The Pure-Hearted Princess and the Kiss of Darkness

9. Horrid Events

~ KATALEYA ~

I speed up, breaking into a run, not worrying about the three who run after me. I need to get out of here. As long as I’m alone, I’ll be able to handle them. They’re here for me and that’s all they want.

“Oi! What are you doing?!” Alondra shouts.

I can feel the light being sucked from around us, feel the air becoming heavier and they are oblivious to it.

How did they find me here so quickly? Was it when I used my powers last night?

My eyes blaze pink as I emit a large part of my aura, a beacon to call them to me, drawing them to the powers that they desire.

I’m down the stairs as fast as I can go, my heart thumping when I hear the shuddering rattling of their ragged breath, the air becoming cold.

“She’s a witch!” Gabriela shouts, looking at me as she backs away. “Alpha! Alpha!”

They may not have picked up on it as fast as me, but they’re sensing them now. It’s hard not to when they are this close.

I hear Alondra gasp. The fear in them is only going to make this worse. They feed off it.

I’m about to reply when I see the first one, the tall, stretched shadow that looks like it belongs to a man, but with far longer limbs. Its arms reach past his knees and on the end of his wrists where there should have been hands were knife-like blades, four on each hand.

Shadowed men, or as we have come to know them as, Crawlers, monsters from the other world who feed on power… Two years ago, Sienna began seeing these beings in her nightmares and then, three months ago… we faced them- well me and Theo. We were the first to encounter them, but since then they’ve been popping up everywhere.

They are like nothing we’ve seen before: powerful, extremely fast, deadly… and chillingly intelligent.

It runs at me, and I take a deep breath to calm my nerves.

I need to draw it away! I turn the corner, running down the second flight of stairs. The good thing is, that it’s not hard to protect others because they’ll only go for those with powerful energies.

I can’t hear him anymore. I stop, turning sharply as I look back up the steps. Wait! Did it go after them?!

My heart pounds as I turn, running up the stairs, ripping free from the rope that binds me as I pass the trio, who are on their knees, their bodies trembling. The effect the Crawlers have on ordinary wolves.

My stomach plummets and I freeze; realising who they’ve gone after. Enrique!

His aura is immense too!

I rush past them, hearing the rattling shriek that seems to emit from inside my head, but it’s coming from his office.

I was right!

The thunderous growl that reaches me makes my heart skip a beat. Something shatters, forcing me to shift, not able to hold back and run to the door. A blast of my power slams the door open. I’m instantly hit by icy cold air and something… deathly. That’s how it feels.

Rushing inside, I scan the room, assessing the situation. Seeing Enrique in wolf form, he’s huge, his wolf a deep brown with liquid gold eyes and his power aura radiating off him.

He’s attacking one of the two Crawlers, and I feel myself calm a little. Yet the office isn’t large enough for combat, Enrqiue’s wolf itself is huge, but I can use that to my advantage!

Thank the Goddess he is handling himself perfectly. He’s trained well because even with a missing paw, it does not hold him back and I can’t help but admire him, but there’s no time to do that now. I quickly look around as I growl, drawing one of the Crawlers to turn to me.

The door swings shut, and the room becomes darker, a darkness that even we cannot see through. Blinding our senses… but it’ll hit Enrique worse.

It opens its mouth, letting out a rattling, hoarse roar, and I jerk my head to the left, sending a blinding shield of pink right at it. It hisses, cowering into one of the dark corners of the room as Enrique launches himself at him.

He slashes through him and the shadowed body splits apart, but it simply rejoins again, throwing Enrique back.

To kill a Crawler… is not something we have figured out, but we can vanquish them with enough light.

I run forward and so does the Crawler, ready to attack me, but Enrique snarls, stopping me as he leaps in front of me, almost… defensively.

My heart races in excitement, but now isn’t the time for this!

That moment is all the Crawlers need as they launch themselves at him.

No! You don’t let a Crawler- Ah!

I blast them back before they can even touch him, and he growls warningly at me. Clearly telling me to stay back, I growl back, hoping he understood, but my growl comes out as pitiful as a newborn pup’s.

We both jump back as the Crawlers lunge forward, their sharp hands hacking into the wood floor.

I push past Enrique, but once again he tries to block me, and I step back, snapping my jaws at him.

I know how to deal with them!

But there’s no way I can relay that message to him! Goddess!

I flinch when the Crawler launches itself at him, my eyes widening in horror as I realise he is not planning to attack but to feast.

As fast as I can, I shift to human form,

“Move back!”

But I’m too late, before the words even leave my lips the Crawler has his claws in him, opening his mouth, black sharp teeth can be seen and strings of black string-like slime run from the top teeth to the bottom breaking and stretching as he widens his jaw. It reminds me of stringy cheese but I don't want to think that, because I like cheese so I don't want to ruin that for myself.

This is something that doesn’t bother Enrique and that is the alarm bell that tells me that he indeed does not know the gravity of that move.

This stubborn man!

The intense desire to end this as fast as possible pushes past the fact that he is the Alpha here. I ready myself, focusing on the Crawler who is trying to clutch onto Enrique.Còntens bel0ngs to Nô(v)elDr/a/ma.Org

My aura swirls around me as I pull forth on it, channelling everything positive I can think of and throwing it at the Crawlers.

Blinding pink light fills the room, making the walls tremble from the impact, lighting up every corner of darkness within the room and I see them staggering backwards before they turn and disappear… until another day.

I exhale and drop to my knees.

Owie… That hurt my knee. I’m about to rub it when I freeze, realising I’m naked!

I scream just as Enrique shifts back, his strong-muscled legs and I’m- I’m looking directly at-

I clamp my eyes shut quickly, covering my breasts as I scream again.

“What’s wrong with you?” he asks coldly, his voice a coarse growl and to my utter mortification, he grabs my arm, yanking it away, and pushing my other arm back with his other arm. Forcing my arms away from my shameful boobs as he looks me over! My entire body burns with embarrassment and without thinking, I raise my hand, slapping him across the face.

Silence follows, and my eyes widen in horror, realising what I just did.

I… I… slapped him…

“The fuck…” I hear him mutter.

I scamper behind what’s left of the desk and quickly crawl under it shuddering in humiliation and never have I wanted the ground to swallow me whole as I do now.

“I’m sorry! I need clothes!” I say, feeling my eyes sting.

To my horror, his footsteps near and I quickly close my eyes not wanting to see anything else, but to my dismay, he grabs my arm dragging me out from under the table, his cheek is still a little red from my slap but his eyes are molten gold, fuelled by rage.

“What the hell was that?” he snarls,

“They’re Crawlers, creatures who are deadlier than you think, and you should get checked because it’s only going to get worse,” I say quietly, daring not to look down and hope neither does he.

“I mean, what the hell did you fucking pull?!” he growls, yanking me closer and I shriek, feeling my breasts hit his chest and I think my tummy touched something.

My heart pounds as an odd feeling rushes through me and I pull away, wrapping my arms around my chest once again.

“Please, I need clothes. You can shout at me later.” I say, unable to stop the tears.

His frown softens slightly, as his eyes rake over me before they blaze gold.

I’ve angered him again…

He exhales slowly, looking away before he looks around the office and grabs a jacket that is on the now broken couch on the other side of the room.

“Put it on.” He commands.

I look at it, doubting it’ll fit me, but I still oblige. I need something.

Surprisingly, it falls just past my private area and if I squeeze tight, I can cover most of my breasts. I wrap it around as much as possible before I run to the door. I am not staying here with him when he’s naked!

“I will be in my room. We’ll t-talk when you are dressed!” I call, not daring to look back.

“I’m the fucking Alpha…” I hear him growl, but the door slams shut, cutting him off, and I rush down the hall.

I honestly don’t care if he’s the Alpha. I’m not staying in a room with a naked man!

I reach my room, slamming the door shut behind me before running to the bed and climbing under the sheets, wanting to hide away forever.

I have never felt more embarrassed in my life!

My cheeks burn as the image of his naked, god-like body creeps into my mind and I shake my head. No, no, no, I do not need that naughty image! But… somehow, it’s just not leaving.

Oh, what a shameful person I am.

Bad, Kat!

But before I can cajole myself more, the door slams open and I squeak in panic, the scent tells me that he’s wasted no time and I peek out, staring at the man now wearing light grey sweatpants, not phased by the dark bruises across his arms and perfect chest.

But I’m not distracted for long as I notice the expression to kill on his face as he glares down at me.

Oh Goddess…

He enters the room, slamming the door shut behind him, and I quickly shuffle back on the bed, clutching the bed sheet tightly to my face, but something tells me that it will do nothing to stop the enraged Alpha God standing before me…