Instinct by Sherrilyn Kenyon
In loving memory of Fred Grimm, whose last name was the biggest misnomer of all. Nick proudly dons his bright Hawaiian shirts in your honor, my brother. You are and will always be missed.
To Stephania, for being another bright and shining light in this world. God bless and keep you always, my sister. I love you dearly! And I think of you every day.
For Mama Lisa, Greg, and Sister Kim, for keeping me sane and for reasons y’all know. I couldn’t have done it without you! And for Judy, Loretta, Paco, Carl and Jacs and Pam and my two nurse Kims! And always Red Kim. :) Last, but never, ever least, my husband and boys, for inspiring me and putting up with my most forgetful ways and long, solitary hours of writing time. I couldn’t make it through my days or life without you.
And to my awesome agent and team at SMP, and especially my wonderful editor, who hasn’t used her voodoo doll on me yet. Thank you! I’m so blessed to have all of you in my life and I’m so glad all of you are part of my world!
A good friend once told me not to dread the future. One way or another, it would come. The trick was to meet it with open arms so that when it ran me over, it wouldn’t break anything.
— Renegade Waya Mayan Dark-Hunter
PROLOGUE
I
t wasn’t easy being Death. Made it hard to make friends. Harder still to keep them. No one was ever really happy to see you. Being around anyone tended to make them nervous and jumpy. Really sucked most days.
And today in particular, Grim was… well…
Grim.
Sighing heavily, he glared at his hulking henchmen, Pain and Suffering. Instantly terrified of Grim’s intent and mood and what it might cause him to do to them, they skittered from the room like two roaches caught trying to pilfer a bite of cake. As if he was going to kill them while they were cleaning his office.
Later, he might be tempted. But he seldom killed anyone while they were doing something for him.
Even more agitated by their fear, he skimmed his hand over the large crystal skull on his table. Time was being tampered with. He didn’t know why and he didn’t know who.
But something wasn’t right. Something unnatural was happening. And this stupid, clear skull wasn’t helping him decipher the riddle in the least. He saw nothing, and that only ticked him off more. He’d never liked being in the dark. Never liked not knowing, and he cursed the day he’d been born without foresight.
Grim lifted the skull up, intending to splinter it against the wall.
“Are you trying to find our missing rider?”
Calming enough to return the skull to its stand, Grim cocked his head at the sound of the feminine voice. With long, curly dark hair and perfect features, Laguerre was ever beautiful. Ever evil. His favorite kind of being, if the truth were told. There was no ambiguity in her heart. No prejudice. She hated everyone equally.
And she killed without hesitation.
It was why they were best friends and had been so for countless centuries. Sighing in the midst of his bitter ennui, Grim sat back in his chair to eye her ruefully. “There’s no reason to hunt for Yrre. Sadly, Gautier refused the call and closed the door on our ride against the human vermin. There’s nothing we can do now.”
“Yes, but he left all the riders on the human side of it when he so rudely slammed it shut in our faces. None of us are trapped in other realms this time.”
She had a point. Still…
“Bane is aligning himself with our enemies. He says he’s done with the intrigue. It’s just you and me now.”
“And Yrre, with one more who is willing and bitter enough to join us. One who has the blood and fury we need to pull the ancient gods into this world and unleash them. They will be forever grateful for our service and they will reward our loyalty. While four is not as strong as our seven, four riders make a formidable team… and the majority we need to call for a judgment and take back what was stolen from us.”
Grim quirked a brow at that. “Pardon?”
“I found our missing rider who’s more than willing to eat the heart of the Malachai and lead us to Conquest. Together, we can make our Malachai-Gautier demon all he should be. Or kill him if he refuses and replace him with his brother, the elder child who bears Malachai blood.”
For the first time since Nick Gautier had fought his way back to the right dimension and decided not to end the world or die in utter agony at his feet, Grim smiled.
Things were finally looking up again. And this time, nothing would stop them. Especially not some smart-mouthed guttersnipe teenager and his motley band of friends. And little Nick was about to learn just what a liability friends really were.
CHAPTER 1
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