Anxious and breathless, Jo stepped forward. "Then we're going after him?"
Thorn inclined his head to her. "May the gods have mercy on us all. The last thing we need is to face an even stronger creature."
16
Cadegan dove beneath the blackened waves as he sought some sort of refuge from the hell that had become his world. Hatred and bloodlust pounded through him without letup. He wanted to taste the entrails of every creature dumb enough to approach him. While he'd never been friendly, this was completely different.
He had lost all ability to feel for anyone or anything.
Opening his eyes, he breathed in the water and scent of blood that still clung to him. The giant had been his first victim.
Too bad Cordelia had run screaming before he had a chance to finish the giant off and add her to his menu. Since then, he'd flown over the countryside, looking for more food. How he loved the musical cadence of screams echoing in his ears.
Truly, there was no better sound.
Drunk on the panic he'd induced, he dove deeper into the water. This was what he'd needed. The water's caress. The sound of his heartbeat echoing in his ears.
He froze his muscles as his instincts picked up on the sound of creatures approaching.
Curious, he tucked his legs and floated to the surface. With only his eyes out of the water, he scanned the banks until he saw Morgen's men. Fey Adoni armor glistened in the grim, gray light. Armed with crossbows and spears, they sent out lures to flush him to the top.
Did they think him as mindless as he was soulless?
Hah! They were about to learn the truth of his kind.
"Cadegan?" Morgen called. "We are here to free you."
Her gown was the only color in the dreary landscape. Bright bloodred, it clung to the voluptuous curves of her body. Something that brought out a new hunger inside him as she stirred his lust.
"Come to us, love. We will care for you in ways you cannot imagine."
Tempted, he moved his gaze to the MOD on Morgen's left-hand side.
Bracken. His uncle who'd once tortured him at Morgen's behest. He wanted to spear the bastard through his missing heart. But he refused to give them his location.
Especially since half her army carried nets he knew were there to capture him.
"Cadegan? Come, child. Let me care for you."
He went perfectly still at the sound of a voice that was identical to his mother's. For the merest instant, he was a boy again, sitting on the edge of the tower window as he counted down to the bell toll. As he looked out upon the endless land and wondered if his mother was out there, somewhere.
If she ever gave a passing thought to the child she'd left behind.
Furious, he started forward, wanting more blood.
But as he moved, the water caressed his demonkyn skin like the hand of a lover.
It caressed him like ...
He struggled to remember. It was important that he recall the sensation.
'Tis nothing. Devour them!
He pulled back. Placing his hand upon his cheek, he heard the faint memory of laughter.
Gentle teasing.
Like a wombat in a cornfield.
"Josette," he breathed as he remembered feeling something other than burning hatred and the stinging hunger for death and blood.
I will never leave you.
But she had left him. Just like everyone else.
His rage built even higher. It was true. She'd betrayed him. Abandoned him the first chance she'd had to go home.
And here he stayed. With no one and nothing.
Morgen wants you.
Nay, she did not. He was not so stupid as to be that easily fooled. She wanted to use him. Like everyone else.
No one ever wanted to keep him. Not in reality.
"Cade?"
At first, he thought himself dreaming. Imagining the sound of a voice that was forever lost to him.
"Sweetie? Where are you?"
It was Josette. His heart pounded as a hope he despised filled his entire being.
'Tis a dodge from the Queen Bitchtress, herself. Another lying ruse....
A slight movement on his right caught his attention. Crouched low in the shrubs and staring at him was the last person he'd ever expected to see.
Josette.
She stretched her hand out toward him. "I'm here to take you home with me. Come, my lord. I won't let anyone harm you."
Cadegan started forward instinctively. Until he saw that she wasn't alone. Three men were with her. His bastard brother and one he knew was related to him, and another who favored Acheron, but this one wasn't demonkyn.
He scowled at their small group. He wasn't sure how he knew that the one was related to him, but he'd always been able to sense any member of the Tuath De what came near him.
Morgen's forces saw them and moved to attack
Suddenly, two dragons and two Adar Llwch Gwin swooped down from the sky to engage Morgen and her army.
Exploding into action, Morgen's forces flew at the newcomers. Shouts and curses rang out as the two groups clashed. The scent of blood filled his nostrils and the call to war was more than he could bear.
Without thought, he went for them all.
Jo swallowed as she watched Cadegan rip through Morgen's mandrakes and gargoyles without hesitation or mercy. No wonder they feared him so. In his demonic form, he was a killing machine.
In that moment, she seriously doubted the sanity of bringing him into her world. Everything Thorn had said about his abilities, rang in her ears. Who or what could stop that?
Yet as she watched, she remembered the quiet man who'd protected her from harm. The tender man who'd teased and made love to her. She had seen his heart from the outside, in.
Violence resides inside us all. She knew that. She also knew the restraint Cadegan was capable of.
But there was only one way to know for sure.
Are you out of your ever-lovin' mind? Don't you dare!
He's worth it, she told herself. He wouldn't hurt her. Even in this form. She knew that.
It was time to prove it to everyone.
Even herself.
Breathing steadily and summoning every piece of courage she could, she ran toward Cadegan as Morgen and her army fled his wrath, and he turned his ferocity onto the Adar Llwch Gwin.
"Cadegan!" she shouted before he could hurt Ioan or Talfryn. "Stop it! They're not your enemy."
With a fierce, demonic hiss, he turned toward her and made her really glad in that heartbeat that he didn't have the power to breathe fire. Or she'd be Jo Toast.
The look in his eyes said that he was about to put her on his menu, and not in the way she wanted him to.
Styxx, Thorn, Max, Illarion and Talon moved to protect her.
She pushed her way through them.
"Do you mind? He doesn't trust any of you."
Still in his terrifying addanc form, Cadegan landed before her and circled her on the ground like a lion bent on Jo Tartar. "Why should I trust you, little morsel?" he growled low in his demonic voice.
Jo met his gaze without flinching. "Because I love you and you know that beyond a doubt. I promised I wouldn't let them have you and I meant it. Come home with me, Cade. Let me give you the love you deserve."
Cadegan pulled up short at those words and the strange chord they struck inside him. He blinked twice as he remembered her warmth.
The kindness of her touch.
Nay! She's lying to you. 'Tis the worst sort of dodge ever handed you, lad. Don't be an imbecile.
But he saw no deceit in her eyes. Heard no tremble in her voice.
Did he dare believe it?
Before he could stop himself, he moved closer to her. He expected her to scream when she saw what he looked like. Horned, winged and foul. Even he'd glimpsed himself and thought, that can't be right.
Yet it was. His outside now betrayed the truth of his blood. It telegraphed to the world exactly what a monster he'd been bor
Like the warrior she was, Josette didn't flinch at his approach. He saw no condemnation in her dark eyes. Only a kind acceptance he'd never known anywhere, other than her arms.
She again reached for him. "I'm here for you, baby. I'm not afraid to love you."
He pulled back. "Don't look at me. I'm hideous."
"There is nothing about you I find repellent."
The moment he felt her hand on his skin, he calmed down to that quiet serenity that eased him deep inside his soul. Gone was the violence that wanted blood. With her courage and her love, she tamed him completely.
He no longer wanted to kill. He only wanted Josette.
She wrapped her tiny hand around his miscolored, clawed one. "Ever my hero. Thank you for protecting me from Morgen's army."
Cadegan stared at their laced fingers. As always, her skin was the perfect porcelain blend. Soft beyond imagining. "Aren't you afraid of me?"
She shook her head. "I will never fear you. I see you, Cadegan, for what you really are, and not for this exterior skin that you can't help. Your outside isn't important to me. It's your heart and your soul I love. The real you, only I know."
Before he realized what she intended, she kissed his scarred lips.
Jo tried not to think about the fact that he could tear her apart as he lifted his hand to cup her face while he kissed her. Her body went from cold to hot faster than she was prepared for. More than that, he kissed her with an unbelievable passion.
When he pulled back, she expected to look into reptilian eyes again.
They were again his vibrant blue. She smiled at him as she danced her gaze over his perfect, male body. He looked just as he had before. Human in every way.
Slowly, his gaze locked on hers. Like an exhausted cat, he laid his head on her shoulder, and pressed her hand to his cheek.
"Me precious Josette."
She brushed her hand through his hair. "My beautiful Cadegan."
Cadegan struggled to breathe as she held him and he realized that what he wanted could never be. That they were born of two incompatible worlds. She was light and color, and he was banished to a dark gray hell. "I still cannot leave this place, me lady. I am forever damned here."
"No, sweetie. I've come to get you. I can take you through the portal, the same way we took Illarion earlier."
Lifting his head, he met her gaze. "Do you swear to me?"
"Every effing day." Smiling, she held her hand out to him. "Come home with me, Cadegan. Back into the light where you belong."
He glanced to his brother, who watched them with a worried expression. "Are you here to stop us?"
Leucious shook his head. "I'm here to help."
Cadegan wished he could fully believe that. But his experience with Leucious was such that he knew better than to put faith in anything his brother said.
"And you are?" Cadegan asked the blond man beside his brother who favored Acheron.
"I'm Styxx. They brought me along because I have Asshole Brother issues, too. And can relate fully to yours. Case in point, mine, as well as his goddess girlfriend, locked me in a hole for eleven thousand years. I know exactly how hard it is to trust again. And I know the hunger you have to be free of this place. Forever. Come with us, and we'll take you somewhere you'll never be alone again."
"Will you be there?" Cadegan asked Josette.
She nodded. "I promise I will never leave you and I never break my oath."
Still, it seemed too easy. And nothing in his life had ever come that way.
Cadegan looked to the other blond with them. The one who was related to him somehow. This male creature bore the markings of the Morrigan over his body.
"I'm Talon of the Morrigantes. My wife is the granddaughter of the Morrigan and the Dagda. We're cousins, and I swear on every bit of me good Celt blood that this is no dodge, brother. You can trust in us."
His hand trembling, Cadegan held Josette's palm against his cheek, as he debated on whether or not to believe her and the others. He wanted to, desperately. But a broken oath from her would destroy him.
In the end, he came back to one truth.
Without Josette, he wasn't whole. She removed the pain inside him and filled his heart with unimaginable warmth and happiness. Against all sanity and reason, he needed her.
"Take me home with you, Josette. 'Tis the only place I wish to be."
Thorn stepped back as he watched Cadegan, now in human form, kiss Jo's palm. It was the damnedest thing he'd ever seen.
One minute, Cadegan had been a full fledged, blood-crazed demon.
The next, he was perfectly calm again. Serene even. Acheron was right. So long as they had Jo, they had a leash for Cadegan. She was his anchor to humanity. Perhaps it would work out, after all.
But as Thorn opened the portal and allowed them to walk through it, he knew it wasn't this easy.
Something bad was going to happen. It always did.
17
Cadegan hesitated at the portal as the others went through first. Styxx stayed behind with him and Josette.
On the other side, Leucious turned to face them. His expression seemed sincere enough. But Cadegan wasn't accustomed to trusting him.
Not for anything.
"I am here for you, little brother."
That only made Cadegan more apprehensive. Leucious killed or banished creatures like him. He didn't suffer them to live among the world of man, and he damn sure didn't help them to reach it.
Unsure, Cadegan met Josette's dark gaze, and tightened his grip on her delicate hand.
"I trust him, Cade. He won't betray you. And if he does, I promise to serve up a part of his anatomy that he'll definitely miss."
He smiled at that.
"I am here for you, sweetie. Always."
Those words touched a part of him he'd never met before and they choked him. In that moment, he craved her with a madness that made the demon inside him tremble in fear. Cupping her cheek, he kissed her and wished they were alone so that he could ease the other ache inside him that begged for her touch.
With a breath for courage and her hand in his, he stepped through and waited for the wall to slam shut in his face. For him to walk into a solid mass that kept him banished where he belonged.
In hell.
But it didn't.
Holding his breath, he opened his eyes and found himself in a horrifically bright room. Unused to actual daylight, he flinched and held his hand up to shield his squinting eyes. Even so, he reveled in the pain of it.
Sunlight. Real and true. He could even feel the warmth of it on his skin.
Amazed, he held his hand out and let the rays dance over his flesh.
"Dang it, Karma! Close your curtains. Fast!"
A woman who looked similar to Josette ran to obey.
Jo bit her lip as she watched the awe and marvel play across Cadegan's handsome face. He was like an infant discovering his feet for the first time.
And he looked so out of place here with his black monk's robe and chain mail and spurs.
Karma raked a sneer over him, but he didn't pay a bit of attention to her. Not while unbelievable joy spread across his face, as he turned a small circle and glanced around the brightly painted room and decorated bookshelves.
He met Jo's gaze. "Where am I?"
"Karma's house."
Cadegan digested that news slowly as he continued to look about. Scowling, he paused and cocked his head at the sight of a familiar stranger.
In the far corner stood Acheron, who was indeed identical to Styxx, except his hair was black and his eyes a swirling silver, instead of Styxx's deep blue. This time, Acheron didn't wear the strange mask that had covered his eyes earlier.
"Severe Asshole Brother issues," Styxx repeated in Cadegan's ear. His voice was filled with humor as he cracked a wide grin. "Every time you think you have it bad, just remember, you don't see Thorn's face every single time you stumble in front of a mirror."
Cadegan snorted at something that wasn't really funny. "I concede this issue to you, me lord. By far, yours is the greatest indignity."
He clapped Cadegan on the shoulder. "If only you knew, my brother. If only you knew." Rubbing his arm affectionately, Styxx went to Acheron's side. For all of Styxx's protestations, he and Acheron seemed to get along well.
In fact, Acheron embraced him. "Glad you're back. I was starting to worry."
Patting him on the shoulder, Styxx indicated them with his chin. "Acheron, I present to you, Cadegan. In his real and true form."
Acheron inclined his head respectfully. "Welcome back, my lord."
He seemed sincere and decent enough. But Cadegan was suspicious of the demon blood he sensed inside Acheron. Blood Styxx didn't share.
What was he? Why would one twin be demonic while the other wasn't?
"We have clothes for you," Acheron said graciously. "Whenever you're ready, Styxx or I can show you to your new home."
Cadegan arched a brow. "My new home?"
"In a realm called Katateros."
His stomach wrenched as his anger grew. So he wasn't free after all. He'd only gone from one prison to the next. That was what he got for trusting them. He should have known better. "Then I'm not to stay in this realm?"
The men stepped back in trepidation.
Jo placed her hand on his and calmed him as she saw the demon rising to the forefront. She placed her hand on his face and forced him to meet her loving gaze.
His eyes went from yellow back to blue as quickly as they'd switched before. "Shh, Cade. That's not what they meant. You'll have the freedom to come and go as you wish. And I'll be with you the whole time. If that's what you want."
"You will?"
She nodded. "I will be with you so long as you want me. Just promise that if you want to get rid of me, you'll tell me and not cut my head off or something equally mean."
"I would never do such, lass." He pressed his cheek to hers before he stepped back to eye Thorn. But at least this time, he remained fully human.
Jo wrinkled her nose playfully at him as he held her hand. "Your eyes are like an old-fashioned mood ring. The moment you get angry, bang ... the demon rears its ugly head and stares at me. Kind of scary."
"I would never cause you harm, Josette."
"You mean you hope you'd never harm her."
They all turned to Thorn, who'd spoken. Unrepentant, he explained his point. "The demon in our blood isn't always under our control. For that reason, Jo, you need to learn when to run from it. Lest you be harmed, and he be devastated by his own inability to control himself."
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