Page 361 of Evil Hearts

“Don’t you mean I should have wiped her? That’s my doing, Baltzeheir.” Sarcasm dripped from Rune’s voice, even as it remained omnipresent and his toothy mouth hardly moved. “And need I remind you that about ten minutes ago, you were chomping at the bit to get her here.”

Baltzeheir scoffed, and the sound of heavy footfalls preceded the shimmering appearance of what I had to guess were scales. I could only see his powerfully muscled arms and a hint of his legs, which were stallion-like with webbed feet.

“Chomping at the bit? Seriously? Go fuck yourself, Rune. And you know what? I changed my fucking mind.”

Something moved behind Baltz in the shadows, perhaps more of those scales. The light caught the ridges, illuminating something almost…iridescent.

“P-Please…I just want to go home.” I shook my head, the only thing I could do apparently, and put my hands up in a pathetic beg. “I won’t say anything. I swear.”

Rune turned back toward me, Keika right on his heels and draping a hand over his shoulder. “As lovely as it is when you beg, flower, that’s not happening. Your mind rejected the wipe. You’ve been on the verge of seeing us for years now. It’s time.”

“We promise, little bird, you’ll love it here.” That purring voice came out of the darkness near Rune again, but this time, it was from the other furry feline. “Rune is quite fun when you get used to them, and my sister and I will treat you like the most treasured little toy. You can be sure of that.”

So they were related; that made sense. Still, I could hardly trust a couple of what I had to admit looked like yokai and a shadow demon akin to fuckingHellsingof all things. And then, of course, there was…

“And Baltzeheir? Because I’m pretty sure he just made it abundantly clear that hedoesn’twant me here.” Flicking my attention to him, Baltz just glared, not denying it. “And you’re…you’re monsters! Just let me out of here. I’ll chalk all this up to PTSD and long hours.”

The male cat-man crept forward, taking up a spot near his sister. “We’ve seen those books you read, the movies. Is it truly that hard for you to wrap your mind around this? And what was that about being swept away by the Jersey Devil?”

“That doesn’t fucking matter, Kenta!” My eyes shot to Baltz as he cut in, the terror nearly choking me. “Idon’tfucking want you here, and need I remindallof you that I get hungry when I’m pissed. A tiny, diseased human is hardly more than a snack, but I promise to make it worth my time.”

Everything stopped. Whoever this man was, whatever he was, Baltzeheir had just said with his whole damned chest that he was going to…eatme.

Nope. No, no, no. I’m done.

Panic made me hyperventilate, and I slid down the wall until my ass bones hit the floor. The world was a spinning, blurry mess, and despite how hard I tried, I couldn’t slow myself down. It was the worst panic attack I’d had in years, and I was going to lose it if something didn’t change quick.

“Aki,” Keika said, crawling toward me on the floor, “you need to breathe, pet. Do you remember your exercises?”

As she tried to reach out, I slapped her hand away. “How doyou?!”

Shaking, I scrambled back up to my feet and stared at the three remaining creatures near the only way out of this place. I wasn’t strong or a fighter. But I was quick and flexible. That would have to be enough.

Rushing forward, I slipped under Kenta’s legs and squeezed myself into a terrible reach to grip the corner of the wall ahead. I pulled myself with everything I could and then tore off down the corridor. I had no idea where I was going, but I couldn’t be down in there with those…beings anymore.

The pounding of my footsteps echoed all around me as I found a set of stairs and took them up, up, up. The only words I could hear in the distance were the frantic calls of my name and a single grumble from the scaled asshole.

“She fall off the edge up there, and none of us are catching her.”

Chapter Five

Baltzeheir

“Gods damn it,Baltz. You couldn’t be nice for just a fucking second?” Keika glared at me, but I just met her stare with one of my own, folding my arms over my chest. “You got our mate to run away!”

I scoffed, rolling my eyes as I flexed the muscles of my neck and shoulders, making the spines that ran down my back stand up. It was too damned dry in this part of the estate—and too fucking hot too. The solitude of my underground lake sounded a lot better than messing around with some godsforsaken human that I wasn’t even going to be eating.

“She’s notmymate. Don’t speak for me.”

Kenta and Rune both leveled me with their own glares, but I’d had enough of their bullshit. Turning on my heel, I attempted to go back where I belonged, but the pull of unease coming from Rune made me hesitate, just like it always did.

“Would you stop fucking griping at me?” I glanced over my shoulder at them. “I can sense your pissy attitude even more than usual.”

“You asshole.” They got right up in my face, using their infuriating shape-changing to elongate themselves and stand level with me. “You felt it.Youtold me you felt it, and now, what?You just don’t want to admit it anymore? What are you, a spoiled child?”

That was enough of a slight to get me facing off with Rune and gripping that tangible shadow between my fingers. Tension hung over us like pounds of water-logged seaweed. It was always like this between us. Who was stronger? Who was the true Dom of our little pack?

It wasn’t like there’d be an answer any time soon. We were always going to get into cock fights about it. It’s what we did, Rune and me, and frankly, we both liked it that way. Challenging the other, one of us coming out on top and claiming the other one, it was our foreplay.

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