by JL Madore
They were all going to die.
She wiped beneath her eyes and swallowed. “Very well, Dougal. Tell the hunters to prepare to leave. I’ll change and meet you in the courtyard at nightfall.”
Devious strapped on his flak vest and filled each sheath-slot with red-metaled weapons. The tables of armaments stretched down the center of the warehouse, swarmed by the amassed forces. He eyed the assembled men: the Shedim who wisely remained loyal to him when he’d defected, and the Dimme who supported Thrash’s claim as the rightful ruler of Castle Wandread and the Shedim.
“Pick your poison, men,” he said, “daggers, swords, bullets, or bolts—compliments of the most vile and visionary Darkworld Master of his time, Stryker.”
Thrash chose a compound bow and raised it up to check its sights. “My father may have drawn first blood in this battle, but Devious and I, his chosen successors, will take the war to the next step.”
Devious pulled her in for a kiss and pressed his hips against her belly. Sweet Prince, he loved the feel of an adrenaline hard-on. Battle did something erotic to him. Lit him up. Got his blood pumping like nothing else could.
“When this is over,” Devious whispered, “I’m going to fuck you in every room of the royal wing of the castle—Mistress.”
Thrash chuckled and bit his lip. “If you take out Cassiane and the bulk of her men, I might even let you.”
Kyrian sat on the lakeshore path, watching the blinking lights across the harbor. December was taking hold of the city, the bite of the wind something he’d never gotten used to. But instead of raising his collar and shying away from the hostility of the approaching Canadian winter, he was thankful for the icy gales. Yeah, not a good sign.
Over the past weeks away from Cassi, clawing nails of sensation had gripped every vertebra of his spine and scoured every muscle in his body. He was on fire, burning up from the inside. His balls had drawn up so tight, he swore they were going to implode. His cock was in a constant state of rock-solid, begging for release. And any manual attempt to ease himself just made things worse.
Zander had been a miserable bastard during his bonding, and he truly understood why.
He hoped distance would ease the urgency of his need to claim his mate, but that turned out to be a hells no. Worse. Much worse. His beast was in a full rage. Not knowing if she was towing the line . . . yet certain he couldn’t ensure her wellbeing if she wasn’t. It lit an icy fire beneath his flesh. There had been moments when he’d given in to his protective instincts, and begun to materialize to her castle compound.
The only thing that stopped him was knowing he would only disappoint her. He had no answers. He was no closer to finding a way for the Shedim to co-exist with the Human Realm. He was no closer to soothing the hostility of his brothers for Cassi and Stryker’s offenses against Austin.
He put himself back onto the hard grounds of the courtyard. Pictured the look on her face as she held that sword on him. The fear and hatred of who she thought he was burned in her expression. Then there was the look she’d given him once they’d become lovers. Now that was the female he’d fallen in love with. And he did love her. Down into the darkest reaches of his soul. So why hadn’t he transformed?
Did he need to choose her over his brothers? He wasn’t sure he could do that. As much as he’d get in that scenario, he’d lose so much more: his honor, his purpose, Austin and Z.
Hard pass on that.
Shifting his ass along the iron bench, he tried to relieve some of the pressure of his pants trapping his erection. No good. Fine. He stood, adjusted things, and paced down toward the frozen lake. When the wind snapped at his face, he lifted the collar of his jacket around his ears out of habit. His shitkickers broke through the crust of the snow crunching under his feet with every step.
What the hell was he doing? Being stubborn wasn’t helping a damned thing. This bonding heat was stealing his sanity. His focus was shot, and he was irritable as shit.
“Well, well, look what the cat hacked up.”
Kyrian turned toward the Asian schoolgirl with her pigtails and school uniform. She snapped a giant pink bubble and winked a golden eye as she tightened her puffy coat and matched his stride.
“Don’t start with me, Drake. I’ve got a Godzilla of a migraine and I’m testy.”
She tilted her head and pushed her lip out. “What’s wrong big daddy? You’re soooo tense.”
Tense didn’t even begin to cover it. “And you’re looking particularly ponytail pretty today. Something I should know?” The guy . . . girl, chuckled, and Kyrian got serious. “Look, I’m not at my best, buddy. To what do I owe this visit?”
She swung the bookbag from her hip, pulled off her floppy mitten, and fished around in one of the half-dozen pockets across the front. After a bit of a search and rescue, she came out with a USB key. “Your commander called me up and had me take the testosterone twins to the Shedim castle down in Hell. I don’t know why he’s surveilling the place, instead of levelling it after what was done to you—honestly, I don’t want to know—but I thought you should know.”
Kyrian growled, long and low. The sound that vibrated out of his chest was nothing he’d ever made before.
“By the feral Rottweiler reaction, and your impression of a giant lightning bug, I’m guessing I stepped in it. I apologize, my friend. I hoped Zandros would do you right.”
Kyrian glanced down at the green pool of light he was casting and tried to rein in his beast. If Cassi was minding the laws, Zander wouldn’t move against her. If, however, she was continuing along the lines of her father . . . then she’d be drawing a very dangerous line. Fuck.
Kyrian pulled out his phone. It vibrated in his hand and scared the shit out of him.
Drake raised a manicured brow. “Jumpy, Greek?”
With a one fingered salute, Kyrian checked the number. Just the Sumerian backstabber he was hoping for. Throttling back a growl, he brought it up to his ear. “Yeah.”
“Seth said you’re meeting Drake.”
“He’s here now.”
“Finish up, and getcha ass to the table. We got trouble.”
“What kind?”
“The kind that starts in the Darkworld, but ends in our own fucking backyard. For Chrissakes, Kyrian, stop growling at me and get here.”
“Where?”
“We’ve assembled in the gym.”
The gym? “Avoiding a certain Texan?”
“Exactly.”
“On my way.”
Kyrian materialized into his room at the loft and went straight to his closet. In two minutes, he was out of his cold and wets and in three, he was headed for the foyer.
He keyed in the security digits and was about to head into the stairwell when he heard the click of Stetson’s claws on the marble floor.
“What’s going on?” Austin asked. “Where is everyone?”
Kyrian turned, his hand gripping the doorknob tight enough to bend the thing in his fist. “Zander called a group chat in the gym. I’m headed there now.”
“Why the gym? Why not the war room up here?”
“My guess—he doesn’t want to upset you.”
“Well, he’s upset you. You’re about to go super nova.”
Kyrian had no control over the illumination of his mark. His beast sensed a threat to his mate and there was no reasoning with the impulse to kill to defend her. “S’all good, sweetheart. Once I know what it’s about, my beast will calm down. It’s just this damned mating bullshit. It has me bent out of shape.”
Austin strode across the foyer and pulled him against her chest. Even on her tip-toes, she only came to his chin as she hugged him. Her embrace usually quelled all his nerves, but tonight, he doubted anything would soothe the wild panic consuming his beast. Yeah, that wasn’t good.
“Remember how you reassured me that you’d watch out for Zander and me. That you’d do everything possible to make things right for us? Have faith in him, sweetie. We’re both on your side. It will all
work out.”
Kyrian didn’t believe that for a second but didn’t have time to argue the point. He kissed the top of her head and stepped back. “I love you too, cowgirl. I gotta run.”
He didn’t bother with the lights in the stairwell. He bounded down the steps four at a time and emerged onto the second floor at a run. He was a juggernaut, gaining momentum as he beat a path toward the gym.
The whole squad was milling around, shooting the shit, studiously not waiting on him. Right. He felt eyes on him the moment he burst through the door. Yeah, by the identical WTF worried looks warming his flesh, yeah, he was in rough shape.
Ignoring the peanut gallery, he stormed straight at Z and his brother had the sense to brace for impact. “What have you done, Adolphos?”
Zander met him eye to eye and raised his hands. “I take it Drake clued you in on our surveillance efforts. Good. That saves me the trouble.”
Kyrian’s fist soared like a sledgehammer, nailing Z square in the mouth. “You have questions about Cassi, ask me. Don’t pull our Watcher shit on her, Z. Not on her.”
Zander straightened and dabbed his lip. “I did ask you, and Seth called you about it as well. The fact that you never got back to us on Shedim activity sent a pretty clear message. So, fine, you don’t want to spy on your female, I’ll find out her intentions another way.”
“She’s not my female,” he spat. “She’s the enemy. Nothing more than a random fuck gone wrong.”
Zander bowed his head and fisted his dagger hand over his heart. “I should never have said that. In front of all our brothers, I apologize to my depths. Now, would you like to discuss what we found out?”
Zander thanked the heavens that his beast was locked in tight. Kyrian’s alter ego, however, was another matter. His brother was twitchy, glowing and by the perpetual shift of his stance, being driven mad by the need to bed his other half. The others weren’t going to like what came next, but what kind of a wingman would he be if he didn’t make every effort to keep Kyrian from ending up dead.
“I sent Seth and Phoenix to do recon on the Shedim. Their objectives were to locate the red-metaled weapons, find out what Devious is up to, and learn the intentions of the new Shedim Master now that she stands at the helm of her species.”
“Cassi’s primary concern is staying in power long enough to feed her people. And after watching her waste to the brink of death, I can’t say I blame them for what they’ve done.”
Cue a half-dozen colorful curses and screwed up faces around the room. Danel raised his stump. “You don’t blame them for this? For Tanek? Stop thinking with your cock, Greek, and give your other head a shake for once.”
Zander squeezed Kyrian’s shoulder in the Vulcan death-grip that Uriel used on him before more blood was drawn. “Stryker’s Shedim hunters that came here to target us are bastards, no question. It’s open season on every one of those fuckers, now and forever—but Kyrian’s got a point. There are Otherworld innocents suffering, literally starving to death day by excruciatingly long day. Aren’t we sworn to protect the innocent?”
Brennus scowled. “We uphold the laws.”
“Maybe that’s where the problem lies. Maybe instead of killing those who break the laws, we should try to amend the laws to help some of the Darkworlders survive.”
“Help them survive?” Danel spat out a barrage of f-bombs. “Your heads up your ass, Z. Are you telling me that, after finding chunks of Tanek in your elevator and cutting Austin down from a fucking meat hook in that cave, we should cut the Shedim slack?”
Zander’s ebony wings unfurled as his Mark flared to life. He winced at the images etched into his memory and stretched his neck while he regained control. “I’m reminding you that there are good and evil in both Light and Dark. We all know that. If you make a man watch his wife and children die while humans are gluttonous and wasteful, and then set the remedy for their suffering right within his grasp . . . how do you expect the scenario to go?”
“He’s going to take it,” Kyrian growled, casting a hard gaze across the room. “And can you honestly say you wouldn’t do the same? I’d kill to save any one of you, my brothers. I’d break rules. I’d do what needs to be done if it meant your lives.”
“The true crime is that we have to put them down for it.”
Kyrian turned, his gaze hard and, for the first time in their shared history, filled with betrayal. “What are you saying, Zandros? What do you mean by that?”
“I’m saying, your girl plans to mount an all-out feeding frenzy. If she, or the men she’s commanding kill one human that doesn’t fall within the parameters of sanctioned kills, our hands are tied. I’m sorry.”
Kyrian dematerialized, and the darkness of Zander’s beast consumed another piece of what was left of his soul.
“Stop your brooding, angelman.” He glanced to his beloved standing in the doorway. By the look on her face, he wasn’t going to like what was coming at him next. “It’s time you boys stop policing and start preventing. I’ve got an idea, but I need to speak to Kyrian’s female first. And Drina. Zander, you take me to the racetrack. Seth and Phoenix, I’ve got an errand for you, and then you’ll need to find Cassiane and bring her to me.”
Zander laughed, a full-bellied baritone that bounced off the walls. “Oh, cowgirl, you had me going for a minute with that.”
Austin propped her hands on her hips and raised a brow. “You’re the only one yucking it up, Zander. Now, come on, get on your horse.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Kyrian took form in the courtyard of Wandread Castle amongst the bustle of thirty hunters. His sudden appearance had them drawing weapons, but he didn’t fucking care. If they were here, they weren’t in the streets, and he still had a chance to save them all. “Where is your Mistress? I need to speak with her.”
It was Dougal who parted the gathering of men and stepped forward. “Drop your aim, boys. Kyrian isn’t here to harm anyone here, are you, sire?”
Kyrian rolled his eyes at the sire shit, but shook his head. Lifting his jacket, he turned and let Dougal remove his twin SIG forty’s tucked snug at the small of his back. “I’m here to talk, boys. If I’d wanted to retaliate over what went down when I was a prisoner here, you would have been put down over a month ago.”
“Kyrian?” Cassi rounded the mass of testosterone and stopped dead. His beast lurched forward, and he eyed her from weapons vest, to leather pants, to her steel-toed boots. “What brings you by? It’s been a long time.”
He turned and strode away from the masses, hoping she’d do him the honor of following him. When her footsteps beat out behind him, he counted himself lucky and headed to a stone corner, out of earshot. What he had to say was nobody’s business and hey, he didn’t need to worry about lighting, ’cause look at that, he was a walking, talking, patio lantern.
When they got to where they were going, Kyrian drew a steadying breath and met their situation head-on. “Zander knows what you’re planning tonight. Call back your hunters.”
“Call back what hunters? You just spoke to the lot of them in the courtyard.”
“You can’t shit a shitter, Cassi. You have four times that many men—”
“Had,” she snapped, clenching her fists at her sides. “It seems my forces have no faith in me. Devious convinced almost all of them to abandon us. Those are the hunters I have left, and half of them need training and are too young.”
Kyrian cursed. “All the more reason to call it off. If you move forward with this mass hunt, Zander will have no choice but to cull your party and put them down.”
She stared up at him, her eyes as big as two full moons. Man, when she looked at him like that, her pain reached right into his chest and squeezed his heart. “How could he know? You?”
Kyrian shook his head. “No, not me. It’s what we do, love. Why do you think we’re called Watchers? Point is, he knows, and he’s given me a head start to talk you out of it.”
“And do what instead? If you insist on
telling me how to serve my people, tell me how you plan to feed them? We’re almost out of food and what we do have isn’t fresh enough to support health and vitality. My people are starving, Kyrian. It’s as unbearable to witness as it is to suffer.”
He reached to touch her but caught himself and clasped his hands at his back. Images of her wasting away still gave him the quakes at night. “I swear, we’ll find another way.”
She laughed and threw up her hands. “Are humans suddenly going to offer up their organs without complaint?”
“We’ll petition the choir to adjust the accords. I’ll help train your hunters to find what you need and stay within the laws. I don’t know the answer, Cassi, but you have to follow a different path than your father. Swear it.”
“Swear it? Who are you to ask anything of me?” She picked up a piece of lumber from a pile of construction supplies and cracked him one in the arm. “You take my virginity, transform my blood needs, make me fall for your charms, and then threaten to kill me and everyone I care about. I don’t know what this burning is between us, but I hate it.”
“Don’t say that.”
“It’s the truth. I’m lost, burning . . . I ache all the time, and you don’t care. You spirit yourself off, back to your family, and leave me to toe the line like a good demon. Well, fuck you, Kyrian of Thebes.”
That sentence was punctuated with another heartfelt whack to the arm. Kyrian wasn’t sure if he was more amused by the lumber abuse, or the fact that Cassi had just f-bombed him.
“Nice follow-through, slugger,” Seth said, laughing behind him. “Hey Greek, how’s things?”
Kyrian seized the piece of lumber and stepped to block Cassi from his brothers. “What are you doing here, boys?”
Phoenix raised his hands and filled him in.
“Now? Why does Austin need to speak to her?”
Seth shrugged, tilting his head to the side to get a better view of Cassi. “Didn’t say, but she seemed set on it, even for her.”
“Kyrian, what’s going on?” Cassi asked.