JAYCE
The maze was darker than I expected.
The hedges rose above me like green walls, blocking out most of the moonlight. Only thin silver beams broke through the gaps, casting strange shadows on the stone path beneath my feet.
I stood still. I listened.
Footsteps. Soft. Quick. Scrambling.
She was running.
Help her, Jaden said inside my head. Our mate is scared. She is running in the dark. She does not know where she is going. Help her.
No.
No? What do you mean, no?
I mean no. I am not going to help her. I am going to tease her.
Jaden growled. That is cruel.
That is fun.
Not for her.
Not for her yet. But she will learn to enjoy it.
What if she gets hurt? What if she falls? What if a snake bites her?
I almost laughed out loud. A snake? In this maze?
Snakes live everywhere. They hide in hedges. They wait for prey. What if one bites our mate? What if she dies before we even get to claim her?
Then I will kill that snake, I said simply. I will find it and skin it alive. I will hang its scales from my belt as a warning to every other snake in the kingdom.
That is dark.
That is love.
You do not know what love is.
I know that no one touches my princess. Not snakes. Not wolves. Not even my own brothers.
Jaden was quiet for a moment. Then: You called her your princess.
She is my mate. That makes her a princess.
You are soft.
I am not soft.
You are soft for her.
I did not argue. Because he was right.
I moved through the maze slowly, letting my footsteps echo off the hedges. I wanted her to hear me. I wanted her to know I was coming.
Every few seconds, I heard her. A gasp. A stumble. A sharp intake of breath.
She turned a corner. I turned the same corner. She looked back and saw me standing at the end of the path.
Her eyes went wide.
She ran faster.
I smiled.
She is terrified, Jaden observed.
I know.
You enjoy this too much.
I know that too.
I followed her through the twisting paths. Left. Right. Left again. She was not paying attention to where she was going. She was just running. Panicking. Making mistake after mistake.
She turned into a dead end.
The hedges blocked her on three sides. There was no way out except the way she had come.
And I was standing there.
She pressed herself against the hedge. Her chest heaved. Her eyes were wide and wet. Her white dress was torn at the shoulder. Her dark hair stuck to her face.
"Please," she whispered.
I stepped closer.
"You ran from us," I said. "That was not very nice, bunny."
She did not answer. She just stared at me with those big brown eyes.
I stepped closer.
My hand reached out. I cupped her face. Her skin was warm. Soft. She flinched but did not pull away.
I kissed her forehead.
"You should not have run."
I kissed her nose.
"You should not have hidden."
I kissed her lips.
Soft at first. Just a brush. A taste. Then harder. More demanding. I pushed her against the hedge and kissed her like I meant it.
She did not resist.
Her hands hung at her sides. Her body trembled against mine. But she did not push me away. She did not turn her face. She just stood there and let me kiss her.
Jaden purred inside my head. Yes. This is good. This is right.
I slid my hands into her hair. It was softer than I imagined. Thick. Dark. It wrapped around my fingers like silk.
I pulled back and looked at her.
"You belong to us now," I said. "Stop running."
She did not answer.
I kissed her neck. Her skin tasted like honey. Like summer. Like everything I had been missing my whole life.
I trailed my lips down to her collarbone.
She shivered.
I smiled against her skin.
"Do you want me to punish you?" I murmured.
"No," she whispered. Her voice was barely a sound.
"Do you want me to make you walk half naked in a parade? In front of everyone? In front of my father? In front of the other slaves?"
"No."
"Then why did you run? Why did you hide? Why did you make me chase you through this stupid maze when I could be sleeping?"
She did not answer.
I pulled back and looked at her face. Tears were sliding down her cheeks.
My chest tightened.
She is crying, Jaden said.
I can see that.
Make her stop.
I am trying.
You are making it worse.
I am not making it worse. I am asserting dominance.
She does not need dominance. She needs comfort.
I stared at her. At the tears. At the way her lip trembled.
Something inside me shifted.
I reached up and wiped her tears with my thumb.
"Do not cry," I said softly. "I am not going to hurt you."
She looked at me like she did not believe me.
"I am not," I repeated. "I am going to tease you. I am going to chase you. I am going to drive you crazy. But I am not going to hurt you."
"Then why do you look at me like that?" she asked. Her voice cracked.
"Like what?"
"Like you want to eat me."
I laughed. "Because I do want to eat you, bunny. Just not in the way you think."
Before she could respond, I heard wings.
Darlington. Finnian.
They were close.
I stepped back from Samantha. My hands left her face. My body left her warmth.
"They want their turn," I said.
Her eyes widened. "Turn?"
"Do not run again." My voice was harder now. Colder. I needed to leave before I changed my mind. "I will not be as gentle next time."
I stepped back into the shadows.
Samantha stood alone in the dead end, her hand touching her lips, her tears still wet on her cheeks.
I watched her for a moment from the darkness.
Then I turned and disappeared into the maze.