DARK SOULS (Dark Souls Series) by Ketley Allison Page B

through my head, rattling the stack of ceramic mugs to my left. Asher, Liz and Macy looked over in surprise and I smiled sheepishly at them, hoping that I wasn’t trembling as noticeably as I thought I was.
    I let out a slow, quiet breath as I tried to get my trembling body under control. 
    “Miss? Could I actually get soy milk in this? My fault, I forgot to tell you.”
    Grateful for the distraction, I immediately reached for the to-go cup the patron was holding out to me and remake his latte.
    “Sure, no problem.”
    There. My voice was back, escaping from my mouth easily. But the voice…what was that?
    A loud, ear-splitting crash interrupted my thoughts and shocked every single patron in the place to such an extent that I heard screams. The sound was so sudden that my heart nearly shot out of my chest and so loud that I almost scrambled down the basement stairs and flattened myself onto the floor for cover. The sound was followed by a loud wail, reverberating around the coffee shop in short staccato bursts.
    Now that I had every reason to tremble, I braced both my hands on the counter and breathed deep as I recovered from my initial shock. Glancing over at the sound, I realized a little boy had run into the display of coffee mugs near the entrance. Andrea was already over there, asking the mother, “Is he okay? Is he hurt? Cut?”
    The mother was shaking her head as she held her child close, the boy still wailing against his mother’s chest.
    I was so focused on the mother and child that I failed register that Asher was now in front of me.
    Confused, I looked at him, wondering how he got behind the counter so quickly. His back was to me, but he stood ready to pounce, his body coiling in a way that I didn’t even know humans were capable of. His hands were out to his sides, but clenched, the muscles of his arm stiff under his jacket. He had backed up just a little, so close that if I blew out a deep breath, I would tickle the hairs at the back of his neck.
    Wait. Wait a minute. Was he…no, that’s stupid. Not possible. No way. I frowned, backing up myself until I hit the end of the counter.
    But…was he protecting me?
    With everyone calming down, he turned and I could see the ice in his gaze. For a panicked moment I thought he was staring those blade-silver eyes at me, but I quickly realized that I wasn’t the source of his interest—the crash of glass and ceramic was, and now that it was over, his face was carefully smoothing back to normal.
    My body vibrated strangely in response, my muscles tensing and readying to spring into action despite the increasing pain in my stomach. It was only when I looked down that I realized my hands were clenched tightly into fists—so tight that I could see the whites of my knuckles. I immediately relaxed my hands, wincing slightly at the dull ache that followed.
    Macy let out a little squeak in surprise, her hand moving to her mouth very slowly as she lifted her hot chocolate to her lips and stared at Asher, wide-eyed.
    “Asher?” I asked hesitantly, carefully. I kept my voice soft and unthreatening as I steadied my gaze on him, observing him as I would a tiger escaped from the Bronx zoo.
    “I can deal with sullen-hot. I cannot deal with psycho-hot.” I heard Liz say. She had taken up residence behind the pastry counter, just to my right, using it as a shield should Asher begin to go postal on her. He was barely paying attention to her, only looking at her once, like a pretty art piece on a wall before moving on and forgetting about it. He just glared, at me, at the empty space beside me, I really wasn’t sure.
    “Asher?” I tried again.
    My voice caused him to blink, and he relaxed as soon as I caught his attention. But his eyes remained alert and focused as he walked around me and back to the other side of the counter.
    “I hate loud noises,” he said before making his way to the exit, barely even looking at me.
    I remained stiff with shock, tense and watchful, as