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Colton shadow burst forth, sliding over Riley’s skin before her body dissolved into black mist and they were racing through the shadow pathway. She was thankful Colton took control. Her fear made it difficult for her to hold the dark molecules together as they traversed the slipstream. While the trip took only a few minutes, it seemed like hours before the light of her father’s room illuminated the end of the tunnel and they were coalescing in the corner of his room.
Her heart stuttered in her chest when Breck turned towards her. His red eyes flashed as venom dripped from his fangs. While the picture was gruesome, a nightmare come to life, it wasn’t as bad as the look in her father’s eyes. Not fear. Failure.
Colton launched at Breck. The shadow warrior and reaper crashed into the corner wall, puncturing the white gyp-rock. It wouldn’t take long for the battle to draw the attention of one of the nurses.
“Stop it! This is a nursing home, not a wrestling ring.”
Breck backed away from Colton. “You got here quicker than anticipated. Deruthel will be displeased.”
Colton growled. “You threw in with the demons. They will use you and discard you. Tell me why Deruthel is after Riley.”
Breck’s eyes roamed over Riley. She was leaned over the bed with her arms over her father’s body. “She betrayed him. Ruined herself with you. Fortunately, there is another way.”
“What other way? What are you talking about?”
Breck sneered. “You’ll find out.” He dissolved before he raced into the pathway.
Colton resumed his human form and ran to Riley’s side. “Is he hurt? Bitten or scratched?”
Riley checked her father over, but there was nothing. “He seems fine.”
He lifted a frail hand to Riley’s face. “I’m sorry, honey. I thought I could protect you, but I failed you and your mother.” His eyes closed before he started to snore lightly.
Riley grabbed his hand. “Dad, I’m fine. Breck is a monster, but I won’t let anything happen to you.”
Colton’s eyes narrowed on Riley’s father. “We need to move him to the clan. He isn’t safe here.”
Riley pursed her lips. “Steele will never allow a human to reside within clan territory. He’s barely accepting of me.”
“This is different. The demons want to use your father to hurt you. He’s in the end stages of his life and not aware of his surroundings. He will never leave clan territory again so our current rules don’t apply.”
“Don’t say this to me unless you mean it. You know how much I want my father with me in his final days,” she said.
“We have a guest lodge, that is equipped with a full kitchen. Its ground level and our registered address in the event we need to deal with the authorities. Your father will live out his days there. I will talk to Anaisa and see if she has anything that will help him to be more lucid in his final days.”
Riley hugged him. “Thank you. That’s more than I ever hoped for.”
“Your father knows something about your heritage. Something that he wanted to protect you from. We need to get that information and I am sure the priestess can help.”
Riley glanced at her sleeping father. “I tried so many unorthodox therapies to try to prolong his lucidity. I never considered a Haitian priestess.”
Colton kissed her forehead. “Anaisa wouldn’t have helped you as a human. The rules changed once you became a shadow.”
Riley frowned. “Why?”
Colton’s face hardened. “The shifters were misled by a Bokor. While merging with the demon souls was necessary to save humanity, they were not given all the facts. They lost everything, including their mates.”
Her eyebrows knit together. “You don’t think they would have done it, had they known their women would die?”
CHAPTER26
Riley searched Colton’s face. His eyes roamed over her before he spoke.
“I would never sacrifice you for any reason. As far as I’m concerned, the world can burn if you’re not in it.”
Her heart sped, fluttering against her ribs like a caged butterfly. “That’s a fatalistic attitude, you know.”
“I can only give you the truth. It won’t always be easy,” Colton said.
