Page 95 of Shadowed Whispers

“When Mom adopted me the following week, we looked for you.” Bishop’s voice is thick with regret, but I don’t share it. His pain is because he couldn’t find me.

A dark, twisted part of me wonders how he would feel if he knew the truth about those days—how I was chained to a bed to teach me obedience, and that I cried until my tears dried up and there was nothing left of me but the shell they demanded I become.

Good girls don’t cry.

“I spent years looking for you, and then one day, there you were in Morrow Bay with a scholarship letter.” His voice drops to a whisper as he takes another step toward me. “I saw you, and I just?—”

“Needed to fuck me?” I cut him off, the bitterness in my voice sharper than I intended. “Because that’s what you did. You fucked me for days and then you dropped me.”

“You didn’t know!” he yells, his voice bridging the chasm between us.

“Know what, Bishop?” I take a defiant step toward him. “That you would act like a narcissist?” I snort derisively. “A manipulative fool?”

“It isn’t like that. There are things you don’t know,” he pleads, desperation coloring his tone.

“Then fucking tell me!” I scream. “Tell me what I’m clearly missing here. Everyone around me is evasive, telling me I’ll just get it one day. One day, I’ll understand. I’m not understanding, Bishop, and until someone breaks and tells me, I just won’t know.”

He opens his mouth and closes it, struggling for words.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” I scoff. “A beast with red eyes just ended a rugby match, I’m in a fucking safe room, and you want to talk about your feelings?” I shake my head in disbelief. “Fuck off, Bishop.”

I spin around and yank the door open, grateful to see Tori who launches herself at me and jerks me to the side.

“You’re okay.” She hugs me tightly. “They aren’t supposed to exist,” she murmurs repeatedly, her voice a mixture of relief and fear.

“What isn’t supposed to exist?” I ask her as I glance back at Bishop, who’s still standing in the middle of the room.

I’m almost convinced she won’t answer me—hell, no one seems to want to answer me—but she does. “Shadow beasts.”

“What?” I swallow hard, my eyes glued to Bishop, whose mouth is parted in surprise.

“Last I heard, they were extinct.” She pulls back, her usually tan skin ghostly pale. “They are extinct.”

“What?” It’s all I can manage, my mind reeling with this new information.

Tori shakes her head. “Come on, let’s go home.”

“But…”

“That’s all I know, Frankie. That’s all I know.” Her voice is firm, leaving no room for further questions.

I nod, but my gaze drifts back to Bishop, watching his chest rise and fall with each breath.

“Is it gone?” I ask her, needing some assurance.

She nods. “Yeah, it’s gone, but the game is done. They are sending everyone back to their dorms.”

“Let’s get the hell out of here.” I grab her hand and squeeze it. “Thanks for coming back for me.”

She snorts. “I tried to follow you when you left, but I lost you in the crowd.”

I snap my head around to look at her. “You came for me?”

“Yeah, of course,” she says with a smile. “I told you, I’m making a choice.”

She’s choosing me? This thought warms something deep inside me.

“Come on, Mom is going to freak out. Let’s crash there for the night.”

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