Page 2 of Dark Prince's Mate

This is what I wanted.This is what I set out to do from the moment I arrived on Zerra and doubly so when I found out that my presence could be dangerous for this strange, beautiful world.So why do I feel so down, so disturbingly… forlorn at the thought of putting distance between me and Aruan?Sure, we had sex.But it wasn’t like we made love.It was more like “let’s rip each other’s clothes off and just get it over with.”

No, that’s not true.Aruan did take his time with foreplay.I can’t fault him for that.He ensured my pleasure, even if the act was painful at first.He’d vowed that I’d enjoy it, and although I have to admit so begrudgingly, he kept his promise.

An involuntary sigh falls from my lips.

A certain something, a feeling I can’t place, is growing inside me, and it’s not a pleasant sensation.I feel as if I’m out of sync with myself, as if I’m somewhere I’m not supposed to be.It’s as if I’m… incomplete.Yet at the same time, I feel good in my own skin.This weird power that has taken over my mind has settled inside me with the ease of something that has always belonged there.But there’s also something amiss.With the distance from Aruan, the pull toward him is stronger.Which is stupid.And silly.And doesn’t make sense.Especially seeing how he treated me.He even told me our mating wasn’t complete, so there’s no reason for me to feel so dejected.

No, it’s better like this.

I’m not pining for a man I slept with once.I’m just a bit out of sorts, seeing that it was my first time.Besides, Aruan’s power is far too dangerous, and he’s demonstrated on multiple occasions how easily he loses control of it when he thinks the safety of his mate—a.k.a.me—is at stake.I can’t shake the memory of those strange scrolls and their prophecy, the warning that a powerful prince will destroy Zerra because of his mate.

Aruan is certainly powerful.The man can set off a nuclear explosion, for crying out loud.And he is a prince.

Yeah.I’m not superstitious or into prophecies, but I’m not willing to take that risk.It’s better for everyone that I left—for Aruan, who was clearly disappointed with our sex, for me, and for Zerra.

I made the right decision.I’m sure of it.Yet when I push onto my elbows with newfound determination, the heaviness doesn’t lift from my chest, and the illogical sense of loss only worsens when I get to my feet and command Betty with my mind.

“Let’s go, girl.”

Betty lifts her head and shakes out her feather tuft.I climb onto her back and hold on tightly to her neck, knowing the take-off is going to be bumpy.

She leaps into the air with a powerful thrust of her legs, spreads her wings, and takes off over the water.Once we’re high enough, she picks up speed.

I try to enjoy the wind in my hair and the incredible feeling of freedom I experienced earlier, but I fail to rekindle those thrilling sensations.There’s a heavy stone in my stomach, my chest tight with a peculiar sadness.

Wiggling my shoulders as if I could physically dispel those feelings, I focus on the landscape instead.

A black lake stretches out to the left.My pulse jumps.I recognize that gray, windswept shore.That was where the Phaelix almost loaded me on their slave boat.

A shiver of repulsion runs over me.

They brought me here, so they must know how to create a portal to send me back to Earth.My poor parents must be worried sick about me.I don’t even want to think about what’s going through their minds.They must expect the worst.Their only child—a dying child—disappeared from the hospital where they’d left her.A cult could’ve kidnapped me to use me as a demonic sacrifice.A shady organization that supplies dead bodies for people wanting to fake their own deaths could’ve stolen me.Maybe Mom and Dad have started preparations for a funeral, but they won’t even have that closure if they don’t have a body.

I can just imagine them grieving while looking for me everywhere.Knowing them, they would employ private investigators.Mom would make posters and put them up on lamp posts.She would post on social media and on all her local app groups.Dad would be driving the streets around the hospital, showing everyone a photo of me and asking if they’ve seen the woman in the picture.In my mind’s eye, I see him sitting hunched over his steering wheel and squinting in the darkness as he searches for me until late in the night.

My chest clenches painfully.

“I’m coming, Mom and Dad,” I whisper.“I’m so sorry.”

The water seems to go on forever.The sky is even paler here, almost white.With the flat, black surface reflecting the washed-out light, it’s a bleak portrait.

Just when I’m about to give up hope of ever seeing land again, the opposite shore appears in the distance.Humongous palm trees fringe the narrow beach.Beyond the trees, a jungle stretches to an indigo mountain, and there, at the foot of a hill, a thin ribbon of smoke curls into the air.

My heart jolts.

Fire.

That means there’s life.

I steer Betty that way.As we circle over the hilltop, I suck in a breath.A village of crude wooden houses on stilts stands in a clearing, their scrawny thatch roofs like cone beacons in the midst of the jungle.Meat skewered onto sticks is roasting over a fire in the center of the space.The smell of barbecued chicken reaches my nostrils, reminding me of the meal my kidnappers fed me after abducting me.

Five Phaelix sit around the fire, poking at the coals with sticks.They look up when Betty crosses the clearing, their bulging eyes narrowed.Jumping to their feet, they speak excitedly in their guttural language, but I have no idea what they’re saying.They can’t see me because they’re looking directly up.All that should be visible to them is the underside of Betty’s belly.

One of them bends down and picks up a long stick with a spiked end.He holds it in the air, ready to launch it, but we’re too high for Betty to get hit.

Okay, so I need some kind of leverage or bribe to convince these dudes to portal me back to Earth.I have to think about that.

Just as I’m about to fly us out of here, I spot movement on one of the decks of the stilted houses.The door opens, and a Phaelix with a basket in his arms steps out.Another with a spiked stick exits.He turns back toward the door and shouts in an angry tone while waving at the clearing with his stick and slicing his hand through the air as if he’s telling someone to hurry up.

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