Page 60 of Gambling with Time

The fight was lost by the beast quickly once they worked together to defeat it. Although, I was positive it was still alive. Its chest still moved with shallow breaths.

Samantha moved to my side, her fingers brushed my hair away as she peered into my eyes. “Are you okay?”

I swallowed. “I’m fine. Thanks to you.”

“You need to keep your shadows with you. I can protect myself.”

My throat was thick with emotion so I nodded my agreement. It was obvious she could. I’d known it all along, I couldn’t even count how many times I’d witnessed how strong she was.

Bellamy watched me silently from across the room; I was positive he was picking up on my self-deprecating feelings. He didn’t look happy about them either.

“Did you find the portal?” I asked, averting my eyes from his knowing crimson orbs.

“No, there isn’t anything down there but more trash,” Raiden replied.

“Looks like square one again,” Alastor added.

“There were symbols on the walls upstairs, I think it summoned this thing. So Osiris has been here,” I said.

“Yes, there are signs in the basement too.” Alastor leaned against the broken sink. “But we should take this back to the penthouse, I don’t think we are safe to stay here.”

CHAPTER 34

Alastor

The fire blazed brightly in the fireplace, and I pushed to my feet, away from the heat. Turning back to the others, I studied them as they talked to each other. There was something off and reserved about Lex since we had come back. He was attempting to act normal, but I could read it in the way he held himself that he was in his head about something.

With the glances Bellamy kept throwing his way, I was sure he saw it too. And I was pretty sure that Samantha was picking up on something, because she was pressed against his side, leg draped over his, and their fingers tangled together. She ghosted her thumb over the back of his hand in a soothing gesture. Which by itself wasn’t too unusual, but the tiny glances she kept shooting his way told me she was aware of the hidden feelings too.

Raiden met my gaze and lifted his brow in a silent question that said he felt something off too. As much as it had taken to reach a point of togetherness, we couldn’t be brought down by secret feelings. This had to be pushed into the light.

“Lex, we need to talk about what happened–” I said. He tensed at my unfinished sentence, and I used silence to coax a response from him.

“I know,” he sighed. “I was a liability.”

You could hear a pin drop in the silence after his words. He focused on his joined hand with Samantha, not looking at any of us.

“Without you, we would have been trapped in the basement. That thing wouldn’t have been focused on you entering the kitchen if you had been with us. It would have had the whole door covered with only room for one of us to get through.” Raiden leaned forward, his intense gray eyes fixed on Lex.

“But–”

“Rai is right,” Samantha added.

“I just stood there and watched,” Lex said, sounding miserable.

Samantha scooted further onto his lap, holding his face between her hands, and she lowered her head to hook his gaze. “Your shadows helped save us. They did that because of you.” She ran her hand over the fox curled over his collarbone and shoulder at the moment, and it twitched beneath her fingers. “Your mom gave them to you, for that purpose. You don’t have to only have magic or strength to win battles. The majority of them in history was won by the man behind the scenes that helped plan their mode of attack. That is you, Lex.”

“But–” he tried again.

Bellamy let out an annoyed sigh and nudged him with his foot from his chair. “The only cure for self-doubt is fucking.”

A surprised laugh burst from Samantha as she shot the demon a look that said, really? Raiden chuckled, too, and Bellamy gave them both dull stares.

“I was serious. Who could feel bad about themselves after giving or receiving an orgasm? It is the cure-all.”

“Says the incubus,” I replied.

He poked his tongue into his cheek before it swiped his lower lip. “Yes, says the expert on sex.” Lex snorted as he flicked his gaze over to Bellamy, and he winked with a grin. “See, it’s working already.”

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