SHADOWS AND FEAR

ANOKAI’S POV

One minute, I was on fire, their hands touching every part of me and awakening my desire. The next minute, the temperature in the room dropped dangerously, sending a chill down my spine.

The four of them stared at me like I had grown four heads, “Are you a virgin, little orchid?” one of them asked–the one who kissed me first.

I didn’t know how to answer. With the way they were looking at me, saying yes felt dangerous. And lying to them felt like knocking on my death door.

“Get away from me,” I said, backing up. My hands flew to my chest at their hungry gaze, “I said get away from me!”

My heart was beating dangerously at the way they all looked at me like they were ready to devour me anytime. I was still trying to find my words and figure out how to get the hell away from them when the one who had asked me first if I was a virgin moved closer to me and sniffed me.

He leaned in, slow and deliberate, his nose brushing the skin on my neck when everything shattered.

A growl ripped from his chest, loud and broken. The sound wasn’t human. It scraped against the walls, against my bones. Shadows poured out of him like smoke, thick and alive, wrapping around his body as his form twisted.

I screamed.

Where his head had been, a wolf’s head forced its way through, massive and wrong. Red eyes glowed from within the darkness, bulging and wild, locked onto me like I was the only thing left in the world.

For years, people whispered about the Shadowcrest brothers.

Beasts.

Devils.

Monsters hiding behind human skin.

They were wrong.

This was worse.

This wasn’t a beast.

This was something I have never seen, an abomination.

I scrambled from the bed and rushed to the table, picking up a knife and pointing it at it. “Do not come near me!” I yelled out, fear gripping my insides.

“MINE! MINE!” he mumbled, moving closer to me.

One of the others rushed forward, blocking his path, “Nikolai. Calm…”

He didn’t even let him finish his words when one of his shadows spilled forward, forming a hand and throwing him off as if he weighed nothing. He hit the wall with a sickening thud, letting out a groan.

I gulped down, facing the monstrous creature.

This was it. I was going to die.

But not without a fight.

I gripped the knife tighter in my hands, scarmbling back with sweats running down my back, “I swear, if you come near me,” I shouted, my voice raw and serious, “I’m going to kill you.”

The wolf laughed.

The sound was distorted. Twisted. Shadows slammed into the table, shattering it, wood exploding across the floor. The knife slipped from my fingers.

Before I could scream again, something cold wrapped around my throat.

One of his shadow hands was on my throat.

They lifted me off the ground and slammed me against the wall. Pain exploded through my back, my head, my lungs. I clawed at the darkness, thrashing for release and my breath at the same time.

The wolf’s face loomed inches from mine, his red eyes staring deep into mine.

“You’re mine! Mine!” he kept mumbling.

I shut my eyes as he opened his mouth as if to bite me, my heart freezing as I waited for it only to feel a wet slob on my cheeks. Tears burned in my chest, threatening to spill as he swiped again, the words ‘mine’ never stopping on his lips.

Every part of me was in terror, too frozen to move.

Suddenly, a second growl tore through the room, absolute and fierce,

“DROP HER NOW, NIKOLAI!”

The one who had kissed me first stood there, his eyes glowing red. Not wild like Nikolai’s — controlled. Cold. Endless.

Fear flooded the wolf’s face as his grip loosened on my neck. I dropped to the floor, coughing, shaking so badly I couldn’t stand. Nikolai whined, the sound broken and desperate, as his wolf form dissolved back into shadows that wrapped around him like chains.

“GET OUT.” The red-eyed alpha ordered, his voice thundering through the entire room.

I tried to stand up only for my legs to be frozen to the ground, the fear from all of it paralyzing me to the floor.

“I SAID GET OUT.” His voice loomed out again.

This time, my legs didn’t need the warning. I found my feet instantly, rushing towards the door and escaping the room. The guards in front of the door were in shock as I left, raising a brow, but I was too scared to pay any attention.

I ran like my life depended on it, following the path the red lady brought us to the room. My mind was buzzing with different thoughts. The first of it all being exactly what I have gotten myself into.

I didn’t know how I got to the room, or how I found a bed and quickly covered myself with a duvet, replaying the horror of what I just saw in my head over and over again, and with one question looming in my head.

What exactly are these brothers?

***********************************

ROWAN’S POV.

“Urghhh,” I groaned as the healer applied some salve to my cheeks, the coldness of it stinging my jaw.

Damn, Nikolai with his shadow monsters and ruining the entire fun.

Her taste lingered in my mouth, the scent of her clogging my nostrils. I’ve never tasted anything like her before in my many years of tasting women, and I wanted more of it.

I groaned and threw my head back, letting myself imagine her again underneath my arms, feeling every curve and swell of her body.

I could feel my beast stirring up within me, wanting more of her. Not to mention, she was a virgin. Pure, undiluted beauty.

I opened my eyes as the priestess let out a gasp. After Nikolai’s outburst, Emiriel has called for her, explaining the entire situation to her. We had all felt it with her, the pull to claim her as our own and have her all night and day, to make her belomg solely to us. The only difference was Nikolai’s was faster.

“Your majesties, this is not good,” the priestess said.

Emiriel was the first to talk, “Why, Miasan? We all felt a pull. What if she’s the one…”

“She’s the one, your majesties. And that’s why she’s dangerous. You should stay away from her.”

Silence grew in the room as Miasan spoke, her words echoing among us.

She was here, our own, our mate.

Years and years of hunger, of never getting satisfied, waking up to fuck and claim, and she was finally here.

Miasan’s last words finally sank into my head as I frowned, “What do you mean she’s dangerous?” I asked.

Malakai spoke next, his tone bearing impatience, which I knew why. Besides waiting years for our own, he didn’t even get to kiss her. Malakai enjoyed the body, feeling, kissing, and worshipping women as the most glorious thing. And now Miasan was saying her gibberish, “There has to be a reason, Miasan. You said it yourself, she was coming…

“She’s your doom, your majesties.” She dropped, her throat bubbling up and down. “I know I said it, but I said she has to be your doom or your making. The signs are not good, your highnesses.”

“What are the signs?” I asked, meeting her white eyes that were devoid of eyeballs.

“She’s going to wreak havoc, your highness. If you continue this with her, she’s going to destroy you. Your hunger will increase tenfold, and everything you love will be destroyed.”

“Love?” Malakai scoffed, standing up angrily, “What do you think we love? The sex? The food? The killing? Take a look around, Miasan! Where is the love! We’ve been like this for years, since we were ki…”

“Malakai..” Emiriel called out gently, cutting him off as they both exchanged a look.

He clenched his jaw, veins lining his face, before nodding and taking his seat back.

Envy sprang in my chest as I eyed Emiriel, recalling the way he had yelled at Nikolai and gotten him to leave the girl while I laid on the floor, my face blue.

He has always been the leader, the gentle one, the one with the brains. My beast growled within me. He was everything I wanted, and yet…

“Miasan, take a look again at the signs and read them well.” Emiriel continued, “There has to be something to work around.”

Miasan shook her head, her expression grave, “There is nothing your highness. You must not be with her. The only way things can go well…

“Just say it and stop dallying around.” I snapped, feeling irritated already.

Her head whipped towards me, and without eyeballs, I knew she was looking into my eyes, weighing them down, “You have to kill her, your highness. Kill her, and only that way would things be different.”