Desire Unchained

Arik didn’t tense up, didn’t do anything to provoke. “You know that every military member attacked by a demon is tested by the R-XR.”


Yeah, he knew. He’d gone through a battery of tests before the military released him to The Aegis. “So?”

“New technology has become available, and we’ve run old tests again.” Arik glanced down before looking back up, directly into Kynan’s eyes. “Something came up in yours. A suspicious gene.”

Kynan’s stomach took a dive to his feet. “Do not say it’s a demon gene, Arik. Don’t. Even. Say. It.”

“That’s the thing, Ky. We think it’s something else.”

“What? Shapeshifter?”

Arik shook his head. “It’s got divine coding. I don’t know the fancy technical term for it. I’m just the muscle.”

“Goddammit, spit it out.”

“Fallen angel, Kynan. We think that somewhere perched in your family tree, there’s a fallen angel.”

Kynan’s head swam with denial. “Fallen angels are demons.”

“Not always. This was probably an angel who hadn’t entered Sheoul yet. Fallen, but not quite demon.”

Kynan thought about Reaver, UG’s resident fallen angel. He was in that in-between state, though Kynan had no idea why. The guy never talked about it. As far as Ky knew, no one knew Reaver’s story … how he fell and why he hadn’t entered Sheoul.

This was just too unbelievable, and had to be a mistake. Had to be. But as much as he wanted to rail against the information, he also had to stay level. The tests could be wrong, but if they weren’t, he needed to know what the results meant.

“What does R-XR want with me?” he asked, his voice hoarser than he’d have liked. “Straight up.”

“We need to run more tests. Do some research.”

“Poke and prod, you mean.”

Arik didn’t deny it. “Nothing like this has ever been seen before.”

Yeah, and Kynan hadn’t been born yesterday. The R-XR didn’t send armed teams to grab someone they wanted to do tests on. “What else?”

A vein in Arik’s forehead pulsed, and Kynan knew this was Arik’s ace, the card he’d been given to play only if he absolutely had to.

“Jesus, it’s not some stupid prophecy, is it? Because those never make sense, never turn out like they’re supposed to …”

He met Kynan’s gaze with solemn eyes. “It’s more than a prophecy, Ky. We’re talking about a lock of biblical proportions. And you might be the key.”

“The key to what?”

“The end of the world,” Arik said grimly. “Armageddon.”

The concussion from Arik’s bomb rocked Kynan to his bones. His head snapped back, and he stood there in silence for a moment, too stunned and terrified to speak, move, or breathe. Finally, when his lungs began to burn, he sucked in some air and pulled it together. “Give me a second.” His legs were wobbly as they carried him to the kitchen.

Gem met him, her eyes watery and her chin trembling. She knew. “You’re leaving.”

“Yes.” There was no way to soften the blow. Though he hadn’t expected the blow to hurt him as much. Just when he was getting his life together, just as one wound had finally healed, he’d been knocked back to square one, because even though he wasn’t prepared to take Arik at his word, this couldn’t be ignored. “I’m sorry, Gem.”

He kissed her, putting everything he had into it. And then he walked away.





Twenty-three





It had been nearly a month since the last full moon—which had been Shade’s first shift to a werewolf, and Runa’s twelfth. Tonight would kick off Shade’s last; Eidolon’s vaccine was ready to use after the moon phase was done. But it would be her thirteenth shift, and while many people believed thirteen was a bad omen, Runa had always felt the opposite. Thirteen was her lucky number, so she couldn’t understand why she felt so unsettled lately.

Even Shade had been behaving strangely over the last couple of days, had been extra-attentive and plastered by her side. If not for the fact that he’d been called into the hospital for some sort of emergency, he’d not have let her out of his sight. He’d wanted her to go with him, but with the full moon only hours away, she’d needed to prepare.

Smiling, she approached her house. Their lair. Shade had sold his city apartment, and now they spent most of their time at her place, though sometimes, when Runa was feeling extra frisky, they spent their days off at his cave.

Shade had wanted to abandon the cave, but she’d convinced him to keep it. With a little redecorating—which meant getting rid of most, but not all, of his toys—the place had become downright homey. She’d even surprised him by researching his Umber background and then filling the cave with Umber art and woven carpets. When he’d seen what she’d done, he’d been too choked up to speak, but he’d drawn her into his arms and held her as if he’d never let her go.

Which would be fine with her.