Chapter 126: Chapter Thirty-Two

~Mason~

“You’re smiling more than usual.” I narrowed my eyes as Cassius walked down the stairs and smirked.

He shrugged. “It’s a good day.”

“Because Alex is dying?”

“Alex just thinks he’s dying.” Cassius shrugged again. “I don’t doubt it’s painful, but he’s growing up — growing sometimes feels like dying.”

“Huh.” The berries I’d just eaten went completely rotten in my stomach, rolling around like I’d just swallowed gasoline. “Tell me, how bad does it suck to know futures?”

Cassius’s eyes flashed white. “It’s not pleasant.”

“Hmmm.”

“Bannik will make his move soon.” Cassius leaned his large body against the table. “But until he has a way to absorb the power of Sariel’s brothers — they are safe.”

“And how do we know that he hasn’t already figured that out?”

“We have Timber,” Cassius said simply. “And Timber is honor-bound to protect his queen… which in turn means protecting her from any potential threat Bannik may be. She has the entire demonic race at her fingertips, and Bannik… all he has is himself. It is a very lonely existence, having as much power as he does, and yet nobody to gloat with.”

“Did you just make a joke?”

“Perhaps.” Cassius moved casually through the room, his wings were tucked behind his back, purple and blue feathers fanned down his spine as if they were subconsciously massaging his skin or perhaps just tasting the air out of curiosity.

I shivered. His wings always gave me the creeps. It was like they were alive… they mourned, they rejoiced, they were capable of emotion and to quote Genesis, it was “creepy as hell.”

“Where are you going?”

“I’ll be around….” Cassius called over his shoulder. “Make sure that you let Alex leave if he tries.”

“Can he even walk?”

“Love is a powerful motivator,” was Cassius’s vague answer as he walked out the front door and disappeared.

“I hate his riddles.” Ethan walked in the kitchen and yawned. “They make my head hurt.”

A roar sounded from upstairs.

Ethan’s eyes widened before he ran toward the hall and took the stairs two at a time, bursting into Alex’s room. I was hot on his heels.

Alex was tossing and turning in bed, blood had spattered on the walls, the headboard, saturated the sheets, and dripped onto the carpeting.

It was everywhere as though it was still leaking from his wound.

“Are we sure he’s not dying?” I whispered.

“Smells like it,” Ethan added.

Alex’s eyes flashed open. “Need. Hope.”

“No.” Protectiveness surged over me as my claws bit into the palm of my hands. “Go back to sleep.”

Ethan gave me a look that said, “Right, would you be able to sleep in your own sweat and blood?”

I shrugged.

Beggars can’t be choosers.

“Need her!” Alex shouted again, and this time his voice shook the house.

“Um…” I frowned at his writhing body. “That’s new.”

Ethan covered his ears as Alex’s screaming grew louder and louder.

I moved toward him only to get flung back against the wall. His amber eyes locked on me and turned about fifty shades of blue before his hair turned an icy cobalt.

“That’s new too,” Ethan said before falling to his knees. “What the hell, Alex?”

Alex stumbled out of bed. “Need her. Help me. Need her!”

“Yeah, we can hear you!” I yelled back at him. “Whatever you’re doing, stop!”

His eyes rolled to the back of his head as blood dripped down his fingertips and onto the nice clean floors. “She’s close.”

“Did he just sniff the air?” I asked a frowning Ethan.

We were powerful.

Ethan hadn’t been taken down by a siren, ever.

And the fact that a werewolf had just been flung against the wall like a china doll— a bit horrifying.

Sirens were emotional beings.

Not physical.

“In danger,” he stumbled. “She’s in danger.”

“Timber will protect her with his life—go to bed.”

“Not from him…”

“Me!” Alex roared, every muscle in his body flexed as he collapsed in a pool of his own blood.