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“You did what?!”
I laughed loud enough for the sound to echo off the mountain, then quickly quieted. “His banana slipper,” I clarified. “Well, both of them, actually. He had these stupid bedroom slippers shaped like bananas.”
“Compensating?” Xero asked, raising an eyebrow.
I grinned. “Comparatively? Oh, yes.”
He grinned, dipping his head to claim a kiss that was quick but full of fire. We walked in comfortable silence for a little while, then he made a thoughtful sound. I nudged him and lifted an eyebrow, silently inviting him to elaborate on whatever the thought was.
“I just wonder—you saw how Vee set traps for Gavriel’s soldiers. Makes me wonder how many other demons are going to extremes in order to avoid joining up on the wrong side.”
I shrugged, then grinned. “Maybe the Custodians should be recruiting from the underworld directly instead of just catching humans who’ve been turned,” I said jokingly. “Humanity’s falling behind.”
He startled me by tugging me to a stop. I looked up at him, and the deep glow that burned in his eyes made a rush of emotion wash over me.
“Hey. I love you,” he murmured.
My heart skipped a hopeful beat, then took off at a gallop in my chest. But before the happiness could truly settle in, my stomach clenched. I smiled at him and brushed a palm over his cheek, relishing the feel of his soft, gorgeous skin.
“It’s the succubus thing,” I said gently. “It has that effect. I feel it too, but it’s not—” I swallowed. “It’s not real. It can’t be.”
He shook his head and kissed my palm. “No, Piper. Listen. I love powering you up. I want you constantly, and I love that too. But it’s so much more than that now. It’s not magic or bonds, I’m sure of that. They’re one part of what I feel for you, but it’s not just about that anymore. I’m in love with you, Pipes. If my mark disappeared tomorrow, I would still follow you anywhere. I would want to be by your side.”
I swallowed hard, blinking back tears that surprised me with their intensity. I had spent hours, days—more time than was probably healthy, to be honest—trying to sort out my feelings for these men, trying to find the lie in what felt so damn true. Over and over, I had convinced myself that what felt like love was just an illusion, that it wasn’t “real” in the way that I had always defined it.
But the certainty in Xero’s voice made something crack open in my chest. He sounded so damn sure, and it melted away my own doubts and fears. There might be a magical bond between us, but that didn’t change the fact that we had spent the last year and a half confiding in each other, leaning on each other, supporting and uplifting each other. We had fought side by side, slept skin to skin, and if it came down to it, I would lay down my life for his.
Sliding both hands around his neck, I gazed up at him, reveling in his magnificence. The words burst out of me as if they’d been dying to escape the prison I’d held them in for far too long.
“I love you too, Xero. So fucking much.”
The last word was barely out of my mouth before his lips sealed over mine, a kiss as warm and deep and passionate as the man himself. Time seemed to stretch and expand as we lingered in the kiss, drowning in each other.
Then a noise on the path drew our attentio
n, and we reluctantly broke apart. The others were coming up the trail behind us. Xero shot a glance their way, then turned back to me and smiled.
“I’m pretty sure the rest of our bond mates feel the same way,” he murmured, brushing one last kiss to my lips before releasing me.
“Yo, let’s go! This mountain isn’t going to climb itself. And I think I’m getting the hang of this hiking thing,” Kingston said wryly.
“Look at that view,” Jayce breathed, staring out at the valley beyond. “Awesome.”
I grinned and took Xero’s hand as we continued. The path we were walking soon widened into a valley between two peaks, giving us all room to walk beside one another.
Kingston’s mood had elevated in spite of himself, and when he smiled at me, his jade green eyes gleaming, I could almost believe that he loved me. Jayce was a given. He loved everybody and everything all the time, the bond was simply a boost in my direction. I had never questioned his genuine feelings for me, even knowing that he could have fallen for anyone and been happy about it.
But Kai—sullen, grim Kai who still kept so much of himself hidden away from me? No, I doubted it very much. He was here with me, here with all of us willingly, and I believed he would stand by that decision. He had stopped struggling against the bond and had even given me what I needed when I was most desperate for it.
He certainly craved me. He couldn’t help it. And he might have grown to tolerate me and even grudgingly respect me, but love me?
My heart constricted. No. I don’t think so.
Chapter Twenty-One
The valley, which had been open and dotted with tufts of blood-red grass when we began, slowly grew more foreboding. Large outcroppings of shining black and mottled gray stone sprang up to crowd the pass at irregular intervals, and as we walked deeper into the valley the plant life grew taller. I stuck close to Xero and kept my eyes open.
“Do you feel that?” I asked him in a low voice. I didn’t want to alarm the others.
