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Sariel stood on the other side. His expression was tortured, his hands fisted at his sides.
We stared at each other for a few delayed seconds before he broke it.
“What can I do to help?”
I wasn’t sure what I’d been expecting him to ask; maybe if I was okay, or something equally as generic. It had definitely not been for him to immediately want to help.
I’d numbed myself down so much, I could barely feel his distress coming down the bond. I could barely feel myowndistress.
“I…”
I paused, because I didn't know how to answer that question. I wasn’t surewhatI needed.
Well… no, that wasn’t quite right. I knew what Ineeded, more than anything else, was to go back to before I’d sent in that application to Ambrose Media House and shake sense into myself. Then, I would need a wine night with my sister, buy my nieces exorbitant gifts, and listen to Harry argue about whether the twins needed more toys or not. I needed to dog-sit for my neighbors and update my blog and indulge in expensive coffee and candles.
I needed normalcy.
“Tell me,” Sariel urged. He came up to cup my cheeks, his thumbs brushing away my tears. I didn’t even realize I’d started crying.
I tried to clear my throat and move around him. “Sorry.”
His expression morphed into something scary for a second before he stepped back to give me space.
“I’m just exhausted.” I tried to laugh this off, but something had sparked in those hazel eyes that didn’t find mirth in my tears. “Seriously, Sariel, I’m tired.”
“I could hear you,” he started softly, while I climbed into the bed and immediately moved to the back. “I could hear you throwing up and crying. I could hear you in your head as you scrubbed your skin. Aria…”
He broke off with a shudder that seemed to unravel him.
I stared. “I…”
“Did they touch you?”
His voice took on the dangerous quality it had in the car, when Neo had been flirting with me. I knew rationally that he wouldn’t hurt me, but something about this semi-shifted version of him terrified me. It was like he was teetering on the edge of his sanity.
The golden ring around his iris was now red-tinged. His fingers flexed, his claws unsheathing and re-sheathing themselves. He didn’t move from his spot by the bathroom door.
“Sariel—” I started, only to be interrupted by him cocking his head in my direction.
“Did they touch you, Aria?” he repeated. “Don’t lie to me. The pretty little wolf will tell me ifyouwon’t.”
My skin exploded into goosebumps at the threat.
I was stupefied by my body’s reaction. What I’d initially thought was fear was turning out to be arousal. Sariel’s gaze flickered to where I was pressing my thighs together in an effort to stifle the ridiculous throbbing sensation that had started there, then back up to my face. His lips were slanted in the sexiest smirk I’d ever seen.
“They… they gave me a bath,” I stuttered out. “They did some kind of spell that made it so I couldn’t move, and then bathed and dressed me…”
I jumped when he moved, and all of a sudden, he was right there at the foot of the bed. His expression had cleared, and I was once again staring into the clear hazel eyes of Sariel.
“Sorry. He’s insufferable,” he breathed. “He hasn’t been this active since after Auren.”
I froze. “That was your angel?!”
Sariel blinked. “Yes. He sure is something…”
“He can— he cantalk?”
Sariel’s brows furrowed. “Only when he takes half or total control. It’s not the same as when I shift. When he takes control, he seizes my consciousness, too. It’s all him.”
