Because hell will be so empty without you, baby.
The closed doors across the room slam open as he runs in, and we lock eyes for a single moment.
His panic, his fear when he looks at me, when he sees me at death’s door…
Maybe I’m crazy for thinking it’s beautiful.
“AUGUST!” He screams for him with such power and command, the air trembles, and when he shifts I know it is to get his attention. I know it’s because he’s desperate.
His features warp before my very eyes—becoming softer and delicate—his white hair becoming longer, until it falls to his waist, elegantly.
But it’s the wings. Three pairs of them unfurling from his back, strong and powerful black feathers with an otherworldly glow.
He becomes ethereal, his wings flutter behind him gloriously and his eyes shine a bright silver that both disarms and seduces. That makes my cock hard even with a gun to my fucking face.
His next words are a feathery sound, enchanting and melodic.
But his eyes are both cold and unforgiving.
“If you hurt them, there won’t be anything in existence stopping me fromkilling you.”
Chapter 32
‘Christian’
I’d known something was wrong the moment August’s men brought out nets.
Nets. These strange guns that shot out masterfully tied ropes.
I’d been lucky enough to shift into something smaller to escape, and I’d thought maybe… maybe they were just adapting quickly to the new threat they were facing. Maybe August likes to collect weapons so he has one for every occasion.
But then they brought out fucking tasers.
Tasers. And not the small, handheld kind, no. The long, heavy-duty kind.
They hurt like fuck. If I were any normal wild beast, I’d have been put down instantly.
But it only convinced me further—that August had a separate team on standby, prepared to fight against beasts.
Beasts like me.
And since the moment I realized it, there’s been this… coiling dread in my chest.
It’s a snake of ice in the pit of my stomach and with each passing second it slithers around my insides, pumping fear through my body and hovering its fangs over my heart.
When I step into the room, when I meet Reuben’s eyes, I can tell the bastard’s already accepted his death.
I know he’s happy to see me for the last time.
But you don’t get to die, asshole.
“Put the guns down, August,” I command it. Because if he doesn’t, I’ll killeveryone in this room.
I’ll drag it out for days.
I’ll drag him around by a chain at his neck and keep him as a slave until he grows old and dies.
I’ll dice out chunks of his skin every day, slice him open and sew him back up, over and over again.
