“I’m just asking for a talk, Gem.”
Of course, a talk. He couldn’t ask for more than that, could he? No, not Kynan Good Guy Morgan. Mr. Honorable. Though, if she could calm down for a second and be honest with herself, she could admit that much of his honor and purity and just plain goodness had been scoured away by the betrayals he’d faced nearly two years ago. He’d gone through a period of darkness, had taken wounds and let them fester.
She knew, because her Soulshredder self had seen them. She’d helped to heal them, though she’d had to be careful, because when she was angry, hurt, or jealous, the wicked desire to exploit weakness and pain grabbed hold of her like a powerfully seductive drug.
And right now, her inner demon wanted out something fierce.
“Sorry, Kynan,” Gem said, “but you can’t just pop back into my life after so much time and expect me to fall at your feet.” She brushed past him and headed for the staff break room, mainly to get away from him. “I’m over you. Leave me alone.”
The next thing she knew, she was against a wall and he was covering her, his big body pinning her so she could hardly move. He moved between her legs as his mouth came down on hers. She was furious, spitting mad, so why had she grabbed his jacket and tugged him as close as he could get while still being clothed?
He kissed the hell out of her, and when he was finished, they were both panting. “That,” he said, “doesn’t feel like you’re over me.”
“Fuck you,” she breathed.
“Maybe,” came a low, controlled voice that had them both whipping their heads around to Eidolon, “you could find a private room before the fucking starts?”
Groaning, Gem let her head fall back against the wall. There would be no fucking, but she certainly was fucked.
Busted.
Kynan pushed away from Gem and faced Eidolon. The guy looked like he’d been dragged through a knothole backward, and Kynan wondered what the hell was going on. The hospital appeared to be seriously understaffed, and were those cracks in the walls?
“Hey, E. I need to talk you. Your brothers around? And Tayla?” He glanced at Gem, who was glaring at him. “You too.”
“Oh, so the fact that you need to talk to me didn’t really mean you needed to talk to me.”
“We’ll talk,” he swore. “In private. But business first.”
Eidolon gestured for Kynan and Gem to follow him into the break room. Inside, Eidolon and Kynan sank onto the couch, while Gem staked a claim near the coffeepot, which was usually Wraith’s territory. “Where’s everyone else?” Ky asked.
E studied the ceiling fan. “Shade is with Runa. Tay’s at work.”
“And Wraith? He out getting into trouble?”
“He’s already done that,” E said quietly, and Ky listened in shock as the demon filled him in on the shit that had gone down with Wraith and the hospital.
“Damn.” Ky’s voice was strangely raw. There had been a time—right after Ky had witnessed Wraith feeding on Lori—that he’d wanted to kill the demon. Ky had loved his wife, and Lori’s betrayal had stung to the bone. But Ky had learned to like Wraith, liked all the brothers in fact, and this had to be hitting them hard.
“Yeah. Then there’s always the fun uncertainty of another assassin being after me and Shade. Haven’t seen any evidence of it so far, but we’re keeping our backs to the wall.” E shoved his hand through his hair. “So now you’re caught up on the latest episode of Underworld General Hospital. What’s your deal? Why are you here?”
Gem crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her foot. Her green eyes sparked, but her twin black-and-pink pigtails softened her furious expression.
“You’re probably aware that something is happening in the demon world.”
“Aren’t you a rocket scientist,” Gem muttered.
Eidolon gave her an exasperated look and turned back to Ky. “Its come to our attention, yes.”
“Do you know what’s going on?”
“Why?”
“The Aegis sent me to find out what I can. Besides Tayla, I’m pretty much the only Aegi with contacts in the demon realm, and Tay can’t tell them anything without giving herself away.”
Gem snorted. “So they expect you to gather intel from demons… so they can fight demons?”