Page 92 of Burn of Obsidian

Jax was going to kill him. “What, Lucifer?” He turned, finding his soon-to-be-murdered friend looking off to the side. Jax followed his line of sight, spotting Roach running in the opposite direction.

“What’s got her knickers in a twist?” Lucifer smirked, eyes widening at the same time Jax felt a ripple of awareness across his chi. “Was that a – ?”

Jax was already moving, racing after Roach. Turning her head, she looked over her shoulder, determination marking her expression when she caught him closing the distance. Her hand held something tight to her face, and it took a second for him to recognise it as Ruhne’s sword.

BETRAYED US! Thunder roared. WE KILL.

Roach skidded to a halt, her smile delivered with the self-assurance of someone who believed she couldn’t be caught. Jax reached for his gun, enjoying the compact weight. He was usually a sword man, but the spark of fear in her eye when he held it up was far more satisfying than it should be.

“Where is she?” he asked, his tone so cold he was surprised there wasn’t any frost.

Thunder’s snarl was a boom inside his head. EAT HER INSIDES.

Roach took a step back, both hands coming up to warn him back. Blood coated her palm, her right eye stabbed perfectly through the pupil.

Lucifer appeared at his side. “Disappointing,” he tutted, rolling his shoulders as if he was about to call his wings. “What happened to honour amongst thieves?”

Jax took a threatening step forward, and Roach’s single eye widened before a burst of black smoke billowed around her. Jax didn’t think; he simply aimed and pressed the trigger. Roach fell to her knees with a scream, her hands covering her head. Except he hadn’t been aiming for her. No, he’d been aiming for the Daemon behind her, the one currently flat on his back with a bullet hole between his eyes.

Lucifer let out a whistle, dark arcane climbing up his arm. “Niiiicccce. You’d put Ti to shame with that shot.”

But there were two distinctive energies, and before Jax could swing his arm, another Daemon grabbed Roach, both disappearing with a static pop.

Fuck.

“Go!” Lucifer said. “I’ll take care of this.” He gestured to the Daemon hissing on the floor. He was already regaining strength; depending on his age, a single bullet was not enough to keep him down for long.

Jax was moving. He’d memorised Roach’s plan, knowing which door they were entering in and the directions to the correct vault. If that failed he’d shift, his beast using his nose to find her.

FASTER!

Anxiety buzzed violently beneath his skin, an encroaching tightness to his lungs until every breath ached. He didn’t allow himself to feel, and the emotions brought on by the mating have been fucking –

“There you are, big guy.”

Jax’s head jerked to the side, finding Thea leaning awkwardly against the fence.

Sweat beaded along her brow, lips pressed tight. There wasn’t even a second’s thought before Jax had pulled her against him, nose sinking into her hair so her scent could appease both himself and Thunder. Sunflowers, that was what her scent reminded him of. Sunflowers in the rain.

Thea groaned, and Jax pulled back. He barely suppressed his growl when he found the splash of red beneath her shirt, the fabric cut rather than torn.

“So, Roach may have screwed us over.” Thea wrinkled her nose, hand pressing flat against her side. “Sorry.”

“What happened?” he demanded more than asked.

Ruhne landed on her shoulder, hand gripping her hair to keep himself upright. “Roach stabbed Thea, so I stabbed her back. In the eyeball.”

This time, Jax allowed the growl to rattle out of him. “How bad?”

“Worse if Ruhne hadn’t been there.” Thea grinned as if she hadn’t just been attacked with a knife. “Did you know he can stop bleeding with his pixie dust?”

No, Jax hadn’t known that.

“Just one of my many talents,” Ruhne said. “So, where’s – ”

Jax pulled his gun, lifting it up just as Lucifer appeared from a drift. The crazy bastard grinned when he found the gun aimed at him, lifting up his arm to display his prize.

“Why the fuck do you have the head?” Jax asked, dropping the gun. The Daemon’s face was slack, and Jax wondered how Lucy managed to behead him without a blade. From the scorched skin, he deducted the use of arcane.