Chapter 30

Istood at the gala's dessert table, comparing and contrasting the culinary qualities of cheesecake, chocolate cheesecake, and raspberry cheesecake.

"I just talked to Calli," Gypsy said as she joined me.

"So you know everything now?"

"Yes."

I pried my gaze from the dessert table to shoot her an apologetic look. "I'm sorry I ever suspected you."

Gypsy shrugged. "I don't blame you. I actually am a suspicious gal. I did a lot of bad things when I was younger, and I did serve a little time in prison."

I didn't press her for details, though I was really curious about that.

"Remember how I told you about my lost love?" Gypsy asked me.

I nodded.

"His name was Mars. I was sixteen, and he was a real bad boy, rough, tough, and intelligent too. So of course I fell hopelessly in love with him. He saw I had a talent for making people like me, so he pulled me into some of his highly illegal undertakings. For years, we were living high on love and adrenaline until…" She sighed. "Until I made one too many mistakes and got caught."

She took a deep breath. "It was in a small Frontier town called Null. The sheriff tried to get me to talk, to name my accomplices in exchange for my freedom. I looked so young and cute, he probably thought he'd crack me within the hour. But I refused. That refusal cost me a week in the town jail. The sheriff wanted to keep me there longer, but he needed all the cells he had to hold the rogue shifters the paranormal soldiers had caught."

"Lucky break," I commented.

"I was lucky, but in a most unexpected way," Gypsy said. "Anyway, I went free. Mars and his gang were always on the move, but I knew their style. I looked through crime reports and figured out which ones they'd been behind. I followed their trail all the way to them. I guess that was the first time I'd had to track down anyone who didn't want to be found. It was pretty exciting."

"That's why you became a bounty hunter?"

"Yes," she replied. "I became a bounty hunter because I really enjoyed the thrill of the chase. And because, well, when I saw Mars again after my incarceration, things had changed. Actually, I was the one who'd changed. He was the same person he'd always been, just as reckless and exciting and loose with the laws of the land. But that wasn't the life for me anymore. As soon as I saw him, I just knew it wasn't. He invited me to a meeting about a new job they were going to run. I never showed up. I just quietly left town—and left that life behind me."

"Including Mars."

"Yes. To this day, I regret that I didn't have the courage to talk to him, to try to convince him that we could have a different life. But I was afraid of what he'd say to me, and of the look of disappointment in his eyes when he said it. So I just left without a word. I often think about him and wonder where he is today. I wonder what things would have been like if I'd just talked to him that day. I guess I'll never know."

"Why didn't you ever look him up?" I asked her.

She shook her head slowly. "I guess I'm afraid. Afraid he's still angry with me for running off. Or, worse yet, that he's moved on with his life, that he hardly remembers me at all."

She wiped the back of her hand across one wet cheek, then the other. She put on a smile as she met my eyes. "But enough sob stories. I just wanted to come over and say I hope we can still be friends. Even though I broke into your apartment."

"Why did you do that anyway?"

She inhaled deeply, then declared, "Your shampoo smells great."

"Uh, thanks."

"It's a new scent, isn't it?"

"It is. My old shampoo smelled like cherry blossoms."

"And this is angel lily?"

"Yes," I confirmed.

"You found the bottle in your shower?"

"Yeah. I guess my assistant Lucy got it for me. I was out of my old shampoo. I was going to tell her to buy me some more, but I forgot. When I saw it there, I figured she'd anticipated my needs. She is always doing that." My gaze snapped to Gypsy. "It was you, wasn't it?"

She chuckled.

"Why go through all the trouble of breaking into my office to put a bottle of shampoo in my shower?" I asked.

"Not just any shampoo. Angel lily shampoo."

"That doesn't answer the question of why you broke into my office to give me shampoo."

"Because angel lily is known to have a quite pronounced effect on male angels." Gypsy glanced over my shoulder. "See you around, Leda."

Then she hurried off.

"Everyone is praising you as a worthy emissary between heaven and hell." Nero closed in behind me. "Yet here you are hiding in front of the dessert table."

I leaned back into him. "I like dessert. And I've had quite enough of gods and demons for one day."

"Leda…I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For hurting you. A few days ago, I told you that you'd created a rift between us by not involving me in your decision." He sighed, and his chest rocked. "But I wasn't talking about you. I was talking about myself. This business with Faith…I didn't involve you in it. I didn't tell you what was going on."

"You couldn't. Faith was in my head, reading my thoughts. It was the only way."

"What you did was the only way too. The only way to protect our daughter from everyone who would hurt her."

A tear slid down my cheek. "Keeping secrets from each other sucks. From now on, we need to always find a way to do things together, no matter how hard it is. We have to find a way, Nero."

"Yes." His hand traced the sparkling stones of my necklace. "You wore it."

"Of course I wore it. You gave it to me." I sighed. "I'm just sorry I haven't had time to buy you a gift."

"You're the greatest gift of all, Leda."

My throat tightened up with emotion. "You're just afraid I'd get you something that explodes."

"Pandora." His fingers intertwined with mine. "Let's go."

"Where?"

"Away from here." He started walking, leading me toward the exit.

I glanced at him. "What an excellent idea."

His eyes twinkled with comfortable arrogance. "I know."

I chuckled. I stopped laughing when a spark of charged energy rippled across our joined hands, electrifying my skin with magic.

"Nero?" I said as we left the ballroom.

He glanced back to cock a single brow upward at me.

I was almost afraid to ask, but of course I did anyway. "Was that you?"

"Pandora, I've spent the last several days keeping my distance from you. My magic is a tad agitated."

"A tad agitated? Is that what you call the big, bad storm cloud hovering over your house?" I teased him.

"Highly agitated then."

"Highly agitated? Not completely distraught?"

"If that would make you happy."

"I'm never happy when you're distraught, Nero." I stopped walking to touch my hand to his face.

He set his hand over mine. "These last few days have been trying. So many times I nearly broke."

"Broke?"

"Gave in and told you everything. But I couldn't. I had to keep my distance to protect you. I nearly failed you so many times, Leda. You don't even know how often I did." He drew in a deep breath. "Unable to bear the pain of not holding you, of not hearing your voice, your banter, how you always teased and provoked me."

"We can do all of those things now."

"Leda." His voice was half-warning, half-invitation. "What are you doing?"

"Provoking you." My hands were on his butt, pulling him closer as my hips pressed against him. "And teasing you."

A deep, low groan rumbled on his lips. "Hold on," he growled into my ear.

"Hold on? Hold on to what—"

My heart jumped as he swept me up into his arms.

"Hold on to me."

"Always," I promised him, wrapping my arms around him. I dropped my head to his chest and listened to the beautiful rhythm of his heart.

Nero carried me off down the hall. We passed a few soldiers along the way to my apartment. Some of them winked at me. Alec Morrows shot me two big thumbs up.

"Your friend Gypsy is right." Nero carried me through the front door of my apartment, across the living room, and into the bedroom.

"About what?" I asked as he set me down gently on the bed.

Nero removed all his leather armor faster than I'd thought possible. "Your new shampoo is having quite a pronounced effect on me."

I turned on my side, my gaze sliding down the length of him. "I can see that." I peeled myself off the mattress. "I missed you, Nero."

He replied with a sexy, easy twist of his lips. He reached out to me, his hand tracing my gown's plunging neckline.

"Do you like my dress?" I asked him with a coy flutter of my eyelashes.

"Yes." Nero slipped the strap off my right shoulder. "I really do." He slipped off the other strap, and my dress tumbled to my waist. "But not so much that I'll spare it by being gentle."

"But it's the most elegant and refined dress I own," I laughed.

"Right now, Leda, I just don't care."

My heart jumped in desperate anticipation. "Good."

Nero tugged my dress roughly over my hips and tossed it aside. I was now completely naked—except for the necklace he'd given me.

His hands returned to me, caressing the inside of my thighs as he slowly parted them. He met my eyes with a smile, then lowered himself between my legs. His kisses branded my belly. His mouth dipped lower.

A gasp escaped my lips.

He looked up at me. "Leda, we need to talk."

"Now?" I laughed hoarsely, my body shuddering with denied need.

"It's important. I want to make sure you realize I understand why you took that potion. I understand that you would do anything to protect our daughter from Faris. And I want to make sure you understand that I would do anything to protect our daughter too, with everything that I have."

"Even if it means she won't be born for a long time?"

"Someday, she will be born," he replied. "I can wait."

"You're very patient."

"Yes."

"Nero?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm not very patient at all," I told him.

"I'd noticed."

Then his mouth descended between my legs. His tongue flicked out, teasing me.

I moaned, and my hips lifted toward him.

"My Pandora." His mouth closed over me, and I screamed out.

White-hot pleasure collided with hard, desperate longing. I couldn't reach Nero, couldn't touch him. My fingernails clawed the mattress.

"Let's never fight again," I sobbed. "I can't bear to be without you."

He rose up my body, climbing on top of me. "It wasn't a real fight." He kissed my lips.

"Let's not ever fake fight either. Agreed?"

"Agreed." He pinned my hands to the bed.

I held my breath.

He dipped his mouth to my neck. "Tomorrow, we're going on a vacation." One of his fangs brushed lightly against my skin, teasing but not breaking the surface.

My pulse was pounding so hard, I barely heard him. "Nyx will never let us go. We're in the middle of a crisis."

"We're always in the middle of a crisis. After two hundred years, I'm taking a damn vacation."

"Where will we go?"

He licked his lips. "It's a surprise."

"Should I be worried?"

"Yes, Pandora." His green eyes flashed with untamed sexuality. "You should be very worried."

He drew in a deep breath, drinking in my scent for a moment, then his fangs sank into me. Liquid fire shot through my veins. My body quaked and quivered in pleasure and pain. I wanted him so badly I could hardly stand it. Our fight had left a hollow, empty hole inside of me, an ache only he could fill.

A gasp broke my lips as he slid inside of me. He captured my lips with his mouth, his searing kiss ruthless, unrelenting. Our bodies moved together in a rhapsody of love and lust. Heat pulsed through my body. My body twitched, caught on the precipice of ecstasy.

Nero shuddered, a deep growl tearing out of his mouth. I could feel everything he felt: my mind buzzed with his thoughts, my heart sang with his love, and my body pulsed with his pleasure. The force of his rapture crashed against me like a tidal wave, the explosion sending me spiraling into oblivion.

My body was still shuddering when he folded his arms around me.

"Leda?"

"Yes?"

"When you applied to join the Legion, I tried to dissuade you."

"I remember," I yawned. All those days of unsettled sleep weighed on me.

"Well, I'm really glad that you don't always listen to me."

I chuckled. "I'll remember you said that the next time we have a difference of opinion."

Then I snuggled up close to him and closed my eyes.

* * *

I wasawoken by the sensation of a rather large cat nipping at my nose. I groaned and rolled over, which did nothing to dissuade Angel. She followed me and promptly resumed her attack.

"Could you let out the cat?" I asked Nero.

He cracked open an eyelid. "No need. The window's open. She must have let herself in last night."

"So what you're saying is, we have ourselves a cat burglar." I flashed him a grin.

Nero opened his eyes enough to give me a blank stare. Apparently, my joke wasn't as funny as I thought it was.

"Come on, give me a break. It's not even…" I glanced at the clock. "…eleven o'clock in the morning. Damn, we missed breakfast. And they were serving pancakes today too. Hey, here's an idea. How about we invite Damiel over and he can make us some pancakes?"

This time, Nero's stare was even flatter. "The jokes aren't getting better, Pandora."

"I never joke about food."

Angel nipped my hand.

"Hey, what's the deal? You want pancakes too?"

She tilted her head slightly to the side, as if considering the idea.

"When are you going to start feeding your cat normal food?" Nero asked me.

"She gets plenty of turkey and other wild mystery bird in her diet, don't you worry." A smile tugged on my lips.

"What is it?"

"You're so concerned with making sure Angel gets something decent to eat. I was just thinking that you'll make a great father."

"Parenting can't be any harder than keeping you out of trouble, Pandora."

"Very funny."

He kissed my forehead. "Funnier than your jokes anyway."

"Oh, don't stop on my account. You're on a roll, Windstriker," I said drily.

This time, it was my lips he kissed, and by the time he pulled away, a charming, devilish sparkle in his eyes, I hardly remembered I was supposed to be annoyed with him. I moved in to return the favor, but Angel planted herself between us.

"You sure are persistent today." I picked her up and set her down on the floor.

"I believe she's trying to tell us something," Nero said.

Indeed. Angel was pacing in front of the door like a soldier. Every few steps, she faced it and let out a low meow.

"Someone is out there," Nero told me. "In the living room."

I got out of bed and began to put on my clothes. "If it's Faris again, I swear I'm going to hit him with a flamethrower."

Nero was on his feet too. "It's unlikely hitting a god with a flamethrower will do anything."

"That's not true." I hopped into a pair of sweatpants with pink duckies all over them. "It will do something. It will make me feel better."

I grabbed my phone off the nightstand, chuckling as I read through my messages.

"What's so funny?" Nero asked me.

"Gypsy sent me a picture of her new car, paid for with part of her share of the one million dollars."

"Nyx isn't pleased that you paid the bounty hunters so much."

"She won't be pleased when we run off on vacation either, but we're not going to let that stop us, are we?" I rose to my tiptoes and kissed him lightly.

He grunted.

"Glad we're in agreement, General." I smiled against his lips. "The bounty hunters were very useful. Maybe I'll use them more often."

"You're dancing with danger, Pandora."

"Always," I said with a smirk, then slapped him on the butt.

Finally fully dressed, I opened the door. One of my parents was standing in my living room all right, but it wasn't Faris this time. It was Grace. She was dressed in a refined black skirt suit that made my getup look like something out of a circus by comparison.

"Leda." Her gaze panned down my legs. "Nice pants."

I wasn't sure how to respond to her unexpected comment, so I merely said, "I also have ones with yellow kittens all over them."

"You can wear them when we go to meet with Faris." She chuckled lightly. "The look on his face will be priceless."

"No, I think he'd still look at me like a weapon, albeit wrapped in fluffy sweatpants with kittens all over them." I folded my arms across my chest and gave her a cool look. "Just like you look at me."

"Leda, I can assure you—"

"Save your breath, Momikins. You're very charming, but under all that charm, there's only one truth."

Her perfect smile never wavered. "And what truth is that?"

"That you and Faris created me to be a weapon. I know about the Immortal rituals you performed on me when you were pregnant."

"Good."

I blinked in confusion. "Good?"

"Ignorance isn't truly bliss, Leda. Always remember that. If you are to fulfill your destiny, you need to know everything."

"What if I want a different destiny?" I demanded.

"Destiny isn't some menu dish that you can select at the cosmic buffet. It's your past, present, and future. There is no escaping it."

I really wasn't liking the finality of her tone.

"Yes, I performed the Immortal rituals on you," Grace said. "Because it was important. Do you honestly believe I'd remain pregnant for so many months if I didn't need to let the magic soak into you? No, I'd have snapped my fingers, and then you'd have been a baby in my arms."

Honestly, I'd never even thought about the gestation cycle of deities—or considered the possibility that they didn't have to be pregnant for as long as other people. After all, female angels carried their babies for nine months, just like humans did.

"Now that that's out of the way, we need to talk about your cat," Grace told me.

"My cat?"

"I've left several books on companion beasts over there." She indicated the coffee table. "Read through them. The information in there is vital to our mission."

"Mission? What mission?"

"The mission to destroy the Guardians, of course."

Oh. That mission.

"Don't look so glum. This is why I sent you your cat, after all," Grace said brightly.

"Nero sent me the cat."

"Minor details." She gave her hand a dismissive flick. "But who made sure he got you that particular cat, a cat with the potential to become your companion animal?"

I frowned. "You."

"Yes, of course, dear, I told you that already," she replied pleasantly.

"How else have you meddled in my life?" I demanded.

"Oh, not that much. I merely nudged you here and there in the right direction."

"During Leda's promotion ceremony, when she drank the Nectar for Siren's Song, you were the one who laced it with Venom." Nero's voice was perfectly checked, perfectly devoid of emotion.

Grace's eyes flashed with amusement. "Yes, I did. You're quite clever. It must be that good, solid Immortal blood of yours. That will mix well with Leda's magic." She spoke like she was breeding dogs.

"We already know you sent Nero dreams of me before we met," I told her.

"Good for you. But it doesn't change how madly in love you are with each other, does it?"

Nero stepped forward. "I don't like being manipulated."

I took his hand in a sign of solidarity. "Neither of us like it. And you've been manipulating my life all along, Grace."

She shrugged us off with a smile. "It was for your own good."

"Well, you failed," I told her. "All your manipulations of my magic were for nothing. I cannot see the future."

I'd tried to do it a few times last night, while standing in front of the dessert buffet, but the power hadn't shown itself. I could tell that magic wasn't even inside of me.

"You need to stop thinking so small, Leda. This was never about you. It was about your daughter." Grace set her hand over my flat belly. "The daughter of a god-demon and an Immortal. A daughter of light and dark, of active and passive magic. Of order and chaos. And of love, the love that you and Nero share. Love is the most powerful magic of all, the magic that binds all the other powers together. Faris and I never loved each other, but you and Nero do. And that, together with all the magic your daughter inherited from both of you, makes her the most powerful being in all the known realms."

"Your manipulations failed there too," I told her.

Her brows peaked. "Oh? Are you sure I truly failed?"

I peeled her hand off my belly. "I'm sure. I'm not pregnant. I took a potion."

"A potion meant to make infertile angels even less fertile. Yes, I know all about that." Light laughter buzzed on her lips. "Your daughter is made of grander stuff than mere angel magic, and she was conceived in love. Her magic is enormous, her future unstoppable. No potion can prevent her destiny. And it was her destiny to be conceived that night."

"No." I shook my head. "Nerissa's tests all say you're wrong."

"Tests meant for an angel," she replied, her face now serious. "Those tests check your magic levels, comparing them to those from other angels. But you are so much more than an angel, Leda. How do you think you had enough power to defeat Faith, one of the most powerful telepaths I have ever seen. It wasn't just the cat that helped you. Your daughter lent you her strength. Her magic lent you strength."

I shook my head. "No."

"Why do you think you've been able to smell things not even other angels can? Like the scent of Faith's magic. Your sense of smell has improved. And all your other magic too. You're pregnant, Leda, and that's just one of the perks."

"You're trying to trick me," I said.

"Reach out with your magic and touch your daughter. You will see this is no deception. You will see that I'm telling you the truth."

I didn't trust Grace for a second, but I had to know for sure. So, timidly, I reached out with my new telepathic magic.

I felt her. My daughter. She was there.

I couldn't sense her thoughts exactly. It was more like a presence. I could see what a truly amazing person she was going to be. Somehow, I could see it.

I tried to hold back the rising panic in me. Everything I'd done to keep her from Faris and Grace had been for nothing. They were going to take her from me. And I feared I wouldn't be able to stop them. My hands shook, and my knees buckled.

Nero caught me as I fell. He folded his arms around me, holding me tightly to him. I looked up and met his eyes. And that's when I realized that he too had reached out with his magic and found our daughter.

"It will be all right," he said softly.

"So now you both know the truth," Grace said. "You can feel it. You can feel the great being inside of you. You can feel her magic, her power, her soul. Some of that power was stolen from Faith, of course."

My head snapped around to her. "What?"

"Your daughter absorbed all of Faith's magic during the Last Ritual. That's why Faith doesn't have any magic anymore." She chuckled. "Faris is going to be so peeved when he realizes that."

I glowered at her. "You planned this all along."

"Well, of course I planned it," she laughed. "I couldn't let such a powerful telepath go to waste—or go to Faris's precious Orchestra."

"What exactly did you do?" I demanded.

"I found the girl and decided her magic was useful. So I made sure the Guardians found her brother and took him, but that they did not find Faith. Then I planted the idea in her head to use you to end all magic here on Earth. And then I made sure Eva had a little vision of a powerful telepath trying to control you."

"Eva is an Immortal," Nero said.

"And?" replied Grace. "The Immortals dream too. And of course they're so arrogant that they believe any dream is some powerful magic vision."

Nero frowned. "You wanted someone to recover the Last Ritual for you."

Grace winked at him. "Another point for the handsome angel."

"Don't flirt with my husband," I snapped at her. "It's creepy."

But Nero was immune to her charms. "So you used my parents, Nyx, Eva, and Jiro to recover the Last Ritual," he said coolly. "And you used Faith to perform it."

"Yes." She smiled. "I'd say it's all going exactly to plan."

Faris had been right about one thing: Grace was every bit as manipulative as he was, if not even more so.

Well, I wasn't going to let either of them have my daughter. A surge of love for her overcame me—my love and Nero's love and our little girl's love too. Grace wanted her. Faris wanted her. The whole damn universe wanted her. They wanted to use her, abuse her, and enslave her to serve their purposes.

No! Nero and I would not allow it. We would stand together, the two of us against the whole universe if we had to. Because they were not going to get their hands on our daughter.