She kissed his chest, and he felt funny inside. Warm when he hadn’t realized he’d been cold.
“That’s nice. I respect you too.”
“Of course you do. I’m amazing.”
She chuckled and yawned again. “Why do I feel like I belong here with you? I’m weird. I never fit in anywhere. Not even with Talon, and he’s as close to family as I’ve got.”
“Because you and I are alike. Intelligent, we seek knowledge. We don’t fear what we don’t understand. We embrace it.”
“Yes. You know me.” After a pause, she added shyly, “Would you like to meet Grizz and Aisha, my newest pets? I can show you how we bonded. It was a little different with them than with my others.”
“I would be delighted. And you can stop pretending Mila isn’t smitten with you, or that my tiny salamander isn’t secretly tucked against your lower back.”
She gave a low laugh. “He’s so cute. What’s his name?”
“Salamander.”
“Real creative, Khent. Can I name him?”
You can do anything you want to. Whatever I have is yours, meryt.“What name would you give him?”
“Sparky.”
He laughed at that. “Ah, you do amuse me.”
Her breathing evened, and they cuddled together in a little slice of paradise. He didn’t know why life felt so restful, so wonderful. Though not a depressed or angry being, Khent rarely waded in the waters of joy.
With Valentine, he couldn’tnotfeel happy and continually smiled.
So when he closed his eyes and gave himself over to sleep, he didn’t mind sliding into a dream.
Because she was there.
CHAPTER
FORTY
Val watchedVladimir hold her mother up by her neck and rake claws down her body, piercing her abdomen and hooking her intestines as she bled all over the floor.
Behind her, Talon had shifted into an eagle and fought with Ava, his dead mate. This time, Vladimir had resurrected Ava and ordered her to battle the young eagle in shifted form.
Oddly, Val wasn’t a little girl stuck in the nightmare but her actual age.
Khent stood by her, his arms crossed, wearing jeans and a black tee-shirt. So incredibly handsome, he stole all the horror she should have been feeling, transforming it into shock and awe.
“He’s really sloppy, isn’t he?” Khent nodded to Vladimir, who appeared just as inhuman as the last time she’d seen him. “There are much easier ways to kill that invoke more terror than this.”
The disgust on Khent’s face surprised her into a grin.
“That’s a good point.”
Khent walked around Vladimir, who paused to stare and growl, “Who is this that interrupts my feast?”
Without answering, Khent decapitated him.
Vladimir vanished in a puff of smoke while Morgan Darkmore dropped to the floor, a bag of flesh and bones without a face. Talons screeched, ripped himself away from Ava, and flew at Khent.
Only to be stopped when Khent held up a hand and muttered a spell.
