Embraced (The Eternal Balance #2)(65)

Azi leaped to my feet and sprang into action. A rush of fury poured from the demon and my body soared over the charging beast and landed in a graceful crouch a few feet in front of Sam. Whirling, it faced the charging bastard just as the thing pounced.

Crashing together in midair, the demon twisted with a violent jerk and redirected the carnivus sideways, toward the wall. The thing collided with the brick, a thundering crash echoing through the small space.

The carnivus climbed to its feet, scaly hackles rising. Azi positioned us protectively in front of Sam, bracing my body for another round. But the carnivus didn’t attack. It matched our steps—us back, it forward—but made no move to instigate more violence.

“Get rid of it,” Azi snarled at Sam.

She made a choking sound. “Get rid— How? Am I supposed to offer it a cookie or something? Give it a damn belly rub? You get rid of it. You’re the demon badass.”

“You’re a Pure,” Azi fired back, my voice laced with venom. The demon’s patience was waning, but underneath that, I felt concern. The carnivus was, unlike other things, a very real threat—one that shouldn’t exist outside hell. “You are unbound. Use your energy.”

The canine-like creature snarled and snapped its massive jaw, but still made no advance. “What’s it waiting for?” Sam gripped the back of my shirt. I felt her fingers skim my skin as they wrapped themselves around the thin fabric.

“These are not creatures known for their intelligence. They are soldiers, bound by the commands of their masters.” However this thing came to be here, it couldn’t have been acting on its own. Azi was very familiar with them, having used the monsters in its own army. That made me an expert as well. These things had brains the size of horses.

“It isn’t acting of its own free will,” a man said from behind the beast. He emerged from the shadows, approaching as though he didn’t have a care in the world.

The carnivus froze, its low-throated rumble silenced.

“Abel.” Azi pushed the word past my lips as if it left a bad taste in my mouth. “Your timing is impeccable.”

The man gave a small bow. “Azirak. Please, call me Heckle.” He nodded to Sam as well.

She sprang from behind me and eyed the carnivus with caution. “Where the hell have you been? I’ve been trying to find you for over a week now.”

Heckle’s eyebrows lifted. He looked down at the carnivus, then back to her. “For?”

Anger seeped into the air. Waves of red smoke that sent shivers of excitement through my body. “The last thing you said to me was that there was a way to separate Jax and Azi. Then poof. You dropped off the face of the planet.”

“As I recall, it was you who said that. I never confirmed it.”

The red smoke thickened and Sam clenched her fists tight. The demon was amused. It wanted to see what would happen if she struck Heckle. “You implied it,” she said. Her voice was deadly, and the sound of it stirred something primal in Azi. The demon took a step forward, moving closer to her.

Heckle sighed. “As I said, Azirak would have to leave of its own accord.” He glanced toward me. “Is that a possibility?”

A rush of images flashed before me, a swarm of pictures involving the witch, Sadie Gray—also known as Malphi, Azi’s mate. They ended with one of me, wide eyed and furious, standing over her corpse. “No,” the demon said. The tone left no room for argument. No room for forgiveness.

“Then this conversation is moot.” Heckle folded his arms. “I have a task for you. Something suited for your particular talents.”

“A task?” Sam balked. “Are you high? It’s your fault I have a permanent supernatural target pinned to my back. Because of you, I have to sleep with one eye open, and Jax—”

“Enough,” Heckle said. He appeared calm, but Azi sensed an underlying storm. “You belong to me. Both of you. You each made a bargain and you will fill your end of it.”

“I made no bargain with you,” Azi said calmly.

“But the body you’re currently residing in did. Therefore, you are bound by Jax’s word.”

I took satisfaction from the demon’s ire. Keep me locked away in my own body? Well, f*ck you.

Suck it up. I gave him my word. His help in exchange for service. Nothing you can do about it.

But the demon didn’t see it that way. Fury filled me, simmering rage barely contained. My hand came up, wrapping tightly around Heckle’s neck. “You dare conspire to enslave a royal of hell?”

Heckle was silent for a minute. He blinked once. Twice. Then with a sigh, he pried my fingers from his neck with alarming ease and reversed our positions. “Don’t push me, Azirak.” His voice still rang with the utmost calm, but the demon’s enhanced senses afforded me a glimpse deeper. Heckle was not one to be f*cked with. “If you wish to remain in control, you will keep Jax’s end of the bargain.”

“As you wish. But I will do nothing that puts myself, my clan, or the Pure in danger.”

Then leave, I said with a snort. You being here puts Sam in danger.

The demon ignored me, calm on the outside, but on the inside, the rage was palpable. It was barely refraining itself from lunging at Heckle.

Heckle adjusted his shirt. “Now then. The task is simple. Recover the the Brim Stone and bring it to me.”