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“Why you?”

  “I afforded you the opportunity,” he whispers it in shame. “If it weren’t for me you would have fought like the warrior you were born to be. I’ve taken what could have been your greatest moment and reduced it to nothing short of an act of cowardice.”

  “It wasn’t cowardice. It was love,” I correct. “I love Logan and Gage. I’d give up the entire universe for them.”

  “Congratulations, Skyla,” Marshall pins me with a glacial stare. “You just may have.”

  Chapter 23

  Out of My Head

  I head straight over to Gage after Marshall’s spectacular meltdown. I’ve never seen him so livid. A storm has moved in. The rain outside falls in long teardrop spears, pressing themselves against the foggy window of Gage’s bedroom.

  I snuggle into Gage as we watch an old movie that I actually saw in the theatre with my father a bazillion years ago. I miss my father with an irrepressible sadness. It’s his unjust murder that drives me to win the faction war, to put the Counts and Fems and any other demonic form of being in its place for what they’ve done to him.

  Gage dips a kiss down over my eyebrow as he pulls me closer to him.

  “We need to plan a serious Valentine’s do-over,” he punctuates the idea by circling his thumb on the inside of my palm.

  “You’re on.” I flatten my lips against his and just lay there, listening to the sound of his breathing, taking in his clean scent.

  “So where did you leave things with Dudley?” He looks at me with great intensity from one eye to the other. The slight veil of fear and jealousy lurks in his question.

  “That was it,” I say, looking around the room for signs of Logan. I told Gage all about my visit to Marshall’s. So much happened that I forgot to bring up Logan’s bodily debacle—the reason I went there to begin with. “How are you feeling?”

  “Exhausted,” he lets out a breath. “Looks like I would have been better off dying and letting the Counts resurrect me,” he finishes it off with a deep guttural cough.

  “Don’t you ever say that,” I run my hand up his sweatshirt and lay my palm against his hot stomach. Not only do I not want to hear about Gage’s death wish, he wouldn’t qualify in terms of a resurrection.

  I make lazy figure eights on his skin and feel his muscles contract and spasm as I trickle over them. “I can’t believe we’re free of you know who.” I don’t dare say Chloe’s name out loud in the event she’s got Fem operatives on patrol in the vicinity.

  “You and me both. We can finally focus on one another and nothing else.” Gage gives a searing kiss, branded by his love. “By the way,” he pulls back and examines me with a placid smile, “she called today.”

  “Oh?” I push up on my elbow. Something tells me Chloe is about to inject her pointy shoe right into my rear in a big way. Trying to keep Chloe out of our lives is like trying to put out a fire with gasoline, sooner or later our world is going to blow. I can feel it deep in my bones. In fact, Chloe Bishop would make a gasoline fire seem like a welcome reprieve from her wrath. There is really no comparing her wickedness.

  “I guess she’s been working at the bowling alley while we’ve been disposed.” He bites down as if he’s keeping something from me.

  “Brielle mentioned it.” Crap, I bet she’s done some amazing business move like tying the pizza kitchen to every lunch program on the island, and now the bowling alley is going to make millions all thanks to her stroke of genius.

  “Yeah,” he gives a soft cough, sounds like pennies rattling away at the bottom of his lungs. “Did Brielle happen to mention Logan’s been helping himself to the safe and that payroll and bills haven’t been paid this month?”

  I pluck my hand out of his shirt.

  “Oh my, God.” Logan is going to lose the bowling alley no thanks to Holden and his dumbass buffoonery. “We need to sit him down and have an intervention. I mean, I’m all for living life to the fullest, but he’s got this whole live it up thing ass backwards. He’s going to end up in such major debt, the next death wish around here will be his.” Although, knowing Holden, somehow I find this doubtful. I’m sure he has no problem running both his new business and new body into the ground. Forget debt, he’ll have the clap by the time prom rolls around—flesh eating clap. “Did Chloe mention anything else?”

  He shakes his head.

  She’s such a kiss up. I could have told Gage those things, but I didn’t want to stress him out. It looks like I’m going to have a one on one with my least favorite nemesis, clue her in on the fact she’s going to land Gage in the hospital. If she cares anything at all about him, she’ll stay the hell away. Like that would ever happen. Chloe’s going to keep up the good little snitch routine as long as she thinks it’ll score some major brownie points with my future husband.

  I take in a breath and look up at Gage.

  “You’re quiet,” he eyes me with suspicion. “I’m sorry I brought her up.”

  “No, it’s OK. I’m glad you did. It made me realize something important.”

  “What’s that?” His dimples depress in a smile all their own. He coils a lock of my hair around his finger with great care as he awaits my answer.

  “How special you are to me. How we’re going to spend the rest of our lives together.” I draw him a map with my kisses rather than expend any more energy on words that could never do what lies ahead for us, justice. Gage runs his hands up the back of my sweater, swivels around to the front with one long hot stroke. He lifts his shirt and lays his bare stomach over mine. A sharp bite of heat bisects my insides and I moan from the pleasure of his touch.

  Gage is my future and Chloe’s past. It’s about time I clued her in on those two facts.

  ***

  Later, as I get into the Mustang to head home, I text Chloe to arrange a tête-à-tête and lo and behold, horror of all horrors, she texts back that she’s at my freaking house. Probably crop dusting my bedroom with strychnine at this very moment.

  I race down the solvent streets of Paragon, through the beginnings of a major downpour and bolt into the house, out of breath and soaking wet.

  “Skyla!” My mother pauses at the kitchen counter and gasps at my appearance. Her fingers freeze midflight with a slice of pizza in her hands.

  I find Chloe seated beside Ethan at the island. Next to them, Brielle and Drake wolf down their lunch, as if all is well in Landon manner. Looks like the queen of all bitches is conquering new territory.

  “What’s going on?” I speed over to the four of them.

  “You’ll have to excuse Skyla,” Tad shouts over to Chloe. “She’s prone to rude spontaneous outbursts.”

  “Oh, I’m well aware.” Chloe doesn’t miss a beat.

  “Get your own,” Ethan shields his pizza as if I were about to swipe it right out of his mouth. I bet it’s a kneejerk reaction to the lifestyle he indulged in while living on the streets. Little does he know, the monster that knifed him sits dutifully by his side, and she’d be happy to steal more than the artery blocker he’s about to inhale.

  “Can I talk to you for a minute?” I yank him up by the elbow and drag him out to the hall.

  “What?” He shakes me loose, genuinely perturbed. “Make it quick. I’m starved.”

  “Why is Chloe here?” God, I hope he says something logical that might officially warrant her presence, like an unforeseen yet, oh so necessary, assassination.

  “She’s hanging out. I kind of like her.” He looks past my shoulder back into the family room.

  I pull him deeper into the hall by force.

  “Are you out of your mind? She disemboweled you to further her own personal agenda. She thinks of everything and everyone as an object to get what she wants. Nothing good is going to come of this. Chloe is nothing more than a parasite,” I say that last part a little louder than intended.

  “I have a plan.” He darts into me deliberately with his beady Landon eyes, and for a split second he looks like Drake’s evil twin.

  “To do w
hat? Blackmail her? Drink her blood? I’ve heard it all before none of it works. She’s an unstoppable force of destruction.”

  “I’m going to date her,” he blinks into his admission.

  “What?” I screech. Ethan Landon is proving to be an entire stack of stupid.

  “She’s totally into me.” He shrugs, clearly flattered by Chloe’s sobering lies. For one, Ethan looks nothing like Gage, and for two, still not Gage.

  “What about Emily?” I ask, grasping for straws.

  “She’s OK. But she doesn’t quite dovetail into my agenda the way Chloe does.”

  “What agenda?”

  He walks back into the kitchen, leaving me hanging.

  I follow him back and grab a plate, slap a piece of pizza on it with the cheese sliding off.

  “How’s Gage feeling?” Mom asks while shouldering into Tad as though she didn’t log time with Demetri at the barbaric stone of sacrifice.

  Chloe twitches when she says his name. She might get thrown into a full-blown seizure if we actually conduct an entire conversation about him. On second thought…

  “Gage is fine. He’s feeling better. We’re going to get together later this week and have a Valentine’s do-over.” I watch Chloe as I take a seat at the table, a safe distance away. She lowers her lids before glinting back up at me with those torches of fire. Messing with Chloe like this is like soaring too close to the sun. It might feel good for a moment but before you realize it you’ve reduced yourself to ashes.

  “That’s nice,” Chloe chokes the words out. “I was thinking,” she clears her throat. The protective hedge glimmers prideful around her neck. It conforms to the hills and valleys of her throat as if it were contemplating strangulation. Now that would be an irony I could appreciate. “I think we should have a get together this Saturday, at my house.” She says that last part as though she were setting out a trap. “You know, just couples.” She lowers her lids seductively over at Ethan when she says it.

  Gag me.

  Hang me.

  Send me to Ezrina’s so she can detach me limb by limb rather than watch this monstrosity unfold. Clearly the one with an evil agenda here is Chloe, not Ethan. If his idea of taking out revenge on someone is dating them, clearly he is Tad’s begotten, yet slightly forgotten, seed. Hey, maybe that’s why Tad married my mother? Revenge.

  “That’s great!” Brielle beams. “I so need a do-over Valentine’s, too. I ended up puking all night and leaving early while Drake here, saw a late movie with Emily,” she says her name with an acidic tongue.

  “Drake?” I gape at him. How could he? But I thought I saw his car at the falls? But that would mean…

  “What?” He over dramatizes a shrug. “It was a coincidence. We were at the theatre at the same time, that’s all.”

  Drake seems to suffer from the same dumbass disorder that his father and brother before him, do.

  I look over Tad and Mom making googly eyes at each other and try not to hurl my cheeseless pizza at them.

  “What about our camping trip?” I look to the two of them to save Ethan from the atrocity of date night with Chloe. There’s no way in hell Gage and I are going.

  “Canceled.” Mom shivers when she says it as if she herself had just staved off some grievous horror, which she totally did. “Besides, I have an appointment at the clinic, and if the weather is this nasty, we might have to pull an overnighter,” she coos into Tad.

  OK. I’ve had enough repulsion to suppress my appetite for the rest of my natural life.

  An ebony lacquered bracelet dangles from Mom’s wrist. It harnesses my attention with a gold symbol emblazoned on the side.

  “Nice bracelet,” I say, full with suspicion.

  “You like it?” She runs her fingers over it, twists it repetitively. Her cheeks brighten a lively shade of crimson. “I picked it up at the mall.”

  “You said you found it in a parking lot.” Tad postures himself away from her with a serious look of doubt.

  “Yes,” Mom straightens in her seat. “I found it in the parking lot at the mall, so technically I picked it up there.” She squints into the infinity symbol gleaming under the light.

  Tad presses out a look of relief just knowing his hard earned dollars weren’t spent on something foolish like bejeweling his wife.

  I have a feeling she picked it up all right, right out Demetri’s evil paws.

  The infinity symbol gleams, the gold floss is lit up like fire from the lights above.

  Infinity. I bet Demetri really does want to live and rule forever, crush Marshall and the rest of the Sectors with the heel of his cloven hoof for an infinity.

  Something surges in me, and I feel protective towards Marshall, the entire human race.

  To hell with Demetri and his fantasies.

  The only infinite thing he’ll have to look forward to, is my wrath.

  Chapter 24

  Forever

  After school on Monday, under a smooth charcoal sky, Gage announces he has a surprise for me.

  I climb into his truck and watch Paragon glide by in a whirl of viridian and sage, an entire kaleidoscope of dark green glory parades past us at dizzying speeds. That’s what it felt like traveling into the future, the push of the world exploding in one dark blur, wrapped safe in Logan’s arms as we waited with bated breath for some new revelation. That’s what it’s like right now with Gage, although miles safer, and without the prospect of death staring me in the face once we arrive to our destination. At least I hope.

  Nevermore glides over us as though he were leading the way. I wonder if Nev could protect me from Ezrina? If he would want to?

  I take Gage up by the hand. Going anywhere with him is heaven.

  Gage picked me up for school for the first time in ages this morning. Everything feels normal again, right—everything except for the fact that Logan is really dead, but I push that away for now. It’s far too painful to contend with.

  “So where we going?” I admire him from an arms’ length. He’s got on a leather jacket, the scarf his mother knit for Christmas sits nestled around his neck. The stubble on his cheeks has filled in, giving him that outdoorsy appeal which I find dangerously hot. I’m not sure I like him looking like he could start a forest fire, especially not with Chloe haunting the corridors of West, even if she is spraying Ethan openly with her venomous pheromones.

  “Consider yourself officially kidnapped,” it rumbles out of him in one husky growl. His lips turn up as he steals a quick glance.

  “It sounds like you’re being a very bad boy.” I reach over and run my fingers through his hair, touch the freshly shorn bristle against the back of his neck, smooth in one direction, sharp as a cats tongue in the other.

  He gives an impish grin and points over the steering wheel before making the turn.

  “Rockaway!” I bounce in my seat. I’ve been dying to come back ever since we shared a special moment here, and I officially declared it our place. The beauty of the landscape alone takes my breath away.

  We park close to the succulent covered path that spreads its swollen leaves towards shore. I jump out of the truck, pluck my shoes off and race into the midnight colored sand. “This is amazing!” I shout up over the deafening waves, my feet sinking in the cold grit beneath me.

  Gage tweaks his brows. A seductive smile plays on his lips as he tosses a thick blanket over his shoulder. He swoops in on me like an eagle darting for prey, scoops me up in his arms and sinks a kiss on my lips before breaking out into his signature killer grin.

  “Put me down,” I protest. “You’re going to hurt yourself.” God forbid I’m the reason Gage ends up supine in a hospital bed.

  “No way,” he trots us down the beach towards an ancient coral tree with a wingspan that stretches out for what feels like miles. Its bright red trumpets dance against the ashen sky, taunting it with the blush of a sunset that Paragon may never know or see.

  Gage lands me soft on the ground before laying out the blanket.

  �
��For you.” He pats a seat beside him, and I hop dutifully across from him.

  Gage leans in and indulges me on the pleasure of his mouth, drowns out the waves, the wind, the rattle of leaves up above until all I hear is his erratic breathing, his heart racing over mine.

  “Boy,” I whisper, “I think you’re setting the record for best Valentine’s do-over, ever.” Chloe errantly wafts through my mind. She’s become the tick feeding off the blood supply of our love.

  “I try,” he huffs a little laugh. “Actually,” he picks up both my hands, “you make it very easy.” He drills into me with his iridescent gaze and everything in me surrenders.

  I love you, madly, I smile into him as I say it.

  Gage tilts his head, doesn’t respond. He twists his lips as though he were about to say something.

  “You didn’t hear me.” I can’t hide my disappointment.

  “I can’t hear you,” he confesses it soft as an apology.

  “I’ll give you more blood. You’ll heal faster—you’ll be Celestra for a time, like me.” Being Celestra has been mostly a curse, but the benefit of going back and seeing my father makes every heartache tolerable. I’d walk a burning tightrope each day just to see my father’s smiling face, some days I have.

  “No,” he shakes his head, taking me in with his unwavering heavy gaze. “I would never hurt you or take advantage of you that way. I’m healing fine, I promise. I’m OK.”

  Gage gets on his knees and digs around his pocket.

  “Protection?” I ask playfully. As much as I’d love to give myself fully to Gage, the idea still scares the hell out of me. Ironic, since I can battle Fems, work side by side with Ezrina, and live under Tad’s tyranny, and yet I freeze solid as a statue at the thought of lying naked under the covers with my boyfriend. It’s what comes after that has me afraid. What will become of the old us, and who will this new us be. I’m sure Gage will be more than happy to walk me through it when the time is right.

  “You’re close. It starts with P.” His dimples twitch. “Present,” he says, pulling his hand out of his jeans in a closed fist. “Close your eyes.”