No matter what waited on the other side of the door, she would handle it. One way or another.
Chapter Four
Sharen clenched the hilt of her sword harder and looked out the peephole. Lily stared back at her.
Unlocking her door, she threw it open.
Her student was staring down at the blood streaks on her floor. “This doesn’t look good.”
Sharen nodded, and the woman did her best to step around the blood and enter into her apartment. Lily looked... energetic.
God did Sharen envy her. Lily was only a few years younger than her, but she looked like a model just walked off the runway. With gorgeous white-blonde hair, high cheekbones and full lips, her skin practically glowed with health. Her eyes shone with something... maybe even excitement.
Who would have thought she was a half-demon? And more than that, a half-demon working in The Department but secretly fighting for The Rebellion?
Sharen wasn’t sure whether she loved her for bringing the energy she didn’t have, or hated her for not being as beaten down by the world as Sharen felt.
“So, what’s going on?” Lily asked.
Sharen shook herself back into the present. “There’s a wounded fae Hunter in my shower. I’m not sure what to do with him.”
Lily cocked her head and pulled a dagger from beneath her leather jacket. “I can kill him if you don’t want to.”
A shudder moved through her body. “No—no. He was helping me with something. I think they figured it out.”
And then everything hit her at once. “And since they left his body here, they know where I live.”
“Which means we can’t stay long.”
“But we can’t just leave him to die.”
Lily nodded and put her dagger away. “Let me see him. Then we’ll figure out what to do.”
The blonde’s boots seemed too loud as she hurried toward the running shower.
Sharen scrambled after her, hating how lost she felt.
They came to stand over the fae man, who was looking better with most of the blood washed away, but still bad. Very bad.
“He should live, but he’s going to need some help.”
Sharen took a deep breath. “But I can’t... I need to find the others. My demons...”
Lily turned, her eyes wide. “They were taken too?”
She nodded, feeling her throat squeeze.
“Oh boy, someone is going to die for that mistake.”
Sharen was suddenly able to breathe easier. “You don’t think it’s hopeless?”
“Fuck no.” Then she smirked. “So, you need to figure out where they were taken, fix up this Hunter, and—“
“Check on the demons at the refuge.”
Lily shrugged. “Okay, you track down your demons. I can bandage up this guy and drop him off at the refuge.”
Some of the pressure left Sharen’s chest. “Thanks.”
“So, how are you going to find them?”
“No idea, but I’ll think of something. I always do.”
“All right. Well, we had better hurry before we get caught here. I’ll stitch you up and then the fae.”
Sharen frowned. “He’s worse off.”
“Yeah, but he’s already healing. You need to get a quick patch job before you bleed out. Then you can get the fuck out of here before your trail goes cold.”
“My trail.” For the first time, she realized what she needed to do. “I need to go back to headquarters.”
Lily nodded. “If they left that kind of mess, they probably wanted you to find them. I bet there’s something that will lead you straight to them.”
Sharen almost ran for the door, but caught herself. Bandages and weapons first.
She led her ex-student to the living room and typed in the code to open up her weapons chest. Lily whistled in appreciation behind her, but she ignored the other woman, pulling open the drawer of first aid supplies.
“So, how did you get so good at all of this?” Sharen asked, selecting what she thought they might need. Because even though I’m a Hunter, these things don’t come naturally to me.
The young woman shrugged. “My job in The Department is to investigate disturbances that might point to half-breeds and demons who have crossed over into our realm. I’ve gotten good at getting inside other people’s heads and figuring out what drives them and how to track them.”
And I’m sure she’s saved a lot of lives by being better than the other Hunters.
Sharen handed her the supplies. “We’re lucky to have someone like you in The Rebellion.”
She grinned. “Stop stalling and go sit down.”
God, it’s weird when my students grow up. But the thought warmed her heart.
Lily directed her to the couch and started laying out the stuff to stitch her arm up and wrap it. She smelled the alcohol before she felt it on her wound and she gritted her teeth to keep from crying out.
"Sorry," Lily said as she knelt down beside her and gently cleared the blood from her arm.
"It's fine," Sharen said, even though the alcohol burned like hell. She wasn’t sure if her stupid powers meant this was all a waste, but she wasn’t willing to bleed-out or grow weak when she had work to do. She would sit and cater to her human side.
No matter how much it hurt.
"You're just going to need a few stitches," Lily added.
Squeezing her eyes shut, she forced herself to take deep breaths and not think about the needle weaving through her flesh. She told herself to be the woman her demons needed her to be as her body ached as it was pulled together. This was nothing. Just skin. She could do this.
“All done.”
Sharen’s eyes flashed open. “Great, thank you.”
Lily wrapped her arm. “Do you want me to meet up with you when I’m done at the refuge?”
“No,” she said, too quickly.
Lily slowed. “You’re going to need help.”
Sharen spoke without thinking. “I’m not exactly sure what I’m going to be facing, but I’m not dragging you into this... any more than I already have.”
“Mrs. Bran—“
“I’m just Sharen now.”
“You’re not just anyone. You’re leading this Rebellion, whether you know it or not. They need you. If what you’re doing is going on a suicide mission, you need to keep that in mind, because this might just be one fight you can’t win.”
Can’t win?
She met her ex-student’s gaze. “This isn’t about the Rebellion anymore. It’s about the three men I love more than anything in this world. I dragged them into this mess. I made them give up their peaceful chance at a second life, and if I have to save them from the very depths of the demon-realm, I will.”
After a second, Lily nodded. “Okay. But I’m here if you need me.”
“I appreciate it.”
“And I can contact the others if you haven’t yet and update them.”
“Shit.” Sharen ran a hand through her hair. “I forgot.”
“It’s been a few hours,” Lily said with a humorless laugh. “Don’t be too hard on yourself.”
She’s right, but I need to do better.
There were many, many people working for the Rebellion. Small groups of rebels lived in cities all over the world and they looked for signs of demons who had crossed over into their realm. Their job was to offer them help and keep them concealed from the Hunters.
When she’d joined the cause, she had completely changed the way everyone searched for demons and how they helped them. She had also changed how they avoided the Hunters, mostly due to her insider information on The Organization. At first she’d just felt like an important source of information, but things had quickly changed when she’d presented the idea of trying to save demons before they had to crawl through all the realms.
By the time she and her demons had secured the demon-stone and soul chalk, she had suddenly found herself being the go-to person for everything related to the Rebellion... so i
t bothered her that Lily had been the one to remind her of her responsibility.
“It’s okay,” her ex-student said. “I know you’re a control freak, but you can count on me.”
Sharen couldn’t help but smile. She took a deep breath. If she had learned anything from losing her demons, it was that her focus needed to return to her husbands. That would mean releasing some control.
“I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
Lily smirked, rising and heading back to the injured fae, her first aid kit in hand. “Well, you don’t have to worry about that. I’m damn hard to get rid of.”
Another thing I can be thankful for.
Sharen stood and stretched out her injured arm. She decided it would have to do. She hurriedly changed into clean clothes, and then went back to the weapons’ chest. Loading herself up, she at last felt more like her old self. If she ran into any more angels, at least she had a fighting chance.
“Mrs. Bran!”
Sharen spun and ran to the bedroom. Panting, she stared at her student. “What is it?”
“He spoke.”
She looked down at the severely beaten face of the fae Hunter. There’s no way he spoke. But then, his lips moved.
“Alderon?” Kneeling down, she leaned just over him. At first his words were nothing more than sounds. “I don’t understand,” she said.
“Water,” he rasped.
Lily hurried from the room and came back with a glass. She put it to his lips and helped him drink. He choked several times and spit water, but finally seemed to calm. When she pulled the cup from his mouth, he licked his lips.
He didn’t open his eye as he spoke slowly. “The Department... is corrupt. Y—you were right. Someone new is hunting you.”
None of that sounded good. “I’ll take care of it. You rest.”
“Sharen,” her voice was almost a sigh. “The Hunter... don’t underestimate him.”
His breathing grew even once more, and she and Lily exchanged a look.
“Well, this fucking day keeps getting better and better.”
Sharen forced a smile. “Where did the sweet, obedient girl I trained go?”
Lily smirked. “Being a half-demon in an organization that hunts demons means playing my role and playing it well. You didn’t suspect what I was, and neither did anyone else.”
“Well, I think I might like the new Lily even better than the old one.”
Lily’s smirk widened. “Take care of your demons. I’ll be fine here.”
“Thanks again. And get out of here as fast as you can.”
“Will do,” Lily said, laying out her first aid kit.
She'd better. Whoever left that message is probably watching our house. Hopefully they’ll lose interest when they see me leave.
As she headed for the door, she paused and looked back. Lily was slowly drying off the fae man on her bedroom floor. She felt a pang of regret for bringing him into this. If he died, he was one more person who’d died because of her. And if he lived... well, she still owed him. She wasn’t sure how he’d been found out, but she was sure he’d be safe right now if he’d killed her when he had the chance.
I wonder if he’ll regret his sense of right and wrong after this.
Lily looked up, nodded solemnly, and went back to drying the fae Hunter.
Taking a deep breath, Sharen turned and headed for the door once more. She had no doubt headquarters was being watched too and that she was probably walking straight into trouble.
But that was the thing—facing trouble was better than nothing. At least it meant she might have a chance of finding out what happened to her demons.
No matter the risk.
Chapter Five
Ryder had dreamed of Sharen long before she stumbled into the demon-realm that brought them together. It wasn’t exactly her face that haunted him, but a sense of her. A smell that lingered on his flesh when he awoke. A taste on his lips.
Too many nights he and his brothers dreamed of the human woman, a creature who was tough as hell on the outside, but soft and in need of their protection within.
And when they finally had her? There had been so much chaos, so much darkness and fear.
It wasn’t what he’d wanted for her. It wasn’t what any of them wanted for her, but he’d never been happier than when she was in his arms.
Lying cramped in the bottom of the dark cage, his mind was full of her. His memories helped him ignore the weeping, groans of pain, and the screaming that came from the darkness. It even helped him ignore his own pain.
He shifted and bit down a hiss. The wounds on his stomach and arms were already healing, but the angels’ fists and swords hadn’t been gentle. His body still felt sore and tight as it worked to knit his injuries back together.
One thing about lying here uselessly is that I’m healing faster. He moved again and felt a sharp stab of pain where one of his ribs had been cracked. Shadows drifted before his vision, but he refused to give in to them, to simply slip back into unconsciousness.
Sharen had brought him out of the darkness. She filled him with hope and kept him from slipping back to a place without fear or pain.
He knew from the little he’d heard from the guards that she was safe, that they’d tried to catch her not long ago and failed.
He didn’t know why they hadn’t just waited outside the portal for her, but he was damned grateful for their stupidity. It meant that she was safe.
His Sharen, his beautiful wife, was still safe.
Closing his eyes, a small smile touched his lips.
“This isn’t how we celebrated Christmas,” Kade growled.
Sharen laughed, stringing more tinsel on the large tree in their apartment. “Well, then you weren’t doing it right.”
Kade’s glare darkened as he leaned back further on the couch. He took another sip of the spiked eggnog in his mug and winced. “This crap is awful.”
Ryder punched him in the arm and jumped over the back of the couch, hurrying to Sharen. “Need help?”
She looked back at him, her smile making every cell in his body expand. “Sure.”
For a minute he couldn’t look away. She was so damned beautiful. Tonight she wasn’t wearing her hoodie and jeans. She wasn’t donned in weapons, with an aura of a woman just trying to get through the day. Instead, she wore pajamas. A white top that was criminally see-through, pants with reindeer on them, and slippers with reindeer with light-up noses.
In other words, she looked perfect.
Reaching out, he pushed her long, dark hair off her shoulders and buried his hand in the back of her hair. Instantly, her green eyes lost their merriment, darkening with arousal.
“Ryder, the tree,” she whispered, but there wasn’t a hint of scolding in her voice. Just arousal and anticipation.
He leaned closer. “The tree might just have to wait.”
The tinsel in her hands fell to the floor.
A sound jerked him back from his memories. Lights appeared in the darkness.
Rising to his knees, he peered through the bars of the cage. If he were human, the light wouldn’t have been enough to see a thing, but with his superior vision he could see the many cages spread out in the massive room.
Yet, I don’t see my brothers’ massive forms among them.
Ice ran through his veins at just the thought, but he pushed it aside. His brothers were safe. Somewhere.
The light moved closer and closer until it was blinding in its intensity. For one second he couldn’t see the person who held the lantern, but then his vision came into focus.
It was the creature from the battle. A man with purple skin, so dark it was nearly black. Cracks of gold like lightning appeared across his skin. And the cracks seemed to move in and out with each breath he took, causing his wet skin to shimmer with every movement.
The being stood before him for several long seconds before speaking. “How are you feeling, Ryder?”
“Fuck you.” Anger rolled through him i
n waves. “And Darla, for betraying us!”
Instantly, his mind went to the young witch. Never in his life would he have expected her to open the door to their base and sneak in Caine’s angels, or to kill their guards before she did it. How could he have been so wrong about her?
“I don’t know anything about this Darla,” the demon said. “But Caine has a way of getting to us all.”
His thoughts skittered away from the young witch to the man before him. He couldn’t do anything about Darla. He needed to focus on this man and why he was here.
“What did they give you to betray your own kind?” Ryder snarled.
The demon’s golden eyes glowed softly. “They gave me the only thing that would make me join the side of evil... my freedom.”
Ryder gripped the bars of the cage tighter and forced down his rage. Get information. You don’t know when you’ll get a chance like this again. “We’re fighting for freedom. You could have joined us.”
The demon sighed and then sat down on the ground, just far enough away that Ryder couldn’t reach him. When he settled the lantern next to him, Ryder saw that his clothing was torn and filthy, and he didn't have any shoes. “I’m a poison demon whose touch is deadly even to my own kind. Believe me, I could endure the demon-realm. I could endure the loneliness and the darkness, but I could not endure Caine’s prisons, nor his careful torture.”
Poisonous even to his own kind? Is such a thing even possible?
Ryder would have felt sorry for him, if he hadn’t been the reason they were all captured. “Demons are made to be beaten and harmed. We are strong beings capable of—“
“Beatings I can handle, my friend. But Caine is not so kind.” His gaze held Ryder’s for a painfully long time before he spoke again. “Caine brought his enemies before me... many innocent lives, and forced them upon me. My touch bringing them death.” His voice grew quiet. “And not all of their deaths were fast. Instead, he would leave them in my prison cell as I watched the life leave their bodies.”
“Why?” Ryder asked, unable to stop the question. “He kills whenever he wishes. Why kill them like that?”
His golden eyes met Ryder’s. “Because there was a prophecy that I would help the victor win the war.”
Mates of the Realms: The Complete Collection: A Paranormal Reverse Harem Box Set Page 25