by Setta Jay
Her father’s last words ran in her head as she circled the bodies on the ground. Wide glassy eyes looked back at her. She tracked the area and found the red grass that smelled of her parents, but they weren’t there. She looked everywhere and came back to the blood.
Gone.
Papa! Mama! she cried in the link and it echoed back. She roared her grief and lay down in the last of them. Their blood covered her fur as she roared her anguish and hatred to the Creators. Why had the warriors taken their bodies from her? Why! She couldn’t even hold them one more time. She forced the tears away as her stomach balled tight. She let her rage kill the pain and the fear. She was her papa’s warrior; she’d never cry again. Never.
She’d hunt.
Chapter 1
Tetartos Realm
“Nothing,” Jax snapped in irritation as he reformed in front of the cave and scented the air.
Bastian nodded. The dark Kairos scrutinized him while leaning against the thick rock wall. Bastian’s black hair was tied back at his neck. The male kept his hair long and his goatee short, both would have driven Jax nuts, but his brother had kept that same look for centuries.
Jax knew the pause in their hunt was the other Guardian’s way of giving him an opportunity to spit out whatever was eating at him. Pointing out that his leather fighting gear was suffocating the fuck out of his dick wasn’t going to change that fact. He was paying for his decision and he didn’t need anyone else telling him what he already knew.
“Let’s go. The mountain range is fucking huge and we’ve only just started.” Jax groaned and ran a hand over his short dark hair. He was on edge, but that was his new norm, so he just needed to fucking deal with it.
“It’s been a month. The fact that Apollo isn’t out in the Realm is good news,” Bastian mused as they teleported through the trees, the hunt was monotonous. Nothing to kill or detain. Tetartos Realm had very little population and too many wild overgrown places to secret away the God. Their enemy, Elizabeth, could be hiding him anywhere, and they needed to get the bastard back before she found a way to free him.
He gritted his teeth. It was the Guardians’ job to keep the Gods contained in their cozy-assed stasis units until a time came when they were needed in the world. That was the Creators’ edict when they’d appointed him and his brethren the Guardians of the Realms all those millennia ago. And it was one they all hated, because sending the assholes to sleep after they’d nearly annihilated one race and enslaved and bred another for their armies seemed like a bad fucking joke. He didn’t care that the Gods were children of the Creators, what Apollo and Hermes did to the Immortals was fucked up. The bastards thought nothing of imprisoning, experimenting on, and then breeding Immortals like cattle to be their perfect warriors. He shook his head. The other Deities had been too busy feeding off the pain and suffering they were causing the human race to care that their brothers were preparing for war. Only three of the twelve Gods weren’t completely fucked up and even those were arrogant assholes that were even now comfortably snuggled in their sleeping units.
“Drake will lose his shit if the God gets loose,” he said as they reformed a couple hundred feet apart in the thick forest. They both scanned the area, their senses strong, but still coming up with nothing. He used his beast’s senses and only scented earth, some beasts hiding in the foliage and crisp mountain air. Bastian didn’t have a true animal half like Jax, the Kairos were different, a race of teleporters.
“He’s already close.” Bastian was right. Drake was furious and their leader would be deadly if Elizabeth found a way to free the God.
“It’s the unknown.”
Bastian nodded. “If he gets loose, it doesn’t mean he’ll be able to access the other Realms.”
“And if he can?” The Creators had set the confinement spell to Tetartos Realm to keep the Immortals away from the fragile mortals. The Gods had done enough damage to the race, so when the bastards were put to sleep, the Creators exiled the Immortals to Tetartos. Only the Guardians were supposed to be able to leave the Realm, and they were bound to keep humanity safe.
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”
They reformed on a valley floor, assessed it quickly, and ported away again. The search was getting them nowhere. The Realm was too big and overgrown because the populations were so small and fairly confined.
He was grinding his teeth in frustration by the time Bastian brought up the problem on all of their minds. “Sirena thinks Brianne and Vane will be awake any day now.” What he left unsaid was that if they couldn’t get their sister Guardian through the mutation, they might lose her and her lover. If Drake was furious because of the God, he’d burn down half the Realm in a dragon rage if they lost Brianne.
“We’ll all lose our shit if Brianne doesn’t pull through,” Jax pointed out as his shoulders tensed. She and her lover had formed an impossible bond after a hell serpent’s bite. They’d spent months knocked the fuck out. They still didn’t know how the hell it happened. The races didn’t mix, yet Brianne, a Geraki, half bird of prey, and Vane, a Demi-God Ailouros, half lion, were mated. They were all worried as shit, but Sirena seemed to be taking it even harder. Jax wasn’t sure if it was because there were only three female Guardians or because she was the Healer and she didn’t have any real answers for the problem. They still weren’t sure if Brianne and Vane were going to make it through a full mating. Bonded pairs always held matching beasts. It was a part of the true mating.
“Brianne and Vane are both strong. They’ll make it through.”
“Did you ever see the Gryphons Apollo created?” Jax asked after they ported again. He had. Hell, he and Ladon, Aphrodite’s mate, had been forced to destroy one outside of the Goddess’s palace. They’d been serving her when they’d heard of Apollo’s failed experiment. It still pissed him off that he’d had to kill the creature because Apollo was a greedy dickhead. The Immortal had been completely lost to the mutation of bird and feline. It hadn’t been enough that the God had been giving Immortals a single beast, the bastard had to push the damned limits.
“Yes. One,” Bastian admitted. “Feral didn’t describe it.”
Jax agreed. He couldn’t imagine having another animal inside him. His cat and he had bonded well through the long span of his existence, but it had taken time to understand the beast. Having another animal inside him would drive him nuts.
They ported again, this time to the edge of a winding river, where the air was cool and the crystal clear water rushed over the rocks. A horned beast skittered away the second they reformed on the bank.
“Sirena said that as long as Vane and Brianne can stay in their human form when they wake up, all should work out.” Bastian didn’t sound completely convinced, Kairos weren’t known for big displays of emotion, but Jax knew his brother’s facial tells and the slight changes in his tone.
Jax scanned the area.
“She thinks the Guardian link will save Brianne, but Vane only has a bond with his siblings.” The Guardians shared telepathic links similar to those that Immortal families had. “What happens to Brianne if Vane is lost to the beasts and she’s not?” That was a big unknown. If a true mate lost their other half, the surviving one usually went crazy.
He gritted his teeth. “I still can’t believe Brianne had been sneaking around with the cat for a century.”
“You’d deny her happiness?”
“Fuck no,” he growled. “But look what happened.”
At least his anger was dulling the pain in his dick. After his last brother Conn found his mate, Jax had sent his “harem” away and now he was paying for it. Male Immortals took energies from sex to make them strong. Earth’s energies fed them; sex strengthened them. Or most of them, he’d never been able to get enough and was sick of being nothing more than his dick. A point he’d been forced to admit when he’d sent Conn’s naked little sister-in-law away from his room.
“Is Mia getting better?” Jax had been avoiding the Guardian manor sinc
e finding the little she-wolf naked in his suite. Conn’s sister-in-law was from Earth Realm and her animal was confused. She’d fixated on him and Sirena said that it was because of his power. If that was true, why hadn’t the female’s animal obsessed over Drake?
“Doesn’t seem to be. She’s still tired.” Jax heard the pity in his brother’s voice and felt the same. She was a tiny little wolf and he didn’t want her to suffer, but fucking her wouldn’t help anything. She wasn’t his mate, and dirtying up the innocent wolf wouldn’t have made shit any better.
“Does it seem to you like things just keep getting more fucked up?” Jax asked in frustration.
“Some.” Bastian paused. “But not all of it.”
“The matings?”
His brother nodded. “The races as a whole have gone millennia with so few matings. Now four Guardians have found happiness, and if Brianne comes through, she will have as well.” Bastian paused and Jax saw his lips tilt. “And Gregoire is having a child.”
“Yes, he is.” Jax laughed. “But he’s being such a growling protective dick Alyssa’s likely to castrate the big bastard before the baby even gets here.”
“He’s scared that she’s too small to carry his babe,” Bastian pointed out with almost a full grin.
“Sirena told him he was being an idiot.” Their sister Guardian had tried to set him straight. Guardians tended to be the largest of their races and the Hippeus, a warhorse, was nearly seven feet of thick muscle where Alyssa was the tiniest Hippeus ever made at five foot something. He smiled at how the small female snapped and snarled at her male for thinking she couldn’t carry his young. She was powerful, the daughter of a mated pair, but that didn’t stop Gregoire from worrying and being a complete pain in her ass.
He shook his head. “Gregoire would literally carry her everywhere if she’d let him.” Alyssa’s pregnancy had been a huge surprise. Only mated pairs procreated and that didn’t happen for at least a decade, but his brother had managed to do the deed on the night of their mating ceremony.
“See, not everything has been bad,” Bastian pointed out.
“You’ve got the whole glass-half-full thing going on.”
Bastian cocked a brow. “It’s better than thinking about what it all means.”
He grunted his assent. “Agreed.” Something big and bad had to be on the horizon for the Guardians to be suddenly finding their females, or male in Brianne’s case. It had all been happening fast, too fucking fast, and they all knew it. There had to be a reason for Guardians to gain the added power that came with mating.
All Guardians and mates to Vane and Brianne’s room, Drake bellowed, and Jax ported without thought. Fuck. It was time to get their sister out of her mess, because they weren’t fucking losing her.
Chapter 2
Guardian Manor, Tetartos Realm
Everyone converged to fill the subterranean room where Vane and Brianne lay on two small beds. A short coating of light-colored fur was visible on their skins. That side effect hadn’t changed in the last month. What caught Jax’s eyes were the shackles on their arms and legs. The thick chain was anchored deep in the rock and secured with iron. There looked to be just enough play in the length to get up, but not much more.
“Why the fuck are they chained?” Jax snarled, not fucking happy at the sight. Brianne’s red curls fanned out around her on the pillow, she was peacefully sleeping, and it didn’t seem right.
“Shut it down, Jax. Mates are here.” Drake growled right along with Gregoire, who walked in with Alyssa. “Alex said we’ll all be needed if we have a chance in hell of getting them out.” Smoke filtered from Drake’s mouth, but his dragon green eyes were intent on the two figures laid out in front of them.
Jax’s eyes tracked to the side of the room where Alex stood with her mate. Uri’s silver eyes swirled as he stood waiting. Alex’s brother, Erik, was at her other side with his mate, Sam, behind him. Alex’s eyes practically glowed Goddess blue with the power flowing through her. They were focused completely on her unconscious brother in the bed next to Brianne. She had a rare ability to know certain things. Without warning she would be overcome with a compulsion to do certain things. It had always been to their advantage, so if she’d had Drake call them all in, it meant there was a chance to get Vane and Brianne through this shit.
“Push personal energies through the Guardian link to ground Brianne. She’ll have to help Vane,” Alex said calmly the second they were all inside, watching. “They’ll be feral. Strong.”
Jax stood next to Gregoire, whose muscles were thick with tension. Alyssa was tucked behind her mate and Jax saw her hands circle to rest on Gregoire’s stomach. The male growled low as he covered her hands with one of his.
“Alyssa will be safe. They won’t get through no matter how feral.” He’d protect his brother’s mate with his life. Gregoire nodded, but it didn’t ease the male’s tension. Drake moved in on Gregoire’s left and P, son of Hades, stood next to Jax as they waited.
The wait wasn’t long.
Snarls split the air as the two lifted in their beds. Their wild green eyes flashed and darted around the room as they fought the chains holding them. Jax pushed power through his link to Brianne. They all did. The power in the room charged the air, most of it seemed to be coming from Vane and Brianne.
“Enough, Brianne!” Drake roared. His voice held such command that Jax felt it slide under his skin.
He knew Alex, Erik and Sam were pushing what they could to Vane, and the male only seemed to get worse, fur lengthening, fangs lowering.
“Brianne, ground him,” Alex demanded furiously, and Brianne’s eerie eyes flashed to the dark-haired Demi-Goddess. Uri stepped ahead and Brianne yanked the chain to get to them. Her beast was wild, but nothing like Vane, who looked like he was losing his hold. Talons split from his fingers. Alex snarled and lunged for Brianne as she yelled. Uri grabbed his mate by the waist.
“Push more power,” Drake growled and Jax pushed as hard as he was able. He was feeling the drain in his energies, but it didn’t fucking matter. Brianne’s eyes flashed back and forth from amber to green, and relief hit him hard. She was getting better.
Vane wasn’t. His fur was lengthening.
“You want the male, you better fucking fight for him,” Drake commanded.
“Touch! It’s touch. They need to touch,” Alex yelled.
Drake snarled. “Conn, the shackles.” The Lykos had the strongest telekinetic ability, but that didn’t stop Jax from adding his ability to his brother’s. He felt the others do the same. The shackles became slack as he and the others in the room pulled ability at the same time they worked to force personal energy through their bond with Brianne. It was a lot and he felt how much Drake was adding to the mix. Power flooded the room, but the two seemed to be fighting it.
Drake snarled constant commands; they seemed to be affecting Brianne. Her eyes flashed amber and stayed, but they were tugging against the shackles. Their animals were fighting everything as if it were a threat.
P’s wings flew from his back, covering more of Alyssa when the power whirled like a fucking typhoon. His brothers and Erik were guarding mates while pushing power. Drake and P were helping Conn with the shackles, but Vane looked fucked up.
“P, take my spot,” Jax snarled, knowing the male would guard Alyssa. Jax lunged with all of his strength and speed. Only Drake or P matched him in those skills and it took everything he had to get inside the crazy power flooding from Vane like a fucking force field. He connected with the male, who staggered back enough that he slammed into Brianne’s side. Sharp talons ripped into Jax’s skin, shredding flesh and muscle as he spun to free himself.
The power in the room started shifting, and Drake grabbed his shoulder and helped rip the last talon free as the tides shifted.
A look at Brianne confirmed the change. She was staring up at Vane intensely before arousal, hot and overwhelming, filled the space. It felt like she was feeding Vane and gradually the fur disappeared,
then the talons, as more energy pulled from the earth. It came up through the rock under their feet until it almost felt like even the air was sucking from the room to the two of them.
Jax’s ears were buzzing by the time he heard Alex’s voice. “Everyone out.”
It was like walking out of a fucking hurricane, but they made it past the spelled door and he could breathe again.
“Fucking hell. Are they good now?” he asked Alex.
She smiled and he noted the glassiness to her gaze. “Yes. I think that was the worst of it.” But everyone paid rapt attention to her assertion that the two were going to be fine. The tension in the hall eased as he started feeling the amount of damage done to his body. Blood was dripping on the floor and it wasn’t healing quickly.
“I want updates,” Drake demanded and snarled. “Get energy and rest. We still have a fucking God to find.”
Sirena set her hands to Jax’s flayed flesh as she nodded to Drake. He eased as the warmth of healing settled in.
He heard thanks from Alex and Erik, maybe a few others, but was too focused on getting patched up to really hear most of it. They left hesitantly as Sirena did her thing. He eased when the worst of the gouges in his back were closed, but he felt the others on his arms and even his damned ass. Son of a bitch.
“I’ll get the superficial crap,” he told her. It would all heal on its own when he reenergized.
He looked down at her platinum bangs and high ponytail as she bent her head to work. Her hair was a little wild, which was out of place on her usually controlled fifties look.
“I’ll get you close.” She nodded and looked up, her tired violet eyes crinkled with amusement. Her lips twitched until her hands moved lower and she finally laughed.
“Yuck it up, doc.” Seeing his sister Guardian smile for the first time in months was worth the talon marks to his ass. He pulled her into a tight hug when she was done. Her small body tucked into his and she sighed and relaxed into the comfort she wouldn’t normally have accepted so fully. She held him tight and he felt guilty that he hadn’t taken time to really check on her. They’d all been worried about Brianne, but Sirena was such a strong female that he’d taken for granted that even the strongest could use a little comfort at times. He rubbed circles in her back until she pulled away. He ruffled her ponytail and winked when she gave him a stern look.