Page 30 of Claimed By Two Alphas

“You bastard!” Casey shouted. “You didn’t have to hurt him!”

Casey flew over my table, crashing into a chair before he dropped to the floor. Nezat did all that without touching them. I backed away, afraid he would do the same to me. I was allergic to pain. I was also afraid he had saved me for last so he could torture me.

“I would have treated you like a king,” Nezat growled. “No one would have been able to touch you. Mankind would have bowed down to you.”

Pain lacerated my head. I wasn’t sure if Nezat was doing it, but instead of hearing his thoughts, I saw images. Images of Nezat in a dark place, chained to a wall, whip marks across his flesh. He looked wild, unhinged, and in pain as fire licked at his body.

I don’t think he’s voluntarily showing me this. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but I could see his past, see his torture, and hear his vow to kill those who had imprisoned him. I saw the place he was being held captive, and terror gripped me.

“You were my chance to rule everyone.”

“So you want to take out your anger on those who had nothing to do with your imprisonment?” God, why did I have to say anything? The stricken look on Nezat’s face said I was going to pay for prying into his thoughts. I still wasn’t sure how I’d done that but regretted uttering a single word.

He advanced toward me, making my entire life flash before my eyes. My instinct was to run, but I already knew he would stop me before I could get out of the house. Besides, I wasn’t leaving Dillon and Casey. Dillon was already moaning and coming to, and the relief I felt was profound. For a moment I thought Nezat had killed him.

Then Casey pushed up from the floor, shaking his head as if trying to shake away the pain.

“Nezat,” Dillon shouted as he wobbled to his feet. “Get the fuck away from Shane.”

Nezat opened his mouth, and a blood-curdling shout escaped. “Don’t shout my name.”

Dillon glanced at me. I looked down at Casey. Had we just stumbled onto something? Was that panic in the demon’s eyes?

“Nezat,” I shouted.

The three of us starting shouting his name. It was downright ridiculous, like we were shouting his name as Nezat made a run for a touchdown, but what other options did we have? I wasn’t sure why he didn’t want us to shout his name, but Nezat had reached for me, his features twisted into rage, when the room fell completely dark.

Our shouting ceased. The room kind of hummed. I wasn’t sure if that was the right word, but the hairs on my body stood on end.

Casey pushed from the floor, grabbed my hand as he flew past me, and we ended up yanking Dillon to a standing position as we huddled there, watching, waiting.

The shadows grew darker, if that was even possible, and then a dim light glowed. It grew brighter, not by much, more like a glow one would see if sitting by an open fire pit.

Then three men appeared. Men? Demons. Definitely demons because their skin was the color of flames. “You thought you could hide from us, Nezat?”

The largest of the three had spoken.

“We’re not sure how you escaped, but we’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

I wasn’t going to deny I wanted to piss myself. There were four frightening demons in my kitchen. I was definitely moving out first chance I had, if I survived this.

The malevolence in the room was palpable, and I nearly fainted from the power coming off of them.

Nezat tried to fight, destroying my kitchen in the process, as Dillon, Casey, and I dodged their movements, trying to stay out of their way, though we never made it to an exit. It seemed every time we got close, we’d have to run the other way to avoid getting killed by the demons.

Then I heard it. Delvin shouting for me. I grabbed Dillon’s hand and made sure Casey was with us as we dodged blows, ducked under flying arms, and raced out of the room. Delvin wasn’t alone. The York brothers, as well as Ken and Jack, stood there, their eyes wide, able to see the fight taking place in the kitchen from where they stood.

It was Joshua who grabbed me around the waist, hauled me off my feet, and ran toward the front door, Delvin right behind him. I could hear the fight from outside, and a few of our neighbors had poked their heads out of their doors.

“Sorry, the volume on our television broke,” Delvin hollered.

“Then unplug the damn thing,” a feisty older neighbor shouted back.

“We’re getting a new place,” Delvin said to us. “We need less neighbors.”

“And demons,” I whispered.

“How are you feeling?” Joshua asked. “Did any of them hurt you? Oh my fuck. I can’t believe what they really look like.”

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