Embraced (The Eternal Balance #2)(45)

“What happ—” The rest of my sentence was lost as the ground beneath my feet took a massive twist to the right.

Something heavy crashed into me from behind. An otherworldly growl split the air, followed by a series of grunts. The weight on top of me shifted and was gone. I pushed onto my knees and crawled to the shelter of a large pine then turned to see the wreckage.

Rick’s car was destroyed. The fact that I was sitting here, still breathing and in possession of all my limbs, was nothing short of a miracle. But that wasn’t our only problem. Just past the twisted metal, Jax’s body, presumably with Azirak still behind the wheel, faced off with three angels. He stood between me and them, a fearsome vision of destruction and darkness.

“If you want the Pure, you will have to go through me.”

One of the angels laughed. He was the shortest of the three, with deep red wings tipped in orange. He eyed me, gaze sweeping every inch with an almost lecherous gleam. “I will do so with pleasure, beast.”

Like someone flipped the crazy switch, Azi and the angels sprang forward. It was a mass of mangled limbs, flying feathers, and bloody appendages. I’d seen Jax fight. It never failed to take my breath away. His ferocity and grace were mesmerizing. His pure power and raw strength a thing of wonder. It was nothing compared to watching Azi with full control.

The demon tore through the first angel with ridiculous ease, twisting her head with a jerk then punching a hole through her sternum for good measure. She fell to the ground as the next one stepped up. Enraged at his comrade’s defeat, he let out a scream that chased a chill up my spine.

The angel’s gaze swiveled in my direction for a moment before fixating on Jax. His lip curled upward, a sinister smile spreading like poison across his face. “You will not gain this power.”

Azi growled, a sound so possessive, so threatening, it was a wonder the angel didn’t turn tail and run. He dove for our attacker, grabbing him and hefting his body into the air. The angel roared, it’s dark green wings unfurling in a furious burst. It bucked and thrashed, but was no match for the demon’s strength. With a ferocious thrust, Azi lifted the angel high, then brought him down across Jax’s knee with brutal force. The sound it made was sickening, and I swallowed back the bile bubbling up my throat as he let the lifeless corpse fall to the grass at his feet.

The last angel, the short one with the attitude bigger than Texas, stepped forward. His grin went from ear to ear. “My brethren were noble but weak. No match for you. Not like me.”

If it were Jax standing there, he would have laughed. Maybe made some snarky quip about size. Not Azirak. He snarled, lip pulled back to bare his teeth, and pounced. It was over almost as soon as it began. The angel made a move to grab hold of Jax’s throat, but his fingers never touched skin. Azi brought Jax’s hands up and with a violent twist, broke the creature’s neck.

As his body fell, I swallowed back another mouthful of bile and climbed to my feet. We were well off to the side of a rarely traveled road and couldn’t necessarily call for a tow truck. Besides having no money, there were three dead bodies laying a few feet from Rick’s mangled car. Getting rid of them would be time consuming, and leaving them would be a tough one to explain. Spending time with Jax had made me a better liar, but I wasn’t that good. The car the angels had rammed us with was in slightly better condition, but a quick survey of the damage revealed two busted front tires. We were going to have to hoof it.

I gestured to the road. “Shall we?”

And we were off.

With each step, I felt the chill in my bones intensify. My right arm was completely numb now, from my fingertips to the base of my shoulder. In a small way, I was thankful. It meant I didn’t need to feel the cuff as it squeezed the life out of me.

The demon kept pace beside me, eyes straight ahead and shoulders stiff. Every once in a while I’d sneak a peek at Jax and wonder what he was thinking in there. I couldn’t imagine a guy like him being cooped up for so long.

“What happens if we don’t make it?” I asked, a lump forming in my throat. We had less than twenty-four hours left to find a Fakori descendant or kill Malphi, both tall orders.

“We will make it.”

“And if we don’t? I’ll die.”

“No one will be able to claim you, if that’s what weighs on your mind.” The demon didn’t break stride. “The theories are correct. Once you perished and were returned to your body, your power became unclaimable in death. You must give permission.”

“But if this has never happened before, then how do we know for sure.”

Jax’s body stopped walking and turned to me. It was unsettling to see the soulless black orbs where his gray eyes should have been. “I know because I tried.”

I balked. “You tried? As in, to claim me?”

“Of course,” it said, as if I were stupid for even asking. With a quirk of an eyebrow and bemused tilt of Jax’s lip, the demon started walking again.

I took a deep breath and followed after it. “But that’s not what I meant, anyway. I’m talking about Jax.”

“You’re inquiring if I will relinquish control.”

I nodded. It was all I could manage. The thought of dying before I’d even had much of a chance to actually live terrified me. But not as much as knowing Jax would be lost as well—that was, gone completely. If I died I knew he’d never be the same. If I were in his shoes, I would crumble. There wouldn’t be a way to come back from that. But he was stronger than me. That fact was a small comfort as I faced the bleak circumstance ahead. The only thing left to hope was that the demon would give him back his body.