Page 110 of Skyla

The pain.

“This is my final word on the subject,” Silver said. “We are preparing for war. We will not make the first move. They will come to us, and we will let them. Disagree if you want, but youwillobey. Dismissed.”

Pews creaked and footsteps shuffled as a hundred people left the church, barely looking at the man who was once their brother.

“Get him downstairs,” I said. “I’ll do the rest.”

Grave didn’t hesitate, and I noticed Four-leaf was screaming. No sound came out until he was all the way beneath our feet and echoing upwards.

“Any restrictions?” I asked.

“No,” Silver said. “Do what you want with him.”

I looked at him. “Skyla’s mine tonight.”

His gaze was measured, and he pulled out his phone again. “Rocketman,” he said into it. “Skyla?” One nod and he hung up. “She’s fully healed.”

“Don’t go too hard on her.” Delta laughed.

She wasmine.

Grave came out of the basement. My focus narrowed to the door and the screaming fae beyond it.

“Let’s let him work,” Silver said. They all left the church. I was alone. I stared up at the ceiling, stretching. Oh, I was going to enjoy this one, and I didn’t even intend to make it last.

Painful and bloody? Yes. Slow? No. I wanted to fuck my mate tonight. In the way we both craved. She was going to cry for me. She was going toscreamfor me.

Four-leaf’s screams quieted.

Perfect.

His road name was Four-leaf because he somehow managed to slip through everything without a scrape. Lucky son of a bitch.

Guess that lucky streak was over.

I made my movements silent as I walked down the stairs. He was on the floor. I needed him upright.

My power flowed out of me, opening the cuffs and stringing him up, arms wide. He started to scream again, and I rolled my eyes. “That’s going to get annoying.”

Forcing his mouth open, I grabbed his tongue in one hand and my knife in the other, slicing through it. Blood spattered everywhere, and his screams got louder before they began to gurgle from the blood flowing down his throat.

“You fucked up,” I told him.

Four-leaf shook his head and tried to speak. “No. Plea—”

I stripped him naked with one slice of my shadows and spread his legs, holding them there. “I have an appointment with my mate,” I told him softly. “The one you touched. So today you can consider yourself lucky. I’m not going to draw this out… for very long.”

Driving my fist into his gut, blood poured out of his mouth and down his chest. His grunt made me smile. That was only the beginning.

Pain was an art. It could drive people to madness or euphoria. I liked causing both. These moments would be madness, and Skyla would be euphoria. I wanted her weeping as she came, begging me for more.

I flipped open my knife again. “If you’re granted another life, don’t touch whatdoesn’t. Belong. To. You.”

His side split open under my attention. The way his flesh gave beneath my blade was perfect as I attacked the places I knew would hurt the most without letting him bleed out. This fucker wasn’t good enough to bleed out.

He would die at my hands.

I yanked his head back, cleaning the flat of my blade on his neck. Four-leaf’s eyes were glazed with pain. Perfect. “Enjoy your last breaths,” I told him. “And know that this is what you signed up for. You always belong to the Shadows, even if they condemn you.”

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