Invision - Sherrilyn Kenyon Page 0,46

here with no pants on.” Nick grinned and winked at him, then clicked his tongue and pointed with both index fingers at the ancient being.

Jaden wasn’t charmed …

Or amused.

“Okay … I’m going to put my pants back on now.” Nick cleared his throat and headed toward them.

“Un … believable.” Jaden took the mortar from Kody’s hands and returned to treating Caleb while Nick carefully picked his pants up, making sure to slide the amulet out of the pocket without touching it.

Well, the good news was that lack of belief had saved Nick’s neck more than once. So while Jaden’s reaction didn’t help his ego, it did serve to spare his life. He’d take it.

Kody came over to brush his hair back from his face. “You okay?”

“Sure, cher. I know what I am. His rejection don’t bother me none. There’s only a handful of people whose opinions matter where I’m concerned. And I don’t give him permission or power to hurt me.”

Smiling, she pulled him into her arms. “Love you,” she whispered.

“Moi, aussi.” Nick fisted his hand in her hair and ground his teeth at the realization that she was one of the handful of people who could completely destroy him. While he honestly didn’t care what Jaden or his enemies thought, he did care about Kody.

And in the back of his mind was the image of the day he killed her. It haunted him constantly now.

Even with his eyes open. It forever played like a game day slow-mo clip.

From across the room, he met Jaden’s gaze as the ancient god watched them curiously. He didn’t speak while he worked on Caleb.

And Xev … he had turned away to give them privacy.

He always did. Nick didn’t need his powers to know why. Xev still mumbled Myone’s name in his sleep. Half the time, he woke up whispering it under his breath as he reached for her in the bed only to curse once he realized he was no longer in the past, and that she was gone.

His heart broken for him, Nick stepped away from Kody and took her hand to lead her closer to Jaden and Caleb.

Once Jaden had Caleb’s wound packed, he stared down at him. “I can’t believe that wound didn’t kill you.”

“Yeah, especially since you dragged your feet tending it.”

Jaden rolled his eyes. “Same Malphas. Ever cantankerous.” He moved away from him. “Since you were maintaining your human form, I knew you weren’t overly dire.” He manifested a cloth and wiped his hands off. “You could thank me, you know?”

“For what? Being a father for once in my extremely long life? Well then, thank you.” Yeah, there was no sarcasm in those words at all.

Ignoring it, Jaden scowled at the mess around them, and the sounds of the demons still trying to break in. “What exactly is going on here, anyway? Where’s Cam?”

“Missing,” Xev and Kody said simultaneously.

“Again?”

Caleb sat up with a grimace. “We don’t know what’s going on. Hence why Rainbow Pony over there decided to call you in against my better sense.”

Crossing his arms over his chest, Xev glared at his brother. “Go ahead and insult me, but we need information. The one thing I know about the other side … they’re a chatty bunch, especially my mother.”

Jaden nodded. “He’s right about that. Discretion’s not her valor. But in terms of this … I know nothing. This, they haven’t talked about.”

Irritated, Nick growled low in his throat. “Well something isn’t right. I’ve lost my powers. I can’t use the Eye. My generals are missing. We got hell-monkeys at the door and mortents disguised as Aunt Mennie, who’s now missing, too.”

“Aunt Mennie?”

“Cam,” Xev said. “His generals are Dagon and Aeron.”

Jaden gaped at Nick. “Why would you pick them for your generals? Have you lost your mind?”

“Up until they vanished, it was working.”

Jaden pressed his hands to his head as if he was developing a migraine.

Or a brain tumor …

Strangely, it was the same look Kyrian got whenever he had to deal with too much Nick logic. Bubba, too, for that matter. Well, at least he had one superpower that was still working. He could frustrate full-grown adults past rational speech without even trying.

Bully that.

Nick grinned at him. “And lest I forget, there’s still the matter of my missing Aamon demon named Zavid.”

“That one, I know.”

They all turned to Jaden.

“Pardon?” Nick stepped forward. “You’ve seen him?”

“Noir has him.”

Kody placed a comforting hand on Nick’s shoulder. “So it’s true. He isn’t dead.”

“Well … he is dead. But Noir