“Come on, bro,” Eidolon said, as he helped Wraith to his feet. “I’m taking you home.”
Wraith swayed on wobbly legs. “No,” he croaked. “I need—”
“Don’t,” Eidolon said fiercely, grasping Wraith’s elbow and swinging him around so they were nose to nose. “Don’t you fucking do it. You come home with me, got it? We need to talk about what happened, and if you’re stoned out of your skull, we won’t get very far. I want to know how involved you are with the Ghouls.”
Wraith hissed. “I’m not.”
“Why should I believe you?
“Because I said so.”
Eidolon fisted Wraith’s T-shirt and yanked him nose to nose. “And you’d never lie, would you?” Eidolon had lost count of the number of times Wraith had lied about going over his monthly limit of human kills, and Eidolon had the scars to prove it. Still, doing something as heinous as what the Ghouls had done wasn’t in Wraith’s makeup, not after how he’d suffered. Though Wraith had no problem with killing, he did it quickly and efficiently.
A growl rumbled from deep in Wraith’s chest. Tayla eased closer, probably intending to pummel Wraith if he so much as twitched.
“What are you going to do, bro? Spank me for fibbing? I don’t think so. The big-brother card ain’t playing today.” He jerked out of Eidolon’s grip. “Happy fucking honeymoon.” He stalked away.
“Lay off the junkies, Wraith,” Eidolon warned, and Wraith flipped him the bird before disappearing into the darkness.
Eidolon looked skyward and counted to ten, ignoring everything around him until Tayla’s hand on his arm brought him back down to earth.
“What was all that about?”
He pulled her into his arms, wrapping her in a firm embrace. He squeezed his eyes closed and let himself feel the opposing sensations of her hard body and her soft touch as he stroked her hair.
“Wraith’s messed up, in case you hadn’t noticed,” he said. “He hates himself, and he does whatever it takes to forget. Remember how he was at the hospital?”
“Hard to forget.” She ran her hands up his back, and he felt the tension inside him ease a little. “What was going on with him and Lori? Why didn’t he want to touch her? And why did he freak after he bit her?”
“Wraith never feeds from human females.”
“Why not?”
Eidolon pressed his lips to her forehead and wished they could stay like this forever, could enjoy their new bond without having to deal with whether or not Wraith had betrayed his entire race. “Because he can’t control his urges. Feeding on females leads to sex, and he’d rather die than have sex with a human.”
“So . . . why did Lori act like they’ve slept together?”
“His mind power. If he wanted her to believe it, she would.” Someone wanted her to believe it, anyway.
“Like he did to me in your living room,” she murmured, and yeah, he still wanted to kick his brother’s ass over that. “Do you think he’s involved with the organ thing?”
“I don’t think so. But the alternative is nearly as bad.” Someone with a grudge against Wraith could cause an underworld of trouble.
The sound of a throat clearing brought them apart, but Eidolon kept her hand in his as Shade and Gem stalked toward them.
Shade frowned, looking extremely put out. “Man, I missed all the good stuff, didn’t I?” His gaze settled on Eidolon’s bond glyph on his neck and then slid to Tayla’s arm, deeply etched with Eidolon’s dermoire. “I’ll be damned. Cool.”
“Congrats, you guys.” Gem’s grin lit her up, made Tayla draw a sharp breath.
“You look so much like Mom,” Tayla said, smiling at her sister. “Are your parents safe? Where have you guys been?”
“They’re fine. I sent them home with Luc and then found Shade out looking for you two.” Gem glanced around. “Where’s Wraith? Kynan?”
Tayla and Eidolon exchanged glances during the long, tense silence that fell between the four of them. The grin slid off Gem’s face, and Shade went taut.
Eidolon scrubbed a hand over his face, relishing the burn of his palm over his tired flesh. “We have a problem. An Aegi claims Wraith is involved with the Ghouls.”
“He’s not,” Shade said fiercely.
“I know.” And Eidolon meant it. “But someone is trying pretty damned hard to make it look like he is. Looks like they’re tricking local Guardians into thinking Aegis leaders are in on it, too.”
“Hell’s fucking bells.”
“That’s exactly what I was thinking.” Well, he was thinking a lot more than that, mainly because Tayla was standing next to him, her hand squeezing his, and all he wanted was to be alone with her. They could deal with Wraith later.
Right now, his entire world was Tayla, and he wanted to make sure she knew it.
Gem shot through the zoo at a dead run. Tayla, Eidolon, and Shade were making one last sweep of the park to make sure all loose demons had been ushered away and the dangerous ones destroyed, as well as to capture any remaining Guardians.