Page 44 of Of Bone and Ash

Serafina

Igasp, jerking up in my bed as big hands rest on my shoulders, shaking me so hard I think my head is about to fly off my shoulders.

“Serafina! Wake up!” Adam shouts before I feel a palm connect with my cheek, and my face jerks to the side as I groan.

“What the actual fuck!?” an angry voice booms through the room, the hands tightening on my shoulders before I’m yanked into a warm, firm chest. The covers fall to my lap as I squint against the bright light streaming into my room from the open window. The cold air makes me shiver as it whispers across the small amount of skin that’s not covered up. My mind feels foggy like I went out drinking the night before, and I can already feel how swollen my eyes are as I blink away the heavy sleep I succumbed to last night.

“Oh, shit! She’s awake!” Adam whispers, his voice dropping to the soothing tone I know so well the moment he sees my eyes open.

“Did you really just slap her?” a female voice I recognize asks from my other side, making me jump and look to my right, where Neva is watching me with a hesitant look. My face is smashed against a chest that I can’t help but sink into, the warmth relaxing my tense and sore muscles.

“I panicked!” Adam snaps, his voice coming out squeaky as he grabs my chin and turns me to face him. “She wasn't breathing and was turning blue! Not even you were able to wake her up. What was I supposed to do?”

“Not slap her. She was already awake when you did that,” Neva points out, looking from me to Adam and then at the man holding me close. Big hands move over my back in soothing circles as Neva watches me with concern in her bright, jewel-toned eyes.

“No, she wasn’t!” Adam mutters under his breath, turning my head back and forth as if he’s searching for injuries, before he looks me in the eye, his brow furrowing. “Were you?”

I stare at him for a moment while my reeling mind tries to play catch up, before I dip my head in a small nod, making Adam’s mouth drop in horror.

“Oh my God! I’m so sorry!” he stammers, his words coming out so fast I have a hard time understanding him. He opens his mouth to say more but is cut off when a big hand darts out and wraps around his slim neck. Teos’ sepia skin is a stark contrast to Adam’s pale complexion as his fingers squeeze, making Adam’s eyes bug out of his head like a damn cartoon.

“Teos!” I snap, shoving at his chest as panic slowly rushes in. There’s a soft movement on the bed, then I feel Teos’ body tense when Neva’s voice sounds from behind me instead of at my side.

“If you want to keep that hand attached to your arm, you’ll let go,” she hisses. I turn slowly, not wanting to aggravate my magic more than it already is from Neva threatening Teos, but when I see the golden blade pressed to his throat, I almost lose my shit.

“Adam,” I warn with a shaky breath.

“Oh shit. Fuck. Right. Neva, drop the blade,” he rasps, his words coming out choked from the grip Teos still has on his throat. Neva ignores Adam, her eyes sparkling and her forked tongue darting out, flicking at the air as she blinks. Only, they close side to side instead of up and down.

Ah, shit. No wonder Adam is so comfortable around dark magic. Neva is a damn Basilisk shifter.

“Umm, S-Serafina?” Adam stutters, then coughs, face turning purple.

“Teos,” I rasp under my breath, grasping at the fragile strand of my control, refusing to look away from the blade pressed to his throat.

“Bella,” he responds in a deep voice, probably coming to the same realization I had. Not much can kill a Phoenix shifter. There are only two ways. Someone would have to remove the soul and burn the body, or they would have to be poisoned with Basilisk Venom.

“Let go of Adam. Now,” I stress, hoping he listens to me so I don't have to kill Neva before she strikes. From the love-sick looks Adam has been sending her, I’m pretty sure that would be a surefire way to end our friendship.

Teos hesitates, pissing me off more, and my control slips, letting out the barest hint of my magic. The air temperature around me plummets, our breath fogging around us, and everyone on the bed flinches in pain, making Teos curse and release Adam.

Adam falls back the moment he’s released, gasping for breath, and Neva hisses a stream of curse words as she lunges to catch him before he falls off the bed. Growling under my breath, I shove at the arm Teos has wrapped protectively around me and glare up at him as he glares over my head at Adam, who is looking at Teos like he’s a monster.

“You touch him like that again, and I won't talk to you anymore,” I rasp, finally causing Teos to jerk his angry gaze from Adam to glare down at me.

“He hit you!”

“He was panicking, and I’m fine,” I add.

“You can't do that to him. He was just keeping Serafina safe,” I hear Adam chide Neva, who is ignoring him, sitting at his side, glaring at Teos.

I look over my shoulder, narrowing my eyes at her. “You do that again?—”

“I won't,” she cuts me off, flicking her multicolored hair over one shoulder before nodding at Teos. “If he ever?—”

“He won’t,” I snap, making her grunt but nod in agreement. She sighs and looks back at Adam, who is rubbing at his red throat while scolding her. Happy with her response, I turn back to Teos, who is no longer looking at my face, but at my neck. “Teos?” I ask when he only stares, body as rigid as it was when Neva had the blade pressed against his neck.

“Who the fuck did that to you?” he growls, hazel eyes smoldering, the small embers in them gleaming like flames. “What happened? You were screaming, and by the time I got in here those two,”—he nods toward Adam and Neva, who stop their bickering to give him matching dirty looks—“were already in here.”

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