoo?”

“Maybe…”

“Tomorrow when Biham suggests that you meet the spirit of Pegasii, you should—”

She looked up. “I should?”