Chapter 2
Chapter Two
ARABELLA
“Oh! Razar—goddamnit,” I groaned as I was ripped from Saint’s arms and pulled over Razar’s shoulder like a rag doll.
Immediately I sagged, knowing it would hurt more to try to struggle against his rock-hard boulder shoulder. I did pound my fist against his back, merely on principle, as he strode towards the way he had come, Saint’s sigh echoing through the space around us.
“Put me down,” I demanded when Razar just tightened his grip on me, muttering something under his breath that I was unable to hear.
“Razar, Arabella knows what she’s doing. This isn’t the first time she’s been down here,” Saint called out.
I looked up and narrowed my eyes at him. What the heck was he doing?
The next thing I knew, I was off Razar’s shoulder and pinned against the wall of the tunnel.
“What do you mean this isn’t the first time?” Razar’s voice was rough and demanding, his entire frame boiling with tension as his fingers wove through my hair, tilting my head back so I couldn’t look anywhere but him.
Now was not the time to analyze why the hell I found his behavior so hot… Actually, there wasn’t much analysis needed. It was just him. He turned me on. Way too much to be healthy, if we were being honest.
“It means I’ve been down here before,” I explained patiently. “Which is how I know this is a good idea… What?”
Razar was staring at me like I’d grown a second head or something, which in retrospect wouldn’t be that odd in this place.
“I’m sorry, I thought you just said you’d been down here before by yourself, and I almost lost my goddamn mind, Arabella.” His eyes were lighting up with a burning inferno that literally set my soul on fire as my entire body melted at the aggression radiating off him.
“I have,” I admitted softly.
I squeaked as he bent down to pick me up again but was quickly stolen from his grip.
I appeared back at the door with Saint in front of me, looking like he hadn’t even moved.
Razar was in front of Saint then, my eyes darting between the two of them as I wondered how the hell they were going to handle this.
Where was everyone else? We needed someone to moderate this, and I was not that person, for several reasons. One of them being that I liked them all worked up. But also because I didn't think they would listen to me. Hell, they may have even forgotten I was here…
Ah, shit. Nevermind.
Razar came to a full stop, a weird expression crossing his face as he looked at me, like really looked at me, making my heart start to beat faster.
Not out of fear, despite him looking extremely predatorial.
No, it was because I could see the realization filling his gaze as he snapped his head back towards Saint.
For the first time, I felt anxious about how my mating with Saint would be received …
I had no idea how to describe it, or if ‘anxious’ was the right word, but there was a tightness in my throat that had me worrying that Razar would be mad at me.
I tried to stay perfectly still, not positive on how to handle the feelings coursing through me.
“Tell me that I’m mistaken.” Razar’s voice took on a calm, cold edge, the lights in the room flickering off except for the one right above us, causing my eyes to widen. I could feel his power, cold and dark, suffocating the room as my skin broke out into chills. Oh man. This…this was bad.
The man was wearing his uniform, but I could see the icy black tendrils that came out of his skin moving across the floor towards me as his eyes snapped completely black. Saint muttered something under his breath, motioning with a hand behind his back for me to back up. I didn’t.
Not that it would have mattered, because the tendrils, in a ridiculously fast move, wrapped around me and tugged me against Razar, his hands gripping me possessively, but his gaze not moving from Saint.
“Tell me, Saint, that you didn’t put her life at risk like that.”
I could hear the lethality and threatening wave of energy right underneath his words, and my eyes widened as I was suddenly airborne. I squeaked as my hands tightened on the tendrils that were now holding me against the tunnel wall.
I tried to struggle against them, but they wrapped further around me like vines and covered me completely, except for my head.
“Razar, you didn’t listen to me,” Saint said evenly, shadows seeping off of him, my eyes seeking out the little figure that often came to play.
Almost as if thinking it into creation, it appeared, sitting on one of the tendrils wrapped around my chest, offering me a small head tilt of concern.
I looked back at the way Razar was walking closer to Saint, his malevolent energy causing my face to flush pink.
“Didn’t listen to you?” Razar asked quietly.
“I told you she would be completely fine,” Saint pointed out. “More than fine.”
“She smells like death,” Razar growled, his voice turning far less human as his skin began to transform into his exoskeleton, making me know how upset he was.
I supposed I should be thankful it wasn’t because I slept with Saint but more about my safety…
but he was literally shifting in front of me without a thought.
I liked them worked up, all growly and shifted, but now I was actually growing concerned. Razar and Saint fighting could only result in someone getting hurt.
“Well, yeah,” Saint hedged cautiously. “I ripped out and marked her soul, but she’s all good.”
“Saint…” I warned, both of them ignoring me.
“All good?” Razar froze, his voice distorted. “You killed her. You killed Arabella.”
Saint offered me an apologetic look I didn’t understand before saying, “Yeah, I did.”
I really had no idea what I thought was going to happen, but when the final light went off and the tunnel filled with an icy energy, I began to feel a bit nervous. Not for myself, but for them. I knew that Razar regretted whenever he lost it, and going against Saint wasn’t good by any means.
“Razar.” Saint’s voice was calm and collected, but detached like it wasn’t really him. “I would highly suggest you rein it in. Arabella is right here.”
I really, really didn’t think he needed to remind him.
A surprised sound came from my throat as Saint suddenly lit up in a silver glow, shedding light on the mass of tendrils moving around him.
Shit. I couldn’t see much, but everything except for the circle around Saint was crawling with Razar’s magic.
It was like the floor and walls were made of snakes, moving and wrapping tighter and closer to their prey.
Although calling Saint ‘prey’ was fairly laughable.
“You killed her.” Razar’s voice was like I’d never heard it before. It was filled with a tri-layer effect that had my body reacting as if I was afraid, my adrenaline shooting up and skin breaking out into chills.
Saint didn’t respond before looking towards me and offering a frustrated expression that made me feel bad about this situation and my part in it.
“Flower, I promise I won’t kill him.”
Shit.
The tunnel went completely dark…before chaos erupted.
I let out a small scream of surprise as a thunderous boom filled the space, the roar of pressure in my ears making me know that it had been a collision between the two of them.
I cried out for them to stop as I tried to fight against the tendrils wrapped around me, but it was no use, my voice completely lost in the vacuum of dark chaos.
I stopped yelling, trying to not feel physically sick by the pull of the two different magics, as flashes of silver light nearly blinded me. I curled in on myself, whimpering as the tendrils tightened on me, almost bruising, and I heard an inhuman roar shake the space followed by a dark chuckle.
“Saint! Razar!” I screamed out with as much volume as I could, “Fucking stop it!”
They didn’t listen, and it seemed almost like my voice made it worse as the hits continued and I began to see flashes of the fight between the shocks of silver light.
Saint, who was completely bathed in silver, looked much larger than normal, bone seeming to to cover his face and making him truly look like the Grim Reaper.
The dark void-like creature, who I normally took shelter with at night, darted around him and continued to attack as they exchanged blows in flashes of power.
It was like Razar was everywhere at once.
I knew Saint had gotten a hit in when the tendrils around me loosened and retracted, Razar’s roar of pain filling the space.
I dropped against the cement wall. Holy shit, that hurt.
A cry of pain tore from my throat as I landed on my shoulder weirdly and curled in on myself, unable to help the tears that welled in my eyes.
Apparently, after minutes of fighting, that was enough to stop it.
The lights flooded back on, and I felt Razar’s tendrils wrap back around me as I was lifted from the ground, making my breath hitch. This time, they were far more gentle and almost cocooned me.
I opened my eyes and found that I was once again far, far up on the wall, looking down on the seemingly empty tunnel outside of Saint, who was staring up at us.
I reached up and ran my fingers over Razar’s terror form’s face as he buried his head against my neck, his massive teeth brushing my skin.
I could hear my pulse in my ears as Saint’s eyes shaded with concern.
“Razar, bring her down here. She’s injured.”
“I’m fine,” I insisted despite the tears streaking my face. I was really annoyed they had been fighting, but the pain wasn’t that bad. I didn’t want them to hold any guilt, and I knew that Razar would take that responsibility.
I blinked in confusion as Razar’s tongue darted out from between razor sharp teeth to taste one of my tears, as if confirming my injury, a deep rumble breaking from his chest.