And realized she was pulling a bright blue snake out of the tree. “Son of a priest, leave that alone.”

She whipped around to face him, her hands still locked on the serpent, her eyes going full red. “You said I could have a pet.”

“And you can, but we’ve only just entered. Don’t you want to see what else there is?”

As his logic sank in, the whites returned to her eyes. She let go of the snake. “I guess.”

He made himself smile at her. “That’s a good girl. Come on, now, let’s see the rest of this place.”

He put his hand on her shoulder and herded her back to the path and Tatiana, who was still ogling the landscape. He pointed, showing Lilith a large purple lizard hugging a tree branch farther up the path. She raced off to look at it up close, giving him a moment to pull Tatiana back to reality. “Could you join me here? How far until we get to the tree?”

“What? Oh.” She sighed and took the map out. “We follow this path for a while, then leave it after we come to a large spring.”

“Then let’s go before someone gets distracted again and we have to drag her by her hair.”

Tatiana nodded and with her help, they soon made it to the spring. He’d only had to forcibly herd Lilith three more times.

They turned off the path, Lilith straggling behind to pull the heads off flowers and throw them into the water. “Lilith, look.” Tatiana pointed into the clearing ahead where a tree sat dead center.

Even without the map and the foreknowledge that it was the Tree of Life, Mal would have known it was something special. It was too perfect, too cleanly shaped to be something ordinary. The fruit hanging off it gleamed like black glass, looking more deadly than life-giving, but then, that was why they were here. Why he was here. To finally rid himself of the woman who’d wanted nothing but the worst for him for many, many years.

He surreptitiously scoped the area for Chrysabelle. It was impossible to pick out her scent with the garden’s heavy perfume, but he knew she was here, just not where. Behind one of the monolithic rock formations or clusters of trees skirting the clearing? Ivy and flowering vines curled up the trunks, joining some and distorting others to the point where it was difficult to see the separation between the trees. She could be anywhere. His gaze landed on the tree again and as he stared at it, he realized there was a faint glow emanating from it.

Chrysabelle was in the branches. He hoped Tatiana just chalked it up to being part of the tree’s supernatural specialness. Or maybe she’d be too distracted to even notice.

Fortunately, that distraction chose that moment to run past them. Lilith went straight to the tree’s lower branches and the fruit hanging there. “What are these? I want one.”

Mal leaned over to Tatiana. “Take yours now. Hurry.” Then he approached Lilith to divert her for a moment. “They’re some kind of fruit, but they don’t look ripe.”

Her bottom lip poked out right on cue. “But I want one.”

At the sound of crunching, he and Lilith turned. Tatiana stood just a few feet away, one of the black apples cradled in her metal hand, the snowy white flesh revealed by the bite she’d taken.

“Delicious,” she purred, eyes closed. Juice dripped down her chin.

“I want one,” Lilith screeched, reaching toward the nearest fruit.

Tatiana’s eyes opened, fear silvering them until they glowed. “Lilith, I don’t think you should have one of these.”

But Lilith shoved Mal out of the way so hard he hit the ground with an audible thud. She snatched one of the apples and shoved it into her mouth, chewing like a greedy little pig.

Tatiana made a show of trying to pry it away from her, but Lilith met her with a foot to the stomach and pushed her down, too. “My apple,” she cried, bits of white flesh flying out of her mouth.

She opened her mouth to say something else, but only a choking sound came out. Then she fell to the ground.

Chapter Thirty-nine

Doc wrapped Fi in a hug like she hadn’t had in a long time. She leaned in and held on, the tension of the last few days gone from his body. He was her big kitty cat again, relaxed and happy. A deep purr rumbled out of him. She squeezed him once more before tipping her head back. “I still can’t believe Remo would kill his own sister just to tip the scales toward him becoming pride leader. What are you going to tell Rodrigo?”

Doc kissed her forehead before pulling her down onto the couch with him. He laid back, his long, hard body suddenly the most comfortable thing Fi had been in contact with lately. “The truth. I owe him that much.”

She put her hands on his chest and pushed up. “You sure that’s the best thing to do?”

He nodded. “Yes. Lies only complicate things. Rodrigo’s a good man. He understood about Heaven. He won’t be happy about what Remo’s done. In fact, if he’s mad about anything it will probably be that we can’t hand Remo over to him now that the police have him in custody. Issues like this need to be taken care of internally.”

“It is pride business.”

“I know. But turning Remo over to the cops was the only way to get Barasa and Omur released. Remo knew what he was doing when he insisted on bringing the police in.” Doc rolled his head from side to side. “He’s a slick one. He knew taking it public would keep him out of his father’s hands if things went south.”

“Which they totally did.” Fi lay back down, tucking her head under Doc’s chin. She loved the way the heat of his body seeped into hers. “You’re out a council member again.”