Kresley Cole - Demon from the Dark

"So you're calling for a war," Garreth said, looking like he was hot on the idea.

"And where is Nix?" Lucia asked. "Shouldn't we get her foresight before planning anything?"

Carrow shook her head. "There's a chance that I saw her on the island. I can't be sure, but I think it was her."

Garreth demanded of the crowd, "Then who will storm this place with the Lykae?"

Carrow smiled, setting them up for the kill. "And how are you going to get there, wolf? The island has some kind of mystical cloak over it."

"Nix told me no one can see it by boat or plane," Mari said.

Sabine flicked her claw-tipped hand at Malkom. "This ... being can return us. I'll pay him his weight in gold."

Malkom stepped forward. "I will go, relaying people there. And I do not want your gold."

Under her breath, Carrow said, "Um, demon, we're mercenaries here." She squired him to the side of the room. "If you want to join the family business, you gotta make them pay, okay?"

In a low tone, he said, " 'Tis the only way to get them to accept me."

And Carrow knew how he longed to be accepted. "I think you'll be surprised, big guy. But for now, let's concentrate on feathering our nest, then work on the acceptance, all right?"

When he grudgingly agreed, Carrow turned to the others and raised her voice. "Mari will scry tonight, Malkom will prepare for mass teleporting, and I'll draw up schematics of the island. We'll try to contact Conrad and see if he has any intel we can use. Then we'll come up with a battle plan and leave at dawn."

Mari added, "Anybody who wants on that island, I have some paperwork and payment options."

Carrow nodded. "Tomorrow morning, we go to war."

Malkom tensed beside her. "We?" he growled, tracing her outside.

She blinked up at him. She'd thought he was going to be unstoppable before he could trace. "Malkom, if you go, then I do, too. Remember the I'm never letting you out of my sight part from earlier?" He opened his mouth to argue, but she said, "If you're happy, then I'll be strong enough to watch over you as well as you do me." As soon as things calmed down, she'd explain that she'd learned to empower herself, that between his happiness and her own, she'd be one formidable Wicca. "So I'll just have to make you ecstatic."

"Witch, you already have." He drew her close, resting his chin on her head. "When I heard what you said in there, in front of everyone?"

"I would die for you, Malkom. Can you trust that? Can you believe in me again?"

Against her hair, he murmured, "Right now, I can do anything."

Though Malkom and Carrow still had much to discuss with the immortals downstairs, he couldn't be easy until he saw Ruby with his own eyes. Carrow had told him, "She freaked out, shrieking for you. I mean, I knew you'd made an impression, but Elianna had to mick her, knock her out."

So they started for Carrow's room to check on the girl. On the way, he gazed around at all the new and peculiar things he saw. Carrow's memories had prepared him for much, but still, this proved bewildering. He itched to investigate everything unfamiliar.

They'd just passed through the doorway leading to a spacious suite when Carrow's torque dropped to the ground.

"Ah, Mari, thank you," she murmured, kicking the band away.

He could sense magics flowing through Carrow, now uninterrupted—just as he sensed them steeped in every inch of this coven.

Magics surrounding him. 'Twas not so disturbing as he might have imagined.

She rolled her head, massaging her nape. "Gods, that's nice to get rid of."

Eyes fixed on her bared neck, Malkom skimmed the backs of his fingers down that pale length. Their gazes met.

"Crow, is that you?" Ruby sleepily asked from the bed.

Carrow bit her bottom lip. With a sigh, she crossed to her. "It's me, honey." She sat beside the girl.

"Did you get Malkom back?"

He drew closer, easing down beside Carrow. "I am here, deela ."

Instantly, Ruby's face lit up into a smile. "Crow, you swore you'd bring him home!" She launched herself at Malkom, hugging him with all her might.

Over the girl's shoulder, Malkom met eyes with Carrow. She'd promised her new daughter to bring him back, had been ready to fight her own allies to reach him.

Earlier, with her every word, his jaw had slackened. He'd wanted to have proof of her affection, to be certain of it. Now her feelings—and his place in her world—were abundantly clear.

His chest had grown tight, even as the knot in his gut had disappeared.

"Actually, he brought himself home," Carrow said. "He can trace now."

Ruby pulled back with narrowed eyes. "But is he staying?"

Carrow gazed at him as well.

He answered, "From now on, I stay with you two, my wife and our young one. 'Twill always be so."

Ruby laughed, bestowing another hug, while Carrow's eyes flickered amidst tears. "We wouldn't have it any other way, demon."

He'd just committed his life to theirs, had told his wife and adopted daughter in so many words that he would be with them, protecting them till the day he died.

Still he felt no apprehension about their futures, only anticipation. To dream without dreading ...

Carrow slipped her hand in his, then said to Ruby, "Hey, your gang is downstairs. They've missed you. I was thinking a slumber party and pizza, if you aren't too tired—"

"They're here?" Ruby scrambled to the floor. "I have to show them Malkom!"

Show me to them? She is ... proud.

"Well, we can't keep them waiting," Carrow said. "Go get Mari to pop off your torque. Unless you want to keep it on until you're eighteen, 'cause I'm okay with that."

"Crow!"

"All right, all right. Hey, before I forget to tell you, while you're in spell school tomorrow, Malkom and I are going on a mercenary gig. But we'll be back by dinner."

"Okay. Can we have chicken dinosaurs?"

"I'm sure Malkom would love to try them." She grinned up at him. "He does so enjoy his phicken."

"I like this bed," Malkom told Carrow, his voice rumbling with contentment.

Carrow glanced over at him from one of her closets. While she'd been readying her clothing and supplies for their new job, he'd lain back in her bed with his arms crossed under his head and a light sheet covering his body. His feet stretched out over the end of her California king.

How could he look so absolutely right among all her things? Especially when males didn't usually go tromping around inside Andoain, much less a giant demon at home in a witch's bed.

In the hours since the other immortals had left, he'd examined most of her belongings, the plumbing, the air-conditioning, the TV, myriad appliances.

And he'd been "shown" to Ruby's friends. Carrow would never forget his reaction when Ruby had proudly introduced him as her stepdemon. He'd been briefly surprised, then moved. The same as when she'd declared him her husband.

He'd later admitted, "I have rarely been introduced as 'my' anything. 'Tis welcome now."

Ruby's friends had gazed up at him with owl eyes, but eventually they'd gotten used to him. When they'd learned he'd never had pizza before, they'd all waited with bated breath to see if he'd like it. Carrow thought he'd exaggerated his reaction just a jot for their enjoyment and loved him all the more for it.

Now the slumber party in the attic was in full swing, music blaring from the karaoke machine, kids laughing.

Malkom grinned, seeming to love the noise. So long was he alone ...

"What else do you like?" she asked, determined to make him happy in her world.

"Showers."

She quirked a brow. "You liked what we did to each other in the shower." That had only been the appetizer to the main course she planned. Beneath her unassuming robe, she wore her raciest lingerie.