Destroyed by Onyx (A Dance with Destiny Book 4) Read Free Page A

physically different, bizarre, akin to madness, feral madness.
    “Alastyn,” she rasped. “I desire you past controlling.” Jenevier ran her fingers into his raven locks and kissed him passionately, fervently. “Something’s wrong,” she whispered as she begrudgingly pulled her lips from his. “Something tastes…” She paused.
    Alastyn watched as her ethereal pink eyes narrowed, a confused look crossing her face.
    “What is it, my love? What are you studying so hard upon?” An unwelcome pit began to form in his stomach. “What did I say that would cause such concern?” He rose, pulling her up with him.
    She only stared at him, shocked. When she opened her mouth to speak, words wouldn’t come. A rumbling growl was the only sound she could manage.
    Fear crept into his heart. He grabbed her shoulders, shaking her. “Jenevier, you’re scaring me. Speak to me, Princess. What’s wrong? What has happened?”
    The music abruptly died away. The laughter ebbed with it as the ancient magical people gathered around to see what was going on with their new friends.
    Jenevier jumped to her feet, retreating several steps. Yet her ravenous gaze remained locked with his now terrified one.
    “What are you?” she whispered.
    “What am I?” he said, bewildered. “What do you mean?” He reached for her but she retreated further. “Jenevier, do not withdraw, my love. It is me, Alastyn, your first love and dearest friend from another life.” He stepped towards her, anxious tears burning the backs of his lovely emerald eyes. “Tell me what has happened. Speak now and crush this panic swelling within me.”
    “You are my Alastyn, yes. Yet… you are no man.” She closed her eyes, inhaling deeply. A visible shudder ran across her body. “I taste the blood of an Olden within you. What lineage do you claim, Brother?”
    “Lineage? Brother? What are you talking about? Jenevier, you know my family.”
    Alastyn moved toward her again, she stood firm this time, welcoming his advance.
    “You have known me for years, nothing is new about me.” His voice trembled. “Why this, why all of a sudden? And… what’s an Olden? Jenevier, have you completely slipped from sanity, my love? Have you been too long with the wine?”
    “Empress Naga.”
    She turned her wide, feral gaze toward the Elven King as he spoke. He saw well the raging inferno she was trying desperately to control.
    “Tell me what you glean within the human,” Dofarel said.
    Jenevier looked at Alastyn, tilting her head to the side, her mouth… watering. “I taste blood as old as the first man. I taste valor beyond compare.” She rolled his scent around in her mouth again, savoring it fully. “A richer, finer thing has never crossed my tongue.” She licked her lips, a seductive gleam now sparkling in her eyes. “I wish only to devour him wholly.” She took a step closer. “I want to taste this man as I have never wanted to taste anything in my entire life. I desire him past controlling. I now thank God my diet does not consist of human blood, for I fear I would not stop until he was drained completely.” She inhaled again, pulling his scent from the air. “A more delicious flavor than this man cannot exist, should not exist, throughout the universe.”
    Alastyn had held her burning gaze as she spoke. He now moved nearer, as did she.
    “Do not come any closer, old friend,” she whispered. “If you wish to remain whole, you will halt your steps where you are.” Still, she continued to slowly move toward him.
    “How can you speak thusly to me, Jenevier?” He took another step. “You are my every other memory, my love,” he whispered. “I have desired you with every piece of me, with every thought, with every breath, since the moment our eyes first met. I now see that same hunger burning within you, consuming you. I know what it is you feel. The same has burned within me the whole of my life. I have longed for this day above all others. Finally, the