I will admit, you were not supposed to live. I had planned to have Martin drain you when we no longer needed you to lure in the Day Walkers. The situation changed, though. I decided to use you as my failsafe since you were extremely close with them. It was the perfect plan, really. Should they escape me, you would eventually evolve into what I am and destroy them for me. Phase two of my plan is almost complete. Soon you will awaken and you will accomplish what you are designed to do.”
I shook my head in shock and denial. “You can’t make me hurt them. I won’t do it. I won’t, Amun.”
“You will,” he said simply as he turned and gently inserted the stem of the scarlet wildflower into the hair above my ear. “I command it and you are driven to obey me. You will see…when you awaken, you will have no choice.”
“I’ll just kill myself,” I whispered to myself.
“You cannot, my precious,” he sighed. “My essence is within you. I am a part of you and you a part of me. Since I do not wish to die, neither will you. I know this is hard to understand right now, but you will be content with me. You will not only be my child, but I intend to make you my mate…my wife. Ankida was the last mate I had and that was thousands of years ago. It is time I moved on and who better to do it with. You are beautiful, fierce, and you will give me your undying loyalty. We will rule this world together, Nisiqtu, and we will begin with Archer’s death.”
“I don’t want to be your wife!” I yelled, trying to jerk my arm back from his. “I’ll never be yours. I hate you and I always will. Nothing you say or do to me will change that.”
Amun flashed to grab both of my arms above the elbows and he held me tightly. His grip was strong and I whimpered in pain. “You will love me!” he growled, his eyes turning black with anger. “You will be my mate and you will submit to me completely! You have no choice. I am within you. My soul is intertwining with yours as we speak.”
“No,” I cried, hot tears finally sliding down my cheeks. “How?”
Amun pulled me to his chest and cradled my head. My body was rigid with fear and anger, but a part of me relished his touch. It was everything I could do not to lean into him.
“When you were chained in the underground tomb, I shared a part of myself with you,” he explained gently as he stroked my hair. “I blew my essence into you; shared my very soul. I combined a part of it with yours. I did not think it would take as long as it did, though. It took you a full month before you entered the final stage of the transformation process.”
He BLEW his essence into me? Shared his soul with me? I immediately thought back to my time in the basement, picking through my memories to find when that event took place. The only thing I could come up with was the dream I had where Amun blew a thick smoke the color of desert sand into my lungs. I remembered the horrible, Acid-like pain I felt and I swallowed hard as I grabbed my throat. It wasn’t a dream?
“Yes, precious,” Amun smiled. “I see you remember now. I have been waiting rather impatiently for the moment where my essence would finally overtake your own, causing you to either die in your sleep or for you to be injured enough to spark the catalyst of your rebirth. I have never shared my essence with anyone before, truth be told, I did not know how long it would take. My son before you was given my blood.
Your rebirth is the first of its kind, Skye. You are not merely my daughter…you are a part of me. The anger, the rage you have been feeling? That was me. When you attempted to kill me in your dream, I beheld your full potential. Your murderous rage was breathtaking. You are very beautiful, Skye. You will become my partner in war and my lover in bed. We will have our revenge and then make love atop the carnage we leave behind.”
I jerked out of his arms and ran as fast as I could away from him.