The air thickens, darkness converging, and then he's here—Shadow. His presence fills the cell behind me, a solid promise of vengeance and protection. My monstrous guardian.
Carmela’s mouth flaps open and closed, her eyes widening until they are saucers filled to the brim with fear.
A dark delight dances in my heart when she begins to tremble.
Claws wrap around my throat as I’m pulled back against Shadow’s chest. To anyone else, it might look like he’s about to strike me dead, but the way he possessively holds me to him is a lover’s protection.
His chest vibrates against me and I recognize the pitch of his growl. A glance upward and I see his horns have elongated and twisted back into infernal spires. He’s been feasting on monsters, and now he's hungry for human hearts.
And I’m more than willing to let him feed.
A Taste of Power
Shadow's form is an eclipse behind me, a total darkness where I am safe, empowered, and even frightening.
Carmela, once so sure of her dominion, now scrambles backward, her curses devolving into whimpering pleas.
I turn my head to find Shadow’s eyes in the dark. The obsidian orbs are monstrous, horrific, and I’m absolutely in love with them.
I am irrevocably devoted to every version of my monster even though I know I am in danger of his feral nature turning on me. Shadow could easily crack my ribs open and devour my beating organ, but I don’t care. I meant what I said. My heart has always been his.
But the grip of his clawed hand around my throat and the cold fury in his eyes tell me he’s not here for me. He’s showcasing me in front of the others, showing them what’s his. Warning them not to fuck with his mate.
"Miiiiiine," he hisses, tightening his grip on my jugular. My knees turn to butter as my vision blurs. God, why does this feel so good?
"O-oh fuck," my attacker stutters, even as she falls back on her ass.
In seconds, Carmela has gone from predator to prey, and in Shadow’s world there is no mercy for anyone who hurts me.
His growl is sinister as he releases me. I move aside, every cell in my body screaming in silent anticipation. My heart beats in my throat as sweat breaks out between my breasts. I’m excited and aroused all at once.
The other women, those who had remained silent witnesses to my beating, now press themselves into the shadows of their bunks, their eyes wide, their breaths held hostage by fear. But they make no sound—experience has taught them the importance of silence in the presence of predators.
With a suddenness that turns the blood in my veins to ice, Shadow lunges. Carmela’s scream is cut short as his claws find her throat, silencing her terror with a swift, brutal efficiency. Shadow’s mouth opens, and in the dim light I see the glint of fangs before they sink into her flesh. The sound is horrific—a wet, visceral tear and crack that will haunt the nightmares of all who hear it.
My breath quickens as my hands wrap around the bars behind me.
In a gruesome display of monstrous strength, he wrenches her still-beating heart from her chest. He crams it into his mouth, wet chews echoing between the terrified whimpers in the room. Blood paints his lips a crimson that seems almost too bright against the darkness of his skin.
Then he picks up Carmela’s lifeless body and disappears in a mere blink. Minutes expand, one in front of the other, before he returns.
He steps out from the corner again, his eyes back to misty white and his horns shorter by several inches. Shadow grabs me by the waist and pulls me to him. I expect him to reek of death, but there is only the warm smokiness I find so soothing.
"You don't belong here, Evie," he rumbles, his voice a deep timbre that resonates with power. "Let me take you away from this place."
A wave of conflicting emotions threatens to overwhelm me as I shake my head. I snuggle deeper into his embrace, reveling in how he cares for me. Emotion crowds my throat, choking me. "I can't," I say, my voice barely above a whisper. "Not now. If I start running, I’ll never stop."
I don’t have it in me to go on the run. To be a fugitive. Life is hard enough, I don’t need to pile on. If they want to hold me under ridiculous charges, then let them.
"We can go together," Shadow says. The bloodlust has him back to loosening his guard around me. Or he’s trying to coerce me into letting him handle things for me yet again. He dips his head to my neck, kissing my sensitive skin so softly I shiver under his touch.
Shadow is on the run himself, and every moment he spends here in my world is slowly but surely killing him. He does so much to take care of me.
When he’s not taking care ofher.
Whoever the Nexus is, she’s far more important than me, and I can’t always monopolize his attention. I have to stand on my own two feet. I need to start figuring out how to rescue myself.
I shake my head even as my nails dig into the uneven bulges of his shoulder muscles. "I have to stay," I insist.
