by Katie May
A hiss escaped him, even as his body leaned further against mine, seeking my comfort. T's eyes fixed on that diminutive movement, and his brows drew together.
T wasn't stupid. He could read between the lines easily enough. He might not have known the extent of my relationship with Jax or any of the princes, but he could see that something was up.
Without a word, he dropped his dagger to the ground followed by the sword he always kept over his back. Weaponless, he held his hands up like a prisoner approaching an officer.
"I'm not going to hurt her," T said soothingly. Despite speaking to Jax, his eyes remained fixed on me. "I care about her."
Jax growled low in his throat, and I curled my body against his, pressing my cheek to his back.
I didn't know why I did that. I wasn't the cuddling type, but something about Jax called to me. It could've been how broken he was, or it could've been the damn mate bond. Either way, I hated seeing him distressed.
"Not like that," T said, reading something in Jax's expression I couldn't see. "Like a sister. I care about her like a sister."
"Jax," I whispered into his ear. At my voice, his body wilted against mine like a neglected flower. I wrapped my arms around him, holding him to me from behind. "Calm your ass down."
Not the most romantic statement, but it seemed to worked. Jax turned in my arms, blinking down at me rapidly. I hesitantly reached to grab his wrist, my fingers brushing bare skin. The fog receded from his eyes, and a tentative smile touched his lips.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
I reached up to trace the cut beneath his eye, ignoring T's snort of disgust.
"I'm fine. What about you?"
Before Jax could respond, the window shattered, glass piercing the opposite wall. I jumped, even as both Jax and T moved to stand in front of me.
I grabbed a dagger off the dead Mage's person, facing the now opened window. I didn't know what I expected to see, but it wasn't a creature with dark green skin, leaves for hair, and a circular mouth showcasing large, sharp teeth.
"What the hell is that?" T whispered, echoing my own thought. The figure didn't walk into the room. No, it crawled, abnormally long arms and legs supporting a small body.
The creature was unlike anything I had ever seen before. It wasn't a Mage or a Shifter. It wasn't a Vampire, an Incubus, or a Shadow. It wasn't a Genie or a Mermaid.
It was something else, something other, something that instilled fear deep in my heart.
The creature lunged at us, mouth opened, and I stealthily sidestepped out of its path. Jax was not as lucky, falling to the ground as the creature pounced on him. T raised his sword, slamming it into the monster's side. For most creatures, it would've been a killing blow.
However, it merely raised its head, eyes glinting like rubies in the dim lighting, before pulling the blade from its skin. Black blood gushed out of the hole.
"That wasn't supposed to happen," T mumbled, already reaching for his dagger on the ground.
Jax buckled beneath the creature's weight, propelling it off and against the wall using his Vampiric strength. The entire house shook as it slid down the wall, blinking its red eyes wildly.
"They come from the trees," Jax whispered. His shirt was in tatters, hideous gashes from the creature's claws taking up the majority of his chest. I gasped at the sight, my protective instincts rearing.
Without thinking twice, I charged at the creature. It roared, those keen teeth inches from my face. I avoided its clawed hand, rolling out of the way. Just as it came after me a second time, I lifted my sword and jammed it through where I assumed its heart was.
It released a roar but did not let up its assault. Blow after blow was delivered to me, but I parried each one. It pounced on me, snapping jaw inches from my neck. I let out a cry as its rancid breath polluted the air around me. My nose began to bleed, but I couldn’t lift a hand to scrub it away.
The creature froze suddenly, teeth inches from my bare skin, before its head was ripped from its body. Black blood coated my skin, my clothes, my hair, and I blinked rapidly.
What the hell just happened?
Lupe stood above me, eyes feral as he held the creature's head in his clawed hands. His face was contorted, fur growing on his forehead and cheeks.
"What the hell is that thing?" Devlin. I would recognize his voice anywhere.
My Genie mate was kneeling beside Jax, checking him over for injuries. Killian and Bash stood in the doorway, eyes wide and wary, while Dair had rolled his wheelchair to T. I didn't spot Ryland, but I knew he would be in one of the corners, a constant shadow.
"It shouldn't be possible," Jax was mumbling, sitting up.
"What shouldn't be possible?" Bash asked, voice tight with irritation. And disgust.
Pretty boy probably didn't want to get blood on his new shoes.
"He's right." Lupe's voice was a growl, his bear still fighting for control. He took a calming breath, reeling himself back in, and I watched in rapt fascination as his face changed once more. Gone was the beast, and in its place was a handsome prince.
I felt something touch my forehead, checking me for injuries, and I smiled reassuringly at Killian, wiping the blood from my nose on my sleeve. Bash still stood in the doorway, arms crossed over his chest.
"Will you stop speaking in riddles and tell us what the hell happened?" he barked, and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.
I had been the one mere inches from death, and Bash was the one demanding answers.
"This right here is a Fae," Lupe answered dizzily. Face twisting with disgust, he dropped the head onto the ground. It rolled, landing an inch away from T.
"Fae?" I parroted. I had heard the word before, had read about it in history books. Lupe must’ve been mistaken. "The Fae has been extinct for hundreds of years."
"They're coming back," Jax muttered beneath his breath. "They're all coming back."
Ignoring him, Lupe focused on me. The hardness in his features softened when he took stock of me. I could see instant relief when he spotted no new injuries.
"What are you saying?" Killian asked, wrapping an arm around my shoulder. I shoved him away, ignoring the flash of hurt in his eyes, before scrambling to my feet. I didn't want to look weak with the seven princes surrounding me, regardless of them being my mates.
"What he’s saying is impossible," Bash snapped like the asshole he was. From my history lessons, I knew that there were once hundreds of other supernatural creatures, each descended from lesser known demons. When the Seven Deadly Sins came to the world, they eliminated all of them, determined to be the most powerful creatures on the planet. Besides the humans, of course.
They needed someone to be their slaves.
"Are you saying that I was just attacked by an extinct supernatural creature?" I asked in disbelief. I couldn't even begin to wrap my head around it. My eyes fixed once more on the dead Fae - if it even was that. For all I knew, it could be a Shifter or something in disguise. Anything seemed like a more rational explanation.
Lupe's jaw clenched. "I don't know."
T's voice had us all turning towards him. I could see my mates stiffening, muscles flexing dangerously as they surveyed the human. T, for his part, looked more annoyed than scared, though there was still a healthy dose of fear in his eyes. He lifted his hand as if he was in a classroom.
"Please, for the love of all things holy, tell me what is going on?" Turning towards me, he quirked an eyebrow. "Z, my dear sister, you have a lot of explaining to do."
SIX
Z
By the time we made it to the small, bungalow style house T had been staying at, the sun had fallen, disappearing behind boughs of trees.
My mates were uncharacteristically quiet, sullen almost, as we skirted past the remnants of an old school. Vines and ivy crawled up the brick sides, and the windows had long since been shattered. I spotted a tree growing from one of the windows, its branches wrapping around the huge white pillars adorning either side of the e
ntryway.
As T scurried ahead, barely sparing us a glance, I turned towards Dair who was wheeling himself beside me. His forearms strained as we climbed the steep hill, blond hair glinting in the waning sunlight. He was so handsome, so perfect, that my breath caught.
"Don't pity me," he murmured softly. We had somehow found ourselves in the middle of the group. Bash and Jax walked in front of us, eyes warily fixed on T as if he was a monster they needed to smite. Devlin, Killian, and Lupe held up the rear. And Ryland? Who the hell knew where he went. Probably lurking on a tree branch or something.
"Pity?" I echoed, raising a brow.
Dair's handsome face pinched slightly - a furrow of his brow, a crease between his eyes, the scrunch of his nose. It was an expression I was beginning to read easily on my Mermaid Prince, one that hinted at the unease he wished to remain hidden. But he couldn't hide things from me, whether or not he liked it. I was his mate, dammit, the other half of his soul.
Releasing a breath, Dair continued to roll himself up the incline, his powerful muscles bulging with each movement.
"I'm not stupid," he said quietly, succinctly. "Everybody looks at me like that."
"Like what?"
Like they want to jump his fine ass? Because if that was the case, I might get a little stabby.
"Like they feel bad for me." His voice was resigned, holding no anger or resentment. It was as if he was reciting a fact like the color of the sky. My heart clenched. "And it's funny. I had never considered myself lesser because of my disability. I never considered myself as anything other than a person." His tongue snuck out to wet his lips, and my eyes fixated on that seemingly innocent movement. "I'm used to it, you know. The pitying stares. The whispers. The disgust. It's rare to see a Nightmare with a disability, let alone a prince. I never asked to be confined to this damn chair."
As if the universe had a twisted sense of humor - even more so than I originally thought - his wheel got caught on a particularly sharp rock. He murmured something unintelligible beneath his breath, desperately attempting to maneuver his chair over this obstacle.
"Let me-" I took an automatic step forward, arms extended to push him further, but he leveled me with a glare. It hardened his features. Instead of the angelic prince I once thought him to be, he looked dangerous. Every inch the Nightmare Prince I had originally imagined.
"I got it!" he snapped. Though his tone wasn't belligerent, it wasn't kind. In those three words, I could hear years of pent-up anger and aggression. Not directed at me - I knew innately that he would never harm me - but at the world. At the injustice. At the unfairness of being stuck in a chair while the rest of us were able to run and walk and dance. I could see it all clearly.
Devlin stepped up behind me and placed a hand on my shoulder. He quirked a brow, glancing from me to Dair. At his unasked question, I nodded for him to go on ahead. He hesitated, only a moment, before kissing my cheek and following Killian and Lupe further up the path.
The overprotective fools leaned against a tree, far enough away where they weren't in hearing distance but close enough to jump to my rescue, if the need arose.
As if I would need them to rescue me. They were sorely mistaken if they thought I was the damsel in this story. Hell, in Killian's case, I had saved him more often than not.
Shaking my head, I focused back on Dair who was still struggling to move his chair. It might've been the mate bond speaking, but I knew he needed me. To talk to him. To comfort him. To do whatever the hell it was mates did.
"I don't think you're lesser, Dair," I said hesitantly. My fingers thrummed against each other, desperate for something to do. I never knew I would be the type to twiddle my thumbs, but there I was. Twiddling my damn thumbs.
Feeling ridiculous, I grabbed my dagger out of my waistband and spun it between my fingers.
Much better.
"What can I do?" Dair murmured bitterly, self-loathing evident in his voice. "I can't protect you like the others. I'm not as smart as Lupe. I don't have history with you like Devlin. I'm not awkwardly adorable like Killian."
I snorted, endeared at hearing Dair call my Incubus Prince awkwardly adorable.
He smiled softly at me before his smile faded. "I just..." With a growl, he shoved at the wheels once more.
"Dair..." Tentatively, I crouched down beside him. I didn't know quite what to say nor how to comfort him. In my past relationships, I never focused on feelings. That wasn't to say that I didn't have that, because I did, but I never needed to talk about my emotions.
But Dair wasn't Devlin or S, and I cared about him just as much. Different types of relationships required different efforts.
"Look..."
"Z!" T poked his head out of the doorway, ignoring the growl from Lupe. And myself, if I was being honest. There I was trying to be all serious and romantic and shit, and my ex's brother had to go and ruin it.
Snapping my teeth at him, I shouted, "What?"
"You have a visitor!"
I frowned, sifting through the people I knew in my life who could possibly be visiting me in the middle of fucking nowhere. Frankly, I wasn't the most "friendly" person. The list was small.
"I don't have any friends!" I retorted back. Bash, leaning against the fence of the old school, snorted out a laugh, and I gave him my finger.
"Go ahead," Dair said tiredly to me, nodding towards the house. Warily. Still, he flashed me a smile, though it did not reach his eyes.
"Dair..." I murmured, hating his attitude. There was probably some profound saying that could be used to help him, something about changing his outlook on life, but I couldn't articulate it without sounding like an imbecile. Instead, I settled for awkwardly patting him on the shoulder.
He blanched, and I internally groaned.
Fucking shit. I sucked at this whole mate thing.
My thought process was interrupted by a willowy man appearing in the doorway. Lupe snarled, claws extending, and Devlin's eyes burned a brilliant violet. Even Bash raised his hands, an incantation on his lips.
The man was short, smaller than even me, with a shock of dark hair and tanned skin. He wore wire-framed glasses that slid down his nose and skin tight jeans.
His eyes slid over the men without sticking before focusing on me. He nodded his head once in what I supposed was a nod of solidarity. Even so, my throat clogged tight with emotion.
"Come," he said briskly. "I made tea."
When no one seemed inclined to move, he grabbed a dagger out of his waistband and tossed it in the air. It flew, hitting a tree trunk inches from Killian's head. The Incubus stared wide-eyed at the protruding dagger before whipping his head to face the tiny little man and then focusing back on the dagger once more. He turned his helpless eyes onto me.
I shrugged.
"The man said he made tea."
Ignoring Dair's protest that he didn't need my help, I lifted the chair over the rock and wheeled him the short distance to the tiny house.
"HH," I murmured, instantly wrapping my arms around the smaller man. He stiffened imperceptibly, and I immediately pulled back. "Sorry."
"HH?" Killian asked, a red eyebrow raising. "Diego's...?"
He didn't need to finish his sentence.
Diego's mate.
Who no doubt felt the exact moment Diego died. Had felt the life bleed from his one true love.
Heart tightening and stomach plummeting, I walked inside the sparsely furnished room. Aside from a sleeping bag in the corner and a pile of canned fruit, the main room was empty. T was currently sitting on the sleeping bag, sorting through the collection of food.
"Is this where you're staying?" I asked in disbelief. T barely looked up.
"Yup."
"Why?" Why not at the headquarters? I wanted to ask, but remained tight-lipped. I trusted my mates to an extent, but they were loyal to the kingdom first and foremost. I didn't know if that loyalty would exceed their loyalty to me.
T met my eyes with understanding.
; "Mali visited our house," he murmured. And by house, he meant the compound that housed the resistance. It couldn't be called a building, for it was located deep beneath the ground in a series of tunnels. A part of me missed the dripping gray walls and sparse lighting the further you ventured through the labyrinth.
"Mali?" I whispered hoarsely. I didn't know why saying her name hurt as badly as it did. But damn, that stung like a bitch. I rubbed at my heart as if that could somehow soothe the ache her absence caused me. "What happened?"
"What do you think?" T continued his perusal of the food, voice dry. "B kicked her out. I didn’t know why at the time. I kind of assumed she had wanted to stay with you and B hadn’t allowed her to, so they argued, and B booted her.”
I wasn't surprised, not entirely, but it still hurt to hear. Where would she go? She was considered a traitor to her own kind.
The Vampires would never accept her back, and the humans would love nothing more than to hunt her.
"And then what happened?" I asked.
He sighed heavily, but was saved from explaining by HH returning. He carried a tray with ten teacups and a kettle. Without a word, he placed the tray on the table and began pouring tea into the cute, ceramic cups.
Bash held it up distastefully, lips curling.
"It's not poisoned, is it?" he asked. HH leveled him with a long, impossible to read, look. Almost absently, his hand rested on his dagger's hilt.
The meaning was clear: drink the fucking tea.
"Is the big, bad Mage afraid of a little tea?" I sang mockingly. Bash tossed me an acrimonious glare before downing the drink in one go. HH watched him impassively.
"The poison should take effect in five minutes," he deadpanned, handing the next drink on the tray to Lupe.
The expression on Bash's face as he sputtered, brown tea dripping down his chin? Priceless.
T chortled, and I threw back my own head in laughter. The rest of my mates were glancing at me as if I had lost my mind.
"He's fucking with you," I assured Bash, though a part of me really wanted to see what he would do.