Chapter 10
Shane didn’t want to have feelings for Nara. He wanted to run far away from her and her family, but he felt like a deflated balloon. Now Shane knew why transitors let their year simply run out. Like a pothead studying for finals, he possessed zero motivation. He was trapped so far in his head that any action, movement, or response took the utmost of his energy and will. The idea of redemption seemed impossible as did the idea of completely falling and becoming a demon. He wanted to cease to exist.
He felt worthless. Invisible.
He wanted out.
Now.
He left the bungalow to sit on the beach alone and let his neurosis fester while the three demons recuperated from the fight. He still couldn’t believe he’d almost come up on the wrong side in a fight against an angel. They were so screwed. The guy was clearly at the top of the angelic food chain while a transitor was algae. He decided to tell Nara he was bailing so he could eke out the rest of his days until his miserable existence could be erased.
Nara’s chill drove the surrounding temperature around him down ten degrees before he even saw her. He kept his eyes closed, trying to ignore her. The sand squeaked under her feet to make room for her. She sat down next to him. He couldn’t find even the strength to acknowledge her presence.
“What?” he finally mustered.
“Hey, babe.” She tried to touch his stomach playfully with her fingertips. He rolled away from her. “My father has a new plan, and we need you.”
Nara was up to something. But truth be told, he didn’t have the energy to care. Stay. Leave. Did it matter?
She shifted and rested her head on his stomach. He didn’t resist her. She turned toward him and asked, “Do you miss drumming? Do you want to go back to it when we get home?”
He cocked an eyebrow at her. “Really? You’d let me leave and go back to the band?”
“No,” she said darkly, “I won’t let you go back. Not without me.”
“Great. Considering all the drugs you could score the band, I’d love to jump back into the whole dating-a-drug-dealing-demon stint. Nah, thanks anyway. Feel free to be on your way, though, and lead your own life with your lovely family. I’m not helping you or your family, but really, good luck and have a nice life.”
Shane looked out at the ocean, his mind shattered. The waves were getting downright vicious out there. He wondered if a storm was coming. He needed space. He took his shirt off, intending to head into the ocean. Maybe the tide would carry him away.
She yanked his arm. “I don’t think you understand. You’re still wallowing in self-pity and regret over becoming a transitor? Well, get over it. It was your free choice. I’m done dealing with your guilt over falling. You were still an angel when that stupid whore, Calise, dumped your ass.”
Shane blew. With one hand tangled in her hair and the other squeezed around her neck, he launched her into a palm tree. He held her there, fingers tightening around her throat. “Her name is not good enough to breach the cesspool of your mouth. Leave me alone, Nara. Now.”
She coughed then tackled him backwards to the ground, pinning his arms down and kissing him. “Make me.”
He got an arm free and elbowed her in the face with a thud. She felt at her cheek and smiled. “You’re kind of turning me on.”
“I don’t want to hurt you, Nara.”
“Too bad, because I want to make hurting you my life’s work. That is, until you realize you can’t live without me.” She approached fast and hit him in the jaw.
“You don’t want to go there with me.” He massaged his jaw.
“Yeah, I do.” She swung again.
He blocked her and clamped his hands around her wrists. “No, you really don’t. When I transitioned, you said I’d forget Calise. That I’d be free of this pain. You lied.”
“I’m a demon, Shane. If you wanted a girlfriend on the up and up, you should’ve screwed an angel. But I guess if you can’t even get one shitty human to love you…” Her hot breath seared his face more than the sweltering sun.
Shane released her wrists so he could squeeze her neck. She jammed two fingers in his adam’s apple. That forced him to back right off. She coughed. “Wouldn’t want to cut off the blood flow to your little one, now would you?”
Shane pounced and pushed her to the ground. He held his forearm to her neck. “What did you say? Can’t you just get out of my life?” he panted. “Look what I’ve become.”
“That’s mother-to-your-unborn-child, my demon-to-be lover.”
Shane sprang off of her landing in a crouch. He shrunk from her. “You’re saying you’re pregnant. Bull-fucking-shit, Nara.” After everything, this was his worst possible nightmare.
“Oh it’s true, sunshine. I’m late and you’re going to be a daddy. Come and check.”
Heart pounding in his throat, Shane took a few steps closer and held a shaking hand over her stomach. Two heartbeats—mother and child.
Nara blinked and her eyes became the color of a fiery sunset. “So now, you are mine. Say it.”
He had no choice. No way he’d let anything happen to his child. He belonged to Nara now. If she was pregnant, she had indeed won. “I’m yours,” he conceded. “What’s your father’s plan?”
“We’re to sit tight until he’s sure Anna has the angel distracted. Then those seers are dead, and the artifacts can be destroyed.”