Read Toxic Part One (Celestra Series Book 7) for Free Online

battered body. They’ve destroyed him. And it’s all because of me.
    “I’m OK.” He takes a shallow breath and sits up slowly, wincing from the shock of pain. “Skyla.” My name gravels out of him. Logan pulls me into his arms and cradles me, despite his injuries. I melt into him, mourning the two of us tangled in pain and sorrow. We’ve fallen so far from who we thought we were last summer. Our affection for one another was proving lethal whether or not we took down the Counts. There’s no doubt in my mind they planned to drain us both, right from the beginning. It’s only a matter of time before they take him, too. Our days are numbered, and soon, we’ll both be with my father in Paradise. Gage was wrong regarding the measure of our years. He was nothing short of a liar—a traitor in the worst capacity.
    A blast ignites from above as the window shatters.
    A rainbow of colored glass explodes across the room like a sheet of crystallized confetti. I pull the blanket over the two of us and the tiny shards press against the velvet with their knife-sharp fingers.
    We look back up to see a madman wielding a baseball bat, trashing the window until every last piece of the framework is destroyed. He jumps into the room and smashes the bookshelves with a violent force. The mirror that once hung proud explodes under the supervision of his weapon. He pounds large walloping holes into the walls with a fierce level of anger.
    I take him in from the side—that shock of black hair, the alabaster skin, the structure of his body, I recognize him intimately.
    He turns and spears Logan with his insolence.
    “Gage.” I meant to scream it, to hear it, but it comes out less than a whisper.
    He lifts Logan up and tosses him against the wall inspiring the water globe to nosedive off the shelf.
    “You touch her?” He roars it out with a viral aggression.
    “No.” Logan moans from the spontaneous jostling.
    A shadow slithers across the floor and catches my attention. The water globe lays shattered, and the strange worm that once took up residence in it begins to augment in size. It inflates into a fully formed snake, then unrepentantly continues to grow in both girth and stature.
    “Skyla—” Gage appears before me. “We have to get out of here,” he says it low, almost loving in nature. He scoops me in his arms and brushes his lips over mine. “I know you hate me.” He squints into his words. They gutted him on a primal level, but it probably has more to do with his ego than genuine devotion. “I just need you safe.” I fold limp as wet paper as he maneuvers us through the room. “Move,” he barks at Logan.
    Gage climbs out of the window with me tucked in his arms. He lands us safe on a strange glass surface.
    “Give me your hand,” he instructs Logan as he hoists him out. A wound stretches open over Logan’s shoulder and a river of blood baptizes his chest. “What the hell did they do to you?”
    “I’m all right.” Logan takes a quick breath.
    The serpent continues to fill the room with its ever-growing body until its grotesque head protrudes out the window with odd teeth, long as steak knives.
    “Shit!” I try to snatch at his shirt in a panic, but the energy it requires has left me.
    A vaporous wall warbles in front of us like steam lifting from a sidewalk on a hot July day. It radiates a layer of warmth in smooth, inviting ripples.
    “Hold your breath,” Gage shouts at the two of us.
    “Can’t breathe,” I whisper. I’m so weak, so depleted to begin with, that all of this excitement might actually finish me off.
    Gage seals his lips over mine, and we fall backward into a pool of icy water. He presses in a sweet kiss as he swims us to the top.
    It’s bliss like this with Gage, if only for a moment.
     
     

Chapter 6
    Gage in a Rage
     
     
    Gage places me in his truck as the evening sky rotates above with a summer storm to greet us.
    He lands a soft kiss over my cheek. “I love you with everything