Page 80 of Breathe Like Hell

I laid motionless on the bed, staring up at the ceiling while my heart pounded in my ears.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

DAKOTA

“Here’s the plan,” Micah started as he sat down across from me at the breakfast table. I paused eating my cereal. “The Aamon plan,” he clarified, making my blood run cold.

I’d known this was coming eventually, but I’d been hoping we could put it off for a bit longer, or something. It was less scary as a vague future plan, compared to an actual thing happening now. Yeah, I’d been asking about it, but…

Aamon might kill me.

He might kill Micah.

“We’re going to⁠—”

“And we don’t know if it will work the first time,” Mason interjected. “But this is what we’ve come to.”

Micah glared at him for a beat, then turned his attention back towards me. I folded my hands in my lap, interlacing my fingers so they wouldn’t tremble. I was tempted to ask Micah to calm me down, but Mason would probably have some bullshit to say about that request, and Micah might not even want to.

I would have to listen to this with all my typical anxiety suffocating me.

“We’re going to use you as bait for Aamon.”

“What?” I choked out. “I’m going to have to interact with him?”

Tears welled up in my eyes too quickly, my lower lip wobbling already. I didn’t want to do this shit. I didn’t want to be involved in this at all. The angel world was scary enough, I didn’t want to become part of the demon one too. Those yellow eyes haunted me, and I couldn’t stand to think about having to see them again in real life.

“No. It’ll be over very quickly if he actually shows up—well, he’ll be incapacitated very quickly. And then it’ll take a minute or two to kill him.”

“Is this safe? How is it going to work?” I questioned frantically, hardly able to breathe.

“I’m going to explain everything. Just wait. Please.” Micah reached across the table, clearly wanting me to give him my hands. I did.

“Can you…?”

He pressed his lips together, indecision marring his face, but my anxiety disappeared a few moments later. I could breathe again.

“Okay?” Micah questioned.

“Okay. Continue.”

Mason glanced between us a few times, probably putting together the pieces on what Micah had just done.

Micah took a deep breath. “Mason and I will be with you the entire time, but both of us will be invisible until Aamon arrives.”

“Won’t he know you’re there? Or be suspicious?”

“That’s why the plan starts at my house. We’re going to stage an argument outside with you and Mason, then you’ll come inside and scream at me, then angrily leave through my front door. We don’t know how closely he’s watching you, but it’s likely that he or another demon will be close enough to catch bits of the conversation. So, they’ll assume you’re pissed and alone.”

“But I won’t be alone?”

“No. We’re just going to be invisible,” Mason answered. I looked over at him, taking all the information in without panic. “And we’ll give you a new knife. A xiphos. Just in case.”

“Can demons smell kapnos, though?”

“Yep.” Micah nodded. “We’re going to shower. It should be enough for at least an hour, and if it takes longer than that, we’ll start over.”

“Okay.” I bit the corner of my lip, my fingers twisting in my lap. “Couldn’t you just make Aamon forget about all this?”