is safe. Your mother is unharmed as well.” Naiobe grimaced. “Or at least, she will be able to heal from the wounds she sustained.”
It had been that bad? The fact that thing had managed to wound her powerful mother said a lot.
“In here,” Naiobe said.
Her friend pressed her palm against a hidden spot on the wall. A scanner beeped and turned green, then a click and a large section of dragonsteel disguised to appear like wood paneling swung open, revealing a hidden panic room—supernaturally warded, of course.
Inside, her mother lay on the floor, her back propped against the steel wall. Delilah’s father, no longer in armor, instead in jeans and a white cable-knit sweater of all things, knelt at her side, his blond hair a disheveled mess, which spoke volumes.
They were still together? Goddess above.
Delilah hurried over and dropped to her knees on her mother’s other side. Her father reached out to squeeze her arm, and Hazah cupped her face with her hand. “I’m all right.”
But Delilah could only shake her head. “You’re both here,” she whispered. If she hadn’t sent Alasdair to her mother…
“Why is that bad?” Alasdair asked from where he stood in the open doorway.
The question sent her muscles into spasming tension all the way up her back. Holding herself stiffly, composing her features, she angled her face toward him.
Were this any other man, she wouldn’t bother to explain. But this was Alasdair, and she’d surrendered too much to him to hold back now. Besides, deep down she wanted him to know the truth. Though no doubt it would do little to alter his opinions. The way he stepped back as soon as they’d arrived… The man could hardly stand to be near her.
“They are forbidden to see each other.”
“Because of you.” A statement rather than a question.
“Watch it,” her father, usually so reticent, growled.
Except Delilah blinked, her gaze on Alasdair’s face. She knew this man in full sarcastic dick mode. That hadn’t been accusation. More like…acceptance. Didn’t he hate her? Hate what she was?
He tipped his head, ignoring her angel father and demon mother to look directly back at her. What was he saying with that silent, steady stare?
Delilah glanced away, at Naiobe, to cover the confusion racing through her heart. “Get yourself somewhere safe.”
Her assistant, and one of the three people who knew everything about her, part of the deal for Delilah releasing her from her bottle, hesitated. “But—”
“Promise me,” Delilah insisted.
The Syndicate had fallen, Alasdair was marked, her parents were together and injured.
And Delilah could do nothing.
Nothing but push Alasdair away before she made things worse.
…
Alasdair felt as though he were being ripped into a thousand pieces as loyalties and needs pulled him in too many different directions.
Still reeling from every damn revelation over the last what had felt like fifteen minutes at most, his heart slammed against his ribs like a wild animal trying to break free of a cage. The panic room seemed to close in on him, too quiet for his mind, which was still processing everything.
Dammit.
Alasdair stared at Delilah, a dull ache taking up residence in his chest, gripping his insides with fists made of stone. Not because he hated her, but because she thought he would. He could see it in the confusion swirling in her dark eyes.
But this day had changed everything. He could never hate her.
Because she’d turned out to be that woman in the alley. Because she’d been trying to help him, even if things had only gotten worse. Because she’d wanted to give the child version of him a hug. Because she’d tasted like heaven coming all over him.
She was part demon…and he didn’t care.
He should. She’d lied by omission. That relevant fact could’ve been shared at any time in their dealings today. Hell, the second he’d told her he had a demon problem, even more so after she’d witnessed the scene of his father’s death.
That vision.
Mother goddess, was that what he now had to face? How was he supposed to stop the demons if they possessed the most powerful witches and warlocks in existence? His sister among them. Was he destined to lose his entire family? The damage the Syndicate could do, must already be doing…
“Why does Belial want me?” he asked.
“You’re the leader of all mages and extremely powerful.” Hazah’s voice sounded like sandpaper had been taken to her larynx. “They have seen your future as part of their plan, whatever it may be.”
I need to go. Now.
But he was trapped here, in