Shadows of Darkness by Stephanie Rowe

threads, beyond what he'd ever felt. He lifted his hand and watched his fingers flex. They moved easily, fully healed again. He flexed his wrist, studying the way the bones and tendons slid beneath his skin, no longer crushed and broken from a century in shackles. His shoulders no longer ached, and it didn't hurt to breathe. Power seemed to hum through him, and he knew he was back at maximum capacity.
    Was it simply the healing sleep, or was it something more? Was it because Maya ignited something with him, something that only she could touch? He suspected it was more than simply the healing sleep. How could it not be? She was his other half, bound to him on a metaphysical level that no one quite grasped, and now she was with him, merging her energy with his.
    He wasn't going to deny it felt right as hell to have her in his arms, and to be feeling so alive that he could defeat any enemy, no matter what. He was back at full strength, the same as he was before he'd been chained up, but he was also totally different, mainly because he wasn't insane anymore...
    But the moment he thought it, that insidious, ancient craving began to pulse through him. That need to feed upon a soul. That hunger that was never fully sated. The lethal instinct that had trapped him for so long. It was still there inside him, still hunting for prey.
    "Shit!" How could it still be there? He set Maya aside and sat up, resting his forearms on his bent knees as he bowed his head, fighting to suppress it. But still it came, a ruthless compulsion to hunt and feed. It came hard and fast, as if it were trying to make up for a century of being dormant. It was that relentless need to kill that had made him such a ruthless assassin. After all that time in the cavern, the need had abated, bled away by the isolation.
    He'd thought it was gone. It had merely been sleeping.
    He leapt up and paced away from Maya, fisting his hands as he tried to focus. He'd suspected it would come back if he killed again, but he'd also thought that as long as he abstained, he'd be okay. He'd thought he was safe , at least for the moment.
    "Levi?" Maya was right behind him, and he jumped, spinning around and putting distance between them. "What's wrong?" she asked.
    He spread his hands, as if he could push her away. "You need to leave. Now. Distance yourself from me." Her hair was tousled from sleep, tumbling wildly around her shoulders. She looked sleepy, vulnerable, and sexy as hell and he wanted to drop to his knees before her and simply breathe in who she was. But instead, he walked away, turning his back on her as he moved several yards away.
    "I can't leave. I need you." Her words were simple, straightforward, and unapologetic, making his gut twist.
    He wanted to be that guy for her, the one who helped her when she had no one else to turn to, but not at the cost of her life. He gritted his teeth and kept his back toward her. "Don't you get it, Maya? I'm an assassin. The compulsion to hunt was trained into me, making it a part of my very soul. I have to kill. That's how he controlled me. He kept me locked up until the need became too strong, and then he'd give me a target. I was so crazed with the need to kill that I did it, every time. I never hesitated, and I never looked back. It was..." Shit. What a nightmare that life had been. "It was a constant cycle of insanity and death. I was a monster, and I didn't even care." Unable to resist, he turned slightly so he could see her face, needing to know if she judged him, even though he wanted her to be smart enough to see him for who he was.
    She pushed her hair out of her face, frowning at him. "But you're not like that anymore."
    "I thought I wasn't. But it's still there." Jesus. It was still there. "Without him to give me targets, I might hunt you." The thought chilled him to the bone. He'd never hurt an innocent, but he'd also always been given prey to target. What if he wasn't given an outlet? What would he do then? "I kill. It's