Sin Undone

Lore groaned. “So… close…”

Impulsively, Con leaned over and kissed her. It was cliché and corny and Sleeping Beauty on crack, but he needed her to fight. To feel. Tenderly, he closed his mouth over hers. Nothing happened, but he wasn’t about to give up. He nudged her lips with his tongue, stroked them gently at first, and then more urgently. Something burned in his eyes… tears? Yes, bloody hell, he was crying like a baby, and soon, the taste of Sin mingled with the salt of his tears.

Refusing to break contact, he pulled her into his arms and rocked her, even as he kissed her. Even as her brothers lit up the old junkyard with the power of their gifts. And then… he felt it. A stir deep inside. She twitched. Once. Twice. And then she gasped into his mouth, and her black eyes flew wide open. Ear-shattering whoops came from all around, but Con was silent as he tugged her tighter to his chest. He would never let her go again. Never. Her arms came around him, and though she didn’t say it, he knew she felt the same way. Sin felt like she’d gone a couple of rounds with a Gargantua demon. Everything ached, but mostly her ribs and throat.

Throat. Hadn’t Raynor’s ripped wide open? Groaning, she finally pulled back from Con. Well, she tried to, but he held her so tightly she had to smile. “Con? You’re smothering me.” “If you were being smothered, you couldn’t speak.” But he loosened his grip enough for her to look up at the wall of people standing around them as Con held her on the ground. “What happened?” “You sort of bit it,” Wraith said. The announcement was delivered with a certain nonchalance, but the tension in his expression said he wasn’t as detached as he’d sounded. Aw, big bad Wraith had been worried about her.

Which meant things had been really dire. A sinking sensation made her gut plummet to her feet. “Lore? Did you…” “Yeah. But if not for E and Shade, I couldn’t have done it.” Oh, shit. Lore’s resurrection gift came with one hell of a side effect. He’d spend days in bleeding, writhing misery, which was why he rarely used it. “Lore, I—” “Don’t.” He crouched beside Con and her, and gave her a smile that held no regret. “We’ve had so much guilt between us, have felt like we owed each other so much. Time to let that go. I did what I did because I love you. You’d do the same for me. Let’s put the past behind us for good.”

A huge sob escaped her, and Con released her so she could throw herself into Lore’s arms. She held him like she hadn’t since before their transformation, since before they learned they were demons. “I love you,” she whispered. “I don’t think I’ve told you that before.”

“You didn’t need to.” He held her for a moment longer, and then passed her back to Con. “I feel like a football,” she muttered, as she dabbed at her eyes. But she wouldn’t change a thing. Except the subject, away from so much sap. “So, what happened to Lycus? Where is he?” Wraith snorted. “Between a Chevette and a Mustang. And on the hood of a Thunderbird. And all over the grille of a—” “Got it,” she said, holding up her hand. Not much made her queasy, but being brought back from the dead seemed to be wreaking havoc with her stomach. Wraith gestured to Valko, who now sat chained to an old Ford pickup. “I got him to talk. He admitted to getting Lycus to kill you. Guess the pricolici were going to forgive his crimes and put him on the Warg Council if he did. They were also going to try to buy him out of assassin service from the new master.”

“Which is why getting my ring wasn’t an issue,” she mused. “He wanted it, but probably figured that either way he was getting a good deal. Asshole.” She hoped the punishment Valko was going to “volunteer” for was really painful. “How did you guys manage to get the R-XR here?”

“Arik,” Kynan explained. “Once we had your location, the R-XR tapped into government satellites to determine how many enemies we’d be up against, and since there were a few dozen, they called in a local team to back us up.”

Tayla snapped her stang into its belt sheath and slung her arm around Eidolon’s waist. “I’d have called in the local Aegis cell, too, but The Aegis is still fired up about what happened in Canada with the wargs. Wraith wiped the Guardians, but Command still knows something went down to cause injuries and the one dead Aegi. Didn’t think it would be wise to give them a shot at revenge.” “Does this mean Arik is in the clear and can get the hell out of my cave?” Shade asked, and Kynan nodded.