by Laney McMann
That was both scary and comforting at the same time. “What’s it like?”
“It’s like … light. The purest light you’ve ever seen or could even imagine, or at least that’s what I’ve always thought,” he glanced at his hands, and back at her, “until I met you. Yours is the brightest light I’ve ever seen.”
She stared at him. “What do you see in me?”
“The universe, all of creation.”
She smiled a hesitant smile. Cole had never seen her for the monster she’d always believed she was. He saw her, the soul of her—the girl underneath all the fear, behind all the masks and walls she’d built throughout her life. “I love you.”
He leaned all the way across the table, cupped her jaw, and kissed her sweetly. “Please don’t ever stop.” His thumb rotated in small circles on her face.
Someone cleared their throat. Cole grinned against Kade’s mouth before sitting back in his seat and apologizing in Italian to the waiter, who placed two glasses of wine on the table.
“Grazie.” Cole nodded.
“This feels really weird.” Kade picked up her glass. Not only was twenty-one the legal drinking age in the States, not sixteen, but she’d never tasted alcohol period. Never done anything at all really.
“It’s sweet,” Cole said. “It’s just fermented grapes. Same as grape juice just farther gone.” He took a sip, eyeing her.
She tasted hers. It was okay. The grape taste was there for sure, and maybe wood, or smokiness? She couldn’t be sure, but all the flavors were veiled by a strange lingering heat that stayed anchored at the back of her throat.
Thankfully, all the food Cole had ordered arrived minutes later and wiped the lingering heat away. “So, what now? I mean, we just wait for Heru to show up again?” Kade tried one of the artichokes. “As incredible as it is here, I feel a little like we’re sitting targets.”
“I’m not disagreeing with you. I think this is the first time I’ve ever been on the sidelines instead of the front line. It feels like I should be doing something. But, at this point, I’m following Warden Caelius’ order: come here to Heru. So, yeah, we wait.”
Kade took another sip of her wine and realized the glass was empty. Cole poured more from the bottle. “Aren’t you worried about the Eldership?” she asked.
“I will be when they realize we’re gone.” He set the bottle on the table. “They won’t know yet. Plumb won’t notify anyone unless we don’t show up by the time the Eldership is supposed to meet with you.”
“So, we have a few more hours? With the time difference?”
“About that, yeah. If I had to guess, I’d say Danny will show up at some point.” He took a sip of wine and leaned back in his chair. Kade noticed how perfect his face was—no cuts or bruises or scrapes. It magnified how quiet everything had become since Dracon’s death—how little fighting Cole had undergone since the attack. The Daemoneum really did seem to have gone into hiding. It was unsettling. They were out there—somewhere. Like Lindsey had said, nothing just disappears.
“How will Danny know how to find you?” She ran her finger around her wine glass.
Cole tapped the depiction of wings on the side of his neck with his fingers. “He knows.”
“Is it like some kind of communication? Your wings?”
He nodded, his hair falling across his light eyes. He was beautiful.
“So, we wait.”
“For now.” He continued to gaze at her across the table. “And we take advantage of the time alone.”
“Deal.”
“Ready?”
She drank the last of her wine. “Yeah.”
Cole pushed away from the table and offered her a hand. She held it and stood up and immediately wanted to sit back down. Cole slid an arm around her waist, steadying her. “You okay?”
“Yeah, just a little light headed. Not in a bad way.” She laughed, and her face heated up in a way she’d never felt before.
“That’s the wine. Come on, let’s walk—get some night air. It’ll clear your head.”
“We’re sitting outside.” She laughed again. “This is the night air.”
“Sitting is the key word in that sentence.” He steered her through the small round tables and guests ambling around and out onto the cobbled walk along the river.
The city streets were still crowded, despite the later hour, mostly with couples, who slowly walked along paved lanes and past the small lit shops and docked gondolas. Italy had a way of drawing a person in, making them want to slow down and relish the simpler things in life. Like holding hands with the person you loved and strolling in the moonlight. She and Cole might have been in hiding, but being there with him was a gift she felt she would never be able to repay.
“Good day?” Cole shifted his arm around her shoulders, tugging her next to him.
“Incredible day. Thank you.” She glanced up, and he leaned down, kissing her softly.
“I should be thanking you,” he whispered. “I got to spend the day with you. A real day with you. No hiding, no fighting, well,” he grinned, “without the training, I mean. I’ve wanted to do this since the night we met.”
“Me, too. Thanks for taking me to see the sheep.”
He chuckled. “Cows are still on the list.”
The street sloped toward the River Adige, and they strolled over the bridge. Kade took in all the boats docked along the sides, the shop windows glowing with amber light that lined the river, and the cathedrals, whose white-stone towers rose into the darkened, star-strewn skies. The colors reflecting off the water were a beautiful swirling multitude of golds and yellows from the lamplights along the bridge. She had the urge to jump into them. Cole kissed her temple. She’d never been happier in her life.
Chapter 17
“I don’t know—that’s what I’m saying.” Danny stood in front of Plumb’s desk, Giselle by his side at the Brotherhood.
Plumb rubbed her forehead. “Just tell me if he’s okay, Dan.” She looked and sounded exhausted. “I understand that you want to protect him. I get that, he’s your Alpha and that’s your code, but I need to know that he’s okay.”
“Plumb.” Danny took a step toward her desk, eyeing the mess of books and papers on top of it. She might seem free-spirited and casual, but she was rarely disorganized. “I did take an oath, and I would stand behind it. I would protect Cole if it meant my life, but I’m telling you the truth … he didn’t tell me he was leaving.”
Her eyes widened, welling with tears. “Find him.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She eyed Giselle. “You, too. The Eldership expects to see Kade in Stella Urbem in a few hours.”
“What?” Danny shouted.
“Why?” Giselle said half a second later, coming to stand next to her brother.
Plumb glanced up, weary eyed. “You didn’t know?”
“No!” Danny’s arms flew up. “That’s what I’m trying to tell you. What’s going on?”
“Kade has been summoned to the Star City by the Eldership for being of unknown origin,” Plumb said. “It’s classified information, but I assumed Cole would tell you anyway.”
“Oh, my god,” Giselle breathed, covering her mouth. “No.”
“He didn’t tell me.” Danny released a steadying breath and crossed his arms over his chest. “Not to be disrespectful, Plumb, but Cole’s more than my Alpha, he’s my best friend, and you’re asking me to find him so you can turn his girlfriend over to the Eldership for being an Anamolia?”
She bowed her head, resting it in her hands. “We have no choice.”
“Has anyone spoken to Warden Caelius? He can stop—”
Plumb held a hand up. “He’s been taken into custody for aiding and abetting a minor of foreign origin.”
Danny leaned forward, hands on Plumb’s desk. “Oh, my god.”
“You can’t let them take her, Plumb.” Giselle shook her head. “Kade didn’t ask to be Turned. She shouldn’t be treated like a criminal. She’s a goo
d person. She has a good heart.”
“I’m not sure taking Kade is the Eldership’s aim, Giselle. I believe they simply want to run some tests, make sure Kade is harmless. It’s in her best interest to help.”
“Tests,” Danny said under his breath, still in the same position, staring at his hands, knuckles white, on Plumb’s desk. “You think they just want to run some tests?” He raised his head, pulse speeding, staring at his Lead.
“Yes. Dan, she is the daughter of Dracon.”
He stood, a half smirk on his face, jaw clenched. “Yeah,” he glanced at the ground and back at Plumb, “Yeah, I know who she is.”
“Good. Then you’ll find Cole? He becomes an accomplice if Kade isn’t here soon.” She wrung her clasped hands together.
Danny glanced at his sister, blood boiling in his veins. “We’ll find him. Right, G?” He stared into her wide bright green eyes.
She stared back, and he knew she understood. This was the reason Cole left in the dead of night—to protect Kade. Giselle held his gaze. They might not always get along, but twins had a kind of telepathy. She nodded once and glanced at Plumb. “Yep. We’ll find him.” They turned to leave, and Danny stopped.
“Oh, and just as a quick reminder.” He stared at his Lead. “Kade isn’t Dracon’s daughter. He was her uncle. Her parents were killed in a car accident when she was an infant. And then her completely deranged uncle Turned her into a Devil God when she was only a baby—before Kade even knew what her name was.”
Plumb’s mouth opened like she wanted to say something but no words came.
“I guess that glaring detail must have slipped your mind.” He stalked out of her office, Giselle at his side.
Kade kicked off her shoes the second they walked inside Heru’s villa and stumbled sidelong into the entryway table.
“Whoa,” Cole caught her by the hips, “you need some help? Maybe that second glass of wine was a bad idea.”
Between traveling through the Leygate to Verona, throwing up, meeting Heru, riding on the train, seeing the sheep, the vineyard, dinner and drinks with Cole, not to mention the training argument, she was exhausted. She’d never known what being tired really was until today. She turned in his arms, facing him. “I’m just tired.”
“You sure?”
She nodded, looking up at him. “Sleep with me,” she whispered.
“I … um …” he stuttered, and Cole never stuttered, was never at a loss for words unless he was nervous. “Kade, I … we—”
“Just beside me,” she said, putting her arms around his neck. “Please. Like we did at the bunker before. Just so we’re together.”
He swallowed, hard, staring at her, eyes darkening more and more with every blink. “Okay.”
Nothing in the bathroom was coming into clear focus, and Kade wondered how many glasses of wine she’d actually drank. How many glasses were in a bottle? She had no idea. She swore she’d only had one glass, but Cole had poured more, she thought, so maybe one and a half? That wasn’t much. Was it? Granted, it was a big, round glass of pretty ruby-colored liquid.
Finally, she found her toothbrush and the toothpaste on the counter. For some reason, her pajamas were on the floor near the bathtub. She put them on while brushing her teeth at the same time, realizing halfway through, with her tank top on backward, that it wasn’t the best idea. Turning on the water, she rinsed her mouth, reached for her pajama boxer shorts off the ground, slipped a foot through, teetered on one leg, and smacked headlong into the bathroom door.
“You okay in there?” Cole half laughed from the bedroom.
“Yeah,” she mumbled.
“I’m sorry about the wine, it probably was a bad ide—” he started, but his words died in his throat as Kade stepped out of the bathroom. He lay on the bed in the dark bedroom, hands behind his head dressed in nothing but his jeans.
Kade stopped in her tracks. His eyes smoldered as he took her in.
“That’s what you’re wearing?” His voice came out strained and rough.
She was thinking the exact same about him. His stomach was ripped with muscles and so were his arms. Glancing away, she looked down at her tank top and boxer shorts, and wondered where she’d put her fuzzy warm socks. She’d definitely packed them.
“Um … yeah. What’s wrong with it?” Kade thought her voice might have been a tad bit too loud, but she couldn’t be sure. Everything seemed way too quiet.
Cole shook his head, staring. “Nothing. Not one single thing.”
Moving from one foot to the other, Kade stood there awkwardly and slightly off balance. Maybe wine wasn’t for her.
“Are you going to get in bed?” He smirked that cocky grin.
She nodded but couldn’t quite move. When she’d said she wanted him to sleep with her, she’d meant it. The old villa was beautiful, but old in a way that it became a little spooky once night fell. The first time she’d slept with Cole, she didn’t even remember because she’d hit her head in the snowy woods and been knocked out, and the last time she and Cole had slept in the same bed together, he had pretty much passed out from exhaustion. Both times they’d been fully dressed. This was completely different. Kade might have been exhausted and possibly half-drunk, but neither she nor Cole was dressed in any proper way. Just looking at him, his bare chest, ripped, tight stomach, and jeans hanging too low on his bare hips, made her heart pound.
“Change your mind?” He grinned as if he knew he had her. Kade was positive he could feel her apprehension. Likely, with the smirk on his face, he was glad for it. He’d told her more than once he wanted to wait before they took their relationship to the next level—to do everything the right way. Not that she didn’t respect that, even agree with it, she just didn’t seem to have the willpower he did.
“No.” She crossed the room, climbing into bed beside him. Willpower or not, the house was still spooky at night—and chilly. She’d just create a pillow barrier between them.
He groaned, glancing at her bare legs. His gaze moved up to her bare shoulders and across her chest where her tank top stretched tight and dipped low. “It’s a little small, don’t you think?”
“What is?” She adjusted a few of the pillows and kicked at the blankets.
“Your pajamas or whatever it is you’re wearing.”
She eyed him. “They’re pajamas. I bought them, and they’re cute.” She waved a hand at the ruffled pink and black edge along the bottom of her too-short—if she was being honest—shorts and the matching tank top that was probably shrunken from being in the dryer too many times, but was really comfortable. “I like them.”
He eyed her chest again and scratched the back of his neck. “So do I. That’s the problem.”
She laughed and laid her head on the pillow beside him, looking up. “Your willpower is stronger than mine, remember? You can resist me.”
His dark eyes took in her body, lying on her side above the covers, and he stared up at the ceiling. “I swear you do this to make me crazy on purpose.”
“I really don’t.” She yawned, shifting her body a little closer to him. He was always so warm. Like a heater.
“There are blankets.” He gestured toward them underneath her.
Kade shifted her weight, put one of her legs underneath the blanket, one leg across Cole’s waist, and wrapped her arm around his elbow with another yawn, exhaustion and wine forcing her eyes to close. “Mm hm. You’re warmer though.”
Relaxing slightly, Cole put his head on his pillow, adjusting his weight to face her.
Kade tugged him closer, opening her eyes, and moved her hand to his mouth, tracing the outline of his lips, the same way he’d done to her so many times, and leaned in, kissing him. His lips parted under hers, eyes closing. He tasted like wine and sugar. He didn’t try to pull her closer or shift her weight or his in any way, he only kissed her gently, softly, his hand pressed against her back. It was loving and adoring, just like Cole was.
She fell asleep in his arms.
The soft glow of Kade’s pink cheeks, the rosiness of her closed eyelids, kept Cole’s attention while he watched her sleep. Not to mention her leg draped across his body, and her hands wrapped around his arm. She was a leech. His beautiful little leech. Her breaths were steady, peaceful, and he hoped she slept well for once. His arm lay over her waist, and he leaned in and rested his forehead against hers. “I love you, Sparrow.”
Gently, he shifted out from under her leg, pulled his jeans off, and snuggled back beside her, but as comfortable as he was, his mind wouldn’t stop racing, and he couldn’t sleep.
Cole had traveled most of the world, been to so many countries in his almost eighteen years that he’d never had the time to stop and realize it wasn’t normal. Hunting Daemoneum had taken him to countless places, but in the height of the hunt, he’d never appreciated most of what he’d seen. It all happened too quickly to take in. He wanted to remember this. All of the time he spent with Kade. There wasn’t one second he took for granted when he was with her. He appreciated every moment.
Kissing her again, he rolled to his side, got out of bed, and opened the French door in the bedroom. Sitting outside on the small balcony overlooking the River Adige, he realized how much he loved Italy—and how much he’d missed it. He leaned forward, elbows on his knees, and rested his head against the cold, wrought iron railing, eyes downcast toward the web of lines on his wrist, forearm, and bicep.
Over the last day, the lines had intensified, the web becoming more distinct in all ways but one, the color. At first, he’d thought he was imagining it, but he hadn’t been. With a sigh, he glanced over his shoulder and through the French door propped open by the chair he was sitting in. Kade slept soundly on her side. Her breaths were steady—a deep sleep he was thankful for. Too much wine, he thought. With a slight grin, his gaze traced her bare arm, draped over the comforter, and her hand, visible and stark in the dark night. His grin faded and he cast his eyes away, redirecting his gaze on his own web of marks. They were white now. So were Kade’s.
