“Delilah. Jezebel. Lilith!” He spit at me, “You are trying to keep the prophet from spreading his word to the world.Youare the last bastion of evil.”
Oookay. Well, he was clearly crazy. I eyeballed the distance between myself and the french doors that led onto the balcony. Jamie’s eyes followed mine, and we stood staring at each other in silence for a moment before I lunged for the door, my feet carrying me as fast as they could.
A hand yanked me back by my hair, and I fell backwards, landing on the ground with a hard bang that knocked the air out of my lungs with a whoosh.
Jamie dragged me by my hair, pulling me towards the raging inferno that was my nest, and I thrashed against his hold, my fingers scratching at his hands, but they held me firm within his iron grip.
“For wickedness burns like a fire; It consumes briars and thorns; It even sets the thickets of the forest aflame. And they roll upward in a column of smoke.” The man quoted yet another bible verse.
He was going to throw me into the burning nest, I realized with panic. I could now feel the heat coming off of the room, and just the thought of burning to death like this terrified me. I renewed my efforts to get him to let go of me, managing to draw blood as I raked my nails down his bare arm. The man hissed and let go, relieving the pressure on my scalp.
Flipping over I scrambled on my knees and screamed as a hand gripped me by the back of my neck, yanking me back towards the nest. My back slammed into the floor and suddenly I was laying on the ground with my feet pointing towards the burning nest. Jamie hovered above me and his hands locked around my neck in a vice grip.
I couldn’t even sob as he cut off my air. This was it. I had spent so long running away from my past, just trying to live my life and it had all been for nothing.
Suddenly, it was like I was Tabitha all over again, Tibby retreating as the flames grew hot and licked at my feet. I would never get to see what life was like with my alphas and beta. I’d never get to meet Vivi and take her out and spoil her. I’d never see if Madeline got her happy ending.
My vision was just beginning to blacken around the edges when my bonding mark gave a hard thunk, like someone had gripped it with their hand and squeezed it.
Theo’s presence filled me, and he gave me another hard thunk as if to say‘Don’t you dare give up.’
My hands came up and gripped where Jamie was choking me and dug underneath just enough to allow me to get a small gasp of air, and I glared up at Jamie. “Fuck. Off. Zombie. Tabitha.” I ground out and drew my legs up to my chest, planting my sneakers right in the middle of Jamie’s chest.
“And fuck off Jamie!” I managed to shout and pushed with all of my might into his chest, sending him careening backwards. Jamie’s arms windmilled as he stood, unbalanced, on the edge of the entrance into the nest, and I saw the exact moment that he lost his balance. His eyes seemingly cleared of whatever drug haze he was in, and there was genuine fear on his face as he fell backwards into the nest, the flames engulfing him completely.
The most awful scream I’d ever heard erupted from the flames, and I closed my eyes as the flames killed him in the same way that he had killed his own victims. It was a sick sort of irony.
Rolling to my feet I stood unsteadily, my throat burning from his hands and the smoke, and stumbled over to the door reaching for it before hissing when my fingers touched the blazing hot doorknob.
Running over to the couch, I grabbed one of the throw blankets and wrapped it around my hand, opening the door and practically falling out onto the balcony.
The night air was cool and crisp, and I hacked the smoke from my lungs so hard that I had to rest my hands on my knees as I worked to inhale a breath of fresh air.
“Tibby!” Cobb’s shout came from down below, and I peered over the balcony railing where the beta was standing down in the grass. “What happened up there? Theo’s practically catatonic.”
“Jamie Jordan.” I raspily called down, “But I handled it.”
“Okay, I’m going to need you to jump down to me. I’ll catch you.”
I scoffed, “Seriously, Cobb? I’m going to break you if you try to catch me.” I knew I was hot as hell, but I could also admit that my weight falling fifteen feet down would pack a pretty heavy punch.
“It’s okay! I can handle it.” Cobb, my ever confident beta replied.
“Uh-uh. I’m better off breaking an ankle.”
“Tibby Sinclair. This is probably the absolute worst time to be arguing with me. The lodge is literally on fire behind you. Jump and I’ll catch you!”
I wanted to argue more, but the glass on the doors behind me began to make popping noises, and I needed to make like a tree and leaf this situation as soon as possible before I became roast-Tibby.
“Okay, don’t say I didn’t warn you!” I called down and gripped the rail of the balcony. The popping sound grew louder, and I heaved myself up until I was sort of crouching on the balcony railing. I took a deep breath, trying to psyche myself up.
“You can do this, Tibby. It’ll be just like the movies, you’ve just gotta James Bond this shit.” I muttered to myself, and a wave of heat met my back. I launched myself off of the balcony and into the air as the night exploded around me.
