Chapter 3

“He's extremely handsome, isn’t he?” a raspy female voice said into Sophia's ear, making her shiver. She could only nod in response, her voice having vanished. All of her senses seemed to be in complete overload.

“His body is hard and desirable. He can make you scream from pleasure you never imagined that you could feel,” the voice continued as the hand caressed her throat in a way that caused a deepening mix of fear and pleasure in Sophia.

Suddenly, she felt as if she couldn't breathe as the mysterious hand grabbed hold of her throat and squeezed tightly before it spun her around. Sophia gasped, her heart pounding in fear as she realized the hand and the presence were simply gone.

She wildly looked around her before her eyes settled on High Queen Theanna standing several feet from her, a dark look on her face. She was flanked by the large guards that'd protected her on the dance floor. These same guards were now smirking evilly at her.

Theanna slowly approached Sophia as her eyes glowed red and her face wore a dangerous look that frightened Sophia to her very core. Sophia watched at she closed her eyes and inhaled deeply before saying, “Mmmmm, you're new to Los Angeles. I wonder what Lord Filtairn would think if I told him a female cub, not of his clan, was roaming around LA and hitting on MY mate?” she purred as she caressed her cheek with a single finger tipped with a sharp black stiletto nail that almost looked like an elegant claw. “Shall we call him and see?” she asked as her nail tapped on her cheek.

Sophia gasped. The Daemoni Prince smirking as he watched her, she looked back at Theanna once again as she quickly explained, “I’m so sorry! I didn’t realize he was your mate... please... please forgive me.” Her eyes went back and forth between them in desperation.

“Next time, cub, be more observant,” Damian stated as Theanna left her and joined him on the couch. As she curled up next to him, her arm wrapped possessively around his shoulders as she proceeded to smile wickedly at Sophia.

Damian smiled lovingly at his mate as he added, “Look for mate marks or rings. You don’t want to upset the wrong person... especially someone like my wife, the High Queen of the Dark Realms.”

“I don’t share!” Theanna stated, her warning evident as her eyes once again flashed red.

“Yes... of course! I’m so sorry,” Sophia stumbled before making her escape, almost in tears. She quickly headed back to a laughing Ajax and a horrified looking Avalina. Glaring at Ajax, Sophia snarled, “You could've told me!”

“I told you he wasn’t available!” Ajax laughed as he wiped his eyes. “You didn’t listen. That’s Damian Prince, mate and husband to Theanna. When I say he’s taken, he’s really taken! Besides, the High Queen is here and you don’t think the Daemoni Prince sitting in the VIP area is with her? In a city like Los Angeles, you have to use better common sense than that. Many of the Mythics around this city would have responded with deadlier actions.”

“I’m so mortified! She said she was going to call Filtairn... oh man! Lina, what if what I did ruins everything?” Sophia exclaimed with tears in her eyes.

“Let me go talk to her and smooth it over. You didn’t see horns on her head, did you?” Ajax asked, deciding to show the visitors some mercy.

“No... but her eyes were glowing red... why?”

“I’ll explain later,” Ajax smiled as he left the bar and headed to the VIP area, a round of drinks in his hands. He found Theanna curled up close to Damian, both wearing smiles. “Did you really threaten to call Filtairn?”

Thea smiled as she nodded. “She had to learn a very important lesson, not to go after unavailable men!”

“She’s cute, but she’s not my Zoqa. She never had a chance just with that simple fact,” Damian smiled as he placed a kiss on Thea's temple.

“Well, she’s freaking out so I’m over here making it like I’m smoothing things over,” Ajax smiled wickedly.

“You’re so nice to do that. Hey, while you’re here, can you get us some food? I’m starved!”

“Already on its way, Kira ordered it. Should be here soon.”

“Awesome!”

“By the way, did I hear the gossip right? Glen and Danyael are an item?”

“They are indeed. Glen actually seems to be taming Danni much to everyone’s surprise,” Thea smiled. Glen Kim maintained her homes on Earth as well as Danyael's home now that they were together. Danyael was a succubus Daemoni from Damian's Realm, Ikisat. Both were very special to her and she couldn't be happier that they'd found happiness with each other.

“Especially mine!” Damian added with a shake of his head. “In all the millennia that I've known Danyael I didn't think anything or anyone would be able to calm him down. Glen is one of a kind of person to be able to do that.”

“Well, if it makes them both happy then more power to them.”

“Absolutely! Well, tell the cub I won’t call Filtairn yet, but my Dnirya is off limits,” Thea smiled.

“I will,” Ajax smiled.

As he walked off, Damian asked in Daemoni, “Is she the one for him?”

“Her sister, sitting at the bar with her,” Thea responded as she took a drink. “But that cub is important, I can feel it. There's something different about her.”

As Ajax approached Sophia and Avalina they asked in unison, “So?”

“Per Thea, she won’t call and complain to Filtairn yet, but stay away from her man.”

“I can do that. Do you really think she won’t call him?” Sophia asked as she glanced over at Thea and Damian who were deep in conversation with each other as Kira joined them.

“As long as you don’t mess with Damian you're good.”

“How long have they been together?” Lina asked as she watched them. The love between them was obvious even from where they were sitting.

“They were betrothed before Thea was born, started seeing each other as a couple when she turned eighteen and were fully mated not long before she was made High Queen of the Dark Realms after she defeated her evil grandmother, Innara. They're madly in love with each other and you almost never see one without the other.

I asked about her horns because if she's truly angry her Daemoni horns will appear. Then it’s much harder to smooth things over because if Thea is upset then so is Damian and every Daemoni that works at Mythos, so things can escalate quickly. Not a single Daemoni here wants her even mildly irritated. They're all extremely loyal to her. So if you piss her off, you piss them off and that, my beautiful ladies, is something truly scary to see.”

“What about when her eyes glow red?” Sophia asked with a shiver.

”Consider it a warning. Thea is VERY powerful!”

“I remember when she became High Queen. Everyone was talking about it for weeks. Our clan leader said no one saw it coming. Is it true that the only being more powerful than Theanna in the Dark Realms is Lord Lucifer himself?” Lina asked as she watched Thea and Kira laughing.

“Some say that she may even be more powerful than him thanks to Lord Chaos. Lucifer is her grandfather and he placed her on the throne so he didn’t have to rule. Damian is by far the most powerful of all of the Daemoni Princes and is known to be extremely cunning and smart. With him by her side she’s done an incredible job ruling. Even the realm infighting has calmed dramatically. The Daemoni issues D Corp regularly handled have calmed rather dramatically.”

“I heard she's a powerful ally for all Lycans and that many of the clans have sworn loyalty to her,” Sophia mentioned.

“That's true. Before she was ever Queen, she saved my life,” Ajax added with a smile. “She found me at my lowest point and helped me to get myself straightened out. She then introduced me to Liam and the rest is history as they say. She has one of the kindest, most generous hearts I've ever known.”

“So, I just potentially pissed off the one person I shouldn’t have... great. I feel like a total idiot now,” Sophia groaned as she dropped her face into her hands.

“Just learn from it and you’ll be fine. Thea is very forgiving... she'd be the first to tell you she's made more than her fair share of mistakes. I’d say the only way to make an enemy out of her is to go after Damian or one of her friends. If you learn from your mistake, she'll act like it never happened.”

“I’m surprised someone of her position would be hanging out at Mythos, with such lowly Mythics,” Avalina mused.

“That’s just the way she is. She loves it here and Liam, my boss, is the closest thing she has to an older brother. Just because she's become a Queen, she wouldn't even think of changing who she’s at heart or stop coming to the places she loves. Her heart and how she views Mythics is why loyalty to her is off the charts and not just from the Daemoni. Our whole clan is very loyal to her as is D Corp and several other Mythic groups. That much loyalty secures her position.”

“That makes sense. Now while we wait for Filtairn's lieutenant, do you think we can get something to eat?” Lina asked as her stomach growled.

Ajax couldn't help but chuckle. “That's definitely something I can help with. Liam makes some killer beef tip sandwiches.”

“That sounds fantastic. One for each of us.”

“You got it, beautiful,” Ajax flirted. Avalina was absolutely gorgeous with dark, wine colored hair that was pulled back into a braid and matched her wine-colored eyes. His inner wolf even enjoyed her company, pushing him to be closer to her. As he entered their food order into the computer he watched her out of the corner of his eye. There was definitely something going on with them and instinct told him it was something important