Chapter 121 My Angel | 014
NOELLE
"Who is this?" The thing inhabiting my husband's body asks, tilting Azren's head slowly as if it's simply inspecting me like a piece of garbage. Those black eyes rake over me from head to toe. "The little cleaner girl who thinks she can play house with the devil?"
Dread crawls down my spine, my stomach churning. I take half a step back before I can stop myself.
Azren's mouth curves into a cruel smile. It reminds me of Haden. "Go home, little one. Run back to your filthy little family. You're playing with fire, girl, and you're too stupid to realize you're already burning."
My hands curl into fists at my sides. Anger burns hot in my chest, choking me. I don't care if this thing is an ancient dark spirit, I'm done being a pushover!
So, I lift my chin. Even though I'm shaking.
"I'm not going anywhere," I say. "So try harder, whatever you are. Because I'm not running from him."
The thing wearing Azren's face laughs in a way that makes the hairs on my arms stand straight up.
"Cute," it drawls. "Brave little mouse squeaking at the cat. You think that mark on your wrist makes you special? He'll consume you until there's nothing left of your soul."
Azren's body rises slowly from the stairs. Blood has soaked through his shirt so badly that the sight of it brings fresh tears to my eyes. He walks towards me ever so slowly, as if he's daring me to run if I can.
My heart is trying to climb out of my throat.
I do want to run. Yet, I want to touch him and pull him back from whatever abyss he has fallen into.
Before I can decide which one wins, the front door bangs open.
Sabrina rushes in with her black medical bag.
"Move!" she snaps at Jake.
Jake throws an arm out in front of me. "Noelle, step back, now!"
But Azren is already there. One blink and he's on the stairs. The next, he's directly in front of me, close enough that I can smell copper and the faint sweetness of his pleasant scent.
His hand wraps around my throat. And I gasp, waiting for him to tighten his grip, but he doesn't squeeze.
I stare up into those endless black eyes and see no trace of Azren there.
Only hunger.
"Azren," I whisper, my voice cracking. My hands come up, trembling, and wrap around his wrist. I don't pull. I can't. I just hold on. "Come back. Please."
He tilts his head, and the thing inside him smiles again.
Right in that moment, Sabrina hurls a needle in our direction. The needle buries itself in the back of his neck. Azren freezes, and a monstrous grunt slips out of him. Then he slumps into my arms.
All that strength collapses against me.
I stagger under his weight, my arms wrapping around him instinctively as he shakes against my chest. Violent tremors roll through him like he's being electrocuted from the inside. His forehead drops to my shoulder, his breathing ragged.
A tear slips down my cheek and soaks into his shirt.
"I'm sorry," he slurs against my neck, his voice thick with remorse. "Angel... I'm so—sorry..."
Jake is there in an instant, hooking an arm under Azren's and hauling him upright.
"I've got him," Jake mutters. "Come on, Alpha. Let's get you upstairs before you bleed out on your new wife."
Azren tries to focus on me, but the tremors steal his strength again. Jake half-carries him up the stairs while I stand there frozen, thinking of how badly the situation might have worsened. Sabrina hurries after Jake and Azren. But I still don't move. Instead, my knees buckle.
What if...what if I was wrong? What if I can't handle this after all?
...
A while later, I’m standing in front of Azren's bedroom door, my fist raised. My knuckles hover an inch from the wood, trembling. I've been standing here for what feels like forever, trying to work up the courage to knock, to see if he's okay, to ask if the shaking stopped.
I need to know he's really back to normal. But it’s ridiculous. There’s nothing normal about him.
Before my knuckles can connect, voices slip through the door.
I hear Sabrina’s voice first.
"...I know why you're doing this, Azren. She's your mate. The bond makes everything feel urgent and inevitable. But she's human. She’s also fragile. Too weak to survive what comes with you long-term. You know that better than anyone."
My breath snags in my throat. I freeze, my hand still raised. But she keeps going, her voice even more gentle.
"She'll die young if she stays this close. The spirits, the thinning veil, your episodes... you'll drag her down with you. And this marriage? It's a sham. A pretty contract you both signed to keep Haden away. You don't have to pretend it's more than that. Distance yourself. Let her go before she becomes another body you have to bury."
Each word lands like a fresh bruise.
My heart sinks so fast it feels like it's falling through the floor. The hallway tilts.
I thought... I thought the mate bond meant something. I thought the mark on my wrist, the way he shook when he saw it, and the way he called me Angel even while he was bleeding out meant that I belonged here. With him.
But she's right.
I'm human.
I'm the cleaner who writes smut under a fake name because real life never let me have anything good.
I'm the girl who got sold and mocked.
And now I'm the idiot who let herself believe that happiness was allowed.
Hot tears roll down my cheeks before I can stop them. I turn away from the door so fast, I almost sprain my ankle. I stumble towards the stairs, my legs shaky. It feels like my chest is caving in.
I make it halfway down before my knees give out.
I crouch on the step, one hand clamped over my mouth to muffle the sobs ripping out of me. The other presses against my heart because everything hurts.
Stupid. So stupid.
All my life I've been in pain—adopted to be a servant, beaten for breathing wrong, laughed at while I starved, sold like livestock, locked in a room and used until I forgot how to express my discomfort.
And the first time I let myself want more, the first time someone looked at me like I was worth protecting, I believed it.
I believed him.
What a joke.
I'm crying so hard my whole body shakes, tears dripping onto the marble step, mixing with the faint dried bloodstains Azren left earlier.
I tense up the instant I hear the clicking of heels on the floor. Sabrina's voice is low and hushed. And it’s coming right above me on the landing.
"I thought I asked you to give the assassin only three bullets," she whispers into her phone. "Were you trying to send my Alpha into a coma? No! Azren caught him. I’m sure he did!”
A gasp slips from my lips. The heels stop moving. My heart is threatening to explode from my chest as her mortifying words replay in my head over and over again.
"Who's there?" Sabrina's voice sharpens. The mere sound of it freezes the blood in my veins.
My pulse roars in my ears as I ponder on what to do. If I run, she’s going to catch me, isn’t she?
What do I do? Dear God, what do I do?!
She's on the phone talking about bullets. The same bullets that pierced into my husband’s back.
My vision goes blurry as panic kicks in.
She knew. She planned this.
The woman who just told Azren that I'm too weak to stay by his side just admitted to ordering someone to shoot him.
I don't think.
I just bolt down the rest of the stairs, my bare feet slapping the marble. I don't know where I'm going.
But I have to move! I need to—
A hand clamps on my wrist, and I freeze. I’m shaking so hard, it feels like I’m going to throw up.
I turn slowly, and there she is, her green eyes cold and terrifying. They slowly turn yellow, and she growls at me.
“Now, where do you think you’re going, little human?”