Dark Divine (The Divinities Book 3) Read online

  Talk about a major life change.

  Khloe trained with Kris three times a week on hunting, shifting, and learning to control the shift by regulating her emotions.

  Logan whimpered, and Lydia took him from Jagger. “I’ll take him. He may need changing.”

  She stepped around them and walked to the living room where she found her mom, Angelica, sitting in the recliner with a pair of headphones on. “Hi, Mom.”

  Her mother looked in her direction and smiled. Lydia’s heart ached. Her mother had been held captive by Demetrius, Khan’s demon general. During Angelica’s captivity, the demons had tortured her and blinded her with some kind of chemical.

  Lydia had tried to heal her sight but failed. All she was able to do was make it so she could see shadows and shapes.

  “Bring my grandson here,” Angelica said, holding her arms out.

  “Just a minute, Mom. I need to change him.”

  She walked over to the bookshelf to the right of the TV and picked up the wipes and a diaper, then sat sideways on the sofa and laid Logan on the cushion in front of her. “What are you listening to?”

  Her mom pulled the ear buds from her ears and turned off the iPod. “An audiobook. They’re great.”

  Lydia smiled. “I love to listen to them while jogging.”

  The sound of a truck coming up the driveway drew Lydia’s attention. She finished diapering Logan and took him to his grandmother before going to the door.

  She opened it, and a rush of excitement rolled through her. It was the movers she’d hired to bring the things she wanted from New York. There wasn’t much she desired. Just the baby furniture and clothes and her bike, a black Ducati.

  Oh, how she’d missed her motorcycle. She stepped out to greet the men. A few moments later, Khloe and Jagger came out just as Zach’s black Camaro rolled to a stop next to the moving truck.

  The passenger side door opened, and Bethany, Zach’s older sister, stepped out. Lydia smiled, happy to see her new friend, and walked over to her.

  Bethany returned the smile before sticking her head inside the car to get something out of the back seat. When she pulled back and straightened, she held a small dragon. He perched with his claws folded around her hand and wrist, and his long tail wrapped around her arm up to her shoulder. He couldn’t be more than two feet tall.

  And he was beautiful with his red scales that had a dark orange undertone. Turning his head, he met Lydia’s gaze and blinked the brightest green eyes she’d ever seen.

  “He’s gorgeous.” Lydia held out her hand tentatively.

  Zach stopped next to her. “Careful. He’s a fire breathing demon.”

  Lydia quickly pulled her hand back and turned to Zach as he started laughing. Bethany reached over and popped him in the back of the head. “Stop.”

  The dragon snapped his teeth at Zach and said, “No demon. You demon.”

  Shock made Lydia meet Bethany’s gaze. “He speaks?”

  Bethany scratched under the dragon’s chin. “A little, but he understands everything we say. He mostly communicates through hand gestures and body language. But it does seem like he’s picking up more and more words every day.”

  “Cool. Is he full-grown?”

  “Yep. And he is house trained.”

  Lydia studied Beth for a few moments. “Why is he here?”

  Beth smiled. “I’m hoping he’ll be Angelica’s familiar.”

  “Oh.” At first, Lydia was confused. Had her mother asked for a familiar? It wasn’t common for witches to take familiars nowadays unless they needed a boost while weaving magic, or if they’d lost one of their senses…

  Lydia peered into Beth’s smiling face. “He’ll help her see again.”

  Beth nodded. “Yes, if they are compatible.”

  “Oh my gods, where did you get that adorable dragon from?” Khloe asked as she flew out the front door and came to stand next to Lydia.

  Bethany ran a hand over the dragon’s head. “There is an elven couple in the coven that raises them on the other side. They heard about Angelica and gifted him to her.”

  “Aw. That was nice of them.” Khloe reached out, and the dragon snapped its teeth. She jerked her hand back. “What the hell?”

  Beth tapped the dragon on the nose lightly. “Behave.”

  “Demon.”

  Khloe laughed. “I’m not a demon.”

  Beth bit her lower lip before replying. “But your mate is.”

  Khloe’s cheeks turned pink. “He’s a good demon. A guardian for Hecate.”

  The dragon turned his head to the side then stretched out his neck toward Khloe and sniffed. “Jagger.”

  Spreading his wings wide, he hopped off Beth’s arm and flew to the front door of the house. Jagger gave the small dragon a crooked grin. “Sal, what are you doing here?”

  The dragon jumped and settled on Jagger’s shoulder as the Death Demon walked down the steps toward them.

  “Ms. Rayners, where would you like this?”

  Lydia pulled her attention away from the dragon and Jagger to turn to the movers, who seemed ready to haul ass. Right. Human meets talking dragon. She suppressed a laugh and offered them a sweet smile. Humans and their fears of the unknown. “You can unload the truck here. We’ll take everything inside.”

  She could practically see the relief slide off them in sheets. Both men physically sagged into themselves as if they were glad they didn’t have to enter the witches’ house. She nibbled the inside of her lip to keep from saying anything.

  Zach must have noticed because he moved closer to her, sending a wave of heat over her body. She took a deep breath to calm the rush of desire she always felt whenever he was near.

  When the movers rolled the Ducati out, Zach whistled. “Holy shit. Is that yours?”

  Lydia felt her cheeks rise as her smile widened. “Yep. I’m so glad I finally got her here.”

  There was nothing better than riding. The freedom she felt when she rode had helped her deal with the emptiness of losing her parents. Now that she was no longer pregnant, she could ride again.

  Khloe walked over and nudged her arm. “Zach rides, too.”

  Zach shook his head. “I haven’t had time lately with everything going on. Plus, my bike needs some work.”

  Khloe rolled her eyes. “He has an old BMW that he’s restoring.”

  A tinge of jealousy stabbed at Lydia’s belly. It bothered her slightly that Zach hadn’t been the one to offer the personal information. Then again, she and Zach had only met six months ago. Why would he offer up the information?

  Besides, it seemed as if he did everything in his power to avoid her. There were a few kind words here and there, and the occasional accidental brush of the hand or arm when he hung out at the house—which was often.

  But that was it. It bothered her more than she realized.

  Damn it. She hated this. The confusion, the need to be close to him, and the fear of his rejection.

  A hand on her arm brought her out of her musings. She peered down and noticed it was Zach’s hand on her forearm. Her Divine Rose on the underside of that arm tingled and then warmed. She gasped and moved away from him.

  “Lydia?” he asked and stepped forward.

  She shook her head and dashed to the porch. Entering the living room, she forced a calm smile to her face and went to sit next to her mother. Logan’s baby blue gaze found hers, and he giggled, holding out his chubby arms to her. Lydia’s heart filled with joy and pride as she picked up her son and cradled him against her chest.

  A moment later, Jagger, Khloe, and Zach came in, each carrying something the movers had dropped off. Frowning, she stood. “I can get those.”

  Zach shook his head. “Just sit. Beth is going to introduce the dragon to Angelica.”

  Lydia’s mother gasped. “Dragon?”

  Lydia patted her on the hand. “It’s a pseudodragon, Mom. Bethany brought him to be your familiar.”

  Angelica smiled, obviously picking up on the fa
ct that she would possibly be able to see again with the help of a familiar.

  Beth walked around the sofa and sat on the coffee table in front of Angelica, Sal perched on her shoulder, his tail wrapped loosely around her neck. She reached out and took Angelica’s hand in hers. “I want you to meet Sal. He’s a pseudodragon.”

  Slowly, Beth moved Angelica’s hand to Sal’s snout. The dragon leaned forward, sniffed her hand, then pressed his nose into her palm. “Sal, this is Angelica.”

  “Ange…Angel…” He shook his head and blew out a puff of smoke. “Say name.”

  Beth hid a smile and repeated Lydia’s mom’s name. “Angelica.”

  “No. Hard name.”

  Angelica laughed and cupped the dragon’s long chin. “Sal. Call me Angie.”

  “Angie.” He grinned, showing all his teeth, and snapped his jaw several times before unwinding his tail from around Beth and climbing down her arm toward Angelica. “I like.”

  He crawled into Angelica’s lap and snuggled into her body.

  Beth laughed and then clapped her hands. “This is great. I hadn’t expected him to take to you so fast.”

  Angelica’s eyes teared up, causing Lydia’s to do the same. Logan patted her cheek as if sensing her mood. Smiling, she peered down at her baby and kissed his forehead. “Happy tears, Logan. Grandma will be able to see again.”

  Beth moved to sit on the sofa next to Lydia. “Angelica, the bond with a pseudodragon is different than that of a cat or other earth-born creature. The dragons choose their witches and initiate the bond. Sometimes, it’s an instant bond, other times, it’s a gradual bond. It all depends on how comfortable the dragon feels with you.”

  Sal rose up on his hind legs to be at eye level with Angelica, then placed his short front clawed feet on her face gently, and stared into her eyes. Lydia swore she saw the dragon’s forehead scrunch into an angry frown.

  A moment later, Sal tilted his head a little to the right, then his eyes started to glow. A hint of panic raced through Lydia but vanished when she peered into her mother’s eyes. The milky appearance was gone, leaving behind the clear blue-green color that matched hers.

  “Well, I think he’s bonded with her. And, apparently, healed her injury. I didn’t know he could do that,” Beth said and leaned forward to peer at Angelica around Lydia. “How’s your sight?”

  Angelica smiled the brightest smile Lydia had seen since before her mother had been captured and stared at Sal. “You are a beautiful dragon.”

  The orange hue under the red in his scales darkened until his whole body was bright red. Lydia laughed. “I think he’s blushing.”

  Beth nodded. “I believe so.”

  Angelica turned to Lydia, tears rolling down her face. Reaching out, Angelica touched her cheek. “My beautiful daughter.” She looked down at Logan. “And my grandson.”

  Kris came in and placed his hand on her shoulders and bent down to kiss her temple. Angie faced him and cupped his cheek. “Kris.”

  Sal instantly wiggled himself between the couple, breaking whatever was about to happen between them. Lydia bunched her brows. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know. Especially if it meant that Kris would soon be upgraded to her stepdad.

  Zach, Khloe, and Jagger came back into the living room just as Kalissa and Melaina entered through the front door, carrying shopping bags. Kalissa nodded at everyone, stopping her gaze on the dragon still perched in Angelica’s lap.

  A smile formed on her lips, and she lifted her gaze to Zach. “Zach, Ayden said he’d be here shortly, but to start the meeting without him.”

  Lydia gathered Logan in her arms, stood, and picked up his burp cloth and a few toys scattered about. She started for the stairs when Zach spoke. “Lydia, I’d like for you to sit in on this meeting.”

  Her heart fell to her feet, and her stomach twisted in knots. Usually, it didn’t matter if she sat in on the meetings or not, but she had an idea what this one was about. She so didn’t want to be in the room.

  Especially when there were two empaths present.

  All it’d take would be one slip of emotion to give away the fact that she’d been out hunting demons.

  Chapter Three

  Zach watched Lydia turn toward him. She was nervous about something. He could sense it in the way her shoulders tensed when he’d asked her to stay. Come to think of it, she had been distant lately. Avoiding eye contact and skipping out on Divinities meetings.

  Then again, so had he. With good reason.

  What was her reason?

  Bethany stood from her seat on the sofa and cast Zach a narrow-eyed glance before going to Lydia. “Let me take him for you.”

  Lydia offered Beth a warm smile and allowed her to take Logan. “Thanks. It’s his nap time.”

  Beth cradled the baby, her motherly instincts kicking in. “No problem. I’ll rock him to sleep.”

  Zach’s sister disappeared up the stairs. Lydia came back into the living room and took a seat between Khloe and Angelica.

  When Kalissa and Melaina made their way back from putting their bags up, Zach began briefing them on what he and Ayden had already talked about. “There is a rumor floating around Magical Enchantments that someone has been hunting and killing demons.”

  “And this is a problem, how?” Khloe asked.

  Zach felt his lips twitch. He was so on board with Khloe’s train of thought. He wanted to find out who was doing it and congratulate them. Hell, give them a hand running the bastards back to the Underworld. “It’s a problem because humans are starting to notice strange things going on around downtown Jacksonville.”

  He ran a hand through his hair.

  A spike of fear rolled off Lydia, making him meet her gaze. He stared into her green and blue eyes for several moments, trying to get a read on her emotions, but somehow, she blocked them from him.

  Jagger spoke next, drawing Zach’s attention from Lydia. “Lex heard the same rumor on the demon side. Only the demons have put a bounty on the so-called slayer.”

  Fuck. That wasn’t good.

  Lex was Jagger’s brother, another Death Demon sent to help the Divinities in the war against the demons. Because he was also a Porter—a guardian of souls—he could freely walk between the three worlds. Lex used that ability to spy on the demons in the Underworld.

  Khloe growled. Zach still wasn’t used to her inner kitty cat. “Now that’s a problem. I hope they don’t think that gives their demonic asses a free ride to come to the natural realm. I just might have to go rogue myself.”

  Zach shook his head, ignoring Khloe for now. “We have to find out who this demon slayer is and put a stop to his or her demon hunting.”

  “Then we can recruit them and go after the demons as a team. That way, we can conceal it better from the humans.” Khloe grinned when he stared at her, trying to give his best serious look. It was too hard with his best friend. She knew what buttons to push.

  That meant she sensed too much of his darkening mood.

  He knew it would only be a matter of time before she figured him out. She was mated to a Death Demon, after all.

  “Another problem we have is that there’s been an increase in nighttime activity at Demetrius’s warehouse. I don’t like it.” Zach took out his phone to check an incoming text.

  It was his mother. We need to talk when you get home.

  He sighed as he slipped the phone back into his pocket. He didn’t want to talk with his mother, not about the elf thing, not now.

  Lydia broke her silence. “Why don’t we just blow up the damn building while everyone is inside? There goes a large percentage of our problem right there.”

  Khloe laughed and high-fived Lydia. “Now that’s more like it.”

  Zach shook his head. When did he lose control of the meeting? “We can’t just go in and blow up a building in downtown Jacksonville.” Although, he kind of liked the idea.

  Khloe shrugged, but her grin remained. “You can with the right plan and a spell large enough to b
lock it from the humans.”

  Zach stilled and stared at the woman who used to be the first to fly out the door, ready to blow the demons to hell. Now, she sat there and talked about planning. He glanced over at her twin, who rubbed her pregnant belly and shrugged.

  “I would have to agree with Lo on this one. I think we’ve stood by for too long. It’s starting to bleed into the humans’ lives. If they start learning about the demons walking their streets, we’ll have bigger issues,” Kalissa said.

  And she was right. They had to act fast and keep the humans oblivious of the demons.

  “And we have to make sure Demetrius is in the building when it blows,” Melaina added.

  Well, hell. Even the Divinity Elder was on board with this dangerous and risky plan. He took a deep breath and blew it out while he raked his fingers through his hair. “I guess we’re going to do it. But I want this planned. Every ‘i’ dotted and ‘T’ crossed. No room left for mistakes. I don’t want to lose another Divinity.”

  Everyone nodded their agreement so he ended the meeting. “We’ll regroup once I talk to Ayden. Khloe, I want you to take a look at the warehouse’s security, see if anything has changed. Kalissa, can you summon your ghost and see if she can tail Demetrius?”

  Kalissa nodded. “Sure. Barbra loves to help.”

  Zach smiled. Barbra was Kalissa’s ex-boyfriend’s dead mother, who turned out to be half witch. She was now assigned as Kalissa and Khloe’s spirit guide.

  “Good. Lydia, can I speak to you for a minute?”

  Lydia froze where she stood, darting her gaze to Khloe before meeting Zach’s eyes. “Sure.”

  She hung back as the others left the room, the women with knowing smirks on their faces. Zach ignored it. It was not a big secret that there was an attraction between him and Lydia. Hell, they’d been skating around it for the last six months.

  Zach was tired of skating, tired of running. Papa was right. There was no denying the pull Zach felt when he was near her.

  That didn’t mean they had to jump into anything right away. They could take it slow, have dinner, go for walks, and get to know each other. Then maybe she wouldn’t flee when he told her he was half dark elf and that he’d killed his own father.