"Leg it!" someone yelled, commotion breaking out in the pub, the sounds of chairs being upturned and tables collapsing under the weight of panicked monsters strangely dull, not echoing thanks to the roof being torn off by mammoth, clawed hands.
I gulped, too stunned by the sight above me to call up my magic to push away the pincer choking me. But I wanted to follow the fleeing shadowkind out the pub doors, wanted to run as fast as my shaky legs could carry me from the impossibly big monster. He poked his dark, bald head into the pub, beady eyes fixed on everyone who hadn’t fled, and my stomach cramped with fear.
"Please," I whispered to the monster with his pincer around my neck. "Let me go."
Instead of releasing me, the shadowkind made an eerie clicking sound like an insect. The hairs stood up on the back of my neck when he dragged me away, backing away from the huge monster looming above us. His grip on my neck never once loosened as he backed up. I watched the door I ran towards get smaller, further away with every forced footstep.
"Please," I rasped, but the pincer tightened, choking off my plea with a gurgle.
"Shut it, slayer," he barked, shaking me hard enough that the sharp edges cut into my neck.
Across the pub, a chilling roar sounded and something crunched, but I couldn’t turn my head to see if it was more furniture or shadowkind bones this time. An icy chill swept down my back.
I wanted to go home. I missed my hamster. And I wanted mac n’ cheese so badly I could cry. If I didn’t deserve comfort food after this ordeal, I didn’t know when I would.
"One more word—" the pincer-wielding monster growled, but his threat cut off when the front door we were heading towards slammed open and a bristling, stripe-skinned monster burst into the ruined pub like a tornado.
A sob caught in my throat.
Sang!
I formed his name with my lips, but I was too scared of opening a worse cut on my throat to give it a voice. Hot tears spilled down my cheeks when he met my gaze, the expression on his dark face frozen and shocked. But his yellow eyes narrowed into a deadly glare that made the other shadowkind back up a step, dragging me with him.
The slits of Sang’s cat eyes expanded as he focused on the shadowkind holding me—his prey—and I started to shake hard enough that the pincer cut into me when the black of his pupil swallowed the bright daffodil iris.
I couldn’t look away from Sang. Even if I could have moved my head, I wouldn’t have torn my wide-eyed stare away as he took a step into the room, graceful and feline. His tail swished behind him in snapping arcs.
"I’ve never seen you here before," the shadowkind holding me said, trying to be friendly even when he was clearly intimidated. Good. Heshouldbe scared of Sanguine.
Sang might be crazy and might like chaining people up to play torture games with them, but I knew he wouldn’treallyhurt me. It was Mav and Void I wasn’t too sure about. Sang … he’d made no secret of his devotion. His obsession. And it warmed my chest to see it flash in his eyes now as he stalked towards us.
He flicked his hands, razor sharp claws snapping out. "You’ll never see another thing again," he said in a deep, throaty hiss that made my breath catch.
Before the pincer-wielding monster could react, or before I could predict what my crazy cat man would do, Sang shot forward, claws slashing up at the very last moment.
I cried out when hot blood splashed over my face, but the pincer relaxed around my neck, and I took full advantage of it, spinning away on wobbly legs.
"Oh my god," I gasped, my eyes popping out of my skull when I saw what Sang had done.
He had all of his claws sunk into the monster’s rough face, blood running from each puncture mark, one directly through his eyeball. And that was gruesome enough before he ripped the monster’s face off.
He just … dug his claws in and tore.
My stomach roiled. The shadowkind let out a long wail of pain, reaching up his pincers as if to touch his bleeding face. Well, there wasn’t much of a face left.
I backed up. I knew deep down I was safe with Sang, but he’d alsoripped someone’s face off, and my instincts bleated to run. I didn’t look at where I was going, following that flight response, my whole body shaking again.
My wide eyes stayed pinned to the biggest predator in the room, and I watched in horror as Sang snapped his sharp teeth around the throat of the monster who nearly killed me. I wasn’t completely surprised when he ripped out the shadowkind’s throat, letting the man thud to the blood-covered pub floor.
"She’smymate," he roared, guttural and hoarse. "Mine."
He lifted his head, blood dripping from his sharp front teeth, and looked at whoever was stupid or brave enough to remain in the pub, all of them lifting weapons or claws.
"No one—no one—is allowed to touch her. Not a single finger. Or I’ll scoop out your eyes and feed them to my mate for breakfast.”
I winced. There was no way I was eating anything that had eyeballs swimming in it, but … like the lonely dumbass I was, I couldn’t help feeling warm and emotional at his words. Sang had publicly claimed me as his mate1and threatened to kill anyone who hurt me ever again.
Andthe monsters were shifting on their feet, looking worried. A few of them cast glances at me, as if trying to work out what it was about me that inspired Sang’s devotion. I wished I knew. I was just a sad, traumatised woman with ample curves, a small collection of scars, and a desirable locket.