Page 3 of Knight’s Salvation

There was a pause as she listened. “Yes, they’re here now.” Another pause. “It’s Rocco and…um.” She glanced up at him, brow scrunched, and he realized he hadn’t told her his name.

He remembered Chaya at the compound a year ago. Their features were similar, elfin, delicate. Their figures, too—voluptuous, rounded…soft. But where Chaya was dark, her sister had fair skin and vibrant red hair.

Rocco cleared his throat. “You gonna tell her your name or glower at her all morning, Zen?”

The phone at her ear creaked, like she’d tightened her fingers around the thing. Mia bit her lip and blinked up at him. Afraid.

“Zenon.” It came out a growl, and she flinched. He quickly averted his gaze so she wouldn’t have to look at him.

“Jesus Christ,” Rocco muttered.

He tried to shrug it off. Her reaction to him shouldn’t matter. It sure as hell wasn’t anything new. He had that effect on most everyone. But for some reason, her fear pissed him off. He could smell it, bitter and dark. Fear usually fueled him, but he didn’t like it coming from that female. He didn’t know why he gave two fucks, but he did, and that just made him angrier.

He turned his back on her and stared out the window in an attempt to pull his shit together. And as he suspected, with his ugly mug facing the other direction, the bitter smell faded, replaced by her own wholly unique scent.

She repeated his name to her sister, and his stomach clenched at the sound of it coming from her lips.

The feeling was foreign, odd. He couldn’t name it or place its source, but it moved up, squeezing behind his ribs in the center of his chest.

Maybe he’d burned his energy stores already? He thought he’d be okay for another couple of weeks. Yeah, the pain was there, but it was always there. He knew from experience it would only be a matter of time before it became too much, until he could barely walk, his skin burning like acid, like his flesh was being flayed from his bones. Then and only then would he go groveling for what he needed.

A crawling sensation traveled across his skin at the memory of the last time. Cold, grasping hands tearing at his skin…pain, humiliation.

Relief.

Hatred.

He sucked in a breath and forced the memory from his mind, allowing his senses to return to the female at his back. She’d been quiet for a long time. But he didn’t need to hear the conversation to know Chaya was warning her sister about him. The demi they rescued and took back to their compound were trained to block and control their new powers so when they were released back into the world they would remain safe, undetectable to the demons that would hunt them.

Zenon wasn’t on the training schedule. In fact, he barely interacted with the demi there unless he had to. It was counterproductive. They took one look at him, or heard his voice, and lost their shit.

A demi with untrained powers could wipe out an entire town if left to their own devices, and after several incidents he’d been encouraged by Chaos, their leader, to take a step back. He’d only relented and allowed Zenon to come today because they had another retrieval elsewhere and were short a man.

He didn’t give a fuck what Chaya thought about him, but for some reason her warning Mia to stay away from him pushed him close to the edge, drew his demon to the surface, and sent another lance of anger tearing through his gut. He gritted his teeth.

Keep it the fuck together.

“Okay, Chay. I will…yes…I promise…love you, too.” There was a rustling sound then silence.

“You ready to head out?” Rocco asked. “Gunner should be landing shortly.”

He tried to fight it, but he couldn’t stop himself from turning to look at her. She smiled, but it was forced. “Absolutely.”

Rocco walked up and draped his arm around her shoulders, giving her a friendly squeeze. “You’re gonna be all right, Mia. I promise.”

The unreasonable anger he’d been fighting to keep under wraps ripped from his chest by way of an unexpected growl. It tore through the silence and both Roc and Mia spun to face him. Roc looked pissed and Mia more terrified than she’d been moments ago.

Rocco scowled. “What the fuck is your problem?”

He didn’t know what to say, couldn’t explain what had caused his reaction if he tried. But then, he never explained himself to any of the males he fought alongside. Instead, he grabbed her bags and headed for the door. “I’ll meet you downstairs,” he muttered.

The silence left in his wake was deafening.

Mia stared out the window.The sky was clear blue above the cloud bank. Beautiful. And though she was looking, it wasn’t the view that had her focus. How could it when her mind was in such a whirl? Her belly fluttered madly with both excitement and stomach-twisting nerves. Her life would never be the same again. Finally, she could start living.

Plus, it was kind of hard to relax when she was trapped twenty thousand feet in the air with two huge males—well, three if you included the pilot, another knight, named Gunner.

She glanced away from the window to the seats across from her, and her nerves shot higher. Okay, Zenon was still looking at her, and he was still scowling. She couldn’t see those yellow eyes with his chin dipped, hiding behind his hair, but she could feel that cold stare like ice sliding across her skin.