"No!"

They squeezed tighter.

"Let us help you."

"What if we spoke to the angel? What if something could be done?"

"Something can be done," he snarled.

Tighter stil .

Haidee, he screamed inside his head then. Soon, I'l be with you soon. We'l be... His thoughts fragmented. His motions were slowing. We'l be together again.

Darkness rained down like poisoned arrows. He welcomed the storm with open arms.

CHAPTER THIRTY.

"AMUN," A GENTLE VOICE cal ed.

Amun fought his way through the darkness, slashing at it as determinedly as he remembered slashing at Strider. That voice, so familiar, so necessary. Forever lost.

"Amun, baby. Wake up."

His struggles increased until final y, amazingly, he was able to blink open his eyes-and what he saw took his breath away. Haidee. His beautiful Haidee. She loomed above him, peering down at him with those pearl-gray eyes.

Had the warriors kil ed him as he'd wanted? he wondered.

No, they couldn't have. Inside his head, Secrets was sighing with relief, picking up on something, a mystery, a truth, but was unable to sort through the details.

How was Haidee here?

Am I dreaming? He didn't dare speak again. Just in case.

He would not spoil this moment with a spew of secrets.

Besides, if this moment was steeped in falsehood, he didn't want to know. Wait. Don't tel me. Just stay right where you are.

"No, baby. I'm here." She smoothed the hair plastered to his brow, and he felt the coolness of her touch. "We're in your bedroom, the place we first met."

He studied her, certain this had to be a trick. Her pink and blond locks were in tangles around her shoulders, and her lips were swol en from where she'd chewed them. Her eyes were aglow with love and warmth.

"This isn't a trick," she said. "I'm real."

But you died. I watched you die. Was told you couldn't be reanimated by Hate any longer.

"And that's the truth. I was reanimated by something else this time."

I don't understand.

"That's okay-I barely understand it myself. What happened to me was kind of like what happened to Aeron-and yeah, I got to hear al about that-only I didn't need a new body because I was already in soul form. Anyway, this is how it was explained to me. The demons are the negative, and the angels are the positive. Happiness, Joy, Strength, and so on. So, just like I had taken a piece of Hate, I could take a piece of one of those without kil ing the giver. And I did.

First from you, then from someone else."

From me?

"Oh, yes. I took your love. Just a little, and I expunged most of it when I expunged Hate. But the little bit I kept was enough to bring me back. I was fading, though, and fading fast."

What else did you take? And from whom?

"Wel ." She ma.s.saged those swol en lips together.

"Zacharel kind of...gave me another piece of Love."

Zacharel? The angel? Jealousy sparked, but vanished just as quickly. Haidee was here. Haidee was alive and with him. Zacharel could share whatever he wanted with her.

"Yes. The angel."

Why? Why would he give you something of his? And how was he the keeper of Love?

She stopped ma.s.saging, and her lips twitched at the corners. "Funny story. Apparently there are several keepers of the more overwhelming emotions, and he was keeping his portion of Love in a jar on his nightstand. Weirdest thing I'd ever seen. It was kind of like his personal Pandora's box, but a treasure chest rather than a prison. He said he wasn't using it, and that I was welcome to a little pinch of it.

A few of his angel friends were upset about it, and I heard them say it would cause some problems for him, but now I'm-I'm babbling, aren't I? Say something!"

First, I owe that angel an apology. And a thank-you.

Second, I can't believe this is happening. He reached up with a shaky hand and caressed her cheek. Her skin was as cool as before. As solid. For a moment, he was too numbed with shock, hope and joy to move again.

She was here, he thought again. She real y was here. Here, with him. Alive.

And there was the truth Secrets had been trying to reach, to understand. She had defied death, defied what should have been truth, what was truth, and come back for them. She was no longer Hate; she was Love. Just as she'd said.

Joy quickly overshadowed the other emotions. Amun jerked her on top of him, his arms squeezing her as tight as possible without crushing her ribs. I thought I'd lost you, and it was more than I could bear.

Tel me you remember me.

He knew she did, but he had to hear the words. Please, tel me. I know you do, you're here, but like you, I need the words.

"Oh, yes." She squeezed him just as tightly before lifting her face and grinning. "I remember everything about you."

G.o.ds, Haidee. He pul ed her back down. Every part of him needed to touch every part of her. Tel me the rest. What happened to you...after? I have to know.

Secrets was even then unraveling the rest of the details, but Amun wanted to hear them from his woman.

She burrowed her head in the hol ow of his neck and flattened her palm over his heartbeat. "After I died, I opened my eyes and found myself-my soul, I guess-in my cave.

With Zacharel, as I said."

Wait. Maybe I won't apologize to that b.a.s.t.a.r.d, after al . He let me think you were dead, and that there was no way to reach you. Because of him, I've done nothing but mourn you. In fact, I was going to chal enge him in the morning and al ow him to kil me. I can't live without you, Haidee. When he'd told her "now and always," he'd meant it.

"He didn't lie, Amun. I did die. For a little while. Believe me, he was as shocked as you when I was reanimated. He was visiting my cave, you see, because something you said real y got to him. At least, I think that's why. He wasn't big on explanations. And just so you know, I can't live without you. So don't you ever, ever think of dying for me again. I'l always find a way to get back to you."

He rol ed her to her back, covering her with his body. I won't die for you if you won't die for me, he said, happier in that moment than he'd ever been. His woman was in his arms, underneath him. His. Are you stil somewhat immortal, able to come back again and again?

"Definitely. You're stuck with me for eternity." She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his chin. "Now, no more talk of dying."

The kiss wasn't enough, not nearly enough, but he didn't press for more. Yet. How did you get here?

"As soon as Zacharel realized I was going to survive everything," she said, tangling her fingers in his hair, "he flew me here."

How do we thank an angel? Somehow I don't think a fruit basket wil do the trick.

Her lips twitched with amus.e.m.e.nt. "I don't think so, either."

He couldn't help himself. He licked his way into her mouth, enjoying her sweetness, her taste. Her legs spread in welcome, and he fel deeper into her, his shaft lengthening, hardening. Groaning, she arched her hips to press more ful y against him.

Any moment now, and they would both lose control.

With a groan of his own, Amun lifted his head. Haidee's cheeks were flushed, her lips even more swol en. She'd never looked lovelier. The rest. Tel me the rest. How did my friends react to you? If they offended you, we'l leave. I told you, I can't live without you. I won't live without you.

Haidee's amus.e.m.e.nt returned. "Oh, they've accepted me already."

So you have spoken to them?

She nodded. "I didn't expect to be welcomed with open arms when Zacharel dropped me off at the front door. He rang the doorbel and disappeared like a coward." She shouted those last three words, as if she'd been angry at the time and stil harbored a bit of the emotion. "But a few minutes after that, the one named Torin let me inside. I thought I'd be taken straight to the dungeon, but no. I was asked a few questions, and then brought here to you. I think they realized they would rather put up with me than see you hurting."

Back up. What questions?

"Everything you asked me and more."

His attention snagged on the word "more." Such as?

A blush stained her cheeks. "Like was I going to have telepathic s.e.x with you at the dinner table. Did I know how to cook something other than a PB and J. Was I okay with naked Thursdays. Anyway. After I saw that you were okay and sleeping, I asked some questions of my own."

What questions? he repeated.

She shrugged, trying for an innocence he didn't buy. "Who you had fought. Where Strider was."

Amun arched a brow and tried not to laugh. And?

"And Torin told me. I marched to Strider's room, prepared to...wel , please don't be mad," she said, stiffening, "but I was going to stab him. That piece of Love wanted me to forgive him, but I was stil going to do it."

I like where this story is headed. Continue.

A sigh left her, seeming to drain the tension right out of her.

"I didn't. Stab him, I mean. He was in pain. Awake, but in pain, and I guess Love got to me more than I'd realized. He and I had a little chat."

Amun was the one to stiffen now. Did he insult you? If he had...

"No. Nothing like that, I promise." She traced her fingertips along his jaw. "He said that he never wants to fight you again, even at Xbox. He said a determination like yours is a rare and precious thing, and something he respects. He said he loves you and one day, he'l love me, too. Like a sister. But not to expect one day anytime soon." Truly?

"Yes. Truly."

That was completely unexpected. I wil forgive him, then.

Maybe. One day, he added.

"You wil ." Her expression became fierce, that intense determination returning. "I won't be responsible for any more hate. And why should I? I'm Love!" She laughed. "I don't think I'l ever get tired of saying that."

Amun was wil ing to give her anything she desired, even that. You're right. I wil forgive him.

"Thank you."

I'm sorry for the pain you've experienced, sweetheart.

"I know, baby." She stopped caressing, settling her hands against his cheeks. "I know. Just like I'm sorry for the pain you've experienced. But we're going to look ahead now.

Together."

I'm going to do everything in my power to make you happy, I swear it.

"You must have been reading my mind."

Final y, he kissed her the way he'd needed to kiss her from the first, a kiss that was more than a kiss. A kiss that was a promise. A kiss that was forever.

Until, of course, forever was interrupted by the sudden unhinging of his bedroom door. A loud boom echoed, and wood chips rained. He and Haidee sprang apart. Amun grabbed the knife on his nightstand before moving back over his woman to shield her. He calmed when he saw tiny, redheaded Kaia looming in his doorway.

Perhaps he should have panicked.

"Don't hurt him again, Secrets," she growled. Her eyes were completely black, her Harpy having taken over her mind. "He deserved what you did this time, so I won't punish you. Do it again, though, no matter the provocation, and I'l have to hurt you. Bad."

He didn't have to ask who "him" was. He balanced his weight and signed, Strider is my friend and brother, and despite everything, I love him. As...you do?

Kaia offered no reply. She simply stalked away.

"Who was that?" Haidee demanded from beneath him.

He focused on her and grinned. I think that was Strider's downfal . Now, where were we...

"You were in the middle of adoring me."