by Helen Scott
“Any questions?”
“You’re telling me I’ll be living in the same castle as Hades and Persephone?” Poppy asked.
“No, they spend most of their time in Olympus now. They’ll come back for the changing of the seasons and what not, but usually Hades will only stick around for a week, two at the most, before he goes and joins Persephone in Olympus. It might be different if people still believed and made offerings to them, but a lot of the gods are weaker now than ever before, so they don’t have to do much, just exist, maybe perform a ceremony here or there, but it’s not very taxing.”
“And I thought things were complicated before,” Poppy breathed, and ran a hand through her brown locks. She looked slightly dejected, and I hated being the cause of that. All I wanted was to make her life easier, to help her become the queen I knew she was meant to be.
She was beyond beautiful. The natural wave of her hair framed her face, highlighting her cheekbones and full lips. Lips that were so kissable that most of the time I had to remind myself that I couldn’t just monopolize her time. The others needed their time with her, too.
I glanced over at Hunter. His face was stony as he watched the traffic around him and the swirls of snow drifting over the road. Hopefully after a few hours of going south, the snow would be gone completely. I knew his expression wouldn’t change, though. He was torturing himself with this hold he had on the memory of Katherine. The two of them had loved each other more than anyone else. Knox and I had tried, but she wouldn’t give us the time of day, so we stopped trying.
Losing a potential queen was the biggest blow of my life. There was nothing worse, until now. I looked over my shoulder at Poppy. If I lost her, I would be ten times worse than Hunter ever was. She was my future, my light, and I wouldn’t give her up without one hell of a fight. No agent of Hel or member of this new group, Alpha, would get their hands on her without going through me first.
I craved her and no one else, and I was more than happy to share her with the others if that meant that I got to be part of her life. If I let that craving take over, though, if I let it rule me, then I would lose sight of protecting her and be solely focused on fucking her, anywhere, anytime, with anyone, and that was something that above all else, I could not do. Her life, her throne, her realm, it all came down to us protecting her until we could get her to the Underworld, and though we hadn’t talked about it yet, I knew Knox and Hunter had to feel the same way. Today was too close a call. We had let our guard down in that diner, and someone had followed her into the bathroom. Someone had kept her in there against her will and had almost taken everything from her. Hell, if all they needed was her blood, then surely they could kill her anytime they wanted as long as they were able to collect, unless there was more to it.
Gods were always careful with what they discussed with and around lesser beings, but I knew based on my conversations with Charon, the ferryman who crossed the souls from the human realm to the Underworld, that one of the things they avoided talking about was the energy that made up the soul. When humans died, their souls went to one of a few different places depending on their beliefs, their lineage, all kinds of things, but what exactly was a soul? The souls that came to the Underworld were just the essence of the person who had died, but what if the throne could distinguish whether the owner of the blood was still alive or if their soul had already passed into the Underworld to be judged?
I couldn’t think of any other reason for them keeping Poppy alive and not just killing her in that bathroom and taking what they needed. Unless . . . Were they scared of Hel? Of giving her an opportunity to take the Underworld for her own before they could get there with Poppy’s blood?
A growl of frustration was stuck in my chest as the questions swirled around in my head. I knew two things for sure. The first was that I was already head over heels in love with Poppy. The second was that I needed to keep her safe from all threats, both from without and, I glanced over at Hunter, from within.
Chapter Nine
Poppy
When we pulled over at a gas station, I got out and stretched my legs. I could feel tension running through the bond, and it was making me jumpy. The fire within me was burning bright, and the multicolored flames were just as beautiful as ever, but there was a waver in Emmett’s red that had me worried. Looking at it also reminded me that I needed to at least do a blood bond with Cass. He’d fallen so effortlessly into our group that it was easy to forget. Unlike Nolan, no one had fought me on his addition, which I was happy about. How could I have explained that I just knew that Cass was the man we had been looking for if they hadn’t believed the same feeling about Nolan?
It didn’t matter now, because I had them both with me, and we were heading in the right direction to get my second judge. I just wasn’t sure if it was Shadow or the third judge who was still a mystery. Emmett was filling the tank, so I made my way over to him, but before I could get to him, Nolan stopped me.
“Can you take a look at these? Do any of them look familiar?” he asked as he held out his phone. The screen was covered in images of school mascots, not the suits that people would wear but the artwork that gets put on everything from walls to jackets for parents to bumper stickers. There was an eagle mid scream, a bulldog that looked as if it were angry with the world, a panther or cougar, or both since there was another cat just below it. Finally, on the bottom sandwiched between a lion and a badger, which was something I’d never seen before, was a snarling wolf.
The image pricked at my mind, and the vision came rushing back. In the hallway I had seen was an animal’s portrait. While most of the animal’s face was covered up by a poster, the snarling snout was still visible. It matched the image I saw on the phone, and I knew if that poster hadn’t been there, the rest of it would have matched as well. I pointed to it and said, “That’s it. How’d you find it?”
“Trust me, it took a lot of digging.” He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck.
“Thank you so much!” I squealed as I threw my arms around his neck. I finally felt as if something was starting to go right. Sure, I’d found my first judge, but that encounter in the bathroom had scared me more than I wanted to admit. The question that kept rolling around in my mind, the one I hadn’t had the courage to ask out loud, was how the hell had they found me?
The memory of the shielding that the guys did with me before we started this crazy road trip kept trying to surface in my mind, and I kept trying to push it back down. It was the only time they had hurt me, and I knew it wasn’t intentional, but that didn’t mean I had to like it.
When I pulled away from Nolan, he stopped me, holding me close a second longer and planting a scorching kiss on my lips that reminded me just how talented he was in bed. My motor was running in more ways than one. “What direction is that school in relation to the way we are heading?” I asked, wanting to make sure we were on the right track.
His face fell, and I felt a cold breeze wash over my skin. “It’s the opposite way. Your instincts have been pulling us southwest, but this school is on the east coast.”
“Shit.”
“The one thing that I’ve been thinking is that your vision took place toward the end of the school year, right? So as long as we get to him before then, we should be good. It’s only March now, so we have time.”
I felt torn in two different directions with this judge situation, not to mention the tension I felt radiating through Emmett’s bond and the fact that I still needed to do a blood bond with Cass. All of a sudden, it just felt as if everything was piling up. I took a deep breath and smiled at Nolan. “Thanks. What you’ve done really helps. Just make sure to save that address, okay?” I leaned up and gave him a quick but sensual kiss.
He grinned down at me and let me walk away without any fuss. I knew in that moment there was only one thing I could take care of before we got on the road again, and that was whatever was going on with Emmett. I walked around the side of the behemoth vehicle and found my quiet,
steadfast man.
I leaned against the side of the car as he looked up at me. The leather jacket I’d borrowed from Knox was drowning me. It was warm and smelled comforting, but it definitely was not sexy in any way. “Hey,” I said, trying to keep it casual at first.
Without even a syllable of response, Emmett stepped up to me and pulled me into a quick, firm hug before retreating enough so that he could kiss me. His mouth on mine was warm, and his tongue sweeping against my lips had my knees turning to jelly. He supported most of my weight as he pinned me against the car. I looped my arms around his neck and let myself revel in the sensation of the kiss. There was nothing that could compete with the way these men made me feel. It was better than chocolate, better than losing those last five pounds, better than my favorite ice cream on a hot Chicago summer day, better than getting exactly what I didn’t know I wanted for Christmas or my birthday. In a way, I supposed I had just that. I had no idea that I wanted, no, needed, these men in my life. I wouldn’t have even known how to ask for them if given the opportunity, but now that they were there, it felt almost perfect.
Emmett’s hand tangled in my hair, tugging on it as he angled me just right, while his other hand lifted me up so that I could wrap my legs around his waist. His hips ground against my own, and I couldn’t stop the small moans and breathless pants escaping me. I wanted him so badly that my whole body ached.
“You do realize this is a public place, right? That there are children around? Maybe try keeping your legs closed for half a minute, young lady. The whole parking lot saw you kissing the other one, and now you’re dry humping against a car in broad daylight. How on earth did your mother raise you?” A woman’s voice cut through our pleasure like a hot knife through butter.
“What did you just say to her?” Emmett asked as he let me down and turned to face our accuser.
“Em, leave it. She has a right to her opinion. That doesn’t mean we have to listen to it.” I tugged on his arm, trying to get him to listen to me and not lose it on this grandma who thought I was a slut.
“Keep your nose out of other people’s business, lady, or your liable to lose it,” he snarled, and pulled the nozzle from the tank before slamming it back into its holder. I didn’t even remember it shutting off.
Once the gas tank was safely closed, I tugged him around to the other side of the car, away from the offending woman. “Come sit with me?” I asked as I started to climb into the SUV. It was up to him, but I headed to the backseat. I felt the SUV dip to one side as he climbed in behind me. We both lay across the seats, my head resting against his chest and my butt against his groin. I knew I should have been more aware of what was going on around me, but when he kissed me like that, I lost all sense of where I was and what was going on. The only thing that existed was Emmett and me, and what the two of us felt like together.
When the car started moving again, I cuddled against Emmett. His warmth and his scent relaxed me enough that I finally felt the tendrils of sleep moving through me, drawing me down into a peaceful abyss. I wasn’t scared. Not at first. But within moments, I knew that this wasn’t a normal dream and I hadn’t fallen into a normal sleep. Irritation flickered through me. Would I ever have regular dreams again?
I felt the clarity of the vision wrap itself around me as the scene crystallized in front of my eyes. An abandoned store was before me, with windows covered in tan craft paper and a for sale sign with a phone number where each digit was as big as my face. My hand wrapped around the old-fashioned bronze door handle, and the thing opened as if it were brand new or freshly oiled. Not a scrape or squeak to be heard, the wood-panel door swung open silently.
A large open space was in front of me. As I made my way inside and across the shiny hardwood floors, the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end, and I had the distinct impression I was being watched. The back of the shop area had a large gray door with a green sign on it that read “Employees Only.” I pushed it open and found a man tied to a chair in the center of the room. Blood and bruises covered his dark skin. One of his eyes was swollen shut, and a trail of blood seeped out from behind the silver duct tape that covered his mouth.
When the door swung closed, his good eye snapped open, and he stared at me. The now familiar twang of recognition ran through me. He was my third and final judge. Without hesitation, I moved toward him, kneeling at his side and examining the ropes and zip ties that held him in place. My hand went to them, and a grunt drew my eyes upward to his head shaking back and forth.
“You don’t want help?” I asked.
He flinched as though I had screamed in his face, and I heard the floorboards behind me creak. His good eye widened painfully as he stared at whatever was over my shoulder.
“Ah, Poppy, so good of you to join us,” a woman’s voice said.
I recognized it immediately. It was the woman from the bathroom. I spun around and moved into a standing position.
“It’s so good to see you again. I’m just sorry it’s under such ugly circumstances.” She pouted as she looked over at the man strapped to the chair.
“What do you want?” I ground the words out, already guessing the answer but needing her to confirm it.
“Your blood, of course, sweetheart. We did try to be nice about it, offered you more than fair compensation, but when you never called . . . well, we had to take matters into our own hands, and poor Derek here is the consequence of your decision.”
“Derek is mine,” I all but growled at the woman.
“Of course he is, sweetie, but you can’t have him until I have enough of your blood to secure the Underworld,” she said as though I were a stubborn child.
“If you want my blood, you’ll have to come and take it.”
A peal of laughter ripped from her. “What is this? A bad action movie?” When she saw I was serious, she paused and tilted her head to the side as if reevaluating the situation. “If that’s the way you want it . . .” She trailed off with a sigh.
I watched as she kicked off her heels and shrugged out of her jacket before taking a stance as if she were Keanu Reeves in The Matrix. All that was missing was the waving gesture to start the fight. What she didn’t realize was that I had darkness on my side.
Chapter Ten
Poppy
I woke up with a start. As soon as I had used this weird new power of being able to control darkness in my dream, it had pulled me back. Apparently, I had moved away from Emmett during the trip, and he was now the one driving while Knox napped next to me. I felt as if I’d just come out of the desert or run a marathon. All I wanted was a drink and to fall back into a dreamless and visionless sleep.
Cass was sitting in front of me, and I touched his arm. He turned, and his dark-brown eyes captured me, not letting me go. A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth as we just stared at each other for a moment. “How are you doing, my sleeping princess? Catch some good z’s?”
“Not really, if I’m honest. I had another vision, but this time, it was about the third judge—”
Before I could say anything else, Nolan and Knox both perked up, their eyes branding my skin as they stared intently at me. Hunter cut in from the passenger seat, “Don’t tell us yet. Let Em pull off first so we can all listen.”
Emmett took the next exit, which brought us out to some cornfields and a couple fast-food places. I briefed them on everything I could remember, and they all gave me their full attention.
“So, if you’re up for it, Cass, I think we should do a blood bond as soon as possible. I think it would just make me feel more secure now that I know both of the other judges’ lives are in danger.”
He nodded, and before either of us could blink, Knox pulled a knife from his boot and offered it to me. It was old; I could tell that just from looking at it. A patina had built up around where the blade connected to the handle, while the handle itself looked as if it were made from antler or bone or something similar.
Cass gulped at the sight of it. “How much blood are
we talking exactly?”
“Just a cut on your hand,” I said, trying to play it off as nothing. Sure, it hurt, but most people had been through worse. I knew I certainly had. “Ready?”
After he took a few deep, steadying breaths, Cass nodded. I pulled the sharp blade across my palm before handing it to him to do the same. Blood welled up in the center like a lake. I could see the hesitation in his eyes, and it made me worry.
“You don’t have to do this,” I said, my voice a whisper so the other guys couldn’t hear it.
“I know. It’s not that I don’t want to; I’m just not great with blood, that’s all.” He swallowed thickly as he spoke as though he were trying not to gag. “Especially my own,” he added right before he shut his eyes and brought the knife down on his own skin.
As soon as the blood started pooling in his hand, I pressed mine into it so he wouldn’t see it as soon as he opened his eyes. The connection was almost instantaneous and as sharp as Knox’s blade. Wind rushed through my veins, tickling me and buffeting me about as if I were standing on the edge of a cliff and a storm was coming in. I reveled in the energy and looked inside myself for my fire. The colors danced around it, purple, red, blue, green, while my yellow and white remained strong in the center. After a moment, a flare of light had me looking away. When I looked back, a new flame circled my own, its teal color shining between the others as the bond settled into place. I followed the color to Cass and found his own flame burning strong and bright but dancing around as though being gusted about by the wind.
I pulled back and opened my eyes, feeling Cass’s nervousness radiating through the bond now, as well as seeing it in the way he bit his lower lip. “Towel?” I mouthed to Nolan while Cass’s eyes remained shut. He reached over and grabbed the roll of paper towels we had picked up at the gas station and handed it to me. I spun it on my lap and tore off a chunk, pressing it to Cass’s hand as soon as I withdrew my own. Once he was holding it in place, I made a makeshift bandage for myself as well.