Page 41 of Mastering Mayhem

Well, that didn’t sound ominous at all. Honestly though, I was too tired to talk. At the moment, my one priority was snuggling with my demon and falling asleep in his arms. Something I wanted to do every night for the rest of my life. My heart wrenched at the thought.

This could be the last night I ever spent with Mayhem.Ever.Halloween was in two days. Once the sun came up, we’d have until midnight to get the amulet, summon Discord, bring back my family, and mend the veil.

Then…he’d be gone forever.

If we failed? The curse would come to fruition, and Ash would kill me…if the veil didn’t unravel and kill us all first. Either way, fate would tear us apart.Fickle, fickle bitch.

A sob rolled up from deep within my soul, but I caught it in my throat. I tried to swallow it, but the damn thing was the size of a baseball. Tears gathered on my lower lids as I led the way upstairs. I could not let my team see me like this.

“Set your alarms,” I said as I dropped the bag onto the counter and tugged Mayhem toward the hall. I caught a glimpse of Ash before I turned into my bedroom, and the expression on her face nearly made me lose it.

She realized what was about to happen too.

I dragged my demon into my room and locked the door before hanging my sword above the bed. A tear slid down my cheek, and I wiped it away, trying to compose myself before I turned to face him.

He rested his hands on my shoulders. “We will figure out a way.”

“Will we?” The sob hanging out in my throat finally surfaced, racking my entire body as it flowed past my lips.

He squeezed my left shoulder, massaging it for a second before sliding his arms around me, pulling my back against his front. “Bringing your sister back will be difficult at best, but it can be done.”

I laugh/sobbed as another tear rolled down my cheek, and I twisted in his arms to face him. “That’s not what I’m thinking about right now.”

His lips parted, sadness softening his eyes. “We will figure out a way for us as well.”

“Don’t.” I rested my palms on his chest, pushing him away. “I don’t need you to lie to me. We both know how this has to end. I just wish…”

He pulled me to his chest, wrapping his arms around me firmly. “I will do whatever it takes.”

I leaned into him, laying my head on his shoulder and letting him hold me. “I just wish I’d accepted all this sooner. Deep down, I think I knew from the moment we summoned you. I wasted so much time.”

“Nothing has been wasted.” He tucked my hair behind my ear and kissed the side of my head. “We are together here, now, in this moment. We should cherish it.”

He was right. I’d been so busy thinking about next steps, planning, leading… I’d become High Priestess and lost myself. Before everything happened, I lived in the moment. I appreciated little things, experiences. I needed to bring that part of me back. It was the only way I’d survive the aftermath.

I pulled away to look at him, and another tear slid down my cheek. “I love you, Mayhem.”

He wiped it with his thumb and smiled softly. “And I love you.”

Rising onto my toes, I pressed my lips to his. He held me tighter, neither of us moving, both of us frozen in a combined state of despair, determination, and downright anger. His lips parted, and he kissed me harder, bringing his hand to the back of my head before touching his forehead to mine and closing his eyes.

“We will…” he began.

“Please don’t.” My throat thickened. “If I keep thinking, it will paralyze me. Just…”

I stepped out of his embrace and traced my finger over his sigil. “I know I’ll have to remove this before you go home. Promise you’ll never forget about me.”

My throat, my heart, my stomach, my soul…every fiber of my being twisted and turned, my nerves and emotions so raw, I could have melted into a puddle on the floor without noticing.

Mayhem’s Adam’s apple bobbed, his lips parting and closing like he wanted to keep assuring me that we’d be together forever and always. But he knew better too. “For the rest of my existence, not a single moment will ever pass when I don’t think about you.”

He stepped toward me and cupped my face in his hand, kissing me slowly, purposely, drinking me in like…no, not like…becausethis could be the last chance he would get.

I slipped my hands beneath his shirt, my fingertips memorizing the cuts and dips of his muscles, the silkiness of the trail of hair leading downward from his navel. Firm sinew contrasting with soft skin. The creature from Hell simmering beneath the surface of the most amazing man I had ever met.

“Why?” My voice trembled. “Goddess, why did it have to happen this way?”

“Hecate had nothing to do with this. Fate wove our story long before she was born.” He grabbed the back of his shirt and tugged it over his head, dropping it on the floor.

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