by Emma Dean
Malachi swept her up and carried her out of the room, leaving the dessert. “I’ll come back for it later. First I need to find my queen a bed.” For the first time she didn’t hate the way that title sounded, not the way it spilled from his mouth like a promise.
She held on tight as he carried her through the halls like they were some newly wedded couple and rested her head on his shoulder. Even though he’d surprised her, Mika didn’t regret the blood bond for a second.
Not with the way she could now feel everything Malachi was – to him, she was it.
It was hard to argue with that.
22
It was cold and the blankets around her smelled strange. Then Mika caught the scent of fire and jolted upright.
Where was she?
“Hey, you okay?” Malachi asked, tossing another log in the fireplace of her new room.
She nodded and looked around, seeing the empty plates left over from their midnight dessert. Their clothes hung over the back of one of the chairs, but Malachi was wearing a pair of pants that she didn’t remember him owning before.
“There are clothes in that wardrobe over there,” Malachi told her. “They’re in perfect condition thanks to the spell.”
“For some reason, I felt like I’d dreamed all this,” she murmured, checking her arm to see there was still a small mark, nearly healed now.
She really was blood bonded.
Mika almost couldn’t believe how she’d simply…accepted them so easily. Maybe she really was finally able to accept that they loved her enough to make that kind of commitment.
“Having regrets?” Malachi asked, sliding under the covers next to her. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her shoulder softly.
“You know I’m not,” she teased, poking him in the side.
“Maybe,” he agreed, his hand spanning her abdomen as he pressed her even closer. “But you’re feeling something…weird. It’s hard to describe.”
“I never thought anyone could love me like this,” she admitted, running her fingers over his arm as she leaned back into him. “Let alone four of you.”
He was silent as he processed that. Then, “Can I braid your hair?”
Mika smiled and turned around in his arms so she could see his face. “I would love that.”
She kissed him slowly, enjoying every second she had with him alone until they would have to go back to the real world and deal with everyone.
Malachi turned her back around and started braiding at her crown first. “From what I gathered the Alphas are still here, and Kenzie said Selene will be arriving before nightfall.”
“I’ve got some blood beasts out there, but I need to release more of them until the wards are up.” She closed her eyes and enjoyed the sensation of Malachi gently tugging on her hair.
“You’re not worried they’ll eat someone?” He tied off the braid on the top, leaving most of her hair loose. Then he started working on the sides, doing a complicated French braid.
“I’ve been slowly replacing all the blood beasts with my own, but they’re all tamed. As long as no one seeks them out to hurt them, they won’t even know they’re there. Is this a rune?” she asked when he finished, feeling the braid.
“Mhm, for strength.” Malachi did the other side next, smiling slightly. “I’ve wanted to braid your hair for a long time.”
For some reason that made her blush, even though she was perfectly content to sleep naked next to him all night.
“There, now you look like Morgana.”
Mika got out of the bed and went straight to the vanity mirror to inspect her hair. It did look like Morgana’s, braided up for battle, but still loose around her shoulders. She smiled and tied it back into a ponytail.
“Where did you get Corbin’s feathers from?”
“He gave me some,” Malachi admitted, grinning at her through the mirror. “I was waiting to add them to my own hair.”
She turned and studied him. Malachi was massive and took up nearly the entire bed with his massive shoulders. He was shirtless of course, and the hair on the top of his head was slightly longer than when she’d first met him.
“What were you waiting for?”
“Well, in a way we’re all bonded to each other through you.” Malachi rested his arms behind his head to smirk at her. “We were just going to wear his, but you have feathers now, don’t you?”
Mika blushed. “We?”
“Yeah, we.”
She went to the wardrobe and saw there were actually some clothes that might fit her, and what looked like a set of armor. It was nearly identical to the ones the Morrigan had made for her.
But Mika went for Morgana’s black pants, and Malachi’s shirt from the night before. She slipped on the boots she’d worn the day before and shook her head. One day she hoped they would let her in on some of these conversations.
“There’s still a lot to do before Selene arrives,” Mika murmured, taking a moment to assess the amount of blood she had in her body.
It was still enough, but she’d been draining everything she could for days to make sure she could properly ward the island, to move the buildings she needed to. Yes, she had normal power, but her blood was the only thing that could protect this place from Azrael.
“You’re going to talk to the Alphas wearing that?” Malachi asked, raising an eyebrow at her. “It’s not very…diplomatic.”
“If you haven’t noticed, I’m not very good at diplomacy,” Mika reminded them. “Remember when I nearly killed that girl for being mean to Audrey?”
“Yeah, well she deserved it.”
Mika almost laughed but bit her tongue.
Strange how things had changed.
A scream tore through her peace like shattering glass.
She froze, assessing the distance thanks to her banshee hearing. The sound was far away, from the forest if she were right.
It was just like the first time.
The image of a girl with her chest cracked open, pinned to a tree flashed through her mind.
Mika checked the blood bonds and they were eerily silent.
“What is it, Mika?”
Before she even realized what she was doing, Mika was murmuring the spell that replaced everything she wore with the Morrigan’s armor, knives already in place. Another word and Excalibur was in her hand.
Malachi didn’t even question it. When she glanced at him, he was just as suited up as she was.
Dagon appeared not even a second later and Mika gritted her teeth when she saw the hellfire in his eyes.
“What is it?”
“Demons.” Dagon didn’t even walk, he teleported to her side and then took her over to Malachi, slipping through space and time so fast she knew something was very wrong.
Another second and they were in the forest. “I have to protect the seal,” Dagon told her. “There’s only one other hellhound.”
Mika grabbed him before he could teleport again. Dagon looked back, his eyes blazing.
There were so many things she wanted to say, so many things she should have already said.
What if he didn’t make it back?
Dagon yanked her toward him and kissed her hard – it was a promise and a plea.
Then he disappeared and her grip tightened on Excalibur’s hilt.
“Where are they?” Malachi asked, relying on her senses.
She closed her eyes and listened, trying to pinpoint where they all were. The portal door to Morgana Island was too obvious.
“Use the blood blonds, Mika,” Malachi gritted out. She could feel his panic through the bond.
Reaching out to those fresh new bonds she’d barely had time to get used to, Mika plucked the strings and hoped something, or someone would answer this time.
“Down!”
Months of practicing with each other and she didn’t even hesitate. Mika followed Malachi’s order and ducked. Whatever magic had been sent her way exploded into a tree and she whirled around.
At le
ast twenty demons surrounded them.
“I got this,” Mika murmured, calling on every blood beast in every ruby she wore.
Hundreds sprouted, growing larger and larger with every second. Some demons actually disappeared, teleporting away from the snarling beasts.
“Find them, hunt them down, and kill anyone who is trespassing on my island.” Mika didn’t flinch when the beasts became as large as hellhounds, tearing through the demons, ripping off their heads like chew toys.
“If you aren’t sure if it’s friend or foe, bring them to me or mine.” A push of power and the massive pack disappeared.
“I need to find them,” Malachi muttered, eyes flicking from one spot to another. “Where are Ethan and Lucien? Where are all the shifters?”
“We have to trust them.” Mika felt frozen to the spot, not sure what the next step should be. “Anyone who can fight will protect anyone who can’t.”
“How did demons get here?” Malachi demanded.
Mika didn’t know, she didn’t understand how they could step foot on the island when she hadn’t lifted that spell yet.
But knowing Azrael he would have figured out a way to work around that.
She didn’t know what to do, didn’t know where to go.
“Mika, take a breath.” Malachi grabbed her face and forced her to look at him. “This island is massive, and your beasts are sweeping the grounds. What’s next?”
“I need to set up the wards whether Selene is here or not.” Her hands were shaking. “That way more can’t come.”
It could backfire like it had the last time. She could trap her worst nightmares on the island with her.
“All right, what do you need?”
There was enough blood already in place. Mika just needed a little bit more to seal the whole place and activate the massive spell.
Suddenly the sounds of screams could be heard, as if she’d been wearing ear plugs and just took them out. Mika turned and ran toward the noises, heart pounding as they grew louder and louder.
What she saw was exactly what Morgana had seen that fateful night the Hellfire Society had infiltrated the island just like this. It didn’t seem to matter that they had ravens and coyotes and the strongest white tiger on the west coast.
Thankfully there was some demon glass and demon bodies littered the ground. Her beasts were tearing more of them apart.
There they were.
Lucien and Ethan were fighting back to back, and Corbin and Audrey protected each other – she brought demons to their knees and he drove the demon glass into their hearts.
Ravens were everywhere, but Mika couldn’t count how many demons there were because they just kept coming.
How the fuck hadn’t she heard any of this?
Was this a dream?
“Mika!” Malachi stepped in front of her as someone with a gun fired.
Watching him get hit seemed to happen in slow motion.
She caught him before he fell, and Mika tried to heal him but another bullet hit her right in the shoulder and she curled her body around Malachi, building the magic inside herself – repeating the words in her head over and over.
Malachi hadn’t even hesitated and now he was hurt—hurt because of her, because she was stupid and slow and none of this made sense.
She’d expected an attack, but she’d never seen war before, never seen a real battle other than the one with her brother.
But this wasn’t at all the same.
Someone had blocked her ability to hear, to find where her people were. She’d barely been able to feel the blood bonds outside of Malachi who had been standing right next to her.
Pain filtered through her senses and the ball of energy inside her grew and grew until it pressed against her skin just like it had when she’d nearly lost control. But this time she knew exactly what she was doing.
“Get down!” Mika screamed as the power felt like it was going to burn through her skin, giving them all as much time as possible.
Then she released the power, letting it blast outward.
The silence that followed after gave her the time to bite her thumb and stick it in Malachi’s mouth. She was panicking as she heard his heartbeat start to slow, panicking as she tried to assess how many demons were still alive, and how many of hers were dead or dying.
Mika muttered the spell and stood, not waiting around to see if it worked. Malachi would heal – there was no other option.
With Excalibur in her hand she swung it hard, lopping off a demon head. Another shot hit her stomach and she took it, burying the pain down, knowing that she would heal one way or another.
For once she didn’t care how hurt she got – it was supposed to be almost impossible to kill her after all.
Snatching a gun from the ground, she fired, taking down the ones who tried to get up and still more appeared out of nowhere.
All she needed to do was get rid of them. She’d almost spilled enough blood, almost and then she could activate the wards.
Blasts of power kept them back, kept them down and then the ravens cleaned up the mess. Audrey and Corbin checked any demon who might still be able to heal and separated the head from the body.
Lucien and Ethan ran to Malachi, and Mika almost collapsed with relief, but she couldn’t stop just in case there were more coming – just in case her father walked through those trees just like her brother had.
She sent her magic out, rolling over the island like a wave to inspect every inch.
Then her magic hit a wall and Mika was flung backward physically from the ricochet. It scattered her power and the breath was knocked from her lungs and she gasped, feeling a harsh pain in her throat, the pain from the bullet wounds, and the cuts she hadn’t realized she’d gotten or when.
That wall she hit advanced and Mika rolled over, gripping her head as she tried to put her shit back together. The pain was like an ice pick in her brain and she screamed as it washed through her.
Suddenly, silence.
It wasn’t a natural silence though. It rang in her ears like a siren and put pressure on her head like it was being held in a vise.
“Mika Marshall,” a deep, cultured voice murmured. “In the flesh.”
She looked up at the male in front of her. For a second she thought the grey suit was Eisheth but the white button up he wore had a gold bolero with a lyre on it, and he tightened it. She couldn’t stop staring at the tattoos on the back of his hands or the black nail polish.
It reminded her so much of Lucifer.
Mika finally met Death’s gaze and he ran his fingers through the blond hair that fell over his angelic face and swept it back like he knew just how beautiful he was.
Nothing and no one moved except her and Azrael.
“What is this?” she asked, trying to push the pain from her head.
“I know when we angels stop time it’s rough for mortals,” he said, chuckling slightly. Then Azrael crouched down and gripped her chin hard enough she felt her bones creak in protest. “But I wanted to see if you could handle it. Pleased to see I was right.”
Mika pushed away his hand and dug her fingers into the dirt.
How was she supposed to be able to take his gift when she couldn’t even stand?
His hand gripped her hair and yanked her head back so he could study her face, her eyes. Then he stood, dragging her with him. She screamed as her hair tried to come out of her head. Mika gripped his wrists and stood on her tiptoes to keep the pain from overwhelming her senses.
“Why you?” he asked, as if he wasn’t trying to rip her hair out of her head. “I have to admit you’re beautiful.”
Azrael dropped her like she was hot garbage and she felt the tears spill down her cheeks.
Her shaking hand reached for Excalibur and Azrael kicked it away lazily like this was all just a game.
“Not as powerful as the Morrigan made you out to be,” he mused. “You can’t even stand.”
Mika reached for the knife on her thigh and he
plucked it from her fingers.
Fuck, she needed more blood, she needed to get him off her island before he did something she couldn’t prevent.
She dug her fingers into one of the wounds, searching for the bullet that was still inside her body. Mika screamed again as her insides tried to get away from her fingers.
Blood poured into the ground and Azrael slipped his hands in his pockets. “All that blood looks good on you. It really brings out your eyes.”
“I think…” Mika found the bullet and pulled it out. She let it slip through her slick fingers and drop onto the ground. Then she looked up at Azrael. “I think you might just be obsessed with me.”
The Angel of Death laughed like she’d told the world’s funniest joke. “I see why you’re her favorite.” Then he offered her his hand, and Mika froze.
What the fuck was this?
“I think we should talk, Mika.”
23
Azrael took her hand and pulled her to her feet. Mika stared at him. She didn’t know what to do or say.
Blood dripped from her arm and into the dirt. It was all over her, everywhere she’d been hit leaked except the one she’d pulled the bullet out of.
“You know, it doesn’t have to be like this,” Azrael told her, inspecting his black fingernails. “You are a Death Knight and I am Death. It sounds like a match made in heaven.”
Was he really trying to proposition her?
Mika dug her finger into another bullet hole and flicked the blood onto the ground before trying to find it again. More blood seeped into her clothes and she gritted her teeth against the pain.
“What exactly are you asking me?”
“You’re just like me,” Death told her. “They’re all terrified of you, of me.”
He smiled and she tilted her head, sensing the truth in his words. They were afraid of her, or afraid of what she was capable of. Maybe not in the way they were afraid of Azrael, but there had been moments she could see it.
Like when Corbin demanded she stop.
Azrael’s eyes narrowed as he studied her. Some of the pain in her head receded but the throbbing was messing with her mind. “You think you’re meant to save them.”