Page 42

Harlow

Sunday Night

Dark Haven Courtyard

T wo days later, the demons were still trying to escape the grounds. Once again, Monty and Kol were MIA.

After my last encounter with Monty, I wasn’t sure how to feel. It was hard to wrap my head around everything he’d become. He was my rock and friend, and I knew he needed to fuck it out the other day.

It was a way for him to get out his own frustrations, and I wasn’t against it, I just hated that he wouldn’t talk unless I forced him to.

Yet, what he had said was exactly what I needed to hear. I just had to come to terms with the fact he and Kol were not human and they never could give me the same care the others could.

The more it hit me, the more I was alright with it. Hiro and Roman, sometimes even Drake, gave me the softness an omega craved. The care. Monty and Kol gave me the safety. It worked… it would have to.

It was now way past time to confront Hel, and I somehow snuck off the third floor alone for the first time in who knows how long.

In fact, I made it all the way to the courtyard without a single person stopping me. I hadn’t realized how much I needed alone time until then, except I didn’t intend to be alone for long.

As I moved through the courtyard toward the portal, I yelled, “Hel, it’s time for you and me to fucking talk! I think I’ve been patient enough!”

She didn’t respond as I paced back and forth, waiting for her to show up. I knew she could hear me, and I would stand out here like a psychopath, screaming into the void for as long as it took for her to come.

“I’ll keep calling you out until you answer!” I screeched. I bordered on hysterical and didn’t give a single fuck anymore.

“You’re bold.” Hel’s voice echoed out into the night. I was suddenly in her throne room, though I could feel the night air still blowing on me.

“I’m only bold because I’m done doing this little fucking dance with you. I’m done with having no answers and your adviser and warden can fuck right off, they’ve been useless.”

She regarded me with a smirk on her face. “I was wondering when we’d see your fire,” she teased.

The human side of her mouth tilted up while the skeletal side remained as stoic as ever. Though it now held new fractures, as if the fires of Helheim were growing stronger.

Interesting.

“Someone is sacrificing humans and making them look like me and my men. You can’t tell me that we’re important and then allow this to go on. The demons are escaping into the human world even though your people are fighting their asses off while you are doing nothing.”

Anger flared in her eyes and her hair billowed angrily around her, but she didn’t attack me.

Maybe I really was important to her.

I certainly was pushing her buttons and had no intentions of stopping.

“The sacrifices were necessary,” she said. Disgust and anger had me biting my tongue before I said something stupid.

My voice came out in a choked whisper. “What do you mean they were necessary?”

Hel looked as amused as ever, reaching down to pet something I couldn’t see, as if to show how unbothered she was.

“Think about it, Harlow,” she told me. Again she was being evasive, not outright telling me anything, and I suspected Kol was right and she couldn’t.

“I’m not here to play riddles with you,” I hissed as I paced. I could feel the stones moving under my feet and knew I was in the courtyard still, another confirmation I wasn’t losing my mind, this was happening.

Thoughts swirled in my head so quickly I could barely make sense of it. Until a realization dawned on me, a cold feeling slithering down my spine until I shivered against it.

“Wait... was that your way of telling me the answer?” I asked carefully. Her face beamed with pride, and I wanted to vomit on the spot. “You’re going to sacrifice me?”

Even as I said the words, I protested them, shaking my head and backing away like it could save me from the fucking leader of Helheim.

“Well, you got most of it right,” she said with a laugh. “I can’t tell you the details, Harlow. But you are on the right track.”

My mouth was so dry it was hard to speak. “I’m going to have to die for you, aren’t I?”

My world shattered around me and I had to fight off the tears and grief already threatening to consume me.

Everything I’d fought for, everything I’d built, that I’d worked hard to keep close, would slip through my fingers and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

A seer and Hel chose me and now my fate was sealed.

I would never get to experience normal pack life. I’d never get to have date nights in the town, nesting and heats, none of it.

Would my mates survive this?

My voice shook but my eyes were full of fire as I glared at her.

“Is that why you sent your adviser and warden? So they could kill me?”

She chuckled as if this was some giant joke, not my fate.

“Or help it along,” she countered. She was so fucking nonchalant that I wanted to lash out. I’ve never been more hurt and betrayed in my life.

“I won’t die for you, Hel. I have a life and I’ve worked hard for it,” I bit out.

She would not take it all from me without a fucking fight. I knew five mates who would fight beside me.

“Death wouldn’t be the end for you,” she said as if that would change anything. “That I can promise you.”

“That’s supposed to help? What, I’m just going to have to live eternity as a fucking demon in your realm or a lost soul?!”

“You wouldn’t be a demon and you wouldn’t be a soul, you’d be something new,” she said.

The way she spoke was like I was missing the point, and I wanted to punch the Queen of Helheim in the fucking face.

“No. I meant what I said. I won’t do it.”

She leaned forward and glared at me. “You can try to outrun fate, Harlow, but it never works. Your fate has been sealed from the moment I chose you. Mine was sealed when I was damned to this godsforsaken realm.”

She hated Helheim and the gods. It rang true in every word she spoke.

“Then choose someone else,” I screamed. Anger was making my voice shake, and I hated that I was letting her see how much this was breaking me. She didn’t deserve to know any of my vulnerability. “Why give me mates and this life just to take it away?”

She shifted in her hair chair as she regarded me, tucking her long, black hair over her shoulder.

“You all serve your purpose for me.”

For me. The words hit me square in the chest, stealing my breath.

This woman was not a leader, but a fucking narcissist. She couldn’t see past whatever fantasy she’d concocted to realize we were real fucking people.

“You think everyone in this world is just here to serve you, to be used in some fucked-up game that you’re creating.”

I was grinding my teeth so hard my jaw ached. It was all I could do to not lash out and get myself killed.

“I didn’t start this war or the rebellion, Harlow. This is how it was meant to be. There’s only so much I can do from this realm.”

“I don’t believe that for a fucking second! You have shown your powers more than once,” I argued.

“Believe what you will,” she said absently, picking at some nonexistent lint on her arm before leveling me with an unamused look. “You can choose to cry, fight, and whine, but at the end of the day you know what you have to do. You have your answers now, Harlow. Leave me.”

She waved her hand as if to dismiss me, and the air wavered until I was back in the courtyard.

“Harlow? Are you okay?”

Layne was beside me, her pretty face twisted in a worried expression since I wasn’t answering her question. She moved in front of me, tucking my hair behind my ears as she tried to study me to figure out what was going on.

I couldn’t form the words, only tears, which wasn’t helping her panic.

“Is this some kind of psychotic break? Do I need to get a nurse?”

That was enough to make me laugh, though it sounded strangled. There was no way to put into words what I was feeling, the panic and fear choking me.

Hel was right about one thing. I had my answers now, and I really fucking wish I didn’t.

“Okay, enough of this,” Layne said, taking my hand and pulling me out of the courtyard and into the elevator.

I expected her to hit the third floor but instead she pressed the basement. My hand instinctively went to my side to make sure I had my blade.

Even though it was away from my mates, I didn’t protest. I wasn’t ready to face anyone else. Instead, I followed Layne as she led me to the boiler room.

“Do the demons not come down here?” I questioned. She shook her head and pointed to a ward on the wall.

“I asked that demon of yours if he could ward it for us and he did. I’ll be honest, I was a bit shocked. But we needed a place away from the chaos,” she said.

She truly had made it her nest. I knew she was in some capacity but now she’d fully converted it. Two beds were pushed together to create a queen size bed in one corner. It was piled high with extra blankets and pillows. Nothing fancy, but they were hers.

I made a mental note to take her with me when I went to the nesting store. If we ever got the chance. My chest ached at the thought and I rubbed my chest as I glanced around.

White sheets were tacked to the walls to add the cozy feel. One was down the middle, separating her nest from the rest of the living space.

Random old furniture was spread out, including a desk and bookshelf. A stack of boxes rested in the corner full of her things. It felt like they were moving down here.

A boiler room wouldn’t be my first choice, but it made sense for Crew.

“While moving some things down here, I managed to snag us a little treat. Do you want to partake?”

She went to a stack of boxes and pulled out a bottle of liquor. I never drank whiskey but now seemed like as good a time as any to start.

Somehow Layne figured out what I needed was an escape and I took it happily. She was a good friend. We could relate to each other on more than one account. We were both omegas who never got to be omegas. We also had our mental health that made us the misfits of the human world. Now that we were thrust into this crazy Helheim chaos, we were misfits there, too.

And that was alright.

“Do you want to talk about it?” she finally asked. I shook my head and she laughed. “Good, because I really didn’t want to talk about it either. I’m not really good with words and friendship. But I’m here for you still,” she said, awkwardly bumping her shoulder into mine as she screwed off the lid and took a large gulp.

She handed it over and I followed suit, sputtering and choking as the warm liquid made its way down my throat.

We passed it back and forth in silence until half the bottle was gone. My mind was blessedly quiet now as warmth filled me. A tingling buzzed along my skin and my mind felt like I was floating.

Layne shifted to face me, face eager. “So, what’s it like to fuck a demon?”

Any other time I might have laughed at her question, but I was drunk enough I just let out a small giggle and answered.

“Well, demons have tails and they can use them,” I started, describing every detail of how Monty used his. “And even more, Monty has shadows he controls and sometimes he fucks me with them. Let’s just say that I have some amazing sex. Oh! Did you know that Drake’s cock is pierced?!” I rambled out my explanation and she was dying laughing next to me as I overshared.

“Dang, ask and you shall receive, I guess,” she sang out. “That was an even better explanation than I expected.”

“So, how are things with you and Crew?” I asked to change the subject before she could ask about Kol’s dick.

She smiled sadly. “Good. He’s just not happy here with everything going on, and I can’t blame him. The demons are fucking terrifying, but I don’t want to be anywhere else.”

“I can understand that,” I agreed. “Dark Haven digs its claws into you. It’s home in its twisted, fucked-up way.”

“Exactly,” she agreed, tipping the bottle toward me in appreciation before taking another long pull.

“I feel stupid and selfish for saying it, but I can’t stop thinking about Stravos. He still checks in on me.” She smiled sadly. “He’s my mate and wants me like I want him, but I’m so worried I’ll push Crew away if I give in.”

“I guess Crew isn’t for sharing?” I guessed.

She shrugged. “We haven’t even discussed it. He’s been shutting down on me a lot lately. I’m not sure what to do about it. He’ll come around.” Her face said she wasn’t so sure of that.

“He will,” I agreed, taking a drink and handing it back.

She drank and blinked her eyes to ward off the tears. For two omegas refusing to talk, things were getting deep.

“I’d sit his ass down and tell him what you’re thinking. He can either get with it or move on,” I said. “It’s tough but you don’t want regrets. And if you’re feeling it this strongly, then I’d see it through. Then again, this is coming from the girl that’s fucking two humans, a demon, a half demon, and a gargoyle.”

“All at the same time?” she asked, gasping, then falling into a fit of laughter. “Girl, how is your vagina not broken?”

“Oh, my vagina is very happy,” I shot back, cracking up at where our conversation had gone.

She got quiet for a second before looking back at me. “You know, you’re right, I do deserve happiness. I’ve lived a really shit-tastic life and if I want to bang a gargoyle, I’m going to bang a gargoyle.”

“Exactly!” I cheered. “Fuck all the gargoyles.”

She cut me off with a weak smack and we lost it, falling backward as we laughed.

Though, Layne somehow managed to save the whiskey.

“We really should have eaten something before coming in here,” she noted, taking another sip of the whiskey for good measure.

“At least we’re close to the cafeteria,” I said. “Let’s go sneak some snacks.”

She stood and pulled me up with her as she stormed out of the room, leaving the alcohol behind.

It was hard to keep my feet under me and I was even more disoriented with the shadows pulsing around me, fading in and out like they, too, were drunk.

Hallucinations were fucking weird.

The hallway was empty but something cold creeped down my spine, stopping me in my tracks. Layne nearly toppled over me as I stopped without warning.

My vision was wavering, thanks to the alcohol, and even my panic was delayed.

I’d picked an awful time to start drinking.

“What do we have here?” The warden’s voice had me pushing Layne to the wall, my body shielding hers.

“Kol! Monty!” My desperate pleas only made the warden laugh.

“You think your little commander is going to save you here?” he questioned as he stepped closer. “Maybe I should see what that commander is so captivated with.” His words were laced in innuendo, and bile rose in my throat.

“I’d like to fucking see you try, demon.” Kol’s voice reverberated through the small hallway. It was so low and gravely it almost seemed painful.

I’d never been happier to see a gargoyle in my life.

Kol lunged at the warden, but he disappeared before they clashed.

There was no flare of shadows like Monty, he just simply wasn’t there anymore.

Kol growled and slammed his fist into the stone, but he was quickly turning around to make sure we were okay.

His eyebrows furrowed when he stepped close, leaning in to take a deep breath. “Are you drunk?”

The question had Layne bursting into laughter which only made me laugh along with her. Soon we collapsed in a heap.

The adrenaline was dropping away and the world was spinning rapidly.

“You saved me! My hero,” I cooed at Kol who loomed over me, breathing heavily and looking at me like I’d lost my mind altogether.

I lost that long ago. That thought made me laugh even harder.

“I’ll always save you,” he whispered. Kol was so serious it almost sobered me for a moment. I wanted to spill everything to him, tell him I didn’t want to die.

But the alcohol only made me slur the words into an incomprehensible garble. He lifted me in his arms and the moment I was embraced by him, darkness overtook me.