Roar of the Lion : Celestra Forever After 7 Read online

  “Yes.” Her voice is hoarse for the very first time as if she herself were fighting off tears. “I love you, my dear sweet girl.” She wipes the tears from my eyes with the warmth of her hands. “You are mine. You are my entire heart. No matter what thoughts you might have had against me, that you may in the future.” She nods as if it were a given, and sadly, considering the state of my chaotic existence, this might be true. “I will continue to care for you with a flawless affection.” She takes a sharp breath. “That goes for your sister as well.” She frowns downward a moment as if she were looking at Rory on that spinning blue stone. “Skyla, sometimes it takes a daughter to have her own child before she can realize the depths of her own mother’s love for her. I do not hold this against you. Yes, your sister did a terrible thing. But she was not alone in her action. This was very much a dual effort. I have full confidence you will treat it as such. Now, what is it that you came to ask of me?”

  “I want my body back,” I say, stunned that I even needed to pose the question. “And I want it now. Sorry to sound demanding, but I think I’ve earned the right. You’re my mother. I can be as bold as I want with you.”

  She belts out an echoing laugh, and something about it unnerves me.

  “You are right to be bold with me. Be bolder still.” She nods to Marshall. “Her Elysian is preoccupied at the moment. As my daughter’s spirit husband, you are also her supervising spirit. I’ll remove a hedge of protection from the person of Skyla’s choosing for a temporary internment.”

  Marshall stiffens by my side. “I see.”

  She nods his way. “You’ll grant entry. I’ll monitor the situation myself. The Master is already aware. Consider this a special grace for a special case.” She takes up my hands. “Do not be afraid of what lies ahead. You are well on your way to fulfilling your destiny. You can do this, Skyla.” She bears her luminescent eyes into mine as if she were begging with me on some level—as if there were a possibility that I couldn’t accomplish what she’s laid before me. “You mustn’t focus on the negative. Think of all things lovely, all things right. Focus on the good, the dawning of a new era with Celestra uniting all of the Factions in perfect peace. The Sectors must rule, Skyla. I won’t be bested. This will be a favorable outcome for me. He may never win. Do you understand me?”

  I swallow hard. “Yes.” I understand perfectly. Gage must never win. This will be a favorable outcome for me. But I know that Candace included herself in a very personal way in the equation, and it makes me wonder why the stakes are so high for her.

  “Very well.” Her affect hardens cold as flint. “Be on your way. Sector Marshall will help you chose a new home.”

  “What new home?” I ask as she begins to fade away—only it’s not just my mother fading, it’s all of Ahava fading along with her. “Wait! I need to talk to Sage one more time. I need to tell her how much I love her. Please, just one more glimpse of her beautiful face.”

  But my words fall on deaf ears as Marshall and I fall down through time and space. He catches me in his arms as expansive wings spring from him and we sail softly like a parachute all the way down to Paragon, where my mother thinks I should find a new home.

  Paragon Island sits robed in a luminescent fog that glows lavender in the night. The island lies quiet as a corpse entombed in darkness. I can see traffic on the main thoroughfares beginning to slow. The rooftops of the houses look so miniature, it’s a wonder people can fit in them at all. The lights are on in just about every home and establishment, giving the island a fairytale appeal. And the evergreens that dust that overgrown rock look soft and supple like the fur of an exotic animal.

  “What new home?” I ask Marshall. “Am I moving? Why?”

  “Skyla.” He nods down at my ethereal frame and I gasp.

  “A body? Of course! But wait, I don’t want a new body. I want the old one. So help me, if you’re taking us to the cemetery.”

  “Heavens no.” He chortles. “I’ve no interest in the dead. We’ve come to scout the living.”

  “Scout the living,” I parrot. “Makes sense. So like a possession?”

  “The long and short of it? Yes.”

  “Then let’s go back to Ellis’ party,” I say, guiding Marshall in the direction of the ritzy Paragon Estates. “Ellis would let me take up his body in a heartbeat—his heartbeat.”

  “We have no business there. Besides, Master Harrison isn’t the one I would suggest for your endeavor. Might I recommend a woman for you internment?”

  “Temporary internment.” In truth, I cringe at the thought of taking possession of Ellis’ body. I’ve known Ellis for as long as I’ve been on Paragon—heck, I’ve known just about everyone I know for as long as I’ve been on Paragon. My old life in Los Angeles is but a sleepy dream. And from that time of ages past, my mother, sisters, stepbrothers, and stepfather are all that survived the move as far as relationships go. Not that I’d want to take over any of their bodies at the moment.

  But Ellis, well, he’s a sandy-haired surfer type who requires quasi-legal forms of recreational entertainment to keep him mellow. And just the thought of knowing his body on an intimate level—from the inside out, makes me cagey.

  He’s been dating Giselle Oliver, Gage’s younger sister, who was dead for a time but now has full possession—no pun intended—of Emerson Kragger's body. Although Ellis belongs to the Countenance Faction, he very much sides with Celestra.

  In fact, when the Counts started recruiting members against my leadership, they splintered off into what Wesley called the Steel Barricade, and thus forcing Celestra to form its own new alliance called the Retribution League. We’ve been in a race to hide the genetic markers from our bodies—the very markers that can easily identify the Nephilim people as alien beings to the rest of the world. It’s a marker the government recently discovered, and they’re hungry to find those among us—the aliens who might have it. We’re not aliens per se, but we’re not entirely human either. We’re part celestial being. But try explaining that to a government authority. It’s been attempted and, believe me when I say, it didn’t end well.

  The Barricade has had the upper hand for a very long while, especially ever since Gage’s reign of terror began, but just last month the Retribution League—my league—set its plan of damn near hiding the markers into motion. It turns out, the afterbirth I produced from my sweet baby boy Jaxson, a near perfect Celestra, considering he has me for a mother and Logan for a father—well, the blood from that event was the key element in getting the markers to flip their switch and shut down.

  Right now, Ezrina has her finger on the pulse of converting the formula so that it’s eternally regenerative and the elixir we’re currently administering won’t need a maintenance dose.

  And now that we have Wes and Chloe working on our side, let’s just say Gage really screwed up good to push them in my direction, but then I always knew he had it in him—the Retribution League is unstoppable. And hopefully soon, we’ll be able to produce a serum that will permanently hide our markers.

  “Where to then?” I ask as Marshall and I hover over the island, floating facedown, our spirits in a prone position, stalled as if curious as to which direction to head in. A single electric blue butterfly flutters on by like a sign, an omen, an otherworldly hint. Heated memories of Logan and me wrapped in one another’s arms while up in the butterfly room come back to me. That dark attic room back at the Landon house is rife with paper butterflies that Gage and his nefarious powers gave life to. And now they flutter for me—for Logan and me and our eternal love. “Logan! I know his body inside and out. Well, actually, I don’t know it inside, per se, that would be weird, but I kinda do and I know for a fact Logan won’t mind me running his show for a time as long as I can boot Rory to the celestial curb and get back into my own corporal groove.”

  “I’m afraid Logan is deposed at the moment.”

  A prickling of fear ripples through me. “Marshall.” I groan. “Whatever it is, spill it.”


  He takes a breath as he levitates to a standing position and I do the same.

  “It seems the Pretty One has been detained for questioning.”

  “For questioning?” I blink back. “Don’t tell me Tad’s scuffle with the FTC has bled over to Logan.”

  “More like the Federal Jock Strap Commission.”

  “Gage?” Every last inch of my being seizes with terror. “Marshall, I demand you take me to Logan, now.”

  “I’m afraid I cannot. He’s being held against his will in a realm I am not welcome to enter.”

  “Eversor?” My voice shrieks to the heavenlies. “Marshall, when did this happen? And who the hell cares whether or not Gage will roll out the welcome mat for us? We’re storming that hellhole, and I’m taking what’s mine—namely Logan.”

  He shakes his head ever so slightly. “I’m afraid that’s not how it works. He was detained the night of the party. I don’t know the details. That will be for him to fill you in on when the time comes. There is a protective hedge over the entire realm. I’m unable to aid you in the endeavor of retrieving him.”

  “Are you certain he’s there?”

  His lips pull into a line. “As his supervising spirit, I’m ashamed to admit I cannot be certain.”

  “Oh dear God.” A shrill cry of frustration cuts through me. “Then get me to Ezrina. Surely I can hang out in her body until we straighten this mess out. Besides, I should really be with her in that lab. We’re this close to not needing a booster to hide the markers. Let’s get to Whitehorse.”

  How I long to see that gorgeous mini mansion Logan built for me all those years ago. He passed away before we could enjoy it properly for ourselves, no thanks to Chloe lopping his head off. And then I lost my own proverbial head and married Gage. We spent the entire duration of our marriage living in my bedroom at the Landon house—sans the one night we spent at the old Walsh house we bought and renovated. The very next day, Gage got his head lopped off, too—a running theme among us—and the world effectively fell to shit right after.

  I give Marshall’s hand a squeeze and those feel-good vibrations pulse right through me.

  “Take me to Ezrina, please.” I nod in the direction of Ezrina’s lab, which just so happens to be located in the Wonderground, literally underneath Whitehorse. Logan excavated half of Paragon for her to use as she pleases, and it certainly pleased her to turn it into a virtual state-of-the-art laboratory worthy of resurrecting the dead, biologically reengineering Spectators by the dozen, and it also happens to be where she lives with her husband, Nevermore—Heathcliff if you want to get formal—and their sweet toddler, Alice.

  Marshall takes a breath, his chest filling like a solid wall. “I’m afraid Ezrina has been deposed herself—along with Heathcliff and little Alice as well.”

  “What in the fresh hell?” My voice rises into the night like a supernatural siren. “Do not tell me they’ve landed in Eversor, too, or I will—”

  Marshall lifts a brow. “You will what, Ms. Messenger? I’m most interested in what you propose will occur when you discover that not only did your once betrothed slaughter you in cold blood, but took those closest to you, the most powerful weapons in your arsenal, and chained them away in his den of wickedness. What will you do?” His voice booms over me like a gong the size of the planet. I can feel the vibrations from his every angry syllable, and my soul resonates in anger right along with it.

  “Oh my God.” I close my eyes. “I honestly don’t know how to hate him more.” A hard groan evicts from me. “Not Ezrina.”

  “Might I note, you didn’t say that about Master Logan.”

  “Because Master Logan doesn’t hold the equivalent of nuclear codes when it comes to saving my people.”

  “Nonsense. He’s the key reason you have an equivalent code to begin with.”

  Everything in me stills. My lips part as I examine the saucy Sector before me.

  “You’re defending Logan. You never defend Logan. Is there a reason for this about-face?” A thought hits me and I gasp with delight. “Logan is your descendant; therefore, you are the secret to the so-called nuclear code. Oh my ever loving goodness!” I pick up his hands and dance us in a circle—although Marshall is a rather nonparticipant in the revelry at the moment. “Is that why she did it? Is that why Candace allowed a Sector into the game? Because she knew we’d need your salty semen, and I mean that in the proverbial way, sort of. You are the key to my success. You are an all-important factor in the success of this formula, but since you are a Sector, you were not allowed to play in our celestial reindeer games, she had to delude your genes just enough so that she, or you, or I would not be dragged before the Justice Alliance.”

  He takes a slow breath and closes his eyes. “Perhaps there is a modicum of truth buried in your jumble of words somewhere. But no. Good theory. However, there are more moving parts than you even know to count.”

  “Than I even know to count…” I pause to ponder his words for a moment.

  “Ms. Messenger, why do you regard me as if I’m speaking in riddles?”

  “Have you met yourself? Besides, the gloves are off. I’m dead as a doornail, and there’s a witch parading around Paragon as me.” I suck in another quick breath. “Hey? Do you think Gage kidnapped Logan so that Rory wouldn’t defile him, too?”

  “No. I don’t believe Jock Strap is that altruistic regarding Logan’s chastity where celestial beings are involved. This is a bigger picture issue. The dam has broken in his little charade, he’s trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the Nephilim, and he’s looking to protect himself any way he knows how. He’s dangerous. Feral. And that’s the exact reason—”

  “I need to speak with him pronto.”

  “I was going to suggest you never speak to him again.”

  “In my last lifetime I would have gladly listened, but there is a freedom to being dead. It certainly affords me to give zero—”

  He holds up a finger to stop me from belting out the expletive.

  “Zero cares.” I nod over at him. “Now, Marshall, let me speak with Gage.”

  His lids hood low, usually a hint of something sexual on the horizon, but at the moment it’s pure unadulterated rage.

  “Perhaps after we have scouted a body for you to retain. Who do you think would do the honor?”

  “I don’t know. What happens when I take over their body? What becomes of the soul currently residing inside?”

  “They remain in-house. You, of course, will be the primary. You’ll have full control over the body. Only you will be able to speak and eat. They are simply stored away in the recesses of their own mind. You’ll be able to hear them—as will I. There is no harm done to them. However, they may not be too impressed with you. There is no telling how long you’ll have to live in their respective home, if you will.”

  “I can tell you how long it won’t be. I have a wedding in just a few weeks, and I’m not missing it. I’m certainly not showing up as a guest either. I’m walking down that aisle in my own body. And you’ll be there, too—officiating the main event.” I frown over in the direction of Whitehorse, where Logan and I will be wed on the sandy shores of Silent Cove. “I was sort of hoping my father would be able to make a special appearance to walk me down the aisle. It will look like I’m walking alone, but I don’t care. The next time I see Candace, I need to bring up the wedding to her.”

  “She is aware, my love. Not a single detail of your life escapes her.”

  “Now that’s a shocker. The pedestrian outside observer wouldn’t agree.”

  His chest rumbles with a laugh. “I can assure you there is nothing pedestrian about your mother. Now to find a body. First stop?”

  “I don’t know.” About a dozen people run through my mind. “Take me to Laken.”

  Laken Stewart Flanders Edinger—unfortunate as that last name may be—is my very best friend in the world. Okay, so she might hold the title right along with Brielle Landon, my very first friend here on Paragon—altho
ugh at the time, wicked Chloe was paying her to be my bestie. Nevertheless, that’s all water under the bridge. Most importantly, Laken’s marriage to Wesley is water under the bridge.

  The night Ellis Harrison threw a rager of a birthday party for me, Rory showed us footage of herself pleasuring Gage to no end and it set off all the women in the room like a wall of precariously standing dominos.

  First, there was Chloe, who evicted Gage out of her life and pledged her allegiance to Celestra. And then, Laken shoved her boot so far up Gage’s wicked half-brother Wesley Edinger’s ass, you could see the proverbial tip shoot right out of his mouth.

  And thankfully, now Laken is with the love of her life once again—the man she originally left Wesley for way back when they were all in prep school together—the fabulous Cooper Flanders.

  “I’m so glad she’s with Coop,” I say, blowing out a breath of relief, as Marshall whisks us off in the direction of their rental house near the waterfront.

  “As am I.” Marshall flashes a not-so humble grin my way. “He is of my lineage. It’s always a safe and sane decision to side with the Sectors.”

  “Hey—that’s right. Both Logan and Coop share your comely features. And that would explain why they look as if they could be brothers. Thank God Cooper has sided with Celestra. He and Brody Bishop have been invaluable. And, of course, so has Ellis.” Outside of Logan and me, Brody and Ellis were the original members of the Retribution League.

  “He will never turn from you, my dear. Nor will anyone with half a mind at this point.”

  “And now we have Wesley’s wicked mind.” After Laken kicked Wes to the curb, he was so pissed at Gage he gave him the finger and turned his back on his own people. He’d rather side with Celestra and prove to Laken he’s not a bad guy than continue to work for the asshole who cost him the love of his life. “I cannot wait to talk to Wes. I wouldn’t say this to anyone else, but I’m most excited to work elbow to elbow with Ezrina and Wes in the lab. Everyone knows Ezrina is a wicked genius, but pair that cerebral might with Wesley’s evil genius, and we’ll have the cauldron of hope bubbling over with perfection. We’ll oust Gage in no time. I’ll be back at my celestial post, the Sectors will be on top, and both Gage and Demetri will be licking the dust off the bottom of my shoe.”