“I will expedite your removal from there, I’ll send in transport—I don’t give a fuck if they notice us.” My father was furious as he strode from the room. Damian muttered something before muting the line, and my gaze snapped to Amun’s eyes, which were focused on me.
“Fucking humans,” he grunted.
Fucking humans. Inhaling sharply, I wondered how the hell we were the monsters when they were the ones torturing children.
10
Arabella
My thoughts grew more tumultuous as I walked back and forth along the empty space in front of my bed. The soft carpet under my feet felt comforting as the cool late-night breeze came through my open window over my desk.
I knew they would be back soon and I needed to go downstairs. I just… I couldn’t bring myself to do so yet. I moved toward the lamp I had on next to my bed and dimmed it slightly, creating a soft, warm and sleepy atmosphere that had me feeling a bit more relaxed. Unfortunately, ‘a bit more’ was far from where I usually was. There had just been far too many things that had happened today. Too many confusing factors that had my thoughts reeling.
I needed to go back downstairs. Why was I suddenly a bit nervous to see the others? Maybe not nervous but restless, trying to figure out what I would say to them. With a long exhale, I put my hands behind my head as I wondered how long I could pull off being up here before Amun and my father came to find me. I had said I’d only come up here to grab a heavier sweater, but in truth I had needed a moment to deal with the anger I was feeling. The absolute fury associated with what had occurred tonight.
A little girl. A child!
I’d been angry before, but now that our medics onboard the jet had informed us that she was five? Fucking five?! Now there was no stopping the absolute rage I felt. A nightmare child was still a child, and she had been tortured by those pieces of garbage.
A snarl built in my throat, making me sound a lot more like Razar than I would care to admit, as my tears began to sting. How many others were there just like her? I had known MAM had become more extreme, but torturing children? That was something else.
After another moment, I tried to let go of the anger riding me, falling back on my bed and letting out a tense exhale. My eyes closed as I ran my fingers through my hair, trying to breathe and stretch through the tension I could feel in my frame.
I knew I needed to relax. Not only would it stress out my team, but I didn’t want our new little guest to sense how worked up I was. Nightmares were amazing at being perceptive, and she was going to be scared enough. The last thing I needed to do was freak her out more. I couldn’t soothe someone when I could barely soothe myself.
This was new for me, being this worked up.
When the room cooled, my skin prickled and my body flashed with a familiar heat, making me know that Razar had gotten back. Well, all of them had, but he was in my room. My eyes flickered open, and I was unsurprised to find a pair of void-like eyes staring at me from the corner of my room, the entire space seemingly alive with power as a faint red sparkle filled the space.
Normally I would have thrown myself at him in excitement or waited for him to come pick me up, but instead I just continued to look at him, feeling a mix of emotions that I didn’t know how to handle.
There was relief and affection that he’d returned safe. Betrayal and frustration at what Amun told me. True anger at humans that had me feeling like I was going to lose it for the first time in my life.
So instead of reacting to any of those, I continued to look at him, feeling an overwhelming sense of thankfulness that they had made it back. Well, until a smell of copper hit my nose that had me flinging up.
“Are you bleeding?”
Was he injured? Crap. That would make far more sense on why he hadn’t attempted to scare me like normal with the flickering lights and creaking window. I knelt on the bed and looked up at him, trying to see him better and frowning at not seeing any direct injuries, but still smelling blood thick in the air. I would have normally assumed it was the blood of those he killed, but Razar had come back after killing on missions before, usually without anything on him.
A low rumble filled the space as I stood up fully, the bed dipping as I maintained my balance. I put my hands on my hips as I offered him a bit of a frustrated expression, half because I didn’t know how to react, but also because he could be particularly stubborn when he was in his terror form. I knew why he was avoiding coming down here.
“Please come down here?” I asked softly. “Are you hurt? I can turn off the light if it’s that big of a deal, but you know I don’t— Oh shit.”
I let out a squeak as my legs were pulled out from underneath me, causing me to fall back on the bed, as he highlighted how truly fast and lethal he could be. I suppose I had always known that he was this fast, but somehow it was far more impressive when he was using his lethal abilities on me.
I focused on his dark form over me, his icy tendrils of magic wrapping around my body as he shifted into his human form. The wavy, dark exoskeleton still covered most of him, but his form was all man, and his face was authentically his, the wavy tendrils pulling away from his face revealing a familiar pair of red eyes. My fingers immediately brushed his face as I nearly squirmed against his hard body, feeling flush at his touch. I found myself lost for words.
Then I saw the pain in his eyes.
“Razar.” I gripped his jaw lightly as he nuzzled against my hand. “Are you injured?”
“Yes.” His voice was a low, soft hiss that seemed to vibrate through the space and had me feeling an authentic twinge of exhilaration and… fear? I swallowed back surprise as he let out a low growl, his grip tightening on me. Could he feel that? Feel how concerned I was for him? The fact that it was bordering on fear? I wasn’t scared of him, but for him, though I wasn’t positive that mattered to his nightmare.
“Where?” I ran my fingers along his chest as he refused to answer, his lips brushing across my neck, my breath shuddering as he squeezed me in a possessive, nearly suffocating manner.
“Damn it, Razar,” I huffed as my eyes grew heavy at how hard he was against me. I tried to not get overwhelmingly turned on by thinking about how large he would be in this half-shifted form. I’d felt him hard against me before, but this… this would be something else, I could just tell. I was extremely interested in seeing that, but not right now. I needed to keep focused on the all-important factor that the bastard was injured. I could daydream about him screwing me six ways to Sunday up in the corner of the room when I went to bed tonight. No different than most nights.
“You almost smell afraid.” He frowned, his voice rough as I ran my fingers along his tan face and shaved hair. “Is that because of me?”
“I am extremely worried about why you smell like blood,” I admitted.
“Not because of how I look?” He leaned further against my hand, a near purr breaking from his chest. I let out a small sound, holding back a moan as he rocked against me, showing me just how affected he was by our closeness.
Goddamnit.
“Never,” I barely got out.
I let out a small surprised sound as he rolled us so that I was on top, his form shifting to almost completely human underneath me, though some of his icy tendrils still lingered against my skin from where they seemed to come off his frame like vines. My desire was anything but dampened; however, I was instantly focused on his injury.