Page 40 of A Curse So Cruel

“You’re right,”Galen agrees.“This is rather unfair of me.”He pushes a phantom finger into my pussy, and it takes all of my effort not to cry out. One pump. Two.

And then…

What the hell?

I don’t feel him anywhere.

Galen’s shadow fingers disappear completely like they were never there, and the man gives me a twisted grin from across the room.

Un-freaking-believable.

My chest heaves, my body wound so tight and desperate for a release I’m clearly not going to get.

“You’re an asshole,” I whisper in frustration, but his shadow power mustn’t be cloaking my voice anymore, because the girl sitting in front of me whips her head back.

“What did you just say?” she spits at me.

“Oh, nothing,” I splutter. “That wasn’t— I didn’t?—”

She huffs and turns back around, and Galen’s smirk grows even bigger.

I glare at him.

“Relax, little shadow,”he tells me.“The first time I make you shatter I want to be able to taste you. I’ll play with you until you’re begging me to make you come.”

My mouth goes completely dry.“And what makes you think I want that?”

He chuckles darkly.“Soon, treasure,”he promises, not bothering to answer my question.

Chapter Seventeen

~ Shade ~

“Ithink I’m dying,” I wheeze to Kenzie, my breathing ragged as I jog along the dirt path on academy grounds, lagging way behind the other members of our class.

She laughs, rolling her eyes at me. “You’re not dying. We’ve only made it one mile.” My roommate is easily keeping pace with me, looking like she’s barely even broken a sweat, while I feel like someone has replaced my insides with lava. She keeps telling me that it gets easier with time, but I’m convinced she’s delusional.

“You don’t understand,” I rasp, desperately trying to suck air into my lungs. “I can’t breathe.”

“You’re just exhausted,” she replies, grinning. “Haven’t you ever gone for a run before?”

I try to think on that. I definitely haven’t done anything that crazy since becoming human. As for my past? Given how badly Ihatethis, I’m going to guess that would be a firm ‘no.’ I shake my head.

With every breath, the air scrapes against my throat, and I struggle to lift my feet as I hang my head, forcing my human body to plod along. I wonder if I should simply flop to the ground and stay there forever.That’s it. This is how I’m going to die. Murdered during physical training at the hands of shadow daddy three—Thane.

The professor runs ahead with the others, his large body lithe despite his massive size. Unfortunately, Kenzie has already warned me that I can’t stop. Jogging for long distances is a large part of our physical training classes. The idea is to increase stamina and endurance, and anyone who gives up is punished. At first, I thought it was going okay. After Galen’s teasing session, it was kind of good to get some energy out. But by the time I’d tripped over twice, landing hard and gaining scuffed knees and a scraped elbow, I was officially over it. Add to that the burning in my lungs, and I think it’s safe to say I’m having the worst day.

“Go on without me,” I wheeze, hating that Kenzie is only staying back for me. It’s bad enough that I suck at this. I don’t need to drag her down too.

“What? Forget it,” she says without skipping a beat. “Don’t worry, it only seems bad because the rest of us have been at this for longer. You should have seen us on our first day.”

I give her a skeptical look, but before I can comment, my shoe lands on a pebble. The rock shifts just enough to throw off my balance, and I don’t even try to catch myself. I hit the ground hard, landing face-first in the dirt. My bones jar at the impact, pain cracking through my body, and I sprawl with my arms stretched out, my chest heaving.

“Shit. Shade, are you okay?” Kenzie’s eyes flood with concern, and she jogs slowly around me. She glances nervously ahead to where Thane has broken away from the group and is running back toward us, no doubt having seen my not-so-graceful fall. Peering back at me, Kenzie holds out a hand, but I don’t take it.

“You can’t,” I tell her. It’s one of the rules of physical training. If a student falls, they need to learn to get up by themselves, without the aid of another student. You have to learn to help yourself before depending on anyone else. “If you help me up, we’ll both be in trouble.”

Kenzie worries her lip, indecision warring in her eyes, but a look of rebellion settles in her expression. “Screw that,” she tells me, holding her hand out closer to me. “You need help.”