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M ist moved around the room slowly, her hand hovering over the wall, afraid to actually touch it as she looked for any sign of a weakness in the dark magic that she could find. The way the door had shocked the hell out of her and put her on her ass the first time she touched it, she was afraid to touch the wall and have the same thing happen to her again.

Gathering her courage, she let the tips of her fingers whisper over the ugly as sin flowered wallpaper and cried out in pain when she was once again lying on the floor, looking up at the ceiling and questioning her life choices.

“Son of a biatcchhhhh, that hurt.”

The entire room was encased in a dark magical forcefield that was intent on keeping her inside. And without her own white magic to counter it, she was afraid it might happen. She closed her eyes, contemplating how to get rid of the dark magic without any of her abilities to help her. Unfortunately, after several minutes of coming up with ideas, and immediately discarding them for one reason or another, she was still at square one.

Stuck.

Standing, she began to pace around the room, stopping a couple of times to stare out into the dark night. She was so cold, and she could see snow on the barren landscape. Mist frowned. Did that mean she was in the human realm? She had to be. The demon realm didn’t have snow, did it?

Coming to a stop, she stared out through the dirty windowpane. Her eyes narrowed as she turned to look at a wooden chair that sat in the corner. It was old, and the stained flowered seat cushion didn’t look very comfortable, but she wasn’t planning on using it to sit on. No, she wasn’t going to put her booty anywhere near it, but she was going to see what happened when something besides her body hit that forcefield.

Not stopping to think about it, sure she would come up with a reason not to try it, Mist quickly crossed the room and picked up the chair. It was heavier than she thought it would be. Not too heavy for her to carry, but not too light for what she was planning.

When she was right in front of the window, she set the chair down for a second, took a deep breath, then picked it up again and threw it at the glass. It didn’t have far to go, and Mist didn’t think to move after she threw it. The damn thing bounced off the forcefield and came back and smacked right into her with what had to be at least double the force she’d used. She lay on the floor, the chair beside her, and moaned, holding the side of her face. The freaking thing had knocked her right in the head.

Well, that answered that question.

“I see you haven’t figured out that there is no way you are getting out of here.”

Mist stiffened, her skin crawling at the voice that seemed to echo around the room. He was back.

Just great.

“You are mine, witch. I own you now. You aren’t going anywhere.”

He owned her? Just who the frickity frackity fuck did he think he was?

Nobody owned her.

Nobody.

Mist stiffened when she felt something move inside her. Something like she’d never felt before. It was light, like the brushing of soft fur against her skin.

Darius was still ranting, but she couldn’t concentrate on what he was saying. Her mind was consumed with what was happening to her. It was almost as if something was awakening, stretching… and was that a freaking purr? No, not a purr. More like a chuffing noise.

What the hell was happening?

Another chuff, the gentle touch of… something… a paw? It pushed against her, and Mist swore she heard a quiet noise similar to a meow.

A cat?

There was a loud crash, and she tuned back to the deranged demon just in time to hear the words, “You will be my queen and stand by my side as we rule the underworld!”

Mist couldn’t help it. The laughter just bubbled up and out, filling the room. There may have even been a small snort or two in there, but she would never admit it. She clutched her sides, rolling on the floor, ignoring the pain as her body shook and tears rolled down her cheeks.

She was trapped in a room with a madman who seriously thought they were going to rule hell together. How had her life come to this?

“Enough!” Darius roared in rage, his black eyes turning a deep, dark burgundy color.

Mist slowly rose to her feet, her hands going to her hips, aware that whatever was rolling around inside her had just stopped and seemed to be listening. It was the strangest feeling, but not unwelcome. All it did was prove to her that what she’d thought most of her life was true. She shared her soul with an animal. She was part shifter. And while it was somewhat scary, she’d had years to get used to the idea. She’d been around many different types of shifters and knew a lot about them.

One thing she knew was that their animals would do whatever was needed to keep them safe. Which told her, the animal inside her, whatever the heck it was, was waking up after all this time because it realized death was coming for her. For them. In the form of the psycho who was standing in front of them covered in bright orange and yellow flames.

“You are seriously delusional if you think you and I are going to do anything together, let alone rule the demon realm.”

“You are mine!”

Mist shook her head, letting her arms fall loosely to her sides in case he attacked. She may not have her powers or any weapons on her, but she was still a badass. She knew several different ways to fuck a person up if they messed with her.

“I am not now, nor will I ever be, yours,” she stated slowly and clearly to get her point across. “My mate is out there and he is related to you, but you are not him and I will never settle for less than the man who holds the other half of my soul.”

She’d heard about shifter mates before, had seen it with her own eyes when she was with Aurora and the Channings. A mate was everything to a shifter. They lived and would die for them.

That same held true for demons. She wasn’t going to give up what could be, what would be if she had anything to say about it, for this crazy bastard in front of her.

Darius let out a loud roar, swinging an arm out, throwing flames at the bed. He snarled through large fangs and his body began to grow, changing from his human form to that of his demon.

Powerful. Terrifying. Evil.

“You choose death over everything I can give you?”

Mist backed away from the fiery blaze that was quickly growing in intensity, catching on the carpet and moving throughout the room. Smoke filled her lungs, and her vision began to blur. Dropping to her knees, she clutched her throat as she fought for breath.

There was no way her little bucket she used earlier was going to help now. She couldn’t get out of the room. Couldn’t run or blink. She was as good as dead, no matter how you looked at it. It didn’t matter. She would never choose Darius. She couldn’t, even if it meant going to be with the Goddess before she believed she was meant to.

Mist gasped, her eyes watering as she inhaled more smoke. Whatever was inside her was pushing against her hard, shoving, trying to get out. But she didn’t know how to make that happen.

“You choose death?” Darius roared again, waving his arm so more flames flew out and attached to the curtains surrounding the one loan window in the room.

Raising her eyes to meet his crazed one, she rasped, “I choose my mate.”

The second the words left her mouth, the thing inside her took over. Her bones began to pop, excruciating pain swamping her as her body started to shift. Mist screamed in agony, her hands dropping to the carpet in front of her.

Let it happen, my child. Let your animal take over. Let her help you.

Mist panted, beads of sweat forming on her brow.

Do as I say, Mist.

She tried. She really did. She always listened to the Goddess. She loved her. Trusted her. But no matter how hard she tried, she just didn’t know what to do.

I don’t know how.

Close your eyes, center yourself, and reach for your jaguar, my child.

Jaguar. Yes, that felt right.

Doing as the Goddess ordered, Mist closed her eyes and blocked out everything in the room. The demented lunatic screaming at her, the way her chest burned from the smoke that she couldn’t help but inhale, how close the fire was getting to her. She felt a calmness take over, and she let her cat take control.

When she opened her eyes, she was standing on four legs instead of two. She blinked, and shook her head to clear her vision, before her gaze went to the shocked demon in front of her. Her lip curled back, showing a large fang as she growled low.

Ignoring the fire and smoke around her, Mist took a step forward, and then another, stepping out of what was left of her clothes.

Her eyes glued to the asshat who had stolen so much from her, and she threw her head back and roared.

If she was going to die, she was taking him with her.

Slowly, she started to prowl toward him. Low, deep growls vibrating through her chest.

He would never hurt anyone again.

She sprang.