Page 22 of Savage Bond

I hate the way he looks at me—like I’m breakable, like I’m nothing but a burden. I hate how his voice curls low when he’smocking me. I hate that I notice the shift in his scent when he gets close. That my skin prickles when he leans in too far.

Gods, I hate that bastard Reaper.

And I hate that part of me—some traitorous, primal part—aches to see him now.

I drop my head back, jaw clenched, my throat raw from screaming earlier. “If you left me here, I swear to every star in the sky, I’m gonna haunt your smug ass.”

But the words fall flat in the dark, swallowed whole by stone and silence.

Still, I cling to them. Because right now, anger is all I’ve got left. And if I die down here, I’ll do it with fire in my chest and his name on my tongue—for the express purpose of punching him in the face if I ever come back as a ghost.

I grit my teeth and force my legs to move. One slow, shaky swing. Then another. Pain screams through my shoulders, but I ignore it. I focus on the rock formation jutting out beneath me—a bulbous, slick thing about half a meter away. If I can just plant a foot, just shift my weight?—

I swing harder, twisting my hips. Every motion sends a bolt of agony through my torso, but I push through it. I’ve made it through worse. I’ve survived war zones, sabotage drills, IHC training. I will not die here in this rotting hellhole strung up like a goddamn piñata.

My toes graze the rock. Almost.

Again. I swing again, harder this time, blood dripping from my arm, slicking the webbing around my wrists. Come on, come on?—

And then I hear it.

A slow, wet slither behind me. The brush of limbs against the stone. The air shifts. My heart slams in my chest.

I twist in time to see the creature emerge from the shadows.

Gods, it’s worse than I remembered.

It’s massive, nearly twice my height, hunched with muscles that bulge unnaturally under its mottled, putrid skin. Its limbs bend wrong—like it’s imitating something vaguely humanoid, but getting all the details wrong. Patches of exposed muscle glisten under shredded scales. Its eyes—too many of them—glow a dull, hungry yellow. And its mouth... that mouth is a split seam of jagged fangs, stretching almost ear to ear.

Its breath hits me before anything else—thick and putrid, a cloud of decay and rotting meat that forces bile up my throat.

I recoil instinctively, but it’s too late. The thing moves in, fast for its size, its clawed hand wrapping around my ankle like a vise. It hauls itself up, eyes gleaming, and leans close to my face.

And then it speaks.

“Kairon’s” voice slips out of its mouth.

“Ava,” it croons, sickly sweet. “Didn’t think you’d come running for me. You came so fast when I called.”

I freeze.

No. No, no, no?—

It leers at me, tongue slithering between jagged teeth. “I think you’ll do nicely,” it purrs. “A strong body. Stubborn. We like that.”

I snarl, thrashing against the restraints. “Get the fuck away from me!”

But it doesn’t. Its claws caress my thigh, up the side of my ribs. My skin crawls so hard I think it might peel right off. I twist violently, trying to kick, but I’ve got no leverage.

“We’re going to breed your little body. Impregnate you with our many children, over and over again,” it whispers, right against my ear. “Over and over again. Until you’re used up. Until you break. And then we’ll feed on what’s left.”

I rear back as far as I can, rage twisting in my gut. “Stop touching me, you disgusting freak!”

“Oh,” it croons with Kairon’s deep, mocking timbre. “She’s got fire. That’s good. We like fire. Makes the breaking more... fun.”

It traces a claw along the line of my neck, and something in me snaps.

“I swear to every star in the sky, I will fucking destroy you,” I growl through clenched teeth. “I’ll burn this whole cave down around us before I let you use me.”

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