White Wedding Nightmares
Natale Stenzel
"Raven, down!"
At Ulfric's guttural command, I immediately dropped, legs crumpling beneath me, collar clanking and muzzle dropping low. As I hit the floor, I felt more than heard a rush of fur crackling with power overhead. Then the enraged wolf tackled Drago, knocking him away from me and locking them in battle. In a heartbeat, Seth joined them, nearly evening the odds, at angel and werewolf vs. dragon.
Now that Ulfric and Seth had bought me temporary freedom and a few feet of space, Lucien was on me almost immediately. He reached for my collar.
"No!" I cowered away. "Silver."
It was one thing we now had in common: a vulnerability to silver. It stole my power and would singe his flesh if he touched it.
Buy This Book
Still he reached for it, teeth grinding as his skin made contact with the toxic metal. He tugged and wrenched at it, the foul odor of burning flesh assailing both of our noses. "Lucien. Stop. You can't. You know you can't." If he couldn't touch it, then he damn well couldn't use magic on it to free me, and the idea of his pain and damaged hands was making my hackles rise in sympathetic terror. How could he stand to physically burn his own flesh in order to try to free me? Unconditional indeed. "Gods, Lucien." It sounded more sob than voice. "At least cover your hands."
With a frustrated growl more suited to his supposed wife, Lucien tugged his sleeves low to cover his palms, slowing the burn but not stopping it. He scanned the vicinity in search of tools, solutions, anything, but then a sound from the other side of us caught his attention. Mark was rousing from his trance. With me helpless and Lucien otherwise occupied -- what with burning his own flesh and all, the noble idiot -- Ulfric and Seth were losing ground to Drago. It was only a matter of time before her guys were dead or overpowered. Lucien would have to join the fight soon, and even then, there was no guarantee that even three together could overpower the dragon. Make one dragon two, and they'd be overpowered for sure. With a twist of his lips, Lucien bent his gaze to Drago's son, obviously intent on bettering their odds by returning Mark to unconsciousness.
Mark eyed him with disturbing clarity. "Go ahead, vampire. Never mind that I'm the only way she has out of that damn collar right now. Knock me out. While I sleep my father will kill you and take Raven. For all I know, he'll find me useless at that point and kill me, too. With all of us gone, what happens to Raven, then? Maybe you have buddy-buddy memories of your pal Drago, but I can tell you right now that he's one sadistic dragon when he's in a mood. Raven will wish for death when he's done with her. Let me up and I can get the collar off of her."
Lucien hesitated. "Why would I believe you?"
"Do you have any choice right now? How's that collar doing? Budging at all?"
Lucien eyed it with frustration while I lay there, half-dazed. No werewolf, even a newborn one, liked feeling helpless as a kitten. The collar not only wasn't budging, but it was growing tighter, gradually cutting off my air. Furry damsel in serious distress. As my head grew lighter, my vision fainter, I heard Lucien back off with a furious: "Do it. Free her, damn it."
Mark rolled to his feet as though he'd never been unconscious, and reached for the collar. Then he paused. "If I touch it, it will drain my magic, too, and I'll be no more help to her than you are, vampire. You hold onto it while I charm it."
Lucien slid him an angry, distrustful glance.
"What, you have a better idea? Maybe Raven should stop whining about her slow strangulation and do it herself?"
Since I was hanging on by a thread, that suggestion was ludicrous at best. I felt Lucien's bare hands on me again, his grip unhesitating and unflinching, and my heart lodged serious protest. The stench of burning flesh again--
Mark murmured a few, incoherent syllables, and I felt the pressure tighten and then, with a snap, ease from me completely.
"Hey!" And I saw that the metal had wound itself around Lucien's own wrists, singing his flesh and dropping the mighty vampire to his knees.
"You can't do that!" I scrambled to my feet, still fighting dizziness and nausea. "They're burning him--"
"Oh, fine. Spoil sport." A muttered word or two, and the silver transmuted into solid oak shackles, no longer burning but every bit as confining as the metal for a vampire. Lucien's magic was useless.
With a growl, I reached for the shackles myself, intending to rip them to splinters, but Mark pulled me away from Lucien, hauling me up against his body. "Not so fast, my bride. We have unfinished business." With a sparking wave of his hand and a murmur of intent, he attached Lucien's wooden shackles to the floor with a chain that glinted silver in the light. With another shower of sparks, he froze his father, Seth and Ulfric. She could see the rage moving in Ulfric's gaze, feral determination radiating from Seth's, and something that appeared to be paternal pride warring with calculation in Drago's eyes. Now there was dysfunction for you.
"I'm not letting Drago have you, but then--" Mark shrugged "--I'd never let anyone have you. Except me. You and I will finish this. But not here." He glanced around with satisfaction, seeing Ulfric, Seth and Drago locked in frozen, bloodied combat pose, and Lucien tied irrevocably to the floor. It was ironic, actually, since the stubbornly proud vampire had always refused to join me on the dance floor, and now here he was, unable to leave it.
Apparently oxygen deprivation did strange things to my sense of reasoning. It was not exactly the wedding day of my dreams.
"You know, we never did get our first dance as bride and groom." Mark glanced around the dance floor almost wistfully, gaze drifting past crispy zombie corpses, frozen combatants, and chained vampire, before coming back to rest on me.
I gazed up at him with disgust. "The fact that our minds twist in the same direction in no way signifies compatibility. I will never marry you."
He sighed and shook his head. "You know you won't have a choice. I can make you do anything now. I have your vampire as leverage. And I've seen how you hate to watch him suffer. I've decided to take him with us, actually." He frowned. "Which makes his current situation less than convenient, now that I think about it. How about . . . this." He waved his hand again, and when the sparks flew, a heavy metal clasp was transferred from the floor to my ankle, so that Lucien and I were joined by a silver chain, with the wooden handcuffs keeping him under control, and a shiny silver shackle rendering me as helpless as a pup. I surveyed the new setup, impressed in spite of myself. "This sucks."
Mark considered. "No, I think this is perfect. Except . . ." Cocking his head, he placed his fingers just so on my forehead, cheekbone and jaw. A warmth built and spread from those pressure points and suddenly I felt . . . oh, god, I felt fully human again. I had lost my colors still -- they were muted -- but the fur was gone. For now. Pausing to cup my cheek and run his thumb over my mouth, he smiled. "Let's motor, shall we?"
Okay, fur gone was good, but at what price? Warily, I pulled away from his touch. "Where are we going?"
"Last I heard . . ." He grinned down at me and then, challengingly, at Lucien, whose own gaze promised bloody retribution. ". . . you were going to take me to the vampire's mansion. Wasn't that the plan you were formulating in that complicated little mind, Raven? You are so easy to read. Oh, don't worry. I love the idea. I've always wanted a mansion of my own, and you couldn't ask for a more exotic honeymoon destination. What's the master bedroom like? And shall I chain your fanged boyfriend to the floor outside the door? Or maybe to the bedpost? Back in the day, a newlywed couple had to consummate their union in front of witnesses, you know. I think that's a fine idea. The irony alone is a turn-on."
"So. From boy next door to sorcerer to dragon . . . to perverted sociopath." Great. My ex-fiancé would rape me in front of my former lover. The wedding night of every girl's dreams.
"Flattery will get you everywhere, my love. But mostly into my arms." Mark patted my bottom and I swatted furiously at his hands. He only laughed. "Count on it, Raven. By tomorrow morning, there will be no doubt in the vampire's mind -- or yours -- of the identity of your mate."
Have a comment? Share it on our Forum - Romance in the Backseat Ning - Here
New Installment by Elissa Wilds - Here
Want updates on new videos and when the new pages post? Follow me on Twitter - RITBS_Terry