“Ella’s mother is half-witch. So I imagine that’s the relation.” Talon’s eyes remained trained on mine as if he could pry the answer from their dark depths.
Hayden clapped Talon on the shoulder, breaking our scorching stare down. “Let Azara have her secrets, T. She’s had enough stolen from her. I’m sure she’ll tell us when the time is right.” Then he turned to me with a smile. “Ella hates what she did. She’s torn apart after hearing what you went through, but she was put in a very difficult position. She had to make a choice between you and her little sister. Thax threatened her life, and Ella caved.”
“She should have told us,” Talon hissed then turned to Hayden and jabbed a finger in his chest. “And you should’ve told me she was helping you.”
“You’ve been a little preoccupied, brother.” He shot me a sidelong glance. “You take care of the little pumpkin, and I’ll worry about Ella.”
“Fine,” he gritted out.
“Well, it’s been fun,” said Dallas, “but we’ve got more demon hunting to do.” He flashed me his sharp incisors. “Don’t worry, precious, we’ll find them. No one’s taking you away from us again.”
“Thanks, Dallas.” I wasn’t sure how I felt about Ella’s betrayal or her aiding in the hunt for Delacroix and Thax, but at this point we could use all the help we could get.
The guys waved me a quick goodbye, and my eyes trailed behind them, an unexpected sadness squeezing my chest. With memories of my family gone, they were the closest thing I had. The door slammed, and I finally dropped my gaze.
Talon’s eyes burned into the side of my face, but I refused to meet them. At first, I wasn’t exactly sure why I’d lied about my cousin, but now I remembered. I’d inherited my warlockness from my mom, and I’d kept her identity hidden to protect her.
Now with that slip of the tongue, I could’ve blown it. Talon wasn’t just a pretty face. From our brief interactions, I could tell he was smart and from that look in his eye, he was already trying to figure out my big fat lie.
“I know your mom is a warlock like you.” Talon’s hushed voice interrupted my inner musings. “I figured it out and confronted you about it the day you disappeared. Do you remember that?”
I shook my head. I hadn’t been able to remember much of anything about that day. I knew I’d been at that dilapidated old townhouse in the Upper West Side, but the specifics were all a blur.
“Every single day that you were gone, I replayed our final day together. I ran through every detail hundreds of times. I contemplated finding your parents and getting their help in finding you, but I remembered how adamant you were about protecting them. So I didn’t.”
“Thank you,” I murmured.
“Now after this thing with Ella, I worry that not knowing their identities could become a liability for the team.” He lowered himself into the chair Dallas had vacated and dragged his hands over his face. “But I don’t want to force you to share something you’re not ready to either.”
I wanted to tell him, but if I’d gone through so much trouble keeping it a secret, I must’ve had a great reason. Sitting on the edge of the bed, I reached for his hand. He hesitated for a long moment before wrapping his long fingers around mine. “I want to tell you. I—I need to talk to GG first. I’m still hazy on a lot of details, and I don’t want to make a mistake.”
He nodded, his lips a tight line. “I’ll wait as long as I can, Azara. The last thing I want to do is put you or your family at risk, but eventually the truth will have to come out.”
“Okay, I understand.” Neither one of us said anything for a few moments, each submerged in our own musings, our fingers still entangled. His earlier words lingered in my mind, haunting. He’d gone over the details of our last day together hundreds of times. And I couldn’t even conjure up the memory of it once. “Can you tell me about that day?”
His expression hardened, harsh lines cutting into his square jawline.
I sighed and my fingers loosened around his hand, but his hold surprisingly tightened. His thumb stroked my palm, and tiny tingles lit up my skin. He released a long, languid breath, continuing to draw circles along my flesh.
My core constricted at the slow, tantalizing touch. I clenched the sheets between the fingers of my free hand to keep from jumping him. With my demon in check and memories returning, my emotions were on full throttle.
He continued for a few more minutes, and the air sizzled between us. Every cell in my being ignited, his presence their all-consuming focus. His lips parted, and I instinctively leaned forward.
“It was supposed to be your first mission…”
Chapter Twenty-Six
My eyelids drooped, but I couldn’t drag myself away from Talon’s words. I reached for the Styrofoam cup on my nightstand and gulped down the cold coffee. We’d been up all night, fueled only by the spurts of caffeinated beverages and his stories—our stories.
Talon had started with the mission, all the details of our last day together before Thax hauled me away to the Underworld. As he spoke, his face contorted as if recounting the details physically hurt him. Pangs assaulted my insides at his pain. Then other times, his features lightened, a smile curling his lips. Heat had unfurled low in my belly as he described the steamy details of our subway encounter. How could I have not remembered that?
Once he started talking, it wasn’t hard to urge him to continue. He seemed to want to tell the story as much as I wanted to hear it. My arrival at the prison, his uncontrollable attraction to me despite what I’d done, guarding me, saving my life, the bloodbond, losing the bloodbond… Everything dribbled from his lips, a slow trickle at first then like a raging waterfall.
The more he spoke, the more his stories triggered memories in my hazy brain. More than that, feelings that had long been buried bubbled to the surface.
“We gotta get some sleep.” Talon’s raspy voice drew me from the torrent of memories swimming through my mind. He ticked his head at the clock on the wall and yawned. “It’s nearly seven and you have to meet with Dr. Ollie in a few hours.”
“Okay…” I muttered. I didn’t want to close my eyes. I was scared I’d somehow forget everything or wake up and find out it had all been a dream. Talon had saved me time and again, despite what he’d thought I’d done to his brother. Then my slutty demon slept with that brother. How could he even stand to be in the same room as me?
I shifted beneath the covers, wanting nothing more than to disappear beneath them.
“What’s wrong?”
I snagged my lower lip between my teeth as tears stung my eyes.
“Azara?” He rose quickly and folded down beside me, enveloping my hand in his large one. “What is it?”
“I’ve been so awful to you. I’ve done such terrible things.” I turned my head to the side, unable to bear the weight of his smoldering gaze. “I can’t believe you’re still here, with me, after everything I did.”
“Hey, listen to me.” He trapped my chin with his free hand and forced me to face him. “I’m here because I want to be, not just because of the blood oath. I’m not saying things are going to be easy. I don’t know that they’ll ever go back to the way they were before. You’ve changed, and I’ve changed. But we can try to start from the beginning. Try to be friends, maybe?”