Page 60 of Taming

I don’t speak as I stare up at him, his fur heats to an unbearable feeling and that cry of his intensifies like a siren calling out a warning in the night. Inch by inch his fuming fur slips away into the smoke that surrounds us. It disappears into thin air. The beautiful beast that I love shifts right before my eyes.

It’s replaced with a man I also once loved so. Damn. Much.

His body tenses beneath my touch as if pain is wrecking through him. My hands are still held on either side of his jaw, lightly touching his inky hair as he holds himself above me. The twisting tattoos along his bare arms tremble as his jaw clenches to repress the groan rumbling through his chest. His eyelids flinch harder together. He suppresses every single sound of his pain.

I’ve never seen him so weak in his entire life.

He looks like a man an inch from death.

And I have no idea if he is or not. Because I’m too astounded to even think clearly.

“He’s coming.” Shaking words rasp from his lips but I barely have time to hear him.

Big hands and violent strength tear him away from me. All at once the room erupts from anxious quietness into pandemonium. Rime grips his shoulders and slams the demon hard against the floor. The boards shake beneath us from the impact. Stacks of books come tumbling down around them in the white haze. Chaos and Kain leap onto him. The three of them hold him down. Their fists flex with intent.

But there’s no struggle in the man pinned beneath them.

“Who the fuck are you?” Chaos growls.

Aggression charges the room. It’s electric and growing. All I can do is watch them. I can’t seem to move. I can’t seem to think.

I can barely speak in the most breathlessly quiet voice.

“He’s Sinister.” The words sound hollow against my lips. Empty. Uncertain.

Iron hinges screech into the night. My attention rises to the darkness beyond the open door. An unnatural feeling makes the fine hair along my arms stand on end.

Magic burns against my fingertips. The stored magic within me is ready even if I’m not.

The three dragon shifters halt their aggression the moment I speak. Maybe it’s my tone, maybe it’s the shock that’s shadowing my features.

Or maybe—just maybe—it’s that sensation of knowing that something bad is about to happen.

Because what he once took from me he’s now given back.

And that can only mean one thing …

Kreedence is here.

The End.