Chapter 18

Ipress myself flush against the wall, heart hammering against my ribcage.

“Where is she?” Kai’s voice is more beast than human, more monster than man. Through Mr. Scruffles’s eyes, I see just how intimidating and terrifying Kai can appear to a stranger. It’s not just his bulk and height, though that certainly helps, but the power he exudes. He has a cold, dark presence that sends goose bumps racing up and down my spine.

And he’s a dragon. A mother freaking dragon.

I still can’t wrap my head around it. My best friend, the man who is an extension of me, is a mythical creature plucked straight out of a fairy-tale book. Suddenly, the stories he told me back at the Compound take on a whole new meaning.

The princess fell in love with the fire-breathing dragon shifter. She knew he would always protect and love her.

Shivering, I take another step backwards and wrap my arms around my stomach. It doesn’t quite hold all my pieces together, but it’s a start.

Mr. Scruffles cants his head to the side, my vision distorting with the minimal movement, before he takes a step closer to the group of intimidating men gathered in front of him. Damien is suddenly in front of the beast, seeming to materialize out of the shadows, with a dagger in hand.

“I’m going to enjoy gutting you,” he breathes with a malicious smirk on his face.

My eyes—well, Mr. Scruffles’s eyes—track all the men intently, cataloging their movements.

Cain and Abel are standing just behind Kai, whispering to each other. Cain, as always, looks annoyed, and Abel is anxiously chewing on his lower lip. Bronson is in his wolf form, pacing in the shadows. His lips are pulled back from his teeth as deafening, ferocious snarls escape him.

Damien ventures a step closer, Kai shadowing him, and Mr. Scruffles instinctively takes one back. I can see how this will play out in my head. The cat is vastly outnumbered, but I know he is a formidable foe. I can’t quite eradicate the memories assaulting me.

The ferocious snarls overshadow the desperate screams of the dying guard.

Innards splayed on the cafeteria floor.

Blood coating the walls.

This will be a bloodbath on both sides, but I have no doubt Mr. Scruffles will bear the worst of it.

“Don’t hurt him!” I scream, running around Mr. Scruffles to plant myself in between them. Through the cat’s—monster’s—eyes, I can see Kai and Damien both gape at me. I wish to take back my plea, but there is no way I can scoop the words out of the air and put them back in my mouth. In a calmer voice, I repeat, “Please, don’t hurt him.”

“Nina,” Kai says urgently, his features softening. Before, scales were covering both his cheeks and muscular arms, but to my amazement, they begin to recede. His reptilian eyes gradually return to their normal brown hue, and his sharp teeth retreat into his mouth. “Nina, take a careful step closer.”

“What? Why?” My head is spinning rapidly as I attempt to understand the urgency of the situation. Walking backwards towards the cat, I add, “He won’t hurt me. He’s my cat. He’s Mr. Scruffles.”

“Nina, come here. Now.”

Pulling myself out of Mr. Scruffles’s mind, I implant myself immediately into Kai’s.

I can see myself, pale and trembling with freshly washed hair. A sea-green dress shimmers in the artificial lighting like waves catching light.

Over my shoulder, I see Mr. Scruffles for the first time.

He’s . . . a tiger.

An honest-to-God tiger.

He’s nearly twice my size, with sleek orange fur, black stripes, and a white whiskered face. His lips are pulled back from his teeth, revealing razor-sharp canines.

Oh. My. God.

Kai takes a step closer, pushing Damien aside, until I consume his entire vision. This close, I can see the freckles dotting my cheeks and nose, the tendrils of blue in my midnight dark hair, and the scar curving down my neck from a torture session in the Compound.

“The lady is terrified,” Abel points out, and Kai whips his head around to face him, thank god. I love Kai, I do, but there’s only so much of his undivided attention I can take until it feels like my skin is itching. With Kai, I know he’s not just seeing a pretty face.

He’s seeing me.

Every scar. Every broken, twisted part of me. The darkness buried behind layers of light.

Darkness that he’s partially responsible for.

Dismissing those melancholic thoughts, I focus once more on the twins.

The blond-haired trickster demon stands next to his brother, gaze on me. “Shall I serenade her? Calm her down?”

“Please don’t,” Cain deadpans.

Damien, from somewhere behind Kai, adds, “I’ll cut out your tongue and shove it up your asshole.”

Ignoring both of them, Abel clears his throat and takes a step closer—either oblivious or choosing to ignore the fact that each step takes him even closer to the enraged, pacing tiger. I know firsthand how powerful and deadly that cat can be.

Abel pretends to hold a microphone in front of his face and begins to sing about how I have a friend in him. And that I can lean on him when I’m not strong.

I wonder if he wrote that himself.

I can’t help but crack a smile, my fear diminishing, as he skips around the room air-drumming on the others’ heads. When he reaches Damien, the mage recites a single word in a weird, melodic language, and the demon collapses to the ground, unconscious.

At first, I think Abel’s antics are merely that: stupid, childish antics.

But then I recognize them for what they actually are when a soft hand grabs my elbow and pulls me into a tight embrace.

Abel was the distraction.

In the span of seconds, Kai has me in his arms and is gradually backing away from the tiger. My body goes limp and pliable in his embrace, unwilling to fight him. Maybe, if I go willingly, I can stop any unnecessary bloodshed.

Through Kai’s eyes, I can see Mr. Scruffles stare at me forlornly. His dark, penetrating eyes dig through layers of skin and bones and carve out a piece of my very soul.

“Kai,” I whisper. “I promise you. He’s a friend.”

“He’s no friend, Nina,” he responds darkly.

Damien moves in front of us, blades extended, and I begin to struggle futilely.

“Don’t hurt him!”

“He’s a shifter, stupid girl,” Cain drawls from where’s he standing above his brother’s body. When I turn towards him—in tandem to Kai turning—he flinches, as if my attention physically pains him. His eyes drift to his brother as his lips thin into a solemn line.

Fire lights inside my stomach and spews out in my next words. “Go fuck yourself, Cain.”

Everybody pauses.

Everybody.

Even Damien and Mr. Scruffles, currently engaged in a standoff.

My cheeks blaze red, and I have the ridiculous urge to bury my face in Kai’s neck. I can’t remember the last time I allowed my anger to get the best of me. Maybe years ago, after a particularly brutal beating.

At the Compound, I learned that anger only led to more pain. If I gave the men and women a reaction, my own torment would only increase. That fear had been as effective as a gag.

“Did she just curse?” Abel murmurs groggily. I imagine he’s still lying on the floor, but Kai has already looked away.

I’m instantly swamped with guilt, and I know I need to apologize to Cain as soon as possible.

“Babygirl,” Kai says, changing the subject. “He…Mr. Scruffles…he’s a shifter.”

I remember Kai telling me about shifters. They have three forms. A small animal form, a large one, and a…

The tiger’s body begins to fizzle and ripple like a mirage. I plaster myself against Kai’s hewn-from-stone body and gasp as I watch the shift through his eyes.

As the intense glow fades, Mr. Scruffles is no longer a cat or a tiger.

He’s a man.

Oh my god.

I’m such an idiot.

Even as I think that, I can’t ignore the fact that he’s the same animal who stayed with me when I broke apart. Comforted me. Was that his act? Did he merely want to lure me into a false sense of security?

He appears to be only a year or two older than me. His tanned skin is the color of burnt porcelain, and his muscular arms are sleeved in tattoos—everything from roses to wolves to lions. More tattoos are visible on his defined pecs, curving lower. His straight brown brows shadow even darker eyes, as dark as onyx stones. Puckered lips and a lip ring complete the bad boy look. His dark brown hair is buzzed on the sides with slightly longer waves on top.

And he’s naked. Buck naked.

I immediately pull out of Kai’s eyes before I catch a glimpse of his…thing.

“I can’t control it any longer,” a guttural voice rumbles from behind me, and a current of heat travels down my body at the primal sound. Bronson. He must’ve shifted into his human form at some point.

“Hold it in, wolfie!” Damien snaps.

“He can’t control the mating call any more than I can,” an unfamiliar voice says in a lilting accent. Is that… is that Mr. Scruffles?

Mating call?

My head swarms with confusion, like a nest of angry hornets. A knot the size of a walnut forms in my throat.

“Control your fucking wolf,” Kai rages, but before he can continue, I’m plucked out of his arms and thrown over someone’s shoulder.

Bronson’s, if the muscles are any indication.

“What are you doing?” I squeal, slapping at his rock-hard backside. My cheeks flame when I realize my hand drifted lower than I’d intended.

Behind me, I hear Abel whisper to someone, “He needs this. We’ll find them in a moment.”

Needs what?

What does he need?

We walk for only a few minutes before I’m gently placed on a warm bed. The smell reminds me of Bronson—no specific fragrance comes to mind, but it’s both masculine and musky.

Bronson, with a huff, begins wrapping me in blankets until I can’t even move my fingers. I remain rooted in place, more confused than anything.

One second, I think the men are going to kill my cat…errr…not my cat…

And the next, I’m being mummified by a shadow wolf.

Only when I’m safely cocooned does Bronson stop growling. He places his head in my lap with a happy hum.

“It’s his wolf,” Cain says scathingly from somewhere nearby. Bronson tenses, his growls returning, before he calms back down. Cain must’ve done something to placate him. “He needs to protect you. Nurture you. Be near you.”

“Why?” I whisper, and I’m surprised when I realize my voice is soothing Bronson, which only exacerbates my confusion. His growls gradually decrease until they turn into contented purrs. He nuzzles his face against my neck, his beard prickling my skin.

I can hear the smirk in Cain’s voice when he answers, though it now comes from farther away. “Long, long story, Trouble.”

“Where’s Mr. Scruffles?” I whisper, terrified of what Kai and the others will do to him. I know now that he’s not actually a cat, that he lied to me, but I also know that he saved my life twice since I arrived here.

“They’re just having a conversation,” Cain replies amusedly.

Why don’t I like the sound of that?