The Demon Princess and Her Powerful Alpha

Hearts and Horns

    Ardenti

    I appeared back in my chamber exactly where I aimed. In all the years I lived I never felt my powers so weak before. The energy had been tied up somewhere within me, beyond my reach. They still bubbled inside me, but pulling them forward was impossible with him nearby. 

    I panted, unsure I ever needed to do such a thing. My demonic lungs never tired. They didn't require the delicately balanced air humans did. I was almost, afraid? I couldn't bear to be impotent. The wolf who possessed my thoughts surely hadn't been. Valerian, his name ran through my mind with a shiver. 

    Standing in front of the mirror, I scrutinized myself intensely. The view remained the same as I remembered. The visage I donned for thousands of years stared back at me. I couldn't help but touch my face and the smooth surface to be certain no illusion, or trick of the light played in the glass. The moment that devil forsaken wolf called me his mate, I wanted to laugh. 

    I figured, so much time passed since I slept with something corporeal, other than a demon, why not give him a go. He stood in front of me, naked and gorgeous, the ultimate temptation. His deep brown curls appeared almost boyish. The innocence warred with the most beautifully masculine face I could dream of. Hard planes dominated him and not just his physique. His sculpted cheeks and jaw matched. My tongue would tingle as I ran it through the stubble covering his chin. What a pity I didn't seize the chance. 

    His body epitomized power and strength. His tall and muscled form was well proportioned, not excessive. He wouldn't be hulking in a fight. He had been built for speed and strength. His eyes were a soft new green, like buds on a tree in spring. They held a certain innocence that enthralled me. 

    I never thought of spring fondly before. The changing of the seasons struck me as an inconvenience rather than something beautiful. I never considered innocence a virtue until now. His lips were pouting pillows. They looked so soft and inviting. They sat out of place on a man so hard and strong. The absurd taste of them flooded my memory. 

    My heart raced at the thought of him and the scent swirling off his skin. He was the polar opposite of anything existing in my realm. The thought made me writhe against myself seeking blessed friction. Touching him invigorated me more than anything I remembered. There was no hatred, rage, boredom, or any of the other basic reactions I had grown accustomed to. It exceeded the mild amusement and physical release I normally found in another. I didn't have the words to describe the blooming in my chest. It lived, like something other than myself. 

    I dug my sharpened nails into the skin over the treacherous organ, hoping to dig the growing thing out of me. Drops welled around the edges, red, human blood. I never bled before. My eyes shot back to the mirror and staring back at me were two cerulean blue eyes with only the barest flecks of purple floating beneath the surface. What was happening to me? 

* 

Valerian

    I took a long time getting back to the pack house after she'd gone. My wolf and I waited and wandered looking for hours. I strained as hard as possible, trying to catch her scent or sense her through our bond. I wasn't sure how it worked between wolves and demons. No record existed of a pair like us. I assumed the utter lack of her, meant she returned to Hell. Still, I couldn't bring myself to leave until I had searched every inch of the forest. 

    I dragged my feet up to the sprawling manor in a daze. The Moon's Gate pack was sizable and well-equipped. Most of our members lived in the pack house itself. Some resided in houses along the property. We still made our home on our ancestral land. Under the full moon, the Goddess herself, had crafted the first of us at the Lunar Gates. The responsibility to protect them from attack was omnipresent. Attacks seldom if ever happened, but the duty was ours nonetheless. 

    "VALERIAN!" My beta screamed beside me. My eyes traced him with irritation, pulled free from my daze. 

    "Why are you screaming at me, Caden?" My alpha tone slipped into my voice unconsciously. I shook myself. I was worse off than id imagined. 

    His eyes widened at me. "Oh, I don't know Ian, maybe because I've been walking next to you talking for the last mile and you just now noticed me?" 

    "Huh" I mumbled, the best I could, given the current situation. 

    "Huh? What do you mean, huh?" He stepped in front of me blocking my path. His exasperation would have been comical if I were capable of finding humor in anything at that moment. "What happened to you, man? You don't look so good" 

    "I found my mate." The words tumbled from my mouth of their own accord. My admission stunned him into silence. I took the opportunity to step around him. His mind caught up as he fell back into stride at my flank. 

    "Ian, that's amazing. It's been so long. I mean, well..." I was twenty-five, well past the age when most wolves discovered their other half, and ancient for an alpha. My assumption that the moon goddess either skipped me when selecting mates or she died as a child proved incorrect. The true reason I had not found her could hardly be believed. "She didn't reject you, did she?" A newly mated wolf walking home alone in a daze usually didn't spell “happy ending”. 

    "No, thank the Goddess." I dragged my feet along. 

    "Well, where is she?" His tone sounded good-natured as always. The kindness and loyalty he always displayed made him an excellent beta. His mate and his pups could count themselves lucky to have a wolf like him. His face fell as I didn't answer. "Valerian" He stepped in front of me again. "Where is she?" 

    I dragged in a deep breath "Hell." 

    "What are you talking about? Do you mean she's dead as we suspected? How do you know? How would any mate of yours wind up in hell?" I tried to walk past him again, but he reached out and grabbed my shoulders to stop me. I attempted to shake him off, but the love and concern emanated from him. We'd been raised as pups together and his insistence in knowing only came from his concern for me. 

    "She's not dead." I choked out. I never had anything near a breakdown. Being so close to my mate, kissing her, knowing the sensation of her body against mine, and watching her disappear again proved to be too much even for me. 

    Caden stared into my eyes trying to dig out if denial drove me forward. I pulled his hands off me, unable to stand another's touch. "She's a demon." I spit. His shock stilled him. I pushed around him and made my way to my bedroom. I needed a shower. 

    "A demon?" He whispered from behind me. 

    "Half anyway." I said more to myself than to him.