Page 50 of Fated In Forever (Nocturne Vampire Clan #4)

MALACHI

T he dusty stone steps were cold as ice, and I took them three at a time, not stopping until I stood before the dormant portal in the deepest level of my castle, staring at the dark opening that I never thought I’d need again.

I hadn’t been down here in a year, at least.

My hands trembled—calloused ripped, palms torn apart during my desperate race to drag the heavy boat back to shore—but I didn’t care that I was dripping blood everywhere.

Evangeline’s scent had faded long ago, but I kept seeing her, looking back over her shoulder at me, outlined by fields so green they didn’t look real, clutching The Wishrender to her chest before she disappeared in a swirl of desolate black.

Now I stood here, months, or years later, staring at the lifeless portal, with no way to open that shadowy door. I ground my teeth, searching for… something . A hidden lock, instructive runes, some way to get back to her.

But…I had rebuilt this castle.

I commanded this entire realm. I was a fucking god in this place.

“Open,” I commanded, my voice echoing in the vast chamber. Nothing. Not even a flicker of movement. The kind of stillness that wasn’t meant to be disturbed.

Well, here I was, fucking disturbing it.

“Fucking open or I will tear you apart with my bare hands.”

Fury built in my chest, hot and desperate. I slammed my fist against the shadowy frame, nothing but mist on the surface, but the impact reverberated up my arm as if I’d struck solid obsidian. The portal remained dark and silent.

Staring at me like a petulant child.

“ Open up .” I snarled, striking again, harder this time.

The thud of my knuckles against stone filled the chamber, a wet, rhythmic pounding that matched every furious beat of my heart.

My arm became a piston, driving my fist against the stone, focusing my power, my rage on one point, so many times I lost count.

Blood flowed from my split skin, I was splattered with red, but I didn't care.

I couldn't feel the pain through the agony that had been eating me since I realized she was in trouble.

Every day I lived with the phantom pull of our severed bond, endured the pain, like a limb that had been torn away but still ached.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

She should have been safe.

Blake and Riordan should have kept her safe.

“Fucking take me back,” I roared between strikes, my voice cracking. “I have to get back to her. I have to?—”

The words died in my throat as I remembered the way she had looked at me in those final seconds. Not with fear or anger, but with an accepting sadness that had nearly brought me to my knees. She had trusted me to make the right choice, even as I was breaking her heart.

And mine .

I laid my forehead against the cold stone, my bloodied palms pressed flat against its surface. “Vicious,” I breathed. “My vicious girl, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.”

But sorry wouldn't bring her back.

And sorry sure as fuck wouldn't bridge the gap between our worlds.

I straightened, eyeing the dormant opening, the still shadows, blood dripping methodically to the floor. I didn’t have the Wishrender, I’d already used my wish. The other portal was a day’s hike through the wasteland, and if this one wouldn’t open, chances were, neither would the other.

“I am the motherfucking god of this realm. I am Orcus. Obey me.”

Nothing. All my peace and stillness and fucking acceptance of my fate fell away in a wash of rage. This goddamned doorway was mocking me.

Fine. If brute force wouldn't work, then I had to try something else.

Closing my eyes, I reached down into the deepest parts of myself, past the rage and the grief and the desperate longing. Past the part of me that was protector of this realm, past the part that was demon and shadow and ancient power. Down to the core of what I truly was.

Down to the part that loved her.

The bond between us might be severed, but our love was eternal. Woven into my very essence, written in the fiber of my being—both male and monster. Vicious was part of me in ways that transcended magic or realms or the laws that governed both.

But I also was bound to this place, by some unholy connection I’d never wanted nor asked for.

I opened my eyes and raised my fist one more time. What if this wasn't about commanding the portal or forcing the magic to obey. What if this was about calling on the one truth that had never changed since the day I’d arrived.

“Take me to Evangeline,” I said, my voice filled with quiet certainty. “Take me home to my mate, and I swear, this realm will own me for eternity. Once she is safe, once she is healed, I will return, and resume my duties. I give you my oath.”

I brought my bloody fist down against the obsidian frame with everything I had—not just my physical strength, but every ounce of love and longing and desperate need that had been building inside me.

The impact sent shockwaves through the chamber, and for a heartbeat, everything stood still.

Then the dark portal began moving.

A whisper, a shift, a faint stirring like smoke caught in a breeze. The darkness rotated, swirling faster and faster until the entire portal was a vortex of shadows that hummed with power, a low thrumming I felt deep in my bones.

“Take me to Evangeline,” I breathed, stepping closer as the darkness spun, like a storm gathering strength. Those golden chains took shape, gleaming like gilt, squeezing my heart, and I’d never felt so whole, so complete.

The swirling shadows thinned, and through the misty veil I caught glimpses of something that made my aching heart leap.

Green. Rolling, endless green hills, stretching as far as the eye could see.

Fields. Meadows. Forests. And in the distance, an ivy-covered gray castle overshadowed by an enormous Hawthorne tree. My chest constricted, I couldn’t breathe, looking at a world I never thought I’d see again.

One step….one step and I would be home.

The portal stabilized with a sound like distant thunder, and through the opening, fresh air wafted in, rich and green, the smell of life.

Those chains tightened around my heart, squeezing, hauling me forward, my feet leaving grooves in the floor and I wondered if Evie felt the same demanding tug.

If she knew I was coming.

If she knew I was here .

I was sucked through the portal, dragging shadows through with me, leaving my castle and my task behind as I crossed the threshold between worlds, following the invisible thread that would always lead me back to her.