“Alexa, I’d like to see you tonight.” Shya was the last person I had expected. He didn’t waste time on phony pleasantries. “Midnight.”
“This is about Lilah, isn’t it?” A glance at the time on my phone indicated I had two hours until midnight. I didn’t feel like I’d slept that long.
“Should it be?”
“No?” I wanted a chance to talk to him about Lilah but didn’t think this was it.
He directed me to an old abandoned church a few miles down the road from his sprawling modern home. It sounded sketchy to me.
“Oh and Alexa,” Shya stopped me before I could hang up. “Don’t be late. Kale is depending on you.”
He ended the call before I could respond. Well that answered one question. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Fuck.”
Arys rolled over and opened his eyes. “What did you do now?”
I couldn’t even be offended, so I growled and punched a pillow before hurling it against the wall.
“I made the mistake of giving a shit about the dreamwalker. I didn’t do anything though. Not really. I think Kale did something. I just don’t know what yet. Something has Shya’s panties in a twist.”
“You underestimate the power you have over any man who is in love with you.” Arys held tight to his favorite pillow in case I planned to snatch it, too. “Clearly he intervened on your behalf. The fool. He’s just dragging you down with him.”
I scoffed. “If I have that much of an effect on a man, then why is Shaz so detached lately?” It was unrelated. I wasn’t sure why I said it.
Arys put his head in my lap and gazed up at me. “Shaz is confused and afraid. And, if he didn’t love you the way he does, he wouldn’t be either of those things. He’s got to process what his role in this really is. Now,” he sat up and threw off the blankets, exposing his glorious nudity, “let’s get ready to go.”
My gaze was riveted to him. Arys was beautiful. It was hard not to stare stupidly. “You’re coming with me?”
“I’m not letting you go alone. That bastard demon is going to use Sinclair against you. Sorry, Alexa, but I don’t think you always see so straight when it comes to him.”
I buried my head beneath my pillow. Hiding my burning cheeks didn’t alleviate the shameful truth. “Sometimes I really want to kick your ass.” My muffled words brought a laugh from Arys.
“Come on, pretty wolf. Get up and get dressed. Unless you want to have a quickie first?”
His laughter grew when I threw my pillow at his head. Smacking it aside, Arys grabbed me around the waist and pulled me against him. His skin was faintly cool but warmed at my touch. He nipped playfully at my neck, and I sighed.
“What makes you so amazing? I mean, everything with Kale… how do you accept it like that? Like it’s so easy.”
Arys raised his head to look at me. His expression took on an intensity that held me transfixed. “I’ve spent over a century knowing I’d likely never know you. I’ve been waiting for you for a hundred years. Being with you is surreal. We were created as one. The moments that bring jealousy and pain, they’re temporary. We are forever.”
The weight of his words crushed the breath from me. Emotion quickly filled me to overflowing, and I had to blink back tears. Though Arys may not know it, he had just set me free from some of the chains I’d bound myself in.
“Thank you,” I said softly, a catch in my voice. “For believing so deeply in something I still haven’t been able to process. It helps to think there might be something bigger behind all of this.”
Still, I had so many questions, and I was afraid of the answers. What was our purpose? And, would we find out before the power of our bond became too much for us?
Instead of pondering our fate, we prepared to meet the demon.
The abandoned old church wasn’t much of a surprise. Shya had shown his penchant for forsaken holy buildings previously. Some twisted part of him seemed to enjoy conducting his business in desecrated places.
I took a moment to gather myself before leaving the car. A busted iron fence surrounded both the church and what appeared to be a small graveyard in the back, but my view of the presumed cemetery was obscured from where I sat.
“Feel that?” Arys asked, his eyes locked on the crumbling stone church. “That’s some heavy duty shit.”
“That’s one way of putting it.”
The smothering sensation of dark energy made it hard to breathe. I shielded tightly against it, but still I could feel it there, seeking a way past my guard. One thing was certain; Shya wasn’t alone. It felt like he had a whole party of insanity going on.