Read Online Instinct by Sherrilyn Kenyon - Free Book Online Page A

brushed his hand over the ancient words bearing his cursed fate that were branded into the flesh of his torso. “You think I did it?”
    â€œI don’t know what to think. Honestly, I’m too pissed off to really focus right now. I just want to beat the crap out of someone. And since you’re here and taller, bigger, and meaner, you make a good target, bud.”
    Kody placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. “That’s the Malachai talking.”
    â€œI know. But knowing doesn’t change the fact I want to kick the snot out of whoever did this. Or failing that … whoever happens to be close by.” Nick locked gazes with Xev. “I just find it odd that no one knew where my mom was until you moved in. Now…”
    â€œI swear, I didn’t betray you. Why would I?”
    â€œI don’t know, Xev. I don’t even know who or what you really are. Every time I ask, you dodge the question like a bullet aimed for your temple.”
    Xev finally stood to his full six-foot-six height. As he gripped the blanket around him, his angry gaze went to Kody, then back to Nick. “Fine. You want the truth? Before my powers were stripped as punishment and I was damned by the Source gods, I was the god Daraxerxes. Cousin and friend to the firstborn Malachai.”
    Shocked that he finally had an answer about Xev’s past, Nick stood there as the truth slowly sank in.
    Xev had known the very first Malachai.
    Day-yam.
    While he’d known Xev was old—the first of the Malachai’s generals—he’d had no idea just how old that was, until now. Never would he have guessed that Xev was related to the Malachai demon bloodline. That he’d actually known Monakribos. “You were there in the very beginning?”
    He gave a curt nod. “Even though we’d been friends, during the first war of the gods I fought against the Malachai and his army. Against my own mother and her sister. I was the reason your great ancestor was defeated, cursed, and enslaved. It was for that betrayal against them that I was set up, betrayed, and punished by all those I called ally, including my own brother, who will never again have faith in me. For anything. My mother and aunt strove to teach me a vital lesson about trusting others. And it is one I learned well, indeed. No matter how much of yourself you give. No matter how much you bleed. In the end, they believe whatever lie they want to believe about you. They see only the worst, in spite of the fact that you only gave them your best. And there’s nothing you can do or say to change another’s mind. Ever.”
    Xev’s eyes clearly telegraphed the depth of his anguish. “The real truth never catches up to the venom enemies spew against you. So I don’t expect you to believe me about today, or anything else. No one ever has. My mother personally saw to it that no one would ever put me at their back again. Not for any reason.”
    â€œWait,” Kody said with a scowl. “The Sephiroth general, Jared, was the one who ended that war.”
    â€œNo. He naively betrayed his Sephirii army to the dark powers and put down his own soldiers, but I was the god who ended the war by making sure the Mavromino were cut off from this world. So after Braith abandoned her siblings for the deal they made against her child, it was my blood used to seal those original gates to Azmodea. My blood that continues to hold them back from this world.”
    Kody gasped. “That’s why you’re the Malachai’s blood general. You’re the one who locked Azura and Noir in their prison.”
    Xev gave a slow single nod. “And it’s my blood, through the Malachai’s hand and magic, that’s needed to unlock it and release them back into this realm.”
    Completely still, Nick was trying to digest that and not lose his mind in the process. The Mavromino, which could be both singular or plural, was the