Taken Over (The Ravening #2)(47)
Author: Erica Stevens

Something moved within the room. My heart leapt into my throat. I couldn’t stay like this forever, I had to move. I had to know. I spun suddenly, flipping over as I aimed the beam in the direction of where I had last heard anything. I had hoped to use the flashlight to blind whoever was left with me, even if it was my savior. Instead, it revealed a horror far worse than anything I ever could have imagined. A horror that left me cold, empty. Dead inside.

Ian was on the floor, his neck twisted at an unnatural angle. His dark eyes were open, but unseeing. In fact, they would never see again. His mouth was parted slightly; the right side of his face had caved beneath the force of numerous, furious blows. Blood was splattered over his face, his clothes, and the ground. Though the sight of his mutilated body was disturbing, it was nothing compared to the sight of the person sitting over him.

Cade’s shoulders were hunched, his head bowed. Blood splattered his clothes; it streaked over his hands and arms. I stared silently, breathlessly, afraid to move even an inch. There was something wild, something savage about him that frightened me. Something that I did not recognize but that instinctively terrified me.

And then he turned toward me. A small mewl of horror escaped me, my hand shook on the flashlight as I took in the sight of that blood splattered face. I didn’t recognize the eyes gleaming out at me, barely recognized the beloved face I knew so well. Because that face no longer existed. It had been replaced by the monstrous, nearly unrecognizable face before me.

Black, everything about him was black. From his entirely black eyes to the black veins standing starkly out in his face.

Primitive. Violent. Deadly. Those words screamed through my mind as I gaped in revulsion at him. Inhuman also.

I felt something inside of me breaking, splintering, and shattering into a thousand pieces as bits of my heart and soul disintegrated. His eyes narrowed. He didn’t seem to recognize me as his completely onyx gaze slid slowly over me from head to toe and then back again. He shuddered, rage blazed from him as his eyes returned to linger upon the ruined remains of my shirt. The blackness had been slowly receding from his face; it surged back to life, racing through his veins once more as his eyes found my bloody neck.

I was ashamed of the soft whimper that escaped me. Ashamed of the complete lack of control I suddenly had over my body, ashamed by the crushing sense of defeat that descended over me. His gaze came slowly back to my face; he stared at me for a long moment before the black slowly started to creep out of him again.

My heart was breaking, my body felt numb. I felt deadened and empty. I didn’t understand any of this; I just knew that there was a strange sense of finality enclosing me. A strange sense that this was the end, it was all over. That there was nothing left within me.

He rose slowly, with a strange grace that made me want to cry. That grace, that haunting beauty, those dark piercing eyes, and strange strength I had seen him exhibit were slowly, and finally, beginning to make sense to me. He hadn’t escaped from the aliens, he hadn’t broken free. They had let him go. No wonder he didn’t want to talk about what he had experienced, because he had not experienced it as a human, as a prisoner. He had no answers for us, nothing he could tell us because he had been with his kind all along. He had probably enjoyed the time he’d been with them. Probably relished in the death and brutality I was certain the captured people endured.

I’d been a fool to think he’d actually loved me. He was a monster, monsters could not love.

Thoughts scrambled and screamed through my mind. I could barely make sense of anything as he gazed at me for a long moment. I wanted to run, wanted to flee screaming into the darkness, but I found myself unable to move. And then he was rising above me like a dark avenger coming to finish what his cohort had started.

Terror drove me to my feet. I lurched awkwardly upward, desperate to get away as he came at me. I darted in between the tables, frantic for escape. My heart hammered in panic; I could barely breathe as I ran blindly forward. I had left the flashlight behind in my panic. I was never going to escape; I didn’t even know where the damn door was anymore!

Not like this, I thought franticly. Not like this. Not at the hands of Cade. I could not be killed by the only person I had ever loved.

I hadn’t made it that far, not nearly as far as I would have liked anyway, before his arms wrapped around me. He lifted me easily off the ground as he clasped my back firmly against his chest. His hand snaked around, closing tightly over my mouth as I opened it to scream. He pressed me against his chest, holding me against him as I struggled within his grasp.

“Shh Bethany, I’m not going to hurt you. Stop, just stop.”

Tears slipped down my face, I couldn’t keep them in anymore. This was just too much to handle right now. It had been so hard for so long, but this this was going to be my snapping point. I could feel my mind unraveling rapidly; feel everything within me spinning wildly out of control.

“Oh Bethy,” he breathed. “Please don’t cry.” His head fell against mine; he inhaled a shaky breath as he held me tight. He actually seemed genuinely distraught, but I knew he was not genuine about anything, he never had been. A sob lodged in my throat, my broken heart kept beating. “Let me explain love, let me…”

Noise from the hallway cut him off. He stiffened, his hard muscles locking against me. Though I couldn’t see him, I could feel the blackness against my back as it crept over him, seeping through his eyeballs, bleeding through his veins. A primitive growl escaped him, his hold on me tightened as running footsteps approached.

Cade slipped further into the shadows, carrying me easily with him as he moved. I started to struggle against him, wanting to be free, wanting to alert the people approaching to the danger that lurked within this room. That had always lurked amongst us. The danger I had so fervently and desperately wanted back. But Cade held me easily and with a rigid strength that was impossible to break free from. We reached the back corner of the room. I had a brief moment of hope as Cade let go with one hand to reach for something behind him. I lurched against him, but he grabbed me back, pinning me against him as three people burst into the room. I had a brief flash of Bret as light filtered on, but Cade had already pulled us into the other ballroom and away from all promise of salvation.

CHAPTER 15

Cade didn’t release me until he had carried me deep into the woods. I felt as if we had walked for miles, and going by the strength and speed that I now knew he possessed, we probably had. The moment he set me on my feet, I tried to run. He grabbed hold of my arm and pulled me back with surprisingly gentle ease. I was brought up sharp against his chest, my arms pressed against the hard flex of muscle beneath his blood spattered cotton shirt. His eyes were dark, fierce as he stared at me, but at least they were back to normal now. His eyebrows were drawn sharply together over his nose, his jaw clenched.