“Uh-oh. I recognize that look. Papa Bear’s gonna do some groveling, isn’t he?” The warrior laughed with smirking amusement. “Much as I’d like to see that, I’ve got some people to do. See ya.”
They branched off in opposite directions. Koldo flashed as he flew, traveling from state to state and across an ocean in the blink of an eye, until finally arriving at the ranch.
The sight that greeted him nearly stopped his heart.
A dark cloud surrounded the entire ranch, rather than the white one he’d left behind.
Through the darkness, he saw multiple demons crawling over the walls. And that’s when he knew. His cloud had been pumped full of demon toxin, sickening it. He’d heard of this happening only once, and had thought it a rumor. False.
He palmed his sword of fire and flashed to the top of the cloud, where he hacked through the gloom. The edges curled backward, sizzling, creating an opening. He jumped through and landed on the home’s roof, keeping his wings tucked as close to his sides as possible. He’d never fought with them, and wasn’t trained to do so. But that wouldn’t stop him from fighting now.
The demons scrambled to move away from him, but he turned and swung the sword, turned and swung, slicing one after the other in half. Black blood sprayed in every direction. Bodies thumped against the grass.
Finally the roof was cleansed and he was able to drop into the house. Demons, demons, all around, each one bigger and stronger than the last, and all the more determined to wreak havoc.
Two leaped on him from behind, ripping handfuls of feathers from his wings. Koldo gritted his teeth and released his sword, then pulled the creatures off, broke their necks and threw them down like the garbage they were.
Where was Nicola? Laila?
He palmed his sword and worked his way down the hall, his wrist in constant motion. Demons dropped like flies. There were more inside Laila’s room, but no sign of the girl herself. There was no sign of human injury, either, though the furniture was overturned, clothes strewn across the floor. If she’d been taken...
A demon spotted him and attacked, diving low, locking on to Koldo’s ankles, tripping him. His balance was off, and he couldn’t catch himself. The sword of fire disappeared as he crashed. He lost his breath, and the rest of the demons attacked, swarming him.
More feathers were pulled. His skin was bitten, scratched. Someone was attempting to chew through his Achilles tendon. Koldo grabbed the two creatures hanging on to his leg, ripped their spines from their throats and tossed them into the far wall. He grabbed two more and did the same, then two more, until he was able to jump up. The rest of the demons fell to the floor. He kicked them, the razor in his boot neatly slicing through intestines.
When he finished, he stomped down the hall. Nicola’s door was shut. He burst inside, wood shards spraying in every direction. In the center he found Lefty and Righty grating their claws against a puff of white fog.
Nicola was inside that fog, kneeling, her body draping Laila’s. She was staring at the tattoos on her arm. Tattoos that had come to life, forming a protective barrier around her.
The girls were here. They were alive. They were safe.
A potent flood of relief sent him marching forward. Lefty spotted him and backed away, dragging Righty with him. The pair picked up speed and careened through the wall, disappearing.
Koldo followed them, determined to end them once and for all, but they proved wily and slipped into the skies, hiding in the clouds.
Resigned, he returned to Nicola’s side and dropped to his knees. He patted, felt the hard shell around her, and knew it was thinning, softening. Finally, nothing was left but air.
“Nicola,” he said.
The sound of his voice jolted her, and she straightened in a snap. Wide, stormy eyes found him, and a mewl escaped her lips.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m so sorry.”
She threw her arms around him and hugged him tight. Her little body was trembling.
Laila remained curled in a ball, her eyes closed, her breathing even. She’d passed out, he realized.
He leaned back, palmed Nicola’s tearstained cheeks. “What happened?”
“I convinced Laila to come into my room so that I could read to her. All was well one second, and demons were swarming the next. I don’t think Laila could see them, but she could feel them, and she screamed. They wanted to kill us, not just infect us with more toxin. They wanted you to find our bloody bodies. All I could do was throw myself at Laila, skid us both across the room and look at the tattoos, just like you told me.”
A new flood of relief had him shaking. “You did the exact right thing.”
She sagged against him. “I was so scared.”
“But you cast that fear aside and acted.” He ran his hands over her back, the ridges of her spine. “I’m sorry I yelled at you. Sorry I wanted you to hurt another living being. Sorry I tried to bring you down to my level, my pain. Sorry I left you. Sorry I wasn’t here to help.”
Warm tears wet his skin. “I forgive you.”
That easily, he thought. Just that easily, and the knowledge caused tears to bead in his eyes. She could have thrown his words in his face. She could have sought some sort of revenge, and he would have deserved it. Yet, she embraced him.
“And I’m sorry I ignored you these past few days,” she said. “I was trying to give you time to work through your problems without any pressure from me, when all I really wanted to do was kiss you. Or strangle you. I wasn’t sure which.”
And now she apologized to him.
He loved this woman, he realized. He loved her with all of his heart, all of his soul.
The knowledge hit him with the force of a jackhammer, leaving a big hole that finally allowed light to flood inside him, revealing thousands of creepy crawlers, evil things he’d stored. The crawlers hissed and scrambled to avoid contact with the brightness and warmth.
He loved Nicola Lane.
But he wasn’t yet worthy of her.
Her heart was pure, unsullied. His was tainted. Her hopes and dreams were so sweet. His had always been dark, violent. She had seen a way past similar urges.
She wanted to travel the world, she’d once told him. Wanted to jump from an airplane, pet an elephant and dance on a skyscraper. And he could give her those things. Right now, that was his one saving grace. A saving grace he would take. He would earn her love—deserve it—one way or another.
And then, when he was worthy, he would wed her in the way of his people and permanently join her life to his, twining their life spans. He couldn’t bear to be without her.