Roar of the Lion : Celestra Forever After 7 Read online

  Skyla’s legs, her arms, her hands move all over my body at once as if she weren’t sure where to put them. The patina of a novice drips from her, and I can’t quite put my finger on why. We make love in quick, jagged movements, awkward placements, lots of giggling on her part. I’m grabbed and jabbed by this surly version of her, and I try to take it all in stride, but something is off and I can’t seem to find the comfort I thought being home would bring me because of this.

  Skyla curls up against me once we’re through, scratching at my chest lightly.

  “We did it,” she whispers. “Now you’re mine. You belong to me. It was me who you belonged to all along. Do you love me, Logan? Do you really love me?”

  I inch back to get a better look at her before dotting a kiss to her forehead. “Yes. My God, yes. I love you. I belong to only you. And you belong to me.” I pull her in close until her face is nuzzled against my neck. But as much as I offered her words of comfort, I can’t seem to comfort myself.

  Jaxson begins to squirm and cry.

  “I’ll get him for you,” I whisper as I move to sit up.

  “Get him for me?” she huffs as she rolls over. “Get him for yourself. I’m exhausted. You wore me out like the lion you are.” She giggles to herself.

  “But you should probably feed him,” I say as sweetly as possible as I pull my beautiful boy onto my chest. How I’ve craved the feel of his flesh against mine. I pause a moment to drink the sensation in. “I’m serious, Skyla. He’s hungry. I can’t help the kid out. Believe me, I would if I could.”

  “What are you talking about?” She moans as if she were half-asleep already.

  I inch back, stunned. “You need to nurse him. He’s hungry.” It’s as if all of her maternal instincts have taken a leave of absence. Whatever the hell is happening, I’m sure I can pin it all on Gage as well.

  “Nurse him? Oh I’m not doing that anymore.” She pulls a spare pillow over and tucks it between her knees. “Goodnight, Logan. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  “I’ll see you in the morning?”

  Jaxson starts in on a wild cry, and Skyla plucks the pillow from between her legs and lands it over her head.

  Holy heck, what the hell is happening?

  I quickly get dressed and take Jaxson downstairs where I’m met with Lizbeth’s waiting arms.

  I hand over my son before heading to the kitchen where Emily is turning off the lights as she gets ready for bed.

  “Hey, Em. Have you noticed anything strange about Skyla?”

  She averts her gaze. “The better question would be—have I ever noticed anything normal about her? I don’t know, why? Is her BJ game off?”

  It feels like a punch to the gut because Em isn’t entirely wrong.

  “I don’t know.” I nod over to the counter loaded with everything you’d need to feed a baby. “Would you mind teaching me how to make a bottle? I think Skyla’s done nursing Jaxson, and I’d like to relieve Lizbeth of the duty.”

  She does just that, and I take my sweet son and feed him myself while watching Drake and Ethan duke it out in the form of a couple of zombies.

  Skyla and her strange behavior infiltrate my mind.

  And it makes me wonder if I can help her at all.

  The next morning I wake up Skyla with soft, tender kisses. We start in on round two, and she’s all moans and groans, and downright screams.

  “Whoa.” I pull her in close, my chest bucking as I hold back a quiet laugh. “We better keep it down. I know the walls are carpeted, but still.” The carpeted walls are a leftover tacky token from her time with Gage. From what I understand it was Tad who stapled the stuff to the wall. “Your sisters might hear. And we’ll wake the baby.”

  But it’s too late. Jaxson squirms with his balled up fists punching the air above his head as he starts in on a monstrously loud cry.

  Skyla scoffs. “I don’t care about my sisters.” She rolls her eyes. “But believe me, I am sorry we woke up the little monster.”

  Little monster? I inch back, surprised. I don’t think I’ve ever heard Skyla reference any of her children that way.

  “I’ll take care of him,” I volunteer.

  “Good.” She bounces out of bed as if her feet were on springs. “And if you get tired of him, just give him to that ditz downstairs.”

  “You mean your mother?”

  “Oh”—she recoils as if it just dawned on her who Lizbeth was to her—“yes, her.” She glances out the window. “It’s stopped raining for once. I think I’ll go out and see the island.”

  “See the island?” I ask, stunned, as I get Jaxson to calm down a notch as I rock him. “Is that code for you’ll be trying on wedding dresses?” I’m hoping so. Because if it’s not, I’ll truly begin to worry.

  “Wedding dresses?” She blinks back. “We’re getting married?” Her eyes widen a notch. “When was our wedding date again?”

  Crap.

  Something is very, very wrong. I think we just wandered into Dr. Booth territory. He was her psychiatrist once upon a time when she really didn’t need it, and now I’m beginning to think he should reprise the role because she really might need it this time.

  “December thirteenth—a Friday. In honor of our first wedding day, same date. We’re having it at Whitehorse.”

  Her cheeks burn with heat a moment.

  “I knew that,” she hisses as she pulls some clothes together. “Don’t wait up for me. I don’t know how you stand to live in this house.” She shuts herself in the bathroom before I can answer.

  Don’t wait up for her? She wonders how I could stand to live in this house? I’m stunned by this strange version of the woman I love. It looks as if I’ll have to push Gage to the back burner. Skyla’s mental health comes first. She would never forget about our wedding. Or at least my ego wouldn’t let me believe that.

  I pack up Jaxson and we head out to speak with Dr. Booth. He lets me know postpartum depression could very well sponsor brain fog and tells me that I can bring Skyla by anytime, free of charge. He asked me to relay that he’s eternally grateful to her on many levels.

  After that visit is through, I can’t bring myself to head back to the Landon house. If Skyla’s not there, I have no intention of being there myself. God knows I want to distance Jaxson from Lizbeth’s roving boob as much as possible.

  And at the moment, I’m not in the mood for Whitehorse and the mess that waits for me there either. Those assholes who work for Gage trashed the Wonderground, that much I remember from that night.

  I almost head to Dudley’s, but I’m not in the mood for his crap either. And Gage, well, I probably shouldn’t have Jaxson with me for what I have planned for that monster.

  Instead, I find myself pulling into Barron and Emma’s driveway and heading on in with Jaxson in tow.

  “Oh my goodness!” Emma shrieks as she spots me. She’s donned a long red dress with Christmas trees printed all over it. A sure sign she’s headed off to work at the daycare she owns and runs. “You hand that little chicken nugget right over, Logan Oliver.” She lands a kiss to my cheek as she takes him from me. “Where were you, Logan? You missed Thanksgiving. That’s not like you. Lizbeth and I were worried sick.” She leaves Skyla suspiciously out of the equation and I pause for a moment. Normally, I would have thought it was because of some outstanding hatred she still harbors for her ex-daughter-in-law, but after what I’ve witnessed, I’m not too sure Skyla was all that concerned about me.

  My brother Barron, Emma’s husband, heads to the foyer, along with the little tikes, Nathan and Barron—his namesake, Gage’s twins in every way with their dark shock of hair, those cobalt eyes, and deep dimples.

  “Our dinosaur is here!” little Barron shouts at the top of his lungs with excitement.

  Nathan reaches up and gives Jaxson’s foot a squeeze until the poor kid squeals.

  Emma swats the boys back. “Be nice to your baby brother. Let’s visit with him in the living room. We still have a half hour before we
leave for school.”

  “I hates school!” Barron announces as the three of them head off for the sofa.

  Barron, the bigger, older, wiser version, also known as my uncle on occasion, steps in. His hair is gone to gray completely—what’s left of it—his wire-rimmed glasses hang off the tip of his nose, and he offers me that affable smile he’s famous for.

  “Are you okay?” he asks it low, like a secret.

  I nod. “Gage held me at Eversor. Ezrina, Nev, and little Alice were there, too. Dudley helped get us out.”

  “Good.” He gives a sober nod before ticking his head toward the kitchen. “Gage is here.”

  A level of rage I didn’t even realize was in me infiltrates my bones. I take a step in that direction, and Barron shoves a hand in my chest.

  “No. Think of the boys. Do not destroy my home. I will not allow it.” A depleted smile flickers on his lips. “I understand you are less than pleased. Trust me, Logan, I share your discontent.”

  “I seriously doubt that. No offense,” I say as I crane my neck and spot the devil himself shoveling a forkful of pancakes into his mouth. “It looks as if he’s enjoying breakfast. That’s more than I would let him do in my home.”

  A dull grumble of a laugh expels from him. “Be a bigger man.” He slaps me on the shoulder. “You already are, my brother.”

  He starts off for the living room, and I pull him back. “Do you know anything about postpartum depression?”

  “I’m a mortician. I know plenty about postmortem depression.” He takes off, and I take a moment to get my bearings.

  It’s true, Barron and Emma own the Paragon Cemetery and all of the mortuary services that go along with it. But Barron has always been one of the smartest men I know. Although, his lapse in judgment when it comes to allowing the beast he raised to come back under his roof alarms me. My gut detonates with the thought. Gage is family. That will never change. I would never disown my boys, and I do count all three as my own. I love Nathan and Barron as much as I do Jaxson. Somewhere along the line, Gage disqualified himself as their father in my eyes.

  My feet carry me in the direction of the devil, and yet every molecule in my body is begging not to go.

  A few choice greetings filter through my mind, but none of them make it past my lips.

  Gage looks up at me before draining the rest of his milk. His dark hair gleams under the duress of the kitchen lights, and he looks every bit the same as he ever has. If someone told me this was a scene from ten years ago, I would have believed them. Gage surrounded by piles of pancakes, with enough eggs, bacon, and hash browns to feed that wicked army of his.

  I fold my arms across my chest in an effort to leash my fists. That fight-or-flight feeling kicks in, and I’ve never been one to take off.

  “Morning,” he grumbles as he casts those hard blue eyes my way.

  “I’m surprised to see you here,” I say. “I’d think an important guy like you has better things to do, like polish his horns.”

  He stares me down a moment. “I like pancakes, and my mother happens to make the best. I’ll polish my horns later.”

  “You like pancakes?” I’m almost amused. “What’s for lunch? The beating heart of a Celestra? Or does that qualify as dessert these days?”

  “So you’re home.” He crumbles up his napkin and sends it sailing in my direction. “Go find your wife. Spend some time together. Enjoy her.” A greedy grin glides up his face a moment as if he were in on some deep, dark secret, and it sets an alarm off in my belly like never before.

  “You’ve seen Skyla?” I lean against the counter, never taking my eyes off of him as if there were a hungry crocodile in the kitchen. And, to tell the truth, I don’t see much of a difference.

  “I ran into her in town. She was—shopping, I think. I don’t know what Skyla does with her time these days. I don’t much care.”

  “You don’t care?” It feels like a punch to the gut each time he acts this way. “What about your boys?”

  “What about them?” His eyes sharpen over mine. “Skyla wasn’t feeling well. I stepped in.”

  “By stepping in, you mean you handed them off to your mother.”

  “Some people hire a nanny. I have something better. You have a problem with that?”

  “I have a problem with everything you do these days, Gage. Now, how do you want me to kick your ass? Would you like to wait until the boys leave for school and we can tear apart your parents’ house a little? Or would you rather go out back? I can entertain myself by trying to drown you in the pool.”

  Another lazy grin glides up his face. “It won’t work.”

  “I know it won’t, but it will be a hell of a lot of fun watching you struggle.”

  “I won’t struggle, Logan.” He leans forward and rests on his elbows. “I’m stronger than you, smarter than you, and better looking.” His dimples go off, no smile. “And we both know that no matter what I do, I will always hold a place in Skyla’s heart that you can never penetrate.”

  Gage stands and walks over to me just as Emma rushes in with the boys.

  She kisses Jaxson before handing him to me. “There’s an angry parent at the school. I need to get moving a little early.”

  Gage swoops both Nathan and Barron up for a kiss and tells them he loves them, and as soon as he puts them down I do the same.

  “Be good.” I touch my head to each of theirs. “Your mom and I love you.”

  Barron’s face turns an instant shade of plum. “I miss Mommy.”

  My heart breaks hearing it, and my eyes meet up with Gage, but he’s cast his gaze out the window, pretending it didn’t concern him. The hell it doesn’t. I can see right through that. It’s eating at him, too.

  Emma shuttles the boys out the door with their miniature backpacks in tow just as Barron steps into the room.

  “I’m off to the morgue.” He sheds an easy grin.

  For a very long while, I referred to Barron as my uncle. It was simply easier that way rather than explaining the age gap between us. But he is my brother in every way right there with Liam, and with Gage. Liam is the brother that took one for the proverbial team and allowed me a second chance at life after the Counts landed me in the burn unit and sent my parents to eternity. It was really Candace Messenger who afforded me this second shot in a different decade entirely, but that’s an old story.

  Barron nods my way. “Mind the fact you’re holding a child, Logan. The two of you may not destroy my home.” He nods to his son. “Gage, it was a pleasure to see you as always. Please stop by more often. The boys miss you, too.” And with that, he disappears.

  The two of us watch as both Emma and Barron speed out of the driveway.

  “And then there were two,” he says,

  “And then there were three.” I pull Jaxson in close. “I don’t remember you being so bad at math, so bad at life, but I guess this is where the new Gage meets the new math. You both suck, by the way.”

  He sighs as he glances out the window once again. “Why don’t you get out of here, Logan? I have important things to do. If you insist on busting my balls, I’ll have you dragged to Eversor again, and this time there will be no escape. I’ll arrange to have Jaxson there as well, because God knows I don’t want to hear your whining.”

  “You’ll hear me whining, all right, no matter where you put me. And what the hell was that cheesy move about? Did you really think Skyla was going to stand around and let you get away with it?”

  “She did let me get away with it. She wasn’t the one that freed you.”

  “Okay, she sent Dudley.”

  “She sent no one. You’re on your own, Logan. Skyla doesn’t care about you anymore.” He flexes a wry smile, and I can’t for the life of me tell where this is going.

  And then it hits me. Skyla’s strange behavior…

  “Oh shit.” It seethes from me. “You’ve done something to her.”

  Gage examines me for a moment—he examines Jaxson and gently lays a hand over
his head before his entire body sags.

  Instinctively, I turn Jaxson away. “Sorry, man. For all I know, you’re launching an attack on his mind through that meat hook of yours. Now tell me, what did you do to Skyla? Why is she acting so strangely?”

  Gage purses his lips as he stares vacantly behind me, the way I’ve seen him do a thousand times when the shit hits the fan and things aren’t exactly going the way he has planned.

  “I really don’t care about Skyla’s behavior.” His dimples flex. “Outside of the kids, and the Factions, Skyla isn’t my concern.”

  “Liar.” It comes out with a dull laugh as I start to take off. “Enjoy your breakfast. Since it’s too much to hope you’ll choke on it, maybe you can choke on the fact you’ll be eating alone for the foreseeable future. Or maybe you can choke on your infamy and power instead. I think I like that better.”

  “Logan?” he calls after me and I turn around. “Rumor has it, Chloe has been acting strangely, too.”

  “I don’t give a crap about Chloe.” I collect Jaxson’s bag and head on out to my truck when I spot Cooper Flanders coming up the driveway. The clouds up above are dark and heavy, and the threat of rain is a real one. “Hey.” I nod over to him. “What’s going on?”

  Cooper looks as if he could be my brother with the same dark blond hair, same serious eyes, and he happens to be wearing the same scowl I am. But Coop softens as he offers Jaxson a pat on the back.

  In a strange roundabout way, Coop and I are related via Dudley. And as much as I’d like to punctuate that with a smart-aleck remark, I defer from doing so. The truth is, I’m feeling a heck of a lot more grateful to the surly Sector as of late.

  “I just came from Whitehorse. Ezrina let me know what was happening.” His brows bounce. “Glad to see you’re home where you belong.”

  “Thanks, man, I’m glad to be back. What can I help you with?”

  He glances to the house. “Nothing. I’m actually here to see Gage.”

  “For what?”

  Coop’s chest widens with his next breath as he glares at the house behind me. “Just buttoning up some unfinished business.”