Page 26 of Another Damned Storm (Another Damned #3)

HOOK

Two days passed without another incident. No freak storms manifested out of nowhere. There wasn’t a single cloud in the sky, and not one single demon slithered out of that cursed park. At least, not according to Matt and Lily.

Never’s brother had even started to relax around me. A little. He’d found us a spare room to make our own for the time being, and I’d taken full advantage of the time and the privacy, using every tool at my disposal to remind Never that she was mine.

It wasn’t all fun and games, however. You would think after all the time I’d spent in the Nassa waiting for the council of gods to deem my punishment complete that I would have learned the art of patience.

I certainly thought I had, but waiting for word that Thrain was making a move, and being ready to act on a moment’s notice, kept me on edge.

Still, I stayed busy working with Never on her fighting skills and teaching her how to leverage her growing strength.

She was getting faster and more powerful by the day.

We worked on flashing too but given the humans’ distrust of all things magical at Matt’s compound, we reserved all of our training sessions for when we visited Lily’s side of the park .

The humans knew there was more to us than met the eye. They wore their suspicion like a badge of honor. But if anything was said about us, Matt hadn’t mentioned it.

That was another thing I could appreciate about Never’s brother. The man ran a tight ship, given the circumstances.

“Knock, knock.”

I turned away from the window I’d been staring out of without really seeing anything beyond my own spinning thoughts.

Never was trying to wedge the door to our room open with her body while attempting not to topple the two small metal trays she was holding. “A little help?”

I moved to prop the door open and snagged one of the trays from her as she ducked under my arm. “You didn’t have to bring me food. I could have gone down to the mess hall on my own.”

“By which I’m sure you mean ‘thank you.’ So, you’re welcome,” she said with her signature smartass smirk.

“Yes. Thank you.”

“Besides, I had a nice little chat with Angie. That girl is a pistol.” She smiled and set her tray down. “Smart as a whip.”

I held out her seat, and rather than rolling her eyes at the gesture the way she had in the beginning, she simply sat. “Thank you.”

I ducked, pressing a kiss to that sensitive part of her neck just below her ear. “As always, love, it is my pleasure.”

The months we’d spent together in the Nassa had changed us both. Some of those changes were small, like not bucking against a kindness as simple as having a door held open or a chair pulled out. Others were more profound, at least for me.

The way I felt about her wasn’t something I’d ever hoped to experience in my long life.

Now, I could see as plain as day how hollow all the empty years leading up to her arrival in my realm truly were. And how miserable they would become if the fates had their way.

“Would you expect anything less from your family line?” I asked, referring to her niece’s apparent intelligence.

She laughed. “I honestly don’t know. It seems like making the stupid or crazy decisions runs in our blood more than anything.”

I was tempted to argue that both could be true. Having an innate intelligence didn’t preclude one from making mistakes. Before I could say as much, the air in our small room changed.

Never shot back from the table, snagging the butter knife from her tray as she moved. “What the?—”

“Wait.” I held up a hand. “It’s Criton.”

She lowered the dull blade, but her scowl remained even after his form solidified. Anticipation trickled through our connection. I knew exactly how she felt, right down to the dose of dread coloring her impatience.

Had I not just been lamenting the drag of waiting? Suddenly, I wanted to go back in time and replay the last two days on an endless loop.

“Criton.” I tipped my head.

He offered me a curt nod in return. “We should move fast.”

Never came around the table and grabbed my hand. “We go together.”

It was the only thing that seemed fitting.

I motioned for Criton to get on with it. “Lead the way.”

I use my magic to follow his weaker trail. The quick trip brought us to a stand of weeping willows with yellowing leaves wilting on their branches where angry voices filtered the dying foliage. Two of them. Both male.

Criton vanished with a half-hearted salute a moment later. My initial instinct was to think him a coward for skipping out so quickly, but the truth was, he had no dog in this fight. Whatever happened, this was our battle, Never’s and mine.

“Why is this taking so long? Seriously, how hard is it to rebuild a following with all the ammunition I’ve been giving you.”

Fresh tension rolled off Never as she crept forward to get a look at the men.

“You do have functional eyes in that demon head of yours, don’t you?” Thrain asked coldly. “These… rebels are taking down your pathetic excuses for ammunition as fast as you can summon them.”

The old god played the part well, dressed in a flowing robe that started out nearly white at the shoulders and faded to a stormy gray at the hem. His platinum beard fell to the middle of his sternum, and his long hair hung in wild locks that dangled just above the belt line.

The other man, presumably the infamous Lapalme, sneered back at him. “And if you’d taken out the leader and his daughter when I’d told you to, he wouldn’t be the one organizing the rebels against you.” He shook his head in disgust. “And now the sister is back in the picture.”

I stared in a truly stunned silence. Because if I was hearing them right, their plan was to kill Never’s brother and his daughter.

An act strictly forbidden by the Brethren and, at the very least, frowned upon by the gods.

I didn’t understand what would drive them to make such a reckless move, but that fact paled in comparison to the fact that the demon somehow knew about Never.

Had Emerson given us away? I hesitated to believe he would betray us in such a way, but it would be foolish not to at least consider the possibility.

The alternative was that the council had discovered her despite my carefully crafted warding. It was only a matter of time, I supposed. Dropping my own protections to allow for Criton to contact me might have cost us the element of surprise, but it had only been two days.

Were we really such a spectacle?

“Watch your tone, demon.” Thrain’s gray eyes flashed bright, as though the lightning he created was born from them.

The other man scoffed. “I will when you hold up your end of the deal.”

A tense silence stretched between them.

Beside me, I could feel Never seething. I thought I’d seen every shade of anger she was capable of wearing, but the fury spilling through our connection had me turning to find the dark blue of her irises had been swallowed whole by a bright amber glow.

Maybe coming here with her was a mistake. Maybe she wasn’t ready.

Thrain let out a tired sigh. “Come now, Lapalme. You know as well as anyone that I cannot simply strike down a human for no reason. Such an act would draw unwanted attention.”

He sucked air through his teeth as he glared. “Humans get hit by lightning all the time.”

“And as I have told you on at least a dozen other occasions, I need more power to direct my energy with enough accuracy to strike a single human. I must amass more of a following before I can do what you ask.”

“Then don’t aim for just one. Rain lightning down on their camp. Summon a flood and wash the lot of them out to sea for all I care. Just get it done.”

An inhuman growl erupted beside me, and before I understood what was happening, Never launched herself at Lapalme.

“No!” I bellowed, a shock of adrenaline driving me forward.

But I was too late .

The fight that ensued was quick, brutal, and bloody.

For every strike Never landed, Lapalme landed two in a blur of superhuman violence before a series of blinding flashes hammered the ground around us.

Several of the deafening strikes hit nearby trees, setting them ablaze.

Others came close enough to hitting Never and Lapalme that they were thrown off their feet.

I went for Thrain, trying to take out the larger of the two threats, but he vanished in another brilliant flash, taking Lapalme with him. Never leapt to her feet and spun, her chest heaving. Her long fingers were bent like claws, and when her gaze settled on me it turned my blood cold.

The amber glow I’d seen shining in her eyes just moments earlier had darkened to crimson, a color indicative of a powerful demon. It didn’t help that her emotions were all over the place, save for an indescribable desire to destroy that was overpowering everything else.

“Easy, love,” I soothed, holding my hands up to show her I wasn’t a threat.

Her nostrils flared and she let out another growl that raised gooseflesh down the length of both arms.

She was in there. In fact, I was fairly certain it was only her in there. This wasn’t another possession like when Petra’s shadow had found its way into her body. Beyond that, I wasn’t sure what was happening.

“Never, take a breath,” I ordered, albeit gently. With the flood of wild energy pouring out of her, throwing commands at her didn’t strike me as the wisest course of action.

Her eyes narrowed, but she lifted her chin slightly as her nostrils flared again. Maybe if she caught my scent?—

She was on me in a blink, a violent whirlwind of scraping fingernails and tearing teeth. I threw her off me twice, but each time she found her feet and barreled right back at me as if I were a threat to her very existence.

“Never, stop!” I yelled, finally throwing power into the command.

She stilled for a moment, blinking at me with a stunned expression.

That was my opening. I moved quickly, tackling her to the ground without bothering to ensure she wasn’t injured.

My primary goal was to subdue her and make certain she couldn’t flash away to unleash her bottled up vengeance on some unsuspecting soul.

Never wasn’t the kind of woman who could easily forgive herself if she hurt an innocent, even if it happened when she wasn’t herself.

She thrashed and bucked beneath me, wrenched her neck and snapped with her pearly white human teeth like a feral beast, but once I had her wrists and hips pinned, the scuffle was effectively over.

“Look at me,” I demanded, unable to keep the snarl out of my voice. Seeing her like that and feeling the wildness inside her called up my own inner warrior.

Defiance bled from her pores with every ragged breath she drew.

“You know me, Never. I’m your pirate. Your lover. Yours, period. Tell me you remember that.”

The violence oozing from her began to ebb as she blinked up at me. Once. Twice. Then it was like she was seeing me for the first time that day. “Hook?”

Thank the bloody stars. “Yes, love. I’m your Hook.” I probably should have taken at least a glimpse of our surroundings to make sure we were safe, but there was no way in hell I was taking my eyes off her yet.

It took a few more moments for the red to begin to fade, her irises flaring an intense shade of deep purple before the crimson washed away. And as that unnerving need for destruction eased, she pinched her eyes closed.

“Are you okay?” I asked softly. I knew she wasn’t, but I was still hoping to pick up on some sense of relief or recognition. Instead, I was met with a growing sense of horror.

“Jesus fuck.” Her voice wobbled. She swallowed hard. Between her closed lids, a tear slipped out and down her cheek. “I am so sorry.”

I let go of her wrists and lifted myself off her. “You have nothing to apologize for.”

She let out a watery laugh. “Bullshit.”

“Never, look at me.”

She shook her head as she sat up. She did open her eyes but kept them anchored on the ground between her legs.

Whatever had just happened to her had frightened her badly.

Enough so that she’d blocked me out of her mind almost entirely.

All I could feel was a tiny trickle of the unease that was no doubt eating at her.

I glanced at our surroundings, making sure it was just us. There was no sign of a demon stalking us from the shadows, and no sign of Thrain or Lapalme. Even the trees that had gone up in flames from the lightning were fizzling out.

“We should go,” I said gently.

She nodded and pulled herself to her feet without even seeing the hand I held out to help her up.

“Can you…” She let the question trail off, but I knew what she wanted. She didn’t trust herself to flash when her emotions were rioting.

This time, when I held out my hand, she saw it. She still hesitated for several seconds before finally taking it. When she did, a tiny flicker of relief rolled through me, and I squeezed gently, reassuringly.

She didn’t squeeze back.