47. FORTY-TWO

FORTY-TWO

Rhett

IwatchedDamienand his parents take down a full dragon in less than thirty seconds, both horrified and impressed by their creativity.

“Your mate’s mate is really something,” my father said, standing by my side in the middle of battle.

I hadn’t expected to see him on the front-lines, not when he usually stayed back, protected by the council in the Demon Capital. And I certainly didn’t expect him to ask me to teach them how to kill with pheromones, something that he used to be ashamed of.

A beautiful melody slipped into our ears as a tall siren with long blonde hair and piercing blue eyes stood in front of us, singing. She must not have realized that we weren’t going to fall for it because we were incubi. Incubi didn’t fall for siren melodies, even though other demons could be entranced.

“Let me try this time.” My father waved me away, and I rolled my eyes.

This was a war, not training. Not that he could understand the importance of that.

“It’s too bad.” He clicked his tongue. “She’s pretty.”

“Not prettier than Wren,” I grumbled under my breath, and the siren’s gaze narrowed at me as she stopped her melody.

“Why is this not working on you?” The slight whine in her voice grated on my already frayed nerves.

“Incubi, sweetie.” My father blew her kiss, and she reeled back as fear flooded her gaze. She went to step away, but my father released his pheromones.

They relaxed her until she whimpered with desire, and then her eyes rolled back in her head, and she could only moan before dying.

“That’s oddly satisfying.” My father looked back at me and smiled, a smile that I had always strived to see before. A smile that showed the pride that he had for me, but I was too old to want his approval now.

I exploded my pheromones and killed another siren that was walking behind my father as he seemingly did the same for me.

“They usually run in threes,” he muttered, and I shrugged. “Most of the dragons have retreated.”

“Roak must finally be dead.” My chest squeezed. I hoped that that was the case.

“At least your mate won’t have to worry about that anymore. Is that black goo fucker here?” He ran a hand through his hair, glancing around.

“He’s dead.”

“That’s good. He was fucking creepy.”

“Where’s my mother?”

Father’s laughter surrounded us as he wiped a stray tear from his eye from laughing so hard. “Do you really think that woman would actually go into war and fight, even for herself?”

My answer was immediate. “Never.”

My father threw his head back and laughed again. “But I guess one good thing did come out of her.”

“Yeah. What’s that?” I scanned our immediate area to find no threats.

“You, Rhett. I know I haven’t been a good father to you.”

“Understatement of the century.” My skin pricked.

I didn’t plan on having a moment with my father in the middle of this war, especially as six or seven sirens closed in around us from a distance.

“Listen, I’m trying. Can you at least let me do that?”

I swallowed the sarcastic remark on my tongue and nodded, thinking about what Wren would say if she were here. “We’ll see how long you do that.” I flicked my tail as my horns seeped out of my skull, and we threw ourselves into battle once again.