Deity (Covenant #3)(116)

I eased onto my side. “I’m being tattooed by a giant, mother fu—” Another strangled scream cut off my words as a different type of pain settled in, moving under my skin. It was like lightning racing through my veins, frying every nerve ending.

“This is… wow,” Deacon said, and I pried my eyes open. There was a whole audience by the door.

“Get them out of here!” I screamed, jackknifing on the floor. “Gods, this sucks!”

“Whoa,” I heard Deacon murmur. “This is like watching a chick give birth or something.”

“Oh my gods, I’m going to kill him.” I could feel the beads of blood breaking out under my jeans. “I’m going to punch him—”

“Everyone leave,” Aiden ground out. “This isn’t a godsdamn show.”

“And I think he’s like the father,” Luke said.

Aiden rose to his feet. “Get. Out.”

A few seconds later, the door closed. I thought we were alone until I heard Marcus speak. “She’s my niece. I’m staying.” I heard him come closer. “Is it… is it supposed to be like this?”

“I don’t know.” Aiden’s voice sounded strained, near panicked. “Alex?”

“Okay,” I breathed. “Just…just don’t talk. No one—” It moved up my front, searing my skin. I jerked up, hands shaking.

Holy crap. I couldn’t breathe. Pain was everything. I was going to kill Seth. Not once had he told me that the Awakening would feel like this—like the skin was being filleted from my bones.

My body buckled as another wave of pain rippled through me. I didn’t remember hitting the floor or Aiden pulling me into his lap, but when I opened my eyes, he was there, above me. Skin somewhere, where I wasn’t sure anymore, caught fire. Another mark was being tattooed. I couldn’t hold the cry back, but when it leaked from my lips, it was nothing more than a whimper.

“It’s okay. I’m here.” Aiden smoothed the hair off my damp forehead. “It’s almost over.”

“It is?” I gasped as I stared up at him, squeezing his hand until I felt his bones rub. “How in the f*ck do you know? Have you ever Awakened before? Is there something—” My own hoarse, weak scream interrupted my tirade. “Oh gods, I’m… I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to cuss at you. It just…”

“I know. It hurts.” Aiden’s gaze drifted over me. “It can’t be much longer.”

I squeezed my eyes shut as I curled toward Aiden. His soothing gestures helped ease some of the pain. I stiffened as blinding light flashed behind my eyes. A rushing filled my ears, and I could suddenly see the blue cord so strongly in my mind.

It was like a switch had been thrown.

Information rushed me all at once. Thousands of years of the Apollyon memories dumped into me just like Seth had warned they would. Like a digital download, I couldn’t keep up with it. Most of it didn’t make any sense. The words were in a different language—the one Aiden spoke so beautifully. The knowledge of how the Apollyon was born passed onto me, as did the nature of the elements and of the fifth and final one. Images flickered in and out—battles won and long since lost. I saw—I felt—akasha shooting through someone’s veins for the first time, igniting and destroying. Saving—saving all those lives. And the gods—I saw them through the eyes of the past Apollyons. There was a relationship there, strained and full of mutual distrust, but there was… and then I saw her. I knew it was Solaris, felt it in my core.

I saw her turning on a beautiful boy, raising her hands as she whispered words—powerful words. Akasha flared from her, and I knew in an instant that she had turned on the First. Not to kill him, because there was infinite love in her eyes, but to subdue him, to stop him. I grasped at the information, but it moved on through the years until the First… the First.

The cord was snapping, rushing out through space and distance, seeking, always seeking. I couldn’t stop it, didn’t know how to. An amber-colored glow covered everything. In a burst of swirling lights, a hazy face came into focus. The natural arch of his golden eyebrows, the wicked tilt to his lips and slant of his cheekbones were all painfully familiar. I couldn’t tell where he was. He shouldn’t have been there. We were too far apart.


But at the end of the cord, I saw Seth and I wept.

I knew in an instant that the distance between us had meant nothing when it came to our bond. It may have diminished our ability to feel each other, but it couldn’t prevent this. Not with the four marks, not when he had pulled on my own power. And I also knew Seth had planned this… just in case I fled.

A pulse of light went through my cord and I felt it—felt him—breaking through my shields, filling me, becoming a part of me. It took just a second—a second and I was surrounded by him. I was him. There was no me in here, there was no room. It was all about him, always had been.

I couldn’t breathe anymore. He was there, under my skin, his heart beating next to mine. His thoughts were mixing with my own until all I could hear was him.

He opened his eyes. A light that had never been there before glowed from behind them.

Seth smiled.

Light crackled and flashed, and the world fell away.

I was shaking—no. I was being shaken. The pain receded slowly, leaving behind a raw stinging that covered every inch of my body. That, too, faded as my body was rocked back and forth. There were voices droning in the background, overshadowing the soothing words being whispered.