“F-Five weeks…”
Xera shakes her head. “We have to leave, tonight, and will stop to get you something to take care of it.”
A gasp comes from the Shifter, and slowly, Xera towers over her. My girl’s only a few inches shy of six feet, and Desiray maybe reaches just a few past five. It’s funny to see her cower even smaller at the domination my little demon is exuding.
“His lineage dies when he does. Do I make myselfso fucking clear, Desiray?”
“I… I’ll take it away. You’ll never see it, I swear?—”
“No!” Xera screams and I instinctually step toward her. “It isnota suggestion. You will take a morecivilizedway to rid your body of it or I will tear it from you. I’ll snuff out every-single-speck of his blood from this world, includingthis!”
By the shriek, I can only assume she’s making a point, I just can’t physically see what she’s doing to the girl.
“I’m allowing you to live, you will fucking do as I command. Do. You. Hear. Me?”
“Yes, yes… I will. I’m sorry…”
She turns to face me, holds my gaze for a split second, then shifts down to look at Mister. “You are a little shit, and you…” She tilts her head up, those silvern eyes of finding mine. “We can finish what we startedafterI find out why my cat can talk… Okay?”
Truthfully, I should demand the feline to fuck off so I can have her attention, but I understand. If my pet fish had started talking to me, I’d have dropped everything—including good pussy—to figure out what the fuck was going on.
“Fine, thirty minutes and then we are leaving. You and I, alone in the car. Mister rides with Sydni while we finish our conversation. Understand?”
Her eyes dilate. “Yes…”
“Desiray,” I call to her. “Let’s go.” With that, I leave my little demon to talk with her Familiar.
Chapter 49
Xeraphine
Strangely, I don’t feel angered or disappointed in Mister—Aphyllius. I wouldn’t have listened to him. I’d have immediately assumed he was a Shifter—pushed him away and likely killed him. Even if he insists he can’t die, I’d still have tried.
Granted, hedidlie to me. That hurts more than angers me, but as he told me more of our story, how he had been there even when I wasn’t aware. The time he searched for me when I was buried, and the time with the train, thatfuckedme up and nearly had me in tears.
We spent the better part of the past thirty minutes just… talking. I sat nearest to a tree, hunched over, looking and watching through his eyes for any indication of more lies. Not that I can see anything, he doesn’t exude an aura, or smell other than that of a cat. I just watched for the other signs; eye twitching, looking away from me when asked a question, things like that.
“I suppose…” I murmur. “It makes sense. You were always more… aggressive than I’d imagine a normal cat would be.”
He nods.“I’m not physically stronger than an average cat, just indestructible. I’ll use that to do whatever I can to keep you safe.”
I swallow, shoving my hands down between my thighs and looking away from him. “Thanks…”
“Xeraphine,”he calls for me to turn back to him.
I don’t want to, because knowing I had someone there for me—without ever realizing it—tugs at a thread in my heart I’ve never felt before. I had Syd, but she wasn’t there for the vulnerable moments. The nights I lay in the tub, hoping I’d bleed out. The countless screams ripped from my throat when memories of what they did to me shattered mysleep. The agony of my trauma, sitting with it, forced to survive it because I had no other choice.
Mister was always there.
Albeit in the shadows, yearning to comfort me, yet knowing exactly what I needed: scratches at the window I mistook for trees in the wind—just enough to distract me, to get me moving, to help me resettle. Dead mice at my doorstep, sparking anger, pulling my mind away from the storm in my head. I never questioned the stupid little things that happened over the past ten years, but somehow, they were enough.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t,” I say, a bit more harshly than I intended. “Don’t…” I repeat, my tone softening. “I’m just processing.”
“You didn’t deserve the life that was dealt to you,”he continues, and now I see he was apologizing for something else. Not for what he did, but for what he couldn’t prevent.“I overheard the deal—”My chest caves in.“I was tuned in the moment you entered the Beyond, because if I had to, I’d have crossed the gates to retrieve you.”
“Wait…” I’m not even sure why the thought crosses my mind. “Did you send?—”
