White Hot Kiss

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

He dropped from the sky, landing gracefully in front of us.

The impact shook nearby parked cars, added another pothole in the street and sent what few humans were on the street running for cover. His wings were unfurled, spanning eight feet or more. The broad chest, the color of granite, was heavily scarred, but the face was smooth and handsome.

Nicolai.

His yellow eyes, pupils slanted like a cat’s, slid toward Roth. He let out a growl that shook inside my chest. “Demon.”

“Congrats,” Roth said tightly. “You know your species. Want a cookie?”

The Warden’s eyes narrowed and a voice I’d never heard from Nicolai came out. “How dare you speak to me, alandlik demon?”

The switch to Estonian, Nicolai’s native language, caught me off guard. And honestly, out of everything, I had no idea why it did. My brain was slow to process what was happening, and before it could catch up, another shadow dropped.

“Layla,” he said, rising off the ground and hovering about like a twisted angel. His wings made no sound as they moved through air. All he said was my name, but there was so much weight behind that one word that he had to know. Everything.

Fear hit me in the gut, but not for me.

Nicolai swung toward Roth, baring fangs. There was a second, a sliver of time, when my eyes locked with Roth’s and the air was punched from my lungs. Roth stared at me like he couldn’t believe it. Betrayal ran deep in his stare, slicing through me.

“No,” I whispered hoarsely.

Roth turned at the last second, deflecting Nicolai’s attack with a single swipe of his arm. “You really don’t want to do that,” he snarled. His pupils dilated as he pushed Nicolai back. “Seriously.”

“You have no idea who you’re messing with,” the Warden growled.

Roth laughed coldly. “Aw, hate to break it to you, but you’re not a special snowflake.”

Only he could be a smart-ass in such a dire situation.

The two went at it. I had no idea how Roth held on to the Lesser Key as he went toe-to-toe with Nicolai. The fight was brutal. Punches flew. Claws tore through clothing and skin. Blood—the same tint and texture—flew from both of them.

I couldn’t let this happen.

“Stop! Please!” I shot forward, but out of nowhere, Abbot grabbed me from behind. He must have arrived when I wasn’t looking. “You need to stop. He’s not—”

“A demon?” Abbot rasped in my ear. “Have you forgotten what blood courses through you?”

I dug my fingers into Abbot’s arms, which did nothing. His skin was like stone. I stomped my foot down and he cursed loudly. His grip loosened and I broke free, rushing toward where the demon and Warden battled.

I didn’t make it.

Abbot was on me in a second. Catching me by the arm, he flung me back from the two. Unprepared for the power, I lost my footing and hit the sidewalk with a crack. Pain radiated over my knees and I let out a sharp gasp.

Roth whirled with a roar. His eyes glowed that iridescent yellow. The distraction cost him. Another Warden dropped beside him, wrenching the Lesser Key from his hands. Roth didn’t seem to care. Charging forward, he slammed into Abbot in his human form, taking the Warden down in a flurry of snapping jaws and wings.

I staggered to my feet, heart sinking. Roth was surrounded. Even as powerful as he was, there was no way he could take all the Wardens on. Not unless he unleashed Bambi or the dragon, but then I couldn’t bear to see any of my family hurt, either.

Air stirred around me and heat blew along my back. I knew without looking that Zayne had arrived.

“Get her out of here,” Abbot ordered, never taking his eyes off Roth.

Roth popped to his feet and backed off, breathing heavily as three Wardens circled him. Blood ran from his nose and mouth.

Go, I mouthed as Zayne threw an arm around my waist, and I begged silently for him to listen. Behind me, Zayne tensed and then he launched into the air. Right before the night swallowed everything below, I saw Roth flicker out of existence.

Zayne hadn’t spoken to me. Not once since we’d landed on the balcony outside my bedroom. Not even as he left me in my room and locked the bedroom door from the outside.

Hands shaking, I shoved them under my arms and paced the length of my bedroom. How had they known where we’d be? It was way too convenient that all of them appeared at once, especially Abbot. We couldn’t have been followed. I would’ve sensed them.

God, I was so screwed. The only relief I felt was that Roth had gotten away, but I’d seen the look in his eyes. He believed I’d betrayed him. Which wasn’t a hard conclusion to jump to.

Squeezing my eyes shut when a door slammed somewhere in the house, I knew he wasn’t what I needed to worry about right now. I could tell them how Roth had been there to help me—help us. I could convince them.

But me? Oh, dear, this wasn’t going to be good. I’d lied to them. I’d protected a demon. There would be no limits to their anger. And Zayne... My chest spasmed as I thought of him, of the stiff way he’d carried me here and set me down, the unnatural rigidness to his spine as he walked out of the room.

Sitting down on the edge of the bed, I dropped my head into my hands. I never wanted to hurt Zayne or for him to be disappointed in me. Even with the whole story, I knew it wouldn’t change much. I’d never kept secrets from him before.

But had he been keeping secrets from me?

My heart hurt to think that he knew all along who my mother was and what that meant. There were so many lies between all of us that the truth was covered in a web.

When a knock sounded on my door, my heart jumped. I stood on shaky legs and went to it. Nicolai waited on the other side in his human form. A faint red bruise shadowed his jaw. His left eye was swollen and painful-looking.

“Nicolai—”

He held up his hand. “There is nothing you can say right now, little one.”

I was struck silent, full of shame in spite of the fact that I hadn’t been conspiring against them. That what was going on was nothing like that.

Ushered into Abbot’s study in silence, I found that I hated how he watched me, like I was a stranger beside him. Worse yet, an enemy to be wary of. Abbot showed up a few minutes later, and he wasn’t alone. Zayne was with him, and by the pale, stricken look on his face, I knew that whatever Abbot suspected, he’d filled him in on it.

Zayne wouldn’t even look at me. Not once since Abbot slammed the door shut and crossed the room, stopping in front of me. Zayne didn’t even blink when I jumped. All he did was stand behind the desk, his gaze fixed to the wall somewhere behind me.

Out of everything that happened that night, I’m pretty sure that was the worst.

“All I can trust myself to say right now is that you are so very lucky we were able to retrieve The Lesser Key of Solomon.” Abbot loomed over me, his mere presence suffocating. He was bruised, too. Not as badly as Nicolai, but redness marred his brow. “If we hadn’t, there’d be no way of preventing the Alphas from becoming involved.”

My fingers still trembled as I tucked my hair back. “You don’t understand.”

“You’re right. I don’t. I cannot fathom what you were thinking by aiding a demon in retrieving The Lesser Key of Solomon.”

“He was helping me. He’s not like—”

“Don’t even finish that sentence.” Rage deepened his voice. “Because if you say he’s not like other demons, I may not be able to control myself.”

“But he’s not. You don’t understand. Let me explain—”

Abbot shot forward, grabbing the arms of the chair I sat on. I shrank back from the anger mottling his face. Over his shoulder, I saw both Nicolai and Zayne step forward and I wasn’t sure if they were coming to my aid or were about to help Abbot choke me.

“I am so disappointed, I am sickened by it,” he seethed. “How could you, Layla? I raised you better than this, as if you were a child of my own blood, and this is how you repay me?”

I flinched. “Please let me explain, Abbot. It’s not what you think.” My gaze darted to Zayne, but he looked away. “Please.”

Abbot stared at me for a moment and then pushed back, folding his arms. I took his silence as a reluctant yes. “I wasn’t working with a demon to conspire against you. I’m part demon, right? But I’m not like other demons.”

“That’s what I had always believed,” he replied coldly.

I sucked in a sharp breath. That hurt. “He helped me, saving me from the Seeker that I ran into.” Taking a deep breath, I told him almost everything, leaving out the more personal stuff that would surely send the Wardens through the roof. “He was sent from Hell to make sure a demon didn’t raise—”

“Raise the Lilin?” he said. “And he told you what you are? How important the incantation in the Lesser Key is? Did he tell you that’s why the Key was hidden all that time ago? To ensure that no one would ever be able to bring the Lilin back to this Earth?”

“Yes. He told me everything. We needed the Key to see what was in the incantation. He wasn’t using it to raise the Lilin.”

“And you believed him?” Abbot knelt in front of me, forcing his gaze to mine. “Why would you trust a demon, Layla?”

A knot lodged in my throat. “Because he hasn’t lied to me, and he has come to my aid—”

“Was he the demon that killed Petr?”

The room was so silent you could hear a grasshopper sneeze. “Yes.”

“Did Petr even attack you or was that a lie?”

I gasped in outrage. “Yes! Petr attacked me. Why would I lie about that?”

Abbot’s eyes flared a brilliant azure. “You have been doing nothing but lying since you met this demon! Why would I assume there was one truth mixed in among the lies?”

I don’t know what he said that did it, and maybe it was a combination of fear and frustration because I couldn’t get a single sentence out, but my control snapped. I shot to my feet so fast that Abbot stood and backed up—he actually backed up from me. Anger rushed over my skin like static. “You jump down my throat when you’ve been lying to me since the beginning!”

Abbot’s nostrils flared.

“What? You don’t have anything to say about that?” I took a step forward, empowered by the anger. There was so much fury, it was like a second soul inside of me. “You’ve known all along who my mother was and what could happen! You’ve told just as many lies as I have!” I cast a dark glare around the room. The hurt was unbearable when my eyes landed on Zayne. “All of you have been lying to me!”

“We were trying to protect you,” Nicolai said.

“How was keeping me in the dark going to protect me? There are demons out there looking for me! And not the one you attacked tonight! If it wasn’t for him, we’d probably have Lilin running all over the world right now, or I’d be dead.”

“I thought keeping you away from the truth was better than you knowing the stain you carry in your blood,” Abbot said.

I flinched. “The stain in my blood?”

“You are Lilith’s daughter.”

“I’m also a Warden!”

Anger snapped from Abbot’s eyes. “A Warden would never have worked with a demon!”

“Father,” Zayne growled.

I was too caught up in my anger to recognize that Zayne was now talking. “Obviously a Warden has done more than just worked with a demon before! Hello? How else am I here?”

“Did you sleep with the demon?” Abbot demanded.

I was so caught off guard by that question that most of the anger was zapped out of me. “What?”

“Are you still a virgin?”

Whoa. The level of awkwardness in the room mirrored the tension and rage. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“Answer me!” Abbot roared.

I blanched and then flushed. “I didn’t sleep with him or anyone. Jesus.” Abbot’s shoulders slumped with relief, so much so that my suspicion went through the roof. “Why? What’s the big deal?”

Zayne’s body was taut. “Yeah, I’d like to know what the big deal is myself.”

His father scoffed. “Why else would a demon her age be hovering around her? Her innocence or the loss of such is a part of the incantation.”

“What?” My voice hit an all-new high. “I have to remain a freaking virgin?” And then the bigger picture formed. “You know what’s in the incantation?”

The three males in the room were now definitely not looking at me as Abbot spoke. “Yes. We had to know so that we could prevent it from being carried out.”

I wondered how in the world they expected to do that when they never felt the need to tell me anything. “What is it?”

Abbot arched a brow. “Did your demon not tell you?”

Irritation pricked me. “My demon didn’t know what was in the incantation. That’s why we were getting the book, so we’d know how to stop it.” And I was pretty sure if Roth had known that part, he so would’ve said something.

There was a pause. “The incantation requires the blood of Lilith dead, and the loss of your innocence. Not just the status of your...well, we’ve established that, but your innocence is also tied to your demonic ability. Its loss is total if you’ve taken a soul.”

My mouth dried. “A soul?”

Abbot nodded. “Besides the moral implications of you taking a soul, that’s why it is so important that you never debase yourself.”

I wasn’t sure if he was talking about the sex thing or the taking-a-soul part. I threw myself into the chair, numb. Oh, my God, I had taken a soul, which meant that three of the four things required for the incantation to work were already set in motion.

“I think we need to take a few seconds,” Zayne said, focusing on his father. “Layla would never have done any of this if it wasn’t for that demon. She’s a Warden, but she’s young and—”

“Naive?” Abbot shot back, hands curling into fists. “She knows better than to allow a demon to use her. She is not blameless.”

“She is not completely at fault, either,” Zayne argued, and while I wanted to point out I wasn’t naive, I kept my mouth shut. “She has never...” He didn’t look at me, but I saw him swallow. “She’s never had...”

It struck me then what he was trying to say. “Never had anyone pay attention to me before?”

Zayne didn’t respond, but I knew that was what he was trying to say, and my chest squeezed painfully. Damn, that was insulting, and unintentionally hurtful.

“Regardless, she knows better.” Abbot let out a disgusted breath. “You should’ve come to us in the beginning.”

I looked up. “You should’ve told me the truth.”

We were at a stalemate. Both of us had lied. Both of us should’ve come to each other. A whole bunch of shoulda, coulda, woulda. Silence stretched out, and I didn’t know what else to say. I’d told Abbot everything—well, almost everything—and he didn’t believe me. My earlier conviction that I could convince him was dust in the wind.

“How did you know?” I asked quietly.

He cocked his head to the side. “I knew you were up to something the moment you came home that morning in those clothes. I didn’t know what exactly, but I knew it was only a matter of time before this happened,” he said. “It’s why I let you go to Stacey’s house tonight.”

Dammit. I knew Abbot had caved too easily on that. “If you knew I was planning this, then why did you let it happen?”

“Let it happen?” Abbot’s laugh was harsh. “We got the Lesser Key, and it is safe now. We wanted the demon, too, but we will find him.”

I glanced at Zayne. Standing stoically in the corner, he might try to defend me but he still would not look at me.

“What is his name, Layla?” Abbot asked.

My gaze darted back to him and I swallowed hard. “Why? You don’t believe me. You think he’s out to—”

“He’s a demon! He used you, Layla, like a demon would. Do you not understand? Only a demon and a Warden working together could retrieve the Lesser Key. He needed a Warden and you were all too happy to oblige.” Abbot’s great body shook with the next breath he took. “There was enough blood in you for it to work.”

“I know that,” I ground out. “But he’s—”

“You cannot be this naive, Layla. How do you know he wasn’t working against us? That he wasn’t the demon trying to retrieve the Key? Maybe he needed to know the incantation and he used you to get it.”

I wanted to stop his words, because the moment they hit the air between us, the damage was done. What didn’t help was the fact that I’d never seen this other demon. The only time I’d even seen another Upper Level demon had been that brief glimpse as I waited for Morris to pick me up.

“He used you. It was only a matter of time before he manipulated you into taking a soul and losing your innocence.”

“You don’t know that.” I closed my eyes. “He had...” I shook my head. Roth had had plenty of opportunity to press the issue of sex. Hell, look what had happened right before we’d left to get the Key. Considering how beautiful and amazing I’d felt, I probably would’ve given him the green light to go all the way.

“He had what?” Abbot asked.

“Nothing.” I squared my shoulders. There was power in knowing a demon’s name. With some black candles and bad intentions, one could summon a demon by their name. There was no way I’d risk that. “I’m not telling you his name.”

That went over as expected.

Voices rose. Abbot looked as if he was going to strangle the ever-loving crap out of me. But I held my ground. I would not betray Roth even though it appeared that I was betraying the Wardens.

“It doesn’t matter,” I said, exhausted. It was nearly 4:00 a.m. and there seemed to be no end in sight to any of this. “What does matter is the demon who wants to raise the Lilin. What are we going to do about him?”

“We?” Abbot scoffed. “There is no ‘we’ in any of this. And there is no need for concern. We have the Lesser Key, and while you’re too incredibly naive to believe that you were already with the demon responsible, we know better.”

I stared at him, dumbfounded. “It isn’t him. God! Why won’t any of you listen to me? It’s not him, and the real culprit could already know what’s needed.”

Abbot shook his head as his eyes narrowed. “You will tell me his name. Maybe not tonight, but you will.” Grabbing my wrists, he hauled me out of the chair.

Zayne shot forward, coming to our side. “Father, you are hurting her.”

He was. As his gaze flicked down to his hands, his brows pinched together, and then he released me. He backed away, drawing in a deep breath. “Needless to say, you’re grounded.”

For some reason, I sort of wanted to laugh at that. Good thing I didn’t, because I doubted Abbot would find the humor in the fact that he’d grounded me.

“For life,” he added.

Oh.

Zayne wrapped his hand around my upper arm in a much gentler grip. There’d be bruises on my wrists later. “Take her to her room,” Abbot said, sending me one last dark look. “And pray I don’t change my mind and make use of the cells in the city.”

I shuddered. As angry as Abbot was, I hoped that was just an idle threat.

Handed over to Zayne, I let him lead me out of the room. Out in the hall, I dared a peek at him. Things were not looking good. “Would he really put me in one of the cells?”

He didn’t answer until we were halfway up the burgundy carpeted stairs. “I don’t know.”

Not very reassuring. I slowed my steps. I was tired, but I wasn’t looking forward to being locked in my room until I was ninety. “Zayne—”

“I know what you’re thinking,” he said. A muscle popped in his jaw. “That I knew about the damn Lilith thing. I didn’t. If I did, I would’ve told you as soon as you could’ve comprehended what it meant.”

I tripped over my feet, partly out of relief that he hadn’t known. And the other part? A surge of guilt slammed into me like a bullet heading straight for the heart. In that moment, I believed that Zayne would’ve told me if he’d known. He would’ve trusted me and he would’ve put me before his father.

I hadn’t put him before Roth.

Zayne stopped by my door. He closed his eyes for a moment and then turned to me. “Part of me can understand why you didn’t go to my father, but you could’ve come to me. I would’ve...”

“You would’ve what?” I kept my voice low. “Would you have believed me? Or would you have told Abbot?”

His pale gaze met mine. “I don’t know. I guess we’ll never know.”

I pressed my lips together as regret swelled, threatening to suffocate me. Zayne had never really let me down in the past. Yes, he’d stepped in when I didn’t want him to at times, and there was the stuff with Danika, but he’d never done anything that made me think I couldn’t trust him.

Squeezing my eyes against the burn of tears, I took an unsteady breath. “I screwed up, Zayne. I screwed up so bad with you. I’m sorry.”

“Yeah,” he said in a low, hoarse voice. “Yeah, you did.”