Page 8 of Eternal Mate

I gritted my teeth, unwilling to accept his evasive responses. “I had a vision, Barimuz,” I insisted, a low growl building in my chest as my wolf tried to surface. “They’re planning—something. I need to understand what I painted.”

My huff of frustration didn’t move him, if his unwavering smirk was anything to go by.

Barimuz leaned forward, his eyes narrowing. It was like we were playing cat-and-mouse, dancing around one another and trying to gauge how much the other knew simultaneously.

I hated it.

“Anything you have witnessed, my dear Sariel, is but a fragment of a much larger design,” he said cryptically. “Lucifer and Michael play a game that spans realms, and their ultimate goals remain obscured even to me.”

Frustration coursed through my veins. His words offered nothing but more confusion.

Typical.

He could never just be straightforward with us, always playing some kind of game that only he knew the rules to.

“There must be something you can tell me. We’re running out of time.”

As I said that, I realized how true it was. Filling with barely restrained anger, I swallowed thickly.

I could feel the counting down of the clock, the sand slipping through the hourglass. It was a new sensation, something I’d never experienced after one of my paintings.

His tail twitched, but he said nothing for a long moment.

Just as I was turning to storm out, he finally spoke.

“The chains that bind me are tight, Ambrose. Don’t ever forget that.”

I shuddered at the imagery, wondering if he’d peeked into my mind to pluck out my latest painting, or if this was another message from whatever force had sent me all the rest.

You need to come downstairs, Aria suddenly said. Johnny and Marilyn are at the door to the complex! Ashe just showed up to get us.

I left Barimuz without a goodbye, closing the door gently behind me and then hurrying back down the stairs. I decided that getting the elevator up and running was a priority by the time I was at the bottom, stumbling into my mate.

Aria grinned weakly. Just as I opened my mouth to ask where they were, I saw him.

Johnny grinned, spotting me at the same moment, and we slammed into one another’s arms. The embrace was tight, but not unwelcome.

We clung to one another for a long moment, just breathing each other in.

“Thank fuck,” he grunted, sounding a bit choked up, and I laughed. “That damn demon airdropped where I was going into my brain, but I don’t trust him as far as I can throw him.”

Ashe laughed at that, and I pulled back to take my friend in. He was filthy and tired, but whole; the relief I felt was enough to make my knees wobble.

Marilyn had just broken free of Aria when I plucked her up in a hug of her own, much to her surprise. She hugged me back with a laugh—I realized this was the most animated she’d been since they’d stripped her magic.

It felt like a win to finally have them back with us.

“We’ll find you a room on our floor,” Aria said, practically vibrating with joy as she launched into an animated explanation of how everything worked and how happy she was to have them home.

I just stood aside, letting my mate get into the details with them as we guided them to the stairwell. My legs screamed at the thought of hauling me back up to our floor, but this was our life now.

I decided to set aside my painting and the feeling of impending danger for the moment, clinging to this burst of joy as we all headed up to get them settled in.

4

ONLINE FALLOUT

ARIA

---