Page 125 of A Soul to Embrace

“Jabez!” Zylah shouted, reaching an arm forward.

His snarl was vicious as he chomped his fangs in warning in her direction. With them bared, his nose wrinkled, and his eyes slitted in utter fury, she worried getting too close would only mean harm to her new friend and his mate.

“Vow it!” he roared, tightening his grip. “The only reason I offer is because of our entangled pasts.”

“Of course! We would never betray you,” Rook stated, while Eliora, with a narrowed glare, nodded and said, “I vow it.”

Zylah couldn’t believe how easily he’d threatened their lives! A trickle of betrayal ran down her nape, and her orbs didn’t know if they wanted to flicker blue in sorrow, or red in anger.

How was she supposed to accept that the person she cared for so deeply not only lied to her, but had been the one to cruelly share how to destroy her kind?Hewas the one who hated Mavka, and yet he’d been by her side, had helped her, been kind to her...touchedher.

Her hands shook as she clutched at her chest right above her heart that felt so tight it made it hard tobreathe.Betrayal crept down her spine like an icy trickle of water, making her shiver as her orbs wavered in sorrowful pain.

“You are the only ones who know,” Jabez said in a low, deep tone. “Be mindful of that.”

Then he was gone, and her fur instantly puffed in fear and aversion when the air shifted behind her. She didn’t make it a step before a firm hand gripped her forearm.

“We need to talk.”

The room disappeared, throwing Zylah into a whirlwind of darkness she screamed into when they teleported.

The moment Zylah materialised into a dimly lit cave, she ripped her arm from him. She stumbled as she tried to get her bearings, her mind swimming while the sound of the rain pelted too loudly in her throbbing ears.

A black blur darted past her, and she gasped and tripped while trying to move away when a vicious hiss resonated. Cowering in the corner, a Demon swiped its claws.

She managed to catch Jabez appearing out of thin air next to it before they both disappeared. In the seconds they were gone, Zylah placed her hand against the wall for support to catch her breath and steady her accelerated heart rate.

She was getting used to the sudden teleporting, the waves of dizziness dispersing faster than before.

I can’t believe he lied to me...

The betrayal that seeped into her chest was nasty and sickening. The onslaught of sadness and anger binding together into one agonising emotion was the cruellest kind of wound.

Just as her sight stopped spinning, Jabez reappeared next to her. She turned to him, her orbs flaring red as she let out aconfused roar of anguish.

He did nothing. He didn’t even flinch or bother to look afraid. That only infuriated her more. She hated that he had such a powerful ability to evade her by teleporting – it made him cocky and arrogant!

“You!”she snarled, her anger deepening her voice an octave, like when she was in her monstrous form.“You are the king of Demons!”

“This wasn’t how I wanted you to find out,” he answered dully, as if he felt no regret. He rolled his shoulders back, folded his arms, and straightened his head superiorly.

“You lied to me!”she shouted, only for her lungs to wheeze at how much knowing thathurt.

“Actually, I didn’t. I never lied to you.”

Her fur puffed, and she stamped a foot forward while she swiped her arm through the air, wishing she had the strength in her heart to slash at him with her claws. He was making herwantto be violent when she usually didn’t feel that way at all.

“You never told me,”she snapped.

“Exactly,” he stated, cocking a brow. “An untold secret isn’t a lie. It’s merely the absence of truth.”

Her sight shifted to blue, sadness winning against her anger as it pooled behind her sternum like burning molten fire. She couldn’t believe he was defending his actions.Does he not care about how I feel?He was smart – he should have known how distressing this would be to discover.

Instead of trying to soothe her, he was being cold and callous. She hated that shewantedhim to be sympathetic, to look apologetic, to give her warmth and tenderness like their time in Spiral Haven.

Was how he treated her a falsehood just to make her compliant? It only made her wonder what he really wanted from her, why he’d done all this, why he’d been...kindto her. Whatdid he want... if he hated Mavka enough to want to eradicate them? Why befriend her or help her?

Was it all a trick?

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