Page 550 of Shadowblood Souls
The feel of them all giving themselves over hurtles me over the edge. I feel as if I’m plummeting and soaring all at once, tumbling head over heels in a rush of pleasure.
Andreas grips me tight, his exhalation hissing through his teeth as he succumbs to our shared climax. As his movements slow beneath me, I slump down into his arms.
The other guys cuddle close around us. I lift my head to draw Griffin in for one more kiss.
A renewed quiver races through my veins. It isn’t just desire that was kindled in me but hope as well.
We have to win. Nothing could be as powerful as the bond we share.
We’ve just got to figure out how to prove that to our enemies.
Fourteen
Riva
When I pad back into the mansion in the early morning light, my ears catch Rollick’s voice in an unusually lilting tone. I pause, torn between discomfort over eavesdropping and my instinct to gather all the information about our situation that I can, even if he’d prefer that I didn’t.
“I know you’d rather be in San Francisco,” he’s saying from a nearby room, lightly cajoling. “But this genocidal menace is hitting a lot of major cities, and he doesn’t care who gets caught in his wake. You’re safer out of the way while we deal with it.”
There’s a pause, and I realize he must be on the phone, listening to whatever the person on the other end is saying.
Then Rollick’s voice turns wry. “I know, Quinn. I’d rather have a few decades without any more potentially world-ending troubles too. Hopefully we’ll have this problem quashed before the latest villain gets much farther. Torrent is providing satisfying company in the meantime, isn’t he?”
Quinn. I heard him talking to her before—and also heard him refer to the mortal woman he’s devoted to. I guess she’s that woman, for both him and Torrent, the kraken shifter we met when we were on the run from the guardians months ago.
The demon is worried enough about the threat Balthazar poses that he’s had his lover leave her home. That shouldn’t surprise me, but somehow the evidence that even this immensely powerful shadowkind has been shaken by recent events makes my mouth go dry.
Rollick chuckles softly at whatever Quinn says in response, and I walk on down the hall toward my guest bedroom. I spent the night in yesterday’s clothes, and I could use a change.
The demon must finish his conversation before I’ve made it far, because the floor creaks faintly behind me. “Did you enjoy your break, little banshee?”
I will down the blush that flares over my cheeks and glance over my shoulder at him. “It was good to remember how far we’ve already gotten. But now it’s time to get back to work, right?”
A bulky form materializes in the hall between us so abruptly I startle. Steel, the stout demon with the metallic scales, peers from Rollick to me with a scowl.
“What kind of work do you think that’s going to be?” he demands. “We’re hearing that you’ve been getting friendly with the mortals who made you again. The ones who wanted you tokillus.”
Oh, shit. I guess Rollick hadn’t bothered to fill all our shadowkind allies in on the new phase in our plans, only the ones he wasn’t worried about rejecting it.
I fumble for my words. “We’re not—we aren’t going to do anythingforthem. We’re just using them to get to Balthazar.” Or at least hoping that we can do that.
Steel’s eyes flash. “What do we need those idiots for? All of us here aren’t enough?” He spins toward Rollick. “You’relettingthe hybrids get cozy with the monster-murderers?”
“We’re not getting cozy!” I protest, but Rollick is already raising his hand for both of us to shut up.
He aims a level stare at the lesser demon. “I didn’t ‘let’ them. I support and encourage this plan. Why shouldn’t we let the mortals who hate us draw out the worst of their kind rather than sticking out our own necks even farther?”
Steel growls in frustration. “You’re buying into the hybrids’ story. They shouldn’t want anything to do with those bastards, not if the ones they call ‘guardians’reallytortured them so horribly like they claim.”
My hackles rise at the implication that we’ve lied about our lifelong captivity. “That torture is why we don’t have any problem manipulating them when it benefits us.”
Steel swivels back toward me. His furor has drawn the attention of others. Several more shadowkind slip into view from the shadows. Who knows how many are watching from the patches of darkness along the edges of the hall.
And it’s not just shadowkind who’ve noticed. A voice rings out from the direction of the back door. “Hey, what’s going on over here?”
Jacob stalks over to join us, his expression fierce and his gaze scanning me for injury and then the beings around us for potential threats. The other guys hustle after him, looking equally apprehensive.
Shanty steps forward with a swish of her dark blue hair. “We think there’s something odd about you shadowbloods associating with the guardians again. They should be your enemy.”
