The Darkest Passion. Gena Showalter

to him. The child he’d secretly wanted but had never been able to have. Not just because he’d never committed to a woman, but because he knew how weak babies could be. Becoming a father, something he’d never had himself, hadn’t been worth the agony of watching his own child wither and die.

      With Legion, he didn’t have to worry. She would live forever.

      “What’s wrong, precious girl?” he asked, carrying her to the couch and falling into its cushions. The scent of sulfur clung to her, and Wrath sighed, clearly homesick. Once his demon had hated that aroma. But now that the fiend knew the horrors of Pandora’s box, hell seemed like Paradise.

      “They chassse me.” She rubbed her cheek against his pectoral, abrading skin, and purred. “Almost got me thisss time.”

      Her forked tongue always caught on and prolonged her S’s, something he found endearing. When he’d first met her, she’d even spoken like a baby, using the wrong tenses and pronouns. At her request, they’d been working on her grammar, and he was very proud of her progress.

      “You’re here now. You’re safe.” He rubbed the two little horns atop her head, knowing how sensitive they were and how much she liked it. “You don’t have to go back.”

      “Angel dead?”

      “Not exactly,” he said, sidestepping the question for the moment.

      They sat like that, silent, for several minutes, while she fought for control of her breathing. Finally, she calmed and the burning heat of her scales cooled. She sat up and that red gaze looked around.

      “Thisss isssn’t home,” she said, confused.

      Aeron scanned their surroundings, trying to see the place as she must. Furniture in a rainbow of colors: red, blue, green, purple and pink. A wood floor draped with a floral-print rug. Walls dripping with different-sized portraits of the heavens, gifts from Danika.

      “We’re in Gilly’s apartment.”

      “Pretty,” she said, the awe in her voice unmistakable.

      Her sense of femininity had ceased surprising him. When he moved back to the fortress, he would give her a room of her own. A room she could decorate as she wished. He wasn’t sure how much more pink he could stand in his own.

      “I’m glad you like it. We might be here awhile.”

      “What?” Her awe was replaced by fury as she faced him. “You’re living with Gilly now? Isss ssshe…Doesss ssshe love you?”

      “No.”

      Slowly she relaxed. “Okay, then, but I wanna go home now. I missss it.”

      Me, too. “We can’t. The angel is there.”

      Legion stiffened, fury returning. “Why isss ssshe there and not usss?”

      Excellent question. “She’s going to help the others with the Hunters.”

      “No. No. I help with Huntersss.”

      “I know, I know.” She might be little, but she was fierce. And killing was a game to her. But she’d endured so much strife in her life that Aeron desired only peace for her now. He didn’t want to drag her into yet another battle. He wouldn’t.

      She meant too much to him.

      “We can be alone here,” he said.

      “Fine.” Again, she relaxed against him. “We’ll stay, but I will help more than her.”

      Or Olivia would lose her head. Warning received. Time to distract his little darling. “Want to play a game?”

      Jumping up, grinning, she wound herself around his neck, slithering like a snake. “Yesss, yesss, yesss.”

      Always ready to play, his Legion. Despite her improved speech, she hadn’t lost her childlike needs. “Pick something. Whatever you want.” He reached up to pet her, and his gaze fell to his arm. There was a single patch of bare skin on his wrist. He should have a snake tattooed there, to remind him of Legion. A tattoo to remind him of the good in his life, rather than the bad.

      Yes, he liked that idea.

      “I want to play…Clothes Optional.”

      Also known as Shred Everything Aeron Wore. “Maybe pick something else. What about Beauty Shop, like we played a week ago? You can paint my nails.”

      “Yeah!” Legion clapped, her excitement palpable. “I’ll go get Gilly’ssss polisssh.” Off she raced, disappearing around the corner.

      “Gilly’s room is the last one on the right,” he called. He would spend an hour or two indulging her and then he would patrol the city for any sign of Hunters, as well as Shadow Girl. After what Legion had endured in hell, he owed her a little recreation, damn his duties.

      Owed. The single word blasted through his head, and he cursed. He also owed Paris.

      Even though he’d claimed he wouldn’t return to the fortress until Olivia was gone, he had to take care of Paris. That wasn’t a duty he would relinquish for any reason, yet he’d already allowed Lucien to see to Paris’s needs for the last three days. He sighed, disappointed in himself. Just because Lucien had taken the warrior into town didn’t mean Paris had picked anyone.