Page 10 of Nita's Redemption

Nita waved her hand dismissively. “Don’t get that angry look on your face. Bakra and the other females are my friends. If not for them, I’d probably be in a small padded six by six room, rocking back and forth mumbling some bullshit while the doctors keep me drugged up twenty-four hours a day.”

“That’s a crock of shit, Nita. The demoness didn’t have any right to take you to Olympus, much less fill your head with nonsense. Nor should they have allowed you access to shit that’s better left buried.” Dimitri stepped in front of her, his amber eyes glowed bright.

Link and Abe growled a warning as she stepped away from the male.

“Stop it. I am not interested in the Ravens or vice versa. And with me getting to really see into the depths of the trailer park where my mother had lived, well, that was my choice. Bakra and the others were with me every step of the way, and if they felt I was in too deep, trust me, they’d have pulled me the fuck out.” She flashed around Dimitri with ease, an ability she could thank the demonesses for.

“Dammit, female. The demonesses aren’t like humans or even shifters. Their scale of one to ten with one being no pain and ten being fucking painful like chop off a limb, they’re a fifteen as a starter number because to them, losing a limb is like another day at the fucking park,” Gray growled, sitting next to Jaklyn, and pulling her onto his lap.

“Yeah, well, they can regrow said limb so where are you going with that analogy?” Nita asked.

Vasilis heaved a sigh. “They can, but you can’t.”

Nita stared at the gathered people, knowing they would have a fit with what she planned to do. However, she was also aware there wasn’t any other choice. The show and tell was now down to show since tell wasn’t working. “So you’re saying if I can lose a limb and regenerate like the other females all would be fine?” She needed to get them to state emphatically that was their objection.

“For a start, yes. The demoness females were reborn after surviving hundreds of years in Hell. The things they can do are astounding and not something a normal shifter can do in human form.” Vasilis voice held a note of admiration.

She pulled the blade from the sheath at her hip. “Well, I guess I’ll have to see how you feel when I regrow this hand.”

The Ravens were fast as fuck, but her males were even faster, nearly stopping her before she severed her hand at the wrist. Link grabbed her by the waist while Abe caught her falling appendage. Tank gripped her bloody stump, applying pressure to the already healing wound. She opened her mouth to explain all was fine but the unholy growl that filled the large space shut her up.

Tank’s eyes had gone from brown to the lightest blue she’d ever seen. “What the hell did you do?”

The hair on his arms grew then receded like he was fighting his wolf from coming out and winning.

She looked down at where he held his shirt over her wound, giving a little tug for him to let go. The way his jaw worked was a testament to his anger, and whooowee, did she find him to be sexy when he was mad. “Let me show you, big guy.”

His blue peepers locked on hers then down at her hand as it unwrapped his makeshift bandage. The audible gasps made her wish she’d done something dramatic, but then again, the males who were hers even if she hadn’t claimed them yet would’ve probably all had heart attacks. Could shifters have heart attacks? She had no clue and didn’t want to find out by her males being the first to do so.

“Jumping Jehoshaphat, don’t you ever do something like that again without letting us know you can do it,” Abe muttered before burying his nose into her neck. He shuddered so hard Nita was worried he was going to stroke out.

“What the hell is going on in here, I smell blood?” Bakra asked.

They turned to stare at the female who had appeared out of nowhere. “Bakra, you gots some splaining to do.” Jaklyn shook her finger while she spoke.

“Oh, so Jehoshaphat was only thirty-five years old when he became King of Judah. He reigned over Jerusalem for twenty-five years. His mother's name was Azubah, and she was the daughter of Shilhi. Jehoshaphat was said to have walked in the ways of his father Asa and did not stray from them, which they say was right in the eyes of the Lord. Now I don’t know if you believe in all that or not, but there you have what I know about Jehoshaphat,” Bakra said. She scrunched up her nose for a moment. “Oh, and Jehoshaphat was a man of great diplomatic skill, and his biggest weakness was his habit of forming alliances with evil men — first with Israel's King Ahab, then later with Ahab's son King Ahaziah, and finally with Ahab's son King Jehoram. Truly, foolish of him but alas, I think he just trusted too easily.”

“I do not give a fuck about this male.” Dimitri flashed to where the demoness lounged against the wall. His hulking form blocked Nita from seeing her friend.

“Rude boy,” Bakra said with a sigh.

“You talk about this male as if he’s of worth, when we just witnessed her chop off her own hand.” Dimitri’s growl rumbled loudly.

“No, I was just explaining what I know of that male. I’ve heard humans say that phrase, but I’m sure they have no clue that he was a real being.”

Nita was sure her friend was rolling her eyes at the stupidity of said humans. Her mind worked to make sense of everything running through it, stopping on images she hated. She also realized Bakra completely ignored the appendage lobbing.

She looked up at the ceiling and spoke, hoping the others would forget the little demonstration. “Stop. I can regrow my hand, or any other part, except my head. I’m pretty sure if I lost my head I’d be dead for real. I have Bakra and the others to thank for that. What I found out about my mama is that she had an inner magic that my bio father wanted for himself. Somehow they were mates which worked in his favor except he didn’t feel the need to treat her like a male should treat his female. What I saw was her getting weaker day-by-day until finally, she gave up. He didn’t allow her to have any interaction with me. If she did, he punished me. Once that reality hit her, she stopped trying and then she took her own life. When he found her, he made me dig a hole and bury her. I was five.” Nita shuddered, hating the images and the memories.

“He was a fucking monster who deserves to die a million times, each one worse than the first.” Jaklyn’s voice shook. Tears rolled down her cheeks while her males wore masks of calm except Nita saw through them.

“I totally agree. I have people who think that I have demons in my head that I’m still fighting. Which I guess is kind of true. I mean, there’s a lot of shit that’s in here I wish wasn’t. From the time I was old enough to know how to roll over, there have been demons in one form or another that I’ve had to lock up in my mind so I could just get through another day, another hour, hell, another minute, all thanks to that bastard. I’ve been fighting demons, actual demons in real life since I was a kid. I can thank my sperm donor for many things, including showing me there’s darkness in the world. Long before I knew that the line between Earth and Hell was thin, much thinner than humans were aware of, I was introduced to some of the vilest, evil beings. Bakra and the others, they made it easier to breathe and then I realized I needed to know the truth and the only way I could do that was going back to the beginning.”

Nita didn’t regret sliding through the old trailer she’d been raised in or experiencing what her mother had. In fact, she saw no other way to have survived without doing as she’d done.

“What did you learn that couldn’t have been told to you when you were old enough?” Jaklyn asked.

A laugh burst out of Bakra. “Sorry, it’s just that well... if shit would’ve gone the way of humans, Nita would be an extremely young adult now. Think like late teens. That would mean y’all would be accused of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and you males would be lusting after a child. So where are my thank yous, bitches?” Bakra asked, stepping around the Raven.

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