Page 103 of Burn of Obsidian

“Swiper!” Roach smashed her fist against the window.

The alarm continued to shriek, the entire lab empty. Evacuated. Which meant there had to be another exit.

She could no longer feel her wild magic, the hum of the drum beat muted. Gone. She couldn’t even feel the mating bond as exhaustion waved heavily.

She rubbed her hand across her heart at the loss, her movements jagged. She’d pushed herself too far. It was like a weight had settled in her bones, and she had to take a moment to just breathe.

There was a flash of dark red, wood splintering as a ball of arcane blasted through the stairwell door. The magic crashed against the wall, splintering on impact. Thea’s eyes immediately began to sting, smoke billowing as the surrounding furniture caught alight. Water erupted from the sprinklers, fighting against the growing fire.

Coughing into her hand, Thea ran, moving past the strange machines, desks and little glass vials.

Heat tickled against her back, crackling of flames that had begun to eat across the floor, winning against the water. Glass popped, plastic creaking.

“This is your last warning.”

Thea growled in frustration, turning to find Roach with a blond-haired man, his irises red. Fire roared behind her, a viscous wall of yellow and orange.

Roach pursed her lips, dark hair slick to her face. “You should never have accepted the job.” The Daemon at her back reached over to grip her shoulder, arcane encasing his other arm.

“How am I supposed to get it if you kill me?” Thea hissed, having to block her eyes from the torrential spray of the sprinklers.

“Don’t worry,” she said. “He won’t let you die.”

The air shifted, and they both disappeared with a distinctive pop, the fire immediately eating away at the place they’d just stood.

The smoke thickened until it obscured her vision, forcing her to drop lower. Coughing, she followed the wall until she found the emergency exit, able to push the door open as heat licked at her heels.

“So,” a deep voice grumbled. “This is the thief that took my document.”

Thea froze, still on her hands and knees. The man’s face was square, jawline sharp with a distinctive nose and pinched, red eyes. Black hair hung thick to his waist, perfectly straight and seemingly untouched by the water that continued to shower them both. But what surprised her was his leather coat, long enough to brush the floor against his large frame, and as dark as his hair.

“They call me Gideon,” he continued, appraising her from the tip of her boots to the soaking wet strands of her silver hair. “You taste of fear.”

He took a step closer, and Thea shrank back when his fingers trailed along her cheekbone to touch the tip of her pointed ear.

“I need that document,” he said, his voice strangely calm.

“I don’t have it,” she croaked, unable to move. Fire teased her back, and Gideon stood at her front. “I gave it away.”

Gideon knelt before her, and she felt pinned to the spot. “You don’t have a choice.”

Chapter 39

Jax

Lucifer released Jax as soon as they’d drifted, the hospital in chaos around them.

“What the fuck?” Lucy asked, shouting above the screams. Hordes of people were being escorted, police taping off the entrance.

Jax called to the bond, but it was even more strangled than usual. Something was wrong. “She’s not here,” he said, scanning the crowds.

“She must be inside.” Lucy followed as they pushed through the panicked crowd. Smoke billowed, darkening the sky.

“The Entrance is closed!” a security guard screeched. “Can you not see the hospital is being evacuated?”

“What’s happened?” Jax asked, his tone much calmer than he was. Harper had explained Thea’s father had taken a turn for the worse, and he was asked to meet her at the hospital as soon as he could. He expected to be met with a distraught mate, not a fucking disaster.

Inside, the atrium was empty, water spraying from the sprinklers high on the ceiling.

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