Page 62 of All Your Deadly Truths (The Filthy Duet #2)

Xeraphine

“ I think the driver shit himself,” Kai croons, his hand tightly gripping my thigh.

My hand rests on his wrist, my thumbnail pressing just hard enough to dimple his skin, but not enough to draw blood. I hate to admit it, but I’m fucking nervous. And worse, I think I’ve made a mistake.

“Are you hungry? I’ll stop to get you something to eat.”

My opposite leg he isn’t holding down is bouncing, which I’m pretty sure is shaking the car.

“I love you.”

I’m probably going to have a heart attack. What am I thinking bringing this bitch back with us?

“Will you marry me?”

Something is going to go completely wrong; I already can feel it.

Fuck, what am I doing?

“I’d ask you to have my babies, but that seems ill-timed.”

If something happens to Kairhyse or Sydni because of this, I don’t know what I’m going to do.

“You stink.”

I turn my gaze over to him, catching a stupid grin on his face. “You told me we didn’t have time to get cleaned up! I have blood and guts all over me, what the fuck do you mean I smell? I literally smell like the club did when we left.”

He licks his lips, and shakes his head. “Are you hungry?”

I prop my feet up on the dash and let out a groan. I know my scent doesn’t bother him—this is just his way of getting my attention.

“Yes…” I murmur. “Should I roll the window down? Do I really stink?” I’m reaching for the window, but before I can press the button, his ha nd catches my chin. His eyes, unfocused on the road ahead, lock onto mine.

“You could smell like straight fucking ass, Xera, and I’d still lick you from head to toe.”

The edge of my lip pops up slightly.

“You are way overthinking this. We left no trail of where we are going, and those men Kayn had aid us, are going to send them in the complete opposite direction.” His thumb draws a line down my lips back to my chin, holding it steadily.

“Don’t worry. It was clean—our escape that is.

Nothing about what you did in there was sanitary. ”

My chest feels lighter—he’s right. Besides, he spent ages driving up and down the same highway before finally getting us back on track to the cabin. Nothing about our route made sense; it would take a damn hound trained in vehicular tracking to figure out where we even went.

I lean over the console, cupping his cheek as I press a kiss to the side closest to me. My forehead rests against his temple. “Thank you.”

He gives me that deep, throaty chuckle. “You’re welcome, little demon.”

Rubbing my nose along his jaw down to his neck, I wrap my arms around him and pull myself to him.

“Alright, I’ll do my best…” He shifts as I slide into his lap, adjusting seamlessly.

I know we’re pushing over a hundred on the highway, but I like it here.

The seat clicks back, and he wraps an arm around my waist, drawing me in. “… not to crash.”

He presses a kiss to my forehead, and I feel my Amoro purring. It’s vile. And yet, I can’t deny the warmth curling through me. My insides, at least.

I’ve always been perpetually cold. Not just my dead heart or my body’s temperature, but something deeper—a constant chill, like drinking freezing water that never quite leaves my system.

It starts behind my ears, drips down my spine and pools in my knees.

But now, giving in to this moment, it’s as if I’m wrapped in fire.

I rest my head against his shoulder, my forehead pressing into his neck, and release a slow, heavy breath through my nose.

“My kind is terrifying,” I say through a sigh, my hand tugging at his shirt idly. “I understand why we are dwindling. Imagine if I was inclined to be a dictator—anywhere. Bored one day? Command my armies to send out the nukes.”

He chuckles, shifting to swap hands so he can wrap the arm closest to my back around my shoulders, pulling me deeper into his hold. He stays silent and in this moment, I’m glad. No need to acknowledge that he’s thought the same thing .

I may not be inclined to do it right now, but with an eternal life, I could slowly destroy this world.

Who could stop me?

I hear a loud thump in the back, but promptly ignore it. “I wish she’d just go away.”

That makes him lean his head back to look down at me, and with an incredulous tone, says, “Tali?”

I nod.

“No,” he nearly growls. “She’s going to fucking?—”

“Die?” I cut him off, swallowing roughly. “Kai…” Feeling his arm tremble, I stop mid-thought. Fear isn’t in my nature—it never has been. The thought of that woman taking him like she threatened, does strike terror into me.

I should feel weak knowing that if she ever had him and used him as collateral, I’d give her everything she wanted. As long as she didn’t touch him, hurt him… take him from me.

Yet, I don’t feel weak for it, and I think of what Kayn said: love .

A sense of power flows through me knowing how badly I want to keep him safe and protect what is mine .

It still terrifies me, because it makes me vulnerable in a way that I’ve never been before.

“I never really liked hunting.” I suck a sharp breath in as he begins talking, breaking our moment of silence. “When I was a kid, my dad would take me, said it brought us back to our roots when we had to fend for everything ourselves.”

I lift a hand to his, the one draped lazily over my shoulder, and lace our fingers together.

“It reminded me of our destruction.” His thumb brushes against my knuckles.

“I had never picked up a gun, not until I was fourteen. My uncle and my dad were trailing a set of deer tracks when we ran into a group of hunters—likely in their twenties. They had been drinking, said that we were fucking up their hunt,” he huffs.

“Assholes shot my uncles leg, accidentally .” There is no missing the sarcasm.

“My dad was not violent, but obviously it was his brother.

He fired back and I had never been so terrified up until that point in my life.

“I had grabbed my uncle’s shotgun.” He leans his cheek against the top of my head while pausing. “Blew one of the guys’ heads off by accident .”

“Nice,” I comment. “Fuck that guy.”

He chuckles, and I enjoy how I can feel it rumble straight from his chest to his throat .

“Why are you telling me this?” It used to annoy me when he talked, but that had nothing to do with him—just me trying to push him away. Now, I love hearing him. When I told Brice I preferred silence, I wasn’t talking about Kairhyse.

“I almost didn’t go with them,” he continues. “But the 'what if' of staying behind sent me to therapy. It wasn’t the trauma of killing a man that haunted me—it was the thought that, if I hadn’t been there, they might never have made it home.”

A hum escapes me before I say, “What if’s create fear. It’s the one thing that bitch said that I’ll agree with.”

The car begins to slow down, not to stop, but enough that when his hand unlocks from mine and grabs the back of my neck, I’m not concerned about us crashing. I mean, I wasn’t before, but going one hundred as both hands come off the steering wheel would have given me a bit to worry about.

The opposite hand not holding me like a beer bottle presses right between my breasts.

“Stop concerning yourself over my death.” He pulls me upward, his breath fanning against my lips. “You hadn’t before, now all of a sudden you are treating me like I’m glass.”

My jaw clenches, but I stay silent.

“If you recall, I bested you in the forest.” He smirks, his eyes darting forward out the front window, before coming back to me. “They all fucking die. Including her. Do you hear me?”

I nod.

“Words, Xera.” My eyes round. “Use them.”

I search his gaze, seeing the same rage and anger that was there the moment I told him what those five assholes had done to me. I’d seen it when I came back from the twins, and on so many other occasions. He’d die to give me my revenge, just as I would to obtain it.

“They die,” I say as he pushes his mouth against mine.

I know he isn’t glass. He could likely take all of Sidence down if he was strategic enough.

They aren’t who I’m worried about.

It’s just… Tali .

A few hours later, we pull up to the cabin. I’d borrowed Kairhyse’ s phone to text Kayn—whom I still need to get the number for. I also need to find Harper, if she’s still alive. Gods knows she isn’t missing me, but I still need a therapist, and fuck starting over with that bullshit.

Tyson? Well… I won’t be needing his number. I’ll miss him, truly, but I know he wanted to be with his family. He learned to live with the pain of losing them. Now, I can only hope that the Gods were kind enough to allow him passage to be with them.

Both Kayn and Alaric, fucking wonderful , are standing at the end of the driveway.

Still curled in Kai’s lap, I start to ease off him the moment the car stops.

He’s too tall to carry me out, and he confessed the last time he’d slammed my head against the frame of the door when I had passed out on him.

Asshole .

As we exit, I stretch my arms over my head and hear Kayn chuckling. “You two look like you had a lot of fun. Now I wish I could have joined in a threesome.”

He and Kairhyse are the same fucking person. I swear to Belial himself, I cannot be around them both simultaneously.

“Where were you?” the Fallen twat seethes.

Promptly ignoring him, I smack on the trunk, a loud shriek bellowing from it. “Pop it.”

After a moment, it unlatches, and I swing it open. Desiray stares up at me, mascara streaked down her cheeks, and eyes bloodshot. Her arms are bound behind her, ankles cuffed together. I can’t help but give her a devious smile.

“Welcome home.”

She shakes her head, and though I haven’t gagged her, all she does is whimper. Pleading is pointless now—I think I scare her.

No, I know I scare her. The smell of piss and fear radiate out of this trunk.

Grabbing her, I toss her over my shoulder forcefully. I would smack her ass for good measure, but she’s soiled herself. When I look at Kayn, he has a toothy grin, Alaric however, looks less pleased with the scene. Truthfully, I could give no fucks, but I’m curious enough to inquire.

“What has your panties in a bunch?” Moving toward the house, Kai meets me at my side and strides with me.

“Where… were you?” I’m no longer surprised with Alaric’s audacity, but it’s grating on my nerves. “I’d ask if you did anything stupid, but by the looks of both of you, I already know that answer. Why do you have her? That’s Desiray Ansford. Which means you were in Sidence.”

A chuckle rolls from my monster. “You answered your own question. Piss off.” He steps forward and tries to shove the Fallen, but it’s useless, he doesn’t budge.

Narrowing my eyes, I also attempt to brush past him, but he just steps immediately in front of me. “Xeraphine.” He sighs, and I’m surprised at the concern in his tone. “You have to be careful. That was reckless, and dangerous, what if she?—”

“I had her,” Kai seethes.

“Like you had her before?!” He steps toward Kairhyse, his eyes beginning to glow a bright azure. “You took her to a snake’s pit and hoped they were docile. You bet on her life, for what?”

I’m not at all surprised when Kai slams a fist into his face, and as Alaric disappears, my shoulder jumps with a single chuckle. The moment I’m ready to keep walking, Alaric is flying past me and punching Kairhyse square in the jaw.

As I’m about to drop the bitch over my shoulder, I feel a weight settle over us.

It’s not just that—the world goes dark. It’s the middle of the afternoon, the sun’s out, but suddenly, it’s gone.

An eclipse casts its shadow, drenching us in a darkness that feels like the Beyond has opened its gates and swallowed us whole.

Alaric is before me when he turns his gaze to me, a questioning look about him. As if he thinks it’s me that is doing this.

I’m not.

“I don’t like you.” When Kayn speaks, I now understand what is happening. I hadn’t lied to Kairhyse when he asked if I’d known a many Vampire. The truth is I’ve met only a handful, conversed with even less of them. However, I’d done as much research on them as I had on Shifters.

Kayn, he… Holy fuck , they were said to have gone extinct.

An Umbraen. They bring on the night, cast out the sun in a several mile radius.

“You’ll not touch either of these two,” he continues.

Umbraen pair best with Veilsidian because their power thrives in the shadows. The red of the covered sun deepens into the darkest twilight, amplifying their reach.

“That includes present, and in the future.”

Alaric turns his head, his fists clenching.

Kairhyse is a Veilsidian.

The moment I swallow, my monster is emerging from the casted shadow of the Fallen. His bright red eyes glowing as he grabs hold of Alaric, and yanks him down into the darkness.

I look around, my heart beating a million miles a second. Belial himself, it was as if the shadow itself swallowed them both .

“Where did—” A loud crash has me turning slowly, the taxi we had stolen now bent inward right down its center. Alaric’s arm twitches as it pokes from the metal.

A soft gasp filters in from the house, and I can tell that it’s Sydni. Three sets of feet come rushing toward me, and I sigh. I don’t want them interrupting, because this is sexy as fuck. I’d like to watch in peace, my monster throw around the Fallen as if he is a godsdamn rag doll.

Kai emerges from the shadows and grabs at Alaric’s ankle, beginning to peel him from the wreckage. The scraping of the metal tears into the Fallen’s sides, and as he hisses, his hand grips onto Kairhyse’s. His foot swings up before he can fall to the ground, barely missing Kai’s face.

“Stop it!” Niyla screams, rushing past me.

Desiray is being such a good girl, not squirming or making even a peep. If it weren’t for her racing heart, I’d think she was dead.

“Rhysie-poo, don’t do this! We are supposed to be working together.”

Sighing, I lean my head against Desiray’s body. Kai, with what looks like minimal effort, tosses Alaric off to the side and turns his gaze over to me.

I can fucking hear him thinking. “ See? Not glass, little demon ”.

Rolling my eyes, I shake my head. “Do you have a basement?”

Kayn chuckles, moving forward and stepping between us and Alaric. “Unbothered mistress, I absolutely love it,” he croons.

“I’m just trying to protect you, Xera.” Turning my back on him, he continues. “Don’t be reckless. It isn’t just your life that hangs in every choice you make.”

I take pleasure in ignoring Alaric, watching his fury rise along his skin. Maybe, just maybe, he’ll realize I’m too much for him and finally fuck off with his delusional quest to create a superior being.

Bouncing Desiray on my shoulder causes her to let out a whimper, and I pat her thigh. “You’ve earned yourself a meal. Thanks for being a good little bitch while I watched.”