Page 41 of The Fallen
I gape at him. I mean, he’s a demon, so it shouldn’t be that shocking, but that is an awfully specific command.
He simply shrugs one shoulder, his crimson gaze boring into me. “He harmed what is mine. He’s lucky I didn’t rip out his spine and use it to whip him to death.”
“Dude! I mean. . .I can’t really blame you for that. Marcus was an ass,” Ben says. I turn to my best friend who copies Asenath’s nonchalant shrug.
“Wait, what about Jacob? Was he expelled and turned over to the police as well?” I ask.
“No.” Dean Hayes lets out a deep sigh and leans back in the recliner, crossing her legs at the ankle. “He ran. Despiteeverything we and the police have done, we cannot find him. Which is…concerning.”
She continues to talk, but I don’t hear her. The terror from that night crashes into me all over again. I can’t seem to get enough air into my lungs. Just my luck the guy that assaulted me is running loose.
Next thing I know, I’m on my feet, Ben right next to me with his hands cupping my face, those big brown eyes of his so close that I can see my own reflection in his pupils. “Breathe, Issac. You need to breathe.”
I can hear him, and I understand the words he’s saying, but there’s some sort of blockage between my body and my mind. My lungs are expanding, my chest pumping as I suck in air and let it out just as quickly. But I can’t get any! The whole place is a fucking vacuum.
Dean Hayes gets to her feet, coming toward me with concern in her eyes. She stops suddenly when Asenath molds his chest to my back, his muscular gray arms circling my waist as he nuzzles his face into my hair. From the corner of my eye, I notice his tail lift and wrap around Ben, drawing Ben forward enough that his chest bumps against mine.
Warm breath puffs over the shell of my ear as Ben rests his face against the side of my head. “Breathe for me. You’ve got to control your breathing because I don’t know where you put your inhaler,” Ben says softly.
I close my eyes, my head falling forward to rest on Ben’s shoulder as Asenath murmurs soothingly in whatever language is from his home realm.
With the demon at my back and my best friend in front of me, I finally come down from my panic attack, my heart no longer trying to beat out of my chest now that I can take deep breaths again. But even though I’m no longer in the throes of almost passing out, the terror is still there.
I can feel the bass rumble through my back as Asenath asks something and whatever answer he gets makes him growl deep in his chest. His power beats across my mind, hot and angry.
I wince.
“We have every resource tracking him down, Issac.” I glance over at Dean Hayes who’s watching us with a contemplative look, eyes shifting between the three of us. “Right now, I’m more concerned with this binding. Especially the fact that all three of you seem to be affected.”
“That’s not possible,” Asenath exclaims, stepping away from us to approach Dean Hayes. She stares up at him impassively.
“How did Marcus even get the spell?” Dean Hayes asks. She regards me silently and even though I know she’s not judging me it feels like she is. Swallowing, I take a step away from Ben and sit back down on the couch.
It isn’t until I’m running my hands over my face that I realize I’m not wearing my glasses. Yet another change I’m not expecting, but I have the feeling it relates directly to my incomplete binding. Yay! Yes, that is sarcasm.
“He stole the spell from me. Or Jacob did.”
She purses her lips and I hurry on, not wanting her to get the wrong idea. “It was my final for my Advanced Summoning class. But Jacob changed the sigils and not all the changes were accurate. He was trying to. . . .” I wipe the sweat off my palms on my pants. Swallowing, I meet Dean Hayes’s eyes. “He attempted to open the Rift, but a portion of the sigil was altered. Looked to have been smudged.”
Dean Hayes takes a sharp breath, her eyes widening just slightly. Otherwise, her expression doesn’t change. See, terrifying. She does, however, pick up her phone and type out a brief message to someone before putting it back down on the couch beside her.
“And the binding?”
“The binding was done incorrectly, but that doesn’t explain why Ben would be connected to it. His blood wasn’t used,” Asenath points out, perching his sexy ass on the armrest beside me. Ben sinks onto the couch at my other side, one arm wrapping around my shoulders and I lean against him with a sigh.
The scent of clove reaches my nose and I turn my face enough to sniff Ben. I don’t remember him buying any sort of cologne that smells like cloves, but he does like variety so it can just be a new one he’s trying.
Dean Hayes clears her throat politely, and it’s only then that I realize that the anxiety that was ping-ponging around in my head is gone and I feel, almost content.Andthat Asenath’s tail is around my waist, the tip running soothingly up and down my side.
“Are you sure Ben’s blood wasn’t on the spell? Were you two physical before the spell was done? Though I pray you use protection.” The last part is barely above a whisper but still loud enough for me to hear.
My face immediately heats up.
“Um. . .no. No, that, uh, that didn’t happen until after everything,” I stutter out. She only raises an eyebrow in response.
“Then how did the two of you manage to get blood bound to the same demonat the same time?”
“How much exchange are you talking about?” Ben asks hesitantly. I sit up, my interest piqued.
