Instinct by Sherrilyn Kenyon Page A

for you, Nick. Harder and stronger than ever before.” She shivered. “Not just Noir. This is … I don’t know. It’s not normal. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever felt before.”
    Oh goody. Just what he wanted to hear. That made his day all the brighter.
    Nick fell silent as he heard the next call on the radio and the address for it. It was one he knew all too well.
    His heart stopped beating in stark cold terror as he met Kody’s shocked expression. “That’s my mom!”
    *   *   *
    Laguerre smiled at Grim as she entered his office and found him at his desk. “Our friend just returned home with a gift for us. The king is in check.”
    A slow smile spread across his face. “So soon?”
    â€œEasy enough when you have the pieces all in place. I told you, the Malachai trusts our newest ally. He didn’t even see it coming. He has no idea that he’s being tested and that if he fails, he loses everything .”
    So it seemed. “Where’s his mother?”
    An evil laugh escaped her beautiful lips. “Someplace safe.”
    Grim winced at the thought of the last place anyone would look for Cherise Gautier. “Gah, I hate that hole.”
    â€œMost beings do. It’s why it was chosen for her prison. He’ll never find her there.”
    Grim saluted her for her cold, calculated choice. “What if our king chooses to sacrifice his queen to the cause?”
    â€œHe won’t. She’s his raison d’ ê tre. Nick would give us his Arelim love before he’d allow his mother to die. Whoever controls Cherise, controls Nick. You know that.”
    â€œBut have you ever wondered why?”
    Laguerre scowled. “What do you mean?”
    â€œThink about it. First Adarian gives his life for her, and now Nick. What is so special about this one particular human that two Malachais are willing to kill themselves to keep her safe?”
    She shrugged. “Love. It’s a useless, pesky emotion to feel. Adarian fell in love with her, and for that pathetic reason, valued her life over his own. Nick, because she’s his mother and he adores her. Even more ridiculous, if you ask me.”
    And still that seemed too simple for Grim to accept it. Why would Adarian care? What would make a creature so foully cruel and uncaring, so selfish and cold, take notice of a tiny, frail woman? While Cherise was attractive, there were millions of other women who were more so. Millions of women who would have appealed to a Malachai.
    What had been so special about her that Adarian, after so many centuries of being so careful, would claim her as the mother of his heir?
    And then to protect her to such an extent, that he’d ultimately died for her? It just didn’t make sense. It never had.
    No, there was more to this. There had to be.
    More to Cherise Gautier than a simple frail human mother.
    Anytime Grim had ever threatened to harm or even approach Cherise, Adarian had gone nuclear. In this game of life and death, of winner-take-the-world, she had been completely off-limits to all of them. The one card no one could play.
    The one ace that would make Nick fold.
    Now …
    Grim finally had her in his hands and it was time he learned why this woman, alone, held the ultimate sway over the two most powerful Malachais who’d ever been born.
    She’d already caused the death of one.
    And she was about to be the death of the other.

 
    CHAPTER 5
    Nick used his powers to shield his presence from the police who had the small parking lot for his condo cordoned off. Dazed and pale, Bubba sat beneath a large black umbrella on the wet back door stoop Nick had sprinted down just a short time ago as he headed off to school. He held a bloodied Georgia Tech baseball cap that Nick knew belonged to Mark while he talked to the police and answered their questions.
    Sick to his stomach, Nick listened for details about what had