2. Asher

TWO

Asher

H owling at the moon, my blood on fire, I rushed forward and crashed into a body, the human’s invisibility dropping as he hit the sand.

His mouth gaped like a dying fish, dark eyes wide with fear.

Good.

I wanted these knobheads to die in pure distress, to smell their own piss and shit as the life left their bodies.

Touch my human, suffer the consequences.

Before the human got a chance to move, I drove my sword into his guts and twisted, watching the blood bubble up from his mouth as he released a silent, choking scream.

Sensing movement to my left, I lashed out with my hand, fingers finding a throat. I crushed the invisible windpipe like a flimsy cardboard tube. Human blood drenched my hands, the rest of the tongueless scum dropping their invisibility in collective panic.

Six of them were standing, two of them dead. Servants of this Ember nightmare.

Dead humans walking.

One of them held Luke in his arms, backing away. Two women twirled their staffs, three crescent-shaped adornments flaring to life on the wood—purple, blue, green—the lights dancing as they performed their magical ritual.

These enchanters were going down.

Two gargoyle knights landed beside me, one of them my best buddy, Dane.

“What’s happening here, bro?” he asked.

My gaze stayed on my unconscious mark. I’d tear this fucker limb from limb for daring to touch him.

Mine.

My human.

My Luke.

The three of us charged, the third knight skewering a man through his skull with her spear.

Ah, the sweet sight of a knobhead getting kebabbed.

I reached Luke’s kidnapper, diving into a slide and took his legs out from under him, Luke flying out of his hold. With my reflexes on point, I snatched him from the air, cradling him to my chest.

“ It’s alright,” I whispered into his mind. “I’m here.”

My anger fizzed, albeit tempered with my mark so close to me now.

“It’s gonna be alright,” I added, wanting to kiss his forehead.

The guy I’d taken down jumped to his feet, drawing a dagger.

“Really? Good luck finding a soft spot on this body.”

He narrowed his brown eyes, trying it anyway.

I beat my wings, lifting into the air as he lumbered forward. I lowered enough to kick him in his face. Up and over he went in an arch, crashing into the sand with a painful thud.

Dane finished him off, snapping his neck.

How many was that dead now? Five? Only one of those twirly staff women remained.

The charms on her weapon flashed more brightly, a series of monstrous shrieks chorusing in the sky.

Ah, bollocks.

Two chimera broke through the rain clouds, these a vibrant green—unlike the yellow ones the other night. Here to piss in our cereal.

I’d been pretty sure these humans were controlling the monsters with magic. Now it was confirmed, their lack of protection made complete sense.

A patrol of airborne knights attacked. Dane and the spear-wielding woman flew up to join them.

Chimera. Deadly, super strong, able to put us through the wringer. Even smashed the London and Brinecrest towers’ protection—one of the few monsters able to do so. By the stone gods, they were horrible things, their scarlet fire able to make lizard babies to join the chaos.

Despite their strength, chimera weren’t tough enough to gain any sort of hold on the human world. And these green ones seemed much weaker, their ferocity pretty diluted, their bodies big but not hardcore.

Thank the stone gods!

The first one crash-landed on the beach, crushing the woman with the staff under its feathered body.

I held Luke more tightly to me, beating my wings, watching the monster’s furious thrashing after being knocked out of the sky.

Ha ha!

Its lion body was covered in feathers, sporting huge wings, and a fucked up goat’s head that triggered memories of the chimera fight at the Thames Estuary back in my early days here. The scar across my left eye twinged in remembrance of me taking a talon to the face.

The monster jumped back up, its tail, comprised of twisted rope with a spiky mace at the tip, flicking angrily. It locked its goat eyes to me, the first signs of fire in its mouth.

Bring it. I’ll ? —

Dane fell from the sky like a rocket in reverse, his silver dreadlocks flapping behind him. On purpose, about to pull off a killing blow.

Man, he looked so cool.

His sword went through the chimera’s middle. Dane landed heavily and got to slicing. Steaming entrails spilled over the sand like swollen spaghetti. The chimera shrieked, clawing at him uselessly.

Dane glanced at me, offering a nod. He had this, they all had this. There was zero need for me to be here.

Luke was my priority, stirring from his forced slumber already.

“Let’s get you back inside.”

I flew back to the lighthouse.

Luke awoke as a heavy rainstorm rolled in. Outside the shelter of this cozy home at the end of a peninsula, the sea expressed its fury against the rocks, the rain and wind battering the lighthouse.

“Hey,” I whispered, his eyelids fluttering open to reveal azure orbs within. Sometimes the hue shifted to cerulean, depending on the light.

Either shade took my breath away.

Frown lines creased his forehead, his features twisting into a grimace. “What… What happened?”

I told him everything from where I knelt before him. I’d laid him out on his living room sofa, drying him off with a towel and changing his PJs, the building’s central heating doing the rest while I waited for the knockout drug in his system to clear.

It had been a standard sleeping drug based on the rose scent, its efficacy moderate. I’d dabbled with it before to subdue panicked humans after a monster encounter.

I swallowed a growl.

“Looks like they were using invisibility charms,” I added, touching his forehead with the back of my hand.

“Chimera again?” he said groggily. “Things are getting so complicated.” He groaned, wriggling to sit up.

“Easy,” I said.

He ignored me, swinging his legs off the sofa. “Dammit.” He sat forward, his head bowed.

“Can I get you anything?” I asked, hands on his thighs.

“A new head.”

“Painkillers it is.” I grabbed a packet from the pile of necessities I’d made beside the sofa and handed it to him along with a bottle of water.

Luke’s smile sent my heart into a tailspin. His auburn hair shimmered like silk, his eyes incredible sapphires. He stole my breath, my mind, every part of me.

Man, I had it bad. Falling hard.

He was precious cargo. A human to be protected because of his power, my mark on his neck confirmation of that. Bound to me, my life entangled with his.

Luke Garland. The human who?—

No. I couldn’t go there . Not now, not with the secret I carried. Scratch that.

Shit. We were so close to being more than bedfellows, on the cusp of something beautiful. He’d called me his yellow, we’d had some amazing sex, got the ball rolling on?—

“What’s wrong?” he asked me.

Gods, his soft voice carried such rich sweetness.

Tell him about Finn, my conscience pressed.

“Nothing. I’m just relieved you’re safe again.” I snapped my rose quartz bracelet, drifting into thought.

How did you tell the man you were falling for that he’d stolen his brother’s gargoyle protection, doomed him to become a terror, and that the potion he took also messed with his memories?

Every time I checked him with my second vision, a gargoyle tool to make sure humans were dosed up, I saw that extra layer of green light peeking through.

Finn’s protection.

Luke shuffled to the edge of the sofa, his hands cupping my face. “You’re not okay.”

I closed my eyes against the warmth of his touch. His pulse thrummed against my cheeks, my resolve melting. The truth bubbled to the surface, my soul rejecting this dirty lie.

I’m gonna tell him, I almost convinced myself.

Only, Seth had told me about Luke summoning a tidal wave after he’d stolen a monster’s power at Crab Cove. An infuriated Luke, a version of him I’d seen for myself.

There was a darkness inside my mark that might explode if he discovered the truth about Finn.

Traitor.

Fucking piece of shit.

Lying went against my nature, this one sitting there like spoiled meat.

Bollocks.

But what choice did I have? What if Luke went crazy and annihilated the town or something? It was a strong possibility, even if it hurt to think of him as anything short of wonderful.

Luke moved, lifting my head up. His face closed in on mine, planting a kiss on my willing lips.

Tiny sparks danced between us, my senses attuned to the joys of him. His cinnamon-orange scent, the wetness of his lips, the feel of him on me, the gentle moan passing from his mouth to mine.

I want you so, so much…

We lost ourselves to the kiss, our flesh melding, our lips the perfect fit. My hands slid up his thighs, bumping the bulge between his legs.

He giggled with a jolt, breaking the kiss. “Oh…”

I licked my lips, hungry for every inch of him.

He caught me staring at the solid temptation.

“Go for it,” he purred, sliding his hand into his PJ bottoms. He moaned as he played with himself, gnawing seductively on his bottom lip.

“Naughty human,” I returned, rock hard myself. “Are you feeling alright?”

“Yes…” he cooed.

Wait a pissing minute. You’re really gonna do this? He was almost kidnapped and you wanna snack on him?

All. Night. Long.

“Do it.” Luke’s lascivious tones made my dick happy.

“Are you sure?”

He slid closer, releasing a heady sigh of pleasure. “Very.”

By the gods, my skin ignited with desire. I had to have him right here, right now. In my mouth, my dick inside him, everything.

I wanna make you scream my name…

I cleared my throat, my fingers digging into his flesh. “You’re not too hurt?”

Luke leaned forward and cupped my chin, his azure gaze boring into me. “Devour me, Asher.”

I didn’t need telling twice.

Before I got those bottoms off, the platinum ring on his left index finger caught my attention. The rubies and the huge diamond in its center gleaned, fires dancing within.

Fires for Ember. DOODAH

“What’s wrong?” Luke asked.

I stared and stared and stared, falling into a trance, wishing for a solution to get it off him. But it wouldn’t come off. Not until it served its purpose.

Fuck that. He wasn’t some key. Ember wouldn’t have him or this ring. He was mine.

Mine.

Mine.

Mine.

He slumped to the side.

“Luke?”

Out cold.

Shit.

“Luke?” I adjusted his position, laying him down, checking his forehead again.

He was burning up.

“Luke?”

His eyelids twitched, his body quivering.

“Luke!”

His eyes snapped open, those blue irises full of fire.

“Ember…” he breathed. “Ember. Ember. Ember.”