Embraced (The Eternal Balance #2)(32)

“Bel Heckle told us where to find you,” she started.

“Ahh,” Michael said, sitting and folding both hands in his lap. “How is Abel these days? Still trying to control the universe?”

From his tone, he and Heckle weren’t on the best of terms. My hackles rose immediately. Why the f*ck would he send us here if he and the archangel were in the middle of a pissing match? Then again, it seemed everyone who knew Heckle wasn’t thrilled with him. Myself included.

Sam held up her hand. “I take it you know what it is?”

“I do,” Michael said with a smile.

She ran a thumb over the cuff. “Heckle said you might be able to remove it?”

“There’s a possibility I can help you remove it.”

“A possibility,” I repeated. “Either you can take it off, or not.”

“Fakori cuffs are powerful. The cuff is at the mercy of the controller’s will. Normally they cannot be removed by anyone other than the individual who placed them.”

Every second we spent humoring this freak was another second shaved from Sam’s life. “Normally, but not always?”

Sam was doing a better job keeping her cool than me. Every muscle twitched, and each nerve was on fire. Azi stirred. It didn’t like Michael to begin with, and his irritating banter only made things worse. I didn’t know how much longer I could keep it together.

“Yes or no?” I snapped, determined to get this moving.

“I will attempt to help you—but make no promises.”

Finally. Some good news. “And what do you want in exchange?” I didn’t need Heckle’s warning. There was no way this was happening out of the goodness of his heart.

“You’re assuming I want something. Why?”

“Nothing in life is free,” I countered. I wasn’t interested in playing games, and neither was Azi. “Just spit it the f*ck out and get on with it.”

Michael tilted his head. His eyes went from me, to Sam, then back to the cuff. “And what will you do with the Pure if the cuff is removed and her life is spared?”

“If you’re asking if I plan to use her power, then the answer is no.”

“I know all about you, Jax Flynn.” He leaned a little closer. “And my old friend Azirak. A demon royal. Do you expect me to believe you have no intention of using the Pure to gain dominance for your side?”

“Yeah,” I growled. “I do.”

Michael turned to Sam, studying her. “I believe you,” he said after a minute. “But the demon does not share your restraint. It will use her. And because of her love for you, she will allow it.”

“I’m not on either side,” Sam fired back. “I would never—”

“Aren’t you?” Michael stood and began to pace. “It is obvious that you don’t have a clear view of things.” He stopped and turned, pinning her with a cold stare. “Not of yourself. Not of Heckle.” He turned to me. “And not of him. Before I consider helping you, you’ll have to do something for me.”

I folded my arms and snorted. “Like I said…”

“I don’t require a trade, demon. Not yet. I simply ask that you see the truth and understand the situation, because what happens from here is monumentally important.”

“Important, how?” Sam asked. She was engrossed in the angel’s words, but I wasn’t fooled.

“Do you accept my proposal?”

“You haven’t told us what you wanted us to do,” I said, taking several steps closer to Sam.

Michael smiled, a lopsided grin that made Azi uneasy. “All I am asking is that you two observe. Watch and learn the truth.”

I looked from him to Sam, then back again. He was being purposefully vague. “The truth about what?”

“Yourselves, of course.”





Chapter Twelve


Sam


“Ourselves?” I looked from Michael to Jax, confused and uneasy.

The angel gave me what I supposed he considered a reassuring smile, but it was all tooth and had the opposite effect. It reminded me of Alice in Wonderland’s Cheshire Cat. Full of secrets and ulterior motives. “You have questions. I can feel them. Surely you want answers.”

“Just like that?” The tone of Jax’s voice said he wasn’t buying it, and I couldn’t say I blamed him. The deeper into this we got, the less clear it became who we could trust. It seemed everyone had their own agenda. “No one else is willing to give us these answers, but you are? Bullshit.”

Michael sighed. “Just like a demon. Untrusting and crass.”

I caught Jax’s gaze, silently pleading for him to ease up. This might be my only chance to get the cuff off. Maybe get some answers, too, like why I had been able to link us. Maybe I could figure out how to undo it before our combined emotions caused something catastrophic to happen. “What is it you want us to do?”

“Go on a journey, so to speak.”

“A journey?” Jax asked, suspicion tainting his voice. “Where? We don’t have time—”

“Not really a where, but a when.”

“When,” I repeated. Time travel? Was that what he was implying? Maybe living out here in the mountain air had short circuited his brain.