Veiled Spirits - Page 73

CHAPTER 37

IZZY

Ishake my head at Bishop, since Levi is still covering my mouth. Rather than respond to me wordlessly telling him I’m not worth it, Bishop just reaches up to my ear to gently turn off my earpiece. He then turns off his own and the camera in his shirt button. Levi is moving behind me, and I assume he’s doing the same.

The three of us strain to hear the people who were heading toward us. We needn’t have worried, because they sound like a herd of elephants stomping down the hallway past our hiding place. Now, we just have to wait for them to walk back the other way before getting the hell out of here.

Our panting breaths and my heart frantically pounding in my ears are the only sounds in the tiny closet. While I try to calm my heart, I wiggle around slightly. We’re going to be stuck in this closet for who knows how long, so I’d prefer to be comfortable while we are.

As I’m shifting around, I realize that both of my mates are hard. My eyes widen at that and snap up to Bishop’s. He’s not looking at me, though. Instead, Bishop’s head is thrown back, and his eyes are closed. The tendons in his neck stand out starkly from how hard he’s clenching his jaw. His hands are also balled into fists at his side.

Sensing my gaze on him, Bishop opens his eyes and stares down at me with heat burning in his baby blues. I’m still moving around, trying to find a good spot between them. Bishop’s hands snake out and grab my hips, forcing me to still. “Stop fucking moving, sweetheart. My control’s hanging on by a thread. Keep moving, and I’m going to fuck you in this closet, getting caught be damned.”

I’m sure I look like a deer in the headlights with how wide my eyes are, but I can’t help it. Bishop has kept everything strictly platonic for eight years. In the past week, he’s threatened to fuck me twice. It’s really not the threat he thinks it is, though.

Part of me wants to say hell, yeah and dive headfirst into the distraction of doing him, even though now is really not the time for that. I’d give almost anything not to feel the heartbreak that’s trying to drown me. When I close my eyes, all I can see are Daniel, the kid in the basement, and the people in the cages. It’s playing on a macabre loop in my mind, and it’s slowly destroying what’s left of my battered soul.

But I don’t want to use Bishop like that. He deserves to fuck someone who’s fully in the moment with him. Not someone desperately running from everything they’re not strong enough to deal with.

Sighing, I nod and lean my head back against Levi’s chest. Tears run down my face as I avoid Bishop’s gaze. Even after all the crying I’ve done today, I somehow still have tears left. I wish it would all just stop.

“Don’t cry, baby,” Bishop murmurs as he presses his soft lips to my forehead.

I tap Levi to move his hand. He drops it to rest on the hollow of my throat, with his thumb tracing little circles there. “I just don’t want it to hurt so much anymore,” I rasp, the barely audible sound loud in the silent closet.

“Fuck, sweetheart.” Bishop presses closer to me and palms the back of my head. He crushes me to his chest and holds me while my body shakes with silent sobs. Levi wraps his free arm around my waist and curves protectively against my back as I battle my tears.

After several long minutes, I’m able to stuff my feelings back into the dark corner of my mind where they belong. My heart isn’t any less broken, nor my soul any less shredded. But the pain isn’t as all-consuming as it was. I’m able to function well enough to get us out of here, which is all that really matters.

Bishop feels my frame stop shuddering. He takes a step back. His gaze bounces over my face, and he reaches up to wipe my tears away with gentle brushes of his thumbs. I try to lift my lips up a fraction to reassure him that I’m fine. When his forehead only wrinkles more in concern, I whisper, “I’m good.”

“You’re still not a very good liar, little raven.” Levi’s warm breath feathers over my ear, causing me to shiver. My lips do tip up ever so slightly at his comment. Bishop grins at my barely there smile, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. I don’t think any of us are okay after today. I’m not sure what I thought we’d find, but this shit show was certainly not it.

Loud footsteps thundering down the hallway cause me to jump in surprise. I don’t squeak this time, so Levi doesn’t move to cover my mouth. He leaves one arm slung low on my waist and the other collaring my throat.

As the footsteps fade, Bishop reaches up to turn his coms back on. “Are we clear?” he quietly asks. After listening for a moment, Bishop nods. “Okay. We’ll head out.”

Since we’re likely in the clear, Levi and I both reach up to turn our coms back on. Bishop slowly eases the supply closet door open and looks around for any lingering council minions. When he doesn’t see any, he quietly walks out into the hallway. Levi and I trail him.

It’s an uneventful walk out of the experimental magic wing. Well, it is, other than the internal struggle as we pass the door that leads to the cages. I want so badly to go in there to free everyone, but I can’t. Hurrying past the room, I’m the first to burst through the doors out of the entire wing. Bishop can chew me out about it if he wants, but I need to get out of there before I do something I’d probably regret.

Bishop doesn’t say anything about it. Instead, he strides ahead, so he’s in front and Levi is behind me. The only sound in the lavish hallway is the clack of our shoes on the gold-veined marble.

We’ve almost made it out of the hallway without being spotted when councilman Thomas Doyle appears out of nowhere. I’d know his thinning gray hair, cold bottle-green eyes, and hawkish face anywhere. He turns down the corridor, unaware of the three of us heading right toward him.

At the sight of the man who is probably behind all the fucked-up shit we found, my anger roars to life inside of me. It scalds my insides and coaxes my magic forth. My magic batters its cage in my chest, violently thrashing to get out. I’m so focused on trying to keep it from murdering the councilman that I don’t even see him noticing us.

“Bishop St. James, my boy! It’s a pleasure to see you!” Doyle shakes hands with Bishop, who isn’t, in fact, his anything. They’re not related, and Bishop hates his guts almost as much as I do. Doyle’s eyes collide with mine over Bishop’s shoulder, and his face twists into a sneer. The disgusting man seems to realize where we are for the first time. “What are you doing in this wing, son?”

“I caught those two sneaking down here. I know it’s off-limits, so I went after them before they could cause trouble.” Bishop aims a fake glare our way.

“How did you even get in the council building, vilis? I thought your kind weren’t allowed in. None of the vilis or lower mages should be here. All you do is taint our sacred space.” Doyle walks over to me and gets in my personal space. He’s probably trying to intimidate me. It’s hard to be intimidated when he’s only an inch taller than me and has a massive beer belly.

I can’t kill him. I can’t kill him. I can’t kill him, I chant in my mind. I hate the elitist rhetoric of the mages. Their inflated self-worth is what allows mages like Doyle to hurt people they deem beneath them without remorse. It’s what allows them to torture children, like the kid we had to leave behind.

At the reminder, my magic once again goes ballistic. I grit my teeth and focus on stuffing it back down. “Through the front door,” I respond as unhelpfully as possible, a sarcastic smile on my face.

Doyle’s face turns thunderous. Bishop’s eyes widen over Doyle’s shoulder. His narrowed eyes silently tell me to play nice. Sorry, my dude. Being nice to shit people isn’t a setting I’ve ever had.