Page 34 of Legion
Deep inside Luka, Dagon hissed at the lie.“You want to be center-stage in her thoughts, just as she is in yours—consequences be damned,” accused Luka.“Well, those consequences are going to involve an agony that’s beyond your imagining.”
Belial grinned, eager to begin.It would relish the slap of a whip lashing skin, the crunches and cracks of bone, the whimpers and screams of fear and pain.
Neither Abraxas nor Dagon got any real kick out of such things, but it pleased them that this male would pay for refusing to leave Naomi alone.
Iain backed up even further, his breaths coming fast.
“There’s nowhere to go.Nowhere you can hide.No way for you to escape.And you have no one to blame for what’s coming but yourself.”
*
Seated at one of the pizzeria’s breakroom tables, Naomi narrowed her eyes on her anchor.“Stop it.”
Leaning against the wall looking deceptively casual, Tobe widened his eyes.Eyes that gleamed with hot anger.“What?”he asked, all innocence.“I’m not doing anything.”
“You’re planning to fuck with Iain in some way—likely by setting his house on fire.”
“It really is an effective way to get a message across,” Lachlan cut in, standing a few feet away with Alfie.“I can personally attest to that.”
Beside Naomi, her mother threw the imp a frustrated look.“Don’t encourage him.”
“I really don’t think he needs encouragement,” Lachlan told her.“His mind is all made up.”
Naomi gave her psi-mate a beseeching look.“Tobe, let’s not reward his behavior with attention; it does no good.And it’ll only give him another reason to contact me or mine.”That was what Iain would do, in his current frame of mind—use Tobe’s retaliation as an excuse to reach out to her.Not that the idiot appeared toneedexcuses, but it seemed better for Tobe not to interfere anyway.Especially since Luka would be mad at him for getting involved and causing whatever damage Tobe had in mind.That was the last thing she wanted.
Her inner demon didn’t care so much what “seemed better”.It wanted Iain to suffer, so it would be behind any plan that ensured that.
Tobe pushed away from the wall.“I agreed to handle this in non-violent ways, Nome, but none have worked.He ain’t listening.Someone needs to make him listen.”
“Luka will,” Tia interjected.“I have no doubt that Iain is going to be punished severely for ignoring his Prime’s directives.”
“Which he will have known in advance,” said Tobe, his tone clipped.“And yet the bastard came here anyway.”He rolled his shoulders.“A statement needs to be made.”
“Afirmone,” Lachlan added, to which her anchor nodded.
“I support this plan,” Alfie piped up, his expression hard.
Tia glared at her mate.“I don’t.Right now, we have Belinsky on our side.That will change if we go around destroying his demon’s possessions or property.”
Lachlan’s brow pinched.“We can be subtle.”
Naomi snorted at him.“You don’t even know what that word means.”
The imp managed to look offended.“Are you calling me stupid?”
“No, I’m saying you’re willfully ignorant of anything you don’t want to understand or accept.”It could be maddening at times.
“I don’t know what you mean,” Lachlan claimed.
“And there you go proving my point,” said Naomi with a slight wave of her hand.
“It’s funny how men act differently when in the throes of an obsession,” mused Tia.“Some turn stalkerish, professing undying love.Some turn aggressive, resenting the impact you have on them.Others avoid you desperately in an effort to snap out of it, knowing on some level that their feelings aren’t real.”
“You’ve dealt with this sort of thing in your time?”Naomi asked her.
“Often,” Tia replied.“The thing with the Iains of the world is they seem foolish and weak with all their love bombing, so we can make the mistake of not being careful around them.That’s something you can’t do, Naomi.They’re often the most dangerous, because their thought patterns are off and they’re more obsessive than most.”
Right then, the door creaked open and Jolene walked inside, her jaw tight and her face blank.Her eyes, though?They glittered with ire.She closed the door as her gaze found Naomi.“Tell me exactly what occurred here.”It was nothing short of an order.
