Page 2 of Shifters' Fae Captive (Stolen by Shadow Beasts 1)

They’re all filthy. But if they were prisoners to our enemies, then that would explain it. Unless of course, they were just always this gross.

The third shadow beast is suddenly at my other side, and I shriek, cowering back. Part of me recalls the bad-ass bitch I’d been just a short time ago and wants to slap me for shrieking. But when he kneels down and peers at me from beneath the strands of his dark hair, all the fight goes out of me, and I actually feel my body go cold and numb. These things could tear me in half. I’m sure of it.

I also still have no clue what they want from me, and I have a feeling staying quiet and not moving might be my best bet. Yeah, it feels a little like playing dead, but I just sit still, staring into his oddly pale blue eyes until he stands again, and begins to speak in that odd language again while moving his hands. His hand gestures are oddly similar to sign language. I’d learned some of it in high school and almost feel like I pick out a couple of words.

“Girl.”

“Bad.”

“Mistake.”

They’re definitely communicating. I guess they are more man than beast.But I’m still not sure if I’m correctly interpreting any of the words, or if I’m just trying to apply meaning to the gestures.

As their discussion grows heated, I eye the trees behind me. Maybe, if I’m fast enough, I can make a break for it when they get distracted. Play dead. Then run for it.

It’s the best plan I can come up with at the moment. So, I hold my breath and wait.

The trio moves a little away from me and toward a big thicket of tangled vines and shrubs that cover, what appears to be, the side of a small hill or mountain. Licking my lips, I shift my legs around, trying to get the blood pumping through them, then tense and slowly move to my feet.

When none of them look back at me, I feel a surge of relief and turn around.

Only to come face to face with a nightmare.

The creature behind me is five or six times the size of the shadow beasts. It’s all darkness, like the deep shadows beneath a tree. And it’s built like a wall. Huge arms, huge shoulders, but a short frame. Small tusks curl over its upper lips, and silver eyes fix on me as if I’m the root of all its problems.

Fuck...

I take a slow step back, my heart racing, and it opens its mouth in what seems to be a threat, but could be a smile. Either way, I know I’m in trouble. Taking another step back, my legs suddenly crumble from under me, and I reach my fingers back until they connect with a branch. I draw the branch in front of me, clenching it like a bat, and decide if I’m going to go down, I’ll go down swinging.

A soft growl escapes its lips.

And then, the shadow beasts are on it. A scream tears from my lips as they knock it to the ground. The world is filled with growls from the men and screams of pain from the thing, and then it grows silent.

I don’t release my branch as the shadow beasts climb off of the thing. They’re covered in blood. Their nails are long, and their expressions enraged. The thing that had terrified me so terribly a moment is sliced to pieces, and its head is tilted at an angle no head should be able to tilt.

They shuffle around it, but I can’t quite figure out what they’re doing, when suddenly the thing is on fire. A gasp slips from my lips, and I scoot back a little further, holding the branch more tightly. The fire releases a horrible scent like rotting flesh, and then the body collapses into ash.

Shit.

If that’s what the shadow beasts can do to that huge creature, I was wrong to be scared of the hulking creature. I should’ve been running like hell from the shadow beasts the second they were distracted.

But as they close in on me, I know it’s already too late.

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