Embraced (The Eternal Balance #2)(41)

“What?” His voice was laced with acid, razor sharp and full of fury. “I can feel the demon fighting me, Sammy. It—”

I grabbed either side of his face and tilted his head down so that I could look him in the eye. “So? Fight back. It’s what you do—what we do. Focus. Focus on me.”

His breathing, which had been harsh and uneven, stilled. With a flurry of movement and a barely audible growl, I was off the ground and pinned against a large pine tree a few feet away. Jax’s hands on either side of my shoulders trembled slightly. “That’s a bad idea.” His eyes flashed again. Black. Gray. Black. Gray. They settled on a gray center rimmed in thick black. “Focusing on you unsettles us both.”

He leaned into me, nuzzling my neck with the tip of his nose. I wrapped my legs tight around his waist. There was a sharp inhalation followed by a warm puff of breath and the smallest nick as he nibbled my ear. Under normal circumstances, I’d be able to see the precarious balance we were literally tripping over. I was standing at the boarding gate for a permanent vacation, for Christ’s sake. But these circumstances weren’t normal. They weren’t even manageable. I was a slave to my emotions. To his. And right then, the vibes he was giving off were heady and undeniable.

Still, I tried. “The cuff,” I rasped, as his lips brushed my collarbone and my toes just about curled. “Malphi—”

One of his hands came up to close around my neck. The pressure was firm, but not to the point where air was impossible. But the look in his eyes, now blacker than they’d been, replaced the heat and chased a cold shiver down my back. “—is none of your concern. As you, Samantha Merrick, are none of hers.” For an instant Jax’s fingers tightened, closing off my airway. Azi. The demon was in control. I panicked and thrashed. The reaction seemed to please it. When it released its hold, Azi wore a wicked grin. “He will never admit it, but my human likes that. The taste of your fear. He craves it in the darkest parts of his soul.”

The demon pushed into me, letting go of a guttural growl.

I couldn’t help it. I whimpered. Good sense told me to scream at the top of my lungs and hope to God that there was someone nearby.

“I could take you now. I am within my rights to claim you…” It brought Jax’s lips back to my ear, and this time when the demon moved in, I cried out, sure that teeth had broken through the skin. “…in every way possible. Let me show you how a true demon f*cks.”

“Please,” I said, barely above a whisper. A pathetic protest, but all things considered, a win. “The cuff… It’s killing me.”

Azi murmured against the sensitive skin of my neck, words I didn’t understand. Shifting back just enough so that I could see Jax’s eyes, still so black, it whispered, “Allow me to remove it. Let me take you and—”

A dizzying oscillation from gray to black. With his lip curling upward, Jax’s hand tangled through his hair and pulled savagely at the roots, as if trying to yank the demon from his body. With another bellow, he pulled away from me and sank to his knees.

I landed hard on the ground then stumbled upward, putting some distance between us. Just in case.

“I think…Sammy…” He lifted his head as his fingers knotted in the material of his T-shirt, above his heart. “I can’t…”

The change was complete. Like someone had held a dropper of ink up to his eyes, they clouded over, blackening throughout, and stayed that way. The demon’s gaze traveled over me, the scrutiny with which it examined me would have made me hot as hell if it had been Jax. “The sand in your hourglass is nearly drained. The cuff must come off. Now.”

Some of the tension left me. “I know.”

The demon said nothing as it rose, but continued to stare. Black eyes were hungry, and every few moments, it looked like it was trying to hold back. Like it wanted to finish what it had started a few moments ago.

“There’s only one way that’s going to happen,” I prompted softly.

The expression on Jax’s face remained unchanged. “You wish to trade your life for Malphi’s.”

It was my turn to remain silent.

Azi sighed—an act that was so Jax, and yet so alien.

“You would have me destroy my mate in favor of my human’s.” It took a step toward me.

It wasn’t a question and I had no idea what to say.

Another step. “I could do it,” it said, placing a finger beneath my chin and lifting my head.

Under Azi’s control, Jax’s lips brushed mine. Soft at first. A barely-there tease. Then, a second later, more aggressive. His hand snaked around to the back of my neck, and with a sudden jerk, the demon pulled me flush against him. Tongue skating along my bottom lip, it paused for a moment before nipping hard. I gasped and Azi chuckled. Jax’s voice, yet different. Darker and inhuman. Confusion settled over me. It wasn’t Jax in control, but it was his body pressed against me. It was still him that teased the heat to my skin.

With a single, powerful thrust of Jax’s hips, the demon ground his body against me, then pulled away. “But I will not.”

The heat that threatened to ignite me just seconds ago fizzled, leaving only ice in its wake. “Will not what?” I asked.

“I will not trade Malphi’s life for yours.” Azi tilted Jax’s head as though listening to something only it could hear. “My human is angry.”