She closed her eyes and tried to force herself awake.
Laughter rumbled, and she jerked, opening her eyes. The bluish portal swirled again by the trees. The wind picked up.
“Come here, fairy,” the voice yelled from way beyond the portal. A male voice. Strong and hoarse.
The hair on the back of her neck stood up. “Who are you?” she yelled into the void.
The wind caught her as if it had hands, pushing her toward the edge. She fought but moved forward anyway, inch by inch. She could either jump toward the void or drop into all of that mist. Her nails dug into the rock, and she screamed, shutting her eyes.
“Fairy. Wake up.” A small hand shook her arm from far away.
She turned at the last second and jumped into the mist, hitting a portal and springing wildly away. There wasn’t any sense of control, and she struggled, trying to stop herself. She slammed up against a stone wall and cried out, waking up.
“Nightmare?” A little girl bounced on her bed, shaking her arm.
Haven blinked and sat up, pushing hair out of her face. “Yes,” she gasped, her ears ringing from that collision with the wall. Where had she been? Had it just been luck that she’d hit a portal when she’d jumped into the mist? Why had the portal led to a damn wall? Her hands shook, so she slipped them beneath the covers. Sweat dotted her lip, and she brushed it off on the blanket. The smell of strawberries wafted around her. Had somebody washed her hair? Made sense. She focused. “Hi.”
“Hi.” The girl smiled, revealing a gap in her front teeth. “That was a bad dream. I have them sometimes, too. Are you okay?”
No. Not at all. Haven swallowed. “Yes, thank you.” She had to get out of there, but where could she go? She couldn’t avoid sleep forever.
Hope patted her blanket. “I knew you were my fairy and were good.”
Haven’s hands shook. “Shouldn’t you be in bed?” It was a dumb question, but she was finding it hard to concentrate. Her head was starting to pound.
“Yep.” Hope nodded, her blue eyes twinkling. “Mama said I could stay with Uncle Garrett and my cousin Hunter tonight in the main lodge, where Uncle Garrett has a suite, and they both fell asleep watching a movie. Hunter was cranky because Garrett won at chess.”
“Are we in the main lodge now?” Haven tried to keep the room from spinning around. It didn’t make sense that the child could leave the building with all of those soldiers outside.
“Yep. You’re on the main floor and the suites are up those stairs.” Hope leaned toward her. “Cool eyes.”
“Thanks.” Haven liked not wearing the contact with other people, for the first time ever.
Hope nodded. “My Aunt Mercy, who mated my Uncle Logan, is a fairy, too. She has one green eye and one blue one. Very pretty.”
Haven straightened. “Is that normal for a Fae?”
“Yep. Also, demons have black eyes, which is probably why one of your eyes is black. You’re a little bit demon. Not a lot. Kinda like me.” Hope rocked back and forth. “I’m a little bit vampire and a whole lot of prophet, too. But we don’t talk about all of that yet because I’m not old enough.” She pulled Haven’s nearly healed hand out from under the covers, her grip surprisingly strong. “I need your help.”
It was difficult to keep up with the switch in topics. “Sure. What can I do?”
Hope sighed. “I need to get back to my dream worlds. Can you help me?”
Absolutely not. Dream worlds held monsters and stone walls that could cause concussions. Or worse. Haven’s damn head still ached. “Dream worlds? Have you traveled other places in dreams, too?”
Hope nodded. “Yes. Not exactly like you have, but there is one world I got to visit, and my book is there. Can you help me get back there?”
“I don’t know how.” Haven gave the little girl the truth. “I only had a little bit of control in those dream worlds, as you call them. I’d go from place to place and end up wherever the compulsion wanted me to. A couple of times, I thought I heard Quade, and I tried to twist in his direction.” Now she had no control. None whatsoever. “There are things out there that can hurt you, Hope. Maybe you shouldn’t go into the dream world.”
Hope sighed. “You sound like a grown-up.”
Heavy footsteps sounded down the hallway, and Quade strode in with another man just as tall. The second guy had the same jawline and facial structure as Quade.
“There you are,” the other guy said, plucking Hope off the bed. “Your mom would kill me if I lost you.” He tickled the little girl, and she giggled, swatting him. He paused. “Hi. I’m Garrett.”
“Hi.” Haven wasn’t going to be able to keep all these huge, way too sexy males straight. Most of them seemed to be related to Quade, and the Kayrs genes ran strong and masculine, no question about it. “I’m not sure how you’re related to everyone.”
Garrett winked, his gray eyes an odd metallic hue. “Quade is my great-great-uncle. Older than dirt. You should probably find somebody younger than this old man. Just sayin’.”
Quade nudged him in the side. “Go back to playing with the kids, young Kayrs.”
How cute. Garrett had ticked him off. Haven forced a smile, even though she wanted to crawl under the covers completely and just yell at the universe to leave her alone. Or maybe cry a little, but she’d done enough of that. She wasn’t usually a crier.
“Fair enough.” Garrett swung the little girl onto his shoulders.
Hope grinned at Quade. “There’s mint-chip ice cream in the kitchen. I’m thinkin’ you’d like it.”
Quade blinked. “Like toothpaste?”
“Better,” Hope whispered.
Man, the girl must be psychic. Haven studied her.
Garrett grinned and headed for the door.
Hope turned at the last minute, right before Garrett had to duck to get through. “I hope you keep Ulric from coming here.”
Quade jerked and partially turned. “I tried, sweetheart. How do you know about Ulric?” he asked.
Garrett paused, looking up at his niece. “Hope?”
The girl shrugged. “Fate tells me stuff. And I wasn’t talkin’ to you, Uncle Quade. I was talkin’ to my fairy.” She patted Garrett’s head. “Giddyup.” The two disappeared down the hallway.
“Well.” Quade moved to the bed and studied her face. “We’ll have to follow up on that later, right?” Concern and a darker look glimmered in his immortal eyes.
She nodded. “Thank you for saving me from the pastor and his church.” Without Quade, she would’ve burned to death.
“Always.” He took her good hand. “I don’t know how to say this, but your father—”
“He wasn’t my father.” She shoved down emotion until she could deal with it when she was alone. “Dead?”
Quade nodded.
She should feel something, shouldn’t she? “My mother? I mean, Allison?”
“Safe house for now,” Quade said. “We think she saw the Cyst or vampires, and she needs to promise to keep that a secret. Right now, she’s demanding to see you to make sure you’re all right, and I’m not ready to appease her.”
Haven shuddered. She didn’t have time to worry about Allison right now.
Quade couldn’t answer the main question plaguing her. Why was she traveling through worlds again, and where did that swirling blue portal go? She couldn’t go to sleep again until she discovered the answers.
He studied her, his gaze intense. “You are all right?”
“Not really.” She had to trust somebody in this crazy new world, and since he’d actually traveled through portals, maybe he could help. So she told him everything, hoping against hope that he’d have words of wisdom. When she’d finished, his jaw was hard and his eyes stone-cold.
“Bloody hell,” he muttered.
Wonderful.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Well. This is odd,” Ronan said, sitting next to Quade in what was called a conference room. It was well past midnight, and the brothers faced two other brothers across an ancient oak table. Dage and Talen Kayrs—their great-nephews.
Quade had trouble keeping his gaze off Talen.
Ronan nodded. “I know. Spitting image of Jacer.”
“I wish he were here right now,” Quade muttered. He focused on the king. “Jacer was the calm and rational one. He’d know the right thing to say.”
A hint of a smile played on Dage’s lips. “Just like you, Talen. Calm and rational.”
Talen’s golden eyes glittered. “Yep. That’s me.”
The soldier looked like he’d rather just shoot them both and get back to bed. But Quade had to admire how he flanked his brother.
Dage cleared his throat. “I’m sorry about Jacer. I can’t imagine losing a brother. Not at all.”
Quade tilted his head in acknowledgment. “Thank you for treating my mate. She’s doing much better, thanks to your mate.” Could this be any more stilted or awkward? He hadn’t been around people in so long, he sat back and let Ronan take the lead. The tension in the small room was making his fist ache to punch somebody, and these guys were family. Possibly enemies, but still family.
“Good,” Dage said. “I heard your conversation with Haven about her moving through portals. There isn’t much doubt she’s being pulled toward Ulric.”
Quade stiffened and his ears grew hot. “How did you hear my private conversation?”
The king’s eyebrows lifted. “I have the room bugged.”
Quade’s chest filled. He did not understand the language, but he got the gist. The existence of Ulric was a secret, damn it. “You were eavesdropping.”
“Expertly,” Talen said, his smile more threat than pleasantry.
Quade growled. While he could understand their need to gain knowledge, especially since the Seven had been a secret for so long, he did not appreciate his mate being used in such a way. The king had stepped too far into Quade’s business. “The bugs will be removed.” As soon as he figured out what bugs were. If they were really bugs that somehow had learned to record and communicate, he would step on them all.
“Back to Ulric,” Dage muttered.
Ronan looked toward the door. “If we’re discussing Seven business, shouldn’t Garrett be here?”
“My son is busy,” Talen drawled, anger now glinting in those primal eyes.
Ah. Couldn’t blame the male. Quade wouldn’t want his kid going through the Seven ritual—either of the rituals. The one to become a Seven or the one to end it all. “Isn’t that Garrett’s decision?”
Talen angled his head toward Quade. “No. My son is none of your business.”
“Your son is now my brother,” Quade returned, his chest heating. “Whether you like it or not.” The second Garrett had survived the ritual; his torso had been forged, he’d become a brother, even if Quade had been worlds away at the time. This was all so weird. He looked at Ronan. “You couldn’t find someone outside the family to join the Seven?”
“Amen,” Talen muttered.
Ronan sighed. “No. Only ten percent of males who tried the ordeal survived, as you know; it turns out certain bloodlines have a better chance. A much better chance.” He leaned toward Quade. “Science is a whole new thing—you won’t believe it all.” He cleared his throat. “Garrett made his own choice.”
Talen crossed his arms. “Since you’re here, Quade, I’m assuming Ulric is also back home and tucked in with his people?”
Quade glanced sideways at Ronan. Wait a minute. Had Dage already known about Ulric and the Seven rituals?
Ronan’s jaw hardened. “We had to share some of the information, but so far, we’ve kept it to the vampires. The other nations don’t know, right?”
Dage’s jaw flexed. “Right. However, I’m King of the Realm, which includes many other nations. It goes against our agreements and treaties for me to keep such information from the heads of the other nations, some of which are family to me. To you, too.”
Quade shook his head. He had been gone a long time, but the existence of the Seven was to have remained secret. The changing of the rules did not sit well with him.
Talen leaned forward. “What happens once you’re all in the same place?”
So the vampires didn’t know the details.
Ronan spoke first. “Our first duty is to take out Ulric, whose goal is to kill all enhanced females. That much you already know. I don’t need to remind you that both of your mates are enhanced females, do I?”
The atmosphere heated as if a fire had been lit all around the room.
Talen’s chin lowered. “Is that a threat?”
“Of course not,” Ronan countered. “It’s a fact. We’ve told you this about Ulric.”
“Yet you haven’t given us enough details,” Talen said, his voice a low growl. “If he’s an enemy, and he’s here, we don’t need your help taking him out.”
Aye, Quade liked these new family members. A lot. Even though they used bugs to listen in on his conversations. “You don’t understand the reality of who Ulric is and who we’ve become,” he said softly. “The ritual of the Seven bonded us in blood and bone, by misusing the laws of the world in a way we cannot explain. Ulric did it first, using the blood and bone of enhanced women to shield his entire body.”
“It’s called physics these days,” Ronan told him. “Fascinating stuff.”
His brother was getting sarcastic, which meant punches would soon follow. Quade wouldn’t mind a good fight. He continued, “Ulric cannot be killed from the outside. His body, his entire body, is impenetrable.”
“Then how do we kill him?” Dage growled.
“You don’t,” Ronan said simply. “We have the knowledge to end him, and soon we’ll have the power. That’s all I can tell you.”
For a moment, Quade thought Talen would lunge across the table. He braced his legs just in case.
Dage held up a hand, halting his brother. Temporarily, anyway. “The repercussions of what you’ve done, and the laws of physics you’ve fucked with, are already creating ripples.”
Probably true.
Talen focused on Quade. “Can you teleport?”
“No,” Quade admitted. “Not since I’ve returned, but I assume the difference in what you call atmosphere and something called gravity might have something to do with it. My ability will return.”
“And you?” Talen asked Ronan.
“No. Not since I returned and was in a coma for seven years. But I, too, will regain my ability.”
Dage crossed his arms, mirroring Talen’s pose. “Oh yeah? Well, guess what, assholes? I can’t teleport any longer either. No demon or hybrid on this earth who could teleport before can do so now.”
Quade sat back. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that whatever happened to the world you concocted affected this one,” Dage said, his silver eyes morphing to blue. “When you messed with laws you never should’ve messed with, you caused more problems they even we understand.”
Quade looked at Ronan.
Ronan’s nostrils flared. “Our abilities wouldn’t have changed. So, the paths have. There used to be paths we used and now we can’t.” He shook his head. “I don’t understand the physics of it, but we’ll get Promise Williams on it right away.”
Dage’s glare grew even harder. “I spoke with the Fae leader, and according to her, the Fae can’t teleport off this world or in it any longer. That ability is gone for all of us.” He leaned forward, his gaze intense. “Now. Demons could teleport from one spot to another on this planet only. Fae could go to other places, and they’re the only ones who could. So guess what I have in my infirmary. Right now?”
Quade froze.
Talen answered first. “We
ll, King, you have a Fae-demon hybrid. The only one, as far as we know, to ever exist. If anybody can fix this, it’s going to be somebody with the ability to teleport on this world and out of here. That’s who you have.”
Quade’s fangs elongated. Dage had it all wrong. “The person in your infirmary is my mate. No way in hell do you have her.” Although he hadn’t mated her, her safety was on him.
Dage met his gaze full on. “Not true, and you know it. However, as you might remember, mates often end up with each other’s gifts.”
“Your point?” Quade snarled.
“His point?” Talen leaned back. “One of you is going to solve this problem. Right now, she’s our best bet. You want to be the one? Stop dicking around and mate her.”
The king held up a hand. “Think of it a different way, perhaps.”
Quade’s chin lowered. He didn’t give a fuck that these guys were family. He was about to take Talen down and see if Jacer’s descendants had learned to fight or not. “In which way?” he growled.
Dage’s eyes, although hard, held a sympathetic light that actually pissed Quade off more. “I listened to your conversation. Haven said she’s being pulled through dimensions against her will, and she has no control. She has to sleep at some point. Even immortals can’t go long without sleep.”
Quade’s jaw ached from grinding his teeth. “Your point?”
The king exhaled. “You were always able to control your jumps here on earth. Right?”
Quade nodded.
“So mate her, get her gifts, and maybe you can go off world and kill Ulric,” Dage said. “At the very least, mate her and give her the ability to control her jumps before she ends up on Ulric’s world or wherever those damn portals go.”
A part of Quade had hoped the portals were all gone. That there was no way he’d have to leave again, ever. But now that the portals had hold of Haven, now that she was being pulled, probably toward Ulric, he had no choice.
Ronan turned toward him. “If you mate her, you might be able to go with her when she’s pulled.”
Quade’s chest heated. A mate. “She’ll be left alone when—”
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