Page 84 of Gray

I nodded and rubbed my eyes. “I probably have a few more minutes in me. Good thing we brought your truck. Don’t think I can fly.”

“Guess I’ll have to carry you.”

As he squatted down to let me on his back, I smiled so big my cheeks hurt. I crawled on and wrapped my arms around his neck. He grabbed my legs and stood to his full height before walking back the way we’d come.

“How’s the hunt?”Alastair asked telepathically.

“We’re done. Heading home now.”

“Good,”he responded.“Lazarus is here.”

And just like that, my smile fell and hot lead dropped into the pit of my stomach. That could only mean one thing: an update about my dad.

The bubble I’d been living in with Mason popped, and reality flooded back in. We were at war. The fate of the world rested on our shoulders. And a gut feeling told me it was about to get much worse.

Chapter Twelve

Mason

A heavy thump in the back of my truck nearly made me run off the road. Gray had fallen asleep before we’d left the cemetery and rested against me, lightly snoring. The racket didn’t disturb him at all.

Were we being attacked? Had we missed one of the ghouls and it was chasing after us?

Black feathers gleamed in my peripherals before the passenger-side door opened and Raiden slid into the cab.

“Hey,” he said with a grin once seated, holding a brown takeout bag. He had tucked his wings back into his shoulder blades.

Gray was between us in the middle seat and made a sleepy little noise as he nuzzled my arm.

“You scared the piss out of me, and all you have to say for it is ‘hey’?”

“Oh. Sorry.” Raiden blinked at me before offering me the bag. “Wanna burger?”

“No. I don’t.”

“Suit yourself.” He unwrapped one and took a massive bite. Shirtless, his abs were on full display. All muscle, no fat. With how much he ate, he must’ve had an insanely high metabolism to keep in shape. “I was hungry. Kinda hard to fly and eat sometimes.”

“Just like walking and chewing gum?”

“Nah, I can do that. But I hate chewing gum. Like, what’s the point of putting something in your mouth if you can’t eat it?”

Dicks came to mind, but I didn’t want to risk him choking on his food if I brought it up.

“You okay?” I asked him, noticing the blood dripping down his bicep.

“Ah, this?” Raiden shrugged it off. “Yeah, it’s nothing. Five shades jumped me, and one tore into my arm. It’ll be healed in no time.”

Before he finished his sentence, the wound started to close. Their healing powers were extraordinary. Like some kind of Wolverine fromX-Menshit.

Gray napped in the truck during the twenty-minute drive to the mansion. Raiden didn’t talk. He just ate his burgers and bobbed his head to the song on the radio. I parked beside the garage and picked Gray up from the seat. Still asleep, he buried his face against the collar of my jacket as I shut the truck door.

“Are we home?” he mumbled as I walked up the front porch.

“Yeah.”

“I don’t wanna see Lazarus. He scares me.”

Fuck if that didn’t send a fresh surge of anger through me. The angel had made Gray’s childhood miserable. He’d beaten him. Trained him to be an assassin. How could anyone turn someone like Gray into a killer? How could anyone hurt him?