Triumph

by Serena Akeroyd

  “Someone who shouldn’t have been here.”

  “You mean, someone was here? In the house?” he barked, jolting to attention.

  “No need to fret now, Granddaddy-O. They’ve gone. I let them out.”

  “You let them out? What the hell did you do that for? You don’t just tell intruders to toddle-off-ski.”

  She blinked then laughed. “Toddle-off-ski? What the hell does that mean?”

  “You grab home invaders by the balls and then you rip them off,” he snarled, not answering. “Don’t wave them off after handing out cookie dough!” His voice turned squeaky as he pointed to the other spoon that had settled in a molten pool of French Vanilla.

  “She was here to speak with Theo. She made do with me.” She pursed her lips. “Lots going on at the moment, Granddad. I don’t like it.”

  Scowling, Louis settled in the seat Magda had just vacated. “What are you talking about?”

  “I’m talking about things that would blow your mind.”

  “Oh?” He pursed his lips. “You could always try me.”

  “I’ve learned a lot from Theo, Granddad.” She shook her head as she swirled the spoon in the melting cream. “I-It’s too much to take in at this time of night.”

  “I can handle it,” he said drily. “The President still has me on speed-dial, darlin’. I think I can cope with anything you can throw my way.”

  “Did you know there are four Gods and not two?”

  Louis blinked. “More than just Caelus and Terra?”

  “Yup. And Terra’s the big hoo-ha. Not Caelus.”

  He shrugged. “That doesn’t surprise me. We may look like we’re in charge, but Rosa has us by the balls. Make no mistake.”

  Thalia snorted at that. “Good to know.” Go, Nanna, she thought wryly. “But yeah, there’s a bad God too. I didn’t even know that until recently. He’s called Vulcun.”

  “I’ve heard of him. You know how Adrian likes to bore us with tales of the Ancient Romans.” He rolled his eyes. “He reigned over Tartarus, didn’t he?”

  “Yeah. Well, remember I said I’d blow your mind?” She pursed her lips and gave him the equivalent of word vomit.

  She told him of the wheel of souls.

  Shared the fact that the Devil was, in fact, a real creature called Morningstar.

  Explained how the Fae had been torn into two races by Morningstar’s defection. How the Dark collected souls on Vulcun’s behalf, and the Fae worked hard to keep Morningstar out of Heden.

  Then, she spoke of Rafe’s true heritage, of Mikkel’s. Of the child that was forming in her womb.

  And, she told him of how she’d almost died that afternoon.

  But, of all that, she knew what stunned him the most was, “You mean to tell me your baby is mated to the Devil?”

  His voice was a croak of outrage, and Thalia couldn’t blame him. That was pretty much how she’d been feeling all damn day.

  Rubbing her eyes as she nodded, she murmured, “Yeah. Crazy shit, right?”

  “And this Magda… she’s the one who betrayed you to Morningstar?”

  She nodded.

  “Do you think it’s wise to trust her with this?”

  “No. But, equally, I don’t think there is any gain to her lying to me about it either.”

  “There are always gains,” Louis warned.

  “She seemed truthful when she stated that she wished the agony of this life to be over with.”

  “And you believe that?”

  “I don’t see why not. She appeared miserable.” And ill. Wretchedly so.

  He pursed his lips. “Unfortunately for you, my darling granddaughter, you have much responsibility with none of the years of experience.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” she grumbled.

  “Exactly what it says on the tin,” he retorted. “You will come to learn over your long life that just because you are honest in most dealings, just because you see no reason for untruths, does not mean that others do not.”

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “We’re taking Morningstar down. That puts us on the same side, doesn’t it?”

  “Don’t be naïve, child. What if it’s a ruse? She’s shown her hand before. She betrayed you to him once before, why not again?” When she didn’t say anything, he placed his hand on her arm. “Did she tell you anything you didn’t know before?”

  “Only about how the Dark Fae’s purpose is to upset the balance on the wheel of souls. That their true master is Vulcun.”

  He frowned. “I see no reason why she would share such information with you.”

  “As far as I’m aware, she doesn’t know I’m pregnant. She doesn’t know that the child is fated to be Morningstar’s.” She shrugged and, from out of nowhere, the sudden need to comfort her baby overcame her. Thalia pressed her hand to the swell, seeking the little life that had spared both of their lives this morning. “She would have no reason to believe that we wish to take Morningstar down to save our daughter from that fate.”

  The sudden sound of feet padding down the hall came loud and clear. Neither of them were disturbed—even though their house had already been invaded once tonight—it was more than likely one of Thalia’s mates or one of her grandparents.

  When Theo popped his head around the door, she watched him take a noticeable gulp of air.

  “Think I’d done a runner?”

  He frowned. “No. Why would I think that?”

  “How about kidnapped again?” she teased, surprising herself by how easy it was to joke about that. Something Louis and Theo didn’t seem to share, for they glowered at her, and she just shrugged. “Be grateful I’m not a soggy mess right now. It’s better to laugh over something than to sob.”

  “That’s because you’ve experienced far too much of this kind of misery in your life,” Louis remarked gravely. “Aye, it can be said that there are many who have had it worse than you. But this is not a competition. This is life. You’ve had more than your share of ails.”

  He rubbed his chin as Theo took the seat beside her. His hand came to rest on her knee, and she reached out to cover his fingers with hers. At her touch, Theo murmured, “Why are you down here?”

  “I wanted something to eat.”

  “She slept through dinner,” Louis excused, and she knew he was giving her the opportunity to avoid a conversation about Magda.

  But Thalia didn’t need to avoid that conversation. If anything, it was one she needed to have with her Fae mate.

  “What is it?” Theo asked, apparently sensing the silent discourse between grandfather and granddaughter.

  She shrugged, trying to impart how very okay she was to him with that one easy gesture. Imbuing with her body language as well as her words. “I’m well, Theo, just remember that.”

  He scowled. “I didn’t doubt it. But now I do.”

  Grimacing, Thalia explained, “When I came down here, Magda was waiting for me.”

  His eyes rounded and tension coursed through his body like he’d been shocked with a thousand volts. “You can’t be serious. Did she attack you?”

  “No, of course not,” she retorted. “You’d have heard the commotion if that were the case, wouldn’t you?” It was then that she saw that silver flash in his eyes, a flash of glitter amid that sea of green that told her his control was on the cusp of snapping. “She wished to speak with you, at first.”

  “With me?” he gritted out. “What would make her think I’d be willing to speak with her?”

  “The fact that you were friends for a long time?”

  “A friendship she betrayed by putting you in danger.” His nostrils flared and he made to stand.

  Sensing that, she grabbed his hand, threading her fingers through his. “Listen to me, Theo. She has news.”

  “News I don’t trust,” Louis retorted.

  “I told him of our situation,” Thalia informed her mate when he just blinked at her grandfather.

  “Why would you do that? It isn’t like he can
help.”

  “Because he’s my kin. I love him. And I trust him implicitly. As does Mikkel.”

  “The words won’t pass these walls, Theodore. You know that. You’ve always been able to trust me. If you’d have chosen to do so that is.” Louis’ comment made reference to the fact that Thalia’s grandparents had known her mate long before Thalia had even been born.

  The TriAlpha and her Fated had been in business together back in the twenties.

  Theo ran a hand through his hair, disheveling the locks, making them tumble over his head like a stunning cascade of pure gold. Slightly distracted, she jolted when her grandfather cleared his throat in an evident prompt. She shot him a rueful grin, received one in return, and murmured, “She wished to explain what Morningstar’s true goals are.”

  “We already know. He wishes to return to Heden. He can’t comprehend that his exile is for all time.”

  “Yes, that is a part of his plan. He wishes to return home. I mean, when he spoke of his current digs, he refused to name it. Said it wasn’t his rightful place.”

  Theo snorted. “He made his bed. Now he must lie in it forever.”

  “Well, it doesn’t seem like he’s happy to just deal with it.” She narrowed her eyes at him when he tried to interrupt. “She also explained about Vulcun’s intentions with the wheel of souls.”

  “The wheel of souls?”

  “Yes. According to her, her main role as one of Morningstar’s people is to tempt people—”

  “We knew that already.”

  “No,” she bit off, scowling at his interruption. “You thought it was for mischief. Boredom. It isn’t. They want to tip the balance of the wheel of souls. They want to make it darker.”

  “How can they do that?” he demanded, jumping to his feet and striding back and forth amid the confines of the kitchen. The room wasn’t small by any means, but with Theo suddenly pacing, it felt a lot smaller.

  “By tempting people to do evil.”

  “And let’s face it,” Louis said, his tone grim, “they’re doing a damn good job of it. The state of the world…?” He shook his head. “I never thought to see the day when such evil as we’re seeing among us would be perpetuated so freely.”

  Theo ran a hand through his hair. The shaggy locks tumbled even more, falling over his forehead in a cascade of hair that made her clench her jaw at how delicious he looked. “This can’t be.”

  “Why can’t it? Why would she lie? What does she have to gain?”

  Theo hissed out a breath. “I don’t know. Upon reflection, I have to wonder if Magda was always close to the edge of falling. She played to different stakes than everyone else, and I had her running point in areas that could have led her into temptation. I shouldn’t have been so absent.”

  “What’s done is done, Theo,” Thalia told him gently. “Unless we can go back and rewrite the past?”

  She’d been teasing but Theo took her seriously. “We manipulate time here, but not there, dearling.”

  “I know, love. I was being facetious.”

  He winced. “Sorry.”

  “Don’t be.” She blew out a breath. “What can we do?”

  “Nothing. Save for what we were going to do in the first place.”

  “Eradicate Morningstar?”

  “Isn’t he just the errand boy though? What about the big boss?”

  Thalia blinked at her grandfather. “Huh?”

  Louis rolled his eyes. “Morningstar is just a minion. He’s top dog, but he’s a minion nonetheless. This Vulcun is obviously the main man.”

  Theo’s mouth turned down. “We have to draw them both out. Morningstar never leaves his lair, wherever the fuck it is. But, we have a means of bringing him forth.”

  “We do?” Thalia asked.

  Theo nodded. “Our daughter. He wants her, Thalia. That’s not going to change. Not only because he believes she’s the key out of his current life, but also because she’s his fated. Your wings prove that.”

  “Wings?”

  Thalia didn’t think she’d ever heard that particular tone from her Grandfather. Not when the Dolphins had beaten the Patriots back in ‘08 or when Rosa had come home one day with a rose tramp stamp tattoo, so that squeak was definitely going down in the record books.

  Wincing, she turned to him and murmured, “It’s been a long day.”

  “And it’s going to be longer,” Louis stated, his voice more even now as he glowered at her.

  With a sigh, she rounded her shoulders and waited for Theo to release the glamor that hid her new limbs from sight, and for shit to hit the fan.

  5

  Rafe

  “Where have you been?”

  The words were low enough not to wake him, but they woke him nonetheless. Rafe squinted at the light of dawn piercing the skylight overhead. The sun wasn’t out, but the sky was morphing, changing from night into day.

  He turned his head and saw Thalia climbing over Mikkel to settle into her usual spot beside him. Leaning up on his elbow, he watched Theo shrug out of the pants he’d pulled on. Was it weird to watch a guy undress? Yup. But watching Theo was like watching Michelangelo’s David in live action.

  The thought pinged something in his brain.

  “Sweet Gods,” Rafe breathed.

  The other three people in the room froze.

  “What is it?” Thalia demanded, her tone insistent.

  “You were Michelangelo’s inspiration for David, weren’t you?”

  Theo ducked his head. “We should get some sleep.”

  “No fucking way,” Mikkel retorted. “You can’t be.”

  “Why can’t he be?” Rafe countered. “They were friends, weren’t they?”

  Theo winced. “Do we really need to discuss this?”

  “Not really, but now we’re curious,” Thalia inserted, and there was a sparkle in her eyes that told Rafe she wasn’t going to let this drop no matter how hard Theo squirmed.

  Though a rumbling noise escaped his chest, he said, “Yes.”

  “Fuck!” declared Mikkel, ever eloquent.

  Thalia’s mouth had dropped open a little. “Mikkel? Can you pass me my phone, please?”

  Mikkel reared up slightly and reached over to the bedside table where three phones were gathered—the misery of a poly relationship was having far too many phones and not enough sockets for chargers. He picked up all three and peered at them to figure out who’s belonged to who. Shoving one at her, he mumbled, “We need to get you a bright pink, glittery case so I know which is yours.”

  She snorted. “Because I’m a pink, glittery person?”

  His grin was wicked. “Exactly. We need to get one that suits you.”

  Though Thalia rolled her eyes, she peered down at her cellphone and Rafe watched from his slouched position beside her as she searched for an image of David. When the statue popped up, he sat up taller and stared at the image, then at Theo.

  “Caelus,” he breathed, noticing the similarities instantly.

  “I always knew you were too beautiful for your own good,” Mikkel grumbled, making Thalia chuckle.

  “Beautiful?” she teased.

  Mikkel shrugged. “I say it how it is. The man’s fine. And yes, that’s from one straight man to anoth—well, whatever the fuck he is.” He scratched his chin in contemplation.

  His joke didn’t fall flat, but it made Thalia shift on the bed. Her hips rocked forward, subtly, but forward nonetheless, and a sudden scent perfumed the air. His eyes flared as he realized what it meant. With his tongue cleaving to the roof of his mouth even as his cock hardened beneath the sheets, he let his eyes drift shut as the perfume of her arousal clouded the air around him.

  “Caelus, you smell good,” he said on a groan after a few moments where the others carried on joking with each other.

  Had he been the only one to scent it?

  He peered over at Theo, saw his boxers tented slightly, and felt relieved that it wasn’t just him Thalia was affecting.

  Mikkel�
�s new senses were exactly that. New. And though Rafe wondered when this strange transformation would occur with him, now was not the time for thoughts of that nature.

  At his words, however, Thalia froze. “Huh?” she asked, but he heard the nerves in her voice.

  Nerves?

  He frowned at the notion, but stated, “I want that scent all over me.”

  She tilted her head to the side. “What scent?”

  “You’re hot for us,” he growled, and the sudden change to his tone had her swallowing—he watched her throat bob.

  Something changed in him. Almost like a switch had been clicked in his head. It was off one minute, on the next, and it had the power to wind him up. To steal the breath from his lungs like the wind could be robbed from the sails of a ship.

  It was like…

  What? Rafe asked himself. Needing to chart these changes, the scientist in him needing to understand even as this purely wild part just wanted to roll with it. Embrace this newness.

  It felt like when he’d shifted, he realized. Like he was a Wolf. Only animal, feral. Uncaring of the strictures of human society.

  The needs coursing through his veins made it hard to stay still when all he wanted to do was pounce on her. When all he wanted was to take her, slake his lust for her, and make her his.

  A growl escaped his throat, and he knew it rumbled along the airwaves in a way that had everyone in the room stiffening.

  Though he was aware of it, he was equally as content to ignore it.

  Thalia turned her head to the side and asked, “Rafe? Baby? Are you okay?”

  He wanted to answer, he really did, but he couldn’t. His tongue wouldn’t form the words. His tongue couldn’t form the words. Instead, he growled. It vibrated from his vocal chords in a way that should have scared him, but that was perfectly natural.

  Need. You.

  His own eyes widened at the realization that he’d spoken the words in her mind.

  You can have me, love.

  A tremor shivered down his spine. Don’t know what’s happening.

  You’re acting strangely, she told him, but her tone was calm. Free from panic. But it’s been a weird day, honey.

  He didn’t move because he knew if he did, he would frighten her. That was the last thing he wanted, even if somewhere deep inside him, it was what he needed.