He may somewhat look human in appearance, but there was nothing human about this male. Tessa felt his muscles tense beneath her, and they were so massive, so pronounced, that she knew it would take nothing but a flick of his wrist and he could break her in two.
He pushed open the large door, and as soon as the fresh air hit them, she coughed and gagged from the intense smoke that rose up from the rocky ground like menacing black fingers.
The air wasn’t fresh and crisp as it was on Etera. It smelled slightly sulfuric. The heat was also intense enough that her already sweaty skin became even wetter. He looked down at her, and she was caught in his onyx stare. There was no white of his eyes, just blackness that reminded her of the endless night and had her even more apprehensive as to what this alien had planned for her.
He started to speak in that strange, trance-like language. He had to know she wouldn’t understand him. He grinned, one that had her pulse racing, because she could only imagine what he said that made him that pleased. His teeth were straight and white, but he had elongated incisors—fangs. They had her thinking all kinds of horrifying scenarios where he punctured her flesh over and over again.
She swallowed but didn’t dare move. He lifted his head and scanned from left to right.
Tessa had just become the devil’s concubine.
The demon looked back down at her. A soft sound filtered around them, but soon it became deafening, and then there was a gust of wind that surrounded them. A glance over his arm showed Tessa that he had giant black wings sprouting from his back. They had to span fourteen feet.
He said something else, and then they were airborne. But Tessa didn’t make a sound, just clenched her teeth, closed her eyes, and held on tight.
Because that’s all she could do. Her fate was now in this male’s hands… literally.
3
Rylan glanced down at his female and let his grin spread even wider. She was scared, and rightly so, but she was trying to appear strong. But his senses were far more acute than a mere human’s, and he had no trouble picking up every little emotion that played inside her.
The wind that moved across his body was humid and filled with smoke, and if she had opened her eyes and looked down, she would have been able to make out the rivers of lava and the jagged mountains just a few feet beneath them.
His duster flapped behind him, and he curled his claws deeper into her skin, not breaking the flesh but keeping her close to his body. It was a reminder that any sudden movement could bring her very death, and although he wouldn’t let her fall, this small human needed to know what her place was and that this world did not cater to a weaker, gentler species.
The Tartanaian Mountains came into view—the home he shared with his two brothers. He dipped low, curled his wings more tightly into his body, and turned to the right to clear the narrow mountain opening. He took a left, let his wings spread out their full width, and glided across the thick air the rest of the way.
She made a small noise, and the scent of her fear slammed into him. Her species didn’t hide their emotions very well, and it was as if they shouted what they thought to everyone around. To survive was to be discreet, and it was no surprise that humankind had perished. His kind was a feared species across all of the Stoker Galaxy. But after centuries of power and victory, that reputation had been earned ten times over.
Rylan looked down, saw her eyes tightly closed, and silently commended her for the strength and bravery she displayed. But he also noticed the sweat that covered her body was more pronounced, that her breathing was labored, and he sensed her body temperature rise. He needed to get her inside and to a cooler temperature.
His world was not meant for her species, or any other life that wasn’t of the Hades kind. But Rylan was a male of little emotion, and although he certainly didn’t want to see his female uncomfortable or distressed, he wasn’t about to release her because of it either. This may not be a world she was created for, but this was her home now. Rylan and his brothers would just make their home livable for her, and that is where she would stay.
The opening in the side of the mountain that was his home came into view. Two lakes of molten lava, with flames surrounding it, were thirty feet below. He swooped down, landed on the outcropping, and folded his wings in. They molded to his body before pressing into his skin and disappearing.