Released (The Eternal Balance #3)(14)
I might not have been in control of my physical body, but I felt the ripple none the less.
Sam’s eyes widened. I waited for her to back away, to see though the bullshit, but she didn’t move. A burst of hope, bright pink and faintly acidic, lifted from her shoulders and into the air.
My fingers skimmed up her face, trailing lightly over the top of her ear before gently winding around the back of her head. “Is it—am I—”
Sam took a breath and held it, shaking her head slowly. “You couldn’t have—Jax?”
“I don’t know how long I can hold on,” the demon said, my voice coming out in a choked whisper. With everything I had, I fought to pull my hand away. I battled the demon, pouring all my remaining strength into putting distance between us and Sam.
You can take my body. You can take my f*cking life. But I won’t let you take her!
For a minute I thought I felt hesitation. I could have sworn I felt the tug of resistance. But my body didn’t move. It didn’t back away. In fact, it moved a fraction of an inch closer.
The softest sound escaped Sam. She threw herself forward, wrapped both arms around my shoulders, and crushed her lips to mine. What little fight that was in me to resist dissipated, and I wasn’t sure if it was Azi’s overwhelming desire to touch her—or my own—that did me in.
The demon reached behind me and captured Sam’s wrists. In a single, blurring move, it had her on her back, and positioned my body above her. It swung my leg over, straddled her, and let go of her arms to yank off my shirt.
The separation was too much. Sam gasped and dragged my body back down, guiding my lips back to hers. The sensation itself was euphoric, but the spark it caused was like being dipped in liquid flame. A low growl came from deep inside my throat, and my fingers, under Azi’s command, reached for the hem of Sam’s shirt.
One simple maneuver and it was off, an expanse of creamy perfection laid out before me. The demon brought my lips down and trailed a line of nibbling kisses from the nape of her neck down to the valley between her breasts. It hovered above her right nipple, flicking my tongue out just once and sending Sam arching off the bed.
The sound she made, a cross between a hiss and a moan, brought me crashing back down. I wanted this—I wanted her—but not like this. Not without her knowing what was really going on. Not without getting rid of the demon first.
Stop!
It was like I hadn’t even spoken. Azi gave no acknowledgment of my command. It paid no attention to the fury I felt. All that existed was Sam and a hunger that desperately needed to be sated. It ground my hardened length against her, savoring the painfully building pressure.
“We shouldn’t be doing this,” she said, breathless. “The stone—” Yet despite her words, Sam’s hands were at the button of my jeans, fumbling to slide it through the hole. When she had it open, she ripped the zipper down and pushed the material back as far as she could reach.
The response my body gave made me feel like a bastard. Part of it was involuntary, while a much larger part was the demon. But, in some small way, it was me as well. I wanted Sam so badly, so completely, that I would take her however I could. But that was me, and I’d be damned if that choice would be taken away from her.
“We might not get another chance,” Azi breathed, my lips lingering at her ear for a second. The demon straightened and brought my hands to her hips. It slid them roughly up and down several times before finally going for the button of her jeans. “If I—if it takes over again, you have to find the stone. You have to—”
With one last push, I fought. I couldn’t let the demon do this. I wouldn’t. My fingers gripped the button, but it didn’t slip through the hole. Instead, my hand shook, every muscle in my body igniting in horrible pain.
Sam tensed. “Jax?” She shimmied out from under me and shuffled herself into a sitting position.
“I…” My fingers curled tight—my doing, not Azi’s—and I sucked in a greedy lungful of air. It didn’t last, though. My fist uncurled at the demon’s command, and Azi lifted my head, gaze meeting Sam’s. It moved forward and reached out to her as its hunger spiked to an all-time high. In that moment, the demon had never wanted anything more than her. “We have to—”
“It’s not me!” The words were mine, and better than that, they came with actual voice. The shock on Sam’s face was powerful, but it wasn’t the thing that stole my breath away. It was Azi’s surprise—then unparalleled fury—that brought the house down.
One minute I was looking at Sam, seeing her with my own eyes, the next I was overcome by a spinning sensation. I closed my eyes and reached out for anything to keep from toppling over. When my hand touched something solid, I opened my eyes to find that I was back in the white room. The black shadow was on the other side.
“No one has ever done that,” Azi said. I couldn’t be sure, but I thought I detected a note of admiration. “Forced me back.”
“I used to do it all the time,” I wheezed. Greedily, I pulled in a series of long, frantic breaths. Every part of me was tapped out. My pulse was a barely-there patter, almost as though it was about to come to a standstill, and my legs shook beneath the weight of my body—f*cking hysterical when you thought about it. This wasn’t even a physical form. “What the—” I pulled in another deep breath. “What the hell is wrong with me?”