I press out a sad smile at this god-like man before me while my chest pants up a storm.
Light pours in through the windows from the porch below, affording just enough illumination to see one another in our shadowed forms. Gage glows a pale shade of ivory. His eyes glimmer like a heated night in July.
“I promise you”—he presses a soft kiss over the top of my head—“I knew nothing about this until the other day.” He leans in, tracing my cheek with his finger. “It never sunk in.” His features pull down with the horrible gravity of the situation. “Still hasn’t.” He buries his face in my neck and gives a hard sniff. “Skyla”—he brushes slow kisses up to my lips—“tell me you still love me, that we’re going to be okay.”
My heart picks up pace—frenetic like an overwound clock just hoping to burst. I take in a ragged breath and blow it out as if I were exuding the Fems themselves from our lives.
“I still love you. I can never stop.” I dig my fingers into his hair and pull him into a hard, lingering kiss. Gage has lips like pillows, soft as down feathers, and, for a fleeting moment today, I wondered if I would ever get to experience them again. I’m greedy for Gage—desperate for him. I had expected death, seen it on the horizon, but Demetri and his great deception blindsided us, totaled our world and now we just have to figure out how to rebuild it. I pull back and take in his bereaved features. “But I have no idea how we’re going to do this.” My voice cracks. It’s all I can do not to lose it. “We can’t let Demetri win.” Tears come uninvited, and I blink them back. I love Gage so damn much it makes me wonder if Demetri has already won. I think he has.
My stomach pinches tight because I wonder if on some small, cellular level, Gage was vaguely aware of who he really is.
“He won’t win.” He pulls back with that same tragic look in his eyes that he used to wear back in high school whenever he saw me near Logan. “It’s our children that give him victory.” He touches his forehead to mine. “We don’t have to go there.”
A small cry escapes my throat because up until recently that visual of Emily’s body splitting in two still made me the strongest advocate of child-free living, only now I take it all back. I want dozens of beautiful babies with this gorgeous man before me.
“No.” I shake my head. “Gage, I want that with you.”
His lips quiver, and he takes a forceful breath. “We can adopt. I swear, I’ll love any child God gives us whether or not it’s derived from our bodies.”
“We can teach our children to stay away from Demetri—to hate him.”
“Skyla.” He touches his fingers to my lips. “Do you really want the focus of our children’s lives to be on ‘hate’ of all things?” He swallows hard. “Besides, Demetri wins as long as he has a race. As long as someone in our lineage serves him, he comes out the victor.”
God. I close my eyes and try to hold in the pain Demetri has caused in my life. First he took away my father, and now he’s taken away my children.
“I hate that man—I’ll say it until the day I die.”
“Don’t waste your energy.” Gage drags his lips over mine, soft and supple, slicked with the dew from his mouth. “Are we good?” There’s a pain in his eyes that only my reassurance can cure.
“We’re more than good.”
“Thank God.” He gives a hard sigh right over my scalp, warming me all the way to my toes. “I thought I was going to lose you forever. I couldn’t handle that.” He cups my cheeks and gently pulls me to look up at him. “I worship you, Skyla, and I will until the day I die. You’re everything to me. And without you, I’m already dead.”
Our lips find one another. Gage presses in with deep, thrusting kisses that spell out his relief far more than a few simple sentiments. These were frenzied kisses that far outweighed their passion with an aching desperation—the affirmation of our love is being realized, right here, in Marshall’s bedroom.
Gage and I give approving moans straight into one another’s mouths. His teeth graze over mine. His tongue dives deeper with far more determination as he walks me toward the bed. Gage peels off my costume with ease. My tights twist as if he were fettering me at the ankles. I rip open his jeans and pull his impossible mass from his boxers. Gage fiddles with his wallet and holds up a condom in the light. A sly smile rises on one side of his face as if we were winning with this small act of procreative armor. He rolls it on, and, within seconds I’m on my back with Gage over me, ready and willing to put our brief separation to an end once and for all.
I pull off his shirt and press his body down to mine—nothing but skin on skin—best feeling in the world. Gage warms me with his sheetrock chest, crushing me with his full weight for a moment.
“I love you, Gage. You’re the man of my dreams.” And I mean it.
He huffs a quiet laugh because he’s said that same thing to me countless times before. Gage started having visions of me around the same time my father died. I wonder if that’s when Demetri realized his blunder. That gifting himself to Chloe Bishop was just another mistake he would make on his long journey filled with erroneous left turns, pot holes big enough to fit entire universes in—dominions.
Gage reaches down and gently pulls my knees around his waist.
He lifts up on his elbows and bears into me a moment as if taking inventory of our relationship one last time.
“Do you trust me, Skyla?”
“Without a doubt.” I don’t hesitate in giving the answer. Gage didn’t ask to be a part of Demetri’s wicked scheme. He just is. Just like I’m a part of my mother’s plan, whatever that might be. We didn’t ask for this. Nobody asked our approval. It was destiny dealing the hand—my mother hiding behind the veil as the curator of our misery, the captain of our prosperity. I’m not sure what her true intentions are with me. I have a feeling the faction war—the dormant task of the “overseer” was simply a test of what’s to come. A fatalistic warning has sounded, shrilling through me like a hysterical siren in the night. Something is not right. All is not as it seems. It never was—most likely never will be.
A spray of lightning goes off, outside—illuminating the room bright as noonday.
Gage presses into me slowly at first then rough and greedy like a stallion riding out to battle. My body tenses as it receives him before loosening, relaxing, then finally enjoying the fullness he brings when he’s deep inside me.
My fingers curl around the comforter as I give a heated cry. It’s bliss like this with Gage. It’s what I’ve wanted for so long, still do. I don’t think I can ever get enough. He pushes in, thrust after thrust, and I move my hips to meet him—my body insatiable for more. I want to feel Gage in the deepest part of me. I want to feel that pinch when he tries to force himself further but can’t. I soak in the feel of his body congesting mine, and look forward to the tremor that his muscles engage in just as he loses himself. I want the soreness that comes the next day. I want it all.
His lids crack open, and he looks at me looking at him, and we share a brief smile. No one else exists. We are our own private universe. Making love to Gage is magic, a thing of beauty that leaves me breathless each and every time. Gage and I are together again, the way it’s meant to be—the way I want it to be.
Gage digs his fingers into my hips with a death grip and lets out a roar that transcends these walls, Paragon, all of creation. He pants over me hard while his heart thunders in his chest, drumming against my body as he quakes with ecstasy.
The walls shake. The bed vibrates before igniting like a flame for the briefest interval of time. I wrap my arms around my gorgeous husband, his skin slicked with perspiration.
Oh God, I shrink as the reality sets in. Gage peppers my face with hot kisses, his skin sweltering against mine. We just had makeup sex on Marshall Dudley’s bed.
A tiny part of me can’t help but feel like Gage just gave Marshall the ultimate F.U. even if it was long in coming.
I’m sure there will be hell to pay.
There always is.
> Gage
There aren’t too many moments in the last few days I’d like to remember, but that fire we just lit on Dudley’s bed is definitely one I’ll prize for the rest of my life and beyond. I’ve got Skyla back—my Skyla. And I can’t help feeling as if I’ve escaped the guillotine.
We make our way to the back of the property where the ground clouds have infiltrated the landscape, giving the place a haunted appeal that a holiday like this demands. I help Skyla adjust her wings as she leads us over to Brielle and Drake. She’s so damn beautiful, I can’t believe she’s mine. I can’t believe she still wants me in her life after Demetri knifed us up with this new reality.
“Where were you, two?” Brielle bumps her hip into mine while holding Beau. “Getting a little treat of your own?”
“You know it,” I tease, letting Beau attach himself to my finger. He’s so big now. It’s hard to believe this is the same baby I helped deliver a year ago at prom. My stomach boils for a moment because I’ll never have that experience with Skyla, and it makes me want to find Demetri and kick the living shit out of him—still might.
“Well, we have big news.” Brielle glances at Drake a moment. Swear to God, if she says they’re having another kid I won’t feel half as bad that Skyla and I can’t because, at the pace Drake is breeding, there won’t be enough room on the planet.
Brielle clutches onto Skyla. “We’re moving out!”
“Really?” Skyla jumps. “Are you moving into Morley’s slum? That’s totally where we are!” She wraps an arm around my waist, and I sneak a kiss into her hair.
“A slum?” Brielle looks as if she might be sick. “No way. We’re moving into a trailer. Drake went out and bought a single today.”
“If things keep up”—Drake flicks her tit—“next year, we might even upgrade to a doublewide.”
“A trailer, huh?” I try to think of where I might have seen one last. “I don’t think Paragon has a trailer park.”
“It doesn’t.” Drake growls it out like he’s genuinely pissed about this. “I’m having it hauled over in pieces from the mainland.”
“That’s right.” Brielle leans into him as far as she can without impaling him with the teapot strapped to her waist. “We’re settling down right in the Landon’s backyard. That way, we won’t be too far from the little shit.” She sets Beau down and pats him off until he runs loose into the crowd. “Go on now! Find Auntie Lizbeth!”
“You mean Grandma, right?” Skyla looks afraid for Beau, and she should for two good reasons: one, he’s officially lost in the crowd, and two, his mother just nicknamed him after a bodily function.
“Nah.” Bree flicks her wrist. “That makes her sound like a million years old. Trust me, I’m doing your mom a solid by avoiding that whole Granny crap for another few years. And that way when you two have kids, it’ll be special.”
Skyla lowers her lashes before glancing up at me.
“It will.” I plant a kiss over her lips trying to remove the weight of her grief—of mine. I think adoption is going to be the right choice for us one day.
“Check that out”—Brielle nods behind us and we turn—“looks like Chloe Bishop came dressed as herself.”
Skyla goes rigid in my arms. “That she did.”
Chloe saunters this way, wrapped in a red velvet cape with a basket nestled in the crook of her arm, Wes in the other.
“Holy shit.” Drake barks it out so loud, ten different people glance in our direction. “That dude is wearing your face.”
“That he is.” I brace myself as they fill in our circle.
“Brielle,” Chloe purrs as she caresses the cheek of her longtime friend. “How much have you missed me?”
“Like a fly misses a big steaming pile of crap. Get over here girl!” Brielle pulls her into a power hug. “It’s one thing to coach cheer with you, but, seeing you hit the nightlife makes it really feel like you’re back.”
“Brielle.” Skyla plucks them apart.
Chloe smirks at her. “My dear, sweet, Skyla—relax. I’ll always have Bree as a friend and, come tonight, I’ll have your sisters, too.” Chloe clips her with a mocking smile before turning to me. “Gage.” My name floats from her lips like a threat. “Have you forgotten me?”
Skyla huffs a quiet laugh. “Believe me, Chloe, you’re unforgettable. But if you leave now, we can always try.”
Wes blazes into me with that menacing stare. Swear to God, I’ve never seen my face get locked in that position. He holds out his palm to me, and I slap him some skin without putting too much thought into it.
See you tonight. He cinches Chloe in, and they melt into the crowd once again.
“That was creepy.” Drake breaks out in an exaggerated shiver.
“Sure was.” Skyla tightens her grip around my waist, the sweet scent of cinnamon wafting up from her hair.
Drake squints, examining my features as if he’s never seen me before. “So, like, you have a brother, huh?”
Logan comes up and joins our circle before I can answer.
“Sure do.” I pull Logan in as Em, Ethan, Lex, and Natalie Coleman close in on us.
“Did you guys see Chloe?” Lexy pants, her eyes still wild with disbelief. “She looks like her old self again.”
“She sort of is.” Skyla lets out an exasperated sigh.
“Still can’t get over the fact Pierce left me for that skank.” Nat’s entire body trembles with rage. “But I’ve got plans to get him back.” She shakes out her burnt curls, her eyes lit like vengeful flames. “In fact, that’s exactly what I’m going to spend the rest of my life doing. Pierce is mine, and he always will be.”
Skyla looks to me and Logan and nods us toward the woods, so we take off.
“Looks like Ezrina better watch her back,” she teases. “Not that Nev would ever leave her.”
“No, he’s faithful,” Logan says as we pause in a patch of lamp-lit fog. “Just like Gage will be to you.” He stares intently at Skyla a moment. “Everything okay?”
“It’s perfect.” Skyla wraps an arm around my waist, giving my back a light scratch. “Gage and I are bigger than Demetri—bigger than the Fems and the Counts put together.” She lands a sweet kiss on my chest. “They can’t have him. He’s mine.”
A breath gets trapped in my lungs. Something about hearing Skyla say those words in front of Logan solidifies everything I’ve ever hoped she felt for me.
“I’m glad.” Logan breaks out in a genuine smile as he pats her on the back. “I’d better take off before I find Wes and beat him with my nightstick.” He knocks the aviator sunglasses from off his head, and they land square over his eyes.
“It suits you, man.” I give him a light sock over the arm. “You’re looking good. You ever think about the PD?”
“Nope. I’ll leave the blues to the boys who are feeling it. The only blues I’m feeling these days are when I look at the bank statements down at the bowling alley. Harrison is finally starting to turn things around. He says he’s got a few new ideas that can make things even better, and I might take him up on it.”
Skyla glances at me. “It looks like Ellis is coming through for a lot of people these days—or at least the next thirty.”
We say goodnight and watch as Logan drifts back toward the chaos.
“So?” Skyla looks up at me with those expectant crystal cut eyes, and my dick perks to life. “You want to transport us to our little love shack over on Host?”
“And miss all the fun of the midnight ferry?”
“Who needs a ferry when we’ve got our own private transportation station right here.” She outlines a heart over my chest.
I let out a dull moan. “You know what I was thinking? That maybe I shouldn’t use my powers anymore—you know, unless it’s a dire emergency. I kind of like the idea of being ordinary.”
“Ordinary,” she echoes while losing herself in my eyes. “You, Gage Oliver, are anything but.” She hikes up on the balls of her feet and presses a sweet kiss over my
lips.
My mouth opens to greet her, and our tongues spar in a playful game that has every cell in my body buzzing for her attention.
“What the hell,” I whisper, taking a gentle bite of her earlobe. “What’s one more time?”
I teleport us right onto the mattress of that mold-riddled hovel Ellis hooked us up with. Skyla melts in my arms as I make love to her thoroughly, leaving no stone unturned, on, this, the first night of the rest of our lives. Skyla and I have each other in every way possible. There are no secrets between us anymore, no mysteries to solve, nothing to hide and everything to live for—at least for a little while.
I wait a few hours until the steady sound of her breathing convinces me she’s out for the night and carefully untangle myself from her body.
It’s not that I want to keep things from Skyla, but some things are better left unsaid.
I leave a note on the kitchen table in the event she wakes up.
Went out for milk. Be right back.
Of course, I’ll have to pick up some milk on the way home. I have no interest in lying to her. That’s exactly why what I’m about to do is far more terrifying than finding out I’m Demetri Edinger’s son—a Fem. What I’m about to do will affect the course of who I really am forever.
In all my years I’ve stayed within the bounds of the powers I believed I had, but now that I’m a wicked spawn—a brute beast—the powers have escalated far beyond any boundaries I thought I knew. And now, stepping into the Tenebrous Woods will be as easy as stepping into the next room.
Ordinary. I shake my head in disgust. I think I might have lied to Skyla earlier because this night requires me to be anything but ordinary.
A sacrifice was made to get Laken back—to free Skyla from her oath, and now I have to pay the price. And if I don’t, the heart of one I hold dear will turn against me—and everything I think I stand for. Skyla is the only thing I hold dear, and if I stand for anything it’s for Celestra—for the Nephilim people.