My captor didn't speak to me as we floated through the air. I tried to keep track of where our bubble went, but the thing swayed to and fro like it was zig-zagging through the plains. But we weren't heading north as I'd assumed, and we weren't heading south either. Instead, we were heading West?
I couldn't take it any longer. "Who are you?" I demanded.
He glanced over his shoulder at me, his long blonde hair flowing behind him like a banner. "Luna, there will be time for niceties later. We are together forever after all."
"You're not my mate," I growled at him. My wolf added her growl to the mix as well. There was no way we would just agree to what this man said. "You smell like a demon."
He twisted around again and the bubble we were in dipped low, its bottom almost skimming the trees. Squirrels looked up at me and scolded me with their little chattering voices before scampering to safety. He proceeded to sniff the end of his hair and frowned. "I see. I apologize about that. The last one happened to be the Luna of the demon kindgom I'm afraid."
The last one? My wolf was on full alert, but something was off. Ares didn't stalk our mind like he had before. There was almost some barrier there preventing him from coming to us. I wanted to reach out and try to break it, but something held me back.
The bubble lifted again until we were high in the air and the treetops were little green lines zipping below us. "If you don't give me answers, I'll rip this bubble apart and send us both to our deaths."
He chuckled. "Aren," he answered with a curve to his lips. "You are going to be a feisty one, aren't you, Amanda?"
I flung myself at the bubble, but the material didn't even budge. It was like running into sludge and I dropped to the bubble's floor. He knew my name, and he'd done something to the Luna of the demons. My mate's wolf was locked away from me, and I had no idea where I was. "Why would a wizard want a Luna?" Aren, or at least that's what I supposed his name was, sighed. "You really will be annoying. I like it better when they scream or attack me. The ones that question are the real troublemakers."
A chill ran through me. I needed to be careful. This man radiated extreme danger.
"No need to look so upset, Amanda. We'll get you settled soon enough and we will be happily bonded for all time. Unlike those fake mates of yours, we'll be together forever." He held his hands up to the sky and closed his eyes. "As the Goddess wills it."
"We need to get out of here, now," my wolf hissed at me. "There's nothing fake about our bonds. Don't believe him."
"Like I ever planned to. But in case you haven't noticed, it's pretty hard to escape when we're floating in the air. We'll have to try to make a run for it when we land." I was worried if we were ever going to land at this point. We had to be miles away.
"He's not going to find you," Aren offered with a smirk. "No one has ever been able to take a Luna away from me."
I didn't like how he kept making comments similar to my line of thoughts. How dangerous was this man? "No one else is like Zale."
Aren shrugged. "Believe what you will. I'll have to think of a good one for you. It took me a while for the one I rescued from the demons. I don't think it should take that long for you."
"Good one?" I questioned him with my brows furrowing. The hair on the back of my neck rose. This man set off so many red flags. My mates were much safer with their savage ways than this one man was. "A name," he replied without even glancing my way. "There is no way we can let you keep your current one. Amanda? That's not nearly special enough for the woman who will be one of my Lunas. Isabella perhaps?" he suggested.
"You're not renaming me," I hissed at him.
"You'll learn to obey. Alessa. I like that one, it starts with the same letter mine does."
The bubble descended little by little and we slowed down where I could make out things on the ground again. A towering castle pierced the sky with giant spires that stretched into the sky and greeted us.
"Look, Alessa. We've made it home." He looked back over his shoulder at the direction we came from. "Your fake mates will never find you here, and if you ever try to leave this property, I'm afraid the others in the order will have to hunt you down and bring you back to me. Hopefully in one piece. They're not as civilized as I am. They can be rather rough."
I filed away as much of the information he'd given me as I could. I didn't believe that Zale couldn't find me. No matter what, there would be a way, he'd find it. He'd said that nothing would keep him away from me. My bigger worry was what kind of punishment he'd dole out when he did catch me. I still needed to run away to try to keep him safe.
The Goddess wasn't one to be denied. Maybe I could find someone in this huge area to help me and together we could escape. "What happened to the demon Luna?" I demanded. "You just grab us and kill us?"
"Kill you?" Aren grabbed his chest. "Why would I ever want to do that to you? You are my mate, Alessa. And don't worry, in time I'll make it so you forget the hell you've been through. Come, we've arrived at dinner time. You'll get a chance to meet your new sisters."
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