Akor’s hand before my pain demon can hurl it away. He brings the device to his ear. “Hello?…Yeah. On our way.” Van swipes the phone to end the call and then shoves it in his pocket. His brown eyes are serious as he says, “We need to fly back. Trina’s parents have Adam.”
Van shrugs off his shirt and tosses it at me. “Put this on,” he tells me before he opens the van door and leaps out onto the dirt. Kastros and Akor follow. Raz gets out with a growl that would make me shiver if I thought it was directed at me, but it’s not. It’s for them. My parents. The malignant assholes who weren’t there my entire life and now won’t frickin’ disappear.
I glance down to see my hands are shaking. I try to take off my ruined blouse and put on Van’s shirt, I really do. But coordination’s a bitch when you’re on the cusp of a panic attack and your body feels burning hot one second and your heart is racing out of control.
I end up just staring at the shirt in my shaking hands until Raz climbs into the van. He slams the door shut, ignoring Akor’s protest of, “Hey!”
Raz scoots closer and wraps his arm around me. He spreads his hand, and a cape appears on his shoulders. A red cape. Just like in our dreams. My eyes fixate on it before they blur with tears.
“It’s gonna be okay, princess. We aren’t going to let them take your brother,” Raz soothes me as his fingers gently work my old blouse off. His fingers lightly trace the back of my hand and squeeze once, his eyes completely focused on mine the entire time, trying to calm me and bring my mind back. “I’m going to put that shirt on you now, okay?” he warns me, and I hear the soft gravel in his voice that I always heard from Ziel.
Somehow, that makes my mind calmer and it suspends my panic just a bit, just enough for me to help hold up my arms as he uses the gentlest touch imaginable to slide Van’s shirt over my shoulders.
He leans in so that his face is in my direct line of sight. “I’m going to tuck it in because we’re going to fly, okay?”
I give a half nod, or at least I think I do.
He gently tucks my shirt in, careful not to bump me, treating me as though I’m made of porcelain. And maybe I am.
“Adam’s my—”
“Your family,” he finishes for me. He cups my chin and gently swipes away the tears still clinging to my eyelashes, though I refuse to let them fall. “Don’t worry, princess. We got you.”
Those words. I dive into his chest and wrap my arms around him so tightly that I’d worry I’d hurt him if he wasn’t such a damn invincible demon.
His hand slides up and down my spine in a soothing manner for a minute before he says, “We’d better hurry.”
He doesn’t wait for me to find the strength to move. I don’t know if I have it yet anyway. He just scoops me into his arms. He taps on the sliding door of the van, and someone opens it from outside.
I see Akor’s impatient face lean in, but a second later, Raz is sliding out with me in his arms. My demons all have their black wings out. They don’t care at all about the humans seeing us, which raises my brows, but Raz waves a hand, and suddenly, all I see are crows. His magic is truly amazing, and I feel slightly awed for a moment.
Then he shifts me in his arms so he can get a better grip. His own wings burst out like a parachute, quick and wide in under a second. I hardly have time to gasp at that before we shoot into the air.
The flight home is cold, and the beauty of it is completely lost on me. I’m shivering in Raz’s arms by the time he touches back down.
I see my mom’s convertible gleaming in their driveway, and my fingers tighten against Raz’s neck in terrified fury.
“Shhh, you’ll be all right, princess. We’ve got you now.” Raz sets me down and takes my hand in his. He leads me over to Van and gently transfers my hand to the lust demon. They exchange a look that I can’t comprehend, possibly because both of their eyes are burning red-hot right now.