Page 52 of Scrooged for the Holidays
She doesn’t blink, and I’ll admit, I’m impressed. While humans are drawn to angelkind and can feel safe with us, keeping eye contact with me is hard for humans to do—even some Nephilim struggle. My power is not soft like Kai’s or bright like Remi’s. It’s heavy and ominous.
When I was a child living with my human mother, even she was afraid of me. It’s one of the many reasons I ended up in Elysian Pines. I’m not an easy being to be around, and I’ve been lucky to find love, acceptance, and peace alongside Remi and Kai. They’ve been the only beings—human or otherwise—to stick around and push back against me. They are the only ones who can ground me.
I narrow my gaze, and my black aura emanates from my being. Greer can’t see it, but I can feel it. I expect her to finally look away, or at least blink, but no. She raises an eyebrow as if she’s challenging me.
Time suspends, and nothing around us matters. Sparks light across my skin, as if my very being is vibrating with my grace, yet Greer doesn’t relent.
I cock my head to the side, and my aura grows larger, more powerful. She should be scared, attempt to run or at least frown, but she’s not.
My brain tries to puzzle out why this human woman isn’t backing down. Why her energy and our reactions to her have been so different from other humans before her. I want to know what Elysian Pines is trying to tell us and also why Kai is right—why have I not been able to leave her side since she arrived?
First, I was at the bar. Not unusual, but I wanted to be there. Then I made sure she got to the inn safely and felt a strange energetic pull to have her find Kai, Remi, and I in the office last night. I’ve tried all morning to deny I had a part in it, but I think my aura wanted her there, drew her to find us. Then, as she watched, I didn’t stop her from doing it. None of us did.
And today, I followed her to the bakery and now to the ice rink. The idea of her getting injured angered me—the idea ofherangers me. Yet I still can’t fight what I’m feeling right now, this insane urge to go to her and devour her. Exactly how Kai and Remi wish to.
“Sam.”
I don’t respond to my name—I don’t even know who’s calling it. It could be God, for all I know.
My aura continues to expand, but my eyes remain locked on Greer. At the corners of my vision, I see black smoke-like tendrils emerging from their dark field and skating across the ice toward her as if they want to wrap around her being and yank her toward me.
“Sam,” the same voice from before repeats. I feel a pressure on my arm at the same time a shrill, feminine yelp slices through the air and down my spine.
“Samael!”
The fear in my name from the same voice as before stops whatever it is I’m doing. I blink, the world coming back into focus just in time to watch Greer slip and fall backward.
My mouth opens to bark at Remi to catch her, but he’s already in motion. His arms reach out, and he nearly gets her, half of her body falling into his so only the bottom half of her reels like a cartoon character slipping on a banana peel. I think she’s unharmed until a curse falls from her red-painted lips, and my eyes snap to where she’s now looking: her ankle.
“Sam.” Kai exhales, his voice timid. Is he afraid of me?
I manage to pull my focus to his strained features, and with it, my aura snaps back from across the ice and into my being. His usual warm brown eyes are narrowed, and his grip is still hard on my arm to the point that his knuckles are white. He was the one calling my name.
“Sam,” he says, quieter this time. “Are you okay? What was that?”
Every muscle in my body is tense, and I feel my aura buzzing beneath my skin as if it wants out again. I bite the inside of my cheek until a spark of pain shoots down my spine. I lost control of myself. I’ve never lost control like that.
My gaze finds Greer, who’s being tended to by Remi. He looks up from her, and our eyes meet, but there’s no anger on his face, just confusion and concern.
I have no idea what happened just now. All I remember is her stare, her challenge, the way my entire body wanted her. Wanted to take her and—
No. I cut my thoughts off.
I pull my arm out of Kai’s grip. “Make sure she’s okay.”
He reaches for me again, but I shrug him off, keeping my eyes from his. I don’t want to see him being afraid of me or Remi being angry with me. And Greer, she’s injured.
I shouldn’t be here. I should have gone to the bookstore and waited my turn. But instead, I inserted myself where I didn’t belong.
“Samael,” Kai tries again as I take a step to leave.
“Do whatever you want, Kai. You and Remi both. But leave me out of it.”
Kai’s usual gentle and compassionate energy mutes with sadness and confusion as I walk away. But I don’t look back; I can’t. They can handle Greer, because I’m not in control right now. I have to hope Kai and Remi are smart enough to see that whatever they feel for her, whatever they want from her, it shouldn’t happen. She needs to learn her lesson and go.
But as I dare a glance back to the ice and find Kai watching from a distance, hidden by the tree where I had been, while Remi helps Greer over to a bench, the both of them concerned, I don’t think that’s going to be the case. Especially given the way Greer looks up at Remi, her lips in a soft smile and her gray aura now tinged with a new color: deep pink.
Joy.
