choice Kyra.”
“Marcus, she is a DEMON. A female Demon and you are a Fallen Angel.”
Ryder snorted. “I think he is aware of all of that, sweetheart.”
Kyra hit Ryder in the chest with the back of her hand. Marcus smiled. “I promise I will not let her drag me to hell.”
“I don’t want you anywhere near her,” Kyra argued.
Both men gave her the same dubious look. Ryder recovered first. “You’re kidding, right?”
Kyra put both hands on her hips. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“It means you’re not his mother.” Ryder grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back into the bedroom. “You will keep in contact?”
Marcus nodded. “Yes and you?”
“I agree we need to make Staten and the Haven safe, which is what Kyra and I will work on as the rest of you go in search of Dante’s little prizes. The Enforcers will be in charge of finding the Dagger.” Marcus could hear Kyra starting to argue as Ryder shut the door.
Marcus shook his head. They were meant for each other, but it didn’t stop them from fighting like cats and dogs. He envied their love. It was beautiful.
****
Celeste looked around the rooms on the first floor. Once her father left, she had been left alone. None of the Trackers had even looked at her. She understood why. She was an abomination and they wanted nothing to do with her. But none of that mattered. All that was important to her was that they find the Touched or kill Calliope. She wasn’t going to lose another brother. She stuffed her pain down deep inside of her knowing she would be able to pull from it when she needed to.
As she looked around, she found a beautifully decorated living room. She was amazed at the old world furniture and style. It made her feel as if she had stepped into an English drawing room in the early eighteen hundreds.
She was so engrossed, she didn’t see or hear the attack. One moment she was running her fingers over a wonderfully cross-stitched pillow, and the next she was flying through the air. She hit the wall with a force that would have broken another person in half. Celeste allowed her body to crumple to the floor.
Her attacker came at her like a rabid wolf in female clothing and stilettos. As she closed in, Celeste rolled forward cutting the other woman off at the knees.
Her attacker let out an ear-splitting screech as she somersaulted into the air. The crazed woman landed on her feet and crouched down into an attack position just as Celeste swung the Black Sword stopping as it rested against the crazed woman’s carotid artery.
Celeste narrowed her eyes. “I don’t believe we have been introduced.”
“Demon,” was all the Lycan snarled her eyes feral. She scratched at the antique rug with her long fingernails. Rending the coiled fabric down to the wood floor beneath.
“Lycan,” Celeste returned with just as much fury and rage.
“Get your knife off my throat.”
“You attacked me. Bitch,” Celeste said pressing the point of the Sword into the woman’s throat until a small drop of blood beaded on the edge of the Sword. “So you’ll pardon me if I keep my Sword exactly where it is.”
“You have no idea what bitch is,” the Lycan snarled. She backed away, rolling from the tip of the blade. Celeste matched her speed, but not her cunning and her Sword was knocked out of her hand, and she was tackled with the force of a raging bull.
Celeste threw her palm into the woman’s beautiful face smashing her perfect nose and sending blood spraying across both of them.
The Lycan screeched again bringing up a knee she drove it into Celeste’s midsection. All the air was pressed from her lungs and Celeste stumbled back a step. The Lycan must have sensed she was vulnerable and advanced. However, Celeste was anything but vulnerable and the Lycan stepped right into a round house to the temple and hit the floor like a ton of rocks.
The doors flew open and Marcus was the first one in followed by the Element and several