Page 2 of Hell’s Flame

“I don’t care!” her voice breaks from my lips. I clamp my mouth shut as all eyes move to me.Fucking bitch.

Let me have control,she demands.

I sip my drink, trying to swallow her words.

“Asura?” Khazon questions.

“Nope.” I pop my lips. “The brat is still out.”

She tries to scream out loud, but I swallow each one. She’s weaker than I am, only being half-demon.

“That’s weird. I thought I heard her voice…” the blue-eyed hound says.

My eyes lock on his.He knows. I mean, they all do, but him knowing pisses me off. He’s just some low-level hound that doesn’t deserve Asura. Red eyes? Yes. He’s powerful. I feel the bond that is between Khazon and him won’t ever be broken.This mutt—

“Don’t you dare call him that,” Asura’s voice snaps from my lips.

I curse, quickly standing and moving away from her father.

“Circe, let her come back,” Khazon says, slowly walking to me.

A snort leaves my throat. “She kind of hates you right now. To the point that she keeps fucking Ledger, and someone named… Hazen. What a slut, am I right?” All the red blood rushes from the hound’s face behind him. “Oh!” I point to the other. “You’re Hazen… Eh, she could have done better.”

The sad look on Hazen’s face sends me in a spiral. I want to gloat about it but,of course, Asura gets so sentimental. She claws her way to the surface, fighting for control. My lilac skin changes colors to the bronze she has, and my tail starts sliding inside of me.It hurts, especially when I haven’t shifted in a long time.Inside of our head, she fully grabs me by my neck and shoves me away from the surface. My knees give out and I finally give in to her.

Maybe she’s not as weak as I think she is.

I stare at the ground, blinking away the fog of my head. Taking control from Circe took more work than I thought it would. I feel hands on me, and I hope it won’t be Khazon. Circe is right, I still don’t like him, but he’s always here watching this kind of stuff happening and comforting me after. When we were friends, it was okay. Glancing up, I see bright blue eyes. “Oh, hey, what’s up, Hazen?” I whisper.

He chuckles, flashing his pretty smile. “What’s up with you?”

I shrug. “You know, fighting the demons in my head.”

How can you possibly like this guy? He’s so beneath you.Circe grumbles in my head.Let me shift back, so I can give this mutt a piece of my mind.

Her sharp finger nailsscratch the surface of my brain, making my headache as her horn stabs against my skull. “Dad?”

Before I even finish, he kneels beside me. “I’m right here, diaboli.” He hands over water and meds.

I make a face and look up. I hate that I have to take this in front of them. Hazen stands, pretending not to pay attention, so I quickly pop the pills. He holds out his hand, helping me stand and move to the couch.How can he be so nice after what Circe said?I recline my legs up on the coffee table, pressing the cold whiskey glass to my head.

“Are you okay?” Ledger asks. “Are you hurt? Did they hurt you? I—”

My eyes meet his. He’s so worried about me that his guilt woke me. We just met and so far, Ledger has done so much to protect me.Like, almost beat someone half to death. Weird gesture, but sweet. “I’m okay.”

No, you’re not. Tell him the only way you’ll be okay is to have his dick down your throat, Circe says.

I have more important things to worry about. There was a Hell Storm in the wrong part of the world, the Shadow World. It destroyed the academy and then people attacked me and Jigsaw…Jigsaw… Killian…

I close my eyes. “What happened to Jigsaw and Killian? Did they get hurt?”

“No, you… Well, I guess, Circe took them all down, but by time I got there, they were gone,” my father says, leaning against a bookshelf. He’s in his human form, rocking the slicked back silver hair look. “The academy will close for a bit to get everything back in order.”

“How long?”

“We need time for security, diaboli,” he explains with a sigh.

“Dia... what?” Hazen asks.

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