Eye of the Storm Read Online Free Page A

safer. We weren't sure what her son would be like or how much control the hellkin would have over him. If they could look into his mind. Demons have telepathic links, you know."  
    No, I don't know. My mouth falls open, and I close it right away because that I can believe. I'm living it. It explains a lot, busting through some of the battles I've been through with the equivalent of red arrows pointing to moments where the hellkin shifted strategy or coordinated without speaking to each other. And in the wake of that bulldozer of information comes a question that pops out of Mira's mouth before I can voice it myself.
    "Why the fuck don't we know that? It seems, you know, relevant." Mira sits forward in her chair now, her eyes intent on Asher.  
    "It's not common knowledge." Asher seems to choose her words carefully, like she's looking at an array of the English language and sifting through to find the right ones.  
    I have no doubt that if I were to take the others into the bedroom to talk, Asher would hear us.  
    "She's hiding something," I say bluntly, not caring that Asher jumps a bit at being spoken about when she's sitting not ten feet from me.  
    Mira shoots her a look, but keeps surprise from showing on her face. "Yep."
    "Are we going to trust her or not?" It's one thing not to mean us physical harm at this exact moment. It's something else to extend that trust to the future — or keeping Asher here in our home. Whether she knew my mother or not.
    "What can I do to assure you that I intend only to help you?" Asher asks.  
    Mason raises an eyebrow at me. Jax pretends to be very interested in his controller.  
    "Tell us everything," Evis says. There's a red flush to his neck that I don't remember ever seeing before. I think if I stuck a tuning fork on his shoulder, it would hum from the tension.
    "I can't do that," says Asher softly.  
    "Why?" I ask again.  
    "I know it's asking a lot of you, to show up here unannounced and expect you to believe I'm a friend. I can't tell you much more. But if you look through that album, it will at least show you that I love — loved — your mother. Neither of us ever thought I'd meet you." Asher looks suddenly tired. She knows she's at our mercy.  
    She starts talking.

CHAPTER THREE

    "I've already told you the basics," she says. "I wasn't lying. I was there through her pregnancy with you, Ayala. Hells, I was there when she peed on the stick that told her she was having a baby. She was terrified and knew your father would never help her — he was an asshole, died of a scratcher overdose three years later, and good riddance — but from the moment she saw that stick turn blue, I knew she was in it. You were hers, and she was determined to be yours."
    I press my teeth together so hard I'm afraid they'll crack. If I relax, I won't be able to swallow around the lump clogging up my throat. It takes every ounce of will within me not to blink or break my gaze. The room is so quiet you could hear Nana fart in the bedroom.
    "I helped her as much as I could. We already lived together, in a tiny two bedroom that had walk-in closets. She got rid of most of her clothes and put the rest in a wardrobe she could barely open because it was smushed in so close to her bed. She put a bassinet and a changing table in the walk-in closet and decorated it with the prettiest blue bears. Eve was an excellent artist. I went to all her doctor's appointments with her. I was there when she picked your name. When we saw you on the ultrasound for the first time. When she first heard your heart beat." Asher flexes her toes and sits back, crossing her arms on her swollen belly. If I was any less astute, I might think she was displaying comfort, but to my eyes she looks anything but.  
    "I was there when you were born," Asher says softly.  
    Beside me, Evis is flipping through the album, and he stops when he turns the next page. It shows my mother on a large bed with a doula massaging her shoulders from