Page 54 of Ruin

“Yes, well, I don’t need protection, and you knowthat.”

I brushed a finger down her cheek. “Humour me, love. I can’t help wanting to keep you safe, even though I know you don’tneedme to.”

She sighed, her shoulders relaxing and her eyes softening from a deep stormy green to a soft jade. “Fine.” She grabbed my hand and kissed it. “But I just might start tying you to the bed to keepyousafe.”

I chuckled. “Is that supposed to be a threat or a promise?”

She grinned. “A promise, if you want it to be.”

“Oh, I do,” I purred in her ear.

Now I could scent that gorgeous smell of her arousal. I took a step forward.

“Ah, ah. Nope. Off you go. Still recovering here, remember?”

Myles chuckled at the same time as a satisfied grin stretched my mouth. “Okay, Firecracker. You go your way and I’ll go mine. But you’d better be ready for me later. Staying away from you isn’t going to happen—ever.”

Chapter 17

Ember

Walkinginto the dimly lit cave where Reed was being kept was one of the worst things I’d ever experienced. Yeah, Berith had controlled me. But it had been my fist that he had rammed through Reed’s chest wall. There wasn’t a day that went by where I didn’t feel what I’d done, or think of it in some way. My feet ground to a halt, my attention resting on the figure strapped down by heavy silver chains to a pallet of some kind. Big bolts had been driven though the chain into the ground.

My hand covered my mouth. I thought of myself as a strong person, I mean, I’d been through some shit in my life, but seeing one of my best friends like this hit me like a boot upside my head.

“Oh Mother.” I turned to Myles. “I…I’m so sorry…”

“Stop. I stand by what I said before. This is not your fault. Ember, he needs to know his friends are still here for him.”

Another large male entered the room, his shoulder length sandy blonde hair gleaming in the dull light. “He’s right, Em.” Lionel’s voice was deep and rumbled around the cave.

For a moment, I closed my eyes. This guilt I felt wasn’t going to go away any time soon, but they were right; I didn’t kill my friend on purpose. My change into Were form had been driven by that silver collar, and even my attack had been forced by Berith.

“Come on. Where’s my tough, kick-ass, friend?” Lionel crooned.

“Oh, piss off.” I mumbled. “I’m still here.”

“Good. Then go and give your friend, who’s stuck in his own personal hell, some hope that we can help him. We don’t know if he’s in there, but what if he is? Hmm? Don’t you think he would need to know he hadn’t been abandoned?”

I nodded and turned, the sole of my boot grinding on the rock. Cautiously, I walked up to Reed. Mea snarled, so I blocked her from my mind. Dark eyes followed my movements, and a shudder rippled down my spine.

“Reed? I don’t know if you’re in there—if you can hear me or not, but I really want you to know how sorry I am for what’s happened to you…”

The Were’s huge deformed chest began to shake with laughter. The creature clearly couldn't form words or speak like Reed had done, but its mocking laughter told me plenty. It soon stopped laughing when I called upon Fire and she wrapped me in flames, my hair floating around my face and my eyes alight. I lowered my head right next to his, so that I could speak directly into his ear. “That’s right, you ugly piece of shit, I could burn you to dust and send you right back to Hell. The only thing keeping you alive, is the fact that I want my friend back. So let me see him, because if you don’t make me believe that he’s still in this shell, then I’ll just end you.”

I straightened and stared down into those coal-black eyes. He snarled and held my gaze.

I shrugged. “Fine. You think I won’t burn you because I want my friend back?”

“Ember?”

My heart pounded at the fear in Myles’s voice. But I ignored him and looked into those dark, cruel eyes. “Let him through or Iwillburn you and send you right back to Hell.”

The chains clanked as he fought against them, snarling, and huffing through his snout. I placed a hand on the chains that ran across his torso. They heated, and he bucked against them.

“Ember!”

“Steady, man. She knows what she’s doing,” said Lionel.

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