Page 25 of Shai

No, I didn’t. I wanted him to leave the fucking venomous beast beneath whatever rock it was hiding under. I’d seen enough of the mamba to last me a lifetime. Only… I stole a glance at Shai. He had his back to me. My gaze returned to the cupboard he’d left open, at the array of bottles. Adrenaline kicked in, my pulse rate increasing. What if I took one? Shai had just told me that only a few drops were required to kill a man. Had he inadvertently provided the perfect weapon to use against him?

If I could manage to take a bottle without him knowing, and find a way to use it against him, I could escape. His men might still come looking for me, but I knew how these things worked—organizations quickly fell apart without the linchpins that held them together. There was no reason to think Shai’s organization would be any different. But if he caught me… There was no telling what he’d do to me. I needed to make a decision and I needed to make it quick. First things first, I needed to keep him facing away from me, and the only way to do that was to take him up on his offer. “Sure.” Shai immediately reached for the snake hook, sliding the lid of the tank back.

I stared at the bottles. Did he know how many there were? Would he notice one missing? There were so many questions, none of which I would get the answer to in the next five seconds. It was now or never. Keeping one eye on Shai, I reached out, a tremble in my fingers as I curled them around one of the black bottles. I quickly transferred it to my pocket, rearranging the rest of the bottles so that there was no discernible gap. I turned my back to the cupboard, a rush of elation making it difficult to tamp down on the urge to smile. I’d gotten one over on him. I just needed to bide my time and work out a way of getting the venom into something he ate or drank.

Shai had remained oblivious to my distraction, carrying out a running

commentary with the snake gripped in one hand and what appeared to be a steak in the other. “…you see, this little beast doesn’t care what it bites. Come closer.”

I really didn’t want to, but the farther I was away from the cupboard, the

less chance there was of him getting suspicious. I came forward a few steps, leaving a sizeable gap between myself and the mamba.

Shai moved the steak closer to the snake’s mouth. “Watch.” He

loosened his grip, the snake’s head darting forward, the same way it had when it had bitten the man. And just like then, it struck more than once, not seeming to care that in this instance the flesh it was sinking its teeth into wasn’t living. “Can you see the yellow liquid? That’s the venom. Then all I have to do is collect it and decant it into the bottles.”

I could see the yellow liquid. It bubbled out as the snake’s fangs

retracted, only for it to bite again, injecting even more venom into the hunk of meat. My stomach roiled as I watched the show Shai was putting on for me. Did he really think I wanted to see this? At least the horror of the freak show made it easy to hide my joy at the secret burning a hole in my pocket. Once I was out of this room, I could hide it somewhere. Just the knowledge it was there would make me feel better. Shai should be careful who he invited into his compound. McIntyre had been wise enough to keep me locked up for the majority of the time. The rest of the time, I’d been too bruised and downtrodden to mount anything approaching an attack.

Whereas Shai had given me the best foods, he’d let me sleep in a

comfortable bed, and given me the run of the place. Idiot! He deserved to fall foul of his own twisted techniques in getting rid of people. Shai dying at the hands of his own snakes would be the ultimate irony. I certainly wouldn’t be losing sleep over it.

“Fuck!”

I jerked my head up as the word spilled from Shai’s lips. He’d been

putting the mamba back in its tank, the steak glistening with the yellow fluid resting on a nearby table. He held his hand up, turning it around so that I could see the clear imprint of fang marks on the fleshy part of his thumb, a couple of drops of blood spilling from it.

“It bit you?”

He nodded, pulling his hand closer to his face and examining the marks

as if they were fascinating. Where was the panic? Where was the shouting for his men? Where was the rush to take the antivenom he wore around his neck? Which now I thought about it, rendered my plan pretty pathetic. What was the point in poisoning someone if they had the means on hand to cure themselves? Shai’s gaze lifted to find mine. There was nothing but calmness in it. Calm and maybe a hint of amusement. “I hope I didn’t scare you there, Elijah?”

Like I gave a fuck what happened to him. The only emotions I’d been battling were surprise and relief, and now I could add confusion to that list. I gestured at the vial around his neck. “Shouldn’t you take the antivenom?”

His lips curled into a smile. “Did you know that you can build up a tolerance to venom?”

I shook my head.

Shai carried on. “It takes time and repeated exposure, but it can be done.” He held his hand up again, waggling his thumb. “It will swell, and it won’t feel comfortable for a few hours, but that will be the extent of its effect on me. I don’t need to take antivenom anymore.” He strolled across to the other tank, resting a hand on top of it. “I’ve built up an immunity to cobra venom as well, in case you were thinking of taking one of the green bottles.”

My blood turned to ice, all bodily functions ceasing as effectively as if I’d been the one to be bit. That had sounded suspiciously like he knew. He couldn’t though, could he? He’d had his back to me. And if he knew, why was he still be smiling at me?

He closed the space between us, his easy gait giving the idea of complete relaxation. Once he’d reached me, he held his hand out with his palm facing upwards. “I’ll take it back now.”

My throat constricted and it was all I could do to force words out. “Take what back?”

He started to laugh, his tanned throat vibrating with the action as he tipped his head back. “You’re not a good liar, Elijah.”

I stared at him. “I don’t know what you mean.”

He let out a long sigh, like I was a recalcitrant child refusing to admit that I’d eaten the last biscuit. “If you won’t give it to me, I’ll have to take it back myself and then you’re making me break my promise not to lay a finger on you. I do hate to break promises.”

“Then don’t. Just…” It was already too late, Shai’s fingers plunging deep into my pocket and pulling out the bottle I’d secreted there with a flourish.