AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My head swiveled left. I saw the endless blackness of the hallway, and my heart dropped into my intestines.
They were coming for me. They were coming and would serve the Upper Council my head on a silver platter.
My knees gave out as the hallway seemed to elongate. I was sliding down the wall, unable to hold myself up. For a singlesecond, red eyes flashed at me from its depths, and I lost my breath on a petrified whimper.
I scrambled backward on my ass and hands. “No. No no no no nononono—”
“Aria?”
I screamed, my lungs aching as I wailed. I scrambled to turn and face the voice.
“Fuck, Aria, it’s just me.”
I was trembling when I realized Sariel had sunk into a seat on the hallway floor with me, then dragged me into his lap. His body heat soothed my nerves, but my trembling became so bad that Sariel began to rub gentle circles into my back.
“You’re okay, little wolf,” he whispered next to my ear. I could feel the softness of his lips as they brushed the shell while he spoke. “You’re okay. I’m right here. Nothing’s getting past me, sweetheart.”
The endearment melted me into a puddle in his lap.
“There you go, I’ve got you,” he soothed. When I was done shaking, Sariel relaxed against the side of the wall and silently rubbed my back.
I pulled away tentatively, my emotions raw. Sariel was already looking down at me when I tilted my head up to look at him. “You okay? Something scare you?”
I took in a huge breath. “I scared myself,” I answered quietly.
He hummed. “You mean you finally processed everything.”
I nodded slowly. “Yeah.”
“You want me to carry you back to the—”
My grip on him tightened, and I glanced down at my hands, tangled in the fabric of his shirt like they’d betrayed me. Sariel gave me a searching look. His eyes flitted between mine.
“There’s no reason to be ashamed, Aria,” he said gently. “This is like culture shock, except you could die.”
A wet laugh escaped me. “You’re shit at being comforting.”
“I don’t try to comfort many people,” he said, almost offhandedly. The weight of his words hung between us as he adjusted and climbed to his feet without dropping me. He lifted me like I weighed nothing, with one arm supporting me beneath myself, but the other still stroking my spine.
“Stay with me,” I suggested.
He froze on the threshold. “Are you sure, little wolf?”
“Yes,” and because I’d been too eager to respond, I added, “at least until I fall asleep.”
He sat with his back to the headboard as I snuggled into the sheets. “So, is this like a truce or something?”
I smiled. “Just for tonight.”
“Just for tonight, then.”
“One day,” I started sleepily, “I want you to tell me how you’re half blood, ‘cause Johnny said your dad’s an angel. That must be so cool.”
Sariel snorted. “No, it wasn’t, sweetheart. It was hell.”
I frowned and blinked up at him. “Did you not fit in, either?”
He smiled at me, and trumpets began playing in the heavens. Planets aligned, pigs flew.
