Embraced (The Eternal Balance #2)(63)



Jax.

I turned to see him sitting a few feet away, Sadie Gray’s body cradled in his lap. He watched her for a moment, his expression sad, then lifted his gaze to meet mine. I could no longer feel him. The link, however I’d created it in the first place, was gone.

“Malphi is dead,” he announced. His voice was strange. Deeper and just a little bit broken, which made no sense.

Why would he care if she was dead? Upon closer inspection, I noticed his eyes kept flickering. Gray. Black. Gray. Black. I counted five switches before it stopped, irises settling on the color of midnight.

“It is only fair that he goes with her.”

A wave of icy fear rolled over me. “He?”

“Your human ended this life for her. I may not have the ability to end his without bringing about my own demise, but I can lock his essence away.”

“You—”

Azirak moved Sadie’s body aside, gently setting it on the carpet before standing. “Retribution. Payment. A life for a life.”

“No,” I cried, and scrambled upright. Tears burned my eyes. “If you can’t take his life, then take mine. Let him go.”

It was Jax’s face looking down on me, but the expression of pity was foreign. “His affection makes it impossible for me to act against you—and I have no desire to see you physically harmed. Your power has been claimed, but you can still be an asset.”

The words sent an entirely new kind of chill dancing along my spine. “Only the person who claimed my power can use it. Since that’s me, I’m betting you’re shit out of luck,” I snapped. Anger burned hot. “What’s to stop me from making you give him back?” I advanced several steps. “If my power is the most sought after thing in heaven and hell, then I’ll just make you return him to me.”

Azirak laughed. “Any harm done to me will be done to him. Attempt to make me relinquish control and you will destroy this body, and the human along with me. Choose your actions with care.”

“He speaks the truth,” a new voice said. I whirled to the doorway where Heckle stood watching us. “Jax is gone.”

“You!” I roared. “You lied to us. Tricked us.” The sound of his voice, the look on his face—everything about Heckle incited my fury. I started for him, eager to test that destruction theory, but froze halfway across the room.

“Careful, Sam,” he said. “While you now have an unprecedented edge, there are still some things that remain untouchable.”

I took a deep breath. Azirak bowed once to me, then turned and bowed to Heckle. Without a word, it slipped through the door, leaving us alone.

“Fix this,” I spat. “Do something to help Jax.”

“There is nothing I can do. His punishment brings balance for your life.”

My legs grew rubbery, and with a sob, I collapsed to the floor. This wasn’t happening. He couldn’t be gone.

“I warned you that the bond would end in tragedy. Because of his tie to you, he was able to overcome Azirak’s hold long enough to kill Malphi.”

“The alternative was for me to die,” I bit back. “How the f*ck is that any better?”

“Did you ever stop to think that maybe one of you was fated to die?”

“But no one died,” I said. Jax was my past. He was my present, and goddammit, he was my future. I had no intention of giving up on him. My previous experience proved that even death wasn’t final…and Jax wasn’t dead. He was still in there, with Azirak. “Jax is technically still alive.”

Heckle cocked a brow, but didn’t answer.

No. “There’s a way to fix this. An alternate path to take.”

More silence.

Heckle frowned. His expression was a mix of certainty and bleak resignation. “There’s always an alternate path to take, Sam. But as I’ve said before, some road blocks require a sacrifice to remove.”

Sacrifice? I’d already lost everything. What the hell else was there? “Tell me,” I said, climbing to my feet again. “Tell me how to get him back.”

He didn’t look like he wanted to tell me, but he had to know I’d never let it go. Not when Jax was at stake. After a long moment—one of the longest of my life—Heckle sighed. “The only way for him to come back now is for Azirak to allow it. The demon must leave him willingly.”

“Leave him?” I swallowed my surprise. “As in, there’s a way to separate them?”

Heckle smiled. Then he turned on his heel and, without a word, walked out the door.





Keep reading for a preview of Released, book 3 in the Eternal Balance series





Chapter One


Azirak/Jax

She hadn’t left my side in days. Sam Merrick, the girl with fury in her eyes and unrelenting determination in her soul.

I could hear her heartbeat from across the room. As she approached, a noxious scent filled the air, followed by a plate thrust into my face. “Eat it,” she demanded.

Azirak took it from her and placed it on the bar in front of me. Human food was offensive to the demon living inside me. The one currently in control of my body. It survived on the darker side of human emotion—not cheeseburgers. “No. It has an unpleasant odor.”

I couldn’t really argue. Food at the Viking wasn’t fit for human—or demon—consumption.

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