Page 13 of Jagged Souls

My mind reduces into a single pinpoint, a single purpose as the curse on me breaks. It consumes me until I know nothing else.

Micha!

Roaring, I open my eyes and jump to my feet. A deep hunger fills me. A need to kill, to drink the blood of my enemies.

And everyone around me is an enemy because they've takenher.

Attacking the nearest one, I scream, “Where is my fucking wife!”

Epilogue

HER

I collapse onto carpeted ground, spasming in pain as the transportation spell deposits me inside a building. Antonio has fallen to his knees and dropped me, but I don’t have the strength to try to get away. I don’t have the energy or the care. They killed Dayne. They killed my baby. All I want to do is curl up in my grief.

“You are a Black, Micha.”My father’s voice is firm.

“And a Shadow.”Varius’ is warm, believing in me.

But they’re both wrong.

All I am is a broken mother.

“It’s time for you to be more than just a Shadow whore,” Antonio says as he hauls me up by the back of my neck. He tries to put me on my feet, but I refuse to walk. Can’t. So he throws me over his shoulder.

“I was going to kill you,” he explains as he carries me down a bare hall with white tiled floors. I should be taking note of where we’re going so I can create a floor plan, but my mind is too numb to think.

“But now you’re too valuable. It’s rare to be able to birth a hybrid. Out of the hundreds of women I’ve tried to breed, only three of them have been able to do it.”

For a moment, I don’t care what he’s saying. They are words without meaning. Just empty air.

But then awareness hits me, punching past my grief. He just took my child from me. To hel if I’m going to let him breed me so he can rip more of them from my arms.

My rage ignites inside me, growing hot, spreading all the way through my body and mind. It kills my grief, chokes it on the fumes my rage creates. Screaming, I kick my feet, aiming for his balls. He grunts as I hit them. Then he rolls me off his shoulder with an arm around my waist. He holds me in the air horizontally. I snap my knees into his stomach. I swing my fists into his side. Pain radiates up my wrists, the fractures not fully healed, but I don’t stop. Opening my mouth, I go to bite him.

Grunting, he pivots and slams my head through the wall. The plaster gives easily, but the wooden beam behind it does not. Intense pain shoots down my neck and spine. My eyes roll back. My vision fades. He pulls me out of the wall and then drops me to the ground. I don’t have the awareness to catch myself, and my cheek hits the floor hard.

Grabbing me by the ankle, he drags me down the hall.

My body has been through hel and back and hel again, but I refuse to let it drag me under. I’ll claw my way to the surface on broken, bleeding nubs if I have to.

Forcing my eyes open, I will myself to move.

But just as I start to, I’m thrown through a door, which is then slammed shut behind me. I hit the ground and roll. Dragging myself up to my feet, I spin around. The hairs on my neck prickle. There are other people in here, but all my focus is on Antonio. His face appears on the other side of the barred window inside the door. There is no glass, so I hear him easily.

“I’m going to enjoy watching you try to fight them,” he says with a sneer. “Know that I’ll be jacking off while you do.”

“You fucking –”

I stop at the sound of multiple things moving behind me. The hairs on my neck rise.

He smiles, a pleasurable sneer that leaves me cold.

Spinning on my feet, I raise my arms, adrenaline pushing through my exhaustion. But it is an impossible sight before me. There are over a dozen men in this old cafeteria, and all of them are looking at me like I’m their ticket out of here.

“You know the rules,” Antonio says cheerily. “Shift before you fuck her. You’ll have a better chance of impregnating her that way.”

My heart slams in my throat as I quickly scan the room, looking for a weapon. But the tables are too big to wield, and there aren’t any chairs, just benches attached to the tables. There might be knives or utensils in the back of the room, but there are multiple opponents standing in my way.