Page 82 of Red Fury

I don’t make it three steps before she catches me.

Her hand clamps down on my shoulder with inhuman strength, spinning me around and slamming me back against the wall. The impact knocks the breath from my lungs, and before I can recover, she has me pinned completely.

I can’t move. Not even an inch.

Why am I so damned weak?

“Let me go!” I snarl, trying to break free from her grip. But it’s like being held by a steel trap. She’s not even straining.

Desperation makes me try to shift. I reach for my dragon, calling her forward with everything I have.

Nothing happens.

Not a single damned thing.

Nooooooo!

My dragon feels distant, muffled, like there’s a thick wall between us. I can barely feel her. I hate it.

“I wouldn’t waste my energy if I were you,” Neilina says calmly, not even breathing hard despite holding my entire body weight against the wall. “There are drugs in your systemspecifically designed to prevent you from shifting. You can try all you want, but it won’t work.”

How does she know?

More of that panic claws at my chest. Without my dragon, I’m…useless…I’m vulnerable.

“It will be so much better for you if you simply follow instructions and do as you are told,” she continues, her iron grip never loosening. “I really don’t want to have to restrain you again. If you make me angry, you won’t like it much. I can promise you that.”

Then she does something that makes my skin crawl.

She leans in close and inhales deeply, her nose almost touching my neck.

“Mmmmmm,” she groans, the sound low and almost sexual. “Your scent is divine. So warm, so…alive. So interesting.” She breathes in again, and this time the groan is definitely pleasure. “No wonder the master is so intrigued by you. I know you’re a shifter, but what kind? You’re clearly not human.”

Shit! Shit! Shit!

What kind?

What does that even mean?

There is only one kind.

“I could ask you the same thing,” I whisper. “What are you?”

She smiles at me, her eyes glinting like jewels.

Not human.

She’s not human at all, and neither is this master she keeps speaking about. Having said that, I have no idea what they are or how to fight them.

I’m in so much shit.

26

Shadow

“Strip,” Neilina commands.

I stare at her, my jaw clenching. “Excuse me?”