Page 59 of Pain

“Thank you for coming to see us, Maxar,” my dad said slowly. “Your mother …” He sighed heavily, and it seemed like he was about to say something to, not necessarily justify my mother’s behavior, but … excuse it, or maybe explain it. However, he closed his mouth and forced a thin-lipped, grim smile. “Anyway. It is good to see you, my son. And thank you for bringing news of my mother. I appreciate that.” He glanced at Omaera. “While I can’t say I necessarilyapproveof a half human, half demon mating with my son, what he says is correct. The Fates choose our mates for us, for a reason. So I must believe there are bigger forces at play here.”

“Thanks?” Omaera said, though it definitely came out as more of a question. “Not sure if that’s supposed to be a compliment or not.”

“I think it’s as close to one as you’re going to get,” I said dryly.

The ogre-like guard that took my mother away appeared at the door again. He grunted and my father nodded to indicate he was ready to leave. Ogreman approached, uncuffed my dad from the table and recuffed him.

My dad scrubbed his hands over his short, graying scruff and up into his light-brown hair. Like my mother, he still held onto his youth, despite being two years away from seven hundred. There was quite a bit of gray at his temples though, and the lines around his eyes were deep.

The stupid urge to step away from my mate and hug my father was pretty fucking consuming, but not enough for me to actually let go of Omaera’s safe embrace and do it. I held onto her like a life raft, nodded at my dad and watched him walk away with far less drama than my mother’s departure earlier.

Not until he was gone, and the door snicked shut behind him and the guard, did I fully exhale all the air that lodged itself in my diaphragm. I slumped a little and leaned into Omaera.

“You did great,” she said softly, rubbing my back. “Your mom’s a piece of work though. Jesus.”

Drak surged to his feet so abruptly that the metal chair skiddedout behind him, dragging all of our attention to him and his aunt. He glared at her, and she glared back. Neither of the vampires said anything though.

Then, still not saying anything, Drak spun around tightly on his heel and stalked toward the door. He knocked twice, and it opened from the outside. Another ugly demon guard grunted—were all the demons who worked here hideous? Was that a prerequisite for working here?—And Drak, followed by Zandren, stepped out into the hallway. Omaera and I followed.

Back down the dark hallway of doom we traveled, nothing but our absolute determination of getting the fuck out of there, propelling us toward the nothingness in front of us. We finally reached the door, and Drak pounded his fist three times against it.

It opened with an eerie creak, then we burst out into the daylight, all of us gasping for dry, dusty air.

Silently, we reached the gate, and the same ugly fucker from earlier let us out.

Luckily, the truck was still there, coated in a fresh layer of red desert dust. I’d never been so glad to see the endless, depressing landscape of Hell in my life. It was better than being in there, that was for fucking sure.

And just because we could, without even discussing it first, we all engaged our powers just a little. I conjured flames with my fingers, so did Omaera. Zandren held out his hand and made it shift into a paw—just because he could—and even the grumpy vampire dropped his fangs.

“Thank fuck,” Zandren said with a growl. “Never again. Never fucking again.” He stalked toward the truck and yanked open the back door, still muttering, “Never again.”

Rolling my eyes, I wrapped my arm around Omaera once more and we followed the bear to the vehicle, parting ways when we reached the grill. She went to the passenger side, and I went to the driver’s side. Drak was the last to get into the vehicle.

“Anybody need to pee?” I asked, turning over the engine.

“Just fucking drive,” Zandren barked.

“Yes, sir,” I said with a healthy dollop of sarcasm and a middle finger salute.

We were on the road maybe five minutes before Omaera spun around in herseat to face the two in the back. “What did your aunt say that got you so upset?”

I glanced in the rearview mirror at Drak’s stoney expression.

“Drak, please. You can’t keepanothersecret from me,” she pleaded. “I’ve done you the courtesy ofnotdiving into your brain and pulling out the other one. But I’m pretty damn sure I could. Do I need to do a deep-dive now?”

The vampire’s gaze softened when he focused on her and his chest lifted, then dramatically dropped. “Lerris has been to see Quintella.”

If we’d been on a fucking road, I would have driven off it.

“When?” Omaera whispered.

A muscle pulsed in the vampire’s jaw. “Yesterday.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Drak

I was an absolute wreck.

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