snarled whenever she looked at him. The boy with death in his eyes and the heavy weight of the devil on his back.
Just like Diel. As Noa studied Diel now, she saw an older version of the boy on a leash. His eyes promised nothing but pain and a violent end for her.
The Brethren. They had done this to him. Just like they had fucked with all of them who stood alive, but ruined, in the cave.
“Gabriel …” he murmured. “I need Gabriel.”
Dinah squeezed Noa’s arm. Noa pulled away from Dinah and stood in Diel’s path. In a second he had grabbed her arms and slammed her against the wall. She didn’t look away from his savage gaze.
“Breathe,” Noa said, her voice barely above a whisper. Diel’s hands trembled as he held her, not from strain, she thought, but from uncontained rage. Only his rage wasn’t a warning sign for her to withdraw or be quiet, but rather a beacon call to the darkness trapped within her. She felt it move, a slithering snake awoken from a deep sleep.
He clasped her arms harder. Noa reached for his hair and yanked on it. His head reared back, and his teeth gritted together in fury. “Calm the fuck down!” Noa hissed, refusing to look away from the inferno in his eyes. “We’re one of you. You won’t hurt us.”
“Don’t,” he warned, but his skin flushed, and his pupils dilated as he looked at Noa. His nostrils flared, and she felt him harden against her leg. Her heartbeat stuttered at the feel, at the erratic rhythm of her own breath.
“Fight it,” she spat, pulling harder at his hair. His head shook, but Noa kept hold of him and said, “Fight it. Calm. Breathe.”
His eyes stayed locked on hers, and in that moment, time was suspended. It was just she and Diel and the twin darknesses that lived in them both. Noa took in deep breaths, and to her shock, Diel began to follow her pattern. The grip on her arms slackened, and Noa let her hands drift from his messy black hair to fall on his neck, over the cold metal of the collar.
Diel hissed as her fingers ran over its edge, grazing his red and ruined skin. She felt the buzz of electricity vibrate under her fingertips. Her stomach turned, and something flickered in her chest, then traveled in small bursts of light through to the marrow of her bones.
“Gabriel.” A voice came from behind them. But Noa was locked on Diel’s stare and the hot, charged air between them. Diel pressed closer to Noa, and if possible, he was even harder than before. “Gabriel,” the voice said again. Diel’s head twitched. “Gabriel. Who is this Gabriel and how do I contact him?” He snapped his head to the side. Breathless, Noa turned to Dinah, who was watching her with concerned eyes.
“He’s my brother,” Diel said, his voice raspy once more—the sound of his temporary control over whatever stirred within him. “Our leader.”
“You have a number for this leader?” Dinah pushed. Diel looked tormented, then reeled off a number from memory. Dinah hesitated, then looked at Noa. “I need to call him.” She cast a worried glance at Diel, to his hands still on Noa’s arms.
“Then go,” Noa said. Apparently understanding that Noa felt safe enough for her to leave, Dinah nodded, then headed out of the cave. Noa met the worried eyes of the rest of her sisters and nodded to them that she was okay. Diel broke away and stumbled back. His hands were back in his hair, yanking at the roots.
“Diel—”
“Drug me,” he said through clenched teeth, face red. “Drug me when you move me. When we meet my brothers.” He backed away until he was in the cage. He gripped the bars. “Lock the fucking door.”
“Wait—”
“Lock the fucking door!” he roared. Noa quickly moved to the cage and locked him inside. Something that looked like relief flashed across his beautiful face as he sank back into the shadows of the cell, out of her sight. Then he went quiet. For several minutes Diel was silent, until he moved back into the light, that sinister smile on his full lips once again.
“Noa.”
The hairs on the back of her neck stood up, a gut warning to be on her guard. He was back. Diel’s inner darkness, the one who needed the collar, was back.
“Come closer,” he said, taunting her once more. “I want to see you.”