Page 11

CHAPTER

ELEVEN

SAMANTHA

Eli was beside me in an instant, hovering just above the ground in the middle of the street, and I knew whatever I’d pulled him from was bad. Really, truly bad. He wasn’t in his normal armor. This was his I’m-fighting-the-end-of-days-war gear. His whole body was enveloped in shining gold. He wore a full helmet that covered his whole head—eyes and all—and his wings weren’t gray-tipped white anymore. They were made of fire.

“ Yes, angel.” His voice was booming and the kind of loud that was physically painful.

I tried to look at him, but he was way too bright. I shielded my eyes. “Can you tone it down a little? This is extremely uncomfortable.”

“ Fine .” In an instant, he transformed back to normal Eli—ripped jeans, button-down, bare feet fully on the ground. “What is it?” He looked around, taking in the scene, trying to assess everything, likely reading everyone’s minds to fill himself in.

I rose from where I’d been kneeling on the ground. “The pack here somehow suddenly had demonic ties tonight, and I realized that I shouldn’t have crossed over to Hell from my house. I’m pretty sure my father sent some of his minions after me. Can you re-sanctify the Sanctuary or something so they can’t come back?”

“I thought this might happen, but I hoped I’d have more time.” He finally looked down at me. “Look, angel. This stuff isn’t easy. It took more than one archon to do what we did here. And—as you can probably guess—we’re busy.”

Yeah. I caught that. “What’s happening exactly? Should I be worried?”

“We’re beating back evil. As always.” He rolled his eyes, as if angels and demons fighting in an everlasting war for souls was no big deal. “As for being worried? No more than usual. Time is nearing the end, and dark times for Earth are ahead. I wonder if this is worth the effort.” He motioned around the Sanctuary, and I knew what he meant.

Eli got all moody and emo when he was fighting big battles. Especially if I called him in the thick of it.

He grunted as if something occurred to him. “I can do a little protection that could help if you want, but again, if the end comes, maybe it’s better if I didn’t. Going out quicker might be a mercy if the hordes are loosed.”

I hated it when he got like this. “Shut up and fix it.”

“Patch it,” he muttered softly.

“What?”

“I’m going to patch it .” He looked down at me as if I were being dense, and I wanted to kick him. “I can’t fix it alone. You have to remind me to come back with at least two more archons.”

I knew he had a lot going on, and I was trying to follow, but his tone was annoying me. Although, maybe that was because I was frustrated with myself. If I’d done it the right way in the first place, none of this would be happening. “Okay. When do I call on you?”

“You’ll know when.” His tone was flat and yet somehow flippant.

I couldn’t even with this. “Eli! Stop being like that. Just tell me?—”

“I can not .” He said the words with such emphasis that I knew it was true. He didn’t have to say that he would’ve done more if he could’ve. That part was implied in the look he gave me.

“Got it.” This was going to be one of those times when Eli walked the fine line of what he could and couldn’t do. What rules he would break and the ones he shouldn’t. And apparently this was one of the times he would follow the rules, even if he didn’t want to.

“I’m sorry, angel. I’m distracted right now but trust me on this. You’ll know when the time comes, and we’ll be ready. Okay?”

“Yes. Thanks for coming. I’m sorry I pulled you away from a fight.”

“Being your guardian has been one of the true joys of my life. I will always come if I am able. Let me take care of what I can, and then I must go.”

“Thank you. I appreciate it. I can’t believe I messed up this badly.”

The mate bonds lit up around me, and I was sure they were discussing how I was talking to Eli or how I messed up…or maybe they were just trying to figure out what Eli meant, and it had nothing to do with my mess up.

I’d get over it. I knew I would. It would just take some time.

“No one is perfect, angel. Everyone makes mistakes. It’s how you deal with those mistakes that reveals your character, and you did the right thing to call me.” The light around him started to brighten. “Close your eyes. This might hurt.”

Instantly, Eli was back in his full gear—flaming wings, full armor, all of it. He held the sword above his head and said something in a language that hurt my ears.

I slapped my hands over them, trying to ease the pain, but I noticed no one else reacted to it. Only me.

Right. This might hurt me . He’d left that part out.

Which meant, it was going to knock me on my ass.

Dang it. I couldn’t stop him. I needed this done, and if it hurt, well, then, I guessed it would just have to hurt.

There was a warmth and a pressure in the air as he spoke, and he flapped his wings to rise above the ground. He went higher and higher until he was a star in the sky.

And then all of a sudden, he was getting bigger. Fast .

“Oh shit!” I started running as far away from him as I could get.

I was going to murder Eli for this. I could hear my friends yelling at me and asking questions, but they didn’t need to worry. They’d be fine. I, however, was screwed.

There was a roar so loud that I felt it through my soul, and I did a stupid thing. I turned to look right as Eli hit the ground.

He stabbed his flaming sword into the ground where I’d been standing. There was a flash of pure white light and a boom that knocked me off my feet.

My back hit the ground. Hard.

I couldn’t see anything. “I’m blind.”

My ears were ringing, and I couldn’t feel anything. “Am I dead? Did you kill me, Eli?”

But then I heard his laugh. Not from my ears, but along the spiritual realm.

“I hate you,” I said.

“ No, you don’t. Just breathe. I told you to close your eyes. ”

“No one ever listens when you say that. It’s the stupidest thing to say ever .”

“ And that’s my fault? How? ” He didn’t leave me time to respond before he spoke again. “I have to go, angel. You’ll be fine in a few minutes. Call me if you need anything. Or before you do something stupid again.”

“Again?! I don’t do stupid—” I felt a ripple along the spiritual realm, and I knew he was already gone. Rude.

Whatever Eli had done to fix the Sanctuary—even if it was a temporary fix—had really knocked me out. I was lying in a pool of black nothingness. I couldn’t hear. Couldn’t see. Couldn’t feel anything.

Dang it. Eli was such a jerk.

“Hey.” Phoenix’s voice sounded far away, but it felt like an improvement.

“Hi.” My answer echoed in my ears.

“You doing okay?” He sounded worried.

“Eli said I’ll be fine. He just blasted my senses with his mojo.”

I blinked my eyes a few times, and slowly everyone faded in, looking down at me. Something squeezed my arm, and I looked down to see Mom taking my blood pressure. “I’m fine.”

“We’ll see.” She didn’t even spare me a glance. Not because she was mad, but because she was worried. Which was fair. I’d given her more than a few scares this week.

I glanced around to see even Axel watching me. “Oh. Hey.” This was a lot. I didn’t want to be rude, but a little space would’ve been nice. Because whatever Eli had done really sucked.

“Dramatic, huh?” Axel said, teasing me.

Not really. If he’d felt what I had, he’d be on his tush, too. “Whatever he did was like setting off a nuclear weapon along the spiritual realm.”

“Her vitals are good,” Mom muttered. “Maybe another IV?—”

“No!” I was done with those for a while. “You can’t keep sticking needles in me, Mom. I’m fine.” But I did need a little room. “Can everyone just back up a little?”

They immediately did, and I felt like a jerk. “Sorry.” I closed my eyes and counted to ten. Everything was fine. “Sorry,” I said again, and opened my eyes.

Phoenix reached out a hand, and I took it, letting him pull me into a sitting position. Not dizzy. No more muffled senses. Just tired and cold. Which was nice. Early December in Texas wasn’t all that cold, but it was the middle of the night. Now that I was upright, I realized that the ground had been cold enough to chill me through my clothes. “Thanks.”

“Well, that went well,” Claudia said, and I felt every bit of her sarcasm.

“Nothing like a middle-of-the-night demonic visit.” I was tired. Bone tired. But they all seemed to be waiting for me to say something. “What I did to save Van…how I did it…” I’d rushed. Nothing good ever came from rushing. Being busy, hurrying, weren’t things of God. They were things that caused chaos. That was Satan’s realm. I knew better, but in the moment, I’d forgotten. I’d been too worried about what might have been happening to Van to slow down and think of all the implications of what I was doing.

“It doesn’t matter how or why this happened. The bottom line is it’s my fault. I cost the Sanctuary its safety, and I accept full responsibility.” I looked at Chris. “If you want me to move out, I can?—”

He jerked back a step in surprise. “Shut up. You’re not going anywhere. Eli said that you’ll know when to call him back. And when you do, he’ll bring a few archons to fix it. It’s fine. We have a plan.”

It actually wasn’t as easy as Eli made it out to be. “I’m not sure how I’ll know when it’s time, but I trust Eli enough to at least go with him on that part. The tricky part is getting enough archons here to fix it. There’s a solid chance that when the time comes, he’ll tell me that he’ll be right back with the gang, but take days, weeks, or even years . Archons are weird with time.”

“That feels like borrowing trouble.” Chris didn’t seem bothered, but that was part of his calm nature. “I’m not worried about it. The Sanctuary has had a nice run so far. If we have a couple years where we have to deal with something here and there, it’s not that big of a deal. We’ll take it as it comes.” He looked around, his gaze searching everyone. “Anyone else worried?”

I glanced at my friends. Lucas had his arm around Claudia. She looked worried. I wasn’t sure if it was about this or something else. I was leaning toward the something else because of the look on Lucas’s face. His eyes were glowing.

I didn’t know Lucas super well—the man was quiet, except when it came to his mate—but I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen his eyes glow with his wolf. He wasn’t the kind of werewolf to hold back a change, but he was holding back now. Which meant he was upset about something, but there was no enemy to fight.

Phoenix sat next to me, and I was grateful to have someone to lean on. So, I leaned into his warm strength. “I have a feeling I missed something while I was out of it. What’s going on?”

Everyone was quiet.

Okay. Now I knew I’d missed something. “Spill.”

Chris cleared his throat. “I’ve got news.” His blue eyes flashed wolf-bright.

“What happened?” I wasn’t sure I was ready for another battle, but sometimes I didn’t get to decide that. If I had to, I would find the strength and do what needed doing.

“We got calls right as everything was going down,” Chris said.

That was right. I remembered the phone ringing. “Who called?”

“Dastien called Chris,” Cosette said. “Three wayfarer wolves died tonight in South Carolina. In Charleston. That’s why we were slow getting to you. We felt the deaths along the pack lines right as you started yelling. It woke us up from a dead sleep.”

“What?!” Three was a lot of dead werewolves.

“Dastien and Tessa are headed to the airport as we speak,” Cosette kept talking as if she hadn’t said anything, but there was nothing normal about werewolves dying. Especially Wayfarers.

I’d been helping the Wayfarer Pack since I accepted the job as demonologist. Whenever they came up against a mystery bad guy, I flew in to help. Over the years, we’d been in some incredibly crazy situations. I’d seen some werewolves get hurt before, but I’d never seen a werewolf die.

Before I could even process that, Lucas spoke up. “I have news as well,” Lucas said in his slightly accented English.

“You got a call.” He was the one with his ringer on. “Who was it?”

“My second. There’s a problem in my pack. My third is dead, and no one knows how. I’ve already texted my pilot. I have to get back to Peru. We’re leaving in?—”

“No.” The word was out before I could stop it. I wasn’t even sure why I said it.

“Why?” Claudia took a step toward me but stopped. Mostly because Lucas was gripping her hand, and I wondered if that was the only thing keeping him in control of his wolf. “What do you know?” she said softly.

I didn’t have a good answer for her. The word just came out. “I don’t know.” I shook my head. “But things don’t naturally happen like this—everything all at once. You were all supposed to stay here, and now we’re splitting up. It feels wrong. That’s too many attacks in too many places. My father is up to something, but…” I blew out a breath, and I knew I couldn’t leave my friends to fight whatever was killing werewolves alone. “I should go with you or with Tessa.”

I looked up at Chris. He trained me to fight. He was the one who hired me to be the demonologist. He decided what missions I went on. I could absolutely leave without his approval, but if this was pack business, he had to be the one to tell me which pack to go help. “Where do you want me?”

He squatted down beside me as his eyes flashed even brighter. “Nowhere.”

I sat up straight. “What?!” That wasn’t an option. “Have you lost your mind? Clearly, I’m needed somewhere, but I can’t pick. Whoever I don’t go with might very well be up shit creek.” I hung my head. “Dang it. I just cussed.” I took a breath to calm the anxiety that was rising in me. “I hate it when I do that.” But I wasn’t perfect—I couldn’t even attempt to be—so I’d just do better.

No more cussing, Sam . “So, where do I go?”

“Nowhere.” Chris’s raspy rumble had a hint of his wolf in it.

He wasn’t getting it. That wasn’t an option. “Chris.”

“Samantha. Absolutely not.”

He couldn’t be serious. This was ridiculous. “Why not?”

He reached out and gripped my hand, leveling his gaze in mine. “Because you’re still recovering. Because we trained today, and you were slow. Because we don’t know what they’re up against, and I’m not sending you anywhere unless I absolutely have to. Do you hear me?”

“Yeah. I hear you.” I hated that he made sense. That wasn’t playing fair. “Dead wolves are a big deal.”

“I know. Trust me, I’m aware.” He let go of my hand. “But for now, you stick here.”

He couldn’t make me stay. “I could just leave.”

“You could, but I’m asking you not to. Please. You know you’re not at full strength, otherwise, you wouldn’t still be sitting on the cold ground in the middle of the night.”

He had a point. “Fine.” I looked him straight in the eyes because I needed him to hear me. “But if more wolves die, I’m going. Even if you think I’m still out of shape.”

“Even if I think ?” He gave me a look.

“Don’t be a jerk. I already cussed once tonight. I don’t want to do it again.”

“You’re proving my point, sweetheart.” His voice was softer, but his eyes were still bright. “Dastien is going to Charleston. No more will die there. And Lucas is heading home. His pack will be stronger with him there. So, fine. I’ll take that deal because they’re not going to need you.” He rose and took a step back, leaning into Cosette.

I was going to punch him. He had no right to?—

“I’d ask you not to hurt my mate,” Cosette said. “But he might deserve it.” She grinned at me.

The fight drained out of me. I didn’t actually want to hurt Chris. I just hated being sidelined. “Okay. I won’t hurt him tonight, but you owe me.”

Cosette snapped her fingers, and something appeared in her hand. She tossed it at me. “Debt paid.”

I looked down at the chocolate bar. It was my favorite, but still not as good as having a favor owed to me by the princess of the Lunar Court. But Cosette was too fey to ever let something like that stand.

Lucas started telling Claudia it was time to pack in Spanish, and I got up. The world spun a little, and strong hands steadied my shoulders.

I looked into Phoenix’s eyes. “Thanks.”

“No problem.”

I felt the heat rush to my cheeks as I remembered what we’d been doing before all of this happened. “Sorry I fell asleep on you earlier. That’s kind of embarrassing.”

“It’s not a problem. Or a hardship.” He gave me the smile that I was pretty sure he did on purpose now. The dimple showed up, and it was too much. It made my cheeks burn even hotter, so I walked over to Claudia.

I gave her a hug. “Call me if you need me.” I wasn’t sure if the worry I felt was just a general worry for her safety or some kind of foreboding from the spiritual realm. Either way, if she called, I would be there.

“I’ll call if anything comes up. I promise.” She pulled away just enough to look in my eyes. “Be good to yourself.”

“I will.” I gave Lucas a nod, and they rushed off to the house they’d been crashing in the last few nights.

“I just came back to say thank you,” Axel said. “I honestly don’t know what happened, and I don’t really want to know. The shit you do freaks me out. But thank you for doing whatever it was you did to fix it.”

“I’m sorry it happened in the first place. If you start feeling off, call me.”

“Will do.” He turned and walked back into the night.

I opened myself up as far as I could without stepping into the spiritual realm and took a good look around the neighborhood. I walked slowly in a big circle, trying to see if there was anything left in the spiritual realm that I should take care of, but there wasn’t. At least, nothing demonic. No ties that shouldn’t have been there. It was like whatever had happened was truly done and over.

But I knew that wasn’t true. “Well, that was not how I expected my night to go.”

“It wasn’t totally unexpected, though,” Mom said.

Maybe it wasn’t. Maybe it was. I had no idea anymore. But one thing was for sure, my father was ramping things up. He sent demons to turn the pack feral, and then had them come after me.

If Cosette hadn’t stopped them, they would’ve killed me. He was betting that I’d end up in his domain when I died. That thought chilled me.

I wasn’t sure where I’d end up, but I hoped it wasn’t with him. I knew my father was evil, but I hoped that I could be redeemed beyond my heritage. That wasn’t why I did what I did, though.

I fought evil because I had to. I could either choose to be like him, or choose to be like my mother. I’d choose her every time.

But it was clear to me now that my father was escalating his games, which meant everything was about to change.

“Hey,” Phoenix said, gaining my attention. “Whatever happens, we can deal with it.”

“Maybe.” I wanted to believe him. I wanted to believe him so badly. “But I have a bad feeling about this.”

“Me, too,” Mom said. That she was agreeing with me made the knot in my stomach tighten.

I sighed. Great. Just perfect.

“Let’s go inside and get some food,” Phoenix said. “And then you need to sleep. If they need you, they’ll call. And we’ll go.”

I looked at him at the last part. “ We’ll go?”

“Yes. We .” He looked in my eyes, and I could see how serious he was about this. If I fought him on it, we would have a real problem.

That actually made me feel a lot better. Every time he stuck around after something crazy happened, I felt more and more certain that everything would be alright with us. That being with him wasn’t such a stretch, and like maybe, just maybe, this would end up with some sort of a happily ever after.

I never thought I’d get that, but with him, maybe I did.

“Do you feel drained from this?” Phoenix asked.

I was about to say no. Because I hadn’t felt my father around here, and I would have noticed if he was close enough to drain me. But that wasn’t true. That hollow feeling was back in my body, and I knew I was wrong.

“Yes.”

Mom sucked in a breath.

Yep. Exactly. “I know. It’s a bad sign.”

“Why does your mom smell like fear, Samantha?” Chris’s voice grew rougher, deeper.

I knew better than to meet his gaze when he was like this. He was a pretty calm Alpha, but not that calm .

I dropped my chin to my chest. “Because if I’m drained like this, then my father was close enough to hurt me. And that’s never happened at the Sanctuary before.” I blew out a breath, straightened my shoulders, and pushed all that worry away.

“I have to believe that Eli fixed it. He wouldn’t have left if it wasn’t patched like he said it was. I’m not seeing anything around here anymore. So, we should be fine, but my father knows where I am now.”

“And that’s bad.” Cosette said it, but it wasn’t a question. Not really.

“That’s extremely bad.” So much for having a safe haven.

“Food. Then, sleep.” Phoenix put his hands on my shoulders, turning me toward the house, and then herded me home.

If anyone else had done that, I would’ve shoved them away.

But not Phoenix.

Never Phoenix.