Page 126 of Guarded
Like a crushing weight on your chest making you feel like you can’t breathe?
I didn’t realise I’d dropped to my knees until I felt the tarmac beneath them. It couldn’t be possible. Jem had to be okay. Hehadto be.
Mori spoke above me. “He’s one of the demons who escaped Hell the day of the battle, yes?”
I couldn’t answer. I couldn’t breathe. Panic was choking me, my power rising and swirling like a sea in a storm.
Nox seemed to sense I wasn’t capable. “Yes, he was with us.”
Wings sounded above us. I didn’t bother to look up—I already knew it wasn’t Jem. There was a quiet murmuring, then strong hands grabbed my shoulders and squeezed, anchoring me. “It’s going to be okay, Noah.”
Micah.
“Then he’s alive,” Mori said, tapping at his phone andlifting it to his ear. “If he was in danger of being executed, my brothers and I would’ve been summoned as a result of the deal they made. As we haven’t been, we have to assume that’s not the plan.”
I exhaled, almost dizzy with relief. Okay, that was something. Jeremiah couldn’t be executed without inciting the wrath of Mori and his siblings.In my panic, I’d forgotten that.
Mori stepped away, speaking rapidly. Micah took the opportunity to bring his mouth close to my ear. “Hold it together, Noah. We’re all here for you and none of us will rest until Jeremiah is safely back at your side. You’re not in this alone, but I need you to hold on to your control. Can you do that?”
I took some calming breaths. Micah was warning me not to cross the same line Lyle had, andhe was right to. I’d never been this close before, but the knowledge that my mate was in danger had me dangerously near the edge.Especially knowing that we had no bond. If Jem was executed, I wouldn’t be taken with him.
I’d be left to mourn him and everything I’d lost. It was a fate so terrible I couldn’t even fathom it. You weren’t supposed to exist once the other half of your soul was gone.
I was going to do everything I could to ensure that didn’t happen, starting with pulling myself together. I mentally grabbed my power with both hands and wrestled it into submission. Losing control wouldn’t get Jem back.
Using it strategically just might.
When I was fully in control, I nodded at Micah. He removed his hands and I stood up. The panic was easing now, leaving behind a cool determination.
Jem was mine, and I wouldn’t rest until he was backwhere he belonged. At my side, bonded to me for the rest of eternity.
Mori returned to us, his face grim. “My brothers are flying up as fast as they can. The deal hasn’t kicked in for any of us, but if you’re convinced he’s in danger?—”
“He is,” I said firmly. “I know it.”
“Then the more of us the better,” Mori concluded. “They’re bringing my mate too, but leaving their mates behind with some of the other supes.”
“I’ll alert the rest of the Seraphim too,” Micah said. “We didn’t know what was going on but…”
I tuned the rest of his words out. I focused on the tug, letting it guide me. He was too far away, the bond guiding me a certain distance before ghosting me.
My phone buzzed and I rushed to answer it. I barely acknowledged Nate’s name on the screen before putting it to my ear. “Have you found him?”
“Yes and no.” The gravity of his tone had foreboding clawing up my spine. “He was visible on the CCTV until he reached 16 New Street. Then he just…vanished.”
“A compulsion net?”
“I’d assume so,” Nate said. “It didn’t catch any of his attackers, which suggests they were lying in wait to ambush him.”
“They?”
Micah, Nox and Mori fell silent, monitoring me closely.
“They,” Nate said. I could hear his fingers flying over the keyboard. “The cameras didn’t catch them there, but I ran a scan for the hour before he was spotted with a two-mile radius. It picks up all supes, but?—”
As much as I loved that he was thorough, I didn’t have time for this. “Get to the point, Nate.”
“Right, sorry. Eight shifters appeared two streets awayfrom where the compulsion net was used, approximately thirty minutes before Jeremiah vanished.”
