Grayson ignored me, closing the distance until he stood in front of us.
Damien and Lachlan both stood with me in the middle, but I pushed them both away before allowing my shadow to shoot for Grayson.
Panic slammed into me. My shadow tendril had merged with the darkness. Black goo dripped from it as it pierced Grayson's shoulder, going clean through to the other side.
Grayson bellowed a disembodied tune before immediately dissolving into the ground of goo, a look of terror flashing on his face.
“Well, that was something,” Lachlan uttered.
“Don’t think I’m cool with him seeing you naked,” Damien growled out. “But that hit was something.”
My shadow seeped back into the mark along with the goo, and a chill rolled over me. Had I really accepted the dark magic? How else would it have infected the shadow inside me?
I turned to Lachlan, my heartbeat pounding in my ears. “Am I a monster now?”
His face twisted in confusion as he grabbed me and pulled me to his chest, stroking my hair. “Why would you ask me that? Of course not.”
“You once told me that if we felt nothing, we’d be monsters. It’s hard for me to feel anything anymore.”
“Fuck, tiny fox. That’s not what I meant.” He pulled back and cupped my face, kissing my lips softly a few times. “You still feel for us, right? You still hold anger and love. I feel it through the bond.”
I nodded. “That’s true.”
“Then you are not a monster.”
“If you were a monster, I’d become one with you,” Damien growled, stepping forward and pressing me against Lachlan with his chest against my back.
I sucked in a breath at their reactions. Two separate men with two different reactions, and yet, both things were what I needed to hear.
Damienslippedhishandbetween my legs to cup my soaking heat, and I shivered at the soreness. His breath fanned over my ear. “I love you, little bird.”
“And I love you.” I arched my back, rubbing against his hand before he pulled it away.
“As much as I’d love to take you here, we might want to pay attention.” His tail slipped around my waist and pulled me into him as I nodded my agreement.
We were hiding in the shadows of the human syndicate, which happened to be located at the center of the human territory, within a concrete building that was the size of the entire village I grew up in.
A stage was centered in the front with a ton of rows in the dome-like room.
It reminded me of the academy lecture halls. There were five people on that stage. One was a wizard with no magical energy as he was introduced, but the others were all human.
The one who spoke wore a white jacket and rounded glasses. They droned on about how great it was that they had possession of the supernatural relic for the first hour of speech, and it was getting boring.
“Where are we going to use the relic first?” one of the humans asked, and the guy smiled.
“We are going to be using it in Blezen first since the dragons are our biggest threat.”
“How do you propose we get there?” someone else asked.
“All in good time. Just have patience.” A large image of the Kalista world map projected on a screen behind him. “In order, we are going to hit Blezen, Briesia, the Apex Capital, Cursina, the Demon Capital, Fate Hollow, then lastly, the Bizarre. It’ll be the easiest to hit with the lower leveled supernaturals.”
“How do we know it even works?” another person asked, and the former wizard stepped forward.
“Because I created it.”
My eyes widened, and Damien’s tail tightened around me.
If that man created it, that meant he was Rebeka’s kin, so why would he be helping the humans?
