Chapter 24
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
MASON
My vision was going dark, the atoms of my body trying to split apart as I swam through the endless ocean of my own mind. Micah was there though, holding me together.
And fuck it felt good.
By the time the bright flare of light burned out, Aamon’s body was little more than a pile of ashes and bone on the ground. It was almost startling to look at because—while I knew what I was capable of—the number of times I’d used my full power like that on purpose were extremely scarce.
I looked around at the other identical piles of ash that’d once been other demons, and then I turned to look at Micah.
He was gripping a tree trunk, his jaw clenched, his focus entirely locked on me. He was hardly moving and I felt him so strongly in my mind, tying up all my loose ends, his control keeping me together in this brutal aftermath.
For a second, I couldn’t move.
The force of his gaze pinned me where I stood.
Wading through poison in my skull, I managed to turn and walk towards the rock Dakota was cowering behind. She had her hands covering her ears, her teary eyes turning up towards me as I went around the rock.
I reached out my arms and she sprung up, burying her face in my neck.
“Is it done?” she questioned.
“Yes, baby. It’s all done.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yes. Are you?”
She gave a little shrug, wiping the tears from her cheeks. “I guess.”
“That’s good. Let’s go to the car.”
I was a little jittery, but mostly fine.
Remnants of lingering electricity tingled in my fingertips, but I didn’t feel at risk for any additional fracturing.
Micah had sealed everything perfectly. I’d remembered him being strong, but his precision and power were more impressive than even my memories knew.
Maybe needing to protect Dakota strengthened him.
My car was parked a few minutes walk away from Dakota’s trailer, in an inconspicuous parking lot behind a convenience store. I’d brought it there early this morning, knowing we’d need better transportation than the public buses after this.
Micah stumbled when he attempted to walk and Dakota went to his side, trying to make him put his arm over her shoulders but he was shaking his head. Too heavy. He’d crush her.
I reluctantly jogged to catch up with them, sliding Micah’s arm around the back of my neck and gripping him around the torso.
Immediately, he transferred most of his weight to me, clearly weaker than he wanted to say aloud.
I half-walked, half-dragged Micah to Dakota’s trailer then dumped him on the steps leading up to her front door. She sat next to him.
“I’ll be back in a minute,” I said before taking off jogging in the direction of my car.
While I drove back to Dakota’s place, I was able to feel some of the havoc I’d just wreaked on my mind by using so much power.
Micah was really good at siphoning all of it away, but it’d been a while since my mind had been shattered like that.
I tightened my grip on the steering wheel and thought about Dakota. She made me feel better.
The only nice thing about actually fracturing was the emotion and instability that came with it didn’t last very long if Micah was there to take it away from me.
It wasn’t like sadness or anger or some other emotion that would continue generating in my mind.
The fracture expended energy and caused instability, but once the initial bout of that was gone, it didn’t continue to affect me.
If Micah wasn’t here, however…
It was a different story.
I pulled up next to the trailer then helped Micah into the car.
Dakota sat in the passenger seat and Micah was slumped in the back, his large body splayed across the seats. His face was stone, but he was still breathing hard.
As I pulled out onto the road, Dakota put her friend’s address into my phone.
Micah reached up between the front seats and grabbed Dakota’s arm, then dragged her between the seats and into his hold.
He wrapped her in a hug, laying her on his chest, inhaling the scent of her with his eyes closed.
I tried to keep my eyes on the road, but my view in the mirror was distracting me. I tilted the mirror to see them better.
His fingers tracing patterns on her shoulder. Their bodies tangled together. The size of him compared to her.
I reached down to adjust my dick in my pants and focused on driving.
He looked so gorgeously exhausted. Like a statue of a Greek god, every perfect curve of muscle, the carved features of his face, the laxity in his posture.
“You’re still taking me to my friend’s apartment, right?” Dakota called up to the front. I felt like a taxi driver now with them both in the back seat, and I wasn’t enjoying it.
“Yeah.”
“She’s going to be happy you’re delivering me to her instead of taking me from her for once.”
“That’s great.”
I was disgustingly envious, and I didn’t usually feel that way. I got possessive over her, but I didn’t often find myself actually wishing for what Dakota and Micah had. I liked what we had. But now I was wondering about things.
She was rubbing her palm over the bulk of his shoulder, whimpering quiet little words in his ear. He still had his head tipped back, eyes closed, his hand groping her ass.
I’m going to get in a car crash if I keep watching this.
My eyes snapped back to the road, but I could smell him now. That shower didn’t last for very long.
In a very perverse, masochistic way, I almost wished they would fuck right now. Parts of me wanted to see it, even if just to deepen my rage and hatred towards him. I was feeling too grounded by him. I needed to shut that shit down.
I managed to make it a few minutes before I checked the mirror again, but the sight was different this time.
Micah was sleeping. Fully knocked out. Deep breathing and heavy limbs. Dakota looked up at the rearview mirror, her eyes finding mine.
Drive, she mouthed.
I didn’t reply to her, but I turned off the map, so I was no longer following the route to her friend’s apartment.
Dakota laid her head back down so she was cuddled up against him, his arms instinctively holding her closer while he slept.
I forced myself to look at the road, but my eyes kept drifting back up to the mirror so I could see him sleeping with her.
Gritting my teeth, I gripped the mirror and tilted it back to normal so all I could see was out the back window. It was getting dark outside, shades of blue painting everything. The road, the trees, the sky. Even my hands on the steering wheel were washed with sapphire.
I drove around aimlessly as the sun set the rest of the way and onyx stole the sky, my mind consistently fixated on the two people in my backseat. I’d never known Micah to take naps; he must’ve been drained to fall asleep that quickly and stay asleep for this long.
Eventually, Dakota poked her head up between the seats.
“You can go to Mila’s now,” she said softly. The lights from the screen of my car were glowing on her face. “Do you need me to put the address in again?”
“No, I’ve got it. Is he still asleep?”
“Yes. But I think he’s waking up a little bit.”
“Alright.”
I tapped my phone screen to pull the directions back up, then followed the blue line the rest of the way to Dakota’s friend’s apartment. She appeared between the seats again as I turned into the parking lot.
“Thank you.” Her eyes were turned up towards my face, her fingers tracing along my forearm as it laid on the center console.
“You’re welcome. Can I walk you up?” I asked as I parked in a spot, the white lines faded on the cracked pavement.
She nodded.
I grabbed her bag from where it was stowed in the footwell of the passenger side, then helped her get out of the back seat through the door at Micah’s feet. He was still laying down but he seemed somewhat more lucid than before.
Dakota slipped her hand into mine as we walked up the stairs to her friend’s apartment, squeezing gently.
We stopped just outside the door.
“Are you okay?” I questioned, searching her eyes for the truth. “If you want me to take you back to my apartment, I can do that.”
“I’m okay.” A small smile curved the corners of her mouth. “I’m looking forward to having some time to myself for once.”
I nodded. “Okay. Text me if you need me.”
“I promise, I’m fine.” She pressed up on her tiptoes and kissed me, not resisting when I deepened the kiss, sliding a hand around the small of her back, slipping my tongue into her eager mouth. After a few moments, I reluctantly let her go.
Dakota knocked on the door while I stood back a few paces.
Mila appeared quickly, opening the door with a big smile on her face, instantly reaching to give Dakota a hug.
I watched the tension melting out of Dakota’s shoulders, feeling relieved and grateful that she was going to have a normal fucking night for once.
Of course, it was my fault that her life was so abnormal now, but I couldn’t do much about that. I was an angel who killed demons in exchange for free rent. There was nothing normal about my life, by human standards.
Mila released Dakota, her eyes finding mine, then narrowing.
She stuck her middle finger up. “She’s mine, bitch,” she said to me.
I held my hands up in surrender.
Dakota looked over her shoulder at me, grinning widely. “Bye,” she said, giggling as her friend yanked her into the apartment and shut the door in my face.
I shook my head to myself as I went down the stairs and across the parking lot.
When I got back to my car, Micah was sitting in the passenger seat, legs splayed wide, his elbow propped on the door and his head resting on his hand. His eyes slid over to watch me climb in, his eyelids heavy and his gaze dark.
Heat tugged sharply, low in my stomach.
I ignored it and put the car in gear.
Once on the road, I was finding it difficult not to notice Micah’s imposing presence in this enclosed space with me. There wasn’t music playing, so the car was quiet, which only thickened the tension between us.
“You good?” I asked, then cleared my throat.
“I’m fine.”