Archaic (Reverse Harem 2)

“You will address this Council with the reverence it deserves.”

“You’re about to kill an innocent Primal who had no hand in the fate she was dealt. I’ll address you for the monsters you are,” I say.

“Who said anything about killing you?” the man asks.

I furrow my brow as my eyes dart around the room.

“The prophecy is clear,” a low voice rumbles.

I turn my head to take in the massive man seated all the way at the end. He stands, towering over the others, with his tanned skin and his beady black eyes and his thickened muscles.

Bear.

I know he’s a bear.

“What prophecy?” I ask.

“The one that states a female has been born who will save the fate of the Primals,” he says. “If the prophecy is true, you are no use to us dead.”

“I’m also not a breeding ground for your young,” I say.

“Yet that is your purpose, is it not?” the man in the middle asks. “Project Eden was torturous, at best. But the reason we shut it down was because it wasn’t working. Innocent human females were dying in droves because the experiment didn’t work.”

“You and your friends have been on quite a journey,” another one says. “I have to say, being the last of my kind and a male who hasn’t mated in centuries, the idea of being able to save my species is appealing.”

“I thought the Council was opposed to any and all testing that happened without the Council’s approval,” I say.

“Until Hiro here delivered you despite us being told you were dead. Now, why would your friends go to so much trouble to protect you? Hm?” the man asks.

My eyes drift over to a figure in the corner, and I can see those slender yellow eyes. Beady and luminescent. Wreaking of Cat-like secrecy.

Hiro.

Something is wrong. I don’t like the look in his eye and every hair threatening to sprout from my skin is coursing with electricity. A sensation that fills me with dread and caution.

Two emotions that put me on high-alert.

“I don’t know. Maybe I’m just that pretty,” I say.

“Or maybe,” another man says, “your purpose is possible.”

I turn my head slowly to the long, languid man on the far end of the Council. His eyes are fiery, and his nostrils are flaring. I can feel the heat of his body radiating even from where I am standing.

“Dragon,” he says.

“Asking questions can become dangerous,” the man in the middle says. “But not if you ask the right ones. Your friend Sebastian did that, but it also put you on our radar. Tell me, have you found the answers you seek?”

I can feel my veins trembling underneath my skin. I curl my lips into my mouth to keep my sharpened teeth from being seen. The energy is mounting. Trickling through the muscles of my body as they flex against my bonds. My vision is pounding, and every single sound around me is amplified tenfold.

I can no longer contain it.

One of these men ordered the slaughter of my husband.

The shackles around my ankles break and fall to the floor. A gasp ricochets around the room as the claws of my feet emerge. The pads underneath my feet grip to the floor as I arch my back and roar out into the room. My teeth are so long they no longer fit in my mouth, and my eyes are flicking through every color on the spectrum. The bonds around my wrists shatter, and I can feel the guards attempting to pierce me with their spears.

But the tips break off and the wood splinters.

I land on all fours, feeling every single hair emerging from my body. My clothes lie in tatters next to me, and all I can see are the men of that Council. Sitting there, debating on whether to forcibly mate me or kill me on the spot and be rid of the black mark of their past.