Page 98 of Shadows of the Soul

Oh wonderful, my beast had named herself and was flirting with The Principal.

“Our mate,”she corrected.

“Really? You want to argue the finer points of my relationship status with The Principal here and now?”

“No, I’m hungry.”Our stomach rumbled. Hudson arched a brow and glanced at my stomach, which was near his eye line.

I froze.“For what? Like chicken nuggets or gumbo?”

“No. Souls. You’ve left me starved and bereft of my food source for too long.”

“This is why I keep you locked up. You can’t go around eating souls. It’s not savory.”

“Our father seeks to destroy us. We need all the strength we can garner.”

“What’s happening?” Hudson asked as Indigo and I fought an internal battle.

“Cora wishes to starve me,” Indigo complained.

“That’s not okay,” Hudson agreed. I rolled my eyes—or at least I did in my mind. Idiot man.

“See, our mate agrees. I should be fed.”

“Because he doesn’t realize your version of food is soul sucking.”

“It doesn’t have to be a nice person.”

“No.”

“You aren’t being fair.”

I could practically feel her sulking.“Okay, let’s discuss this after we’ve survived the Heaven versus Hell showdown.”

“I won’t be chained again.”

“I understand.”I already knew that releasing her would be the end of the restraints I’d placed on myself. The cat was out of the bag and I had to deal with it now.

“After this, we shall see to it that you are fed,” Hudson said.

“You make an excellent mate,” Indigo told him.

“Try telling Cora that.”

“She can hear you.”

He blinked. “Who is your father?”

Indigo opened her mouth.

“Wait,”I shouted.

She ignored me. “My father is Abaddon.” Hudson stared at her. “The Angel of Death,” she clarified.

Hudson swallowed and eyeballed my many wings. I had over a thousand at my full height and breadth. My father beat me by a few thousand more. “I am Nephilim,” Indigo explained. “Half angel, half elemental. They fear me because my strength outweighs many of their strongest fighters, and mixed with the power of an original elemental bloodline, I am almost unbeatable.”

Here was the thing: the curse would have drained my father of his power and fed it into me. My mother had wanted to make me invulnerable. What she didn’t count on was my father being strong enough to fight that curse. I’d siphoned enough power to make me viable, to develop into a dreaded Nephilim. Then my father had yanked the power source away, protecting himself.

The world went silent. My muscles were a tightly coiled spring, ready to defend Hudson.

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