Page 22 of Taken By Shadows

My eyes couldn’t leave him. I pleaded with my senses to fear the male who held me, but all I could manage was stunned complacency. He was fae with magic rippling from him.

He loosened his grip on me when we landed on a grassy knoll. I hadn’t realised how warm my skin had gotten where he touched me until I felt his absence. We had been sailing through the sky like a dark star, but he put us both down with a grace I didn’t expect from someone so large. My self-preservation regained its footing too as soon as I had a modicum of space from him.

The instant I felt the grass beneath my boots, I spun in his grip, snatched the dagger at his side and pointed it at his chest. My survival instinct roared like a waterfall, drowning out all other noise around me.

But he didn’t even flinch.

“Let me go. Bring me back,” I gritted out. I told myself I needed to go back for Bray. To ensure he was safe. But I honestly just wanted to be free of people who thought I was something they could just take.

I was still wrapped in his arms. The grip wasn’t tight, but I knew if he wanted to, he could squeeze the breath from my lungs. The strength in his arms was preternatural. And it flowed from him. Seeing a fae male for the first time, it was devastatingly obvious how different he was to a human … how different I was to him. He moved with a fluidity like his limbs were elemental, not flesh. His magic thrummed in the air and warped the edges of my senses. He was tall, muscular and steady as he leaned into my space with his strength barely contained. The tug on the air of him restraining his aura, his full might, filled every gap between us. It was in the way he held his shoulders, the set of his hips, the stance. Everything about him exuded power.

I had never felt the draw of a fae before. But, without the terror of the attack souring my blood, his might bent the air around me.

My heart thundered in my chest as I waited. The tiny shaft of the dagger I clutched trembled in my grip.

“Which is it, peach? Let you go or bring you back?”

I didn’t appreciate the pet name, but getting free of the cage he had around my waist was more pertinent.

In answer, I moved the dagger and tipped it to his chin. Its point pressed dangerously close to slicing open his flesh.

“I wonder, do fae bleed?” I asked, steadying my voice.

But he had the audacity to lean in. “Why don’t you find out?” There was a light in his blue eyes, a glimmer in them as he searched mine. He was enjoying this.

“Let. Me. Go.” I pushed the blade a little more with each word, driving his chin upwards.

Finally, he took his hands off my waist and pulled them back in surrender, a wicked grin tugging at his lips.

My heart fluttered as I stepped away.

I took another step back, dagger pointed at him. There was a tiny crimson stain on its tip.

“What makes you think I need my hands to keep you?”

There was a crackle under my skin before I saw anything. I was flung into the air, the dagger lost to the grasses below.

But I didn’t fall.

I was suspended midair. Was I flying again? Whips of shadow snaked around my waist, my wrists, and very slowly, a tendril weaved its way up over my chest and around my neck. Panic rose inside me, bubbling my blood.

He hadn’t moved except to drop his hands.

Shadows poured from his fingers. There was no end to the dark they emanated.

My pulse quickened as I tried to wrap my hands around the cords of shadow. I could feel them. Thick bands around my neck, my middle, and my arms, squeezing tighter. But as I reached for them, my fingers went right through them like smoke. I clutched at anything. Everything. And nothing helped my heart rate steady.

The bindings tightened, immobilising my arms .

“What are you going to do to me?” I choked out, but my words drifted like ash into the wind. “Where’s Bray? Don’t let them hurt him!” My voice wobbled, and I didn’t care that tears were hiding just behind my eyes. If he was going to kill me, I needed to know Bray would be okay. People wouldn’t care what happened to me, but Bray’s family would care about him.

“That depends.” He looked at me, his face now calculating, no longer playing.

The snake of shadow around my neck was circling, like it might strike at any moment and tighten its noose.

“Depends on what?” My voice was too soft.

I didn’t know how far I was willing to go to win my own freedom back. I wasn’t even sure he’d give it to me. My options were die or don’t die. The latter seemed like the best by far, so I shut my mouth and held my breath.