by Callie Rose
I took one side and Kingston took the other, and we hauled Xero to his feet. He was unsteady and uncoordinated, but if we all worked together, we could move relatively fast.
“Did we come up with an exit strategy?” I asked, glancing around at the men.
They all looked at each other wide-eyed for a moment before turning back to me. “That’s usually your thing,” Kingston pointed out.
“Goddamn it. Xero, are you strong enough to go through a portal?”
I saw the flash of doubt before he arranged his features into stubborn determination. “Yeah, I’m good.”
My lips pressed together. “Don’t fucking lie to me. Did any of you see any openings into the courtyard?”
“Yeah, right before the dungeon.” Kai nodded in the direction we’d come from.
“Show me.”
“No way, Pipes. We can’t go out into the courtyard,” Kingston said firmly. “There’s no way we’d be able to walk through all those demons.”
“We aren’t walking. We’re flying. Hurry up.” That vibe that was bothering Jayce was getting to me too. It was a terrifyingly familiar aura of evil, bigger than a whole army of fiends.
It was pure fucking evil.
Gavriel was close.
Xero found his feet as we headed down the hall, but he was still too weak to carry his own weight. Kingston and I kept him upright until we saw daylight glistening off of the wall up ahead.
“Jayce, take over for Kingston and help me with Xero. Kingston, go ahead of us and be ready to shift. We won’t have much time.”
They did as I said, though I could see the apprehension all over their faces. Damn it. Maybe this was crazy. Maybe it was stupid. But I wasn’t about to risk Xero’s life on a portal that might not even work.
It would be worth the attempt once we were free of the fortress, but until we got out of this place, it was too risky. After all, what kind of evil mastermind would Gavriel be if he didn’t shield his fortress from random portals?
We stopped just before the chamber curved into a flight of stone stairs which ended at an open door, which I was pretty sure led out to the fortress’s courtyard. The sounds of work, military drills, and torture floated in a steady organized sort of chaos. I held my breath. Nobody seemed to be chasing us anymore, and nobody seemed to have noticed yet that Xero was missing.
“Now,” I hissed to Kingston.
“Are you fucking kidding? I won’t fit in here!”
“So get a running start! I’ve seen you do it before.”
He gave me an irritated look, but I could see that it was just masking his terror. He’d seen what we hadn’t; exactly what they were doing in the courtyard. But he did as I said. He took a deep breath and bolted up the stairs, shimmering into his dragon form as he went. He took the smallest version of that form he could, but it was still a tight fit.
“Go!” I yelled.
Kai hung back while Jayce and I propelled Xero forward, then came up behind us and shoved Xero up the stairs as we lifted him.
At the last possible second, we all hurtled through the door as a group, leaping up to land on Kingston’s back. I felt him buckle under the sudden weight, but he quickly recovered, taking to the air almost before we had all found handholds. He flew straight up, forcing us to fight gravity almost beyond our ability.
As we rose up into the sky, wind whistling past our ears, Xero slipped.
“Fuck!”
As I turned to grab him, I saw why Kingston was in such an all-fired hurry. Gavriel stood in the very spot we’d just left, glaring up at us. He put his long, bony hands together and a bright red light began to grow between them.
“Kingston, dodge! Hold on, guys!” I screamed.
We braced ourselves just in time. Kingston did a barrel roll to the left, narrowly avoiding the potent energy ball that Gavriel had lobbed at us. My hair stood on end as I grasped at smooth scales, trying desperately not to fall off and plunge to my death.
I wish Kingston wasn’t so goddamn slippery. Why couldn’t he have been a furry dragon?
Thick black smoke rose up like a cloud behind us, blotting out the sun. Kingston was struggling to hold us all, flying slower than I’d ever seen him move. He was weighted down by four bodies, and I could feel his body trembling with effort beneath us.
Shouts and growls from below sent shivers down my spine. The air was full of magic lightning, but I could see the ground on the other side of the fortress wall. Freedom.
Come on, just a little farther, Kingston. Please. Please. You can do it.
Chapter Seven
We broke over the edge of the wall with furious magic at our backs. I took a deep breath, my heart thundering in my chest. I had to shout over the wind.
“On the count of three, we open a portal to Michael’s! Got it?”
Kingston roared, and it sounded a little panicked. No fucking wonder. We’d never tried to open a portal at top speed in mid-air, but there was no way around it. Gavriel was already gathering his airborne troops. We had seconds before we would be shot out of the sky. Kingston and Kai nodded at me, their eyes wide, their muscled bodies tense.
“One! Two! Three!”
The portal blasted open in front of us, a swirling purple disk in the sky. Kingston lurched forward, seeming to call upon every ounce of energy he had left, and hurtled us through the dark portal.
Our trip through the ether was… rough.
That probably had something to do with the energy ball that slammed into the portal just as it was closing. Energy turbulence rocked the wormhole, breaking our group apart, and the sudden loss of contact flipped my stomach upside down. I could feel the guys around me sporadically, as if someone were frantically switching them on and off and on again.
I had a sudden panicked thought that maybe we’d never come out the other side. Maybe we could be stuck in this black, empty space forever.
But a moment later, we burst back out of the ether.
We ended up in Michael’s basement somehow. Probably because we were all holding his weapons, honestly. They were all imbued with magic—they probably had some kind of magical homing device or something. Either way, when we tumbled out through the portal, Xero and Kingston were both unconscious. They were also both fully in their human forms, which somehow made Xero’s injuries look worse.
“Welcome back.”
Michael’s voice made me jump, and I spun around to find him on the stairs. I almost didn’t recognize him at first, with his clear eyes and smooth cheeks and blunt fingers. I hadn’t seen him out of his werewolf form until now, and it made me uneasy.
He noticed. “You don’t always want people to know what you can do on sight,” he said vaguely, shrugging a broad shoulder. Then he jerked his chin toward Xero. “I see you got your boy.”
I turned my attention back to the fire demon. Kingston was groaning and shaking himself awake slowly, but Xero was still completely unconscious, twisted in an unnatural position on the floor. He looked fucking dead, and my heart tried to lurch out of my chest by way of my throat.
Turning away from Michael, I crawled to Xero’s side and straightened him out, gasping at the scars and welts that had broken open during our tumultuous transport. Thick blood poured out of his wounds, so dark it was almost black.
“Xero,” I murmured, my voice cracking. “Xero, Xero, wake up. Shit. Help me. How do I fix you?”
I brushed my hand over his short, matted hair and stroked his broken face, begging whatever magic controlled this universe to send some of my life force into him. I kissed him again and again, all over his face and neck. It only gave me strength. My succubus powers were a one-way street, and it was the wrong fucking direction.
“That ain’t gonna work, you know,” Michael said gruffly. “He’s no incubus.”
Xero’s good eye fluttered open. He tried to speak, but it was all he could do to swallow. Panic struck my chest when I saw his teeth stained with blood, sharpening the way demons’ and vampires’ teeth seem
ed to do when they’re close to death and desperate.
“Somebody help me,” I cried, my voice cracking. “Tell me what to do!”
It wasn’t fair. Goddamn it, this was my fucking rescue mission. I was the one in charge, I was the one who forced all of this to happen.
That was all my power was good for, wasn’t it? Forcing people to do things, rallying troops, changing minds, and manipulating hearts—what else was I good for?
Hot tears spilled down my cheeks as I cradled Xero’s head in my arms. I felt helpless and useless, and guilt battled sorrow for dominance in my bleeding heart.
“He can drink from me,” Kai said quietly.
I looked up at him in shock. “Kai. What about the bond?”
Xero started to shake, and I swore I could feel his skin cooling beneath my touch, growing clammy. Kai knelt down across from me, his eyes flashing fiercely.
“Remember what we talked about, Piper? We’re all bonded, naturally or supernaturally. I don’t care which it is anymore. The bonds are there. They’re real. And they’re good for us. So there’ll be another magical bond in the mix—so the hell what? I’m going to save my friend.”
With that, he took his own wrist in his mouth and slashed it open with his teeth. Blood poured from the wound in a thin stream, splashing on Xero’s cheek before reaching his quivering mouth. Kai pressed his wrist to Xero’s lips, letting the blood flow over the demon’s tongue.
I held my breath, gripping Xero’s hand and praying to whatever higher power might be listening that my bond-mate would react.
He did. Slowly.
First came a noise in his throat like a groan, then little labored swallows. He was so weak. I squeezed his hand, pushing healing thoughts at him, knowing that it was useless.
I wasn’t good at healing. I was good at surviving. I was good at going it alone. I was very good at sex, and now with my powers, I was good at controlling people.
What does that make me? A cold-hearted general?
My blood ran cold. Was I a villain? Xero’s condition was my fault, and I knew it. If I hadn’t bonded with him, he wouldn’t have come out into the underworld with me or stepped in front of me to stop Gavriel’s attack. He would be safe and sound at school, passing his tests and proving himself worthy of his second chance. I’d ruined his life.
My heart squeezed painfully, and I looked around at my guys. They all had good reasons to hate me, but they didn’t. I couldn’t help but think it was purely magical, no matter how much they argued with me that it was real. How would they know? And how could I ever forgive myself if anything happened to them because of their feelings for me?
Xero coughed, breaking me out of my dark thoughts, and my gaze snapped to him.
Blood dribbled out of his mouth, and I couldn’t tell if it was his or Kai’s. His skin had begun to heal, and the swollen knots across his abdomen had receded down to a less alarming size. He took a deep breath, then accepted the wrist that Kai pushed back at him. How much had he had to drink now?
I glanced up at Kai. Fuck. Too much.
“Enough,” I said. “You’re killing yourself, Kai.”
“Almost done,” the vampire rasped weakly.
“No, Kai, stop it!” Goddamn it, why were they all making it so damn hard to keep them alive?
“He’s got a wound on his ribs on one side,” my toffee-skinned mate gritted out. “It punctured his lung. As soon as that closes, I’ll stop.”
No. I can’t lose one mate to save another. Damn it, this is so fucked up.
I opened my mouth, prepared to use persuasion on him if I had to, but Kai shot me the most furious look he’d ever given me—and he’d given me plenty of death glares in his time.
“Don’t. You. Dare,” he said thickly. “This is my choice, and he’s my friend. Turn that shit off.”
I snapped my mouth shut and ground my teeth together. He was right. It wasn’t my choice. And if I didn’t want to become a damn villain, I needed to let the people I loved make their own decision.
Endless minutes passed as Kai grew paler and paler while Xero only looked incrementally better. Just when I was certain that it was hopeless, that I was about to watch two of my men die in front of me, Xero pulled away. He dropped his head back and took a long, deep breath, his chest rising and falling smoothly. As if there was finally no more pain.
“Thanks, man,” he murmured, grasping Kai’s unbloodied hand. “You good?”
“I’ll be fine.”
He didn’t sound fine though. He sounded exhausted.
I kissed Xero’s forehead, then extended my wrist to Kai. “We’ve got a long jump ahead of us. Recharge. You need it.”
“I’m fine,” Kai insisted, sounding a little better. “I heal fast, and I don’t think I gave him too much.”
“Hate to break up the love fest,” Michael interrupted, worry sharpening his tone. “But y’all can’t stay here.”
My head whipped up, my gaze catching on his. He shook his head, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck.
“That portal you created had a signature. They all do. Now, I’m well-warded and all that, but if they manage to track you, you’ll be in a world of shit. I’ll cover for you. Tell ’em I never saw you. But y’all gotta go.”
Chapter Eight
Kai and I helped Xero to his feet. He was still a little wobbly, but he was standing on his own before long. He gave me a slow, self-deprecating smile.
“Demons aren’t as efficient at healing as vampires,” he said. “It’s gonna take a minute for this to kick in all the way.”
“Are you strong enough to survive a portal back to earth?” I asked, chewing on my lip.
Xero looked doubtful. He took a few wobbly steps across the basement, then turned around and walked back with a lot less wobble. He nodded, straightening his shoulders. “Yeah. Just give me a few minutes.”
Tension crackled in the air as Xero shook off the lingering effects of his injuries. He looked so much better physically, whole and mostly unblemished, though his clothes were still ragged and his skin was smeared with dirt, blood, and sweat.
But what about inside?
What about his heart, his mind—his soul?
My stomach twisted to think of what he’d been through in the weeks we’d been searching for him. Would he be able to come back from that? What kinds of scars remained inside him?
As if he could feel my worry radiating from me, Xero looked over and met my gaze. He gave me a wan smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes, but when he strode over to pull me into his arms, his heartbeat was steady and strong. I rested my cheek against his chest, listening to the gentle rumble of his voice as he spoke low.
“I’ll be okay, Pipes. I have you back. I have the other guys. We’re together again. Everything else, we’ll figure out. You’re all I need.”
My chest tightened at his words, and I hugged him back so hard it was a good fucking thing Kai had just healed his ribs. He chuckled, then tipped my head up to kiss me.
“Thank you,” he murmured. “For coming for me.”
“Always.”
My voice was fierce, and I heard three voices murmur in agreement behind me. Xero nodded gravely at the other men.
“You good to go?” Michael asked, glancing up the stairs. He was in human form, but I caught him sniffing the air, as if trying to sense any nearby threats.
Shit. We need to get the fuck outta here.
“Yeah,” Xero said, releasing his grip on me. “As I’ll ever be, anyway.”
“Then get to it. I’m gonna go make dinner like I ain’t just committed treason. Good luck.”
“Thank you, Michael,” I said fervently. He’d had no reason to help us, and several good reasons not too. But he’d given us aid when we needed it most.
He waved my thanks away and trudged up the stairs with slumped shoulders. A stab of sympathy made my heart twinge, and I blinked rapidly as I watched him go. Poor fucking guy. He’d just wanted to visit his family, see the peop
le he loved—and now he was hiding out in the unforgiving wilderness of the underworld, all alone.
It was completely unfair.
That need I used to have before my life was turned upside down, that drive to save the hopeless and downtrodden, returned with a vengeance. When had I lost track of that? Probably around the same time I had to go Slut Factor Three Thousand just to survive. It had been very distracting.
“Creating portals from the underworld to earth is hard,” Xero told us, glancing around the tight circle we’d formed.
I shook my head, refocusing on the problem at hand. Now wasn’t a great time for introspection.
“I’ll do what I can to help,” he continued. “But I’m still pretty damn weak, so I won’t be able to do too much. When you guys made the jump last time, you were probably helped by the Temple Stones. It’ll take all the power we can muster to make a portal strong enough this time. And we all need to have a clear image in mind of the place we want to end up. If we’re not all focusing on the exact same spot, we’ll split our energy.”
“FU,” Kingston said immediately. “Right outside the gates. Just like old times.”
Xero nodded. “Sounds good. Kingston, Kai, you both good?”
“I’m great, now that I don’t have three million pounds of people on my back,” Kingston said, a smile twitching his lips. I had watched the light in his eyes dim over the past few weeks, but now the green of his irises glittered like jewels
“I’ll make it,” Kai said, shaking his head as if to clear it. “Will you?”
“I’m good.” Xero nodded stoically.
Jayce looked across at me. “Piper? Are you better?”
Guilt snaked through my core again. Of course I was. I’d been okay since the moment we reunited with Xero and had only been getting better with every touch since. “Yeah, I’m fine,” I said quickly. “Let’s do this.”
“On the count of three.” Xero reached out, and we all linked ourselves together, grasping each other’s forearms. “One. Two. Three.”
There was a sickening pull in my gut as the floor fell out from under me. The walls around us shimmered, and reality dissolved, leaving nothing but my men shining like beacons in the dark. Gravity went sideways and upside down, and the muted colors of the basement spun into black, then the black spun into gray and white and blue.