Page 126 of The Queen’s Shadow

A snarl exploded from my throat, and I saw fucking red. Without meaning to, I ripped into my human form. I shook my head as I regained my footing and gore sprayed from my hair, splattering the elegant white walls with blood and viscera. I slid across the polished floor and slammed into the double doors at the end of the hall with a crash.

Drawing my foot back, I hammered my heel into the golden handles. The frame splintered under the impact, blowing the door open inward. I spilled into the room, and froze, the sight before me nearly making my heart stop. Fury burned through my veins and my vision flickered in and out.

“What the fuck?” A shirtless male turned around from where he stood at the end of the bed, his hands on the buckle of his slacks.

I barely saw him.

It was what was on the bed that made my blood turn so hot it felt cold in my veins.

There, cowering on the bed, clutching a pillow tightly against her tiny body, was a child-shaped Kasha in a small white nightgown. Her cheeks were round, and her chubby little fingers gripped the pillow as if it would protect her from the male that stood before her. Her dark blue hair was cut short and curling at her shoulders and her brandy eyes met mine as I entered. A flash of recognition cut through them.

The ground tilted beneath my feet at the sight of her, and I wondered if it was possible to die from rage.

“Who the fuck are you!?” The male asked, turning toward me.

I didn’t look at him. I couldn’t move.

“Kasha?” My voice sounded like it was under water.

Everything felt thick, and slow, as my mind tried to make sense of what I was seeing. Her too-large eyes welled with tears at the sight of me. She looked at me as if she couldn’t believe I was real. Then she pointed to the male at the end of the bed and started to cry.

“Monster!” She sobbed, and finally, my body seemed to catch up with the horror and devastation that had been flooding my mind. My gaze followed the direction of her finger, and my eyes landed on the male before me, who was currently building a blast of power in his hands.

“You’re fucking with the wrong daemon, asshole.” He snarled, before firing a quasar at me.

I didn’t flinch.

I turned to face him and took the blast directly to the chest. The restructium absorbed most of it, but the metal heated under the blast and burnt into my flesh. I leaned into the pain, using it to snap me out of the near state of shock I suddenly found myself trying to break free from.

He had made her change into a child.

The coldness in my blood turned to a sharp burn, and I pressed into the onslaught of energy, meeting the daemon’s eyes as I did so.

He frowned, realizing that his pathetic attempt to attack me wasn’t going to do shit.

Still nearly in a trance, I pulled my handgun out of its holster as his power sputtered out. He was attempting to build another blast when I shot him twice in the chest. I watched him go down as I stepped forward. The shock was slowly wearing off, and intention was sinking back into my actions. The bullets had hit him near the shoulder.

I hadn’t hit any organs.

Good.

I was going to make sure this one died a slow death. I was going to tear him to fucking shreds, and Kasha was going to watch me do it. So she would know that he would never, ever touch her again.

Rycon

The daemon looked up at me from where he had fallen to the ground. He moved to press a hand to his now bleeding shoulder, clearly surprised that he was the one who had been wounded.

I could hear Kasha crying on the bed behind me as I stalked closer to the male, and every instinct in my body rebelled against the sound of her tiny sobs. I made soothing sounds in the back of my throat.

“It’s okay, Kasha. I’m just going to hurt this piece of shit then we’re going to go home.” I promised her, without taking my eyes off the male cowering before me on the ground.

“Who are you?” He asked again, a trickle of blood sliding out from his lips. I slammed a boot into his chest, directly over his wound and he hissed in pain as I pressed him back into the floor, crouching over him as I did so.

I ran the tip of my gun down the side of his face gently.

I felt him build his power again, but I barely registered it as I pressed the barrel against his temple. “You’re a sick fuck, aren’t you?” I asked, meeting his gaze dead on as I watched him struggle with his situation. He thought he was an alpha. He didn’t know how to be submissive. He was used to overpowering, dominating, and controlling.

Well. He was going to learn today. You’re not a fucking alpha if your prey can’t fight back. I was the only alpha in this fucking room, and I was going to make sure he knew it before he died.