Chapter 39 Chapter Thirty-nine
"Oh my God." I slapped my hand over my mouth to stifle my scream.
What was I seeing? Was he transforming?
Everything about this was wrong.
This wasn't the smooth, controlled transformation I'd seen with Vincent. Asher's was violent. Painful. Like his body was fighting itself and losing. Like the dragon inside him was trying to claw its way out while his human form struggled to hold on desperately.
His breathing came in harsh, ragged gasps. His entire body trembled with the effort of staying on his hands and knees instead of collapsing to the ground completely.
I couldn't see his face--his back was to me, his head hanging forward--but I could hear the agony in every sound he made.
Another wave of convulsions wracked him. His spine curved at an impossible angle. The black veins spread further, crawling up his neck, disappearing into his hairline.
And then he screamed.
A sound of pure agony that shattered me. A roar that shook the very air in the room. That made the chains hanging from the ceiling rattle like leaves in a strong wind.
"Asher- "
His name escaped me before I could stop it. Small but audible in the heavy silence that followed his scream.
His body went rigid and I was certain he''d heard me.
My hand moved to the door, some instinct telling me to help. To do something. To not just stand here watching while he suffered, but could I really do anything for him like this? I had to try, right?
But just as I was about to push it open fully. About to step into that room with absolutely no plan and no idea what I'd do once I got there, Aquila's familiar voice cut through the air like a blade and this time I was the one who went rigid.
"Crystal!"
I spun around so fast I nearly lost my balance.
Aquila stood in the corridor behind me, maybe ten feet away. His red hair was disheveled, his clothes slightly rumpled, as if he'd been running. But it was his face that stopped me cold.
I'd never seen Aquila look like this.
The ever-present grin was gone. The teasing glint in his green eyes had vanished. His expression was hard. Cold. Completely devoid of the warmth and humor I'd come to associate with him.
He looked serious in a way that was almost demonic.
"I–" I started, my voice coming out strangled. "Asher he. I-- I heard him and I—"
"You shouldn't be here." His voice was empty. Like he was speaking to a stranger instead of someone he'd been feeding breakfast to just yesterday.
"But he's—"
"Leave."
I flinched at the sharpness in his tone without any of his usual playfulness.
"I can help—"
"No, you can't." He moved forward, each step deliberate like a predator cornering a prey. "You need to go back to your room and lock your doors."
"Why?!" The question burst out of me, desperate and too loud in the cold corridor. "What's happening to him?""
"You wouldn't understand if I explained." Aquila's voice dropped lower, somehow colder. "Which is why you need to leave. Immediately."
Behind me, I heard another groan from the room. Another sound of agony that made my heart clench.
I looked back at the door, then at Aquila, torn between the need to help and the fear radiating from the demon in front of me.
"Crystal." Aquila was closer now. Close enough that I could see the tension in his jaw. The way his hands were clenched at his sides. "I am asking you nicely now. Go back to your damn room. Lock the door. And do not come out no matter what you hear or don't hear."
"Why?" I demanded, even though my voice was shaking. "Tell me what's going on?"
"That's not your concern."
"How is it not my concern?" My hands curled into fists at my sides. "I'm here. I saw—whatever that is—and you expect me to walk away and pretend—"
"Yes." The single word was final. Absolute. "That's exactly what I expect you to do."
Another scream from the room. Longer this time. More desperate.
I made a move toward the door.
Aquila stepped between me and the entrance so fast I barely saw him move. One moment he was several feet away, the next he was directly in front of me, blocking my path with his hard body, pushing me back a step with nothing but demonic aura.
"Don't." His voice had dropped to something dangerous. Something that reminded me that for all his charm and teasing, Aquila was a demon. A creature that could probably kill me without breaking a sweat. "Now is not the time to be stubborn."
"I'm going in there." I tried to sound brave. 2,,. But my voice wavered.
"I don't have time for this." Aquila hissed. Within the split second, his hands grabbed me and tugged my body towards his, knocking the wind out of me. His lips brushed my ear, and a soft whisper drifted into it.
I couldn't understand the language, but a strong sense of compulsion fell over me like a bucket of cold water.
And I stopped fighting.
Aquila pulled back and this time his voice was softer. Intimate as he repeated the words he'd been saying and I've been ignoring. "Go back to your room and sleep. Tonight never happened."
"Tonight never happened..." I repeated the words weakly. My mouth said it so easily, but my mind was losing against itself.
Aquila's expression flickered for just a moment. Something that might have been pain crossed his features before the coldness returned.
"Good girl." His thumb brushed the bottom of my lip before dropping it to his side. "Now go."
He turned me around and gently nudged me forward.