Every Last Breath

by Jennifer L. Armentrout

  A torrent of wind smacked into my wings, but I spun out of the gust, and then swooped down. Tucking my wings back, I let myself get caught in an epic free fall. I picked up speed and for a moment, the rate at which I fell stole my breath, but there was no fear or panic, just an incredible rush of adrenaline and joy.

  Halfway back to the city, I unfurled my wings, slowing my descent so I didn’t pancake into the side of a building, because that would have been one heck of a way to end the night and my little cross-country jaunt.

  Coasting over the city, I avoided the areas I knew the other Wardens frequented and glided back toward the financial district. The New York clan knew we were here. Dez had even phoned ahead, warning the clan he’d come from not to mess with us, but I didn’t want to push our luck. Though I doubted I was enemy number one for them and we all had worked together half a year ago to stop the Lilin and the apocalypse, my partner in crime would always be another story—a very tricky story.

  Slowing down, I landed in a crouch on the roof of what I thought was a bank. I’d just folded my wings back when a heavy form landed beside me, causing tiny pieces of stone to loosen from the ledge and fall to the ground. Arching a brow, I looked up.

  Roth stood with his legs wide and wings spread. His skin was inky like onyx, shiny and hard. Bare-chested, he blended into the night around him. Or he would’ve if he hadn’t flashed his fangs at me—and if the skull on the buckle of his belt wasn’t bright white.

  “Your hair,” he said.

  My eyes narrowed while I resisted the urge to reach up and see what he meant. “What about it?”

  He grinned as he knelt beside me, quickly slipping back into his human form. “You look like you just rolled out of a Guns N’ Roses video.”

  “Thanks for that.”

  “Possibly even the ‘Paradise City’ video.”

  “Better and better.”

  Leaning over, he kissed my temple and then my brow. “Freaking sexy as hell, though. Reminds me of what it looks like after I get my fingers in it and we’re—”

  “I get the picture.” I laughed. “Totally know where you’re going with that.”

  “What? I was going to say when we’re waking up in the morning.”

  I snorted. “Oh, whatever.”

  His deep chuckle sent a shiver through me. “You know me too well.”

  That was true. Closing the distance between us, I gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “Did you see me?”

  “Yes.” He closed a hand around my nape, keeping me from pulling away. “I saw you kiss the stars.”

  My lips spread in a wide smile. I liked the way that sounded. “Want to see me kiss my own personal star?” Yeah, that was cheesy, but even though I couldn’t see his smile, I could feel it in every cell in my body. His closeness, his happiness and mine, practically had my body humming.

  “Always,” he murmured.

  Tilting my head, I brushed my lips over his once and then twice. The hand along my neck tightened as I ran the tip of my tongue along the seam of his wonderful mouth. His lips parted, and I took the kiss deeper, and like every time, he tasted like dark, sinful chocolate, and like every single time, one kiss was never enough. There were more as we crouched on the ledge of a roof, sixty-some stories high, and I knew if we didn’t come up for air soon, we would start to get greedy, first with our hands and then other parts of us.

  That had also happened last night.

  Pulling back, I let out the breath I was holding as I cupped his jaw in my hand while he made the most pitiful sound. I giggled in the minute space between our mouths. “Later,” I promised.

  The sound turned to a deeper rumble full of approval. Anticipation swelled, forming a hunger much greater than the one I lived with every day. “Later better come soon,” he growled.

  He slid his hand from my neck, down my back. Through the loose, thin tank top, I could feel his heat. “Tomorrow we leave? Canada next?”

  I nodded. “Canada it is.”

  He said nothing as he rested his hand on my hip, and I was quiet as I stared out at the city down below. I was staring at my future while I crouched next to my eternity, and that was a wonderful, beautiful feeling.

  I still hadn’t picked out a college yet or decided on what I wanted to major in, but that was okay. I had time and I didn’t want to rush a second of it.

  “Is it later yet?” Roth asked.

  Casting him a lingering look, I grinned as I rose fluidly, with a grace I never thought I’d ever be capable of. “Only if you can catch me.”

  Roth rose at once, capturing my hand before I could even take off, threading his fingers through mine. “Already did, Layla.”

  And so he had, a long time ago, when he strutted into a dark alley and took out a Poser demon. Truth be told, I really didn’t even want to run.

  This was love, and love could change people, even if that person was really a demon and the Crown Prince of Hell.

  “I love you,” I told him, and I told him that every day and I would tell him that over and over again.

  Roth lowered his forehead to mine as he brought our joined hands to his chest, placing them above his heart. “And I love you,” he said. “With every breath I take, I will always love you.”

  * * * * *

  Jennifer L. Armentrout

  and Harlequin TEEN

  are thrilled to introduce

  THE PROBLEM WITH FOREVER,

  the first in a brand-new

  contemporary young adult series.

  Read on for an exclusive sneak peek!

  If you loved Every Last Breath, be sure to check out the first three installments of The Dark Elements series by New York Times bestselling author Jennifer L. Armentrout!

  Bitter Sweet Love (novella)

  White Hot Kiss

  Stone Cold Touch

  Available now in ebook format!

  Connect with us on Harlequin.com for info on our new releases, access to exclusive offers, free online reads and much more!

  Other ways to keep in touch:

  Harlequin.com/Newsletters

  Facebook.com/HarlequinTEEN

  Twitter.com/HarlequinTEEN

  HarlequinBlog.com

  If you loved The Dark Elements series, be sure to check out another great paranormal series— The White Rabbit Chronicles by New York Times bestselling author Gena Showalter.

  Inspired by the classic Alice in Wonderland, The White Rabbit Chronicles series features romance, high-action zombie slaying, and shocking twists that will leave readers gasping for more.

  Order your copy today!

  Alice in Zombieland

  Through the Zombie Glass

  The Queen of Zombie Hearts

  A Mad Zombie Party (October 2015)

  Connect with us on Harlequin.com for info on our new releases, access to exclusive offers, free online reads and much more!

  Other ways to keep in touch:

  Harlequin.com/Newsletters

  Facebook.com/HarlequinTEEN

  Twitter.com/HarlequinTEEN

  HarlequinBlog.com

  The Problem with Forever

  by Jennifer L. Armentrout

  one

  THREE SUGARS.

  Every single morning, Carl Newport dumped three huge spoonfuls of sugar in his coffee. Well, when he thought no one was looking, he’d add two more. For a man in his early fifties, he was fit and trim, but he had one mean sugar addiction. In his study, the home office full of thick medical journals, there was a drawer in his desk that looked like a candy store had thrown up in it.

  Hovering near the sugar bowl, he reached for the spoon again as he glanced over his shoulder. His hand froze.

  I grinned from where I sat at the huge island, an empty cereal bowl in front of me.

  He sighed as he faced me, leaning back against the granite countertop, and eyed me over the rim of his mug as he took a drink of the coffee. His dark black hair, combed back from his forehead, had started to turn silver at the temples, a
nd with his deep olive skin, I thought it made him look fairly distinguished. He was handsome, and so was his wife Rosa. Well, handsome wasn’t the right word for her. With her dark, exotic features, she was very pretty. Stunning, really, in the way she held and carried herself.

  I placed my spoon in the bowl, carefully so it wouldn’t clang against the ceramic. I... I didn’t like to make unnecessary noises. An old habit I’d been unable to break.

  Glancing up from my bowl, I found Carl watching me. “Are you ready for today, Mallory?”

  My heart skipped unsteadily in response to what felt like an innocent question, but was really the equivalent of a loaded assault rifle. I was ready in all the ways I should be. Like a nerd, I’d printed off my schedule and the map of Lands High, and Rosa had called ahead, obtaining my locker assignment, so I knew exactly where everything was. I’d studied that map. Seriously. As if my life depended on it. There’d be no need to ask anyone where any of my classes were. Rosa had even made the trip with me yesterday to the high school so I got familiar with the road and how long the drive would take me.

  Today was the first time I’d be attending public school. Well, not the first time. There were times before, when I was younger, but I barely remembered them, so I didn’t count them. Then there was the other time, after Carl and Rosa had taken me in, and that first day at middle school had been an epic fail.

  That was four years ago.

  But now I was ready. I should be ready.

  “Mallory?”

  I glanced up and gave a curt nod as I pressed my lips together and dropped my hands to my lap. I was totally ready.

  Carl lowered his mug, placing it on the counter behind him. “You’re sure you know the way to school?”

  Nodding again, I hopped up from the barstool and grabbed my bowl. If I left now, I would be fifteen minutes early. Probably a good idea, I guessed as I placed the bowl and spoon in the stainless steel dishwasher.

  “And you have everything you need?” he asked, and as I straightened, he twisted his body toward me. Carl wasn’t a tall man, maybe around five foot eight, but I still only came up to his shoulders. “Use your words, Mallory. I know you’re nervous and you’ve got a hundred things going on in your head, but you need to use your words. Not shake your head yes or no.”

  Use your words. I squeezed my eyes shut. Dr. Taft had said that phrase a million times over, as had the speech therapist that had worked with me three times a week for two years. Use your words. Words flew through my head like a flock of birds migrating south for the winter. Words were never the problem. I had them, always had them, but it was the plucking the words out and putting a voice to them that had always been tricky.

  I drew in a breath and then swallowed. “Yeah. Yes. I’m... ready.”

  And I had to be ready, because today was a big day. It went beyond attending a new school. If I had any hope of attending college next year like a normal, functioning person, I had to make it through one year of public school.

  I had to.

  A small smile tipped up his lips as he scooped a long strand of auburn hair back from my face. My hair was more brown than red until I stepped outside. Then I turned into a living, breathing crimson fire engine of redheaded awkwardness. “You can do this. I completely believe that,” he said, dipping to place a kiss on my forehead. “You just have to believe that, Mallory.”

  My breath hitched in my throat. “Thank you.”

  Two words.

  They weren’t powerful enough, because how could they be when Carl and Rosa had saved my life? Literally and figuratively. When it came to them, I’d been at the right place at the right moment for all the wrong reasons in the universe. Our story was something straight out of an Oprah special or an ABC Family movie. Unreal.

  Saying thank you would never be enough.

  I hurried to the island and grabbed my book bag and keys before I broke down and started crying like a kid that just discovered Santa wasn’t real.

  As if he read my mind, he stopped me at the door. “Don’t thank me,” he said. “Show me.”

  I started to nod, but stopped myself. “Okay.”

  He grinned then, crinkling the skin around his eyes. “Good luck.”

  Opening the front door, I stepped out on the narrow stoop and into the warm air and bright sun of a late August morning. My gaze drifted over the neatly landscaped front yard that matched the house across the street, and was identical to every house in the Pointe subdivision.

  Every house.

  Sometimes it still shocked me that I was living in a place like this—a big home with a yard and flowers artfully planted, and a car in the recently asphalted driveway that was mine. Like I’d wake up and find myself back...

  I shook my head, pushing those thoughts away as I approached the decade-old Honda Civic. Kept in great condition, the silver paint hadn’t faded. The car had belonged to Rosa and Carl’s real daughter, a high school graduation gift given to Marquette before she’d left for college to become a doctor, like them.

  Except she never made it to college. An aneurysm. There one minute and gone the next, and there had been nothing that could be done. I imagined that was something Rosa and Carl had always struggled with... They saved so many lives, but couldn’t save their daughter.

  It was a little weird since the car belonged to me now, like I was somehow a replacement child. They never made me feel that way and I’d never say that out loud, but still, when I got behind the wheel I couldn’t help but think about Marquette.

  Before I backed out of the driveway, the reflection of my eyes in the rearview mirror snagged my attention. They were way too wide. I looked like a deer about to get slammed by a semi, if deer had blue eyes, but whatever. The skin around my eyes was pale, my brows knitted. I looked scared.

  Sigh.

  Relaxing my face took effort, and practically the entire twenty-eight-minute drive to Lands High, and the moment the three-story brick school came into view, beyond the baseball and football fields, all that effort went to waste.

  My stomach twisted as my hands tightened on the steering wheel. The school was huge and relatively new. The website said it had been built in the nineties, and compared to other schools, it was still shiny.

  Shiny and huge.

  I passed the buses turning to do their drop-off in the roundabout and followed another car around the sprawling structure, to the mall-size parking lot. Parking wasn’t hard, and I was a little early, so I used that fifteen minutes to do something akin to a daily affirmation, just as cheesy and embarrassing.

  I can do this. I will do this. Over and over, I repeated those words as I climbed out of the Honda, slinging the bag over my shoulder. My heart pounded as I looked around me, taking in the sea of faces streaming toward the walkway leading to the back entrance of Lands High. Different features, colors, shapes and sizes greeted me. For a moment it was like my brain was a second away from short-circuiting. I held my breath. Eyes glanced over me, some