Page 52

Haden

W hen Abe's magic disappeared, we were in a field I did not recognize. The sun was starting to set behind the tall pine trees that lined the edge of the grass. I saw Della running toward us, then the stars burst from the woods behind her, chasing her.

“Della!” I began running for her. All of a sudden, she stopped running and beamed at me, her eyes flashing red with wickedness.

I stopped, and the stars stopped too, realizing that she wasn’t moving anymore.

Then everyone looked around the field, trying to figure out what was happening.

Della didn’t seem stressed at all. Then we gasped, seeing all of the gods and goddesses emerging from the trees around us.

I saw Mikel and Remiah step forward, locking eyes with me and smiling.

“I’m glad you all could make it!” Della turned to see everyone. “I want you all to witness what happens when you try to take the fate of everyone around you into your own hands. These are the stars.” She pointed to them, and they seemed to shrink down. “And they planned to kill all of us.”

A soft murmur erupted around us. My parents were glaring daggers at Della.

“They thought I was running from them, but I just wanted to make sure we were somewhere big enough that you all can see that you do not fuck with me or my mate. You do not mess with the realm; you do not mess with the balance of the gods! I will set the gods free tonight.”

She turned to me and gave me a soft smile. “Haden, would you come here, please?”

I immediately went to where she stood in the center of the clearing. She held out her hand, and I slid mine into hers.

“I love you, Storm,” I whispered.

“I love you more.”

Together, we walked right up to the stars as if they weren’t trying to kill us.

I watched her and realized she had no fear in her eyes.

Her body was relaxed. Fuck, my wife was not worried in the slightest that she was about to kill all of these fucks.

She stopped in front of a woman with bright red hair cascading over her shoulders.

The woman’s eyes glided over me in a way I didn’t like.

“Haden, this is Abarra.” She smirked. “Abarra, this is Haden.”

I looked at Della, confused, but she dropped my hand and stood next to Abarra.

“Choose who you want to be mated to,” Della demanded.

I laughed softly, thinking she was kidding, but quickly realized she was being serious.

“We don’t need—” Abarra looked at Della.

“No, we do. Your parents picked her to be your mate, and she made a bet with me. So, husband, who do you want, me or her?”

I smiled at Della when her eyes flashed bright red. She was fucking irate at the idea of another woman thinking I would ever want them. I grabbed Della’s hand and yanked her to me, kissing her deeply. Abarra scoffed. Della pulled back and gave me a flirty smirk.

“You will be rewarded for choosing correctly later,” she promised. I instantly felt desire course through me.

She didn’t look away from me as she lifted her hand, lightning forming in her hand in the shape of a knife. Then she turned and sneered at Abarra.

“A deal is a deal.” Without any further hesitation, she plunged the weapon into the woman’s chest, pulling it down and completely gutting her.

Della smiled in Abarra’s face as she reached into her chest, her bloody hand pulling out the woman’s soul.

It was as black as night. Abarra’s mouth fell open as she tried to catch her breath.

Della brought the soul up so the woman could witness her squeeze it until it burst into a million specks of light.

“You will die and never return in any form. Enjoy an eternity in a special Hell where there is no light, no others present with you, and you will float around in an emptiness with no end. Bitch.”

Abarra’s eyes rolled back as she fell over dead. Della opened her hand and blew the dust of the soul away like it was dirt. Then she glanced around the others menacingly.

“Who’s next?”

They all took a step backward—everyone except my father, which pissed me off beyond reason. He thought she wouldn’t gut him. Did he really think she would want him as a mate?

“I will save you for last, Malamay.” She turned to me.

“Haden, my love, go stand by my brother Abram and enjoy the show.”

“Brother?” Malamay asked.

Della looked at my father, and I hated it. I didn’t want him to see her pretty eyes or face. What was he thinking when he looked at her? Gods, I wanted to rip his fucking eyes out myself.

“You all remember Abram, God of Fates, my brother!” she announced, and the faces of all the stars fell.

“That would make you the Goddess of Creation,” Diath scoffed.

“Nice to meet you.” Della's lips twitched with amusement. “Let’s not forget our other brother, Mikel, God of Justice and Balance! And my husband, God of Hell, God of Wrath, and now God of Creation—Haden Vale!”

My mother’s face fell as all of the gods and goddesses bowed to the three of them.

I think it was finally soaking in that my wife was more powerful than I realized.

Della glanced back at me and tilted her head to the side, and she seemed to be thinking about something.

But a moment later she wrapped her star mist around me and gently moved me back to Abe.

“You seem pretty fucking confident that you’ll beat us,” Diath sneered. “You’ll lose in front of everyone. How embarrassing. Just because you are an old god means nothing.”

Della tossed her head back and laughed. God, she was pretty when she was out of her damn mind.

“Oh, Diath, you will be fun to kill.” Della looked around at everyone watching curiously.

“I saw this day hundreds of years ago. I will not lose, and none of you even make it challenging. How could you without your magic? Malamay’s magic will not be strong enough.

But Malamay’s feelings for me will not let him hurt me either. ”

Diath sneered at her. “You fucking snake. I knew it was you fucking everything up, but Malamay had his head so far up your ass he couldn’t see it.”

“Well, Diath, that is because he wanted me to become his mate. Did he tell you that?” Della was stepping toward my mother, who glared at Malamay.

“I knew you were protecting her, you fucking stupid motherfucker!” Diath ran at my father and tackled him to the ground.

They began fighting, punching, and rolling around in the grass.

Della stepped back and watched intently.

After a moment, a flash of frost appeared in my father’s hand before he disappeared for a split second, reappearing behind my mother, who was still kneeling on the ground.

Without hesitation, he pulled back the ice spear he now held in his hand and impaled her.

His eyes were filled with frost as he stared at her with an intense hatred in his eyes.

Diath’s mouth fell open, blood pouring from it.

Malamay looked at Della with an expression that had me stepping forward, but Della flicked her wrist and blocked me from getting too close to them.

Gods, I was going to rip him apart limb by fucking limb if he touched my mate, my wife.

She was mine. I would never let him touch her.

Filled with my wrath, I ripped apart Della’s magic holding me back when Malamay grabbed her arm.

He was saying something to her, but she was not responding.

Before anyone realized it, I was running toward him.

But Della saw me and smiled at me from over his shoulder.

There was no stopping the wrath pumping through me as I reached my father and gripped him by his hair.

With a powerful yell, I yanked him into the air and slammed him down into the ground hard enough to leave a small crater around his body.

“Haden,” he wheezed in supplication, realizing that he was about to die.

I circled around him, my eyes burning with hatred.

“She is mine; you do not get to touch her,” I sneered. “You really thought she would ever want you?”

He looked at her, then back at me.

“You and I are practically identical, except for our hair color. She could have easily replaced you with me. The only difference is I would have treated her better than you ever could have,” he said with a cocky grin on his face, defiant to the end.

Della sighed in mock disappointment. “Malamay, that was a very stupid thing to say to Haden. Now he gets to kill you, and I don’t.

” Della stared down at him. “And you are stupid if you think you could have replaced him. I will tell you what I told his shitty parents before I murdered them. The only worthy thing you ever did in your entire existence is give me my mate. Otherwise, you are a waste of space.”

I looked at her and grinned. She leaned down, locking eyes with my father as she continued.

“Haden is the first and only man I will ever love. And after he kills you, I will crush your soul into nothing. Then I will erase you and Diath from the history books so that no one will ever remember you. You will die, and so will everything you tried to create.”

“Not everything, my blood pumps through Haden. He is part of me, and he always will be. I am his father.” Malamay bared his teeth.

Della was quick with her response. “You were never his father. His father’s name is Henry, and his mother is Penelope.

He has a lovely brother named Holden with a sweet wife named Sara.

That is his family. They raised him into a man that you couldn’t ever dream of being.

Your soul is black and disgusting, and his burns brightly in my favorite color; you are not even close to the same. ”

Then she looked at me and kissed me, but this kiss was a display of what Malamay would never get. Della poured everything into the kiss, and I hummed as she pulled back.

“Do you want to kill him?”

“Yes.” I snarled.

“Then show him what it means to belong to me husband—God of Creation. Rip his soul from him and evaporate it. Make sure he can never exist again.”