“We’re taking Gage down,” I say. “And his Femtastic dogs, too.”
A laugh bumps from him. “Dude. I cannot wait to shove Oliver’s ass up against a wall. When and where?”
“When?” Logan takes a breath as he glares at the glass box housing the bobbing head of the boy we still very much love. “Soon.”
“But where?” Wesley glares my way as if willing me to come up with the answer. “We need to know the lay of the land. The enemy might be surprised, but we need to know this place like the back of our hand.”
“Where…” I search my mind and my heart for all of the places Gage Oliver might want to meet with me. Somewhere with a romantic implication—and then it hits me. Black as night. Cold as the deepest part of the ocean. “I know exactly where,” I say as I close my eyes, and every exchange Gage and I have ever had at that once sacred space rushes through my mind. “We’ll meet at Rockaway.”
Logan gives a long blink. “Rockaway it is.”
I nod. “Operation Dark Horse will commence soon enough.”
Gage Oliver’s shiny new life is about to come to an abrupt halt right at the very place we once pledged our love for one another, where he proposed, where we made love, where we flew to new heights on dragon wings, angel wings.
The dragon and the angel will meet there again.
Not as lovers.
As warriors.
Good and evil.
Gage and I will be together once again.
I’ll need him to trust me, love me, want me.
I’ll whittle down his defenses, and then I’ll destroy him.
Taming his spirit has been my destiny all along.
Gage and his reckless love have gone way too far. He needs to be reined in, and I need to be the one to do it.
I’m taking down Demetri’s son. Cutting him off at the proverbial balls. My mother versus the demon Fem round two. Karma has a name, and it is Candace Messenger.
My mother can be such a beautiful, beautiful bitch.
And I’m not sorry to say it, Gage, but so can I.
That night, about three in the morning, I get up to use the restroom and can’t fall back asleep. Usually it’s a gift of mine to fall back asleep no matter how many times I get up in the night. But on this night, with that strange Faction meeting Gage threw together last minute, thoughts of binding Fems, and maybe the fact my stomach is rumbling for something to eat, slumber seems to be eluding me.
Logan is breathing soundly and evenly. I’ve watched his chest rise and fall in the moonlight, and it’s a mesmerizing sight. He’s so used to me rolling in and out of bed all night long, he’s more than capable of sleeping through the carnage. Jaxson lies almost motionless in his bassinet by my side, his precious fists balled up over his head. And even though Nathan and Barron have their big boy beds in the next room with Misty and Beau, they still beg to sleep in their old cribs, and that’s exactly where they are now. Yes, they were quickly reassembled a few months back after the boys begged for them. But soon enough, we’ll be at Whitehorse for good, and my guess is we’ll all be missing this cloistered little room more than we’ll ever know.
I slip out into the hall, only to find the lights still on downstairs. Not a shocker. There hasn’t been a single night where everyone in this house is asleep all at once. Drake and Ethan usually take the nightshift playing video games until the wee hours, and that’s exactly what I find them doing.
“Whoa, dude.” Drake tosses a pillow at his brother. “Watch what you’re doing. Aim your ass somewhere else next time. I can’t breathe. I’ve only got one more life, and then it’s game over for me.”
“You and everyone else on the planet,” I mumble, squinting into the light.
Emily steps out of the kitchen, still in the same clothes she wore yesterday. She’s nursing Ella, that dark-haired beauty with her tiny kinky curls that I love so much. Her little legs are so long they dangle past Em’s hip.
“Goodnight, Messenger,” she bleats.
“Em, are you just getting to bed?”
“The world is burning, Mess. Who the hell cares about time anymore?” She takes off, and I head for the fridge and pull out the almond milk. Emily is right. Who the hell cares if I’m keeping vampire hours with the rest of them? A pink box from the Gas Lab sits on the counter, and I peer inside to find a half a dozen glazed donuts.
“Oh, thank God up in heaven.” I practically sigh with relief at the sight.
