Gunner stood on the edge of a building, looking down at the street below. The apartment Luna had been held in for nearly a week was still empty. Not that he expected Azel to suddenly reappear.
But still, it was too damn quiet.
The streets were practically empty as if even the humans could sense danger and were staying away.
There was nothing here, though, nothing he could see, anyway. He couldn’t sense any demons either. Had Ronan aligned himself with Azel again? Could he be concealing the fallen angel? It was hard to believe he would after what Luna told him. And there’d been all that blood in the apartment. They’d fought. Ronan had held Azel off so Luna could escape.
The angel wouldn’t forgive the other male for that easily.
Maybe the dark vibe he felt was just a shadow left by the evil flowing through that fucker’s veins.
A gust of wind washed over Gunner’s bare chest, bringing with it the scent of demon blood, sweat, and rage.
Rocco.
He turned to his brother and pain sliced through him like a molten blade.
This conversation had to happen, and he’d been dreading it despite the indescribable happiness he felt since he’d made Luna his mate several days ago.
The agony etched into Rocco’s face was hard to look at. Christ, it killed him. It’d only been a few days since Gunner had last seen his brother, but he continued to physically deteriorate. His face was all sharp angles, the scruff now closer to a beard.
Gunner took a step closer. “Brother—”
Rocco shook his head. “I can sense it, can see it in your eyes. I’m happy for you, for both of you. Truly, I am.”
Gunner didn’t know what to say, how to make this bearable for him. It wasn’t possible.
“So…how was it?” Roc asked, voice so low and gritty it lifted the hair on the back of Gunner’s neck.
“We don’t need to talk about this—”
“I want to know,” Roc said, but there was no missing the growl, the underlying anger.
His anger wasn’t directed at Gunner but at what had been stolen from him. Telling Roc how fucking amazing he felt, how goddamned happy he was, wasn’t something his brother needed to hear right now.
“Gunner,” he bit out, his jaw working, fingers clenching and unclenching, body shaking. “I…I need to know, please, just…just fucking tell me.”
Rocco was torturing himself and they both knew it. “Nothing good can come from talking about this, brother.”
Roc shook harder. “I dream about her, think about her every day, every night. She’s the only thing in my head. And the fucking awful, twisted, horrific truth of what she’s going through right now, right at this very moment…” He gripped the sides of his head, gritting his teeth. “It’s all I can fucking see. I can’t see how things were before she was taken from me. I can’t remember, Gunner. The darkness won’t…it won’t let me see. I need you to tell me. I need to close my eyes and see Kyler and me, just for a moment, please.”
Roc was willing to put himself through hell and back to feel close to Kyler. Jesus fucking Christ, they were losing him. They were going to lose him the way they’d lost Tobias. But Gunner couldn’t deny him. If sharing this gave him even a moment of peace, he would do it.
“Close your eyes,” Gunner said.
Rocco did as he asked, chest pumping, his fists so tight, knuckles so white they looked close to splitting.
Gunner’s throat was tight, and he had to clear it several times to talk. “We…we came together, Roc, like we’d been made to fit only each other. Did you see it, that thread, when you were with Kyler…before?”
“No,” his brother said. “Silas told me it’s not there until your female has her powers.”
“It’s gossamer fine and so beautiful you know it has to come from something so fucking pure, so good and perfect. That connection between her and you, even before mating…you know, Roc, you already know nothing is more perfect than that.”
“Yeah…there’s nothing like it.” Roc shifted from foot to foot. “When you mated, you saw it and you grabbed for it?”
“Yeah, and I fucking held on.”
“What’d it feel like, Gun?”
“It was like Luna wiped me clean. Nothing before her matters. I cracked down the fucking middle, and when she put me back together it was with a part of her inside me. When you reach for that thread, when you