Page 26

Drake

Saturday Evening

Dark Haven Third Floor

“ I var!” I yelled out. My voice echoed off the tiled walls of the shower room. Steam still clung in the air and water dripped from my body, but I called out anyway.

I couldn’t take the ash and blood covering my skin any longer and the last thing Ivar cared about was seeing me naked.

Ivar wouldn’t come happily but he wouldn’t ignore me now. I’d been fighting beside him for days and he’d called on me more than once.

Times were changing at Dark Haven, and I knew better than to burn bridges I might need.

“What, half breed?” Ivar asked as he appeared. His wide mouth split into a mocking grin before he laughed, looking down at my naked body. I hadn’t bothered pulling my clothes back on before calling him. He’d seen me naked before and I was hardly modest. “That’s all you’ve got?”

“Bigger isn’t always better,” I countered as I palmed my pierced cock. “Our omega is plenty satisfied.”

“Is this why you called me here, to compare our cocks?” Ivar asked with a growl coloring his tone. The commander paced and I wondered if something new happened. He was more on edge than usual.

“I’ve cleared the fifth floor,” I said. “He’s not there. Vane is hiding still.”

“He’s here somewhere but he knows how to ward me out,” Ivar said. “And even worse, Loki is at Dark Haven.”

“What?” I asked, freezing at the news. If other gods were getting involved then this was truly dire.

“The gods are taking notice of the destruction,” he explained in his clipped tone. Fire burned inside of him a bit brighter as he paced.

It was still strange to be included in the conversations of Helheim and demons now. Ivar was still a cocky asshole but he was protecting Dark Haven, Harlow, Hiro, and my mom in the process, the four things I cared most about.

How the two of us have become tentative teammates is insane, but right now it feels like us against Hel. She was giving everyone different orders and my trust in her was dismal at this point.

The gargoyles were keeping the demons in line but the less they fed, the less the demons would be willing to comply. This entire institute was a powder keg on the edge of a full explosion.

Every human I’d encountered was a zombie, barely functioning from the nightly feeding. The gargoyles were waiting for the demons to fuck up and the demons were on the verge of not giving a single fuck.

If they ever had. It was only Ivar that kept them in line before the portal cracked open wide, releasing them into our realm.

Ivar was traveling between Helheim and Dark Haven, trying to regain control of his army while keeping them strong and fed. He’d been in and out so much that even Harlow commented about it.

She’d called me out, too. I could tell the entire group was tired of being locked away, even if it was for their own safety.

In Harlow’s case she was Hel’s chosen but barely in the loop. I’d have felt bad if I had the energy to overthink it. As it was, I was barely sleeping or eating between keeping the patients and my mates safe.

Hel had told me to stick by Harlow, to not deviate from the path we were on. But I was defying my orders from Hel openly and getting the patients transferred out by the busload. I’d gotten placements for about half under Vane’s guise since the asshole was hiding like the coward he was.

Even after several days of searching every shadow and corner of Dark Haven, I had yet to find him. That meant he had multiple secret areas hidden within these walls. It also meant I didn’t know this building as well as I had always thought.

He was here somewhere. I knew he’d never leave while there was so much to be gained. Both Ivar and I knew the only thing he couldn’t keep out were the gargoyles.

They couldn’t be warded the same as a demon, as far as I knew. Despite that, I wasn’t desperate enough to ask for their help yet.

Monty I trusted . . . at least somewhat.

The gargoyles were strangers.

Especially with Kol laying claim to Harlow like she was a fucking possession. I didn’t care who she fucked, but I would be damned if he forced his stony ass on her.

Not after all she’d dealt with.

The image of her broken and haunted in that secret hallway was burned into my brain. As was the beating I’d given Vane after. It wasn’t enough, he deserved so much worse and both Ivar and I were ready to deliver that punishment.

Slowly.

Painfully.

He deserved nothing less.

“Oh, hello there,” someone sang out. I turned to see a red-haired man sitting on a bench, taking in my naked chest with more than a little interest. It might have been amusing if he didn’t radiate power so intensely the hair on my arms stood on end.

“Loki,” Ivar greeted formally. That made sense for the level of power he held and the smirk on his face.

So, the god was seeking us out now?

I pulled on my shirt before saying anything further. Ivar didn’t even give the god a reaction. Both of which seemed to disappoint Loki, his mouth turning down slightly in disappointment. There was a fire that sparked in his eyes even as he let out a yawn as if we were boring him.

His scent was as chaotic as the god himself. A war of sweet, spicy, earthy, and fresh scents to create a strange mixture I couldn’t quite place.

“What are you doing here?” I asked. The fact I kept the demand out of my voice wasn’t easy, but even I knew better than to upset a god.

“Keeping tabs on my daughter.” He laughed as he sat on a bench and crossed his legs, still studying me like I was a meal. His eyes scanned slowly over my body and for once, I hated the feeling. Once I gave into my mates I couldn’t stomach the thought of anyone else. “I suggest you get to the second floor.”

He looked down at his wrist before grinning up at me, his eyes dancing with delight. Even his scent intensified to the point of being suffocating. Whatever he was about to say was feeding his love of chaos.

“Tick, tock, tick, tock.” He shifted his finger back and forth each time he said it, and I needed no further information before I pulled on my shoes and took off at a run.

The stairwell was filled with demons that I didn’t have time to eradicate. I let my fire explode all over my body as I ran past.

A warning from a god wasn’t something you ignored.

As I approached the second-floor landing, I could hear a fight already raging on. The floor quaked under my feet, the building creaking against the constant abuse.

My nostrils filled with the coppery tang of blood and embers. Demons were dying, but why now?

Hel had specifically ordered the gargoyles to stand down.

What changed?

Blood and ashes lined the floor and the blood-coated gargoyles were looking more beastly than ever before. Their fangs were protruding from their mouths so they couldn’t close them, each finger was lined with a claw the size of my hand, filed to a fine point and dripping with more of the dark-red liquid.

It was a slaughter.

The high security gates were already ripped open, and I strode through, glad I’d slipped on my shoes as I stepped in the remains of Hel’s demons.

“What is the meaning of this?!” Ivar had arrived and was furious. He grew taller with his annoyance and blue fire flared to life, reflecting on the wet floors and making the hallway we were in seem even smaller. “You had orders.”

“And you better than anyone know that we follow our orders with precision,” Kol answered as he approached. His voice was so low it reverberated in the eerie quiet that had descended.

They rivaled each other in size but Kol had muscle and bulk on his side.

Though, Ivar had his magic.

Two monsters from two sides of Helheim, the old rivalry strong as they faced off. They were each other’s weakness created to keep the realm and Hel’s powers balanced.

“Then, what was the reason?” Ivar demanded, no less angry than I was at the sight of him. Kol had been walking around here with authority and absolutely zero fucks to give.

Though I could appreciate the sentiment, I would not take orders from him.

Patients screamed behind their doors, haunting and angry, a mix of egging on the fight or being utterly terrified by it.

The ground rumbled again under our feet and in that instant, I saw the reality that this moment presented.

We’d left the portal wide open and both commanders were inside with me right now.

“A distraction,” I called out. “We fell into a trap. Move!”

“Vane,” Ivar snarled, disappearing before he’d even spit out the name like a curse.

“Courtyard,” Kol said as the gargoyles ran for the stairwell at his command.

I was suddenly left alone with the melancholy cries still echoing in the hall and blood and ash at my feet.

Vane had expertly used a large number of his army as fodder.

Yet another example he had no fucking conscience.

The entire attack reeked of desperation which meant whatever was going down in the courtyard was even worse.

I may not have been able to pop out of existence or fly through the halls, but I ran after them anyway, needing to see what fresh hell Vane had unleashed.

My lungs burned as I pushed my half-human body to its limits to reach the courtyard in time.

For once, Ivar and Kol were working together, slaughtering a fresh wave of demons. It was ironic how quickly they went from near enemies to allies.

They had a job to do and despite being pitted against each other by Hel for years, they had the same goal. To stop the rogue demons and preserve Dark Haven.

And they shared a mate, one they shared with me, Hiro, and Roman as well. Our pack wasn’t exactly conventional, then again with mental health, humans, and supernaturals all mixed, we were complicated from the start.

Unlike Ivar and Kol, I didn’t come equipped with massive power and fierce claws. I had some hellfire that could work against small groupings but I was exhausted.

“Hel, give me something to work with here?” I demanded out loud, desperation coloring my words.

It wasn’t Hel who answered.

Loki appeared in front of me again, a finger tapping his chin like this wasn’t a pressing issue. He was a strange god but if he gave me a weapon he could be as crazy as he liked. I was used to crazy.

“You look more like a katana kind of guy,” he said with laughter in his voice. I watched as he held his hand out, palm up, a katana forming in it.

The black weapon was laced with glowing blue fissures, and I didn’t hesitate to take it from his hand.

I was vastly outpowered and out magicked in this battle and I had to trust the weapon wouldn’t hurt me.

“Thank you.”

“Be warned, a gift is not given without one expected in return. I’ll return for my favor later, you delicious specimen,” he teased, tracing a finger over my chest before disappearing and reappearing on top of the gazebo, crossing his legs and eating a bag of popcorn.

He popped each piece as his eyes drank in the ‘show’ unfolding below. To him this was great fun.

Gods are weird.

That was all the time I had to devote to the strange ginger god as a wave of demons finally got past the wall of monsters and were heading for the door to Dark Haven.

I think the fuck not.

They didn’t seem to notice me as I waited, sword by my side until they were close enough.

Their eyes were set on the building itself, hunger had their tongues darting out as if they could taste the human emotion in the air already. It was the desperation I had feared. They were deprived of feeding regularly now.

They wouldn’t get the chance to feed this time.

Exhaustion fell away as adrenaline took over. I swung out, slicing through the front lines like butter, their bodies crumbling to ashes on the spot.

My demon side had taken over completely now, fire burning along my skin and engulfing the katana, making my reflexes that much stronger and the weapon even more effective.

The fight waged on for what felt like hours before the demons stopped coming through. I wasn’t sure how many actually resided in Helheim, but now there were about a hundred less.

“Well done, half breed,” Ivar said as he slammed his fire into the chest of the last demon, letting his remains join the others.

“Vane?” I demanded. Exhaustion was tugging at me again now that the current fight was over, but this was far too important to not see through.

The hiss of anger wasn’t promising and when he simply turned and walked toward the fissure, I had no choice but to follow.

“He sacrificed a human and hid. I was here in seconds but he made the gashes deep enough and placed it just far enough away he had time to run and hide like a fucking mouse before the blood hit the fissure.”

A human sacrifice?

Shit. That means…

The portal was wider now, still closed enough I could jump over it but barely that. Anger welled within me at the sight of the bloody, battered human.

Her hair was long and blonde, blood discoloring it in strange, red rivulets. When Ivar pushed her body with his foot so she’d roll over, I knew this was a threat.

She was about as close to Harlow as he could get from hair to build, and he’d even beat the girl beforehand, if the bruises were anything to go by.

I hated that she suffered for his sick, twisted plans and I knew Harlow would, too. This little beta deserved so much better than this.

“He’s unraveling,” I noted as I fought to keep my voice even.

“He’s a dead man,” Ivar countered. “If he thinks he’s going to have a chance to attack Harlow, he’s fucking lost his mind. His intentions here are clear.”

His shadows flickered toward the dead girl as if I couldn’t see the connection myself.

“Vane lost that a long time ago. We can’t keep doing this,” I said, turning and searching for the gargoyle I knew would go to the ends of this realm to save Harlow. Now was finally the time to ask him for help. “Kol.”

“What is i—?” He landed and took in the sight of the human with bruises and shredded skin, blood dripping from nearly every inch of her.

A low growl started as his eyes widened and nostrils flared. The scent was a dead giveaway, too flowery to be our girl but it was alarming to see.

I rushed out an explanation before he could spiral.

“It’s not her. But it’s meant as a warning of some sort,” I said solemnly. “I don’t care what orders you have, Kol. Find this man before he does this to Harlow. He’s been targeting her. There’s a lot you haven’t been told.”

Kol stilled, the final words that left my mouth had him closing his. No one cared about rank when someone’s life you cared about, or in his case thought he owned, was on the line.

He turned and pulled out a horn, blowing out a long, melancholy tone before taking off for the roof.

“Vane!” I yelled out so loud my muscles strained. “I’m telling you right the fuck now we will hunt you down like the prey you are. If you thought I made you hurt before, next time it will be worse. You’ll spend days writhing in pain before I grant you the slow mercy of death!”

At this point, it didn’t matter if he heard me. I wanted everyone and everything within Dark Haven to know this wasn’t over.

“Good show,” Loki called down to me as he pretended to swoon. “Very, very heroic.”

Kol

The image of the human girl who bled out on the ground below was burned into my mind. Drake didn’t even have to get out the words for me to know the significance.

I wouldn’t stand for anyone trying to harm my mate.

Especially not a human.

“The traitor must be found. Split into teams, one per floor, then keep the courtyard and roof well-guarded. This is only the beginning,” I told my troops. “When you find him, keep him alive. His death is mine to take.”

I might even let the bossy half breed have his way with the man first, but I... I would be the one to cause the life to drain from his eyes.

Ivar could watch, that was the most I’d give him.

If my gargoyles were the ones to find them when the demons couldn’t then it was our prize, not his.

“It will be done,” my enforcers called out before flying off to their posts.

I had no doubt we’d have the man within the hour. There was no ward or lock that could save him now.

I had a mate to find.

Once I knew she was safe, I’d join the hunt.

When I was alone on this side of the roof, I called her name, infusing it with my power so it was a beckoning she couldn’t ignore.

We were already connected, and I knew she couldn’t resist my call.

Though she would not be happy about it. My lips curved into a fanged smile at the image of her fury.

My mate was full of fire and seemed to love to push back at my every word and demand. I savored the way it singed at her fresh, crisp scent every time. It was something only I seemed to invoke in her.

Stravos burst through the door a moment later with Harlow’s arm in his grip. She was spitting out curses and fighting him off. Only when she was on the roof did he let go and slip back through the door, ignoring the way she spat out venom filled words at him.

With one last show of her middle finger, she turned her anger on me.

Yes, mate, give me everything you have.

“I’m not your fucking doll to make demands of and toss around as you see fit, you barbaric bastard!” she screeched so loud her already rasping voice turned hoarse.

“You are my mate to protect,” I stated, crossing my arms and waiting for her anger to fade enough she would listen. She could fight this all she wanted. I wasn’t afraid of a chase. But denying it was simply ridiculous. I knew she felt me as much as I felt her.

She opened her mouth to yell more, her anger flaring, not diminishing. It seemed I needed a new tactic.

“Look at the ground below.”

For a moment I forgot she was a human, realizing my mistake as she looked down and rolled her eyes with a huff. She couldn’t see what I was trying to show her and as much as I knew she wouldn’t like what she saw, it was necessary.

“What am I looking at? The courtyard?”

Before she could run that sexy little mouth again, I was launching into the air and sweeping her up in my hold. We were sailing into the night, floating higher before plunging toward the ground.

Her screams died out as she clung to me, her body heat radiating between us. I had to bite back a moan at how fucking good she felt in my arms. This was right and I knew I’d do anything, even defy my queen, to protect her.

Even from herself.

Our bond was flaring between us at the contact. Every time we touched it burrowed deeper inside of us making it so I was a part of her now.

If only she’d give in.

The moment was wrenched away when I set her on the ground right in front of the portal. My mate stared down in horror at the body we’d discovered only an hour before.

“Oh god,” she gasped, backing away with a hand pressed to her mouth.

It was a gruesome sight, but the stubbornness she’d shown me so far was enough for me to bypass just simply telling her this.

She had to see it to know how serious this was.

Fighting me would only endanger her. My job was not just to protect Dark Haven. That was my men’s job. Mine was to protect Harlow as well.

“She looks like you, doesn’t she?” I pointed out in a quiet voice.

She nodded numbly, a tear tracing down her cheek and I swiped it gently with my knuckles, careful of my claws on her delicate skin.

“Don’t give him the satisfaction of knowing he got to you. My mate is strong and uses her enemy’s taunts as fuel for her flames of vengeance.”

“Your ‘mate’ is a fucking human!” she yelled. The way she said mate was like it was a curse to be spat out and not the most important being in my life.

Our bodies were pressed together before she could react, and I was launching us back to the roof. When my feet hit the floor, I didn’t let her move away.

She needed to know where I stood.

“You are a human, but do not question mine or your intelligence by suggesting that you are just an average human. You, my mate, are stronger and have far more potential. The moment you let me claim you as we are meant to be, then you’ll understand how wrong you are.”

“You don’t get to have me,” she growled. “I’m not your mate.”

“Then why do you tremble at my touch? Even your breath hitches at my presence. I also know that my voice,” I said, lowering my tone as I leaned in to whisper directly into her ear, “does something to you.”

She shivered at my low words. Harlow would be so responsive when I claimed her, filled her with my cock and owned her from the inside out.

“Now, are you going to be a good mate and let me claim you?”

The tip of my claw skated delicately over her skin, just enough to tease. Her breath hitched but she wasn’t giving into what her body craved.

What we both wanted.

“No,” she said, denying this even as my hand trailed lower. Her hips pushed against my fingers as I ran them over her heated cunt.

Even through her jeans she burned for me.

Her scent blossomed under my touch, the scent of fresh berries, snow, and omega sweetness. It was glorious and all mine.

At least right now.

“Should I stop touching you, then?” I asked as I applied pressure, pushing the tips of my fingers into the seam of her jeans.

“No.”

That was all I needed. Now she was mine and there would be no more of this push and pull I was swiftly growing tired of.

She could feel the bond between us, I just wanted her to admit it first.

The pleas that would fall from her lips would fuel my dreams for years to come.