by Weil, J. L.
I went straight for the coffee pot and poured myself a mug, loading it with cream and a bucket of sugar. Travis was lingering in the kitchen, snatching a piece of bacon every time my mom turned her back. Devin was eyeing his son suspiciously.
“Did you sleep well, honey?” Mom asked as I weaved my way through the kitchen toward the circular table.
I burnt my tongue on the scalding coffee and swore.
Chase leaned back into his chair, smirking like a baboon.
Travis snickered with a mouthful of bacon.
And Lexi coughed, covering a giggle.
Turning my head toward the three culprits, I frowned. “Actually, I slept splendid.” Then I slipped into one of the empty chairs beside Chase. Though there was a good chance that if we sat too close, I would either smack him…or kiss him. It was up in the air.
“I bet you did,” Travis said too quiet for my mom and Devin to hear, but the rest of us heard it loud and clear.
Lexi let out a snort/giggle. Very unladylike.
My mom was no fool. She waved a spatula in the air, her whiskey eyes pinning me. “Well, I hope so. You practically dozed the morning away.” This coming from the woman who never woke before noon due to her job. “What did you do last night?”
Okay. It was a totally innocent question, but even I, at that point, couldn’t keep a straight face. “Oh, nothing special. Just hung out,” I replied in the lamest response ever.
This time Chase was scowling, and I was grinning. Payback was a bitch.
Mom flipped a stack of pancakes onto the warming plate. “You must have really worn yourself out, though it has been quite a week.”
Oh dear God. She just needed to stop before things got out of hand and the four of us started rolling on the floor. I was beginning to wonder if she did know after all, and she was screwing with me. “I guess,” I agreed ready to move on to a safer topic.
Devin was clearly not pleased by our display, but he and I had the same idea. “Chloe, I think it’s time to eat before it goes cold.”
She smiled brightly. My mom so over-the-moon happy that she was glowing was a sight I never thought I would see. Devin had put that sparkle in her eye, the spring in her step, the youthful smile on her lips.
“It smells a-ma-zing, Ms. Morgan,” Travis said, helping himself to an enormous serving of everything.
Mom joined us at the table already set with dishes and linens, courtesy of Lexi. I was just glad someone else was assigned the task besides me. “Thank you. It’s Chloe, remember,” she said, hating anything that made her sound old.
“Mmm,” Devin moaned with a forkful of dripping pancake in his mouth. “This is better than The Village Diner.”
I should hope so. Mom’s cooking was da bomb-diggity.
She looked like he had just told her that we could live in outer space among the stars. I wanted to gag from all the moony eyes the two kept giving each other. If she used her napkin to wipe his mouth, I was out of here. Lucky for my appetite, she restrained herself, but God only knew what went on under the table.
Everyone dug in. The breakfast conversation was loud and lively. It was unbelievable how well we fit together, Mom and me with a family of half-demons…and Devin of course.
We had become a unit—the Winters and the Morgans.
Some days we fluctuated between devoted loyalty and hating each other like poison. We might fight and punch holes in the drywall, but if you messed with one of us, you messed with all of us, and that was exceptionally bad.
So much crap had happened since I moved, but it had been a very long time since I had been truly happy, felt like I belonged. Here with a pack of misfits, I fit perfectly. Home. Roots. Friends. Family. It made me realize that if we were going to be a family, then eventually Devin was going to tell my mom everything.
Everything.
Demons.
Divisa.
Hunters.
Me.
The whole nine yards. I knew that it wasn’t feasible to keep going like we were, with her in the dark or always wiping her memories. It was not fair to Mom or to Devin, but I was scared. I bet so was Devin.
What if she rejected him? Rejected me? She never judged, but I couldn’t stop the dark seed of doubt and insecurities from spreading. Judging and accepting the supernatural were two entirely different things. I was terrified of her reaction.
Devin caught my sudden serious expression across the table, and I got the impression that we were thinking along the same dreaded lines. It would probably be sooner rather than later. He loved my mom. I loved Chase. We were going to be a family one way or another, and eventually someone was going to slip up.
Chase squeezed my knee beside me. “Hey, you okay?”
I nodded. “Yeah, but I think I might need to be rolled away from the table.” I was stuffed.
Devin pushed his plate aside and beamed at my mom. “If you keep cooking like this, we might never want you to leave.”
Mom actually blushed.
“We could burn down the rest of their house,” Chase suggested with a crafty grin.
Devin blinked and scratched his russet stubble. “I don’t think that will be necessary.”
Travis jumped in, offering his services. “If you change your mind, Dad, you just let us know. Chase and I will take care of it.”
Oh Lordy.
It was pretty unanimous—my mom was fantastic. They all loved her, and who could blame them? Sharing her wasn’t as bad as I’d predicted. Living with the Winters the last week eased a substantial amount of responsibility from her. There were more people to share the load of household chores. She didn’t worry about me being alone. And there was a pack of hungry half-demons to lavish over her cooking. Mom was happier—freer.
I didn’t want that to end.
“You want to tell me what happened back there?” Chase asked as soon as we hibernated to the family room. Lexi and Travis were allotted dish duty. Suckers.
I curled onto the cushy couch, and annoyance flashed in my eyes. “Which part? Maybe the fact that everyone in this house knows we had sex.”
He picked up my outstretched legs, taking a seat and draping my legs over his lap. “Well, if they didn’t, they do now thanks to your shouting.”
I exhaled. “I was thinking about my mom.”
He edged closer, and my body relaxed. “You’ve got to be a little more specific, Angel. Unfortunately this kickass bond doesn’t allow me to read your mind. A shame.”
“Thank God.” But it did allow him to quiet my rising irritation, feeling the warmth of his emotions override mine. I wasn’t sure how fair that was. He was much better at this bond jazz than I was.
“I would love to know what goes on in that pretty head of yours.”
A laugh bubbled up and out. “I bet you would.”
“My guess is that 99% of your thoughts are about me.”
I snorted. “You wish. Is that how much you think of me?”
“We’re getting way off topic here. We were talking about your mom, not what goes on inside my fabulous head.”
I should have known that the look on his handsome face meant trouble. Before I could defend my rainbow-covered feet, he was holding my legs captive and tickling them. I laughed again, longer and fuller as I squirmed under his hold, my legs kicking to be free. Openmouthed, my head fell back and he tugged me onto his lap. All that laughter turned to silence as I stared into turbulent eyes of melting honey.
“What’s really wrong, Angel?” he asked, all teasing aside.
I rested my head on his shoulder. “It just hit me at breakfast that we have to tell my mom, and it made me sad.”
His chin came to rest on top of my head. “Understandable. We’ve spent a lot of energy protecting her from finding out the truth, keeping her safe. All things come to an end.”
“I know. I just wish we had more time.”
Eyes grey as smoke. “There never is enough time.”
I disliked how bleak and ominous that statemen
t sounded.
~*~*~*~
“Mom!” I yelled, letting the door slam closed behind me. I dumped my bag in the corner and walked toward the kitchen. “Mom, I’m home.”
Today was the first day back in our house, and Mom was MIA. It had been three weeks since the fire, and tonight we were supposed to have a celebratory dinner—just the two of us. Nothing like getting stood up by your own mom. Where the heck was she?
I grabbed a freshly baked biscotti from the basket and started to brew a cup of tea in one of those fancy single-cup coffee makers. It was so cold outside my bones ached. I didn’t think winter was ever going to end, and cabin fever was starting to set in.
Dunking my almond biscuit-like in my piping hot tea, I couldn’t help but notice how deadly silent it was—ridiculously so. How had I endured before? This old house was too big for two people. Circling my mushy biscotti in the swirling tea, I thought about how much I missed living next door. Game wars with Travis. Sharing Lexi’s gigantic closet. Stolen moments with Chase.
Pathetic.
I hadn’t been home for five minutes and I was sitting here pining for the fool. And to top it off, Mom didn’t even want to be here, not that I blamed her. Co-existing with Chase’s family had been just what the doctor ordered.
I dung out my cellphone and hit send.
Voicemail.
“Mom, it’s me. Where are you?”
Click. I hung up feeling more exasperated.
Shoving the last bit of biscotti into my mouth, I got to my feet and tossed on a hoodie. I opened the door and bristled against the whistling winds. February sucked. Playing tug of war with the fierce winds and the door, I finally won, managing to yank it shut with a proper snap.
The first thing I noticed, her car was in the driveway. Weird, which made me believe she was definitely next door, all toasty and warm beside Devin. Then I got grossed out. There was nothing more repugnant than thinking about Mom cuddling with Devin.
I made a puckered face.
Trudging across the yard, I grumbled and swore under my breath, becoming more miffed with each stomp. I was going to be utterly irked if she went for a romp at the neighbors while I sat at home worrying. So un-adult-like.
I dialed her cellphone again on the trek over the crunching white grass. It went straight to voicemail.
Odd.
She was very strict about keeping our phones on and readily available, especially since she worked nights, and I was home alone often. This was not like her.
With an unease feeling fluttering in my belly, I climbed onto the Winters’ porch and pressed the lit up doorbell. Chase answered the door with a lopsided grin on his lips. “You missed me already, which I totally get. I’m hard to forget.”
I rolled my eyes, stepped inside, and let the look of him warm me. It took just a glance to heat my blood. “Just because we have some three-way bond, doesn’t mean you’re all I think about.” That was sort of a white lie. I thought about him way more than I should. Even now he was distracting me from the real reason I was here. Mom.
“Thanks for shitting on my parade.”
“It’s my pleasure,” I replied.
He darkened the doorway. “Okay, so if you aren’t here for my bod…”
“I’m looking for my mom. We are supposed to be having dinner tonight, remember?”
“Right. I haven’t seen her.”
My stomach plummeted. “She’s not with Devin?” I asked, unable to keep the hopefulness from my voice, because if she wasn’t here, then…
I couldn’t let myself go down that horrible path. Not yet. She was fine. She had to be fine.
He shook his head. “No. Devin is in his office working. I just came from there.”
I glanced out the small window at the winter’s horizon, taking a few long, drawn-out breaths. “Something is wrong, Chase. I can feel it.” I pressed a hand to my belly. “She didn’t answer her phone, and she’s not at home like she is supposed to be. This isn’t like her at all.”
“Try her again,” he insisted.
Once again I punched in the numbers and just like the other times before, I got her funny voicemail message. “Hi. This is Chloe. Now it’s your turn. Beep.” The sound of her voice immediately crammed my gut with alarm.
My head spun a little, and my stomach did a couple of rolls. There was one explanation I had refused to let myself consider, but now…Alastair’s name echoed over and over and over again in my mind. If anything happened to her, how could I forgive myself? It would be because of me that Alastair would harm her.
I could not live without her.
She was my only family.
Chapter 24
Alastair.
The certainty buzzed in my ears, like a swarm of harassing flies. I knew that he had taken my mom. For bait. For manipulation. For desolation. I didn’t need to see with my own eyes. I didn’t need to hear him tell me, taunt me with it. The sick feeling in the pit of my gut was all the confirmation I needed.
And just like that, my world came crumbling down around me. All those fears assaulted me at once. “Oh God.” I began to fall, but before I hit the wooden planks on the hardwood floors, I was in Chase’s arms.
“Hey there, Angel Eyes. Don’t do that. Not now,” he murmured. “We’ll figure this out. I promise.”
Deep breaths. Deep, long breaths. Chase’s promises were as solid as a boulder. He would not let me down, and he would not let anything happen to my mom. I don’t know how he handled such devotion from me, but I was glad I had him.
Glancing up at him, I asked with wild eyes, “What am I going to do?”
“First, you’re not going to freak out on me. Second, we are going to talk to Devin. He needs to know, and we need to be sure—really sure.”
I nodded. He was right. I had to keep my head, stay level, sharp. If we had any chance of finding her, I had to keep my head. She was counting on me whether she knew it or not. And my gut could be wrong. There could be a thousand reasons she was missing. Cellphone dead. Car accident. Abducted by aliens. Not every incident revolved around Hell. Just the majority of them, I added silently to myself.
As I followed behind him all I could think was how I wanted to climb back into bed, pull the covers over my head, and pretend this was all just another nauseating dream—if it could only be so easy.
Bollocks.
Nothing worth gaining was easy.
“Devin has spent quite a lot of time researching Hell to keep us safe,” Chase started to explain as we ascended the stairs to the second floor. “He knows more about this stuff than you can imagine.”
Peeking behind Chase, he knocked and cracked the door to Devin’s office. I’d never been inside Devin’s personal space, nor had I ever considered Devin as a source of demon activity. He didn’t look like the kind of guy who spent his nights tracking the underworld.
“Do you have a moment?” Chase asked his uncle.
Devin looked up from behind his laptop, removing the wire-rimmed glasses from his nose. He looked from Chase to me. When his hazel eyes landed on mine, he smiled softly. “Of course.” Setting aside his glasses on the desk, he leaned back in his chair while the two of us sat in the mahogany chairs. The leather shifted under my weight. “What’s on your mind?” he asked. Then something clicked in his eyes as he glanced at me. “Isn’t today supposed to be a kind of girls’ night?”
I nodded. “That’s why I’m here. She’s not home, so I came here looking for her.”
Devin folded his hands. “I haven’t seen her since she left for the store a few hours ago. I swore I heard her car pull into the driveway.”
It might haven been irrational, but disappointment sunk in my belly like an anchor. I’d clung to the hope that Devin knew where she was, that she had called him, proving I was acting like a paranoid freak.
“Did you try her cell?” he asked, seeing my face fall.
“Multiple times. She’s not answering.” Probably because there is no reception in Hell—kind of
like Spring Valley.
“Hmm.” He grazed the stubble at his cheeks. “Tell me what is going through your head. I can see it’s problematic. Are you thinking that this might have something to do with what happened the night of the fire?”
“Yes,” I said at the same time Chase said, “You bet your ass.”
Devin rubbed his hand over his face. I’ve seen the many faces of Devin. Annoyed. Love. Irritated. Joy. Pissed off.
But never panic-stricken as it was now.
“What did you do to piss him off now?” Devin asked, folding his arms, staring at us like a pair of disobedient children.
Chase kicked out his legs, propping them on top of the marble coffee table. “What makes you think I pissed off anyone?” he asked smugly.
We both shot him an are-you-kidding look, but it was me who was more than willing to knock Chase down a few notches. “Who haven’t you angered this week would be a shorter list.” Under different circumstances, I would have enjoyed the repartee.
“Great. Now the two of you are ganging up on me.”
“This isn’t about you,” I argued. “Shocking, I know.”
Devin shook his head. “I don’t know what the universe was thinking putting the two of you together, but who am I to question the laws of nature?”
“Nature has nothing to do with it. I am just that damn awesome,” Chase said.
Devin kept his gaze leveled on mine. “Angel, I don’t envy you. My nephew is such a pain in the arse.”
The corners of my lips twitched. “At least we agree on something.”
Luckily we had Devin to referee and keep us focused. “I think you’ll find that we agree on more things than you think, like your mom. I’ve had more dealings with Hell than most humans. I’m not going to sugarcoat it. This is bad.”
“Thanks, Uncle Dev. You’re a great help,” Chase said sarcastically, giving him a dark glower.
His uncle paid him no attention. “But…they’ve never seen the likes of you. Or, and I hate to say it, because the last thing my nephew needs is to have his ego stroked any more, but the truth is, he is the strongest of his kind that we’ve seen.”