Page 1 of Tethered to the World
Chapter One
Annora slammed her fists into the bag over and over, gratified by the heavy thwack, uncaring when her bruised knuckles cracked and bled, the pain a welcome distraction.
The thumping beat of the music pounded through her earbuds, the dark rhythm keeping her moving through her kickboxing routine. Her muscles burned, sweat stung her eyes, but she powered through her rigorous workout, unwilling to slow down for even a second.
The rest of the gym was locked down for the night, the dimmed lights shrouding the place in darkness. Once she finished cleaning the building, the owner allowed her to do whatever she wanted.
It had been three months since she escaped the prison that had become her life, and she was determined to never go back. People were coming for her, and she needed to be ready.
If they thought she’d go back without a fight, they were in for a surprise.
She was no longer the docile creature who could be cowed by a beating.
She renewed her assault on the punching bag, keeping her feet light, bobbing and weaving to form muscle memory the way the gym owner taught her. Thanks to regular beatings over the past ten years, she could take a punch without flinching. Bruises, cuts and broken bones were nothing more than a nuisance she had to work around.
Thanks to her otherworldly abilities, she healed amazingly fast, which usually served to piss off her uncle enough to administer another round of beatings.
A sound broke through the music, and she immediately froze, then edged farther back into the shadows, quickly tucking her earbuds away. The brutal memories faded as her adrenaline spiked.
They found her.
The familiar, meaty thumps of flesh hitting flesh that accompanied a vicious fight came from the back of the gym.
Which meant that whoever broke into the building wasn’t there for her. Annora took a step to investigate, then halted—if she interfered, her safe haven would be forever destroyed.
She would have to move again.
Glass shattered and the familiar smell of blood slammed into her like a freightliner.
Muffled grunts made her flinch, dragging up old memories from the pit where she’d hoped they would remain buried.
Only one person remained in the building that late—the owner. He literally plucked her off the streets, the only person willing to give a homeless girl a job and a place to stay without expecting anything in return. He’d even taught her how to fight.
She couldn’t abandon him.
Heaving a resigned sigh, she stole through the gym until she reached the private training room reserved for those who were willing to pay the extra money. She crept through the doorway, keeping her back toward the wall, watching seven men who towered over her five-foot, few inches frame. All seven of them were trying to beat the owner into a meaty lump of flesh. Their snarls were so menacing that she knew they weren’t human, not completely.
Rufus stood in the middle of them, surprisingly holding his own, but he was bleeding heavily. No one had knives, but they didn’t need them when it looked like their fingers were tipped with actual claws.
Since she’d escaped captivity, she had begun to notice that not everyone in the outside world was human. Which would explain why she wouldn’t have seen them, since her uncle only brought her people who were sick or on the brink of death. Getting sick was a human frailty.
She would’ve questioned her sanity, but she wasn’t exactly human either…or she was only half human. Her mother said it made her special.
To her uncle, it made her valuable.
She forced her mind away from her brutal past before she could be sucked back into the horror. She inhaled deeply, then stepped out of the shadows.
“Gentlemen, why don’t we make it a fair fight and leave the old man alone?”
Eight male heads turned in her direction.
“Annora, run!” Rufus threw himself at the nearest guys, taking them down in a tangled mess, leaving her facing three of them on her own.
She would never be able to take them in a fight, even if she fought dirty. “What are you?”
She allowed the darkness that gathered inside her to cover her eyes, so she could peer beyond the veil—and saw massive, shadowy wolves in the place where the men should be standing. She’d learned others couldn’t see into the afterworld, couldn’t alter the course of a person’s life—or death—the way she could.
Before her mother died, she made Annora promise not to tell anyone about her gift. But her mother broke her own vow and told her brother in hopes that he would be able to protect her daughter. Instead, her uncle exploited her at every opportunity and made her life a living hell.
