Page 49

Drake

Hel’s Castle

H arlow was every bit the goddess she now embodied. Her previously pale skin now held an otherworldly glimmer. Her formerly blonde hair had shifted to a bright, starlight silver.

She was taller, more toned, but just as fucking perfect as she was before.

And her scent?

It was like coming home.

Snow and sweet berries, mixed with a slight hint of ember from the fires that burned this land. It hit me square in the chest, stronger than before and burrowing into every sense, consuming me from the inside out.

I was gone for her from the start, but now? Now I knew our bond made it beyond the constraints of mortal life. We were soul mates.

She might be too freaked out to notice our nakedness, but I wasn’t. Her soft body melted into mine, the warmth had my cock hardening and my knot pulsing, begging for me to claim her now.

Then she mentioned Hiro, and my boner was gone.

My chest ached fiercely, something that had been happening from the moment I woke up with no bond and no mates.

“No sign of them,” I admitted in defeat. “I’ve only just woken up here.”

It was unsettling to say the least.

The blade slicing through me was something I knew I would never forget.

That and being sucked into a void that was more desolate and crushing than anything imaginable.

“Where?” she asked, twirling around as she studied the room. As she moved, ice and shadows spilled from her hands, matching the frantic desperation in her eyes.

She had no clue what she was capable of, how much of Hel’s magic she possessed. No one did. But, I couldn’t exactly let her accidentally smite someone. She was already a mess.

“Harlow.” The warning in my voice had her stopping, and only then did she glance down and jump before holding her bare hands up.

Her pouty mouth fell open and her bright blue eyes widened.

“Holy fucking shit, am I doing that?!” Her words may not be that of a goddess, or whatever she was, but her power screamed of it.

There was an instinctual protectiveness I felt over her, a connection that demanded I keep her safe.

It went beyond simple mates.

Sure, I would have done that before. Now it was something I couldn’t control or turn away if I wanted to.

Harlow and I were still mates. I would thoroughly enjoy claiming her all over again. My mark would be on her skin again the moment I could put it there.

This connection could only mean that I was destined to be her personal guard, just as Ivar was for Hel. What did that mean for Ivar? It was something I was afraid to put thought into. She loved us, but her connection to the former commander was something much deeper.

“There’s a lot you can do, my little demigoddess,” Loki answered as he popped into existence between us at the worst possible moment. “But first, clothes. Can’t do anything with your tits and his dick flopping around. A god only has so much control and I have a feeling your pack isn’t into orgies with outsiders.”

He snapped his fingers and tight fabric wrapped around me, silencing my angry growls. I rolled my eyes at the tight leather harness and pants that matched. I looked like I was heading to a human kink club, not a guard of the Queen of Helheim.

At least he’d chosen something a bit more realistic for Harlow. She was in a gorgeous midnight blue gown that hugged her curves and trailed behind her as she moved. The fabric shimmered in the glowing blue fires of Helheim.

Gods, she was breathtaking. A true queen of Helheim.

My mouth went dry and that possessiveness flared to life again. There was a pull to be close to her, to touch her, and I didn’t know how long I could wait.

“Thank you?” It was more a question than anything but my poor girlfriend was overwhelmed, panicked, and in way over her head. It quickly morphed to fury as she locked those blues on him, promising retribution. “Wait, what the fuck, Loki?! You left me in the mist!”

The shadows pulsed out of her hands in her anger, ice swirling at her feet as she glared at the God of Chaos.

He shrugged as he perched on the edge of her throne as if he had any right to.

“You had to enter from the Land of Mist to Helheim on your own. Technically, I wasn’t supposed to help out there, but you were merely a human and I’m not so good at rules,” he admitted. Loki shifted as he explained, showing just how uncomfortable he was explaining himself. “What became of the creatures?”

“I stomped on them.” With that, she slipped her foot out of the heels he’d magicked onto her and glanced at her heel, nose wrinkling adorably at the red stain. “Gross. I figured they’d grow again and wasn’t taking chances.”

“Smart,” Loki agreed. “I only gave you a few minutes.”

“How kind of you,” she said dryly. “Where the fuck are Roman and Hiro? Kol? Monty?”

“The former humans are safe,” he stated in that vague way of his. “The monsters... well, you’ll have to be patient. We have more important matters to attend.”

Fire blasted from her hands again and her eyes flashed in fury.

“ Nothing is more important than them,” Harlow seethed. When her anger hit she was even more glorious. Fuck, I was going to spend every day in Helheim hard and ready to worship at her feet. “I don’t know what magic I can do, but if you don’t fucking tell me where they are, I’ll figure out something to use against you.”

Loki let out a dark chuckle as I put myself between them. She was outmatched even if her anger wouldn’t let her see that.

“Do not mistake my kindness or amusement as anything but my whims. You do not dictate anything. You’re not even a goddess, Harlow. You’ll learn your place here or die in the process. Your choice.”

She swallowed hard and deflated. “I’m sorry, Loki. But I can’t give Helheim anything until they’re with me again. I didn’t fucking want this, and they didn’t deserve that end.”

“No, they didn’t, but what you want matters little in this world. Odin approaches. Word has reached the other gods. There’s no stopping any of this now.”

“But—” I silenced her with a hand over hers and a pleading look. This wasn’t Dark Haven.

She’d been able to speak to Monty how she’d wanted, even Hel who needed her.

Now she was in a different world with far different rules. I couldn’t protect her against a god’s fury.

A crack of thunder sounded in the throne room before a bright flash of light had us shielding our eyes.

“You always did love a good entrance,” Loki mused, pitching his voice loud enough to be heard over the rolling thunder. “And they say I’m the exuberant god.”

“Loki, I’m here for an update,” the god demanded as the storm clouds cleared.

Odin was a sight to behold. He wore full battle armor made of polished gold. A large staff was gripped in one giant fist, the other pointing at Loki.

Honestly, Odin was a silver fox to the extreme.

His long, brown hair was braided down his back, giving a full view of his handsome face. He had scars from battle, but they did nothing to take away from his striking features and glowing silver eyes.

The voice that came out of the god was rough and rugged, fitting the rest of him.

He spared Harlow a quick glance, skipping me entirely, before turning back to Loki.

“Where is Hel?”

“Hel is gone,” Loki said as if it were no big deal. “It seems she has chosen a replacement.”

Odin’s gaze traveled from Loki to Harlow and back again. “A human?”

“Not anymore,” Loki said with amusement. “She died and was reborn here thanks to our former queen of Helheim. She even has some of Hel’s powers, it seems.”

“You’re nothing but a fledgling,” he bit out as he studied her. “You couldn’t possibly handle a realm such as this.”

The doubt was clear in his words and he was glaring down at her like she was a bug. His intimidation would never work, my mate was no pushover.

I bit my tongue and watched, waiting to see how she’d react

Anger flashed in Harlow’s eyes, her voice strong as she threw her response back at the god.

“Do not question the sacrifices that led me here. Not only did I suffer at the hands of the humans who raised me and the ones who were supposed to save me, but I lost everything at Dark Haven. Hel took my mates from me without a second thought. She forced me to sacrifice myself willingly for her own gain. I did it, not for her, but for them . I will spend every second of this afterlife finding them and avenging their suffering as well as mine.”

As she spoke, her anger rose, taking over and forming into a shadow-ridden storm around her, lightning and ice making her look downright deadly. This time, shadows joined the mix, similar to the ones Ivar could wield.

She was magnificent and would be a force to be reckoned with when she came to terms with it.

Odin didn’t speak or interrupt her tirade, he just watched, with a slight glint of acceptance in his eyes when she finished.

“It appears I might have underestimated you. Hold on to that fire, girl, you’ll need it here or you’ll be eaten alive. I suggest you learn the realm and embrace it. This is your only option now. It seems Hel betrayed not only me, but you as well. You’re now tied to Helheim, there’s nothing I can do to fix that.”

Harlow’s face twisted in fear and a promise of retribution. She was not going to let this slide. Nor would I.

“That bitch,” she bit out. “What happens to her now?”

“She’ll be found and stripped of her immortality.” Loki’s low growl had his superior looking at him with no hint of remorse. “She has betrayed the gods. Hel will pay. She’ll be human and live out her life. When she dies, there will be no honor, only nonexistence.”

“That seems drastic,” Loki drawled, his voice feigning calm while his eyes blazed. “For merely wanting out of a death sentence? One you gave her.”

“Trading one for another,” Odin corrected him. “We are gods, and are given powers beyond imagination. But with that comes responsibility and she has let go of hers. Therefore, she is no longer among us.”

Loki didn’t say anything, but I saw the look of determination there. He wasn’t letting his daughter fall quite so easily.

What would that mean for Harlow?

“I’ll be back in three months’ time,” Odin told Harlow. “I suggest you prove to the gods that you are deserving of a place among us.”

“I want the ability to travel from here to Earth without losing my powers. All my mates will need the same. We have a duty to close the portal that Hel threw open. The human world is suffering,” Harlow countered. “Hel said she was unable to go back and forth. I want that ability... if possible… please.”

We both knew she was doing it for Dark Haven and those we left behind, not for duty, but Odin didn’t know us well enough.

“Done.” There was no fanfare to his words, he simply nodded and disappeared, leaving the rest of us in confused silence. I expected a flare of power but there was nothing.

“You survived meeting the God of Gods, congratulations,” Loki deadpanned. “Now, remember that favor I did for you?”

“The favor that you still have yet to show me you did? I have not seen my men,” she growled.

Harlow was swiftly reaching her breaking point. I couldn’t resist anymore, reaching forward and slipping my hand in hers, putting us shoulder to shoulder. I missed feeling her through the bond.

Loki waved his hand in dismissal. “My price is that you make a place for Hel here. I’m going to find her before the gods do. You’ll ensure she doesn’t die.”

“Can I even do that?” Harlow asked in disbelief. “I don’t even know how to get around this castle, let alone ensure life or death, Loki.”

“You have time to figure it out,” he said.

The ‘or else’ was left unsaid. Loki didn’t cast a glance back before he walked away, disappearing mid-step.

“He didn’t even fucking tell me where Roman and Hiro are!” she screeched.

“It’s Loki. He said he saved them, that’s all his obligation extends. It’s up to us to find them, Harlow,” I said, offering a small smile. “We will find them.”

“Fucking gods and their bullshit,” she seethed. The skeleton dog rushed to her side, and she bent down, loving on him as she let her anger deflate. “We may as well start our search in this castle.”

“There’s a hallway here,” I said as I led the way past her throne to the illusion wall built behind it.

The jutting crystalline walls made it impossible to tell where the hallways branched out. It isolated the throne room and likely kept Hel’s guests confused.

“This place is wild,” she muttered beside me. This time she took my hand as we started down the hallway.

Everything in the castle appeared to be carved from the icy crystals growing in the realm. Even though it looked like ice, it wasn’t cold in here. Honestly, it felt as if it were a warm spring day on Earth.

This was a realm that defied logic and we were only seeing the tip of the iceberg.

“I can’t stop feeling guilty. She chose me and I dragged you all into this mess. They’re dead because of me . You’re no longer human, because of me ,” she whispered.

I stopped walking and pulled her into my arms. She gave herself a moment to break down and cry. I had witnessed only a portion of what she did that night in the courtyard.

Fuck, my poor omega.

She already had trauma, and now it was tenfold.

“It doesn’t help that we were all bonded. I didn’t realize how much a part of me you all were until everyone was ruthlessly ripped away. My soul feels... incomplete, and I don’t know if they’re even alive in any form.”

Another sob escaped and her entire body shook in my arms. I needed to bond her sooner rather than later. She needed the connection as much as I did. My alpha was restless and needy, begging with every cell in my body to be as close as possible. To make her ours.

This time it wouldn’t be ripped away by betrayal.

“They’re here somewhere, Harlow. Loki told us as much,” I reassured her. “They’ll likely be just as changed as we are, but they’re alive. Kol will regenerate. Monty has to be here somewhere.”

“I was outside the castle, Drake. This realm is huge,” she said, throwing her hands up. Harlow pulled away and glared at me with watery eyes, wrapping her arms around herself as if she could hold her broken pieces together. “There’s no way we can just walk around and randomly find them. It’s a fucking wasteland. Would Hel even bother to throw Monty in prison, or would she simply kill him?”

“Look,” I growled, backing her into the wall. If I let her give into these thoughts she might not recover. We may have escaped our humanity but we are the same people inside, our thoughts could be just as damaging. “I’m trying to be fucking supportive here, but now is the time to grow the fuck up, Harlow. We’ve suffered, but no one here is going to hand us the answers. We will find them. He’s still alive. You’ll figure out your powers, and we will do what we have to here, but you have to stop this fucking pity party before you get us all killed. And, guess what? Death here? It’s forever , Harlow. If you piss off the gods we won’t save anyone.”

Her eyes flashed again but she didn’t argue, simply pushed me away and stalked down the hall, opening doors and checking inside before moving on to the next.

We spent the next two hours scouring the castle. Most of it was empty, barren rooms.

Among the empty rooms were a few lounges, a large pack suite we could claim as our own, a library, and the servant halls.

The more she acquainted herself with her new home, the more she relaxed. It was obvious our lives were forever changed but I meant every word I said. No one would hand her things here.

Not Loki. Not the demons and gargoyles who dwelled in these lands. And certainly not Odin.

This was her chance to prove to the universe that she was strong, capable, and it would be stupid of them to underestimate her.

Already she was changing the rules of the afterlife, of Helheim and its leader, and likely the realm itself as she figured things out.

I just hoped it didn’t change her into the same bitter being that Hel had become.

I couldn’t lose her again.