Chapter 37 A Taste of Power
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 of her.
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.
He kisses me on the mouth this time, his forked tongue brushing against mine, turning my core molten. I’m on the verge of breaking and telling him to take me away from here and fuck me senseless.
Or hell, he could push me up against the bars and violate me seven ways from Sunday right here for all I care.
Shadow pulls back and regards me with an unreadable expression and then nods, accepting my decision with a resigned silence. He turns back to the bars of the cell and steps through them, disappearing.
Only then do the rest of the women unleash screams of terror, their cries echoing off the cold walls.
Morning breaks into chaos.
A discarded body is found on the front steps of the building.
The guards are baffled—no clue who did it or how Carmela got out. The security footage is useless, just fuzz and shadows. Outside the news crews crowd, their microphones and cameras like a forest of electronic eyes and ears, while from upstairs, the sounds of heated arguments trickle down.
In the holding cell, I lie back on a cot as if it's a lazy Sunday while the other women avoid me, leaving a ring of empty bunks around me despite the tight squeeze.
When the guards start pulling out the scared women for questioning, I don’t bother to get up. I doze off again, taking advantage of the safety Shadow has extended to me. No one will touch me after what happened.
I know all too well what's coming next—stories of monsters in the cell, and it'll all point back to me. Whatever shit storm comes, I’ll figure out a way to handle it.
"Smith, you got a visitor," a new guard calls in the afternoon. He eyes me warily, and I know he’s heard the stories.
Cuffed and paraded back to the processing area, I meet my state-appointed attorney, Caleb Mitchell.
He's a young Black man with short, cropped hair.
The rumpled jacket that is too big on his slim shoulders, likely a secondhand suit.
Despite his age and appearance, he carries himself with authority and conviction.
"These charges are crazy," he argues, waving his briefcase for emphasis. "Monsters? Drugs? Really?" He rolls his eyes. "Seems like the cops here are the ones huffing glue and making up bedtime stories."
Across the way, I lock eyes with my sandwich benefactor. Tony’s face turns ashen. He must have seen what happened to Carmela and by now he’s heard the stories too.
I brought a monster to the yard.
I can tell just by the way he blinks, he doesn’t know what to think of me.
A little thrill goes through me, and I can't help the small smile that breaks through. His eyes flutter wider before he turns and rushes off to be anywhere but near me.
My attorney leans in close, lowering his voice. "We're gonna get you out of this mess, Ms. Smith," Caleb assures me. "They have nothing on you, and this witch hunt will not stand."
Within an hour, the charges are dropped, and the cold cuffs are removed. Walking out, I feel everyone watching me go. They're all still trying to piece together the puzzle, but they don’t really want the truth.
I step out into the fresh air, the noise of the precinct fading behind me. I’m free, but I taste the lingering chaos I’m leaving behind.
I’m not the same girl as when I went in, and I have a feeling this new version of me is about to make life very interesting.
I’ve gotten a taste of power. I’ve stepped into a part of myself that refuses to let anyone hurt her any longer.
In the past I’ve always thought it wise to keep my head down, to roll with the punches, but that’s over.
I am the monster I’ve claimed to be, and next time Shadow comes, I will show him exactly how alike we are.