“He was.” Cole pulled Lexi closer. “What is it you have to say?”
Instead of answering, Del looked between the two of them before his gaze settled on Cole. “Is it true? Is she your mate?”
“Yes.” Cole’s eyes narrowed on Del. He’d always considered Del a friend, but if anyone could get between them, it would be her long-lost father, and he wouldnotallow that to happen. “She is.”
Del closed his eyes, and his shoulders slumped forward. “Good, because you might be the only one strong enough to keep her safe.”
Lexi glanced at him in confusion as Cole slid his arm around her waist, and Lexi grasped his hand. Whatever her father was about to reveal, she would not like it; he doubted he would either.
He could still feel the power of their sexual encounter thrumming through his veins in a way it never had before. Orin had brought Del here for a reason. And then there were those markings.
He’d risked Cole and Lexi’s wrath because this was important, and Del obviously hadsomethingtosay. He looked too distraught not to have something, which meant he hadn’t made it up to escape Orin’s prison.
When Del looked at Lexi again, sadness and regret radiated in his eyes. He reached for her, but his jaw clenched when the chains rattled, and he lowered his hands.
“You know that I love you,” he said.
“Of course I do,” Lexi said. “I’ve never doubted it.”
“There are things I haven’t told you. Things that will only put you in danger.”
Lexi’s fingers crushed his, but Cole was already starting to put the pieces together. He didn’t have the complete puzzle yet, and they formed a picture he didn’t like.
“What things?” Lexi whispered.
Del took a deep breath before plunging on. “You’re not half human and half vampire; you’re arach.”
“I knew it,” Orin muttered, but no one acknowledged him.
Cole had figured out enough that this revelation didn’t come as a complete surprise to him. However, it still rocked him a little as he swayed back on his heels.
He still didn’t see how it was possible, but he had no doubt it was true. Lexi stopped breathing for a good thirty seconds before she inhaled sharply and started to laugh.
When she looked up at him and he simply stared back at her, she stopped laughing. Her brow furrowed, her mouth pursed, and confusion filled her eyes as she started to shake her head.
“Lexi,” Cole said gently.
“That can’t be possible,” she stated as she turned her attention back to her father.
“It is,” Del said.
“Yousaid my mother was a human.”
“I was there when your mother gave birth to you; she was arach.”
Lexi opened and closed her mouth a few times as she tried to form some response. All through the tunnels, the shadows twisted and twined as they crept closer. He sensed they were responding to his distress and coming because they believed he required help.
When he refused to draw them any closer, they hovered at the edges of the light, building a force no one else could see. Not even Orin noticed them, and the dark fae had a special affinity for the shadows that could cloak them.
What would happen if he did unleash them? A thrill of excitement and dread ran through him at the possibility.
Between the influx of power from the trials and Lexi, things were shifting and changing inside him. He didn’t know what those changes would do to him if he ever unleashed them or lost control.
His gaze settled on Lexi; he would never find out either. He would always be there to protect her, and if he lost control, he wasn’t so sure he’d be able to do such a thing.
Finally, Lexi found her voice again. “The arach were extremely powerful beings. I havenoabilities or anything special about me.Nothing.”
Cole could argue that point for hours; she may not have other immortals' physical or psychic abilities, but she was definitely special. He kept his mouth shut as he had no idea how she could be arach andnothave any powers.
