by K. C. Hamby
“Ashy,” I growl when I push myself through the door. He is sitting on the couch, watching a new show of some sort.
His dark amber eyes flick to me.
I swallow hard and throw all my weapons on the counter without the slightest care. They clatter loudly and I flinch at the sound.
“I need you,” I rasp.
He stands, a hungry smile on his face. “At your service, my lady.”
I think my nails break skin when I yank him to me. But he doesn’t seem to mind as his lips devour the tender part of my neck. A breath leaves me at the contact of his skin. It’s like I’ve been injected with heroin, but this high is so much better.
I drag him to our room and shove him on the bed. He raises a brow at me with that sexy smirk playing on his lips.
“Take off your clothes,” I growl and throw off my own as quickly as possible.
“Yes ma’am,” he whispers and does as I say.
I crawl on top of him, my tongue making a path over his scarred skin. Goosebumps follow in its wake as Ash’s breathing quickens. I grab the length of him in a steady hand and a moan immediately drops from his mouth as I move my fingers over him.
“Fuck, Eddie,” he rasps.
“Yes, do that,” I tell him as I watch him bite his bottom lip.
Ash’s eyes pop open and he grabs my waist, flipping us over and lying me on my back. I groan when his tongue moves circles on my breasts and his fingers touch me between my legs. His teeth move to my neck when he suddenly takes me, and it draws a gasp from my lungs.
We move together as Ash heals the fire dancing a frenzy in my blood and I lose myself in my Mate.
The Titanomachy
Hecate
The Titans will fall.
I know this because of my Prophetess, Mila, who so faithfully envisions the future and tries her best to interpret it before relaying the information to me.
It is why I warned Nyx and begged Nemesis to switch sides.
The blade of my sword clashes with that of Themis, goddess of divine order. She bares her teeth in a feral way, reminding me of her son, Achilles.
She taught him how to fight, after all.
“Traitor,” she snarls, pulling her blade away and swiping very close to my face.
I parry, slicing my sword with practiced precision, cutting into her fighting leathers, and slashing her side.
“I do not wish to betray you, Themis,” I rasp, catching her soaring blade with mine again. “I only wish to live on past the dynasty of Titans. You will fall with them if you continue to stand against the Olympians.”
She scoffs, spinning prettily and the blade of her lethal weapon cuts into my thigh. I hiss at the sudden pain. It is nearly deep enough to drop me to my knees.
“You will fall,” she insists, using my moment of weakness to her advantage, driving her sword straight for my throat.
The tip stops right before contact and she coughs a stream of blood onto my face. She drops to her knees, blue eyes blank and staring, before landing face-first into the battle-worn grass.
Nyx, goddess of night in all her dark glory, stands in her place, long daggers gleaming in her fists, dripping bright blood from the edges.
“Are you alright?” she asks, helping me to steady myself.
The wound in my thigh protests, but it is already healing.
“I am, thanks to you, love,” I reply, almost hating the weakness I have around her.
I only keep from loathing myself because she is also weak for me. Weak enough to share my bed all night, whispering sweet nothings in my ears before the battle of the future.
She smiles only just, turning her attention to a screech suddenly ringing out from the center of the battlefield.
Nemesis flies, sword of flames bright in her fist and ash-colored wings carrying her loyally toward..
“Oh, gods,” Nyx cries, taking a step toward her daughter.
It is clear Nemesis aims her blade right for Zeus. Zeus who defeats enemy after enemy with his sword as lethal as lightening. Thunder booms with each clash of his blade.
Nyx takes off running after her daughter and fear for her has my feet whispering across the ground.
This faceoff is not going to end well. There is no possible way it can.
Nemesis’ war cry grabs the soon-to-be King’s attention, and he faces her with a wide grin, pushing his bloodied, golden hair from his eyes.
“Nemesis!” Nyx screams when Zeus fashions a bolt of lightning from the static of the air.
But Nemesis doesn’t stop her pursuit. She is focused with squinting fire eyes blazing and she flies impossibly faster, aiming for the heart of the god.
Zeus takes aim with a dark smile before tossing the lightning with all his might. The bolt shoots through the space between them, causing a loud clap of thunder when it hits its mark.
Nemesis’ heart.
The scream from her lips as she falls could tear apart worlds. It is the sound of a soul shattered, high and eerie as the peaks of Mount Olympus. She plummets, wings cradling her as if they could save the fallen goddess.
And Nyx is there, catching her daughter in her arms and holding her close, blood flooding from the gaping hole in Nemesis’s chest where her heart should be.
Now there is only a charred wreck of naked lungs and crushed bones.
“Nemesis, oh, Nemesis,” Nyx cries, falling to the ground in such a haunting despair, it would make even the fullest graveyards weep.
I push out a protective wall of magic around us, shielding us from harm and from Zeus’ watchful gaze.
“Hecate,” Nyx calls to me, not taking her eyes from Nemesis’ face even once. “You promised you would find a way.” Her bloody thumbs leave sorrowful marks against Nemesis’s paling cheeks.
I nod and bend on my knees beside them both. “I did and I will.”
I take out an urn of sorts, but it is able to hold souls, not just ashes of the long deceased and burned. It is gold and small, but capable of holding the fullest of the fallen.
“Come to the shelter,” I chant, opening the urn and turning it to Nemesis.
Her eyes are wide, the fire dying within them, but they meet her mother’s weeping gaze before landing on me.
“Come to the shelter,
And stay for a while.
Here, you will rest,
Peace from agile.
I will keep you safe,
And keep you strong.
Before the next war,
Sing again your song.”
Nemesis grows calm, breaths no longer rugged and wild, as she turns those bright eyes back to her mother.
“Until we...meet again,” she rasps, blinking once before closing her eyes for the eternal sleep.
“Until we meet again, my darling,” Nyx replies, kissing Nemesis’ forehead before lying her down on the ground.
With her last breath, those gray-feathered wings wrap around Nemesis’s body one last time and a golden aura pours out of her chest, flowing wonderfully bright gold toward my urn. It collects itself inside, becoming still and content with the idea of rest.
I close the top and lock it with a spell so none but me may open the lid.
“I will keep her safe until she is ready to be born again,” I whisper to Nyx, gently wiping the bloodstained tears from her dark cheeks.
She leans into my touch, nodding. I’m not sure she comprehends my words as she seems to be in shock.
But one day she will.
And one day, Nemesis will rise again.
Chapter 32
Edelina
My eyes are my eyes, but I have no control over them.
They open without my permission, but it’s not like it does much. I can’t see anything but blurry figures standing around, looking down at me as I lie on the floor.
It’s cold and damp beneath me; a result of being in the same spot for hours. Or days. Or months. I don’t know how long I’ve been here. It all runs together, courtesy of the wolfsbane and heroin.
I shake at even the thought of the words, hating myself for the want in my bones. I was done with this shite. Done. And now…
Someone sits between my legs and grabs my thighs. I hear a zipper scrape open.
But I don’t react. I’ve lost interest in fighting for myself. There is not a thing worse they could do that they haven’t already done.
I would welcome death with a crying embrace.
My bare back slides back and forth across the floor; my vertebrae are bruised from the constant friction and skin torn from the hits, the scratches, and all the marks of the pleasure found by others from a demoralized wretch like me.
I’m only twenty yonks, but I feel not a thing anymore as if I am ancient. I’m done feeling. That’s what they want. They want me to scream. They want me to fight.
I’m finally shoved away and left to my heavy chains on the floor. People file out of the room and darkness swallows me.
I sit up quickly in the bed, yanking my hands away from the phantom chains lingering on my skin.
“Fuck,” I whisper and rub my face of the sweat. I’m covered in it and freezing. Or maybe I’m shaking from the nightmare. I really don’t know at this point. Maybe both.
“Babe?” Ash grumbles and sits up beside me. “You okay?”
I can’t respond because my breaths are heavy in my chest, taking away what words I should say. I shake my head no.
“Come here,” Ashy whispers and pulls me into his arms as we lie back on the bed. “You’re safe. You’re here with me.”
I listen to his reassuring words as they breathe across my ear, lulling me into a fog of calm and hiding the nightmare—the memory—from sight.
I cannae tell you, Ashy. But I can show you, I whisper into his mind.
That’s up to you, Eddie. I don’t mind either way. Whatever you need. Always.
I pause for a slight moment, asking myself if I really want him to see this part of me. But of course, I do. He is my Mannie. I want him to know everything.
I replay the dream in my head, this time letting him in to watch along with me. His arms tighten as it goes through every detail and thought.
It aches deep in my chest, but I keep going. I pick up where the dream left off…
The light is blinding as I hear the click of the bulbs. Footsteps walk in as usual, but one set comes closer.
“Eddie. Executioner. Too bad you were killin’ all the wrong Hunters in your search for us.”
The man’s voice is gruff, and I recognize it immediately. The one that killed my sisters. My ma. My da.
A growl rumbles in my chest, the first sign of life I’ve shown in a long while.
“You’ve been lookin’ for us for a while, aye? Funny when you found us, you dinnae have a chance to carry out your vengeance.” He chuckles and taps my back with his foot. “I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed taking down your clan; I loved destroyin’ the Chief Alpha’s family. Even though one little worm managed to crawl away.” He kicks me hard this time, breaking ribs all along my spine, and I groan. “No matter. I have you now. You will be the end of the Barclays.”
“Stop teasin’ and just kill me already,” I grunt. “Numpty bastart.” I spit blood at his feet when he walks around to face me.
“Nae yet. I want to tell you somethin’. I want you to ken the blood from your sisters was hot when it came pourin’ out of them.”
I clench my jaw, rage burning at the memory of Dhara and Branwenn in their own pools of blood on the floor.
“Their golden and yellow eyes, very similar to yours, were full of pain as the life faded from them. Fear took over as they realized they would soon be dead. They were cowards in the end.”
“Haud yer wheesht, you fuckin’ piece of scrote or I’ll cut your tongue out of your fuckin’ scabby gob,” I snap and slowly push myself up on all fours.
His hand strikes across my face and my head jerks to the side with the blow. “You have the mouth of a two-bit whore,” he whispers. “Just like your ma.”
My mind quiets in an instant, but my body buzzes with wrath and fire. The man smiles at me as I rock back onto my knees and yank at the chains on my wrists with newfound rage.
“Uh oh, this one is a fighter now!” He yells and the other Poachers laugh right along with him. “I wish your da had this much vigor. It would have made for a better killin’.”
The muscles in my neck twitch as the anger builds. I stand, not wobbling. Just pure fury sweeping through my being, steadying me. Preparing me.
“You’ll rue the day you captured me, Poacher,” I snarl.
With a roar, I yank at the chains with everything I have left in me and they break like strings. The man’s eyes widen, and he stumbles back in a pathetic attempt to escape my wrath, but I take the broken chains, jump on top of him, and wrap them around his throat.
Poachers scramble and there is a sharp burning on my back that dims in a second. I tug on the chains and suffocate the fucker beneath me, smiling as the life leaves his eyes.
A hand grabs my arms, but I launch my head backwards and it smacks against my captor. Their hands release and I turn, kicking the woman across her face so hard, she smacks against the wall across the room. I run to her and take the knife from her hand.
The bloody smile I leave across her neck drains her of the rest of her pathetic life.
The rest is a blur as the pain in my back registers; the liquid running down my skin as I kill and kill and kill is poisoned with wolfsbane.
Once I stop moving, I realize everyone else has too.
Dead. All of them.
“Ach, fuck,” I whisper as my knees hit the floor.
I’m gone before the rest of me follows.
“Eddie,” Ash coos and squeezes me tight, caressing the scar along my bare back. “I love you.”
I blink away the memory and look at him. “I dinnae how you do, Ash. I’m a mess. I’m broken and damaged. I...dinnae what it’s like to nae feel this way..”
“Stop.”
“Let me finish,” I argue, and Ash closes his mouth with a dramatic snapping together of his teeth. “I’m nae tellin’ you these things to gain your sympathy. I want you to ken every piece of me so you can understand why I am the way I am. After all that…I hated people because I felt like everyone would hurt me or I would hurt them. I acted like I was fine, but I never was again. I’m still nae. I hated bein’ out of control. I hated relyin’ on other people. I wasnae doin’ smack anymore, but it left room for feelin’ which led to pain. I used people. I ken I did, and I hate myself for it now because I ken how it hurts.”
I push my lips together and swallow down sobs crawling up my throat. Ash just watches me, silent and loving.
“And then your fine arse waltzes on Olympia.”
He snorts.
“When Falen nearly killed me, you saved me from her, healed me, and left. I acted like that was fine too because I’m nae one to let my emotions show in front of everyone, but my heart was breakin’. I loved you and it was killin’ me that you could leave me. I’ve lost everythin’ in some tragic way or another, but nae by active choice. My family dinnae have a say in their departure, but you did.”
“Eddie…”
“Shh. Close your trap.” I glare at his interrupting and magical mouth, daring him to say something else. He doesn’t, so I move on. “You left me by choice. But you pulled your head out of your arse and picked that lad up by his throat in that bar because he touched me. Now, I was right pissed at you for nae lettin’ me handle it, but I was so happy you cared enough to beat the shite out of someone who would disrespect me in such a way. I’ve never had anyone do that for me before. You claimed me as yours; it’s somethin’ I ken I was from the first time I laid eyes on you. You are the best thin’ about me. Like I said, I dinnae ken how you can love me, but I’m so goddamn glad you do.”
“Of course, I do. You’re a storm with golden eyes and the purest heart and I love being caught in your chaos. Yes, you have been through a lot, but
that’s okay. You handle it like a queen, and I wouldn’t change anything about you. Do I wish you never endured your pain? Yes, but it has made you who you are. I love who you are. I will always love who you are. Even when you’re being an insufferable ass.”
I cackle through my tears and fall into his open arms. “Takes one to ken one, Ashy.” I breathe in his scent, clinging to him like dew on freshly fallen leaves. It calms the darkness in me and brings a smile to my lips. “I love you. All of you. Always.”
“Psh, of course you do,” he jokes. “Who wouldn’t?”
I barely get time to roll my eyes before his lips are on mine.
Chapter 33
Falen
I pace back and forth, waiting on Nina to come back from her weekly meeting with the Council. She said she may tell them about her vision and the Poachers hinting about doing something to Olympia, but it depends on what her intuition tells her when she arrives.
I’m tense, half because of what I decided after going with Eddie on her mission and half because I’m wondering if the Monster will come back and haunt me. I never got a chance to talk to Nina about it.
Or more like I never got the courage.
When I look up from my constant staring at the floor, I’m not in our apartment anymore.
I’m in complete darkness.
Goddess, no. Come on, Fal. Keep it together.
But the Monster isn’t here. It’s just me. This is just for me. Peace envelopes my soul and I relax.
This isn’t so bad.
This must be a sign, telling me my decision is the right one. Everything will work out because of the peace I am given now. I wouldn’t feel so calm if it were a bad choice, right?
When I look down at my hands, they are white glitter, dazzling and bright against the empty blackness around me. Every time I breathe, glitter falls from my hands into the dark, shining like stars the farther they fall.
“Do you trust me?” is the voice that dances across my mind.
“Who are you?” I ask, still staring at my dazzling hands.
“I am you, of course.”