Page 71 of Outcast
I saw the wheels turning in his head as he inquired, "Where is the Daimona?"
The alpha let out a pained sigh. "I got down here in time to witness Kira killing it by wielding a sword she’d constructed from her powers. It somehow burned away the Daimona and left a shifter in its wake."
He continued with a dramatic sniffle, as if holding back tears, “I had no idea they were under there this whole time. Every time we held them down in the Pit to get information, we were really torturing turned shifters.”
"Holy shit," Seth breathed out, blinking repeatedly as he processed the information. The alpha plowed on in conversation, "Luckily, I don't think the Daimona's cuts affect her the same as Jameson told me his did. It's probably her powers repelling it."
Biting my lip at the wave of pain pulsating through me—accompanied by the desire to tell Seth the truth—I grunted at the copper taste of blood filling my mouth.
"We need Kira to shift now so she can heal, or we won't be able to get her out of here. There's no way to get her up the ladder in her current state," Seth's voice boomed with authority, and I found it odd how even in this moment of panic and pain, I managed to find him sexy as hell.
He moved my torn shirt a bit to get a look at my wounds, in full caretaker mode. “Their nails left oddly jagged marks in your skin. What did it do to you, Kitten?”
Staring down the alpha as Seth was preoccupied, I ground out, “I’m going to shift or else I’ll be of no use toanyone. We can figure all of this out later.” Pointedly, I emphasized the importance of my not dying to the alpha.
His gaze lingered on my face as he pondered for a few moments before subtly nodding, “Yes, we can’t have that.”
Shift, now. I’ll bite his face off before he can inhale another breath.
Seth backed up to allow me space to shift, and the alpha inched closer to him, sliding his knife out once more, still dripping with my blood. With Seth intently focused on me, he had no clue there was a knife mere inches from him.
Of course he wouldn’t be on guard with his alpha.
Looks like we have to play the docile servant once more. Don’t worry, that’s my specialty.
Giving over control to Lux, a mixture of a howl and a scream escaped from us as the wounds shifted with the change, tearing at them.
I can get us out of here despite the wounds. The ladder is tilted enough that I can run and leap up the short distance.
Do it, but make sure Seth goes out before us. We need distance between him and the alpha, and we need to get out of here.
Lux was being a trooper, but I could feel how sluggish these wounds made our movements. Slowly, she pushed Seth towards the ladder with our nose as he argued, “Kira! I’m not leaving you down here.” That earned a sharp bark from Lux.
“Go on, Seth. The pack needs you up there in the battle. I will make sure Kira gets up to you as soon as she heals enough,” the alpha’s slimy voice reassured him.
I don’t think the alpha expects us to be able to make it up the ladder. Play it cool until Seth clears it.
Seth warned, “You better keep her safe, Alpha. I’m counting on you.”
Oh, the irony.
Lux nodded our head at him in reassurance and watched him climb the ladder, relieved that he was away fromthisthreat. But more danger awaited him topside.
He’s not safe up there. None of them are.
A few minutes stretched by in silence as we stared Alpha down, both parties waiting for Seth to venture far enough away, but for drastically different reasons.
“As I was saying before he rudely interrupted us, my master will be pleased at how pliable you are with just having come into your powers. You barely know the extent of them. Just give it a few more minutes for the Daimona to finish this battle, and then I’ll take you to the drop off point.”
As if.
Now, Lux.
Chapter Thirty-One
Kira
Dropping back on our haunches,we sprang forward and leapt for the wooden ladder, using the momentum and thick steps to launch ourselves up the final distance to the top.
