Chapter 22

**Chase**


I stumble out of the purple cloud and kneel over trying to catch my breath.

"I don't remember it feeling like that the first time," I grumble swallowing back the bile working its way up my throat.

Asher laughs darkly and I flip him off before I push myself to stand straight. My head spins a little but I ignore it and take a look around the empty space we're standing in. It's huge and there is water all along the west side of the land. It has that familiar smell of New Orleans swamps. We may have to check for gators but with a dragon shifter in the family, I bet those little guys will become food rather than any danger to us.

"Alright, so what's the plan?" I ask.

Asher stands with his arms crossed a few feet away from me and Charles has that distant look in his eyes. It's like he gets lost in his own mind, and it makes me wonder what he could be thinking about.

"Wizzard boy is going to use his voodoo to make us a nice little home. What's not to get? You gotta keep up Incubus." Asher says giving me a hotty smile.

I see the pup has forgotten our little encounter. Cocky bastard. He probably thinks my good-natured behavior means I won't prove to him again what I'm capable of. He's mistaken, but that's something we can deal with another time.

"So Charlie, how are you going to do this? A spell or what?" I ask our resident magic man.

He blinks out of his weird stupor and gives me an unimpressed look.

"I am not a builder. I can create a residence using the land and vegetation. if you are expecting a modern home with all the fixings I am afraid you will be greatly disappointed." His voice is hinting at irritation which makes me smile.

The short time I've known him has shown me that he is fun to rile up.

"We can always build something more modern on our own. This is only to give Nova a safe place to call her own." I remind him. "I don't care what the place looks like."

Charles nods and moves to the center of the clearing.

Asher and I watch him stand there for a minute but nothing happens. He suddenly turns to us with his eyes wide. Before either of us can ask what's wrong with him he moves his hands and that purple portal appear.

"What the-"

Asher is cut off when Charle steps through and disappears.

"What the hell?" I yell. "Did he just leave us here?"

"Yep. The asshole better be back because I'm not sticking around her with you all night." Asher growls.

I turn to him and narrow my eyes at him. "What's your problem? I know this situation isn't ideal but are you planning on being an asshole all the time because that will get old real quick."

He raises a brow at me. "Did I strike a nerve Incubus?" He taunts.

My hands clench tight. "It's Chase."

Asher laughs. "I don't give a damn what your name is. Any of you! I'm here for Nova. That's all."

I thought we called a truce but I guess I was wrong.

"We are all here for Nova, and that means we need to be united in this bond." I remind him.

"What bond? As far as I can tell none of us have bonded with her. Can she even be bonded to each of us properly? She isn't like us. She's..."

"She's special and beautiful. Don't you dare talk bad about her! She has been through hell already." I yell at him.

His body tenses and it looks like he's growing not only in anger but in size.

"I care about her like she is a part of me but that doesn't mean I want to put up with this other bullshit!" He yells.

His chest is lifting and falling harder now and from what I can tell he is seconds away from shifting.

"Calm down pup, you don't want to go up against me again." I was done with this bullshit too.

The low growl he gives me is a warning and the next moment a large wolf comes barreling toward me. This wolf though wasn't the one I saw before.

No, this one was dark as night, and smoke rolls off of him like waves.

He smells like fire and smoke...

Nova had something about a hellhound and that's what has me pinned to the ground.

Shit!

"Look. Calm down man I don't want to hurt you." I warn him.

In truth, most people don't know Incubus have abilities other than causing spontaneous lust but as I showed him earlier that wasn't the only thing I could do.

Lust was connected to the body like fear and sadness. It also had a lot to do with body chemistry and manipulating it to create desire. That was something that came easy to us and didn't require much thought but a few of us learned how to do more. Those of us patient and talented enough found a way to manipulate our power to become a weapon as well.

I didn't want to hurt the guy since Nova would probably give me hell, but we needed to come to an understanding. I'm not to be messed with either.

"I won't warn you again pup!" I yell at the face of the growling demon wolf.

He is standing over me and growling out his threats but has yet to hurt me so maybe we can work this out.

"Look I know you're a badass wolf, so stop with the show. Shift back and let's talk like men." I say holding my hands out in a sign of defeat. "I don't want to fight you."

He growls and moves to snap in my face but I throw one of my hands forward and hit him hard in the chest. His body ripples and a howl of pain escapes him as he falls back and off of me. I quickly get to my feet and look down at him with a smirk.

"I'm not just a pretty face. have you ever heard about heartbreak? It's a real thing." I tell him.

Yeah did you know that someone can die in the heat of passion? There is a fine line that we Incubus have to be careful not to cross or we can kill the person we are feeding from. The body has its limits so with enough of my power I can cause things like a heart attack. The amount of power I used isn't enough to kill the wolf but it will hurt like a bitch.

It also seems enough to push him out of his shift. Asher is laying where his hellhound had collapsed.

"Are you done having a tantrum?" I say sucking in some deep breaths.

Asher pushes himself to his hands and knees. He's breathing hard still and I wonder if I'm about to go for round two with his, but after a minute with no shift I relax.

I wait until he pushes himself to his feet and when he turns to me I see the defeat on his face. His pride has taken a hit no doubt but he doesn't look murderous about it so that's progress.

"You don't know how bad I want to kill you right now." He hits me with a glare but I cross my arms and fix him with a blank stare.

I'm not scared of him. I'm not scared of anyone anymore.

"I have an idea," I say giving him a wicked grin. "But you won't."

He sighs and shakes his head. "No, I won't. I will kick your ass if you tick me off again though."

I laugh. "Sure man. So-"

"Wait..." Asher cuts me off and turns his head from left to right a few times.

When his eyes fix on me again I see them swirl and change color again.

"What's going on?" I ask looking around as well.

"Someone's here." He says. "A scent I don't recognize."

Well shit. "What is it?"

"Wolves." He says before shifting into his normal wolf and running away.

I throw my hands up. "Nice just leave me here alone."

Assholes.