Page 267 of The Queen’s Shadow

The wolf shifter had stripped her of her throwing darts and was lazily tossing them at her from where he leaned against a nearby tree, smoking a cigarette.

“Hey Chief,” he greeted me with a wolfish grin. “I see you found your girl.” He nodded at Kasha, and she grinned at him.

“Hey, hey! What’s going on here?” She asked, her tone playful.

“Playing darts.” Aiden smirked, flicking another blade at Anaya without bothering to look. Anaya tried to swivel out of the way, but with her limited mobility, it buried itself into her abdomen, next to her hip bone. She screeched in rage, but with the noose around her throat, she couldn’t even shift. The slip knot would have just turned her into an angry, hanging snake.

“Ooh, fun! Can I try?” Kasha beamed, and I bit back a smile. This was my Kasha, cute, bubbly, and fucking ruthless.

Aiden’s eyes cut to me and his smile widened at Kasha’s dangerous mood. “Of course, sweetheart. I’ve been playing all night. I could use a break.”

Kasha squealed in delight and took the handful of tiny throwing blades Aiden had offered her. I watched her give Anaya a terrifyingly saccharine grin before whipping one of them as hard as she could at the dangling shifter. It buried itself directly in the viper’s chest and Kasha whooped.

“Bullseye!” She cheered, turning to me, a deliciously mad gleam twinkling in her eyes.

“Did you see? Were you watching?” She asked me excitedly and I grinned at her.

“Yeah baby, I saw. Do another one, I bet you can’t get two in a row.” I encouraged her, and she stuck her tongue out at my challenge before going back to her game.

“You really going to kill her?” Aiden asked, eyeing the furious viper as she thrashed in her noose, her toes barely touching the forest floor. Kasha danced around her, laughing as she buried blade after blade into Anaya’s body.

I shrugged. “I told Kasha she could kill her if she wants. So I guess it’s up to her.”

“It would be dangerous to let her live at this point.” Aiden observed, taking a drag from his cigarette, his eyes never leaving Anaya’s prone form.

“I know.” I agreed, just as Kasha ran out of throwing darts.

“Who’s the useless whore now, Anaya?” My mate taunted, and I felt a spike of rage at her words, suddenly regretting the decision to allow her to have this kill. If Anaya had actually called her that I wanted to cut her fucking tongue right out of her mouth.

“You’ll always be a useless whore,” Anaya spat and I snarled. Drawing my dagger, I rushed forward.

I was going to fucking skin her alive.

“Rycon, no! You said I could have her.” Kasha pouted, and I stopped in my tracks, forcing myself to turn to face her. I took in her little pouting lips and softened. I pulled her into me, kissing her gently on the tip of her nose.

“You’re right, I’m sorry.” I tilted her chin up so I could catch her mouth in mine. “I can’t listen to her say shit like that though. You need to find a way to shut her up if you’re going to keep playing with her.” I murmured, and Kasha nodded in understanding.

Anaya was looking at me like she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. I glared at her, making sure she could see how lucky she was that I was letting Kasha punish her, instead of doing it myself.

“Okay!” Kasha said, twirling back to look up at Anaya. She powered up a burning ball of blue light in her right hand. The glow of the building quasar lit her face from below, making her look even more sinister and manic.

Gods I fucken loved her.

“What about a quasar to the face? Think that’ll shut her up?” She asked innocently, and Anaya’s eyes widened. My nose filled with the scent of her terror and I suddenly couldn’t wait to see what she looked like with her head blown off.

I remembered what it had felt like when Raven had nearly blasted my arm off and smiled. A quasar to the face would fucking suck.

Wait. Raven… THAT’S WHAT HAD BEEN MISSING!

“FUCK!” I shouted, and the power died in Kasha’s palm. She whipped to face me, clearly startled by my sudden outburst.

“What?” She asked, and I felt the blood drain from my face. I poked around in my head, looking for the bond, but it was gone.

What the fuck did that mean?

Even when the bond was blocked, I could normally feel it there. I could poke it and Raven would respond. Somehow, when I went to the place in my brain where it usually was, there was nothing. It was like it had never existed.

There had been a time where this would have been a relief, but now, it was sending warning bells through my entire body. She must still be alive, because I was alive… but this was highly unusual.