Page 3 of Underworld
Startled, I nodded in agreement.
She squeezed my hands again for good measure. “Good. Now, we have a lot of catching up to do. You should sit down.”
I followed Olivia to a set of couches in a much more luxurious room than what we’d had at the old Fortune Academy. She sat next to me and I couldn’t help but run my fingers through her snow-white hair. “This is different. I like it. It’s a more mature look.”
She snorted. “Are you calling meold?”
“Distinguished,” I corrected, although I suspected why her hair had turned white while I’d been gone. “You haven’t been abusing that fancy new soul of yours I helped you get, right?”
Yuri barked a laugh while she rummaged through a small refrigerator, poking her head up while she chewed on something. “Olivia, careful with her magic? That’s cute.”
As if to emphasize the effect, Olivia’s golden eyes flashed for a brief moment and she grinned. “Three… two…” she lifted a finger just as a knock sounded at the door.
“Come in!” Yuri yelled as she shoved her head into the fridge again.
My heart skipped a beat when I feltwhowas on the other side of that door. My connection to my mates hummed to life, eager to be reunited again. While my mind felt like I had only been gone for a few hours, my connection to my Virtues felt worn and frayed, and in desperate need of attention.
The door swung open and two males stepped into the room, halting as shock crested their faces.
Logan.
Kaito.
My spirit soared. When I got to my feet, I wobbled and sat back down as my wings curled around my sides. For whatever reason, I felt self-conscious with my changes. Would they still want me like this?
“Wow, Lily,” Logan said with a low whistle. He closed the distance between us and didn’t even hesitate to reach out and touch my wings. “Those are… sexy.”
Laughing, I flung my arms around him and hugged him close.
I had been an idiot for leaving him, for leaving any of them.
“I’m so sorry,” I murmured into his neck.
“Don’t apologize,” Logan said as he nuzzled against my cheek. “It’s not your fault that the Dean… that she…” His jaw flexed as he buried his face in my neck again, obscuring my view of his perfectly blue eyes that always glittered with mischief.
Pain swept through our connection, making my heart twist.
Glancing up, I found Kaito lingering nearby as he watched the exchange. He had watched me die—they all had, and it tore me to pieces that they’d spent an entire year suffering that loss.
I would make it up to them, somehow.
“Keep your distance,Koneko-chan,” Kaito warned when I reached for him, and I spotted why a moment later as I took in his appearance.
Small horns rose from his hairline, curving slightly before pointing forward. His eyes emitted a faint red glow, reminiscent of Hellfire surrounded by a rim of silver.
Breathtaking.
He’d warned me that he was aKami, a lower level demon with an inhuman form. His true form slowly clawed a little bit out of his mortal frame every day, and a year spent without me had done some damage. The silver tattoo slicing up his left cheek glowed with power, running blue flames into his hair like a crown.
“I knew you were alive,” he breathed as I stared at him in complete awe. “I never stopped believing.”
Logan untangled himself from me as I gravitated toward my mentor, unable to stay away.
He stiffened as I got close, but he was my Virtue. He couldn’t hurt me. Not after everything we’d already been through.
When I wrapped my arms around him, his lips grazed my cheek. I lifted my chin and pressed my lips to his, opening for him, relearning his new taste.
Darker, I decided. Headier, the changes in him more than just skin-deep.
