Page 44 of Frosted Torment

“You can’t leave me!”I protested, my pitch rising like a string ready to snap.

Baz took a step closer to bridge the distance between us, then lowered his head to look into my eyes.“She can protect you, Noa,”he reassured me, nodding in her direction.

I glanced at Ena. She was sifting through a retractable belt loop key ring to find the right key to unlock the gate. Unfortunately, when I looked back, Baz had sauntered off, nowhere in sight.

“Don’t want to annoy you or seem impatient,” I interrupted her as I strode toward the gate. “But Baz took off,” I said, exasperation trickling from each word.

She threw her hands in the air, losing her place on the keychain. “That damn wolf has been nothing but a pain in the ass since he got here.”

I shot her a curious glance. “How so?”

Ena’s eyebrows pinched as she searched for the key again. “He’s gone for all hours and disappears without telling anyone.”

I squinted under the cover of my hand as I looked around the property. “Maybe he’s been getting familiar with his new form and the lay of the land.”

“Who knows?” Ena shrugged with a sigh and found the right key.

I exhaled a deep breath and walked over to her. “How far is the house from here?” I asked.

She looked at me over her shoulder, jiggling the key into the lock. “Right through here,” she said with raised brows. “And you’re not annoying me, by the way. You’ve been thrust into this world without any warning. I probably would’ve shit myself had I not grown up with it either.”

My jaw dropped at her candor. “Really?”

“Hell, yeah,” she continued and jerked her fingers hard to the left. The lock popped open, and she smiled.

“It’s wild and a little freaky,” I replied, feeling the gravity of my situation bearing down on me. “Like a mythical legend, except it’s flesh-and-bone reality now.”

She nodded, a flicker of pride igniting in her eyes. “Most days it is,” she said, pausing for a moment as a shadow crossed her features. “Except my mom doesn’t think so.”

“Why not?” I asked, curiosity piqued.

Ena sighed as her fingers wove through a loose strand of hair that had slipped across her forehead. “She saw it as a burden rather than a blessing. She couldn’t handle the expectations and the responsibilities,” she murmured with a hint of dissatisfaction. “Living under a spotlight felt to her like always being watched and having to uphold this image.”

“Not to mention all the secrecy,” I interjected, sensing the weight of her mother’s discontent on her shoulders. “So she never helped out here?” I pressed, wanting to understand this legacy that both fascinated and haunted her.

“She passed on it, but I found it fascinating,” Ena confirmed, with a sparkle taking over her eyes. “When I got back from nursing school, I had my own ceremony with them.”

My skin tingled, and a shiver of delight raced through my veins at the thought of another human learning to navigate this world.

“And when I took the angel’s sacred offering,” she continued with her eyes closed. “It was a weird experience and I had a panic attack.”

She clapped her hands together and then blew into them for good luck. Pulling hard on the gate, she said, “Lex helped me through it, though. Help me open this, will you?”

Ena showed me how to wrap my hand around a thick rope hanging from a pipe in the center of the gate. When she gave me the cue, I tugged hard with my hand in the loop. We both groaned, and the gate opened a few inches more.

“Are you allowed to tell me about the offering?” I squeezed my eyes shut as my strength tested me.

“They left you with me because I can help protect you, so I’d say yes.” She grunted as she pulled harder. “I received the essence of an angel.”

My grip loosened on the rope, and I straightened, curiosity blooming within me. “Vincent mentioned the essence to save Ivy. What exactly is it?”

“Keep pulling, Noa,” she said, her voice taut like the rope in our hands. “That rock closer to you,” she pointed with one hand, “kick it as hard as you can while pulling at the same time.”

Securing my hands in the coarse rope again, I tugged with all my strength. It held me while I lunged at a stone wedged between the crumbling dirt and the gate. I struck it many times with my steel-toed hiking boots.

“You don’t open this gate often, do you?” I asked with a ragged breath.

Ena’s forehead creased as she shook her head. “Not anymore. And to answer your other question, angel essence is the very blood flowing through their veins.”

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