by C. M. Owens
My brow furrows in confusion, and I take a step back.
“What do you mean?”
He rolls his eyes. “I told you that she’s better at tracking down leads than you are, and she has Karma with her. Karma knows people. They’ve already found Kya, and now they’re on their way to finding twin creature gods—the thing Gavin is after. Well, two of the things.”
“Fuck,” I hiss, grabbing my phone and keys from the table.
“Where are you going?” he asks me as I open my front door.
“To make sure your daughter stays the fuck out of harm’s way. You really should have sheltered her,” I grumble.
“You called me an idiot for doing that to Alyssa.”
I turn to face him as I open my car door. “You’re an idiot for taking my advice.”
He smirks as I get into the driver’s seat, and I send a text to Dice to ask him where I can find the stubborn girl I wish I didn’t fucking miss so much.
Grabbing my phone, I dial Alyssa. She answers with a confused tone, and I don’t bother with nonsensical pleasantries.
“What would you do to keep Kimber safe?” I ask her.
She pauses for a beat, then finally answers, “Anything. Why?”
There’s only one way to keep Kimber from running headlong into danger. “Then I need a favor. You have something that will help. I’m coming to you right now.”
“O…kay. I’m staying close. Kane has a house two towns over. I’ll text you the address. But be careful, and don’t tell Ella why you’re here. What do you need exactly?”
My mind falls back to the night the gates of purgatory were opened, and the small child Kimber was then.
“Something that is really going to piss her off.”
Chapter 22
KIMBER
Stepping out of the shower, I wrap up in my towel, and I study the foggy mirror absently. I never realized how much it sucked being alone.
Sighing, I walk back into my room, and start digging through my drawers for something to wear. Just as I pull out a pair of underwear, my door bursts open, and I spin around, clutching my towel, and meet the very angry eyes of the dark user who broke my heart.
“What the fuck are you doing, Kimber?” he growls.
He’s wearing a black T-shirt, dark jeans, and black biker boots that suit him all too well. My eyes ride up his body, and a fever sets in. His inky black hair shags straight and brushes the tops of his eyebrows, and his lip rings bring back memories.
His eyes drop to my towel, and his lips tighten as he groans. That gives me a touch of hope.
“I’m getting clothes, Gage,” I say dryly, trying not to act rattled. “What does it look like I’m doing?”
I toss my panties to the bed, and I go back to my drawers, failing to keep my hands from trembling.
“That’s not what I mean and you know it. You’re going after Gavin after I told you to stay away. How the fuck do you think you’re going to take him even if you do find him?”
“Well, you didn’t tell me to stay away from Gavin. You told me to stay away from you. And I haven’t worked out how I’m going to handle him, but I think Thad and I can throw him into purgatory. We’re still running over a plan.”
“You’re seriously going to open the gates of purgatory again? After all this shit?”
I turn to face him, steeling my rubbery legs that seem to lose consistency in his presence. “It’ll be a suction gate, not an exit gate. Nothing can get out when it’s open for admittance instead of escape. You know this, so stop being a dick.”
He closes the distance between us, and before I can process any of it, his lips are on mine, and my fingers thrust into his hair, pulling him as close as possible. His hands move to my hips, and he jerks me toward him, pushing our bodies flush, and his tongue slips into the part between my lips.
The bar in his tongue flicks and swirls, eliciting a heated moan from me. His throaty growl sends chills down my body, and my towel falls to the ground, leaving me bare for him to do with as he pleases.
Unfortunately, he pulls back, leaving me breathless. He pants for air while moving toward the other side of the room, and I pull my towel back up.
“I’m sorry,” he says quietly, so quietly I barely hear it.
I stare at his back, and I resist the urge to go to him. “Don’t be. That’s exactly what I wanted. Well, I want more, actually. Just stay. I promise I won’t risk my life unnecessarily, Gage. Just stay. Please.”
I hate the fact that I’m begging, but I can’t help myself. When he turns to face me, I see the pain in his eyes. “That wasn’t why I was apologizing. You’re about to hate me, but I refuse to risk your life, Kimber. If you won’t keep yourself safe, then I will.”
I tilt my head, confused, and then I look at the mirror and my mouth falls open. Resting on top of the necklace he gave me is another necklace I never felt him put on. And I recognize it. It’s the medallion that iced my gatekeeping powers so long ago and allowed us to shut the gates of purgatory. I can’t use my gatekeeping powers while wearing it, but he’s an idiot if he thinks I won’t just… What the fuck?
“Why can’t I take this off?” I snap, struggling to make the necklace budge, but it remains on my neck no matter how hard I tug.
“Because I spelled it to you.”
With more frantic motions, I jerk at it harder, but to no avail.
“Why?” I bark turning my glare back on him.
He takes a breath, and he shakes his head. “Because somehow in the span of the few short weeks I’ve been with you, I’ve managed to fucking fall in love, and I’ll be damned if I let you die trying to save me. That will keep you from chasing down your death, because your powers will be absent until I die or take it off you.”
Tears water in my eyes, and I move toward him. “Take it off, Gage. Now, dammit!”
He smiles weakly, and he reaches up to thumb a tear off my cheek. “That right there is why I fell in love.” He moves to the other side of my face and knocks away another tear. “And that’s why I can’t take it off. You’d give your life to save mine, even if it was a pointless death. It’s funny, you know. I risked Alyssa’s life—used her as bait. Did the same with Morgana. I wasn’t worried because I thought I could keep them safe. But with you… I can’t take that risk. I finally found what I want, and wouldn’t you know I can’t have it because it could cost you your life. Fate’s a really cruel bitch to me.”
I tug at his hand, putting it on the necklace as more tears fall. I can’t go after Gavin or put him in purgatory with this damn thing on.
“Please,” I say in a choked breath, “take it off.”
He bends and brushes his lips against mine, and then he leans back up. “Not until Gavin’s dead.”
Before I can argue more, he vanishes from the room, and I’m left pleading with the vacant air. I continue struggling to remove the necklace, but I can’t get it off.
As I shove my legs in some pants and toss on a shirt, I pick up my phone to call Alyssa. Why the hell did she give that to him?
My phone rings before I can make the call, and Karma’s name flashes across the screen. Even though I need to figure out a way to get this damn necklace off, I answer to see what she needs in case it’s important.
“Kimber?” she asks before I can even answer with a hello.
“Yeah.”
“I need you to go to Kya’s house with me right now. She sent a message saying she would talk to me, but only you were allowed to come with me. She doesn’t trust anyone else, and she has information on Gavin.”
Shit. Of all the timing.
“What about Dice?”
“She said he couldn’t come. She sent a text and said only you and me. Or Ella, but Ella is on lockdown. But she doesn’t want me going alone in case there’s a problem. Which means she cares about me, Kimber. She cares. Please go with me before Dice gets back. He’ll ask questions and probably follow me.”
Groaning internally, I acquiesce and tell
her to meet me downstairs in two minutes. Hell, maybe she can help me figure out how to get this damn necklace off.
Chapter 23
GAGE
“You’re sure this is the place where Kimber came to find Kya?” I ask skeptically, looking at the pawnshop that doesn’t promise too many answers.
“Yes,” Thad growls. “I wasn’t here, but she told me this is where they were going. For the record, I’m helping you out under extreme protest.”
I roll my eyes while tugging at the locked door. The Closed sign is up even though it’s business hours.
“I had to do it, Thad.”
“You had to leave her powerless? Because we could have tossed his ass into purgatory, you asshole.”
I turn to face him, looking around first to make sure no one is within earshot. “Could you have promised me that he wouldn’t have killed her first? Could you have promised me that you could have tossed him in before he crushed her with barely a flick of his wrist? She’s not strong enough to face him, and neither of you could have stopped him from killing you before you executed this half-baked plan.”
He tightens his lips, knowing I’m right, and I back away. “The shop owner’s car is here, so he has to be inside.”
Thad says nothing as I move back to the door and use my mind to unlock it. He follows me in as the obnoxious ding alerts the owner to our presence.
Thad’s phone rings, but he silences it instead of answering. I look over to him, and he shrugs. “Dice. I’ll call him back.”
I nod and turn back to walk around the empty shop. Maybe the owner really isn’t here.
Thad looks around, then stops to sniff the air.
“Gage, I smell blood. A lot of it.”
Ah, fuck. “Where?”
He sniffs again, and then curses. “Not sure. This fucking place has all kinds of weird smelling shit that is messing me up.”
I walk long the glass counter, searching the room for a clue, until I come across a speck of blood. I lean over the glass to inspect it, and I tilt my head when I see it’s not an old spot. Leaning over farther, my breath catches in my throat. Behind the counter is the owner, and he’s lying in a pool of his own blood.
Red stains the entire area, and I turn away when I see his head is severed from his body. Motherfucker.
“Shop owner is dead,” I say to Thad just as his phone rings again.
He comes over and investigates for himself, and he sucks in a deep breath. “Fuck. That’s not good. This guy knows the whereabouts of many of the refugees, including Karma’s sister.”
Shit.
His phone rings again, and he growls while snapping, “What?”
“I can’t find Karma,” Dice says on the other side, sounding breathless. “She left me a note saying that Kimber and she were going to see her sister, but I took so much longer than I originally thought. So when she wasn’t answering her phone, I thought she was just pissed at me for taking days instead of hours.”
“Get the fuck on with it, Dice,” Thad grumbles.
“When I got back from Drackus’s house yesterday, I found it. She left the fucking note two days ago. I thought maybe she needed some time with her sister, but she won’t answer her phone. So I came to the cabin. She’s not here, but there’s blood. There’s no sign of her sister. It looks like the cabin has been cleared out, and everything is gone.”
I slam my fist down on the glass counter, and it shatters all the way down, exploding the glass into the shop as my fury bubbles over. My magic leaks out, and shit starts flying off the walls as the entire shop rattles.
“What the hell is going on?” Dice asks.
Thad looks over at me as my fists tighten together. “I’m with Gage.”
That apparently explains it all. “Does he have Kya’s number?”
“No,” Dice answers. “She didn’t have a phone when we were there the other day. I assumed she must have gotten one since Karma said she got a text from her. Why would her own sister do this?”
I glance back over at the dead owner of the pawnshop, and I almost get sick, but not because of the gruesome sight before me.
“It wasn’t Kya,” Thad says in a whisper. “Kya was leaving that cabin. We’re at the pawnshop and the owner is dead.”
Dice sucks in a breath, drawing the same gut-wrenching conclusion I have. Gavin has them. If they’re not dead, there’s no telling what he’s doing to them. And I left Kimber without a single line of fucking defense.
***
KIMBER
My head throbs as I groan and try to open my eyes. My vision is blurry at first, but when it finally comes to me, I see the bars that surround two sides of the cell, and the stone walls that make up the other two sides.
The shackles are biting into my flesh, and I struggle against them, making them rattle. My breath catches in my throat when I look over to see Karma on the ground, shackled at her wrists and feet like me, with her head buried into her knees that she has drawn to her chest.
“I’m so sorry,” she says in a choked whisper.
The last thing I remember is walking into the cabin. Then there’s nothing but a blank.
“What happened?” I ask, wincing when I feel the ache all over.
“I led us into a trap,” she says while looking up with a tear-stained face. “I was so eager to see my sister again that I didn’t think. She told me she wasn’t staying there, and I still went over there without hearing her voice tell me those words. It was a trap, and I’m the reason we’re in here.”
She puts her head back down, and I lean back against the wall.
“S’not your fault, Karma. We both let our guard down. Why the hell does he want us?”
“That’s a good question, isn’t it?” My eyes snap up just as Gavin comes into view with his deceptive beauty. The snake hides behind a mask of an Adonis, making him the ultimate predator.
Like a smug ass, he props against the bars and looks in at us. “You two really are rather dumb. You piss off a powerful warlock, yet you run right into the first trap I set. I honestly expected a little more, considering the protective family you have,” he says, his words pointed at me.
I say nothing, but I turn my chin up with some pride, refusing to let him see the fear I actually hold.
His smile falls, and his eyes burrow into mine. “Where are my weapons?” he asks sternly.
“What?”
He laughs bitterly. “Oh, now, don’t start playing dumb. I’m not a fool. Tell me where my weapons are.”
Defiantly, I hold my silence, and Karma smirks as she looks over at me. She won’t tell him a damn thing either.
“Do you have any idea how long it takes to acquire thousands of anointed weapons?” he asks rhetorically. “Centuries,” he says, answering the question I didn’t care to hear to begin with. “They were cast aside like worthless antiques, forgotten relics of a past that would never come again. And in one swoop, they’re mostly all gone. I only have a few hundred that you’re insipid family didn’t steal. I want them back. All of them. And you’re going to tell me where they are.”
He smirks as he looks me over, his eyes landing on my chest and lingering there for too long. “Or I’m going to take yet another girl my brother loves,” he adds, bringing his flaming eyes back up to meet mine.
My shudder stays hidden, and I force a sweet smile. “Go. To. Hell.”
He fights hard not to react. Then Karma adds, “She’ll send you there. I mean, she sent her own boyfriend there. What do you think she’ll do to you?”
Her snarky remark forces his mask of composure to falter and he flings open the cell door to enter.
“Tell me where my weapons are. I don’t have time to hunt down an anointed, even though I know one has to be out there. Otherwise the weapons wouldn’t be active. I don’t know which bloodlines have been restored, nor do I know if the person has come into their abilities yet. So, you see why this is a little urgent.”
I laugh, even though I don’t feel it. “An
d I care about your weapons because?”
His sinister grin doesn’t bode well for me. “Because I can’t take on the royal family without them. Obviously I’m powerful, but you have three creature gods on your team. Along with my brother. Then of course the second gatekeeper. And… Well, the incubus is pointless.”
His eyes move to Karma who rolls her eyes. Then he shifts his gaze back to me.
“Then of course, the queen has her massive army. Armed with my weapons, going forward with my plans will be a little impossible.”
I stare at him, keeping the defiance in my eyes.
“Sounds like you have a problem. But it’s not my problem.”
Karma laughs while leaning back, and Gavin’s eyes narrow just before she starts spitting out blood, coughing and hacking as her body convulses. Then I feel the constriction inside me, forcing me to curl in pain as I scream out.
“Now it’s your problem. I’ll just keep this up until one of you caves. The one who tells me will be the one to survive. Choose wisely. I can do this all day and all night.”
Karma coughs out her blood as the wave of crushing pain ceases, and she glares at him. “Go fuck yourself,” she spits out.
I wipe my mouth on my shoulder the best I can, and I grin up at him with my blood-stained smile. “You think that’s bad? You should try opening the gates of purgatory.”
Karma laughs, and then the pain strikes again. I don’t know if Karma will fold, but I won’t. I’ll hold out for however long it takes to make Gavin break and lose it. So far, he’s shown nothing but restraint, despite the ungodly pain he’s still inflicting.
The question is… Why is he holding back?
“You should have sex with an incubus,” Karma taunts as the second wave subsides, laughing lightly as she leans back. “It’s rougher than that.”
We both laugh, goading the maniac, and he tilts his head to study us. “Well, then. How about I try a little harder?”
Chapter 24
GAGE