Kristie Cook - Wrath

Not liking the warning in his voice, I closed my eyes as I sank into my chair. “Like what?”

“Well, to start with, the Normans seem to be on the verge of war. Almost everywhere.”

My eyes popped open. “ What? ”

“The Daemoni are escalating things. There have been two assassinations and four ‘accidental’ bomb detonations just in the last twenty-four hours. The whole world has gone on edge.”

Damn it. Does it ever end? “Having their fun with the Normans? As if messing with us isn’t enough?”

“War is the best way for them to build their army.”

“Because they know taking Dorian has started our own war.”

“We’ve always been at war, but yes, they’re taking it to the next level. But not only with us, Alexis. With the Normans, too.”

I rolled my head around on my neck. “Vanessa said they were planning it. Preparing to make their move to take over.”

“Well, their move has been made.”

I nodded and reached for my phone. “Okay. Good to know.”

Tristan placed his hand over mine, preventing me from dialing. “Just be prepared that Sophia might not give you the answers you’re hoping for.”

I looked up at him. “All I want is to know if she has an idea of where Dorian is and an army to go get him.”

“Exactly.”

He held my gaze as I stared at him with incredulity. “Dorian’s her grandson! She loves him. She would do anything for him, just like us.”

He tightened his hand on mine. “I’m not saying I agree with them, but Sophia’s taking orders from Rina, who must look out for the Amadis as a whole and all of humanity. Nobody’s going to understand putting resources into a search and rescue of one kid who will eventually serve the Daemoni anyway. Not when the rest of the world is at risk.”

My blood pressure shot up again, and I opened my mouth to protest, but he held his free hand up before I went off.

“I’m only saying what others will. Whether we agree with them or not, there are other valid perspectives.”

His tone drove home his meaning. Mom and Rina had picked the Amadis over my family and me in the past. They were obligated to serve the greater good. Our purpose as the Amadis family was to protect our society and all of humanity, regardless of what it meant for us personally. I needed another angle, because our love for Dorian wouldn’t be enough to convince the matriarch, her second-in-command, and the rest of the Amadis that he was worth fighting for.

If I only knew why the Angels had sent him on his own, without a twin sister. There had to be a reason.

“Do you want me to leave?” Tristan asked.

My brows pushed together and the corners of my mouth turned down. “Of course not.” I rose from my chair and rounded the desk, then pushed him back until he sat on the edge. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed my forehead against his. “You belong right here.”

“We’re in this together,” he agreed before brushing my lips with his. He snagged my phone from the desk and handed it to me. I turned around and leaned back against him, and he wrapped his arms around my waist while I dialed Mom’s number.

“I’m so sorry, honey,” Mom said as soon as she answered. “I wish I could be there for you. The timing couldn’t be any worse.”

In other words, Dorian’s kidnapping was inconvenient. My hackles rose immediately. Tristan moved his hands to my shoulders and squeezed, trying to massage the tension out, but it only built.

“I know you and Rina have a lot to deal with,” I said, trying to be forgiving. “I know you can’t completely drop everything.”

“I would if I could. That boy . . .” She choked on her words. “I love him so much, Alexis. We knew this was coming, but you can never be adequately prepared.”

Her tears almost got to me, but I refused to break. Not now. I needed to be strong. “It came too soon, Mom. This isn’t right. They’ve overstepped their boundaries, and they know it. So do you.”

“Alexis, honey—”

“ Feel the truth, Mom. That’s your gift. Use it. And tell me this isn’t wrong. He didn’t feel drawn to the Daemoni like all the other sons did. He didn’t choose to go. They didn’t even give him that choice.”

She blew a sigh into the phone. “It doesn’t matter, honey. They have him. Regardless of timing or methods, they have him. It was inevitable, and we know it.”

Renewed anger clawed at my chest. “No. Not yet. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Not like this.”

“Everything happens for a reason, Alexis.”

I let out a maniacal laugh. “Yeah, well, maybe the reason is so we’ll finally do what needs to be done—eliminate Lucas and the rest of the Daemoni. Destroy them once and for all. We need to gather our forces.”

“Yes, we do,” she actually agreed. “I need you and Tristan to build our army.”

“Right,” I said, glad we were on the same page. “And we’ll go in, get our son, and decimate Hades.”

“No, Alexis.”

“What do you mean ‘no’? How else are we going to get Dorian back?”

“First of all, I don’t feel the truth that Dorian is in Hades. I don’t know where he is, exactly—there must be a powerful cloak on him—but I don’t sense that Lucas has him.”

“But he surely knows where he is. He did take Dorian, after all.”

“I don’t feel that truth either.”

“Of course he did! He all but warned me when I was there only hours before, and he left my dagger that he’d taken from me as his calling card.”

“This isn’t really something Lucas would do himself,” Tristan said. “He would have sent someone, like Victor.”

“Technicalities,” I muttered. “Victor doesn’t have Dorian, so he obviously took him somewhere during the night. And Lucas knows exactly where.”

“Nonetheless,” Mom said, “we can’t and we won’t raid Hades. We’re not powerful enough.”

“So we get that way. Build our army, like you said. We have strong fighters, Mom. We’ll take our best. Tristan and I can—”

“Alexis, will you listen to me for a minute?” Mom’s voice had risen, causing me to pause. “We’re on the defensive! And we’re not in the position to take the offense. We have to put all of our resources—our best people, our time, our money—into protecting the Amadis and the Normans. The Daemoni have already acted. They control some of the world powers, and now they’re moving in on the United Nations. There are secret meetings all over the world as we speak. Lucas’s men occupy many of those war rooms, and if we don’t do our job, humanity will go up in a forest of mushroom clouds.”

“So why aren’t we in those secret meetings? We’re the damn Amadis! Why don’t we have people in there stopping them?”

Mom sighed heavily. “We do, honey. But too many politicians are power-hungry and corrupt. They feed off the lies the Daemoni give them and don’t want to listen to us. Even those who want to do right will do what’s necessary to protect their own. If another country or faction—or species —attacks their people, they’re not going to stand around and do nothing. They’re going to retaliate.”

“That’s what the Daemoni want!” I pulled away from Tristan and started pacing.

“Yes, it is. They’ll turn the dying into theirs until they have an army big enough to take over humanity. Normans will become their slaves. If they have to wipe out half of the human race with a nuclear war to achieve this goal, they will. Which is why we need to counteract their every move and convert as many as we can.”

“Which will build our army. Then we can go into Hades before it’s too late.”

“Hopefully, yes. While our best diplomats are with the politicians, we need to be working on our primary mission of building our army. I need you and Tristan to focus on this.”