Call of the Siren (29 page)

“Ronin said you’d stepped out,” she said as her eyes drank in the welcome sight of him.

“Went down to our apartment to pick something up.”

His gaze practically devoured her. The intensity on his face didn’t waver as he strode toward her with undeniable purpose.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, unnerved.

He let out a hoarse chuckle. “Not a damn thing. For once in my life, everything is just right.”

Gods, she wished that were true, but it wasn’t. There was one big matter left unfinished, and she couldn’t put it off anymore. Not when Dagan looked at her like that, like the sun revolved around her.

Stopping in front of her, he pulled her into his arms and lowered his head. She pulled back before he could kiss her.

“Wait.” She took a deep breath and forced herself to meet his gaze. “There’s something I need to tell you, Dagan. Something I wasn’t entirely honest about.”

He frowned. “What?”

“I…I never told you the whole truth about Sara’s death.”

Dagan’s brows knitted together. The urge to smooth them almost overwhelmed her, but she stayed still. Once he heard what she had to say, he might not want her to touch him.

Lina moistened her suddenly dry lips. “Wh-when she got sick…”

Oh gods, this was so freaking
hard.

“Go on,” Dagan urged.

“Thorne left to get her medicine, but he didn’t come back. I found out later he used our money on drugs.”

Dagan’s jaw tightened. “
Shit
.”

“I…I should’ve done something when he didn’t come back, and I didn’t. I waited for him.” She took a breath. “I waited too long, Dagan. She died and it was all my fault.”

When Lina dropped her head, Dagan placed his fingers under her chin and forced her gaze to his.

“That is horrible, Lina. I’m so sorry.”

She stared at him, not understanding. “You’re…sorry?”

“It wasn’t your fault, you know.”

She shook her head. “I just told you. It was. I made such horrible decisions. I let her down.”

“No.” He gave her a grim, understanding smile. “You did the best you could. I’ll always know that.”

She wished she could feel the same. Maybe, with him, she could at least finally heal. “So…you don’t hate me?”

“Hate you? I could never hate you, Lina. I love you.”

Her knees grew weak at the sincerity in his tone. He meant it. Heavens knew why, but he meant it, and that realization was like lifting a mountain of stones from her back. If he could find it so easy to forgive her, who knew, maybe one day she could forgive herself.

“I love you too,” she murmured, closing her shaky arms around Dagan’s neck.

He lowered his lips to hers, and kissed her with a smoldering sensuality that left her starved of breath.

“Wow,” she gasped when he finally pulled away.

“Tell me about it,” he murmured. “
That
was a kiss. And I’d fight a thousand dark faes for the privilege to do it again.”

“Thankfully you don’t have to.” She gazed up at him, memorizing the lines and curves of his face. Tracing them with her fingertips. “No one left to fight.”

“Nope,” he said, grinning down at her with love in his gaze.

“So…what are we going to do now?”

“I have a few ideas.”

His eyes crinkled with mischief as he pulled away and reached a hand into his pocket. He withdrew an object, a little black velvet box. She studied it, confused, but then he dropped to one knee and reality dawned.

“Oh shit.”

Grinning, he opened the lid. Inside was a large, perfectly rounded pearl. Its distinctive tint of aquamarine marked it as a find from Gergamesh, the water world that was home to mermaids and sirens.

“Oh.” Not quite what she expected, but she couldn’t deny it was one of the loveliest things she’d ever seen. “Wow. It’s absolutely beautiful.”

“I thought so too. I happened upon it several months ago as I walked by an Otherworlder jeweler shop down in SoHo. I didn’t know what use I’d have for it at the time, but I couldn’t pass it by. It practically sang out to me.”

“I…” Furrowing her brows, she looked at Dagan. What exactly was he getting at here?

He laughed, the deep, smooth sound one of pure joy. “I should’ve waited until I had it placed into a ring, I know, but I thought of it once we got back from Romania and…well, I didn’t want to wait.”

She sucked in her breath. Okay, so maybe this
was
what she’d expected.

“Lina, I know this is a little crazy.” Dagan took a shaky breath that betrayed the nervousness he’d somehow managed to hide from her. “But hell, we just survived fucking Armageddon, and if there’s one thing I know, it’s that no matter how much I’ve got left of this crazy thing we call life, I want to spend it with you.”

“Oh, Dagan.” She reached her trembling fingers out to run them along his perfect face, his beautiful lips.

They curved into a hopeful smile. “Lina, will you marry me?”

Her heart leaped with joy and excitement. He couldn’t have said it better.

Yeah, maybe it was a little crazy, considering they’d just gotten together and she’d already been burned once in the marriage department. But if there was anything she knew with 100 percent certainty, it was that Dagan was as far from Thorne as a man could possibly be.

He was worth taking a risk on. Worth fighting for.

“Yes,” she said, giving in wholeheartedly to the impulse that urged her to accept. “Yes, yes, yes.”

A laugh of joy bubbled out as he broke into a wide grin and jumped to his feet, snatching her into a hug and whirling her around.

Yes, she’d made the right decision. There was no doubting it.

Lina tugged his head to hers for a soul-searing kiss. When he pulled back to give her a look of complete and utter love, she murmured, “You know, this means you’re going to have to be a one-woman man from now on.”

His eyes turned up at the corners as he gave her a careless grin. “Baby, I always was. I just didn’t know it yet.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

New York City, September

Fresh from the interdimensional portal hidden right in the heart of Central Park, Dagan strode into his apartment building. He nodded at the security guard manning the front desk and headed into the elevator, pressing the button for Keegan’s floor.

His business had taken him halfway across the world, to confer with a group of goblins whose recent antics had risked revealing their kind to humans. Understandably, their actions had concerned the Council. The tense discussions had lasted a couple of days, but things had been resolved amicably, and he was glad to finally be home.

And home was Lina.

She’d asked him to meet her up at Keegan’s, where they were all having a late dinner. While part of him was eager to just get her alone and naked, he couldn’t pass up some much-needed family time. Along with their raises had come increased responsibility, and it had become that much harder for them all to convene in one spot at the same time.

He stepped off the elevator, matching his stride to the light, happy rhythm humming inside his head, and used his key to unlock the door to Keegan’s apartment.

“Honey, I’m home,” he called cheerfully as he stepped inside.

Though there was no response, the sounds of laughter drifted down from further inside the apartment. Following the noise, he came to a stop inside the dining room. It was jam-packed with his family members. The quantity of food on the table, along with the din of conversation, told him they were celebrating something.

They hadn’t noticed him, so he took a moment to study the people he loved most in the world.

Keegan sat at the head of the table, and Brynn was snuggled on his lap with Aegin in her arms. The baby happily chirped away at the both of them. Taeg and Maya were playing kissy face, as usual, and Ronin and Amara held hands while gazing into each other’s eyes like lovelorn fools. Lina, meanwhile, looked on in amusement while Amara’s mother Solara shamelessly flirted with the final member of their party, Rage. The vampire-hybrid leaned against the wall, squirming in clear embarrassment.

Dagan grinned. He didn’t know Rage that well, but the vampire had started taking Keegan up on his invitations to join them for dinner. Keegan was determined to save the vampire, and he finally appeared to be getting through to him. While Rage still clearly felt uncomfortable around them, he was at least putting in an effort.

Rage was a little off, no doubt, but who was he to judge? Hell, Dagan might just kind of like the guy.

“What did I miss?” he finally drawled, leaning against the doorjamb.

Lina turned to him with a start. “I didn’t hear you come in.”

“It’s pretty loud in here.” He grinned. “What are we celebrating?”

Two bright spots of color marred her cheeks.

Was she blushing?

“Oh, I…” The entire room died down, everyone staring back and forth between the two of them in silent fascination.

Lina fidgeted, her cheeks growing even pinker as she said, “I wanted to wait until you got back and tell you first, but then I…I got excited.”

Dagan studied Lina’s face. He’d never seen her appear so nervous before. That, in and of itself, was something to note.

“What is it?”

“I…” She rose to her feet and nervously smoothed out her long black tank top. Finally she met his eyes and gave him a nervous smile. “I’m pregnant.”

His stomach dropped out from under him, and his vision began to blur. For one second, he feared he might pass out. Or maybe he was dreaming.

But this all seemed too real.

Wonderful and magical and far, far more than he deserved, but real.

“You’re pregnant?” he repeated dumbly.

Lina bit down on her bottom lip. “Yes.”

Realizing he was frozen in place, he burst into action, closing the distance between them with two large steps. He swept her into his arms, only then feeling her relax.

Had she been anxious about how he’d respond?

“Sunshine, that’s the best news I’ve ever heard.”

“Really?” she asked, her face muffled into his chest. “We never discussed children, so I…I wasn’t sure how you’d feel. And it’s still so early in our relationship.”

“I feel amazing. Wonderful. Out of this world.” Dagan pulled back, gazing down at her beautiful face. The future mother of his child. Could he be any more lucky?

His fingers crept to her flat stomach, and he placed his palm there. There was a tiny little life growing inside. The thought made his chest fill to bursting with love and gratitude. “It’s a miracle,” he whispered.

“Yes,” she agreed.

And he knew they’d both move heaven and earth for this little being their love had created.

He gave her a wicked grin. “I’m gonna be a daddy.”

“God help us all,” Taeg said drily.

Laughing, Dagan hugged Lina to him, then broke away to clap his brothers on the back as they approached him. He didn’t bother to wipe away his tears. Let the whole world know how overjoyed he was.

“Another member of our family,” Keegan said, his eyes suspiciously bright. “We are truly blessed.”

“Truly,” Ronin murmured, his ear-to-ear grin letting Dagan know he was happy about the news.

They’d been through hell and back, but it was finally a new dawn. A new beginning for all of them.

“I’m so thankful we’re all here to celebrate,” he said to them.

Brynn smiled widely as she rose to give him a peck on the cheek. “Here’s to new beginnings.”

Dagan tugged her and Aegin in for a hug. “Here’s to us. All of us.”

One big, crazy, happy family.

They’d overcome countless obstacles, but Dagan knew, without a doubt, that a happy ending awaited them all.

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Acknowledgments

As we come to the end of the road with the Demons of Infernum, I’d like to thank all the people who were there to champion this series from the very beginning: Heather Howland, Libby Murphy, Liz Pelletier, and the rest of the amazing Entangled team. It’s been quite a ride, ladies!

I also want to personally thank the amazing bloggers who became my supporters: GraveTells, Literal Addiction, Reading Between the Wines, and anyone else I might have missed. You guys rock, hardcore!

To my family: thanks for hanging in there. I owe you one.

And last but not least, my undying appreciation goes out to the fans who have followed this series through to the end. Your support, letters, and emails have meant more to me than you could ever know.

Onto the next adventure!

About the Author

Award-winning author,
Rosalie Lario
, double majored in Anthropology and Classics at Florida State University. She briefly considered becoming an archaeologist before realizing that: (a) they do not actually live the life of Indiana Jones, and (b) she hates getting her hands dirty. She never imagined all the mythology she learned might someday come in handy, but it makes perfect fodder for the stories she now dreams up. Best of all, no dirt involved! When not writing, she enjoys spending time with her family in their home state of Florida. You can learn more about Rosalie at her website at
www.rosalielario.com
.

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