Just as my fingers grazed the skin on Romans' neck, before I could close them around him, the jeep slid straight through the invisible ward.
But I did not.
I crashed in mid air, stopping instantaneously. My wings crumpled all around me, splattering against the ward, as I spilled against it. The impact shocked my lungs and stunned me momentarily. I slid straight down, heaping into a pile on the ground.
If it hadn't been for Romans' deep, throaty laughter keeping me anchored, I would have blacked out. Shimmering flecks of light skirted my vision, and my connection with My Lady Moon was broken.
"What a rush!" Roman chuckled.
I wagged my head, my shoulders followed. I shook my wings until feathers ruffled, and then I slowly rose from the ground. Roman had gotten out of his Jeep. He was now standing just barely beyond the territorial ward. He was leaning against the rear of his jeep with his arms folded over his abdomen and a cocky grin on his pretty-boy face. It was a face I now more than ever desired to completely rearrange, bone structure and all.
"You will have to return, boy," I spoke through clenched teeth.
"That is true. But I have some business to tend to in the city, first. Isis's mother is flying in tonight. Lilith will be very great full when I inform her that you and your brothers know the ticket to freedom," Roman said.
He looked too at-ease for someone who had just written his own death warrant.
"You will be escorted far, far away from here, Bane. But don't you worry. I will take good care of Luna for you. She will be in very good, very capable hands."
His words boiled my blood. Fire popped and crackled on the flesh of my arms and seared my palms. I clenched my fists, imagining that it was Roman's neck in my hands instead of balls of vibrating fire.
He was only a foot away from me and yet, I still could not touch him.
A deep, guttural growl rose up from somewhere within me, and I tipped my head to the sky and roared. I threw the balls of fire from the palms of my hand straight for Roman's pretty-boy face, but the balls splattered against the ward. The flames exploded into brilliant sprays of sparks that slid and spread along the slick wall of the ward. They dissipated as they rained to the ground on either side of my wings.
And then I charged at Roman, slamming myself into the invisible wall, shoulder first, wings spread wide beside me. Even using my wing's sudden arch to give me momentum, I could not break through the ward.
Roman did not flinch. He did not even blink an eye. He stood, confident, with that same cocky grin on his face.
"As entertaining as this may be, Bane, I'm afraid I have to get going now. Believe me, I'd really like to stay a while longer," Roman said, with a chuckle. "I'll see ya soon, Bane." Roman turned. With a casual stride, he moved to the door of his jeep and slipped behind the wheel.
I pounded my fists against the ward, desperately clawed it with nail-less fingers, drove my forehead into it with all my strength, and still, I could not break through the ward to get to him.
Roman started the jeep, waved good bye and then sped away, spitting up gravel in his path.
I suddenly remembered that I had broken the link and I quickly reconnected with My Lady Moon.
And when I did, I was not happy to find her standing in her bedroom with a knife to her abdomen, ready to thrust it through her body.
"Drop it!" I commanded her, my anger now torrid. I sucked her violently into the blackness of which I was the master, and Luna crumpled instantly to the floor.
The torment this woman created in my being was beyond frustrating. She was provocative and profane. She was irreverent and ambiguous.
Yet, she was cryptic and impeccable.
And I was enamored.
With a beastly roar, I squeezed my eyes shut and felt myself getting smaller and smaller as I sank to the ground. Tufts of fur shot out from my every pore. Bones shifted painlessly. When I opened my eyes again, I was looking down at giant, black paws that were covered in silky long fur. I folded the wings at my back and tucked them in along my sides.
Roman was right when he told his sister that it is impossible for a son of Lucifer to love anyone or anything. Knowing no love was one of my father's commandments. Father forbade it. Therefore, it should not be done.
It would not be done.
I let go of my link to Luna, closing it as though it were a door. I vowed to myself that it would never be opened by me again.
And sadness blackened me.
****
Chapter Fifty-One
Izzy