Every Last Breath (The Dark Elements 3)

“Of course she will be,” he murmured, his gaze lingering on my lips. I shivered even though I wasn’t cold. Nope. Not at all. “Everyone is happy to see me.”

I shook my head. “You ready?” When he nodded, I smiled up at him. “Are you going to tell me where we’re going?”

“I would, but that would ruin the fun.” He chuckled as my smile slipped into a frown. “Okay. We aren’t going anywhere. Well, anywhere in particular. We are going to roam the streets aimlessly.”

“Wow. That’s a stellar plan.”

He bit down on his lower lip as he grinned. “Actually, it’s pretty damn clever.”

“That’s yet to be seen.”

Roth grabbed my hand and started to lead me toward the front door. “Here’s the deal. I don’t think we’re going to have to look too hard for the Lilin. Actually, I don’t think you are going to have to seek the Lilin out.”

“And why’s that?”

He looked over his shoulder at me, all humor vanishing from his face. “Because I believe the Lilin is going to come looking for you.”

nine

NOTHING LIKE HEARING a psychotic demon that you’d unwillingly helped create would be looking for you to make you feel like you needed to enter the creeper relocation program.

But I hoped Roth was correct, because it would make finding the tool easier.

Since it was the afternoon, we drove into the city and parked the car in one of the parking garages. We didn’t have great luck when it came to those particular structures, but hitting the sky was out of the question in the daylight. While the city’s human residents were all too aware of the Wardens and Roth was similar enough to them in his true form, if a human looked too closely at him, questions would arise that we weren’t prepared to answer.

Roth glanced at me as I opened the door. “You didn’t bring a jacket?”

I shook my head.

He closed the driver’s door. “A scarf?”

“No.”

“What about mittens?”

My lips twitched. “Nope.”

He eyed me as I walked around the front of the car. “What about a little beanie for your little head?”

I laughed. “No, Dad. I’m fine.”

His eyes glittered. “I like it when you call me—”

“Stop.”

He tilted his head to the side. “On a serious note, it’s cold out there, Shortie.”

That much I already knew. Roth was wearing only a long-sleeved shirt and jeans, because like full-blooded Wardens, his internal temperature was somewhere between steaming and boiling. One would think because I was a mixture of both, I would also have a high tolerance for the cold, but I never did.

Until now, I guessed. It couldn’t be more than forty degrees. “I’m not cold.”

A strange look crossed his features as he watched me intently. “Odd.”

There were odder things about me, say, for example, my feathered wings. There wasn’t a damn thing normal about that, and as Roth and I safely made it out of the parking garage on F Street, I brought them up.

“So...” I drew the word out as I stepped around a herd of young kids in uniforms and soft, white auras being ushered toward a bus idling at the curb. The packed sidewalk was an array of colors and my attention was immediately drawn to those with darker shades, the crimson reds and plums. Most were suits, clutching briefcases. They had sinned, and sinned in a very bad way. My stomach tightened with need, but the urge was nowhere near as intense as it used to be, and that also confounded me.

Roth took my hand, threading his fingers through mine. My heart got all giddy. I remembered a time when I would’ve yanked my hand away from his so fast his head would’ve spun. “What?” he asked.

I was distracted by the fact we were legit holding hands, walking down the crowded sidewalk like a...like a real couple, a normal couple. Air hitched in my throat. This was the first time we were holding hands as a couple, and even though we hadn’t called each other boyfriend or girlfriend, we were so that.

A goofy, stupid grin tugged at my lips and as my gaze danced over the people rushing to get wherever they were going, I stopped fighting it. I smiled so widely there was a good chance my face would split right up the middle.

In that second, I didn’t think about the ugliness with Zayne or the Lilin or my feathered wings or the thousand other troubles waiting to pounce on us. That happiness in the pit of my belly spread rapidly, like a levee breaking, the warmth whooshing through me. My steps suddenly felt lighter, and I wanted to stop in the middle of the sidewalk, grab Roth’s face and plant one on him. How many times had I wanted him to do that before? Even when I’d been pushing him away, I’d wanted him. Now he was mine.

“Layla?” Roth squeezed my hand. “What are you smiling about? Not that I’m complaining. That’s a freaking beautiful smile, and it makes me—”

I did what I wanted to do.

Stopping in the middle of the sidewalk, I ignored the harsh glances cast in our direction, and no one said a thing to us after receiving one look from Roth. I stretched on the tips of my toes. With my free hand wrapped around the nape of his neck, I guided his head down. Surprise flickered across his face, and then I closed my eyes, pressing my mouth to his. The kiss was brief, but when I pulled away, his expression made my day.

He stared down at me, his eyes wide and the pupils slightly dilated. His lips were parted and that bolt in his tongue glittered. The tops of his cheekbones were flushed. He looked... He looked gobsmacked.

“What...what was that for?”

My smile really was going to break my face. “Just because...well, there were so many times that I secretly wished you’d done that in the past, and I thought, why can’t I?”

His gaze searched my face. “I just want you to know that whenever you feel the need to do that, you do it. I don’t care what we’re doing, I’m always going to be down for that. Always.”

It was my turn to flush, but I focused on the important stuff as we started walking again. Knowing no one would pay attention to what I said, because they heard way stranger stuff on the streets of DC, I forged forward. “So, what do you think about my feathered wings?”

He gave a choked laugh. “I like the way you say feathered.”

I made a face.

“I think they’re kind of hot,” he added.

I rolled my eyes as we stopped at an intersection. “Of course you do, but that really doesn’t tell me much. I mean, that’s not normal, right? I know Zayne has seen them before, and so have you, but he said he’d only seen them once, on an Upper. And why now? Why would I look different now after all this time?”

A thoughtful look crossed his face as we waited for the light to turn. “Well, you only started shifting recently. Maybe this was how you were supposed to look.”

“Doubtful,” I muttered, and as the little green man lit up on the sign, I started forward.

“Yeah, I was just trying to be optimistic.” Roth slowed his long-legged pace as he scanned the crowds around us. A horn blew, followed by another, and the scent of roasted meat was strong as we passed a yummy-looking restaurant. “Look, I’ve seen wings like that before, but it doesn’t make sense.”