“Come here.”
His voice was razor-thin.
I felt like an empty shell and did as he commanded.
“Inside,” he barked.
He backed up to the pet shop and released the officer, his weapon still focused on her back.
He slammed the door shut, locking the entire scene out of sight.
“Now, how about we try that again?”
Kayal
She deliberately disobeyed me!
She turned and ran, heading in the exact opposite direction to the one I had told her to!
And I thought fated mates were supposed to follow their bonded Shadow’s every word!
I thought they were supposed to be grateful we rescued them from their dull and dreary lives.
And instead, what had Ava done?
She had turned and ran into the street!
Were all humans a handful like this?
Or had I been lumped with a bad egg?
She put me in direct conflict with their enforcers.
Their level of technology was as I had suspected.
Adequate, perhaps, against other human beings, but no match for a Shadow or a M’rora for that matter.
We’d been born in darkness and had long since learned to use it to our advantage.
Space was aptly named.
It contained small pockets we could make use of.
We could invert it, as I had done when the small metal projectiles came flying at me.
I inverted an invisible shield around me so the bullets would pass ineffectively into those empty spaces that existed on another plane.
These humans were nowhere near that level of sophistication yet.
But maybe one day they would be.
After a little play-acting, I came alive and seized my opportunity.
I locked the door behind us, for what little good that would do.
I pressed a hand to my front chest pocket again, drawing some much-needed patience from it.
Please, Lord Elder, grant me the strength to complete my mission.
Through the window, the police officers prepared to beat down the door.
I grabbed Ava by the arm and dragged her to the back of the store.
The clerk had disappeared.
I leaned over the counter and saw him crouched into a ball.
It was a wise decision to make.
Getting between a Shadow and his fated mate was never a good idea.
“You were dead…” Ava muttered. “I saw you. You were dead. The bullets hit you. You shouldn’t be alive.”
She sounded both mystified and disappointed at the same time.
So much for fated mates, indeed.
I dragged Ava outside.
I could be as mad at her as I liked but it wasn’t going to help me bring her to the Citadel.
I peered left and right along the alleyway and knew within moments the enforcers would barrel around the corners.
I ran toward the wall opposite.
It was relatively short.
I picked Ava up and placed her on top of it.
I pulled myself up and jumped to the other side.
Then I reached for Ava and helped her down.
She was still in shock, I realized.
It was a good thing as at least she wasn’t trying to escape from me again.
“I saw you get shot…” she repeated.
I grabbed her by the arm and dragged her down the street.
I felt resistance as she dug in her heels and refused to move.
My jaw creaked as I clenched my teeth.
I yanked her harder and she screamed and wailed and hollered.
She beat at me with her fists and bit my arm.
She got to the attention of every human walking up and down the road.
“Won’t you be quiet?” I hissed. “I’m trying to get us somewhere safe!”
“Let me go!”
“I can’t. Not until—”
She turned her head to the side.
“He’s kidnapping me! Let me go! Somebody! Please! Help!”
A pair of large human males approached and motioned for their females to stand back.
Great. Just what I need.
I raised my hands and said:
“You don’t want to be a part of this, trust me. Just turn around and walk away. Pretend you never saw me.”
The two men were impressively built and clenched their fists so tight I could hear the bones crack.
“We’re MMA fighters, son,” the larger male said.
He had a bald head and a single monobrow that reached across both eyes.
“It’s you that needs to walk away.”
The smaller male approached Ava and extended a hand toward her.
“Are you all right, miss?”
I yanked her back, holding her tightly.
I glared at the two men but they seemed unperturbed.
Their noses were flattened to their faces, broken more times than they could count.
They were fighters, and would not turn a blind eye as others might, but even they weren’t completely cowed.
A couple held communicative devices to their ears, no doubt calling reinforcements or more of their enforcers.
The M’rora’s computer system would be scanning for such messages.
This was just getting better and better.
“So be it,” I said. “But remember, I did warn you.”
Baldy struck first and threw a fist at my face.
I blocked it with my arm and snatched his forearm, twisted it, and heard the satisfying snap of bone.
He let out a scream and clutched his disabled arm close.
His buddy took over the attack.
He swept my foot, knocking me off balance.
I lost my grip on Ava, who wrenched her arm free and took off at a run.
Not again!
I growled as I watched her fleeing back.
The smaller fighter wrapped his arms around my head but I was ready for the attack.
I morphed, disappearing into one of the invisible spaces and reappeared again so his arm was no longer wrapped about my neck.
He blinked in surprise, momentarily thrown.
My turn.
I raised him by the neck and lifted him off the ground.
He kicked and flailed, trying to bury his knees in my ribs.
I imagined they were made of rubber and his blows bounced off ineffectively.
Baldy clutched his broken arm close and sweat ran down his face.
He bellowed as he launched himself at me with his one good arm.
I swung his buddy around, knocking him aside.
Then I released him, so they sailed through the shop window and landed in broken shards inside.
I spun on my heel and caught sights of Ava disappearing around a corner.
She cast a hasty glance over her shoulder in my direction.
When would she learn?
No one could help her now.
Except for the M’rora.
He was the only thing I feared on this planet.
I
