Soul Resurrected (Sons of Wrath, #2) (60 page)

He remained on the floor, head bowed, dagger still in his grip. She reached out and brushed her hand through his short-cropped hair.

His head tipped back, eyes earnest.

Had she noticed the hard lines in his face? Circles under his eyes—the evidence of little sleep and a man troubled.

He’d withheld the truth, which, by all accounts, was the same as lying to her face. It was suddenly clear, though, how he’d tormented himself over the course of the last few weeks.

“I prayed to gods that it wouldn’t come to this. That I could find a way. Please forgive me for lying to you.”

“Shhhh.” Tears spilled onto her cheeks.

What now, though?
Run?

She’d gotten so sick of running. A glance down at her wrist reminded her. Running wasn’t an option anymore—she had a duty to the life inside of her, a responsibility to care and protect it at any cost. Though she’d do it alone if she had to, the idea of having Logan beside her seemed much more comforting.

Snagging her hand, he rose to his feet and seized her mouth in a kiss.

So different from the others, as if he’d used his lips to summon a million apologies at once, each melting like snowflakes against her tongue.

The sensation of falling had her stomach feeling light, warmth spreading to her limbs. She closed her eyes, and when she opened them, they were in Logan’s room once more.

His plush mattress caught both of them. Logan crawled over her, his mouth fused with hers. He kissed down to her neck and to the sensitive crook of her collarbone. “Mine eternal,” he spoke against her skin. “I will kill before I let them take you away from me.”

His weight lightened as he rose up to his knees and removed his shirt.

The blood on his tattoo had dried already when Calla reached for his chest and touched the place that beat in sync with her own heart.

Clearly, from the way her stomach tightened and heat burned between her thighs, she needed him, craved the touch she’d been denied over the last week. She wanted to forget the world for a moment, be lost in his warmth and kisses.

How she’d missed him.

Palm pressed to his chest, Calla cast her gaze to the tattoo on his neck. “I’m not asking you to save me. I’m asking you to stand beside me.” She glanced upward. “Can I trust you?”

“I have nothing left but you, Calla.” He shook his head. “Your blood runs through me. Your soul is my soul. You are a part of me forever.”

“Okay.” She swallowed hard, averting her eyes once more. “I’ll stay. I’m going to need some time, Logan. I won’t leave. But I can’t stay here in this room. With you.” The words hurt, literally burned her heart, as they passed her lips. “You lied to me. You endangered both of us. I’ll see this through and by your laws. But if something should happen to this baby … know that I will
never
forgive you.”

His face paled as if every ounce of blood had drained out of him. He opened his arm, allowing her to rise to the edge of the bed.

His grip snatched hold of her wrist. “I can’t. I can’t be so close to you without your touch. Tell me what I have to do to keep you right here.”

A tear streamed down her cheek. “Help me make this right.”

CHAPTER 46

Calla sat at the kitchen table, staring off at the food Anna had prepared: fresh-cut strawberries, melons and grapes, some mangoes, eggs and toast. She’d just gotten back to eating human food over blood, but suddenly her appetite wouldn’t allow her to go near it.

“Won’t you eat, dear?”

Calla broke from her trance and glanced up at Anna. “Not feeling up to eating much of anything. Sorry for the trouble, Anna.” She pushed the plate aside. “I’m willing to put it away for later.”

“Here, let me take care of that.” Anna lifted the dish off the table and turned her back to Calla, clearing the plate.

“I’m sorry. I know you work very hard and I don’t mean to be ungrateful.”

Anna swung around. “Nonsense! This is hardly work.” She winked. “I love what I do.”

In spite of the preoccupation with the news she’d been fed by Logan, Calla mustered a smile. “I’m glad.” Even she couldn’t help but notice the melancholy in her own voice.

Pulling a chair from the table, Anna plopped into the seat and entwined her fingers. Her stare forced Calla to shift in her seat. No doubt, something personal stirred inside the demon, just itching to take Calla by surprise. Never had she wanted to flash somewhere so badly in her life. Even that, though, had waned in the last few days, but the effects of the Sangexzha seemed to be lessening with each passing hour.

“I don’t suppose it’s any surprise that I know all about what’s going on? Being a Gambis Demon, and all.”

“No.” Calla kept her gaze fixed on the table. “No surprise.”

“Can’t say I blame you for keeping your distance from him.” Anna’s voice, calm and resolute, took Calla by surprise enough for her to lift her gaze and meet the female demon’s. “You know, I’m definitely not an expert on the topic, child, but I’ve found there are two kinds of men in this world. The ripples in a pond—cute and momentarily diverting. And the big fucking rogue waves that come out of nowhere, sweep you off your feet, and steal you away from the safety of the shore. Certainly doesn’t take a genius to know where Logan falls.”

Two things had Calla nearly falling backward in her chair: the fact that Anna had casually dropped the F-bomb like
Mary Poppins
in the ‘hood, and her admittance that there was some danger in loving someone as unpredictable as Logan, considering she seemed so eager to see Calla together with him.

Calla silently puzzled her words.

Anna cleared her throat. “I mean, the male is clearly deranged. Obsessed. Maybe a combination of those, mixed with a little desperate.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Well …” Anna leaned in, pointing a finger at Calla. “And you didn’t hear this from me, see? Rumor has it, he went to Cefirina yesterday afternoon.”

“Cefirina? What for?”

“I hear it was to beg her not to approach the Council.” She pursed her lips. “Given their history, and the fact I’ve never heard that male beg for anything in all the time I’ve known him, I’d say he’s gone a little mad. Best you stay away from him.”

Begging Cefirina?

Logan really had planned to do whatever it took. “Anna, what exactly is their history? Why does she hate him so much?”

“It’s an unnatural thing for a Divine Matron to renounce a prince’s son. Word is, Master Logan was into some … interesting recreations before he came to the mansion. Fights, drugs, and whatnot.”

Calla frowned. “None of them strike me as shining examples of society. I can’t see that being a reason to shun him.”

“Only Cefirina really knows.” Anna shrugged. “The rest is all speculation, fodder for the gossip. I’m not so sure Logan has ever taken the time, himself, to find out why.”

A moment of silence passed. The creeping sensation of possession and over-protectiveness washed through Calla.

For a moment, she hated Cefirina.

“So, he begged her? What did she say?”

“It really doesn’t matter what she says, dear. His request would only delay the inevitable. They do find these things out.”

A sinking sensation gurgled in the pit of Calla’s stomach. “What happens, Anna? Are we just taken there to stand trial?”

Surprise danced across Anna’s face. “Goodness, has no one told you how it works?” Her eyes softened into what Calla could only surmise as sadness in the female she’d always seen so cheerful. “Mother and child are not permitted in the court.”

“What?” Like a truck had hit Calla from the side, she coughed, choking on the little breath she managed to suck in to her lungs.

“I’m afraid you have no say in the decision. It is Logan’s choice.”

Calla shot up from her chair, knocking it backward onto the kitchen floor. “It is not his choice! It’s mine! My body! My child! My soul!”

Anna placed a hand flat on the table in front of her. “Calm down, love.”

Tears filled Calla’s eyes. “I will not calm down!” The tickle along her cheek signaled the release of moisture from her eyes. “I won’t let them kill me or my child.” Anna’s form blurred. “I will … take every one of those bastards down and watch them burn before I let them take my baby!”

Anna nodded, not a hint of amusement in her eyes. “I believe you.” Her expression turned earnest, a cue for Calla to listen. “Then, you must have the courage to do something extraordinary.”

“What can I do? If they won’t let me in …”

A grin spread across Anna’s face, and for a split second, it released a flood of relief. Did she have a plan?

Please, God, let her know what to do
.

“Do you trust this old gossip and thief?”

Calla fell to her knees before Anna. “More than anyone right now.”

“Then, you must do exactly as I tell you. The demons who guard the court are the fiercest in the demon realm. Trained to kill without conscience or question. One slip could mean death for both you and child. Do you understand?”

“I do …”

CHAPTER 47

“You stand before this Council with the charges of Amegation, and defiance against the Eradis through the impregnation of an unmated female, both punishable crimes.”

Logan bowed his head. “Yes, my lord.”

“How do you plead?”

“I’ve committed worse.”

“Answer the question!” The bellow of the high demon’s command made Logan wince.

Don’t screw it up.
He drew a breath, never before scared in his life until right then. “Sanctisz”

The high demon leaned forward. His eyes had taken on the distinct red glow of anger. “On what basis.”

Logan swallowed a gulp. “On the basis that … my former bonding was with an
improper
mate. And my time spent in Obsidius was … as a result of that binding. A wrongful charge on the Council’s behalf.”

“Blasphemy!” The demon bolted up from his chair. “How dare you dishonor the Eradis.”

“I mean no ill respect toward the Eradis. My mate was …” Logan cleared his bone-dry throat. “She was also my mother. Sir.”

A hushed silence fell over the crowd.

Those inner shadows of shame rose to the surface, clouding his mind, and Logan suddenly felt exposed. Vulnerable. He wanted more than anything to crawl into himself and hide, feeling every bit a dirty and worthless bastard, but he pushed on.

“I murdered a high-ranking demon official and served five decades in Obsidius. He, uh,”—Logan swallowed harshly, his brows tightened as he kept his head low and eyes focused on the tarry black floor of the court—“did things. Things I would not speak of. But my mother threatened to reveal them. My father denied her. She was abjured and left to raise me alone. So, when the official hired a bounty hunter, she became desperate. We were captured. Tortured. He used her as a means of killing me. And the truth was, I would’ve let him, if not for the bond.”

“A human? Raising a demon alone? Ridiculous. And how dare you insult a demon prince.”

“He speaks the truth, my lord.” The voice that rose from the crowd took Logan by surprise.

Cefirina?

She drifted forward and stood beside Logan before the Council. Tipping her chin up, she fixed her stare toward the Orcosii officials. “I am his Matron. I was not there to help raise him. His mother was a poor excuse for a woman, but he speaks the truth. She did raise him on her own. And her reasons for bonding were based on her own selfish pursuits. She sought the protection of her own son. And used him against those who threatened her life. He’s paid the price for killing the demon who killed his mother.”

A wave of relief swam through Logan’s body. He bowed his head. “Lords of the Council, I am prepared to honor my former mate, in order to spare my female’s life and the life of my unborn child.”

“You’ve not bonded. How dare you use the term so loosely.” The demon sat back in his chair. “I thank you, Cefirina, for your presence. But he has committed a crime in the eyes of this Council. As such, we must deliver appropriate punishment.”

Cefirina nodded. “Lords, I beg that you show mercy on this man. His actions cannot go without redress, this, I know. But he has proven to serve Wrath in the most honorable form, and deserves recognition for the good he’s done. As for his mother, I can only imagine Logan did what he thought would protect her, based on a very unnatural circumstance over which he had no control. It is his mother who should be standing before you, not him.” She glanced back at Logan.

“Duly noted.” The demon stared off for a moment. “And though you claim Sanctisz, this is a matter that must be deliberated.”

Logan gave a sharp nod as the Council filed out of the room, before turning to Cefirina, eyes brimming with remorse. “No matter what happens. Thank you.”

“We’ve not had an easy road, have we?” Her lips pursed. “I meant every word.”

Logan’s gaze fell to the floor. “I know I’m not worthy—”