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If it was anyone else, this would be off the table But Karma was a human version of the Areli her fears?

Kody inclined her head to Karht engulfed her as she unfurled her white, iridescent wings that matched her skin and hair Snohite ar, Karainst the wall behind her “Oh my God, it’s true!”

Kody leaned her head back and allowed her forirl To the face and body that had been hers before the Malachai had killed her

When she returned her gaze to Karma, she saw the fear and resolve inside the woet to Nick and protect hiht have a problem with that”

Kody scowled at the note in Karlanced up the staircase All of a sudden, there was a raw, unmistakable presence of evil in the room It made the air heavy and tainted it with the sour stench of sulfur

Dread filling every part of her, Kody turned to see what Kar at

Kody’s jaent slack as she saw the last thing she wanted to deal with Tall, blond, and stunning, the delowed Even on his best day, he was hard to deal with and viciously unpredictable Acerbic and sarcastic

And with every step he took toward her, the air grew heavier

Deadlier

“What are you doing here?” Kody asked

He arched a brow at her question as he slowly descended the stairs with an arrogant swagger that harkened back to the days when he’d been an earlyspree throughout all of Europe “Do we know each other?”

Kody hesitated as she res here most likely wouldn’t know her Aside from the fact that this wasn’t her world, this wasn’t her time She wouldn’t be born for many more centuries

And Thorn had no idea that one day he’d be reading her bedti her to sleep

That ruous with the fierce, powerful demon lord in front of her that she had to bite back a sht have you hed until she aze “She’s the Malachai’s protector”

A slow smile spread across his face “So this is what he su er when she slalance toward Kody “She’s an Arel”

Thorn’s eyes turned the color of blood as his fangs descended There was a cold spark of delight in his green eyes “An Arel … it’s been a long time since I fed on one of those”

Fear rose up inside Kody as she realized the horrendous mistake she’d made because of her memories and her past with these people All of that had happened in a different realm, and none of the people she knew in her past were the same here as they’d been in her world

Karma and her sisters weren’t her allies And neither was Thorn

In this realm, they were her enemies

And Nick was alone and defenseless, in the custody of two people ould now hand hiainst

By trying to save Nick, Kody had just unleashed the Malachai in a world where he would do even e

And into the hands of people anted to use hih Nick lacked his powers, he kneith every molecule of his body And when the twins stopped at Erzulie’s, that feeling multiplied

Confused, he scratched his head as A to the cathedral”

Tabitha unbuckled her belt “Quick pit stop for supplies You don’t want to be defenseless there, do you?”

Honestly? He didn’t want to be defenseless anywhere It was never a good idea, especially when you lived his fun-filled life of epic madness He couldn’t even trust the shadows not to try and end him Many people were afraid of the dark Nick had been attacked by the dark, the light, and everything in between

“Guess not” Still, he hesitated as they got out of the car There was a sense deep inside his gut that ht and apprehensive What did he feel? What was the universe trying to tell him?

Caleb had warned him to always listen to his instincts, not his huists—had further elaborated on why The subconscious mind, whether human or preternatural, took in more stimuli than the brain could process consciously Unbeknownst to the individual, their brain, like a supercoainst its experiences and knowledge base, and then produced the che on the environs” were actually the brain picking outto warn its host that it was tiical reason why

It was all prirowls It just knows soht and it reacts

Yeah, that hat he felt right now His gut was barking like a stressed-out terrier sensing a storm before the clouds rolled in But unfortunately, he wasn’t a dog He didn’t want to look like an idiot without good reason

And still the hair on the back of his neck stood on end

Wishing he understood it, he rolled out of the backseat while they waited on the curb As he started to take a step, he re his mom had told him repeatedly when he was a kid Beware of anyone, known or unknown, friend or foe, ants to separate you froet you off by yourself No good comes from those who don’t want an audience for their behavior

Nick had grown up alone on these city streets while his , his mom held a lot of wisdom that had never failed to keep him safe

Why wouldn’t the twins have taken him to the cathedral and then come here for weapons after he was secured? Given the severity of his attack at Kar him to where their faer what they loved? And given the ferocious attack on him and Kody, they were really cal Tabitha wasn’t Ever She was hostile and reactive Volatile, especially whenever so came after her, and never more so than when her fa more questions about Kody and the attack on hi to tell hi suspiciously, and way out of character for them And while they were different from the women he knew at home, they weren’t that different