Page 38

Dove

“You sent Damon to Hell?”

I snapped, staring at the four of them. My fists clenched in rage, forcing myself to take deep breaths to calm myself after what they had done.

“Well, he offered to go, Fated. To save you,”

Seven mused. His cheek quirked upwards and snapped back down when he saw my anger.

“And you let him?”

I growled the question. Something inside me pulsed that wasn’t only my wrath. It was fear, fear for my Fated mate’s life. “I knew you hated him, but I didn’t know you hated me.”

Kairos stepped forward, hands up and I snapped my gaze to him. Everything was so clear and colorful, like my eyes had gotten better since I learned the information. “Dove, calm down.”

“Do not tell me to calm down.”

He stepped back, pleading to the others for help.

“You’re going to go feral, vixen. Relax.”

I already felt it coming. It was a wave. No, a tsunami of fury and fright. What would they do to him down there?

“We’ll get him, little fox,”

Enko said.

My gaze snapped to him, like everything zoomed in, too brilliant, too vivid. My voice was no longer my own. “No, I’ll get him myself. You four have done enough.”

My fox form came so easily. Like I’d shifted a million times.

I’m going to get him back. I won’t let anything hurt him.

My thoughts had gone feral, working on their own agenda. I sprinted back toward Lethe, back toward the Hellgate that they had rescued me from.

I never agreed to this deal.

I don’t make deals with demons.

My paws moved a mile a minute. My Fated males chased behind me. When I flung my head back, I saw them, and it was almost like they were struggling to keep up. I growled at the sight of them.

Rhys, golden brown fur, eight tails. Seven, black fur and ruby red eyes sparkling, seven tails. Enko, reddish-brown fur and the largest of my harem, six tails. Kairos, the golden fox, his five tails sparking with lightning.

So handsome, so majestic, so powerful.

Yet so fucking stupid.

That’s a little harsh, Fated, came Seven’s voice.

But I’d lost control. I skidded to a stop, teeth clamping around his neck as he leapt past me and I clenched tightly.

Panic hummed on our connection, but the others didn’t dare intervene. Seven whimpered below me, but I didn’t release, not until he submitted to me. I growled at his sensitive neck as he began to yelp in pain. But I didn’t break skin. He would heal quickly if he stopped playing games.

My Fated males are not to be used in bargains, Seven. Was it you who made the deal?

Seven whimpered again, shaking his head as he tried to lash out and gain some control over me. His eyes flashed to the others, like they would help him.

It was all of us, Fated. I’m sorry.

I released him, turning on the others and growling. Each of them dropped to be lower than me as I padded slowly, dangerously, over to them. For Enko, it was hard to be shorter than me, but he rolled to his side, exposing his belly.

Good enough.

Enough playing around. Damon needed me. Damon needed us. And we weren’t about to leave him on his own again. After all the suffering he’d been through since I’d first met him. Not even getting to spend time with me outside of the dreamworld for so long.

We were faster in our fox forms than we would have been in a car. We didn’t have to stick to the roads, we crossed the forest surrounding Foxfire Academy and headed straight to the center of Lethe.

The city was oddly empty, but in the distance, screams rang out. Without the Lord of Nightmares upholding the integrity of the Hellgate, some stronger demons slipped through the defenses.

My paws pounded against the cement, and my Fated males closed in around me. But I wasn’t scared, even as the blood coated the pavement. Even as I jumped over the bodies.

The first demon came into sight. A fat protruding belly, something they never bothered to cover. A pair of ripped shorts that were probably full length on whatever creature it stole them from. Its head was too small for its gigantic body, and two tusks protruded from its bottom set of teeth over its upper lip. And one eye closed from some past injury. It carried a flail with a morningstar on the end, wrecking through what few of the kitsune fought against it.

Ogre, Tier III.

My weapon pulsed with excitement, ready to suck up all its energy and stop its wrath mid-slaughter. It sensed us too, because it stopped, taking three steps in a slow circle to face us. And five kitsune were certainly a force to be reckoned with, because it stumbled toward us like a drunken idiot who couldn’t control his giant feet or its big body, about to crash forward face first into the pavement.

Seven leapt into the Shadow Vale, and Enko’s tails lit, creating a fiery circle of light around us. Kairos let it rain, something to douse the demon flames all around us, but it didn’t affect Enko’s Fire. A massive hole had been blasted into the side of Damon’s club where I had first met him, the entire building being swallowed into the sinkhole.

Demons streamed from the bottomless abyss, hellfire guarded the entrance like a new Gate. Down below, monsters escaped through the Hellgate onto the streets of Lethe. Rhys focused on the injured, trying to help them enough to either get away or rejoin the fight. His green magic flowed from his scepter, stitching wounds and absorbing the hellfire char.

We would need all the help we could get.

Seven began his ruthless stabs as he jumped from the Shadow Vale in his human form, but I wanted a taste of blood between my teeth. Payback for all the demons who had drank from my kind. A clean slash from my odachi would be too easy for them.

I vaulted for the closest throat of the largest demon, seeing my fur light up with my anticipation as I leapt through the air, directly for the ogre’s throat. He slashed his flail, but Enko had returned to human form, using his size against the ogre, and the handle of his weapon blazed to life as he sliced off the creature’s hand.

He had to ruin all the fun.

I dug my teeth into the ogre, ferociously ripping at its flesh as its blood coated my face. But I didn’t care, I lived for this. I could feel the pleasant pull of tendons and blood vessels, tearing through them and wishing it were a tasty bunny.

Goddess, I’d gone full feral.

She’d be proud.

The ogre dropped to the ground, but I had no time to be happy about its death, because the next demon was already on its way toward us.

Five heads, one for each of us. It usually kept near the water, its draconian skin needing the moisture. Each of the heads connected to its large body, all the heads wanting to go a different direction. The heads were small, attached to long necks, but their teeth were sharp. It was faster than it looked lumbering around.

Hydra, Tier IV.

Seven appeared next to it, slicing its head off, but his eyes were on me, smirking as though he needed my approval. I was proud to have him as a mate, but right now I had more important problems.

Vines ripped from the ground, Rhys’ scepter leaking a green magical light and calling to the roots below for help. The vines wrapped around a neck and dragged it to the ground, locking it in place.

The center head focused in on me. Kairos and Enko stood on either side of me as we rushed forward. Enko defeated his head easily, the creature trying to escape his fire, his blade beheading it. And Kairos’ lightning bolts rained from the sky striking into another. The creature screeched, its last head snapping forward toward me.

I shifted back into my human form, drew my odachi and sliced off its head and resheathed the weapon in one clean blow.

The Lord of Nightmare’s army cleared out the way in front of us as we blew through the lesser demons like they were merely playthings. We crossed the path of hellfire into the cave deep beneath the city.

A few kitsune warriors approached us. Enko growled as he covered me with his own nudity.

The Archfox ordered, “Get us some clothes and shoes, and quickly.”

They obeyed, returning to us with a few stacks of clothes and we all dressed outside in record time. This time, I’d walk through Hell in shoes.

And then it came into sight once more. The Hellgate.

I didn’t hesitate, running at full speed into Hell to rescue my Fated mate.

As I came closer to it, the blue flames flickered brighter, and as I passed through it, the flames sparked and then dimmed.