Read Online The Lariat (Finding Justus Series) by Ashley Dotson - Free Book Online

if we were having some bizarre threesome. Cyrus began to use his power, that low soothing hum. Ben relaxed even more so, and I fell into an altered state.
    I was hyper focused. I could almost see the dark black venom charting its way through Bennet’s body. But there was no air anywhere. My lungs were fighting for freedom while my mind was finding and trapping the black poison, wherever I could reach, Samael’s lingering toxin disappeared.
    But there was so much.
    And I had to breathe.
    I gasped lungfuls of air over and over again. I returned to my body, Cyrus’ hand on my shoulders anchoring me to him. I collapsed back against his chest. He wrapped one arm around me lightly.
    “Breathe, Layla. You’re fine. Ben’s fine.”
    “She’s fine?” I asked.
    “She’s better.”
    I looked down at Ben’s sleeping figure. Her back had healed a little and some color had returned to her skin.
    “I felt like I was swimming inside of her. I could see the poison in her. I could feel it, I grabbed it, but it was like I was drowning. This wasn’t like other healings.”
    “Well, Samael isn’t like other daemons.” He touched my clammy face, “You alright?”
    I nodded, “But what about the Coffee Shack? I healed a woman. Jamie. Ben’s injury was so much harder to heal and it wasn’t severe as Jamie’s. I mean, she had shrapnel lodged into her chest.”
    “Many of the beings you healed were either mortals or had mortal wounds. Samael is the farthest thing from mortal. And in Ben’s case, unlike the attack on the Coffee Shack, it seems Samael did the damage himself.”
    “You mean…” but I couldn’t say it out loud.
    He was here?
    Samael?
    Cyrus’ expression was confirmation enough. I looked at the long jagged scabs on Bennet’s back. They were a larger version of the scar on Cyrus’ arm- the arm that was now wrapped around my middle.
    I turned and he made no move to back away. He only said, “We should go and let her rest.”

 
     
     
    9
     
     
     
    Cyrus stayed with Bennet and me for another two days. His faith in my judgement had been diminished, so he said many times.
    “You are going to have to tell her, you know,” he spoke up one afternoon. He brought his laptop and confiscated the end table. He had set up makeshift office where he could conduct his online course at Trinity. This way he could do his job all the while never leaving me alone with Bennet. He said he was protecting me and protecting Ben from me, but there were other reasons.
    He took every opportunity to touch me. He brought me a glass of tea and lingered over my hand. He reached over my shoulder for the remote control and breathed into my ear. He held my face as he slowly pulled a small piece of fuzz out of my hair. We stood side by side washing dishes, his arm reaching over me trapping me with his body up against the counter.
    He washed, I dried. I had never wanted a dishwasher more.
    “I know what you’re doing,” I said petulantly.
    “And yet you haven’t uttered a word in protestation.” He reached behind me, turned off the water and poured all his angelic good looks and power onto me.
    He was unbelievably tall, his shoulders so wide. I wondered what he looked like with his wings outspread. That chain I had glanced the first time we met was peeking from behind his collar. I wanted to know what it was he wore around his neck every day. I wanted to see what was so special that he kept hidden from the world, but couldn’t bear to be without every day. His long blonde hair had fallen down around his chin. I reached up and pushed the blonde strands behind his ear. He closed his eyes reveling in my touch.
    He moved in to kiss me and I turned my head, “Wait.”
    He sighed, “Why? You feel what I feel. I know you do. I can hear your thoughts. You all but scream them whenever I’m near. And then there’s your body. It screams for me too.”
    “But, I just…”
    “You’re fighting a war within yourself that will have no