Chapter seven
How many days had she been under his roof?
Two?
Three?
The way the Akachi had his mind, it was hard for Levi to keep track of the days, but he knew the moment he opened his eyes and his mind was semi-clear, it was because she was here one floor beneath him.
It still amazed him how much peace the spiteful, stubborn witch brought him.
Sebastian hypothesized that it had to do with the fact that she could control chaos magic.
Having no other theory to combat it, Levi had taken his friend’s theory as law.
Though, in the end, the why didn’t matter to him.
All that mattered was that being within a few feet of shawty allowed him to think, and that was priceless in his current state.
The shutters in his room rose, the clicking sound shaking him from his lucid thoughts.
Just that quickly, his mind clouded and the irritation that had been his new companion filled him.
During the cold shower and his wake-up routine, all through him getting dressed, there wasn’t a single thought Levi could chase down to conclusion. As a result, impotent anger filled him.
Growling, Levi stepped onto the balcony that flanked his bedroom, flopping down into the chair he kept outside.
He quickly lit the pre-roll he kept on the table and inhaled deeply, the weed clearing some of his thoughts.
An artificial calm filled him and the fact that it wouldn’t last tightened his shoulders.
The drug would only do so much. He turned his head at the knock on his door, probing the thoughts of the person on the other end. He bade Lucas to enter.
His friend joined him on the balcony, leaning against the wooden railing.
“She’s demanding to leave again. This time she says she has to work,” Lucas announced.
Levi growled. Through his blood bond with her, he could feel her frustration, though her thoughts were hidden from him. It was puzzling how she was able to keep the shield over her mind. It shouldn’t have been possible.
“What you wanna do?” Lucas interrupted his train of thought.
He gave Lucas a droll look before changing the subject. He wasn’t ready to allow her to leave. “The men at her house report back?”
“The Buru came, just like you predicted.” Lucas crossed his arms over his chest.
“Did they get rid of them?”
Lucas returned the look Levi had given him earlier. The question was rhetorical. Of course, his men got rid of them. Any Buru that stepped into Black Hollow met with the same fate.
“You want them to hang around?”
He shook his head. The Buru could well send reinforcements, despite the fact that they shouldn’t even be getting past the border into the South.
“How would her uncle have even been in contact with the Buru?”
Levi waved away that question. He frankly didn’t care about any of the stupid moves the mage had been making. “I want to know how they keep getting through our borders.”
Lucas shrugged. “We can meet with the border mages, but likely it’ll piss off the Collective.”
Levi used the tips of his fingers to put out his blunt. “You know I don’t give a fuck about that.”
Lucas snorted. “And the girl?”
“Is mine.” The answer came of pure instinct. He wasn’t giving her up. “Her staying here will keep her safe in case the Buru come back.”
Surely that sounded sane?
“That safety excuse will only go so far. If she works for the Archive like she says, Ms. Fine-ass Sophia gon’ come looking for her,” Lucas warned him.
Levi grunted, already knowing that Sebastian wouldn’t buy his excuse either. Keeping her had been impulsive but damn if he could feel any regret for it. It wasn’t a great idea, but the way he felt around Amaya made him less inclined to give her up.
He walked back into his room, then started pacing, then sighed as he felt Sebastian’s energy coming closer. His best friend was always able to read Levi’s moods so he should’ve known he would come to his room sooner or later. It was a downside of their tight bond.
“What are you doing, Levi?” was Bas’s first question as he entered the room.
He didn’t address him by his title, which meant his friend was worried and coming to him as a brother and not a soldier. Lucas gave him an ‘I told you so’ look before leaving the two alone.
“She’s mine,” he snapped.
Bas hummed. “And this is the course you wanna set with your mate?”
“What other choice do I have, Bas? I let her leave here and what else will her fucking uncle get her into? Buru were circling her house just last night. What if they send more after her and her mother?”
“Perhaps explain that to her.” Bas’s tone was reasonable, and yet…
Anger, raw and scathing, burned through Levi. In the back of his mind, he understood that the Akachi piece was causing the emotion, but he couldn’t seem to stop it from spilling out of him.
“Shawty’s mine and I can do what the fuck I want with her. I dare a muthafucka to come in here and take her from me!”
Bas sighed, used to his emotional outbursts. They were coming more frequently. Levi could feel his control slipping through his fingers like sand.
“I got your back whether or not I agree with your actions, Levi. You know that,” Bas assured him, and Levi tried to breathe through the volatile emotion.
“Leave me, Bas,” he whispered, and his friend did as he asked.
He lifted the lamp at his bedside and tossed it at the wall, satisfied at the crash.
Taking pleasure in the sound, he lifted something else.
When he came back to himself minutes later, all around him lay destruction, proof that he was losing control again.
He didn’t even know how long he was out this time.
Before he could consider it, the door opened and servants entered, like automatons, quietly and efficiently cleaning up the mess he’d made.
Sighing, Levi stepped from the room and onto the balcony.
Taking in the cool damp air of the evening, he lowered his head.
He couldn’t lead his men this way. Raven’s warnings sounded in his head and he understood that his arrogance had gotten him into this position.
Sebastian’s mate had warned him in a respectful way that the power of the Akachi stone would eventually be too much for him to take.
He thought he’d weighed the pros and cons, deciding that the power that surged through him was worth whatever the consequences.
He needed that power to secure the Bayi’s position in this world.
He would no longer allow the Collective to overlook his vampires.
The Bayi were done paying for the crimes of a long-dead ancestor.
Deciding to go see the woman who plagued his thoughts, he headed downstairs. He found a maid coming down the hallway with the tray he knew was for her. Amaya was still refusing to eat her meals with him. Levi grit his teeth as he tried to determine how much longer he would allow that.
“I’ll take it to her,” he told the maid, grabbing the tray. A docile bob of her head was her answer as she stepped aside.
Taking a deep breath, he knocked at the door before turning the knob.
He growled when it refused to give way. Using his power, he attempted to push through the lock.
Frowning, he tried again, and still, the door didn’t open.
Using his magic, he probed at the opening, realizing that not only had she locked the physical door, it was shielded, keeping his magic from inside the room.
“Amaya.”
“Go away, King.”
“Open the door, Amaya, before you piss me off.” He stated it as calmly as he could.
The door opened and Amaya stood on the other side, ever defiant.
In between them, a shimmer of her magic kept them separated.
Despite the opening, Levi knew he still couldn’t enter her space.
Her magic was preventing it. She wore a soft cotton set, a simple tank top and shorts with tiny flowers on it.
He’d ordered Lucas to only bring her clothes she wouldn’t try to escape in.
He wanted her comfortable, gambling that she wouldn’t want to go outside in pajamas.
“I’m ready to go home,” she said, her eyes full of fire.
His eyes traced her thick thighs exposed in the little shorts. Instantly, he was distracted from his purpose. “So you’ve told my men, over and over. Why are you refusing dinner with me?”
Why had he asked her that? He shouldn’t care. He could only blame it on the way her heavy titties dragged down the collar of her tank top. He clutched the tray in his hand tighter, praying for some semblance of control.
“Because you kidnapped me. This ain’t no resort, King.”
The mocking nickname was finna send him spiraling, Levi could feel it. “Amaya, you ‘bout to piss me off.”
She faked a gasp. “Oh no. The king is angry. Is the dungeon the next level after this?”
“Why do you insist on thinking the worst about me?” he snapped, lust clearing and making way for the anger that was his constant companion.
“You have me locked in this room!”
Her power flared, dampening the sound around the estate, almost wrapping the two of them in a cocoon. The beast inside of him wanted to consume that magic. It made him frantic and edgy.
“Because your aggravating ass keeps trying to leave this estate. You think I don’t feel you poking at my damn shields? What did you expect when I caught you climbing the fucking fence?”
“It’s been almost two weeks! I can’t just miss work. I’ve told your men that.”
Two weeks.
Gods, he’d lost track of time that badly?
A sliver of fear sliced through him and for a moment, Levi was speechless…
helpless, which fed into the anger and confusion.
He was losing his grip on reality more by the day.
He tried to reconcile the conversation he’d just had with Lucas and Sebastian with her revelation.
Surely that exchange had taken place this morning? So, then…wait.
No.
That’s not right. He looked down and saw that he was dressed for work, so that means the conversation happened…
When?