She didn’t know what she was going to say, but she knew she had to saysomething.
Opening her mouth, she searched for the right words… and then, oddly, her eyes were drawn to where the lion’s paw was slowly bearing down on the man’s throat.
She hadn’t noticed earlier, what with everything going on, but now, in the dimness of the cabin, she could just make out what looked like a dark ring of crusted blood around the lion’s leg. Which in and of itself wouldn’t have been so strange, given the battle to the death that had been going on, except for the fact that the strange man clearly favored forms of violence that didn’t involve actual physical contact.
And the pattern and color seemed wrong for the lion having gotten blood from the man’s stab wound on it – it was too high and too regular, and didn’t have the shine of fresh blood.
Heart pounding, a slow, dreadful feeling of realization crawling up her spine, she looked at the paw that was resting on the man’s chest.
It had the same pattern.
Like it had been shackled.
Suddenly, dreadfully, she realized what her subconscious mind had been slowly putting together – what her conscious, rational mind had been refusing to believe.
As if in slow motion, she sank to her knees.
“Max,” she whispered. “Oh,Max.”
Chapter 16
There was, Max thought, a certain joy in just letting go. In not thinking too hard about things. It was…freeing.
Destroy the one who harmed our mate,the voice in his head hissed.Leave no remnants.
It definitely wasn’t the kind of thing he would normally think – the complete opposite, in fact. He’d never been the type to resort to violence, preferring to either outthink his opponents – such as they were, it had mainly just been some jock in his sophomore year of high school – or avoid them altogether. As someone who could generously be described as eithera pacifistora bit nerdy, depending on how generous the observer was feeling, he’d always been conflict-avoidant.
But now his blood surged hotly in his veins, burning fiery trails throughout his body, and it was all he could do to not rend his imbecilic opponent limb from limb.
Or consciousness from body, anyway. At this point, almost all of the damage he was inflicting was mental rather than physical, but the end result would be pretty similar.
He felt powerful. Invincible.
Why didn’t I discover this part of myself years ago? My life could have been so different.
An image flashed through his mind – indistinct, slowly resolving itself into what he thought might be a memory. A woman with dark eyes, telling him that if he learned how to shift, he would need her there with him to guide him through it. That the power it unleashed could be addictive. That it was almost impossible to keep the lion at bay without someone else there to show him what to do. That the later in life the first shift occurred, the more difficult the lion would be to control.
Well, fat lot of good that advice was,Max thought as he ground the heel of his hand into the man’s throat, listening to his choked-off gasps with indifference.I never did learn how to shift, did I?
Fool,spat the voice in his head.
Max thought that was a little harsh, and he had to admit that he was getting a bit sick of this voice that kept on butting into his thoughts. It wasn’t like he’d never heard it before in his life, but it had usually just lurked, occasionally commenting on things and giving him advice, both good and bad. He’d always just thought of it as the devil on his shoulder, able to be ignored at will, but suddenly, it seemed emboldened. And all of its advice was good advice, now.
Well. Itfeltgood, anyway.
Max felt the power surge through him once more, and he channeled it directly into the man’s brain. The man responded by twitching and jerking, his face bathed in a strange blue glow. He didn’t seem to be in a very good way.
Well, that’s what he gets for threatening our mate,the voice said, clearly assured that it was being entirely reasonable.You don’t think that creature deservesmercy, do you?
No. Max supposed he didn’t. Though he wasn’t sure he wasentirelyon board with what could probably be considered murder.
… Especially since he didn’t have a mate, so he wasn’t quite sure why the voice kept insisting that he did. Couldn’t shift, no mate – he really must have been a terrible disappointment to everyone in his life.
Still, it seemed like maybe he had at least finally managed to level up his powers a little, if the way he was incapacitating the man beneath him was anything to go by. None of thisguess I’ll try and go unnoticed so I can write a secret restaurant reviewbullshit – no, this was real, unfettered power. His mom would be so happy to know that he wasn’t completely useless.
He blinked, wondering what had brought that thought on.
Forget about her,the voice urged.Avenge your mate.
