by Cassi Carver
“What’s going to happen now?”
“It depends. If word gets back to the Southwestern Coven that I’m working for the O.P.A., then I’ll have to go into hiding for a while.”
“With what you’ve done to Abbey, hiding is probably a pretty damn good idea.”
“Kara—” it seemed to take all his strength, but he picked his head up to look her in the eye, “—Abbey is my lifemate.”
Kara stepped back. “What are you talking about? How do you know that?”
“Trust me. When you find your lifemate, you know. I think she knew it, too, on some level, but she couldn’t figure out what she was feeling with me being masked as a human. She said she left me because I never truly understood her, but I think she was just confused.”
Being a witch’s lifemate was nothing like being a Demiáre’s bondmate. For Demiáre, the bond was created by physical contact and could diminish over time. For witches, a lifemate was forever. Destiny.
So many puzzle pieces were fitting together in Kara’s mind. Like, maybe that was why she could sense emotions in Tray sometimes like she could with Abbey. The connection with Abbey had been forged over a lifetime, and because Tray was her mate, Kara might have the same kind of connection with him.
But what would Abbey do when she found out the truth, that the man destiny had paired her with was also the man who’d sold her out to the government and put her and Kara in danger from the Southwestern Coven? Kara doubted Abbey would ever forgive Tray. But living the rest of his life without his lifemate seemed like a pretty adequate punishment.
“You made choices, Tray. Even if you thought the reason was honorable, you hurt a lot of people.”
He hung his head. “I know.”
Kara reached up to yank on his cuffs again. The small movement made him groan in agony. “Just hold on. I’ll get these off of you. Maybe there’s a tool or something around here.”
“Let me help you,” a voice said from behind her. She spun and smacked right into Julian’s punctured, sticky chest.
“Oh my God.” She threw her arms around him and squeezed. “I thought you were gone. I didn’t know if…”
“Not yet.” He reached over her shoulder and tugged the shackles with the strength only a black-wing possessed, yanking the fasteners from the rock.
With a grunt, Tray fell in a heap at their feet. “Thanks.”
From somewhere in the tunnels, the sounds of fighting rang out—metal on metal, shouts of pain, growls of victory. “Who came?” she asked Julian.
“Your Mercury Clan. Aiden said they had you on the block, so they were waiting for my signal that you were safe before they proceeded. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t broken free.” He shuddered. “I wasn’t sure I could get to you in time if Claudius dropped the blade.”
“He was going to kill you, you stupid Son of the Sky! That ritual he did made your body as vulnerable as a Demiáre.”
“If we were going to die, I wanted to go first. I couldn’t have endured it any other way.”
She pulled back a few inches to look at Julian. His hair and face looked as if he’d been dunked in a bucket of red paint, and he didn’t seem as steady on his feet as the first night she’d seen him in the alley. “Are you really okay?”
He looked chagrined and held his fingers an inch apart. “I could use maybe a little sip.”
Kara scraped a crimson claw across her wrist and held it to his mouth. He sucked greedily. “Why did Claudius give up so easily?” she asked. “He made it sound like he was as strong as the Aniliáre now.”
Julian wiped the back of his hand across his lips. “I doubt he’s given up, but I don’t think he wanted to regroup in a room with a female who was calling on her power and laying waste to his men.”
Her lips drooped in a big, toothy pout. “I have fangs.”
He grinned and pressed his sticky lips to hers. “You’ve never looked so beautiful.”
They’d descended into the field like a swarm of locusts, more than fifty silver-wings each carrying a demibreed warrior in his arms. Gavin led the charge, while Aiden and Sarah hung back, trying desperately to dampen the effect of the ward as the Mercury warriors blew through. It had been Julian’s suggestion to even the playing field by giving Sarah a dose of his blood, and that had made all the difference in counteracting Claudius’s dark magic.
It still hurt when Gavin crossed the invisible barrier. He almost dropped his sword, but he steeled his spine and allowed the electric ribbons to whip over his skin. The only thing of importance was Kara. He’d grown desperate waiting, wondering if something had happened when Julian failed to summon them. But then at last, Gavin felt the tug on his charm and he was off, with the rest of the warriors frantically tracing his path.
He ran through the tunnels, slowing only to bash his fist or the hilt of his sword into someone’s face, and then he kept going, leaving the wounded for other warriors to finish. His singular goal was to get to Kara, but the place was a damn maze. Tunnel after tunnel with some pathways leading nowhere at all.
“Kara!” he shouted.
“Over here,” a woman called.
He followed her voice down another corridor and threw open the door. “Kara—” he began, but the woman had black hair and tattoos covering her skin. Kara was nowhere to be seen. The air smelled ripe with blood, and under it all was Julian’s essence.
Suddenly, the door behind him blew closed, and Gavin felt as though invisible hands were garroting his neck. He dropped to his knees, anchored in place by a strong force. A brown-haired man with bloody lips stepped in front of him, his hand curved as though he had Gavin by the throat from five feet away.
“You see, Sage. All I needed was a little more blood.”
It was Claudius Sellers. And he looked as though he’d had enough blood to send him over the edge. He was manic, smiling like a storefront mannequin with crazed eyes.
“Hurry up and kill him,” she said. “There must be a dozen more Fallen out there in the tunnels, and I still have Kara to deal with.”
“Relax, sugar.” He smiled at Gavin, squeezing tighter with his extended fist. “We’re going to pick off these weaker Demiáre like sick gazelle. And when the other hemispheres see what I’m capable of, they won’t dare challenge me.”
Gavin’s eyes bulged, and he clawed at his throat, unable to draw a breath. His lungs burned, and he felt as though he would implode if he couldn’t shake Claudius’s grip. But as his pain and anger grew, so did his power, crackling through his veins. He held his palm before him and threw a blue ball of fire at Claudius’s head. When it hit, Claudius tumbled backward.
Gavin sucked in a full breath. Then he picked up his sword, walked to the high priest and plunged the blade through his heart. “Here’s a tip for world domination—kill first, talk later.” Staring down at the high priest’s dimming eyes, he added, “And another thing—I’ve never been a weak Demiáre.” And then he twisted the blade, leaving a gaping pit in Claudius’s chest.
With a panicked cry, Sage bolted for the exit. Gavin plucked the sword from Claudius and hurled it at the door like a javelin. It stuck mere inches from Sage’s head. “I don’t think you’ll be dealing any more with Kara tonight.”
Chapter Twenty-One
By the time Jaxon flew onto the scene, his wings flapping and his arms cradling an overexcited redhead, more than half the Mercury warriors had already returned home and the others were assembled in the lot. Several warriors had been seriously injured, but not one witch had been successful in removing any heads. Claudius’s supporters weren’t as lucky. Only a handful had survived.
Gavin had almost given the order to burn the bodies and collapse the tunnels, but when Tray was carried out, he insisted they call the authorities instead. And that was how Kara came to be standing in a pitch-black field in the middle of Jamul with three dozen Mercury warriors and half as many men in dark suits. Watching Sage being handcuffed then driven away in a dark, unmarked car, wasn�
��t as satisfying as killing her. But it was good enough.
Gavin and Aiden agreed to answer more questions if needed, but they refused to allow any of their people to be interrogated by the O.P.A. And interestingly enough, the suits didn’t look like they were going to push it.
Seeing Kara, Abbey ran to her and threw her arms around her, while Jaxon went to speak with Gavin. “So I guess Jaxon and I didn’t exactly get here in time, huh?”
Kara squeezed her back. “I was so worried about you.”
It was a good thing Abbey didn’t know that Tray had been in the ambulance that just tore out of the field with its sirens blaring. If she’d gotten there any sooner, it would have been uglier than any of them could handle tonight.
“Are you all right?” Abbey asked her. “Please tell me yes so I can beat the crap out of you. How could you send me away and not tell me that Claudius threatened you?”
Kara pulled back and glared at her best friend. “How could you not tell me that you were the future high priestess of the flippin’ northwestern hemisphere?”
“Yeah…well…I never wanted to be.”
Kara shook her head and hugged Abbey again. “Well, you are. And I don’t mean you’re the future high priestess. I mean you are the high priestess.” She met Abbey’s eyes, unsure how she’d take the news. “Claudius is dead, Abbs.”
“Oh.” Abbey’s face went blank, and her shoulders slumped. “I guess that’s a good thing, right? I wanted to kill him myself when I learned what he’d done to my family.” She was quiet for a moment. “But no matter how much he deserved to die…he was family, too.”
“I’m so sorry.” Kara pressed her cheek to Abbey’s.
“Me, too.”
She hated to ask, but she had to. There was no knowing how far Claudius had been willing to go. “Did you hear from Grammy D? I was trying to get a hold of her all week, but I haven’t talked to her since Friday.”
Abbey laughed. “Yeah, I talked to her. Not everyone has a silver-wing taxi service to take advantage of, but she and her blue-hair crew should be burning rubber around the corner any minute now, ready to kick ass. I, uh…have a lot to tell you about later. Not the least of which is—” she lifted her shirt to reveal a smooth, blemish-free belly, “—ta-da!! I’m all better.”
“Wow.” Kara’s eyes almost bugged out of her head. All this to cure Abbey’s brand, and she came home good as new? “I can’t believe it, Abbs. That’s amazing.”
Jaxon approached Kara and picked her up off her feet, twirling her around once. “Thank the Maker you’re well, mistress.”
“Mistress?”
He kissed her forehead and set her on her feet. “Kara.”
When he stepped back and wrapped his arm around Abbey, Kara took in the changes since she’d last seen them—the way Jaxon seemed to stand taller with Abbey at his side and the way Abbey’s cheeks flushed as she glanced up at him. Kara raised her brows. “It looks like we do have quite a bit more to talk about.”
But telling Abbey about Tray was something that would have to wait until they were home alone. The news was going to rock her world right off its axis.
Jaxon smiled. “And Julian? I only gathered bits and pieces listening to the lords.”
Kara breathed a deep sigh of relief. “He made it to the Shadowland. Gavin just got back from taking him. The ritual Aiden performed earlier tonight helped Julian stick it out a little longer here, but they’re telling me he’s going to have to recuperate in the spirit realm and establish a place for himself there before he can travel.”
“Well, considering we all thought he was dead, that sounds like great news,” Abbey said.
“Oh, you don’t know the half of it. Hold on.” Kara turned her back, and her brow wrinkled in concentration. Slowly, red crystalline claws eased from her fingertips, but without fight or flight doing its thing, she could only get them to peek out halfway. She turned back to her roommates and held her hands palms down. “See. I’m maturing. I should be able to travel to the Shadowland to see him soon.”
“Oh…” Abbey smiled and nodded. “Those are…nice.”
Kara bit her lip and regarded her stumpy claws. “You don’t think they look sort of gross?”
Abbey shook her head emphatically. “No! I love ’em. You can’t even pay to get nails that cool.”
Kara smiled, relief coursing through her, and Jaxon bent to kiss her hand. “They’re stunning.”
Over Jaxon’s shoulder, Kara saw a messenger touch down, his wings extended. He said something quietly to Aiden and Gavin. Aiden smiled and gestured with his arms for the group’s attention. “I have an announcement! The Mercury Clan celebrates the arrival of our first child. Olivia has had her baby boy!”
Cheers went up all around, but Gavin met Kara’s eyes. She saw pain reflected there, maybe even regret. She held his gaze, silently saying goodbye. It hurt more than she could imagine, but he’d made his choice when he’d left her, and she could finally let him go. Julian was her life now.
“Oh, Olivia. He’s precious.” Kara held the squirmy little bundle awkwardly in her arms. She’d never been a big fan of babies, but this one could definitely grow on her.
As she watched, his softly rounded cheeks puffed up, and he turned beet red. Then he sucked in a mini lungful of air and let loose with a cry that almost pierced Kara’s eardrums. She smiled and held him out to his mother. “Here you go. I think he wants you.”
Olivia put him to her breast and glanced behind Kara. “You don’t need to watch from the door, Aiden. If you want to hold him, all you need to do is ask.”
Kara cringed when she turned and saw Aiden standing there, as if he’d had ringside seats to her maternal crash and burn. “Actually,” he said, his smile apologetic, “I’m here to pick up Kara.”
Was it time already? Had she been fawning over baby Bernard for over an hour? “Oh my gosh. I’m so sorry, Olivia. I didn’t mean to stay that long.”
Olivia patted her hand. “I enjoyed it. I wish you would come to the island more often. Maybe next week…or tomorrow? If you like to hold him so much, I might be able to sneak away for an hour or two and give my men some much-needed attention.”
Kara laughed uncomfortably. “Can you imagine if I were to monopolize all his sweet little time?” she crooned, realizing she was making faces at the back of a baby’s head that was securely attached to his mother’s breast. “The ladies of the clan would probably kill me.”
Aiden said quietly, “You are a lady of the clan now, Kara. You formally agreed to be one of us, so you have as much right to be here as anyone. And it would be nice for the others to see a little more of Teras’s daughter on the island.”
“Thanks, Aiden. I’ll keep that in mind,” she replied. But the truth was, guilt over the clan coming to her rescue may have prompted her to sign on the dotted line, but since Julian wasn’t going to be around much, she really couldn’t see the point in hanging out here either.
“Wonderful!” Olivia exclaimed. “So tomorrow, then?”
Kara blinked. Either Olivia was listening to a conversation Kara wasn’t a part of, or she was really, truly desperate. With the way Ryen walked around as if he owned the island now, Kara had almost forgotten he wasn’t the only man in Olivia’s harem.
“Oh… I’m not sure. Honestly, I’m not that great with babies.”
“You can’t break him, Kara.” Olivia pulled baby Bernard from her breast, held him up and gave his bottom a hefty pat. “These demibreeds are made of sturdy stock.”
“Okay, thanks.” Crap, how was she going to get out of it now? She smiled and rose from the chair. “Maybe if I can convince Jaxon to give me a ride.”
Aiden regarded her with an air of helpfulness, but Kara could see the humor in his eyes. “All you have to do is summon me whenever you’d like to visit the clan, Kara. You know it’s no burden to flash over and pick you up.” He looked to Olivia. “What time did you have in mind?”
She pursed her lips in thought. “Mayb
e…four? And I wouldn’t be gone long. Perhaps six, or eight…thirty?”
Kara stifled a groan. “That sounds…super.”
“It’s nice to have a child in the clan, Olivia,” Aiden told her. “I haven’t seen the general morale this high in years.”
Her face lit up. “And now Gavin’s expecting one of his own. The clan is truly fortunate.”
Aiden’s smile turned to a dangerous scowl. “Who told you that?”
Her eyes widened. “I heard it from—” she paused, as if rethinking what she wanted to say, “—I don’t remember. What, is it not true?”
Kara’s pulse was like a thunderstorm pounding through her ears. She watched Aiden’s lips, waiting for him to deny it. But instead he said, “You can’t protect them, Olivia. If there are people listening in on private conversations and spreading gossip, I must know.”
She covered Bernard with a blanket and looked around the room, as if she was hoping something spectacular would happen outside the windows and draw Aiden’s penetrating gaze away from her. Finally, she sighed and said, “Riana. She was looking for you and overheard it. Don’t be cross, Aiden. It’s not like she can turn those ears of hers off. But maybe she was simply confused.”
“Maybe.”
Kara knew if anyone was looking at her, she’d be white as a ghost. She’d almost lost circulation in her hands and feet. So that’s what Gavin had been doing in the Shadowland—visiting his mistress. And Kara had been a total fool.
Her lips formed the words automatically, as if she were on autopilot, spiraling toward the earth. “Well, Aiden, I guess we’d better get going.”
Olivia grinned. “Yes, I heard. Aiden is taking you on your first trip to the Shadowland today. Good luck! May it be all you imagined it would be.”
Kara forced a smile and waved goodbye, then followed Aiden down the path from Olivia’s house. Like the other homes of the females who lived on the island, it was set into the lush mountains and had plenty of room for warriors and lovers.
She pushed a large banana leaf out of her way and met Aiden’s eyes. “Is it true?”