Page 22 of Stone Seduction
I screamed, the wind coming in with a ferocious rush.
The floor gave way.
SEVEN
Asher
Man, this sucked.
Down I went, a slab of rock watching the world rush closer. And I sparkled, covered in glitter, all gaudy on my plunge to the ground.
Come on, wings!
The ground came to meet me, my face about to give it a big messy kiss. I closed my eyes, wondering if this fall would kill me. Gargoyles were built from tough stuff, but even the strongest rocks were breakable.
I had only seconds left, the end in sight. I sent prayers to the stone gods, begging for a miracle to spare me a gory fate.
At the last moment, a gargoyle snatched me back into the air.
“Gotcha, bro.”
Dane. Thank every single god twice over.
I dangled in his arms, my head titled back to face the clouds. Only my eyes moved, the rest of me firmly out of action.
“Fuck that monster,” my buddy said. “Don’t worry. It won’t get far. Seven knights are on it.”
“Luke…”I used our connection, getting silence in response.“Luke… I’m… Oh, shit…”
Sandpaper scraped my nerves, every sense trapped in panic. He needed me and I’d failed him. I shouldn’t be this mannequin in my best friend’s arms. I’d marked Luke to protect him, not let him down.
I keep letting you down, I thought, languishing in self-pity.
And we were only at the beginning. How many more times would I fuck up? How badly was I destined to hurt him?
Gods. What was wrong with me?
Snap out of it!I gave myself several mental slaps upside the head.
“Carissa’s with them,” Dane added.
Our boss had been staying here in Brinecrest for a while to help keep an eye on things. Yeah, and how was that going? I might have messed up on my part as Luke’s protector, but what about everyone else? Where were these wonderful new security measures? How did they allow the gas mask humans to get so close to the lighthouse?
I never liked playing the blame game, but right now my anger simmered, close to boiling. And that would make me irrational.
Seeing red got me in trouble, got me sent to a labor camp for beating the shit out of Seth back in the day.
Cool it down.
Luke would be okay. Seven gargoyle knights wouldn’t let one monster and its human rider get away with him.
Cool it down.
As much as a glittery statute could calm himself, I did, bringing myself down to a more reasonable level. At one with my inner light, the core of me, the better parts of myself wreathed in peace.
For half a minute.
The shark monster roared, Dane releasing a loud, “Whoa!” to knock me out of my quasi-mediation.
