Chapter 240
Atasha’s POV
“So you know nothing about the Shadows?” His laughter suddenly filled the cave. Why was he so amused?
I frowned as he continued laughing. It bounced off the stone walls and came back warped, layered over itself until it was hard to tell where it started or ended. The sound made my skin crawl, not because it was loud, but because it carried certainty. He was not laughing to intimidate me. He was laughing because he found the situation genuinely amusing.
Was I supposed to know about the Shadows? I tightened my jaw as I watched him. At the same time, something else pressed at the edge of my awareness.
Cassian.
The bond pulsed faintly, closer now than before. He was coming. Sadly, I needed to hear what this stranger has to say. I needed time.
I dragged my focus back to the man in front of me. “What are you talking about?” I demanded. “Say it clearly.”
The laughter died down slowly, turning into a crooked smile. Before I could brace myself, his hand shot out and grabbed my wrist behind my back.
Pain ripped through my arm as the rope cut deeper into my skin. I hissed sharply, my body jerking against the bindings.
“Don’t waste breath,” he said calmly. “Heal me, and I will talk.”
My eyes snapped to his half covered face. He turned his palm upward again, the cut still faintly visible even though the green liquid had stopped flowing. “You know what to do,” he replied. “Or do you only heal those you like?”
dos ccrea
I clenched my teeth. Every instinct told me this was a mistake. Every warning screamed at me to refuse. But time mattered more than pride, and answers mattered more than comfort.
I focused.
My ability surged outward, flowing through my arm and into his hand. The sensation was different this time, like pushing against resistance that did not want to yield. Then it gave way. The cut vanished completely,
kin closing a
as if it had never been there at all.
I sucked in a slow breath, steadying myself. This man felt normal. When I healed him, nothing about his body screamed toxins which only added to my confusion.
He released my wrist and leaned back, clearly satisfied. “So it is real,” he said, sounding almost reverent. “Not a rumor.”
Then he reached up and pulled his hood back.
I froze.
Dark hair fell around his face, framing sharp features that looked almost sculpted, too precise to feel natural. His skin was pale, smooth, unmarked. Then I met his eyes.
They were green. Not the dull green of moss or leaves, but an intense, unnatural shade that bordered on blue. They looked wrong in a way that made my head throb instantly, like staring into something that was never meant to exist.
Pain flared behind my eyes again.
I gasped softly as the pressure surged, my vision blurring for a heartbeat. My ability reacted at once, rushing to contain the damage, smoothing it down before it could dig deeper. The pain faded quickly, leaving behind a dull echo and a sharp
d a dull echo and a
10:49 Wed, Jan 7.
Chapter 240
awareness that this man was dangerous in ways I still did not understand.
He watched my reaction closely and smiled.
“It hurts, doesn’t it?” he said lightly. “Even looking at me.”
I forced my breathing to steady. “What are you talking about? What Shadows?” I asked, ignoring the lingering ache.
“The Shadows…” he said, looking away. “It seems that you know nothing about them.”
I searched my memory and found nothing. I couldn’t remember reading anything about them. It was as if the word had been cut out of history entirely.
He chuckled when he saw the confusion on my face. “Of course,” he said. “You really do know nothing.”
He stepped back and sat down again, relaxed, as if we were discussing something ordinary. “The Shadows are the ones behind the experiments,” he continued. “The ones who wanted more than wolves. More than witches. More than what nature was willing to give them.”
My stomach tightened.
“They made us,” he said plainly. “You and me. Not as finished creations, but as supplements. Support systems or tools meant to enhance what they already had.”
He gestured vaguely toward himself, then toward me. “You were made to fix what broke. I was made to ruin what resisted.”
My fingers curled against the rope. What in the Goddess’s name is this man talking about? Yet, something inside me urged him from talking. “And we are failures?” I said.
He smiled, but there was no humor in it now. “We both are.”
He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “All of us are incomplete.”
Incomplete? The words settled heavily in the air.
“So they discarded us,” he continued. “Left us to survive or die on our own. I survived.”
I swallowed. I knew that my father had me since I was a young child. So…. not ma of this man’s words made a
“And you think that makes us the same.”
“It does,” he replied without hesitation. “Two mistakes from the same hand,
My gaze hardened. “Is that why you took my sister?” I said. “You slaughtered people to get to
He tilted his head. “Huh?”
any sense.
His confusion made me doubt. “Ah… ” he added. “You are talking about the woman that the Demon Fang’s captured?”
“You weren’t working with them.”
“Oh, I was,” he said easily. “They were useful for a time. Loud and predictable. Easy to point at when things went wrong.”
“Then I killed them,” he added, shrugging slightly. “So I suppose I’m not working with them anymore.”
The smile he gave me then was wrong in a way that made my skin crawl, like he was proud of how casually he had erased
them.
“I heard about a healer who couldn’t be killed,” he continued. “A consort who survived poison, blades, and betrayal. Someone who shouldn’t exist.”
Wed, Jan
Chapter 210
His eyes locked onto mine.
“So I came to see for myself,” he said. “And now that have… I’m not letting you go
The bond in my chest flared sharply.
Cassian was close.
Very close.
I lifted my chin and met his gaze, pain or not. “Then you made the wrong move,” I said quietly.
His smile widened.
“So did you,” he replied, a smug smirk appearing in his face.
