Shadow Word: Pain Novels & Stories

White hot pain rips and tears through me as every bone in my body cracks, breaks and extends before jutting itself into place. Screams and howls of pain fill the air, dulled only by the trees and my own pain consuming me. Canines lengthening and claws stretching out, and yet, still I can feel my body is covered in something warm and wet. I sniff the air. Blood. So much blood. Sweet, warm, red liquid copper. Soon the pain dulls to warm rather than hot, and screams become howls and growls in the distance. I join in, yanking and pulling at the chain until my neck hurts so much I think my head might fall right off my shoulders. And then, everything goes black.

“But strength is fleeting. Power is meaningless when it is bound by emotion. Fear, love, loyalty… they will all be your undoing.” The shadows surged, taking the form of grotesque shapes twisted wolves, gnarled and broken, snapping and clawing. My heart ached as I realized they were fragments of wolves we had lost over the years, spirits twisted into weapons against us. “No!” I screamed, surging forward. Golden energy erupted from me, disintegrating the shadow forms before they could touch my pack. But more emerged, relentless, and I could see the strain in Marcus, Ethan, Callum, and Davian.

Finally, I start typing. ObsidianShade: You’re wrong if you think the darkness can be worn like a costume. It consumes you. It’s not about being sweet or light—it’s about being willing to burn everything inside you to ashes. Think you’re ready for that? If you want to shadow me, fine. But you’ll follow my rules. First, prove you can follow orders. Click the link below. It expires in two minutes. Enter the city where you live and nothing else. We’ll talk directly. I don’t work through forums.

"Matthew, did you hear that? She says we're not even human. I'll show her what happens when she messes with us." The assistant's smile vanished, replaced by a storm of rage as she moved to hit me, but she did not see it coming. Slap! "Zip it. She's right. You're not human. You're nothing but my pawn, and you're fooling yourself if you think you can take her place. "Didn't I tell you to stay out of my sight? If you have trouble with your hearing, I don't mind helping with that."

But Lyra didn't understand. She didn't understa nd anything anymore except pain. Pain and betrayal and the cold, dark emptiness where her pack bond had been. Then even that faded away into nothing.

If anything, they tighten around my wrists until it’s painful. Before I can clearly focus on that, something else cuts into the black. A shadow looms over me. A dark, familiar shadow. T. B. C

I look up at him. “What was that?” I ask, and he smiles at me, the fire around his irises melting away. “Shadow fire.” He answers softly, then closes his eyes once again. “I’ve never seen it before,” my tone matches his. “Have you always been able to do that?” “No, it’s a recent development, and by recent, I mean three years. I’m trying to get a hang of it, but I haven’t been able to control it. I control shadows, manipulate them as I please. Everything that is a shadow is mine, but shadow fire is difficult to wield, and it’s taking far longer to control, even longer than controlling souls; people.”

I threw myself in its path. The shadow struck me across the shoulders. It didn’t cut. It unmade. A cold so profound it felt like the end of time seared through me, not into my body, but into the silvery threads of my Weaver power. I felt a part of my magic—the part closest to Morvana’s legacy, the cold, silver shadow—shatter and go dark, permanently severed. I screamed, the pain beyond physical, a spiritual amputation. But the force of the blow propelled us both through the window opening, out into the empty, stormy air.

*“You cannot stop me, Alpha. Your children are mine.” I snarl, my wolf surging forward. “We’ll see about that.” --- **Selene’s Light** I clutch the shard in my hand, its surface warm against my palm. The Shadow’s presence is everywhere, his voice a constant whisper in my mind. *“Your light will feed my power, little light.”* “Not while I’m still breathing,” I snap, my glow intensifying. The Shadow’s form materializes before me, his eyes like voids. *“You cannot win.”*

I knew the tragedy that was about to occur. The moment her foot lifted, The Shadows pounced, their dark tendrils snapping around her small figure like a vice. They writhed and seethed around her, their malevolent presence suffocating. I felt an explosive pain in my chest, as if my heart was being ripped from my ribcage. My hands flew to my sternum, clawing desperately at my chest as if that needless action would calm the immense agony that flowed through me.