the shower, when he’d walked into her room. It was daylight outside. He never came to her during the day, was never home. Why was he now?
Why was he here at Havenway?
She felt dizzy, her throat clogging, hands sweating. In her mind, she knew the difference. She knew the here and now, that she was a guard for the Shadow Shifter Assembly and that Havenway was more heavily protected than the humans’ White House. But another part of her, a part she’d thought she’d closed the door on long ago, had just been revealed. He was back and he was close and she was …
Richard was on her in the seconds she hesitated. She should have known better, should have never given him the moment to act. Nivea fell back onto her bed, the force of his quick launch knocking the air right out of her. With a gasp she looked up at the ceiling, at the plain dark-gray paint that covered all the walls in her room.
His body was pressing into hers, familiar and sickening all at the same time. He was hard and strong and she wanted to scream. No, she wanted to fight. All those years it had taken her to stand up to her father, to stop the cycle of his vicious abuse. She shouldn’t be in this spot now. He shouldn’t be here and she wasn’t about to take this shit from him again.
Nivea lifted a knee, aiming right at his groin, but he slid off her just in time to avoid the contact, wrapping his hands around her neck and squeezing as he rolled partially off of her.
“You were always too stubborn, thinking too damned much to do you any good. You should have just listened like your mother and sisters did, then I wouldn’t have had to punish you,” he told her, his hands tightening at her throat.
Nivea smacked at his wrists, kicking her legs up and down, struggling to breathe.
“I told your mother we should have taken care of you, but no. She wanted to make the deal. She said that even though you were the youngest, that you were the smartest of the three and you would do what was right. You would protect them all and thus keep our secret.” Sweat dripped from his forehead down onto her cheek. “I knew she was wrong. She wasn’t smart, not at all. I should never have listened to her. Should have … done … this … before!”
He continued to choke her and Nivea felt like she was falling, her limbs dangling in the wind as she plunged to her death. Then her hands wrapped around his wrists and she squeezed with all her might. Her watery eyes focused on his bulging, erratic ones, and she centered her mind and body on all that she’d learned, on how to kill this bastard.
* * *
Something inside Eli’s chest pounded, a hurried rhythm that moved from his shoulder blades all the way down to his ankles, propelling him forward from the moment he stepped out of his truck in the parking lot of Havenway. He moved quickly past Jax and Rome and Kalina, reaching the door to the side entrance before any of them. His fingers punched in the code so quickly they looked like a blur of movement.
Inside his cat hissed and swiped so that Eli’s human body reacted by moving even faster. In the back of his throat was a sour taste, similar to the night in the Sierra Leone rain forest when he’d been on his knees in the shaman’s hut, inhaling the thick smoke that he’d been promised would heal him. He swallowed deeply, hoping the memory of the taste would subside, but instead it increased and Eli’s heart pounded, his legs breaking into a run.
Without knowing exactly where he was going he moved through the hallways of the H-shaped structure, passing other guards who looked on with concern, cutting around the corner that separated the dining hall and training facilities from the guard quarters. His cat was chuffing now, announcing its arrival, which it never did. Jaguars stalked their prey, watched and circled until it was time to pounce. This was different, he wasn’t hunting, he was avenging.
Nivea’s face appeared clearly in his mind, her
Why was he here at Havenway?
She felt dizzy, her throat clogging, hands sweating. In her mind, she knew the difference. She knew the here and now, that she was a guard for the Shadow Shifter Assembly and that Havenway was more heavily protected than the humans’ White House. But another part of her, a part she’d thought she’d closed the door on long ago, had just been revealed. He was back and he was close and she was …
Richard was on her in the seconds she hesitated. She should have known better, should have never given him the moment to act. Nivea fell back onto her bed, the force of his quick launch knocking the air right out of her. With a gasp she looked up at the ceiling, at the plain dark-gray paint that covered all the walls in her room.
His body was pressing into hers, familiar and sickening all at the same time. He was hard and strong and she wanted to scream. No, she wanted to fight. All those years it had taken her to stand up to her father, to stop the cycle of his vicious abuse. She shouldn’t be in this spot now. He shouldn’t be here and she wasn’t about to take this shit from him again.
Nivea lifted a knee, aiming right at his groin, but he slid off her just in time to avoid the contact, wrapping his hands around her neck and squeezing as he rolled partially off of her.
“You were always too stubborn, thinking too damned much to do you any good. You should have just listened like your mother and sisters did, then I wouldn’t have had to punish you,” he told her, his hands tightening at her throat.
Nivea smacked at his wrists, kicking her legs up and down, struggling to breathe.
“I told your mother we should have taken care of you, but no. She wanted to make the deal. She said that even though you were the youngest, that you were the smartest of the three and you would do what was right. You would protect them all and thus keep our secret.” Sweat dripped from his forehead down onto her cheek. “I knew she was wrong. She wasn’t smart, not at all. I should never have listened to her. Should have … done … this … before!”
He continued to choke her and Nivea felt like she was falling, her limbs dangling in the wind as she plunged to her death. Then her hands wrapped around his wrists and she squeezed with all her might. Her watery eyes focused on his bulging, erratic ones, and she centered her mind and body on all that she’d learned, on how to kill this bastard.
* * *
Something inside Eli’s chest pounded, a hurried rhythm that moved from his shoulder blades all the way down to his ankles, propelling him forward from the moment he stepped out of his truck in the parking lot of Havenway. He moved quickly past Jax and Rome and Kalina, reaching the door to the side entrance before any of them. His fingers punched in the code so quickly they looked like a blur of movement.
Inside his cat hissed and swiped so that Eli’s human body reacted by moving even faster. In the back of his throat was a sour taste, similar to the night in the Sierra Leone rain forest when he’d been on his knees in the shaman’s hut, inhaling the thick smoke that he’d been promised would heal him. He swallowed deeply, hoping the memory of the taste would subside, but instead it increased and Eli’s heart pounded, his legs breaking into a run.
Without knowing exactly where he was going he moved through the hallways of the H-shaped structure, passing other guards who looked on with concern, cutting around the corner that separated the dining hall and training facilities from the guard quarters. His cat was chuffing now, announcing its arrival, which it never did. Jaguars stalked their prey, watched and circled until it was time to pounce. This was different, he wasn’t hunting, he was avenging.
Nivea’s face appeared clearly in his mind, her
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