First And Last - By Stacey Kennedy Page 0,62

few tears fell down my cheeks. Kyden caught them as he pulled me toward him and wrapped his arms around me. “You see, Álainn. They all believe in you, all here to see you succeed. All the lives you’ve affected and now they’re here to save yours.”

As much as this touched me, and it did so deeply, I couldn’t allow everyone to be put in danger. Enough of us were already in heaps of it. After two deep swallows to gather myself, I said, “I’m so grateful that you all came, but I’m sorry, I cannot let you do this.”

Shouts of disagreement burst out around me. I hushed them by raising my hand. “It’s not safe for any of you and I won’t risk it.”

“We can handle ourselves.” Thalia shouted out, appalled

“These are demons. Demons, Thalia. How are you going to fight against them?”

A slow, shrewd smile spread across Thaila’s sweet face. “It’s not the demons we’ll be worrying about. I’m sure their only focus will be you.”

I was confused. What the frig was she talking about?

Valor must have seen my confusion and clarified. “Those of the Underworld who have pledged allegiance to the Demon Lords will be there, Nexi. We can assist you. It’s our duty and our right to give you aid here.”

Understanding dawned. The thought hadn’t even crossed my mind. Not only would the Demon Lords be there, but all the beings from the Underworld would be too. They would attempt to stop this—to stop me.

As crazy as this was, and oh, it was crazy, I just never put two and two together. Plus, I could see on every face here that they wouldn’t be stopped. It appeared they all thought they owed me something for Lazarus’ destruction, saving Dante’s soul from Magnus, helping Rynn or any of the other trouble I’d gotten myself into. I knew they wouldn’t listen to reason.

Kyden rubbed the small of my back, drew my gaze back to his. “They’ll buy us time so you can draw the rune.” He sighed deeply and stared at me, nearly begged for me to listen. “It’s the only way. Without their help, our efforts will be meaningless.”

Resigned that I had no say in this, I sighed and glanced across every face here. “Please do not get yourselves killed. You’ll give me a pile of guilt I’ll never get over.”

Low laughs rumbled through the night sky.

“Worry about yourself.” Kyden grasped both of my hands, pulled me close to him. “Nothing else.”

My mouth parted to answer him, when abruptly, I was ripped from his arms and wrapped in someone else’s. It took me a second to realize Talon hugged me fiercely, and whispered in my ear, “I love you and undeniably so. You have become so dear to my heart.”

Talon was about a zero on the emotional scale, so this was quite huge. “Oh, Talon, I love you too.” I began to cry all over again.

He released me, took my face in his hands and kissed my cheeks. “See yourself safe.”

I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him as tight as I could. Fate had always handed me a difficult card to deal with, but in moments like these, I also saw what it brought too. Family. Just cause it wasn’t blood, didn’t mean it wasn’t just as strong. “You be safe as well…”

Suddenly, a shriek cut me off. I backed away and saw Haven, hands on hips as she glared at Finn. “I’m going, so don’t even think about stopping me. Remember what happened last time you acted stupid. I’ll do it again. Don’t push me.”

Finn leaned in and whispered something to her.

“No. I’m going.” Haven flicked her hair over her shoulder, full of defiance. “I’m done talking about this.”

My gaze met Zia’s and she smiled at me. I wasn’t even sure if I sent her a telepathic message or she just knew where my thoughts were headed. It didn’t matter, as long as we were on the same wavelength, I was happy.

Haven would throttle me for it later—if there was a later—but this was a choice I was going to make for her. She didn’t need to come to this, it was just too dangerous. I would never risk her life, or her younglings, and that was that. If I had to face her wrath later, then so be it.

Zia snuck in behind Haven and reached out to touch her shoulder. A second later, Haven started to drop and Finn immediately caught her in