Page 19 of Tortured Soul (Soulless #1)

Lola

I jolted awake.

Where was I? This wasn’t my room…

This one was larger. A tad messier but clean at the same time. Its occupant probably lived here way before I even arrived.

My hands tightened on the sheets and I dropped my gaze to it. The fabric was gray, satiny. My hands let it go to slide over it, enjoying the softness.

But…where the hell were my jeans?

There was a desk near the far wall, covered with sheets of paper and old books, a small light turned on above it. Thick black curtains were shielding the room from the outside light, only visible through the sides and under the door.

Was it morning? Did I…sleep here?

I was—

“Are you feeling better?”

I gasped, jumping and turning my face toward the voice.

Arc was lying on his back, leaning against the headboard, amused eyes boring into mine, one of his arms behind his head and a book in the other.

Shirtless. His jeans loose on his hips and the elastic band of his underwear peeking out.

Hickeys and bite marks covered his throat. His collarbone. His chest .

“What the hell?” I shrieked.

“What’s wrong?” He frowned, following my gaze, before a grin spread to his face. “Oh, are you admiring your hard work?”

“ Hard work? What’re you talking about? I didn’ t—”

“You certainly did, blondie. But it’s alright.” He closed his book and dropped it on his bedside table, sitting up straighter. “You had my consent. Mostly .”

My eyes bulged.

“Your consent ?”

He shrugged, crossing his arms in front of him. “Well, I would have felt more comfortable if you didn’t get rid of all your clothes and rubbed your nearly naked body against me, but after what happened, I couldn’t just—”

“ What? ” I shrieked, focusing on the blurr that was my memories from the previous day.

His frown deepened.

“You don’t remember?”

After a brief hesitation, I shook my head. At least, I didn’t remember anything that would have led me here, sharing his bed and half naked. My top was still on though, so that was good, right?

I had a normal day at the archives. Ann came by to supervise Carter, he acted like an ass, she stayed to drink the coffee Margaret gave us. I left late and weak, I wanted to go and see Carrie and ask her…

Ask her…Didn’t I?

“You were attacked. A lower demon living here picked up…your scent.”

Shit .

“Tell me,” he said calmly but with an edge to his voice, leaning forward to hover over me. “Why were your pheromones so out of control? Why was it that I was eating with Carter and Jeremiah ten blocks from where we found you and everyone smelled you?”

My throat bobbed as fire rose to my cheeks. My heartbeat picked up, thumping loudly in my ears.

“Are you blaming me for being attacked?” I asked, scooting away.

But before I could put more distance between us, he pounced, laying me flat on my back, his arms not touching me but caging me in. Just like he did when I stepped out of Carrie’s office.

“Why would I blame you,” he groaned. “I’m only trying to save other Immortals from being savagely burst out of existence because of it.”

My eyes widened, mouth agape. Dark flecks flying around, dispersing in the burning wind .

“I didn’t do that!”

His lips curled up. “I know, but I did.”

That demon had disappeared. Exploded into millions of tiny black particles. Burst out of existence . Was he— no . Demons couldn’t die and Arc wasn’t a hunter.

“Did you send him back to Hell or something?” I asked, my breath short.

He leaned closer, our noses nearly touching.

“Or something.”

Arc’s eyes dipped to my lips for a fraction of a second before going back to mine.

“I’m not blaming you. I just want to understand. I was out of my mind smelling you from that far away. Out of my mind hearing people react to that smell. Are your pheromones acting out when you’re weak?”

I hesitated then nodded.

“Okay. You mumbled about the barrier yesterday and Carrie mentioned something about it the other day. Does it make you feel weaker? Was that why you went hunting the very next day you arrived here?”

I tried to shift my gaze away but his hand grabbed my chin, forcing me to look into his eyes.

“I’m not your enemy,” he said softly. “I just need to understand you better.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Yes.”

He tilted his head to the side in wonder. “You fed a week ago. Why were you already so weak? Is the barrier draining you that much?”

Heat climbed up my neck to settle on my cheeks. I tempered it down using a little of shifting powers, but obviously not before Arc noticed.

“The human I fed on was—it wasn’t enough.”

“How so?”

I groaned internally, and his chuckle led me to believe that it wasn’t as internal as I hoped.

“Tell me, blondie.”

“Stop calling me that.” His smile only widened, so I rolled my eyes, caving in with a sigh. “He was a virgin. Thinking I was his fiancée.” I paused again. “He came in his pants before even taking my shirt off. ”

My jaw was clenched so tight in embarrassment that I was almost certain my teeth cracked. His mismatched eyes weren’t teasing. They were kind. Searching.

“And you had to run to your roommates' help,” he concluded, already knowing the rest of the story. “So your pheromones act up when you’re getting too weak.” He waited and I gave another hesitant nod.

“And you don’t want to have sex with other Immortals even though you can feed off them, because most of your past experiences were jerks who couldn’t understand consent. ”

I tried to turn my face to the side again. He didn’t let go of his hold on my chin.

“Yes,” I gritted.

“Hm. I’m guessing last night’s attack didn’t help you change your mind.”

“It did not.”

I could remember it now. The crazed look on my attacker’s face. His forceful attempts at controlling me.

“He’s gone now,” Arc whispered like he knew where my mind went back to. “And I have a plan to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

A plan . I scoffed.

“I respected your boundaries last night,” he said, taking my hand in his, bringing it to the marks on his chest. “You said not to touch you, and I didn’t, even when you got rid of all your clothes and argued with me for ten minutes when I asked you to at least put your T-shirt back on before sleeping.

You spent the night nestled in my arms and it was enough for you to get a decent amount of energy back. ”

I frowned, ignoring the shame overtaking me. “It shouldn’t have worked. There has to be pleasure involved.”

“Who said I didn’t enjoy it?”

My damned cheeks flushed again and he grinned.

“What I meant is, I can help you recharge. Give you a daily dose of energy without forcing you to have sex or anything. So your pheromones won’t drive me to the point of madness again, and I won’t have to kill anyone else for laying a forceful hand on you.”

Was he serious?

Memories flashed back in my mind. My hands on his broad chest. My lips on his neck. My tongue and teeth at his throat. His moans music to my ears. His hands fisted at his sides so he wouldn’t touch me.

“It’s a stupid plan,” I rasped even though the idea of never running low on energy and taking advantage of his strong one sent warmth through my whole body.

“Why?” he questioned, a curious look on his face.

“How would it work, exactly? Am I supposed to meet you in your office for an hour a day for some kind of nap? And what if one day we have a disagreement and you decide to stop helping me after I’ve placed my trust in you?”

The laugh leaving his throat was deep and loud. I frowned, not sure what amused him.

“I don’t nap. You’d move here and recharge during the night. And Kai was right, you’re very distrusting. Should we make a binding promise?”

I scoffed but the amusement died quickly at the seriousness of his face.

“You’re joking, right?”

“I’m not.” He straightened up, sitting on his haunches in front of me on the bed and grabbed a sharp knife from his back pocket, slicing his own palm without a second thought, revealing an unusual colored blood.

“No matter what happens, we’ll share a bed at night if we’re physically able to.

I swear to provide you with a daily dose of energy and you swear not to let your energy get this low again if I’m here to help prevent it. ”

I sat up, leaning on my elbow, watching him with parted lips, a dumb look on my face.

“Are you insane?”

One of his brows arched upward as he kept his arm straight in front of him, the blood filling his hand.

“I’m not. Do you want to add your own conditions?”

I bit my lip, watching his hand and the strange bronze blood pouring. A binding promise could not be broken unless revoked by both parties. It would help me out a lot here.

And bring me closer to Arc, which would get Kai off my back .

I took the knife he handed me and sliced my own palm, black blood pouring from the line.

“Swear not to force yourself on me. ”

His eyes narrowed slightly before his smile widened. “I swear not to touch you inappropriately, unless you ask me to .”

He grabbed my hand in his before I could argue, interlacing our fingers.

A burst of air shuffled both of our hair and a golden light circled our linked hands. His eyes held my slightly frightened ones with determination.

A few papers flew around, drops of our mixed blood falling from our hands but remaining floating in the air. Before they could reach the bed, our mixed blood lifted back up to slide between our palms and spread to our fingers, bringing a tickling sensation up to my bones.

And then the wind stopped. The golden band vanished and all that was left was Arc and I, our breath short, and hands still holding each other.

I was the first to pull away, turning my hand to look at my palm. At the disappearing scar but dark bronze pattern spreading from the white line toward the tips of my fingers, the same one mirrored on Arc’s.

“It’s old magic,” I mused, remembering the only time I made a binding promise before. “Where did you learn about it?”

He retreated, standing up from the bed to go shuffling on his desk, picking up the flyaway pieces of paper.

“I grew up with a warlock. He knew a lot about old forgotten blood magic. Taught me some things that I could do without being one myself.”

So that was it?

“What happens now?” I asked, scooting to the edge of the bed and staring at my hand some more.

“Now we don’t break our promise. Do you have a lot of things to get from your room? I can clear some space for you to use here.”

“Wait, no. You were not serious about that, right? You didn’t mention moving here in the oath.”

He turned around, leaning his back on his desk and crossing his arms over his chest.

“And how do you expect our arrangement is going to work if we don’t share a living space?”

“I—Why am I the one moving?”

He made a show to look around himself. “There’s more space here.

Only one roommate who’s not staying here at the moment.

It’s closer to city hall, so less time for anyone to attack you between the archives and here.

Plus, I’m a light sleeper, and I know for a fact that Marcus has a fucked up sleep schedule, and the girls come and go at all hours of the night. ”

Excuses . “I’m not sure I want to move out. I actually like it there,” I said.

And that was true. Aymeric was the best, and I even started to warm up to Marcus. The girls and I had spent some time together in the last week since they weren’t working. It’s been a while since I had any chance to develop friendships.

He opened his mouth to argue but was interrupted by his phone buzzing on the desk. He pinched his lips shut with a frustrated look and turned around to pick it up.

“Yes,” he said, his tone sharp.

I couldn’t hear the voice on the other line but they sounded frantic.

“A Nephilim?” Arc asked. “Do you see him well?” A pause. His back was tense. “I didn’t have any vision about a Nephilim. Are you sure he’s searching for the camp?”

A Nephilim? Could it be—

“That’s bad.” Arc sighed. “Entirely silver? His eyes, can you see them?”

Fuck. That couldn’t be a coincidence. Could it?

“Can’t you see through the sunglasses?”

There was another pause and Arc turned his face to give me a look before groaning.

“You said you hid the bike. How did he find it?”

Yep. That was him. I was ninety-nine percent sure. There’s no way in hell another Nephilim with silver hair would be roaming around me, stealing my bike. Or, okay, the bike he left in my care. Fine , the bike I kinda stole…

I grabbed my jacket from the floor and took a few steps toward Arc—toward the door.

Arc caught my movement and frowned. “Prepare a team. I’ll call you back.”

The call ended before the person on the other end of the line could add anything .

“Where are you going?” he inquired, taking a step forward, blocking my escape.

“Am I not free to move around anymore?”

“Not if you’re looking to go get your bike by yourself.”

I rolled my eyes, crossing my arms, mirroring his stance. “What if I am?”

“We don’t mess around with Nephilims. Especially those already lost to their curse.

” My throat closed up at his words. My stomach felt heavy.

“This Nephilim’s hair is entirely silver.

We couldn’t see his eyes as he was wearing sunglasses, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they were blood red.

He’s fallen to madness already, it’s too dangerous to go out there by yourself. ”

I balled my hands under my arms, forcing my face to remain as emotionless as possible.

I needed to go find him before them.

“Promise you won’t go and try to retrieve your bike,” he asked, searching my face for something I couldn’t decipher.

I forced a smile.

“I promise.”

I wasn’t going there to retrieve my bike. I was going there to make sure my friend wasn’t doing anything stupid.