Shadow Hunt Read Online Free Page B

mortification heated her face. Her shadow never felt shame. But she’d had more than a year to get used to this. So she was naked, so what? At least her shadow had decent tone and a fairly nice rack.
    Cam, of course, knew what she was really feeling. “You don’t see what I see.”
    She saw the naked woman with the parted legs just fine.
    Hurt, Ellie looked over at Cam, but found him looking right back at her, the part of her in the flesh who was all mixed up and forever would be. He always knew right where she was, the part that counted.
    Damn it. Her mouth started to shape the word yes . Yes to everything—the ring and whatever else he had planned. She was defenseless against Cam’s ruined black eyes.
    But a shot was fired.
    In a blur of swift darkness, Ellie found her shadow fully opaque and straddling the older attendant’s neck—though he didn’t quite look like an old man now. In fact, he appeared wiry, agile, ageless. His pinned outstretched arm and hand held a gun. He must have drawn and pulled the trigger very quickly.
    Her shadow leaned in to kill, her expression wild, but Ellie kept her dark self from committing murder. She’d come a long, long way since she’d first begged Segue for help. Why couldn’t they see that?
    Cam pressed his hand into her back. A signal.
    She glanced over to see why and found the other attendant growing in size and muscle, bouldering himself up to near seven feet and rounding out like a mountain. His clothing accommodated his transformation. A club had appeared in his hand, and as he grew, he brought the club up to strike at her shadow.
    The club licked downward, aiming for her shadow’s head. Her dark self kept one hand on the attendant at her crotch and caught hold of the club with the other, bringing the second attendant booming down to the floor with what had to be herculean strength condensed into a dark female form.
    Cam cleared his throat and said, “You will note that Ms. Russo’s shadow is not made from, nor does it wield, Shadow.”
    Soul, Ellie thought.
    Ellie forced her shadow to merely put a foot on the other attendant’s neck, not snap it. But it was hard to keep herself in check. The deep part of herself relished the way the two attendants’ faces turned purple and wanted the satisfaction of the crack of bone.
    Most people got to smooth over the raw aspects of themselves; hers were frequently on display. Deep down, this was who she was. Maybe Cam was right about how dangerous she was after all. And he wanted to put a ring on her finger? She was living a nightmare.
    The attendants both heaved for breath.
    “Although,” Cam continued, “the event that split Ms. Russo into her physical and shadow selves might have had something to do with magic, but we can’t know for sure. Are you satisfied?”
    “No hard feelings,” Ellie said, to make it easier. “Mr. Slight couldn’t beat my shadow either.”
    A moment of silence, then . . .
    “I yield,” said the first.
    “I yield,” echoed the second.
    Good enough, and better, the attendants’ submission felt right for Segue’s arrival at a place that housed a Seminary of War, as if they’d passed a test. Ellie brought her snarling and snapping shadow back with a hard tug that returned her to her perch on the table. “Cam,” Ellie said, “I’m told a car is waiting outside to take us through the wards and up to the main house.”
    “Excellent.” He shouldered the garment bag and took her satchel with his free hand. “After you.”
     
     
    Cam followed Ellie toward the waiting car, but he kept himself alert and ready. Her shadow was good in all sorts of situations, but it had its limitations. It could always deter direct hostility. Always. Puzzles, however, eluded its instinct and put Ellie on the same playing field as everyone else. And that’s when they would have to depend upon his eyes, his sight, and Segue’s training.
    Was Martin’s car going to take them to the house after Ellie’s display?