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DESMOND

B rainstorming our missing crew’s whereabouts felt like running in a circle. We were mentally exhausted, no closer to finding them than we were a few days ago. Ares and I barely slept and spent most of our nights awake in bed, doom spiraling about all the awful things that could have happened to them.

There was no guarantee they made it to Hell—Red could have easily stashed them in the Fourth Realm. Even if they did make it to Pandemonium, Hell was vast with hundreds of places to hide people. Or they could be trapped somewhere obscure on Earth.

They could be anywhere .

Angela sighed, leaning her head on Charlie’s shoulder. “You don’t think Red is hiding them somewhere in the compound as a sick joke, do you? Or in our old house in Brooklyn? I feel like that fucker would.”

“I have soldiers searching every inch of the compound, and the wards Feathers weaved around your old house would have let me know if anyone entered it,” Ares responds, his head in his hands. He had been on edge since Diana left, vacillating between agitated and flat out wrecked.

“Holy shit.” August’s head snapped to the door, his jaw dropping to the floor. The Costa vampires shared a consciousness, and news traveled fast around the compound. “They’re back, and they’re not alone. We need to get down there. I’m calling in some of the soldiers as backup.”

He used his magic to transport all of us back to the training gym, which was in complete chaos. A band of twenty soldiers were chasing three small, scaly dinosaurs around the far side of the gym. One of the dinosaurs has a finger gripped in his claws, which left a trail of blood behind him. That explained why one of Judas’ guards held his hand against his chest, cradling it as his agonizing screams tore through the room.

I’d deal with that issue at another time, but I had to see Diana first. After a quick scan of the room, I found her and Oisín naked on the floor, covered in blood and grass. There was some sort of fanged tooth embedded into her back. The wound was rapidly healing, but I could tell it was painful and deep.

What was more concerning was the unknown man standing next to her. He was definitely paranormal—his power signature was a brash slap across the face, powerful and chaotic. He had bright strawberry blond hair, a solid build, and stood tall as he offered her his hand to help her off the floor. When his fingers touched her skin, I envisioned smashing his fucking face in. Or ripping his head clean off and hanging it outside the training gym as a warning to every man in this compound not to touch what didn’t belong to them.

A snap of his fingers made a black robe wrap around her body. When he turned to the side, I saw the arch of his ears and the unmistakable pointy tips. A Faerie.

Fae were here when time began, and they would still be here if it ever ended. There was a reason they were rarely seen outside their own realm. Only the worst—the ones labeled irredeemable by their kind and unfit to be in society—were punished to live their immortal lives on Earth, a subpar realm as far as they were concerned. Their magic was archaic and deadly—world changing. Controlling them wasn’t possible

Only Diana could manage to cross paths with one of the deadliest types of paranormal beings in the midst of whatever the fuck happened to them.

Who the fuck is that Fae touching our woman?! Ares shouted through our mindlink. I’m going to wring his neck and add those giant pointy ears to my new trophy room.

Calm down, A-Bomb. We don’t want to start something while he’s so close to Diana.

Diana wasn’t stupid, but sometimes she could be impulsive. Did she even know what he was? Or why he was sentenced to spending his days on earth?

I had to separate them, at least until we could determine he wasn’t a threat. “Step away from Diana Morningstar and?—”

Ares used his super speed to attack him before I finished my sentence. Within seconds, he had the faerie pinned down on his back with his forearm and his other hand wrapped around his neck.

“Don’t touch what isn’t yours,” Ares growled, his Greek accent so thick, his voice purred. “State your business here.”

He smiled at Ares, batting his eyelashes. “It’s hard to focus with you pinning me down like this with your big, strong hand around my throat. Diana, you never said he was this hairy. I like it. ” He winked at Ares, which only made him tighten his hold on the Fae’s neck.

“Ares, meet Quelier, my new Personal Assistant. He helped us get out of Pit 13,” she winced as she pulled the tooth out of her back. How the fuck did they end up in Pit 13? The Princeps shut that place down centuries ago.

Two of the three dinosaurs raced toward Ares. They screeched loudly, their shrill calls a warning to everyone around them. He laughed as he plucked one of the little monsters right off the ground by the back of the neck, then glared at the other one, freezing it in place. The dinosaur wiggled in his hold, trying to snap at him.

A wicked smirk curled his full lips. Ares was a sick, bloodthirsty god. He tried to be on his best behavior around Diana, but I’ve seen him level entire battlefields and destroy armies because he felt like it. Quelier was no match for him.

“You brought me dinosaurs, Little Goddess? What a beautiful gift, I love them. Especially their razor sharp teeth…” He froze the dinosaur in his hand while its mouth was wide open, exposing dozens of little dagger teeth. He held them up to Quelier’s throat. “You think you’re immortal, but my uncle will plunge your forsaken soul right into the River Styx if you even think about our woman the wrong way. I’m watching you, Pointy Ears. Every fucking breath you take is because I let you take it.”

Quelier didn’t even flinch at Ares’ threat. His smile and ease under imminent death were unnatural. He almost seemed… pleased , like he wanted that reaction. He looked Ares straight in the eye as he said, “Threats are practically a declaration of love to the Fae, Greek Daddy. Take my breath away—I love breath play. Make my day. ”

“Unhinged. Uninhibited. Un-fucking-real. Put that on your business card. Most beings would have pissed their pants by now,” Michael said as he yanked Ares off. “Quelier, you’re my new favorite person. Everything is water under the bridge now.”

Michael helped him off the floor, and I caught a snippet of their conversation as they walked to the far end of the room.

“You know, we can have some fun torturing Lucifer…” the faerie menace said.

A grating scream sounded from the other side of the gym. The third dinosaur had one of Judas’ soldiers on the ground as it tore into his neck. Judas and Oisín ran over to help him, but they may have been too late.

You came back naked, bleeding with a tooth stuck in your back, with three fucking dino-murderers and some rando Fae who could be a fucking psychopath for all we know. What does Michael mean about water under the bridge? I asked Diana, Mal, and Az.

I promise I will explain everything later. But you all need to be nice to Quelier. If we’re going to win this war, I need help. Someone to organize the dozens of things I do in a day so I don’t burn out.

But I already do that for you… I organized Diana’s day. She seemed okay and never told me she was overwhelmed.

You really can’t. If we’re going to beat Red, we all need to be our best. Focus on your job, and I’ll employ someone to make mine easier. This isn’t a discussion, Desmond.

Diana was a stubborn woman, so I knew when to pick my battles. If she wanted a personal assistant, I’d let her have one. “Fine, but if Quelier doesn’t pass my vetting process, the guys and I will get rid of him.”

“He passed mine, and that’s what matters.” She held her chin high, giving me a final glare before striding off to her PA, who sat on the floor petting the velociraptors like they were some kind of adorable pet.

“Diana, what do you want to name your new little terrors?”

“We can keep them?” she blurted out in pure excitement.

“Of course you can, you’re the HBIC, Diana! I’m sure some training and a few enchantments can tame them.” He scratched another one under his chin, and it promptly tried to snap at him. “You’ll be good little beasties in no time, won’t you?” he asked them all in a baby voice.

“Hmmm…Claws,” she said pointing to the green one. “Fangs.” She pointed to the smallest one, who had freakishly long, snaggled fangs that protruded from his upper lip. “And that big boy can be Tank,” she declared, pointing to the biggest one.

“Claws, Fangs, and Tank, let’s get you cleaned up and decked out with some custom collars,” Quelier ordered with a quick clap as he and Michael left the training gym, the mini dinosaurs following them like a row of murderous ducks.

A Fae exile dino-whisperer. Actual dinosaur pets. Michael laughing like a lunatic as he conspired with his new friend. What the fuck is this compound coming to? There was no way she’d be keeping those things as pets. They were dangerous, and she had to focus on her training. It was the only way to ensure her safety. Not even I was deluded enough to think the five of us could keep her safe at all times.

“You need to trust her judgment. She’s a grown woman who can make her own decisions,” Az reminded me as he bumped his hip into mine. I threw my arm over his shoulder, bringing him in for a side hug.

“You aren’t even going to let me fuss over you and ask if you’re okay before you start lecturing me?” I half-joked, then kissed his forehead. “You asked me to be less of a robot, at least let me try to show emotion before you tell me how spectacularly I mess up with our girl.”

“I’m serious, Desmond. You need to stop being so overbearing. Haven’t you already learned this lesson? The more controlling you are, the more she’ll push. And now her power exceeds all of ours. She won’t run away from you…”

“Yeah, she’ll fight,” I finished his thought for him.

Az made a good point. But what he missed was that despite her being Diana Morningstar, she would always be my dollface. I’d protect her at all costs, even from her own poor judgment.

We all crammed into Diana’s bed after dinner to catch up on our time apart. Ares and I told them about the attack at the compound, and how Red’s troops appeared just after they entered the portal. Bash agreed on our theory that there was a Costa coven insider giving them information. I could see the wheels turning in his eyes as he plotted a scheme to trap whoever it was.

Diana, Mal, and Az told the story of how they got home. Every detail made my stomach sour. My dollface had been in danger—trapped in a prison fit for Lucifer’s most despicable Hellions—and they recounted the adventure as if it was a fun quest.

“You just turned into a giant dinosaur and fought a T-Rex?” Ares gasped. He laid on his stomach in bed, his feet in the air with his head resting in his hand like a teen girl gossiping at a sleepover.

He was captivated by Diana’s battle with an apex predator, hanging on her every word as if she was breaking down a battle. How could he be so calm about the whole thing?

“She and Oisín brutalized it. Her scales were so glittery pink they almost blinded me,” Mal jokingly complained.

“I should have morphed into a dragon like he did, so I could have a better vantage point. But hey, you live and you learn, right?” She giggled, and I had to fight the urge to flip her over my knee and spank her ass red for joking about life and death—after she almost died how many times now?!

How could she be so blase about this? She was acting as if her life wasn’t in danger, as if she hadn’t been tortured in the deepest pit in Hell. Like she hadn’t used an unstable, unpredictable power which could have irrevocably fucked up our timeline had she overshot her return trip. She accidentally brought back fucking velociraptors, for fuck’s sake! If they were ever seen by the general public, we’d be in direct violation of the Princeps counsel.

Desmond…fix your face. You look like you’re going to rip Diana’s head off, Az nudged me. I shoved his voice to the back of my mind, because I already knew. I was well aware of my anger for her lack of concern over her and her crew’s safety.

It took every ounce of self control I had to relax. I kept reminding myself that Diana could handle herself. She had powers that most demons only dreamed of wielding. But it was difficult to ignore the anxiety knotting in my stomach and the unreasonable worries I had about something happening to her.

“So how exactly did you convince Quelier to let you escape? You never told us the whole story,” Az asked.

“I didn’t. In one of the torture scenerios Pit 13 manifested, Red had me magically bound and he was ranting about how he’d destroy me—how he’ll rebalance the world so that the strongest of magical beings were in their rightful place ruling the world. I think that put things into perspective for him, and he agreed to join us.”

“Or he saw it as his ticket out of the pit. There was probably a reason FIL trapped him down there,” Ares groused.

At least he and I were on the same wavelength when it came to Diana’s new Fae PA . We didn’t appreciate having another man near her, especially one who was exiled from his realm.

Diana sighed, rolling her eyes like she would rather be discussing anything else. “Let’s get this out of the way, before it festers or you all try to jump him in a hallway.”

“Try? We could totally jump him in a hallway. His ears can be additional ornaments on our Christmas tree. We can even put sparkly earrings in them to make it extra festive,” Ares suggested.

“Oh, Like mistletoe or snowflakes? That would look cute,” Mal added on, pushing his hair behind his ear. “Oh, we can even use the real plant and use an evergreen spell so it stays fresh all season…”

“Put your violence away, Ares.” She whipped her head toward Mal. “And stop encouraging him! There is no way we could have left Pit 13 without Quelier. He wanted to leave, and I saw an opportunity to add someone to the team with an unparalleled magical skillset and the ability to organize chaos. I don’t have to explain my decision to any of you.”

Before I could respond, Az said, “I trust your judgment. I’d rather have someone like him on our side than against us.”

Fucking traitor, Ares spat at him.

Yeah, Benedict Angel, I teased.

I hate to say it, but I agree with Az. You two weren’t tortured in that pit. I know he didn’t come up with the torture scenes, but he and Lucifer created the magic that did it… Bash trailed off, his stare becoming distant.

What happened to him in his personal hell?

“Can you all stop mindlinking about me while I’m right here,” Diana snapped. “This is part of the reason I left you four. You don’t make decisions for me anymore.”

Her anger unleashed like a crack of lightning, growing in ferocity until the whole room rattled. Little perfumes and cosmetics tumbled off her vanity as the ground quaked. The bed was a boat tossing in a churning sea, with Diana’s anger the wave that would finally take it out. Thick plumes of steam billowed from her ears, and her face tinted red.

“Little Goddess, I promise I will not participate in any unwarranted physical attacks on your new, pointy-eared assistant. I will make sure to have evidence of his transgressions first.”

“That sounds reasonable, Ares,” Bash agreed, weaving an arm around Diana’s waist. He nuzzled his nose into the crook of her neck, kissing the sensitive spot below her ear. “I’ll try to tolerate him, too.”

Az and Diana locked gazes, and I wondered what they discussed. He always knew exactly what to say to her, how to connect with her on a deeper level. Despite my power of emotional manipulation, I couldn’t reach that pinnacle.

I felt her anger subside and turn to acceptance. His words were enough that her face softened, the steam clearing from around her head. That’s the best compromise she’d get from those two.

The shaking stopped. Mal levitated her toiletries off the ground, placing them neatly back on the vanity. She smiled at him in a silent thank you. The kind she rarely gave to me.

“There’s nothing for you possessive, jealous monsters to worry about. He’s interested in Angie and Judas. He literally saw them in my torture scenes and said he’d ‘keep an eye on them’.”

I planned to keep a close eye on Mr. Fae PA Extraordinaire until I knew exactly who he was and why he was here. Judas could take care of himself, but Angie was my woman’s family—which meant she was mine too. I’d be damned if I let her get caught up in one of his faerie shenanigans.

“I can’t believe Lucifer kept Pit 13 open, even after the Princeps ordered him to shut it down…” Az mused. “Some of the beings trapped there may be even worse than Red.” Smooth subject change.

If Quelier can get them out of Pit 13, maybe he can free the other prisoners, too. We can commute their sentences if they’re willing to fight with us, Ares linked me. Sometimes you have to fight bad with worse…

It's worth pitching in tomorrow’s meeting. I doubted Lucifer would be comfortable with the prisoners he left there to rot walking free, but it was something to consider.

“I still feel uneasy about Red’s attack. He sent a small troop of forces here to attack us after closing the portal on you…that seemed unnecessary, like a distraction,” I thought aloud. The whole scenario didn’t sit right with me.

“There was no way you’d be able to open the portal without Michael to retrieve us. It was a one way ticket,” Mal added.

“Which means they were keeping your attention away from something else…”

The question was—what?