Brokk glanced at Cole. His brother was aware of Cole’s antipathy toward Becca and of Becca’s determination to claw her way into the role of a dark fae princess.
During their brief time together, Cole learned she was after far more than a fling, and Cole was not looking for a wife. That was something she didn’t want to hear, and she had not taken it well.
To Becca, he was the key to her wearing a crown; because, with him, she could become a queen if something happened to his father. It didn’t matter that Tove wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon; Becca craved the power of the royalty.
She would not get it.
For some reason, she believed he considered her something more than a good fuck. Unfortunately, though he’d walked away, she wasn’t ready to give up. When her fingers brushed his arm again, an image of Lexi rose into his mind. He moved away from her touch.
She was the reason he didn’t want to be here or anywhere near Becca. He already knew who he wanted, and it was not anyone from this place.
“Don’t,” he warned her, and Brokk scooted his chair closer to kick him under the table.
Cole shot him a fulminating look, and Brokk waggled his eyebrows as he nodded toward Becca. “Take one for the team,” Brokk mouthed.
Cole’s hands flexed, and the ciphers on the back of them shifted. Brokk didn’t understand—hell, he didn’t understand, but there was no way he was screwing Becca again.
Last week, despite his abhorrence of Becca, he still would have taken her to bed if it meant discovering what she knew. It had never mattered to him before whether he liked his bed partners or not, and Becca was an expert. She owned this place, she knew what men and women wanted, and she excelled at pleasing her partner.
However, her expertise in bed didn’t make up for her conniving personality, which she didn’t hide well.
“I’m not playing your games, Becca. When was Orin here?” he demanded.
She leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs. She kicked one back and forth as she studied him.
“I don’t want you to play a game, Cole. I want you to play with me.”
“That’s not going to happen.” Cole pushed his chair back and rose. “We’ll find Orin on our own.”
He didn’t wait for her reply before he turned and strode through the crowd. Immortal creatures scrambled to get out of his way as he stalked toward the stairs and descended to the packed dance floor.
He shoved his way through the dancers, many of whom were having sex on the floor, pushed open the door, and stepped into the cool night air.
Unlike in the Gloaming, where the air was thick with the scent of crops this time of year, the air on earth was heavy with the smell of burnt wood and scorched earth. The aroma of the war and the destruction and death of this planet hung heavily on the air.
The stench had become all too familiar to him recently. So much so that it no longer repulsed him.
“What was that about?” Brokk demanded as he emerged from the club to stand beside Cole. “We have to discover what she knows about Orin.”
“I don’t care; I’m not fucking her to get the answers.”
“It’s not like you haven’t fucked her for less.”
“Things change.”
Brokk’s aqua eyes studied him. “What is going on with you?”
He wasn’t in the mood to discuss this with Brokk, especially since he didn’t have the answer. “Let’s go.”
Brokk glanced back at the Black Hole Club before falling into step beside Cole. “I was having a good time.”
“Then go back.”
But Cole wasn’t returning. There was somewhere else he’d far prefer to be.
He recalled Lexi, standing in the doorway of her manor, and something inside him twisted. He wanted to return to her, to see her again, and make sure she was safe.
When she’d invited them in earlier, he’d almost accepted, but they’d been so close to Orin, and there was a chance he might still find his trail. He hadn’t, and they’d gone to Becca’s in the hopes of learning more, but he’d turned his back on their one possible lead.
He loved his brother and wanted to find him, but he didn’t regret his decision to leave Becca behind.
“Where are you going?” Brokk demanded as he followed Cole toward the trees.
“I have somewhere to be,” he muttered.
“Care to let me in on this secret destination where you have to be?”
“Del’s manor.”
“Delano Harper’s manor?”
“How many Dels do you know?”
Brokk stopped walking, but Cole didn’t hesitate. He shouldn’t have left her alone earlier, not after the confrontation with Malakai, and now a desperate urge to get back to her compelled him faster.
“Have you lost your mind?” Brokk demanded as he jogged to catch up with him.
Cole wasn’t sure how to respond because he believed he might have lost it a little.
“Is this about his daughter?” Brokk asked.
Cole didn’t answer.
“She’s gorgeous, but Del was our friend,” Brokk said.
Something rippled inside Cole; he didn’t like Brokk talking about her like that. “I know.”
“Then leave his daughter alone.”
“I’m going to make sure she stays safe.”
Brokk grasped his arm and pulled him to a stop. Cole’s hands fisted as he kept his gaze focused on the woods, but his frustration wasn’t for his brother; it was for him.
“She’s young, Cole.”
“I know.”
“Then what are you doing?”
Cole’s head twisted toward him, and whatever Brokk saw there caused him to release Cole’s arm and take a step back.
“Malakai will go back for her,” Cole growled.
“And what do you plan to do about that?”
“I don’t know.”
Cole didn’t look back at Brokk as he continued toward the woods and the broken road on the other side of them. That road would lead to the market where he encountered Lexi earlier, and beyond it was her home.
What was he going to do when he got there? Stand guard outside her manor until Malakai returned?
That wasn’t possible, but the idea of leaving her vulnerable to that asshole caused the wolf inside him to stir. A wolf that only ever stirred around her. When he flexed his hands, claws scraped his palm.
He jerked his hands up and stared at the claws. They weren’t as long as they could be, but he couldn’t recall a time when he’d lost control of himself enough that they’d extended without him doing it on purpose.
The crunch of Brokk’s step caused him to close his hands to hide those claws, but the look on his brother’s face said he wasn’t fast enough.
“What’s going on?” Brokk inquired.
Before Cole could reply, the crunch of an approaching footstep silenced him. He caught the scent of others and turned as five rebel immortals emerged from a copse of burnt-out trees. Their tattered clothing and bruised bodies gave them away before Cole recognized them as traitors.
The two in the lead were lycans, a dark fae followed them, and two vampires were at the back of the pack. The rebels stopped when they spotted Brokk and Cole standing there.
The dark fae took an abrupt step back. Unlike the others, the fae recognized who he’d run across. The vampires and lycans didn’t; large grins spread across their faces, and one of the lycans cracked his knuckles.
Cole’s natural inclination was to draw on his fae powers, but the wolf was itching for a fight. He’d disembowel these fuckers for fun if it meant releasing some of the hostility inside him.
“I’d keep walking, boys,” Brokk warned.
“Good thing we’re not a pussy like you,” one of the lycans spat.
“You’re going to get one chance to walk away,” Brokk said.
“We should go,” the dark fae muttered.
“Fuck you,” one of the vamps retorted.
The dark fae sli
pped into the shadows and disappeared.
“At least that one’s smart,” Brokk said.
Cole didn’t speak as he studied the lycans and vamps. Like all male lycans, they stood over six feet tall and were broad through the shoulders and chest. A hint of gold shone in their eyes as the possibility of a fight excited them. Cole felt his excitement rising in response.
And then they attacked.
CHAPTER 27
Cole ducked the punch the first lycan threw at him, and when the lumbering beast staggered past him, he clasped his hands together and rammed them into his back. The impact caused something to give way with a crack and knocked the lycan to his knees.
The second lycan charged Brokk, who threw up his hands and hit the lycan with a wave of air. The blast of air lifted the lycan and flung him off his feet. He soared through the air until he hit a tree. The impact shook the tree. The lycan hung there for a few seconds before collapsing onto the ground.
Brokk was starting to go after the lycan when one of the vampires transported and threw himself onto Brokk’s back. Staggered by the impact of the weight, Brokk reeled backward. Reaching over his back, Brokk grasped the vamp’s hair and pulled the creature over his shoulder.
Cole stalked toward the lycan he’d knocked to the ground, but the other vampire transported, and appearing in front of him, the creature grasped Cole’s throat. Throwing his full weight into Cole, the vamp shoved him back. Cole nearly went down but kept himself upright when he planted his back foot and pushed back into the vamp.
When the vamp’s hand clamped down and cut off his air supply, Cole grasped the vamp’s wrist and twisted to the side. Bone gave way with a crack, and he broke the asshole’s hold on him at the same time he swung his head forward.
His forehead smashed off the vamp’s. The creature howled as it reeled back. Blood spilled down the vamp’s forehead and dripped off his nose. When the vamp lifted his head, his once brown eyes were the color of blood.
The vamp vanished as it launched at him again, but suspecting an attack from behind, Cole spun and swung out with his hand. He couldn’t see the vamp, but his claws caught in flesh and tore into muscle.
The vampire materialized a second later. His hands stretched toward Cole, but they froze in midair. Then his hands flew to his sliced-open throat as blood poured forth.
Cole was almost as astonished as the vamp as blood spilled between the vampire’s fingers and splashed onto the ground. He hadn’t realized he’d unleashed some of the lycan within him until his claws tore into the vamp’s throat.
He’d never let the lycan free before, not even during the war. When fighting, he’d always relied more on his dark fae powers, but now he welcomed the rush the release of the lycan gave him.
He smiled as more of the lycan broke free of its cage, and with another slash, he severed the vamp’s head. It thudded when it hit the ground and rolled a few feet away.
He turned toward the lycan he’d knocked to the ground. The beast was already recovering and climbing to his feet when Cole launched himself onto its back, seized its hair, and ripped its head back.
He plunged his claws into its throat and hacked through the thick sinew. Twisting the lycan’s head to the side, he relished the sound of muscle tearing apart as he succeeded in hacking the creature’s head off.
He turned toward Brokk as his brother dispatched the other vamp. Brokk turned toward the lycan he’d flung into the tree. He took a step toward him as the tip of a sword erupted out the front of Brokk’s chest. His brother’s eyes widened as they fell to the blade piercing his heart.
“NO!” Cole bellowed as he released the lycan’s head and shoved its body out of his way.
He didn’t understand what happened until Brokk twisted to the side. The movement revealed the dark fae who slipped away had returned and snuck up behind his brother while Brokk was fighting.
Brokk was reaching for the sword when the fae grinned and ripped the blade free. The rays of the moon shone off the silver blade with its intricate markings. Dismay filled Cole when he realized what the sword was made of…
Fae metal!
The only metal that could kill a fae, and the coward had rammed the blade through Brokk’s heart. It was a lethal wound for a fae.
I’ll rip off his head and shove it down his throat!
But as the thought ran through his mind, Brokk went to his knees.
No! No! No!
He’d lost too many brothers to this war; he would not lose another. He caught Brokk before he fell face-first onto the ground. When the fae lifted the blade to bring it down against Brokk’s back, Cole grasped the sword and held it while supporting his brother.
Brokk’s hot blood soaked his shirt as the sword bit into his flesh and sliced through his muscle until the blade scoured his bone. The fae tried to rip it away, but Cole refused to relinquish the sword as he yanked it forward.
Not expecting the motion, the fae staggered forward with the sword. Cole grabbed the fae by his throat. His claws dug into the creature’s flesh as he tore out his throat and threw it aside.
The fae’s hands flew to what little remained of his throat as his blood drenched Cole and Brokk. Cole lifted his hand and delivered a staggering backhand that knocked the fae’s head to the side and broke his neck.
Paralyzed by the blow, the fae hit the ground as Cole rose with Brokk in his arms. Cole shifted his hold on his brother to pull the sword free of his palm, and twisting the blade, he grasped the hilt and plunged it through the fae’s back and into his heart. Pinned to the ground, the fae’s fingers clawed at the dirt for a few seconds before he went limp.
Cole turned his attention to where he’d last seen the remaining lycan, but the beast was gone. He didn’t have the time to hunt it as Brokk’s body became completely limp against him.
Lifting Brokk into his arms, Cole fled into the night.
• • •
The incessant pounding on the door rebounded through the hallway until it became a never-ending crescendo that caused Lexi to bolt awake and propelled her out of bed before she realized she was moving. Flustered, she spun as she tried to get her bearings.
What was going on? Had the war started again?
No, that made no sense. Why would the war be banging on her door? It never had before.
Realizing she wasn’t making any sense to herself, she struggled to rid herself of her sleep and confusion as the banging continued.
Who was trying to bang down her door and why?
She started to run from her room but skidded to a halt when an image of Malakai entered her mind. The idea of him seeing her in her old T-shirt and nothing else propelled her toward her closet. Their door was about to come off its hinges, but if it was him, then he couldn’t see her like this.
She yanked open her closet doors and pulled out her robe. She tugged it on and cinched the belt around her waist before running from her room. From a few doors down and diagonally across the hall, Sahira was exiting her room.
Their eyes met before Lexi ran for the stairs.
“Elexiandra!” Sahira called sharply after her.
When she arrived at the bottom of the stairs, Lexi glanced at her aunt over her shoulder.
“You don’t know who’s on the other side!” Sahira called as she descended the stairs after Lexi.
No, she didn’t, but they were banging so relentlessly that the thick wood door rattled in its frame. There was something desperate in that knock, something that propelled her forward even as dread slid down her spine.
The banging reverberated in her head as her hand fell on the knob and her throat went dry.
“Lexi!” Sahira hissed.
She had no idea who was on the other side, but she had to answer it. Something about the frantic pounding made it impossible to ignore.
After the last time she tried to help someone, she should know better than to do it again. That asshole was still living in her tunnels, but she couldn’t stop herself from opening the door.
She gasped, and her hand flew to her throat when she spotted Cole on the other side. His eyes burned the brilliant silver of a lycan on the verge of transforming. Blood slicked his hair, slid down his face, and coated his hands as he lifted Brokk toward her.
Lexi’s stomach plunged into her toes as she took in Brokk’s bloodstained clothes and the gaping wound in his chest.
CHAPTER 28
“I need help,” Cole said in a gravelly voice distorted by the elongated fangs in his mouth. “I need a witch. He needs a witch.”
Lexi blinked as his words sank in. She turned toward Sahira as her aunt rushed forward and stopped when she saw Brokk’s damaged body.
“Please help him,” Cole said.
The pleading and torment in his voice tugged at Lexi’s heartstrings. She understood his suffering and panic, and she would do whatever she could to help… even if it bit her in the ass again.
“This way,” Lexi said. “Hurry.” She pushed past her aunt. “Sahira, get whatever you’ll need to help him.”
Her aunt closed her mouth, but her eyes remained wide as she glanced from Lexi to Cole and finally to Brokk.
“Lexi—”
“Close the door and gather your supplies,” Lexi said more sharply than she intended, but she could feel time running out, and she couldn’t deal with her aunt’s overprotective nature now.
Sahira took a deep breath before her shoulders went back, and she shut the door. Lexi was aware she might be getting herself into more trouble —she had no idea what happened to them or if their enemies might come knocking on her door—but she couldn’t turn them away.
She couldn’t turn Cole away even if she harbored his other brother beneath her home.
Cole’s feet thudded on the steps as he followed her upstairs. At the top of the steps, she threw open the first guest room door she came to and rushed inside. She flipped on the light switch, and a dim glow filled the room. The electricity was powered down again, but at least it was working.
When they lost most of their workers, she and Sahira closed off all the unused rooms.
Now, she yanked the dust cover from the bed and the table beside it. She balled the covers up and shoved them into a corner as Cole carefully set Brokk on the bed.
Shadows of Fire (The Shadow Realms, Book 1) Page 12