Page 9 of To Crave Madly
Jasper turned his steely gaze on me. “The first question I think we all want answering is how did you get away from Lucifer?”
“He let me go.”
“He let you go,” Jasper repeated incredulously. “Why?”
“Because the attack in the alley wasn’t him –”
“What do you mean it wasn’t him?” Fenris interrupted, his question quick and breathless.
I turned to face him and found his deep eyes filled with concern. “He said it was never his intention to harm me, so why would he send someone who might kill me?”
Jasper slammed his hands on the table, and I jumped in my seat. I felt a disturbance in the air behind me as Torsten flinched at the sudden noise. I didn’t like the way the atmosphere in here seemed to thicken with tension. Any minute now there was going to be an explosion of tempers and I wasn’t sure we were all going to survive it.
“What else did Lucifer say during your cosy little tete-á-tete? Hmm?” Jasper asked bitterly.
I took a deep breath, making myself a silent promise that I wasn’t going to lose my temper. “I asked him about the prophecy and he just laughed. Said the witch was crazy and that we shouldn’t believe anything she said.”
“Well, of course he would say that. He’s the Prince of Lies!” Jasper’s voice bellowed around the room. I could feel the rest of the team flicking their gazes between the two of us, watching us like a bloody tennis match.
“No, he isn’t. He’s incapable of lying.”
“And I suppose he told you that, too,” Jasper scoffed.
I rolled my eyes and was about to respond but Torsten beat me to it.
“My mistress is correct. His Majesty is incapable of telling an untruth.”
Jasper’s eyes narrowed at Torsten’s intrusion and I could tell by the way his jaw clenched he was holding back his response.
“Look, whether you believe me or not, I am telling the truth,” I said placatingly. “Lucifer doesn’t want to destroy the world. He let me go so that he could investigate who attacked me and Fenris in the alley. He’s on our side.”
Cassian gave a short derisive laugh. “I don’t believe that for a second.”
“No one asked you,” I shot back at him, folding my arms defensively. The mark that bonded me to Lucifer fluttered softly and I took a deep breath. I believed Lucifer was telling the truth because I could sense it. The guys around me had only the picture painted of him from history and it didn’t paint him in a good light.
“Like it or not,” I continued, “I am here, and we have another problem. Someone else believes in this prophecy enough to kill me.”
Jasper sighed. “You’re right. We need –”
“You’re kidding!” Cassian rudely blurted out. “You’re seriously going to sit there and take this shit?”
“Watch your tone, Cassian,” Jasper warned.
“No, not this time.” Cassian stood from his chair and leaned over the table towards me, his eyes cold and menacing as they landed on me. “What’s to say she’s not now Lucifer’s spy, and he only released her so he had a way into our base? We can’t trust her.” He pointed his finger in my face accusingly and my gut clenched. I understood what he was saying, but it still fucking hurt to hear him allege that I was a spy. He seemed to find it so easy to jump to that conclusion, but I wasn’t surprised. The guy hated my guts, not that he ever explained why, I just had to apparently accept his loathing and deal with it. But it didn’t make the accusation hurt any less.
Alec jumped to his feet. “We don’t have a reasonnotto trust her!”
“Really?” Cassian scoffed. “You were there; you saw what she did withhim.”
His words were laced with venom, like speaking the very words were toxic in his mouth.
This was getting out of hand. Torsten was inching closer to me, and I was thankful for his reassuring presence. It was also comforting to know he could shadow jump me out of the room if I asked him to. Alec and Cassian were now toe-to-toe and shouting at one another. Fenris was trying to be the wise one and step in between the pair, but he wasn’t having much luck in calming either of them down. Jasper was just seething in the corner, barking orders at the other men that weren’t being listened to and Saskia just sat at the table watching it all unfold in front of her, a confused expression plastered across her face. I knew the feeling. It was so loud, too fucking loud, and my demon was starting to get edgy.
A ringing sound started to bounce around my skull as she flinched beneath the surface of my skin. It was uncomfortable, like nails on chalk, and I was starting to squirm in my seat, my head twitching as my demon started to scream.
Make it stop!she yelled.
It was like her fingers were clawing the inside of my skull.
