“I hate to agree with Chloe, but I’m right there with her on this one,” I say. “Barron, you had better watch your back.”
Logan gives a silent laugh. “Yes, well, we’ve seen how Gage has treated his wives. I think it’s safe to say Emma is the only woman he cares about.” He gives my hand a squeeze. I’m all for getting under his skin tonight. Maybe that will shake him out of his stupor.
Gage frowns over at him. “Nice to see you all. Chloe”—he nods her way—“I’m sure you’ll find great interest in what we’ll be discussing.”
I can’t help but scoff at the thought. “And I take it Logan and I won’t?”
“No.” His jaw tenses. “I don’t think you will.”
Emma chortles at the thought. “Well, whatever you’re selling, I’m buying by the drove. Unlike Chloe, and most likely Skyla, I know for a fact you are anything but wicked. Only good has ever beamed from you, like the light from Heaven itself.”
Barron ticks his head at the thought. “I once believed that myself. If you’ll excuse me, I’d best take a seat. I think I’m going to need it.”
He takes off and Emma gasps at his words as she trails along. “Now, Barron, why do you insist on being so negative?”
“I think he’s a realist,” I say to Gage. “So what are you up to? Let me guess. You’re about to reveal the ace you’ve been hiding up your sleeve in an effort to try to steal my people? Won’t work. No thanks to my sister, they’re practically unstealable.”
Logan gives a quick glance around. “Speaking of which, I think I see Rory in the corner along with the rest of the Winters.” He frowns in that direction. “I think I’ll go say hello before the party starts.” He takes off, and Chloe takes a breath as she looks to the one who constipated most of her thoughts during her formative years.
“Gage Oliver.” She shakes her head. “You know, you are a gorgeous specimen. I could almost forgive you for the carnage you’ve caused me. That is, if I had a heart I was interested in abusing. But I don’t. I’m still firmly committed to seeing you eat a shit sandwich. And I’m still moved to team up with your other ex-wife, Ditzy, here.”
Gage’s chest thumps with a laugh. “Really? Your move to discredit Skyla proves that, doesn’t it?”
I shoot a look to the queen of mean. “He’s got you there.”
Chloe glances to the door. “Wes is here. I think I’ll go talk to my favorite ex-husband. He typically has much more interesting things to say.”
I shake my head as she takes off. “And to think I used to cringe when Wes walked into a room, and now it’s you who makes me shudder.”
“I used to make you shudder all the time and you loved it.”
“Don’t be a pervert, Gage.”
“I’m not. I was simply stating a fact. How are you feeling?”
“Not great, but not as bad as I was with the boys.” My hand floats to my stomach. “And Sage, of course. Have you seen her lately?”
“No. But I will soon. I don’t like too much time to pass between visits.”
“Send my love,” I tell him. “Even if she doesn’t accept it, there’s comfort knowing she hears the sentiment.” I shrug. “So what gives?” I nod out to the crowd quickly gathering. I spot Ezrina and Nev setting out donuts at the refreshment table along with Nicholas Haver’s widow who seems to be laying out a few carafes of coffee. “Give me a hint. You’re about to spill the beans anyway.”
He shakes his head just enough, and those famous dimples of his dig in deep.
A smile presses from me whether or not I wanted it to. “You know, when I look at you, I have a preview of what our boys will look like when they’re older. A couple of weeks ago, I would have followed that up with—and I hope that’s where the resemblance ends. But I know what you’re up against, Gage. And I hate Demetri for it. He’s pulling the wool over your eyes so completely, and he’s using your love for the boys and me to do it. There is nothing more wicked than that.”
“She’s right,” a deep voice strums from behind, and I turn to see Cooper Flanders shedding an easy grin my way. “Hey, Skyla.” He glances to Gage. “The offer still stands, I’ll pour over those books with you whenever you want.”
Laken comes up and wraps her arms around me. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m fine,” I whisper. “I’m so glad you’re here. Try not to look directly into his eyes. I have a feeling a mass hypnosis session is about to take place.”
Gage laughs at the thought. “You’re wrong, Skyla. I won’t have to hypnotize anyone. Your people will break faith with you, quick and easy, like snapping a candy cane.”
Logan comes back and nods to Gage. “It’s getting late. Let’s get this show on the road.”
I shoot Laken a look. “Emphasis on the word show.”
I’m about to head to the peanut gallery with Laken and Coop when Logan takes me up by the hand.
“You’re sitting up front with me.” Logan’s side-lying dimple dips in. “These are your people, Skyla. I’m done playing Chloe’s game. They need to see you maintain the position of leadership.”
I glance to Gage, and he gives a subtle nod.
“Of course, I’ll sit with you.”
The three of us take a seat at the elongated table that faces those who bothered to show. Logan sits in the middle and, believe me, I appreciate him as a buffer.
Logan takes a moment to greet the crowd before introducing Gage as our guest for the evening.
Logan nods to the familiar faces seated before us. “I’m just as anxious to hear what he has to say just as much as you are. Gage, the stage is all yours. Keep it brief. It’s getting late.”
The room quiets to a hush as Gage clears his throat.
“Thank you to those who took the time to show up, and to those who are watching remotely. I just want to extend my sincerest concern for you and your loved ones during this trying time. I pray you are safe and healthy. And above all, I implore you not to panic. I know my people, and myself for that matter, are seen as the enemy, but I can assure you we are one Nephilim family—all of us in this together. The preservation of our kind is critical, not only for our own benefit, but for mankind as well,” he continues. “The stronger our numbers, the better we can serve those around us. And that is the agenda the Fems have always brought to the table. Not in a domineering, vindictive, or wicked manner, but through brotherly love, through the supernatural family ties that bind us all as one. As you know, the Kingdom Virus is ravaging the world. No country has been spared of its greed for the grave. Ours is no different. Not only is it affecting humans, it’s affecting our kind at the same given rate.”
“Tell us something we don’t know,” someone shouts from the back, and I squint in the direction the voice came from because I happen to recognize it as belonging to Ellis Harrison.
“Okay.” Gage leans forward on his elbows. “Some of you may be aware of a vaccine that was announced earlier this evening that will soon be distributed by Althorpe. The vaccine is good news for the planet. Wonderful news for those in critical condition. And on the heels of that good news, I have some fortuitous news of my own to share with you.
“The Fems have crossed the finish line with a serum of our own. We’ve procured it,” he assures and the room quiets down, hungry to hear what he has to say next. “It’s a strong serum—a permanent serum that is able to hide our Nephilim markers—not for a six-month stretch at a time, but once and for all. A single dose that lasts a lifetime. And I’m open to giving to any and every one of you if you cross party lines so to speak and pledge your allegiance to the Fems. I’ll leave that here for your consideration. If any of you should choose to do so, please contact my league and we’ll be happy to assist you. We have worldwide stations ready to mobilize in the blink of an eye. This is just another measure we need to take at a time like this. Unfortunately, now that the government is concerned about alien beings living among us, I’m afraid their appetite for our kind won’t be going away any time soon.”
I certainly agree with him there. But that’s where it ends.
I clear my throat. “Thank you to our guest for the evening.” I take a deep breath as I look to the anticipatory faces in the crowd. “I assure you that Celestra has a sufficient serum. There is no need to side with the enemy.”
Logan sighs and gives my hand a squeeze. I think maybe we should match the claim—buy us a little time to think this through. But it’s entirely up to you.
I agree. I rise to my feet and look out at the crowd of stony faces.
“Brothers and sisters, I urge you to entertain this claim with great caution. Celestra, too, has achieved a permanent serum. We are in the process of mass production and will have it available within the next few days.”
“What about the permanence of Celestra’s serum?” a woman’s voice calls from the front, and I recognize that crow’s caw as belonging to my ex-mother-in-law. “King Gage boasts of a permanent serum that can last a lifetime. Can you promise us a lifetime of safety, Skyla? If indeed that is you.”
A fury builds in me, and I shoot Emma a look that could set her on fire.
More than anything I want to roll my eyes—for many reasons, but first and foremost for the fact that Emma had the balls to address her son as king.
“Yes. Our serum can last a lifetime. Just one dose, that’s all it takes. Please, do nothing in haste.” I glare over at Gage when I say it. “All will be well. I will see to it myself. Thank you all for coming out. Please stay safe. You’ll be hearing from me soon.”
At once the crowd begins to file over to the refreshment table as the roar of voices fills the hall.
Logan rises, and I shake my head at him.
“So much for having the Factions dependent on us,” I say.
He gives a long blink. “Don’t worry, Skyla. They won’t ever leave us. Not over this. They’re practically married to Celestra. Remember?”
“That’s right.” Gage slaps his hand on Logan’s shoulder. “It looks as if you had an ace up your sleeve after all.” He pins those cobalt eyes to mine. “I’m glad you’re fighting, Skyla. It was never my intention to have you roll over. You were born to battle for your people. And I was born to battle for you, the kids, and my own people.” He nods to Logan and me. “Goodnight.” He takes off, and Emma and Barron zip out of the building right along with him.
Wes and Cooper head over and trailing them are Chloe and Laken.
Wes shakes his head. “Don’t buy it, Skyla. You didn’t best him. He’s about to pull a dragon out of his hat and devour every one of our people. He wasn’t here to offer the people something he knows we have.”
Coop nods. “He’s right. I could see it in his face. He’s holding something back. Something big that’s about to explode in our faces.”
I glance to Logan. “Find Brody and Ellis.” I look to Wes and Coop. “Get to Whitehorse. We’re having an emergency meeting.”
“I’m coming, too,” Chloe announces to no one in particular.
“You weren’t invited.” I don’t mind sharing the news with her.
“That’s because I don’t require an invitation. I let you inside of my body. That means I don’t watch this shit show from the mezzanine. I’m an active participant on the stage. I’m going to make sure Gage Oliver pays for his sins.”
Logan’s nostrils flare. “And what about the damage you’ve caused between Skyla and the Factions? Are we supposed to look the other way while you throw that possession in her face for the rest of our lives? When do you pay for your sins, Chloe? Because I’d like to be there when you do.”
“Not today, Logan,” she snips. “So get off your white high horse because we’re going to need every brain cell among us to try to line up a defense for the hell that nephew of yours has planned for us.”
Laken averts her eyes. “She’s right. Who the hell cares if she’s there or not? At this point, she’s done her damage. Maybe we can squeeze an ounce of good out of her, after all. Let’s get going. Ezrina and Nev just walked out the door.”
“Then let’s get out of here,” I say, and soon we’re on the road to Whitehorse.
Ezrina’s underground lair is brightly lit, too brightly lit for this time of night, and it incites a nagging headache in me.
Our entire motley crew takes a seat at the round table at the mouth of the lab, while Gage’s primal apex floats in a bath of blue keeping solution before us like an irony.
“Thank you all for coming,” I say while looking into Gage’s eyes. “I think we should call this Operation Dark Horse.”
“Fitting.” Logan’s cheek flickers at the sound of it.
“What’s the plan?” Nevermore lands a pitcher of iced lemonade onto the table along with a sleeve of paper cups.
Ezrina looks irritated with the thought of developing a plan. “Can’t kill him. Pity.”
My stomach cinches at the thought of us banding together, lamenting over the fact we can’t kill Gage. How I hate the reality when all my heart aches for is the dream of who we once were.
“We’ll trap him,” Logan says it as if it were something achievable.
“Yes, but how are we going to trap him?” I ask.
“Lexy.” Logan lifts a brow at the mention of her. “She’ll run training on how to bind a Fem. Skyla, you’ll lure Gage out, and once he’s seized, his minions will come tumbling out of the sky in wicked droves in an attempt to save him. That’s when we’ll cut the Fems off at the supernatural balls.”
“And then what?” The words come out dripping with sarcasm, and I’m not sure I didn’t intend on it.
Wesley leans in. “We’ll send them to Tenebrous. Ingram knows how to hold a good Fem down. They won’t get out.”
Ezrina shrugs at the mention of her ex-husband. At some point in the seventeenth century, Ezrina was once married to a man by the name of Ingram Pendergast. He was demanding, and she was an independent, freethinking woman. It didn’t end well. Ezrina ended up a prisoner of the Counts, and Ingram ended up in a soot-riddled hell—a place called Tenebrous. The Tenebrous Woods used to house the infamous Celestra Tunnels where the Counts would siphon the blood of my people for its power. These days the realm has been gifted to Celestra, not that we’re throwing parties there.
“Sounds solid,” Chloe pipes up.
“It does,” I say. “But I don’t know about trapping Gage. He’s a resurrected being.”
“You’ll know how to trap him,” Chloe shoots my way. “You’ll do what worked in the beginning. You’ve trapped him with your pussy before, Skyla. And you’ll trap him with that hairy snare again.”
I avert my eyes.
“No, she’s right—sort of,” Logan says. “If he thinks you want to have a one-on-one, he’ll be willing to meet with you. Throw in a whiff of anything romantic, and his defenses will fall as quickly as his pants used to.”
My lips flicker, and I decide to hold back my pithy comeback until we’re alone. Although, Logan isn’t wrong.
“So where are we hosting this party?” Coop looks from Logan to me. “We’ll need space and privacy.”
Brody purses his lips. “West Paragon High? The woods adjacent to it? The two of you were a couple while at West.”
A mean shiver runs through me at the mention of that clown-riddled Fem-filled thicket.
“Bad memories in those woods.” I shake my head. “He’ll never buy it.”
Logan nods. “It’ll arouse his suspicions.”
Chloe’s chest bucks. “And we definitely want to arouse him. God forbid that baseball bat of his doesn’t get in on the action. I’d pay money to see him come at you, wagging, only to have you take a spirit sword to him. Think about it, Skyla. There’s room for that cucumber in his pants in that floating diorama of yours.” She points to Gage’s head in the box and a small titter circles the table.
“Geez.” Wes pinches his eyes shut as he laughs. “Leave it to Chloe to get creative in the most painful way.”
“I married you, didn’t I?”
She doesn’t miss a beat, and both Laken and I share a quiet chuckle.
But the visual of Gage’s floating cucumber just so happens to make my stomach churn.
“I vote we leave Gage’s baseball bat out of it,” I say.
Logan nods. “I second that.”
Ellis struts in with his hair mussed, and the smell of that funny cigarette he loves to smoke cloaking him like a cloud.
“What did I miss?” He plops down next to me.
“We’re taking Gage down,” I say. “And his Femtastic dogs, too.”
A laugh bumps from him. “Dude. I cannot wait to shove Oliver’s ass up against a wall. When and where?”
“When?” Logan takes a breath as he glares at the glass box housing the bobbing head of the boy we still very much love. “Soon.”
“But where?” Wesley glares my way as if willing me to come up with the answer. “We need to know the lay of the land. The enemy might be surprised, but we need to know this place like the back of our hand.”
“Where…” I search my mind and my heart for all of the places Gage Oliver might want to meet with me. Somewhere with a romantic implication—and then it hits me. Black as night. Cold as the deepest part of the ocean. “I know exactly where,” I say as I close my eyes, and every exchange Gage and I have ever had at that once sacred space rushes through my mind. “We’ll meet at Rockaway.”
Logan gives a long blink. “Rockaway it is.”
I nod. “Operation Dark Horse will commence soon enough.”
Gage Oliver’s shiny new life is about to come to an abrupt halt right at the very place we once pledged our love for one another, where he proposed, where we made love, where we flew to new heights on dragon wings, angel wings.
The dragon and the angel will meet there again.
Not as lovers.
As warriors.
Good and evil.
Roar of the Lion : Celestra Forever After 7 Page 45
