Dominic reach for his daughter. “Get over here.”
Two sets of hard Unseelie eyes focused on Dominic. “Do not touch her,” they said in unison.
“She is my daughter.”
Heath’s eyes widened. “Daughter? How long have I been gone?”
Romano sneered. “Not fucking long enough.”
“Zoey was pregnant when I left. What the hell?”
“Two and a half years,” Silva answered. “You’ve been gone for two and a half years, Heath.”
“Lies,” Heath argued.
Silva shook her head. “Time moves differently in the Chaos Realm. Do you not remember that?”
Heath swallowed, nodding his head. “Two and a half years,” he whispered.
“Isadora, come here,” Dominic ordered again, reaching for her.
Isadora tucked behind one of the Unseelie males instead. “I like that they smell like death, Daddy. Can I keep them?”
This was fucking crazy. One minute, Dominic was standing near his door, and the next, all hell broke loose.
He reached the Unseelie in one leap, and the room was filled with clashing claws, furniture breaking, and heavy thuds of hits. Dominic slashed at the face of the Unseelie with the red-sparked eyes, but the fucker dodged. Whipping glowing red swords from his side, the Fae spun in a wide arc. The one with golden sparks joined, notching an arrow quick as lighting.
Between the dance of blades and flying arrows, Dominic and his side were pushed back.
“Get the women out of here.”
But of course, the world was fucking crazy. Zoey just stood screaming at him to stop being an asshole. Silva jumped in every time Romano tried go for Heath, and Giuliana swept into the fray. Of course, that brought in the cold force of her mate as well.
“Stop! You will not harm them!”
Everything slammed to a halt, wolves falling to the ground with yelps, and even the Fae jerked still. Wind rushed through the room.
Isadora stood in the center of it all, her hair wild around her face, eyes glowing to rival the sun, and her hands outstretched at her side. The Unseelie with red stars in his eyes stood at her back, his blades pointed forward on either side of her, like he was … protecting her. His fangs were massive in his mouth. The other pointed an arrow at Dominic’s head.
What the fuck is going on?
“Isadora, stop it,” Dominic commanded.
His daughter’s gaze jumped to his. “I’ll kill anyone who touches them. They are mine.”
Mine?
It couldn’t be.
Dominic sent an Alpha call of retreat for his wolves. “Okay, Isadora.”
Once they were far enough away, she let up on the wind show. Isadora turned to the Unseelie. “What are your names?”
“Eiravel.”
“Cynes.”
“Ear-a-veil. Psy-nes That’s cool. I’m Isadora, but Aunt Silva calls me Rosemary.”
Eiravel smiled down at her. “How about Rose?”
“You are not giving my daughter a nickname like some sicko.”
“They won’t harm her.”
Dominic blinked. The voice was … like water. Asherah leaned against Heath’s side, tears still falling down her face as she gripped Silva’s hand.
“What are you talking about?”
“It’s Eldcuroth,” Asherah answered.
Silva jerked and turned to Dominic. “Okay, look, big boy. This is going to sound weird, but just deal. Okay?”
Dominic looked around. “This is my house. My pack lands. I am Alpha here, last time I checked.”
“Yeah, I know. Got the memo. But I trump you, dude. I’m Niamh Danaan of the Silver, Queen of the Seelie. Dude, I sooooooooo win.”
Eiravel and the other Unseelie, save for Heath, dropped to their knees.
“Okay, guys, get up. I’m not your queen. The Unseelie still has someone, don’t they?”
Eiravel looked up. “We were … slaves in Seraph. You became our queen.”
Silva swallowed.
Dominic had had enough. “Someone explain this shit to me, or I won’t care anymore about holding back.”
Silva nodded. “Okay, the Eldcuroth means that Eiravel and Cynes,” she winced, “would technically be your daughter’s Foraltins, or Fates. You call it mates.”
“They are not mating my fucking child.”
“Ew. Of course not. That’s why it’s called Eldcuroth, or Echo. It accounts for meeting at the wrong time. Fae live very long lives, and sometimes their mates aren’t born until later. In essence, they’re going to be the most annoying big brothers she’s ever had, complete with the overprotective instincts that will make you proud. And then, one day, if she chooses, it may turn to Fate.”
“We don’t choose mates, Silva.”
“No, but for the Fae with Eldcuroth, the more … mature feelings of a mate bond are not present in any way. Only the protective ones and the bond that could form. It would take a Tirlara to change it to the normal Fate. The younger of the pair would have to initiate that, and the method will be by her choosing, not theirs. They couldn’t attempt to force it if they wanted to. I’ve just never seen it with twins before, but it makes sense.”
Yeah, okay. Of course, that’s what every father wanted to fucking hear. He looked to Eiravel and Cynes. “She is my daughter, no matter what you felt. Do I make myself clear?”
The large male gritted his teeth. “Clear.”
His brother nodded.
Dominic recognized an Alpha male when he saw one. Didn’t matter. Dominic would kill them both if it came to it.
He took a deep breath. This was not how any of this shit was supposed to go. Not at all. His door slammed open and Kalinda came in, her yellow dress fluttering as she stalked into the room.
“Anybody want to tell me why Guardians are calling me to say the Lombardi Pack may be harboring fugitives?”
Fuck. Could this shit get any fucking worse?
Chapter Seventeen
“Are you shitting me? Silva?”
Kalinda stood in the center of the room, tapping her foot with her hands on her hips. Her glare touched all of them before she threw up her hands.
“You mean to tell me Silva’s sister is here, and no one thought, ‘Oh, gee. It might be a good idea to call the leader of the Trinity Council’, you know, Silva’s best friend?”
“We didn’t really have time, my love,” Romano soothed.
Kalinda wagged a finger at him. “Don’t you ‘my love’ me. This is sort of important. Especially when the Guardian force contacts me to simply make me aware they may be sanctioning my mate’s pack.”
Silva toed the floor, looking sheepish for once. “I’m sorry?”
Kalinda rolled her eyes. “Where is she?”
“Who?”
“I’m going to count to ten before I hurt you.”
“Asherah, can you come here?”
Asherah looked to Heath before she stepped around him to be more visible. “Hello.”
Kalinda stepped closer. Heath didn’t miss how Romano and Zahara stepped a bit forward, as if to protect Kalinda. “She was so hurt without you. I’m Kalinda, her Ales, mate to the blockhead over there, and official greeter of Encantado. Welcome to our city.”
Asherah looked Kalinda over. “I have caused great stress to your home. I am sorry for that. But Heath did not think we could leave without telling you what we learned. And I could not miss a chance to be reunited with Niamh.”
Kalinda sighed. “No, I guess you couldn’t. Niamh. Hearing it the way you say it is … pretty. And you are?”
“Asherah Danaan of the Sea, Princess of Seraph.”
Pride swelled in Heath’s chest. She was his Foraltae, his princess, everything he could have ever wanted. He knew she must have been nervous, yet she let none of it show. The blue sundress he got for her hugged every one of her curves, and he wanted to take her, even with all the tension floating around them.
“You mentioned you learned something?” Domini
c hedged.
Heath nodded. “In the In Between, um, the Chaos Realm. When I saved Asherah, she was being held by Skuld, the Future Norn. We don’t know why Asherah was being held except to incite her to become a Fury and go after Silva. But I also learned that my memories of Silva’s direct involvement with my treatment was a lie, all of it. She’d tried to save us, but it didn’t work. Joran had her seal and used it to hold all of us hostage.”
“Joran?”
“Future Norn?”
“Seal?”
Silva, Dominic, and Kalinda all spoke at once until Silva flapped her midnight and violet wings in annoyance. “Joran held you?”
Heath nodded. “When you told him to free us, he didn’t. Instead, he used the seal he’d gotten off you to put our slavery into law.”
Silva paled. “No.”
Giuliana leaned on Pasquale and looked to Silva. “Who was Joran?”
“The man I was to marry, but he made a bid for Silva’s hand instead.”
Heath tensed at Asherah’s words. “You?”
“He was the foremost advisor to House Kulen of Daemon, the royal house. Joining with me, as Niamh—er, Silva—could have joined with his father, the king, would have united the Seelie and Unseelie. We hadn’t known war in so many years, and it was time.”
“Or so I thought. My sister disappeared, and I was distracted with a sudden uprising in the city. It took several months before I even realized she was not in our family homelands enjoying her vacation, and not too long after that, I was gone.”
“How?” Heath never understood how Silva ended up in Encantado.
“It started as nothing more than a chance for me to quell the revolt. But during my travel to the outskirts of Seraph, I was attacked. I don’t know what happened, but I woke up here. Without my name, without my powers. I was … nothing, and I couldn’t remember what had happened,” Silva explained.
“But what is a Norn?” Dominic ran his hands through his hair. Heath didn’t envy his confusion.
“Somet’ing even I don’t wan’ to mess with,” Zahara answered. “Powerful an’ very old.”
“Fate,” Heath explained. “In this world they are known as the Fates, a myth from the past. But they are very real. You might know them as past, present, and future. They still watch over what’s happening in what they consider the mortal world.”
Dominic growled. “You have got to be shitting me. Why can’t things be as simple as a bullet in a body?”
Eiravel laughed. “Or a blade.”
“Or teeth at the throat,” Pasquale forced out through clenched teeth.
“Either way,” Heath interrupted, “the Norns are real, and they had some part to play in Asherah’s capture, and Skuld targeted Silva. As to why, or what she has seen may one day happen, we don’t know. But if she tried to use Asherah, it’s only common sense to think she’d try another route. And if she comes for her again …”
“Then we’d be in danger as well,” Romano finished. “That’s why you came back when you didn’t have to.”
“Yeah. I know what I did, and I can’t take it back. But I wasn’t going to run away and not bring you what I know. Encantado is facing a threat from the outside no one is aware of.”
Kalinda groaned. “And we’ve just opened the doors to more residents to come here from neighboring portal cities. This is going to be a PR nightmare.”
“We don’t know more than that, but we had to bring the warning. I sent the Renegades to other cities as well. We don’t know if she knows exactly where Silva is.”
Dominic turned. “You sent the Renegades. They answer to no one.”
“Except, it seems, me.”
Romano gritted his teeth. “Thank. You.”
“Any harder to get that out and you’d crack your teeth,” Kalinda admonished.
Not that Heath could disagree with her, but he simply nodded in response.
“I’m sorry I don’t know more, but either way, something is coming,” Heath warned.
“Then we face it. For now, we put whatever shit we have to the side until we get this under control. Deal?”
Romano nodded. “Doesn’t mean I won’t accidently on purpose break your face.”
“As long as I get to return the favor,” Heath returned.
“We have to stop fighting long enough to come up with a plan. Just like with the Bianchi versus the Moretti, not all is what it seems,” Pasquale surmised.
Kalinda sighed. “It’ll have to be good enough. At least we know who the fugitives are. Now I just need to call the Guardians and talk this through.”
Ancient power and the smell of deep woods whispered through the halls of Dominic’s home. Heath tensed, his fangs sliding out as he pushed Asherah behind him to protect her. Eiravel and Cynes shifted smoothly to stand beside Heath and Isadora.
Kallan played with the shaft of his staff, and Teague hissed a warning. Of course, with so many shifters in the room, the Unseelie’s momentary sense of threat was only a second before Dominic spun toward his front door. Romano, Giuliana, and Pasquale were at his side instantly. Zahara’s fingers danced in the air, and Silva’s silver clanged as a sword slid from her hand.
They were all prepared for battle.
“I don’t think you’re going to have to make that call, Kalinda,” Silva hissed.
“Calm,” came from the other side of the door.
Fuck me.
Weapons dropped, a shudder raised through the room, and the door opened as if by an invisible hand. A massive, cloaked figure stepped into the room. All that was visible was the golden tan of his arms and dancing red runes.
Asherah gasped, and Heath shifted more in front of her to protect her. Yes, he know who—or at least what—just made an appearance. While finding solace in the Scorched Earth and preparing to battle Silva there, Heath had come across several of the Guardians whose only job was to protect that space. He’d never engaged them directly, instinctively knowing to stay as far away as possible, but he recognized the scent.
“It seems we meet again, Alpha of the Lombardi Pack.” The Guardian crossed one arm over his chest, bowing slightly to Silva. “Your Highness.”
“Oh, I like him. He knows how to treat a lady. Do your runes change colors? Hot pink would be hawt.”
The Guardian hesitated for a moment as he stood from his bow. “If I did, you’d bow to my every whim. Would you like that?”
Heath couldn’t tell if the bastard was joking or not, but the tension in the air increased. A warning signal blared in Heath’s head as Silva took a step forward, her violet eyes flashing with something Heath couldn’t put his finger on.
“This the pack of my House, and the Ales’s mate is here. Do you mean to threaten that?”
What. The. Fuck?
Silva had claimed the Lombardi Pack as part of her House? Heath was sure Dominic and the others had no idea what that meant, but Silva had basically named their lands as an extension of hers. For Fae, this area would be considered part of Seraph and ruled by Silva, with Dominic as her representative.
His word would have the same strength as hers.
Heath whistled. “Damn.”
“If the House of Danaan seeks to destroy the balance within Encantado, I will do what I must.”
“Torin, what you speak of is war.”
Torin pushed back his hood, revealing white eyes full of near-blinding power. His stubborn jaw was cocked to the side as he faced off against Silva.
Dominic lifted his hands. “I don’t know what the fuck is going on, but I am Alpha here. What is it you are doing, Guardian?”
Without taking his eyes off Silva, Torin replied, “I am here to claim the Unseelie Fae who infiltrated the Scorched Earth, illegally used portals there, inciting a possible resurgence of activity, and who thought a glamour would fool one such as I.”
Romano chuckled, crossing his arms. “Oh, you want Heath here.” He tossed his thumb over at Heath, and Heath groaned.
The fucker.
> “You are welcome to have him.”
“Oh, I intend to. He’ll be remanded to my custody while I investigate what he was doing here. If we find he is a danger to Encantado, he will be put to death.”
“No,” Silva stated firmly. “He is Foraltin of my sister.”
Torin sighed. “He should have thought of the life of his Fate before he broke our laws.”
Heath wasn’t going to be talked about as if he wasn’t in the damn room. “I did what I did because I thought I had the right of blood to do so.”
“And what, tell me, does that have to do with my city?”
Heath gritted his teeth. “This city was housing an exiled Fae who, I thought, had been the mastermind behind the misery of thousands of enslaved Unseelie.”
Torin lifted one brow, still looking to Silva. “Are you? And speak the truth, for I shall know.”
Silva bristled. “Look, you may be sexy enough I’d want to climb your ass like a fucking tree, but you watch your mouth when you speak to me.”
Torin took one step, and the room bowed back, everyone stumbling to get away from the sudden pressure bearing down on them. The only ones who seemed to be able to stand against it were Zahara and Silva.
And even they winced.
“You speak, Queen, as if you can battle against me.”
“I’ve got a mean breaststroke with my sword arm. Wanna to see it?”
“Enough!” Dominic roared. “Silva is my part of my pack—as annoying as she may be–”
Silva blew a kiss at Torin.
“Silva,” Dominic warned. “Her sister is now part of it as well. And it seems I’ll have to take on Eiravel and Cynes, if I don’t kill them first.”
Heath registered he wasn’t included in the list, but he didn’t figure he would be. Still, it didn’t feel good. At one time he’d been with them, ran with the wolves and worked alongside Lorenzo. He couldn’t help but feel exiled.
Not that he didn’t understand why.
“Harming any of them would hurt us. So what are our options?”
Finally, Torin looked away from Silva to Dominic. “Are you bargaining with a Guardian?”
Fated to the Traitor (Portal City Protectors Book 4) Page 16