Nexus by Mary Calmes Read Free Book Online Page B

it was also confusing at times.
    “I have demon trouble.”
    “Pardon me?”
    “And maybe warder trouble as well.”
    “Start at the beginning.”
    I explained, and he listened and grunted. I heard him cover the phone to talk to someone, and when he came back he told me that he was having Deidre make some calls as we spoke. It was nice to have two sentinels as backup. 
    “What should I do?”
    “For starters, I’ll send someone to you immediately. It sounds as though you’ve disrupted the flow of things around there, and I don’t know if Tarin is a demon or a warder, but there’s a warder in there somewhere, and he’s either doing this himself or the corruption stems from his sentinel.”
    “How likely is that?”
    “Not very, but we still have to act on the assumption that this is the case.”
    “Okay.”
    “Let me do this. Let me contact the council now and see what I can find out about the sentinel, and I’ll call you back in a few minutes. Meanwhile I’ll send Leith to stay with you.”
    I would have preferred my best friend. “I think I’ll just call Malic to—”
    “No.”
    But he’d said it too fast. “What’s wrong?”
    He didn’t answer.
    “Jael?”
    He cleared his throat. “Malic and Jackson are on another plane with Raphael. He found Moira. She was the demon lord Saudrian’s mate, you remember.”
    I remembered that Saudrian had tried to turn Leith into his champion and that Raphael had killed him. And I knew that Moira had vowed to kill Raphael, who was my fellow warder Jackson’s hearth, for being the one to take her mate’s life.
    “Why would you let Raphael get anywhere near her?”
    “As you know, Raphael is a demonic bounty hunter, and apparently one of his contacts let him know where Moira was. Since Jackson was not going to let him go alone, he went with him. But Malic wasn’t letting Jackson follow without backup, so he went to keep both of the others safe.”
    It was just like Malic to go. He would never say he cared; he would just show it instead. I felt a pang of guilt for being away.
    “Ryan and I are here to guard the city, so Leith can come assist you.”
    “I should be at home.”
    “You should be with your hearth, and especially now as it sounds like both he and his family—your family—are in danger. Let me know if you need Ryan to come as well.”
    “I won’t.”
    “I’ll send Leith to you shortly.”
    “Thank you. Ask him to bring my swords. Please keep me apprised of the other situation.”
    “Of course.”
    “You say that like you would have told me if I hadn’t called.”
    “Malic made me promise not to. He wanted you to enjoy your time with Joe.”
    Which again was just like him. Malic never came out and said that my happiness, or that of my hearth’s, meant anything to him. But he showed it.
    “Please keep me in the loop.”
    “I will.”
    I hung up and let my head fall back.
    “Are you all right?”
    Turning to look at Joe, I exhaled deeply. “There’s trouble at home.”
    “Like what kind?”
    “Like I should be there.”
    Joe took a breath and squeezed my knee. “Let’s just deal with this problem with my dad, and then we’ll fly home.”
    I shook my head. “No, Joe, that’s not what I—”
    “Marcus.” He cut me off, taking my hand. “Everyone will understand a work emergency, and why would I stay here if you couldn’t come back? I need to be with you, especially if you’re going to be putting yourself in danger. A warder has to be able to return to his hearth and home to be cared for and find sanctuary and draw power. I understand my role, and it’s as vital to me as it is to you. I love you and I know my value. But I can’t leave my family in danger, and I know you can’t, either. So let’s handle this and then go home so you can fight alongside your brothers.”
    He was decisive and firm and absolute. It was hard to contain my love for him, because really, the man was phenomenal.
    “Just say, ‘Yes, Joe, I