by Meg Xuemei X
“The bastard almost didn’t come,” Pyrder said. “But after I left, he followed me. Alaric is notoriously difficult, but he hasn’t been too jaded to be curious. If he hadn’t wasted my time, I’d have gotten to the club earlier. I’d have prevented the gods from hurting you, Cass.”
“Careful, panther,” Alaric said, staring hard at Pyrder. “I regret my actions, but I don’t take kindly to you painting me badly in front of Cass. She’s just getting to know me.”
Pyrder shrugged. “Do I look like I give a fuck about what you take kindly to? Go intimidate someone else.”
Alaric clenched his fists, and Pyrder tensed, ready to jump around me and take any challenge from the demigod.
Considering how mighty these alpha males were, if they got into a fight because of their high testosterone, they might punch a hole in the plane and we would all go down.
I raised a finger. “Hold your horses! And who the fuck is this person who sent you these ridiculous visions?”
Reysalor, Pyrder, and Alaric traded an uncertain look.
“We don’t know who it is, Cass baby,” Reys said. “We’ve been trying to figure it out.”
Pyrder nodded. “Who has the power to send us all a vision at the same time except a god or a goddess? Who wants to kill the Olympian gods even more than us?”
“Can it be Gaea, the primal Earth Goddess?” Reysalor said.
“She faded when humans rose to a higher civilization millennia ago,” Alaric said.
“The summons activated our pact,” Pyrder said, his turquoise eyes an endless ocean under dark sky.
The pact again!
I narrowed my eyes. “What pact? I demand to know. You can’t—”
Suddenly, the jet shook like a metal leaf in a violent wind.
“Buckle your seatbelts,” someone called.
A few vampires and fae who hadn’t been thrown to the floor clicked their seatbelts in place.
I grabbed the armrests just in time. Even if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have been tossed out. Alaric had wrapped his arm around me, and he was a rock that didn’t move an inch.
The co-pilot, who seemed to be a goblin, stumbled out of the cockpit. “There’s a fucking storm ahead that wasn’t there before,” he said, looking at the alpha males.
The plane tilted at a steep angle, flinging a napping Phobos across the aisle and banging his forehead onto the metal wall. Phobos jerked awake, looked outside at the storm, and laughed hoarsely yet weakly.
Had some gods found us and caused the storm?
Those fuckers would tear the jet apart!
“Cass baby, let me help you secure your seatbelt,” Pyrder said, reaching over to the belt. He wanted to take me out of Alaric’s arms and buckle me in.
I pulled my lips back and snarled at him, and he was smart enough to let go with a sigh.
“Cass wants no restrictions of any kind,” Reysalor said, rising to his feet and moving toward the pilot’s cabin.
Alaric nodded at Pyrder, and Pyrder slid his arm around me when Alaric released me. The demigod followed Reysalor.
Zeus was the God of Sky, Storm, and Lightning. If anyone could stop the storm caused by a god, it was Alaric, the son of Zeus.
I swatted Pyrder’s arm and threw it off me. Under other circumstance, I’d have relished being in his sexy arms. Instead, I jumped out of the seat and shot after Alaric and Reys.
“So wild,” Pyrder murmured and chased after me. “Just my type.”
Before I could squeeze into the pilot’s cockpit after Alaric and Reys, the plane stabilized. The pilot stared at the sunlight glinting off the white clouds beneath. “The storm was gone in a blink of an eye.”
Some dark force was playing with us.
But at least the storm had passed, even if temporarily.
26
We arrived at Lorcan’s safe house several miles from his court in Portland.
I fed him one more time, and then they put him in the healing chamber.
A week passed, and the High Lord of Night still didn’t wake up.
I visited him daily. Xihin, the giant vampire who had fought beside Reys, told me that whenever I entered the room, his lord’s heart started beating, and when I left, it stopped.
Reysalor, Alaric, and Pyrder had tried everything in their power to bring Lorcan back to consciousness and failed. Fear seized me deeper every day when he didn’t awake.
I lost my appetite, and not even chocolate cake interested me. Fortunately, I had Phobos to drink from. And whenever I sipped his godly energy, he sobbed like a baby, which made me feel like an asshole.
If I didn’t constantly drain him to weaken him, he’d bring his terror around, which would be bad for everyone, except for him.
I told him that he had no one to blame but himself. He shouldn’t have grown so ambitious and gone for a predator bigger than him.
“Don’t be too softhearted, Cass sweetheart.” Alaric stood at the doorway, watching the drama. “This is war. In war, we do whatever we can to survive. Think what he’d do to you if he caught you instead.”
I shuddered at the image Phobos had mercilessly drawn for me in the club. He’d have tortured me, played with me, and even raped me, before he finally handed me to his father as a prize.
“When he fought me, I didn’t feel bad kicking his ass,” I said. “But I don’t like kicking him when he’s down and weeping.”
“If you don’t keep kicking him, he’ll rise and go for your throat. That’s what he is. That’s what the gods are. They’re all fucking rattlesnakes.”
“That isn’t a correct metaphor,” Phobos said between his weak sobs. “I wouldn’t hurt Cass. Earlier, I was only teasing her, because I felt I’d finally met my equal. Let me go, please. I swear on my father’s life that I won’t tell a soul. I’ll do whatever you ask me to do. Just name your price.”
“You’ll never be her equal, douchebag. None of you gods will,” Alaric snarled. “Quit sniveling. You’re the fucking God of Terror. Act like it!”
He pulled me to him and slammed the door behind us.
Phobos wouldn’t be able to break out while he was weak and the demigod’s force field warded the house.
“Come, sweetheart,” Alaric said, lifting me into his arms. “They’re all waiting. We need to talk.”
His embrace comforted me. I rested my head on the crook of his shoulder and neck as I let him carry me wherever he wanted. To get even closer to him, I wrapped my arms around his massive, hard torso and the pleasure of his touch rocked me.
He chuckled. “That’s my girl.”
His large hand held my butt; the other ran through my hair to make me purr.
Ferrying me effortlessly, he exited the reinforced side house and strode toward the even more security-enhanced main house, his gait showing his powerful legs.
“Lorcan’s safe house isn’t as fancy and sunny like Reysalor’s,” I told him. “But it’s bigger.”
The High Lord’s safe house was like a military compound, warded and heavily patrolled. Its three domed structures had been planted in the middle of a cloudy desert. There was no lush greenery around. Even so, I felt pure, potent magic beneath me. It felt me, too.
“When Lorcan gets on his feet, I’m taking you to my home in Sydney. You’ll love the city, and I’ll give whatever you want in the world.”
“I need to think about it,” I said.
I’d love to visit Sydney, but I wasn’t ready to leave Reys, Lorcan, and Pyrder.
Alaric pulled my face closer to his with his large hand. Just as I was thinking how easily his big hands could crush my skull, he kissed the tip of my nose.
“Take all the time you need, sweetheart,” he said, a sly smile dancing in his dark bronze eyes, before he returned my face to rest upon the hollow of his neck, which was really a good place to rest.
His power enveloped me like the winter sun, distant, yet full of immeasurable strength.
The Olympian gods, like the ones I’d encountered, had no
magic but pure alien power. Alaric, however, had both power and earth magic. I nudged my nose against his skin to inhale him, drawn by his pure male scent and magic.
“Can’t get enough of me?” He laughed, pleased with himself.
That suddenly reminded me of my independence. What had made me lose my mind and let him ferry me like a doll when I had my own strong legs? What happened to the Cass Saélihn who had declared that she’d never be tamed? And now it was too late to save my carefully maintained public image. A few guards, both fae and vampires, had seen Alaric carrying me.
I lifted my face from his neck and wiggled to get on my feet.
“I like you snuggling against me, sweet bug,” Alaric said. “Stop fighting me. We’re here.”
I was now degraded from sweetheart to a bug? I dared not picture the next devolution I’d hear from him.
Alaric stepped into the outer suite of the most secured chamber, where Lorcan lay in deep slumber. The twins, who sat on the vast white couch, snapped their heads in my direction, two sets of turquoise eyes now blazing golden, one pair a shade darker.
“Let me down,” I demanded.
“Let her down!” Pyrder also demanded, rising from the comfortable couch and clenching his fists.
Reys appeared more relaxed, and here I thought he would have been more possessive, since he and I had half-mated. But I wasn’t fooled by his calm exterior. I’d glimpsed the panther peeking out of his fiery eyes.
“Easy, tiger,” Alaric said, and helped me glide down.
I looked around. For the first time, there were no guards, either vampires or fae, anywhere near the perimeter of the suite. And judging from the identical expression on the twins’ faces, I’d say there was some serious shit brewing.
My pulse raced with anticipation. It felt like the tension before the storm, but I kept my face blank and my manner cool.
“Come sit beside me, Cass baby,” Reysalor said.
I stalked toward him.
“Cass can sit with me,” Alaric said. “Since you two have occupied the other sofa. We want some balance.”
“Are you really going to keep pushing the button and have Cass all for yourself?” Reysalor grated. “I didn’t fight you on the plane when I could have. If you want balance, Pyrder can sit with you.”
“Give me a fucking break!” Pyrder said before Alaric could object. “Why should I sit with the insufferable demigod? Cass can sit between us. And that’ll be good balance as well.”
I braced my hands on my hips and stood between them. “Really? Now you’re going to fight over the seating arrangement while Lorcan is still out cold?”
They all looked ashamed for a second, and Reysalor sighed. “We’re acting like adolescents around our Cass. For fuck’s sake, we’re ancient, superior males.”
Instead of sitting beside any of them, I summoned a chair with my wind magic. The chair slid toward me until it found the proper place at the head of the coffee table between the two large couches, where the twins and Alaric lounged, facing each other in a glare match.
I sat down, spine straight, my hands planted on my hips to show the boys my determination to get to the bottom of this, though I didn’t know what this was about.
“Cass baby,” Pyrder said, using his bedroom eyes on me, and my heart stuttered. “We’re about to tell you of the pact.”
Right, the pact. I hadn’t revisited the unfinished topic. I had been too distraught over Lorcan’s unimproved condition.
Pyrder raised his eyebrow at his twin, urging Reys to open the box.
“Millennia ago,” Reys began, his intense gaze never leaving my face, “the four of us led our species to fight the dragon race when they flooded Earth and burned everything in their wake. We won the war at great cost, and the dragons fled to another galaxy. During the war, the four of us formed the brotherhood. We were bonded, and for it to last forever, we swore that we wouldn’t take any mate unless we found the same mate for all of us. With her holding our bodies, souls, and hearts, we’ll always be united. But we’ve never found the one true mate. Until now. Until you came along.”
My hand left my hip and waved in the air. “Fuck,” I said. “You didn’t have women for millennia?”
Alaric grinned wickedly. “We had numerous women, just not the right one. And none of us agreed on the same woman.”
“None of them were our equal,” Pyrder said. “And gradually our brotherhood broke and we drifted apart. We haven’t seen each other for over a thousand years, except Reysalor and I, because we stay together in our realm. Even when the Olympian gods returned and made Earth their hunting ground, we fought our own wars and didn’t want to cross paths due to our shame in breaking our bond. We’re proud males. The last thing we want to see is our own weakness. Until our visions called us to you.”
“I had to admit that, for the first time, I wasn’t disappointed when I laid my eyes on you in the club,” Alaric said, his honey-brown eyes softening.
But my own eyes hardened. My fingers flicked my hair. “What’s to be disappointed about?”
“Indeed,” Alaric’s eyes sparkled. “At first sight of you, I felt a jerk and a tear in my heart. I felt emotions, which had never happened before. At the moment, all I wanted was to make you mine alone. I mulled over the idea of kidnapping you and taking you to my kingdom.”
Reys and Pyrder turned their hard glare on Alaric, and the demigod flicked a regretful glance at them. “But I couldn’t do it. I felt our bond kicking in with my next heartbeat. It was truly activated, and I knew Cass was our fated mate.”
Reysalor nodded. “Both Lorcan and I scented Cass as our true mate when she stalked toward us like a lioness in that cage, even in her unwashed state.”
I remembered his shocked expression when he’d sniffed at me. And now my dumbfounded look must have matched his as my mouth formed an O.
“And the primordial vampire’s heart started beating for his mate,” Reysalor said, his ocean blue eyes roving over me with equal hunger and tenderness. “That’s why I couldn’t claim you back then, Cass baby, no matter how much I wanted to. I had to wait until the four of us were together with you. You’re the woman for all of us.”
“Your brought us together, Cass baby,” Pyrder said tenderly. “We won’t separate again and won’t feel so lost with you anchoring us and binding us to you. And when we all claim you—”
I shot to my feet with a shout. “Slow the fuck down!” My hands returned to my hips. “No one is claiming me! The pact between you four was during the age of dinosaurs. I wasn’t even born then. Why does it have anything to do with me?”
Alaric had the nerve to quirk a long eyebrow at me. “It wasn’t made in the age of dinosaurs, sweetheart. It was the age of the dragons—fire-breathing, nasty creatures.”
I glared at him at the correction, my face flaming.
Reysalor sent the demigod a scolding look while Pyrder glared daggers at him before turning to smile at me. Pyrder’s gorgeous long lashes batted a couple times. I bet he turned this charm on all females to make their knees weak and get whatever the fuck he wanted.
I stood on my ground, my legs planted wide apart.
“It has everything to do with you, Cass baby,” Pyrder said in a honeyed tone. “You’re our destined mate, the only female we’ve ever chosen for all of us.”
“You’re attracted to us, too,” Alaric said almost like an accusation. “Whenever one of us touches you, you feel the pleasure, don’t you? When I carried you all the way here, you nearly melted. You inhaled my scent deeply because you couldn’t resist your true mate’s pheromones.”
That was utterly outrageous!
“That’s because that cunt Jezebel locked me up in a fucking cage and I didn’t get to touch anyone for over a decade!” I yelled at him.
Alaric raised an eyebrow again at the c-word no lady would ever dare say, but I was no lady.
“We’ll deal with Jezebel soon,” Alaric said with all the menace in the world.
�
�When Phobos touched you,” Pyrder offered quietly, “you were so revolted that you nearly gagged.”
Each of the four had booted the God of Terror in the face in the dungeon because of what he’d done to me. The kicks couldn’t do much physical damage to the god but served to vent their rage and humiliate our captive.
“Really?” I said. “You use Phobos to counter me? He’s a psychopath.”
“We’re all psychopaths to a degree,” Alaric said.
I glared at him. “That’s why you don’t get to claim me.”
“You’re not helping, Alaric,” Pyrder said through clenched teeth. “You’ll only scare our Cass away. Maybe you need more practice in talking to members of the fair sex. You seem rusty.”
“I never bothered to please anyone until I met my woman, who is in front of me now. I’d do anything to please and pleasure my Cass.”
My face flamed furiously.
“You don’t want the vampires’ touch, either,” Reysalor said.
“Are you kidding me? They’re fucking bloodsuckers!” I said.
Reysalor smiled at me with patience. “Yet you have feelings for the lord of them. You vowed never to let anyone have your blood, but you feed Lorcan every day.”
He had me trapped right there. The heir to Sihde was a most cunning being.
“Because you won’t let any of your mates die,” Reysalor continued. “And now the vampire beast in him won’t wake up unless his true mate calls.”
“I called him,” I said, fighting back tears. “I talked to him every day. I even sang to him, but he still didn’t wake up. I can’t be this mate you’re talking about.”
The thought that someone else could be his—their—mate sent an intense jolt of jealousy and pain to my chest. Before I forced out a rasped breath, I suddenly realized a horrible mistake I’d made. I’d sung Lorcan a lullaby, which might have kicked him into deeper slumber. I should have sung a battle song to get his blood boiling and wake him up. But the lullaby was the only song I knew. I’d often sung myself to sleep when I’d felt unbearably lonely and hopeless in my cage, when there hadn’t been a sliver of light in my life.
I darted a sheepish glance at the three powerful males, and their focus homed in on me—not on my guilt but on my response to their revelation.