Read Online Becoming Bad (The Becoming Novels) by Jess Raven, Paula Black - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Jess Raven, Paula Black
Ads: Link
'You're perfectly safe. Besides, I think they like you.'
Ash was close to losing it and the bastard was smiling.
'What do you mean?' she asked.
'Look at them, clamouring for your attention.'
She dared to look. Pressing forward, the shaggy monsters slipped thin muzzles between the bars, swiping purple tongues in her direction. Ribs showed through thick fur, brown and mottled grey. They were beautiful, in their own terrifying way, wildly different to Connal, and yet so similar.
'They don't play puppy like that for just anybody,' Mac said.
She couldn’t speak, just stood blinking dumbly at him until he stretched from his lean against the wall and unfolded his arms. He moved off the bottom step and the wolves exploded against the bars, battering themselves against the cage with snarling, snapping jaws. Ash nearly choked on her own heartbeat as she jolted away from the bars, terror a cloying thickness on her tongue. She wanted to claw at her own skin and hide, would have bolted for the exit if Mac wasn't solidly in the way.
'You see? They are trying to protect you, from me.' The King stepped back from her and the beasts calmed.
The rigid chill up her spine did not.
'Fite is wrong,’ Mac said, ‘you are one of us. The untame recognise their own.'
She narrowed her eyes at him, voice steady despite the tremble in her bones. 'I am not one of them.' She protested, but something inside her, the thing with claws and fur, begged to differ. 'What is this, some kind of test?'
'No Ashling. I only sought to show you ... perhaps this was a mistake.'
She shoved him aside and went for the steps. 'No shit, Mac. Get me out of here.'
PERSUASION
Mac pushed open the door to his chambers. The heat of him crowded against her spine as he motioned her in, thawing the icy layer of fear still clinging to her skin. The passages of the wolves’ termite-mound dwelling looked so similar, Ash hadn’t realised they’d come full circle. Her head was in the pit, facing nightmares in the flesh.
He inspected the lock she’d jimmied earlier and turned his shrewd gaze on her. ‘The lock was for your own protection, Ashling.’ His voice tugged her into the room.
She twitched up one eyebrow. ‘My protection? I won’t be your prisoner, Mac.’
The bed was a no-go for seating. She glanced at it and dismissed it. She’d been in that bed with him before, and that had ended … interestingly. Ash lowered herself gingerly to a fur rug and crossed her legs, bringing the folds of the robe over her knees. She prayed she wasn’t sitting on someone’s brother. Even after seeing the hell-wolves up close, it troubled her, more than she let on, that this place was filled with pelts. She understood the need for warmth, for clothing from whoever’s fur it was, but the underlying tone of violence unnerved her.
Black eyes narrowed on her and an inhuman growl rumbled up a human throat. A protest to the distance between them. But he said nothing as he sat on the edge of the bed.
‘I am not one of those creatures, Mac.’
‘No. You are so much more. Humanity has empowered our species to be greater than the sum of the two. We have the strength of the beast and the intelligence to tame it.’
‘And yet you’re almost extinct. You said your ancestors spliced themselves with humans? Why not solve your ‘shortage’ by doing it again, with those monsters?’
‘If only it were that easy,’ Mac exhaled. ‘We can’t do it alone. You might say we had divine intervention the first time.’
‘The hand of God?’ Her brows rose in incredulous arches.
‘Not God, though some call her a goddess. We brokered a deal with the Morrígan.’ Elbows propped on his knees, half of MacTire’s face was concealed by his hair. His voice dropped an octave, angry. ‘We are no longer on bargaining terms with your grandmother.’
‘My grandmother …’
The Morrígan
… DeMorgan. Lightbulbs flashed.
Ancient, Other.
Connal had told her these things. They’d been
Ash was close to losing it and the bastard was smiling.
'What do you mean?' she asked.
'Look at them, clamouring for your attention.'
She dared to look. Pressing forward, the shaggy monsters slipped thin muzzles between the bars, swiping purple tongues in her direction. Ribs showed through thick fur, brown and mottled grey. They were beautiful, in their own terrifying way, wildly different to Connal, and yet so similar.
'They don't play puppy like that for just anybody,' Mac said.
She couldn’t speak, just stood blinking dumbly at him until he stretched from his lean against the wall and unfolded his arms. He moved off the bottom step and the wolves exploded against the bars, battering themselves against the cage with snarling, snapping jaws. Ash nearly choked on her own heartbeat as she jolted away from the bars, terror a cloying thickness on her tongue. She wanted to claw at her own skin and hide, would have bolted for the exit if Mac wasn't solidly in the way.
'You see? They are trying to protect you, from me.' The King stepped back from her and the beasts calmed.
The rigid chill up her spine did not.
'Fite is wrong,’ Mac said, ‘you are one of us. The untame recognise their own.'
She narrowed her eyes at him, voice steady despite the tremble in her bones. 'I am not one of them.' She protested, but something inside her, the thing with claws and fur, begged to differ. 'What is this, some kind of test?'
'No Ashling. I only sought to show you ... perhaps this was a mistake.'
She shoved him aside and went for the steps. 'No shit, Mac. Get me out of here.'
PERSUASION
Mac pushed open the door to his chambers. The heat of him crowded against her spine as he motioned her in, thawing the icy layer of fear still clinging to her skin. The passages of the wolves’ termite-mound dwelling looked so similar, Ash hadn’t realised they’d come full circle. Her head was in the pit, facing nightmares in the flesh.
He inspected the lock she’d jimmied earlier and turned his shrewd gaze on her. ‘The lock was for your own protection, Ashling.’ His voice tugged her into the room.
She twitched up one eyebrow. ‘My protection? I won’t be your prisoner, Mac.’
The bed was a no-go for seating. She glanced at it and dismissed it. She’d been in that bed with him before, and that had ended … interestingly. Ash lowered herself gingerly to a fur rug and crossed her legs, bringing the folds of the robe over her knees. She prayed she wasn’t sitting on someone’s brother. Even after seeing the hell-wolves up close, it troubled her, more than she let on, that this place was filled with pelts. She understood the need for warmth, for clothing from whoever’s fur it was, but the underlying tone of violence unnerved her.
Black eyes narrowed on her and an inhuman growl rumbled up a human throat. A protest to the distance between them. But he said nothing as he sat on the edge of the bed.
‘I am not one of those creatures, Mac.’
‘No. You are so much more. Humanity has empowered our species to be greater than the sum of the two. We have the strength of the beast and the intelligence to tame it.’
‘And yet you’re almost extinct. You said your ancestors spliced themselves with humans? Why not solve your ‘shortage’ by doing it again, with those monsters?’
‘If only it were that easy,’ Mac exhaled. ‘We can’t do it alone. You might say we had divine intervention the first time.’
‘The hand of God?’ Her brows rose in incredulous arches.
‘Not God, though some call her a goddess. We brokered a deal with the Morrígan.’ Elbows propped on his knees, half of MacTire’s face was concealed by his hair. His voice dropped an octave, angry. ‘We are no longer on bargaining terms with your grandmother.’
‘My grandmother …’
The Morrígan
… DeMorgan. Lightbulbs flashed.
Ancient, Other.
Connal had told her these things. They’d been
Similar Books
