Page 107 of Shifters Awakening

Stop lying to yourself. You wouldn’t know, and you’re not the multimorph. If you were a shifter, you’d shift. Do you think I’m keeping you from it?

Get out of my head.

He bent down, bringing his lips close to my ear. “You will give in to me, and you will bond with me. Now stand so I can see.”

“Bond with you?” I screamed, my voice pitched high and shrill as I climbed to my feet against my will. He wanted me to mate with him. Why?

He pressed his thumb to my temple. My skin prickled, and my mouth clamped closed. My stomach rolled as Acheron sifted through my memories.

“I’ll release your power, and you will bond with me,”he crooned. “I will consume you from the inside out. Every cell in your body will feed me, growing my energy until I’m the most powerful creature in the world.”

My shoulders drooped. “But we have to bond to do all that?”

“We must! Come!” He grasped my wrist, dragged me toward the worktable, and then pointed to the collection of Riley’s blood before turning toward the table to consult the large book. He deposited herbs and dead things into the largest bowl. “Bring me her blood.”

“No.”

He frowned slightly, and Riley shrieked.

“Fine, fine.”

Trembling from the adrenaline coursing through me, I hefted the copper dish onto the table and scrunched my nose as it dribbled over the side of the shallow dish, staining my hands. Studying the red smears brought another rush of tears, and I wanted to wash my hands, to wipe her blood off me. Instead, I stood completely frozen and completely miserable.

“We must not waste her life force, and we must use hers so I can consume every drop of yours.”

Acheron caught my hand and swiped a blade from the worktable, dragging the blade through Riley’s blood and then across my palm while he whispered words I didn’t understand. He turned my hand over the large bowl and mixed my blood into the repulsive mix before pouring it into an earthenware mug.

“Get on the table,” he said.

“What?” I rasped.

“You must lie on the table on your back, so we can bond.”

Unwilling, I climbed onto the table, avoiding the bowl and the cup filled with the bloody brew, situating myself on my back, painfully naked, and imagining all kinds of horrible things Acheron probably had planned for me.

From my left, he leered gleefully as he pulled chains from beneath the table and fastened the cuffs at the end around my wrists and ankles. The blade on the table began to glow, dancing in a magical fire. Goosebumps rose all over my skin, and my teeth chattered.

Riley sobbed quietly inside her torture chamber. At least the puncture wounds hadn’t killed her immediately, though I wasn’t sure being alive was a mercy now. I hoped unconsciousness would free her from the sounds of the horror surrounding her.

He sliced a matching slit in his palm and pressed our hands together. I clamped down on a scream as stabbing pain shot up my arm as our blood mixed, and he slipped deeper into my head, forcing the scream out of me. Fleeing was the only way I could save myself, but my body wouldn’t move, and there was no way I would leave Riley behind.

“I’ve released your power, and now you must reach for me,” he said, “with your mind.”

I didn’t. I wouldn’t.No!

His gaze narrowed as he lifted the magical brew to his lips. “Are you trying?”

“Of course,” I answered, keeping my gaze trained on the concrete ceiling.

He tipped the cup back, slurping so noisily, I fought another round of dry heaves, but he controlled my body, and I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of easily controlling my mind. I would fight every step the whole way.

Acheron pressed his index finger to my left temple. “Now you are mine.”

He was like the amalgamation of every half-crazed mage I’d ever seen in any fantasy movie ever.

Memories began replaying, a dozen reruns I hadn’t chosen, and a steady stream of tears slipped from the corners of my eyes as Acheron sifted through my mind. One by one, he forced me to recall all the people I had failed until unconsciousness threatened, and my eyes slid mostly closed.

Seeming far away, the mage threw back his head, laughing, but the sound stopped short, and he howled. “No.”

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