by Rachel Jonas
‘Still not quite myself,’ she answered, making known what we already guessed—crossing over had left her drained. Her powers returned slower than I think any of us imagined, and now tonight, she was heading to bed long before midnight—the usual time she hit the pillow.
‘Need me to tuck you in?’ I teased, blocking the others out when I asked the question to which I already knew the answer.
‘As much as I’d like that, gonna have to give you a firm no for now. Pretty sure my dad has had about all he can take for one day,’ she said with a laugh.
Couldn’t blame a guy for trying.
‘Rain check?’ she asked.
‘Definitely. Sweet dreams, Princess,’ were my parting words before she faded out.
I scanned the men in her family again. Each one who joined my brothers and I on the porch mirrored us in size and stature. It was a true testament of how well the thing was built that it hadn’t splintered and sunk into the lagoon under our weight.
I sighed when the silence got to be too much, and accidentally met her father’s gaze.
The guy hadn’t blinked in so many minutes I lost count. And seeing as how every ounce of his attention—death stare and all—had been aimed toward Ori and me, I guessed he picked up on Ori being our hive’s alpha. I, no doubt, only had his attention because he’d caught Noelle and I in a … compromising position.
No, not full-on boning, but she had my junk in her hand. In a father’s eyes, I imagined that was close enough.
I wanted to break the ice, but hadn’t even decided how to address him. Just call him Liam? Reaper? Your Highness? Bringer of Death? The latter seemed most fitting, but probably wouldn’t go over so well. The only thing I knew for sure was that “Dad” was way out of the question, and thanks to a sucky first impression, it probably always would be.
His fists were clenched on the arm of his chair so tightly, I was surprised he hadn’t ripped them off yet. If he’d been a human father, this would have been the part where he grabbed his shotgun and started cleaning it.
Yep … fun.
“All right, let’s cut to the chase.” Liam had the undivided attention of everyone on the porch when he finally decided to speak. “Why don’t we all stop pretending this is gonna turn into some spectacular, touchy-feely, kumbaya moment and just get right into it.”
Ori sat straighter in his seat and I braced myself.
“Which one of you wants to start explaining why you’ve filled my little girl’s head with this bull about being mated to you four?”
His tone was stern, unfeeling. As if the only reason he hadn’t tried ripping our heads off was to avoid having Noelle hate him afterward.
“Sir, with all due respect,” Ori began, “No one’s filled your daughter’s head with anything. Noelle told us she showed you her mark. Our connection is real.”
“With all of you,” Liam replied. Not asking, but rather adding to the fact that he wasn’t buying into any of this.
Gotta say, I was glad not to be the alpha in that moment.
“Yes, Sir.” I admired Ori’s confidence when he answered. “It’s our way. Not the way of all our island’s dragons, but those called by Spirit to be Firekeepers,” he explained.
There was a moment of silence that resulted in a stare-down between the two.
“Man-to-man,” Ori continued, “I imagine you can’t name many guys who’d willingly share a woman. Especially not one they care for as deeply as each of us care for your daughter,” he pointed out. “None of this has been a choice. In fact, when Spirit first brought Noelle to us, it took some convincing for all parties to accept that our unit of five was fate. Perhaps none were as resistant to the idea as me, Sir, but the truth has been undeniable. With her, we’re stronger, better men than we ever were without her.”
The only sound to be heard was the water gently lapping against the posts supporting the house. Otherwise, silence.
Liam’s already sharp brow tensed into a harsh line while he glared. “I don’t like it. Any of it,” he pointed out.
“Well, I’d like to give my two cents,” the one to Liam’s right spoke up.
All the men in Noelle’s family were close; her father, grandfather, and Nick—the godfather to whom we all knew Noelle to be very fond. As well as the queens’ brothers—Declan, Tobias, Caleb, Ivan, and Josiah. However, Nick, in particular, had been on Liam’s heels the entire evening. I’d gotten the feeling that he stuck close for the express purpose of keeping her father calm during this visit.
Noelle had spoken of Nick often enough that I think the four of us knew who he was even before being introduced. The stories she told painted a vivid picture of his odd history and connection to her family. Somehow, that tie turned into a crazy-strong bond that linked them all forever. As I sat before the men of their clan, it was clear—Liam trusted Nick, opinions and all, so whatever he said next would either greatly help or hurt our argument.
“There was once a time I, personally, witnessed two people being brought together by fate,” he began. “It was the hardest concept in the world for me to comprehend at the time, but one thing I took away from it is how powerful it can be. Trust me,” he added with a laugh, patting Liam on the shoulder, “you don’t want to be the guy who tries to stand in the way of that.”
The comment earned Nick a scowl he chose to ignore.
“All I mean is,” he continued, “I, personally, have respect for how the universe brings together who it intends to bring together.”
Wiping sweat from my brow, I breathed a sigh of relief to have the support of at least one of the men in Noelle’s life.
“Let me ask you this: do you guys love her? Any of you? All of you?”
Not a single one of us hesitated to answer Nick’s question with our own resounding variations of the word “yes”.
“Enough to die for her,” Ori added, drawing a look from Nick that conveyed how those words resonated with him.
Glancing toward Liam, Nick chuckled. “Yeah … I think we both know a thing or two about that.”
The comment seemed to make Liam uncomfortable. Maybe because the shared experience Nick referenced forced him to see himself in this situation, and he might not have been ready to sympathize.
“Well, as much as I think we’re all enjoying this conversation, we’ve got more pressing issues to discuss.” Declan—the oldest of Noelle’s uncles—was the one who commented, addressing us in a heavy accent only he and his brothers shared. One that seemed to have skipped Noelle’s mother and grandmother.
“Thank God someone changed the subject,” Dallas said with a drawl. “Last thing in the world I want to talk about is my granddaughter’s sex-life.”
Liam grumbled with frustration, and it was an intensely ferocious sound. “I’ll say it once, and only once; Noelle has no sex-life.”
A look stabbed toward me and I nearly put my hands up in surrender.
“You know what I mean,” Dallas muttered before turning to face Ori next. “Tell us about what’s gone on here? What changes have you seen in Noelle?”
Ori breathed deep and gave the condensed version of the story. “Sometimes, she has outbursts where she acts out of character—hurts people, makes impulsive decisions, has little to no regard for the lives of most others.”
“Most others?” Caleb spoke up.
“Yes,” Ori answered. “She’s never intentionally hurt one of us. In fact, the only time she’s caused any of us four harm was when I intervened to stop her from tearing out the throat of a young lycan she tracked down in the rainforest.”
The statement had everyone’s attention. Perhaps Liam’s most of all. Seemed the discoveries he made about his daughter today just kept coming.
“Has she killed?” Ivan asked.
Ori was reluctant when he nodded. “She has,” he admitted. “We tried stopping her, but she used her magic to restrain us.”
These were still fresh wounds for Ori to discuss. It hadn’t been long since he’d shut Noelle ou
t completely because she was so out of control, but the close-call the night before, nearly losing her to the Darkness, had seemingly snapped him out of it.
“So, what are we doing about all of this? What are our options? Available resources?” Declan chimed in again.
“Well, as much as I’d like to lay out some battle strategy for all of you, that isn’t possible, because one doesn’t exist,” Ori admitted. “With Noelle linked to the dark presence, we haven’t been able to stop it from affecting her. What we can say is that after seeing that thing trying to take her completely just last night, we have to be vigilant about keeping her as far away from the northern hemisphere as possible.”
“And away from my father,” Kai added solemnly, keeping his eyes trained on the wood slats beneath his feet.
“Agreed,” Rayen added. “She’s already hard enough to control without her rage becoming a factor. I’m pretty sure that, after the danger he put Malu and Sydney in yesterday, there’s little we could do to keep her from killing the man.”
“Ok, so keep her from the north and away from the chief, but those are things we’re avoiding,” Liam pointed out. “As a man of action, I’m gonna need just that—actionable steps we can take to bring this thing down. Everyone has a weakness, a vulnerability, all we need to do is figure out what that weakness is, and then turn up the heat.”
“I don’t get why we can’t just take her back with us? Wouldn’t it fix everything if we got her off the island?” Josiah reasoned.
“She’s been marked,” Kai chimed in. “Wherever she goes, it will find her. Delaying the inevitable won’t do anything but lull us all into a false sense of security that’s sure to blow up in our faces.”
“Early on, that might have worked,” Rayen added, “but I think the best thing is to deal with the problem right here.”
To my surprise, Dallas nodded. “We came all this way to help, so I suggest we do that. Right here. Right now.”
Collectively, we agreed.
“I’ll bring the women out,” Liam announced when he stood. “We’ll strategize until we come up with something solid.”
“And we won’t sleep until we do,” Nick added.
As mainlanders, their ways were vastly different from ours here on the island. However, if there was one thing the Omegas had in common with this unique family, it was that we all loved Noelle to the point of it nearly being reckless.
She was important, and I believe each shared that understanding. Whatever it took to save her, we were more than willing to go the distance.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Noelle
My body and mind were exhausted, but sleep still wouldn’t come, and it didn’t take me long to figure out why.
I failed.
My main objective tonight had been to make sure I found a way to get my family off this island and in the clear, and somehow, I’d done the exact opposite. They’d dug their heels in even deeper, and I saw no feasible way to convince them to leave.
Good going, stupid.
Because I was certain there was no positive ending in this for me, there was no positive ending for my family, because they would no doubt end up caught in the middle.
Frustrated, I huffed and turned onto my side, but the second I settled in again, a faint creak across the room made me freeze. My first instinct was to pop into the guys’ heads to have them on standby.
However, a voice rendered me speechless.
“You’re thinking of calling out for help,” it said. “If you want them to live through the night, reconsider.”
Goosebumps dotted my skin and the thin hairs on my arms stood on end. I knew that voice. Both those voices. It was very clearly Tristan who spoke, but there was also another laced with it—the Darkness.
On the occasions where it spoke through me, I’d grown very accustomed to its sound. And hearing it now, I was so shaken I could hardly form a single thought other than the one that terrified me the most—please, God, no … not with nearly everyone I love under one roof.
Tristan emerged from the shadows. His shirtless frame illuminated by the moon’s glow. He seemed even thinner in this light. I mostly withheld food, only giving him enough to keep him alive—not happy. My magic had held him prisoner in the grotto for weeks, but that spell had apparently been no match to this island’s resident malevolence.
It took whatever, and whoever, it wanted. No matter what.
He stepped to the foot of the bed and I held my breath, lowering my eyes to his palms when he dropped them onto the mattress and crawled onto it. Slowly, keeping a sinister, solid-black glare locked on mine, he moved up my legs to my torso, until I pressed my head deeper into the pillow as his face hovered inches above mine.
I was wrong to say this was Tristan. It was his body, yes, but the disturbingly wide grin and chill to his skin gave away its true identity.
It was the Darkness.
Only the Darkness.
“What do you want?”
The question left my mouth with a desperate shudder, knowing things could quickly go from bad to worse if someone decided to pop into the room. This beast wouldn’t even hesitate to rip whoever it may be to shreds.
With a cool finger, it pushed strands of hair away from my face, eying the skin there afterward.
“What a silly question,” he crooned in that unearthly deep baritone. “I want what I’ve always wanted. Even long before this life.”
Before this moment, believing the Darkness had ties to the same evil that tried twice to end me before I’d even been born was merely speculation. Now, with that one phrase, one of my deepest fears had been confirmed.
Converging on this island wasn’t our first encounter. We had history.
Under duress, my dragon would instinctively pulse a distress signal to the Omegas. It had been the reason they felt me cross to the northern hemisphere, the reason Ori had tracked me down when a lapse in judgement sent me into the wilderness to hunt David. Now, as I stared evil incarnate in its eyes, I could only pray this was all over before the guys came running.
It was really only a matter of time.
“Tell me what I have to do to end this,” I panted. “Tell me what it’ll cost me to make this stop. Right here, right now.”
That wicked grin returned, and dread filled me because I already knew its answer.
“It won’t cost much,” was the first half of the cryptic response I received. “I only want you. Mind, body … soul.”
The clock was ticking and with the way my heart raced, it was a miracle Ori and the others hadn’t burst in yet.
“What’s there to think about?” it taunted. “You’re insignificant and your title has never been enough to save you. You must know how this will end,” it added with a dark laugh that gave me chills. “You’ll give in to me, one way or another. The choice is yours whether you’ll drag down everyone you’ve ever loved in the process.”
My breaths came hard and heavy as it breathed me in, leaning to inhale the scent of my neck, my face.
“There’s one flaw in what you said,” I panted. “We both know I’m far from insignificant. If that were true, you’d be making some other hybrid’s life hell. Not mine. You’ll never admit this, but … you need me.”
Those words left my mouth sounding far more confident that I actually felt. Especially knowing this thing had no qualms about taking out my whole family. The thought made my heart race and I knew that, soon, the Omegas would feel it. A choice had to be made, and it had to be made now.
“If I say yes,” I bargained, “if I let you have me, promise you’ll go back to the north as soon as it’s done. Promise no harm will come to my family and the Omegas tonight.”
I wasn’t exactly sure what leverage I had to bargain with, but I had to try.
It scanned my expression for a moment, not wearing one of its own. “Whatever you wish, Princess.”
Its tone was hard to detect, but I tried to let those hollow words be enough.
Tear
s left my eyes, racing down the sides of my face and into my hair. I nodded. “Do it,” I breathed. “Whatever it is, do it.”
Giving in was terrifying, yes, but it also came with an unexpected relief. Perhaps it was because, after fighting so long, I knew that fight would end here. The Darkness had officially won.
The vibration of what could have been footsteps made my heart thunder even harder, unsure if someone was headed this way.
“Do it!” I whispered coarsely, needing this to be over with sooner rather than later.
A wicked smile curved the corners of Tristan’s mouth as he leaned in toward my ear. “My pleasure.”
The cold hand once pressing my shoulder into the mattress now squeezed my jaw, coaxing my mouth open. Despite having given permission, it was instinct to fight what I was sure to be an awful experience. However, I was reminded that struggling would alert the guys, so I forced myself to relax, thinking of my best memories to help me let go.
A warm hug from my father. Late-night talks with Mom and Gram Elise. Meeting Toni, Marcela, and Manny. Reconnecting with Blythe. Meeting my guys. Falling for them.
Their love and protection had gotten me through so much, had saved me in so many ways. I only hoped they’d know there was nothing more that could have been done, and I appreciated every single sacrifice.
As the dark, smoke-like presence flowed from Tristan’s mouth and into mine, it crossed my mind to tell the Omegas how fiercely I loved them while I still could. Only, I knew what a terrible idea that was, so I’d just have to trust I’d done enough to show them.
It was impossible to draw in air, which left me choking and writhing on the bed as the Darkness filled my lungs—my entire body—to capacity. My eyes rolled into my head when my muscles went rigid, forcing my back to arch. My chest pressed toward Tristan’s as the last traces of the dark presence came into me.
The deed was done.
I felt a change right away, the instant I let it in. I felt how it expanded, attaching to the traces of evil already within me. My body vibrated against the mattress as sweat coated my skin. What little good I still had left was trying, and failing, to reject the intruder, but it was to no avail.