SEDUCTIVE PREY

UNSTOPPABLE

Intense pain registers on the left side of my face, jolting me out of my sleep. It takes several moments for my surroundings to come into focus, and when they do, I'm confronted by the sight of Kira and Lucifer hovering over me.

Did he just slap me?

My first instinct is to lunge at them and sink my teeth into whatever I can get my hands on, but I'm strapped down to a table unable to move.

"He will come for you," I tell them. "And when he does, not even God will be able to save you."

"Who?" Kira scoffs. "Your precious mate?"

"He has a name, and his name is Ethan."

"Let him come. It won't matter anyway because he'll be too late."

That shuts me up.

Think Ali... think.

Scanning the room with my eyes, I absorb as much information as possible. Like the fact that the only bed in the room is the one I'm lying on. Oh, and someone removed my clothes leaving me in just my underwear.

It's also freezing in here.

"What are you going to do to me?" I ask.

Not that it matters.

"Well, darling... rescuing Kira was only a part of my plan. The other part of it involves finding your father." He replies. Examining me from head to toe with his eyes.

"You lost him?"

"I'm not talking about your mortal father. I'm talking about the father responsible for your very existence."

Say what now?

Stunned, I wait for that loaded piece of toast to fully register.

He knows who my biological father is.

Suddenly, another piece of the puzzle of my memory slides into place. One where I find my father after years of trying, in a dark alley, blocks away from the police station I eventually end up at with no memory of where I've been.

I see so much of myself and Kyle in him that it hurts to look at him at first. He's handsome in a way that instantly makes panties drop, and he oozes power. I can't believe I came from him, and yet the moment he opens his mouth, I am not prepared for the voice that comes out. He's as southern and charming as you would expect someone like him to be. And as he folds his arms across his chest waiting for me to reply, it reveals tattoos on his arms.

"Where is she?" He asks.

"Where is who?" I frown.

"Your mother. If you found me, I assume she told you how."

"My mother is dead."

My father goes from relaxed and cordial to paranoid and suspicious in a heartbeat. And the next thing I know, his hand is around my throat, I'm pinned against the wall, and his eyes are practically searing into mine. He searches me up and down, flinching, and whipping his head around to explore every minute sound as if he thinks someone is after him. Then he brings his gaze back to me.

"How did you find me?" He asks.

"My best friend Lucas helped me." I swallow hard.

"DeAngelis?"

"Yes," I nod. "H-how do you know that?"

"Alison... dove... if you value your life, you will not try to find me again. As a matter of fact, before I let you go, I am going to take your memories with me. And when you regain them, I want you to remember one thing... as long as people know what and who you are, you will not be safe. They will want to use you to get to me, and I will not come to save you. I can't. Because if we were to both fall into the wrong hands, the world as you know it will never be the same again. It is why I was forced to abandon you, your mother, and your brother. It is also why I can never be in your life. Apart, we are indestructible, but together... together we are unstoppable. And there are those who would like to use that power to do harm. You must stay away from me."

I'm both confused and speechless.

All this time I thought he was just this deadbeat dad who wanted nothing to do with me. I never considered that he was trying to spare me or save the world. But now it all makes sense.

As the memory continues to play out, I watch as my father whispers a word to me in a foreign language. And even though I know it's a memory I feel my power roar to life inside me. Flooding every vein, every artery, every neuron, and every cell in my body with such strength that it forces my conscious body into the air and not even the straps holding me down can stop me.

They groan underneath the weight of my power until they snap. And Lucifer and Kira back away from me. A blue aura encircles my body as my father continues to whisper words to me in a language I've never heard before. His words speaking intensity into my power as they somehow transcend from a memory to the present. Unlocking parts of me like they've been locked my whole life, and his words are the keys that frees them.

The ground shakes, the lights flicker, and cracks form in the walls around me.

"You are the light in the dark. You are the calm in the storm. And you are the balance in the chaos. Rise."

My eyes open and my world is half memory, have present. With my father and I still in that alley way, and me locked in a room with Lucifer and Kira desperately trying to find a way out.

"You are the righteous amongst the wicked. The strong amongst the weak. The brave amongst the timid." My father continues pouring into me. " Rise."

In the present, Lucifer and Kira flee from the room and I know I must stop them, but I am transfixed in-between both worlds. Wishing to hold on to the memory of my father, while also clinging to the present.

"You are the means... you are the ordained... you are the reckoning... RISE."

So much is happening, that I don't know which is real and which is not. I watch as my father leans into me with a look of both sorrow and regret and tells me, "I love you Alison Rose Alexander. And I am sorry I have missed so much of your life. Just as I am sorry to have to take this moment from you." He swallows hard. "But if Lucifer should ever find you, I fear it won't be long before he comes for me too. And I cannot allow that to happen."

Placing his palm on my forehead as tears fall from his eyes, I watch as my father siphons every memory of my journey to find him until all that is left is an empty void of time inside my head. Only, his power is so strong it leaves me weak and incapable of keeping my eyes open. And after one last final kiss to my forehead, his tears dripping onto my face, he carefully lays me on the ground in the alleyway and runs.

Jolted into the present, my memory of my father having disappeared, I reach up to touch my face and find tears.

My dad is alive, and I remember everything.