Chasing Scarlett: A Breeder Romance

8.The Oracle II

Red eyes flick to mine and the second lifts his head, wiping black blood from his lips. A hint of a smile curves his mouth, and though his fingers are flicking over the woman’s n*****s, I feel them on mine. Pinching, taunting, and a moan slips from my throat. His tongue caresses his blackened fangs, cleaning them, and I’d right about die to let him sink them in my neck.

“Scarlett,” Adeline seems to call me, but her voice is far away, and the music, this beautiful creature is here, beckoning to me. I laugh, gleefully, even if nothing’s funny. I want to dance. I want to run. I want to…scream, and laugh…and…fuck.

Leaving, is the last thing I want. There, in the middle of those deadly, beautiful creatures, is where I want to be. I tell Adeline that, but she begins pulling me in the opposite direction.

“Leave me alone!” I yell, frustrated, and push her.

She flies back, knocking a man over, and the ruckus that ensues gives me enough time to run towards the group, moth to red, angry flames. The second catches me, his hands encircling my waist, and I find myself in their middle, laughing so hard as their hands brush my hair back from my face, my neck. Someone gropes my breasts. I don’t care. I feel beautiful, and sensual. I am one with the music and the pleasure it gives.

“What are you?” Another asks. His breath is hot on my neck and I close my eyes as I whisper, “I am Scarlett. The daughter of Kingsley Montgomery, the don of—”

“Wolf?” a third asks.

Shaking my head, I giggle. “No. I am hu—”

The music ceases suddenly, a hush falling over the hall that snatches my joy, and I frown, wondering what the hell I was about to say. Hands fall away from me and the man whose hands are currently digging into my hips lets me go abruptly, dipping a coin between my bosom. “Come find me when this is over, love.”

My head pounds and I sway, stumbling over what appears to be the body of…I scream. The redhead lies on the floor, unmoving. Her eyes are vacant and her skin is so pale, she looks she has been drained of all blood.

The men chuckle. “Don’t stray too far. We’ll find you after.”

After? I think, panting as I look around. Where’s Adeline? Oh God, did I really push her?

I’m surprised they don’t follow me as I stumble away, stunned and cold with fear. But they aren’t staring at me anymore. No, they’re all looking towards the front of the hall.

Whispers tickle my ears. She’s here, they say. Who, I wish to ask, but my tongue feels too heavy and my body is trembling so hard. I try to retrace my steps to find the water fountain at the center of the hall, where the rest of the maids are. Perhaps, she’s there?

I am halted, however, when a sole voice carries across the hall, silencing us all. It possesses an eerie beauty, devoid of warmth, yet carrying a power that chills my bones and calms my mind, forcing me to listen. I look up, standing on my toes to see who it might be, but I’m too short, and all I can make out is hair of blinding white and eyes to match. Unseeing, yet, I could have sworn they were on me.

Goosebumps erupts across my skin and I feel the urge to shrink myself from her.

“People of Avallen, from every corner of our rich and blessed lands, I stand before you with a heavy heart…”

What ensues is a speech and moment of silence to honor the dead. A moment that seems to stretch for an eternity while my headache worsens and I am forced to stay put so as not to garner attention when I move.

“As the Goddess wills, the power shift remains with the Lycans—” Angry growls erupt all around me and I take that as my cue to continue my search for Adeline, and perhaps, an exit. I’d need to walk a little and reach the top of the stairs to reach the doors. Did I also fail to mention that it’s shut and heavily guarded?

“It was the late king’s wish that neither of his sons inherited the throne unless blessed with an heir,” the oracle continues. “And the Goddess wishes to honor this wish, however, with a different…twist.” I can almost hear the smile in the woman’s voice.

I’m a panting mess when I reach the base of the steps, hot, irritated, angry, confused and on the verge of puking. Just what the hell is the endorphin rush? I feel so sick. Knowing a little air will help, I continue up the stairs and when I reach the top of it, I take one look at the guards and my body grows so cold, I might have as well been iced to the spot. There’s twelve of them. Pale skinned, with eyes so red they shimmer like molten ruby. Something in the core of my being repels them, sending warning signals to my brain to flee. They are nothing like the beautiful creatures I had almost let drink my blood. They are deadly…dead-ish.

But they aren’t looking at me. Their gazes are fixed on the woman speaking, and the skin on the back of my neck prickles, prompting me to look back, towards the dais and the four men seated beside women who could’ve belonged in fairytales themselves.

Jealousy stabs at me, and it’s a useless feeling I want nothing to do with. I begin to turn to the men, to brave it. Face them. Lie that I have been asked to fetch something from outside. But I find that for some odd reason, I can’t move. Not as the Oracle says, “For millennia, the Goddess has let the kings choose the vessels of honor—the women whose wombs cradle the future kings—but no more. Today, before all four races, the Goddess will make her choice known, and only the chosen may carry the next heir.”

I scoff. Now, their Goddess chooses who they get to f**k and have children with. I look at each brother seated proud and tall, and I pity whoever that might be.

A man, silver-haired and mouth-wateringly handsome steps out of the crowd. He looks like an angel. He has…wings. Black, feathery wings. Real, f*****g wings! If fear didn’t have my feet rooted to the floor, I’d have fallen on my ass. Holy…hell. When he speaks, I shudder. “Does this mean whoever sires a child with this…maiden first gets the throne?”

The Oracle c***s her head at an odd angle, as if she was listening to something no one else could hear. “I suppose it can also be interpreted that way, Fionn.”

Wow. The mood in the hall changes. Every man seems to stand straighter, eyeing the women with an expression I understand as desire. If I wasn’t so terrified, I’d laugh. It would seem nearly every man wants to be king. This maiden has to be extra unfortunate if all the men in this hall want to put a baby in her to earn a crown.

They begin to clamor for the maiden’s identity to be revealed, and I turn back to face my own problem. I pick the less sickly guard and force a small, kind smile. The kind I use in board meetings with crazy clients. “I’ve been asked to fetch more…apples in the garden.” God, please. Let there be apples in the gardens.

He says nothing, and slowly, the door begins to creak as he opens it for me.

Yes! f**k, I’ve missed my jacuzzi. And my kitchen. And the chipotle in my fridge awaiting my devouring.

I start towards the door when gasps and screams cut through the air. I turn around and…everyone’s gaze is latched onto something hovering in the air. It darts too fast for my eyes to follow, seemingly searching for someone. The women reach for it, eager to snatch it, but it flies out of their reach. A few feet away and a closer look and I realize it’s a floating crown.

Mon Dieu, can this day get any weirder? This cursed place? I just want to return home and forget this day ever happened.

But fate has other plans because the crown flies for me, and I duck before it can collide with my forehead. It hovers over the red head of the nearest woman and she cries with longing, reaching for it. Her fingers merely brush the tip of it, before it sort of…flies again. Towards me.

My heart slams into my ribcage when it circles above my head, like an halo, burning so bright, it is hard to miss. I watch it, unable to hide my awe and dread, and as I stare at the emerald in the center of it, a feminine voice filled with mirth speaks into my mind. “Human, yet not. My children have broken the treaty. Again. Will you punish them for it?”

“I don’t know what the f**k you’re talking about,” I say to the crown—or the woman. Heavens, I’ve gone mad.

The voice laughs, mocking me. “In exchange for a child, I hand you a kingdom. Do with it what you wish, Scarlett.”

And then, the crown drops on my head, damning me. Everyone stares at me, and I stare back at them, just as confused as they are. What in the name of…

The Oracle’s voice breaks the silence and I swear her white eyes are on me as she announces, “The Goddess’s Vessel has been chosen.”

I yank the crown from my head and hurl it across the hall, hoping it hits the hag in the face, but the thing only circles back like a boomerang, landing in my hands. Kingmaker, it sings to me.

I drop it. In no world should a crown be able to speak. But it does again, just as movement in my peripheral catches my attention. The brothers are no longer seated in place on the dais. They’re running so fast, they could be beams of light. The male—I think, Fionn?—shot up, so close to the ceiling and he’s flying in my direction and I don’t understand what the f**k is happening.

My gaze drops to the crown, fearing blooming in me like a thousand roses. “Please, tell me you can get me out of here somehow? Heavens, this is so crazy. I can’t believe I’m talking to—”

It responds. Think of where you wish to be.

Lorcan is so close to me, I can almost smell the vetiver rolling off him. His hands are stretched to grab my arm and my mind flies, an image of my sitting room forming in the back of my mind.

And suddenly, I am falling.