Page 10

Audrey

T he room is already full when Lucifer leads me inside. There are more than a few unknown faces. I guess they’re the other gods, but I count at least seven unfamiliar faces, so I don’t know who the others are.

The room itself isn’t anything special. It looks like every boardroom I’ve ever set foot in—which isn’t many, I’ll admit. There’s a long table with seats lining each side and one at both the head and foot of the table.

“Wren?” Lucifer calls, grabbing my sister’s attention and holding his arm out to her. “I know introductions need to be made, and I’d like to start with my daughters. Yes, I know, I have daughters? What? Surprise! ”

Wren snickers as she ducks under his arm, but her face grows serious as she meets my gaze.

“Are you okay?” She mouths, and I nod—even if it’s a complete lie. There’s really no way I can talk to her about this now. Not knowing what I might have to do to Brenden.

“This is Audrey and Wren. They’re twins, and before you ask, we do not know how they came about—besides the obvious. Their mother is an angel who’s been hiding earth-side. She’s at the back of the room there. Ana?”

Mom lifts her hand and waves, looking highly uncomfortable with everyone’s attention on her.

Lucifer seems to realize that and clears his throat. “That’s a story for another time, though. If you’ll all take your seats, we can begin the introductions and get the meeting started.”

“Lucifer, I don’t know why they’re all here,” one of the women says.

She’s tall, close to six feet, if I had to guess, with alabaster skin and dark, flowing black hair.

When her eyes glance between my sister and me, I see that they’re just as black.

She’s beautiful but also kind of terrifying as she glides toward the chair beside what I’m guessing is Lucifer’s.

She’s clothed in a black cloak that covers her skin from neck to toe, leaving only her face bare.

“I’ll get to that, Nyx. Please, just sit for now. I know this is strange for all of us, but I promise to explain everything.”

The others slowly settle into their seats, with my mom sitting at the far end of the table with two empty seats beside her.

Brenden, Cassian, Donovan, and Nex sit on one side of the table, while Wraith sits with the horsemen on the other side.

Beside them, I’m surprised to see the ferryman.

His dark cloak is still pulled over his head, but he nods toward me when my eyes pause on him.

Shaking my head, I find Celeste at his side with a strange woman beside her.

Opposite them are Diana, Melody, and Warren.

Beside them are two men and then Nyx, whose name I recognize.

She’s the goddess of the night. I believe she’s the goddess most vampires follow—if they even believe that the gods exist. So many people in the world have stopped believing in the gods.

Which isn’t important right now, is it?

I turn my gaze to the opposite side of the table to find two men surrounding a woman. Four of these unfamiliar faces must be the remaining gods.

“As I’m sure you picked up, this is Nyx, the goddess of the night. Beside her is her consort, Erebus, the god of darkness and shadows. On his other side is Cerberus—”

“Cerberus?” I ask, cutting him off. “As in the three-headed dog that guards the entrance to the underworld?”

The man in question lifts his brows as he smirks. “Do I look like I have three heads?”

Tell me why my eyes fall to the table hiding his crotch. At least I don’t blush since the embarrassment is there and gone again.

Cerberus throws his head back as he laughs. His brown hair is thick and falls down his back like a lion’s mane. He’s not classically handsome like most of the other men in this room, but that doesn’t make him any less attractive. “I like the way you think—Audrey, was it?”

“Yes.”

Not daring to meet his eyes, I run my eyes over Erebus instead. Whereas Nyx’s skin is pale, Erebus’s is as dark as her hair. His hair is a shocking white as it spills over his shoulder and down his back. His eyes are the palest blue, almost white, and as soon as they meet mine, I tear my gaze away.

I’m not going to lie. Meeting gods is intimidating as hell.

“Cerberus is the guardian of hell and he does guard the gates into hell, but it’s not just him.

He’s a hellhound shifter like your mate but bigger.

” Lucifer points to the woman at Celeste’s side.

“That’s Meg. She’s one of the furies. I know what you’re going to say, and no, they’re not gods.

They’re demigods like the angels. They’ve just chosen a different path. ”

“A path of vengeance, rage, and anger,” Meg says with a smirk as she brushes her blonde hair over her shoulder. “You would’ve made a fine addition to our numbers, Audrey, if you’d been born with a little more mortal blood.”

I need to remember not to fuck with her or the other furies. She’s terrifying.

“Beside her is Thanatos, the god of death, Hecate, the goddess of magic and witchcraft, and last, we have Hypnos, the god of sleep. Since there are no modern gods based on them, they’ve chosen to stick with their Greek aliases.”

I barely allow myself time to glance at them before my eyes find the floor once more .

“Of course you already know Charon.” Lucifer pauses. “Audrey, would you like to introduce your friends and mates?”

Fuck no, I don’t want to introduce them. Why does he want me to draw more attention to myself? I pull up my big girl panties and do what he asks.

“On the other side of Cerberus are Warren, Melody, and Diana. Diana and I were in the same class at the academy. Celeste, who’s beside Charon, was also in our class.

The three of us were placed in the same dorm and remained close.

Wraith, or Death, is one of my mates. I’m sure you’ve met him and Donovan.

And probably Cassian, as he is one of the judges.

Brenden’s my vampire reaper mate. Then there’s Nex. ”

I glance up at Lucifer to find him smiling. “Thank you. Why don’t you take your seats beside your mom while I explain what’s going on?”

I want to scurry to my seat as the weight of the gods’ gazes sits on me, but I don’t have the energy for that. Instead, I plod my way over with Wren at my side. I take the seat beside Brenden while Wren moves around to sit beside Wraith .

Lucifer is still standing, filling everyone in on what’s been happening over the last few days, and I kind of tune out. It’s not like I don’t already know what happened—I was there for most of it.

My head lifts when someone takes my hand, and I look over at my mom, who’s frowning at me.

“Are you okay, honey?” she whispers.

It’s a whole lot harder lying to her than it is to Wren, so I shrug.

“Not really, but there’s nothing anyone can do about it.” I hesitate. “But thank you.”

Mom doesn’t look convinced, but why would she? It’s not like I told her I was fine. I admitted I wasn’t, so of course, she’s going to worry.

“So the angels are rebelling? Isn’t that quaint?” Meg snorts. “And the furies are the ones with the bad name. Make it make sense.”

“We all know that most of the angels are pompous jackasses who have their heads stuck so far up their asses that they can’t find their way out.” Cerberus chuckles. “There’s no way they’re all working together.”

Lucifer cocks an eyebrow. “You don’t think so? After being locked together in Olympus for thousands of years? You don’t think they jumped at the first chance to escape their prison? Even if it meant working with others?”

Erebus pats the other man’s hand. “I can see how that would be unbelievable to someone who hasn’t had many interactions with them, but most of them were pampered by their parents.

Made to think they were more than what they were.

Being locked away and unable to do anything about it would’ve sent them into a frenzy.

And we all know how charming Michael can be.

He might not have fooled most of us, but the other gods saw what they wanted to see. ”

“He shouldn’t have been earth-side,” Nyx muses. “If he found a way to leave, then we have to take his threats seriously. It’s not hard to believe that the angels would want to wipe out the mortals. At least not to me.”

“Nor me,” Hecate says with a nod.

Hypnos leans forward. “They truly snuck in and stole my powers? They couldn’t have taken much from me at a time, or I would’ve noticed.

That would’ve taken a lot of planning, and it explains why no one could wake them.

It’s possible we might never be able to wake them, depending on how much of my powers they used.

It’s something most of the gods feared and why they shunned me. ”

“That’s all good and well,” I say, annoyed that they’re still discussing if this is a genuine threat or not. Why wouldn’t they just believe Lucifer? He was there. “But what are we going to do about it? How are we going to stop them?”

All eyes find me once again, and I immediately regret my decision to speak up.

Meg leans forward, sniffing in my direction.

“Oh, a rejected mate bond. That’s why you’re the way you are. Interesting.” Her eyes rove over my mates, stopping on Nex as she smirks. “Very interesting, indeed.”

She’s really freaking me out.

My eyes lift to Lucifer, who’s laughing as he shakes his head. “Oh, daughter, you’ll come to learn that you can’t force gods to work at the pace you want them to. They usually get there, but they sure do love to take their time.”

“We don’t have time for that!” I slam my hand into the table before slumping forward, the momentary frustration leaving me feeling exhausted.

“He said we have less than a month. None of you are mortal, and I understand I’m not either, but I was raised among them.

They deserve to be saved, and we don’t have enough time for all of you to argue if the threat is real or not. It is. ”

Thanatos turns, staring at me for a moment before nodding. “The three-quarter blood is right. This isn’t something we can debate for hours. I might be the god of death, but I don’t want to see the annihilation of all mortals. We need to figure out what their plan is and how we can circumvent it.”

The table falls silent as everyone looks around at each other.

This is getting us nowhere.

I lay my head on the table, startling when Brenden’s arm wraps around me and pulls me into his lap.

He maneuvers me around until I’m resting my head on his chest, practically lying across his chest. I attempt to meet his eyes to see if he’s finally rejoined the land of the living—or nonliving as it may be—but he won’t look down at me.

A glance at Wraith has him shaking his head, and I sigh.

I need my mate back with me—and soon.

My back is to the rest of the room, so all I can see is Mom, Wren, and Wraith, but I wish I could see Nex. I have to figure out how to complete this bond with him.

Unfortunately, this isn’t something I’m going to be able to keep from my other mates. I’m going to have to let them know what I intend to do and hope they’ll support me. If they don’t, I’m going to have to move forward, anyway.

Gods, I really hope they’ll support my decision.

Burying my face in Brenden’s chest, I allow my eyes to fall shut. I can’t talk to them about it until after this stupid ass meeting, so I might as well rest while I can.

This is going to be a hard conversation, and I need to make sure I have enough energy to make it through the entire thing.

With that thought in mind, I feel myself drifting off to sleep as the others talk around me, safe in my mate’s arms.