Page 85 of Sweet Violence
A small, choked sound clawed up my throat. Joseph wasn't breathing?
"X?" I croaked, my face hot and tingly with tears as someone laid a kiss against the top of my head. Taj?
"I'll find him," Arkan promised, rising to his feet, barely visible through the ash. "Stay here, make sure no one gets close to Joseph."
I nodded, purpose galvanising me, turning weak, brittle bones into solid steel. I felt too close to that small, innocent girl who'd been stolen from a fun fair and cried for the first three weeks of her new life, pleading to go home, sobbing that she missed her mum and dad.
I didn't have the memories myself, couldn't remember anything of those early days, but Dad threw that little fact at me over and over, pushing me to be stronger, to not let anyone weaken me the way I'd been weak for my parents those first few weeks.
That worked out well, huh? Here I was, shaky and sobbing over my new family.Great job, Canine Slayer. Truly, ten out of ten.
A snarl across the room made me jump, but I didn't recognise the voice.
Arkan had gone; I sensed his absence even if I couldn't see anything through the smoke of ash and magic he and Taj cast when they exploded the wall. I needed to be with him, searching for my incubus, but I couldn't move away from Taj. I physically couldn't separate myself from the comfort of his arm around me.
"They knew who I was," I rasped, fighting a cough. "All along. Played us."
"Shut up," he murmured, tugging me flush against him. "Don't worry about that shit now; it's gonna be fine."
I wondered if he was trying to convince himself, too.
He whispered close to my ear, "If I push you back, you get to the floor with Joseph, okay? I might need to shift."
I made a soft sound of agreement. I needed to fight alongside him, but I equally needed to protect my fragile mate.
A snarl chilled the blood in my veins, and I gasped, stiffening in Taj's arms until I realised it was Arkan.
"I suggest," he said in a voice even flatter and colder than usual, "you stand.Now!"
So much power throbbed from the sound I tried to stand even straighter, an automatic response.
"Thank you for being so obliging," he replied, and I jumped at a wet, squelching sound from within the fog.
"He's here," Arkan called. "Give me one minute, then we'll get out of here."
I could have sworn I heard a laugh, but it barely lasted a second. Probably the last shred of my sanity laughing as it skipped away.
Taj’s lips brushed my ear. "Arkan's going to bring X over here, then I'll shift and tear apart anyone who's left alive, and we'll get out through the hole in the wall. Everything's going to be fine."
I nodded, my throat too swollen to speak.
I knew the whole world had gone to shit when Taj was offering reassuring platitudes.
You're a badass,I screamed at myself.You hurt people for fun, and get power from violence! You're literally brimming with power, so fuckinguseit! Stop being so—damn—weak!
But it was like a sickness, fear eating through every bit of my strength.
"We need to get him to a healer," Arkan said, appearing beside us so suddenly that I yelped. "Taj, now—!"
I shuddered when a deep, vibrating ripple went through me, like I stepped through a forcefield. Or a powerful blast of magic had just hit me…
"Shit!" Arkan hissed, which made a soft, small sound tumble out of me. "Was that you?"
"No," Taj growled. He hadn’t shifted, hadn’t got a chance before that ripple went through us.
Arkan shouldn't have sounded frustrated, shouldn't have been swearing—he was our cool head. If Arkan was calm, everything would be okay.
God, I wanted to be back in the caves surrounded by orgies. Those had been the days. No mates bleeding to death. No deep, all-consuming terror spreading through me like ice, numbing my extremities.
