Seven Devils and a RosePre-Order Seven Devils and a RoseApple BooksGoogle PlayAmazon (coming soon)Chapter 5The Magic of the Aurora LightI gasped in fright and found that I couldn’t move anymore, as exhausted as I was. Suddenly, he caught my arm and roughly pulled me to him. I whimpered and said softly, as I had no more strength left in me, “Please let me go.”He forcefully cupped my small chin in a large hand and tilted my face up.From where I was, I couldn’t make out what the man looked like. This was because it was dark, and even though there was moon and aurora light behind him, he was shrouded in the shadow. I didn’t miss the glinting of a sort of hard material on his face, however. Was it a mask?But it looked as though it only covered the top half and slightly lower left side of his face, revealing the lines of his aquiline nose, firm mouth, and hard jawline. I also saw a hint of a smirk on those lips as he stared at me intensely, which unsurprisingly, gave me an overwhelming urge to want to smack him.I felt not only scared and uncomfortable in front of this barbaric man who was obviously scrutinizing me in such an open way, but I was also pissed off.I struggled in his grasp and demanded that he let me go. Miraculous as it may seem under the circumstances, he did let me go and I found myself stumbling back. I was relieved, thinking that I was free, but then...Then I felt a hard, masculine body behind me. In a mere moment, strong arms wrapped around my middle and I was being lifted like a sack of potatoes.I kicked and screamed. “Let me go! Let me go! What are you doing? This isn’t a joke, treating and scaring me like this.” Tears were brewing in my eyes and rolling down my cheeks.Then I found myself being turned upright and dumped on one of the enormous creatures that had been chasing after me.A loud growl came out of the animal’s mouth and I froze. It sounded like a lion!My heart racing, I stared wide-eyed in both awe and fright. There, staring right back me with its head turned, were a pair of dark eyes, a large snout, and a growling mouth with fangs. Oh, my lord! I was sitting on a lion.Suddenly, I felt a strong gust of breeze and realized that the creature was the one creating it. Glancing along its lean, muscular torso, I saw wings.A winged-lion!The creature gave out another loud growl, which made me jolt and become even more petrified. Was it going to eat me?The man who had dumped me on the winged-lion touched and stroked the creature’s head, caressing its mane as if to soothe and tell it to settle down. As if by magic, the winged-lion purred like a damned cat.The man chuckled, as if it was the most natural thing in the world under the circumstance. Yes, he and his team mates had chased me down and captured me, and now, he was petting this predator of a lion like a pet cat?Tears were rolling down my cheeks as I stared at the darned man in front of me. Under the dim moonlight, I noticed that he, too, had a half-mask on, like his friend, covering the top half and slightly lower right side of his face, only showing the tip of his fine nose, sensual mouth, and strong jawline. Again, I saw a hint of a smirk playing about those lips, and it only riled me up even more.What the hell was wrong with these men?Why were they smirking when I was obviously in distress? And why were they after me?The man came close and wrapped his large, strong hand around the back of my head, his fingers gripping onto my short hair. He chuckled and then said, “You’re a lively one, aren’t you?” He moved even closer so that I could feel the warmth of his breath on my skin when he next spoke, “Don’t scream so loudly again or you’ll wake up the dead.”I gasped and then hiccupped in response to his threat."Promise to not scream again?" he asked, the timbre of his voice deep.I simply continued to stare at him through teary eyes. He seemed to assume that I had agreed with him not to scream because he said, “Good boy. Now, behave yourself if you don’t want to be tortured.”I gasped and then hiccupped again; a habit I had when I had reached my limit in fright.In my mind, I thought about the torture and my imminent death. I shivered and shook my head, trying not to think about my bleak future.He chuckled, seemed to be amused at my reactions.“Are you scared, little elf?” he asked.I nodded my head furiously. “Please don’t torture me,” I squeaked out timidly. “Please don’t kill me. I promise to behave.”The man loosened his grip on my head and, oddly enough, his touch became gentle, which surprised me. He said, "You're an adorable one, aren't you?”I didn't know how to respond to this. I mean, his comment sounded a little strange considering the circumstances. I was his captive, wasn't I? So, why was he saying that I was adorable? Words people used when they see cute kids or pets?I unconsciously licked my lower lip because it felt dry. Instantly, I felt his gaze fly there to my flesh, and strangely enough, I felt hot under his ardent stare.My body tense, I said, “If I’m adorable, that means you won’t hurt me, right? Because people don’t usually torture adorable beings.”Suddenly, the man burst out laughing, which confused me. He grabbed my face, his fingers and thumb cupping my chin, and drew me so close that our noses were nearly touching.Oh, Lord, but I had never been this close to anyone before in my life, except for my parents when I gave them pecks on the cheeks. And this barbaric example of a man?He drew me in so closely that we could be kissing.I shook my head from side to side at the same time I pushed my hands against his brick-like massive chest so that he'd let me go, because I didn’t like his proximity. The man, however, had herculean strength, and I felt powerless against him despite my best effort.His breath warm against my skin, he said, "Do all elves smells this good?" He cocked his head to one side. "Even your breath smells like mint.”I blinked. What the fucking hell?I was dreading the thought of him and his colleague torturing and killing me, and all he could think about was that I smelled nice and that my breath smelled like mint? But of course, you brute, I had only brushed my teeth with minty flavored toothpaste and I had also just had a good shower and a bath, washing my body with top quality cleansing gel. Then, of course, you all just happened to show up in your very barbaric way, like in a fantasy book, chasing after me like I was an escaped prisoner, and turning my world upside down.Because he pissed me off and I just couldn’t help myself, since the opportunity was right there, promising me a good retribution, I made my move.I leaned in, opened my mouth and took a nip at his unguarded lower lip, my teeth sinking into his flesh. There, I thought, that’ll teach you.But the man didn’t even flinch at my attack. He simply stood there as if in shocked surprise.I tried to bite harder, to at least get a little reaction from him but then...Then I felt the hard grip of his hand behind my head, and I knew that my time was up.I released his lip and tried to move back, but he wouldn’t let me. He held me in that position with an iron-like grip, and I knew that I was in deep shit.Panic hit me like the huge wave of a tsunami and my heart raced as my body tensed. Oh, God, he was going to hit me, wasn’t he?The man made his move. He slammed his lips against mine and he...Oh. My. Fucking. Lord.He was kissing me. Hard out!His lips firm and warm against mine.I freaked out and shook my head, begging to be let go. The man, however, wouldn’t and even forced my mouth to open for him.I whimpered in my throat, and the moment he managed to goad my lips to weakly part for him, he plunged his tongue in like a starved beast, and explored my virgin mouth with a wild passion that terrified me witless. At the same time, however, his ardent, demanding kiss also stirred something hot and aching deep within me, and I felt more than a little dazed.“Felix!” a loud voice came our way, the tone dark. “Enough fooling around with the boy.”The brute named Felix refused to listen to his moody-sounding friend, and his kiss became even more wild, his tongue demanding as it stroked and caressed my inexperienced one.I groaned and whimpered softly. “Ngh...”Oh, God!What was this man doing? I couldn’t breathe anymore. And my body felt like it was on fire.“Felix!” The voice came again, louder this time, more urgent and demanding.Only then did this Felix man terminate the kiss and pull back. By then, I was completely breathless and out of sorts; so much that I couldn’t even sit up straight on the winged-lion on my own. I felt as though the man had just sucked the life out of me.Weak, I found myself falling forward, and the man who had arrogantly stolen my first proper kiss caught me in his arms.With my face resting against his hard chest, I could hear the loud beating of his heart.“You’re a bit weak, aren’t you, little elf?” Felix asked.I didn’t miss the amused tone in his smooth voice either. Not only was he not affected by the kiss, but now he was looking down on me, too?Despite that I was very exhausted and dazed from that damned kiss, I removed myself from the man, to inform him nonverbally that I was not that weak. It was merely a kiss, after all, and I shouldn’t be affected that much, especially when it was with him. I wanted to further give him a good scolding but couldn't find the strength to open my now very sore after-kissedmouth to speak.Moving closer, Felix wrapped his hands around my small waist and turned me around so that I sat straddling the winged-lion. That was when the other man, Felix’s colleague, appeared along my line of sight.Sitting there, I could feel the man’s dark gaze hot on me. Then, because I couldn’t help myself and had gained a little of my strength back, I demanded, “Who are you people and why are you doing this to me? I swear I’m going to call the police and throw you all in jail.” Both men stood silent, staring at me as if I was a loon. By this point, of course, I myself wondered if was a loon, because nothing that had happened so far made any sense. At least not to me.First, I found myself in another realm. Then I was being chased for no reason. Only moments ago, I was being brutally kissed by this man named Felix, and now? Now, what next?Ignoring my demanding questions, Felix roughly pulled my hands together, which drew my attention to him. I saw that he was tying them with a rope. Shit!I retaliated by struggling, and even managed a few kicks against his chest to tell him that this was sonot on. Instead of getting angry with me, he laughed. I got even more pissed and slammed my bare foot against his chest, hard. He caught my slender ankle, stopping me in my tracks. When I tried to pull my foot back, he refused to let go. He even went further, so as to rub his thumb along the sole of my foot, which caused my body to quivered warmly.He asked, as if perplexed, “Do elves have such tiny, soft feet?”I had no idea how to respond to that, since I wasn’t an elf.“Hmm...” He cocked his head to one side. “Your foot is a little wounded.”Of course, they were wounded. I had been running in the woods bare foot, after all.“Where are your boots?”I was flabbergasted. What could I tell him? That I happened to cross over between two worlds while I had been bathing? Then, when I walked out of the pool, I found all my things had disappeared? Including a pair of flip-flops?“I’ve lost them,” I said.“That won’t do.” He tsked in disapproval, as if I were a child who didn’t know how to dress right, and was always losing her shoes here and there.The moody man, who was still watching us, suddenly marched up and effortlessly hopped on the lion’s back behind me, which surprised me into shocked stillness. He then wrapped one iron-like arm around my middle and the other around my wrists. Meanwhile, both his steel-like thighs clamped mine against the side of the lion so that I couldn’t move an inch.“Tie the little brat up, Felix,” he said darkly, his voice rough and deep near my ear. “We don’t have time for this nonsense.”This nonsense?I turned my head to give him a good scowl, to tell him that I wasn’t happy at the way he was treating me. The moment I did so, however, I regretted it as he was watching me, his gaze intense on my face. And God, his masked-face was so close.I felt my throat go dry suddenly, and I licked my lower lip in reaction. Feeling rather uncomfortable, and more so, intimidated, I hastily looked away, my heart racing.Meanwhile, Felix let go of my foot. He quickly and expertly bound me around the wrists. Once that was done, the one behind me finally released me and got off the lion.“Let’s go,” he said sternly, and immediately, the men around us started marching back the way they had come, wherever that was.* * *NEXT SUNDAY - CHAPTER 6: TWO SINFULLY HANDSOME DEVILSPre-Order Seven Devils and a RoseApple BooksGoogle PlayAmazon (coming soon)