Page 53 of Maiming
“Fine.” Kain strides right past him and I flinch the moment I realize his intent. With far too much strength he rips the door open. And without a lock to strain against his effort, the damn door tears right off its hinges.
“There’s …. no lock on the door,” he mumbles.
Chaos cocks a brow at him. Rime side eyes the fiasco that is my life. Sinister coughs through a shaking laugh, and I stand trying to pretend to be the good little prisoner that I’m expected to be.
I’ve never seen Kain awkward the entire time I’ve known him. Right now, with an entire metal door held in his big hand, watching him try to delicately place it back where it belongs, it’s a painful sight. The metal clanks against the brick as it slides, threatening to topple over. Moments pass while we all watch the shifter quietly.
Finally, he turns away from it, facing me head on. His eyes meet mine for the first time. “Come on, Arlow. We’re leaving.”
The energy in the room changes swiftly. It’s like it isn’t even our doing. Someone greater, a goddess of all bad timing is the only logical explanation. Because the man who clearly cares about Agatha, and respects her and would never harm her or her friends, is finally pushed a little too far.
The man’s hand grips over Kain’s arm and he shoves my shifter into the wall.
“You think you can come in here and break her out of the holding center? Are you mad?”
Suddenly all the strange things of the evening fall into place. The mistake I made following the voice in the middle of the night. The violence death of a prominent man’s daughter. The lock that was carelessly broken. The door that was ripped a bit too violently off the hinges.
It’s all so perfect. I can’t help but wonder what else has been a domino effect in my life.
Through clenched teeth Kain speaks as slow and rationally as possible. “Skovence. Take your fucking hands off of me.”
All that rationality that Kain shoves into those words are for nothing.
Another irrational mind is far quicker.
Bricks brake way, clattering down around us. They scrape against my skin until strong arms wrap around me, pulling me farther into the cell and against his chest. The room itself trembles from a force of the growing beast before me. Black scales, wafting wings, and sharp claws fill the room. A hornless head jars through the ceiling. Crisp cold air stings my skin, and all I can do is look up in awe at the rage that’s settled into the sweetest eyes I’ve ever known.
Chaos may have struck first but I ruined this. I tried so hard to belong here when Ellise is right, I don’t belong anywhere. Not really.
And now it’s too late to fix it.
When a rasping roar fumes heat into the shambles of my cell, the other man shifts. Silver scales and shining white horns rip across Skovence’s skin until he’s more monster than man. And all that human logic disappears as he charges into Chaos.
Dust billows, clouding the thrashing movements of the animals. Snapping teeth and rumbling growls are all that can be heard, and I rush toward the sound without hesitation.
Chaos, stop! Please. This is a mistake. Chaos. Please stop!
The pleas I send through our mating bond are answered with a ripping roar and then Chaos takes out the final wall as he pummels the other man into the ground, fastening his claws into the beast’s throat. Crumbled brick scatters across my feet. Metal strikes against the ground. It all comes falling down.
Rime’s palm flattens against my stomach and he pulls me away from it all.
We need to leave.
Rime’s voice in my mind is a calming sound among the pandemonium.
He’s right.The feminine voice sends a chill down my spine. It’s a warped melodious tone, like words lost under water.
And then she’s there.
Ellise’s fur shawl is a bright white color wrapped around her shoulders. She looks like an angel with the pale hues of the moonlight casting down on her.
“Arlow it’s time. It’s now or never, friend.” Her palm looks small as she holds it peacefully out to me.
Adrenaline tinged hope blooms through my chest. That warming feeling is pushed aside as I feel the steel of his muscle tense through his arm. Harder he presses me against his chest. Sinister steps in front of the mage. Kain comes closer to my side. Two dragons continue to plow and slam into the ground hard enough to shake their rage right into me.
“Arlow.” Rime’s words are careful. Thought out. “What is the Solstice Queen doing here?”
“I thought she was dead,” Kain whispers, his body coming closer until his chest brushes my shoulder, his palm moving protectively across my stomach, just below Rime’s.
