Page 24 of Reforging Onyx

Onyx wasn’t like them.

He wasn’t broken.

Yet, a tiny voice in the back of his head taunted him.

Gritting his teeth, Onyx looked up to watch Dominic interact with the other witches. All three of them ignored Onyx, which was both irritating and a relief. He’d liked the way Dominic’s guests had reacted to him at the last party, wary of him and what he might do, except…

Except everything had fallen apart after that. Except he had fallen apart after that.

How much of that had come from the stress of the party, and how much had come from the weight of Dominic’s expectations?

Movement alerted him to the arrival of another person, and Onyx glanced in that direction — only to freeze when he recognized the blond witch. All of the color drained from his face and while he tried to tell himself to be silent and still, panic quickly eradicated everything else.

Before he could stop himself, he was on his feet, backing quickly away.

He needed to get away from the monster who’d taken him down with such ease, who was responsible for the jaw lock and the piercings and the plugs and so much more.

Where was Onyx’s fight now? Where was his aggression, his ability to defend himself? It felt as though it had drained out of him, replaced only by the cold breath of fear.

“Please, have a seat,” Dominic told Nathan Warwick, then turned to Onyx.

Why had Dominic brought him here? Was he going to do something else to him? Had Dominic decided to break their agreement after all, despite how fucking obedient Onyx had been?

Dominic approached Onyx, swiftly but without visible aggression, holding his hand out toward him. “Everything is all right, Onyx,” he said quietly as he got closer. “He’s not going to touch you. No one is.”

Onyx’s paranoia made it impossible for him to keep his panic completely at bay. While he was aware of Dominic’s presence — of the presence of others, too, who were seeing him react out of something that felt suspiciously like fear — his eyes lingered on the blond witch.

He couldn’t seem to catch his breath, which was strange because he wasn’t afraid. He wasn’t. He was fine. There was no need to be afraid.

But he couldn’t get a full breath into his lungs.

“I c-can’t,” Onyx whispered, giving a quick shake of his head. He’d retreated deeper into the room, he realized, in his attempt to put as much distance as possible between himself and that witch. His eyes flicked toward the door, but Nathan was in the way. “Please, I can’t.”

Dominic slid a hand under Onyx’s hair as he stepped close. “Shh,” he murmured softly into Onyx’s ear. “You can. He’s not going to be anywhere near you. Just like the party, you don’t have to be involved. You don’t have to do anything but sit there.”

Onyx loathed himself for his own reaction. He should’ve been reacting like a soldier, lashing out at the enemy. He shouldn’t have turned inward like he was doing, damn it! But that day so long ago had been particularly brutal, and it was like all of it was being brought back to the surface again.

One touch, and Onyx had gone down, fully aware and conscious but unable to do a damn thing while Nathan had done so many things to him.

Do you want him to feel the piercings, or should I prevent the pain?

Onyx stepped closer to Dominic, aware that he was using the Bancroft witch for comfort and thinking of how absurd that was but unable to stop it from happening. “I don’t think I can do this,” he managed to get out.

Fuck, he was pathetic.

Dominic frowned as he looked down at Onyx, lifting a hand to brush against Onyx’s cheek. “You can,” he stated. “You will.”

Dominic’s guests were at least pretending not to watch, but Onyx knew they could see the way he’d turned to Dominic after his visceral reaction to Nathan.

Onyx didn’t want to be a coward. He wasn’t a coward. So the urge to run away was foreign to him. Even with Dominic, he always wanted to fight. But with that witch…

Yeah, he wanted to retreat.

To flee.

“I’m not weak,” he threw out in a low voice, tense as he tried to work through his own reactions. “I’m not.”

“No,” Dominic said. “No, you are not.”