I crossed my arms, coming to a halt in the middle of the alley we’d cut down to get back to the main street. “You better make time, because as far as I see it, I could just throw myself to those damn hounds. At least it would get all this over with. At least it would let me see Caiden, I could?—”
“You don’t get it. That’s not how it would happen.” He stepped forward, shoving me against the dingy brick wall of one of the abandoned buildings surrounding us. It was almost like the physicality of earlier had broken down some barrier, and he was suddenly comfortable showing me his strength, showing me he could be forceful if necessary.
It made my heart race again, made something inside me that madeno senseclench almost unbearably tight. He was doing something to me, something that was eventually going to causeall the strings holding me together in the mockery of a man who could function to snap.
I didn’t know what I’d do then.
I didn’t want to know.
I just wanted him to tell me what was happening.
“Then why don’t you explain it to me?”
“There’s notime.”
I shoved against him and felt how useless it was—how the strength of his arms could keep me in place while his expression stayed the same.
“Thenmaketime.”
“Cole…”
The impatience that flared across his expression was interrupted as someone stepped around the corner, and I saw the flash of metal a second before there was a knife at my throat.
Of course someone would try to mug me. I was in a shitty area, and apparently I was a magnet for danger. For all my would-be attacker knew, I was here alone, having a fit and talking to myself. My clothes were still nice, and the bulge of my wallet was obvious in my pocket.
I was the perfect victim.
Sephtis’s eyes flared from golden to a swirling sky of black, flicking from the knife at my throat and back up to me. It was frightening. Not the man who was quietly demanding I empty my pockets, or the feel of a blade against my throat—hisexpressionwas terrifying.
“Fine. Do you want to see? Do you need to understand?” When his hand came forward and wrapped around my attacker’s throat, the black veins that spilled beneath his skin were pulsing. I could see the moment the manknewwhat was happening. It was obvious when he noticed Sephtis behind him.
“Wait… wait, I didn’t—” He didn’t give him a chance to make excuses. Whatever humanity, whatever warmth and compassionSephtis had when he looked at me, dissolved as he whispered one word.
Soft and deadly.
“Watch.”
I’d never seen someone die up close, but I was inches away when the life drained from the man’s eyes. Behind him, Sephtis shivered, a violent motion that was almost enough to make him drop the body. When he tossed him away after a second and spilled forward, my instincts warred viciously in my chest.
He’d just killed someone—to protect me, yes, but he’d still killed someone. I didn’t want him to touch me.
And yet I didn’t want him to fall against the brick, even though I wasn’t sure if it would hurt him.
In the end, I caught him as he collapsed, his head dropping to my shoulder.
“He wasn’t going to let you go after he took your wallet.” His voice was soft. “He thought you were pretty. He was going to fuck you against the wall and then slit your throat. He’s done it before.” When he lifted his head, his eyes were still that endless night sky with the softest little glints of golden stars in their depths, but at least the emotion was spilling back into his gaze.
“How do you know that?” Was I in shock? I was pretty sure I was in shock.
“Because I can feel it all—I can see it all. Giving your brother comfort as he crossed to the Lake damned me to an eternity offeelingevery soul I reap. Every sin, every hope. Every desire and wish and regret.” He pushed away from the wall and I swallowed down the instinct to tell him to stay still. All of this was happening too fast—it was too much.
“What are you doing?”
“Saving you,” he said. And then, “Showing you. When the hounds come, they won’t leave you whole. They’ll eat you alive, Cole. You won’t see your brother. You won’t ever beyouagain.”
He kneeled on the ground beside the man and pressed his hand against his chest. There was a burst of something light, something that glowed with heat and warmth, spilling up Sephtis’s arm and past his lips… I could almost feel it burning down that red thread that I knew existed between us.
It was the same heat that poured into me when I woke up the first time—the same heat I’d felt pooling between us when I’d awoken in the garage.
