Total pages in book: 169
Estimated words: 156945 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 785(@200wpm)___ 628(@250wpm)___ 523(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 156945 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 785(@200wpm)___ 628(@250wpm)___ 523(@300wpm)
Shadow, with his childlike behavior and strange powers, remained an enigma to Gray, and while he’d taken him out of the cell with the intention of putting him back upon their return, he no longer had the heart to do so.
No matter how much Gray loathed the mistakes he’d made, Shadow had saved his life.
Shadow had made him invisible and had arms that could unlock doors and extend into strange shapes. Shadow dropped his body as if it were a piece of trash the moment he felt Gray’s life was in danger. Despite Gray’s animosity and Shadow’s naivete, they’d made an exceptionally good team.
Shadow had given him his arm back.
Physical pain rippled down Gray’s stump, once again reminding him that his left sleeve was empty. He didn’t have the mental capacity to explain his sudden transformation to his brothers right now, so he’d asked Shadow to take the limb back.
It hurt almost as much as losing it for the first time.
Laurent stepped closer to Beast and put his hand on his husband’s shoulder. “We were so worried. There was information on the television about some van being thrown to the side of the road as if something smashed into it. We thought it might have been Shadow’s doing.”
Shadow didn’t say a word, and just put the smooth black box in the middle of the table. Gray joined him and tapped the lock, reining in the pride oozing out of his every pore.
“It was our only chance to deal with this while security was so minimal. I get it why you guys decided to play it safe, but I felt this was worth a shot. And I succeeded,” he said firmly, tapping his hand on the top of the container.
Joker let out a low hum. “Are you saying neither of us is capable of dealing with tough shit?”
“No. But this is the kind of stuff I train for every day. Before the fire at the clubhouse”—he said, choosing to talk about his accident in broader terms—“we were intended to steal the Pigeon Heart. And I was meant to do it. Me. There was no reason to change plans when this jewel is so important.”
Rev chewed on the filter of his unlit cigarette, clearly itching for a smoke. “That was before your accident, son!”
Blood rushed to Gray’s face, gaze instantly drawn to the empty place under his stump. “I can manage perfectly well, with or without my arm,” he said through his teeth.
Fox raised his eyebrows at Gray. It was no secret that he disliked Shadow. He didn’t allow his younger children to visit the clubhouse since Shadow had appeared. “But you didn’t go alone. You decided to take that thing for backup.”
Knight raised his arms. “I think it will do Shadow some good to be outside and get to know people. How is he supposed to know right from wrong otherwise?”
So that answered Gray’s questions about Shadow’s secret feeder. He should have known.
Rev shook his head, squeezing his fingers so hard they broke the cigarette in two, spilling tobacco on the table top. “Who cares if it understands humans! It’s supposed to serve a purpose and then go back to whatever hellhole it’s come from. This creature is a cog in Baal’s plans, not a pet!”
At Gray’s side, Shadow curled his shoulders, as if Rev’s words physically smacked him, and for the first time, seeing him affected this way stirred an unpleasant sensation in the pit of Gray’s stomach.
He felt like a fraud.
Here he was, proudly boasting about his success, claiming the job had been nothing too difficult when in reality it had been anything but. Without the arm Shadow had offered him, Gray couldn’t have ridden his motorbike in the first place. Without that arm, the speeding train might have been too much for him to handle, even if he’d successfully jumped to the roof.
Nobody here knew that Gray might not have made it back if it weren’t for this cog in Baal’s plans, but back inside that train car Gray had been already tasting the cold, muddy flavor of upcoming death when Shadow left his own precious body to protect him.
Why? What was Shadow’s motivation?
“I took him with me, because he has the skills needed for this job. Those shadow arms? He used them to pick the lock for me, so it is because of him that I managed so quickly.”
The frown that had been present on Beast’s face since Gray’s arrival only deepened. He slid his ankle from his knee and leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. “What else can he do?”
Gray blinked, suddenly feeling his heart speed up when he glanced at Shadow standing right next to him. “He can leave this body and hide someone’s presence. It’s like camouflage.”
A small smile stretched Shadow’s face behind the tangled locks. “I can do so much more.” When one of the immaterial arms left his side, the whole room stayed perfectly still. The familiar warmth was back, along with the sensation of pulling muscle as the threads of shadow connected with his flesh. He too stopped breathing as he looked down at the black arm that he could feel and use the same way as he could the real one.