The Serpentine Butterfly

by Addison Moore

  A piercing howl goes off in the distance, and we ignore it. Logan comes in close, his eyes wild with anger, smoldering with disbelief at how far I’ve managed to wedge myself beneath Demetri’s thumb.

  “You really want my opinion?” he seethes as if he’s sorry he has to give it. “Do it. Whether or not you’re sitting on the throne makes no difference. Demetri and Wes are going to jam their bullshit down everyone’s throats for as long as they’re both in existence. Is it really going to make a difference if you sit there going along with it? At the end of the day, you don’t have to contribute to the demise of the Nephilim people—just oversee it.”

  A strangled silence closes in on us as if there were nothing left to say.

  “What about principles? What about morals and the foundation of things I believe strongly in? What about my alliance to the Nephilim, to Celestra—hell, to Levatio, whom I believed that I was one most of my life?” My voice shakes the sanctuary around us, disrupting the llamas to the point of stirring them through the corral in an uneasy rhythm. “What about staying true to myself and my wife and my kids? At what point do I say, okay, today I sell out?”

  “Get over yourself.” He starts to walk away before turning around. “It’s a fucking job. Do you know how many people on this planet hate their fucking jobs?” Now it’s his voice carrying over the expanse. “They hate their coworkers. They hate their boss. Hell, I have an idea—skip the Christmas party!” His eyes bulge with rage. “You have an opportunity to love Skyla until you both walk through that ethereal plane one last time and meet up with me on the other side.” His voice softens. “You can shepherd your children, protect them from Demetri. You can have it all, Gage. Sure, it’s not always going to smell like roses, but whose life does?” He shakes his head. “Is there really a choice to make here?” He takes a few steps into the darkness before the night begins to digest him. “Sleep on it. I know you’ll do the right thing.” He takes off for the house, sullen and uninspired to get there any quicker than he needs to. He talked a good game, but he left out one significant detail—himself and the sacrifice I offered to make for him. But Logan is selfless that way. He’ll never admit that he needs Skyla, too. According to him—I have the kids. I win.

  But I don’t think I win, not in the way he’s implying. This isn’t the forever I had hoped for with Skyla, just a cheap imitation that has me compromising the hell out of my morals.

  Logan is right. I need to sleep on it.

  Skyla and I head home, and I make love to her like only a Big Bad Wolf can. She hits a record number of climaxes as her I love yous pour down into my thirsty soul like rain. Skyla sure makes the thought of leaving hard as hell. I don’t think I can. With the babies, I don’t see how I can even consider it.

  I think I know what I need to do—have another talk with Candace. Let’s hope this time I don’t end up on the losing end of Devil’s Peak.

  * * *

  Early in the morning, just as the sun crests the horizon, I land a soft kiss onto Skyla’s forehead and carefully get out of bed. I head down and find Mia rummaging through the fridge, so I give her twenty bucks to make Skyla a pancake breakfast in bed and tell her I’ll be back soon. It doesn’t dawn on me until I see the taillight of Rev’s motorcycle that Mia isn’t up early. She’s getting in late. Shit. I’ll be sure to tell Skyla so she can have a talk with her sister, and I’ll be having a conversation with good old Revelyn later. Or more to the point, my fist will. He’ll be easy enough to find since he’s still interning at the morgue with my dad. The idea of corpses has never creeped me out, but the idea of Rev around a bunch of corpses sends a chill up my spine. I don’t care how psychologically grounded his father is, Rev is no mini Dr. Booth. This is one rotten apple that has rolled all the way off the damn farm.

  I hop into my truck and head to Dudley’s, giving a firm knock on the door until a groggy-eyed girl finally answers. It’s not until she winces at me and gargles out my name do I figure out it’s Lexy beneath that tumbleweed sitting on her head.

  “What are you doing here?” we ask simultaneously.

  She gives a superstitious look over her shoulder before letting me in. “Don’t tell Logan.”

  I step in and catch a half-dressed Liam coming down the steps, and right behind him a partially nude Michelle Miller.

  “What the?” I’m not even sure I want to know. “Dude.” I shake my head at my uncle. “No. Two girls together spells out trouble like nothing else can.”

  “Speak for yourself.” He rolls his head back and winces, trying to fully wake. He looks so much like Logan it makes me uneasy. Are Miller and Lex tag-teaming him for who he is, or who he looks like? At this point, I don’t think it matters to anyone involved, least of all Liam’s dick. Hope to God it doesn’t fall off for his sake.

  “I’m here to pick up Dudley.”

  “Pardon?” Dudley strolls in from the kitchen looking as if he’s ready to take off for a business meeting.

  “Look at you!” Lexy coos. “You always look so dapper. Do you even sleep?”

  “No, dear, I’ve better things to do with my time than fade from reality.” He hasn’t taken his stern eyes off me. “What is it? Is it Skyla?”

  “Yes.” It’s technically not a lie. “And I need you to come with me right now to fix it.”

  We head out, and I wait until I’m parked at Devil’s Peak to lay it on the line.

  “I need to talk to Candace.”

  “I’m sure you’ll have a memorable time.” He kicks open the door with his foot.

  “Not without you I won’t. I have questions, and she has the answers—and, unfortunately, only you can get me there. But don’t do this for me. Do it for Skyla. You know she would want you to.”

  He pauses, partially out of the truck, and gives a dissatisfied grunt.

  “You realize I’m only doing this for my spirit wife.”

  “That’s all I’m asking.” My wife, I want to correct him, but I don’t.

  The truck shifts from underneath me. The luminescent morning fog is traded for crystal clarity on a blue-sky day. The lake appears, then Candace, an irritated, hard-lined version of the woman I love.

  “Yes?” She looks from me to Dudley, her hair sparkling like champagne. “Is there something I can help you with?”

  I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to being scared as hell.

  “I need some guidance, and I know that you’re the only one who can truly give it to me.”

  “Ha!” She gives a quick sarcastic chortle. “Does you wife know of the insult you’ve just heaped on her? What is it you wish to hear?”

  “Your opinion. You see, last year, I traded Logan’s dead body for a very long life on Earth—to Demetri. It was my wish for a long life with Skyla, and those were his terms. I foolishly took him up on it.”

  Her brows rise as if I’ve just amused her.

  “Demetri is willing to gift me a long life if I’m willing to turn a blind eye to the enemy’s dealings.”

  Candace folds her arms over her chest as if considering the ramifications.

  “How is this any different than your role today?”

  “I’m free to tell Skyla whatever I wish about the Barricade, of anything I glean while haunting the underworld with Demetri and Wes. But should I agree to his proposition, that all ends. I’m to report for duty. My wicked service would be required, and I could tell Skyla nothing of what’s about to happen to her—to my people.”

  She waves me off when I say my people. “Do you think your wife confides in you about all of her ‘underworld’ dealings?”

  “Skyla doesn’t have any underworld dealings. She’s on the righteous side of the fence.” I’d add in case you forgot, but I like not knowing what it feels like to have my balls struck by lightning.

  “Wise,” she muses. “And yet, foolish. What about Tenebrous? Has your bride confided in you regarding the infernal state of—”

  “Your Grace.” Dudley gives a slight bow. “Perhaps it’s bes
t we let Skyla deal with her property and who she cares to inform rather than offering it up ourselves like a delicious morsel of revenge?”

  “Are you suggesting I’m a gossip?”

  “Only if you’re suggesting to speak of something that your daughter would loathe you breathe a word of.”

  Her eyes shine sharp as knives. Her hair illuminates bright as the sun for the briefest of moments. “Duly noted. Gage, you are on your own. Know this—your decision has the power to alter the lives of everyone on the planet.”

  “Everyone?” I was expecting there to be a rather short list with just two names on it. Logan and Skyla.

  “Everyone,” she flatlines.

  “What’s the right decision?” I press her for an answer that I can already feel she’s unwilling to give.

  Dudley leans in. “Let me give you a clue, Jock Strap—she’s still Team Pretty One.”

  “Don’t whisper about me as if I’m not in your presence,” she grinds the words out, slow and even, her stern gaze never leaving my face. “And to answer your question, Jock Strap”—she says the obscure moniker slow as if trying it on for size—“what has your experience been like with Demetri so far? Has he disclosed to you the innermost darkest plans he’s yet to initiate? Has he shown you the same love and care that the Nephilim people have offered? And what about Skyla? Has she confessed anything of Tenebrous? Was she outraged when she was nixed as the overseer of the factions as if the war never happened?”

  My lids spring open wide. I can’t take in this new reality fast enough.

  “Wait—” Fuck. “What’s this about secrets and Tenebrous?” Skyla hated the tunnels. She wanted that place closed forever. That’s the reason she asked for it in the first place, isn’t it?

  “Certainly you and Skyla hide nothing from one another. How can you not know this? And your father? ” she says it so fast I can tell she’s relishing this. There’s a touch of malice in her tone that’s undeniable. “And, finally, did Demetri truly save you that day you fell from Devil’s Peak, or was he the one to push you, and made it look as though it were me all along?”

  My blood runs cold.

  Shit. “Did he push me only to act as my savior?” My heart thumps so loud it echoes through my eardrums. I think I already know the answer.

  A thin-lipped smile curves up her lips. “Isn’t it just like your father to throw you in a fire and then douse the flames? How thankful you’ve been—how perfectly sincere in your acceptance of him. You’re worried he’ll pull one over on your children—and here you can’t even help yourself. What real use will you be if you decide to stay? Who will it benefit in the end, really?”

  I may not like Demetri, hell, I push aside the fact he tossed me over the edge quite literally a few months back just to try to rein in the anger I’m feeling toward Candace right now.

  “What real use will I be if I stay? Who will it benefit?” I can hardly get the words out as my voice shakes with rage. “I’ll be both useful and beneficial to Skyla and my children, that’s who. I may not be able to save the Nephilim, but I think both you and I know that wasn’t my course in life to begin with. I was made to love my family, and I already know, for certain, that alone is enough.”

  She lifts her chin, watching me from those long, thick lashes, pissed, still so palpably pissed.

  “Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to see my daughter.”

  She glances to Dudley with a look that says the audacity.

  Instantly, we’re transported to a watering hole, a small lake. I can’t quite make out the details. The periphery is lost in fog and soft light, but the focus, the true beauty of this new landscape, are the two little girls swimming in the water, a lanky blonde with a smile the size of her face, and a brunette with eyes the color of the bluest sky and a pair of hesitant dimples dipping in and out of her cheeks.

  “Sage, look!” The blonde laughs as she holds up a bright pink starfish.

  The dark-haired girl admires it for a moment before her friend tosses it into the water.

  Sage. My heart melts and dies all at once. She’s so beautiful. Her tiny features undeniably belong to Skyla. Those eyes, that dark hair—it’s all me. There we are, a perfect combination of our love in a tangible form. Skyla and I made that tiny perfect being. Skyla and I are perfect. We belong together. Our family belongs together.

  “Sage,” I call out to her with my hands outstretched.

  Dudley places his hand over my arms and slowly lowers them. “She can’t hear you. This is simply a viewing.”

  And just like that, the ethereal plane dissipates, and we’re sitting in my truck again, the Paragon fog filling the space between us, pecking at us as if asking where we’ve been.

  “Did you get the answers you were seeking?” Dudley asks the question kinder than I would have imagined.

  “I think so.”

  I think I gave them to myself.

  Right Place Right Time

  LOGAN

  A week into November, Emma and Barron decide to host a welcome-to-the-family dinner for Dudley. They’ve invited Laken and Coop, and both Laken’s and Cooper’s families. Liam has called both Michelle and Lexy to court, not sure how he’s able to keep them both lassoed in his corral, but their underlying resentment for one another is shining through bright and clear. Ellis is here as Giselle’s hard-to-shake appendage, and, of course, Gage and Skyla are here. Skyla shines like a gem, even if she’s not convinced of it. Her beauty has only magnified over the last eight months. I didn’t think it was possible, and here she’s proving me wrong. Nev and Ezrina are present as Dudley’s extended family, and it’s actually starting out to be a pleasant night.

  “So, do you think we can hit a movie later?” Kresley licks the rim of her glass, slow and seductive as she corners me in the living room. Oh, yes, how can I forget? Kresley and Grayson have set down roots by my side. Emma has been trying her best to fan the flames of love, but to no avail. I’ve proven harder to get than the Ark of the Covenant.

  “I don’t think so.” And just like that, I run out of excuses and lies and other quick-fix remedies I’ve tried to get girls like Lex and Kresley to back off my dick. I’m not offering any more joy rides to Chloe, or anyone else for that matter. And both Lex and Kresley have made it abundantly clear they would be up for a quick and dirty romp, any way I like it, all night long. Except for the minor detail that Lex has stopped sniffing around ever since she’s thrown her ponytail into my brother’s ring. Liam, unlike Logan, uses and abuses his God-given reproductive equipment quite liberally. A thought comes to me. “I have erectile dysfunction.”

  Both Kresley’s and Grayson’s faces drop like stones. You would have thought I had just informed them sex was outlawed, and perpetrators would be executed on sight.

  “And crabs.” I hold a hand out as if pleading for their understanding. “The latter caused the former. But do you know who doesn’t, and has been asking a hell of a lot of questions about the two of you, is my brother Liam.” Grayson looks mildly confused, but Kresley is skeptical. “He’s especially been asking a lot about you, Kres.” I give a secretive nod as if suddenly we’re old friends.

  “Like what?” She leans in, her eyes never leaving mine as if she’s far too interested in the subject matter to abandon the conversation.

  “Like, what’s your major—are you in grad school—things I have no clue about.”

  She bites down on her lip as she looks over at him. Both Michelle and Lexy are busy pawing at him, each on one shoulder shooting venomous looks to one another.

  “Maybe I’d better head over there and fill him in on the facts.” Kres takes off without waiting for a response.

  “Me, too!” Grayson jiggles and wiggles behind her. Knowing my brother, he’ll simply take both.

  Skyla migrates my way while Gage settles into a deep discussion with Barron and Rev about the mortuary.

  “I thought she’d never leave you alone. She’s such a skank.” Skyla cradles her belly from unde
rneath with both hands as if she’s literally holding it up. I can’t blame her. It does look heavy.

  Gage pops over. “Which one is the skank?” He eyes Liam’s harem and shakes his head.

  “Kresley, Gage.” Skyla lays his name out hard as if he’s done something wrong. “Speaking of Kresley, don’t you have something you’d like to confess? I have been waiting and waiting, and yet, you choose to keep suspiciously quiet on the situation.”

  “What situation?” Gage has that deer-in-the-headlights look going. It’s clear Skyla is gearing up to rip him a new one, and he has no clue why. And should I be here for this?

  “The you-give-her-a-ride-home-from-your-night-class situation.”

  Gage opens his mouth, and his head tips back as if it’s all coming together.

  “Actually, I don’t give her a ride home.” He winces. “I do, but it’s not like that. She lost her dorm and has been staying on Paragon, and it’s just a few blocks from the ferry. She asked—my mother begged. What was I supposed to do?” His shoulders hike up clear to his ears. He’s in major defense mode, and, as much as I’d like to look away, I can’t seem to do it.

  “I can’t believe you!” Skyla swats him over the chest several times in a row, soft yet erratic. “I don’t care that you’re giving her rides, Gage. I care about the fact you decided not to tell me. It feels sneaky. I actually feel betrayed.”

  “Betrayed?”

  I’d echo the sentiment, but I’m wise enough to stay out of it.

  “Yes. You’re letting this other woman get between us. Correction, your mother is coercing you into letting this other woman get between us, and I’m sick and tired of all her bullshit.” She drills a finger into his chest. “How long are you going to let her manipulate our relationship like this?”

  Oh shit. Skyla is flying off the handle, and maybe she has a right, or maybe it’s all hormone induced, but I no longer care to bear witness.

  “Excuse me,” I say, backing up while frowning at Dudley from across the room because he happens to have a goofy grin on his quasi-related face. I’m sure he’d like nothing more than for Skyla and Gage to have a blowout in front of everyone.