Page 25 of Halfblood Deceived

Aella faced Eli. He looked down at her, his indecent, glowing red eyes sweeping her body with the same mix of carnal desire and disgust she’d seen before in Micah’s eyes. He didn’t grab her again, seeming undecided about what he wanted to touch or hurt first.

Heat pulsed in Aella’s hip, coming from the new magicked bracelet Isaiah had given her and she’d hidden under her clothes today.

God forgive her. Aella wanted to use that dagger on Eli, but she didn’t want the children to witness that kind of violence.

Someone knocked on the doors and tried to open the lock.

Eli had Aella against the wall in a blink, his hand over her mouth.

“Aella?” came Claudia’s voice. “What’s going on? Why are the children crying?”

Eli flashed an angry look over his shoulder.

“A-i-la!” called Ez.

“No!” cried Charity.

Eli growled low. Aiming one palm at the children, he cast a layer of magic that muffled their screams. The force of it made Charity fall back and hit her head against the crib’s bars.

Not the children, Aella thought. Not them.

They were innocent and Eli was contaminating them with his disgusting violence, and Aella couldn’t take it anymore. Hurting her was one thing. Hurting the children was beyond limits.

Something broke inside her, and from the cracks came a rush of burning anger that suffocated her rising fear.

Aella kneed Eli in the balls.

He hissed and released her, giving her the opening to send her fist against his throat.

It would have broken her hand had he shifted, but he was still flesh and muscle, not stone, and the blow sent him stumbling back and coughing.

“Claudia, help me!” Aella cried, barely dodging Eli’s fist.

Eli grabbed her by the neck and smashed her against the bookcase. Aella clawed at his arm, kicked and hit him, but he didn’t budge, red eyes manic and terrifying, skin graying as his shift began. He looked like a monster. Like a demon.

Aella’s air supply became non-existent and her sight blurred. Her ears rang and she could barely hear the children’s muffled cries anymore.

Eli released her.

Aella fell to the floor, her legs too weak to hold her.

She gulped air greedily, sound and sight clearing. Claudia had forced the doors open judging by the broken lock, her eyes were wide as saucers with fear as she took a step toward Aella.

“This is none of your business,” Eli snarled at Claudia, standing in her way.

Claudia stumbled back, looking tinier than ever. “I-I’ll tell Isaiah, I swear I will.”

Eli growled at her.

Bethany rushed into the room, robe flying, blonde hair in curlers, face caked with a green mask. “What’s going on?!”

“Why do you leave that whore in charge of our child?” Eli demanded of his wife. “Who knows what sort of perverted things she could be teaching her?”

Aella struggled to her feet. “There is only one pervert here, and that’s you.”

Eli sent his fist to her face.

Aella crouched and turned on her stance just in time to avoid the blow. It destroyed a row of the solid mahogany bookcase, sending more books tumbling to the floor.

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