Chosen by Sin (37 page)

Hal shrugged in a movement that reminded Dex of Cy. “Then fight. Fight
next to us the way you always should have. Not as a legend, but as a were.”

Dex glanced at his watch again. “We’re wasting time.”

When Dex looked up, Hal had already turned back to the others.
“Brothers, we fight. Let us keep all the demon spawn where they belong. On the
other side of the gate!”

Roars and cheers came from the crowd. The werewolves no longer looked
at Dex. They turned and marched toward the mountains behind them.

Over his shoulder, Hal glanced at Dex. There was a question in his
gaze. Dex answered by following him.

Within an hour, they entered a canyon that dead-ended into a group of
boulders and a small cave that looked like a pig’s snout.

“That’s it,” Hal said. “The solstice gate is inside that cave. In order
to get out, the demons must take their original form,” Hal explained, “The only
difference is their red eyes and razor-sharp claws. With the return of their
human form comes weakness. Mortality. If we kill it here, it goes back to hell
and must wait months before it can be bridged again.”

“And if it passes through the gate?” Dex had asked.

“It loses form until it finds a host. Through life or through dreams.”

Hal’s words were consistent with what the blond mage from Jes’s village
had told him. The werewolf held out his hand. “Good luck.”

Dex hesitated only briefly before shaking the werewolf’s hand. “Thanks.
You, too.”

The next twenty-four hours passed in a blur, one dominated by werewolf
blood and pain and desperation. The werewolves were greatly outnumbered but
somehow they were managing to hold off the masses of dark spirits who’d taken
human form and came at them one after another.

Screams and the clash of steel echoed all around him. Werewolf blood
painted the floor of the caves—apparently, demons didn’t bleed even when
in their human form. Hours passed before Dex caught sight of Hal again, caught
in a corner fighting a demon. Using his scythe, Hal severed a demon’s head from
its body. Instantly, the demon’s remains vanished, leaving no trace of itself.

A demon came at Dex, swiping at him with his claws. Dex ducked and
elbowed the thing in the neck. When it staggered back, Dex jammed it in the gut
with his knife. It howled before disappearing.

Another demon stepped in front of him. Dex slapped both hands against
the demon’s face, then followed up with an elbow strike before snapping the
demon’s neck.

Next, two demons came at him, one on either side, and Dex leaped in the
air, striking out at one with his knife while kicking the other in the chest.
The one he’d cut collapsed, but the other regained its feet faster than Dex
expected. It barreled into Dex and took him down to the ground. Dex dropped his
knife and grunted when his head struck a rock, but he managed to stay conscious
as he grappled with his attacker.

In the distance, Dex saw a demon rip the arms off one werewolf, then
another.

There were too many demons.

The werewolves were tiring.

Even Hal was being driven back. Several demons pushed him closer and
closer to the entrance of the cave. Dex screamed when the demon he was
grappling with sliced his shoulder. At the sound, the demon grinned, certain of
its victory.

No fucking way.

Bringing his knees to his chest, Dex pushed out with his feet and sent
the demon flying. Immediately, it charged him again, scrambling on all fours
like a spider. Dex rolled to his knife and just managed to grip the handle.
Twisting onto his back, he held the blade up just in time to impale the demon
as it threw itself on top of it.

Scrambling to his feet, Dex glanced around. About half of the
werewolves were dead. Even so, despite their exhaustion, they pressed on. Hal
had managed to stop his backward approach to the cavern entrance and was
cutting down one demon after another.

Dex’s werewolf blood pulsed through his veins and filled him with a
sense of pride. Finally, he was one with his pack. With a battle cry, Dex
jumped back into the fray.

***

Later, when Dex finally walked into Lucy’s cramped motel room in Lone
Pine, he was covered in blood—his own and that of his fellow
weres—but he couldn’t stop grinning. He’d killed before. Battled with
others for a higher cause. But fighting with the werewolves in the midst of those
bleak mountains had fed something in him. It had healed him in a way even his
work on the Para-Ops team hadn’t. “We did it,” he told Lucy. “We held them off
until the gate closed. A few got past us—I spoke to Amanda and the same
thing happened in Europe—but the
diabols
won’t be a global threat for at least another year. The few
diabols
that escaped will be hunted down by the
shape-shifters as they have been for the past few years and months.”

“That’s wonderful, Dex.” Not caring about the blood or grime, Lucy
threw her arms around him. He’d hugged her before, but this time, despite the
rush of his recent battle and victory, thoughts and images of Jes bombarded
him. Abruptly, he pulled away. “Don’t—please don’t,” he growled.

After the battle, Hal had relayed his grandfather’s message to him.
“Don’t repeat my mistake. Don’t throw away what’s yours because of fear.” But
Dex hadn’t walked away from Jes out of fear. She’d pushed him away with her
lies and deceit. Hadn’t she?

“Dex?” Lucy whispered.

A pit of desperation formed inside him, spreading and threatening to
swallow him whole. How was he ever going to fill it?

The feelings magnified while he was in the shower. By the time he was
dressed and standing in front of Lucy again, he wasn’t sure he could survive
his grief. Had he fought hell’s demons and won only to undergo a mental
collapse as a result of losing Jes?

No.

He couldn’t give Jes that power over him. He wouldn’t.

He gripped Lucy’s arms. “Would you do something for me, Lucy?”

“What?”

“Would you have sex with me? Right now? If I told you I needed to wipe
my mind clean, that I needed a distraction, that I’d be using you just like I
let you use me, would you sleep with me? No love. No feelings. No nothing.”

“Yes,” she said simply. “I would. But I don’t want to. And I know you
don’t want to, either, Dex.”

“Maybe it’s exactly what I need,” he began, but the ring of his cell
phone interrupted him. He hadn’t taken it with him, so it rang from his
backpack. Lucy pulled away from him, retrieved it, and handed it to him. He
checked the screen, frowning when he didn’t recognize the number.

“Dex Hunt,” he said when he activated the call.

“Dex, this is Cy. Thank God I finally reached you. I swear, we’re going
to install a fucking satellite phone in the castle. I’ve been trying to reach
you for hours.”

“I’ve been a little busy, Cy. You wouldn’t have been able
to—forget it. What’s wrong?”

“It’s Jes. She’s gone into labor early. The baby’s coming, but it’s not
going smoothly. She’s struggling, Dex, and she’s calling for you. I’m sorry,
but—”

The phone went dead. Dex cursed and redialed Cy’s number, but he
couldn’t get a connection no matter how many times he tried.

“Dex.”

He barely heard Lucy’s voice, but he felt her hand on his arm. It was
enough to jolt him out of his paralysis. He’d thought today was about victory,
but it might be about failure instead. The worst failure imaginable. “Help me,
Lucy,” he said. “Please help me.”

“We need Knox,” Lucy insisted. “He used to live in France. He can meet
us someplace close, then teleport you to Jes.”

“He won’t do that,” Dex said. “He’ll worry about Felicia. Teleporting
me will drain him of his powers so he won’t be at full strength, which means
he’ll be less able to protect her. He won’t want to take that chance.”

“You can’t assume that. Knox cares about us. About you. You need to ask
him for help.”

Dex knew that’s exactly what he needed to do. He just didn’t want to.
He hated asking for help from others because he was always certain he’d never
get it. That he didn’t deserve it. After all, Elliott had come to Dex for help
in the orphanage, and Dex hadn’t done a thing. Yet what choice did he have now?
Despite Jes’s warnings that leaving could hurt the baby, that’s exactly what
he’d done. Now the baby was coming early and both of them were in danger. Jes
needed him and all he could remember was the last time she’d come to him,
begging for his forgiveness. Instead of giving it to her, he’d lashed out
instead. And the sad thing was, he wasn’t sure he’d act any differently even if
given a second chance.

He knew Jes wasn’t a bad person, but she did bad things to feed her
obsession, and someone like that could not be trusted. But that didn’t mean
he’d abandon her or their child when they needed him.

He turned to Lucy. “I need you to come with me.”

She flinched in surprise. “What? Why?”

“Your powers might be useful. You can enchant her so she’ll feel less
pain. Or maybe you can move the baby out of her…”

“Dex, I’ve never tried that. I don’t even know if it’s possible.”

“I don’t care. I need you there with me, Lucy. Knox can teleport both
of us. One at a time. Just like he did on that mission in Korea. Please.”

She nodded. “Fine. If Knox agrees to teleport us both, I’ll go. But if
he can only teleport one of us…”

“Then I’ll go by myself.”

It was a testament to Knox and his honor that he didn’t even hesitate
when Dex explained the situation. “Meet me at the main entrance to Death Valley
National Park. I’ll be there in about an hour.”

Dex was so stunned and grateful he could barely choke out, “Thank you,
Knox.”

“You’re welcome, Dex. We’ll get you there. What you do next is up to
you.”

After Knox hung up, Knox’s parting salvo didn’t leave Dex’s mind from
that moment on. In less than an hour, his friend teleported both him and Lucy
thousands of miles to a location familiar to him, one just miles from Jes’s
castle. “I’m sorry I can’t get you any closer, but since I’ve never been
there…”

“I understand. This is good.” A quick glance at Lucy confirmed she was
still catching her breath after the painful teleportation. Dex held out his
hand to Knox.

Knox clasped it. “Good luck,” he said

Dex turned away, but something made him look back. Knox was staring at
him with an intense though unreadable expression.

“What is it?” Dex asked.

“You’ll remember your promise, won’t you?”

His promise? The one Knox had extracted from him at the hospital? “Of
course, Knox. You’ll never have to worry about Felicia while I’m around. I told
you that.”

“Thank you. I hope you know I’d do the same for you.”

Dex swallowed hard. “You just did. But why are you—”

“Go on,” Knox said. “Go to her. She needs you. I know you’ll be a good
father, Dex. I believe in you.”

O-kay. Now Dex was more confused than ever. It was great that Knox had
faith in him, but why did the vampire sound like he was saying goodbye? Before
he could question him, Knox vanished.

Dex turned to Lucy, who appeared equally confused. But they’d have to
figure out Knox later. “I’m going to shift. I’ll get there faster.”

Lucy nodded. “I’ll be there as soon as I can. Go, Dex.”

And he went. He didn’t even feel the pain as he shifted. He couldn’t
feel anything but fear. While he’d gotten to France in record time, it might
not have been fast enough to save them. Jes or the baby.

When he arrived at Paladine, the grounds looked exactly as they had
when he left. He shifted back into human form, then checked the surgery room
that had access to the outside. It was empty, but he grabbed some surgical
scrubs and threw them on.

He ran inside. “Cy!” he yelled. “Jes! It’s Dex. Where are you?”

He headed to the second surgery room, the one where Amanda had been
cutting Jes.

But it was empty, as well.

He hadn’t seen anyone. Hadn’t heard anyone. Where the hell were they?

He whirled and almost ran into Cy.

The dragon-shifter looked exhausted, with dark grooves under his eyes.
He shook his head. “You’re too late,” he said.

Dex snarled and lunged at him, grabbing his shirt and shaking him. “No!
Damn you, don’t say that! Don’t tell me they’re dead.”

“Dex! Stop it.” Cy shouted. “I didn’t say they’re dead. You missed the
birth, that’s all. They’re okay. It was touch and go there for awhile, but
they’re both okay. You have a son. Congratulations.”

Dex couldn’t tell if Cy was being sarcastic. He didn’t care. “Jes is
okay?”

“She’s exhausted. Asleep. She tore and lost a lot of blood, so Amanda
gave her a sedative. I need to get some sleep. I’m going to crash in one of the
recovery rooms. I’ve been up for almost forty-eight hours. I’m so out of it,
I’m not even going to ask how you got here so fast.”

“Shut up and tell me where she is, Cy.”

“She’s in her bedroom. With the baby. Giselle’s been checking in on
them.”

“Can I—can I see her?”

Cy laughed but there was no humor in the sound. “It’s your kid, Dex.
And Jes? She belongs to you, too. The question is whether you’ll finally accept
that, or if you’re going to prove me right and leave her again.”

“Isn’t that what you want?” Dex growled.

“All I want is for Jes to be happy. And to hope that maybe I can be
happy again, too. I’m not sure either will ever happen. You hurt her, Dex. Bad.
I knew you would.” He walked away, muttering, “I knew you would.”

“Cy,” he called out one more time. “What of Bodin?”

Cy shrugged. Shook his head. Then was gone.

So his grandfather was dead. Why wasn’t he happy at the news? He’d
wanted his grandfather dead most of his life, but now it didn’t even matter.

Dex made his way to Jes’s room, trying not to feel like a prisoner
being led to his execution.