Page 32 of Knight’s Retribution

She froze, then she shook her head, a sob breaking free. “N-no,” she moaned. “Not this, p-please don’t do this, not this, n-not again.”

Rocco wanted to snatch her off the bed and run the fuck out of there, but she was freaking out and her movements were causing her more pain. “Ky…baby, it’s me,” he tried again.

“Diemos likes to pretend, brother,” Tobias said. “He changes the way he looks, makes her think he’s you, that he’s saving her or that this is all a bad dream, then he shows her his true face…”

Jesus fucking Christ.

He cupped her cheek. “Ky, I promise it’s me. It’s really me.”

She shook her head again as tears slipped down her bruised cheeks. “No. P-please don’t.”

Helplessness washed through him. Fucking hell, they’d hurt her in so many ways.

With a shaking hand, he wrapped his fingers around hers. “We met at a bar, you were working and I couldn’t take my eyes off you the whole night.”

Her breathing grew heavier, and her lips quivered.

God, he had to get through to her.

* * *

Kyler had never felt more vulnerable in her life. It was another one of Diemos’s tests, another trick. Pretend he was leaving her for days, then return as Rocco to see if she’d try to leave him.

She wanted to scream, to rage; she couldn’t take this anymore. Scarlet’s healing liquid had helped, but she was still in bad shape. She couldn’t even fight back, couldn’t fight him off, even if she wanted to.

“We talked,” Diemos said in Rocco’s voice. “Then we went back to your place. I held you all night. We spent every night together after that.”

More tears ran down Kyler’s face and soaked her pillow. How did he know these things? Why was he doing this to her? Why wouldn’t he leave her alone? “You’re not him, you’re lying.”

“Look at me, baby. Can you do that? Please try,” that familiar, roughened voice said.

It was the way his voice used to sound when they held each other and talked after he’d made love to her. They’d talked about everything, and he’d loved to make her laugh. Diemos had never used that soft tone, not like that.

She tried to open her eyes, and it was a struggle. He flicked on the lamp by the bed, and then she saw him. This was not the Rocco she’d last seen. This version of Rocco was thinner, harder. His hair was buzzed, and he’d taken out all his piercings, like the Rocco she’d imagined earlier among the demons. When Diemos came to her as Rocco, he never looked like this.

He took her hand, and she could feel he was shaking when he leaned in and pressed her palm to his cheek. Warm. His skin was warm, no hot. Rocco had always run hot. She’d never needed her duvet when he was pressed against her. Diemos was cold like a reptile. Cold-blooded.

She blinked several times, looking deep into his navy-blue eyes rimmed with thick black lashes, taking in that beloved face. A face that was so handsome, especially with those shapely full lips. He could almost be called pretty if it wasn’t for that strong jaw and nose.

“It’s me, pumpkin,” he rasped.

She jolted. Oh god. No one called her that here. No one knew that he’d started calling her that as a joke, but then it stuck.

“Rocco?” she whispered.

“Yeah, baby, it’s me.”

It was the softness in his gaze that told her the truth, a softness that Diemos could never achieve. “You’re really here?”

He kissed her palm. “I’m really here, and I’m not going to let anyone hurt you ever again.” He stood. “I’m going to lift you, Ky. I don’t want to hurt you, but I need to get you out of here. Now.”

More tears burned a path down her cheeks. “If you take me from this room, Diemos will know, he’ll come back.”

“He’ll call for Taren first, and that fucker is ash. I’m gonna try to block you from him as best I can. I just gotta hold him off until we get you to Lucifer’s old quarters.”

She gripped his arm, afraid he’d go, that he’d vanish and this would all be a dream. “P-please, get me away from here.” She didn’t want any of them hurt because of her. She only knew what Diemos and Taren had told her about the knights, but she had to assume most of it had been lies. They were enemies, which meant Rocco and his brother, who she only now noticed standing behind him, had to be powerful as well.

“When I lift you, I want you to stay curled up, Ky. You’re small, we’ll cover you. Hopefully, none of the demons out there will work out what I’m carrying, and if they do, they’ll assume I’m Taren.”