I stare at the words, mulling them over and over. Ten years off for killing someone? And they want me to use my power? What the fuck is this about? I’d done jobs in the joint before, always ordered by the Warden and ordered this same way. So no mistake, this is his handiwork. Take out the lowest scum of the scum, which was fine with me. I eliminated the worst of criminals who killed and had no intention of ever stopping, but he’d never let me have my full power before.
It had been two years since he last sent me a mission, so why now?
This line of work had taken me away from Shaye before I was imprisoned. I’d gotten involved with the wrong crowd, asked for a few favors of the gangs when I hit rock bottom, and repayments came in the form of taking out a few bad guys. Next thing, I was eliminating murderers for payment, until one job brought me face to face with a witchdoctor. I completed my mission, not knowing eradicating him would change my life forever. My heart kicks in my chest at the memory and a sour taste fills my mouth. The witchdoctor was a direct descendant of Nigeria Ṣàngó, a terrifying African Orisha, a god. Turns out, he wasn’t a fan of me taking out his corrupt son who sacrificed children for his spells.
My punishment came in the form of a curse. A fucking curse that put a hellish wolf inside me. I now shared my body with a ferocious beast who I fought to keep at bay. It took me years to learn to hold any semblance of control over the hellhound, so of course I kept away from Shaye, but by then, I ended up in prison.
Sometimes life throws you lemons, sometimes, it’s a fucking grenade that is determined to fuck you up royally.
My hand crumples the note in a fist.
Shaye.
My thoughts sweep to her, and I grind my teeth. The gods won’t be satisfied with life imprisonment for her that’s why they threw her in the fucking fighting pit so early. I glance down at the paper in my palm. Maybe I can buy her some time for doing this. Do something right for a change. Tell them I’ll trade my ten years for time that Shaye doesn’t have to fight in the pits. It’s the least I can do after leaving her without explanation. It won’t keep her out forever, but it might buy her a few weeks reprieve. I glance at the clock on the wall in the rec room. It’s 11:38 on Friday night and we won’t have to be in our cells until 12:30. The weekend gives us extra time before lights out. Sucks for this creedent whoever he is will die in less than half an hour.
Standing up from the couch, I stretch and yawn, noticing if anyone is paying attention to me. But the inmates are all involved with their personal agendas and another reason why I always like playing the loner. No one to bug you or ask a million questions about where you’re going and what you’re doing.
Slowly, I drift to the stairwell and once satisfied no one is watching me, I take the concrete steps down. Don’t have to worry about time as my heritage allows me to slow or stop a few minutes here and there. Which comes in very handy as I trip the line of cameras surveying the corridor to the basement.
As soon as I reach the freight elevator, it dings open. I step through and the power on my cuffs and collar buzz against my skin. My hellish wolf howls inside my chest. I stifle a groan as it feels like it's clawing a path out of me. Waited way too long to let the beast out to play.
I follow the scent of bad B.O. and rotten eggs to the broiler room. When I enter the room, Skul faces me, his expression going from surprise to anger.
“What the fuck are you doing here, Nelos?”
With a grin, I close the door behind me, but there’s no lock. Not that I’ll need one. The beast inside me is hungry for death and this will be a quick kill.
“Seems like you’ve been a bad boy.” I tsk. “Continuing your maim and murder rap in prison? You know Warden doesn’t tolerate any kills unless they are in the pit.”
“Fuck you.” He flexes his muscles and lowers his head like he’s going to charge me like a bull. “You aren’t my boss.”
I slack the control on the monster inside of me, flames obscuring my vision as I start to transform. Fur sprouts over my body, bones crack, skin pops. I roar, falling to all fours before swinging my attention to the asshole in front of me.
He stumbles backward, bumping into the broiler and yelps. “I-I’m sorry man... I won’t do nothing to no one... I promise.”
His gibberish doesn’t matter. “Your actions have proven your heart.” I lick my lips. “And I bet it's tasty.”
The beast roars out of me and the man screams. Fire paws sink into his chest, the sensation exploding outward across his whole body. I lunge at the guy and crash into him. My fangs clamp onto his ribs. Bones splinter under my fiery bite. I chomp down until I reach his heart, saving the flavor along with my beast.
A sudden and unexpected gasp sounds behind me, and I twist my head with a snarl.
Shaye is standing in the doorway staring, her face ashen. Her blue eyes widen, and I see the glow of her aura and her ruby red heart beating hard and fast.
My beast growls to taste her, to take her right here and now.
I tense, holding him back while my veins turn to ice at the way she stares at me.
With terror.
With disgust.
With hatred.
“No,” I ground out but all that comes out is a shattering growl, blood dripping from my mouth.
“Nelos?” She clamps a hand over her mouth and shakes her head, backing out into the hallway.
“Wait,” I croak out, half a growl, half a guttural word, starting to shift back. Words while I’m a bleeding wolf on fire never comes out right. But it’s my voice...I should’ve not said anything, and she would never have known I was the monster. Except all my tattoos transfer to the wolf...so she’d have figured it out.
Fuck!
She turns to run, but I manipulate time so I can transform completely without her having to see what it does to me. Seconds is all I have in my power, but it’s enough, and heat zaps over my body as I call to my power.
Sharp pain lashes through me as the wolf fights back. It claws and snaps at me, wanting to taste her heart. Sweat beads across my back as I shove it down and stand feeling like my guts have been hollowed out and gnawed on. My tongue is thick and dry in my mouth as I swallow, and the time slips back into place.
Tears stream down Shaye’s face.
“Let me explain,” I state, closing the distance between us.
Her wide eyes go from me to the burning corpse behind me. She spins on her heel and runs.
“Shaye,” I bellow and chase after her. The monster inside me crashing against my insides. It loves her fear. Loves the taste of her terror in the air. I’ve got to catch her before I lose control. She needs to understand I didn’t choose to be like this. That sometimes we all do things we regret for the rest of our lives to survive in this fucked up world.
Chapter Nine
Shaye
I scream, running for the elevator, and jamming the button. A freaking, wolf made of fire? Is that what Nelos is? I shake all over. The stairwell. I race to it, but the door won’t open. I slap my hand against the metal. What the hell had I just seen?
“Help, let me out of here,” I cry out.
“Shaye,” Nelos’ voice echoes behind me.
I spin, holding my hands out to ward him off. “Don’t come any closer.”
His dark eyes are pools of fire. This can’t be Nelos. He couldn’t be the one who shifted and certainly not into some fire wolf. And that dead man... I shudder. He was a blackened corpse.
“We need to talk,” he growls.
I let out a hysterical laugh.
The elevator dings open and I run as hard as I can for it. Inside, I tap the close door button. “Come on, come on.”
My heart is a jackhammer in my chest. The doors slowly start to close, but Nelos stops them with his body. I claw at his hand as he latches onto my arm and hauls me back out into the hallway.
I scream, twisting to get away, but he drags me into an empty storage room and closes the door behind him.
I’m trembling and p
ress myself up against the far side of the wall. There’s nothing in here to use as a weapon except empty metal shelves bolted to the cement floor.
“Shaye, this isn’t what you think.” He steps closer, and I flinch.
“Oh?” My voice shakes. “Y-You didn’t just kill that man and-and burn him alive?”
He looks away, rubbing the back of his neck, shadows hiding his expression. “It’s not that simple.”
“How are you th-that thing?” I wrap my arms around myself, hoping I will get out of this somehow. But I already know nightmares will plague me. “Does the Warden know?”
Nelos snaps his attention back to me. “Of course he knows. He has all the information possible on all of us.” He holds up his hands, showing his cuffs. “Or these wouldn’t work.”
“So you can turn into that thing whenever you want?” He stands right in my path for the door, not that I’d get far with how small the room is.
“Not with these.” He sighs, lowering his hands. “The power was reduced on them. What were you doing down here, Shaye? Why now of all times?” His voice climbs and his gaze meets mine.
“I... the Warden,” I finally manage to say. “He asked me to come down here and spy on an inmate with a clown image sketched into the back of his skull. Something about Project X, and if I did this, I’d get a reprieve from the next fight.”
He falls silent, but the fury crossing his face scares me. He looks ready to explode, and I don’t want to be anywhere near him if that happens.
“We’ve been played, set up. Fuck! I should have seen this, should have known. The asshole wanted you to see me, my real side… to see me eliminate the kill he ordered.”
The fire in his eyes blazes brighter and he takes a step toward me.
Oh god, was he going to shift again? And I am going to get thrown back in the pit to fight for my life and that is if I don’t get turned into charcoal first.
Nelos clenches his fists.
Not a good sign.
My knees threaten to buckle, but I lift my chin. What is it they say about aggressive animals? Make yourself bigger. Assert dominance. Or is that for bears? Would it work on a weird, fire wolf?
Nelos stops, his eyes narrowing. “So why would the Warden want you to see me this way?”
I open my mouth to say something, but nothing comes out before Nelos starts cursing. I try again and say, “The Warden told you to kill someone? Why?”
“That mother-fucker... he gets me to do his dirty work.” Nelos looks at me.
I flinch. “Wait. Have you done this before?” My heart plunges into my stomach because I already know the answer.
He pales and holds my stare, his expression strong and he holds no guilt for what he does. “I didn’t get locked in here for petty theft.”
"So you're justifying what you just did? You killed him, set him on fire from the inside out." I shudder as a roll of nausea plows through me.
He rakes a hand over his head and stares at me. "What else did Warden tell you? Give me his exact words."
"J-just that h-he wanted information from that guy." I swallow hard, my gaze darting past him to the closed door.
A muscle in his jaw twitches. “We've gotta get you out of here and back to your cell. I don’t know what the Warden is playing at but I’m going to find out."
"Do you know something?" Now I'm more worried about his unease than I am at his new fire beast.
"Look, you need to stay in your cell until I figure this out." He marches straight at me in three long strides and grips my arm, hauling me out of the room.
I wrench away from him. "What about the Warden? I can't go back to him empty-handed." My gut clenches knowing that this was my reprieve from being thrown into the fighting pit.
"Trust me, Warden already knows as he set the whole thing up." He lets out a string of curses. "We gotta get you out of her. Warden is using us for something."
I follow him down the corridor. "Why?" But a sinking sensation hits my gut before he even answers.
"There are cameras ahead, I need to disable time and slip through. We can't let them pin this on either of us."
"But I didn't do anything."
Nelos arches an eyebrow. "Do you really think they'll care? Shit, Shaye, they were hoping you would have died in that pit. Don't you get it? What if this is just another attempt to eliminate you?"
"Then why not shove me into the electric chair if they wanted me dead?"
"What's the fun in that?" He shakes his head. "Nah, they want you to suffer and entertain them while you do. Everyone knows the person in the chair is going to die."
"How do you know this whole shenanigan wasn't to get to you?"
"Exactly. Right now we need to think this was to frame us both. Now come on." He holds out his hand to me, his expression pleading.
But can I trust him? He never mentioned the fiery beast or why he was in prison. And he just killed a man in a horrible way that didn't look like self-defense. And he never denied killing others. It is at this moment I realize that I don't know Nelos anymore. The man before me is a hardened criminal and gone is the sweet guy who was my first love. The one whose kisses I couldn't get enough of. Who walked me home every day after school.
I hiccup a breath, but nod and take his hand.
The time warp crashes into me like a wave. He pulls me along the hallway, my shoes squeaking across the concrete floor until we get to the stairwell.
Time speeds up around us in a flash.
“What about the cameras when I came down here? They’ll know where I went.”
“Leave that to me.” He takes the stairs up fast and I follow behind him until I’m panting for breath.
“You really need to work on your cardio, Shaye.”
“Bite me.”
He lets out a chuckle, and I clamp a hand over my mouth realizing that I’m talking about chomping when he’s a freaking wolf— even if it is on fire.
“Let’s get you to your cell before lights out.” He opens the door and peeks out. “It’s clear.”
“What about you?” I grasp his arm, then quickly drop my hand. “What if they are after you too?”
“We need to act like they are after both of us for now. Stay safe. Keep your head down.”
“And your— fire wolf? How did that happen?”
He pushes through the door and waves me forward. His steps are wide and fast, and I have to run to keep up with him. Before I know it, he stops, and I slam into a wall of muscle.
“Here’s your cell. Hurry, Shaye, I don’t have much time.”
I nod and move around him to go inside my cell.
But there’s a blur when I turn to him and I know he’s using his power to freeze time so he can go erase the footage of me going down into the dungeon. “Thanks,” I say to nothing then regret even saying that when I don’t know how to feel right now aside from sick to my stomach.
“Thanks for what?” Crymson asks.
“Um... for letting me sleep in here with you guys.” I shrug a shoulder, turning away from the cell opening to face them.
Crymson is already in her bunk under her blankets. Everyly is sitting on the bottom bunk with Lene who is staring down at her palms.
I slink to the floor, trying to calm my racing heart.
“Where have you been?” Everyly narrows her eyes at me. “We didn’t see you with your hottie Rowen or the rec room or the courtyard.”
“I got lost and wandered around until I made my way back.”
She snorts. “God, you’re such a newb.”
The lights out alarm sounds, and the doors creak closed. My heart lurches in my throat. God, Nelos just killed someone and I’m on a target list. Is it the Warden? It sure seems that way. The lights click off one by one throughout the prison.
I chew on my lip as I stare into the darkness. I force myself to lay down on the concrete floor, trying to sleep, but every squeak of a guard’s shoe has me bolting upright and staring into the darkness, thinking they are coming
for me.
Chapter Ten
Rowan
I whistle a tune my human mother taught me as I snatch a bagel as hard as cement from the cafeteria and a small carton of milk for breakfast. Time to do as I promised Shaye and get her out of the fight pits. Don’t care what dear old Dad said, she’s mine and I won’t allow her to be in danger.
Mine.
I like the sound of that. Tearing off a piece of the bagel, I dunk into the milk as I head to the Warden’s office. Could be the Warden is merely moving pieces on the chessboard according to someone else’s orders or if he is acting on his own and reaping the rewards of catering to the gods.
I pop the piece of bagel into my mouth and it’s easier to chew now than breaking teeth. I soak the next piece and lean against the Warden’s door as I eat.
Since I often break into the Warden’s office, I know his schedule. He always makes a coffee with two sugars and one cream in the employee lounge and then brings his cup here to read over emails.
While I wait, I finish my bagel and chug the milk when his dress shoes clop along the floor toward me.
He looks up with a start, his coffee sloshing in his cup. “Rowan. What are you doing here?”
“Hey, bossman. Just wanted to wish you a good morning.” I beam.
Grumbling, he uses his badge and opens his door. I rush in behind him and stick my foot in the door to keep it from closing and step inside. I toss my empty milk carton into his trashcan.
Warden sets his coffee on his desk, then sits down and gestures for me to do the same. “I’m glad you’re here, Rowan.”
My smile tugs at the corners of my mouth. Flattery. I could deal with that. “Oh?”
“Yes.” He adjusts his glasses and folds his hands on his desk. “We’ve noticed that you’ve spent a lot of time with a new prisoner lately. Shaye.”
“Since when is that a crime? She needed help once or twice and I helped her.” I shrug, looking at the framed picture of the ocean and a pang hits my heart how I’ll never see another beach again while I’m wasting away in this place. And how Mom had loved the water. I turn back to the Warden, schooling my features into a nonchalant expression. “I help lots of people. What can I say...? I’m a giver.”
Sinful Gods: Paranormal Romance (Hell's Playground Series Book 2) Page 5
