Page 106 of Shifters Awakening

“Very well.” He turned to face Riley with hatred in Logan’s eyes.

Oh, god, Riley. You mean everything. I’m so sorry.

I wanted to sink to the ground, but my knees locked, and I forced myself to keep my eyes on Riley. Hiding myself away from the results of her sentence wasn’t an option, not when it had been my decision.

Acheron whirled back toward me, and I flinched. “I’d hoped we could do this the easy way, but you want to do this the hard way.”

“I rarely choose the easy way.”

He laughed as though I’d given him the best news of the day. He snapped his fingers, and the invisible cage turned visible, iron bars closed in around me.

Time had pocked and pitted the rough old iron. When I grazed the bars, my skin no longer burned, so I stuck my hand though the gaps in the cage. The warding must have made the walls of the container transparent and smooth.

“Come out!” he commanded.

The gate swung open, and the creak of the hinges echoed around me.

Unwillingly, I took a step, and I fought against the next. And the next.

But my legs moved whether I wanted them to or not, and Acheron forced me across the room until I stopped beside him, so close I could smell the foul stench of him. My brain recoiled despite the actions of my body. No matter what face he wore, this wasn’t Logan, and Acheron would never be able to make me hate Logan… even if the mage tortured me while wearing Logan’s face.

Mentally, I reached for my mate once more.Logan! Where are you? Find me.

Acheron turned to Riley, and she began moving toward the metal canister, vacant eyes staring at some distant point, some place not in the hell we were both trapped. She climbed into the Iron Maiden and lay down.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “I’ve released her from her trance.”

The lid slammed shut, and she shrieked. A moment later, blood dripped out from the lowest end into a large copper bowl.

Inside, hysterical sobs followed, and she began pounding against the metal under her. “Let me out. Please let me out. Don’t kill me. Don’t kill me.”

Acheron studied my face a moment and turned back to Riley, gesturing toward the box. The metal tube crunched around her, forcing the spikes deeper into her.

Riley screamed. “Help me!”

I yelled, squeezed my eyes closed, and turned away from the metal box slowly collapsing around her. Hot tears spilled over my cheeks.

“As I suspected,” Acheron said. “I’m not the only one who hides who they are, am I? You care for this one, this human.”

“Yes, yes, stop hurting her,” I begged, reaching for Acheron. “I’ll link with you.”

He laughed, uproariously and without humor, throwing his robes to the side, exposing the spindly, naked body beneath.

The bile in my stomach churned and erupted, shooting out of my mouth like a geyser in the middle of Yellowstone. I dropped to my hands and knees, racked with full-body heaves, and everything I’d ever eaten splattered on the concrete floor.

He stepped close to my side and dragged hisicicle fingers over my back. “So beautiful, so lovely,” he murmured. “So mine.”

I shied away from him, miserably aware of how naked I was. “Never yours. Not yours.”

Oh, Logan. Logan. Logan. I chose Riley. What am I going to do?

He’s murdered and dead.

No, he’s not.

It’s the only way I can wear his face.

No!

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