CHAPTER 17

Daniel leaned forward a little, peering down at Jandri. "Remember, if you cooperate, you'll be treated well. Please me, and you'll be pampered. Displease me, however, and you'll find yourself in a worse place than that dungeon, do you understand? The pain you experience will have no comparison."

"Yes, sir..sire," Jandri said, straightening up a little. He looked at me out of the corner of his eye, and I could just see his cheeks rising. He thought this was a hand out of his current hell. Or maybe he figured gaining Daniel's favor would get him married to me that much faster. Whatever it was, he had absolutely zero worry about what sort of duties would come next. He probably looked forward to them.

I kept myself from hunching, worried about my own fate. Worried about what duties would be coming for me. I'd be damned if I was passed around his demons. A great many of them would die before that happened.

Daniel flicked his fingers. "Sandy, go find temporary quarters for him until we know where he will go."

"Of course, your highness." She offered a bow, and her magic swirled around us, licking down my body and attempting to settle between my legs.

I shivered and shrugged it off as Jandri smiled broadly, liking the touch of her magic.

"Come on, pet," Sandy said it to him, but her eyes were regarding me with hunger. The chick would just not let it go.

I gritted my teeth as they left, hating the feeling of vulnerability, being left on my own. He was the worst, but he felt like the only living thing familiar to me in this harsh and uncertain place.

"What about the golden dragon's mate?" Daniel asked. "Any trouble?"

"She is nothing but trouble, sire," Gio said. "We have to watch her closely. She's a dragon through and through."

"You filthy fucking liar," I seethed, spinning in outrage. His hands on my elbows locked me in place, and Donal quick-stepped toward us. His extendable stick came out of nowhere and crashed down on top of me. I withstood the pain as he hit me again, trying to cow me, to reduce me to a whimpering mess like he had with Jandri.

The third strike hit me in my stomach, knocking the breath out of me. I bent with the blow but refused to let my knees buckle. Donal edged back, lowering his stick near his leg.

"Hmm, she's a strong one," the male demon beside Daniel said. "Quite pretty for a shifter. The smell, though…"

"Can you do anything about it?" Daniel asked. "She was claimed by the Wyvern alpha. I don't think severing the bond will be enough with her."

"We have never successfully severed a dragon's mating bond," the other demon said, entwining her fingers in front of her. "Only wolves so far. And the weaker ones at that. But…we can try to at least minimize the smell."

"Yes, that might be within our power," the other agreed.

Bear down, my dragon thought in sudden panic, clutching for the bond. Hold on to Neff with everything you have. We don't want them to get lucky and somehow sever our connection. He's the only thing keeping us sane in here.

"Hold her," Daniel said as the two demons on the dais drifted down the steps toward me, their expressions equally determined.

Guards gripped my arms and sides, three on each side, and Gio held fast to my elbows, his fingers digging in. The other guards pushed in close too, not grabbing me yet, but prepared to. As the powerful demons neared me, their magic dug in, burrowing into my skin and seemingly digging holes into my bones.

"No," I forced out through clenched teeth, the sudden pain overwhelming. Unimaginable. Quickly whisking away my logical mind. "No!"

I thrashed within the guards' hold. The demon magic burrowed deeper, clawing through my chest, hunting for my connection with Neff. My spine twisted, or at least it felt that way, bending down over itself. The magic dug deeper yet, shooting bursts of pain through every inch of my body.

I screamed, eyes squeezed shut. I kicked and thrashed at the hands all over my body. My power flailed out and slashed through flesh and bone. Those near me were ripped away, but more took their place as my dragon yanked at Neff's power. The gush came immediately, but it wasn't enough to lessen my agony.

Blackness encroached on my vision, and still the pain grew as they searched for our bond. Cutting and slicing. Turning me inside out.

A little tickle worried the bond, and terror bled through me anew.

Hold on to him with everything you are, my dragon wailed, coiling around the bond to protect it. Take the pain. That is nothing compared to losing him. Don't let them break us apart.

The tickle increased, warming. Growing. Glowing.

But it wasn't the demons. It was Neff, reaching out to us through the bond. Trying to help us in our time of need.

No, not trying to help, trying to protect us in the only way he could.

His presence gushed through the bond. He must've realized what was happening in some way, because with his presence came one crystal-clear command: Submit to me. He pulled my consciousness toward him. Locked me into his hold, something I hadn't realized could be done through a bond. And then he wrapped his power, his essence, around us.

I didn't hesitate or balk. I fell into his dominating magic and let it consume me totally. I closed my eyes and drifted into the safety of his rolling, turbulent power.

The pain from the demons' magic drove down deep, but then it flowered into breath-stealing pleasure. I gasped—then groaned, as it curled through me and settled in my core.

Lean into it, my dragon said, fortifying her protection of the bond. Give yourself to him, body and soul.

No problem.

Another slash of pain shocked through me, turned quickly into a tidal wave of ecstasy that had my eyelids fluttering. Memories flooded me hot nights in twisted sheets, slow, sensual mornings when he moved within me. I twisted them into a fantasy, focusing solely on the pleasure he was feeding me. Solely on him.