Oh shit.
Chapter
Forty-Two
MERRI
“Andi? What are you doing here? Where are we?” I asked, the disorientation I felt at no longer being in the jungle on the back of Grim’s horse making me feel like I was processing everything at half speed.
“Merri? Oh, thank God you’re here! I just woke up and thought I was alone.”
I rushed to her, pulling her into my arms for a hug. “I can’t believe you’re alive. We have to get you out of here. There’s so much you don’t know, and I really can’t explain it to you.”
She was quick to hug me back, and the sheer novelty of holding the woman I considered my best friend in my arms after so many years of only communicating through screens held me captive.
“It’s really, really good to see you,” I said, suddenly emotional. That’s when I realized part of me just assumed she was dead. I’d been too afraid to hope, given what had happened since we’d last gotten to talk to each other.
“It’s good to see you too. Let’s get out of here. I think I saw a boat on the other side of the beach. We have to get somewhere safer.”
Andi grabbed my hand and pulled me along the path, dragging me up a sandy hill. From this vantage point, I realized we were still on the island, but in a different area. Something had happened when the monster fell into the hellmouth. Maybe I got blasted off Grim’s horse. I was sure he’d find me soon.
“We can’t leave them,” I said, pulling away, but Andi wouldn’t let me go, her grip almost painful.
“Don’t be stupid. You’re not a fighter. Let your mates handle it.”
The second the word “mates” left her lips, my legs locked, like my brain had slammed on the brakes.
“H-how do you know they’re my mates?”
“What?” she asked, distracted. “You told me.”
But I hadn’t. Because mates were part of the supernatural world, and Andi was a human.
Every internal alarm I had started blasting at full volume. Something wasn’t right. In fact, none of this was right. Even if I’d gotten blasted off the horse, where was everybody else? We’d had a whole-ass army. At least some of them should have ended up in the same place I had.
Andi’s hand gripped me even tighter, her nails digging into my wrist.
“Andi, you’re hurting me.”
She didn’t answer. Instead she pulled me down the hill toward the water’s edge.
“Lucifer!” I shouted. “Luc! Help me!”
Andi froze, turning around to stare at me. “What did you say?”
“Oh, so youcanlisten to me after all, crabapple. I do so love when someone can learn from their mistakes. Such emotional growth and intelligence.”
Luc’s voice soothed something inside me as he walked toward us from... on top of the water? Oh, he was nothing if not irreverent.
Andi let out a disgusted sigh, her dark-haired facade shimmering in and out of view until someone else entirely stood in her place. A red-headed, behorned demon with milky white eyes.
“Hello, Sabine,” Lucifer snarled, taking my hand and yanking me behind him. “So sorry to interrupt your little family reunion, but my mate and I must be leaving now.”
We were back in the middle of the destruction in the space between breaths. It took me a moment to orient myself, but once I did, I looked at Lucifer, who was staring at me worriedly.
“Where is Andi? We can’t just leave her there like that.” Panic surged at the thought of her being left alone with my mother.
“Darling, thatwasAndi. You of all people should know what being catfished is. Remember Cole? Same game, different player.”