AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Make them open up to you. You should know the dangers you face.
As if on cue, there’s the voice. Maybe I have a hidden alter ego that speaks to me. I mean, it wouldn’t be a crazy concept. For the most part, it’s been supportive, keeping me out of danger, and I’ve heard it for years. I was walking home one day, looking both ways before crossing the street like a good pedestrian, when out of nowhere, my mind screamed at me to stop. Shocked, I didn’t move as I saw a car swerve off the road, hitting a fire hydrant, causing it to flip side over side and rolling to a stop right where I was about to walk. That scene stunned me so badly that I just looked in horror at the accident that almost caused my death.
After that day, the voice just never went away. Sending me praise when I did a good job and even protecting me when someone roofied my drink at the club. So, I believed the feeling that they were not being completely honest with me. It would be stupid not to trust my inner thoughts now.
“My gift is weapons summoning. I was named Phoenix Zephyer. It was my great grandfather’s name, meaning born again from the west wind. We’re not trying to keep anything from you. There’s just so much to learn. We don't want to override your system and turn your brain to mush. Like the others, I came here when I was eighteen, seven years ago. Even being here that long, I’m still learning new tricks to add to the fight every day.” There was such sincerity in his eyes. Lifting some of my anger, I laid a hand on his arm.
“Thank you. That’s the first real thing I’ve heard from any of you. I just want to know what I’m up against. I can’t help if y’all won’t tell me anything. I know the monsters are real. What I can’t figure out, though, is why it didn’t attack me. It had no problem taking out Chad, but when the thing turned my way, it just cocked its head and crawled back into the darkness.” Shaking my head at the thought of what happened, I looked around as five sets of eyes were laser-focused on me.
“What?” What did I say? Didn’t they already know what happened that night? Isn’t that why they were there waiting for me outside my apartment? Scrunching my nose in confusion and pursing my lips, I glanced around, pleading with my eyes for someone to speak.
“What exactly was it that happened? We knew you were coming into your sight because you lit up on the map like the Fourth of July a few days ago. That’s why we were making our way toward you. It’s uncommon for someone to admit a beacon before they turn twenty-one, but not completely unheard of. Your birthday was two days ago, correct? It took us almost a whole day to get back here, and you were asleep most of the drive. We intended to ask you what happened when we found you, but you looked devastated, so we decided to wait until you were ready to tell us on your own.” Onasis stated that so calmly when my head went reeling.
A whole day, I slept a whole day. Now that I think about it, it did make sense. I’m pretty sure it was around midnight when all hell broke loose in my apartment. I was so engulfed in my book that time seemed to slip away. When we arrived here, still in my sleep-induced haze, I vaguely remember it being around nine p.m. I just shrugged it off, thinking a few hours had passed when in fact, it had been a whole fucking day.
“You're telling me that the demon didn’t attack you? That is completely unheard of. It targets people gifted like us. Trying to take out all the lines before it can be passed on to our children.” The dumbfounding look on Apollo's face had me busting out laughing and gifted me a chuckle from Eros at my side.
Yup, I shocked the alpha. I never thought that would have been possible—one point for Diana and zero for Apollo.
Chapter 14
Atlas
The smile that lit Diana’s face left me speechless. She was the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. Her laugh was something I wanted to hear every day for the rest of my life. I would make it my mission to get her to laugh like that as often as I could. When she got her wild laughter under control, she shifted, and her foot rubbed against my semi-hard dick.
Urg, what I would do to be able to take this woman back to my room. Strip her down slowly so I could take in the full view of her body.
The sight she gifted me earlier in the shower had my mouth watering. I wanted to suck on her pert nipples and see how the bars going through them would feel against my tongue. Like she couldn’t have gotten any sexier, she had to add nipple rings to the mix. Just thinking about tugging on them with my teeth had my cock jumping. I wanted to taste every inch of her body till she was screaming for me to stop.
Her eyes met mine, and I knew the fire that burned behind them. It was so similar to my own. This woman was made for me. I was still thinking about her body underneath me, from our match earlier, and the feel of her soft lips on mine. The way she smelled of mint and tasted like vanilla.
“Well, I’m telling you, it didn’t attack me. It was like it couldn’t even see me. Speaking of, how is it that I haven’t seen a single monster since we got here? That one in my apartment seemed to crawl out of the shadows under my bed, but I haven’t seen a single one since I arrived here.” Diana’s questioning gaze swept around to all of us.
When it was clear Apollo was still too dumbfounded to answer, I spoke up. “There is a force field around Enyo. It allows only gifted and humans in and out. If you're not a prospect or don't have the sight, you can’t get in. This place is sacred ground built by our ancestors to protect their children and give them a safe place to learn. So, by default, demons cannot reach us here. As long as you're on the institute grounds, you're safe.”
Diana’s cheeks puffed up like a chipmunk. Finally, she exploded, letting the laugh out between her words. “So, you're saying we’re like dogs surrounded by an invisible fence.” Unable to rain in her laughter, she clutched her arms around her stomach and bent in half.
The curls that fell loose from her braid framed her face. Even Eros and Phoenix started laughing at her comment. Once they started, I could no longer contain myself and let my snicker take over.
“No, we’re not like fucking golden retrievers inside a cage. We can come and go whenever we want. Unlike dogs who wear a collar that keeps them inside.” At Apollo’s comment, all the laughter around the table immediately stopped.
Man, what was it with him? He really needed to let loose a little bit. “We will circle back around to the monster not attacking you, that needs to be looked into. I will look in the library when you're in the field this afternoon to see if there has ever been any documentation about it.”
“Okay. On that note,” Diana turned and smiled at Eros. “You ready to go teach me about that beautiful falcon of yours?”
Eros gave her a wide grin. “Absolutely, I’ve been looking forward to it all damn day.” I could see how much he wanted my bunny. The man was not hiding anything from me, and the way she lit up around him, I knew the feeling was mutual.
I had no issues with them together. Eros deserved someone to love him; he’s shy and quiet, one of the best guys I know. Once he opened up to you, though, good luck getting him to shut up. He would talk your ear off for hours.
I jumped out of my seat at lightning speed and rushed around the table, nearly knocking over a person as they walked by. Pulling Diana up and into my arms, I bopped her on the nose and planted a firm kiss on her lips. I couldn’t help myself.
“Have fun bunny. Say hello to Astra for me.” Kissing her on the forehead before turning and making my way out of the gathering hall. I was going to head to the library with Apollo to see what we could find on monsters not being able to see the gifted.
The library was not my favorite place. It smelled dusty and old, like musk with a tang of acid. Our library here was huge. Double stories with ladders going up the walls, connecting to a rail across the top shelf so you could slide them to where you needed and reach the books at the top. I know there are people who would live here if they could, but not me. Nope, I’d rather be out fighting a hundred demons than stay in here. It was for my bunny, so I would manage. I would do anything for that girl.
Apollo immediately got to work, handing me books and telling me to go through them while he worked through a stack of his own. I never knew how heavy so many books could be.
Together, we had to find something. Looking at the spines, I decided to start with one labeled ‘Documented Gifts.’ Huh, there had to be something in here to tell us what Diana could do.
