Mated (The Queen's War #1)

Chapter 19

"Perci." Iknaya's gentle shake on her shoulder woke her from the nap she'd fallen into after only a few hours of being stuck in the safe room.

Slowly, she woke all the way up and noticed the thick woollen blanket that had been pulled over her. Iknaya was crouched beside her with a face full of worry and her sword angled towards the door.

"What is it?" She murmured sleepily, sitting up.

"Something's going on." Her words caused the sleepiness to dissipate entirely and it was only then that she heard the distant crashes and yells.

"We're safe here right?" She asked, heart beating fast.

"We should be, but I need to go and assess the danger."

Before Perci could retort, another loud crash, this one sounding closer made her mouth dry up. Iknaya stood and edged towards the door and once she'd silently unbolted and turned the handle, she looked back to gesture for Perci to be silent. She merely nodded in agreement, too freaked out to do anything else. In the next breath, Iknaya slipped out of the room and shut the door behind her.

For the next few minutes, Perci paced the small room and eyed the door. The crashing had continued and the yells were getting louder, almost desperate. Finally, just when her imagination had started to spiral, the door to the room slammed open and Iknaya burst in with torn clothes and bloody gashes down her front.

"Quick! Run!"

Without hesitation, she sprinted out of the room and out into the large sunlit hallway. Iknaya was badly limping, but she didn't let that stop her. Together they moved towards the next set of doors that would lead them further into the residence, but her knees buckled when an unholy roar shook the windows. Perci spun around despite Iknaya's pleading warnings and gaped at the sight that greeted her.

Just inside the doors at the other end of the long hallway, her soulmate was being wrestled to the ground by at least five extremely large demons. Three of which were Zagan, Valefar and Abaddon. With them being Commanders she expected them to be able to hold Lucan down, but they, along with the other two, were struggling to keep him from ripping them apart.

"Lucan?" Her voice came out strangled, her eyes no doubt wide enough to pop right out of her head.

At the sound of her voice, all movement stopped and her mate's eyes focused on her with a hunger that definitely didn't stop at sexual. His entire demon form was pulsing and his fiery veins were clearly visible even from where she stood. Taking a step forward, hoping she could calm him, she halted when he let out a truly inhuman roar.

"Perci, run!" Iknaya screamed as she launched herself towards the rabble of demons in an effort to contain Lucan, but at the same time her mate let out an explosion of power that sent everyone on him catapulting in different directions

She watched terrified for long enough to see Iknaya catapulted out of the window beside Lucan's raging form before she followed the perfectly good advice and ran. She managed to get all the way to the next set of doors before a large shadow loomed over her and she was spun around and rammed up against them. Fear and exhilaration made her demon form erupt as Lucan's wings stabbed into the wood either side of her head to keep him grounded. Her mate was not in a good way. His face was a mask of rage and there seemed to be no rational intellect in his eyes.

"Lucan?" She whispered, becoming frightened.

Suddenly, his clawed hands reached for her clothes and quickly shredded them. Before she could even muster up the strength to try and push him away, razor sharp teeth embedded in her neck and she let out a blood-curdling scream. In the next second, three sets of hands yanked Lucan away from her and she fell to the ground in a bloodied heap. Uncaring of her nudity, she pressed herself into a ball against the door and held pressure against the wound, all the while staring at the struggling demons holding down their King.