Hive Queen by Sinclair, Grayson (ereader iphone .TXT) 📗

"Well, I'm afraid you've little choice in the matter. She's going with you, much as you find the idea distasteful," Magnus said.

An understatement to be sure, but I was tired of arguing a point that I wasn't going to win, so I resigned myself to the fact that I'd be working with Raven and put the matter out of my mind—or I tried to, but Magnus's next words left me speechless.

"In order to have her accompany you, she will need to be bonded to you."

What! I withdrew from Raven on principle, away from the insanity. "Hell no."

Magnus didn't seem thrilled by the idea either, but I was livid. No way in hell was I going to let yet another person bind themselves to me. Especially a shifter.

I'd accepted being bonded with Eris, accepted being her mate. I'd grown to love her, and for the most part, it’d been wonderful. However, I wasn't okay with binding my soul together with someone I'd just met just for the sake of a job.

"I'm afraid it's necessary."

"Why?" I shouted. "Why do I even need her along in the first place? Give me one benefit to bringing her with me."

Magnus stood from his throne and walked down the steps to stand beside me. "It'll be faster to show you. Let's step back, shall we?"

I didn't follow him mentally, but I did so physically, stepping about six or seven feet back and waiting for something to happen.

"If you would show him?" Magnus asked.

She bowed her head, her blooded eyes in pain as a ruffling of feathers rose from out of nowhere. Two large wings sprouted from her back like the wings of an angel, or a demon, nearly a dozen feet long and as black as Aliria's heart. Hundreds of feathers rained to the stone as she swept her wings in front of her and over her head. The feathers floated down lazily and completely obscured her from my sight. When the last feather touched the floor, Raven was gone, replaced by her namesake.

Standing before me was a monstrous black raven, easily fifteen feet long and terrifying. Raven stared at me with sharp, blood-red eyes that held a startling intellect.

She snapped her beak at me; it was as black as her feathers and caused me to jump back out of reflex.

"Holy…big bird!" I shouted and stumbled over my feet.

Magnus and Aliria snickered at my expense, while Raven stepped forward. Sunlight dripped down her glossy feathers as she walked next to one of the stained-glass windows. As she got closer, I noticed the massive talons capped at the end of her legs.

By the nine kings of hell, that's huge! I didn't think shifters could grow to that size. Seeing Raven shift also clarified her purpose in all this.

"I'm not riding a horse to Aldrust, am I?"

Magnus flashed a devious smile at me. "Nope."

Well, shit. Though, as I gazed at Raven’s admittedly majestic form, my heart fluttered at the prospect of flying. For all the fantastical elements of the game world, flying still eluded most of us. Well, it’ll be a new experience at least.

It overwrote my prejudices about partnering with a shifter just enough that I got lost in my daydream of flight and didn't notice as Magnus walked up next to me, grabbed my wrist, and drew a thin dagger across it.

"Son of a bitch!" I hissed as blood welled to snake down my hand. My health bar dipped by a fraction to register the damage I'd taken. "What the hell, Magnus?"

He didn't answer, just held my bloody arm out to the giant bird, and true fear crawled up from the pit of my subconscious as I stared into Raven’s eyes; they sparked as she shifted back to her human form. Raven shook herself and let her feathers fall out once more. When they'd disappeared, Raven the human stood and walked over to us.

She scrunched up her face at the sight of my blood, but and after some prodding from Magnus, placed my bleeding wrist to her mouth and bit down.

I sucked in a breath and fought back a grimace. Raven downed several large mouthfuls of blood before licking her tongue over my flesh. With a look of disgust, she wiped the specks of my blood from her lips and held out her wrist to Magnus.

The Aspect, though silent, made its desire known. It hungered for her blood, and its chill pulsed faster in my veins. My mouth salivated without my consent at the thought of biting into her flesh. I had to squeeze my eyes hard and will the Aspect back into my heart before I lost control and did something I’d regret.

There was no way I could let Magnus spill her blood. The Aspect was too strong already. And it wanted blood. Giving it what it wanted was something that seemed like a demonstrably bad idea.

The blade was halfway to her wrist when I stopped him.

"Stop!" I shouted, trying to keep from having to ingest her blood.

I don’t like the idea of bonding with her, but if it has to happen. I refuse for it to be by consuming her blood. I don’t want to experience her memories in the Mnemosyne. I didn't want to see the kind of life she'd led.

But more than that, I didn’t want to give the bastard in my heart an inch.

Though the only other option available to me left a sickening feeling in my stomach. It's better than drinking her blood, but ye gods, I don't want to do it.

Magnus looked at me with a quizzical expression, the knife hanging in mid-air. "Duran, why am I stopping? This has to be done."

"Why? Why can't she just go with me? Why do I have to bind myself to her?"

Magnus stowed the knife