Embraced (The Eternal Balance #2)(5)

I opened my mouth—to say what, I had no clue—but never got a chance to speak. Jax lunged forward and wrapped his fingers around Chase’s neck. With a graceful pivot, he had their positions reversed, his brother flush against the wall with his feet dangling about a foot off the ground. “What do you want?”

Chase, always amused by Jax’s ferocity, let out a strangled chuckle. “Put me…down…and…tell you.”

I was pretty sure Jax squeezed just a bit harder before finally setting his brother on his feet.

Chase smoothed out his black button-down shirt and rolled his shoulders. With a wink to me he said, “Don’t act all murder and mayhem. If you were going to kill me, you would have done it months ago.”

Jax glowered. “Careful. I might have reconsidered.”

Chase wasn’t convinced—and rightly so. The demon Azirak had lived a thousand lives since its banishment from hell. While it wanted to see its clan restored to their former glory, the demon knew what that would do to the world. Maybe it’d gone soft. Or, maybe it liked what it had going in its current incarnation. It seemed that, like Jax, Azirak had developed certain…feelings for me. Enough that it didn’t wish to see me trampled under the weight of its demonic horde.

Chase turned away from Jax, fixing his gaze on me. A flash of regret, there and gone in an instant, and he was smiling again. “Well, however you managed it, I have to say, Samantha, it’s good to see you alive.”

I waved my hand. “Wish I could say the same, but…”

“Yeah, yeah,” he retorted. “And now that the formalities are out of the way, we might as well get down to it.” He nodded over his shoulder at Jax. “I doubt his patience has improved since embracing the demon.”

“Last time, Chase. What the f*ck do you want?”

The music from the main floor drifted down, the beat changing slightly as one song faded seamlessly into the next. Chase sighed. “We’re never going to be good again, Samantha. I know that. And I get it. But I’m here to try and give you back at least a little bit of what I took.”

“What you took?” I asked, skeptical. I wasn’t sure what he was talking about. He’d betrayed me. His brother, too. He’d caused a ton of pain and essentially tried to end the world. But he hadn’t stolen anything as far as I knew.

Jax was tense, but quiet. Chase took it as a sign to continue. “I might be able to offer a solution to your…problem.”

“Problem?” Jax was instantly alert. He pushed me aside. “Which one would that be? The demons or you?”

“I won’t apologize for what I did. The demon’s nature is my nature and has been since the moment I embraced it. That nature takes precedence over the fact that you were once my brother.”

“You’re not helping your argument,” Jax snarled, taking a step closer. His movements were fluid and menacing. Controlled, with deadly intent.

“Get to the point, Chase,” I interjected, trying to keep things on track.

“My point is that my problem is with him.” He hitched his thumb at Jax then turned to me. “Not you.”

“So what exactly are you saying?” I hated to admit it, but all this talk was making me nervous. What if this was a ploy to buy time, and any second, twenty demons would ambush us. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d done something like that.

“I’m saying I’m sorry you were dragged into this,” said Chase. “That your life was affected. I’m sorry I tried to use you to get to him. Zenak may have no use for you, but believe it or not, I care. It bothers me to know that you’re in pain.”

“Pain?” I repeated, even more suspicious.

“Word travels. I know what he sacrificed to gain Heckle’s aid. I know what he”—he nodded at Jax—“had to give up.”

“I find it hard to believe you’re bummed because Jax and I can’t be together.” Even though we were living with it day in and out, hearing someone else speak it out loud was a fresh set of knives twisting in my heart.

He shrugged. “I saw how you suffered when he left the first time. I watched you miss him all those years. I’m not heartless, Samantha. He’s an ass, but for some reason you still want him.”

Jax snorted. “So you came back to town—a risky move, by the way—to what? Play supernatural cupid?”

Chase eyed him, clenching his jaw. He took a visible breath, and I realized this must be just as hard for him as it was for Jax, standing here without tearing into his brother. “I came to give you something. A name.”

“A name?”

“There’s a demon in town. A real badass. Serious trouble.”

Jax took another step closer. “There are a lot of demons in town. Why should I care?”

“This one is different. Malphi is particularly nasty. Who knows? Maybe Heckle will reward you for taking it out. Lift the…” He gestured to us. “The no-touching rule he put in place when you made your little deal.”

Jax was quiet, but I couldn’t keep my mouth closed. Selfless had never been Chase’s style. “What are you getting out of this?”

He didn’t even try hiding it. “Naturally, the death of this demon is beneficial to me as well.”

“And there it is,” Jax snapped.