Her parents sat in a seating area over to the right near several bookcases. Two soldiers stood on either side of the door, both armed and deadly.
“You tired yet?” Paxton asked Hope.
She was dressed in yoga pants and a shirt as she sat up in her bed. “Not even close. How about you?”
“I seriously want to stab myself in the neck,” he muttered.
Zane cut him a look. “If you think we’re sending you two solo into some dreamworld with the Kurjans, you’re insane. You need backup, and we’re here.”
“That’s not how it works,” Janie said, looking at her daughter. “You know that, Zane. We used to meet in dreamworlds. Once you’re there, you’re there. Their bodies will be here. But we have no control over what goes on inside the dreamworld.” Her gaze was concerned as she looked at her daughter.
“If we’re all in the same room, maybe she can take us all in,” Zane said.
Both Hope and Janie shook their heads at the same time.
“Dad,” Hope said, looking both adorable and frustrated. “I’ve tried to bring Mom in before, and I can’t. For some reason, it’s just the people I used to bring in when we were kids. I’m sorry, but if we do this, you’re not coming.” She held herself stiffly. “I’m twenty-four years old. Get out of my bedroom and go back to your own house.”
“I’ll keep her safe,” Paxton said. “I can’t imagine Drake trying to hurt her in a dreamworld. But if he does, I’ll take him out.” He spoke with absolute conviction because he meant each word. “This might even be a trap for me, but don’t worry. I’m ready.” He’d always been prepared to destroy Drake if necessary.
Zane looked at Paxton, his green eyes blazing. “What do you think? You’ve been in these dreamworlds with this guy. Do you think there’s any chance he’ll really turn on Ulric?”
Paxton wanted to say no. He wanted to say that there was no way the Kurjans would ever pursue peace and that the Realm should go to full-out war. But he’d always been honest with Zane, except for hiding his involvement with the Defenders. “I honestly don’t know,” he said. “My gut feeling is that no, he doesn’t want peace, and he won’t work against Ulric. But it is possible.” He rolled his ankle, which was still a little sore from his fight with Paelotin earlier. What he wouldn’t give to have his healing cells back. He should deal with what was happening to him, but first he needed to ensure Hope’s safety.
Hope glanced at the soldiers. “I can’t sleep like this.”
Zane jerked his chin at the soldiers. “All right, you two, outside.”
They left, shutting the door without saying a word. Hope gave Paxton a look, and he tried not to smile. This was so freaking awkward.
“How are you feeling?” Zane asked him.
“Okay. I still can’t heal my wounds, and my blood feels sluggish.”
“Has Emma said anything?” Hope asked, her blue eyes so dark, they were violet again.
Pax shook his head. “I called her before I headed over here, and she doesn’t have anything. My blood is still changing, and she thinks the fibers of my muscles are somehow being altered. So there’s something in the drug that’s affecting me in a way we don’t want.” He kept his tone flat and emotionless because he wasn’t going to allow the Kurjans or the Cyst to mess with his head.
He had every intention of asking Drake about that compound once they were in the dreamworld, even if he had to beat him to get an answer. It’d be a good fight, and he was pissed off enough to make it work. They’d shot the same shit into Hope, but she seemed fine. So had the drug been made specifically for him, or would it work on any vampire-demon hybrid? If so, what was in Hope’s blood that had beaten the effects of the drug? Emma was working on the problem constantly and would hopefully know soon. While Pax hadn’t lost strength before today, he was feeling weaker now. His power was diminishing.
Hope glanced at her parents. “I can’t go to sleep with you here. You can’t come into the dreamworld, and you know it. So could we just all act like adults? Why don’t you two go home?”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Zane snapped.
Janie sighed. “You’re being overbearing.”
“That’s my job,” Zane returned.
Paxton nodded. It was Zane’s job to keep Hope safe until it was his. Sure, he’d always considered it his duty. But she hadn’t given him the right to make her safety his full job yet. But she would.
Zane crossed his arms, looking way too large for the love seat where he sat with his mate. “I’m not going anywhere. So you might as well get nice and sleepy.”
Hope rolled her eyes.
Paxton couldn’t blame him. He didn’t want to let Hope out of his sight either. It was time to take control of the situation. “Relax your body and go to sleep. Let’s get this over with,” he ordered.
Hope gave him a look but snuggled down in the bed and curled onto her side. “What did you find out about your mother?” she asked.
“Not enough,” Paxton admitted. “Paelotin told me everything he knew, and it wasn’t much.”
“Tell me,” Hope mumbled, her voice sounding sleepy.
Paxton shut his eyes, putting his head back on the wall. “She approached him when she was about six months pregnant and said that her mate had died in the war. She didn’t believe in the virus that negated mating bonds, so she figured she’d never mate again. Instead, she paid him a lot of money to pretend to be mated to her. Apparently, the deal was that if he ever found somebody he wanted to mate, she would move on and allow it.”
“Why did she want to be with the demon nation?” Hope asked.
“After the war, it was the safest place to be for a lost demoness, according to Paelotin,” Paxton said. “He doesn’t have any idea who my real father was.” No doubt Paelotin didn’t care.
“I’ve been trying to track that,” Zane said. “All I know about your mom is that she lived within the demon nation for almost a hundred years and then just disappeared. There’s no record of her for the next hundred years until she showed up at headquarters right after the war. At that time, we wanted all the soldiers we could get, and she was skilled. Then she was killed before I really had a chance to get to know or investigate her.”
Paxton didn’t open his eyes. “It’s not your fault, Zane.”
“I know. The war had just ended, and I was taking over the demon nation when all of that happened,” Zane said. “Still, I wish I had known. I wasn’t around them enough to realize they weren’t really mated.”
“Nobody was,” Paxton said. “They didn’t even fight in the same squads. Frankly, I don’t remember spending much time with Paelotin until my mother died. He certainly didn’t like me.”
“I’m really sorry we didn’t realize what was happening, Paxton,” Janie said. “We were around you a lot, but Paelotin stayed away. Now we know why.”
“It’s fine,” Paxton said. “Everything worked out the way it was supposed to. But I would like to know who she was, and I’d love to find out who my deceased father was.” It’d be nice to find family out there.