Page 65 of Sweet Violence
"Avie?" Joseph demanded, rushing to my side and trying to pull me into his arms.
"Don't," I choked out, my wide stare pinned to the tree canopy as electricity frazzled my veins. "Not yet. Just—let me process this."
My blood fizzed like it had been carbonated, and I really should have been worried by the way my body lifted off the ground, levitating so the ends of my hair brushed the grass.
My demon form pressed against the surface, fire licking the underside of my skin, but I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists. This wasmydamn body, and I didn't walk to hulk-out right now.
I didn't care if it would help me blend in with those brutes in the training hall; if my circle could be demons and look pretty, so could I.
"Av, you're worrying me," X breathed, pacing beside me.
My neck strained, muscles stretched to bursting, and I made a strangled sound as the fizzy lightning reached my throat, then my head.
Please don’t let this power leave me a charred husk like the forest.
I gasped a breath, my head floating like I’d been deprived of air and—
I slammed back into the ground with a grunt, pain shooting up my tailbone. Oh, just what I needed; a bruised ass.
"What did you do?" Joseph demanded, taking my non-levitating as a green light to storm closer. Protectiveness tangled with fear and rage in the bond; the cat I pictured it as haddefinitelyunsheathed his claws.
"Made myself a demon for a bit," I replied as casually as I could when I was strangled and panting.
I sat up with a grunt of pain, blinking at the vividness of the forest around me. Holy fuck, there were more kinds of green than I'd ever seen in my life, and the charred grass was littered with browns and earthy oranges, not the flat black it had been a moment ago.
When I flicked my tongue out to dampen my bottom lip, the tastes in the air were amplified too. X ground his teeth—and Iheardit, snapping my head around to stare at him in shock.
I shouldn't have been able to hear that. I never had before.
"Howdid you make yourself a demon?" X demanded, blue eyes bright with worry as he crowded around me. "That's not possible, Av."
"Ehhh… Let's talk about it later."
"No," Joseph argued in a steely tone that made my breath skip. His voice was so much richer with my new senses, and I swallowed hard. "You'll tell usnow."
I groaned, raking a hand through my hair before I climbed to my feet, my mates following. "It's not dangerous. It's just … permanent. Not the demon bit, that only lasts for a few days apparently."
I had to blurt it out and get it over with.
Now.
Okay,now.
Shit, why wouldn't my tongue form the words?
The tiger I imagined our bond as bared its teeth, matching X’s edgy, worried expression.
"Dev gave me a piece of his soul, okay? And now I'll keep it forever. Which is alittlescary to someone with commitment and abandonment issues. But moving on! Let's go back to the training hall where demons are eating a human!"
The anxiety between me and X calmed, filling with affection and sympathy. I scowled, embarrassed and relieved and not a fan of either emotion. Joseph’s hissing cat-soul softened too.
When Joseph opened his arms, I walked into them without resisting, and a weight fell away when he hugged me.
"No one's leaving you," he promised, kissing my temple. "Not ever. You don't need to be afraid, sweetness."
I made a low sound, vaguely aware I sounded like a raccoon. Or maybe a possum.
"Either way, everyone'll think I'm a demon," I said, pushing those emotions into a dark vault. "So we can go into that compound, find my enemies, kill them, and we'll all live happily ever after. Yeah? Good plan, let's go!"
