Primeval Prelude: Reverse Harem Siren Romance (Spellsinger Book 4)

by Amy Sumida

  “Let sleeping dragons lie,” Cerberus reworded it. “Yeah; I like that.”

  “It's a good motto for those who enjoy breathing,” Ilis said in a sweet tone. “But you shouldn't go poking awake Drachen either.”

  “Okay, then,” I interrupted. “So, how are we going to start this hunt?”

  “It would take me hours to find the stone from here,” Ilis said as she led us to the mountain entrance. “But if I go to the location it was taken from, I'll be able to find the trail immediately.”

  “You can find a trail from an inanimate object?” Gage asked with interest.

  “Oh, yes,” Ilis said. “Everything that has magic releases tiny pulses of power constantly. If you're connected to an item, you can sense these pulses. I will simply follow those breadcrumbs to the diamond.”

  “So, we're going back to Coven Cay?” Banning reaffirmed.

  “If that's where the diamond was.” Ilis nodded.

  “Wonderful!” Odin exclaimed as we stepped out of the mountain. “Thank you, Ilis. We're very grateful for your help.”

  We pulled out our traveling stones, preparing for the journey back to Earth.

  “You can thank me later,” Ilis purred to Odin, “when we're alone.”

  Odin's eye sparkled as he smiled slowly. “I will look forward to thanking you over and over again.”

  “We know you're talking about sex,” Cerberus huffed. “You might as well just speak plainly.”

  “Half of wooing a woman is in the way you word things,” Odin said to Cer. “If you don't know that, I can't imagine how you've ever managed to get a woman to bed you.”

  “I have a huge cock, and I know how to use it,” Cerberus said just before he used his stone to travel back to Coven Cay.

  “Well, Odin,” I said cheerily, “now, it looks as if you've been told.”

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Once in Odin's work area, Ilis went straight to where he had kept the Drachen Diamond without being told. She stroked her hand through the air, over the spot it had occupied, and closed her eyes. As she focused, Calex eased up next to me. I glanced over at him askance.

  “You're happy?” He asked in a whisper. “Living as you do?”

  “Very.”

  “Okay.”

  “How about you?” I asked him. “Did you find someone else?”

  Calex just stared at his sister for awhile, and then he answered without looking at me, “For a short time. But she wasn't...” He scowled.

  “What; she wasn't a Drachen either?”

  “No; she wasn't you.” He glanced at me and then away. “You're not easily replaced, Elaria.”

  “That's nice to know,” I murmured. “But I hope you do find someone, Cal. Not to replace me, but to take her own place—one far more important than the one I had.”

  “Thank you,” he said stiffly.

  Ilis started walking out of the cavern, and we followed her. Up the stairs, and out of Odin's rooms she went. As soon as we were beyond Odin's personal space, Ilis stopped and turned to us.

  “The thief traveled through the Veil from here,” Ilis announced. “Your wards must have prevented her from leaving while she was within your chambers.”

  “Just so,” Odin agreed. “Can you see where she went?”

  “I'm sensing it.” Ilis frowned and closed her eyes. “Just give me a few moments longer.”

  We all waited anxiously; watching her eyes move behind her closed lids. Finally, her ivy-colored eyes popped open—flashing for a second.

  “The diamond went to Utgard and then returned here,” she declared. “It's now in Nevada.”

  “Nevada?” Cerberus growled. “Where in Nevada?”

  “Las Vegas,” Ilis said.

  “Freya!” Odin and Cerberus said together.

  Then Cerberus looked at Odin in surprise. “Why are you worried about Freya?”

  “Cer, he's Odin,” I said simply.

  “I know Freya well; we've been friends since she arrived on this planet,” Odin added. “And I also know of the animosity between her and Mimir.”

  “There's bad blood between my girlfriend and this giant asshole?” Cerberus snarled. “Oh, this fucker is going down. First, he messes with my best friend, and now, he's messing with my girlfriend.”

  “Cerberus,” I whispered in horror, “he may have started with Freya.”

  “What the fuck does that mean?” Cer snapped.

  “Son of a bitch!” Banning exclaimed as he looked at my other consorts.

  The men made their own curses and shook their heads.

  “Are you guys just trying to piss me off?” Cerberus shouted. “What do you mean he started with her?”

  “The thefts from Torr-Chathair,” Banning said.

  “Fuck!” Odin exclaimed. “Mimir helped Eileen abduct the monsters! Of course, he did. Mimir's plan took time to set in place, and so did Eileen's. She went straight from attacking Onyx to hiding in Primeval. So, with both her and Mimir executing their plans, there would be no time for them to meet. They had to have known each other before this began—all of it; including the monster thefts.”

  “This woman steals a lot of unusual things,” Ilis murmured to her brother.

  “Fascinating,” Calex murmured back.

  “You're saying that the reason Eileen set those fucking Grabboids on Freya was because of Mimir, not because she had a grudge against Elaria?” Cerberus asked with dangerous calm.

  “Most likely, it was a combination of both,” I said gently. “They probably found a common enemy in Freya; just as they found one in me. Two birds with one herd of grabboids.”

  “Not just two; a whole fucking flock of birds,” Cerberus corrected me. “They've also tried to hurt you, all of your dudes, your family, Odin, the Witches, the Shining Ones, and Primeval.”

  “These people sound truly despicable,” Ilis said gleefully.

  “Then why are you smiling?” Torin asked her in horrified confusion.

  “Because it makes the hunt so much sweeter,” Calex answered for his sister. “Violence and justice; we don't often get those two together.” He shared a look with his sister before mumbling, “Usually it's just violence.”

  “Call Freya,” I said to Cerberus. “Make sure she's okay.”

  “Yeah; good idea.” Cer pulled out his cell phone and dialed.

  We all waited while Freya's phone rang and rang. Finally, Freya's voice told Cer to leave a message. Cerberus started to get the look he gets just before he tears someone into tiny pieces.

  “We don't know for sure that anything has happened to her,” I said calmly. “Let's just get over there and check things out before you lose your shit.”

  “Okay,” Cer whispered, but I could see how much it cost him.

  “Save the doom for Mimir,” I went on.

  “Oh, I will,” Cerberus growled.

  “Let's travel to Onyx, and then we can go to Vegas from there,” I said.

  “What are you talking about?” Ilis asked.

  “Elaria has given us Shining One traveling stones,” Odin explained as he held out the stone I'd given him. “That way, I don't have to cast an elaborate spell to move through the Veil. But the stones are used for crossing the Veil only, so we must use them to travel to a location in another realm before we can travel back to this one.”

  “Don't be silly.” Ilis chuckled. “We have our diamonds; there's no need for all this jumping about.”

  She pulled a long chain out of the neckline of her bustier, and a sparkling diamond the size of a robin's egg popped free and twirled about. A golden cage surrounded the faceted, oval diamond. Calex pulled a similar pendant out of his tunic and dropped it on his chest.

  “We can go straight from here.” Calex held his hand out to me. “I'll take half of us while my sister takes the rest with her.”

  “Diamonds are a girl's best friend,” I declared merrily.

  But before I could take Calex's hand, Declan did. Then he grabbed my hand. Declan smirk
ed from the Drachen to me and back again.

  “No offense, Cal,” Declan said, stressing my nickname for Calex, “but I'd rather you didn't hold hands with my consort.”

  “I understand,” Calex said with his own smirk. “I would be worried too, if I had someone like me for competition.”

  Declan let go of Calex so he could clench that hand into a fist.

  “Hey!” I pushed between them as Declan pulled his fist back. “Cut it out! Freya may be in trouble, you fucking toddlers! This is not the time to get into a brawl!”

  Both men looked embarrassed, and then promptly apologized.

  “Thank you,” I huffed. “Now, let's get to Vegas.”

  I took Cal's hand just to spite Declan's dick move, and Calex knew better than to use it as an opportunity to taunt my consort. Then the rest of them joined hands; Ilis taking half of our group in a chain, while Calex took the rest. We flashed out of Coven Cay—moving through sparkling light—and reformed in an apartment. The lights were off, and night had already fallen in Vegas, but there were enough neon signs flashing through the windows to allow us to navigate around the sheet-covered furniture. Calex went to the door and opened it to reveal a hallway. He waved us out.

  “This is our Vegas apartment,” he said. “It was the safest place to land. Now, where are we going?”

  “The Vanguard,” Cerberus pushed past Calex and hurried toward the elevator.

  Piling into a metal box with two Drachen, two Shinning Ones, a Blooder, a Griffin, a Hellhound, and a Witch was not fun. Especially when four of them were my lovers and one was an ex. It was beyond uncomfortable, even with the luxurious size of the elevator, and Cal's apartment was on the eighteenth floor.

  We exploded out of the elevator and into the lobby; taking gulps of fresh, testosterone-free air. Then we had to flag down two cabs; one wasn't large enough to cart all of us to the Vanguard Hotel. Odin waited for the second cab with Ilis, Calex, and Banning, while I went with Cerberus, Torin, Gage, and Declan. I had to sit on Torin's lap, but he didn't mind.

  We weren't that far from the Vanguard, and we soon pulled up to the curb. Torin helped me out with a hand to my ass, and I looked back over my shoulder at him with a lifted brow. He smiled wickedly.

  “You can't expect me to have you on my lap and not grope you,” Torin said reasonably.

  I sighed and walked away; I couldn't argue with that. Nor did I want to.

  The security recognized Cerberus immediately (he's kind of hard to not recognize once you've seen him) and let us up to Freya's penthouse without pause. It was a good thing too, because Cer was so worried that he probably would have barreled past anyone who tried to delay him. He tapped his foot and cracked both his neck and his knuckles as the elevator raced to the penthouse. The doors dinged and Cerberus shouldered his way through them before they were wide enough to let him pass. The elevator doors were still creaking as Cerberus ran down the hall to Freya's door—his key already in hand—and then rushed into her suite.

  “Frey?” Cer called as he pounded about the room like an enraged bull. He dashed up the stairs; the sound of his heavy footsteps echoing off the vaulted ceiling. “Freya!” He kept calling for her, and then suddenly stopped, mid-call, “Fre—”

  “Oh, fuck,” I growled and hurried upstairs.

  I found Cerberus standing in the middle of Freya's dressing room; reading a sheet of paper. He looked up at me and narrowed his brown eyes; they had begun to glow amber. Slowly, he handed me the slip of paper.

  I read it aloud as the other men joined us. “If you want Freya to live, you'll stop chasing me.”

  “I call dibs on Mimir,” Cerberus said.

  “Odin may have an issue with that,” Declan noted.

  Cerberus shifted his glower to Declan.

  “I'm just warning you.” Declan held up his hands in surrender.

  “Where are they?” Cer growled. “I need that Drachen woman to track this giant bastard.”

  “They're probably downstairs,” I said softly. “Security, remember?”

  “Oh.” Cer frowned. “Yeah.”

  Cerberus pushed past us and stomped down the stairs.

  “We're coming too,” I called after him.

  “Then hurry the fuck up, El,” Cer called back as he started to run.

  I sighed and sped up; despite his size, Cerberus could move fast. We slid into the elevator with Cer just before the doors closed. Then we rode down in an even more awkward tension than our ride with Calex had been. Cerberus was growling, and I don't think he knew it. Sounds were just rumbling out of him on their own; furious huffs, snarls, and even an ominous clicking. That last sound had me looking over at him in confusion, and I saw that his claws were extended—his hands half-shifted—and they were clicking together anxiously. The doors swished opened just as I noticed his state. I grabbed Cer's bicep before he could leave, and he snarled at me.

  “Hey!” I pointed at his face and then shook my finger chidingly. “Uh-uh. It's me. You don't snap at me!”

  “Sorry,” he huffed. “I—”

  “I know,” I interrupted him. “I just wanted to tell you to keep you stare lowered since it's glowing and to shift your hands back to normal.”

  “Oh.” He blinked. “Okay. Thanks.”

  Cerberus shifted back his hands before we left the elevator. Then he was off again; bystanders jumping out of his path as we rushed after him. We found Odin and the others arguing with security.

  “We're here!” I called as we hurried up to them.

  “They're with me,” Cerberus said to the guards. “Let us into the banquet hall.”

  “It's just about to be used for a wedding, Sir,” the security guard stammered.

  Cer lifted his face and set his glowing eyes on the poor man.

  “Yes, Sir!” The man scurried out from behind his desk and then raced ahead of us, to lead us to a pair of double doors. He unlocked the doors and threw them open before shouting, “Please don't hurt the cake!”

  Cerberus growled; a low rolling warning that few, living, mortal men had heard. The security guard pissed himself and passed out.

  “Cer,” I whined, “that was mean.”

  But Cer was already inside the banquet hall. As soon as we were all inside with him, Cerberus slammed the doors behind us and nodded to Ilis.

  “Take us to the giant dead man,” Cerberus growled.

  “Hold on,” Odin said.

  Cerberus growled again.

  “You do not intimidate me, doggy,” Odin snarled; power filling his voice. “Now, I care about Freya too, but we have to do this right. We can't just appear in front of Mimir. What if that's exactly what he wants? What if he's constructed a containment circle with the diamond as bait?”

  Cerberus' shoulders sagged. He was no doubt remembering the cage the Trinity had put him in.

  “Did Mimir take Freya?” Odin asked gently.

  I passed Odin the note.

  “That spineless shitheel,” Odin growled. He looked up at Cerberus. “We will get her back, Cerberus. Mimir won't want to hurt Freya—at least not until after he completes the spell and gets what he wants. She's safe for the moment.”

  Cer nodded, but his body was twitching furiously.

  “Ilis, can you take us somewhere close to the diamond?” Odin asked.

  “Let me take another look,” she said before closing her eyes.

  “She can actually see it?” I asked in shock.

  “Not exactly,” Odin whispered. “She gets a signal from the diamond which helps her pinpoint its location. The 'seeing' comes from her knowledge of the area.”

  That's still impressive,” I muttered.

  “They're across the street from the Paris hotel,” Ilis said. “Shall I take us to the tower, and then we can peer through their windows and scout the location?”

  “How the hell are we going to peer through windows hundreds of... feet... away,” Banning trailed off as he remembered the company he was in. “Right. I suppose Drachen and G
riffins have good eyesight.”

  “Very good.” Gage smacked Banning's shoulder. “It's okay; you'll get used to it.”

  “Thank you, Ilis,” Odin said. “That would be perfect.”

  The Drachen took us to the Eiffel Tower replica at the Paris hotel. We came out right on the viewing deck; jostling people in the process. But it was so busy that no one noticed how we appeared. No one except for one little girl who gaped at us as she pulled at her mother's pant leg anxiously.