“He’s coming,” Kace answered for him.‘Sitting inself-pit isn’t going to help,’he added, the mental connection sharp as Axel pushed him from his mind.
Xander’s knowing gaze was heavy. “Then let’s get going.”
* * *
The room was uncomfortably electric, the atmosphere thick tendrils that wrapped around him like a suffocating blanket.
Agreeing to the concert was a bad idea. He was already unstable, his thoughts splintered after his realisation that his self-medication may not have been as simple as he wanted to believe. Even now, with the last of the pill in his system gone, all he could think about was his next fix, the panic starting to build before the pain could return in full force.
So was that addiction?
Or was it more fear?
‘You can’t return until you’re clean.’Riley’s voice brushed across his memory.‘I can’t risk you being on the hunt when you’re not in control. You could hurt yourself, or someone else.’
Axel fought the shame. He wanted to be alone, somewhere where there wasn’t a crowd who could all see the disappointment that was an aura surrounding him. His sole purpose, the reason why he was fucking created, was to fight against Daemons and the creatures that escaped along with them. Now he was nothing. Useless.
The band on stage effortlessly moved to their next song, the pyrotechnics flashing across the crowd as the balls of arcane flames were carefully controlled by the lead singer. She stood in the centre, the microphone pressed to her lips as she sung, wand stretched to point to the fiery orbs that danced along with her voice. It took impressive control, especially with the anti-magic sphere that was suspended from the ceiling. It was aimed away from the stage, but Axel could still feel the strength of the deterrent vibrate against his chi. With magic came chaos, so it wasn’t uncommon to see the expensive preventive measure in such a large venue.
Xander and Kyra stopped to look at the show, Xander’s arms moving to wrap around his mate’s waist as he whispered something intimately into her ear.
“You all make me feel sick,” Axel shouted to Kace, who in return smirked despite the tension along his muscles. “You can’t just go from wild barbarians to domesticated house-husbands. It’s unnatural.” He gestured to Xander, who shot him an amused look over his shoulder.
“Who said we’re domesticated?” Kace replied.
Kyra turned, frowning until Xander explained the conversation. “Didn’t you serve Eva breakfast in bed the other morning?”
“Iwas the breakfast,” he growled, head snapping to the side. Kace’s expression remained severe, his gaze sweeping the busy crowd, distracted.
Without a word he walked away, and Axel tracked him through the dancers. They all parted like water, a natural instinct to move out of the way of something bigger, stronger. Kace was a man of barely suppressed violence, and he wore it clearly in the way he held himself. His brother would never have put himself in a situation with a busy crowd unless it was for his mate, and he found Eva in the centre, arms held high in the air as her body danced to the music. Her smile was private, her lips silently moving before Kace reached down and threw her over his shoulder just as he had said, her laughter clear even from the distance.
Axel quickly averted his eyes, jealously an unwanted emotion on top of everything else in his fucked up mind. He hadn’t lied, he was happy his brother had found his soulmate. It made three of the seven Guardians mated. Three out of seven who had broken their curses.
One-hundred years from their ritual to bind to another person permanently, or risk becoming their beasts forever, serving a fallen angel in the depths of Hell.
What a load of fucking bullshit.
“Fuck this,” he muttered, keeping his eyes down as he stepped away from the crowd and into the darker corners of the club. It was where depravity lived, and that was exactly what he wanted as he searched in the gloomy booths against the walls. He could sense arousal, his body attuned to the hormones thanks to his succubus genes. When he was younger, he would have joined, sought out sex just as he was searching for drugs. But the thought of fucking strangers now caused panic to grip his lungs like a vice.
Abstinence gave him control, something he didn’t really have anywhere else in his life. He hadn’t chosen to be thrown into combat training at nine.
He hadn’t chosen to be bound to his beast.
He hadn’t chosen to take narcotics to help quell the pain.
He found exactly who he was looking for in the fourth booth, the man’s hard gaze sweeping consistently across the dancers. When they steadied on his he paused, and at Axel’s gesture he nodded, inviting him over.
“Yes?” he asked as soon as Axel slipped into the bench opposite.
“Brimstone,” Axel said quietly, looking back over his shoulder towards the dance floor. “Whatever you’ve got.”
He was already a fuck-up, getting kicked out of his job and losing his best friend in the span of a few hours. So he would be as well going down in flames.
The man pursed his lips, slowly assessing Axel in his dark t-shirt, jeans, and heavy black boots. At least he wasn’t still wearing Sam’s funny tee, because that would have gone down like a lead balloon.
With a sound of impatience Axel opened his wallet, flashing the cash stored there before slamming it closed.
“Alright, guv. Give me a minute.” The man stood, stepping down from the booth. “Stay here.”
