Page 54 of Knight’s Retribution

Kyler felt those words behind her ribs as well, and she smoothed her hand from his shoulder, down his arm to his forearm. Her gaze slid back to his and that warmth, that heat, was there staring right back. It made her belly flutter and her heart beat faster.

Scooting closer, her head still on her pillow, she rested her palm on his chest. Rocco kept his head turned her way and his eyes locked with hers as she ran her fingers down his chest.

He shivered, and color darkened his cheeks, something else that Diemos couldn’t imitate. They didn’t know Rocco like she did. They didn’t know that when she touched him, he flushed. Not from embarrassment or shyness—she was pretty sure Rocco had never experienced either of those emotions—but because he wanted her so badly.

When she felt panic trying to creep in, she didn’t close her eyes, she didn’t retreat. “Talk to me?”

“When you’re ready, I’m going to take you flying,” he said, low and raspy.

“Flying?” She definitely hadn’t been expecting that. “You mean, with you…your wings?”

“Would you like that?” he asked, his eyes still locked on hers.

“Yes.”

“You doing okay?”

“Yes.” She ran her hand over the taut corrugations of his abs.

Rocco shivered again. “It’s so beautiful up there, Ky. I can’t wait to show you.”

She continued to run her hands over him, his arms and chest, his stomach, back up to his throat and that square jaw. Rocco kept talking, while they looked at each other, letting her see the heart of him, the male she knew he was.

She wasn’t suddenly cured, the anxiety tried to creep in more than once, but it was a start.

A really good start.

Chapter 16

“We need to get a handle on things before shit gets anymore out of control,” Chaos said, arms crossed and a scowl on his face.

Grace pulled out her phone and held it up. “One of my people found this footage. Someone, a human, posted it online last night.” She hit play, and they all watched as a group of demons followed two human males. They attacked, dragging them down an alley, disappearing from view.

“Attacks on humans have increased, and they’ve been focusing on a twenty-block radius. These attacks can’t be random,” Grace said.

“You think Vorena is controlling them?” Kryos asked, shoving his fingers through angelic blond curls. “Is she Diemos’s newest recruit?”

Rocco took Grace’s phone and had a closer look at the group of demons, and an uneasy feeling lifted the hair on the back of his neck. “Vorena is a twisted monster, and she’s power hungry. But she’s not interested in ruling humans. She wants control over the demons here on Earth, and the ones living around her do as she says. She’s content with her situation. She doesn’t want our attention, and she sure as hell doesn’t want us going in there and cleaning house.” He tapped the phone screen, replaying the video. “These demons aren’t hers. She likes what she has going on, and she’s in no hurry to give up the position she’s carved out for herself. Diemos would be a threat to that. She keeps a tight leash on her followers for that very reason. If they switch sides, Diemos will have the numbers here he needs and she’ll lose her spot as top dog.”

Silas shifted in his heavy boots. The big goth-looking fallen angel was troubled, and he wasn’t even trying to hide it. He crossed his inked arms, his gold-and-black-streaked hair glinting under the lights. His pale silver eyes hit Rocco. “Grace is right, it’s not random. They’re looking for someone.”

Dread slammed into him. He’d known it, hadn’t he? Diemos could communicate with his brethren, or at least some of them, and he had them out there looking for Kyler.

“They won’t find Ky. She’s safe,” Rocco said. While she wore the amulet, the demons couldn’t track her, so they were playing whack-a-mole with the humans, searching, torturing innocent people for info in the same area she’d worked and lived.

“She’s safe until Diemos comes through the portal next equinox, and we know he will. He’s obsessed with her,” Lazarus said.

“Are you sure there’s no way to kill that fucker?” Kryos asked Silas.

The fallen angel shook his head. “The only one powerful enough is Lucifer, but there’s no way he ever would. When they’re as strong as Diemos, it would take a being of equal or more power, to remove his head. I think our best option is to bind him in some way, trap him. I’ll keep searching.” He blew out a frustrated breath. “So far, the angels are still ignoring me, but there has to be a binding spell or something written…fuck, somewhere. There has to be something we can do.”

Laz cursed. “Brother, we need you at full strength. The sooner you mate, the better,” he said to Roc.

“It’s not that simple, you of all people should understand that,” Roc bit out. But yeah, Diemos was coming, he had no doubt about that. “We need Tobias and the power boost Lucifer gave him.” Without their brother, they had zero chance. Diemos was too strong.

“At least we know T’s okay,” Chaos said, running a hand over the tattoo on the side of his shaved head. “That he’s back to the male he once was.”

There were rumblings of agreement. That connection between them was growing stronger every day, and what they felt was nothing but good. The dark from before, when he thought Scarlet was lost forever, was gone without a trace. They had to believe that meant Tobias and Scarlet were both safe.