Page 28 of Sugar Rush

Except … Joseph was locked away from me, Taj had almost died, Dev still hadn't woken up, and X, my sweet, psycho X…

We still haven't seen a body,I reminded myself.Don't give up until you see a body.

But I hadn’t felt anything down the bond indays,and that dream was so real. I’d have felt something by now if he was still alive.

I met the eyes of five teddy bears and gestured them onward. Every one of them scrambled to obey me, and I blinked. Fuck, there weren't just fifty or so; there were hundreds of them.

"Abandoned my ass," I remarked, throwing Taj a sassy look before I followed my followers.

12

Thank fuck for the teddy bears, or we'd be dead.

They led us on a truly bone-chilling path through their castle. Of course it couldn't have staircases or normal corridors; the Thenawists led us across an invisible bridge over an empty chasm in the floor that dropped six stories down, andthenalong a terrifying narrow slope up to the higher floors. The slope didn’t even have a railing.

"I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die," I whispered, my hand white-knuckled around Arkan's in front of me and my other glued to the wall on my right.

"I won't let you die," Taj snarled, which was either comforting or threatening.1

"Finally," I breathed when the death-defying path led onto a solid landing, and the teddy bears guided us to a staircase. "Stairs! Now we're talking."

I rushed eagerly up the stone stairs—and screamed when the staircasemoved."What the fuuuuck?"

The staircase didn’t leisurely glide from side to side; I screeched as it shot straight up like Willy Wonka's fucking elevator.

It moved before Taj stepped onto the stairs, racing quickly above his head. My heart crashed, and stopped altogether when he growled a vicious curse andleapt.He grabbedthe balustrade, gouging stone with his claws as we swung over a terrifying drop. Hanging there. Moments from death.Again.

I forgot my own fear instantly, releasing Arkan's hand to spin and grab Taj's arm. I used all my strength to haul him up, and didn’t breathe until he was sprawled on a safer step.

He gave me a crooked grin, eyes bright with adrenaline. "Aw, you saved me. I knew you liked me."

I gritted my teeth, a vicious tremble moving through my body. "This morning you were almost dead," I growled impressively deep.

Less impressively, I hyperventilated, gripping him with desperate claws. "You stupid fucking bastard, you could havedied!How could you—"

I choked on my next breath, and Taj was there, pulling me against his chest, ignoring the staircase whipping us up through the castle like a psycho magic carpet.

Floors blurred past us and we entered a round, black stone tower, but I clung to my idiotic mate and considered murdering him myself.

"You’re so dead," I choked out, digging my hands into his back. "So dead."

"As soon as we've found the sceptre, I'll personally hand you a knife to stab me with," he soothed, rubbing circles on my back.

It was easier to pretend the staircase wasn't psychotically flying up through the tower with my face buried in Taj's chest, so I kept it there, sucking down lungfuls of spiced chocolate.

"Ark, tell me you haven't fallen off the unhinged staircase," I whimpered, face still pressed to Taj's chest.2

"I'm fine," Ark reassured me calmly. "Although…"

I whipped my head back to stare at him—and yelped when I saw the crazy drop below us. "Althoughwhat?"

"We're dangerously close to the ceiling," he said with obvious unease, then spoke in rapid-fire Thenawistian or whatever the language was called. The teddy bears nodded at him and held out their fuzzy paws in a clearstay putgesture.

I tucked my face back into Taj's big, warm chest. "If we survived everything else just to be splattered on a ceiling, I'm gonna be so pissed."

Taj snorted. "Don't worry, I'll do something selfless and heroic to save you."

I whipped my head back to glare."Don't you dare!"

---