Page 11 of Monster Inside (Shadow Pact 1)

“No,” I said before realizing I’d done so aloud.

Leif’s concern look returned. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine,” my mouth said, butIdidn’t say. All of a sudden, it was as if I were experiencing the world through a glass wall—aware of it moving around in front of me, but I wasn’t in control of the way I interacted with it. Like I was suddenly a zoo animal or a puppet.

Panic swelled in my chest. But I couldn’t act to relieve it. Which only caused that panic to spread.

Leif’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t question me further. Maybe he would have if we weren’t totally strangers. And while our conversation had been slightly awkward before, I almost wished weweren’tstrangers so he’d stay and keep asking questions.

I wasn’t scared of Mrak. Butthiswas not okay.

“I think this may be too complex for me to make,” Mrak said through me. Even trying to soundlikeme. But everything felt stilted. “I will try. But it won’t be completed for a few days. Come back next week.”

Leif looked deflated by the timeline. “Is there any way I can pay you to make this your only project this week?”

Mrak pointed my hand toward the torn-out page. “What you have there is a weapon that will take intense work to forge and enchant. It will take at least a week. You can pay then.” Mrak gestured toward the door.

Leif’s eyebrows wrinkled, but he said nothing. He went to reach for the page, but Mrak had me grab it before Leif could. “I need that back.”

“And I need a reference,” Mrak said through me. “Thank you for entrusting me with your commission.”

Leif studied us for a long moment, but then shook his head. “Thank you. Stay safe out there. This city isn’t what it used to be.”

The warning felt out of place. Everyone here was as careful as they could be.

When Mrak had me nod but didn’t say anything else, Leif finally headed for the door. As he walked, I tried to regain control of my body. I mentally searched every muscle and joint, looking for a hole in Mrak’s control that I could dig into and pry open. Finally, I found one and peeled away his presence and control like one might peel an apple. But it wasn’t easy, and Mrak kept fighting it.

By the time Leif was out the door, I’d managed to regain enough control to pocket the page in my jeans.

“What the actual fuck was that, Mrak?” I asked, whipping on the mirror hanging on the wall. Glaring into it at myself as if he were me. For a few minutes there, Mrakhadbeen. I hadn’t had a single ounce of control of my body. Just like every day of the ten years I’d been in the community. Everything had been chosen for me. My clothes, when I ate, who fed from me and when.

“He was dangerous.”

“The man looked completely innocent,” I argued as I tried to stifle the panic swelling in my chest. “He just wanted a sword. One with shadow-catching enchantments on it, preferably made out of a material I don’t even have access to anymore. It was basically a nightlight, Mrak. I know you probably don’t know what those are, but they’re safe and wholesome, I promise.”

For a brief, blink-and-miss-it moment, I saw a flash of red eyes and a vaguely humanoid dark form appear behind me in the mirror’s reflection. It was gone between the space of heartbeats. I jumped, clutching my chest.Mrak’s form.He couldn’t manifest it often or fully, and even that glimpse was more than I’d seen before. Like a ghost, but darker and less transparent. But ghosts couldn’t talk to you the way Mrak talked with me. They couldn’t touch the way he touched.

“Our pact requires I keep you safe, Aisling.”Mrak’s voice curled around me like a reassuring hug.“That is all I want.”

“So you take over my body without permission and scare off a client?” I hissed. “That isnotokay. You can’t do that. You don’t have my permission.”

Mrak’s embrace loosened.“Noted. Perhaps I overreacted. But the weapon that man wants you to make is ancient and dangerous, and it might kill you to try to produce such a thing.”

My brows furrowed as I processed his words. Deflection, reasons. But they were good reasons. “You could have told me that after he left. Why would it kill me to make it?”

“Because the power you have is not the magic required to make those runes.”Mrak’s wispy touch caressed my cheek.“You’re not strong enough yet. If you don’t inscribe the enchantments and runes just right, they could backfire on you. They could ignite ancient, magical fires, or worse. There wasn’t time to warn you of all of this with that man standing before you.”

Mrak was right. That was a lot of information to try imparting in seconds between holding a conversation with someone else. I also didn’t know much about the magical world, for my only real experience with it had been while enslaved as a blood bag for vampires.

I felt the fury within me fading. I wasn’t sure it’d even been anger, so much as panic at loss of control. “I appreciate you looking out for me. But please do not take over my body again. I spent too long not in control of it already.”

“I know.”His words sounded tight but resigned.

“Do you?” I asked. Ancient as he’d stated he was, I wasn’t sure Mrak understood humans. It was clear he was anythingbuthuman these days. “I made a pact with you to save me from that feeding community. Don’t use that pact to take away my freedom.”

A sense of calm and caring came over me. It took me too long to realize it was coming from Mrak.“Understood. That sword was dangerous.”

“And you told him to come back in a week, as if I’d still make it.” It seemed counterintuitive to take the commission if Mrak was so worried about what the enchantments could do to me if I messed up. “You even kept his reference page.” I glanced down at it now.

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