Love Eternal

by Nikki McCoy

  As one, the men drew guns from their holsters and shouted at Vane and Dhani to identify themselves.

  Dhani growled in the God’s irritation. “What is this?”

  Vane glanced at him. “They’re Rowan’s men, charged with making sure I have no contact with Deirdra. Nothing more than a nuisance. I’ll take care of them.”

  “You’ll take care of the task I gave you,” Dhani ordered. “Take your child and whore to the castle then get started. I’ll meet you there.”

  As Vane headed in the direction Deirdra had gone, the guards yelled at him to stop and fired several rounds. Dhani lifted a hand, the darkness rising within him, and created an invisible barrier that deflected the bullets. The men continued to fire, emptying their guns, then froze in disbelief when they saw Dhani still standing.

  In that brief period of silence, Dhani effortlessly sent crackling bolts of lightning at two of the guards. They were thrown back into the wall behind them and crumpled to the floor without so much as a single scream. Dhani strode to the third man, who was staring down in terror at the corpses of his companions, and grabbed his neck. Although Dhani was only half the man’s size, Roh Se Kahn’s power gave him the strength to lift the guard and slam him against the side wall, holding him there.

  “Tell your king to prepare for the funeral of his mate,” Dhani said in a low voice. “It won’t be long now.”

  Within, Dhani scrambled to summon what little strength he had left, using that of his spirit’s, as well. This would be his last chance. His only opportunity to get a message to Keenan. He took Roh Se Kahn’s control by surprise and forced his lips to form the words he needed to get out. “To bring about the end, one must return to the beginning.”

  While Dhani knew the message was vague, he couldn’t risk being any more specific without Roh Se Kahn comprehending the meaning. His only hope was that the guard would relay it to Rowan who would, in turn, tell it to Keenan. Keenan would know what it meant. He had to.

  In the next instant, Roh Se Kahn reclaimed his possession over Dhani and slammed the guard’s head into the wall, knocking him out. The dark God’s rage swept through Dhani with a vengeance. “Try that again, boy, and we’ll pay another visit to your mate. One he won’t live through.”

  Despite the God’s promise to kill Tailor if Dhani defied him again, Dhani allowed relief to sweep through him. He knew there wouldn’t be another opportunity to warn Keenan or his mate in the next day, but at least he’d been able to get his message out.

  Over the next half hour, he watched, helpless and horrified, as Roh Se Kahn used him to take out the men Rowan and Manning had appointed to watch over the castle. He sank into the refuge of his mind, thinking of Tailor and hoping Keenan would understand his message and find him…or find a way to kill him.

  Chapter Ten

  Light seared the backs of Tailor’s eyelids. In one smooth move, he pulled his gun from the nightstand and aimed it at the door. “Rowan,” he grumbled, lowering his gun. “Sorry, guess I’m a little on edge.”

  “You should be,” Rowan replied. “I take it you didn’t hear Dhani leave.”

  He looked at the space where Dhani should’ve been at his side, then at the alarm clock. It was three in the morning. Dhani wouldn’t have wandered off without waking him. Then, he took in the sight of one of his knives on the nightstand, which caused his apprehension to spike. “Where is he?”

  “I have my guards searching the palace and grounds now, just in case.”

  “Just in case of what?”

  Rowan hesitated, then said, “I received a call fifteen minutes ago from one of my men at Deirdra’s house. There’s been a break in. Two men fitting Vane and Dhani’s descriptions left with her and her baby.”

  He stilled as the news sank in. It didn’t seem possible. When Rowan had returned from the battle at Roh Se Kahn’s castle, he had remanded Deirdra into forced seclusion on a remote island off the coast of France. Technically, since their marriage had been dissolved, she would’ve been free to live her own life if not for the fact that she had instigated Rowan’s attempted assassination and carried Vane’s child.

  With Vane still alive, the risk that he might join with Deirdra again and raise their child to use the darkness in him for evil had been too great. The only choice had been for Rowan to surround her with his guards at a spot where transportation was limited.

  The bay leading to the island was a six-hour drive, let alone the two-hour ferry ride to get there. Yet, Tailor had gone to sleep with Dhani in his arms just two hours ago. Despite all this, there was no doubt on Rowan’s face that the information from his call was true.

  Tailor jumped out of bed and began arming himself.

  “Tailor, what do you think you’re doing?”

  “What the fuck does it look like I’m doing?” he yelled, barely containing his anger. How could he have slept through Dhani leaving? His one job had been to watch over his mate and he’d failed, just as he had a year ago when Dhani had run away with Keenan to Roh Se Kahn’s castle. “I’m going to find him. Have you checked your garage for missing cars?” He pulled on his shoes, noticing that Dhani’s were still on the floor where Keenan had placed them.

  “My guards are on it, but I don’t think that’s how he left. Tailor, wait. We need to think this through.” When Tailor tried to brush past him, Rowan grabbed his shirt and shoved him against the wall. “I said stop!”

  Tailor fisted Rowan’s wrists and bared his teeth, emitting a feral growl. It was only their close friendship that kept him from decking the man. “Dhani is my mate! I can’t lose him again. Not to Roh Se Kahn. Now get out of my way!”

  “I’m trying to help you!” Rowan yelled back.

  “Tailor,” said a soft voice. Keenan entered the room, twisting his hands anxiously. There was so much stark fear in his eyes, reflecting Tailor’s own frenzied turmoil, that it forced Tailor to pause. “I think I know what happened. The best thing we can do right now is come up with a plan. I need you to focus, for Dhani’s sake.”

  After a few seconds, he nodded curtly, seeking that inner place where he could divide his emotions from logic. Keenan was right. If they had any hope of finding Dhani, they had to do it rationally.

  “I’ve woken up the others,” Keenan said. “Come with me.”

  Downstairs in the kitchen, Manning sat on a barstool at the island in the middle of the room with Laya. Quinn was making coffee and Xenessa stood at the wall near the fridge. Beside her was Cy, who was talking on his cell phone. As Tailor sat on the other side of Manning, his attention was drawn to Xenessa’s hand firmly holding onto Cy’s. Her gaze constantly flitted up to Cy and each time their eyes met, they both gave a secretive grin.

  The sight was so incongruous that it took Tailor’s mind off Dhani’s situation for a brief moment. Then he saw Xenessa stand on the balls of her feet to kiss Cy’s neck.

  It couldn’t be. Cy was covered in tattoos and piercings. He was the quintessential rebel. A man who fit Tailor’s own image and didn’t give a damn about anyone or anything past what he thought was worthy of his respect. Xenessa, on the other hand, was more conservative than a nun at a human Sunday mass.

  Tailor’s mouth fell open and a small part of his faith in the grand scheme of things died.

  “Scary, isn’t it?” Manning said.

  “They can’t be,” Tailor murmured. “Mates?”

  “Kinda makes you wish you were blind, right?”

  Tailor shuddered and averted his eyes. “What the hell was the Mother thinking in pairing them together?” He’d always thought Xenessa was incapable of sexual interest. While he had to admit she was beautiful in spite of her strictness about proprieties, the first and only time he’d flirted with her, she had threatened to cut his balls off.

  “About the same thing she was thinking when she paired you with Dhani.” Manning merely laughed at Tailor’s menacing glare. “Come on. You can’t tell me if it weren’t for the fact that you and Dhani are mates, you would have a
chance in hell with him.”

  Tailor had to shrug grudgingly. It was true. Dhani had always been out of his league. Handsome and good-hearted with the kind of innocent virtue that kept him wondering why Dhani had ever looked twice at him.

  Cy ended his call then looked around the room. “That was the guards. They’ve found no trace of Dhani. No one passed through the gates since we arrived and none of the cars are missing.”

  Quinn frowned as he began passing out mugs of coffee. “How did Dhani leave, then? Someone had to have seen him.”

  “Not necessarily,” Keenan said, glancing at his mate. “You should tell them first.”

  Rowan’s expression hardened. “The guard who called me from Deirdra’s house said he and two others encountered men fitting Vane and Dhani’s descriptions coming out of her bedroom with her. When they opened fire, the two men with the guard were hit by bolts of lightning and he was later knocked unconscious. Another group of my men responded to the sound of gunshots but by the time they got there, there was no sign of Vane, Dhani, or Deirdra and her son.”

  Rowan inhaled deeply, meeting Tailor’s gaze. “The two guards that fell were charred beyond recognition. It would’ve taken great power to carry that out. More than we know Vane has.”

  “We can’t know that,” Tailor argued, feeling a heavy weight bear down on the pit of his stomach. “Vane would have more reason to kill the guards than Dhani—Roh Se Kahn—would.”

  “Maybe,” Keenan said quietly, “but Vane doesn’t have that kind of power. He can teleport and cause destruction in nature, rip apart the earth and destroy its elements like I can, but he can’t create bolts of lightning. Only my father can do that.”

  Keenan clawed his fingers through his hair. “We have to accept the possibility that my father has full control over Dhani. With Roh Se Kahn’s power, he likely teleported out of here to find Vane. My brother is the only one who might know where the rest of Roh Se Kahn’s followers are hiding. The humans in service to him that we captured after the battle admitted there were a substantial number of followers who weren’t at the castle. From the number of men in league with my father that Cy told us you found, there are still a good portion of them left.

  “I know the way my father thinks. He’ll want to perform another spell to release the rest of his soul and he’ll need the dormant light of his followers to make the rift between our realms large enough for him to pass through. With Vane at his side, he’ll succeed.”

  Xenessa stirred. “We may yet be able to stop him, but how will we find him?”

  A hush fell over the room, then Rowan turned to Keenan, his brow creased. “The guard that was knocked unconscious…he had a message for me.”

  Keenan scoffed. “Yeah, Roh Se Kahn used Dhani to tell me he wants to kill me. It’s not as if he hasn’t tried a million times before. You don’t have to worry about me,” Keenan assured his mate. “He didn’t succeed then and he won’t now. We should be more worried about Dhani.”

  “Not that message,” Rowan said, shaking his head. “The one after that. Dhani told the guard, ‘To bring about the end, one must return to the beginning’.”

  “The beginning?” Manning asked.

  Laya gasped suddenly. “The castle!”

  Quinn frowned. “What?”

  “The castle!” she repeated. “Roh Se Kahn’s old base of operation, where he put everything into motion. That has to be the beginning he was speaking of! He had to have taken my son there.”

  “Damn,” Rowan muttered. He took out his cell phone and dialed a number, leaving the room for privacy.

  Tailor’s thoughts whirled at the implications of Dhani’s message as the others continued to speculate. It had to have come from Dhani himself, not Roh Se Kahn. The dark God was too smart to give them such an obvious clue. Yet, what Keenan had revealed earlier was just as invaluable. Roh Se Kahn needed a shifter to complete the spell to bring him back. Who better to fit that role than his Ba’Kal son who had led to his demise?

  When Rowan reentered the kitchen with a stricken expression, Tailor already knew what he was going to say. “Your guards at the castle are dead.”

  Rowan dipped his head absently. “I called three of them, including one of yours,” he said, nodding to Manning. “None of them answered their phones.”

  “Dhani’s already killed them,” Tailor said in a deadpan voice. “He’s preparing for the incantation. If it were Vane making his move, he’d have done so months ago.” His fury at the way the dark God was using his mate beat at the wavering control he had over his emotions, though he refused to give in to it. This was the crux of all he’d feared since meeting Dhani. That he wouldn’t have the strength to protect another mate, but with his fear came pure determination.

  He wouldn’t let Dhani down. Not this time.

  Keenan’s face flamed in outrage. “How can you believe Dhani would do that?” Pain and betrayal came through strong in his energy and moisture glistened in his eyes.

  “I don’t,” Tailor replied. His tone was cold and vicious, though none of his animosity was meant for Keenan. “The man that killed those guards wasn’t Dhani. It was all Roh Se Kahn.” He looked to Rowan, ignoring every protective instinct that pounded at his conscience. Even the yearning of his spirit begged him to deny what had to be done. “We have to find a way to send Roh Se Kahn back before Dhani releases him.”

  Rowan tilted his head in acknowledgment. “Give Manning and me time to gather our forces. We can be in Ireland at Roh Se Kahn’s castle by the next nightfall.” Then, with an edge to his tone, he asked, “If there’s no way to release Dhani…if we can’t find a way to separate his soul from Roh Se Kahn’s, what will you do?”

  Tailor swallowed heavily. Rowan was testing him. The love and fear everyone held for Dhani was like a thick miasma smothering the oxygen in the room, yet no one could contest the validity of Rowan’s question. If Dhani went through with the spell to release Roh Se Kahn, millions of innocent lives would be put in jeopardy again. Their very existence could be wiped out.

  He looked to Keenan and said, “You’ll find a way to stop this and save Dhani. I know you will.”

  Tears gathered in Keenan’s eyes, spilling down his cheeks.

  “And if you don’t, I’ll take care of Dhani myself, and I’ll die with him. No one, no one, will touch my mate other than me,” he commanded past the tightening of his throat.

  Silence reigned until Keenan nodded perfunctorily. “I’ll find a way. When I do, I’m going with you.” He stared at Rowan as if challenging him to object, though it was Tailor who denied him his wish.

  “You can’t go. Roh Se Kahn will want to use you to open the portal to this realm. His pride and revenge won’t let him take anyone else. You’re more important than Dhani right now. As long as you’re here, Roh Se Kahn isn’t. Not all of him. You want to help? Find a way to free Dhani. That’s what you can do.”

  He stood and left the room, feeling the icy stares of everyone in the room at his back. He knew what they were thinking. That he was a stone cold bastard unworthy of his mate, but he didn’t care. While Keenan may believe he knew his father, he was too vulnerable to emotions. Tailor knew the mindset of a sociopathic killer better than he did. He’d been raised by a monster and taught to think like one.

  The only way to defeat evil was to beat it at its own game, which meant he had to become as ruthless as Roh Se Kahn. Dhani’s death may be inevitable, he knew that now, but it wouldn’t be at the hand of their enemy. If that time came, he alone would be the one to take his mate’s life, and end his own in the process.

  There would be no continuing after Dhani. He was done—with life and love. Dhani was his second chance at forever, and he refused to live it without him.

  On the cultivated grass in the backyard of Rowan’s palace, Tailor fell to his knees. He threw his head back and let loose his fury in a defiant roar. All of his despair, his hopes and fears, crested in a fierce cry that escaped his control. He pressed his head to the gr
ound and wept, craving the one person who could bring him peace. The only person who made his life worth living.

  After a time, a hand settled on his shoulder and he sat up to find Laya kneeling at his side. They looked at each other, sharing the depth of their despair, then stared out into the night.

  It wasn’t until the light of dawn emerged over the horizon hours later that Tailor was able to come to terms with his conviction. He was going to save his mate, or he would die trying.

  * * * *

  Fading rays of sunlight filtered in through the long windows spanning one side of the great hall in the castle. They painted the statues and murals of war lining the walls in muted colors of pink and blue-grey. Many of them had been destroyed during the battle. What had remained intact was now decaying from exposure to the elements. Large chunks of the outer walls had been blasted apart and rubble littered the floor where no one had bothered to clean it.

  Dhani sat down on the seat of Roh Se Kahn’s inlaid marble and cast-iron throne as the God stared out through his eyes on the ruins of his once majestic great hall. The God’s anger had been seething inside him since they’d arrived and Roh Se Kahn had seen for himself the evidence of his downfall.

  All because of his firstborn son.

  The doors at the far end of the hall opened to emit a shifter of average build with short blond hair and a leering smile. Behind him, several humans came in carrying a long hardwood table which they placed in front of the dais. They nodded to the shifter then left.

  “My Lord,” the shifter said in greeting, “it’s good to see you again, even if it is in a…different form. It’s an honor to help you cross over from your prison realm as I helped you the first time.”

  Dhani narrowed his gaze. “I don’t recall you. What is your name?”