Page 20 of Reign of The Beast (Immortal Passions #2)

20

~Mia~

He’d almost died.

If he’d been anyone else, he would have.

And it would have been all my fault.

Ryker had gone in my stead.

He’d fought the battle I was supposed to be fighting.

He’d suffered because of me.

Because of my deep-seated fears of my own power.

To say it had been a wake-up call, didn’t even begin to cover it.

I’d allowed fear to rule me for too long and now it had come at too high a price. I’d been fighting for a way out of the Covenant, of being pressured to unleash my true power, when there wasn’t a way out.

There was only through .

I’d finally been ready to accept my duty, but it had come too late, and Ryker had almost paid the ultimate price for my foolishness.

I wouldn’t let it happen again. I’d rise to the occasion and do this thing.

If I choked on the consequences, so be it.

First thing was first, though.

Transparency.

We had to lay all our cards out on the table.

Honesty had to prevail.

It was the only way to build the depth of trust needed for the four of us to work together. No more lone-wolf tendencies could be tolerated.

We had to function as one unit from here on out.

It was a tall order indeed.

But we all wanted the same thing.

To end Draco and protect the supernatural world.

And that was exactly what we would do.

Under my leadership.

I was going to take back control of the mission.

Ryker had done enough, beyond that actually. He’d handled the burden when I’d been unable to. It was a burden that had never been intended for him. I wouldn’t allow him to bear it any longer.

The risk he’d taken to protect the Guardian Movement had been too much. It should never have come to that. The fact that it had sickened me. Guilt and shame had been nagging at me, trying to consume me. I’d beaten it back with my focus on the mission, on what could be changed, rather than the brutal realities of the awful things that had already happened.

I’d fix it.

I’d fix everything.

No more near-death experiences.

No more being caught off guard by Draco.

No more.

As I continued to pace the living room, I listened to my men embroiled in a heated discussion, allowing them to get it out of their systems so that we could then sit down and have a rational discussion. That was an impossible feat when they were all so worked up.

They were gathered in the seating area of the living room.

Jaxon had his arms spread out over the back of the couch.

Ryker was sitting forward in the adjacent armchair gesticulating wildly, Lucian perched on the arm mostly observing with that intense brooding look on his face that told me he was compiling all the facts and data rapidly as they spoke, in order to determine the best course of action. As the thoughtful, deliberate decisionmaker of the four of us, I expected nothing less.

Just like I expected Jaxon to be impulsive, emotionally-charged, and reactive.

And Ryker was of course, the know-it-all when it came to the magical side of things, as well as the onward propelling force that yearned to get things done as efficiently as possible. He had answers when others couldn’t see any because of his out-of-the-box thinking.

“He massacred a whole bunch of Guardians and nearly took the rest out!” Jaxon cried. “For fuck’s sakes, I’m not worth that, not worth any of this.”

“You are and it’s not that simple,” Ryker told him.

“Look, Ry, I know you’ve got a whole lot of love for my cock these days, but almost dying to keep that psycho from taking me is going way too far, don’t you think?”

“Check yourself, Alpha,” Lucian said with a warning snarl.

A testament to how far they’d come, Jaxon backed off with a raise of his hands and even offered an apology, “My bad. This is just… fucked. Let me outside your ward and hand me over to Draco. The price is way too high if you don’t. ”

“The price will be even higher if we do,” Lucian countered. “Draco would use you and your released power for his own ends.”

“Besides, unbinding you wouldn’t help us right now anyway,” Ryker added.

“Why not?”

Ryker sat forward and told him patiently, “Magic-wielders aren’t just born into the full breadth of their abilities. It takes time, years. And during that time, we train and learn to wield and hone our power. Gradually. That won’t be the case for you. Once you’re unbound, the power will erupt in a violent rush through you and it will be incredibly difficult just to stomach it, let alone to wield it against an enemy as experienced and as formidable as Draco.”

“What I inflicted on Draco at the Guardian Compound will put him out of commission for days,” I revealed, joining them and standing between the couch and the armchair, taking all three of them in. “

“Days?” Lucian asked, incredulous. “How? Even Cornelius struggled to achieve that at the tail end of the Maven Coven battle.”

I looked away as I admitted something that was abhorrent to me. I’d had to, though. I’d done what had been needed to save Ryker. “I bound his magic.”

“Like your father did to Ryker?” Lucian pressed.

“It was the only way to stop him in the moment and to buy us the time needed to deal with our issues, then find the dagger.”

“How could you, as a half-Immortal, bind the magic of a pure Immortal?” Jaxon asked.

“Draco was weakened from touching Ryker’s defensive magic. I could feel it attacking him. He would have been able to shake the infection in time, but I used the vulnerability to flood him with a block. No one can unbind themselves. He’ll have to use an entire coven to do it for him, and mustering that level of power will require a celestial event. There isn’t another one for a while yet.”

“Well, shit,” Ryker said, beaming with pride.

“I’m impressed. Extremely so,” Lucian added.

“Right there with you,” Jaxon’s rough rumble sounded.

“It buys us the time we need to do the ritual.”

For once all three of them were momentarily speechless, shocked into silence at my statement.

While that was still the case, I went on, “We’ve had to remain in hiding in this safehouse to protect the Covenant, it being the greatest shot we have of defeating Draco. While that was the case, the Guardian Movement was doing what it was created for, safeguarding the supernatural world and maintaining the balance and in this particular case that being beating back Draco and his acolytes’ reign of terror, chaos, and destruction. Ryker had to move them off-realm. Now there’s no force out there holding back the proverbial tide. Once we perform the ritual, there’ll be no need to hide. The Covenant will be sealed and I’ll wield enough power to stand against Draco. We need to use this opportunity of him being down to use that to our full advantage.”

“Why can’t we attack now if he’s compromised? Why even risk doing the ritual?” Jaxon asked. “Doesn’t you binding him change things? Can’t we attack right fucking now?”

I sighed heavily, hating the question being put out there, because it inadvertently served to highlight my shortcomings.

Noting that, Ryker answered in my stead, informing Jaxon, “None of us possess the power to actually take the life of an Immortal being. At least, not magically.”

“If we had the Wrath of Hades, then the situation would be different,” I said. “He could be killed with that while in his weakened state.”

“All right, yeah, I get it,” Jaxon said with a nod of his head.

“In light of that, the plan is two-fold,” I began. “We join, solidifying the Covenant and imbuing me with your power. Then I should have enough juice to be able to track down the dagger. We’ll be able to end Draco and save my father in one fell swoop.”

“The Wrath of Hades,” Ryker breathed.

“The… what?” Jaxon asked.

I eyed Jaxon. “It’s the one weapon that can take the life of a Celestial being.”

“Wow. Good. Just what we’ve been needing. You couldn’t track it before?”

I shook my head. “It’s buried beneath layers and layers of magic.”

“Of course it is,” Jaxon groused.

It took me a moment to realize that Lucian wasn’t joining in the discussion. “Lucian?”

When he didn’t respond, clearly deep in thought, Ryker rubbed his arm.

It jolted him and he looked out at us, the expression on his face making my stomach lurch.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“I may know a way to locate the dagger.”

“How?” I asked, incredulous.

He rose from his perched position and scrubbed his hand over his face, cursing under his breath.

“Lucian?” Ryker pressed gently. “What is it?”

Staring into space, Lucian revealed, “When Vincenzo came to me, he said that with Cornelius incapacitated by Draco, he finally had the opportunity to facilitate his freedom forevermore. I thought he was just posturing, as he has been known to do.” He shot me and Ryker a glare. “But that was because I had no idea about the existence of such a formidable weapon. It’s clear now that he meant that Cornelius was weakened enough for him to go for the kill without fearing for his own life in the process.”

“With the dagger,” Jaxon cut in. “You think he has it?”

“It’s a strong possibility, yes. He’s been on the run from Cornelius for years. He would have spent those years researching and unearthing everything he could about his enemy to shift the balance and get his life back.”

“All right. He’s the first lead we’ll run down once the Covenant is solidified.”

“I will go to him,” Lucian countered. “He won’t respond well to a show of force and he is immune to all forms of torture, so forcing it out of him won’t work either.”

“So, what’s your plan then?” Ryker sniped. “Fuck it out of him?”

Before anyone could get out a word, Ryker shot from the couch and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him for good measure.

“Curses,” Lucian muttered.

He sucked in a breath, then strode out after him.

“Trouble in paradise?” Jaxon mused.

“It would seem so.”

And it was the worst time for it.