Soul Resurrected (Sons of Wrath, #2) (58 page)

“Then, let’s pretend this is the first time and start over.”

“Bit … late for that.” He gave a quick glance to her stomach.

She grabbed either side of his face. “Hey, are you sure you’re okay about this?”

A frown crept across his face. “Yeah. Why?”

“I don’t know.” She released him. “I just get a sense you’re not
happy
. About this. I mean, we’re going to be … parents.” She bit back the urge to smile, for reasons she couldn’t understand, but the grin broke through when she said, “I’m going to be a mom.”

His gaze fell away from her. “Calla, do you trust me as a father? I mean, really?”

She stroked his cheek. “Apparently, a whole lot more than you do right now.”

“I’m a Wrath. I get rages and lose control sometimes. And I kill shit. A lot. I’m not sure I’d be the kind of dad this kid wants to bring to school on career day.”

Calla stifled a laugh. “You look hot in a suit and you
do
have a day job.” She focused on his lips. “Are you … telling me you don’t
want
to be a father?”

“No. I’m not saying that. Y’hear? That’s not what I said.” He sniffed. “Just going to take some getting used to.”

“I know. For both of us.” She sighed with relief. “I thought for a moment that you … well, that you were upset with me for wanting to keep it.”

“You need to get to know me better.” He lowered himself and his warm breath fell against her neck.

Mmmm
. Her eyelids slid shut. God, everything that was
him
felt good.

“Do it, please.” Her words arrived on an exhale. “Take me, Logan.”

* * *

Logan wanted to.

Fuck, every fiber of him craved her.

Truth, though, was that, yeah, the baby scared the shit out of him.

Gavin’s words resonated in his mind:
I wouldn’t get too attached, Brother. For your own sake
.

What was too attached? To Calla? The baby was a part of her. He’d have to want only a fraction of her, and in Logan’s mind, the idea of that just seemed impossible.

Logan stared down at her. Her eyes, so blue, gazed back like a sunny, cloudless day without a hint of worry—just the way he wanted her to stay. “I will. But I want you to heal first. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“That’s it?” Her eyes seemed to quiz his.

“Yeah. I promise, I just want you to get better.”

After a moment more of eyeing him, she nodded and twisted beneath him to her side. Logan moved in close behind her, and his hand hovered, but, as if touching her would mean giving in to happiness about the pregnancy, he tucked it back beside his body.

An oasis of pure contentment lay right beside him, taunting and teasing him in such a way that Logan suddenly had no idea how to be around her. His body yearned to be close to her, to feel her against him, to kiss every inch of her and worship her all night.

Yet, he couldn’t.

After the dream she’d had, it was clear in Logan’s mind that she’d never give up the baby. He’d never ask her to, either.

Logan had grown up hearing the stories—if a demon got a little too excited about a particular woman, his body could mistake her for a mate, and the female would end up pregnant, not knowing if the man she’d slept with would choose her or the baby. Nine times out of ten, the demon chose to have the baby destroyed, never having anything to do with the mother again.

The Council caught most of the pregnancies
in utero
, anyway.

The stories that bothered Logan most had been the ones about the children being taken from their mothers. They weren’t killed. But they may as well have been. The underworld was no place for a child.

Only a prince in the underworld could bear illegitimate children, which is why Logan had never been taken from his own mother.

He had to figure out a way around his own problem—a way that wouldn’t separate Calla from the life growing inside of her.

Logan closed his eyes and tucked his head close to the nape of her neck. Happiness would forever be out of his reach, it seemed.

“What’s the catch in all of this?” Logan glanced around the empty space surrounding him. The room itself could’ve fit at least two of the apartments he’d lived in. “Nice house. Nice cars. Nice clothes. What kinda bullshit am I signing up for here?”

“The honest kind.” Gavin stood in the middle of the dark room. “The kind you don’t have to feel guilty about.”

Logan gritted his teeth together. “Right. Shit ain’t free. How long do I have to stay?”

“As long as you want. This can be your life from here on out, if you choose.” Gavin stared at him from across the room. “You’re my brother. You’ve endured hell all your life. I want you to find the happiness you never had.”

Logan snorted. “Who you kidding,
Brother?
Happiness doesn’t last. And when it does, it means you’ve kicked it.”

Leaned against the headboard, Logan peered down at Calla, sleeping beside him. No doubt, the woman was the key to eternal bliss.

Too bad he had a knack for fucking everything up—disaster in the flesh, born to move through life like a storm, stealing sunshine along its path.

CHAPTER 45

Gavin sat at his desk, eyeing the mounds of paperwork in front of him that’d accumulated in the last week. The shit weighed on his immortality. “Mountains. Maybe take off next week,” he muttered.

Yeah, a vacation was exactly what he needed. Something far away and dangerous enough to spike his adrenaline, reminding him he was a fucking Wrath demon and not some pencil-pushing shut-in.

At least Zeke no longer consumed his every waking thought, and actually, his brother had begun to recover from his mutilations. Didn’t stop the issue with Logan from still looming, though.

The intercom buzzed, casting him back into reality.
Son of a ..
. “Yes,” he said, half-heartedly.

“Someone’s here to see you, sir.” Red, the security guard, cleared his throat. “Looks …” He lowered his voice and said, “Looks like something straight outta my son’s video game at home, to be honest.”

Shit. Enforcer Demon?

“He’s got on a long black robe. Says it’s
imperative
he speaks with you.”

Definitely not an Enforcer.

“Send him up.”

A million possibilities ran through Gavin’s mind before the knock at the door snapped him out of it. “Come in.”

The door opened to two men dressed in typical Orcosian ceremonial gowns.

Gavin’s stomach sank as he rose up from his chair and bowed his head in respect of the approaching high demon official that walked slightly ahead of the other.

“Gavius.” The official gave a quick bow of his head. Only those from the underworld used his birth name; demons mostly opted for trendy names in an effort to stay below the human radar. “Good to see you again, my friend.”

“The pleasure is mine, my lord.” Gavin returned the bow.

“Ah, none of this lord bullshit. It’s getting old.” The demon waved the other Orcosii off and the door clicked shut behind him.

“Please have a seat, Aeguza.”

The demon official sat in the chair across from Gavin.

“With all due respect, might I ask why you’re here?”

Aeguza’s eyes turned grim, lips pursed. “I’m here to deliver your summons.”

“Summons?” Gavin cleared his throat while
oh, shit
flashed through his mind. “For what, exactly?”

The demon shifted in his chair. “Look, demons … all of us … we have needs. This, I understand, Gavius. I was an unbonded male, like yourself, once. Be it centuries ago, but times haven’t changed all that much. And with the Savidon biting at your ass, I can only
imagine
the urge you feel to get as much pussy as you can.”

Gavin cringed at the sound of the old demon speaking so candidly.
Christ.
Must have been what human males felt like—that man-to-man talk with their fathers—the first time they’d gotten caught jacking off. Having about six centuries behind him didn’t make Gavin feel any less uncomfortable, and he found himself sinking deeper into his chair.

“But for fuck’s sake, man, if you’re going to stick your dick in someone, do your best not to stick in an Orcosii’s tazschla.”

Gavin frowned. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

“It seems a female visited your casino not long ago. Jessica? Ring any bells?”

“Jessica?” Gavin pondered a moment, and like a knife to the gut, memories of a redhead surfaced out of nowhere, distant images of him leaning over her as he jack-hammered her against his desk. “No. No, no, no.” He rubbed a hand down his face. “I didn’t—she didn’t—how the hell did she even take an interest in me that night? Taszhla? She didn’t even give off the scent!”

Aeguza huffed. “It seems she’s quite good at evading her husband’s watchful eye. And something of an expert in seduction of other males.”

“She really wasn’t!” Gavin flew up out of his chair and slapped his hand to his forehead. “Hell, I only did it out of some fucked up moment of weakness over my brother, Zeke. Otherwise, I’d have stayed away from her. Particularly a bonded female! You know me well enough.”

“Gavius, you’re a noble man. Unfortunately, her servosx is a very powerful male in the underworld. He has ties that reach far beyond my own. This … female, it seems, has become so smitten with you that she’s decided to
leave
her mate.”

“What!” Gavin stroked his hand down his jaw and paced. “Has this ever happened before?”

“Never in the history of my reign.”

“How does this happen? How does a female come to resist her servosx? I don’t understand. In all my life, I’ve known that bond to be unbreakable.”

“I’ve looked into her past a bit. It seems her mother was the same. They’re somehow immune to the bonding. And the Bullshit Buzz, in case you were counting on that to save your ass.”

“Impossible!”

“So I thought. But both women have proved very proficient at eluding its effects. Her servosx is a very understanding male, I must say. If she were mine, I’d have probably had her locked away. Worse, even.”

“So, what does he want? A statement from me? My pledge to stay away from her? Consider it done.”

“To his tazschla, he’s quite forgiving. For you, he seeks your head. That is, following a sentence in Obsidius first.”

“Obsidius?” Voice threatening to crack as the crushing blow of shock closed in on his windpipe, Gavin fell into his chair. “When am I to appear before the court?”

“Two weeks time, but only because I was made aware of this first. Otherwise, the Enforcers would have come for you this eve.”

Gavin rubbed harder at his jaw.

“I suggest you settle your affairs. I’ll do what is in my power, my friend.”

Gavin tightened his lips. Aeguza had been his ticket for Logan’s freedom.

“As for the matter we discussed about your brother, Logan,” he said, as though he’d read Gavin’s mind. “Keep your distance. I’m afraid there’s nothing I can do at this point. Your presence might make matters worse, for both of you.”

The demon official rose and shook Gavin’s hand one last time, clutching it in both palms. “Don’t do anything stupid, Gavius. They will find you. The dark legion knows every shadow in this city.”

Gavin nodded. “And in equal kindness, I feel I must inform you of something.” His words arrived more apathetic than intended. “Perhaps you might prepare the court. It seems another supe has risen from obscurity.”

“Sangexzha.”

“Yes, I suppose I should’ve anticipated you’d already know about it.”

“Much longer than you know. I’ve been assigned a task force to carry out a response plan.”

“Hopefully, it involves guns and some crafty sharpshooters. The bastards can flash.”

“I’m afraid the bastards are capable of much more than that. And should they become the supe they once were, guns will be nothing more than childish amusements. We’ll be in touch.”

* * *

The armoire in Logan’s bedroom had become filled with mostly female clothes, the array of fabrics announcing Calla’s presence as much as her lingering scent did, beside the table where Logan cleaned his Glock. He paused as the faucet in the bathroom turned off and the sound of draining water drifted out. Gods, how he managed to keep his hands off Calla all week was still a mystery he couldn’t figure out.

He wouldn’t allow himself that pleasure, though.
Not yet
. Not until he knew her fate.

He damned well didn’t want to have to tell her, yet, either.

Gavin had gotten in touch with his legal contact—the one with ties to the underworld—who’d promised to look into it as a favor. Two days had passed since the conversation, and in that time, Logan had become a walking ball of nerves.