Sentinel [Covenant #5] by Jennifer L. Armentrout Page A

really need to find separate beds so there aren’t any ‘late night’ chats.” I almost laughed, because wow, if only he knew how late in the game that advice was. “This isn’t the right time for that talk. Trust me.” “That I don’t find reassuring.” Marcus thrust a hand through his wind-tossed brown hair, his bright green eyes narrowed. “Alexandria, please listen to us. This isn’t safe or smart. We have to think about this.” Aiden stepped in front of me, forcing me to skid to a stop. His hands landed on my shoulders. “You’restarting to scare me. Okay?” His cupped my cheeks gently, forcing my eyes to his. “You’re not ready for this—ready for him.” Alex? I sucked in a sharp breath as I pulled away. Aiden’s fingers trailed off my cheeks. The cord coiled tightly, straining inside me, and then expanded, yearning for its other half at the sound of Seth’s voice. He came right through the shields. Was it because he was so close? Or was I truly unprepared because this was the first time that we had been near each other since I’d Awakened? My gaze shifted beyond Aiden to the walls in the distance. Seth? There was a pause, and then the cord snapped inside me. We need to talk. I don’t know what it was about those four words that set me off, but rage poured into me, so potent and so quick that I almost screamed in fury. “We need to talk.” That, after everything, was what he had to say? I wanted to drop-kick that question into his face. I took off, my boots digging into the loose dirt. Aiden shouted, and I heard him coming after me, but I was fast when I wanted to be, faster than him. I flew past the last of the statues and almost ran into a pack of Guards crowding the entrance to the wall. They didn’t move, didn’t speak. They were enthralled. “Move,” I shouted, shouldering the Guards aside. “Get out—” The words died on my lips. I came to a complete standstill, but it felt like the ground was moving under my feet. “Oh my gods…” He stood a foot away from the closed gates, separated from me by iron and titanium. His hair was longer than it had been when he’d come back from the Catskills, falling over his forehead in a mess of blond waves. He was dressed as a Sentinel; all the black was a contrast against his golden skin. His impossibly perfect features were devoid of the typical, ever-present smirk, but the inky black marks of the Apollyon glided across his skin, and his iridescent amber eyes were fixed on mine. Seth was beautiful. It was like the gods themselves had pieced him together, and in a way, they had. There’d always been a lack of humanity in his beauty, the whole time I’d known him. As I stared at him now, seeing him for the first time in months, there was something brimming in his eyes and etched into his features that had never been there before. It made me uneasy in my own skin. Movement behind him drew my attention. Luke stepped forward as if in a daze. He didn’t even blink as he unlocked the gate. Hinges groaned, and then the heavy gate swung open. It was just Luke with Seth, but I knew there were others. Every instinct in my body told me an army waited over the crest, just waiting for the signal to attack us. Seth stepped forward, his eyes only leaving mine to take in my altered appearance. That emotion strengthened in his eyes and face, and I refused to believe what I was seeing. In that moment, I wanted to kill him and I wanted to touch him. Weird, but I figured it had something to do with what we were. “Alex,” he spoke out loud, shattering the trance. The very thought of him made my skin crawl. I wanted to find a wool brush and scrub all the memories of him out of my head. I hated him for what he’d become, for what he’d allowed, and I hated him for the fact that a part of me still loved him, because he was a part of me—a part that had turned on me like a venomous pet snake. Aiden skidded to a stop beside me, breathing raggedly. He was