Embraced (The Eternal Balance #2)(16)

Was it that f*cking stupid? To think we’d just get in the truck?

It laughed. “Do you not recognize me, Azirak?” Arms folding across its chest, the demon pinned me with a pitying gaze.

“I’m not Azirak,” I responded coolly.

“Aren’t you?” It leaned closer, inhaling deeply. A smile split the thing’s lips. “I know you feel it. The power inside you, straining against the seams of that pathetic human body. The desire to be reunited with your clan.” It leaned back, grin widening into something close to madness. “What if I uttered the name…Malphi? Would your body not react?”

I returned the thing’s smug grin with one of my own then flipped it off.

Or, that’s what I wanted to do. Unfortunately, at the mention of Malphi, a jolt raced through my system, seizing every limb. My feet turned leaden and my heart thundered against my ribs. It was like I’d been dipped in ice water then dropped into boiling lava. Every nerve ending was humming and my body alive.

“What’s wrong, Jax?” the demon drawled.

Sam watched me, her colors swirling a chaotic black and gray. “Jax?”

“I’m fine,” I managed. “And to answer your question, yes. My body did react—with the urge to rip Malphi apart one piece at a time.”

The thing’s grin widened knowingly, and it bared its teeth. “You lie. You feel their connection.”

“Whatever Malphi is to Azirak, it means nothing to me.” I shoved the demon hard in the chest. “But don’t relay the message, man. I’ll do it right before I kill the bastard.”

I turned to walk away, but it grabbed my arm and held tight.

“Unless you have an army waiting in the shadows, I suggest you remove your hand and step aside.” What I really wanted was to shred it limb from limb, but Harlow was starting to wake. There were people on the street, and odds were good someone would notice a bloody fight to the death. The police chief wasn’t a fan of mine. I’d bet good money he’d be thrilled to have an excuse to throw me behind bars and toss away the key.

It let go and stepped away. “You are mistaken, Lord Azirak. I’m not here to fight. Only to see if you’ve come to a decision.” Its eyes fell to the demon cuff around Sam’s wrist. It looked different than before. Tighter.

“Decision?” I asked.

“About the girl.”

Malphi.

It gestured toward Sam. “About the Pure.”

“Pure?” I maneuvered myself in front of her.

Its eyes were hungry, watching Sam like she was the ultimate feast. “You don’t know the power you have control of. It is that reason alone that your betrayal of the clan will be forgiven. Come back to your family. Bring the Pure and claim her.”

“No one has control over me,” Sam snapped. She pushed her way around me, glaring at the demon.

It only laughed. Turning, it started to walk away, calling over its shoulder, “Your kind was born to be controlled.”





Chapter Six


Sam


Your kind was born to be controlled.

The demon’s words lingered long after he’d left the alley—which felt like a trap. He pops in, chats us up, then leaves? No. Something was definitely up. Demons weren’t known for their restraint.

Over the last month, I’d grown increasingly nervous about the things I didn’t know. The things Heckle refused to tell me. How had I been able to create the link between Jax and me, and why was I so damn special? The cuff around my wrist gave a squeeze and my breath caught. I passed nervous and rolled right into panic.

“We’ll figure it out,” Jax said. He didn’t sound convinced, though. He didn’t look it, either. His left eyebrow kept twitching, and every few minutes he’d knead the fingers of his right fist into his palm. I felt his unease as though it was my own.

“My kind.” I repeated what the demon said, tearing my gaze away from the cuff. Every once in a while the symbols on the surface would pulsate, and the thing would tighten. “What kind is that?”

“We’ll figure it out,” he said again, looking left, then right. He made a grab for my arm, but I sidestepped him, and he sighed. “We really need to get off the street.”

“And go where?” The last few months had been a rollercoaster of surreal. I’d died, been controlled, used as leverage, and ultimately had my life turned inside out. But I’d come back from it, stronger and more determined to set things right for Jax and me so that we’d have the future we deserved. Not once during all of it did I consider the possibility of failure. Of surrender. That wasn’t me. I didn’t quit. Jax joked that my stubbornness was borderline terminal. Yet in that moment the weight of despair and worry was stronger than anything I’d ever experienced. We would fail. We had to. There was no scenario in which I came out on top—or alive. I held up my wrist. “I’m not sure there’s a way around this.”

“There is,” he insisted. I wasn’t sure if he was trying to convince me, or himself. “We know that Malphi wants Azirak back in the fold. I can use that.”

“Even if we find Malphi, I don’t think killing it will be as easy as your run of the mill demon. If it were that simple, then Chase would do it himself.” I shook my head. He needed to hear it. To understand and accept things. Hopeless. This was all hopeless. “I’m going to die, Jax.” And this time it would be permanent.