The Eternal Flame

Chapter 8

Then, I did something, that I've never don't often. I panicked. I pushed him away and ran my fingers through my hair like crazy, all while pacing and looking at the floor, space, and then him. I possibly looked insane.

"Take it off," I demanded. He blinked at me.

"Luna, you know I can't do that. It's the Gods will. We were meant-"

"No. No, we're not. We are not supposed to be mates!" I screamed at him. He grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me.

"You have to calm down." He told me. I wanted to curse the Gods for this cruel act. Then I thought, maybe this wasn't their fault... Maybe Prince Flame had forced a matting mark onto me like his father did to his mother. Everyone knew that Flame's mother was not the fire king's real mate. When her identical twin sister had died; the king's first wife and true mate. He had forced his mating mark on her sister, forcing her to be is mate until one of them died. It was the cruelest thing someone could do to the unmated. It was why it was banned after this father had done it. And not before, because it was never heard of before. At least that's what we know.

"You forced this thing on me, didn't you?" I said before I could stop myself. He looked shocked at first. Then his hands on my shoulders tightened, and the look on his face was close to pure rage. I looked away, ashamed of saying such a thing. Even though his father had done it, that didn't mean that he did. He moved one hand from my shoulder and grabbed my chin to look at him. His grip was firm but gentle.

"I would never, never force a woman to mate with me. Even if she was my true mate; if she says "no", then that's it. No." He snarled. His eyes turned an almost golden color. It made me squirm under his gaze. Then as we gazed into each other's eyes, the anger in his eyes was mixed with something else. Lust. Before I could stop him, his lips collided with mine. The kiss was fire hot. Burning me in ways I never thought possible. He shoved me against the doors and his hands began to roam my body. And my hands were willingly doing the same. I didn't want this heat to end, this consuming fire that seemed to devour everything about me.

We only broke away for a moment of air before continuing. I knew that this was wrong. A voice inside my head told me to stop. But I wasn't listening to it. All I wanted to do was feel the fire that was consuming me. And it terrified me.

Luna, Techa's in trouble. We need a little help here. Ula sent me through the bond. That snapped me out of my drunken fiery haze. I shoved Prince Flame away again and went back inside. My head was reeling with emotions. Confusion, sadness, lust, pain; but most of all, anger. When I stepped back inside, the club had gone deadly silent. I could feel Kida pushing herself forward against the door of the room I kept her in my mind. And she was pushing hard. I knew what she wanted. Prince Flame. She must have known the moment she laid eyes on him, yet she didn't say anything. I snarled.

As I let my feelings run wild, I could see them making themselves known through my powers. The room temperature began to drop, till you could see white puffs of smoke from each breath. I could see people shivering as the temperature began to drop lower and lower. My sharp eyes scanned the crowd like a predatory. Some flinched, looked away or tried to hide from my gaze. Smart move. But there was one group that seemed to be oblivious to the whole thing. There were at least eleven of them crowed around someone, seven females, and four males.

I knew without Ula telling me that Techa was in the middle of all those people. Looking closer, I noticed that they were all Douthraki, except for my people. I gritted my teeth. If you didn't know anything about the Douthraki culture, or even where their planet was, you'd know this. They were arrogant and looked down on other races because they weren't them. Their women were treated like possessions to be traded and sold. Their children were raised to hate others, and the men...? I snarled, the men made me want to hate them all together. But that was a different story for another time.