Page 74 of The Incubus Curse

Azrael looked pleased as if he had expected this, and it only made me more concerned. Wondering what his master plan was.

I finally fell into Dustin’s arms, wrapping around his built frame and ignoring the fighting going on all around us. Almost like everything else didn’t matter. Like it was just the two of us.

“Freya, Darling.” He forced a smile that looked painful.

“What’s wrong with you?” I cried, reaching my hand up to his face, but he pulled it down, wincing at my touch.

“I’m fine.” He lied.

“You can’t even look at me without looking agonized.” I hissed back, smacking his chest. I wasn’t sure if I would ever see him again, and I would be damned if I didn’t fight to have him back. Fight to be able to touch him one more time.

His eyes shifted to Azrael. “I’ll be fine once his head is on aspike.” He growled beneath me, and I hated that I had to force him back.

“You can’t.” I swallowed, fearful of how he might react.

He looked repulsed by me in that moment, his eyes deranged with anger. “I can’t? You’re protecting him now? What? Are you in love with him? Are you charmed?” He scoffed, shaking his head irately.

“What? No!” I yelled back, desperate to touch him. To put my hands on his chest and calm him, but he stepped away from my reach.

“Then why do you care if he lives? You didn’t care when I killed anyone else. So whyhim?” His eye was twitching with rage now. It was almost terrifying to see, like he was on the verge of exploding.

“Because if you kill him, I might die too.” A tear slipped down my cheek. Not for myself, but because I knew how big of an ask this was.

This was the man who orchestrated his sister’s death. His father’s death. The death of so many more. And my life was hardly worth saving if it meant killing Azrael. I knew that. But I didn’t want him to live with the fact that he killed me without knowing. Without realizing what he was doing.

“If you still want to kill him, I can accept that.” I almost wasn’t able to get the words out as I choked on them with tears running down my face. “But that means there’s a good chance that you’ll die too.”

“Did he tell you that?” His teeth gritted as he shot Azrael a look that could have killed. And then suddenly, the look was directed at me as if he wanted to cut me down at that moment. “And you believed him?”

“He said he’s mated to me, Dustin.” I couldn’t help but shakeas the words left my lips. Strangely, I didn’t know why I was shaking. Was it fear? Adrenaline?

He laughed delusionally, almost like he had gone mad. “Mated? Of course he is.”

“What?” I asked, not understanding why he was laughing in the first place.

“And are you mated to him?” He was now pointing his finger at my chest like a knife. “Do you love him?” His head tilted to the side in anger. His eyes were wild with fire.

“NO!” I yelled, stepping closer to him. “I love you. I’m mated with you!”

His eyes refused to look at me, so I grabbed his face in my hand, pulling him down to my eye level.

“I loveyou!” I demanded him to look at me with my eyes. Begged him almost. But the man I saw looking back at me felt different. It didn’t feel like the man I had gotten to know this past week. He looked disturbed, unhinged even.

The chaos around the room began to grow, bodies clashing into bodies more aggressively. Teeth tearing into flesh loudly as cries screamed across the room. I didn’t need to look around to know what was happening. The sounds alone were evident enough. The charmed ones were attacking the succubi that had come here to kill Azrael. And the few succubi who were siding with Azrael were fighting back as well. It was like a massive brawl had broken out, but none of it felt as terrifying and as tense as it did here with Dustin.

“Please, look at me,” I begged him, but his eyes remained on Azrael, who just stood there with a smile spreading across his face as if this was exactly how he expected tonight to go.

A few charmed vampires protected him, their boxy shoulders cornering him in.

Daemon made his way over to us, tugging on Dustin’s shirt and pulling him from Azrael’s glare. “We should go, Dustin. This is just the beginning.”

Dustin pulled his shoulder back from Daemon. “Not without my mother.”

“We have her. Sharlene grabbed her and took her into the alleyway where we have the others.” Daemon urged.

“Please, Dustin. Let’s go.” I begged, hoping maybe I could get through to him finally, but he even pushed away from me.

“What good are you to me now that you’re a succubus.” He hissed, seething as his fists clenched. His eyes were intent on Azrael, who waved back at him, amused.

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