by Helen Scott
“Thank you,” I said quietly before glaring over my shoulder at them. “Apparently we don’t know as much about the Underworld as we need to right now. One of my guys has gone missing, and I can’t sense him through the bond. I can’t even feel the bond. Can you help us track him down?”
“Sure thing,” Ben said as he stripped off his leather jacket. It had made him look older and harder than he was. The soft brown curls that fell around his face and the slight beard he sported looked more hipstery than anything else when the jacket was off. It made me reevaluate his age, not that it really meant anything when I was sleeping with men who ranged in about the same age as me to hundreds of years old.
“Is there anywhere that can shield magic?” Emmett asked.
“Yeah, a few places. Where was the last time you saw him?” Ben asked as he came over and perched on the arm of the scarlet couch.
“He was in my room while I was cutting my hair,” Derek said.
“So this general area?” Ben asked, running his hands through his curls.
Derek gave a short nod.
“My first guess would be Tartarus. Everything that’s down there is sealed in by magic on top of being sealed in their cells and having the creepiest guards ever. Seriously, that is not a place to fuck around with, and if he went down there, we’ll have to get one of my aunts to try to get him out.”
“What’s wrong with the guards?” I asked before I thought better of it. I probably didn’t want to know, but the question had been asked now, and I could see from the looks on my guys’ faces that I wasn’t the only one wondering about it.
“Hecatoncheires,” he said, as if that explained everything. When we all blankly looked at him, he added, “They were some of the first beings created, but they aren’t the brightest. They helped overthrow the titans, but then Zeus didn’t really have a use for them, so Hades being Hades took them in and gave them a job that for the most part doesn’t require anything of them.”
“Are they gods?” Hunter asked.
“No, definitely not. They are huge, like bigger-than-you-can-possibly-imagine huge, and they have over a hundred arms and fifty heads. Creepy bastards.”
The image didn’t work in my mind. It was as if my brain just stuttered and jumped over it. How could something have one hundred arms and fifty heads? How did it all fit?
“Okay, so how do we find out if Cass is down there?” Shadow asked, as practical as ever.
“One of the original furies, either my mother or my aunts, will have to get him out for you. They’re the only ones allowed down there, unless they escort you.”
“Can they escort all of us?” I asked. “We could spread out and help them look.”
Ben shook his head. “No, the person has to be in physical contact with them to get through the barrier. Plus, even they don’t have control over the hecatoncheires, so they usually have to work around them.”
“Then how the hell did Cass get down there?” Hunter asked.
“An excellent question,” Ben said, folding his arms over his chest as he thought.
“Tartarus is for the worst of the worst, right?” Emmett asked. When Ben nodded, he continued. “And it’s for people who are too powerful to contain in the regular areas of the Underworld?” Another nod from Ben. “Okay, so could something have lured him down there? Manipulated magic enough so that he wouldn’t know it was warded?”
“It’s designed to prevent that exact thing,” said Ben.
“Could it have anything to do with the fact that he’s supposed to be a judge of the Underworld once I take the throne?” I asked. I knew I was grasping at straws, but what other options did I have?
“He’s a judge?”
I glanced at the guys, verifying that I didn’t just say something stupid, before I nodded.
“Okay, well, that changes things. It’s not like the magic should have let him in since you haven’t taken the throne officially yet, but I’m guessing that if he’s down there, it’s because you’re all here and it’s making the magic screwy. Just stay out of any tunnels or—” Ben’s voice cut off as the sound of feet running echoed down into the bar. It wasn’t just one set of feet, though. It was multiple, enough to have the guys rising from their chairs and looking for weapons.
“Is there a different exit we can take to get out of here?” I asked in a hushed tone. The last thing I wanted was for my voice to carry and speed up the movements of whoever was coming.
“Nope. One way in, one way out. That’s what you get for hiding out in the prison.”
“Weapons?” Knox asked.
“Coming right up,” Ben said before he disappeared down the hallway only to reappear moments later with swords, axes, and morning stars in hand.
“Quite the collection,” Nolan joked from where he leaned against the wall.
“Hunter, Emmett, Nolan, and I will teleport to the back and attack in hound form. Derek and Shadow, you guys stay here and pretend you’re guarding Poppy. Ben, can you teleport her out of here?” Knox asked, glancing at each man in turn and receiving a nod.
“I can stay and fight!” I protested. They were always discounting my abilities, and it was starting to piss me off.
Knox stared me down for a moment before he asked, “How many times do we have to have the you’re-too-important-to-lose conversation?”
“How many times are you going to forget that I can control the dead?”
“And what if this is Alpha?” Emmett chimed in.
“Poppy is right,” Hunter butted in before all hell broke loose between us. “She has abilities that may be useful. We’ll attack from behind as we said, and if it’s agents of Hel, then you’ll hear one howl, Alpha will be two howls, both will be three howls, and get the hell out, abandon ship, whatever you want to call it, will be four howls. Does that work for everyone?”
I nodded at him, surprised by the willingness to compromise coming from the hound who, until that little speech, I didn’t think trusted me to sneeze in the right direction, let alone take part in a fight. He nodded back with respect shining in his eyes. Maybe the tide was beginning to turn for us?
“I don’t like it. The queen should be protected at all times. This leaves her vulnerable,” Emmett said, shaking his head.
I looked at Knox, who was watching me. I knew he trusted me, that his hesitation was only for my safety, but couldn’t he see that I wanted him safe as well? He sighed, and hope flourished in my chest. “Fine. My queen will always get what she wants, but if any of the enemy so much as makes it within visual range, then Ben gets you out of here. Clear?”
I nodded.
“I can just jump her to my apartment. Won’t take a second, and then I’ll be back to help you.”
“No,” Hunter jumped in, the tension in his voice surprising me. “If she leaves before she claims the throne, then she won’t be able to come back to the Underworld unless she’s dead, and then she won’t be able to be queen. You can take her somewhere else, but she can’t leave the Underworld.”
“Understood. I can drop her off in the Halls of Night, or on the Isle of the Blessed or something.”
“I don’t care where so long as she’s safe,” Knox said before looking at me. His gaze was intense as he approached, and I expected him to remind me to stay safe or something, but as the sound of footsteps in the tunnel got louder, all he said was, “Kiss for luck?”
I smiled, unable to help myself as I pulled him down to me, wrapping my body around his. When our lips met, the fire of our bond flared and became even stronger, reigniting every feeling I had for him. Love was the only way to describe it. It flowed between us like the moon pulling the ocean. I just wasn’t sure if I was the ocean or the moon.
When he pulled away, his eyes were soft for a moment, his emotions radiating out of him and wrapping around me as though he could cocoon me within them to keep me safe from all harm. As he straightened and let go of me, his eyes shuttered, hiding all those wonderful feelings away.
Emm
ett was right next to him as Knox stepped to the side. “Kiss for luck?” He repeated Knox’s question, one I had asked them when we’d first found each other and went on the road looking for my judges.
I grinned and pulled Emmett into a scorching kiss, feeling my bond with him flare just as my bond with Knox had. Our kiss was shorter, and when he pulled away, his eyes were already focused on the battle that lay ahead of him.
“Be safe,” I whispered before I kissed him on the cheek and let him step back.
I hadn’t expected Hunter to be waiting next to Emmett, but there he was, my redheaded hellhound. “Do I need to ask?”
I chuckled and shook my head. He stepped into me, wrapping his arms around my body and crushing me to him as his lips met my own. The fire of our bond exploded, and I felt as if I could see all the stars glittering in a nonexistent sky. When he pulled away, I was panting for breath. I had expected a peck, maybe a little tongue if I was lucky, but not a full-on breath-stealing, weak-in-the-knees kiss.
“Don’t do anything stupid,” Hunter said before he whirled around and walked away, leaving me almost stumbling from his sudden absence.
The three of them disappeared as the shadows rose throughout the room and wrapped themselves around my men. A tendril of fear whispered through my mind, but I squashed it. Now was not the time for fear. Now was the time to kick ass and make my guys proud.
9
Poppy
We stood and waited, my ears straining to make out the sounds coming toward us. I only wanted to hear one howl. Just one. It would tell me I could stay and make sure my guys were safe. I was tired of having to leave them behind for one reason or another. Ben hovered next to me, wicked curved blades in each hand. I had a short sword that he’d given me, but if there was more than one howl, the likelihood that I would get to use it was zero. Shadow and Derek stood slightly in front of me to each side, weapons in hand and bodies tense but ready for the oncoming fight.
One lonesome howl pierced the air.
The footsteps that had been racing toward us slowed, and I waited to see if there were any other sounds. When none came, I wanted to do a victory dance to celebrate that I got to stay, but I didn’t have time because I had to prepare. The agents of Hel were still coming after they stopped for a moment, and I could hear the growls and snarling of the hounds attacking. I started forward as I gathered all my power to me.
“Wait,” Ben said.
I whirled on him. “I can control the dead and give them an edge in the fight. I’m not waiting. You can either come with or stay behind. It’s your choice, but I won’t wait for them to come to us and risk my hellhounds getting injured.”
“Fine, but if you get within arm’s reach of any of them, I’m dragging you out of there,” he said as he kept pace next to me.
I heard Derek and Shadow fall in step behind us as we took the fight to the agents of Hel, and I wanted to smile. These men were fighters, and they were mine. Why they had been chosen to be judges, I had no idea, but I was grateful for them each and every day.
We crested the rise of the tunnel and found a swarm of agents battling against my hounds. My power lashed out like a tsunami. It sucked all the magic from the room before it exploded out of me, washing over the group and freezing all the agents in place, while my guys and Ben began to deliver death blows to all they could.
I did my best to hold all of them in place for as long as I could, but there were too many of them, and my power was still new. I hadn’t yet learned the ins and outs of it, nor did I know if it was at full strength yet. As my hold on the agents of Hel wore thin, I could feel them pulling at the power keeping them in place, and for each one my guys killed, I was able to hold on a little longer.
It wasn’t long enough, though, and when my control finally gave, I felt them turn toward me. Part of me was grateful that I had remained on my feet, while another part of me wished I would have passed out so I didn’t have to watch my guys fight. Now I was the target the agents needed to take out, and nothing would stop them from reaching me.
The pale bodies of the agents of Hel almost glowed in the dim light. Their white hair looked like a halo around their heads, even for the women who had long hair, it blended with the white shirts and pants. At least, they had been white until they had started a fight with my hounds. Now they were dirty, and some were even covered in blood. I could feel their milky-blue eyes glued to me as I began to back up.
One broke away from the pack and began hurtling toward me. I readied my short sword but never got a chance to use it. A hand wrapped around my wrist, and I felt a tug before the whole world disappeared before my very eyes. I knew just from the sensation that I was in the space between realms, but it was only for a split second until I was deposited in what appeared to be a field.
“Stay here, don’t wander off, and don’t make me regret leaving you to help the others,” Ben said, his brown eyes boring into my own.
I nodded and said, “Got it.”
Just like that, he disappeared, shadows or darkness seeming to appear from nowhere before wrapping around him and whisking him back to my guys. I had no doubt that they would win the fight. After all, I had given them a decent head start when I was able to freeze all the agents at once. It would only take a few minutes for them to finish the rest of them off, right?
I plopped down into the grass only to realize that it obstructed my view, so I stood back up. The field was mostly tall grasses with some spindly pink and white flowers here and there. Trees grew at the edge of the meadow, with flowers clustering around their bases. A warm breeze ruffled my hair, and I took a deep breath. I had no idea where I was, but it felt like the beginning or end of summer, when the days weren’t too hot and the sun seemed to soak into my skin.
For a moment, I just closed my eyes and enjoyed the warmth and the quiet. No one was trying to kill me in the meadow—at least, not yet—and that was a pleasant change from the recent days. I took a few deep breaths and opened my eyes. There were some trees and mountains in the distance, while on the other side, the trees I had first seen appeared to be part of a small forest.
I looked inside myself at my flame. It was small but burning brightly. The connections I had with the hounds and judges were still there, although they looked brittle, as though they could snap at any second. It made me nervous. Were the guys hurting? Injured in the fight? Was that why it looked that way? Or was the distance causing it? So many questions.
A peal of laughter filled the air, and I immediately dropped into the grass. No one could know I was here, not if I wanted to maintain my safety, not that anyone outside the guys really knew who I was, and I doubted anyone would be able to tell I was the future queen. It wasn’t as if I were wearing a neon sign with an arrow pointing to me and a light-up crown. Would I even get a crown, or was it more of a title thing? There was so much I didn’t know.
The laughter quickly changed into other sounds that carried over the grasses and flowers and made me feel as if I were intruding. Breathy moans and masculine grunts filled the silence, sounding most definitely like sex. I huddled in the tall grass, praying no one would notice me and that my guys wouldn’t show up until the couple was finished.
Each minute that ticked by felt like an hour, not that I had any way of telling time. My phone had been lost a while back, and I had never worn a watch. At some point, I had lain down in the grass, expecting to be able to track the sun to help gauge the passage of time, but the damn thing never moved. Part of me would have been shocked to find something like the sun in the Underworld, but the rest of me was more curious about where the light was coming from.
The sex dragged on and on, and all I could think about was my guys. Not only was I starting to get worried about their safety but I also wasn’t immune to the sounds of pleasure. When it finally went quiet, I peeked over the grass in the direction of the noises and quickly ducked back down again. The couple was still naked and resting against one of the trees as though it were the most natural
thing in the world to have sex in a completely exposed place.
Finally, I heard the woman’s laughter recede, and when I looked over the grass once more, I saw them walking through the trees, still as naked as the day they were born, and slowly disappearing from my sight. I felt as if I had been waiting in the field forever, and as much as I wanted to follow Ben’s instructions, the idea that they were all injured and never coming for me was eating away at me. That wasn’t all, either. Ever since the first moan had escaped the woman’s lips, it was as if I had an itch I couldn’t scratch. My skin felt raw, but I needed to rub it all the same.
I hauled myself to my feet and followed the couple. There was a vague hope in my mind that someone could either get me back to the guys or at least ease this strange sensation. The path through the trees was fairly open, and as I began to weave through the forest, the ground started sloping beneath my feet. The grass and flowers had long since given way to dirt and sticks, and now as I was walking over them, I was all the more grateful for my boots.
Ahead, people called out to one another, and I froze in my tracks. Ben’s command to stay put rang in my head like a church bell, but I also couldn’t shake the chill that ghosted over my skin whenever I thought of my guys fighting. It was as if my body were being pulled in two different directions—first, toward the people to ask for their help, and second, back to the field to wait for my guys.
Fear pushed me forward as I cautiously made my way toward the sounds. I would watch and observe for a moment to make sure I wasn’t walking into a trap, but if it seemed safe, then I knew I wouldn’t be shy in my request.
The first thing I saw through the trees was the glint of water in the faux sunlight. I could see a sky through the leaves that was achingly blue and dusted with wisps of white cloud. Bird calls rang through the branches as I approached, and I couldn’t stop the smile from spreading over my face. Who knew birds existed in the Underworld? The familiar call of a peacock reached my ears, making my grin spread even wider. The area directly in front of the tree line was grassy with patches of clover, the puffy white and pink flowers swaying slightly in a breeze I couldn’t feel.