Page 31 of Angel Lost

The chanting rushes to a crescendo before stopping abruptly. But it’s not the relief I was expecting. I feel them. Each of them. Inside my head. Controlling my power. Controlling me.

They finished the bond.

I wrench out of Chano’s grasp, roll over, and vomit. Acid burns the back of my throat and tears stream down my face. I wipe my arm across my mouth and, heaving in giant gasps of air, I slowly sit up.

I rub my hand across my eyes. Then I do it again. Chano didn’t just let me go. He was ripped away. They all were. Standing above me is a scaly, toothed, and very, very angry wyvern.

“Silas?” It can’t be.

It passes in a circle around me, tail whipping from side to side, teeth bared. Chano holds his hands up as he walks forward, slowly. The beast lunges. Its teeth snap shut on his arm, and it throws him across the cavern as if he’s a pesky rodent. He thumps into the glass, sending a hairline crack toward the ceiling.

Zephyr’s wings snap out and he takes to the air, swooping toward me, arms outstretched. I reach for him. His fingers graze mine, but in the same instant the wyvern’s tail slams into him, sending him spiraling into the silvery water. Wings instantly waterlogged, he vanishes under the surface. The wyvern snarls again and faces the others. Protecting me. Protecting me from them.

“It’s okay,” I croak. My voice is barely audible. I swallow, the back of my throat raw, and try again. “It’s okay. I’m okay.”

The wyvern half swings to face me, its gaze darting between me and the boys.

“They didn’t harm me.”

The creature paws the ground and shakes its giant head. If that’s not beast for disagreement I don’t know what is.

“I…asked them to.”

While I try to reason with a damn animal, Farrell edges forward on one side of it, Kai on the other. The wyvern roars, swinging its head between them. Shakily, I stand up. The room spins and I lean heavily on the giant scaly leg beside me. It twists, lowering its head to peer at me, huffing hot air in my face.

“Stand down,” Farrell shouts. “Stand down, Camille, and I’ll explain.”

Camille? I did sense someone following us, dammit.

Even once Camille shifts back, she’s hard to convince. She seems certain I need an intervention. She hates me. Hates my guts but…

It must look awful—a bunch of guys forcing a girl into a slave bond. Hell, it’s against the law. I can’t even give her a decent explanation. There’s no way I’m letting someone who viscerally hates me know that I’m a true aether.

“It was my idea, Camille.” I scrub a hand over back of my neck. “Iasked them to.”

She crosses her arms and puffs out her cheeks, clearly as unconvinced in human form.

“It’s a kink,” I say, a hot blush creeping up my neck.

Camille throws her arms in the air. “Bitch, please. Do not come crying to me when it goes tits up then,” she snaps.

I force what I hope is a reassuring smile and push past her toward the exit. The boys follow behind, murmuring reassurances as they pass. After a long beat her stupid stilettos click briskly after us. As I reach the archway, she shoves past Chano and gets into my face. Camille points a manicured fingernail at my nose.

“I don’t like you. I really don’t like you, Lorelei Bal. But make no mistake, if any of these assholes abuse this stupid, stupid bond, you can and will tell me, right?”

I open my mouth—

“Right?” She stomps her foot. “Unless you agree this instant, I am reporting you all to the P.I.G.”

I nod mutely, and her nostrils flare. She reaches up, yanks a hairpin out and grabs my hand. Flicking her unfurling hair over her shoulder, she viciously stabs my pinkie finger, squeezing until a spot of blood wells out. I tug my hand away and she rolls her eyes, stabbing her own finger the same way. She lunges for me again, pressing our hands together. “Swear it.”

She’s nuts.

“Fine, Camille. If any of them abuse this bond, I’ll tell you.”

She starts to chant, linking her pinkie with mine. “Linked in trust, sealed in vow—break it, and fate marks you now.” Heat creeps up my arm, a funny tingling settling on my chest.Are you shitting me? An actual pinkie promise? Those things are notoriously tricksy. This is going to bite my ass. I just know it.

I snatch my arm back. “Happy now?”

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