Huffing and puffing through her small mouth, Leah tried to piece her mind together bit by bit. She knew that those three of them were her mates; she had known it from the day they first came to catch her. She had tried to escape them, but it was like the damned fate was determined to drag her down and make her entangled with those men. Leah could still feel those warm hands that were holding her and the warmth that seared through her clothes and branded her skin. That warmth alone was enough to—
Leah closed her eyes. Shit. shit. Shit. She knew that this was no time for her to have thoughts full of arousal. If she allowed her beast to take over her body, then the scent alone would be enough to attract the attention of those men. After all, the scent of the female regina was like an aphrodisiac that could make even the sanest man go insane.
Her beast knew that as long as they imprinted on their mates, they would be able to enrich their powers even further. But it would be a mistake. A stupid, stupid mistake that Leah knew that she could never allow to happen.
What should we do now? Keep hiding? That won't be possible. Her brain was a mess, and all of her four feet were aching with a throbbing pain that made her whine. Suddenly, a kind of darkness started to surround her, and Leah had to clamp her mouth shut to stop the scream that was about to escape her lips. She knew these willowy smoke clouds. Even with her eyes closed, she knew that it was Xavier. How could she be so stupid? How could she stay in the shadows when she knew that one of her mates could control the shadows?
Cursing her foolish self, Leah made a split-second decision and leapt out from under the car. She could feel her feet whining in distress. Her breath was on fire as she tried to make a run for it. Her feet were crying for rest, begging for mercy and yet she continued to torment her poor battered feet for all they were worth. Neither men nor the dragon could be seen anywhere as she made her way toward the city.
But as she slid past the square of the city, she realised that she was fucked for good. Like really, really good. Because there were a bunch of police vans coming after her. Police vans. To think that the humans were willing to join hands with shifters just because of her. If not for the pathetic situation she was in at the moment, Leah would have found the entire scenario laughable, but there was nothing laughable about the current situation. She, who had done nothing but try to fight for her own happiness, was being treated as a fugitive. Someone who had done some great wrongs as if she were capable of that.
And yet there was no denying the fact that the man died when she was with him in the room, and curse her for being unlucky enough to be at the wrong place and at the wrong time. Just as her stomach was dropping in a pit somewhere, a place where she was sure she was not going to find it, a voice echoed through the air, cutting the entire space like a jagged knife and almost opening another dimension.
"Don't touch her! She is mine!"
Frantically, she looked up and found Rafael Solace standing like a grim reaper on top of a building. She gulped when she realised that he was actually holding a tranquiliser gun. A gun to suppress her. Fuck her life. What was the point of coming down here, dressed in a three-piece suit and carrying a gun? Was sending three of his best hunters not enough?
He had his jaw clenched as he looked down at her, like he was looking at a puny little ant whom he could squash any second, and who was she kidding? If he wanted, he could crush her at that very second. His well-groomed hair was styled neatly, and he looked like an eagle looking down at its prey. Leah was so stunned by his beauty that she forgot to notice one teeny tiny detail, and that was that his eyes were shooting lasers. If eyes could kill, she would be dead at that very second.
This man did not like her, and his beast was no different. He probably wanted to kill her because she had been causing a lot of trouble these past few days. He was a sucker for rules, and in all honesty, she was not his favourite kind of student.
"You still have time to surrender, Miss King." His voice boomed again, and all Leah could think was how this man was doing it, how he was making his voice resonate in the air as if he were speaking into a microphone even when he did not have one.
However, Leah did not want to. Even if these men were after her, she knew that her destiny did not lie with them.
She had to stay away from them; only then would she be able to get the freedom that she wanted.
Of course, the result of not listening came almost at once. There was a loud bang behind her, followed by a mad cackle. "I told you all we should have tied her from the beginning!"
The next second, Leah felt something engulf her. The force of the thing was so impactful that it made her intestines almost squeeze until she could no longer feel anything other than the excruciating pain that was shooting through her limbs. It was so intense that it almost made her heart stop. The thing swallowed her whole, closing around her body and immediately rendering all of her powers useless.
The electric net made her screech and shriek as she tried to break free but Leah knew that there was no way out of this hell. No fucking way out.