MY PALMS WERE sweaty despite the cold air as Hunter and I trekked through the woods toward the cabin he and Portia were sharing with my parents.  I hadn’t seen them since they appeared and dropped those heavy truth bombs on me.

I wasn’t sure I wanted to see them at all.  In fact, I didn’t.  I was only doing it because Hunter had popped up unannounced and I didn’t want to look like a weakling.

“Rex seems to be doing much better,” he said, stepping over a large root.

“He’s Rex,” I shrugged.  The man was a beast so it was no surprise he was recovering quickly from the crux sigil.

“I’m sure it has something to do with having you around.”  He nudged my shoulder.  “I’m glad you two being caeteras is out in the open, at least with us.  It makes things a hell of a lot easier.”

I nodded and shoved my hands in my pockets.  “How’s Portia really taking it?”

He shot me a wry smile.  “She’s happy.”  When my face turned skeptical, he continued.  “It was one thing when she thought you guys had this illicit relationship, but she understands it’s different with caeteras.  There’s no stopping it.  And you saved Rex’s life.  She’ll always be grateful for that.”

I scoffed.  “His life only needed saving because of me.”  I swallowed.  “Portia probably wishes anyone else was her son’s soulmate.”

Hunter stepped in my path, halting me.  “Kory, you can’t blame yourself for what that demon did.  It’s not your fault he’s obsessed with you.”  His massive hands landed on my shoulders, squeezing.  “Portia doesn’t blame you.”

She was probably just giving in to the inevitable.  I couldn’t blame her.  I wouldn’t want me as a soulmate.  One demon wanted to turn me, and the other wanted to destroy my soul.

He jerked his head for us to continue walking.  “It’s why she agreed to stay with your parents.  She isn’t a fan of demons, but she wanted to show you that she’s sorry for how she’s treated you.”

My lips pursed.  “Really?”

“She wanted to make sure they weren’t going to hurt you,” he said.

That was easier to believe.  Hurting me meant hurting Rex, and the mamma bear would protect her cub no matter how big and strong he was. 

“It’s so strange,” Hunters said as we continued down the narrow path between towering pines.  “Your parents don’t seem like demons.”

“How so?”

He shrugged.  “I’ve never once seen their eyes turn black or their teeth grow.  If it weren’t for the demon scent, I’d think they were ferrums.”

“Maybe they’re just really good at pretending to be something they’re not.”  They’d done it when I was a kid, pretending to be Owen and Kathryn Colt, regular humans.

“Perhaps.  But the way they talk about you, they seem genuine.” 

A small log cabin came into view, smoke pouring out of the chimney.  My muscles tensed at the prospect of seeing my parents again.  I wished Rex was with me.

Hunter opened the door, leading me into a small living room.  My father sat on a light blue couch with Ian, a chipped wooden coffee table in front of them.  Light from the fireplace danced across the room, warming up the cabin.  My mother and Portia sat at a round wooden table in the kitchen, chatting.

So effing weird.

My mother’s eyes lit up.  “Kory, you’re here.”

I gave a sharp nod and shed my jacket, my movements stiff.  How was I supposed to act in front of my lying demon parents?

“Hello, Kory.”  Portia stood, shooting me a forced smile.  “How are you?”

“Fine.”  I was so not fine.

“That’s good.”  Her hazel eyes landed on her husband.  “We should go check on a few things.”

Hunter nodded and motioned toward Ian.  “Come on.  We need to check on that thing.”

I rolled my eyes.  They were so obvious.  This was their plan all along, get me alone with my parents.  I didn’t know why.  We’d already talked.  I had nothing else to say to them.

A barking laugh echoed through my mind at the big fat lie.

Portia, Hunter, and Ian quickly marched out the door, closing it behind them.

My father stood and strolled into the small kitchen.  “How have you been—after what we told you?  How are you handling it?”

I crossed my arms against my chest, my body rigid.  “Fine.”

A line formed between his brows.  He’d clearly been looking for more than that.  Too bad he wasn’t going to get it. 

“Are you hungry?”  My mother stood.  “We can make you something to eat.”

A smile laced my father’s lips.  “How about pancakes?  You loved them when you were a kid.”

My nostrils flared.  “I’m not a kid anymore,” I hissed.  “I haven’t been a kid since my parents were killed in a car accident.”  A bitter laugh slipped out.  “Oh wait, they weren’t killed.  You faked your deaths and turned demon to protect me from Kye and Lorne.  What about protecting me from everything else in this world?” 

My parents exchanged worried glances, and my father stepped forward.  “Kory, we only did what we thought—”

“You were wrong!” I yelled, my voice reverberating against the walls.  I thought I could handle being near them.  I thought I could keep my emotions in check, but my parents were acting as if everything was okay.

It was far from okay.  I was far from okay.

“You left me for ten years.”  My hands curled into tight fists.  “Were you ever planning on coming back?”

They averted their eyes to the ground, but guilt settled over them like a second skin.  If Lorne and Kye hadn’t found me, they never would have returned.

Red hot anger enveloped me, a crimson haze descending over my mind.  I snatched a porcelain coffee mug from the table and chucked it against the wall.  It shattered into a million pieces.  “Look at me, damn it!  You don’t get to ignore what’s happened these last ten years while you were off trying to control your darkness.”

My mother stepped closer, her hands raised in surrender.  “Kory, we know you’ll never forgive us for leaving, but can you try to see our side?”

I picked up a chair and hurled it against the wall.  The storm raging through me reminded me of when I discovered my parents’ house in Jasper.  I had destroyed their room before Brett was able to stop me.  I was on the verge of destroying this very cabin.

“How about you see my side?” I growled, yanking up my sleeve to reveal my broken infinity tattoos.  I pointed to one.  “This is the first one I got.  I killed a demon without even knowing what it was.”  My jaw clenched.  “I could have been killed that night!  I had no training.  I knew nothing of the world I belonged to.”

“If we could do it over, we would do everything different, Kory.”  My mother shook her head, and she had the audacity to look tearful.  “But we can’t change the past.”

I ignored her words and continued my rant.  “This one was from Maggie’s killer,” I hissed.  “I walked into our shitty house and found her on the floor in a puddle of blood.”  I pointed to another one, pain slicing through my chest.  “This was Stein.”  I stabbed a finger at it.  “This was my best friend, the only friend I’d had since you two jerks didn’t die.  Kye turned him, and I was forced to put him down.  He didn’t have a handle on his darkness.”  No.  He’d been evil and hell-bent on turning me.

I rapidly blinked to keep my own tears at bay.  I pointed out the two lighter ones.  “These I got when I was turning.  I nearly beat one of the demons to death.  That’s how much I enjoyed the violence.”  I licked my lips remembering the thirst for life force taking over.  Who had they been feeding from the last few days?  “And this one.”  My finger swiped over a more recent one.  “This one was Nate.  Before he was a demon, he was Maggie’s friend.”

Images of the night he showed his true colors flashed through my mind, acid oozing up my throat.  “Do you want to know what he did to me when he was still human?”  My gaze landed on my father, his face as pale as fresh snow.  “He drugged me.  He got me alone and tried to steal the only innocent thing I had left.” 

“Oh goddess.” My father’s words were barely audible. 

I let out another laugh.  “He wasn’t the first of Maggie’s friends to have those thoughts about me.  He was just the first to get that close.”

My mother chewed on her bottom lip to mask the trembling. “We always thought you were safe with her.”

“I was until she became a drug addict,” I hissed.  “I had to clean up after her, take care of her, avoid her loser druggie friends, and try to keep us from being homeless.  I was starving as a kid until I learned to steal.”  I stabbed a finger in my chest.  “I was a thief.  I hurt people.  I was a drug dealer!”  My voice cracked as the shame and guilt I felt about my past drowned me. 

“I’m so sorry.”  My father dragged his fingers through his hair, his hands shaking.  “We never thought anything like this would happen to you.  We thought you’d have a safe, normal life and instead we took away your childhood altogether.”

My mother’s soft gasps echoed through the room.  I couldn’t remember her ever crying.

A sob broke free from my mouth, and with horror, I realized she wasn’t the only one crying.  I reached up, angrily wiping tears off my cheeks.  “This is bullshit.”  I gripped the table and flipped it over.  The loud crash reverberated through my ears.

My father was suddenly in front of me, his eyes watering.  He looked exactly like the man from my memories with too many broken infinity tattoos to count.  I’d tried plenty times but never got far enough.

He loved me so much in those memories.  They both did.

Kye had given them only two choices.  Demon or death.  What else could they have done? 

Still, they should have told me.  Someone should have told me what I was and who was out there looking for me.  My parents should have come back sooner.

Without warning, my father crushed me against his chest.  My body gave a jolt, fighting his hold at first.  That licorice demon scent hit my senses.  But underneath it, something welcoming drifted from him. 

He smelled like my childhood back when I was safe and protected.  Back when I thought no one could ever hurt me and nothing bad would ever happen.

“I’m so sorry, Kory.”  His voice broke.  “You can hate me all you want but just know I’ll always love you no matter what.”

Another sob slipped out and then another.  Before long, I was weeping into my father’s chest, soaking his shirt.

My dad.  He was holding me.  Up until a few months ago, I could hardly remember him, and now he was holding me while I cried like a little girl.

“I love you so much, Kory.”  My mother came around and hugged me from behind.

I was sandwiched in between my parents, the parents I’d thought were dead.  They were demons and yet capable of loving me just as much as they had when they were ferrums.  I could feel it.

But demons weren’t capable of love, not really.

It didn’t make sense.  Nothing in my world made sense anymore.

 

My head pounded from crying as I slowly walked to my dorm.  I wasn’t sure how long I’d let the tears flow.  My parents held me until every last drop dried up. 

It was too freaking weird.

I hadn’t forgiven them.  Far from it.  I was just trying to understand their reasoning a little better.  It was going to take time for me to trust them if ever.  They were demons.  Demons, in general, were bad.  My parents seemed to be the exception.  Maybe it was because they had me to cling to or maybe it was because they were both so strong willed.

Or maybe the goddess decided to cut them some slack and gave them the strength to force the darkness down.  She did owe them and me just a little bit.  If she had stopped her firstborn centuries ago, none of this would be happening.

A chill unexpectedly rippled down my spine as I inserted my key into the knob.  I glanced down either side of the hall, no one in sight.

I shook my head.  I was just on edge.

I cracked my neck and rolled my shoulders as I shuffled into my room, closing the door behind me.  A few seconds later a knock banged on the wood.  A sigh slipped out.  Please let it be Rex.  I really needed him right now. 

I yanked the door open, coming face to face with those arctic blue eyes.