Unlocked (Hell's Throne Book 1)

by M. L. Gabrielle

  One of his massive heads lowered to mine. “Please don’t eat me,” I mouthed. Instead, he let out a kind of hum as his head gently rubbed against me.

  “Eve, you need to tell Locke to shift. His emotions are running too high to listen to us. He’ll listen to you, though,” Uncle Mikey insisted.

  I nodded and looked at the dragon. “Locke, please shift back,” I barely whispered, wincing in pain. He immediately shifted into his human form and picked me up. Locke held me close, nuzzled his face in the crook of my neck and breathed me in.

  His head whipped up with flashing gold eyes as the guys approached. His body started vibrating, and he let out a menacing growl. It was as if he was stuck somewhere between man and beast.

  I put my hand on his chest, and he started to relax. “I need a minute. My hydra is riding me hard right now. Let me just see that she’s okay.”

  My eyes widened. A hydra? No way, they’re supposed to be a myth. That’s unbelievable. “I didn’t believe it at first either,” Locke whispered in my ear. I snapped my head up, looking at him in confusion. I most definitely did not say that out loud.

  “Locke, lay Eve down on the bed. I need to heal her throat and check her out,” Raphael ordered. Locke carried me to the bed and sat down with me on his lap. Raphael and Gabe exchanged glances. Ab ran both hands over his face in frustration and sighed.

  “Locke, you've been in your hydra form for five straight days. Now that Evelyn is awake, you can relax and go back to campus. Gabriel has been answering your texts, but your girlfriend and friends are getting suspicious.”

  I squeezed my eyes shut. Just hearing Ab say the word “girlfriend” feels like a sucker punch to the gut. I need to get it through my thick skull that Locke doesn’t have feelings for me.

  He has a beautiful girlfriend, who he plans to marry. He’s just here because he feels some warped sense of duty to make sure that I’m okay. It doesn’t mean anything.

  I tried to move off his lap, but he pulled me back. He nuzzled my neck, and I was on the verge of begging him to stay. After a minute of awkward silence, Locke cleared his throat.

  “Right. You’re right. I should go back to campus and smooth everything over.” He moved me off his lap and stood up.

  I stared down at my hands. I just couldn’t bring myself to look at Locke. Why do I have to have such strong feelings for someone who’s already taken?

  “For Eve’s safety, I need to place a geas on you. It will prevent you from talking in detail about anything that has happened to Eve over the past few days. I recommend keeping your hydra a secret for now, but that's ultimately your decision,” Uncle Mikey explained. Locke agreed as the Archangel worked his magic.

  Locke gently ran his fingers over my hand. Tingles ran across my skin. Does he know the effect he has on me? Does he feel it too? I looked up, and he gave me a sad smile.

  “I’m glad you’re back, Eve. I’ll see you around campus.” I watched as he left the room with my heart in tow.

  I looked down at my hands and squeezed my eyes closed. I will not cry. I will not cry. I will not cry. “Let’s fix your throat, beautiful. Someone is extremely eager to see you,” Raphael whispered.

  A moment later, a handsome blonde-haired demon appeared and wrapped his arms around me. I couldn't hold back my tears any longer. “Dad.” I was clinging to my dad as tears streamed down my face.

  “My love, I can't even put into words how happy I am to see you awake. Being forced to stay away from you, especially when you needed me, was the worst type of torture,” Dad murmured in my ear. I gave him a tight squeeze.

  “I love you, Dad. I was so scared that I would never get to hug you again.” I raised my head and looked around at my family. “I was terrified that I would never get the chance to tell you guys how much I love you.”

  I got up on shaky legs and gave each of my guys a crushing hug. My heart may have just been ripped out, but these men are the stitches that will forever hold me together.

  “I’m still trying to make sense of what happened after I passed out at the party. I could hear bits and pieces of your conversations when I was conscious but wasn’t able to let you guys know that I was awake. It was torturous. I never want to feel that way again.”

  I rested my head on Ceb’s shoulder. Uncle Mikey did his best to fill in any gaps. I was relieved to find out that no one thinks that Nick drugged me. He’s my friend, and it would have wrecked me.

  Unfortunately, it means whoever drugged me is still out there. That makes me very uneasy. Uriel walked into the warehouse carrying a few bags of take-out. My stomach rumbled as soon as I caught a whiff of the food. I collected my thoughts as we began to dig into our lunch.

  13

  Eve

  After lunch, Gabe popped me over to my dorm room. I desperately needed to wash my hair and change my clothes. A shower never felt so good. I quickly brushed my teeth, got dressed and popped back over to the warehouse.

  I sat down at the table with the guys. “I have some more questions. Why couldn’t Raphael heal me right away? Since when is Locke a shifter? Why was he even here?”

  Raphael sat next to me and took the hairbrush from my hands. “I’m not sure why I couldn’t heal you. Your body appeared to be protecting itself against the drugs and wouldn’t allow any outside help. Your vitals were perfect. It was as if your body put you into a deep sleep and wouldn’t wake until all of the drugs were out of your system. Your heart rate was what had all of us worried.”

  Raphael turned my chair sideways and started brushing my hair. “I thought it was a fluke at first, but your heart rate would climb to crazy levels when we kept Locke away from you. You would only calm down when he was near.”

  Maybe that’s the reason why Locke stayed? He was helping to keep me calm. My heart hurt just thinking about it.

  “As for his shifting, that was a discovery we made the night of the party. Our theory is that Locke’s ability to shift was drawn out when he touched the rune on your neck. I’m still in awe that he shifts into a hydra. I’m quite old, and I’ve never come across another hydra in all of my existence,” Raphael explained.

  I let his words sink in and turned back to the guys. “While I was out of commission, Locke’s hydra was my guard dragon?” I asked.

  Gabe laughed out loud. “You have no idea, baby girl. As soon as we brought you to the warehouse, we got you settled in your bed and hooked you up to a bunch of monitors. You must have felt some sort of change because your heart rate skyrocketed. Locke was already on edge, to begin with, and couldn’t control his shift.”

  I remembered Locke’s eyes turning gold before I passed out at the party. I wonder if he was close to shifting then too. That would have been a disaster.

  “We were then faced with a fucking three-headed dragon that was the size of a house. It wouldn’t let anyone near you. Two of its heads were on constant alert, and the third head rested on your bed. We were trying to figure out how to take the hydra down without hurting you, but then we realized that your heart rate stabilized. It was pretty insane.” Gabe was shaking his head as if he still couldn’t believe it.

  “So you just left me with a freaking dragon? Gee. Thanks,” I huffed, punching Gabe’s leg. “Ouch, that hydra would cut off one of its own heads before hurting you, Eve. We’re all convinced that it was Locke or the hydra’s presence that made you feel safe enough to wake. You really gave us a scare, baby girl. You'll need to be on high alert when you’re back at school,” Gabe warned.

  My stomach instantly dropped. I completely forgot about going back to school. I don’t know how I’m going to be able to be in the same room as Locke and his future bride.

  My dad crossed his arms over his chest. “I decided that I'm taking Eve out of college and bringing her home. Prophecy be damned. I’m not putting her life in jeopardy again,” Dad declared.

  Cerberus was grinning. He’s been wanting me to come home ever since his little field trip to campus. Uriel let out an exasperated breath a
nd sat on the other side of me.

  “Luc, I think you need to stop and think this through. We don’t know what Leviathan is planning with this false princess. We assumed that he was trying to draw Eve out, but what if he’s actually trying to drive her away. My point is that we need to know what he’s up to before making a rash decision,” Uriel explained.

  Abaddon squeezed my dad’s shoulder. “Listen to him, Luc. We need to be smart about this. Evelyn needs to prove her strength by returning to her everyday routine. Evelyn, you’ll need to downplay this past week and act as if it were a mere annoyance.” My dad looked like he wanted to argue with Abaddon but must have thought better of it.

  Ceb’s phone pinged for about the thirtieth time in the past half hour. He took one look at the screen and showed it to Gabe. I narrowed my eyes at him.

  “What the hellfire, Ceb? You’re seeing someone and didn’t tell me about her? You have five-seconds to fill me in before I rip that phone out of your hand and call her myself.” Gabe looked at Ceb and started cracking up.

  “Yeah, tell Eve all about your side piece.” Cerberus gave Gabe the finger and turned to me. “I’m not seeing anyone, Evie. That fucking lizard has been blowing up my cell all afternoon. I don’t know how many times he can ask the same thing. ‘Is Eve okay?’ ‘How is she doing?’ ‘Where is Eve’ ‘Why isn’t she back yet?’ I should have killed him when I had the chance,” Cerberus growled.

  Hope filled my chest. Is Locke really asking about me? I wanted to smile but forced it back. No, I can’t delude myself into thinking this means anything.

  “Just tell him to quit bothering you. Why did you even give him your number?” I asked. His phone pinged again, and I thought he was going to throw it across the room.

  Ceb narrowed his eyes. “How many mythological shifters do you know, Eve? Let me tell you. There are two in all of existence, me and Locke. He’s struggling with control, so I offered to help. Leviathan supposedly shifts into a dragon, but no one has ever witnessed it. I much rather have Locke lean on me than go to Leviathan.” Okay, he has some valid points.

  Dad started slowly pacing. “I didn’t realize that Locke was texting you so much, Cerberus. That is concerning to me. Pop over to campus and try to calm him down.” Ceb nodded and vanished from the room. Dad pinned his gaze on me.

  “Locke’s hydra is very protective of you, my love. I’m afraid that your distance from campus right now is making him quite anxious. He’ll likely relax when you’re back at school, but I want you to be prepared. Locke may need to have more frequent contact with you to keep his hydra under control.”

  I inwardly groaned. The last thing I need is to see Locke more frequently. “I think Abaddon should take Evelyn back to school tomorrow morning. Gabriel, you can spend the night with her. The rest of us will take turns guarding the building. Does that work?” Dad asked. Everyone agreed.

  While Dad and the guys talked about guard duty, Gabe helped me get ready for bed. He could tell I was upset, so he was sticking to me like glue. He knows better than to push me on it, though. We usually cuddle when we have sleepovers, but the bed was way too narrow for both of us. Gabe grabbed a sleeping back from the corner of the room and laid it out next to my bed.

  Just as I was about to close my eyes, an overwhelming feeling of terror came over me. What if I close my eyes and can’t open them again? What if I fall asleep but can’t wake up? What if Locke resents me for unlocking his power to shift? What if he marries Hannah? What if he really loves her? So many thoughts were swirling in my mind that I felt like I was suffocating.

  Soon, my mind started to clear as a calming sensation wrapped around my body. A tingle ran down my back. There was no doubt in my mind that Locke was here.

  I opened my water-filled eyes and reached out to the hydra. “Thank you for bringing me back from the darkness. I think everything that has happened over the past week has finally caught up to me.”

  Locke’s hydra let out a hum and then shifted back. Locke wiped the tears from my eyes and climbed onto the bed behind me. “I’ll always bring you back,” he promised, wrapping his arms around me. I rested my head on his solid chest and fell into a dreamless sleep.

  I woke up well-rested in an empty bed. If it hadn’t been for Locke’s lingering citrusy scent, I would have thought last night was a dream. I looked around the room to see the guys sitting around a foldout table. They were most likely talking about next steps. I smiled as I saw my dad walking over toward my bed.

  He bent down and kissed my forehead. “Good morning, or should I say afternoon. I’m glad to see you with a smile on your face, my love.”

  He sat down on the side of my bed and let out a sigh. “I need to talk to you about what happened last night. I am so incredibly sorry, my love. None of us knew that you had a panic attack. You looked like you were sleeping so peacefully.”

  He ran his hands over his face. “We were taken aback when the hydra rushed into the room. Locke explained the situation to Abaddon. I’m so incredibly sorry, my love. We didn’t know,” Dad said softly.

  I sat up and gave him a big bear hug. I don’t want him to beat himself up over it. “Dad, there was no way for you to have known. I just got lost in my thoughts. This week was overwhelming, but I’ll be fine. Getting back to my routine will help put all of this behind me.”

  I got out of the bed and thanked Gabe for the cup of coffee that he offered. “You’re right. I’m relieved that you and Locke have each other to lean on at school. You both will still need to be careful...” I cut my dad off before he could continue.

  “Hold up, Dad. There is no ‘me and Locke’. I’ll help him calm down his hydra if he needs it, but it won’t ever be more than that. Locke is in a relationship. He’s happy with his girlfriend.”

  My dad stood to his full height. His green eyes locked with mine. “She’s an imposter. Locke is your betrothed. You can’t deny the…,” my dad stopped mid-sentence.

  Abaddon glared at my dad. “Did you just say that Locke is her betrothed, Luc?” he asked in an eerily calm voice. I stepped between them and put a hand on each of their chests.

  “Dad, it’s really effed up that you didn’t tell Ab. You two can sort it out yourselves. In the meantime, you need to stop pushing this on me. I may hate Locke’s girlfriend, but he clearly wants to be with her. I will never stand in the way of someone else’s happiness, even if it puts my happiness at risk.”

  I stormed into the bathroom to collect myself. I stared at myself in the mirror and took a deep breath. I don’t care what deal the kings made with each other. No one will tell this princess who she has to marry.

  I walked back into the main room and was met with a curious look from Uriel. He has always been too perceptive for his own good. I shook my head at him and cleared my throat.

  “As much as I’d love to hang out with you guys all day, I probably should get back to school.” I gave them each a hug and promised that I’d continue group texting with them.

  I was collecting my things when Dad pulled me aside. “I’m sorry for upsetting you, my love. I’m sure everything will work itself out in time. Please stay safe. I love you.” I kissed him on the cheek. “I love you more. I’ll text you later tonight.”

  Abaddon pulled me out of my dad’s arms and kissed the top of my head. “Let’s go, Evelyn. I’ll take you to your dorm so you can get settled.” I waved goodbye to everyone, and then popped into my dorm with Abaddon.

  He grabbed my hand and pulled me to his chest. “I didn’t know about the betrothal, Evelyn. As long as I’m breathing, no other being will ever have a say in who you marry. I’ll talk some sense into Luc, okay?” I nodded into his chest. I know he will always have my back.

  Abaddon left after recharging my rune and double-checking that my room was safe. It felt strange being alone. I needed a distraction. I immediately reached for my phone and texted Penny and Jacob.

  14

  Locke

  So much has changed over the past few days. My co
nnection with Eve has intensified, I can shift into a freaking hydra and my power keeps growing stronger. I was already powerful, but I feel fucking invincible now.

  It must have something to do with shifting. I still can’t believe that I can shift. The feeling is indescribable. It’s like I found a missing piece to a puzzle.

  My hydra’s the shit, and he’s just as protective of Eve as I am. I was losing my mind when she wouldn’t wake up, especially since I could sense everything she was feeling. All I could do was keep her safe and comfort her. It just didn't feel like enough, though, and it was tearing me up inside.

  My hydra must have sensed that I needed time to get it together, so he forced the shift and took the reins for a few days. I can’t even begin to explain how relieved I was when Eve woke up. I felt like I could breathe again.

  The things I feel for this girl are unreal. I know she feels something for me too. Everything seems right when we’re together, which makes this so fucking hard.

  I still don't know how I forced myself to leave Eve’s side. She was so hurt when I walked out of the warehouse. It completely gutted me, but I’m in an impossible position.

  I have no doubt that Eve is mine. I want to be with her more than anything, but my hands are tied.

  For almost twenty years, all I’ve done is focus on my role as an heir. It’s given me purpose, and it’s what defines me. Without it, I don’t know who I am.

  I don’t have a family to fall back on. I only have Emmett, Cade and Miles. We’ve been in this together since we were born, and I can’t just bail on them.

  In an ideal world, I would continue as heir and make Eve mine in every way possible. It’s not my reality, though. I can’t dump Hannah on my brothers. I’d never screw them over like that. I don’t see any alternative other than to forfeit my happiness so that my brothers can have a chance to find their own.