Chapter 26
TWENTY-SIX
EMMA
Watching Caden in that cage had been agony.
When that rebar tore into him, I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think past the one, sick certainty clawing its way through me: this is how he dies. This is where I lose him.
I hadn’t even thought about using my haze, it simply surged out of me and into him, healing him without a real conscious move on my part.
But then he’d straightened and turned the fight into something else entirely. Precision. Fury. Control. It was terrifying to watch and gods help me, it was hot.
The way his body moved, like violence was an extension of his skin…it set my pulse racing for all the wrong reasons. Fear and heat tangled until I couldn’t tell them apart, until I hated myself for wanting him.
And then…he’d dragged me off to a dark corner, murmuring all the things I was craving more than life.
I need air.
And I needed distance, miles of it.
I shoved the doors open and stumbled into the night. The cold hit me hard—damp with city grit—but it felt cleaner than anything inside. The chill bit the back of my throat, grounding me enough to stop shaking.
Couldn’t have been more than two minutes before footsteps scuffed behind me. Heavy. Male. I didn’t even need to turn to know it was Caden coming to haul me back in, to start round two of whatever the hell that had been.
But when I spun around, it was Levi who stood a few feet away, grinning like he’d caught me doing something I shouldn’t.
“Didn’t peg you for the type to sneak off alone,” he commented in a voice too smooth.
I stiffened but forced my face neutral. “Didn’t peg you for the type to follow women into dark alleys.”
He chuckled, clearly pleased with himself.
With every step he took, my skin crawled. Every instinct screamed to retreat, but I forced myself to stay still, nails digging crescents into my palms.
Too close.
Levi was clearly a man who believed himself the gods’ gift to women, and I cursed myself for ever thinking I could pull off something as simple as a casual fuck with a guy like that.
Not when Caden—
I shifted back a step, ready to end this before it became anything uncomfortable. My eyes flicked down to the inside of his wrist, more to avoid him than anything else, and noticed a welcome change of subject.
A tattoo, special enough to invoke a question.
A golden snake with obsidian eyes, its body twisted tight in red chains, gleaming faintly against his skin.
“Interesting tattoo you have there,” I murmured. “Any special meaning?”
Levi’s grin faltered. The ease drained from his face in an instant, his jaw setting hard. “How the hell can you see this?”
His gaze crawled over my face, searching. “Only…” His mouth twisted, his whole demeanor shifting into something darker. “Only those who are sworn in, can see this.”
Sworn in?
Before I could react, his hands shot out, clamping onto my arms hard enough to bruise. “Are you one of us?”
The anger at his closeness ripped through me, and my red haze lashed out before I could think. Invisible and silent, it knocked him back like a wave breaking against stone.
He hit the wall with a grunt, staring at me like I’d just sprouted fangs.
“Your translation isn’t visible in the Human World?” He sounded equal parts in awe and repulsed. “What kind of freak are you?”
Okay. Mostly repulsed.
Mothaflapping crap on a hellish cracker.
I didn’t get the chance to answer though.
A blur of movement cut between us, faster than my brain could register.
One second Levi was standing there, sputtering his horror, and the next… His head was gone. Sheared clean off in a single, brutal strike.
The body hit the ground with a wet thud, and the alley filled with the thick, metallic scent of blood and something heavier: finality.
I froze. My breath came shallow, pulse roaring so loud it drowned out the rest of the world.
Then his voice cut through the silence, low and edged enough to send a cold ripple through me. “I see you decided to test my patience.”
Caden stood over the body like it was nothing more than a mild inconvenience. His Chela hung loose at his side, catching the dim light filtering through the closest window. His mouth curved, not quite a smile, more like the shadow of one.
I crossed my arms to try and keep my hands from shaking. “Not everything is about you,” I retorted calmly, even though my heart was trying to escape my chest.
He tilted his head, expression dark and infuriatingly calm. “I highly doubt that.”
My gaze dropped to Levi’s body as the pool of blood spread around his boots. I should’ve felt something. Guilt. Shock. Horror. But there was only this strange, hollow calm. “Was this really necessary?”
Caden’s shoulders rolled in a slow shrug. “He touched you,” he said simply, as if that explained everything. His tone wasn’t angry, only matter of fact, as if he were reciting a law older than both of us. “I told you what would happen if he did.”
In his defense, he had warned me. And Levi had touched me, barely, but still. Caden had never been the type to bluff.
I glanced up at him again, blood splattered across his shirt, still burning with that same, dangerous heat from inside.
Did that mean he was about to make good on the rest of his promise? Drag me off somewhere dark to spank me like he’d threatened, and maybe fuck me until I forgot my own name?
Was it wrong that the thought didn’t scare me?
That part of me—maybe the worst part—hoped he would?
The thought alone was dangerous, so I latched onto the first distraction that came to mind. “Did you see his tattoo?” I blurted out.
Caden’s frown deepened. His eyes flicked from me to the corpse at our feet. “Where?”
“His wrist.” I swallowed, forcing my focus away from the blood pooling near my shoes. “Golden snake, obsidian orbs, red chains.”
He crouched beside the body, movement smooth and practiced, the way only someone used to this kind of aftermath could move. He took the limp hand and turned it over, inspecting the wrist. His jaw ticked once as he stared. “This one?”
I nodded. “Yeah. He told me I could only see it if I was ‘sworn in.’ What do you think that means?”
Caden rose again, straightening to his full height. “I can see it just fine,” he said, tone even. “And I haven’t been sworn into anything in my life.”
Unease prickled at the back of my neck. “Does it mean anything to you?”
He shook his head, brows furrowing slightly as if he was replaying every symbol he’d ever seen. “No,” he said, almost to himself. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Before I could push further, the outside door slammed open, hard enough to rattle the hinges and send an echo down the alley.
Caden reacted instantly. One arm hooked around my waist, pulling me tight against his chest, the other braced out in front of us.
The move was so fast it stole my breath.
My palms flattened against him as he shifted his stance, his body a living shield between me and whatever was coming through that door.
Metal groaned, footsteps scraped, and I was suddenly very aware of how close we were, the steady thud of his heart under my hand, the faint scent of iron and heat that clung to him.
Jackson’s voice cut through the night. “The hell are you two doing out here? It’s freezing.”
His gaze dropped to the decapitated body. “Jesus. Is that Levi?”
Crap.
“Can you see anything specific on his wrist?” Caden asked, tone flat, like they were discussing dinner plans.
Jackson blinked. “I’m sorry, I’m a little distracted by the severed head next to it.”
Without so much as a sigh, Caden flicked his wrist, and Levi’s head dissolved into nothing. “Better?”
Jackson gave a dry laugh. “Hardly, but thanks for the nightmare fuel.” He crouched, squinting at the corpse. “I don’t see anything particular.”
“No tattoo?” Caden pressed.
My broody friend frowned. “No. Should I?”
I crouched beside him, peering closer. The edges of the wrist were blurring, turning translucent. “It’s fading,” I said quietly. “It’s fading as we speak.”
The outside door slammed open again, the sound cracking through the alley. Caden reacted instantly, translating what was left of the body out of sight before anyone could see.
“There you all are,” Sean bellowed, too loud, as if his eardrums had taken permanent damage somewhere along the way. He looked at me, then at Caden. The shift in his expression was immediate: confusion first, then suspicion, then concern masked as irritation. “The hell happened to you?”
“What?” I asked, far too quickly.
“What do you mean, what?” Sean’s arms flailed like a man trying to conduct an orchestra only he could hear. “You’re both covered in blood!”
Double crap. Apparently, decapitation had more of a splash radius than I’d accounted for.
In one smooth motion, I translated it all away, every smear, every dark patch soaking through fabric. “Better?”
Sean blinked at me, still frowning like I’d just done a card trick instead of erasing a homicide. “Wanna explain what the hell just happened?”
I shrugged, feigning nonchalance I didn’t feel. “Levi touched me. Caden saw.”
Sean’s mouth curved into an amused grin. “Really? Looks like that plan of yours worked out great.”
I flipped him off without hesitation. “Bite me.”
Jackson snorted and jabbed Sean in the ribs. “We still going to that afterparty, or what?” he grumbled, rubbing at his temple like the alley lights were too bright.
Sean groaned, rolling his shoulders. “Christ yeah. I need a drink, and maybe someone who doesn’t try to vaporize me when I flirt.”
Couldn’t help but snort. “Good luck with that.”
I turned to Caden, who was still standing where he’d been, one hand shoved into his pocket, the other flexing once before falling still. The alley light caught the edge of his jaw, his expression unreadable, but his focus was locked on me like he could see every thought I was trying to bury.
Tearing my gaze away, I pretended my pulse wasn’t hammering in my throat. “If you guys don’t mind,” I said, forcing a lightness I didn’t feel, “I think I’ll sit this one out.”
Jackson frowned at me in confusion. “What? You’re the whole reason we’re here!”
I gave a small, tired shrug. “Yeah, well. I’m kind of done being social for the night.”
Sean lifted a brow, smirking. “That code for Caden’s going with you or Caden’s the reason you’re not?”
“Sean,” Caden warned, his voice low enough to still the air.
My asshole best friend only grinned wider. “Right, right. I’ll take it as a touchy subject.” He clapped Jackson on the shoulder. “Come on, let’s leave the lovebirds to their existential crisis.”
Jackson muttered something about needing a stronger drink, and the two of them finally wandered off, their footsteps echoing down the alley until only silence remained.
I exhaled slowly, the breath shaking out of me. For a moment, I just stood there, staring at the ground, afraid that if I looked up, I’d find Caden still watching me, and I wasn’t sure what I’d do if he was.
“I’m tired,” I muttered, the words barely holding together.
He didn’t answer.
My fingers were restless with magic I didn’t know what to do with.
Finally, I lifted my hand, tracing a slow arc through the air. Green light shimmered along the movement, a thin, trembling line that widened into a glowing portal beside me. The hum of it filled the alley, soft but alive, like the air itself was holding its breath.
For a heartbeat, I glanced at him, only once. The faintest muscle ticking near his temple, and it looked like he wanted to speak but chose not to.
The portal flared brighter, and before I could second-guess myself, I stepped through.
The magic closed around me in a rush of cold air, the alley vanishing behind me. All that remained was the echo of my heartbeat, and the phantom heat of Caden’s hands, still burning on my skin long after I’d gone.