Page 24 of Claim the Twilight
But his words were buried beneath the thud of Lorenzo’s heart. His bergamot scent filled my nose, and a fist of nostalgia formed in my chest for all the moments we’d shared in the past year. For the connection that had grown and was finally ready tobloom. I’d been given a second chance, and I wouldn’t squander it.
He drew back so we were eye to eye, the tempest in his gaze communicating more to me than words ever could. He pressed a kiss to my forehead before turning to look at Kaster.
My stomach tightened in anticipation, but Kaster didn’t move. He merely drank me in with his dark gaze, his hands curling into fists at his side. His wings were gone now. Invisible. Hidden in a way they’d always been to me. He’d lied about his true nature, but I wasn’t mad at him. How could I be? He had a calling. A duty to a power higher than us.
He was here now, and that was all that mattered. Did he not realize that? Lorenzo stepped to one side, an invitation to Kaster to take his place, but long seconds ticked by, and Kaster didn’t move. He didn’t approach to hug me. He didn’t even crack a smile.
A little part of me died.
I lifted my chin. “I guess one of us is a vampire after all.”
His throat bobbed. “I’m still a vampire. But I’m also a white wing.”
My ears rang with the sound of his dulcet tones that up until now had always been in my head. “You…You can speak? Out loud?”
He exhaled heavily. “Yes. For now. It’s a long story, and I promise to explain it, but right now, our priority is finding and stopping Loviator.”
I wanted to argue, to understand how he could suddenly be this…this being with wings and a voice. A being who looked at me with such dispassion it made my heart hurt. I opened my mouth to ask, but Ezekiel gently took my hand and squeezed. A signal to stand down. To wait.
I snapped my mouth closed and nodded.
“What can we do that the white wing army isn’t already doing?” Ezekiel asked.
Lorenzo and Ordell exchanged glances.
“There is no army,” Kaster said. “Only a single battalion, and we are no match for Loviator and the forces she is attempting to unleash. Right now, there are two breaches in Dracul, and my battalion has been forced to split their forces to man them both, but it won’t be long until more open up. Loviator is biding her time, hiding in a place between her prison and this world. Sending her minions to reap souls to fuel her.
“Any damage we succeeded in inflicting on her has most likely healed. If we cannot weaken her sufficiently, then we cannot push her back into her prison and seal it.”
“Wait a second,” Ezekiel said. “Why do you only have one battalion?”
“It’s all that could be spared,” Kaster said.
What the hell? “The potential downfall of this world not important enough for you?”
“The white wings are fighting their own war. It’s testament to my battalion’s loyalty to me that they are even here.”
“How many?” Ezekiel asked. “How many white wings in your battalion?”
“Eight,” he said.
“Eight white wings to stop a goddess,” Lorenzo said. “We’re going to need help. Which is why I’ve sent word to Morningstar and to the Hawthorne pack.”
What? “No! Nyx and Quinn have been through enough, and Quinn is pregnant, so we can’t?—”
“Too late,” Lorenzo said. “They can decide whether to come or not, and if they do, then Kaster will make sure they can get into Dracul.”
Of course they’d come. We had a pact. They’d come, and they’d be hurt, and it would be all my fault.
“Orina…” Ezekiel gripped my shoulders. “Breathe.”
Blood thundered in my head, and my eyes felt as if they’d been replaced with hot coals.
“What’s happening to her?” Ordell asked.
“A panic attack. She’ll be fine. Breathe, Orina.”
Dark spots danced in my vision, and a band squeezed my ribs. I breathed in and out slowly through my nose.
