Page 74

IRIS

A few weeks later...

“Iris. The excavation team found something.”

I look up from my paperwork in Remy’s remodeled office. We scavenged enough glass to replace the gaping hole with floor-to-ceiling windows.

Golden light glows against Cherise’s skin.

It’s sunset.

My stomach does a dizzy flip.

Almost time.

I shut my log book and grab my jacket from the too-big chair; it was supposed to be Remy’s seat, but here I am, weeks later, still filling the command that no one wants—and no one else can handle.

“Hustle up.” Squinting against the sun-beams, Cherise tugs my sleeve. “You need to see this.”

“Why? What did they find?” I let her tug me toward the stairs.

“Trouble.”

“What a shock.” I wrinkle my nose as we make our way to the teleportation platform. Now, a Sentinel is stationed there full-time, ready to blink us down into the tomb.

In a flash, we’re zapped miles away, into the cold, cavey darkness lit by torches of pink hellfire.

My silks can’t help flowing toward their favorite energy.

Cherise snickers. “Long day alone at the office?”

“Surprisingly so.” Unashamed, I reel back my silks. I had to banish Vhex and Remy from working hours because of all the blood, sex, and office fires.

It’s kind of stupid how much I miss them from the moment I leave our bed until the moment twilight falls.

Then they drag me back to bed…

I try to focus while I can. “How were my Sentinels today?”

“Busy. They liquidated a nest of iron spiders, so they didn’t have much time to fight each other.”

“How tame.”

Cherise snorts. “Only in front of you.”

“I know.” I trained them myself.

She rolls her eyes.

We find Simms and a Deathguard squad milling in the bowl of the central pit. While waiting on their boss to resurrect, the Deathguard has been sharing their years of tomb-digging experience.

These days, I only think about Kevan to hope he takes his time rejoining the mortal world.

Reyes and his crew have come in clutch.

They’ve unearthed tons of crystals and weapons. We need the resources.

The Farguard was unofficially cut loose ages ago.

Now, we’re fully committed to going rogue.

I told Remy’s brother to fuck off, then smashed the Northern Legion’s orb.

“Commander!” Tan shouts.

The Sentinels part, respectfully making a path, but their hopeful soul-silks dance, trying to tempt my attention. No one’s anywhere close to rampaging, so I’m not compelled to reach out. I do pick up a buzzy energy, humming through the crowd.

I hurry forward.

As of yesterday, the core of the array was still flickering.

Now, the pattern lies dark and still.

Simms and Reyes crouch near something else.

The object is rounded and grey, but there’s no mistaking it for a rock. Those layered segments are obviously scales. While I gape, familiar, golden light ripples beneath its surface.

The energy source.

An egg?

The shell is big enough to house a human toddler.

But if that thing could anchor the lich king’s prison for centuries, I’m guessing it’s not about to hatch a harmless baby.

Have we learned fucking nothing?

I scowl at the men. “Who put the creepy egg on top of the array?”

“We didn’t know it was an egg.” Reyes rubs the back of his neck. “It was mixed in with the debris.” After a day of digging, he’s stripped down to shorts with dust streaks clinging to his sweat. “Nothing happened anyway. It must be fossilized.”

He reaches to test his luck again.

“ Don’t ,” I bark. “No more touching. Everyone take three steps back.”

The Sentinels obey. I follow my own command, giving the suspicious egg room to breathe.

I’m not touching shit.

But the more I stare, the more it feels like I’m being watched. I frown at the subtle gold ripple moving under the shell. If I count between beats… “It has a pulse.”

“A pulse?” Tan’s voice climbs an extra octave.

“Make that six steps back,” Cherise mutters. Everyone retreats, except for me.

With less background chatter from their silks, I can sense the pulse more clearly. “See the gold? It flashes almost every twenty seconds. Wait for it… there .”

I turn to meet a wall of blank stares.

“Nothing flashed,” Cherise says slowly.

“Except my life before my eyes,” Tan mutters. “ Again .”

Great.

Just me, then?

I sigh. “Retreat to the wall and hope that I’m wrong.”

This time, the Sentinels don’t snap to obey.

“Is it safe for you to do this alone?” Reyes asks.

Simms glances upward. Then he scoops up Tan and breaks into a jog, dashing for the exit. “Sun’s down. They’re coming for her.”

“Shit.” Reyes turns to run. “Everyone out.”

The squads scatter.

I have a few more seconds left of mental quiet.

I creep forward.

The egg rocks.

I kneel close enough to touch the shell, but I keep my hands to myself. My silks aren’t as easy to control.

They pop out to wriggle, making me shiver with that itchy, nosy, instinct that says someone needs our help.

Godsdamnit.

Some one?

The egg responds to my presence. The pulsing movement isn’t shifting light.

Soul-silks as fragile as ancient spiderwebs flash in and out, tangled in a hopeless layer of knots. The wisps of undead magic aren’t what leave me shivering.

“Hello?” I whisper-call.

A weak pulse rolls beneath the scales.

My pulse picks up.

I catch the vaguest sense of a scattered mind, but the resonance feels weak, even to me.

The energy grays out while I watch.

Whatever’s inside the egg is fading.

I’m not sure if that’s good or bad, but I’m not taking any risks.

Slowly, I back away.

Before I get far, my foot snags.

A shadow curls around my boot.

I grin into the dark. “There you are.”

The shadow creeps up my calf, spreading as it climbs my thigh.

Hellfire flickers from the ceiling shaft. A yell echoes ahead of the devil who’s diving toward me like a meteor.

Shadows reach me before the rain of fire.

“ Guide ,” Remy rasps and wraps a hand around my throat. His soul is rough after hours on his own—spiky and cold.

I melt into his grip.

Feeling me open up, his soul welcomes me home.

The spikes retract.

I slide into his body and his arms, sweeping through the built-up poison.

It’s addictive, feeling his head clear.

Wild, animal desire roars until he remembers who I am.

Then Remy wants me even more.

“Iris.” He kisses around my lips, winding me in thousands of silks and inky threads. “Where have you been?”

“Right here.” I meet his kiss, loving how he folds around me.

His thirst tickles the back of my throat.

I feel another kind of pulse just as Vhex crashes into me from behind. The heat of his bare chest bakes through my shirt. The twitch that starts at my shoulder blades rolls sweetly down my spine.

“Wife. I’m home.” Vhex singes through Remy’s shadows, hugging my ribs to claim me as his own. His bare cock grinds my ass like it’s trying to burn a hole in my pants.

“What happened to your clothes?” I groan.

“Can’t help it,” he murmurs and nips behind my ear. “Hellfire.”

I reach to stroke his bare thigh. “We need to make you pants with arrays sewn in.”

Or we’ll never stop having sex in caves.

Remy scoffs. “Animal.”

“Like you’re not?” Vhex replies without much heat. He’s too busy tasting my neck and popping my buttons with his claws.

I duck their kisses and drag my Sentinels away from the shady egg.

On the way, I nudge Remy to take a look. “Do you recognize this thing?”

“It’s an omelet.” Impatient, Vhex dips his head until I grab his horn. “Missed you all day, Firefly. I’m regressing. Need to be punished.”

“Really? I heard you were good.” I smooth his horn, then continue the stroke, combing behind his ear. “Don’t you want a reward?”

“Fuck yes,” Vhex rumbles, satisfaction bubbling from his toes.

Remy is too quiet.

Suddenly, his silks stiffen.

I catch his spiking shock.

“What?” I grab Remy’s hand, ready to soothe him or order him to wink us far away, fast. “You remembered something?”

“Not a memory. Instinct.” Remy’s gaze never breaks from the egg.

Shivering, I drag him and Vhex away. We stop almost at the cavern wall, where I can’t see or feel the egg’s pulsing light. “Is it a threat?”

“It’s dying,” Vhex says, already curling himself around my shoulders.

I squint. “How do you know?”

“I have instincts, too,” Vhex answers. He weaves the end of my pony tail between his fingers, tugging my scalp and baring my neck to his kiss.

He nips up from my nape until his hot breath curls into my ear.

“Same instinct says you want to do bad things to me. Almost as bad as the things I want to do to you.”

A rock skips through my stomach.

“Soon,” I answer breathily.

I can’t lean into the feeling until Remy stops staring at the egg. Letting Vhex keep his anchor on my hair, I tug Remy into my arms.

His eyes are red when his gaze snaps to me, but I sense his lingering wariness. The inner vampire stays on high alert.

I shift his hands to my waist, freeing me to cup his chin. “Remy. Is the egg a threat right now?”

After a pause, his answer rumbles my fingertips.

“No.”

“Then relax.” As I stroke his jaw, I connect to Cherise through my badge.

I’ve gotten better at connecting to its powers.

Now, I can even send full thoughts. I repeat the same orders I send to her out loud for Remy and Vhex to hear.

“We’ll pause the excavation. Let’s post a unit to observe the egg from the cavern entrance. No magic and no touching.”

I receive Cherise’s acknowledgement. It comes with her approval and something too complex to communicate through the badge.

I’m pretty sure she’s laughing at me for clocking out and leaving her another mess while I spend the night having wild, non-essential sex with my Sentinels.

We all have our roles to fill.

“Done.” I close the channel, then take my own advice, relaxing the tension in my shoulders. It’s been a day. A week. A whole lifetime . “Let’s go. I want to take a bath?—”

Darkness cocoons me.

Remy and I poof into the bathroom of my guiding suite so quickly that the - th sound is still hissing off my teeth.