Broken Wings (Hidden Wings Series Book Two) (32 page)

“What?” I asked.

“You really need a bath,” she whispered.

“Tell me about it,” I answered. “Apparently, I haven’
t had one in four months.”

“You mean you didn’t bathe since you left?” she gasped.

“Courtney… there are no public showers in Hell,” I huffed.

“Ooooooh,”
she sighed, glancing behind me. “Who are they?”

I turned around and my eyes caught Ethon, smiling.

“This is Ethon,” I said, pointing to him.

He
bowed his head slightly and held out his hand to Courtney. She giggled and offered him her hand, and he gave it a light kiss.

“Hi E
thon,” she said batting her eyes. I watched her face blush. Ethon glanced at me with a smile and gave me a wink.

Oh man.
I was in trouble.

“And
who are they?” Courtney asked. She looked upward at the two towering goons behind Ethon.

I had to pause, becaus
e I almost referred to them as the goons.

“
They are with Ethon. Their names are Azzah and Bane, and they’ve come to help protect us,” I said in a nice way.

“Azza
h and Bane?” she squeaked, with a twisted face.

“
Yep, Azzah and Bane,” I repeated, and she giggled again.

“Samuel! Emma!” Alaine’s voice carried from down the hall. Her face lit up as soon as she saw us, and tears began to fall in waves down her cheeks. She ran and then wrapped her arms around Samuel in a tight embrace, and then me right after. “Oh thank God. I’d thought I’d lost you both. When Dominic and Malachi came back, they said that you had gone past the gate to see Lucifer. It’s been over a month since they returned. I started to think that maybe you were -,” she paused, and then suddenly noticed Ethon and the goons.

“
I’m so sorry. Forgive my rudeness. I didn’t notice you brought guests. And you are?” she asked, holding her hand out behind me.

“I’m
Ethon. And they are Azzah and Bane,” he replied, taking her hand and giving it a kiss. At least he had manners, and I could tell that she was mildly impressed.

“Alaine,
” Samuel said, clearing his throat. “Ethon is Lucifer’s son.”

Her eyes then steeled onto Ethon
with a look of confusion.

“Lucifer’
s son? And why would Lucifer’s son be in our midst?” she answered in the nicest way possible.

“
Lucifer sent him back with us to help protect Emma, until he gathers together his warriors. They are here to make sure that Lucian does not fulfill his evil deeds,” Samuel noted.

“
Well, this means that our shield of protection is now down, and that we have no defense against the Fallen since they are already within our perimeter,” she said with a voice of concern.

“
We understand your concern, and we will take watch your perimeter ourselves. We will not be in your way, and will make sure that everyone is alerted when Lucian is near. I am here to help make sure of Emma’s safety.”

“And, why would
Emma’s safety be of any concern to you?” Alaine pushed.

“Becaus
e she and I have been bonded,” he answered.

Whoa, whoa, whoa!

That was waaaay too much information to dump on Alaine all at once. I noticed her eyes widen in confusion. She turned and looked at Samuel and then back at me. I just shook my head and shrugged my shoulders. I had nothing to add to that.   

“Courtney, maybe our guests are hungry or thirsty. Why don’t you escort them back to the kitchen and see if Miss Lilly can whip them up something to eat, and please offer them something to drink?” Alaine asked.

“I’m hungry
,” a deep voice muttered.

I turne
d to see Bane raising his hand, and heard a deep sigh come from Ethon.

“F
ine, follow me,” Courtney huffed.

Ethon
paused and looked at me, as if he was asking for my permission. I nodded, and then he followed after her, with Bane and Azzah in tow. That was odd. 

“I’d like to speak to you both in my study,” Alaine said wrapping each of her arms around Samuel and
me, and leading us back down the hall towards her study. 

“Where’s Kade?”
I asked.

“I was
wondering when you’d ask me that question,” she turned with a grin. Kade is doing well. It was a bit of a fight in the beginning, but he is starting to heal nicely.

Krystal Kross, a nurse friend of mine from a burn ward at the city hospital, came to stay with us for a while.
The wounds were so extensive that they will still need a few more months of care before they will completely heal. But, all-in-all, he’ll live,” she smiled. “He’s on the second floor, in one of the guest rooms. You can go and visit him as soon as we’re done.”

“Thank you,” I said with a bit too
much happiness in my voice.

She
and Samuel smiled. They knew. They knew the connection I had with Kade.

“So, before we get to
the story behind Ethon, I want to hear what happened. I’m so glad to have you both back.”

“It’s r
eally a long story,” Samuel admitted. He was right. It was a very long story. “How about I give you a completely detailed version later, because I am sure that Emma wouldn’t want to relive it so soon.

“
The short version is that we made it through, but we did lose Danyel along the way.” He paused and I could tell that the realization of his best friend’s death was kicking in.

The thought of Danyel made emotions run wild again
, and I soon found myself sobbing, remembering the last look on his face before his life was taken. That vision would haunt me for a very long time. Probably for the rest of my life.

“I’m so so
rry, Samuel. I knew how close Danyel was to you,” Alaine said. She walked over and hugged him. He didn’t cry but I was crying enough for the both of us. “Come here, sweetheart,” Alaine said, opening her arms to me. I found myself automatically wrapping my arms around her. She reminded me so much of my mother, and that thought made me cry even harder.

I sobbed and sobbed and couldn’t stop. I cried until I couldn’t cry anymore
, until there were no more tears to be shed. I cried for what seemed like forever, but she stayed put, holding me, stroking my hair, saying that everything would be all right.

I never really had a chance to mourn
my parents like this, and now Danyel had been added to the list. It felt good to release all of the sadness, anger, and confusion. I needed this. I needed to get it out of me. Mourning my life, a life that was forever changed. It would never be the same. It would never be normal.

At times, I even felt Samuel’s hand gentl
y pat my back, and that was something my mortal father would do. They weren’t too different. They both loved me.

After I
cried myself out, we all sat around Alaine’s desk.

“So now, tell me about
this craziness with Ethon, and him being your mate?” she questioned, with a raised brow. I paused and had to figure out the best way to explain it to her. Explain to her what I myself didn’t understand. But, she waited patiently.

“I don’t know. Not really. Well…” I paused, and Samuel and Alaine’s eyes were steeled on mine. That made me feel awkward, but if I told them the truth, maybe they would be able to make sense of it all.

“You can tell us anything, Emma. We’re here to help, not to condemn,” Alaine said with a smile.

“Well,” I continued. “I guess things started happening
the night Kade went missing. I started having these weird dreams, and in those dreams were two sets of eyes. One set was Kade’s hazel eyes, and the other was these blazing red eyes.”

“I remember the feeling I had before Kade entered my room at the hospital. It was a feeling that took my
breath away and zapped all the air from my lungs. When he touched me it was like a surge of electricity flooded through me.

T
he same thing happened when I first saw Ethon. Before I saw him, I could feel him, and when he touched me, I felt the same electricity.”

I looked at bo
th of them for some sort of explanation, but they both looked just as bewildered as I was.  

“Samuel, do you think it’s beca
use she has both parts, good and Fallen, in her? Or could it be that when Kade became mortal, the bond transferred to Ethon?”

“I don’t know,” he answered. “
I honestly don’t know the answer to that question, and I doubt that we will ever find out. Because Emma does have both good and Fallen, that very well could be the reason why she has a connection with each of them. One of darkness and one of light. It’s part of the prophecy. Eventually, she will have to make a choice, and when she does, she will have chosen her side.”

“I don’t have to make my choice soon
, right?” I asked.

“No, sweetheart. You don’t. Not anytime s
oon. And, from a mother’s point of view, I don’t think you and Lucifer’s son would make a good match.”

“Alaine,” Samuel
rebutted, in a soft tone. “Ethon is a fine boy. I know that Lucifer has some major issues and if I could go back, I would have chosen a different side, but the boy is genuinely good. He doesn’t have the same black heart as Lucifer.

“
His mother was a virtuous woman, and was raped by Lucifer’s brother. The boy had no choice of who his father would be, and I’ve heard from other Fallen members, that he is nothing like Lucifer. Lucifer saved his life, but really didn’t spend much time with him. Maybe Ethon will be the one that can help to bring change.”

“
Well, I don’t really care about all of that right now, Samuel. What I do care about, is what’s best for our daughter. Right now she’s too young, and doesn’t have to be burdened with making mate choices.”

Samuel
laughed. “I agree, Alaine. I was just stating that since a connection has been made with both young men, sooner or later she
will
have to choose. Right now, we will need to keep them separated. I have a feeling that once they find out about each other, there will be no peace in this house.”

“Yes.
We will need to keep them separated. Ethon agreed to stay outside, so I will give him access to the tower, away from the others.”

“T
hat is a great idea,” Samuel agreed. He rose to his feet, walked over to Alaine, and wrapped her in a tight embrace. They gently kissed and then faced me. “You should have seen your daughter down there. You would have been very, very proud. She really held her own, and even saved a few of the Guardians. She slayed
three
of the Hell Hounds on her own.”

They were both beaming with
smiles as they looked at me, and I suddenly felt awkward. I was still donning the black super-suit, the Bloodstone around my neck, and the dagger around my waist. These gifts saved my life. If it weren’t for them, I would be dead. But, I also didn’t want to start explaining any of that right now. The only thing I wanted to do was see Kade, and then take a loooooong, hot bath.

“
I think you both should get some rest. Samuel, on the second floor you can take the first room to the left. And Emma, Kade is in the first room on the right.”

“Do you think it woul
d be okay if I go see him?” I asked.

“
I think he’d be expecting you to, and probably knows you’re back by now. He’s been so worried about you. Dominic and Malachi have been thoroughly interrogated since their return, giving him word for word descriptions of what happened while they were with you,” she laughed. “I know he’ll be thrilled to see you.”

“I think I’ll go
see him before I take a bath. He’ll probably beg me to leave, since I smell like Hell,” I laughed.

“Yes,” she said, crinkling her nose. “You both do.”

“Well, I guess that’s my exit,” I said, stepping into their arms for one last hug.

“You go ahead Emma. I’ll be right out
,” Samuel said, still hugging Alaine.

I
left Alaine’s office and walked back down the hall. As soon as my foot hit the first step of the staircase my heart began to race. I was so excited but also nervous about seeing Kade, especially knowing that he’d waited for four months.

I was
halfway up the stairs when I heard laughing and felt an overwhelming dizziness, and then that all familiar electricity shoot through my entire body. My body felt compelled to move back down the stairs, but I was too tired to respond. I knew Ethon was the cause.

I glanced
down as Courtney bounced around the corner holding two bottles of water.

“Emm
a! Miss Lilly wanted me to bring these to you and Samuel!” she yelled with a wide grin.

“T
hanks,” I said waiting for her to deliver them. I was staying put. She had enough energy to run up and down the stairs a hundred times.