Page 9 of Place of Torment

Assuming he was talking about the female when he called her Echo, I turned my eyes on her, and our gazes locked. It was the same female that followed me in the alley, with her long braid draped over one shoulder and her chocolate skin shimmering under the light of the room. A silver sheen flickered over her irises as she watched me, assessing me as I was assessing her. Begrudgingly, I had to nod in respect to the warrior. I could tell she was and was surprised that she reciprocated in kind.

“I assumed you want to kill me.” I told them both honestly. “The blood won’t wash off that rug.” Chester stared openmouthed at me while Echo cocked her head in puzzlement like she couldn’t figure out my angle. “It’s white.” I said slowly in case they were color blind or something.

Are demons color blind? Embarrassingly enough I realized I knew next to nothing about their kind.

“You are sure she is the one that killed our brothers?” Chester continued to gawk at me, and my mouth twisted in disapproval of the insult.

“I thought you wanted to talk not insult each other.” And just because I wanted them to understand who had control of the situation so there is no more mistaking on who would walk out of here alive if it came to that, I took a deep breath and used my voice to compel someone just as a power play tool. “Release my arms.”

The chains holding my arms up dropped to my feet with a loud clinking of metal against metal, and I gingerly took a hold of my wrists to rub off the pain. Circulation was slowly returning to them, and I had to grind my teeth at the ant’s sensation crawling all the way up to my shoulders.

“Now, let’s talk.” On a heavy sigh I took a few steps to the closest armchair and plopped into it. “A glass of water would be nice, too.”

7

Dominic

Gasping for air, I clawed the damp grass under my fingers until I could catch my breath and look around to see where I ended up. There was a black hole in my memory from the moment I talked to Rowen at the pond to shifting in the park across, and luckily for me, an abandoned street. All I could recall was the pain ripping through my body and forcing my animal to take over my human form.

After that the bastard blocked me.

Glaring at the night, I hope he knows how mad I was. My beast was acting as if Brooklyn was his mate and not mine. She was the most important person in my life, too. If she was in danger, I needed my brain to function so I could get her out of it instead of acting on animal instinct and getting both of us killed.

The disapproval of my beast was evident in the pressure at the back of my head. He wanted to trade forms and wasn’t shy about it. The fact it took me forever to push him out of the way so I could see where he was taking me, made sure I stayed alert and ready to fight the shift if it started again.

“Was there a particular reason you brought us here?” hearing Samir speak from a couple of feet behind me almost made me jump out of my skin.

“You could die sneaking up on me like that.” Whirling around I scowled in his direction. “Why are you here? You’re supposed to protect and take care of Alice.”

“Rowen was beside himself thinking you are about to divorce half of Chicago from their lives. I had to rush in case I had to do damage control.” After staring daggers at me for the longest time to relay his message of annoyance, the ancient Atua rolled his gaze over the sparse trees and patches of almost dried out grass around us with disgust. “We are too close to reaching our goal and destroying the Syndicate for you to mess it up now. So, I shall ask again. Was there a particular reason you brought us here?”

“Brooklyn is in danger.”

“I do not see Brooklyn here.” Speaking slowly, he studied me like you would someone who is not of sound reasoning. “Let me ask again. Where is Brooklyn?” He glowered at me down his nose. “We are all adults, and we need to know when to run around like insolent children and when to stop and think about the consequences. I thought we all agreed we have a common goal. Maybe I should rethink my involvement and find other ways to deal with the Council. All these complications are making us chase our tails instead of making a solid plan. This nonsense needs to stop.”

“You should go and protect the human, Samir.” Pushing the words through clenched teeth, I yanked down my T-shirt where it crawled up my torso. “I doubt that Brooklyn will do something reckless, but it's stronger than me. I need to make sure that she’s well. My animal is restless, warning me that she's in danger, but I doubt that after everything she has gone on her own to hunt anyone from the Syndicate.”

Rubbing a fist over my chest, I tried to dispel the uneasy feeling that was wrapping around my insides, making it difficult to breathe regardless that I tried to sound confident and calm for Samir’s sake. I was well aware that my animal would not be doing this if Brooklyn was not in danger.

My mate needed me, and I needed to be there for her.

Just as Samir opened his mouth to say something, and I was gearing up to reply in not so many nice words, a squealing sound of tires over concrete reached our ears. We both turned to see the vehicle sharply take the corner, and instead of continuing down the street, it headed right in our direction. Lights blinded me, so I had to throw my arm in front of my face out of instinct. A second later, Samir slammed his body into me, and tackled me to the ground hard enough that we cracked the nearest tree when it stopped our rolling.

The vehicle crashed through the poor excuse of a fence and plowed through trees and shrubbery alike until the person driving it yanked on the steering wheel hoping to point it at us again. The car rose on two wheels, teetering precariously for a long moment before dropping on all four tires and pitching forward right at the small fountain I hadn’t noticed until that moment, sitting unassuming a few yards away. Marble cracked a second before a loud hiss came from the hood of the car as it scrunched up on impact and a large cloud of smoke puffed up above it.

Samir and I stared at it stunned, still sprawled in the dirt and dead leaves until the doors on both sides opened and four Guardians spilled out of it, swords already drawn out and ready to slice into us.

Pushing the ancient Atua off of me and rolling up on my feet, I barely had time to duck before the first male was on me, his longsword singing through the air a quarter on an inch above my head. A cold wave washed over me, numbing my arms and weakening my knees. Was this the reason my animal was mindless with fear for our mate? Did they capture Brooklyn first and now they are attacking us.

I didn’t attempt to stand up and face the male, staying hunched over I took a deep breath and tackled him. Not expecting a wrestling match from a shifter, my action took him by surprise. All the air came out of him in a loud whoosh, and he cried out when his back hit the ground with my full weight on top of him.

In the background, I could hear the grunts and snarls from Samir fighting his own two opponents accompanied by the breaking of trees and chunks of dirt and soil flying through the air. I wanted to check on him and make sure there are not more than two Guardians he had to deal with but a sharp pain in my arm got my undivided attention. A sword was embedded in my bicep, the hilt firmly clutched in the beefy fingers of the Guardian glaring down at me.

“You need to die.” He snarled and yanked the blade through my flesh slow enough to bring dancing stars in front of my eyes.

“Sorry to disappoint.” Grunting the words from the pain which was making me nauseous, I rolled away before he could stab at me again. “I have a few more things to get done before I meet my maker.”

“Stop playing around and kill him,” the second Guardian spat as he was finally able to get some air into his lungs. “Kill the scum.”

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