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 took a deep breath and released his two other arms, the ones that had no material form in the human body he’d been offered. With the ruby at his core, the black limbs could be as material and immaterial as he needed them to be, and right now he would use them to gain access to more of Gray’s delicious skin.
He pressed his face to Gray’s stomach and pulled his sweatpants down with the extra arms. Everything but Gray was a blur. The night around them didn’t matter, and even the red room was a distant memory when Gray’s sweetness still lingered on Shadow’s tongue.
For a glorious moment, Gray lay still, as if he’d finally opened up to Shadow, but the peace only lasted for a few heartbeats before he twisted, painfully digging his heels into Shadow’s flesh. His breath came out in rigid, swishing gasps, but despite the strain his struggle put his body under, he wouldn’t stop and even dug his nails into Shadow’s hand.
“You’ll be back in that fucking lake. I swear!”
Shadow hissed at Gray, and grabbed his hand when it slipped out of Shadow’s grip. None of this should have been so tedious in the first place. Gray should feel the same as him. He should understand, and yet he remained stubborn like a horse that hadn’t yet been broken. Running out of patience, Shadow shoved Gray’s jeans and underwear down so rapidly the button snapped off and hit him in the stomach. But when instead of the hole he’d expected, Shadow saw a cock and balls between Gray’s legs, he stilled with a sense of confusion burning through his brain.
This wasn’t right. In the red room, one of the humans had a cock, the other an opening designed to accept penetration. Granted, there were also breasts in that picture—and Gray didn’t have those—but Shadow’s knowledge of human bodies was filled with blank spots. They came in all shapes and sizes, but Shadow had a cock. Where was he to put it to connect with Gray?
He looked up when Gray’s chest expanded rapidly and his muscles flexed, just in time to spot the narrowed eyes rushing toward his face, yet not soon enough to anticipate what was to happen. Gray’s forehead smashed against his like a hammer held by an arm the size of Gray’s entire body.
Red color exploded under Shadow’s eyelids, creating a thudding echo in his head. The buzzing in his ears was a physical discomfort, enforced by the sudden worry that his human skull had somehow cracked and was about to leak fluids onto Gray’s bed.
Blinded by the searing pain, Shadow was too preoccupied to pay attention to the periphery of his vision, but Gray slid off the bed and rolled to the floor like an animal about to strike again.
“Why?” Shadow whined, grabbing his head, but there were no answers coming.
A blade swished through the air when Gray faced him again, followed by a sting that turned into agony when Shadow saw black blood seeping from a wide cut across his chest.
He screamed in panic and jumped to his feet, desperate to close to wound with his hands, but the hot drizzle kept covering his fingers. “It hurts! It hurts!”
With the knife in hand, Gray appeared composed again despite loose strands of silver hair creating a messy halo around his head. “Yeah? Guess what else hurts, you motherfucking animal?” he whispered before charging at Shadow like a wolf about to bite through Shadow’s neck.
Paralyzed by fear, Shadow curled his shoulders to cover his torso, but Gray’s hard fist smashed into his face instead.
Shadow’s teeth throbbed as if they’d been struck by lightning, and a sour, odd flavor exploded in Shadow’s mouth like a physical manifestation of violence. He yelped and crouched by the wall, hugging himself with all four arms. "I just wanted to be close," he whined, starting to shake when his vision darkened and hot liquid spilled down his cheeks. "I'm bleeding from my eyes! Help me…”
Something clicked, and the dark hole in the muzzle of the gun in Gray’s hands captured the entirety of Shadow’s focus. Gray’s hand was still, and so were his legs, but there was a tremble to his voice—barely there yet noticeable.
“I don’t want you anywhere near me. If you try this again, I will kill you, even if it dooms my brothers, so keep the fuck away from me,” he said, searing Shadow’s flesh with cold eyes.
Pain was like a living being crawling under Shadow's skin where he bled. How could Gray not share Shadow’s feelings when they were meant to be one? Maybe it was Gray who wasn’t human at all.
Shadow sniffed and rubbed the black, watery tears off his face.
“I’m in pain. Help me,” he whimpered again.
“Why? You didn’t help me when I told you to stop. You can bleed to death for all I care,” Gray declared, but he lowered the gun.