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ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE
Sariel
My world had been tilted on its axis.
There was a disorienting moment where I didn’t even realize what Tyler was about to do. Even as I watched him press the knife to Aria’s throat, watched her freeze up—those beautiful, clear-blue eyes clouded with fear—my mind was still processing the things my father had said.
That meant that my reaction was pretty damn delayed, and those ten seconds left Aria with a shallow slash across her throat from where she’d jerked backward, stumbling into the wall to escape Tyler and his knife.
The scent of her blood snapped me out of my stupor, but her salvation didn’t end up coming from me.
It came from the Upper Council.
My instincts screamed at me to duck, and after relying on them for so long, it was practically second nature for me to do what they told me to. I hunched down just in time for the windows behind the bookshelves to explode inward, showering us in glass and plaster.
There was a moment of stillness. It was filled only by the low groaning sound of one of the huge, ancient bookshelves pitching forwards until it crashed onto the floor, raising dust and glass.
And then all hell broke loose.
We were surrounded in seconds. The room flooded with vampires, wolves, witches, and angels, all dressed in the Para uniform of the Upper Council. Some held guns, which they trained on Tyler and his wolves, while the witches circled Azazel and I.
I could feel the oily texture of their magic as it slid across my skin, lifting the hairs on my arms and setting off goosebumps. They were casting a spell.
Azazel’s arm snapped out. He snatched one of the male witches by the face and started shaking him violently. “Do you know who the fuck I am?!” he growled.“Cease! Immediately!”
“By order of Elder Nikolai Pagani, High Priestess Francesca Deangelo, and Alpha Elias Olskin, you are to be subdued and brought in for questioning,” someone said.
The witch who spoke was the Captain, but it was clear that she was speaking to me, not Azazel. Even though she exuded confidence, there was no mistaking that underlying scent of her fear as she advanced on Azazel, her hands glowing with a spell at the ready. “Put him down,” she ordered him.
I wanted him to snap, to show them his true colors. I could see that they were already on edge from his display; if they fought, it would give Aria and I enough time to escape.
Instead, unfortunately, the mention of the other Council members made him freeze. I already knew he was conducting his madness behind the Council’s back, but still, it was interesting to observe how his entire demeanor shifted at the mention of the others.
“The Council sent you?” he asked in disbelief. His body shuddered, and he lowered the witch he held to the floor as gently as possible. “I’m sorry. I didn’t recognize you.”
Even I, in my half-delirious state, could decipher what he really meant:No one warned me you were coming.
“I thought… I was just on edge. They attacked me in my own home! I’m truly sorry,” Azazel lied.
“Theyattackedyou?”
The Captain glanced at me, who was battered and a little bruised and clearly depleted of all energy, to Aria, who was shaking and wide-eyed and gaping like a fish, and then to the unscathed Tyler and the other subdued wolves in the room. “Really?”
She lowered her hands, but didn’t release whatever spell she had at the ready. Another Para guided the injured male witch out.
“They did,” he argued.
Before I even opened my mouth to speak, I knew that the witches had already silenced us. My tongue felt heavy in my mouth, unnaturally so, and wouldn’t budge even when I tried to swallow.
“And Alpha Bastille? Why would he attack you in your home?” The Captain’s eyes narrowed on Tyler, who was struggling in his invisible hold. “I know fallen-blood wolves are cantankerous bastards, but what reason would he have for joining forces with the halfling and your son? And why is your own son attacking you—”
“Alpha Bastille was here on official business,” Azazel answered quickly. “You can let him go. I was interviewing him about her—” he pointed at Aria here, a note of indignation in his tone, “—because they’re family. And my son has been fraternizing with the little half-blood scum; she’s brainwashed him into believing they’re mates. Can you believe that?”
My heart began to pound at that. That smug fucking bastard. I wanted to snap at him, I wanted the Captain to look at me and see that the fucker was lying. Shehadto know he wasn’t making any fucking sense at all, right?
“And he came with…?” the Captain trailed off, gesturing to the multitude of wolves.
