Page 67 of All Your Deadly Truths (The Filthy Duet #2)

Kairhyse

I t’s been three days, and nothing has been able to keep me still. I could care less that Kayn has told me time works differently there, and it’s likely only been an hour, if not less. It’s nonexistent, and because of that I should just settle down .

“It’s because I love you, godsdamn it!” Fuck the Gods above, Xeraphine. “I’d suffer a million deaths to ensure I have you to come home to.”

My body aches—whether it’s my heart, which stopped beating the moment she walked away, or my mind, which won’t stop racing. It all hurts. And the second she’s back, all I’ll want is to run away with her. To let everything that happened to my girl vanish like the wind.

To have what’s mine without anyone trying to claim her.

How did I fall in love with a woman wanted by the Beyond, the Vayl, and this mortal world alike?

She is my everything, and at this point, the world and everyone on it can fuck off.

“Checkmate,” Brice says, getting a long, drawn out groan from Sydni. I’ve been pacing back and forth in front of the floor to ceiling windows, staring out into the darkening forest.

It’s a strange sensation. I hadn’t realized it until she was gone, but I don’t feel her presence anymore.

It truly is like a part of me is missing, as though I’d severed my body in half, and was only functioning with the phantom limbs my mind created for me.

I suspect it’s because of me claiming her, but equally I being her Mark.

“Want to give it a go, Kairhyse? Kayn?” I don’t look at the Werewolf, I don’t even peek at my friend. I’m having a hard time not snapping at the smallest of conversations .

No one has spoken to me since I nearly made Sydni cry, and I feel like shit for it. She didn’t deserve that. But damn it, if she had asked me one more time how I could have just ‘let her go’, I would have lost it.

So instead, I just told her to leave me alone.

I know there’s no one in this world she loves more than Xeraphine. That’s why she was upset, I get it.

“Rhyse-poo?” As though I had summoned her through my thoughts, she appears in front of me. “Talk with me?”

I take a deep breath, looking down into her crimson eyes with a solemn expression. “I’m fine, Syd. Just… I just need silence, but I can’t be alone.” Placing my hand against her cheek, I give her a smile. My thumb draws under her eye. “I know you’re concerned.”

She places one hand over mine, the other around my wrist, holding on tight.

I know her desire to talk isn’t necessarily out of concern for me.

As close as she is to Brice, she wants to be with us—Xera and me.

It’s where she feels comfortable, and while I hate shrugging her off, this is my comfortable place: silence in the presence of others.

Someone’s cell vibrates, causing both Sydni and I to look in its direction. Niyla grabs her phone off the counter and answers it.

“Everything okay?” My eyes narrow as she speaks. Who could be calling her, and why would she be asking that?

My concern becomes more evident as her eyebrows pinch, and she jerks her head in my direction.

“Interesting…” She moves the phone away from her face. “Do you own a cat?”

Sydni quite literally shrieks. “Mister?!”

“Black fur, yellow eyes?—”

“Yes, yes! Oh my Gods!” Tears immediately spring from her eyes.

“Who is that?” I ask.

“Butler…”

My immediate thought is that cat has to be the smartest creature ever to have found Alaric’s mansion. The second one, is how ?

Niyla puts the phone back to her ear, and slowly her face shifts to something unreadable. “I don’t understand. Is he a Shifter?”

The devastation that washes over Sydni prompts Brice to stand and move toward her, his hand wrapping around the back of her neck. She turns to him, burying her face in the center of his chest.

I can’t hear whomever it is on the other line very well. Most mobile companies have blockers muffling the sound, since Vampires would hear every conversation imaginable. So I’m not surprised her model has it.

Although it is quite annoying, I must admit .

Kayn’s tone is sharp when he says, “Someone’s coming.”

It’s then I hear tires on the gravel driveway, and stiffen. All of us, except Niyla, seem to stop breathing.

She puts her hand up. “It’s Alaric’s butler, Ismael. Relax…”

I’d barely spoken to the man, had only caught a glimpse of him, because rarely had I made eye contact with anyone during those first few days Xeraphine had been taken.

Why the Beyond is he here?

We silently make our way outside just as a dark Lincoln pulls up. All the windows are blacked out, and it looks squeaky clean — go figure.

The moment he comes to a stop, the driver side door opens, and through the darkness of the night I can’t miss the bright yellow eyes of Mister as he jumps from the car. A loud, murrrow , echoing through the silence around us.

Thank Gods. All I can think in this moment is how happy Xeraphine is going to be.

Sydni squeals. “Oh my goodness, it is Mister!”

I’m a little concerned how Ismael knows where we are.

Alaric stated he wouldn’t be telling anyone, including his Butler.

So, looks like that little shit lied—am I surprised?

Not really, but I’ll be happy to tell my little demon when she gets home.

Hopefully she’ll beat his ass, or allow Kayn and I to do so.

Mister barrels across the way, and for a moment, I assume he’s going to leap straight into my butterfly’s arms. But he doesn’t. Instead, he charges right past her and stops in front of me, sitting at my feet.

“You didn’t tell me Xeraphine had a Familiar,” Kayn remarks.

“A… what?”

Murrrowww. Murrow. Brrrooow.

“Hmm, you don’t talk?” he continues, stepping up and kneeling down in front of the feline. “Luce’s did.”

The moment he is going in for a pet, Mister hisses and swats at his hand. His hackles raise and he bares his fangs. He’s never really liked anyone beyond Sydni and myself. I remember he wasn’t a fan of Tyson, unsure why, but during the few days we were all together he’d stay clear of him.

“Don’t take it personally,” Syd says. “What’s a Familiar? Like a pet?”

Kayn doesn’t stand, instead pointing his finger right at the cats nose. “Talk kitty, I know you can.”

Mister hisses louder.

I think Kayn may be losing his mind. He is quite old, after all.

“He’s just a cat.” I move around him and lean down toward Mister, brushing my hand across his head straight to his tail. “There’s no way that Xeraphine wouldn’t have…” My words trail off as the cat’s head lifts, its piercing slit eyes narrowing into a line before disappearing. “Known…”

“Kairhyse.” The moment his mouth opens and my name filters through, Sydni shrieks. His melodic voice, with an accent that is what my parents sounded like but much, much , thicker, nearly makes me fall back onto my ass. I physically have to lean forward onto my knees to prevent myself from doing so.

He tilts his head, his tail wagging from left to right. “I do apologize for startling you, it took quite a long time for me to retrace your steps.”

Looking between his eyes, I’m searching for the world I fell from. I’ve never heard of a Familiar before, nor have I had a cat talk to me. Shifters don’t speak in their animal forms, and having Brice speak while a wolf was strange enough.

“My name is Aphyllius, but I have come to like Mister. Your friend is right, I am a Familiar to my master, Xeraphine.”

“Master?” Sydni says breathlessly. “What the frick is happening?!”

Shaking my head to break free from the shock I’m in, I take a deep breath. “I’m sorry, you’ll have to forgive me but, what the fuck… Why didn’t my little demon know about you?”

“It is complicated, as is everything in that girl’s life.” He stands on all fours and begins moving toward the house. When I look up, everyone, including Ismael who looks scared out of his mind, is staring at me.

As if I have fucking answers.

I mouth, “I have no idea.”

“Come, I’ll explain.” I can’t believe a cat just beckoned me. “Now that Xera has been summoned to the Beyond, things have become far more complicated.”

Once we are situated back inside the house, I watch as Mister jumps from the floor, up onto the kitchen island.

His movements are fluid, and I’m wondering if I had just not paid attention before.

It’s like he’s walking seamlessly through water, slow but methodical.

Maybe all cats are graceful, and I’m overthinking this.

“How do you know that Xera is in the Beyond?” Sydni asks. I can hear Kayn letting out a knowing chuckle.

“Us Familiar can connect with our master’s Amoro’s, known as the Common Sight.

Unfortunately, the disconnect between Xera and her Demon has kept me from doing so.

It was only until a few days ago, I was able to see through her.

Unsure what happened, but she now is fully in control of who, and what, she is. ”

I swallow and look to Kayn, the knowing expression on his face tells me I’ve not lost my mind. That, and, Mister is telling the truth. “Familiars can see into their master’s mind, body, and soul—everything from sight to smells to sounds. They become a part of them when they choose to.”

“Exactly.” There’s a brief pause, and a million thoughts, both concerned and angry ones, flood through my head.

“You mortals are so easily readable.” He chuckles mid-sentence.

“Let me just make this easy. I’ll tell you my story and then allow you to ask questions.

” He sounds older, like an ancient being speaking through pages of a history book.

“First,” I cut in before he can get started. “Tell me why you didn’t tell her about what you were.”