Page 45 of Red Fury (The Dragon Tributes #8)

S hadow

Kozlov’s eyes are completely red now, focused fully on my throat. His nostrils flare as he takes in a deep breath, and that distant look I’ve seen before settles over his features. The same expression he had on the plane before he attacked me.

He’s not seeing me as a person anymore. He’s seeing prey. He’s seeing a meal.

He takes another small step toward me, closing the already minimal space between us. My back is already against the wall, and there’s nowhere left to go.

I need to get us outside and away from this enclosed space. Outside, where he won’t scent me as acutely. I need to buy myself time. Maybe the drug will wear off enough for me to be able to fight him off.

Maybe Fury will come for me.

No! I can’t think like that. Fury isn’t coming. By now, he will have landed on Mistveil, none the wiser about my plight. He has no idea where I am or what’s happened to me. He probably thinks I made it safely back to Draig.

I’m on my own.

“Please,” I say, forcing my voice to stay calm despite my growing fear. “Can we go outside? I’d like to look at the stars.” I swallow hard, scrambling for something that might sound normal, appealing to whatever humanity might be left in him. “I’d like you to tell me more about your family.”

For a moment, it seems like Kozlov isn’t going to answer me. He looks intent on ripping my throat out right here in this abandoned cottage. My eyes are drawn to the scars on his throat. I wonder if they’re from the night he was turned.

“It’s beautiful out there,” I try again, gesturing toward the front door even though my hands are shaking. “I’m sure you played outside when you were kids. Why don’t you show me?”

He shakes his head suddenly, like he’s snapping out of a trance. The red fades slightly from his eyes, though they’re still far from human.

“Yes,” he says slowly, his voice rough. “We did. I can show you.”

He starts to walk toward the front door, and I sigh in relief, following him. I move slowly and deliberately so as not to spook him or provoke his hunting instincts. At least my legs are obeying me now, though I still feel weak and shaky.

The cool evening air hits my face as we step outside, and I take a deep breath.

“Tell me about it,” I say as we stand in front of the dilapidated cottage. “It must have been awesome to live out here.”

His expression softens.

“We had this entire area to explore,” he says, as he gestures toward the darkness beyond. “My brothers and I would spend hours running through those fields, racing each other, building forts in the old barn.” A small smile tugs at his lips.

I nod, pretending to care even though every instinct is screaming at me to run. “What were your parents like?”

The smile vanishes instantly. He looks down at the ground, and when he looks up again, his face is filled with such raw anguish that it takes my breath away.

“It doesn’t matter,” he says, his voice breaking. “Because they’re dead and it’s all my fault.”

“How is it your fault?”

“I brought him here.”

“Who?” I ask.

“It doesn’t matter, Claire. None of it matters. What is your name? Will you tell me…please?”

Once again, I see the real Roman. I see a hint of humanity. It makes me answer him. “Shadow.”

“Such a pretty name. I’m sorry, Shadow.” The words tumble out in a desperate rush.

“I’m so very sorry. I can’t help what I’ve become.

I should never have drunk from you. Should never have had that first taste.

” His hands shake as he clasps them in front of him.

“It’s so much worse. So difficult to live like this.

I can’t stop thinking about it. About you.

Your blood. I’m addicted to you, and I don’t know how to make it stop. ”

“You can. You’re strong. I’ve seen you,” I tell him.

“No, no, no.” He shakes his head violently, his eyes starting to glow red again. “I’m not.”

“You are. You’re disciplined. A man does not get to where you are today without discipline and values. Without—”

“That’s all a lie. It’s all a fat lie. Not real.”

“It is real. Kozlov Enterprises is a multi-billion-dollar concern. You did that.”

He laughs, the sound holding little humor. “You have it all wrong.” His voice cracks. “I’m a monster. A killer. A nothing. A complete fuck-up. And I’m so sorry.”

Then he attacks.

He moves with inhuman speed, slamming into me before I can even think to dodge him. We go down hard, my back hitting the packed dirt with enough force to knock the wind out of me. His weight pins me down as he sinks his fangs deep into my throat.

I scream as he begins to feed, the sound echoing across the empty landscape.

The pain is excruciating, like liquid fire burning through my veins.

I try to punch him, to kick him, anything to get him off me, but he’s impossibly strong and I’m still so weak from the drugs. From when he drank from me before.

I go for his eyes with my fingers, desperate to cause enough damage to make him release me, but he catches my wrists in a crushing grip that makes me cry out again.

He’s sucking the life from me, pulling great mouthfuls of blood with an urgency that tells me he’s not going to stop. Not this time. When my vision starts to falter, I think this is it. This is how I die.

Then there’s a loud screech from above.

I know that sound. Even in my weakened state, even with my dragon suppressed by drugs, I know that sound like I know my own heartbeat.

It’s a dragon. It’s him. It’s Fury. It has to be.

I whimper.

Kozlov lets go, and my hands go instinctively to my throat. Blood flows freely between my fingers as I tilt my head back to look up at the sky.

And there he is.

I’ve never seen anything more beautiful in my entire life.

Fury’s massive black form blots out the stars as he circles once before landing with ground-shaking force about twenty feet away. He drops something at his feet and immediately begins to shift.

Fury is devastating in his human form. He takes my breath. Naked and powerful, every muscle defined, his dark hair wild. His eyes lock onto mine for just a moment, and I see such protectiveness there that it makes my chest ache.

“Where’s your army?” Fury asks Kozlov, his voice deadly calm as he straightens to his full height. “You’re going to need an army if you hope to beat me.”

Kozlov wipes my blood from his mouth with the back of his hand. Then he reaches behind his back and pulls out a gun from his waistband. The metal gleams in the moonlight.

“I wasn’t expecting you, but the more the merrier,” he rasps.

I try to get up but fall back down. I feel useless; in fact, I’m not sure how I’m still conscious. I’m dizzy and feel sick, my head spinning from blood loss. All I can do is watch in horror as Kozlov points the gun directly at Fury’s chest.

“I think this will be enough,” Kozlov says with a smile that’s all fangs.