Page 19 of Beneath My Skin

His hands dove into my hair and used the leverage to draw me back. “I knew this would happen from the first moment I saw you,” he whispered and moaned.

“What? You can tell the future?” My voice was rough and my lips warmed with the taste of him.

Dax lowered his head to skim his tongue along my throat. “Wouldn’t you like to know.” He nipped his way higher. “I have a feeling we’re going to get close to each other very quickly.”

Some kind of strange, garbled agreement left my mouth.

“Now,” he punctuated the statement with another firm kiss, “take a deep breath. It’s time to go. And when we get out? Run.”

I didn’t have a chance to answer. The instant I opened my mouth I was back in the vacuum. The vortex with no air or light, where time meant nothing. I came to with my head swimming and my fingers clawed around my own throat. Feet firmly on the ground in the middle of the crater I’d made.

A tug on my elbow jerked my attention back to the present.

“Run!” Dax demanded.

It would have been nice to say that he didn’t have to tell me twice. Apparently, he did.

“How dare you!” a voice snarled perilously close to my ear. Yes, Jacqueline was awake. And she was on the warpath.

I urged my legs to go faster. Out into the parking lot. My arms pumped and my lungs struggled. My vision narrowed to a single point, focused on my car.

Dax had my car keys in hand and tossed them to me. Where had those come from? “Drive.”

He was big on the one-word commands. The keys arced through the air and as my fingers clenched around them, Jacqueline burst outside behind us. The skin on her face was pulled back, her eyes tight and her mouth twisted into a snarl.

“Dax Parker!” she yelled out. “Djinn! I wish for a snowstorm!”

The bottom dropped out of my stomach. It should have been a bombshell announcement, but strangely enough the words landed softly. I couldn’t decide who to look at. Jacqueline, with triumph written across her features, or poor Dax, who was bound to the bitch. Who had no choice but to obey her. Her every whim. Every nasty wish.

Tattoos flared to life on his skin. Our eyes met across the hood of the car, and I saw a flash of something on his face. The ghost of an expression. There and gone within seconds.

Regret.

“Your wish. My command,” he replied, voice deepening to a monotone. He snapped his fingers, and just as quickly the atmosphere went dark. Clouds gathered where there were none before. The sun disappeared. Fat white flakes fell in an unnatural wave.

My chin snapped to one side like I was ducking out of the way of a slap. What a horrible woman. Adrenaline and anxiety lived inside me and I couldn’t stop my feet from fidgeting. Shifting my weight from side to side and taking a few steps away, then back. The keys were cold in my hand.

What did we do now? Oh my God, this wasn’t part of the plan.

After the silence went on for too long, Jacqueline said, “He can’t help you, demon alembic. He’s mine. As you will be soon enough.”

An alembic? Was that me? The snow piling up had me too terrified to think of a proper comeback. I stood frozen in place. My façade of unconcerned cool collapsed and I was afraid I looked the way I felt inside.

I opened my mouth to say something, anything, then Jacqueline held out her hand and a ball of light formed in her palm.

The world around us slowed until I could hear my heartbeat in my ears. If someone pointed a gun at you, I imagine you’d react the same way I did at this moment. The world shrinks until you’re looking out through a quarter-sized opening and for a moment you can only see that gun. It’s everything. It paralyzes you.

It was the same way with magic. Whatever power she summoned then, I recognized the destructive capability. The way that little ball of light could tear through all of us with little effort. I sucked in a rough-edged gasp.

There was no time to decide what to do or plan my next move. She was too close and I had no choice. No way to disarm her, and no matter what kind of fight-or-flight response you read about or see in the movies, you know you have to wait it out to see where the pieces fall.

So the world slowed. The laws of physics shattered. And Jacqueline let loose her spell. I tried to shift my weight away from the projectile path and wondered if Cer would try to gain another opportunity to take over my body. All I could do was stare.

And watch as the beam of light hit Dax in the shoulder.

Like a rubber band snapping into place, the world returned to normal. Someone screamed. I know I screamed. Tension flashed through me, fear turning my chest to lead, and Dax dropped into the snow with a shower of crimson blood.

It might have been the muscle memory of having a demon take over. Or maybe not. I don’t suppose I’ll ever know the real answer. All I know is my body decided for me. Crouching into a runner’s stance, I exploded into action, launching myself straight at Jacqueline. Charging with head lowered, ready to hook her around the midsection, and destroy her.

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