Page 91 of Born into Darkness

Chapter 24

“Where in Stone God’s name have you been?” Mama Jo roared, pressing Phantom to her breast, leaving me alone for a change. “You had Grimm and I sick with worry.”

Moments earlier, we had burst into the council room, interrupting a meeting with some stranger, a shifter I’d not seen before, to deliver the news of the dragon prince’s murder and our narrow escape.

“Let her go, Mama Jo,” Grimm said, wrestling her to set us free, but the dwarf had an iron grip.

“Just look at you.” Mama Jo pushed Phantom away to examine him. “All scratched up.” She ran a shaky hand down his chest, sucking in a breath as her fingertips ran over his bandages and the fresh bruises on his neck courtesy of his fight with the dragon king.

Jealousy flickered through me at the way she touched him, the way she ran her chubby, little fingers over him.

“Oh, you poor darling.” She latched on to Phantom’s shirt, testing the fabric, and it creaked as Teeny yanked at her, trying to pry her off Phantom.

“Mama Jo, that’s enough,” Teeny said.

Phantom’s eyes begged for someone to save him.

Flare stepped in and yanked Phantom away. “Keep your dirty mitts off my man, Mama Jo.” He stroked Phantom’s hair, cuddled him to his chest, and even gave him a cheeky squeeze on the ass.

Phantom yelped, but Flare jostled him, silencing him.

“Oh!” Mama Jo turned pale. “I didn’t know you swung that way, darling.” She grasped Phantom’s hand and patted it.

Flare smacked her hand away.

Mama Jo sagged like a deflated child. Then her eyes landed on Shadow. “How about you, sugar? You look a little beat up, too.”

I didn’t blame her for finding the panthers attractive.

Shadow held out his palms. “All good, Mama Jo.”

He snagged me around my waist, pulling me close to him, and my heart spluttered.

“Oh, not you, too.” Mama Jo pouted.

“That’s enough.” Grimm’s voice silenced any further shenanigans. “Lock them all up.”

Flare and Phantom growled as they were dragged away by guards. Shadow’s eyes flickered with defeat, and my heart dropped to my feet.

“Wait!”

I tried to protest, but another guard seized my arm, digging his huge fingers into a fresh bruise, and I whimpered.

“Grimm. You can’t,” I said. “I was just trying to help the panthers.”

Grimm refused to look at me. “You disobeyed my order not to release the hunters. You injured two of our guards in the process. You risked the safety of the resistance by leaving, and put at jeopardy the lives of the good men I sent out searching for you.”

I was sorry Phantom had hurt the guards. But I wasn’t sorry for breaking out. By the sound of it, no one had been harmed while searching for us, so no harm done.

“You had no right to keep me in the cell, Grimm,” I said.

My statement prompted the guard’s fingers to tighten around me, and I yanked against his unrelenting grip.

“We were desperate,” I said. “Out of options. You, of all people, should know that.”

His eyes dipped to the bandages on my neck. “How did your reckless plan go for you?” An edge of smugness crept into Grimm’s voice.

My blood boiled. What had happened to him to make him so cold? Fine. So, we’d gotten our comeuppance with the dragon king, and my safety was at risk with the hunters crawling all over Wildfire. But I wasn’t about to admit that. At least we’d tried, which was more than I could say for the resistance. Their best idea had been to leave the shifters to rot in the cell.

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