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Gage looks up, his eyes meet mine, and he stands from the sofa. In a blur of motion, he has me in his arms and his lips come down on mine, bruising me with the kiss I’ve wanted. The kiss I’ve needed.
He tugs my bottom lip into his mouth while backing me up, pushing us out of the room and away from the prying eyes, and I thread my fingers through his hair, pulling him closer. His lip rings press into my lower lip, teasing me with the sensation.
The tears on my face grow hot and announce their presence, but I don’t care. I kiss him even as they invade my mouth, and he pushes me against the wall while hungrily kissing me with all he has.
“I love you,” I whisper between breaths, refusing to move my lips from his for very long.
He grins against my lips. “I know,” he says cockily, and I laugh despite of the past five days of brutal torture. I survived Gavin. I’m alive because of Gage.
“I helped save you, so do I get a kiss like that?” Chaz jokes while walking by us, and Gage pulls back just slightly to laugh at the duster.
That reminds me of the strange way Gavin was acting as he looked over at us.
“How did you save us?” I ask, my eyes seeking Gage’s and Chaz’s, looking back and forth between the two.
“They won’t give details,” Thad says while coming to pull me out of Gage’s arms and giving me a hug.
His embrace is almost too tight, but I hug him back while resting my head on his chest. My family. All of them. Now Gage is my family, too. And Karma sure as hell is.
“I find it’s best to keep some secrets,” Chaz says, exchanging a look with Gage.
If Chaz wants to keep a secret, that’s fine by me. The mystery isn’t clawing at me. In fact, for the first time since my visions were stolen, I’m not fixated on a mystery at all. It feels as though a weight has been lifted from my chest.
“Sadie?” I ask, moving away from Thad and back into the arms of Gage. But that is short lived because Ella strips me away and pulls me against her small frame, hugging me almost too tightly.
I smile into her hair as Thad says, “She went to find Liza. She stayed until she knew you and Karma were healed.”
The woman who once held me against my will risked her life to break me free from the repeated fate.
“What’re you guys discussing?” Karma’s voice draws everyone’s attention as Dice carries her into the room. I cock an eyebrow questioningly, and she rolls her eyes. “He doesn’t want me walking even though I’m completely healed.”
Dice glares at everyone, daring us to say something, but only a few snickers emerge as he cradles her in his arms, holding her like a bride. And Karma isn’t complaining. Her arms are wrapped around his neck, and she’s resting her head between his neck and shoulder.
“Well,” Ella says while backing away from me, “we were discussing the next phase of the master plan when Kimber showed up and Gage abandoned us to go maul her.”
I smile just before Gage’s arms come to wrap around me and tug my back flush against his front.
“At least he cleaned the place up,” Dice says, kissing Karma’s head.
“What do you mean?” I ask, looking around. “It looks exactly the same.”
Gage cl
ears his throat, and I turn to face him. “I… sort of… well, destroyed everything.”
“Me, too,” Ella chirps. “But magic heals all superficial wounds. Now back to the plan.”
I run my hand up Gage’s smooth cheek, and he gives me his panty-dropping smile.
“How did your brother get so fucked up?” Karma asks, and Gage’s smile falls. “I mean, how did you become the hero and him the villain?”
Gage looks up from me, meeting the eyes of the demon hybrid. “I wasn’t always a hero, and he wasn’t always a villain.”
Kane leans over the counter. “A villain is just a victim whose story hasn’t been told,” he says insightfully. “If our world tells us anything at all, it’s that.”
Gage’s lips press together, and he shrugs. “I know Gavin’s story all too well, considering I helped him write a big piece of it. We were together when we were young. It wasn’t an easy situation. My mother sold us both in her quest for power. When we found her, we were both desperate to be taught, and we clung to the only family we had—her and her sister. But our mother was corrupt, and her only way of teaching was to corrupt us as well. I came back from the darkness, and he dove in deeper.”
Karma leans up, and her eyes meet mine. “We discovered a few things while we were in there,” she says, letting her eyes drift around the room. “They don’t have an anointed person. And… Gavin may be in the inner circle of power, but he’s not the top dog. Someone else is running the show.”
