Kat
A training session. That’s what Arik had told me, but the longer I waited in this cold, dark, empty lot behind what used to be a big-box store, the more I began to wonder exactly what kind of training session he had in mind. The faint sound of traffic somewhere in the distance accompanied the rough chop of my breath, the staccato rhythm a hard accompaniment to the beat of my heart. A couple of streets over, a siren wailed a complaint. Shadows shifted and shivered in the distant reaches of the broken-up asphalt surrounding me, and I swore hungry eyes tracked me as I paced back and forth across the abandoned loading dock.
Something wasn’t right. I knew it, felt the wrongness on the frigid air, but what it was, I couldn’t be sure.
It didn’t help that my body felt as alien as the night did. I’d tapped into something while making love to Arik that I’d never felt before, a swell of calm power that flowed under the direction of my mind instead of the jerking stop-and-start I’d been experiencing for weeks. Now that buzz was ever-present, humming under my skin, a presence both foreign and familiar. Add to that the shadowing filling my muscles with Arik’s strength, begging to be used, and I was as jumpy as a cat in a roomful of dogs.
I didn’t even want to think about how we’d strengthened the shadowing. If I did, I’d never be able to concentrate on what Arik wanted from me tonight.
With a full-body shiver, I turned to retrace my steps and froze at the sight of glowing amber eyes racing across the hundred yards of empty lot toward me. Even before my weaker eyes could discern the details of his body, Arik’s gaze caught and held mine, the beauty of that gold light in the darkness at once awe-inspiring and chilling. This was the male that had shared my body. The male I loved.
The male who freely admitted he was using me. Looks like we’ve made some progress. Those words had come immediately after the most intimate moment I’d ever spent with another human being. Don’t get me wrong, I understood that Arik didn’t love me, that everything he was putting me through was all for a good cause, or so he said. A cause that was more important to him than I was. I should escape, find Sun, Grim, find out if Arik was telling me the whole truth.
So why was I still standing here?
Because you’re weak.
Denying that truth was impossible. I knew what I needed to do, knew what was best—for me and, if I could bring Sun and Grim into this fight, probably for Arik in the long run—but then there was the other part of me, the part that soaked up every moment of tenderness that had passed between us since we’d made love for the first time a few short days ago. Some small portion of my heart begged for just a few more memories before the ruthlessness in him forced me to flee. Before he opened his mouth and flayed me alive one last time.
Just one more day. Two. He can’t set you on Maddox that soon. You’ve got time. Time with Arik, time I’d never get back once I walked out that door, the door that could no longer hold me in. Time I wanted desperately never to end. Yes, he could be an asshole, but when we were together without all the Archai war and revenge stuff between us, when Arik touched me, I felt whole. Leaving that behind was…well, harder than I’d realized it would be.
But as much as I wanted him, war and revenge were a very real part of our relationship—maybe most of our relationship on Arik’s side—and my self-respect wouldn’t consider any other option but leaving.
Arik was upon me in seconds, barely breathing heavy as he took the leap up to the dock without hesitation and caught my arms in a firm grip. “Come on, Kat. There’s not much time.”
“Time for what? What is going on here, Arik?” That sense of something wrong grew into a tidal wave, swamping my senses as he pulled me down the steps onto the asphalt. “Arik!”
He jerked around to face me. “It’s time to take the next step. You’ve found your skill; now you have to use it.”
Crap. “No. No!” I’d practiced with bottles, bags, logs… I had the terrible feeling that Arik wasn’t talking inanimate objects here. “I thought we were training.”
“We are, just…not alone.” He threw a glowing glance toward the area where he’d jumped the fence. “You need this. There’s nothing like real-world training to force you to improve your skills. I know, it’s how I trained myself, but I can’t have you fighting me full-out and accidentally taking me down.”
“Why not?”
He acknowledged my sarcasm with an arched brow. “You need an opponent you don’t have to hold back with. You need to understand how to control your power in a real fight, not just against a punching bag.”
“I already lived through one real-world test, with Maddox, remember? I do not want to try another.”
Anger lit like a fuse in Arik’s eyes. “What do you think your power is for, Kat? You are an offensive weapon. It doesn’t matter if you’re with me or the Archai or the Anigma—your power is unique, and it has only one purpose. To kill.”
I realized I was shaking my head, denying his words even as some small part of me wondered if maybe he was right. “No. You can’t make me fight.”
Arik shrugged. “You’re right; I can’t.” A jerk of his head directed my attention to the end of the lot, where two glowing silver orbs suddenly appeared in the darkness. Eyes. Shifter eyes. “But that Anigma soldier over there? He can.”
“Damn you, Arik.” My voice hitched in a way that would be embarrassing if I wasn’t so damn terrified.
He pulled me close—to reassure me or say good-bye, I didn’t know, but I didn’t resist either. Still, every molecule of my being was focused on those eyes lumbering closer and the hunger shining in them. If I’d had any sense, I would’ve slapped Arik hard when he bent for a quick, careless kiss across my forehead. “You’ll do fine,” he assured me, and then he disappeared.
Shit. Shit. My heart jumped into my throat as I glanced frantically around, searching for Arik’s trail, his hiding place. Surely he was hiding. He didn’t truly intend to leave me here, did he? Alone? With a…thing…looking at me like I was his first meal in years? But if he was close by, he’d hidden himself so well I knew I’d never find him unless he wanted me to. Pissed off wasn’t anywhere near adequate for what I was feeling right now.
“I hate you!” I shouted in my mind as I began to run.
Jesus, where to go? Running the length of the farthest wall of the loading dock brought me closer to the fence than I wanted, but it was either that or get myself trapped somewhere inside the building with no idea where the escape hatch was. I’d only covered half the distance when a glance up threatened to bring me to my knees.
The shifter was a good head taller than the fence he stood behind, maybe seven and a half feet, even his shadow looming in the darkness, stretching across the pavement toward my feet as if it could get its greedy hands on me just by straining hard enough. As I watched, the massive male shot straight into the air and over the fence to land in an easy crouch on this side. No prep. No running start. Just pop and he was over, the ground shaking at his landing.
The only thing now standing between us was yards of cracked asphalt, and somehow I didn’t think that was an obstacle to the shifter bearing down on me like a Sherman tank.
Good God, somebody save me.
He was so big he seemed to take over my entire field of vision—which was perfect if I wanted to die. I tore my gaze away as I reached the end of the dock and swung around the corner. An image from my childhood flickered in my mind, sitting in front of the TV watching cartoon characters spin their legs in never-ending circles with no forward progress whatsoever. That was me right now, spinning my wheels while hell breathed down my neck. My eyes pricked with terror-filled tears I refused to let fall. I had two choices: let the beast kill me, or get away. Personally I preferred the latter.
Looked like my timetable for leaving Arik had moved up, whether I was ready or not. Of course, having your lover try to kill you was the clearest red flag available. Sentimental fool. What were you thinking?
Hot breath hit my neck just before a beefy hand landed on my shoulder, jerking me off my feet. I found myself in the air, dangling from the shifter’s grip as he leaned over to shove his face against me and suck in a deep breath—a predator identifying its next meal.
“Female. Psych. Good God, where did you come from?” the male asked with a bizarrely Southern drawl. He drew in another deep breath. “Fresh. Mmm, much better than the male I was chasing.” He shook me. “Too bad he abandoned you, huh? Better for me, though.” He set me on my feet, the move almost gentle. “Let’s play.”
Sucking in air like I was working a bellows, I turned to face the male. It took every ounce of strength I had to hold in the scream that rose in my throat.
This close, every detail was thrown into stark relief by the scant moonlight and scattering of streetlamps down the road. Craggy features. Skin with a bizarre green tint. Hands the size of small platters. Sharp, pointed teeth gleamed as his mouth stretched into a smile and he began a slow stalk around me, a cat playing with a mouse.
This mouse did not want to play.
Damn Arik. Damn him to hell and back for doing this to me. If—and that was a big freaking if—I made it out of this alive and minimally broken, I was going to throw caution to the winds and kill him, the freaking prick.
“What the hell are you?” I finally managed to choke out.
The shifter drew back as if I’d hit him, those gray eyes flashing atomic white with rage. “A gargoyle.” As I watched, his body grew a good foot in height. As if he needed that. I tried unsuccessfully to swallow my panic. Like a mask being pulled over his head, his forehead, cheekbones, chin, and on down morphed into sharp planes and angles that resembled steel plate. The green tone of his skin turned gunmetal gray, veins of green and black and white transforming his body into the finest, most macabre marble I’d ever seen. A growl rumbled in his bull-like chest, deep and animalistic. His angular jaw dropped open to reveal wickedly curved, dripping teeth that, in my mind, looked the size of steak knives. Claws sprouted from his fingertips.
I couldn’t hold back the shaky, “Oh shit,” that escaped.
“Suck it up. You’ve got a job to do; now do it, Kat,” Arik warned.
“Get me the hell out of here!”
I heard his shaking head in the unfair calm of his reply. “Only one of you is getting out of here. It’s your job to make sure that’s you.”
“You want me to kill him?” I screamed, matching the giant’s circling motions. I seriously considered, just for a moment, inviting the blackness crouching at the edge of my vision to take over.
“What did you think he was, a play toy? This is what you’ve been training for. Time to face up to it.”
“What’s the matter, female?” the shifter asked, a thick black tongue running over equally thick lips. “Cat got your tongue?” He lunged, once, twice, pulling back at the last second. Toying with me.
“Arik—”
“Focus, Kitty Kat. Heads up!”
The third lunge followed through, bringing the gargoyle right into my face. Instinctively I grabbed the rough jacket he wore by the lapels—or more like somewhere near his gut—and pulled to accelerate his forward momentum even as I stepped aside and threw my foot into his path. The shifter’s massive weight tipped off-balance, and he tripped, plunging headfirst into the wall of the dock behind me with a sickening crack. The concrete blocks splintered, shattered under the impact.
“Nice move, but it would be more impressive if he wasn’t getting back up. Now stop playing around and power up.”
Sure enough, the male stood slowly and shook his head, brick dust and bits of rubble raining over his shoulders to the ground below. With a snap his gaze locked on mine, and he grinned.
The sight almost loosened control of my bladder, but I clenched my legs together. No way in hell. If someone was going to piss themselves, it wouldn’t be me.
“If you didn’t want to play,” the male said, “you could’ve just told me.” He shrugged. “Time for pain, then. Come here, pretty girl. Come to Walter and let me sink my teeth into your tasty little bones.”
Walter?
“Anigma soldier,” Arik whispered in my mind. “Caught him with some friends on the way in from their nightly female hunting.”
I knew exactly what kind of hunting Arik was talking about, but I didn’t have time for horror to set in. Walter crept closer, his gaze shifting constantly as he slowly pushed me toward the corner of the loading dock where a convenient L waited to trap me. He lunged again, and I began a duck-and-cover routine that made me grateful for all the hours Arik had forced me to spend on the cardio equipment in the workout room. As the gargoyle followed, he began to talk, telling me all the wonderful things he had in store for me.
Great. Walter was definitely sick.
Refusing to allow his words to rattle me—or at least let him see that they did—I squared my shoulders, straightened my spine, and returned grin for sadistic grin.
He apparently preferred his victims cringing, because his eyes went downright mean. “You laughing at me, girl? You think I’m funny? Huh? Answer me!”
The roar blew my hair back from my face as the stink of stale breath surrounded me. I had a moment to gag, and then the tank was coming straight at me. A quick glance showed about five feet on each side to maneuver—not much. Instead I planted my feet. One. Two. On three, the gargoyle reached out a meaty hand to grab my shoulder. I dropped under his arm, my punch hitting him low on his ribs with a nearly silent, “Aagghhh!”
Now I knew how his head felt. Hitting the shifter was like punching a brick wall. Agony seared through every finger, up my arm into my brain, shifting my cry from silent to eardrum popping. I had just enough presence of mind to try and get out of the death trap of a corner, but Walter had no more than cringed at my blow. A half step was all it took for him to charge into me.
“Use your words,” Arik growled.
“Why don’t I just do that, asshole.” Thinking was nearly impossible, much less talking.
The shifter’s enormous claws clamped around my ribs. He picked me up, and the next thing I knew I was flying through the air. When I hit the ground, I didn’t know whether to curse the pain or be thankful I hadn’t hit the concrete wall. Before I could decide, the shifter’s massive weight landed on top of me and every other thought scattered along with my bones.
Sour breath crowded out oxygen. My stomach heaved. I was drowning in the essence of evil, fighting with everything I had, fear pounding in my throat. Cruel hands surrounded my neck, threatening to cut off life, making me even more aware of the rapid flight of my heartbeat. With a twist that had Walter bracing one arm on the ground beside my head, I was able to tuck my leg to my chest, creating scant distance between us that at least kept him from crushing me, if not much else. But the male had no intention of letting go; he simply readjusted to get a good, hard, larynx-pulverizing grip. My air supply vanished between one breath and the next—not a good thing when I was panting with exertion.
I felt myself start a slow slide down into unconsciousness even as I clawed and scraped and kicked to get him off.
“Arik!” I couldn’t keep my sob out of the plea.
“Use your words, Kitty Kat.” No concern. No fear. Just firm command.
My heart kicked into overdrive, beating my ribs into submission. I choked, my face tight, eyes bulging. Could I even get a word out like this?
From the corner of one eye, I saw Arik drop from the sky to stand in full view, arms crossed over that beautiful chest, just watching. He wasn’t coming to my rescue.
He wasn’t coming to my rescue.
The pressure at my throat eased just enough to allow a single gasp of air. Above me, the gargoyle shifted back to human, his smile still grotesque and far too close. “What’s the matter, little girl? The animal too strong for you? Come on, gimme some fun and maybe I’ll let you go.” He lowered his head, and a long, thick tongue sneaked out, leaving a trail of slimy spit along my cheek. A huff of hot, acrid breath hit my face as he chuckled. “Or maybe not.”
I closed my eyes. I knew what was coming; the obscenely large erection jammed against my pubic bone left little doubt. Would Arik intervene? I wanted to believe he would, but if he didn’t, if this shifter raped me, I wouldn’t live long afterward. It was truly now or nothing, do-or-die time. The world and everything in it fell away as I sought deep inside myself, found that power humming in my veins beneath the pain and terror and rage—
That was what I needed: rage. Not just at my attacker, but at Arik, at Maddox, at the whole damn world. I gathered it into a ball at the center of my being. More. More. More.
My eyes opened. With a quick twist of hips and shoulders Arik had once shown me, I gained a whisper of extra space between my body and the gargoyle’s. Just enough to jerk up a hard knee. Just enough to catch his erect penis completely unprotected.
The next few seconds slowed in my brain, each ticking off like the hands of a clock.
Walter howling with pain.
Rearing back.
The flash of his white-hot eyes staring at the sky.
Shoving my hands toward him. “Off!”
Just as my palms hit the shifter’s chest, I let loose the molten electricity balled at my core. It streamed down my arms, my fingers, coalescing in my palms where they connected with Walter’s breastbone. It hurt. God, how it hurt. But I didn’t stop. Instead I yelled a second time, pressing harder, and beneath my hands bones popped, muscles tore, flinging bits of body everywhere as the shifter flew back and away. I closed my eyes, not wanting to see the blood I could feel dripping from my hands and face, the mess I knew the Anigma would be, the satisfaction I briefly glimpsed on Arik’s face. All I could do was lie there and pray I didn’t lose the contents of my stomach.
Heavy boots ground the dust on the pavement beneath them as Arik approached. He passed me, the sound of his steps stopping where I figured the other male had landed. “Not bad, Kitty Kat. Not bad at all.”
A grunt escaped me. Opening my eyes, I stared up into the night sky.
No stars. How appropriate.
Arik came to stand directly above me. I met his gaze, searching, unsure what I was looking for, but the golden glow in his eyes hid whatever was behind them. One hand reached to help me up. The light of Arik’s stare washed over me as I took his hand, highlighting the gore flecked over my arm. It was the last straw.
Rolling quickly, I scrambled away. My mouth watered, bile rising, and I swallowed repeatedly, trying to keep it down. Frantically I wiped my hands on my clothes—I’d never wear them again anyway. Never again.
It took long minutes for the nausea to settle. When I finally managed to gain my feet, I refused to turn and look at Arik. Something tickled along my lip. I unzipped my jacket and swiped the thankfully clean inner material across my mouth, pulling it back to find a smear of bright red blood on the cloth. Leaning against the brick wall in front of me, I sniffed and willed my shaky body back under control.
A faint whispering in the wind caught my attention. As I watched, the splatters of shifter tartar on my pants shriveled, went white, and blew away in the wind. I lifted my head to see the shifter’s body transforming into a shriveled husk of gray ash that slowly floated off into the night.
I shivered hard enough to pop my spine.
“You get used to it, you know.”
“Used to what?” I asked absently, my thoughts on the disappearing body.
“Killing.”
I finally turned to face Arik, meeting his eyes, searching for some hint of the lover, the man who’d touched me with tenderness, brought me such pleasure. All I found was the warrior staring back at me. No doubt after a thousand years, Arik had gotten very used to killing. It was the path he’d chosen, after all.
That didn’t mean I would.
“I’m not judge and jury, Arik, and I sure as hell am not executioner. I can’t be responsible for deciding who will live and who won’t.”
Those amber eyes flashed. Arik blew out a deep breath, his face grim. “Unfortunately for you, whoever or whatever gave you that power”—he nodded toward my trembling hands—“decided otherwise. That means you don’t have a choice.”
“There’s always a choice. I can’t do this. I won’t.”
Arik’s mouth was a grim slash below his amber eyes. “You can. You will. You proved it tonight. You just need more practice.”
More fighting. More death. That’s what he meant.
Confusion, nausea, and pain made my voice small when I finally managed to whisper, “Can we go now?”
“Let me clean up first.”
Clean up what? But I didn’t ask. Instead I turned back to the brick wall, leaned my head against it, and waited. My brain and heart still throbbed with the aftermath of energy, and when the tickle on my lip came again, I swiped at it absently. Looked down.
Blood.
Nosebleed. I couldn’t bring myself to care. Without conscious thought I slid to sit against the wall and waited, swiping the blood away, letting the scent of garbage and cold air cut the smell of death filling me up. Just for a few moments. It wasn’t like I’d forget. It was branded on my pain-filled mind, in my bruised muscles, my aching hands, my bleeding nose. A reminder.
“You don’t have a choice.”
No, I didn’t. I had to leave.