“It is. Smells like victory,” Kraft agreed. “But at a price.”
Rolf shrugged. “We all end, Kraft. Some endings are better than others.” Rolf smiled. “Paz died fighting a creature from hell. Can you imagine a better way to go?”
They gathered the sorcerer’s body and the hell beast’s, which Mormo stuffed in a pocket dimension for further study, and helped Riley and Max go home.
To the house on Mercer Island.
An ending of sorts, Kraft thought as he brought his mate into his bath and cleaned her up, taking care to see to her wounds. After bathing her, he licked her all better, taking pleasure in caring for the female he had come to...love.
He remembered his nightmare with his father asking so many questions about things concerning Riley he didn’t know. But he knew what mattered. That she had courage, loyalty, and a selfless devotion to pack. That she could fight with the best of them, a nonvampire who could never be a lesser-being. She’d fought against a creature even vampires might be wary of encountering. A demon many times her size. Yet she hadn’t gone anywhere but right at the threat.
And even on death’s door, she’d had the strength to kill the sorcerer who’d created such havoc.
Just thinking about her tenacity and will warmed his heart, showed him he’d have to do whatever he could to show Riley they were meant to be.
After tucking her in bed, he settled in close to watch over her. The others could wait. And besides, Khent and Rolf had been there. Max too. They could let Mormo know whatever he wanted.
Kraft would join them after Riley woke up.
And the Night willing, he’d have his mate by his side when he asked his patriarch for permission to keep her.
CHAPTERTWENTY-SEVEN
Khent was tired.It had been a long night.
And, oddly enough, a poignant one.
He’d lived for nearly six hundred years. Well acquainted with death, he understood that there were phases of living for all creatures. Even vampires. Even demons.
Pazuzu had been an annoyance. Yet he’d also been an interesting companion. Not exactly the vile demon everyone had considered him to be. A Mesopotamian demon god, to be precise, he did more than drag souls to hell. And really, he only devoured souls when he got hungry. Mostly, he protected pregnant women and commanded the western wind, an ancient deity condemned to spend an eternity in an afterlife devoid of frivolity.
Khent didn’t blame him for wanting more. Unfortunately, life in a kitten’s body hadn’t been sustainable. Especially not when facing off against a hybrid hellhound.
With a sigh, he took the kitten’s body and set it down in a small brazier.
He waited for Orion to arrive and left to give him a moment of privacy.
The vryko departed looking angry, but Khent would swear he’d seen shiny eyes when he passed.
“Such a bright spark for so short a time you were with us,” Khent murmured and lit the tiny body on fire, letting go of that which had held Paz to this earth.
But the demonic relief he expected to settle over the ash didn’t come.
Rather suspect, that.He looked all around, wondering what he’d missed. Wondering who might have tampered with his magic. Had the necromancer he’d sensed earlier had anything to do with cursing Paz’s body? He’d sensed a female hand before, but he didn’t really know what they’d walked into when they’d battled Sebastian Castle.
Before he could do a search amidst the many dead things Mormo had delivered to his lab, he got a phone call.
“Yes?”
Rolf said, “Hecate wants a rally before we turn in for the day.”
Khent joined the others in the kitchen.
Those who’d fought at the bazaar looked battle-weary but pleased. Except for Kraft, who remained with the berserker in his room. Likely snarling and protective, curled around his mate.
Khent bit back a smile. The female had fought surprisingly well, especially for having ingested a poison to help kill the creature. Max too. For lycans, they weren’t as intolerable as he might have expected.
He studied Varu, seeing frustration on his patriarch’s face. He met Varu’s gaze and lifted a brow.
