Claimed

  Dec looked down at her. “Wait—does this mean you actually spoke to her? Like, a real conversation?”

  Cacy shrugged. “I’m as surprised as you are. I think she feels bad about doubting Galena, Dec. She’d reviewed all the evidence Galena collected and said it was obvious her boss had set her up. She’s already made the Boston PD aware, and the charges against Galena are going to be dropped. Not sure what’s going to happen to Galena’s boss, though.” Her gaze slid down the hall, to the open door. Dec could hear quiet murmuring coming from inside. “And Harvard has frozen the funds for Galena’s research. They’re just trying to pick up the pieces.”

  Dec listened to the soft lilt of Galena’s voice as she tried to comfort her brother. “I’m going to make this right for her. I’ll ask Aislin to set aside space here at Psychopomps. I’ll pay for it myself.”

  Cacy chuckled. “Still taking care of her?”

  Dec bowed his head. “I’ll give her anything she needs, for as long as she needs it. Father asked me to. Did I tell you that?”

  She stroked his arm. “Eli did. And it didn’t surprise me at all.”

  “It sure as hell surprised me. When I found out how important she was, I couldn’t help but wonder why he didn’t ask someone else to do the job, given what he thought of me.”

  She pulled away and looked up at him. “I think he respected both of us more than he ever said, Dec. He made me his executor. He asked you to protect a woman who’s fated to change the world. If he thought we were both fuckups, why would he give us the hardest jobs?”

  He blinked. “I never thought of it like that.”

  “But you should. He asked you to protect Galena. He chose you.” She smiled. “And you did it,” she added softly.

  “Yeah,” he said, his voice strained. “I guess I did.”

  “Why do you look so broken up about it?”

  He gave her a sheepish glance. “I fell pretty hard for her in the process, Cace. But I’m trying not to make a big deal out of it. She’s dealing with enough shit already.”

  Cacy stood on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. “Are you sure she doesn’t feel the same? She was determined to get to you, Dec. She wasn’t going to let anything get in her way.”

  “I actually think that’s just how she is.” Again, that proud protectiveness swelled in his chest. And even when he reminded himself that she might choose to move forward without him, he couldn’t quite suppress it.

  Galena poked her head out of the doorway. “Dec?” She came down the hall. “Eli asked for you. Will you talk to him?”

  Cacy pulled away from Dec, and both women watched him, anxiety etched into their faces. “Sure,” he said, even as his muscles tensed. He caressed Galena’s cheek and headed down the hall.

  Eli was sitting in the corner of the bedroom, his knees up, his arms resting on them. Dec sat on the edge of the bed a good ten feet away. “Hey,” he said. “I’m here.”

  Eli’s eyes met his. The sorrow in them was miles deep. “Hey.” He looked away. “Galena said that I wasn’t the only Ker that Erin got to.”

  “Not even close. She got Trevor, too. I still don’t know where he is.” And it was killing him. He’d lost his best friend, and for all he knew, the next time he saw him, Trevor would be an enemy.

  Eli pressed his thumbs to his forehead, like he was trying to crush a knot of stress that had formed there. “I’m so ashamed, Dec,” he said, his voice breaking. “I remember everything I did. Every single thing. I remember what I was thinking at the time.” He stared at his knees and shook his head. “Ugly, hateful thoughts.”

  “She started to do it to me, too. I felt it.” Dec leaned his elbows on his knees. “It was all stuff that’s real, but stuff that doesn’t really bother me most of the time. About Aislin and Cacy. Even about Galena. Stuff that’s so outweighed by the good that it’s easy to push away. But when Erin touched me, it was all I could think about. And I felt like the only right thing was to get even.”

  “But you didn’t.”

  “Only because she let me go. I wasn’t part of her plan. She said she didn’t need me.”

  “Galena does, though,” Eli said softly. He rubbed his eyes and looked at Dec again. “I’m sorry, Dec. I’m sorry for everything. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to make up for it. But I’m sorry.”

  “I know, Eli. It’s all right.” And it was. Eli was so obviously good that it wasn’t hard to forgive him. “You’re going to have to forgive yourself, though. Because Cacy needs you. She’s hurting. You mean everything to her, and she’d do anything for you. And she’s down the hall right now, crying her eyes out because of what you’re doing to yourself. So unless you want me to punch you in the throat again, I suggest you pull yourself together, go to her, and make this right.”

  Eli chuckled and rubbed at his throat. “That was a pretty brutal shot.” He glanced at the doorway. “I don’t want her to see a monster when she looks at me.”

  “She only sees you, Eli. She sees everything clearly. And despite that, or maybe because of it, she’s not going anywhere, even when it hurts.”

  “I love her, Dec,” he said hoarsely. “I love her so much.”

  “Then let her stand next to you, Eli. She’s strong enough to do it. And you need her. Why deny yourself something she’s willing to offer?”

  “I don’t want to hurt her. Or anybody.”

  “We all know that. And if you try, we’ll stop you. But I think we’re going to find a way to fight back—if we all stick together.”

  Eli’s gaze was hard and shiny, like glass about to shatter. “Thank you. For everything. But most of all, thank you for protecting my sister.”

  Dec stood up and offered his hand. “You don’t have to thank me for that. In fact, I think I should thank you, for playing that little trick on me.”

  Eli took his hand and let Dec haul him to his feet. “I’d never try to trick you, Chief.”

  “So the list of candidates for Galena’s Claiming—or more accurately, the parade of losers—that was Cacy’s idea?”

  The corner of Eli’s mouth twitched, like he was trying to smile. “We came up with it together.”

  Dec rolled his eyes. “Then let me tell you, you’re a good team.”

  “You aren’t mad?” he asked as they walked to the doorway.

  “I’m grateful.”

  This time, Eli managed a full smile, still tinged with sadness but real nonetheless. “Me too. She’s changed, Dec. Being with you has changed her.”

  Dec looked up the hall, to where Galena was standing with Cacy, her gorgeous green eyes focused on him as he walked toward her with Eli at his side. The sight of her hit him right in the heart. “It’s changed me, too.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  Every step made Galena tenser as they trudged back to their quarters. Dec was awake and healed. She was immortal and whole. Cacy and Eli seemed like they might be okay. Dec had just told her the murder charges were going to be dropped, and that he would make sure she had all the facilities and resources she needed to resume her research.

  He was giving, and she was taking. Yes, she’d wanted to tell him how she felt about him, how she never wanted to leave his side, but it all felt selfish now. She needed to go somewhere and rethink all of this. When they reached the door, she stopped. “I’m guessing you’re pretty thrashed.”

  His brow furrowed. “I was unconscious for several hours. I basically just got a week’s worth of sleep.”

  She nodded, her cheeks heating. “So you must have a lot to do. You probably want to reconnect with your paramedics at the station and all that.”

  His look of puzzlement intensified. “Yeah, I was going to do that later this afternoon. Are you all right?”

  “Fine.” She chuckled. “You must be sick of me at this point.”

  His gaze was piercing; she could almost feel it inside of her, sorting through all her shaky, self-conscious thoughts. Then he took her hand and led her into the small apartment where she’d
waited for him to recover. “What if I told you I didn’t think that was possible?” he asked, closing the door and turning to face her. “What if I asked you to stay with me?”

  “Here, you mean?”

  He tugged her hand and brought her closer. “Here. My apartment. My cabin. Anywhere in the world you need to be, anywhere you’d be happy and safe.”

  “Dec, stop,” she whispered. “It’s too much.”

  “Why?” His voice had taken on an edge.

  “Because you got your head bashed in and your guts clawed out trying to protect me, and now you’re offering to spend a billion dollars of your own money on my research?”

  He gestured at his body. “The only reason my head and guts are absolutely fine right now is because you protected me. You went back to the most terrifying place in the world for you, and you did it to save me. I’d say we’re even.”

  She put her hand on his chest, willing herself to be brave, to stop putting the moment off. She owed this vulnerability to him. He was worth it. “Okay, how about this: I’m falling in love with you.” Her eyes met his. “Completely, crazily, beyond logic or reason. And I can’t take more from you unless you feel the same way.”

  “Take more from me?” Dec coiled his arm around her waist. “For a minute, I’m going to brush that one aside, even though every time you accept something I offer you, it lights me up in a way nothing else has in a very, very long time.” His gaze traced over her face. “Galena, the first time I was in the Veil with you, it seemed like a brand-new place. You saw a wonder in it that I stopped seeing ages ago, that I’d forgotten was even there. You understood things about it that I’d never even bothered to question.” His palms slid up to her shoulders, then her neck, and he took her face in his hands. “You have no idea how badly I needed that, how ready I’d been to walk away from all of it, how tired of everything I was. Being with you changed that. It was like stepping from the Veil into the real world, where things are warm and messy and complicated and confusing, but goddamn interesting at the same time. You brought me back to life.”

  Now her heart was pounding for a different reason. “So I guess you do feel the same way?”

  “Hell, yes, I do.” He pulled her face to his. The kiss was desperate, rough-edged and unsteady. Galena’s fingers closed over the taut muscles of his shoulders, giving herself up to it. His stubble scraped at her chin as he possessed her mouth, as his hands roamed her body. Her palms skimmed down to his chest to feel the miracle of his heartbeat, then ventured lower to lift the bottom of his shirt. Fierce need for him consumed her as she pulled his shirt off, as he edged her toward the bed, offering no more words, only his actions, which were more than enough.

  She undid his zipper slowly, taking control. Dec frowned as she shuddered and placed his hands on her arms, and she stared at his mouth until it felt okay again. And then she dipped her fingers into his boxer briefs, teasing and caressing him as he kissed her with a passion that made her knees weak. She peeled his clothing from his body. Feeling powerful and dizzy with want, she pushed him onto the bed. He guided her on top of him, pulling away from her mouth to nip his way down the column of her throat. Galena gasped at the hard shock of desire that shot down her spine, melting her.

  His hands wrapped around her thighs, spreading her legs over him, and then he pulled the collar of her T-shirt aside to nibble at the junction of her neck and shoulder, making her whole body clench. “I just want to make sure you understand—you’re immortal now. You don’t need to be with me, not really,” he mumbled against her skin.

  “Yes, I do.”

  “But only by choice. Always by choice. Because I would never take the immortality away, even if you wanted to leave me.”

  She looked into his glacier-blue eyes, desperate to read what lay there. “Dec, I know our relationship started in the strangest possible way, but I’m glad it did. And not because of the immortality. Do you understand that? If Aislin took it away tomorrow, or if you decided to retire and give it up yourself, I would still want to be with you.”

  He paused, staring into her eyes. “Then you’re going to have to let me do a few things.”

  She wriggled against him, letting the hard feel of him stoke her desire. “Like what?”

  “I want to make you breakfast and see you eat it. I want to watch your face as you learn something new.” His hands stroked across her back and down her sides. “I want to memorize every single inch of your body and figure out how to make it sing for me. All of that. More than that. Everything.”

  “Me too. Every second,” she murmured, touching her lips to his.

  “Every breath.” His fingers curled under the hem of her shirt and pulled it up, and Galena allowed him to strip it off. He had her bra undone in a matter of seconds. His gaze slid over her breasts as he rolled her over onto her back. His eyes met hers. “Yeah?”

  “Yeah.” She tangled her fingers in his hair as he lowered his head, tracing his tongue down the center of her chest as he teased a nipple with his thumb. Her palms smoothed over the raven on his muscular back. She arched up as his mouth closed over her breast, sudden and hot, the sensual pull making her whimper. He drew the tight, pearled bud between his teeth, and the exquisite pleasure had her guiding his hand down. He pushed her sweats and panties down her hips, his movements growing more frantic right along with her desire for him. As he sat up and pulled the garments over her ankles, off her feet, tossing them onto the floor, she stared at his body, now fully healed, strong and beautiful, and she felt nothing but hunger. No fear.

  It wasn’t that it was gone. And she never knew when she’d be reminded, when the memories would rise. But when Dec turned her onto her side and kissed his way up the back of her leg, her ass, her spine, when his hard arousal nestled against her, she knew she’d face it with him, that he would be here, that he wouldn’t run. He’d proven that. He’d seen everything; he knew everything. He was aware. She smiled and reached back, pulling his cheek to hers as his hand stroked down her belly, over the scars, between her legs.

  His fingers slid through her arousal, and he cursed, bucking gently against her backside. He hooked his fingers beneath her knee and raised her leg, and she reached down and found his rigid cock, hot and silky. She guided it to the place she needed it most.

  “Yeah,” she whispered, and as soon as she did, he thrust into her. She was so wet that he slid in easily, and both of them moaned. God, this feeling. The pressure and friction as he pushed himself inside her body was overwhelming, but not in a painful way. More like every nerve was firing at once.

  He released her leg, letting it slide over his as he slowly pumped his hips. He folded his arm over her chest, and his hand closed over her breast. His mouth fastened to her neck, teasing her with teeth and tongue. Galena shut her eyes and felt all of it at once, his hard body wrapped around her, inside her, claiming her. She welcomed every stroke. Another miracle. He gave pleasure while taking his own, his hands steadying her, teasing her, spinning her higher while plunging her deeper into the ocean of her feelings for him.

  His palm flattened over her belly, over the scars, possessive and protective. She raised her knee, spreading her legs wider, offering him more. More. She wanted to feel him deep; she wanted him to own her body like he owned her heart. He raised his head and looked down at her, his eyes hazed with need. His lips were parted, his breath bursting from him every time her body accepted his rigid cock. She looked up at him, her arm winding behind his neck. The tightening of her fingers in his hair had an instant effect on him. His hand curled over her hip, and his pace increased. “Yeah?”

  “Oh, yeah.” She was so close. And when he reached between her legs again to tease her clit, like he knew exactly what she needed, it sent her over the edge. She gasped his name as the ecstasy swallowed her whole, drenching her mind in swirling colors and sparks. She clutched at his hair, at his arm, using him as her anchor while the rest of her spun and danced with sheer, blinding pleasure.

  Dec gro
aned as she clenched around him, rhythmic spasms that carried aftershocks through her belly and up her spine. Galena turned her head, panting every time his hips snapped up, driving his shaft deep. His eyes were closed, his teeth gritted, and his hand was a vise on her hip. Not bruising, just possessive. “I’m yours, Dec,” she murmured. “Yours.”

  He let out a ragged, desperate noise and wrapped his arms around her, burying himself inside. She felt the throbbing heat of his climax as his body shook, the tremors rumbling along her bones. She’d never felt so treasured, so needed, so safe. After a few frenzied moments of their bodies locked together, every muscle trembling, Dec relaxed slightly. His head was bowed against hers, his breath in her ear. “Did you mean that?” he whispered.

  She looked up at him, nestled against his powerful body, feeling his stubble scrape at her skin. “Yeah.”

  His grin was the most profoundly beautiful thing she’d ever seen.

  EPILOGUE

  Aislin paced her office, her heart thrumming. She felt like a fox, hunted and cornered by dozens of snarling hounds.

  The fate of the Ferrys rests with you.

  Those had been her father’s last words to her. At the time they had both thrilled and baffled her, because Rylan was the Charon. But as his evil had been revealed, Aislin had assumed the role of head of family without hesitation. She’d been certain that was what her father had meant, what he’d intended for her.

  Now she wasn’t so sure. How many mistakes had she made? She’d lost count. And now she was about to lose everything. In a few days, she might be known as the last Charon, the one who presided over the fall of the Psychopomps empire. Assuming her cousin Hugh didn’t find a way to take the Scope of the Charon from her first.

  She walked to the window and laid her hands on the glass, looking out over the city. Her city. The haze was rising through the midnight air, steaming the pane, making everything seem unreal.

  God, how she wished this wasn’t real.

  “I’ve always thought it was a lovely view,” said a voice she knew all too well, one that sent confusing chills along her skin.