Someone had taken his mom? For real?
“I’m so sorry, Nick.”
Unable to cope with it all, he barely registered Kody’s heartfelt words. His mind was whirling too fast. Unlike the police and Bubba, he knew they weren’t looking for human perps. A human would never have gotten past Mark. His friend was too well trained and skilled for that.
No. This had the stink of supernatural all over it.
Was that why Caleb was sick? Why the weather was so bad? Why that crazy demon had come after him in the ambulance and the killer mosquitos had attacked?
Had it all been a distraction? Something to keep them away from Nick’s home so that his enemies could draw her out of their protected condo and kidnap his mom?
Would they dare, knowing that once Nick had her free of their grasp, he’d tear them to pieces?
Messing with the Malachai was a dark, dangerous thing for anyone to do. Especially when Nick didn’t have full control over that part of himself. More like the Malachai controlled him right now, which made him akin to Cujo on steroids, with a Godzilla complex.
Whenever it broke free, there was always a chance that he might not recover and that it would take him over completely. That he’d never be him or human again. While Noir might think he could control him, Nick wouldn’t play that bet. If the ancient god couldn’t control his father back in the days when the god had more strength, odds were he’d never be able to leash the Ambrose beast now that Noir had spent countless centuries growing weaker.
But none of that mattered right now. Only his mom did.
Nick winced as panicked fear for her consumed him. How could this have happened? They purposefully kept his home shielded. No one should have been able to find his mother. No one knew he was the Malachai. Or even where he lived.
That’s not true.
One very evil little beastie was currently residing in his home. Xev knew exactly who and what he was.
How important his mother was to him.
Bile rose in his throat as he remembered the warnings Caleb had given him about saving Xev and taking him in. He was the only “enemy” who knew all about Nick and where he lived and breathed. How to “cripple” him. Xev had betrayed the good guy side to Noir once before. He’d supposedly led their enemies straight to his own family to be slaughtered by Noir’s army. It was why Caleb had refused to allow Xev to live in his home, even though they were brothers. Why Nick had been forced to keep the ?arru-Dara – the Malachai’s blood general – in his condo. Caleb wouldn’t allow Xev anywhere near him without viciously attacking him.
If Xev could do that to Caleb…
Xev’s betrayed me. Just like Caleb had said he would.
No good deed goes unpunished. It was something both his boss, Kyrian, and Acheron had said to him, repeatedly.
Kody bit her lip. “Nick? What are you thinking? What’s that look mean?”
Furious, he ignored Kody as he teleported into his room. With his vision darkened by Malachai bloodlust, Nick found Xev right where he’d left him when he headed off to school. Asleep in his bed as if everything was right in the world. Like nothing bad had happened.
That only added to his rage. How dare the ancient being lie here as if the world wasn’t in chaos! As if his mother hadn’t been taken by God only knew who or what. She be could dead already.
Tortured…
Wanting blood and vengeance in the worst way, Nick growled low and yanked the blanket off him.
Xev came awake with an equal amount of defiant fury. Turning and flipping into a crouch, he hissed like a cat, exposing a set of jagged teeth. His rusty-sea-blue eyes held a diamond-shaped pupil as he angled his arm up to blast Nick, only to realize who his attacker was. Since he was enslaved to the Malachai, he couldn’t physically hurt him. So his eyes and teeth returned to normal while he braced himself for Nick to beat him. It was what Nick’s father would have done to him for the affront.
But as Nick saw the deep, vicious scars that marred every inch of Xev’s lengthy body, and in particular the two that marked where his wings had been savagely ripped off his back as punishment for his crimes, he calmed down.
While Nick had no doubt that Xev was a fierce, deadly creature capable of ruthless violence and betrayal, he no longer thought he was responsible for his mother’s abduction. Surely Xev wouldn’t have gone back to sleep after taking her. That would have been all kinds of stupid.
And Xev was anything but dumb.
Had he taken his mom, he’d have known to run to the highest hills he could find for fear of what Nick would do to him once he found out about it.
Kody drew up short as she entered the room behind Nick and saw Xev huddled naked on the bed. Squeaking, she quickly turned around and dodged back into the hallway. “Sorry, Xev.”