Ruined (The Eternal Balance #1)(83)

I could take myself out of the equation.

“What’s the point? You can’t kill me. The link doesn’t work that way.” He eyed the knife. “I can still kill you, though. One swipe across my throat and you’ll be choking back your own blood. Don’t make me do it, Samantha. Please. Just step aside and let this play out.”

“I can’t kill you, but I can make you miserable.”

“I’m commanding you to put the knife down.”

I smiled and reveled in the shocked expression on his face. “And I’m commanding you to go to hell.”

He took a step toward me, mouth wide open. “How the hell—we’re still linked. I can feel it.”

Behind Chase, Jax climbed to his feet with a frightening smile. A sickening crack sounded as he tilted his head to the left, and then the right. “You’ve got no control over her.”

Chase spun on his brother. Lightning-fast, he whipped his fist forward and caught Jax in the jaw. Without a moment of hesitation, Jax retaliated by dropping to the ground and sweeping the back of Chase’s knees. He went down hard and all the air whooshed from my body as the sting of impact sent a dull twinge through my muscles. But he wasn’t down long. Jax was unwilling to do any real damage—but Chase wasn’t. In a graceful arc, Chase launched into a kip up and delivered a jab that caught Jax directly in the throat. He struggled for air and stumbled back, crashing into the large rock at the center of the fort.

Chase turned to me. “What’s the plan, Samantha?”

“Jax can’t hurt you because of me,” I said. “If I’m not in the way, he’ll take you down.” When I’d gone over this with Heckle, I expected to get to this point and freeze up. There was nothing. No second thought. No hesitation. Just conviction. Chase had to pay for what he did. Jax had to stay safe.





Chapter Thirty-Seven




Jax

Sam was a mess. Multiple gashes across her face, right eye swollen along with her bottom lip. She held her left arm at an odd angle, and it was easy to see she was having a hard time holding on to the knife.

And where the f*ck had it even come from?

“I’m giving you one more chance,” she said. I had a bad feeling. It was more than the strangely energized colored smoke swirling around her head. I shouldn’t have been able to see them in the darkness of the clearing, but for some reason, it was brighter than normal. Almost neon. It was a whisper in my head. Something jumbled and indistinct, but somehow I knew in my gut that it was bad. “Let me go. Release me from the link.”

I wondered if this was where I would have ended up if it hadn’t been for Sam. If the situation had been reversed and she’d bonded with Chase all those years ago instead, would I have been the killer? Would I be standing in my brother’s place?

Chase shook his head. “I’m sorry you were dragged into this, Samantha, but you’re the only insurance I have. I can’t break the link.”

“Sam…” The broken, low whispers in my head cleared, and I didn’t know how, or where they’d come from, but I knew what she was going to do. “NOO!”

She ignored me and smiled. It was beautiful—but wrong. Loaded with the promise of something cold. Something final. “Your insurance has just been canceled.”

We shot forward at the same moment.

We were too late.

We reached the center as Sam buried the knife in her gut. Her eyes went wide as her heart sped up, then shuddered, falling still. I heard every single f*cking beat as though it echoed inside my own head. Then, I heard nothing. Her body collapsed and everything inside me went cold.

After that, everything turned red.

Azirak roared. A sound that vibrated and shook loose every ounce of anger I’d ever kept bottled inside. I threw myself at my brother with all the rage I’d held back over the years. The burning need to feel my fingers covered in Chase’s blood. The ache that came with wanting a peace I knew would never come. Wanting Sam. Finding her again.

Losing her…

It all spilled out.

With a boom like thunder, we collided and crashed to the ground, rolling sideways and trading blows. Chase gained the upper hand, throwing me off-balance and into the large rock. “You’re responsible for…for her death…not me.”

I dragged myself out of the dirt as he did the same. Her body was two feet away. Maybe less. It was all I saw. All I felt. What was that shit they tried to sell? Death is peaceful? Sam looked anything but.

“That’s right,” Chase said. “Look at her. Look at what you did.”

The words barely got through, and I didn’t care. There was a storm brewing. Not above our heads, but inside. The sound Azirak made—an echoing, mournful keen—caused the hairs on my arms and at the back of my neck stand on end. It wanted blood, but not for power. The demon wanted revenge.

For Sam.





Chapter Thirty-Eight




Sam

I watched the whole thing, seen only by Heckle. Death wasn’t what I expected. There were no flying angels and large golden harps. The light at the end of the tunnel—or in my case, the woods—was a brewing storm with occasional lightning overhead. The gates of heaven hadn’t appeared, along with Saint Peter, to welcome me in.