Page 48 of All Your Deadly Truths (The Filthy Duet #2)

Kairhyse

I t’s day four of this never-ending drive, and Xera is behind the wheel. She claims she drove when she was sixteen and was terrible at it. Now, at thirty, she’s still pretty bad. I needed an hour break—my legs were starting to stiffen—but, honestly, I’m starting to think this wasn’t my best idea.

“Why are you so fucking nervous? It isn’t like we will die!” The way she taps on the brakes so roughly doesn’t surprise me. She’s not gentle in anything that she does, and that includes coming to a stop.

I laugh nervously. “I can still be decapitated.”

The moment her hand leaves the steering wheel to swat me, I immediately grab it and keep it attached. “Please, little demon, I don’t want to crash. At the next exit, just pull over and I’ll stretch for a little.”

“You said it was fine that I try!” she shouts, causing Sydni to burst out laughing in the back seat. “And you! Passenger princess, why aren’t you driving?!”

Brice grumbles.

“You too, asshole!”

The two of them had recently joined us, and while I’m thrilled to have my butterfly in the car, I’m far less enthusiastic about Brice.

His presence was a condition—a near-bloody battle—for Sydni to swap cars.

Apparently they’re worried the three of us might ditch them.

While the thought has crossed my mind, I won’t make a move until Xera gives me the go-ahead.

Both of them offered to drive, but my little demon was determined to at least try. And while it’s undeniably adorable how much effort she puts in, it’s also utterly terrifying.

“I said I’d drive,” Brice says with a gruff undertone. “You two could’ve sat in the back. Sydni and I would’ve taken the front.”

I don’t like that Xera takes her eyes off the road to look back at the Werewolf. Her upturned lips all-telling how she feels about him.

“Baby, the road,” I say gently.

She jerks the wheel and swerves onto the shoulder, ignoring the fact that this isn’t an exit. Now, we’re parked on the side of a busy highway. Without a glance at the oncoming traffic, she throws open the driver’s side door and stomps off toward the ravine.

“Come this way,” Brice says to Sydni as he opens his door. She scurries across, and I’m relieved to see her starting to come back into herself. The weeks without Xera and not feeding had taken their toll, but now her bright smile is returning, and her long lashes are back to their fluttering ways.

Alaric and Niyla stop behind us, but don’t exit their vehicle.

My eyes follow Xera as she picks something up and tosses it into the stream at the bottom of the bank. I hesitate to call this a tantrum—she isn’t a child, she’s overwhelmed and overstimulated. This isn’t her element, and I suppose I need to be more sensitive to that.

Maybe .

Moving down the pathway, I make my way to her.

“Stupid fucking Mundane bullshit,” she grumbles. “I hear you. Stop trying to be quiet.”

I chuckle. “I’m not. Just simply walking to you.”

Her head snaps to the side as she glances over her shoulder at me. I’m braced for my usual psychotic little demon to unleash that sharp tongue of hers, but instead, she surprises me.

“I knew I’d be no good at this.”

Narrowing my eyes, I tilt my head. “At?”

“Normal.” She looks away and kicks a loose rock, sending it skittering across the water’s surface.

“Cooking. Driving. I’m—” She throws her head back and runs her hands up, drawing her fingers through her thick, black waves.

“I shouldn’t let it get to me, but it’s just another stupid reminder of the shit that was taken from me.

I barely learned to drive when I graduated high school.

It was a big reason I worked so many hours. I wanted to buy a car and keep trying.”

I release a sigh through my nose. “I know, and I’m not patronizing you. Your driving is bad, but you’ll learn.”

Turning to me, she rolls her eyes. “That’s the thing, Kairhyse, I don’t want to learn.

Not because I don’t think I’m capable—because I am— it’s just…

it will make me complacent. Pretending that I’m some normal girl with a driver’s license.

Can you see me standing at the MVD, taking a godsdamn photo, registering my fingerprints? I can’t.”

“Your license photo would probably be the sexiest one this world has ever seen,” I tease.

“Fuck my life, Kai.” She closes her eyes and drops her head back.

“When I learned to drive, I was a natural. You know what I wasn’t a natural at?

” I close the small distance between us and wrap an arm around her neck.

“Having patience. It took me a long time to get here, and learning that when you’ve got a diagnosed attention disorder?

It’s… challenging.” Her eyes open as she leans her head forward, meeting my gaze.

“You don’t have to drive. You don’t have to cook.

Baby, you don’t even have to walk if you don’t want to. ”

She groans. “No, I will not be having you carry me anywhere.”

“Then crawl to me.” I press my lips lightly to hers. “Roll to me. Whatever. What I’m trying to get through to you is I will take you as you come. My psychotic, moody, little demon.”

When her nose twitches, I anticipate the jab to my side, and try to move away. “I’m not moody.” My head falls back as I bark out a laugh. “Asshole.”

As my teasing subsides, I glance back at her. There’s a soft crease between her brows, but a smile lingers on her lips. “You want me to crawl to you?”

“You’d send me to the grave,” I purr, my growing cock pressing tightly to my pants at the imagery. “I’ll come back, but, little demon if you crawl to me, I may cease to function.”

She lets out a soft laugh, and I’m grateful to have pulled her from the darkness she was falling into. “Weirdo.”

Placing a kiss between her brows, she leans into my embrace. “Come on, let’s have Brice drive and I’ll rub your feet in the backseat.”

“Kai, the last time you gave me a foot massage, it turned into you fucking my ass.” My arms tighten around her shoulders, a soft hum coming from my lips at the memory. “I do not want to do that in front of that Werewolf and my princess, please.”

I don’t respond, just scoop her up and toss her over my shoulder.

“Damn it, I’m serious!”

After driving straight for another two days—only stopping for gas and swapping drivers—we make it to my home in Aurelia Peaks .

The city is eclectic and old, in the sense there are no towering skyscrapers or modern touches.

It’s held its roots, embracing a more historic presence with wooden structures versus metal and steel.

The main town sits centralized between towering mountains that, during the winter, are snowcapped.

This is a tourist destination during the holiday seasons, and houses one of the busiest ski resorts on the continent.

I’d argue the world, but I’m not entirely sure what rests outside of Everhaven anymore.

My cabin is situated in the woodland, just at the base of the mountains, right on the lake.

A two-story wooden and stone structure that bleeds into the ambiance of the Aurelia Forest. The interior is modernized, because it gets very cold, and while I’m not subjected to temperature shifts, anyone that visited would.

I’ve had this for over two hundred years, and up until the last of my lineage died fifty or so years ago, my Mundane family would come to this place and use it as a vacation home.

The girls decided to grab clothes before settling in—or rather, Xeraphine needed clothes, and it quickly turned into a “girls’ outing.”

I’m outside, soaking in the beautiful weather and watching the motorized cleaner sweep across the rock floor of the lap pool. The serene moment is interrupted when my phone buzzes in my pocket.

Pulling it out, I see a text from an unknown number.

Unknown number

It’s Xera, got a phone.

Very good, now I can stalk you.

Unknown number

What do you put me in as your contact name?

Moody little demon

Moody Little Demon

I’m not moody, change it or lose your penis

Okay, what about future wife

Future Wife

No

How about… my tight-ass succubus

My Tight-Ass Succubus

You don’t play with my ass enough to comment so much on it

Is that a challenge?

My Tight-Ass Succubus

Yes

What are you putting?

Little Demon

My Eternity

Okay, I’ll accept that

Sydni told me to put Rhyse-poo but I refuse

I’ll put My Monster

I approve

See you in a few hours

My Eternity

Okay

I’ll buy pancake mix

A chuckle escapes my throat just as the sliding glass door opens behind me.

The sound of heavy footsteps follows, and I can’t help but feel a flicker of relief.

I’m so close to fighting that damn Fallen, it’s not even a joke anymore.

Even though Xera told me not to initiate confrontation, it feels inevitable.

I understand her reasoning—it’s not about his safety, it’s about mine.

“This place is beautiful, Kairhyse,” Brice says as he comes to stand beside me. “It reminds me of home, which is saying something.”

I tuck my hands into my pockets. “Where are you from?”

“Lualani, it’s where my pack originates from.”

Turning, my eyebrows pinch as I scrutinize him. “How long ago did you leave your pack?” He had to have left them. Lualani is a cluster of islands off the west coast of Everhaven, and I know enough of that pack to understand he didn’t ask or notify them of his departure.

I understand his size now—the Lual Pack is notorious for their… stature. Thankfully Sydni is a Vampire, especially with how infatuated they both seem with each other.

“Twenty years ago, give or take.”

Werewolves can live for centuries, sometimes even longer, due to their unique biology. I’m curious how old he is, but I won’t ask—it’s not something I need to know.

“Is that why you didn’t correct Sydni about you being a Shifter?”

“She just assumed, and most ask Werewolves what pack they belong to…” He grumbles. “I didn’t want to lie to her more than I had been, so I didn’t disagree or agree, if that makes sense.”

“I see.” It doesn’t really matter now, and I can see Sydni not questioning him on his species.

He takes a deep breath as a gentle breeze wafts through the forest, bringing scents of pine.

“Why do you serve Alaric?” I have my own issues with this Werewolf, but I don’t think they all stem from his actions alone.

Something tells me that the Fallen was the real reason he tricked Sydni.

Or maybe he never intended to get close to my little butterfly at all.

I can’t blame him—she’s hard not to fall in love with.

While my care for her comes strictly from friendship, I can see it’s much more than that for him.

When he glances over his shoulder, I doubt he’ll respond, but after a moment of pause, he finally speaks. “He’s a friend. I don’t serve him. He helped me escape my pack, and I owed him for that. He never asked for anything until this, with Xeraphine.”

Circling around him, I move to where the patio ends, and I’m glad he follows as we step between the trees. “And you were just okay tricking a poor girl?—”

“You seeing it that way tells me you haven’t been paying attention.

” The rumble in his tone hints at me striking a nerve.

“My intention was to just get close, but then it turned to protecting her. Sydni was fragile, friends with a Succubus that was out murdering dangerous people, you have to see my position.”

I blow air through my nose. “They were together for nearly seven years. Not a hair had been touched on that girl. Not until you two showed up.”

“No. Until Xera began getting her revenge.”

“It doesn’t change the fact that, at any point, Alaric could’ve revealed what you two were up to, and it might have saved Sydni from an eternal life of feeding off blood to survive.”

A growl vibrates from him, which better not be directed at me. I’m only telling him the truth. “Do I regret not telling her? Yes. Regardless of what you both think, I care about Sydni.”

“I have no doubt you do.” As I finish my sentence I look up at him, his yellow eyes shifting to mine. “What do you gain from helping him?”

“Me, nothing. I’m doing this for Sydni at this point. Not for you, not for Xeraphine, and definitely not for Alaric.”

“You sure as shit seemed keen on getting my girl?—”

“For Sydni.” We come to a stop and he runs his hand up through his gray hair.

“The Fallen’s motives are simple. He wants Xeraphine to help him create a new, superior race, as a middle finger to the Gods that cast him out for being merciful.

I get it”—he puts a hand up, giving me an expression of settle down there is a but coming — “but I don’t think it’s right.

If she doesn’t want to help him, that’s that.

Him falling from grace for not killing a child is fucked, and I feel like we can both agree on that. ”

That’ll be the only thing I’ll ever be grateful for. Him not ending my girl before she even had the chance to fight. However, his motives piss me off. Why is it that everyone wants what’s mine? Him. Her mother. Lars. Belial himself.

Why? Why, why , why ?!

“He’ll never have her,” I say flatly.

Brice sighs. “I know… and he knows that with you—her Mark—being in her life, that it’ll never happen.”

Something in the way he says it makes me pause my next thought. He’s staring at me, giving me this moment, because his words weren’t random—they weren’t a slip-up. They were purposeful.

“Is he…”

With a heavy sigh, he shakes his head. “I’m not… informed, ho’omaopopo , of the entire thing. But, killing a Succubae’s Mark is eternal damnation no matter who does it. Even if Xera were to end your life, it would damn her. What that means, I’m unsure.”

“You are lucky, Vampire, that you are who you are.”

I’d wondered what he had meant by that statement, but now it makes sense.

“I’m telling you to be careful. Sydni loves you.” He turns his head slightly, as if listening, before continuing, “And she loves Xeraphine more than I think she’ll ever love anyone else. I can’t see her lose any more than she already has.”

When our gazes meet, there is clarity in what he is silently saying. Loyalty; it is branded into Werewolves at birth, and beats within them as though their own hearts. It’s very clear where that lies now, and it is with my butterfly.

“Thank you,” I say, ready to head back as it felt like this conversation was done. However, he grabs my bicep and ceases my movements.

“He wouldn’t raise a blade to your throat.” He lowers his voice to a mere whisper. “But wouldn’t stop someone else from doing so.”