Page 50 of Mastering Mayhem

“Mayhem…” Chaos’s voice sounded strained.

My demon raised a finger to his brother, his gaze never straying from mine. “Are you afraid of me now?”

“No, I could never. I want to be with you always. We can if…” I tried to move toward the rift, but he held me tightly.

“Release your hold on me. Close the connection before the Underworld drags you through.”

“I don’t want to. We need to go through.”

“You must. This is too much for your body to bear.” He covered the sigil on my arm with his hand. “I’m not going anywhere, and neither are you. Please, Ember, shut it off.”

I sucked in a shaky breath and focused on our connection, trying to close it, but the moment it grabbed my focus, I wanted nothing more than to run through the rift, taking my demon with me.

“Please, Mayhem. We have to go.”

“No.” His grip on my arm tightened, his brow slamming down over his eyes. “Close the connection, Ember. I demand it.”

“I can’t.”

“You can, and you will.” His eyes softened. “You must if you want to survive.”

I gasped as the sensation of a heavy door slamming rocked my system. A moment of clarity brought the world into focus before the door cracked and my desire to drag him to Hell returned.

“Do it, Ember.” He pushed the door closed once more.

My stomach churned and pain sliced through my veins like razors as I tried. I imagined the glow of his mark fading, leaving behind only the black ink from which it was created. Panting with the exertion, I mentally erased the ink, leaving my arm unmarred.

With another deep breath, I closed the connection, finally freeing myself from the grips of…whateverthat was. “I don’t. I don’t understand.”

“I don’t have time to explain. I must help Chaos keep the rift in check.” He kissed my forehead and released my arm. “Don’t try to connect with me again. Not while this rift is open.”

“Okay.” My voice was barely audible over my pulse whooshing in my ears. “How…?”

He locked the imaginary door between us, severing our connection from his end and nearly ripping the breath from my lungs. I gasped and turned a circle, my lungs burning, my soul aching as if it had been torn in two…shredded. The rest of my team stared at me with concerned expressions. Even Ash.

“Did you not feel that?” I pointed at the demons.

Ash pursed her lips, her gaze flicking to my arm before she met my eyes. “I felt something, but definitely not whatever you felt.”

I huffed, my mouth hanging open as I stood there dumbfounded. What the actual eff had just happened? One minute, I was poised and ready to rodeo with a griffin. The next, I wanted to leave everything behind and jump into the rift.

“She is here.” Mayhem’s voice sounded normal. No straining since he shared the load with his brother, but I didn’t dare turn around to look at him. My legs felt numb, my mind mushy, and my insides tangled and twisted.

I squinted into the sky, but without Mayhem’s magic flowing through me, I couldn’t see the griffin above us. “Where?”

“She will arrive from the east,” my demon said. “You must capture her before she makes it through the rift.”

“That’s the plan.” Ash unwound her rope, holding the lasso by the loop. Miles and Shade did the same while Patrice mixed a healing potion.

My mouth still hung open, so I snapped it shut and shielded my eyes against the sun. I caught a glimpse of my forearm in my peripheral vision and sucked in the biggest, sharpest breath I had ever inhaled.

Mayhem’s sigil was gone.

I checked my other arm, in case I’d forgotten where my demon’s mark lay—as if that could happen—but only the speed and strength sigils Ash had applied remained on my skin. I rubbed my unmarred skin and glanced at Mayhem. The rift was now invisible to me, the urge to plow through it and spend eternity in Hell gone.

My brow crumpled as I caught Mayhem’s gaze. “What did you do?”

“Incoming!” Miles said, drawing me back to our current predicament.

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