Page 15 of Her Forbidden Shifters
Which also touched on the next thing I was sure of, the anonymous group, only known by a symbol left in their victim’s blood, had never left witnesses before. Not only that, but they had seemingly started branching out, changing their victim preference to shifters. Or broadening it to include them. That, most of all, was the most concerning.
The question to ask was if this was the anonymous group or some sort of copycat trying to gain attention. If it was the group, we had an even bigger problem on our hands. If it wasn’t, we could rest slightly easier knowing there was a likely chance Noah would be contacted for some sort of ransom.
Lastly, what did Noah have to do with all of this? As much as I hated to think he had some sort of connection to his sister’s disappearance, I had to admit it was possible. And that was a difficult pill to swallow and made even less sense than the lack of any energy in the home, the lack of clues, or the change in victim preference.
The power flickered within Noah’s apartment. I stopped moving, staring at everything around me, searching for a reason or cause. Noah had mentioned the power having gone out in Avery’s apartment. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.
Noah’s apartment continued to flash between light and dark. I squeezed my eyes closed for a few seconds to ward off the abrupt change. Once the lights settled, a shadow figure emerged in the corner of his living room.
I stared at the figure.
“Who are you?” I asked.
As I stared, the figure blurred and moved like smoke, which was yet another thing that didn’t make sense. After several seconds, the figure solidified into a physical form. He squared his shoulders against me. No discernable features. Only a body covered in head to toe black.
I sucked in a breath of shock.
He charged toward me.
I squared my shoulders with my hips and brought my fists up to my face. Just like my training had taught me. As the figure drew closer, I pulled in another breath. On the exhale, I tensed.
A shadow-covered fist slammed into my gut, much faster than I had anticipated. I bowled over, gasping for breath as my diaphragm froze for several seconds. Dizziness came over me. I desperately tried to force my lungs to work when another hard fist rammed into my right cheek. I fell to the floor and groaned as a burning sensation bled through my nerve endings.
As the agony rushing through my body slowly faded, I was finally able to take a deep breath and caught the nearly ethereal foot aimed for my torso and kicked the figure in his chest. He flew back and landed against one of Noah’s coffee tables, reducing the once beautiful, marble piece into nothing more than rubble.
That was unfortunate. Anything of his had certainly cost a fortune. Liam wouldn’t be happy about the destruction of his property, but it couldn’t be helped. Whoever this person was, he was no doubt a part of the anonymous group. And I had a sinking suspicion he wasn’t here for just Noah.
I stood up and started to head for the figure. I wanted to find out who this person was and make them talk, with whatever methods I needed to use in order for that to happen. He had a lot to answer for, him and the rest of his organization. But by the time I had taken a step toward him, he had recovered and was standing within the blink of an eye.
Then he came at me again.
He kicked me in the ribs right before sending another punch to the side of my face. Each hit came with more force and with barely a second after the previous one. I fought back the best I was able, though the shadow figure had gotten a lot more hits on me than I got on him. If things kept going at this rate, I was going to lose this fight. And soon.
I needed to use my magic. As much as doing so could cause unwanted attention, I wasn’t about to allow this asshole to take me, and I was also going to get some answers while I was at it. I would deal with the consequences later. Besides, magic was only to be used as a last resort, and this situation fit.
But first, I had to make the guy let up off me. If even only for a second. That would give me enough time to get up and tap into my magic.
I managed to block the next hit coming straight for me. Then I planted a foot square in the center of its chest again, sending him stumbling back a few steps. It was the break I needed.
I sucked in a breath and landed a right hook to his face. “Where is Avery?”
He didn’t talk. Not even to utter a single word. In fact, he never grunted with the force of his hits like I would have expected. He was unnaturally quiet in everything that he did. Even as he stood and stared at me for a brief moment before charging at me again.
Clearly, he wasn’t willing to answer my questions, but I had ways of changing his mind. I dug deep into my magic. Though I could call my power to me easily, as per the norm, I was shocked to discover I couldn’t use it. It seemed as though there was some sort of block in the way, stopping my magic from making it through to my hands.
Pressure filled my wrists as my magic pooled there. I stared at my hands unable to make sense of this latest development.
Being blocked like this didn’t make sense. I had never encountered anything like it before.
I stared at the shadow figure, finding him studying me. He made a noise sounding somewhere close to a satisfied grunt.
Well, color me surprised. He could make a sound.
“How are you doing this?” I asked, trying to keep the rising concern out of my voice.
The figure shook his head and came for me again just as two more shadow figures showed up, and I was not only woefully outnumbered, but I was also growing weaker by the second. I couldn’t use magic, and my self-defense skills were starting to bleed me dry of energy.
The figures took turns hitting me.
