Which meant Azzie. Fuck, I needed to get her first. She had the ability to do things that would be helpful in here.
That meant telling her what I knew about her power, but I’d make that sacrifice to save Zeke.
The nothingness solidified into a hallway lined with doors. I grabbed the knob on the nearest one and pushed inside, to the sound of a gasp of pleasure.
Azzie. Did she and Zeke really stop to fuck in the middle of all of this? Ever since she’d come into our lives, she’d been nothing but a hassle and a pain in the ass. I stalked toward the growing sound of her happy moans, pushed through a bedroom door and stalled.
It was definitely Azzie, with Davyn hovering over her, his naked ass in the air, while he fucked her. Zeke was nowhere to be seen.
Thirty-Seven
Davyn
My bear roaredin my head, wanting,needingto fight. To protect. The siren drugged us. I'd been standing. Ready to fight.
Now I was in an empty room as basic as a room could be. Four plaster walls with a ceiling that matched, and a wooden floor. No windows.
The one door opened, and Tania walked through.
Destroy.
Not before I had answers.
Now.
The beast inside wanted vengeance and Azzie back, and I wouldn't be able to silence that part of me for long.
"Please don't," Tania said as I moved to lunge.
The words stalled my brain, but I pushed the fog aside quickly.
"She asked for this." Tania stopped a few meters away.
Azzie. "Where is she?"
"Being tested, as she wished."
I could ask questions and then hunt, as much as I wanted to attack now. "The others?"
"They're also in a similar situation."
What did that mean? We were all in the test? "They didn't ask for this. I didn't."
Tania looked similar to the woman who served us in the bakery, but the circles of exhaustion under her eyes were obvious, and her cheer was gone. This wasn't a being here to seduce or cloud the mind.
She is. Destroy.
"You're not being tested." Instead of weaving a spell of security, this being was simply existing. "Only they are. There were agreements in place before Azrael reached out."
“Tell me what that means. Agreements with who?” I couldn't do calm. I charged her, and she faded enough for me to pass through.
"None of us asked to be born into this, and Azrael made her decision." Tania's voice was distinct, though the rest of her was no longer corporeal. My anger surged, and I charged her again.
To no effect.
We'd all written something down. Was that the test? I hated how fucking predictable these things were. "So she's facing her biggest fear?" I hated to pause long enough to think through a strategy, but running back and forth at a being I couldn't touch would only wear me out. "We all are?"
"You don't need my magic to live what you fear the most. You face it every day." She sounded calm. Almost tired.