She barely brushed her lips against his before pushing back against him, just enough to loosen his grip to take a breath and get some real words out.
“Let’s go out.” she panted faintly. “You can pick the kill.”
He took a single step back and nodded once, but he knew he was too agitated to actually get anyone to trust him at the moment.
Sera was well aware that Chance was holding back and it was making him worse. She managed to barely murmur the words “They’re gone.” through her lack of breath, trusting that he’d let go of her and they could seek out a better outlet for his agitation that would keep within the limitations of his oath.
His hand flexed a little, the claws slipping free enough to scrape at her skin, but he was still holding back, her father’s words ringing clear as a bell. He needed to get out of there.
Chance might not have noticed the car had gone, but Sera heard it drive away, even as she started to get a little dizzy from lack of oxygen.
She nuzzled at him as best she could in his grip, encouraging him to press harder and make her pass out completely if he needed to.
He let go of her wrist and punched the wall next to her head, careful not to actually hit her. The last thing he needed was to leave bruises on her that would ruin everything. That was part of the issue. He couldn’t take it out on her, not really, not if her father ended up seeing the marks.
Azrael still didn’t want to acknowledge even the slightest thought of that with how much it disgusted him, but no matter what, he couldn’t deny that she had a point about Chance being willing to give a little ground where he wouldn’t have in the past.
Falling quiet, he drove away, not wanting to dwell on the topic any longer than he had to.
Sera didn’t put up any resistance as Chance pinned her, letting him cut off her air supply as quickly or slowly as he wanted. Giving him control was always the quickest way to calm him down.
His fingers dug in a little harder, his grip on her nearly bruising as he pressed his forehead to hers. It wasn’t enough, not by a long shot, and he felt like he couldn’t get a real breath. He didn’t even notice that the car was gone.
“You really believe he wasn’t manipulating her into saying all of that?” he asked, still refusing to completely trust it even as they got into the car. “You know he’ll play along to get what he wants. It’s what he always does.”
Sera saw Chance’s fists clench. Stepping forward, she took hold of one of his hands and opened it before bringing it up to her neck and letting his fingers wrap around her throat in a gesture of trust and silent permission to let him ease his frustration a little on her. She already had bruises there, so a couple more wouldn’t really be noticed if he left any marks, and it might help him calm down long enough to find someone else to let him loose on.
“His eyes aren’t hollow anymore,” she answered quietly, picking at the hair tie around her wrist. “And he never would have given up on what he really wanted in terms of me going with him for a kill, even with Sera intervening in the past. I know what he meant with that, Az.”
His grip immediately tightened, his other hand going to her wrist before he moved to pin her to the wall. He wasn’t as rough as he normally would have been, Britt and Az still being outside was keeping him quiet about it.
“I don’t care. If he does anything to hurt Sera this time, I will make sure he will never be physically capable of doing anything ever again.”
Az wasn’t going to back down on that. If anything went wrong, he’d put a permanent stop to it regardless of Britt’s wishes. He wasn’t willing to take even the remotest chance on that until Chance proved he could be trusted now.
Sera let Chance pace for a moment before she approached him, his agitation palpable to her like static electricity.
“They’ll be gone in a minute.” she soothed, eager to remind him that she’d bargained his freedom and that he no longer had the threat of her being taken away from him hanging over his head.
“As soon as he found out Jericho was drugging her, he took her away from there and let her call Kellen. I didn’t see any cuts or stab wounds on her, Az. No sign of broken bones. She was being affectionate towards him and making him compromise. He was never like that before.”
He turned and gave her a look, clearly not caring about what she had to say. They were taking far too long and he was about to start putting his fist through the walls.
Az was reluctant to leave, but Britt was right and there was nothing else that could be done here right now, especially with dawn rapidly approaching and everyone’s nerves being so frayed. Better to sleep on it and then deal with it once they were in a better frame of mind.
He tried to smile at his daughter, but it didn’t hide the concern in his eyes. The best he could hope for right now was that Chance really did know better than to try to break a blood oath and that Sera would call if she needed anything.
Britt waited until there outside to say anything, but she knew Az wasn’t going to like it. “I know you don’t like this, but something is different with him. You might not see it, but I do,” she finally spoke, still a little shaky around the edges. “Before all of this…he would have never let her have any kind of freedom.”
As soon as they were out of the house, Chance was standing and beginning to pace. They needed to be gone so he could get himself back to a state of calm
“We’ll be there.” Sera nodded, recognizing that Chance was getting to the absolute limits of his self-control and he’d need a release soon.
“Won’t we?” she continued, the question directed at Chance as she gave his hands a soft squeeze to show that she understood he was getting antsy and she was trying to hurry everything up and get rid of them without making them worry more than necessary.
He gave a short, curt nod. It was better to let Sera speak right now, for the sake of the peace of the moment. He was grateful that she knew his body language well enough to step in.
Britt smiled before giving Az a gentle tug. “We need to let everyone else know so there’s no issues down the line.”
“Chance knows he’s bound by blood now, Dad. If you can’t trust in that, then trust me.”
She understood that it was difficult for her father to see her siding with someone he hated so much and it would take a long time for him to even remotely come around to the idea.
Azrael let out a frustrated growl, but he let it go for now. Sera seemed to be far more in control of the situation than he ever thought he’d see, and he owed her for what he’d done when he was in a state of panic and terrified of losing everything, so he’d do as she asked until given reason not to.
Chance’s fingers skimmed over her arms, but the muscles in his hands were twitchy. He needed to hurt something, but he couldn’t with them there. Too much self restraint was difficult for him and it was beginning to show around the edges.
“Tomorrow. Dinner at 6,” Britt said softly, knowing it was probably better for them all to have a little distance right now. Plus, she needed to speak to Az alone.
