Gods, he was glad he had demanded Cass stay at the mansion with Marinda.
The sorceress had had a few choice things to say to him in response to that, and he knew her anger hadn’t all been about him ordering her to remain where she was, sidelining her again in order to protect her from their enemy.
She was still angry with him for reading the letter, and he deserved it.
“I can get closer.” Cal’s voice broke into his thoughts and Daimon shook his head.
They couldn’t risk approaching the gate, because it would open if they got any closer to it. They also couldn’t risk attacking the Erinyes with any of their powers, just in case the gate was caught in the crossfire. The two goddesses were standing too close to it.
And on top of that, they couldn’t risk spilling their blood, just in case that was the reason the Erinyes had remained this time, hoping to injure one of them so they could get their hands on some of their blood. It would give them the power to open the gates again.
The best thing they could do was leave, but it was their duty to protect the gates and they couldn’t leave this one vulnerable. He wasn’t sure whether the Erinyes would be able to coax it open given enough time, and he wasn’t about to risk it by withdrawing.
One of the two blonde females looked over her shoulder at him, fury shining in her violet eyes.
He wasn’t the only one who was pissed.
Were the furies angry because he and his brothers were evading more than they were attacking, keeping the daemons busy while they kept an eye on the gate to make sure nothing happened to it, or were they angry because they had expected more than just Daimon, Cal and Valen to show up to fight them?
The central purple disc of the gate flickered, weakly glowing, and he focused on it as Valen and Cal launched another attack on the wall of daemons, attempting to weaken their forces enough that the Erinyes would be forced to withdraw.
Daimon struggled to focus as his thoughts kept shifting course, veering back to the angry sorceress he had left in Tokyo.
One who had looked as wounded by his demand she remain there as she had by his announcement that he had seen the letter on her desk.
He scrubbed a hand down his face and fixed his mind on the gate, on closing it. He felt the hum of power running through him as he connected with it, a comforting touch that boosted his strength, enough that he felt he could force it closed. If he could make it disappear, they could attack the Erinyes.
He could get back to Tokyo.
To that damned sorceress who had him tied in knots, going in circles, hating himself each time he completed a cycle of drawing her closer and pushing her away. He needed to get his head straight and his heart back in line.
He couldn’t shake how relaxed she had been with him in that cramped kitchen. She had been so open, offering smiles that had warmed the coldest parts of him, making him feel things he had no right feeling.
So he had ruined it all.
But gods, he had needed it out there, in the open between them.
He had needed her to know that he was aware she was meant to return to her coven, to the man waiting for her.
He was no longer sure whether he had been attempting to drive a wedge between them to save himself, attempting to force a confession from her or something else.
But as he stood focused on the gate, his mind emptying, his heart supplied a possible answer.
He had done it because he wanted her to pick him.
He wanted Cass to look at him the way Megan looked at Ares. He wanted everything his brother had, everything he had denied himself for centuries, everything he had never wanted but now craved to the point it made him crazy.
And it wasn’t because he could touch Cass.
He had been craving her from the moment he had set eyes on her.
But he couldn’t have her.
So he kept trying to force her away from him, even when he knew it wouldn’t change how he felt.
But he couldn’t give in to her.
This kind of feeling was going to last longer than the time he had with her. When she left, he was going to feel bad enough as it was, but if he let her get any closer, it would destroy him. He would never get over her.
“Daimon, are you fucking listening?” Valen’s voice broke into his thoughts and he turned his head to his right, his gaze landing on his violet-haired brother where he stood right in front of him. “This is not the time to zone out. What the hell is wrong with you?”
Daimon had been asking himself that question since Cass had stormed into his life, throwing everything into disarray. He didn’t have an answer to give his brother.
Lightning struck all around them, shaking the hills that stretched in all directions, slender moonlight casting silver highlights on their sides and sloping peaks. Half a dozen screams rent the night air, the vile scent of daemon blood thickening and choking him. Wind swept across the battlefield beyond Valen, sending another half dozen daemons crashing into each other.
“I’m listening,” Daimon snapped, ignoring the look Valen gave him that blatantly said his brother didn’t believe him.
“Get your head out of your pants,” Valen barked and reached a hand towards him, looking as if he was going to seize Daimon and shake him. He stopped just inches from him and glared instead. “Because you’re fucking this all up.”
Valen’s golden eyes dropped.
Daimon looked down as warmth suddenly seeped across his stomach and hip on his left side, stared at the slick patch that was already several
