Prologue #2
If she didn’t talk, she’d scream. If she screamed, she’d probably choke on her own spit and die, which would be embarrassing, even for her.
The webbing was everywhere. She had to focus on something other than the panic rising, and as Roan shifted, she realized her chest was pressed so tightly to him she could count the steady, unhurried thud of his heart.
The scent of him—smoke, sweat, magic—cut through the rot and silk.
And dang he did smell good. How had she not noticed that before they’d been forced together by psychopathic spiders who were probably going to eat them?
And how had she not noticed how firm his chest was?
Despite the small size of her girls, they were soft, especially compared to him.
For some reason, this made her want to press closer to him.
Which simply pissed her off more. Being mad was good.
That meant she wasn’t focused on being scared.
So, Maddie let herself run with the anger.
“Since we’re on the train of ‘I’m going to speak my mind whether or not you want to hear it,’ I would like to point out that this is sort of your fault.
” Okay, had that made her sound like a petulant child?
A tad. But, he’d ordered her to discuss the guys she’d dated. Joke’s on him, Maddie didn’t date.
“Right,” Roan said, his tone bored. “Because I made the spiders attack us and wrap us in their butt floss.”
“I’m sorry, what did you just say?” Maddie’s voice rose a notch.
“I don’t repeat myself.”
Maddie’s mouth dropped open, but then snapped closed when she remembered he couldn’t see her look of outrage. “When you say things like ‘wrap us in their butt floss,’ you most certainly repeat yourself, sir. And you explain.”
Roan let out a huff that was half exasperation, half the beginnings of a laugh, though he did seem to do his best to smother it. “Spider silk comes out of their—look, do you really want the anatomy lesson right now, Nushawani?”
“Honestly, I’d take an anatomy lesson over the existential dread I’m currently experiencing,” Maddie shot back, rolling her eyes though he couldn’t see it. “And for the record, ‘Nushawani’ sounds like a disease you get from licking subway handrails.”
She felt his chest move under her cheek, like he was trying not to laugh. “I already told you, it means ‘new Shaman’ in our language.”
Maddie went quiet for a second, letting that settle over her. She’d been surprised at what the word meant, simply because when Roan called her that, it sounded more like an endearment. She would not admit that she’d been disappointed. “Still sounds like a disease.”
He said nothing, but she could feel the way his body relaxed just a little.
A heavy silence settled between them. Somewhere to their left, something skittered across stone.
Maddie tensed, even as Roan pressed a little closer—as if he couldn’t help but want to protect her despite how badly she seemed to irritate him.
She tried not to let hope trickle in. Maybe if they were quiet, the spider folk would forget about them entirely, and they’d just rot here, cocooned together for all eternity. Romantic.
Minutes—or hours, it was impossible to tell—slipped by. Maddie’s mind wandered, unwilling and wild: back to Lola and Katy. Were they alive? Had they stopped Azure? Maddie swallowed hard, guilt and fear tangling in her chest. If anything had happened to them—
The cocoon suddenly shuddered. Maddie froze.
A sliver of light—faint, gold, and sticky-sweet—slipped in as a spider folk attendant, silent as breath, eased open a seam in the webbing.
The small amount of light allowed Maddie to see that the attendant had slid a small vial through the gap, the glass sticky with nectar that glowed faintly in the dark.
Maddie leaned back and could see Roan’s face, and it was as if she’d forgotten how handsome he was.
His rugged beauty was a bit of a shock after having been in the dark.
Swirling silver eyes that nearly glowed stared down at her, full of questions she couldn’t quite decipher.
His angular jaw was clenched as his full lips were drawn tight across his face.
His brow furrowed deep as he continued to stare at her.
“For nourishment,” the attendant whispered, voice both kind and inhuman. She indicated the vial.
“Me first,” Roan barked. His voice felt like a slap. “If that’s poisonous, my body will be able to handle it better than yours,” he explained.
“Thanks,” Maddie said dryly. “Because I really want to be cocooned next to a dead body.” Why was she annoyed that he was actually protecting her and not simply demanding the first drink because he was an asshat?
“Your faith in me is touching,” Roan said, before the vial touched his lips and tilted ever so slightly.
After at least a minute of staring at the shaman, waiting to see if his head would explode or blood would ooze from his eyes, ears, and nose, Roan declared it safe for Maddie.
The servant placed it to her lips so Maddie could sip.
The nectar tasted like honey and something wild, a jolt of energy threading through her limbs.
She grimaced but drank until it was empty.
Although she felt an odd sense of satisfaction, like the feeling after eating a meal, she didn’t feel any extra strength. She just felt nourished.
“I guess this means they don’t want us dead yet. Perhaps they want to fatten us up before they eat us,” Maddie said, her sarcasm a flimsy shield.
The attendant didn’t respond. The seam was sealed, and they were left in the stifling dark once more.
Maddie licked her lips. “How long do you think they’re planning on keeping us as human cocoons?”
Roan’s tone was flat. “Honestly, I have no clue why they took us to begin with. They have to know this will start a war between them and Kingdom of Claw. Whatever KOS’s reason is, it must be worth risking the wrath of Taras and other rulers.”
“Comforting. You know, I really thought the diplomatic slash religious life would have more wine tastings and fewer death threats.”
He snorted. “There’s much more to it than diplomacy and guiding. We enforce the rules. When Damarians don’t appreciate those rules, they get ticked off with the shaman. We might get a few death threats from the stupid ones.”
That made Maddie pause. She turned her head as much as she could, pressing her forehead deeper into his chest. “What does that mean for me? I’m a human. How could I possibly add any sort of help to your cause and abilities?”
He was quiet for a long time. “It means you’re a new bridge, between magic and people—humans.
And between kingdoms. I believe you’re supposed to balance out this new dynamic we have been placed in.
Keep the peace when you can. Fight when you can’t.
” Roan’s arm shifted, pressing her closer.
“Whatever your role, Maddie, it’s important.
A shaman can shape the future of a kingdom. Or break it.”
She snorted. “No pressure.”
He was silent again, and Maddie could almost feel the storm churning inside him.
She wondered just how much Roan was holding back, if it was anger, or fear, or something else—something tangled up in all those times he’d hovered too close, or glared at anyone who dared look at her twice, or snapped at her for getting five feet ahead on their journey.
“So, the Kingdom of Venom,” she prompted. “Is it true they drink blood and eat their young, or was that just a rumor?”
Roan let out a sharp sound. “Where’d you hear that?”
“I didn’t. I’m just trying to make conversation,” Maddie grinned to herself. It was a little too fun getting under his skin.
“Every kingdom has its rotten apples, just like humans. The bad apple in KOV just happened to have a lot of power. Azure’s ambition nearly destroyed the balance between the kingdoms. And considering the mess we’ve found ourselves in, he actually might have succeeded.
I don’t know if he was successful in killing Katy, using her to finish making the human women into animi. ”
“Yeah, well, thanks for the reminder.” Maddie’s mind caught again on Lola and Katy and their own predicament.
The two girls whose pain she’d felt like it was her own.
She closed her eyes, fighting the emotions.
“We should have gone with them. You could have helped. We could have waited for this whole ‘new shaman dog show’ until after Azure was taken care of.”
Roan’s voice turned rough. “We have no idea how your powers are going to manifest. In a stressful situation like having your best friends' lives at risk, you could go volatile and accidentally kill someone.”
“True, but I hate not knowing if they’re okay,” she muttered.
He was silent for a heartbeat, then, “They will be. Gage will allow no other outcome, nor will Callon. Any male worth his salt would do everything in his power to protect his female and everyone she holds dear. Just as I will protect you, even from yourself.”
His words sent heat racing up her neck, anger, and something softer mingling in her chest. “You’re bossy, you know that? Overbearing, annoying, and incredibly frustrating.”
“You’re reckless, stubborn, and impossible to reason with,” Roan shot back, but his tone was warm.
Maddie grinned in the dark. “So, we’re even.”
The hours dragged on in the sticky dark, Maddie’s anxiety and Roan’s brooding presence filling the silence between their banter.
Every so often, Maddie would ask a question—about the other kingdoms, about magic, about what shamans actually did—and Roan would answer, sometimes with a word, sometimes with a grunt, never with the whole truth.
He was a puzzle she wanted to solve and a throat punch she wanted to give in equal measure.
Had one arm not been wrapped behind him and one arm shoved between them, she probably would have tried a throat punch.
At one point, Maddie asked, “Why did you really bring me to Silk first?”
Roan hesitated. “Lyric’s a female shaman. I thought . . . you’d be more comfortable.”
She huffed. “Great call, boss. Ten out of ten, would not recommend.”
He grunted, but she could feel the tension in him, the way he held her even tighter, as if he could shield her from the world by sheer will alone.
Sometime later, the darkness grew heavier, and Maddie’s eyelids began to droop. She fought sleep, afraid of the dreams that might come, afraid of what might happen if she let go.
Roan’s voice, soft but iron-edged, cut through her drowsiness. “Get some sleep, Nushawani. I’ll keep watch.”
She wanted to argue, but his tone brokered no debate. She let herself relax, just a little, surrounded by the warmth of him, the comfort of his stubborn presence.
For the first time since they’d been cocooned, Maddie felt almost safe. She drifted toward sleep, the sound of Roan’s heartbeat steady in her ear, and wondered—just for a moment—if maybe, just maybe, he cared about her as much as she was starting to care about him.
Roan listened to Maddie’s slow breathing, felt the tension bleed out of her muscles as sleep finally claimed her. He didn’t let himself relax, not for a second. His mind raced—calculating, planning, listening for every scrape of claw and whisper of silk in the dark.
He hated this. Hated being helpless, hated not being able to fight his way out or protect her if not with magic than with brute strength. Maddie was infuriating—a force of nature, all sharp edges and stubborn pride—but she was his to protect. Even if she’d never admit she needed it.
He glanced down at the top of her head, feeling something twist in his chest—a sensation he’d only started experiencing since she crashed into his life.
He’d never wanted a serious relationship.
Not with anyone. He’d always told himself that if it wasn’t something as pure and wild and true as what the Damarian shifters had with their mates, then he didn’t want it.
He’d seen what half-measures did to a man—and to a woman.
He’d watched his own parents destroy each other, a slow unraveling that ended in bitterness and blood.
He’d sworn he’d never even try, unless it was that kind of forever.
Then Maddie had shown up—blunt, reckless, infuriatingly stubborn, and so alive it made his teeth ache.
At first, she was just another responsibility.
The new shaman. The Nushawani. His job was to protect her, nothing more.
But the longer he’d spent with her, the more she’d wormed her way under his skin.
The more she’d filled up the quiet places inside him with her laughter, her endless questions, her wild courage.
He could remember the exact moment it hit him.
It wasn’t the first time he’d seen her in the diner.
His attention had been so focused on Lola, because it had been obvious she was an animus, that he just hadn’t given her a second thought.
Not until he’d shown up at Lola’s house in hopes of keeping Callon in control.
It had been like a punch to the gut. He’d never wanted anyone the way he wanted her.
Never wanted anything to matter this much.
And it scared the hell out of him.
He didn’t know how to be what she needed.
Roan had spent so many decades as a single male, only having relationships occasionally and none of them serious.
He had no idea how he’d balance his life with a romantic attachment.
All he knew was that the very idea of her hurt or in danger made his blood boil.
Her willingness to do anything she needed to for her friends was admirable, but it also felt like someone was carving pieces out of his soul.
He wanted to protect her, shield her, keep the world from ever touching her—and at the same time, he wanted to let her run wild and watch her burn through life, just to see what she’d do next.
He didn’t know how to say any of this. Didn’t know if he even should. Maybe it was better if she never knew. Maybe it would be safer for both of them.
But as he listened to her soft breathing in the dark, Roan made himself a silent promise—one that felt bigger than words, older than blood.
He would get them both out. Or die trying. Because Maddie wasn’t just the Nushawani. She was his.
And he was hers, whether she knew it or not.