Burn the Night by Jocelynn Drake

comes and goes as he pleases in whatever form suits him.” I had been relieved to see that he had not chosen to appear as the man I thought of as my real father throughout childhood. Of course, then Nick would have only succeeded in distracting me, which could have cost me my life, thus working against his master plan.

    “Your puppet master has changed from Jabari to him? Is that wise?”

    “When it comes to your life, it is,” I snapped, quickly shoving to my feet.

    “What’s that supposed to mean?”

    “Jabari never saw any reason to keep you alive.”

    Grabbing my hand, Danaus slowly pulled himself to his feet as well. “And Nick?”

    “Sees things differently,” I murmured. If Nick was going to continue to use me and keep me cooperative, I needed Danaus at my side. Danaus kept the madness at bay.

    Reaching up with a trembling, blood-covered hand, I brushed some of his hair from this face so I could clearly look into his piercing blue eyes. It was his eyes that I fell in love with first. I loved their sparkle and intensity as he searched to see me for what I truly was, beyond the reputation and horror stories. I loved those eyes and didn’t want to imagine a night where I wouldn’t be able to stare into them.

    “I could have so easily lost you tonight to Jabari,” I said in a rough voice. “He came so close. He knows that you’re my weakness, and you have to run when I tell you to run.”

    “I will never leave your side, particularly in a battle,” Danaus vowed, cupping my cheek with one hand. “And I am only your weakness if you let me become such. Let me be your strength instead.” Sighing, I turned my head in his hand and kissed the palm. “You cannot leave me. The world would never survive my wrath.”

    Danaus pulled me close, kissing me deeply. I tasted his fear and his love in that moment as we stood in the darkness under the oak trees. I closed my eyes and let myself drift along his emotions, slipping away from the pain Jabari had caused. Pulling slightly away, he whispered with a slight shudder,
    “I know.”

    The world was a dark place for me, and after more than six centuries tucked under my belt and more power than I could begin to understand flowing through my fingertips, my grasp on my sanity was beginning to slip. But then there was Danaus. The chaos that occupied my brain seemed to melt and fall away as background noise when he was near me.

    After pressing a sweet kiss to my forehead, he stepped back so he could clearly look me in the eye. One hand was still pressed to his stomach where Jabari had initially injured him, while I refused to remove my hand from the wound near his heart. I was sure that both wounds had already closed, but I still could not bring myself to release him.

    “Nick is right,” Danaus began. “You have to kill Jabari.”

    “I know. He’s too much of a threat, not only to us but to everything that we value. He has to be stopped. And if I know my old mentor, he hasn’t traveled far and I will be seeing him soon.”

    “You have to destroy Nick as well.”

    “You make it sound so easy. Do you happen to know the best way to destroy a god?” I demanded, unable to halt the sarcasm that laced every word that tumbled from my lips.

    “No, but it seems as if we have two choices: we contact an even stronger nightwalker, as in your liege lord, or we find another god that might help us.”

    “Neither seems to be the wisest of choices, and both could potentially offer more trouble than we’ve already got. What about Ryan?”

    “I would rather not put the power of a god at the disposal of that warlock,” Danaus grumbled.
    “Can you think of any other solutions to our current problems with Jabari and your father?” He slowly turned and started walking back toward the house. I slipped one arm through his, both in an effort to steady his gait and to remain close to his side.

    “No,” I whispered. It seemed that after all these centuries, I was