Page 128 of Changeling
But despite the nausea that filled Nathan’s gut, Jim simply pulled back, drawing the scanner out of Nathan’s jacket. He smirked and flicked his eyes over Nathan as if he knew every secret of Nathan’s nightmares.
He turned the scanner off. “The flashing was really starting to annoy me. Guess Sasha is a whole new man. I’ll grab the gun as well. Wouldn’t want anyone getting hurt.”
He promptly tucked the scanner into his own jacket and moved across the cavern to retrieve the gun he’d mentally tossed from Nathan’s hand earlier. He tucked that away as well.
“I understand you want to keep a close eye on us,” Jim said when he walked back to them. “Really, I do. Why don’t you stay up by me, Alex? I’m sure you can handle the responsibility.” He held out a hand to her in offering.
Part of Nathan wanted to hang onto Alex tighter and keep her from accepting that hand, but their options were limited. She didn’t hesitate either or show any sign of fear as she pulled away from Nathan and gripped Jim’s hand with hers.
“Of course,” she said. It almost seemed hypnotic and yet Nathan knew Alex was under her own will. Jim could force them all to do anything he wanted, but he seemed to prefer getting them to agree willingly.
And now Jim had Nathan’s gun. He hadn’t been able to lift a damn finger.
“Don’t worry so much, Nathan,” Jim said with a curl of his lips before he led Alex by the hand toward the way they had come. “Sasha will protect you.”
Chapter 49
“Alwaysdidlookimpressive,baby,” Nathan said, forcing his voice to not shake as he looked at Sasha, monstrous in a way he knew the incubus would hate if he was in his right mind. “You’d be something else flying like that. We better get a move on and get you outside. Some of these passageways can’t be too easy for you to fit into.”
The smile on Sasha’s face brightened to hear Nathan speak normally to him, or at least Nathan liked to think that was the reason. “Thanks for the concern, but don’t worry. I’ve squeezed into tighter places.” Sasha’s claws flexed as he looked at Nathan like they wanted to reach out and snatch him up.
Nathan swallowed. “Jim told you to behave. Better listen to him. He’s a little out of sorts right now so…I don’t know if he can be entirely trusted. Might turn on you.” He moved to hurry after Jim and Alex, not wanting them to get too far ahead. He felt something in the stone beneath his feet tremble as Sasha stomped after him.
“There’s never a time I don’t want you, Nathan. And following Jim…I get everything I want.”
Nathan ducked quickly inside the tunnel. Sasha wouldn’t be very mobile in the passageway. He waited until the incubus had folded his wings down and was climbing in after him before he spoke. “Now you need Jim’s permission to have me? I thought we usually left him out of the equation.”
“Jim would never keep me away from you.”
“But you let him order you around. If he wanted to, he could justmakeyou do what he wanted. He’s just patronizing you, letting you think you’re in control. But why listen to him at all?” Nathan stopped. He looked back at Sasha, who filled the entire passageway with his larger form. “I’ve never seen you look so powerful,” he said, knowing Sasha wouldn’t be able to sense anything but sincerity in those words. “Half of me is pretty freaked, I’ll admit. Those claws are mighty dangerous looking. New fangs too. But the other half of me, well…baby, you know me. I’m just a glutton for punishment.” He grinned. He was playing with fire, but he had to try something.
Sasha growled as Nathan turned to continue after the others.
Jim waited only to see that Nathan and Sasha made it out of the small crumbled opening before leading on. Nathan soon felt the incubus come up close behind him.
“You think I don’t know what you’re doing?” Sasha rumbled low from over Nathan’s shoulder. “Get the best of us by setting us against each other, making me think I have to choose you over Jim? Come on, Nate, is that really the best you can do? You don’t get it yet. But you will. Jim will show you.”
Nathan stopped to look back at Sasha and found him staring hungrily at him like he only did when he was frenzied. Nathan flinched when Sasha reached for his face as if to caress him with his clawed hand, ghosting sharp talons over his cheek.
“It’s like an addiction…likeyou…the way Jim makes me feel. I’d follow him anywhere. I’d do anything he asked of me without it being an order. I want to share the world with you, Nathan. Jim can give it to us.”
“Stop. Don’t say that,” Nathan snapped, stumbling backwards up the passageway.
“I remember how you taste, Nathan…” Sasha said, advancing on him again.
A visible shiver ran through Nathan’s body and he glanced forward to see Jim and Alex disappearing ahead of them. The figure of Sasha was all-consuming when Nathan turned back. “I thought Jim told you to behave,” Nathan said, fighting to keep his voice steady. “Don’t think power means you can do whatever you want with me. I’ll have Jim turn you into a god damn puppet and you’ll never touch me again.” There was no hesitation in the threat, Nathan couldn’t risk it. He looked up at Sasha in challenge.
Sasha’s eyes shimmered. There was the most awful pause and terrible silence. Then Sasha held up his claws in placation.
“Good.” Nathan took a step back, remaining resolute. Then he turned and continued up the corridor.
In a flash he was eating stone.
Pain blossomed in Nathan’s jaw that had smacked into the rock, and sudden helplessness filled his limbs. His hardhat clattered from his head to the ground. He could feel Sasha’s hot breath on the back of his neck, the claws pinning his wrists, the large well-muscled body that held him in place with barely any effort at all.
“You don’t get to deny me,” Sasha growled darkly. “You’re mine. I can have you whenever I want,” he snapped at Nathan’s neck.
Nathan flinched closer to the rock. His breaths came harshly; he could feel himself on the verge of hyperventilating. The waySasha was pressing into him, the knowledge that he couldn’t get away by his own power, it all brought him instantly back toPete. But he couldn’t think like that. He couldn’t let what had happened that night ever become associated with Sasha.
