Page 26 of Dance of the Phoenix
I was about to speak but again was cut off before I could.
“Jada told her about you,” Bowen said, voice low as he looked to the sides before his angry eyes settled on me. “Which is all fine and dandy, but she’s now acting as if she’s alreadydead.”
Now I knew what he meant bydead. What Jada would suffer if CJ were to die was a fate far worse. It would be a different kind of death. A torturous one. “I didn’t say anything, I swear,” I hissed, agitated. “I just pushed her to talk to me. That’s all.”
CJ pushed his uneaten food away and rose to his feet. “Is she there now?” he asked, looking at Bowen. When the latter nodded, he stormed off toward the kitchens.
Bowen glared at me before he got up on his feet too. “I wanted you to talk sense into her, not make her relive everything that enforces her stupid decisions,” he spit before he left after CJ.
Feeling sick to my stomach, I stared at the food for a few moments before I made the decision to go to the kitchens after them. I couldn’t help but feel responsible for this, even though logically I knew I wasn’t.
The kitchens were full of staff working on lunch. I could hear Lon, the kitchen manager, screaming at some poor assistant at one of the stations and quickly avoided running into him by entering the dishwashing area.
That’s when I heard Jada screaming, “I wish you were dead already so I could start my suffering now!”
Great.
Taking a deep breath, I turned the corner and saw CJ and Jada facing each other, glowering. I’d never seen CJ glower before. He usually was such a chill dude, but now he seemed as though he’d been a sleeping volcano the entire time, and Jada was the trigger for his eruption.
“I’m so disappointed in you, Jada,” CJ snarled now. “I didn’t know you had such little faith in me. That you didn’t believe in me. That you think I’m not strong enough to survive this. That tells me our entire relationship has been a sham.”
Jada’s face shattered and to my shock she slapped him. “Asshole!” she yelled, tears escaping her eyes. “You ruined me, you ruined my life, you ruinedEverything!”
CJ’s eyes glowed. “You got it backward, Jada,” he growled, grabbing her arms and shaking her. “Youruinedme!”
“Stop, both of you,” Bowen said, and when I turned to look at him, he seemed on the verge of hysteria. In fact, he stared at the two as if he’d never seen them before. “You don’t mean any of those things, I know you don’t—”
“Stay out of it!” Jada screamed at him before returning her cold glare to CJ. “If I could turn back time, I would’ve never come to Boston,” she told him in a shuddering hiss. “Meeting you was the worst thing I ever did.”
CJ released her and stepped back. “Couldn’t agree more,” he said bitterly.
A freezing silence stretched in the room, making my heart race and my blood chill over in response.It’s your fault,a nagging voice whispered in my head.You were the final nail in the coffin of their apparently broken relationship.
But how could soulmates have a broken relationship? They were supposed to besoulmates. The whole idea of that, according to fairy tales at least, was to fall in love and live happily ever after.
I might’ve only learned about this earlier today, but clearly, the fact that Jada was CJ’s Alara Morreh, or whatever it was called, was the actual source of all their issues.
So what was the point of having an Alara Morreh, a soulmate, if shit could still hit the fan anyway?
My thoughts went to Ragnor then, and suddenly I was filled with utter relief that he was no Malachi and I wasn’t his Alara Morreh. Because if that was what being soulmates was all about, then I could do without it.
Ragnor and I were already going through some shit as it was, so having our souls bound to the point we became each other’s life source?
It sounded like an absolute nightmare.
Chapter 12
Aileen
Ragnor waited for me outside the cafeteria after lunch for our afternoon training session. He was leaning against the wall, talking with another man, a gorgeous bronze-haired, golden-skinned Adonis—his Lieutenant, Magnus.
Every vampire that passed them by on their way in and out of the cafeteria seemed transfixed by the sight of the Lord and his Lieutenant chatting casually out in the open. I felt almost embarrassed when I walked toward the two, sensing multiple pairs of eyes landing on me when I came to a stop before them.
“I’m here,” I said lamely, drawing both men’s attention. I flushed slightly as the feeling of being watched grew stiflingly worse. “Can we go now?”
Ragnor nodded impassively and said, “Let’s go.”
To my surprise, Magnus followed us toward the exit. He kept on following us even when we were already outside the warehouse, nearing Ragnor’s SUV.
