Page 75 of Lover Forbidden (The Black Dagger Brotherhood #23)

Dev heard his name being called from a great distance.

In the dark swill around him, the sound was a reassuring anchor, but he had to fight to focus on it and try to move forward.

His effort became like swimming through sluggish, frigid water, great strokes getting him almost nowhere.

Yet the voice became louder and presently he recognized it.

“Lyric…?” he said into the void. “ Lyric —”

A current flowed into him, and it peeled the black pressure away, but in the absence of the full-body constriction, pain flared as every part of him struggled to contain itself.

Moving more freely at last, he started to ascend with a sudden buoyancy, going faster and faster, until, like an inflatable surfacing, he popped—

—open his eyes.

Lyric was kissing him, pushing life-force into him, while standing off to the side, with tears of red streaming down her face, was his mother.

Dev took a deep breath and coughed through a wretched suffocation. But his lungs got with the program soon enough and began to do their duty properly, pulling air in, expelling it out. And then he forgot all about that.

“I love you,” Lyric cried as she pulled him up and held him to her heart.

Now he found the strength to reach out his arms and hold her back; now he had the strength to sit himself up and cradle her. Except he didn’t know how this had happened… he didn’t know how any of this had happened.

Except really, who the fuck cared.

He kissed Lyric back with everything he had. And then he said hoarsely, “I’m sorry, I love you, I’m so—”

Babbling. But again, who the fuck cared, really. He was alive, she was here, and…

Dev slowly eased apart from his female and looked over at his mother. “What are you doing here?”

“She helped me,” Lyric said. “She protected us and told me what to do to save you.”

Dev moved Lyric so that his body shielded her from the demon. “Why would you do that.”

“It’s very simple, really.” Devina wiped her eyes and had to clear her throat.

“There is nothing a parent won’t do for their child.

You needed me… and I came, and I made sure that in the end, you were free of your father and me, and everything we gave to you.

You are mortal now, and you have her vampire nature within you.

There is no more left of your father and me. ”

Glancing down at himself, he realized he did feel a void. He did feel very, very different than he always had.

“No more magic, no more immortality,” she confirmed. “You’re released from your legacy and can live as you choose, with whomever you desire.”

The only thing he could do was stare up in speechless wonder. Sure, the demon might have shown him a glimpse of who she really was at that conference, but of all the acts he had ever thought her capable of, something selfless like this? Not even at the bottom of the list.

“Thank you, Mother,” he choked out.

“She is the one who saved you.” Devina smiled tenderly at Lyric. Then the expression was lost. “You have to be careful now, though. There is no going back from this.”

Dev found himself exhaling in relief. Whatever came next, at least it was going to be on his own terms.

The demon took a deep breath, that beautiful face cast in deep sorrow.

“And yes, I’ll leave you alone going forward.

But you two must leave here now—I’ll keep your father busy for long enough so you can get off the property.

And then provided you don’t cross his path, he won’t be able to find you anymore.

Of course, the same is true of me. I will not be able to locate you, either. ”

She lifted up her manicured hand in goodbye. Then turned on her stiletto.

“Mother.”

At the sound of his voice, she glanced over her shoulder.

“Thank you,” he said hoarsely.

“Goodbye, son,” she whispered.

And then she was gone.

Dev looked at Lyric, raising a trembling hand to her face. “I’m not special anymore.”

“Oh, you’re more than that.” She smiled at him through her tears. “You’re everything . And… I believe what you said, that you are not your parents.”

“I’m really not your enemy.”

“I know that now. And I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions when I was so panicked.”

With that, they shared a kiss that seemed to go on forever. Then again, when things were deeply felt, time had little meaning—and wasn’t that a kind of eternity for the mortal?

When they finally parted, he looked at all the broken glass. “We need to go.”

Lyric helped him to his feet, then frowned as she glanced down at her own in confusion. “Um… I wasn’t wearing these when I got here.”

The Louboutins were beautiful, tall and black and sleek.

Dev had to chuckle. “My mother always did like her shoes. Guess they were a present.”

As they started to pick their way around the shards, she said, “She also fixed all my cuts.”

One more reason to… love?… the one who’d borne him. Yes, that was the word. Love. And as the conviction came over him, a big part of him was healed, the anger that had always roiled inside of him disappearing.

Then again, not only had he made peace with one of his parents, he was with the female he loved. That set so much to right.

Now all he had were daddy issues. But hey, nobody got everything in life.

“You know what,” he conceded. “Maybe my mom wasn’t that bad after all.”

Lyric chuckled as they hit the hallway. “Actually, I kind of like her… who knows, maybe we can see her again sometime. She’s on a lot of billboards, right?”

He thought of where this had all started, back in the middle of a snowy city street, a one-in-a-million accident gifting him a once-in-a-lifetime love.

Proof that you never knew when your destiny was going to come and find you, or how it was going to land on your head.

“I think seeing her again is very possible.” He kissed his female with total gratitude to the one of his parents who had done him right when it really counted. “Very possible indeed…”