Warrior's Hope (Dark Protectors #16)(55)

“How are you feeling?” she asked.

“The same,” he admitted. “I can’t heal myself, but my strength is still there. My speed is still there. I’m not impacted in any other way.”

She tapped on the needle and pulled it out. “I should have results for you in an hour. Dage interviewed Paelotin at demon headquarters and took his blood. Since I already had yours here, I conducted a quick paternity test. You probably already know this, but Paelotin isn’t your father.” Sympathy darkened her eyes. “Neither is Zane.”

“I know.”

She exhaled. “I haven’t found a match in the database yet; it might take some time. What’s your plan now?”

He looked at her, a cold slice of fury centering in his chest. “Now I’m going to have a nice little discussion with Paelotin. One or both of us may require your services afterward.”

Her head jerked as she took in his meaning. “Pax.”

“Thank you, Emma. I appreciate it.” He turned and strode out of the lab, squaring his shoulders. He was more than up for another fight, and this time he wasn’t leaving until Paelotin told him everything. It was a long walk to demon headquarters. He made plans—bloody ones—on the way.





Chapter Twenty-Three


Hope stretched her neck and put her arms over her head, trying to loosen the tight muscles in her shoulders. She stood on a blue grappling mat in the gym in the east wing of demon headquarters. The new gym was state of the art and had several grappling rooms as well as training areas.

Libby stepped inside, her hair in a ponytail, her feet bare, and her yoga pants printed with dancing animals. “Hey,” she said.

“Hey,” Hope said, trying to act normal when she felt like a total dork. “Thanks for meeting me. I, uh, missed you this morning.”

Libby looked anywhere but at her. “I went for a run. You know. Cougar. We like to run.”

Hope sighed. “Thanks for answering my text. I wanted to work out before we meet with the team later today.”

“No problem.” Libby placed a water bottle over to the side and danced on the mat, automatically graceful without trying.

Hope pulled one arm over her chest in another stretch.

“So,” Libby said, still dancing, “you were kind of loud last night.”

Heat rose into Hope’s face, probably turning her a strawberry color. “I was worried about that.”

“I’m all the way across the house.” Libby chuckled. “I saw Paxton this morning and thought you might need some alone time.” She snorted. “He didn’t look embarrassed at all. Unlike you right now.”

“Paxton is better at hiding his emotions than I am.” Hope dodged in just as Libby leaped agilely to the left. Hope sprawled across the mat, then rolled and came back up.

“That was quick,” Libby said. “Nice.”

“Thanks,” Hope said dryly. She didn’t have a chance against the cougar shifter, but she always gave it her best.

Libby chewed on her lip. “You need to go for the legs.”

“I know that,” Hope said, feinting for the legs, which was what Libby wanted.

Just as Libby started to jump over her head, Hope leaped up, locked her arms around Lib’s waist, pivoted, and took her down.

“Nice.” Libby moved easily out of the way. “I didn’t expect it.”

“That was the point.”

Lib danced for a while, looking for an opening. “We should probably talk about this. How was he?”

Hope rolled her eyes. “Give me a break. I didn’t sleep with him.”

“You did something with him.”

“Well, I did sleep with him. He stayed the night,” Hope admitted. “But he’s done that before.”

Libby shook her head. “So, what? Are you guys together now? I mean, what about your grand fate plan and all that?”

Hope wanted to chuckle and tease with her friend, but her chest felt heavy. “I don’t know. I just got carried away and, I mean, it’s Paxton, except it wasn’t Paxton.”

Libby rubbed her eye. “What do you mean it wasn’t Paxton?”

“He turned into full-on vampire-demon-hybrid pain-in-the-ass last night,” Hope said. “All of a sudden, he was a warrior instead of our friend.”

Libby tipped herself into a handstand and started walking across the room on her hands. “Pax is a warrior. I saw him fight, Hope. He’s definitely been training the last several years, and from what I can tell, most of it was live training. You need to know that. He’s not the same kid who would run scared to us as a child.”

Hope’s thighs carried his whisker burn this morning. She shivered, her body still sensitive. “I’m fully aware of that fact. He proved it all over again last night.”

“What about Drake?” Libby easily flipped her legs over and landed in perfect form.

“I don’t know,” Hope said. “Every time I talk to him, I feel like we could make a difference and prevent war. But he also has some grand scheme that I’m going to be queen of all the land.”

Libby dropped into a deceptively casual pose before she turned and kicked Hope in the thigh. Hope went down and came back up, dodging in to tackle her friend to the ground.