This is going to fucking hurt.
CHAPTER7
AZ
Stop this!I shouted at my Phoenix.We like Ajax, you fucking bird!
I watched helplessly as my beast threw Ajax across the charcoal-bladed field into the stump of a nearby burning thwomp.
Everything had been fine until it wasn’t.
I’d been in complete control, ready to return to Ajax and Camillia to finish up the interrogation, when my Phoenix burst free from his confines and took flight. I’d been trapped in him ever since, along for the ride.
I’d apologized. I’d groveled. I’d even promised to let him out more often. But nothing had worked. He wasn’t listening to me at all.
But then he’d spotted Ajax, and he’d headed straight for him.
The conversation had placated my animal while we’d listened. I’d thought he might give me back control when we’d shifted back.
But no.
He’d led the conversation, or rather, he’d instructed me on what to say—a feeling that had never happened before. And he’d been fine. Content, even. He wanted to play again.
This time with the focus on Camillia, but his vision included Ajax. He liked sharing her with him, which was telling in and of itself. Ajax had earned my Phoenix’s respect.
Until Ajax had said Camillia was angry.
A switch had flipped, and all hell had broken loose inside. And now my animal wanted to kill.
You can’t kill him, I said through my teeth.He’s our friend.
“You hurt Cami,” my Phoenix raged instead, forcing my mouth to voice the words my animal felt deep in his soul.
Ajax groaned as he rolled onto his side. The charcoal fields in the Midnight Fae Realm were lethal—the grass resembling sharp rocks, not the softness of leaves. Blood swept down his side, seeping into his cloak, from the small pinpricks they’d left behind.
“I seem to remember you were the one with a blade over her heart just a few hours ago,” Ajax muttered as he forced himself back up to his feet.
Unfortunately, his comment only made my Phoenix rage harder.
He hadn’t been the one to threaten the female.
He blamed me, and rightfully so.
“A mistake that will be paid for in blood,” my Phoenix vowed.
I wasn’t sure if he meant Ajax’s blood, mine, which was technicallyours, or both.
My peripheral vision picked up fresh black flames that billowed from behind my shoulders, nearly engulfing me as we flew forward.
My Phoenix was powerful, but I’d never felt him take control like this. He’d never overpowered me before.
Of course, he’d never been obsessed with a potential mate before, either.
While I understood why my animal was attracted to Camillia, she had threatened Typhos, and that could not be tolerated.
Perhaps Ajax’s story was true. Perhaps not. Really, it didn’t matter. She had escaped. We couldn’t even find her family.
And if the Source Architect saw her as powerful, then she was dangerous.
