Fear blasted through her, setting her heart racing, and she tried to tamp it down before anyone noticed something was wrong. It was impossible, though. Seeing Talon bravely hurling himself into danger, into a place where he had been abused, to save people he cared about, and seeing Sherry risking everything to gather information for him and Sable, rattled her.
Revealed her own failings.
Emelia slowed.
Sherry stopped and looked back at her, but Emelia couldn’t stop staring straight ahead of her, her lips parted and eyes wide as she gave up the fight against her fears and let them wash over her.
The truth hit her so hard, her legs weakened beneath her.
Wolf was in trouble.
There was no point denying it or pretending otherwise. It wouldn’t change what he had done. He had gone to Hell, and this time, he hadn’t come back. He was in danger, and she was trying to bury her head in the sand because she was scared of following him into that dark realm.
Even when she knew it was the right thing to do.
If she didn’t save Wolf, who would?
Her plan had been to ask Thorne and Sable to do it, but in her heart, she knew that Thorne would be against it, and she wasn’t sure Sable would be able to convince him.
In her heart, she knew she needed to be the one to do it.
She couldn’t let Thorne and Sable fight her battles for her, not when Wolf had been bravely fighting hers. She needed to be the one to rescue him from whatever trouble he had landed himself in.
It was time she found the courage to face her fears.
She wanted to be brave like Talon, a little crazy like she used to be.
But she wasn’t.
The thought of going to Hell left her cold and shaking, had sweat sliding down her spine and her breaths coming faster as her memories threatened to swamp her.
But if she didn’t go?
She would fail Wolf.
She might lose him forever.
So somehow, God only knew how, she was going to find the strength and the courage to do what she needed to do, for herself and for Wolf.
“What’s wrong?” Sherry closed the distance between them, and Emelia snapped back to her.
“Nothing.” Emelia hesitated, not surprised that Sherry arched an eyebrow at her lie because her voice was shaking as badly as her body. “I’m just a bit on edge.”
“Because of what we’re doing?” the blonde whispered.
Emelia shook her head.
“No.” She paused again and stared at Sherry. She had known her years, and although they weren’t close, she felt she could trust her because they were both falling in love with an immortal. She sighed and glanced off to her right, to a window there that opened onto the courtyard. “Someone I know… I think he’s done something stupid… something that might get him killed. I’m worried about him.”
Damn, it felt good to say that, to confess it to someone. Her fear began to trickle out of her, strength she had thought she had lost rising to replace it as she looked at the blonde.
“What do you think he’s done?” Sherry edged closer.
Emelia’s eyes slipped shut. “I think he went to Hell… to hunt a dragon for me.”
“Is he a hunter here?” Sherry sidled closer still, showing Emelia that she was aware he wasn’t and was worried someone might overhear their conversation and she would get in trouble.
She shook her head again.
“Is he strong?” Sherry murmured.
This time she nodded.
“Capable of killing a dragon?
Another nod.
“So you’re just worried about him because you feel something for him?”
“No.” Emelia opened her eyes and locked gazes with her as a barrage of feelings hit her, swirling like a tempest she had no hope of controlling now she had opened the floodgates. “You don’t understand… like dragons aren’t meant to come here… he isn’t supposed to go there.”
Her voice broke.
Sherry’s eyes softened with understanding. “Is there nothing you can do?”
Emelia’s brow furrowed as she shook her head, her courage failing her again despite her attempt to keep hold of it. She cursed herself. She wanted to be strong. She wanted to be brave. She couldn’t keep letting her fears get the better of her. Wolf needed her.
A huge boom rocked the floor, and her gaze shot down to her feet.
It felt as if that boom had been a thunderbolt striking her mind and her heart, a surge of power and energy that had her courage flaring again, the strength she had been lacking sweeping through her to lift her back up.
“Maybe there is something I can do after all.”
Something that terrified her, but something she was going to do regardless.
Sable wouldn’t be the only hunter Thorne was taking back to Hell tonight.
She was sticking with the plan.
She was going to make him take her with him too, and she was going to make him help her. She wouldn’t take no for an answer. She might not be able to convince him, but Sable would once Emelia confessed something to her.
That she needed to save the man she loved.
The main alarm kicked off, shrieking loudly as the lights dropped and red flashing ones replaced them.
“Is it that fucking demon again?” someone yelled.
Hunters streamed past her, heading for the stairs that led downwards, and she grabbed Sherry’s wrist, tugging her in the opposite direction. It was only a matter of time before Mark dispatched her team and all the others. The lower floor would be pandemonium, everyone piling there to help out, leaving the archive room quiet.
No one would see them there.
“Now,” she said and Sherry hurried to keep up with her.
They skidded around a bend, almost ploughing straight into two men.
“You’re going the wrong way,” Archer shouted.
Emelia didn’t slow, not even as her pulse spiked and she threw a panicked glance at him. He stood in the hall, staring at her, his left eyebrow arching. Something crossed his eyes as he looked from her to the room at the end of the corridor, and she feared he would say something, but then his gaze narrowed and he turned away.
And in the split second before his eyes left hers, she swore the whole of them turned black.
She stumbled a step, heart lodging in her throat as she almost fell, and shook her head as she regained her footing, attempting to dislodge the thought that pinged around her head.
It had been a trick of the light.
Archer was human just like her.
Wasn’t he?
Sherry pulled her up and Emelia shifted her focus back to her mission. Ahead of her, twin closed doors loomed at the end of the corridor, and the sign above them read Central Archive.
They were here.
She slipped her hand into her pocket, reaching for the security pass that would grant her access as her focus fixed on the black scanner mounted on the wall near the doors.
The doors burst open as they reached them, a woman coming out of them with a blade at the ready. Sherry plastered herself against the wall as Emelia swiftly released her.
Emelia dodged, ducking past the huntress to enter the room, Sherry hot on her heels.
She headed straight for one of the computers on the long double rows of desks that filled the middle of the room. All around the edges, huge black cases lined the white walls, the servers stacked in them flashing with green, orange, and red lights.
Sherry moved to the computer on the other side of the desk to Emelia and set to work, using Sable’s login to access the files on Talon and what had happened to him and the others during and after the raid on the fae town. Emelia had been against her helping, but Sable had backed Sherry up when she had insisted.
Emelia had her own agenda anyway, wouldn’t have had time to find those files and do what she had come here to do too.
She paid Sherry no heed as she searched the files, trying to piece the truth together so she could unco
ver what Archangel were up to. Her faith in the organisation she had loyally served began to waver as she used her new clearance level to access the files on the raids and hesitated.
If she did this, there was no going back.
Archangel would be able to see who had accessed the files in the logs.
She drew down a deep, steadying breath. She needed to know what Archangel were doing, though. She needed to know what that hidden facility was all about.
She followed several links in the files on the raids.
They mentioned projects, some of them completed and others still in progress. There was an entire section on the war they had fought in for King Thorne, and several reports with a list of names that were denied access to them. Sable was among them. She scanned the reports. They were all about Sable, and some were about Olivia. Someone had been spying on them, secretly documenting their behaviour and interactions with Thorne and Loren, and other immortals.
There were other files too, ones that spoke of succeeding in gaining access to Hell. She clicked the links in those files and read them, cold slithering through her as she ploughed deeper and deeper, following the trail down a dark rabbit hole.
“I don’t like what I’m reading here.” Emelia lifted her gaze to Sherry over the top of the monitors that separated them. “What the fuck are they up to?”
Because as far as she could tell, someone within Archangel was using captured fae to access Hell through the portal network only certain non-human species could use, and they had been sending teams there.
They were charting Hell.
Every damned inch of it.
Geographical reports. Demographics. Detailed counts of populations across the realm. Some of the locations had been marked with a flag, one she couldn’t access. Every time she tried to click on the small innocuous identifier that tied a group of locations together, she was hit with an ‘access denied’ message.
Emelia backtracked to the files on the raids.
Archangel had been deploying teams to the fae towns across the world. Each one mentioned they had dispatched teams to secure dangerous non-humans, but some of the people listed as being brought in didn’t have a file on record before the date of the raid, and a lot of them were from different species.
She scanned file after file, noting the species and gender of each captive.
It was as if Archangel were doing their damnedest to get a female and male from every species, and the only reason they could want to do that was one that sickened her.
Talon was right.
They were bringing in innocent non-humans in secret, taking them down to the facility she had seen to experiment on them.
They were charting their weaknesses.
Were Archangel about to do a one-eighty back to the days when they had hunted and killed any non-humans?
What had prompted them to do such a thing?
Emelia found a list of the raids, using the one in which Talon had been captured as a starting point. They had been increasing in frequency over the last few months. She stopped when the number of raids went from one every few weeks to almost one every other day.
Her eyes slowly widened as she recognised the date when the increase had begun.
Six months ago.
Her finger trembled as she clicked to open the file, hoping beyond hope that she was wrong. Her eyes caught on the first sentence, and that hope disintegrated.
It is proposed in the aftermath of discovering the existence of another plane that Archangel must broaden its knowledge of all non-human species through any means necessary and forge forwards towards ensuring the safety of mankind.
Archangel had learned of Hell.
Someone in the organisation had seen it as an opportunity to steer Archangel towards a more violent future under the banner of protecting mankind.
And now Archangel had also learned of Heaven and the existence of angels.
She couldn’t imagine the changes that would prompt, but she was sure whoever was behind the secret facility would use it as an excuse to ramp up the number of raids and the experiments.
“Grab everything you can,” she said and pulled a USB drive from her pocket, slotting it into the machine.
Sherry nodded.
Emelia was damned if Archangel were going to launch a war with Hell. Most of the non-humans who lived in that realm weren’t a threat to her kind, just as most of the non-humans who shared this world with humans weren’t. If Archangel were allowed to start a war between the realms, it wouldn’t be only the non-humans who suffered incredible losses.
Her world would too.
She had to find a way to stop this, and she had the feeling she wouldn’t be alone.
Sable and Thorne would be right there with her, and so would Olivia and Loren, and Anais and Loke, and even Sherry and Talon. Everyone at Underworld and all those they knew in Hell would be on her side, helping her find a way to put an end to Archangel.
But first, she needed to rescue the man she loved, the one she needed at her side.
The only man she needed.
Another rumbling roar echoed through the building.
It was almost time to go. Thorne and Sable wouldn’t be able to keep up the charade much longer. The demon would snatch her friend and disappear with her, and Emelia intended to be there when they appeared to take the information from her and Sherry.
Because she had made a decision.
No more running away.
Wolf had saved her more than once, and she couldn’t fail him.
Wouldn’t fail him.
This time, she would save him.
And then, they would find a way to save the world.
CHAPTER 32
Emelia paced the quiet nightclub, battling another bout of nerves as she waited for Thorne and Sable to finish their business with the fallen angel Sable had been meeting to learn more about her powers. She had managed to get a message to Sable ahead of their meetup, and the huntress had almost instantly fired one back, saying her husband was happy to take her to Hell when they returned there.
Sable had also said she wouldn’t be alone when she went to find Wolf. Her friend was going with her whether she liked it or not.
She wasn’t about to turn Sable and Thorne down.
It dawned on her that she had chosen to approach the wrong people when she had originally wanted to return to Hell and hunt down every dragon who had escaped the wrath of Archangel.
Archangel had refused to help her.
Sable and Thorne offered to readily, without even pausing to consider the pros and cons.
Although, Emelia imagined that Thorne wasn’t happy about who she wanted to rescue. She would reassure the demon king that Wolf wouldn’t take Sable from him when they arrived.
“What’s taking so long?” she muttered as she pivoted to pace back along the length of the black bar in the dimly lit room.
She glanced at the brightly coloured optics and bottles that lined the mirrored wall on the other side of the bar.
If Sable took much longer, she was going to sneak behind the bar and fix herself a drink, because she was going to need it. Doubts were filling her mind, fear a constant buzz in her veins, and she was finding it increasingly difficult to deny the memories that wanted to surge to the surface.
Zephyr wasn’t going to hurt her.
With Thorne and Sable at her back, she was strong enough to tackle the dragon. But she might have more firepower in her arsenal. Not just her friend and the demon, but a dragon too. Sable was sure that Loke and Anais would help if they stopped by their cave first.
Archangel had refused her an army, so she was damn well going to put her own one together, made of the most powerful immortals she knew.
Even Bleu and Iolanthe had offered their services, and Bleu had gone as far as saying his mate, another dragon and one who knew Loke, might lend a hand too.
With an army of friends at her back, she had no reason to be afraid.
Zephyr didn’t sta
nd a chance.
And if he had Wolf and had hurt him?
She lowered her hand to the dart gun hanging at her hip.
It was loaded for dragon, and she was going to use it, and then she was going to kill him with her own blade.
She turned to pace back the other way.
Froze as she came face-to-face with an angel.
The petite blonde stood at the other end of the bar, her hands clasped in front of the gold rope that cinched her white robe in at her curvy waist. Her golden hair hung in loose waves, reaching her full breasts. White wings that were smaller than Wolf’s rested furled against her back.
“Do you know something about Wolf?” Emelia took a swift step towards the angel, heart racing at the thought she might have information.
“Wolf?” Her nose crinkled as she frowned.
Emelia had forgotten angels had a stupid tendency to have no name. “The Fourth Commander.”
The angel’s eyes darkened, something crossing them that set Emelia on edge. “I came to ask the same thing. I am worried about him. He was distant the last time I was with him.”
Her blood chilled. “With him?”
The blonde’s lips twitched faintly, as if she wanted to smile but had contained it. “I am a healer. The Fourth Commander has exclusively requested me for the last few years, but recently, he has been drawing away. He seems troubled by something.”
By Emelia and the dragon.
She kept quiet, studying the angel as awareness prickled down her spine, warning her that something wasn’t right. This angel hadn’t come here because she was worried. The bite in her tone, the way she had looked at Emelia with darkness in her eyes, everything about her stirred a feeling inside Emelia. One she found difficult to deny, even when she had no real proof to back it up.
This angel had come here because Wolf had been drawing away from her, distracted by Emelia, and she didn’t like it.
“The Echelon are so complicated, and I have worked with several in my years, but none quite like the Fourth Commander. He is always so… fired up… when he returns to me. It is only a matter of time before we produce his first heir.” The angel skimmed her hands across her stomach, and Emelia’s rebelled, twisting viciously as she realised what the angel was saying.
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