AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Can you stand? The warding on the house is better. If you ignite again, it would be better if the neighbors don’t see.”
I hissed, jerking away from him. “Who picks a safe house in the middle of a neighborhood?” Instantly, I snapped my mouth shut and bowed my head, “I'm sorry.”
Thorn doesn't reply. He approached me slowly and picked me up like a child. “You've got some adjusting to do, it's okay.“ He pushed through the back door. “If anyone can handle a little change, it's you.“
He was wary of me, though. I could feel it.
“I’ve got you scared, Boss.”
He looked at me, eyes wide. “Do you ever not make jokes?“ He set me down on the bed, smoothing my hair from my forehead. “Okay, now where's the final stone?“
The voices crescendo, sealing my lips. I fight, and the vice grip on my chest tightens until I can’t inhale.
“Oh. Okay, just relax. You don't have to tell me.” Our eyes met, and I heard Thorn in my head.“Use your eyes, just your eyes. We're not doing anything, just looking, all right?”
My body was concrete, held to the bed by its weight, but I did as he said and glanced down at my left boot. Right boot, knife. Left boot, the thing that will steal the last piece of my humanity.
Or was that left boot, knife? The malicious goblins in my head chattered at me, reminding me of every time I've been wrong in my life. I trusted Kye. I took the job from Thorn. I let my guard down for Moira.
“Moira.”
He stared at me. “What?”
“Moira.” It’s all I could get out.
“Let me take your shoes off so you can relax, okay?”
I tried to nod and managed a little head wiggle. He removed my boots, and I closed my eyes, resting my head on the pillow, ignoring the tugs as he loosened my laces and removed each boot and knee-high socks.
The obsidian knife fell from the bed and clattered to the floor. Still, I ignored it, and the marks stayed calm, menacing, but not overwhelming. Thorn touched my left ankle through the sock and rolled it down to trap the stone in it before shoving the whole sock into the bookshelf.
The moment the stone was off my body, the pressure dissipated, and I could move my limbs again. “Y'all need to stop hiding things in bookshelves, though, for real.”
Thorn grins and runs his hands through his hair. “Better?”
“Much,” I bit my lip and pushed myself into a seated position. “But the voices, or sounds, they’re still there. I don’t know how to stop them from taking over, or when they’ll try again.”
He sat next to me, one hand stroking my thigh. “I don’t know what to do about that. What you did is unlike any other creature we’ve seen here. Pyrokinetics are not real, Lena.”
“Lena, huh? Are we friends now, giving each other nicknames?” I’m teasing, but the way he said it has my pulse skipping and a different kind of heat building low in my body.
Thorn leaned in, hands on either side of me, his chest nearly pressed to mine. “Is this you, or the marks talking?”
Fuck. Good question. I close my eyes and focus and realize something I hadn’t. “Our mark is muted. It feels nearly—erased.”
“That’s no good.” I roll to the side and let him look at my back. “Let me see your palm, Moira’s mark.”
I turn my hand over, and it's the same. The mark is nearly burned away. “What does this mean?”
“It means that you're right. We need Moira and likely your friend, too.”
“She won’t help with this. She’s still mad that I got myself into this mess, this position. Well, whatever she thinks my position is.”
He touched me once more as if I kept him grounded. “I need to re-mark you, but now, it will hurt.“ He broke off, then sighed. “And the binding will be stronger. I won't always be able to control when we're in each other's heads.”
“But I’ll have more control?”
He shrugged. “That’s the hope.”
