Unleashed (Guardians of Anubis - Book 1)

3 Chapter 1

Three days later, Kemet Kingdom – the black Land.

 Zaya paced the length of her room for the umpteenth time. Impatience clawed her insides. Energy thrummed within her, leaving her skin sensitive and her body half aroused. She’s been in this state ever since she’d heard him in her mind. A dark overwhelming presence in her dreams called out to her with yearning and pure lust.

Hearing his insistent and sensuous voice in her mind had done something to her.  

She couldn’t sit still. And hunting for demons who’d lead her to Duat to find her brother was the only way she could channel the energy. The hunt helped her focus, and not think about his dark compelling presence. For when she did think about him, desire so deep churned within her, and it terrified her.

She’d practically been a wall flower before he called her name. She’d been content to let life happen all around her without her engaging in it, because it was safer to do so.

And people you love didn’t lose their very lives because of you, a small voice whispered. Zaya shook her head as Sai, her brother’s face and his mate Saphrina came to mind. Tears filled her eyes, and she fought to push them back.   

Zaya swallowed the guilt that suddenly squeezed her throat.

Don’t think about them Zaya, she admonished herself, not yet, not yet.

Her mind shifted, but the only thing that came to mind was him – her mysterious dark man.  

Fear coated her insides. The fear she felt was a palpable entity that drove her to do things she never thought she could do. An anxious feeling crawled up her spine. Zaya moved to the heavy wooden door, and turned the round knob. It didn’t budge. She was short of putting her shoulder to it, but remembered how thick it was. Turning to her room, she couldn’t help growling in frustration. The soft glowing lights and frilly décor she’d loved a few months ago were starting to irritate her. Because her perfect room was turning into a prison! She shouted in her mind pacing to the opposite wall again.

This can’t be happening to me. Not now. Not when I’ve gotten so close to finding my brother, and managed to keep whoever was calling me out of my mind. Even though she denied him, Zaya could still feel the repercussions of her rejection. His desire to have her was ramped up. He tried every night to get back into her dreams. She could sense him scratching at the walls that kept him out. And Zaya could feel his deep desire, his desperation even through the barrier. He was coming for her, she could feel it. And all her efforts of finding her brother will all be for nothing.

 Zaya’s mind whirled to the things she’d had to do to even get a whiff of the demons in the City. Even though it had taken her twice the time it would have taken a full blooded guardian, and had doubted herself along the way. She had done it. She had found them. She wasn’t the weakling she’d come to think of herself lately.  

“Mondune can’t keep me locked up in here,” Zaya muttered to herself. “I’m still the princess of Kemet. He can’t just order me around. I still have some authority!”

 Somehow her declaration felt like a lie, more so because it was met with silence. Nila, her best friend, didn’t even look up from her many gadgets.

The doubt that lived within her like a cancer crept up. Zaya bit her lip. Something she did when she lost confidence in herself. For a moment she was overcome by emotions. Then she growled marching to the door again.

“No.” she put her shoulder to the thick wooden door, and felt the pain of the impact radiate down her arm.

She’d been meek all her life, living like a shrinking violet and not the guardian princess she was meant to be. But not anymore, his voice has awakened her. Zaya didn’t know how, she just knew. She felt a lot stronger now.

 She’d let things fall apart for far too long.

 Zaya’s eyes drifted to her bedroom window. Beyond the towering black shielding walls lay her kingdom. The land lay quiet and barren. The fields were empty and desolate. Her kingdom was dying and she was running out of time. She had to do something soon. She had been on the cusp of doing just that when Mondune, her brother’s second in command, locked her up here like a child. She was no child. She was one hundred and eleven years old, and she knew what she was doing. Now, it was going to be hard to locate the demon harem again. It had taken months of sniffing around Brown City and coming up with nothing, until yesterday. All that time spent mingling with humans, and pretending to be like them was for nothing. Luwako demons didn’t keep their harems in one place for too long – they had to hide their enslaved human concubines and moving around was the only way.

Zaya growled and resumed her pacing again.

“Stop that. You’re wearing the carpet out,” Nila said. She turned over onto her back on the bed, her iPad pro in hand. As the guardian’s record-keeper she was never without it. “You know it’s for your own good.”

Zaya turned to Nila in exasperation. Was no one concerned about the condition of Kemet or the fact that her brother the king was the only one who could restore it to its past glory? Only a king could rule and command the guardians. And Kemet had none. There wasn’t much to Kemet after the tragedy that had forced her brother to follow his mate to Duat. The guardians were scattered, heeding the call of their inner jackal to roam, because they were leaderless. And the only thing that could bring them to heel and force them to return was the howling call of their king.

Zaya knew she had to find her brother, Sai, before it was too late.       

Before the High Council stepped in and took over Kemet.

 Zaya nibbled her lower lip in thought. Things were getting worse by the day.

Kemet’s connection with the other kingdoms had waned to nothing, leading to their subsequent economic decline. In literal terms Kemet was like a sanctioned country. And the high council had silently watched it fall apart for a hundred years. They had kept quiet because of the job Mondune was doing in trying to maintain the balance. Even that wasn’t enough. Zaya knew they will not give her more time. To ask for more would be to test their patience, especially with humans found ravaged with their hearts gouged out every second day in Brown, the city the guardians of Kemet protected. They won’t ignore it any longer. She had to find her brother soon.

Before…Zaya felt her insides squeeze in fear tinged with excitement she tried very hard to deny…before he found her. He was dominant and overwhelming. If she could feel his dominance in her dreams what will he be like when he was in her reality? Zaya stifled the moan that was taking form in her throat from that simple thought.