Hunt the Darkness (Guardians of Eternity #11)(76)

Sally wasn’t appeased. “I didn’t mean to claim you.”

“But you have, now I need to do whatever necessary to ease your pain.” Moving forward, he climbed onto the bed and gently pulled her into his arms. “Tell me how I can do that.”

Her brief flare of annoyance melted away as she snuggled against the hard strength of his chest.

A part of her knew this was dangerous.

She’d spent a lifetime learning that she could never depend on anyone. They always failed her. Always disappointed.

And the recent encounter with her father only emphasized that painful lesson.

But she didn’t have the energy to be sensible.

She badly needed the comfort of his strong arms and the cool wash of his power wrapping around her like a security blanket.

“You could start with waving a magic wand and giving me new parents,” she admitted, the words edged with a bitterness she couldn’t disguise. “I’m not fussy. The Borgias had to be better.”

“Parents?” She felt his muscles tense beneath her cheek. “As in plural?”

“I just had a close encounter with an alien claiming to be my father.”

“Alien?”

“He might as well be. He said . . .” She sucked in a deep breath. She hadn’t fully wrapped her brain around the latest bombshell to hit her life. Strange, really. You’d think she’d be used to unpleasant shocks. “He said he’s a Chatri.”

Roke gave a low hiss, his fingers sliding beneath her chin to tilt her face up to meet his narrowed gaze.

“Start at the beginning.”

Still raw from her encounter with her father, Sally instantly bristled at the sharp command.

“That sounded dangerously close to an order.”

His lips flattened, but he spoke the words she never thought she’d hear.

“Please, Sally.”

She might have smiled if her heart weren’t bruised and aching.

“I’m not sure what happened after we were in the portal.”

“Did your father open the portal?”

She shook her head, wrinkling her nose. “He said that I did.”

He looked more curious than astonished by her revelation. “Is that how you took us to Nevada when I was unconscious?”

“No. An imp opened that one.” She was struck by a sudden thought. She’d been so worried about Roke dying that she’d forgotten the sensation of the imp’s magic sinking inside her, as if she were claiming it for her own. “Although, I think I must have . . . absorbed how he weaved his magic when he created it,” she said slowly.

Roke frowned, trying to work through her babbling. “What imp?”

“It doesn’t matter.” She didn’t want to discuss her weird, rapidly changing powers. Not now. “Once we were in the portal we were separated. You came here and I ended up in an illusion created by my father.”

His thumb brushed the line of her jaw. “Tell me about him.”

She relished the soothing caress. The mating between her and Roke might be fake, but the comfort he offered her was very real.

As long as he was near, the world seemed . . . right.

“He’s beautiful,” she said.

A faint smile curved his lips, his gaze sweeping over her face.

“That much I expected.”

“No.” She gave a firm shake of her head. “Not just pretty, but so beautiful it’s almost painful to look at him,” she said. “And he smelled like wine.”

The silver gaze continued to sweep over her face, as if he was seeing her for the first time.

“So you’re the daughter of a Chatri.”

Her eyes narrowed. “You don’t seem surprised.”

“It explains why the fey were going crazy,” he murmured. “You’re royalty to them.”

“So Sariel claimed,” she muttered. Roke raised his brows in a silent question. “He said he was the King of the Chatri,” she clarified.

His thumb moved to trace her lower lip. “If you expect me to bow to you, you can forget it.”

She shivered, remembering the bizarre behavior of the fey over the past few days. She’d survived her entire life by fading into the background.

Being forced to become the center of attention felt like someone had just painted a big, fat bull’s-eye on her back.

“I don’t want anyone bowing to me.” Another shiver. “It’s creepy.”

Roke’s eyes darkened as he felt her burst of fear. “Did he have a purpose in revealing himself to you?”

“Oh yes.” Her lips twisted into a humorless smile. “I doubt my father has ever done anything without a purpose.”

“Why do you say that?”

“He told me that he’d been captured by some mysterious enemy when the rest of his people left our world and that he was trapped in a portal.”

“Trapped?” Roke frowned. “How’s that possible?”

“I don’t have a clue.”

“What did he want from you?”

“He wants me to follow the map on the box and rescue him.”

She was still speaking when he gave a decisive shake of his head.

“No.”

She lifted her head off his chest, her eyes narrowed with warning.