9-Beginning of Chapter 3

Euodia destroyed him.

Burned Helios's wings into ash, plucked his beautiful feathers to make a dress that would later grow old with mildew. And there it'd stayed in the wreckage of the castle where she'd been killed: lost, wasted, unused. Her actions had been purely for show— the fierce release of masculine energy, the need to wield power over others, a peacock like demonstration.

Euodia wanted to display her strength over the most desirable Omega in the entire world. She wanted all to know that it was Euodia the Beta that had given him that collar around his neck. That it was Euodia that he submitted to; Euodia that he bowed to; Euodia that he showed his neck, allowing a bite, a claim.

It was all just a performance of her supremacy.

In Euodia's memories, Helios had been fury personified. She could remember his anger, could remember his pain, could remember the gut-wrenching anguish that twisted across his gorgeous features and into his eyes when she'd declared his unjust sedition and then his punishment.

The destruction of a fairy's sacred wings was as good as death. The rape of his being. The obliteration of what made him who he was. The scream he'd let out when they'd ruined him forever had been the sound of the loneliest storm, tears glittering as they fell from his cheeks—stained silver with his magic.

All Helios had done was pick up a little girl, smiled and kissed her cheeks when she had cried from a bad fall. He'd held her for a second too long, but that was enough for Euodia to claim his actions as treason, his service biased, and his attention lacking.

The hatred that lurked beneath golden depths haunted her memories of his name.

The villainess had turned him into a fairy with wings that bled when they moved, crippled him, and made him weak. He would be unable to fly without horrible, gut-wrenching pain for the rest of his life.

And later in equal exchange he'd watched nonchalant and thrilled as her feet were eaten into stubs by rats in a cage. He'd tortured her till bone showed at the surface, polished clean and wet with saliva, piss and decay. He allowed them to crawl over her, allowed them to eat all the soft fleshy bits of her that they could find. In fact, he encouraged it, giggled so hard when they'd found her insides particularly delectable.

The first bite on her clit had made him smile. And he'd sat up straighter, watched closer as they devoured her, as pleasure mixed with pain, as she writhed and screamed with rats deep inside her. The grin that ghosted over his lips had been delirious with joy, the relish more perverted than the looks he'd given her mid-sex.

Those eyes haunted her dreams.

His happiness radiated as if her pain were the best thing he'd ever seen in the world. And that look on his face had told Euodia all that she needed to know—she had broken him just like she had wanted to, and for that it had been Euodia's win.

For that, she had died laughing.

No matter how much Helios hated Euodia, her ghost would hunt him forever. Her presence was etched in the blood that darkened his wings, her voice burned into the pain that flashed hot and sharp over his body. She was with him forever in the darkness of his heart. Every. Single. Day.

Not that it mattered anyway because when Quinn arrived the flesh returned, the nerves grew, but the memories stayed. The knowledge of what Euodia had done remained. And it plagued her with guilt that she could not eradicate.

Their souls were star-crossed lovers destined to fail before they could meet, fated to kill before passion could complete. Only death would lay rest the discord. And only love could end the hatred that would never forgive.

Helios would never touch Euodia, just like how the sun could never touch the moon, or the seas with the skies, the earth and the planets. Unless comets and stars spun fast into collision, until lighting struck—a first touch, a first kiss from the skies to the seas. Unless the heavens opened the floodgates in answer to his Heat.

*

"Fucking hell," she hissed, breath caught in her throat the curses flowing as she moved.

Float's visors had appeared, shielding her eyes and nose with a blackhole like darkness that hid her identity. She was prepared for him to open his eyes, like the mother of all jump scares, and then take a stab at her heart again. The thought made her flinch.

"Why is he here?"

The Omega was dragged quite painfully through the dirt with his mortal enemy's hands cupping his pits as Quinn tried her best to heave him into shelter. It took a lot more effort than she would have liked, which was surprising considering the small, slender stature of the male.

Quinn was either ridiculously weak or Helios was jam-packed with iron hard muscle ready to slice her open and into well-chopped bits.

She glanced at Soot who was floating quite pathetically beside her, opening and closing its carrier as it went by, choking on ash. There was a hole in its mantle and copper wires peaked out from its lips, buzzing with light. Her bike was just as fucked, with both its wheels pointing at two different directions—a one up and one down sort of parallel.

Getting out of here within the hour was out of question. It seemed that they had to weather the storm together in a tiny dark hole that could be filled with bears. But Quinn wasn't afraid of bears. They would maul her and then eat her; she'd be dead by the end of the day.

But Helios? Helios would spend five days torturing her, weeks if she'd allow it. He'd chop up her body into tiny little bits from waist up, prolonging her life as he fed chunks of her to the bears. He'd stopped at her ass the last time, left half her body for the others to play with. But this time she was sure he'd go all the way to her head, ensuring her passing.

Fan-fucking-tastic.

"He's supposed to be happy inside the walls, asshole filled by his Omegas, prostate massaged daily, forgetting about everything I've ever done to him. Not—" her throat grew tight, the anxiety swelling, guilt returning, "smashing into a bolt of lightning and falling into my arms in the wastelands."

She prodded him, poked at his shoulder hoping he would rouse and then fly off in a hurry. Some part of her hoped to feel that strange electricity again, begged for the thrill to arrive and stretch deep in her bones.

"Get up you man bird, you need to fly away from whence you came."

She inched back but then paused at the temperature, her fingers moving over his flesh—silky smooth, soft with a velvety feel that sent heat rolling down her core. Her fingers ghosted over his shoulders then to his face, tracing his forehead, shifting drying locks from his eyes.

They were pretty eyes, framed by long dark lashes that fanned over his cheeks and they fluttered as her hands moved, butterfly-like. His breath escaped him in soft wheezes that warmed the surface of her palm and sent a flurry of sensitivity through her body. Suddenly her clothes were too tight against her breasts, and her pants far too restrictive and torturous against her core.

With a featherlight touch, fingers so far from his face that surely only her body hair was really touching him, she mapped the gorgeous features on his face. The curve of his nose, the swell of full lips, the bounce of his soft cheeks, the arc of his jaw. He was the most beautiful man she'd ever seen, so gorgeous that she was sure once she'd escaped his clutches she would be masturbating to his face for ages.

But his skin was colder than she anticipated. She tried to blame it on the wetness of his hair, smoothing out the long pink strands. But then moved to his neck which was goddamn icy unlike the boiling furnace that it really should be. A violent shiver vibrated under her fingertips, and he let out a soft moan, the wet strands of his pink hair sticking to his dangerously pretty face. Was this—

"Hypothermia? You've got to be kidding me."

She groaned, pulling her hands away from him with a fidgety snap. She hoped with all her might that he wasn't experiencing brain damage from the lightning. Then again, perhaps amnesia was perfect for their situation. A forgetful Helios wasn't a vengeful one, and maybe they could be friends or fuck buddies.

Maybe. She allowed that thought to enter her and then leave out the door.

"Trust me, I am ready to toss you right out of my door and head home," she told his unconscious body, "But if you're eaten by the Lonely. The other six of them are coming for my ass, so I can't leave you alone." Her eyes shifted to the door of the cave, to the flash of lightning and the answering clap of thunder. "And I might die if I make a run for it. But I'll die a worse death if your boyfriends catch me."

She bit her lips, chewed then gnawed on the flesh nervously. The pain created by the panic was a reminder of the degree of their hatred for her, of their power, of the protectiveness they'd displayed for each other. The seven might not know the truth (this world was lacking in soulmate knowledge), but they were true mates—people meant for one another, connected by the soul.

And soulmates would do anything for one another, even maim, murder and kill. They'd rip apart Earth just to find Helios, she was sure of that—and then they would deep fry her ass till crispy brown and dripping with fat. They might even eat her, just to make sure she wouldn't come back.

"To be honest, you've got a more delicious looking butt," she told him, glancing at the bubble of fat that had bounced and jiggled when she'd moved him. "But they'll still eat my flat ass, just because they hate me."

She tried not to sniff him, breathing through her lips. She wondered what she would smell aside from the rain, the sand, and the storm. She wondered what she would smell on an Omega so famed and so loved by Alphas worldwide.

He must taste the sweetest, must be the most delectable golden honey in the enclave of beehives. She'd read in the book that he was irresistible even for a Beta. And Euodia's memories were so heavily stained with blood when it came to Helios that she couldn't remember what his scent was like.

They said he was caramel with a hint of sea salt, sweet and yet mellow with flavour. A luxury.

He didn't respond like all her companions, instead he continued quaking before her. And so this time, she shook him like a madman, panic engulfing her chest. Horror burning her eyes, her nose quickly grew sour with the thoughts that streamed through her mind.

He couldn't die, not in front of her, not just yet.