by Helen Scott
He stepped in, and when he saw what was happening, anger and lust began waging a war on his face. The man wanted Poppy just as badly as Emmett and I did, but he wasn't willing to admit it, to take the risk. Maybe seeing her with another man would be enough to kick his ass into gear. We had all warned him to get over his feelings for Katherine, that the new queen would need him just as much as his previous love did, but he hadn’t listened. Emmett and I had watched him cling to the memory of the previous queen for too many years, and now it was affecting his relationship with Poppy.
When Hunter stepped forward and wrapped his fingers around Poppy's arm to pull her away, I stepped up to stop him. The glare he shot me would have killed me if that kind of thing were possible. Thankfully, he wasn’t a gorgon like Medusa, but I still backed off and let him dig his own grave.
I knew Poppy better than the other guys did. Our bond spoke to me in ways they didn't understand yet, but they would. That was when Hunter would suffer the most. He would be able to feel everything our queen felt once they bonded, and if he was still hung up on Katherine at the time? Well, then it would be emotional torture for him. Overall, the bond made me more aware of her emotional state, and right now, she felt powerful and joyful in a way she hadn't since she had been in bed with me and Emmett. Who was I to take that away from her?
Hunter successfully broke their kiss, and when Poppy turned around, all I saw was her eyes blazing with fire and glowing a vibrant red color. She might as well have been shooting flames out of them, because all I knew was I wanted to duck and cover. She was spectacular; her powers, her regal bearing, it all came out to play as she turned to face Hunter.
“Poppy, what the hell are you doing?” Hunter asked.
I crossed my arms over my chest and backed as far away from that mess as I could. It was too bad the elevator was so small, because I really didn’t have anywhere to go. The guy, Nolan, looked stunned and possibly a little embarrassed, which made me chuckle quietly to myself. If only he had any idea what she'd been up to a few hours ago. The flash of memory made my blood run hot. Not only was Poppy as regal as they came when she needed to be, but the freedom she showed in the bedroom was a gift straight from the gods. She was open and honest and sweet, and overall everything I had ever wished our queen could be, which made me more determined than ever to help her claim her throne.
“Hunter, do not interfere,” Poppy said, but the voice had a strange quality to it, similar to the voice I had heard before when she was asleep. It was like a melodic overtone to her regular voice, only this time, it wasn't as strong. She turned back to Nolan and said, “Hound, come forth and meet your queen.”
The man's eyes shifted from the regular human brown to a glowing green. They reminded me of a hellhound, but I'd never heard or read anything about green eyes. I could almost smell acid, or something equally bitter, as if he were toxic to anyone who came near. Whatever was going on and whatever war was coming, Persephone must have sent us to him for a reason. Unfortunately, that reason would have to wait since the elevator had just stopped.
“Uh, guys, humans ahead,” I said quietly.
“Nolan, come with me,” Poppy said, taking his hand. Her eyes were back to normal, but there was still a tinge of green in Nolan's gaze. As the door opened and we exited, I pretended to stretch and yawn loudly to distract anyone who might be on the other side while the rest exited and headed toward the valet area.
The couple who had been waiting outside immediately looked at me as they walked past everyone else, just as I had hoped. What I hadn't counted on was the agents of Hel waiting by the valet doors. It was the man and the woman from the restaurant, or what used to be a man and a woman before Hel twisted their souls for her own benefit. I had been hoping that they would have followed the couple we'd planted the tracker on by now.
The guy we had seen at the valet station when we had come in was nowhere in sight, which was probably for the best. I grabbed Poppy's hand and said, “Hold my stuff,” as I started stripping out of my suit and fancy shoes. The buttons on my shirt were infuriatingly slow to undo. By the time I was down to my boxers, I shifted and was ready to launch myself at them. When I looked over, Hunter had joined me in the shift, and apparently so had Nolan. His green eyes matched the green glow coming from his mouth. I lunged forward, pushing the door open with my weight. Meanwhile, Hunter and Nolan smashed through the door on their side.
They looked at us, and their eyes turned from a milky blue to the shining silver that Emmett had seen. I didn't want to give them a second to finish whatever it was they were doing, though, so I ran and body checked the guy while Hunter and Nolan were handling the woman. It was fine since their hounds were both smaller and weaker than me. I was almost as big as a damn bear.
Before I could land any hits or get a grip that would allow me to sink my teeth into the agent of Hel in front of me, I heard female screams. I looked over my shoulder just to reassure myself that Poppy was fine, only to see Nolan drooling on the female, except it wasn't regular drool. It was burning straight through her. A punch landed on my side, and I turned my attention back to the male. I reared up and pulled my front paws down his chest, turning the papery flesh into ribbons and pushing him to the ground. The wound gushed with blood, but it had a strange black tinge to it that made it look similar to an oil spill. The dark stain spread out over his clothes and the ground underneath.
A flash of silver caught my attention, and I saw a blade in his hand. It was just a small pocketknife, and I doubted it could do any real damage, but I didn’t want to risk it. He could have poisoned it or something; at least, that was what I would have done if I knew I was going up against an opponent bigger, faster, and stronger than I could ever hope to be. I snarled in his face, making him flinch. If I hadn’t been so close to him, I might not have sensed his movement, but as I was basically on top of him at that point, I felt his chest flex as he moved his arm. He wanted to strike me with the knife, to get one good hit in before I sent him back to his goddess. I couldn’t give him the chance, though, and I brought my claws down on his wrists, severing the tendons and depriving him of any further use of his hands.
I scented Emmett before I saw him out of the corner of my eye as he ran toward Poppy. He would guard our queen with his life if need be, not that I was going to let this fight get to that point. My jaw clamped down on the agent’s throat, and I crunched through the bones. It should have killed him, but instead, when I withdrew, he just gurgled as whatever fluids were in his body seeped out. That same red oil-spill blood now gushed from his neck as well.
If tearing his throat out hadn't done the job, then taking his heart had to. Without another thought, my claws descended into his chest, cutting through bone, crushing and tearing everything in their path. I knew I had done my job when the agent just faded away into ash. I knew the soul that had been inside would just go back to Helheim, but at least his temporary body had been destroyed. Now I just had to figure out how Hel had accomplished that trick.
As I padded back to Poppy, I noticed Hunter and Nolan were still struggling, but before I could go over to help, the woman got away from them and sprinted toward Poppy. I could see the holes in her chest from where I stood, a product of Nolan’s saliva, apparently. I lunged toward the woman, but Emmett was right there. His form shifted to that human fireball one, which was more than a little impressive. Before she could even get close, Em had his flame-covered hand outstretched and in her chest, crushing her heart, just as I had done with the male.
She crumbled into dust and blew away with the wind. I hoped Hel would be pissed at them for failing so they could get their asses kicked all over again. Zeus would have to set foot in the Underworld before I'd let anyone harm a hair on my queen's head. I shifted back and took my clothes from Poppy, who seemed kind of stunned by the whole thing. I slipped everything back on without bothering to button the shirt or suit jacket. Hunter and Nolan came back over and shifted as well. They were both naked since neither of them had
thought to strip before shifting.
Poppy blushed deeply, matching the color of the flower she was named after. It was amusing to me how she could go from being completely free while in bed with me and Emmett to being embarrassed by some nudity of at least one man who I was sure she would eventually bed, if not both of them. I smiled at her and tugged her into a hug.
“Is it always going to be like this?” she whispered into my chest.
“No. Once you claim your throne, you should be safe.”
“Should be?” Concern etched her features, pinching those perfectly arched eyebrows and pursing her delectable lips.
I reined in my thoughts. “Hel can still launch an attack, but the likelihood of you being in danger is laughable. When you see the Underworld, you'll understand. It’s probably one of the safest structures and realms out there.”
“I hadn't really thought about that. Is everything different down there?”
“A little, but why don't we talk about that at home?” I didn’t want to scare her now with a description of how terrifying and how beautiful the place she was going to rule would be. Between Tartarus, the Land of Dreams, the Elysian Fields, the Isle of the Blessed, and the palace itself, there was a lot of range to the Underworld, much more than humans thought.
She nodded as she pulled away, and I felt a little colder for it. The woman was beyond magical, beyond just a queen. She was quickly becoming everything to me, and I'd be damned if I let anything happen to her.
Chapter Fifteen
Poppy
I watched as everyone seemed to regain their bearings before I said, “Nolan is coming with us.”
“Absolutely not,” Hunter responded, anger flushing his face.
Nolan stepped up to my side and bared his teeth at the other man before quickly shifting into the flame form just like Emmett. The difference was where Emmett's flames were red, Nolan's were green, and not just any green, but a sickly poisonous green.
“Hunter, I'm not just going to leave him here naked. Besides, he helped you and helped protect me. Plus, he's the whole damn reason we came here!” By the end, I was yelling. I hadn't realized how exasperated I was with Hunter's behavior, but apparently, I was. We would need to have a talk and figure out what was going on between us, and it should happen sooner rather than later.
“Fine. Get in the damn car,” he said before stalking off, still completely naked, to the SUV.
We all trailed behind him with Knox being the gentleman and handing his jacket to Nolan, who shrugged it on. It was big enough that it covered . . . some . . . of what it needed to. Who knew those extra couple of inches in height that Knox had on Nolan would be so helpful now?
Beside me, Emmett took my hand, weaving his fingers through mine. I let it stay like that for a moment before pulling my hand loose and wrapping his arm around my shoulders, taking his hand once more when I was tucked right up against him. It was a little awkward to walk like that, but we made it work.
When we got to the car, Hunter was already in the driver's seat, having found some sweats from somewhere, so Emmett took the back seat with me and Nolan, while Knox sat up front, as if we were just one big happy fivesome. That happened to have sex. A lot. Well, some of us did, anyway. The thought had me looking over at Emmett. He leaned down and kissed me so tenderly that my heart almost broke.
“I'm glad you didn't get hurt,” he said when he pulled away.
“Me, too.” I smiled up at him and couldn't wait to get home. I needed to feel safe and protected, and that was exactly what Emmett did. Something that had been brewing in my mind suddenly pushed forward. “Question,” I said, pausing until Knox looked over at me. “Why did they need to put a tracker on your phone if they can scent or trace my magic or whatever?”
“The house has a shield around the edge of the property, and then about a ten-mile radius around it is shielded as well. It's the whole reason they haven't attacked you at home yet. They can't figure out where exactly you are,” Knox said with a grin.
“And you guys can shield me separately from the house?”
He nodded, and I fell silent, thinking about everything I had learned. It was all starting to seem normal, which was actually a little scary. When my phone vibrated in my small purse, I would have jumped a foot in the air had I not been wearing a seatbelt. I dug it out to find a text from Rox demanding to know where I was and if I was ever coming home. I sighed. I needed to come up with something to tell her, something that didn't sound completely coocoo, but it would have to wait until morning at this point. My brain was just too fried to think of anything that sounded reasonable, or that I at least stood a chance of making her believe.
It seemed as if the drive back to the house was even faster than usual, because we were there in no time, all climbing out of the SUV in the privacy of the windowless garage. I tried my best not to look at Nolan's mostly naked form, but I couldn't help it and glanced over. Firm, taut muscles filled my gaze enough to get my pulse racing and my mouth watering.
We all went inside, and exhaustion weighed heavily on me, making me want nothing more than to curl up in bed, preferably with a companion, or maybe it was the Manhattan and my lack of food that was doing it. Before we were all even in the main part of the house, Hunter had already split off, leaving the group to go be alone in his room. I truly didn't understand him, but that didn't mean I wasn't willing to make an effort.
I was surprised when he came back a few moments later with some sweats for Nolan. It kind of worked since they were almost the same size, but it probably would have been better if Knox had loaned the man some of his sweats, instead. Without hesitation, Nolan slipped the gray sweatpants on, along with the plain T-shirt.
Hunter had already turned around and disappeared back into his room. I hated that he didn't feel like part of the group, and there was only one thing I could do to try to make it better. I squeezed Emmett's hand and said, “I'll be back in a moment. Could you do me a big favor and help Nolan feel a little more welcome?”
“Whatever you want, my queen,” he said, dipping his head and kissing me gently before he moved off toward the kitchen and living room area.
I made my way down the hall, not particularly looking forward to what was about to happen, but knowing it was necessary. The only room I hadn't been in was Hunter's, so I knew by default which door was his. I was more than a little surprised to hear some older R&B tunes coming from behind the large wood panel in front of me. I knocked, bracing myself for his rejection.
“Poppy?” he asked, surprise clear on his face when the door swung open.
“Can we talk?” I bit my lip, ready for him to tell me to shove off.
“Yeah, of course, come in.”
For a moment, I was frozen to the spot. His welcome was so unexpected that I didn't know what to do, and then my brain kicked in and I walked into his room. A large wood headboard sat behind his bed, and mounted on the dark-blue wall that it rested against were all different kinds of framed images of animals. Some were sketched, some were beautiful black-and-white photos, while others still looked like paintings. On the wall to the right was the biggest single bookcase I had ever seen, and it was packed. Layers of books were on each shelf, so much so that I thought the books on the shelf below were probably supporting the books on the shelf above.
Four big lamps stuck out from the wall at various intervals, lighting the books. The ceiling was a work of art in itself. It was covered in strips of wood that looked to be about an inch thick, all of which made various geometric patterns. I saw so much of him in this room that it was hard to believe they hadn't been in the house for decades.
We sat on the small couch and armchair that sat just in front of the bookcase. He looked at me expectantly, but I didn't know where to start. There was so much I wanted to say, to ask, but the last thing I wanted was to offend him or make him think that I was issuing an ultimatum of some kind.
“Did we get off on the wrong foot?” I asked, trying to get his opinion bef
ore I jumped on how his actions made me feel. I hoped and prayed that he had a good reason behind how he was treating me.
Hunter sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “No, I'm just a bit of a bastard is all.” He grimaced as he spoke, clearly aware that he wasn't being his best self.
“Why do you say that?”
“I know I've been treating you like shit. I'm sorry, I really am. I just . . . I'm not ready for this again.”
“Again?”
“You know how we told you there was someone else for a while?”
I nodded at his question. The conversation when they’d told me everything seemed like months ago.
“Well, she got stuck trying to find her judges, and we never made it to the Underworld. She was murdered by agents of Hel. They took every opportunity they could to attack, and eventually, one of them succeeded. She died, and we were left trying to find the next queen, trying to find you.” His eyes were so full of regret and pain that it hurt to look at his face.
“You loved her, didn't you?” I asked quietly.
He nodded. “I fully believed that we would find the judges and everything would go to plan, so I freely let my heart go to her, only to have it decimated upon her death. The problem is that even though it's been years, I can't seem to let her go. I'm trying, but she still holds my heart, no matter how far apart we may be.”
“I understand.” I took a deep breath and prepared to ask the question that made me the most uncomfortable. “Do you not want to bond with me?”