Shadow of the Beast (Twisted Dark #2)

Chapter Seventeen: Charmer

"You alright there, beautiful?" At the voice I scowled darkly and leaned against the stone wall of the cell as I looked into the dark shadows where the werewolf was sitting. I gave a shrug. I was so far from alright it wasn't even funny. Irma hadn't lied to me at all. My parents hadn't wanted me, I had been torn to shreds by a werewolf, and lied to by the werewolf I had been fucking. My day was so far from okay it was down right shit. "You look very upset. Do you wish t' talk about it." His voice had a faint accent that was very familiar. Not that I was surprised, he looked very much like Jax when my eyes had adjusted to the dark last night and was actually able to see him.

I closed my eyes. "Why does your brother have a stronger accent than you?" I looked into the shadows where the werewolf sat. His hands were in the light as he rested his arms on his knees.

"You know Jaxton?" His voice had an edge and I nodded. I knew Jaxton very intimately, my cheeks flushing at the thought despite all my want for them not to.

"He kidnapped me. Its probably why I'm now here." Took me out of the world I knew and into something else, he was then going to drop me as if I meant nothing. He was going to leave me to a world I had no clue about. I was absolutely ignorant about any and all things that I would be encountering and he was simply going to drop me when he found his brother.

"He hurt you?" At that I shrugged and a sound of frustration came from him. "Beautiful, let me know if he has." There was an edge to his tone but it wasn't directed at me. It brought me back to when Jax had told me why he started treating me better. I wanted to smirk at that. It seemed like Lyxton was the type of male to kick his brother's ass if he had hurt me. "Has he?" At the repeated question I gave another shrug.

"Not personally." My chest still ached from what he had done. Betrayed my trust and left me to die. Whether he meant for me to die or not, it didn't matter.

"What do you mean?" There was a heavy dose of confusion to his voice and I let out a small sigh, shifting in my spot. I tugged the werewolf's shirt further down my legs. He had given it to me shortly after her had told Irma he couldn't perform with an audience and she had wandered off. Once she has gone he had given it with a soft and shushing 'its alright now' before he helped me cover myself. "Beautiful, don't leave me confused now." At the lightly teasing words I felt a small smile grow on my face before it disappeared just as quickly.

"After promising me he wouldn't let anything hurt me, he left me chained in the forest and another werewolf killed me." There was a tickle in the back of my throat but I hadn't said enough to activate the spell. I was learning how far I could push the spell before it would activate. So far I could say a fair bit with alluding before it got cranky.

There was silence from him and I looked over at him before he shifted so he was in the patch of sunlight. His eyes were just as blue as Jax's and it made my chest hurt. He narrowed them at me slightly. "Ye aren't dead." He said it as if pointing out the obvious and I scoffed.

"I wonder why that is." I grabbed the coiled up length of chain beside my ankle and threw it into the center of the cell towards him. He reached out and grasped the thin chain, looking it over as if it would tell him what was

"This keeps you from dying?" He looked at me and I shrugged but shook my head. The combination had neutralized the spell. I just had to confuse the spell in order to work around it. "What does tha' mean?" His agitation made his accent thicker and I stared at him, trying to figure out how to explain it without the spell activating.

"It means..." I couldn't figure it out and braced myself. "It may or may not allow me to die." I immediately choked on the last word and struggled to breathe, unable to inhale as the familiar tightness closed around my throat. A warm hand rubbed my back as the werewolf murmured at me to breathe. After a few moments the tightness eased up and I slumped against the wall, my hands shaking slightly as I inhaled deep lungfuls of musty cell air.