First And Last - By Stacey Kennedy Page 0,21

was far from that.

“I’m glad I do, Álainn.” He reached out and took my hand in his, squeezed it tight. “It shouldn’t surprise me that you act entirely on your emotions, but it does. I wasn’t expecting that. I thought you’d have hidden a little of yourself, but you don’t. You expose it all and I cherish that about you…”

I snuggled into him. “You’re Mr. Unreadable.”

He winked.

Someone cleared their throat loudly. I snapped my gaze from Kyden to see that everyone watched us, most with smiles. “Er…sorry about that,” I told Azar. “You can carry on now.”

Kyden chuckled.

Azar didn’t look frustrated, simply smiled and looked back to the crowd. “Lady Nexi and Lord Kyden, may I present your followers who have requested to join your guard.” He waved his hand out to the crowd of well over a hundred demons, witches and warlocks.

I leaned back over to Kyden. He angled his head down and I whispered in his ear. “What do we do now?”

He shook his head and whispered back, “Haven’t a clue.”

My gaze fell to Misa and quickly waved her over. When she reached me, she bent down so I could keep my voice low. “Er…what do we do?”

She attempted to hold back a smile, but failed miserably. “They will fight before you, and you will see their strengths to determine who you want to choose.”

“Fight?” I gasped.

“That’s right. You want the strongest among them and need to see what they’re capable of.”

I looked back at Kyden to find him chuckling. Obviously, he found amusement in my apprehension. Watch hundreds of demons fight, not bloody likely.

Hmm…what to do?

Questions ran through my mind. I seriously didn’t want to watch this, had had enough violence lately. Finally, I settled, knew exactly what to do.

“Good idea,” Kyden agreed. Then, I heard, “Let’s just get this over with and get out of this god forsaken place.”

I stared at him in complete shock.

His brow arched at my bewilderment. “Problem?”

“Did you just read my mind?” I whispered softly.

The arch of his brow rose higher, and his face equaled my current state of perplexity. “You didn’t say that out loud?”

I shook my head, unable to find words. He gained my ability to speak telepathically. How could this be?

Zia stepped away from where you stood next to me and knelt in front of Kyden. “You heard her thoughts?”

He nodded, amazement soared through our bond. “I did.”

“And I heard his, too,” I said quickly, still beside myself. “Is that normal when a witch bonds? You know, to pass on her abilities?”

“No, I should say that it isn’t.” Zia cupped my cheek and smiled. “But I wouldn’t expect anything different from you.” She looked back to Kyden. “Simply incredible.”

“Indeed,” Kyden breathed.

Azar cleared his throat again.

My gaze fell back to him. He looked a little flustered at all the interruptions. “Oh, right. Sorry, again.”

I gave Kyden a little kiss and used our bond, “Just think of the stuff I can say to you now that no one is listening—like when we get home I want to…”

Zia cleared her throat loudly. “Nexi Jones.”

“Oops.” I laughed.

Right, not appropriate. I forgot she could hear me too. In response, I put up my mental shield to keep her out, just in case I forgot and sent another inappropriate message. I wondered if I could block Kyden as I can Zia. We’d have to test that later.

Kyden laughed.

But back to the current task. I stood from my chair. “Okay, let’s do this another way. Honestly, I have no interest in seeing these demons kill each other.” The room huffed and puffed. Mostly, I heard Ryker and Finn. They were obviously disappointed with my choice. Too bad! I was changing things, they’d have to get used to it.

“All of you line up in front of me.” They immediately followed the order and assembled in a lineup that resembled kids waiting for the school bus. I laughed at how quick they complied.

I approached the first demon, grabbed his hand. He looked perfect to be a guard. Tough guy, hard face, but the second I read into him I knew he was all wrong. He harbored anger that the Underworld was being run by those of the Otherworld and loathed us entirely because we restricted his taking of innocent souls.

The choice wasn’t a hard one. “Sorry, you won’t do.” That earned me a deep scowl before he strode off.

From there, it was demon after demon. By the end of it, I had only chosen two demons.

Tyde, a captain