I lunged off the wall, using my momentum to help me crash my fist right into his elongating jaw. His yelp of surprised pain served as all the encouragement I needed to rain blows down on him. The principles of fighting weren’t lost on me. I did, actually, know how to fight. I’d even taken Krav Maga.
What?
It did wonders for my ass and my arms.
I’d never had any real effect against anything stronger than a human before. Okay, not totally true. There was this fae once, but that story was better forgotten and never told.
He would never forgive me for what I did to his hair.
Still, the strength coursing through my veins coupled with the speed vibrating my bones meant I was a fucking superhero. The last blow sent the guard tumbling across the floor, and he let out a rattling wheeze before going still.
The stink of blood coated my nostrils and clogged my throat. Spatters of gore had flown off the wolf as I tore into him. Even now, I was shaking little bits of stuff I never wanted to identify off my hands.
Shadow and flame danced in the antechamber. Some of the bodies had caught on fire, and the acrid scent of roasting flesh and burnt hair just added to the shitty Scentsy party.
Gag.
This was awful.
And…I was out of guards.
I took a step toward Fin and Dorran, when the shadow demon hurled backwards and shadows enfolded me.
Holding my breath seemed like a stellar idea. I did not want to take one ounce of him in by accident, ’cause, you know, gross.
Inky dark and icy cold draped me. A sensation akin to falling prickled over my flesh. The shadows pressed in even closer, mummifying and threatening to smother me. Thankfully, I didn’t need to breathe—at least not right away. I curled my fingers against the insubstantial night. How much of it could I touch or affect?
It slid through my fingers like water. Great. The image of a wet T-shirt contest leapt to mind, and I couldn’t help it. I had to laugh. How great would that be, to hear about the epic battle at Nightmare Penitentiary waged by a succubus versus a shadow demon in a wet T-shirt contest? I’d win the second my breasts were on display.
Men were so predictable.
Predictable.
I twisted around in the darkness, almost like I was swimming or trying to at least tread water, even without the sense of buoyancy. The shadows seemed to thicken, making it harder to move. All sound had blotted out like my ears had been stuffed with cotton. So annoying. Yet, men were predictable.
Even shadow demon males.
The thickest part of the darkness offered some resistance. Spongier. It pushed back.
A grin pulled at my lips, but I kept them pressed tightly together before I rammed my fist into that near solid, spongy mass. The darkness shuddered.
Another drive forward with my free hand into the same area, and the shudder turned to a vibrating pulse rippling through the darkness. Again and again, I struck until sparks danced in front of my eyes as my lungs burned in desperate need for air—mental or physical, who knew? I just knew if I dared suck in a breath here, it would open up another clusterfuck.
I, for one, was done with clusterfucks.
The ripples colliding into each other tumbled faster, like a whirlpool determined to suck me down, and somewhere within me, I swore Maddox roared again. As though demanding I do something. Damn, grumpy dragon. What the hell did he think I was doing?
The weight of Rogue’s disappointment feathered over me. The image of him was a flash on my retinas, as though he stood just in the garden where the sun edged the cold, sleeping vines and the icy rocks. He wanted me to understand something, but apparently, I was being thick.
Alfred, hands in his pockets, stood in front of a blazing fire in the great hall. It was empty behind him, cold and barren. His anger was a palpable thing chilling the air, despite the heat from the flames. As though suddenly aware of me, he turned those dark rimmed eyes on me. Fathomless voids that held so much emotion, it threatened to suffocate me worse than the shadow demon currently holding me captive.
Currently.
Holding.
Me.
Captive.
I was no one’s captive.
No cell would hold me again. Not one constructed by a vampire, demon, or angel. Hear that, my loving asshole? I sent the thought out there. You’re my asshole. I can accept that. But I will not be caged by any of you.
And I would not be caged by this shadow demon, who, like everyone else, had tried to own me from the day he met me. How clear it was to me now. All those visits. All that steely affection laced with command. Forcing me to feed on him, even though I hadn’t wanted it. Despite the fact he offered blood bags every day and I’d refused them.
The blood in those bags would never have sustained me.
I knew that now. Then? I just hadn’t wanted them.
The scorch of heat flooded my veins. The thrum of power raced over my skin. My heart slammed a rhythmic tattoo against my ribs as I struck at the shadow demon over and over.
The white light from earlier pierced the darkness, and it seemed to shimmer out of every single one of my pores. One moment, I was encased in the darkness as I struck at it, and in the next, the darkness flooded with strands of silver and white, each vein creeping through the darkness to illuminate it, even as it began to separate it into a hundred different pieces.
Bursting through the cocoon of darkness, I stretched out my arms because the power seemed to swell through me, and it lit up the entire cavern. The surge of guards heading toward us turned back, shrieking as light filled every crevice and depression in the stone. They raised hands to cover their faces, and the stone just beyond them erupted as a dragon forced his way through.
The wild hazel green and gold eyes with their slits focused on me, even as the pupils retracted at the brilliance of the light.
A pained sound pulled my attention, and I stared down at the warden now lying near my feet. He’d resumed his humanoid form, his dark eyes shot through with silver and his arm lifted as though to shield his face. Yet even as I watched, the grizzled parts of his cheeks turned almost ruddier and the light kissed over his flesh, softening him.
It was like the blur of a camera lens filtering out the harsher elements and leaving behind…
Surprise and wonder filled Dorran’s eyes as he focused on me. There was color in those endless black pits. Shock and grief exploded through the surprise and wonder, and he let out a sound of agony so profound, it had to have shredded his throat.
A blast of heated breath hit me as Maddox roared, and I pulled my gaze away from the downed warden, his troubled expression already forgotten as I focused on my beautiful golden dragon. His scales shimmered in the light, and his huge head dipped toward me as I hurried across the buckled and crumbling floor with its litter of bodies.
Fin scooped me up a step away from Maddox and curled his thick arms around me as he pulled me close. “Give me a minute, Beautiful.” Then he focused on Maddox when my dragon snarled a warning. “Mind your temper. She’s mine too.”
Before I could snap at either of them for arguing, Fin fisted my hair and dipped his face to mine. I cupped his cheeks, halting his descent as I studied him. Bruises marred his beautiful face, and there was blood on his lip where it had been split wide open and an ugly jagged slash through one of his eyebrows.
Worse, he staggered a little, blanching under his pallor. Pain. He was hurting. Smoothing my hands down to his nape, I took care not to touch a single one of the stripe marks on his back. I paused only when I looked at my fingers against his chest where they seemed to glow against his flesh. Ignoring that for a moment, I flattened my palm over the beat of his heart.