Fighting - Anaya Phoenix (free books to read .txt) 📗

you wanna know why you fucked up?” The confidence in his voice was enough to take me back and make Libby stop pacing to listen.

“I don’t have a human casing, I was born in this body. I operate on a complete opposite basis than they do.” My eyebrows shot up before a smile lit my face.

“Then you insulted my mate, blatantly, and talked about her in a way I don’t particularly like. You were most likely going to die originally, but now I’ll enjoy it way more.” He grabbed Azazil’s wrist and squeezed tight, breaking and crunching everything in his way before pulling it out of his chest with nothing but the sickest of smiles on his face. Azazil fell to his knees, reaching for Mason’s arm but failing to grasp it as he punched him in the face again. The smell of demon blood was not a good smell, it was rotten and smelled too strongly of metal and hatred for it to be any sort of human. He lifted the demon who was the same height as he until he looked him directly in the eyes.

“I wish I could say it’s been fun, but it really hasn’t and I kinda really never want to see you again in any way shape or form.” Azazil smiled through bloody teeth and stroked Mason’s hair.

“See you soon, cousin. One of you will help me, whether you do it willinlgy or by force. I’ll tell father you say hi and mother you said happy birthday.” With that Mason squeezed on his throat until it was nothing but dust in his hands. Azazil had seeped back into Hell and would be back soon.

“Cousin?” Libby squeaked. Mason didn’t even spare her a glance as he walked back towards his room.

“When he comes back, and he will, me and Cella will go up to the surface to retrieve Abaddon. Don’t put any of yours in jeopardy.” With a nod from me he walked out and Libby struggled again. I let her go and she tripped slightly, Ander nudged her to her feet again before standing by me.

“You knew didn’t you, that they were related?”

“They’re both spawns of satan, all of ‘em are related in the end. Mason is just directly tied Azazil, their parents are from the first batch.”

“Why didn’t you tell me, I wouldn’t have-“

“What? Pined after a demon?” I crossed my arms and let the joking aside. I looked at my little sister, closer to a regular wolf than any of my siblings were. Her hair was in a disheveled bun and her night clothes were ruffled, her hazel eyes were upset but for a reason I couldn’t quite figure out.

“I wasn’t… I-I didn’t-“

“What is going on with you Elizabeth?” I asked, stepping closer to her. She looked at me and her anger dropped slightly but not enough to showo anything else.

“Ever since I was cured, I just… see things differently. There’s not just black and white anymore, it’s not a question of whether I live or I die but what will I do with the chance I’ve been given. I’ve been so close to death, a couple of times I was willing to call it. Then you took it away, and I grew into myself and I planned. I never got to plan before. I’ve known since I was ten that I was going to die, but now all that I knew is gone. For the better, of course, but still. I get to have new dreams and I get to see life for what it is, and not the sickness I was handed. I just understand that life is so precious and now… now it has be taken away again. If you can save me, why can’t you save her. If the Gods can spare me, why not spare the fighting?” Tears welled in her eyes and it reared my wolf up but I fought, I would deal with this one.

“You are precious to me, and to our whole family. The youngest of us all, and so much like mom that it hurts for me to stand so close to you without wanting to argue. You are the weakest of us all, which is a good thing but also horrible; because you can’t see it. You are an omega, your automatic response is peace in a situation that requires violence. Which isn’t bad, but it also isn’t good. Because that means that you are susceptible to the shittiness of the world and you are the opposite of color blind. You see all the vibrant colors and you smell the air and you taste so much of the worlds goodness, so you block out the bad. You make yourself oblivious to the darkness, to the sourness and the acridity of the world. I can’t let you hurt yourself, your mate can’t let you do that. So, you may not agree with my words and my actions and how I go about saving all of you from yourselves and from danger, but I don’t care. Because that means that I am saving you from a fate worse than death, and that’s falling for all the shit the world dishes out. The Gods didn’t spare you, I did. They will never give you anything on a silver platter without asking for something in return. I can save you, because I am strong enough to do so. My powers, they are a blessing. But living a life, where every death from here on out is your fault, isn’t worth it if I can’t do that. So I’ve gotta make the decision to save all of you, by saving myself. If I get caught, if any of us gets caught, up there it’s game over. Please see that, please stop trying to find the good in everyone when there is no good there. Please, for my sake Elizabeth Anne, go to sleep and don’t think about it. Close your eyes and remember your family, and the whole of the shifter race. Whenever you think it might be smart to go against me or the law that I’ve place down or risk your own life because you think somebody is good; think of us.” I stood up fully, wiping a tear from my eye and turning away. I hopped on Ander’s back and laid down, allowing his sent to calm me.

Chapter 24

 

I knew that Libby wouldn’t get up again, she’d been kicked while she was down and she was smart enough not to do it again. Mason was angry, pissed was a better term, and he wouldn’t go to her. He was never good at words or emotions, combining those two was an impossible feat for him. It hurt me that my baby sister was laying alone in her bed, saddened because the world wasn’t what she thought it was. It hurt me that I was the one that had broken that idea, but it had to be done. Ander nudged my shoulder with his head before wrapping his arm tighter around my abdomen. He was telling me to go to sleep, but I knew the dreams would return. I had resurfaced and brought with me the thing that made me need him to sleep in the first place. The nightmares of the screams and the judgement had reared their ugly head again and tonight, now that I had mentioned it, they would be amplified by a million. All those deaths on my head, and all those that I wouldn’t be able to save if I kept fucking everything up. I would have to save Abaddon, there wasn’t a doubt about it. I would take Mason, yes, and I would also bring Filly. I couldn’t take anybody else, I couldn’t risk hurting anybody else.

                I turned over in Ander’s arms, looking at him while he slept. He was my gift, the good that I’d gotten from dealing with their shit all my life. He was perfect for me, understanding and stubborn and my opposite and equal in every way. My hand stroked his cheek, it was growing rough. We didn’t have all the luxuries in the world down here, we were barely given soap for us to wash with. My father had grown a full on beard in just one month of us being here. He still had the laugh lines around his lips, they were slowly starting to fade now. He was worried about me, more than he’d ever been. We were more in tune since we’d had sex, I could feel more of him and he could feel more of me. He finally understood the gravity of my dreams because, now, when I woke up drenched in sweat he did too. I hadn’t gotten much sleep over the past month. I would take a few naps here and there but would never go in depth in my sleep because he wouldn’t sleep.

                I took a deep breath, petting his head and reveling in the softness in his hair. I leaned in and kissed his nose before kissing his forehead. It was about time to start training, I would have to leave him soon. We didn’t get to talk or touch much while training. I was focused on training them, making sure that they were always stronger than the previous day and he watched with silent pride and fear. I knew he knew that I didn’t sleep, he felt how tense I was at night and I knew his wolf and mine talked when we weren’t paying attention. He had gotten a strong mate, he was proud to have me but wished I wasn’t as strong as I was because I would kill myself if I kept on this path. I smirked and kissed his forehead again, loving how close we were. I just stared at him, feeling how deep his breaths were against my chest and the scent of cedar and male and warmth that he gave off.

“It’s time.” Leo whispered in my mind and I nodded, blinking away tears. This is how it would be until the war, how it would be until it wouldn’t be anymore. I stood and his arms let me go but he still feigned sleep, he even turned around. My breath was so close to hitching but he didn’t mean to hurt me, he couldn’t feel how close I was to breaking down because I’d hidden it from him.

                I was tired, and the energy in here was so close to bubbling up. There were so many people here, so many lives depending on us to save it and some days I didn’t think we could. But I did my job; I trained, I ate, I laid down with my mate. Rinse and repeat. I changed into training clothes, and put my hair in a ponytail before walking to the training center. We never did training at the same time, we changed it as the week went on and changed it weekly. I went to the training room and found them stretching with a yawning Zena. Her brown eyes found me and she waived weekly.

“Morning, if it is morning. I can never tell anymore.” Sadness was in her eyes and I smiled sadly before