Her question was valid, and before her, I may not have had the same answer. Originally, I wanted the apocalypse as a way to control everything my father loved and take it from him. Now? I wanted to prove myself worthy of his time and attention. I wanted to show him just how wrong he was about me as I led them into a new era.
I understood them—the humans—I saw them at their worst and didn’t judge them. Perfection didn’t exist, and that was what made them beautiful.
But all I said to her was, “Because we are destined, you and I. You were made to give me this.”
“What happened to free will?”
“The two are not mutually exclusive.”
“Aren’t they?”
“Not at all. Free will ensures there are several paths to the same inevitable end.”
“Why then?”
I cocked my head. “What do you mean?”
“Why take the time to get me on your side? You clearly could have taken me captive and just raped me the moment I walkedinto your trap. What’s the point of this?” she asked, gesturing between us.
I stepped closer to her, reaching out and wrapping my hand around her nape as I pulled her to me. I didn’t want her to see me as this monstrous creature hell-bent on getting my way. But she did. And she always might.
I leaned down until my face hovered just over hers, my voice whisper-soft but threaded with steel. “I have never raped a woman, and I don’t intend to start now.”
And then my lips slammed down on hers.
Chapter
Nineteen
MOIRA
“Festering goat balls,” I grumbled as every candle I’d lit extinguished on its own, yet again. “You’re supposed to be the head of the most powerful coven in the fucking world, Moira, but you can’t even locate four stupid men?”
Closing my eyes, I willed the candles to light once more, anger causing the flames to blaze six inches high until I settled down. There was too much on my plate, as fucking usual. Life had been good—great even—until that bitch Death came in to ruin it all and throw a Lucifer-shaped wrench into my plans at a happily ever after.
Ash and I were in the middle of making a baby. I mean, not in the biblical sense, because yuck. No penis was going anywhere near my lady garden. But we had our sperm donor selected, and I’d already started preparing my temple, as they say. I was going to carry our first one, and she was on deck for baby number two. If we survived the first one. No one knew we were trying, and with everything going on, it never seemed like the right time to bring it up. But when I said I had a vested interest in ending this stupid apocalypse—a-fucking-gain, by the way—I wasn’t kidding.
I rolled my gaze up to the sky, the alignment of the planets not visible through the flaming aurora streaking across the wide expanse. I could feel the energy, though. It radiated like a beacon, and time was ticking. This was the only shot we had at getting a lock on the people we needed to find. If I failed, we’d be SOL until fate stepped in. And, as we all knew, fate was a real bitch.
Closing one of my eyes, I glared up at the stars. “All right, we are going to reset and try thisagain. I’ve got the stupid item. We’ve got the celestial event with that mofo’s arrival. WHAT ELSE DO YOU NEED, UNIVERSE? And yes, I used my shouty cap voice because come the fuck on.”
A low snicker filtered through the treeline to my ears.
“Don’t make me send you fleas, Kingston Farrell. Right to your balls.”
He stepped out of the cover of trees and shook his head. “You wouldn’t. You know you love me, witch.”
“Debatable, but my bestie does, so I have to tolerate you.”
Alek jumped down from the treetop where he’d been keeping watch, his big body leaving a dent in the softened earth. “Can you really do that? Give him fleas?”
“Of course I can. Are you really doubting me? After everything I’ve done for you, Brutus?”
“No, of course not. But I’d love to see how he’d handle that. He’s a baby about most minor inconveniences.”
“Rude,” Kingston said, crossing his arms with a definite sulk marring his brow.
A new voice broke through the night, preceding the glow of purple eyes followed by a hunk of male specimen. If I were into that sort of thing. Which I was not. “This doesn’t look like guard duty,” Kai pointed out.
