Page 8 of Mantle (IMMORTAL FLAME #3)

~Nyx~

Tension filled the air.

The high stakes of it all twisted my gut.

Adrenaline thrummed, fueling a high-alert state.

It was all compounded by the low, resonant hum that was sounding across the entire supernatural world right now, vibrating at a frequency that supernatural senses couldn’t ignore, one that magic-wielders could feel pulsing through them.

Blackline Protocol.

It was an emergency warning system that Ryker Morgan had developed two decades ago that was used by the Guardian Movement in times of severe crises.

When Draco had risen years ago, there’d been nothing to warn people, and many had suffered for it, for the lack of preparation or time to put protective practices into place.

But this protocol, it sent a warning to us all of a high-level threat, and signaled supernatural beings to get off the streets, hunker down, and engage their safeguards.

I watched Cornelius and Ryker finish erecting the shield I’d created. Well, what Kai and I had made together, but what I’d managed to finish up the process of just in fucking time.

We were at Ariana’s family home, and they were testing it on a larger scale of covering an entire estate first, before then planning to immediately move out and employ it around supernatural strongholds and for those most vulnerable.

A burst of white light caught my eye and I saw Cassius return in a cloud of teleportation.

He’d taken off briefly shortly after we’d come here after the Meforian Forest attack and Ketheron making himself known—in the weirdest way imaginable.

Because we were in a high-alert situation, he’d had to reveal where he’d been headed.

I’d already read him and made the connection.

He’d gone to see Velra. He’d told everyone here about it now.

About him pulling her from death, committing a grievous sin in the eyes of the Celestial Plane, how it had created a Soul Brand, and that it meant she’d felt him in distress during that Ketheron attack.

She’d tried to leave Cornelius and Warlow’s home, but Warlow had stopped her.

So, with that, there’d been no more hiding it anyway, as to why she’d been so concerned for Cassius or how she’d even known he’d been in distress.

I’d felt his nervous disposition when he’d told Ariana’s family the whole deal. I mean, if it got back to the Celestial Plane, it risked his very life.

But everyone here had been supportive. Jaxon, a little reluctantly, because he was still all wolf-protective about the time Cassius had taken Ariana.

But they had all dealt with the Celestial Plane before and been burdened and hurt by their actions.

They’d most definitely taken his side, and they were all on the same page.

Thank fuck for that, because it was really needed right now.

I drew my gaze away as Cornelius and Cassius used themselves as the test against the shield, while Ryker observed and documented.

He was in real high-alert mode. I could feel his unnerved state, a lot of which was because his defensive magic had failed against Ketheron’s barrier earlier. And then he’d seen his daughter suffer from the toxicity of Ketheron’s blood.

For so long, Ryker’s defensive magic had been the one thing that everyone in the supernatural world could count on to cut through any threat—even Celestial magic.

But those fools, the Celestial Plane, had created a being in Ketheron that was immune to it.

It was no small thing to absorb.

It had all of us nervous.

Especially Kai.

He hadn’t stopped moving for a second since we’d arrived back here.

And Vorzyr was currently flying in dragon form, while Jaxon was running in wolf form across the grounds, the two of them essentially racing—one on the ground, one in the air.

It seemed Jaxon wasn’t just using it to relieve his stressed state—something that could become dangerous for wolves and dragons, supernatural animal kind—but also as a means to bond with and teach Vorzyr how to manage that animal overwhelmed state well.

For me, I’d stepped out to take a breather from all the overwrought emotion while Ariana was taking a shower in her childhood bedroom. She’d slept for a couple of hours when we’d brought her back here, but she was already up and about again.

I sucked in a breath and walked back in through the double entrance doors, making my way across the beautiful white marble floors and back to the central living room where Kai and Professor Morgan—although he’d told us to call him just Gabriel now—were gathered around on the wraparound couches, documents, grimoires, and old scrolls laid out across a large glass coffee table.

Just as I reached them and Kai looked up, giving me a reassuring smile, a hand landed on my shoulder, and I turned to see Ryker giving me a chin lift.

He joined his father, Gabriel, sitting down beside him on the edge of the couch and starting to study some of the stuff on the coffee table—Kai’s research and Gabriel and Cornelius’ combined.

“Remarkable work earlier,” Ryker told me. “How did you bridge the gap in knowledge in order to fashion the shield we’re implementing now?”

My gaze flicked to Kai. “One of those books you left in your lab, one of your recently highlighted passages… about True Celestials. Aside from Ariana, they’re not rooted to the earth, to the Mortal Plane. It means their magic isn’t, so there’s a vulnerability to exploit.”

Kai smiled proudly at me. “You determined you could erect the ward from beneath theirs. Well fucking done.”

I wiggled my eyebrows. “Learned from the best, as I said earlier.”

“Yes, very impressive,” Gabriel commended.

Ryker grinned. “I’d say.”

“I’m calling it Underveil Shield.”

“Ketheron is a mixture of supernatural beings,” Gabriel mused aloud. “So the shield wasn’t created to repel from a magical standpoint. It senses power type, so any Celestial power present is what it repels.”

“Exactly,” I confirmed. I eyed Kai. “Just what you wanted, right?”

“Better even. Your control of your magic is improving at a substantial rate. Well done.”

I winked at him.

“I’m going to have to push you harder when we resume classes,” Gabriel teased. “Now we’ve seen a definitive demonstration of what you’re capable of.”

Ryker chuckled. “Ever the hardass, Dad.”

While they were talking, I noticed Kai twisting around and staring at something that had been concealed by a blue cushion on the arm of the couch.

“What’s wrong, Kai?” I called to him.

Ryker frowned, following my line of sight.

Gabriel didn’t look concerned at all, indicating he already knew what was going on. He nudged Ryker. “Treading in your ill-advised footsteps with the holoscreen situation.”

“Holoscreen?” I questioned.

Kai sighed and pocketed it in his trench coat. “I’m just ensuring Ari is okay.”

Ryker’s eyes narrowed. “She was in the shower.”

“I spelled it to observe once she was already out and dressed actually. Although, you do understand that the four of us are together, yes?”

“And you do understand that I’m her father, yes?” Ryker returned.

“Then I’ll do you the respect of refraining from referencing any gory sexual exploits we enjoy partaking in.”

I rolled my eyes. As if he would talk about it anyway. He was very respectful of our sex life, especially when it came to Ariana. He would never talk about it with outsiders.

I thought Ryker was going to bristle at his words.

But what I’d heard of his charming and loveable, lighthearted nature broke through and he smiled to himself instead, recognizing Kai’s humor and little well-meaning dig at the same time.

“Much appreciated,” he responded, a twinkle in his eye. And then he gestured at the pocket that Kai had stored the holoscreen in. “How is she? Ari wanting space hasn’t always boded well in the past.”

“Yeah, I know,” Kai told him, his words melancholic. “Right now, she’s just taking stock. The dangerous part is what comes after, how she processes it.”

“Well, you, Nyx, and Vorzyr will stay here tonight.” Ryker took a beat, then said, “Yes. In her room. She needs the closeness, that bond the four of you have very clearly forged. In the past, she was lacking that. Things will not play out the same way as they did before.”

“She’s not running now either,” I pointed out.

“She’s come into herself, into her power,” Kai added vehemently, really wanting them to know that, to recognize her not as the Ariana before, but as the powerhouse that she had become.

Of course, despite all the power in the world, she still had emotions, she still felt, and she still had trauma responses.

That needed to be recognized, too. But I could see from Kai using the holoscreen , that he was already cognizant of that.

He understood both aspects now and how they meshed with one another.

A sudden wind whipped around the room, and then Lucian Black stood there in his full-suited up glory, a sleek designer charcoal three-piece really popping against his silky black hair brushing his collar.

He planted a chaste kiss on Ryker’s cheek, then gave each of us a chin lift.

“I have it,” he told Ryker, reaching into his inside suit pocket, then pulling out a folded piece of cream paper. “The Inhibitor spell used at Polaris.”

“Thank you, my love,” Ryker said, taking it from him, lighting up for a moment as their fingers brushed. I felt a mass amount of stress leave him, just from having Lucian present.

I smiled to myself and Kai caught my eye, clearly recognizing the similarity for us where that was concerned with our foursome bond.

I frowned at the paper. “You’re gonna use that against Ketheron? How? Your defensive magic couldn’t breach his. Isn’t the Inhibitor really similar to that?”