by Lizzy Ford
“What’re you doing up here?”
She turned in time to see Rhyn drop with an audible crunch from the air to the snowy roof. Her misery increased at the physical reminder that she hadn’t figured out what to do about him yet.
“Thinking,” she replied.
“Dangerous.”
“For you, maybe.”
He drew near but stopped just out of arms’ reach, alerted by her sharp tone. Embarrassed by her tears, she turned away. Mercifully, he said nothing, only stood close to her and stared into the same sky. Even at the safe distance, his body heat made her uncomfortably warm.
“You think we’ll all survive this?” she asked at last.
“Probably not. As long as I take Kris down with me, I don’t give a shit.”
She stifled a laugh, and he gave her a sidelong glance.
“I got time if you do,” he added. “You can’t fuck a man once when he’s outta prison and never again.”
“You’re on probation,” she reminded him. “And your time is running short.”
“Got it covered.”
“Do you?”
“More or less.”
“I’m not convinced.”
“Seems stupid for us to stand here when we both want each other so bad,” he said. “I thought we were making progress. I was good last night.”
“I feel like your life and Toby’s and Hannah’s would be better without me in it,” she said and faced him.
“I think you’re afraid. Your life is shitty and you have one good thing going for you. You’re the only good part of my life. I assume it’s the same for you.”
She said nothing at his words, surprised as always by his backhanded compliments and tormented by the knowledge that she had to do something that would hurt them both. He stepped closer until they were toe-to-toe. She craned her head back to hold his silver gaze, a tremor of desire working its way through her.
Maybe tomorrow she’d break it off. She didn’t want to lose him just yet.
“I thought I made your life more difficult,” she said to keep from falling into a dangerous silence.
“That, too. You’re as tough as an egg dropped from a ten-story building. Really hard to rescue. Gets annoying.”
“I didn’t ask for this!” Her face burned at his bluntness. She was frustrated to feel more tears rise. “I’m tired of all this shit. I have no say in anything, and in the end, we’re all screwed! Go back to killing things, Rhyn.” She turned her back to him, hoping he’d fly off in his pterodactyl form or disappear into the depths of the forest as a jaguar.
She felt his warmth at her back instead. He draped his arms around her and pulled her against him, resting his chin on her head. She wiped her face, afraid to let herself feel pleasure in the warm body pressed against hers on such a cold night. Every time he touched her, her resolve melted. He smelled of his own musk and darkness, an alluring mix that made her blood burn.
She missed him. The sense of yearning was deep. She barely knew the man at her back, but she’d felt his absence even during the few hours in the day they weren’t together. Gabriel’s words and her nightmare haunted her, reminded her she couldn’t let herself fall in love with him now.
“Rhyn …” She trailed off, not at all sure what she wanted to say. “Do you ever think we’re better off not being together?”
“No,” he said, though he shifted behind her. “Do you?”
“Yeah, sometimes.”
“I think we make a good pair.”
“Why?” she asked.
“No one else could put up with either of us.”
She wanted to be offended by his comment but suspected he spoke the truth.
“We will make things work,” he said.
“I really don’t know, Rhyn.”
“It doesn’t matter what you think. You’re already mine.”
She forced herself to pull away from him. “I want to like you, Rhyn, I really do, but sometimes I don’t think you know how bad things are.”
“You more than like me, but you’re too scared to admit it. Say whatever you want, Katie, but this is happening.”
“Now you’ll tell me you know how I feel because you read my mind.” She leveled a glare on him.
“If I feel like it, I see every thought that crosses your mind. Like Kris saying he’d break the mating bond between us. Kris can’t do it, by the way. You’re stuck with me.”
She stared at him, surprised. He was unfazed by the idea that traumatized her. Another thought occurred to her about her trip to the boutique earlier that day.
“What else have you read?” she asked cautiously.
“I haven’t since yesterday morning. Trying to be good.”
“Thank you,” she said, relieved.
“Kiss? Breakfast tea? It ain’t easy being a good demon.”
Her emotions felt too raw to deal with him: anger, desire, regret. She didn’t have the strength this night to tell him to go.
“I can’t, Rhyn. I have to check on Toby,” she said and moved past him before she changed her mind. “I’ve failed miserably in my role as a foster mom, and he nearly died because of it.”
“What happened to Toby wasn’t your fault.” She paused at his words and turned to look at him again. “None of you knew about the demons in the forest, and you were right about what you said to Kris.”
“I think I like it better when you’re hard to get along with,” she said with some frustration. “You’re not making things easier.”
“Life is anything but easy.” For the first time that night, she realized he was disturbed about something. Rhyn gazed at her, considering. “I don’t want to lose you, Katie.”
She looked down. If she didn’t find a way to push him away, she risked messing up both of their lives. She loved him, but she couldn’t let him love her.
“Don’t you have a checklist or something I can follow so I know what I’m supposed to be doing?” he asked.
“If there were a checklist for relationships, everyone would have a happy ending,” she responded. “Do I feel whatever it is between us? Do I miss you even when I know I can call you and you’d come without question? Yes, but I don’t trust you, Rhyn. It takes more than killing things, and I’m done being chewed on, mauled, and treated like crap by you Immortal idiots.”
He said nothing.
“What we have is not enough for me. Do you get that?” she asked.
“What happened between last night and tonight?” His gaze had turned predatory again.
“Nothing. I just realized I can’t be with someone I can’t rely on, Rhyn.” Her words sounded cheap, even to her ears. She turned and all but fled the rooftop, cursing herself for her weakness and the tears in her eyes.
She pushed the door open to her room and gazed at Toby. Color had returned to his face, and Lankha was curled up in a ball at the end of the bed with Ully snoring in a chair. She sat at the edge of the bed and touched Toby’s soft face, not sure what to do or think about anything anymore, especially now that Hannah had been dragged into this world.
*
Kris watched the door to the guest bedchamber close, unusually hopeful about his discovery. He padded down the hall to his room, where Sasha awaited him.
“So I was right,” Sasha said as he entered. “One more feather in my cap.”
“And a trail of dead bodies you’ll never make up for,” Kris replied. Sasha shrugged, unconcerned. “How did you know?”
“When I tasted the sister, I saw her mind. I saw what they both were.”
Kris poured himself chilled whiskey from the small refrigerator tucked in a corner. He took a sip, gaze going to the snow falling outside the window. Sasha’s words reminded him that he, too, had tasted Katie. She’d tasted so sweet, and he prayed her sister tasted the same. She had a reason to hate him after what he’d done, and he’d been unable to apologize. He’d hoped to use Sasha’s knowledge to break her bond to Rhyn and mate with her himself, despite their hostile relationsh
ip. Now, he may not have to. There was more than one Ancient’s mate. For the first time since Andre’s death, things were looking better for him.
He felt the weight of his brother’s death on his shoulders again. Andre had been his confidante and mentor whose guidance had helped him navigate his role as the Immortals’ leader. Without him, Kris felt as if he were alone trying to solve the world’s problems.
“Tell me why the forest is crawling with demons,” he said and turned to Sasha. “And why their leader is demanding an audience with me to discuss you.”
The smiled faded from his half-brother’s face, and Sasha’s gaze went to the fire. “My people figured out the right mix of Rhyn’s girl’s blood to give immunity to whoever has it. I was under some … pressure from the demons after some stupid misunderstanding regarding Darkyn’s daughter and a few others, so I took it and came here,” he said.
“Knowing your older brother would have to protect you from the most powerful demon Hell ever spat out,” Kris said, anger flaring within him.
“You’re sworn never to harm one who comes in good faith.”
“I need to ask you something, and if you lie to me, we’re done.”
“Whatever you like, brother,” Sasha said with too much ease.
“Were you responsible for killing Andre?”
“You forget, Kris, he was my brother, too, and I considered him a friend. He was the only neutral party among our father’s sons. What he considered me, I won’t even try to guess, but no, I didn’t. It was rumored in Hell that Darkyn was trying to get your precious Katie. Andre was collateral damage.”
Sometimes Kris hated being his father’s son and resented Andre’s insistence that he choose duty over all else. He’d lost his lover, Jade, that way, a sacrifice that still stung. He seemed to be the only one on the Council who truly cared about upholding the balance between good and evil, no matter what the cost. That Rhyn of all his brothers would be granted such an honor as an Ancient’s mate made a mockery of everything. He saw firsthand how Rhyn’s destructive nature took its toll on those closest to him, and the half-breed had no sense of loyalty or duty to the Council.
Even so, Rhyn’s flaws stemmed from his nature of being a half-demon. Sasha had chosen to serve the Dark One and betray the Council and their father. Sasha may not have pulled the trigger on Andre, but someone he knew where to find their oldest brother, who had been protecting Katie when he was rendered dead-dead.
Sasha also knew the Code Kris was bound by: those who came in good faith would be given the chance to prove it. Then there were the rules their father had created about none of the brothers being permitted to kill the others, with the exception of Andre, whose sole purpose in life was to keep the Council on track and protect them. Unless Sasha posed a direct threat to the Council, Kris was forbidden from buying an assassination, despite suspecting his brother wasn’t as innocent as he proclaimed.
Sasha disgusted him, but he couldn’t just kill him like he wanted to.
“She looks like Lilith,” Sasha said.
“I hadn’t noticed,” Kris said and took another sip, aware his brother was always on the prowl for some weakness to exploit. In truth, he had noticed that Hannah looked like the first Ancient’s mate ever found, Lilith. Lilith had been intended for Kris and was pregnant with his son when Rhyn killed her and the baby both.
He took another sip. After all his sacrifices, after losing Lilith and Katie to Rhyn, he wasn’t sure what he’d do if Hannah chose someone other than him as her mate.
“We aren’t too different,” Sasha voiced quietly. “Sometimes it only takes a small nudge to push you over the edge.”
“What pushed you to the Dark One, brother?”
“A loss too great for me to bear.”
Kris looked at him sharply, suspecting his brother was trying to play on his emotions. Sasha still stared into the fire.
“What did you lose?” he demanded.
“My soul mate. You stole him from me, just as Rhyn stole Lilith from you.”
Surprised at the raw, bitter note in Sasha’s voice, Kris studied him. “Jade?” he asked. “You were in love with Jade?”
“I was, until he became enamored with you. You don’t give a shit who you fuck, but I did then. There was only one for me.”
“You can have him.”
“Too late. I think I burned that bridge. The demons brought Jade and Iliana to Hell.”
Jade had disappeared after Kris sent him away in hopes that Katie would become his mate. He’d last seen his other trusted lieutenant, Iliana, two days ago, when he’d sent her to represent him in North America while he was away.
“Are they alive?” he asked.
“They are. The demons treat their guests well. Iliana has been a favorite among them.”
Anger made Kris’s face warm. Iliana was a relatively young Immortal who had been at his side for only a few decades, having caught his attention with her fighting skill and fierce loyalty. He’d promoted her to one of his lieutenants. She was tough, loyal, and beautiful.
“Our family is prone to ongoing disappointment and treason. I think we are worse to each other than the Dark One is to his enemies,” Kris said, white rage buried deep within him to keep Sasha from seeing it.
“Without a doubt, brother, which is why I hope your meeting with Darkyn goes well. He’s not the kind of demon you want to piss off.”
Kris glanced at the clock, aware it was time for him to meet with the demon leader. He set his glass down and looked again at Sasha, who had yet to glance away from the fire. He wasn’t fooled by any of his brothers, especially Sasha and Rhyn, whose treachery had been too personal for him to forget or forgive.
He threw on a jacket and left, aware Sasha couldn’t leave the castle grounds without forfeiting his life and wouldn’t dare disrupt the Immortals for fear of Kris’s wrath. Kris could kill or have him killed in retribution for any life he took while inside the walls. Sasha wasn’t that stupid, though Kris wondered what game his brother played.
The night was cold and dark as he strode across the park to the edge of the castle’s grounds. A single figure already awaited him at the edge of the invisible wall that kept the demons out of the sacred grounds. More dark shadows lingered deep within the forest, watching over their leader. Darkyn was a head shorter than Kris and wider, his steady gaze and roughly hewn features reminding him of Rhyn.
Kris stopped a safe distance away on the sacred grounds, taking in the underwhelming demon leader with some surprise. He’d expected some towering monstrosity from the legendary demon who challenged the Dark One.
“You have something I want,” Darkyn said with Rhyn’s bluntness.
“Good evening to you, Darkyn,” Kris replied. “I’m afraid my brother stays with me. I am bound to protect him.”
“By Immortal Code, you must turn him over to me. He has slain a family member.”
“I find it funny you demons spend your days looking for ways to break the Code then dare quote it to me. No, Darkyn, you will not have Sasha. Now, Rhyn, you can have.”
“The half-breed?” Darkyn sneered. “I would rather fry myself on sacred ground. Sasha took something from the Dark One. If you will not return your brother as you are obligated, then you must return this.”
Kris was quiet, pretending to consider. His opinion of Darkyn tanked. The demon was an idiot, too unaccustomed to politics or negotiating to understand how to get what it wanted without revealing what that was. There was no way in Hell Kris would give this creature the key to defeating his warriors! But then, he needed some way to keep his Immortals safe until he could determine how many demons were in the forest so he could wipe them out.
“This I will think about,” he said at last. “I will speak to Sasha to determine what it is he stole, and if it is rightfully owned by the Dark One, which it must be in order for you to reclaim it.”
The demon eyed him.
“If it is so, then I’ll return it to you. I’ll convene the Council
That Was Seven for an impartial vote. This might take me a few days. I ask that, in the meantime, you refrain from attacking any Immortal traveling the road to the castle.”
It was the demon’s turn to consider. Kris waited.
“On the main road only,” the demon agreed. “And if Sasha steps outside of sacred grounds, we will take him. No appeal of yours will work in his favor.”
I hope not, Kris thought but said aloud, “I’ll warn him.”
Darkyn’s features were too shuttered to read, and Kris didn’t wait for him to second-guess anything. He returned to the castle, stopping at the sound of commotion from the direction of the forest before he reached the entrance. Rhyn’s pterodactyl shape hovered over the demons at the edge of the forest, one of the creatures dangling in his talons. Kris heard the sickening sound of the demon’s body breaking from the distance and watched the other demons shapeshift to charge the half-demon. Hoping they’d fix his Rhyn problem for him, he entered the castle and headed straight to the office of his personal secretary.
“Henri, summon Kiki and the others here immediately. If Tamer gives you any resistance, let me know, and I’ll drag him here myself,” he instructed. “And find out if Iliana made it to her destination.”
Henri nodded, his fingers flying over the keyboard in front of him. Of all the thoughts on Kris’s mind, Hannah and Jade were foremost. He didn’t know whose mate Hannah was intended to be but hoped fate revealed it soon, or he’d help it along and claim her as his as he should’ve done to Katie when they met.
He’d been too good of a person a mere month before. Andre’s death and Rhyn’s reappearance changed everything, and Kris found himself considering alternatives he’d never have thought twice about before, like ordering Rhyn and Sasha killed despite his oath to protect his brothers and making an oath to Katie he had no intentions of keeping.
Another idea emerged from his dark thoughts, and he trotted out of the secretary’s office and to Katie’s chamber. Ully was sleeping soundly in his seat beside Toby’s bed. Katie was huddled in a blanket before the fire, and what looked like a healer curled on the bed. Kris nudged Ully awake, motioning for the scientist to follow him out of the chamber. Ully did so sleepily.
