Dark Feather: A Dark Post Apocalyptic Romance Read Online Free PDF

too-large tunic. The fabric was heavier than any material I was used to, but it definitely hid any sign of me being a Penna. You would have to look really close to see any feathers, and with the wraparound for my neck, and the snow cap, no one would know otherwise.
    Did I want this? Did I want to join the Cyan? Maybe so. Maybe I was meant to be a killer until the day I was killed myself.
    Another loud noise drummed outside my tent. I approached the flaps, slowly folded them apart, and saw a circle of snowmobiles parading outside my door. Rigby revved his snowmobile, further breaking the silence of the early dawn darkness with the growl of his engine.
    “Time to battle,” Rigby said. “Your snowmobile is waiting.”
    Rigby took off into the swirling flakes of snow, followed by the laughing rabble of his battle-weary soldiers. I moved to straddle what I supposed was to be my snowmobile, gripped the throttle hard, and drove close behind.
    I knew I wanted to prove something to these men. My future depended on it. If I truly was going to go down this path and join them, I would have to prove my skill and earn their trust.
    We all drove far from camp before stopping short at a jagged snowy cliff face. Oakes dropped his burning torch in the snow, riding alongside Rigby. The morning hours in the icy lands were so cold at times, it could easily kill the average person. But I was not average. No—my feathers and the cDermo-1 that flowed through my veins granted me the ability to not feel the cold.
    “Where are we?” I asked.
    Rigby got off his snowmobile. “Time to show us you are ready to fight.”
    I couldn’t help but gaze upon Rigby and the way he gracefully dismounted the vehicle. In that small moment, it felt like I was seeing him for the first time.
    “Who says I’m ready to fight? I told you, I walked away from all of that.”
    Rigby crossed his arms and glared at me. “Oakes?” he asked over his shoulder. “Did you tell our little Penna what her options were?”
    “Yes, sir. I told her she could fight to her death or be fucked to her death,” Oakes answered.
    Rigby smirked and raised an eyebrow. “So since you are questioning fighting, I can assume you would rather choose the fucking option?”
    “Of course not,” I spat.
    “Maybe she is a shitty fighter,” a man called out from another snowmobile.
    “Or a shitty fuck,” Oakes threw in.
    Other men laughed and agreed.
    “Fuck you all!” I screamed. “I could take each and every one of you if I chose to.”
    “So what do you choose?” Rigby asked. “Fight or fuck?”
    I swallowed back the rage inside and answered, “Fight. I’ll fucking show you fools how it is done.”
    Rigby nodded and raised his hand to silence all the laughs and taunts coming from his men. “Very well. As of this moment, I am your commander. Do you understand?”
    I nodded.
    “I expect to hear, ‘Yes, sir’ when I ask you a question.”
    “Yes, sir,” I countered, feeling as if the words practically burned my tongue as I said them.
    “If you want to survive a fight, you will have to master hand-to-hand combat.”
    I raised an eyebrow. “I’m an archer, I handle bows,” I replied plainly. “Although I feel I have also mastered the sword.”
    As I dismounted, Rigby waved to Oakes to hand him my bow. Before he reached Rigby’s side, he elbowed me hard in the ribs. I stumbled off balance for a few steps. The other men stifled their laughter. When I lifted the bow out of Rigby’s hands and readied it, he pressed his chest against the raised arrow.
    “All right then, try to kill me.”
    My first reaction was a breathy laugh in my throat. I then glanced in the eyes of the other men, looking for some sort of reassurance. It wasn’t so much that I couldn’t put Rigby down in the blink of an eye. Instead, my biggest concern was how the other men would react to seeing his lifeless body fall over in the snow—red staining white. So be it—death to their foolish leader it