Chapter 117: Chapter Twenty-Three

Alex

“Try harder!” I screamed until I was hoarse, but it was no use.

Cassius hung his head. “What’s done is done.”

I was seconds away from pulling my own hair out while Cassius once again placed his hand on her skin only to come back as if he’d been burned.

“You’re an archangel and still you can’t undo this?” I cried. “What good are you?”

Stephanie, my sister, glared at me. “Watch yourself, Alex.”

I ignored her and pounded my hands against the wall causing a picture to slam against the ground. “He marked her!”

“There go the family pictures.” Mason sighed.

Hope let out a little moan. My heart lurched in my chest as she blinked open her eyes and stared up at all of us hovering over her. “My head hurts.”

No shit.

She was going to be in a lot more pain if something wasn’t done. What the hell had Timber been thinking?

~You know~, a voice whispered.

Exactly what I’d been thinking.

Even now power surged within me, danced along my arms.

Demons sensed darkness.

And I had to wonder—if Timber knew mine.

Why was it that I was suddenly getting the feeling that I was the only one incapable of protecting my own mate?

Mason could lick her wounds—wolf bastard.

Ethan could infuse her blood.

And I could screw her into oblivion.

Wow, good one, Alex. So useful.

As if reading my tumultuous thoughts, Cassius placed a hand on her temple and said, “I’ll take care of that.”

His statement hung in the air, thickening the tension to a choking degree while I watched her visibly relax and then stare up at me with fear-stricken eyes.

“The man at the compound,” she whispered in a small voice. “He—he did something—”

There was no time to prepare her.

I would have done anything in my power to protect her.

But that was just it, wasn’t it? She had the most important part of a siren. My body.

I had nothing else to offer her.

I hadn’t been given the same gifts as everyone else.

And the gravity of the situation killed me.

Would she always need someone like Mason watching over her? Since I refused to tap into the rest of my power?

If he was the better mate, then what the hell was I doing?

You cannot break the bond, Cassius mind-whispered into my brain like the annoying angel he was.

I gulped and gave a stiff nod in his direction.

Once mated—breaking the bond had the potential to kill one or both partners.

My death I could handle. Hers?

~We all have our parts~, Cassius mind-whispered again in his creepy, holier-than-thou voice.

I shoved his presence out of my brain and focused in on Hope. Color was returning to her face, but the tattoo grew.

It wrapped its black tendrils up her arm, slowly creeping across her skin until it slid around her neck like a necklace fit for a queen. The symbol of a crow would appear between her breasts.

I’d seen it before, and then a smaller version would kiss the back of her neck.

She was marked.

Her arms were shaking as she scratched at the black inky movements of the tattoo.

“Don’t.” I placed my hand on hers, enjoying the buzz that still hummed beneath the surface of her skin. “Touching it will only make it worse.”

Tears streamed down her cheek. “Worse? How the heck can this get any worse!” She shook her arm as her breathing turned ragged, her heart rate soared, fluttering like a million butterflies trying to break out of her body. I could feel her every fear, and I blamed myself for them.

I closed my eyes and focused on her breathing and inhaled.

She followed.

Again. I whispered in her mind.

Finally, her breathing slowed to a normal, healthy rhythm. “Demons feed off emotions just like sirens, only where we share power and grow— they drain.” I sighed, while Mason shuffled on his feet.

I didn’t want to have to say it.

At all.

But nobody was speaking.

“Damn it.” I ran my fingers through my hair, my hands shaking with the movement. “Any emotion you feel, he will feel, but he’ll drain it from you so as to keep you from… attracting attention.”

“I don’t even know who he is!” She yelled, getting frantic again.

“He’s a powerful demon.” Ethan spoke first. “One who cheerfully plays whatever side suits him. For now, he’s on our side.”

“But never good,” I said quickly. “Demons are never good. Understand? They’re born out of evil—”

Cassius huffed next to me.

“Oh, please.” I rolled my eyes. “You have maybe one percent of their blood in your system. Maybe if you had more, you’d be able to remove his mark!”

Hope’s lower lip quivered. “Am I going to have this forever?”

I hung my head. “Until he calls his power back… yes.”

She sent me a hurt expression that had me ready to slit my wrists in dramatic fashion—like that would solve everything?

“Why?”

“I think…” Cassius tilted his head. “He was trying to protect you.”

“From Bannik?” Genesis piped up.

“No.” Cassius’s eyes jerked away from mine. “From Alex.”