“No. I don’t believe Jock Strap is that altruistic regarding Logan’s chastity where celestial beings are involved. This is a bigger picture issue. The dam has broken in his little charade, he’s trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the Nephilim, and he’s looking to protect himself any way he knows how. He’s dangerous. Feral. And that’s the exact reason—”
“I need to speak with him pronto.”
“I was going to suggest you never speak to him again.”
“In my last lifetime I would have gladly listened, but there is a freedom to being dead. It certainly affords me to give zero—”
He holds up a finger to stop me from belting out the expletive.
“Zero cares.” I nod over at him. “Now, Marshall, let me speak with Gage.”
His lids hood low, usually a hint of something sexual on the horizon, but at the moment it’s pure unadulterated rage.
“Perhaps after we have scouted a body for you to retain. Who do you think would do the honor?”
“I don’t know. What happens when I take over their body? What becomes of the soul currently residing inside?”
“They remain in-house. You, of course, will be the primary. You’ll have full control over the body. Only you will be able to speak and eat. They are simply stored away in the recesses of their own mind. You’ll be able to hear them—as will I. There is no harm done to them. However, they may not be too impressed with you. There is no telling how long you’ll have to live in their respective home, if you will.”
“I can tell you how long it won’t be. I have a wedding in just a few weeks, and I’m not missing it. I’m certainly not showing up as a guest either. I’m walking down that aisle in my own body. And you’ll be there, too—officiating the main event.” I frown over in the direction of Whitehorse, where Logan and I will be wed on the sandy shores of Silent Cove. “I was sort of hoping my father would be able to make a special appearance to walk me down the aisle. It will look like I’m walking alone, but I don’t care. The next time I see Candace, I need to bring up the wedding to her.”
“She is aware, my love. Not a single detail of your life escapes her.”
“Now that’s a shocker. The pedestrian outside observer wouldn’t agree.”
His chest rumbles with a laugh. “I can assure you there is nothing pedestrian about your mother. Now to find a body. First stop?”
“I don’t know.” About a dozen people run through my mind. “Take me to Laken.”
Laken Stewart Flanders Edinger—unfortunate as that last name may be—is my very best friend in the world. Okay, so she might hold the title right along with Brielle Landon, my very first friend here on Paragon—although at the time, wicked Chloe was paying her to be my bestie. Nevertheless, that’s all water under the bridge. Most importantly, Laken’s marriage to Wesley is water under the bridge.
The night Ellis Harrison threw a rager of a birthday party for me, Rory showed us footage of herself pleasuring Gage to no end and it set off all the women in the room like a wall of precariously standing dominos.
First, there was Chloe, who evicted Gage out of her life and pledged her allegiance to Celestra. And then, Laken shoved her boot so far up Gage’s wicked half-brother Wesley Edinger’s ass, you could see the proverbial tip shoot right out of his mouth.
And thankfully, now Laken is with the love of her life once again—the man she originally left Wesley for way back when they were all in prep school together—the fabulous Cooper Flanders.
“I’m so glad she’s with Coop,” I say, blowing out a breath of relief, as Marshall whisks us off in the direction of their rental house near the waterfront.
“As am I.” Marshall flashes a not-so humble grin my way. “He is of my lineage. It’s always a safe and sane decision to side with the Sectors.”
“Hey—that’s right. Both Logan and Coop share your comely features. And that would explain why they look as if they could be brothers. Thank God Cooper has sided with Celestra. He and Brody Bishop have been invaluable. And, of course, so has Ellis.” Outside of Logan and me, Brody and Ellis were the original members of the Retribution League.
“He will never turn from you, my dear. Nor will anyone with half a mind at this point.”
“And now we have Wesley’s wickedmind.” After Laken kicked Wes to the curb, he was so pissed at Gage he gave him the finger and turned his back on his own people. He’d rather side with Celestra and prove to Laken he’s not a bad guy than continue to work for the asshole who cost him the love of his life. “I cannot wait to talk to Wes. I wouldn’t say this to anyone else, but I’m most excited to work elbow to elbow with Ezrina and Wes in the lab. Everyone knows Ezrina is a wicked genius, but pair that cerebral might with Wesley’sevilgenius, and we’ll have the cauldron of hope bubbling over with perfection. We’ll oust Gage in no time. I’ll be back at my celestial post, the Sectors will be on top, and both Gage and Demetri will be licking the dust off the bottom of my shoe.”
A jag of lightning crackles through the Paragon night.
I shake my head, trying to make heads or tails out of it. “What do you think that meant?” My mother has used lightning in an effort to communicate with me on more than one occasion. “I’m pretty sure she’s agreeing with me.” I decide. “Of course, she wants Gage and Demetri bowing down.”
Marshall lifts a brow. “She may just desire for Demetri to lick the dust off her own feet.”
“She can have him. In fact, I’ll have to see what I can do to prevent him from moving in on my mother once again.” For as long as I’ve known Demetri Edinger, he’s had the serious hots for my earthly mother—my adoptive mother—Lizbeth Landon. “Now that Tad is most likely headed for the big house—where he will live rent-free—a fact that might just titillate Demetri for the unforeseen future, I’m sure it won’t be long before he’s warming the bed in Tad’s place. “Marshall, why do you think Demetri is so obsessed with my mother? I mean, really, she’s just a person. But the way he goes after her, you’d think she were the prize in some celestial game he’s playing. She’s not, is she?”
He glances upward as if anticipating another bolt of lightning.
“Let us not dwell on the devil’s love life,” he says. “Let us first find you a new home in which to dwell, then we can tackle the bigger issues at hand.”
