The Dragon and the Rose Read online

  The music thumps through my skull like a hammer. I lean against the wall and watch Skyla dancing up a storm. She’s smoking hot in her tiny, white skirt, her silver sweater that catches the light like a star each time she moves. Giselle grabs my attention, and any delight, any inkling of a good time I’m having dissipates. She’s wearing a short skirt that makes the one Skyla’s wearing look like a Burqa, and she keeps flipping her long hair in Ellis’s face as if she’s trying to put out a fire with it. More like start one in his pants. He’s so high half the time it’s a wonder he can get it up. He’d better not think of getting it up, at least not while my sister is in the room. I know she’s old enough to make her own decisions, but she’ll have to put off any additional sex she plans on having with Harrison until she’s fifty at least.

  A hand falls hard over my shoulder, and I turn fully expecting to see Logan or Liam, but it’s neither, it’s Cooper.

  “Coop, my man.” I offer up a fist bump. “We need to get the girls together and do something.” Coop’s a great guy. It’s a wonder he can stand to be around me after what Wes put him and Laken through.

  “We should. They get along great.” His chest expands as he takes in the scene with a little tug on his lips as if he’s judging the venue. “In fact, they have a lot in common.”

  “Mostly.” Laken is a Count but Skyla never lets that little wicked detail get in the way of any of her relationships.

  “And, after tonight, they’re going to have one more thing in common.”

  “What’s that?” My mood tenses. For some reason I’m not into head games. I’ve been mulling over the fact Skyla still hasn’t copped to taking my truck last week when I came home to an empty bed. Something is definitely up, and I’m afraid to admit the truth to myself.

  “I’m going to ask her to marry me.”

  My eyes dart across the room to Wes, and he nods in my direction. He’s watching us. Of course, he is. Wes has his finger on the pulse of anything that has to do with Laken. He’s going to love tonight.

  “Congratulations, man.” I knock my shoulder into Coop’s. “So right here at Harrison’s, huh?” I don’t want to tick him off, but I can suggest about a dozen far more impressive locales.

  “It’s more the timing than the place. I thought I’d drop to one knee at midnight. You know, start the New Year off with a bang.”

  “You know he’s here, right?” No use in pussy footing around the fact Wesley is openly glaring at us.

  “I’m not too worried about it. He couldn’t change anything if he tried. Laken and I are solid.”

  “Sounds good.” But what I really wanted to say was you don’t know my brother. He’s a monster just like his father, and perhaps just like me. Logan catches my eye as he chats with Nev, and that sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach goes off.

  “How are things with you and Logan?”

  “Why? Did he say anything?” I’ve seen Coop and Logan together a few times. I won’t lie, I wish it were me hanging out with Logan instead.

  “No, I just never see you together anymore. But I get it. School and work can be a one two punch to your social life. Plus you’re married—to the woman he loves.” Coop shrugs it off. “I guess it doesn’t get more complicated than that.”

  “It gets a little more complicated.” I pat him on the shoulder as I make my way to Ezrina.

  “Hey.” I catch her as she tries to sneak out the door. “Any news on Logan’s body?”

  She takes a full breath before glancing over her shoulder at both Logan and Nev. “The Dolomites have potential. So far the Nephilim markings have remained hidden a little longer than I expected. It looks to me like Wesley has succeeded with his intentions. The Nephilim have much to fear.” The smile on her face wavers.

  Her words punch me straight in the gut. A sense of relief follows. “But now you have the body. It’s loaded with worms.” Logan will be a hero after all. And maybe, just maybe, he won’t hate me for what I’ve done. Wesley said I’d have the final say in all decisions that involve the Steel Barricade. My intention all along was to stop the project after he achieved his goal. Otherwise, when I leave the Barricade, and I plan to, he would have achieved the same results without me. “And now we have the worms.” There’s a beauty in the brilliance of it all if I don’t say so myself.

  “No, Gage, we don’t.” Her eyes draw downward, weary, exacerbated with me. “You see, the Dolomites alone are not able to achieve the end result. Only Wesley has the serum that can unlock their true potential.”

  “Then how do you know it works?”

  “I had dinner with him last week. He told me so himself. I’ve seen the cell samples. If this is true, the Nephilim don’t have to fear the future. They have to fear the present.” Ezrina takes off as the storm rages around her with a tangle of lightning. A roar of thunder rattles the house with its wrath, and I feel like it’s me God is looking to scold.

  I head back into the party and spot Wes with Kresley dancing by his side.

  “Isn’t this amusing?” Chloe pops up. “It looks like my fake man has one hardcore fan he can’t seem to get rid of.” She purrs in my ear while running her finger up and down my cheek.

  “I know the feeling.” I don’t hesitate in snatching her hand and placing it by her side. “Sorry—this face belongs to someone else.”

  “Yes, how could I forget the Mrs.? Where is she anyway?” Chloe leans into my shoulder. “Three o’ clock. Right there with her first husband. Don’t they just look cozy?”

  Logan and Skyla stand near the bar. He has a hand over her shoulder and is busy whispering something intently into her ear. Skyla nods as she glances around superstitiously.

  “They’re just friends.” That night she took the truck comes back. They were together. I know it.

  “Friends? Please. If you believe that, you’ll believe anything that Wes will tell you.” Chloe takes a step over and blocks my vision of Skyla. “There. That’s better. I like all of your attention focused in on me.”

  “So what’s he lying about?” Wes is nowhere in sight, but I know he’s watching. He’s like a demonic fly on the wall at all times.

  “Everything.”

  “Okay, that’s pretty broad.”

  “Who’s a pretty broad?” Skyla hikes up on her heels and plants a kiss just below my ear.

  “You,” I tease. “Come on. I want to dance with my wife.” I’d rather chop my limbs off with a rusted razor than shed some moves on the dance floor, but I’d do anything to get Skyla away from Chloe.

  “Not so fast.” Chloe steps in. “I haven’t congratulated my old friend on successfully stealing the man I love.” She blinks a smile to Skyla.

  “No need to congratulate me, Chloe.” Skyla lays her hand over my chest. “I didn’t have to steal him. He was never yours to begin with.”

  Chloe’s features elongate unnaturally. There’s a darkness in her eyes that taints her with an evil intent I’ve never seen in her before.

  “There is a time and place for everything, Skyla. Gage and I are about to collide. We’re on a trajectory that you should very much find alarming. Sometimes, Messenger, the things you believe in your heart and the things that are real are two disappointingly different realities.” Chloe turns her full attention to me. “I’ll steal you later, Gage. I always do.”

  Fuck.

  “What’s she rambling about?” Skyla pulls me by the hand to the dance floor as some audacious loud and proud rap song stutters through the room. I glare at Ellis’s sound system for a moment until a slow, soothing song comes on and wrap my arms around my beautiful wife’s tiny, tiny waist.

  “That’s better.” I give her a full on smile that makes her eyes brighten each and every time.

  “Are you changing the subject?” She flicks a finger back toward Bishop.

  “Nope, just the music. I have no idea what she’s rambling about.”

  “Are you going to see her later?” Her voice drops down to its serious octave. Crap. How in
the hell am I going to get out of this one?

  “Maybe.” I tip my head back. “She’s like the plague, constantly showing up wherever we are.”

  “Bind her.”

  “Do what?”

  “You heard me. I may have extended her leash, but you can cinch it right back up again.” Her eyes glow, pale as river stones in this dim light. “I’m convinced there is no one more powerful than you on this planet, Gage.” Her bottom lip quivers as if this very fact makes her want to cry.

  A strange sensation fills me. It’s as if a part of me has always craved those very words.

  “I’m proud of you.” She gives the slightest nod. “I think that if you harness all of that power, that influence, for the good of the Nephilim people, there isn’t a thing we can’t do.”

  My eyes close as I bring a kiss to her forehead. My thoughts are on lockdown. I haven’t let Skyla in for months, and she knows it. I want to tell her that I have a plan. A plan so reckless, so dangerous that I can’t possibly let her in on it until I’ve executed it, and I almost have.

  “Thank you,” is all I can manage as we slow dance for the next solid hour.

  The lights flash on and off as the countdown begins. Brielle stands on the coffee table in her heels and a silver foil dress, shouting out numbers with a bullhorn in her hand. I spot Giselle dancing at her feet, and feel a sense of relief that Harrison is nowhere to be found.

  “Three, two, one!”

  The room explodes with the sound of party horns as couples all around us lock lips for the first time in the New Year.

  “Happy New Year, Skyla.” My mouth crashes over hers as we engage in a long, loving exchange that promises a better year up ahead than any words could ever do. I mean it. This year is going to be different. In fact, I’ll set the final phase of my fucked up plan in motion tonight just to ensure exactly that. I pull back. “Just a moment.” I glance around and spot Coop down on one knee over by the indoor fountain. “Check that out.”

  Skyla looks over just in time to hear Laken scream and bury her face in her hands.

  A crowd quickly grows around them, and we head on over.

  “Yes!” Laken drops to her knees and grabs Coop by the cheeks. “I would love to be your wife.”

  The room breaks out into applause as the two of them roll around the floor tied at the tongue. It takes a few minutes before they’re up on their feet and surrounded with congratulatory embraces.

  “Can you believe this?” Skyla squeals. “God, that was so romantic.” Tears sparkle in her eyes. “Let’s go welcome them to the club.”

  Wesley catches my eye. “I’ll be there in just a sec.” Skyla bolts as I make my way over to my brother. Wes looks as if someone just dipped his dick in vinegar and made him suck it.

  “Tough stuff,” I say, nodding at the swelling crowd around Laken and Coop.

  “What do you want?”

  “Nothing. Just letting you know I understand how bad something like that can feel—that’s all.” It’s true. “When Skyla was with Logan, every day felt like I was lying on a bed of rusted nails.”

  “And now she’s lying in your fluffy new bed. Things always seem to work out for you don’t they, little bro?” His cheeks cut in.

  “You can have anyone else you want. Pick a girl, and I guarantee it’ll happen.”

  “So can you. You didn’t give up on Skyla, though, did you?”

  “Look, Laken is in love with the guy. You can’t force her to be with you.”

  “I don’t have to. Laken still loves me. What we have doesn’t fade away. I get it. She loves Coop, too. He’s the lesser evil in her eyes, so, being the noble, upstanding person she is, she thinks she made the right decision. But her heart still wavers.”

  “And you know this because?”

  He cocks his head to the side and slices me with those lime green eyes.

  “Because I know everything, Gage.”

  “So why don’t I? When were you going to tell me that the serum has finally been declared a success? Have you been washing people this entire time?” The concept alarms me.

  “When were you going to tell me that you stole Logan’s body?” He knocks his shoulder hard into mine as he heads deep into the crowd.

  “Get back here,” I roar, and half the room turns around.

  Wes drills his hatred into me a moment. “I’ll be outside.”

  Skyla bounces over, still high on Coop and Laken’s upcoming nuptials.

  “We’re going to have married friends!”

  “Great. When’s the wedding?” It’s going to go off in Wesley’s face like a bomb.

  “She’s thinking summer.”

  “I’m thinking it’s time to ring in this New Year the right way. You ready to head out?” I clamp my lips onto her earlobe and roll it over my tongue. Skyla shivers and moans.

  “Let’s do it.”

  We head out the door and linger on the porch a moment as the sky pours its wrath over Paragon. Caskets might as well be falling from the sky.

  “It looks like the New Year is off to a wet start.” Laken comes up cinching her coat. “Coop went to get the car.”

  “Always the gentlemen.” I’ll be teleporting Skyla and myself home in a second. I can always get the truck in the morning. “Congratulations to you both.”

  Wes emerges from out of the shadows and bleeds a slow smile at Laken as he makes his way over.

  Skyla steps in and holds out her hand. “Unless you’re here to congratulate the bride to be, you can leave.”

  “I’m here to do just that.” Wesley steps forward with a determined look in his eyes. He doesn’t break his gaze with Laken’s. He pulls her into a rather unassuming embrace. “Congratulations, Laken.” His lips find her ear, and he takes his time whispering into it.

  Laken’s arms retract as if she’s about to push him off before relaxing over his shoulders again. Her face ashens as she drinks down his words.

  “Don’t listen,” Skyla snaps. “Whatever he’s saying, it’s toxic.”

  “Oh, Skyla.” Chloe pops up. “You were never good at sharing your toys were you?”

  “Shut up,” Skyla seethes, her hands reach to snatch at Wesley’s jacket just as he voluntarily takes a step back.

  “Goodnight.” Wesley says it directly to Laken before taking off, and we watch as the rain swallows him whole.

  “You’d better hurry along, Chloe,” Skyla snips. “Your express train to hell is leaving without you.”

  “Shut up, Skyla.” Chloe tucks her chin in the air. “Gage may be going home with you, but it’s me he longs to see.” She runs her fingers across my jaw as she walks into the storm. “Love you later, babe.”

  “She’s full of shit.” I wrap my arms around Skyla, but it’s that hurt look in her eyes that makes me wonder if my wife is buying a word I say. “Laken” I nod over to her. “You mind sharing what Wes said?”

  Coop pulls up, and an uneasy smile falters on her lips.

  “He wished me a very happy life.” She gives a quick wave as she hops into the waiting truck.

  I rock Skyla in my arms and give her a kiss. “You think she’s telling the truth?”

  Her steel eyes settle over mine. “I don’t think anyone knows how to tell the truth anymore.”

  And there you go. If I don’t fix this mess quick, it’s game over for Skyla and me.

  The truth is just around the corner I want to tell her.

  It’s going to hurt, but it’s going fix everything in the end.

  I hope.

  Logan

  Ringing in the New Year alone is a lot more satisfying than ushering it in with a room full of people you hardly want to be around, with the Skyla being the exception, of course. She sent a text and asked me to take her to Candace tonight. I tried talking her out of it but no such luck. She asked if I’d join her at the Council of the Superiors first. I’m not particularly looking forward to it. Not that I have anything against the Council, it’s just that it’s become a gossip cha
in as of late.

  I wander aimlessly through the long halls of the lab beneath Whitehorse. I didn’t name the house, per say, but it’s easier to refer to it by its street name. Whitehorse. I like it. I like the sick idea of being Skyla’s white knight—of being Skyla’s anything. But a part of me wishes Gage could step up and be that for her right now. I’ve spoken with Dudley and Liam about it, and they both seem to agree to let nature run its course. No use in me trying to shake things up. Gage is a big boy, and it’s his big mess. He’s going to have to clean up when all is said and done. Besides, we don’t even avoid one another anymore, we simply don’t have a thing to say to each other.

  The longest room in the lab comes up, and I step in. Ezrina installed a few glass tubes and filled them with blue keeping solution. The tanks are empty, but she said it helped her feel at home. I glance around at the miles of cold stainless countertops, endless macabre looking tools and appliances. It’s a wonder anyone can feel at home in this haunt.

  My hand thumps over the long row of human-sized refrigerated shelves that run along the underbelly of the counter on the west-facing wall. It’s a part of a much larger refrigeration unit that sits in the next room. Ezrina requested the system after admiring the one Barron has at the morgue. She likes the idea of housing bodies. I guess you can take the girl out of the chop shop, but you can’t take the chop shop out of the—

  A tiny white plaque is slipped in the fitted window where Barron would normally put the deceased’s name and it catches my eye. I pull up a rolling stool and take a seat as I inspect it.

  Count

  “What the?” I slide the drawer open, shocked to see my own opened eyes staring back at me, blank and wide. “Shit.” I open the drawer further to find my naked, half eaten body with a Y incision on the chest, nothing but bones inside, the skin and muscle on my arms and legs eaten away to nothing. “Oh, God,” I whisper. I’m done. There’s nothing left here but some bad Halloween prop. I slam the drawer shut and stagger the hell out of there.