Claimed by the Demon prince

Chapter three Exiled

Lucille Pov

“Any last words before I let you go?” His voice was almost gentle. Like he was offering me kindness.

I lifted my eyes to him. I didn’t try to hide my fear.”

“Please.” My voice didn’t sound like mine. “Please don’t harm my sister. That’s all I ask.”

He smirked. That was the answer. That was all I was going to get.

I turned my head and looked, one last time, at the pack square. At the torches. At the long shadow of the great hall behind them. This was where I grew up with my mother, walking through these fields on summer evenings. This was where my father had lifted me onto his shoulders to watch the harvest moon. This was the home they had left to me when they died, and I had loved it. I loved every inch of it.

And the one person I had chosen to trust with it had cut me open in front of all of them.

I got to my feet.

It took longer than it should have. My knees were stiff from the stone, and my head still rang where Marcus had struck me.

Nobody moved to help me. Nobody met my eyes.

On the other side of the square, two warriors were dragging Keisha away. Her head hung forward. She was still unconscious. I hoped, with a kind of selfish prayer, that she would stay that way until I was gone.

I turned toward the gate.The first step hurt.the bond I had with this people and this place, pulled tighter with each step I took.

By the time I reached the gate, I couldn’t breathe right.

I walked through anyway.

The wasteland began about a mile beyond the last sentry post. It was the place called the goddess-forgotten place, the land between the lands. It wasn’t human territory. It wasn't vampire territory either. Nothing claimed it because nothing wanted it. The trees here grew sideways. The ground was the colour of old ash. Even the air smelled wrong, like something had died a long time ago and nobody had ever come to bury it.

I didn’t know how long I walked.

The sun went somewhere behind the clouds. My feet started to bleed somewhere along the way. I had not been given shoes. I had not been given a coat. I had not been given anything at all except the thin dress I had been wearing when Marcus hit me, and the wind out here had teeth.

I stumbled. I caught myself on the trunk of one of the sideways trees. I thought I was going to die when I heard the sound of paws moving towards me.

For a second I just stood there with my hand on the bark, listening. They’ve come to save me, maybe he had a change of mind.

Then I heard a voice.

“She couldn’t have gone far. Let’s kill her quickly and get out of this wasteland.” He coughed twice, covering his nose. “It’s making my wolf very uncomfortable.”

I heard a wolf-warrior’s voice. It was Lucien who stood watch outside my door when I was sick last winter. Now he was here to kill me.

I ran.

There was a ridge of stones to my left, half-buried in dead grass, I threw myself behind it and pressed my back to the rock, clapping a hand over my mouth to keep my breathing quiet. My wolf was furious, a low growl built behind my teeth that I had to swallow down.

They came closer.

They had shifted to two legs by the time they spoke again. I could tell by the way the gravel moved under them.

“Is it really alright, though?” Lucien said. “Killing our Luna.I keep thinking … “

“She isn’t our Luna anymore.” A second voice said“You heard the alpha. You saw the footage. She almost sold every one of us. Your mate. Your pup. Me. Him. Everyone.”

“I know. I know, I just … “

“And anyway.” The older voice dropped, turning mischievous. “Marcus said we could have a little fun with her first. Before we finish it. It isn’t every day a man gets to put his hands on a Luna, eh?”

They laughed loudly, agreeing with each other.

“Come on. She went west. Look at the prints.”

They moved off.

I waited until I couldn’t hear them anymore. Then I waited longer. Then I ran east.

I don’t know how far I got.

I ran until my lungs were a torn rag in my chest, until the taste of blood was thick in my mouth, until I couldn’t feel my feet anymore. He sent them to kill me, I kept thinking. He exiled me and then he sent them anyway. He couldn’t even let me go.

I heard them again. It seemed they hadn't gone west at all.

They were faster than me, catching up quickly. Of course they were faster than me. I was barefoot ,pregnant and bleeding, to make it worse they were warriors.

Hands closed on the back of my dress.

I went down hard. I groaned in pain as I felt stone under my hip and cheek. There was a heavy weight on my back.

Someone laughed above me, obviously pleased with himself, before pulling my hair up to see my face.

“There you are, Luna.”

I closed my eyes.

I am sorry, I thought. To my sister. To the small new life under my heart. To my mother and my father, wherever they are now. I am sorry. I am so sorry.

I closed my eyes waiting for certain death, when I heard the sharp intake of breath, the rush of wind. It felt like my back was on fire from the scorching heat.

The hand left my hair.

Something wet hit the stone in front of me. I opened my eyes, to see a head was on the ground a foot from my face. It still wore the expression it had been wearing a second ago. Pleased. Laughing expression.

I didn’t scream. I don’t think I could. I was exhausted. The pregnancy was draining for a wolf. My body couldn't keep up with all the events from the day.

Behind me, very quickly, Lucien died too. I felt our connection cut off completely.

I felt something move by my side, probably coming to kill me too.

The last thing I remember before the darkness swallowed me was the clean and cold smell. Like flowers buried in ice, like snow on metal.

Then the dark took me.