Crooked soul, p.1
Crooked Soul, page 1
CROOKED SOUL
SHADES OF NIGHT – BOOK 2
J.E. Taylor
Crooked Soul © 2022 J.E. Taylor
All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Warning: the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
Cover Art by Luminescence Covers
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Page
Book Description
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
About J.E. Taylor
CROOKED SOUL
Escaping from captivity brings its own special challenges. Like dealing with PTSD, along with major trust issues.
When an ancient vampire arrives from overseas, she comes with baggage from a past long before I was born. And she is hell-bent on revenge.
Not only are we trying to dodge the monsters, but we are back on the radar of the Monster Defense Agency, and they are pissed.
If Robby and I can’t get our shit together, either the MDA or the master of the vampire who nearly destroyed us will finish the job.
ROBBY’S ARMS AND LEGS curled around me in his bed with a grip that was almost painful as he held on tight enough to nearly crush me. His eyelashes laid on his cheeks like a fan of black against the paleness he still carried from our ordeal. His dark hair had dried in matted clumps along with random spikes from nuzzling into the pillow.
Still, he was beautiful to behold, bed head and all, even with his drop in weight from six months of eating just rats provided to him whenever Cassius had thought of it. It had been just enough food to sustain life, but nowhere near what Robby needed to remain healthy. His huge alpha werewolf form had thinned enough to make him look like a prisoner of war.
I traced the lines of his jaw gently, marveling that he was still alive. By all rights, he shouldn’t have survived. He should have died in my arms, and my heart ached with the pain of my participation in his suffering. I had been watching him sleep because whenever my eyes closed, the bad dreams came alive, and I couldn’t deal with my trauma right now. I needed to focus on Robby, on getting him back to health both physically and mentally.
He was deep enough in sleep not to stir at my touch, and his breathing remained steady. He hadn’t been willing to talk to me about what happened beyond what I remembered. Even though only a couple of days had passed since our escape, I still had to keep reminding him that this was real. Much like when I woke from my own nightmares and my heart plummeted for a moment, thinking I was still tied to that goddamned bed.
Both of us needed reminders that we were at Robby’s place and not still locked away in Cassius’s house.
Cassius Chase fractured Robby’s mind, just like he threatened. But he was never able to erase the warmth of Robby’s mark tingling in my shoulder. He hadn’t been able to wipe away the pull in my heart whenever I was near my mate. If he had, neither of us would be here, safely tucked in his bed.
I sighed, and Robby’s eyes fluttered open. His gaze landed on my face and his pupils dilated even before he smiled. Every now and then, I’d get a glimpse of the old Robby, like right now, but then it would pass, and my heart would drop as if I had taken a step off the balcony of the Empire State Building.
His post-traumatic stress disorder presented in flinches whenever I came near his throat. But his grip on me most of the time belied his skittishness, as if his heart knew more than his mind.
But for now, my Robby smiled at me from inches away. His gaze made me feel like another wonder of the world, and it warmed me from my core all the way to my fingers and toes. My mark tingled in response.
The side of his throat that I had cried on when we arrived home healed completely. That was also the side I tore into when Cassius made me drink his blood. But Robby’s whispering of my name stopped me every single time, sparking raw fury from the vampire who wanted to control me. However, Robby’s wrists and the opposite side of his neck were still burnt from the silver collar and shackles. Although, this morning, they didn’t look as angry as they had yesterday.
“Hey,” Robby said with his rough morning voice. He stretched, uncurling his legs from around me.
“Hey.” I smiled, still cuddling in the crook of his arm.
His gaze landed on his visible wrist and all that lightness surrounding him evaporated. That haunted look slid back into his eyes, and he dropped his hand onto the bed and stared at his ceiling. “It wasn’t just a nightmare.”
“I wish it had been just a nightmare.” Neither of us could shake the effects of what happened to us for long. It sucked.
Robby moved his gaze to me. He studied my face while his finger lightly traced my lips. “I craved your bite,” he said. “Sometimes I think I still do.”
Every time he revealed a piece of his pain, it squeezed my chest, like a noose tightening around me. I pulled myself on top of him and kissed him hard. “I will never puncture your skin with my teeth again,” I whispered against his lips. “I would rather starve to death.”
His hands landed on my bare hips, and he caressed my lower back and ass, squeezing my butt cheeks as he sighed under my lips.
That sigh always preceded him pulling away, and this time was no different. He rolled me off him and sat up on the side of the bed with his back to me like I was a one-night stand and not his true mate.
“Robby,” I whispered as another layer of fear wrapped around my soul. What if he never came back to me?
His shoulders rounded and he hung his head before glancing back at me. “He made me kill you.”
I reached out and ran my fingers across his back gently. Cassius had made Robby kill me once. I had woken and just screamed and struggled against the bindings, calling Cassius a dirty demon. I guess I held onto most of my promises that I had made to that bastard. In an effort to smash Robby’s hold on my heart, Cassius called him in and ordered him to choke me until my face was blue and my neck crushed. The bastard thought that would be enough to psychologically fuck with me so I would drain Robby dry the next time I sank my teeth into his throat, whether he spoke or not.
Robby had sobbed as he strangled me to death. He pleaded and begged for Cassius to stop. I had never seen him so desperate, but his hands just kept squeezing, no matter how hard I bucked against my bindings.
“He fucking fondled you while I choked you to death.” He stared at his trembling hands. He met my gaze. “I couldn’t stop. Not even after you died. My hands kept squeezing even after your spine shattered.” He wiped his hands on the sheet, trying to absolve himself of that horror.
“He compelled you to do it.”
“He also compelled me to be silent while you fed.” His gaze slid to mine. “I was able to break that every time. So why couldn’t I do the same then?”
I didn’t have an answer for him, and his pain echoed in my shoulder like a deep wound that would never heal. “He coerced me to nearly kill you so many times.” I reached for him, and he knocked my hand away with a flare of anger.
“You stopped. Every fucking time. I couldn’t.”
I sat up. I didn’t know what he needed but my heart ached for him. “I forgive you.”
“Well, I don’t fucking forgive myself. I couldn’t do a goddamn thing when he was hurting you. I still hear your screams when I close my eyes. And I was helpless. Fucking helpless when he killed you over and over again. Just as fucking helpless as I was when he ordered me to choke you to death.”
I took a slow breath. There was something I could do, but I wasn’t just going to steal his memories without his consent. I had been there, and it nearly doomed both of us. “Do you want me to make you forget what happened?”
His angry features transitioned to abject horror, as if I had suggested an even more hideous thing than anything Cassius had done to us. “Why the fuck would you even suggest that?” He stood and stepped away from the bed as though I might spontaneously combust and blow us both up.
“Because I hate seeing you hurting like this, and I don’t know what to do.” Tears sprang, blurring my vision, and I swallowed hard, forcing the lump that had formed in my throat down into my roiling belly.
He raked his hand through his hair and then splayed his hands out at me. “I just...I just need time to deal with this.”
My breath locked in my chest, and I couldn’t pull air in for a moment. This was where he was going to reject me. Still, I forced out the words I dreaded an answer to. “Do you want me to go?”
His eyebrows shot up into arches of surprise. “No. That’s the last thing I want.” The strain in his voice lessened with those words, and my tight chest eased.
“Then what can I do to help?” I needed to have a plan. A way to mitigate this helplessness accosting me.
He ran his hand down his face as his eyes darted around the room at the shadows before they finally settled on me again. “Be...patient.” He leaned on the edge of the bed and gave me a soft kiss. “It may be awhile before I can get my shit together.”
I nodded. “I can be patient.” I lied. I didn’t have a patient bone in my body.
He smirked and that glimpse of the old Robby flashed across his face. “Liar. You’ve never been patient a day in your life.” He turned and headed into the bathroom, giving me a full view of his backside.
His ass was still perfect, even with the drop in weight.
The shower turned on, and I crawled out from under the covers. I made the bed nice and neat like it had been before we messed it up with our fitful sleep, and then headed into the shower.
Robby stood under the water with his eyes closed, letting it cascade over him as his chin nearly touched his chest. Standing there, he looked fully defeated, which sparked irrational anger within me.
This was what Cassius had hoped for. That he would carve a chasm between us that was too deep to overcome. Well, I was damned if I was going to allow that.
I stepped into the shower, and he stiffened and glanced up at me.
“Cassius can’t win.” I stared at him and stepped closer; he backed up a step. “You have to promise me you will not let him win.”
Robby blinked, as if all the synapses in his brain were misfiring. His hands trembled at his sides, and he held the panic of being cornered in his eyes.
“You are a bloody alpha wolf. Don’t ever fucking forget that.” I poked his chest. “And I’m your goddamn mate.” I leveled a glare at him. “And there will never be any secrets between us. Ever.”
He scoffed at me and looked away. I reacted, stepping close as my hands ignited with the frustration scraping my skin. Steam hissed around us. I shook my fire out and reached for him. He flinched and then grabbed my hand, yanking me to him. He claimed my mouth in a rough kiss and then spun me around, so I was pressed face-first against the wall, with him pressing his entire form against my back.
“There are some things that are better left in the dark,” he whispered in my ear and then nipped my neck as his hands truly began to wander for the first time since we got back to his apartment. This wasn’t the frantic touching to make sure I was real. This was Robby exploring my skin with his hands.
“No secrets,” I stressed.
His exploration abruptly halted, and his head came to rest on mine. “There are worse things than killing your mate with your bare hands.”
His tone chilled me, despite the steamy shower. I turned to face him. “What did that bastard do?” Everything Cassius had threatened ran through my mind, and my stomach knotted.
Robby shook his head slowly and ran his knuckles over my cheek. His gaze laid bare the horror he experienced, and I swallowed hard.
“He didn’t just mind-fuck me.” He glanced away. “He made me...” He pressed his lips together and shuddered. “Fuck your dead corpse,” he finished and slashed his gaze back to me. “I can’t shake that shit.”
My stomach slowly turned, and I put my hand over my mouth, unsure whether it was from the gruesome image he painted in my head, or the raw disgust of what Cassius did. Either way, I was glad that bastard met such a violent end.
“The next time I was dragged into that room, I was sure you’d kill me. I almost didn’t fight it either. But I did manage to say your name, and that was all it took for you to refuse to finish me off. His grand plan failed again.” His lips tilted into a ghastly smile.
I remembered Robby’s look of disbelief when I pulled away from his throat. I hadn’t understood it then, but I certainly did when my mother gave me my memories back. That was one of my quicker deaths. “Cassius snapped my neck that time.”
Robby nodded. “Yes.” He shivered and seemed to shrink in on himself. “And then he beat your dead body before turning his fists on me.”
I couldn’t let him close the world out. I moved closer and wrapped my arms around him in a hug.
He hesitated and then slowly wrapped his arms around me.
“I will be patient as long as you don’t shut me out.”
Robby kissed the top of my head. “I’ll try my best not to.”
I STEPPED OUT OF the bathroom, wrapped in a towel. I was half a step away from the bed when the bedroom door swung open, crashing into the wall with a bang, making me jump. Johnson’s wide-eyed stare fell on me, along with the business end of his gun aimed directly at my chest. I froze and my mouth ran dry. I didn’t want to kill our oldest friend, but if he pulled the trigger, I would incinerate the bullet and him along with it.
Behind Johnson stood a woman I had never seen. Her wide eyes narrowed when they took me in, and then her glare moved to Johnson, as if it were his fault I was in Robby’s bedroom, scantily dressed. That look screamed jealousy.
I glanced sideways without moving a muscle. Robby stood with the towel wrapped around his waist, but his complexion had turned almost gray with the fear radiating from him. The hand holding his towel clasped trembled.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, refocusing on Johnson.
“This is my place,” he said.
Johnson’s voice seemed to knock Robby out of whatever terror gripped him, and he stepped into view. “Since when?”
The gun moved toward Robby for a moment and then Johnson slowly lowered it, blinking as he stared at his alpha. It took him a moment to get his composure back. “Since you dropped off the fucking planet. Someone needed to step in and run the pack.” He holstered his gun without me making him as his gaze traveled over the two of us. When it landed on Robby’s neck, his brow creased and the muscles in his jaw twitched.
“Rick, who are these people?” the woman behind him asked.
I had never heard anyone call Johnson by his first name. Not even back when we were in the academy. I traded a glance with Robby.
But Johnson’s gaze had already narrowed into slits of anger as they slashed to me. “What the fuck did you do to him?”
“She didn’t do this to me. The dumpster vamp did.” He crossed his arms over his chest, and his gaze jumped from Johnson to the woman. A single eyebrow rose. “You finally mated?”
Johnson glanced over his shoulder at the woman, and then smiled back at us like a kid showing his parents a prized trophy. It was the quintessential alpha claiming his mate smile. “Mated, married, and are just returning home from our honeymoon.” He puffed his chest out.
She blushed and glanced shyly at the floor.
It was enough to irritate me, and I willed clothing on both Robby and me. Fabric shifted under the towels, and I peeled the cloth from around me and stepped by Robby, pulling his off as well now that he was fully dressed, too. I hung the towels on the hooks on the bathroom door and took a deep breath before stepping back out into the bedroom.
“Technically, she was supposed to be your mate,” Johnson said. “But then, when none of us could reach you or feel the alpha connection anymore, your father named me alpha and insisted on this union.”
“So, you just agreed.” The sarcasm in Robby’s voice bled through.
Johnson grinned and shook his head. “It wasn’t that simple.” He glanced at the woman, and her cheeks reddened. “Dude, if this is what you ignored for fifteen years, I give you props,” he finished and met Robby’s gaze.
I started to laugh. “You mean to tell me that the woman Robby’s father has been trying to marry him off to for the past few years is your true mate?”
“As fucked up as that sounds, yes.” He put his arm around his woman. “Judy, this is Sarah Stone. She’s Robby’s true mate.”
Her gaze jumped between us. Her mind didn’t work nearly as fast as ours and her mouth opened then closed again before her eyes narrowed. “Hi,” she managed to squeak out as her gaze landed back on Robby. Her eyes went from confused to fearful as she clung to Johnson.
