Kaia blinked and looked around her. “Why are we on the couch?” She kept looking. “In your house?”
Orion hugged her tighter. “My guess is this was the safest place for us to recuperate.”
Macy nodded. “You two need time to heal, but we saved the day. I think.” She frowned. “Khent still hasn’t convinced us the danger is past. How did you stop Pazuzu?”
He wondered if he had. But no, the demon had taken his offer. A life for a life. He put a hand over his healing heart, feeling a slight twinge as the organ continued to repair itself, but no tie to a demon. He didn’t think. But he remembered giving the demon something. A life...that purred.
Green eyes came into view, and Shadow licked his nose.
Orion slowly sat up, keeping Kaia in his lap, and took the kitten in hand. Kaia turned with him, staring in awe at Shadow.
“What’s going on?” Mormo asked, then froze. “And who the hell letthatinto my house?”
Everyone stopped and stared at Shadow, who chirped and grew small, leathery wings.
“What is that?” Macy asked in a shaky voice and took a step back into the arms of her mate. “Because that’s not a cat.”
Kraft frowned. “Yes it is. Look at it. He just has wings now.” Kraft cocked his head. “And he smells like brimstone.”
“He’s my familiar,” Kaia said in a light voice as Orion placed the kitten back down. “He saved us when Orion had hold of Hanbi through Pazuzu. Don’t worry. He’s friendly.”
To prove it, the kitten rubbed his face along Kaia’s, and purred, settling against her breasts with a sigh.
“Hey, watch it, buddy.” Orion glared, knowing who occupied the kitten, now Shadow and Pazuzu. Oh boy. Varu was not going to be happy about this.
We made a bargain,Shadow reminded him, still a kitten, yet more.
How is this possible?Orion paused. Had he inadvertently sacrificed his cat? His heart broke at the thought.
Kaia stroked the little guy, and Shadow blinked slowly at him.
Onvyr entered the room eating an apple, battered yet smiling as if he’d been given the answer to everything he ever wanted. “It’s simple,” he explained. “Smoky was just ashadowof Nightmare to begin with. A shell, I think he said.” He looked at Shadow and nodded. “Yep. So he’s a cat but not a cat. A perfect familiar for a sea witch, because, well, they’re usually more on the bad side than the good side. Like vampires.” So saying, he walked out with the large battle cat that appeared by his side.
“A perfect mate for a vryko,” Varu murmured as he entered the room and nodded. “Mormo, the Night Bloode now counts the new White Sea Witch and her demon familiar as kin.” Power settled over the group as new energy added to the collective strength of Hecate’s death bringers.
His dusk elf mate looped her arm around his middle and smiled. “Sounds about right.”
“I don’t know about this.” Mormo ran a hand over his head, looking frazzled. “Hecate needs to be told.”
“Like she doesn’t already know,” Khent said with a snort.
But Orion didn’t care about any of it. No worries, no problems would ever be insurmountable, not with his kin and his mate by his side. “You think the ADR would let you shift to nighttime hours?” He asked her with a smile.
“I bet they would.” Kaia kissed him. “I love you, Orion.”
“Ah mate, not more than I love you,agapi mou.”
He heard a few groans, felt Shadow’s purr of acceptance, and appreciated the sighs from the females in the room watching over them.
But nothing mattered except getting his mate where he could see to her needs in private.
“Told you vampires do it better,” Duncan said with a laugh. “Yeah, mate, you did right by her V-card.”
Macy laughed with him. “Idiot.”
Kraft asked, “What? I don’t get it. What card?” After a moment, he laughed. “Oh, herV-card.”
But Orion was already carrying his mate to their room. Once inside, he paused with her in his arms. “I’m sorry you lost your mother.”
