Page 12 of Releasing Darkness

The female turned to me, where I was breathing heavily with the exertion of holding myself upright so I wouldn’t fall to the ground.

“I’m so sorry,” she murmured quietly. “I had to free my arm. Are you okay?”

I bared my teeth at her and used my arm to push myself away from the small but sturdy trunk. My wings were screaming in agony at the way I had crushed them with my weight as I fell.

“Look, I know that you aren’t happy that we are mates?—”

I cut off her words. My voice was a rough growl, barely coherent, sounding like boulders grinding together. “You aren’t my mate. You’re nothing but the spawn of the demon who kept me caged for thousands of years. I could never mate you while seeing him in your face.” She flinched at my words but didn’t argue. It was as if she had expected those very words to come from my mouth. With a single jerky nod and an expression of resignation, she stood, waiting.

Without another word spoken between us, she helped me until I could stand upright once again and let me lean on her. I knew my weight had to be putting a toll on her. I could sense she was tired and hungry. There was also something else wrong with her I hadn’t noticed until that moment. There was a tightness to her eyes, a strain that told of more than just weariness. It made me wonder what it was. Whatshewas. The High General was an incubus. Could the daughter that resembled him so closely be of the same breed?

It hit me then. My mate was a succubus.

My jaw clenched from more than just the effort of moving. As a succubus, she would need to feed regularly with sex. How many males had she welcomed into her body? How many had she seduced with her pheromones? I’d never had a chance to be with a female before being caged, but the mate I was given likely had more lovers than all the years I’d been imprisoned.

As we made our way closer to the rocky distance, my ire grew. I’d already hated her on sight, but now I was cursing her very existence. I never intended to mate with her to begin with, and her breed of demon just strengthened that resolve. I would leave the she-demon behind as soon as I was able to gain my strength. She said she could take me to my brothers, but I needed to get as far away from her as possible. I’d get the location from her, and when I left to find my brothers, she would be nothing but a distant memory. Only her act of assisting my escape kept me from planning her death.

Chapter

Seven

SASHA

The moment I spotted the cave and stepped inside the dark space, the male tore himself away from me, allowing himself to collapse onto the dirty stone floor. It was just as well, I thought with a frown. I needed to ensure the place was safe and free from any lurking predators. I ignored the instinct to check on him; instead, I pulled the satchel from around my shoulder and set it down. Then, I removed my leather jacket and dropped it carefully onto the dirty cave floor.

As first impressions went, it wasn’t bad. The opening was large enough to walk in without too much trouble and was partially shielded by an outcropping of rocks that looked as if they had fallen from a landslide or some such ages ago. The space just inside wasn’t overly large, but it would hold two adults who weren’t exactly friends.

One thing I hadn’t spotted was any evidence that something had been living in it for quite some time. Other than a small pile of bones in the corner, there was no fresh excrement or footsteps in the thin layer of dirt covering the ground. I wandered overtoward a space in the back wall, just visible in the dim light that made it through the entrance.

That gap in the wall was wide enough to walk through, though I did have to duck my head for the couple of paces it took to get inside. The next room was dark but lit by some bioluminescent plant life that I had never seen before. It took my breath away as I took in the sheer beauty of the space. The plants lined the walls like ivy, crawling from the floor to the ceiling, covering at least half the surface. I immediately longed to add them to my collection back home but knew they likely wouldn’t live. Even if they did, they wouldn’t thrive the way they were in their current environment. It took me a long moment of staring wide eyed at how pretty it was to finally notice the humidity in the room.

I scanned the space a second time and then a third before I finally realized that there was a small pool of water toward the back wall. The room was twice as large as the first one, and even though there was a soft glow due to the plants, the water looked inky black in the darkness, making it hard to see. I took in a deep inhale, searching for the scent of sulfur, but all I smelled was the musty scent of dirt and the gentle fragrance of the greenery.

I walked over to the pool of water, a bubble of excitement filling me at the sheer luck of finding fresh water in the Underworld. In most cases, any gathered water would be more sulfuric acid from the underground rivers that gave the realm its undeniable stench. The rivers often bubbled up into small springs similar to the hot springs found on Earth. Only, instead of taking a nice, hot soak in what could sometimes be full of healing minerals, if you took a dip in one in the Underworld, you’d lose the flesh from your bones.

Fresh pools, such as the one in front of me, were rare and usually caused by runoff of the very occasional rainwater filtered through the rocks. That was why so much of the plant life in therealm was so dangerous. It had developed a carnivorous appetite in order to get the nutrients and fluids they needed to survive.

I crouched down in front of the pool of still water, wondering how safe it could possibly be. Even if the water was fresh enough to drink, there was no telling how deep it went or worse—if anything was living inside the depths. I could be sure that if a creature lurked under the surface, it wouldn’t be friendly.

Just as I reached out a hand to test the temperature and maybe a little taste, Max trilled from behind me in excitement before running past me to take a flying leap into the pool. All I could do was watch in horror as he flailed around in what probably was a form of swimming, though it looked more like he was having a case of the wiggles.

As I watched, my terror for the fate of my new friend slowly changed into hope. Nothing jumped up to swallow him whole, and he definitely wasn’t screaming in pain from having his fur melted away by acid. I reached out again and allowed my fingertips to brush along the surface of the cool water. It wasn’t ice cold, for which I knew I was going to be grateful for later. I scooped up a handful, bringing it to my lips and sipping.

Humans on Earth had to worry about horrors like parasites and other nasty things from the water out in the wild, but that wasn’t a fear demons had. Our healing abilities would destroy any parasites before we could be affected by them. If we did get infected, it would be so short lived that we would probably never even notice. I thought of the male in the other room. He wasn’t healing the way he should have, which made me think that it probably wasn’t a good idea to give him any of the pool water yet. Not until I hunted something that would provide enough nourishment to kick in his natural abilities.

Taking one last long look at the small pool, I stood to my feet. I was jealous of Max and would love to take a nice long soak in the water, but there were more important things to be done atthe moment. There would be time enough to rinse the sweat and grime off of me after I fed the starving demon brother.

I didn’t see any other openings hidden under the trailing vines, but it was fine. The cave was temporary, only to give us shelter while the male healed and to wait out the soldiers who had no doubt noticed the breakout.

I ducked back under the passageway and back out into the first room. My eyes had adjusted to the darkness of the pool room so I could clearly see what I hadn’t before down in the dungeon, even with the dim light of the torch.

The male was huge, just like his brothers. But he was in a very sorry state. His long black hair hung in stringy clumps around his face and the back of his neck as he sat hunched over against the rock wall. He was also extremely dirty. My gut twisted when I considered how much of the dark streaks on him was actually his own blood. The only clothing he wore was a pair of trousers that looked to be as old as I was. They were barely hanging on by the seams and were so threadbare that a hard flex of his thigh muscles would probably cause the material to disintegrate. I swallowed back the groan that wanted to erupt at the thought.

Fuck. My need for nourishment that had nothing to do with food was beginning to make me ravenous. I was more starved than I realized. Either that or the close proximity to my mate was making my situation a hundred times worse than it would be otherwise. I shuddered as a wave of heat washed over me, settling low in my belly, and then bit my lip in shame. The male hated me, and I couldn’t blame him one bit. The last thing I should even be thinking about was helping those pants along in their demise so I could have unfettered access to what I hoped was a massive cock. My vagina may have never experienced a cock inside it, but it knew what it wanted.

I squeezed my eyes shut at the intrusive thoughts, shaking my head for good measure. I strode quickly over to my jacket and swiftly put it back on and zipped it up.

“I’m going to hunt for food. I don’t know how long I’ll be gone.” I opened my satchel and removed the remaining flowers that were definitely not looking as fresh as they had been. Soon, the petals would turn gray before crumbling to dust. The beelennya flowers were only good for several hours after being cut. I placed the flowers next to his leg. “You know, this communicating thing would work better if we shared names.” I knew he still had one of my blades with him, but I pulled another one out of my jacket, pretending I forgot he’d stolen one already. “I get why you don’t want to share, but my name is Sasha.”

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