Into the Shadows - ACOTAR / ACOMAF - Azriel x OC

Chapter XVI - A Gruelling Match

— Azriel —

My sleepless night didn't help the hurt that still strangled my heart, making it difficult to breathe. How in the Gods' names had Rhysand not only waited for Feyre to come round but had been actively aware of her relationship with that tool Tamlin.

What if Lexa wanted to be with other males? What if she rejected our mating bond? I had curled the fork I was holding at breakfast in retaliation to the repeated thought.

Never in my life had I been more grateful for Cassian's unwavering strength and ability to take a hard hit. We winnowed to the wretched Windhaven Camp up in the Illyrian Mountains just as dawn was igniting the Sidra River in a beautiful golden colour.

My brother knows me too well.

"You look like shit, Az" he had told me earlier this morning at breakfast.

I scowled at him as I finished my coffee and he ate his 4th egg.

"Mating bond gone wrong?" He taunted, wiggling his eyebrows at me.

I knew what he was doing. He was goading me into letting go and to channel my frustrations into pummelling his face into the ground.

I also knew he had already done this for Rhys, it saddened me that my brother, our brother, would go through such extremes if it meant easing the strain of the mating bond.

"Maybe I should try her ou-" I didn't let him finish that sentence. Sadness and concern quickly evaporated as I leapt over the table and winnowed us to the fighting arena in the camp.

We landed with a thud and Cassian was quick to kick my body of his own.

We began circling and eyeing out each other's strengths and weaknesses. "Does this mean you'll stop pining over Mor?" He sneered.

And all I saw was red. Burning rage and flaring anger took over my instincts and I was on him too quick to even remember to pull back my punches.

He reacted just as furiously, blocking my clumsy raged induced blows and striking back more precisely. "I hope you fought better when Vallahan was on her" he spat as he blocked another one of my kicks.

My body was shaking with insatiable wrath, Cassian was the best combat fighter between the three of us, but I was the better strategist. I focused my predatory instincts and used the knowledge of his weaknesses to bring him down and brace him a chokehold.

He tapped my arm. And I squeezed harder. Thinking of his audacity to even insinuate I would still have feelings for Mor. It may have only been 6 days and I may have thought I loved her for 500 years, but Lexa was my mate. She was now my everything, I had given her a piece of my soul and I would be dammed if I wasn't going to help her reclaim her own soul back from the clutches of cold death.

Another furious tap. But I couldn't let go. I was so angry with myself, for pushing and being selfish. Demanding her to share more of herself with me, when in reality, it truly had been only 6 days. 

I was sure she didn't even know what a mating bond was, and yet I expected her to react as intensely as I did.

"Azriel" Cassian breathed in a strangled voice as he awkwardly smashed his fist into my jaw.

I dropped him quickly and rolled back from his crumpled position, panting furiously and bleeding from cuts I hadn't felt Cassian inflict against me.

"Better?" He choked, mirroring my heavy breathing. He was on his knees rubbing his neck, black eyes and bruises colouring his sharp angles.

"Yes," I replied. It was all I could manage.

"You're worse than Rhys" he coughed as he stood to his feet, he extended his hand to me and I took it gratefully. He was a good male.