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15

ADAN

W e didn’t know much about Calliope’s powers but quickly learned she could draw them forth using my glyphs. They seemed to be related to the weather, a storm brewing each time she connected to my magic.

It was good that we dove straight into preparing for the attack because it came less than a day later, in the middle of the night. My territory was mostly empty, with only a handful of guests who’d chosen to accept the risk of staying.

The moment the first ripple hit the wards, I felt it in my bones.

I waited in the heart of The Abyss. The air had shifted, thickened into something ancient. Calliope was behind me, just beyond the arched threshold of the atrium. I’d warded the space heavily, layered every glyph I knew into the walls, floor, and glass ceiling above us. Shards were a risk, but I wanted my mate to have access to the storm brewing outside in case she needed it. That didn’t ease the fire licking under my skin, though.

The assassin bound to the curse Calliope had awakened was here. I’d expected him to try the wards again first. Another projection, maybe. But he was done testing.

The chandelier flickered overhead, casting fractured shadows across the floor. Somewhere far above, the wind moaned against the roof.

A presence stepped through the far archway. His eyes gleamed like forged steel, colorless and deadly. His long black coat was streaked with ash. And his boots didn’t make a sound as he crossed the stone floor.

“You’ve always been hard to kill.” The assassin’s voice was the barest rasp of sound. “But with the curse triggered, it’s either your blood or mine.”

“I didn’t touch the blade,” I replied, my tone steady even while I sent a warning to Kastiel and the others who had stayed.

“I know.” His gaze slid past me to where Calliope stood in the shadow of the atrium. “But the curse doesn’t care. It demands your blood.”

“She’s under my protection,” I growled, stepping between them and cutting off his line of sight.

He smiled faintly. “Only while you’re still alive.”

“Even in death, she’ll still be mine,” I growled.

My demon surged forward. Fire coiled down my spine, but I held it back. This wasn’t going to be a raw power fight. Not at first. He was too old and clever. He’d survived this long in a job that few survived because he didn’t walk into traps. Obvious or subtle.

But his normal battle strategy wouldn’t work. He wasn’t just facing off against me. Calliope was here too, and she was a complete unknown.

The moment she touched the glyph and stepped forward, a ripple of energy moved through the room. The assassin felt it too. I saw it in the way he paused. That was his mistake.

I lunged, shifting into my demon form faster than I ever had before. I hit him hard, my shoulder slamming into his chest. He staggered but didn’t fall. He was too skilled for that. His blade flashed from its sheath, silver-black and tipped in poison.

I ducked the first swing and sent a blast of hellfire from my palm. He twisted, and the flames scorched the floor instead of his skin.

The Abyss responded to me, glyphs flaring along the columns. The room itself braced for the fight.

He came in low, slashing for my side. I blocked the strike with my forearm guard, sparks erupting from the contact. Pain lanced down my arm, but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t, the smallest misstep could put me in the ground.

I threw him back with a burst of magic that cracked the stone beneath our feet. He rolled and landed in a crouch, breathing hard but grinning.

“You’ve grown stronger,” he said, eyes flashing. “But you’re still just a lord’s son playing king of his insignificant patch of land.”

“No.” I bared my teeth. “I’m the one guarding the gate to hell.”

He lunged again, faster this time. I met him head-on, fists burning with hellfire, claws half-shifted. He twisted in a different direction and crashed through the outer edge of the atrium. Glass shattered overhead in a glittering arc, rain pouring through the opening.

Calliope didn’t scream or retreat. My fierce amazing mate stepped forward.

“Adan!” Her voice rang out behind me, and I felt her magic rise. Wild and unfamiliar, but potent.

The assassin paused, sensing it too.

Calliope hadn’t had enough time to fully understand her powers, let alone control them, but we’d learned that she could call upon them with the help of my glyphs. She touched another, this one carved into a support beam. The symbol lit beneath her fingers with the same storm-kissed hue I’d seen earlier. And then something extraordinary happened.

The ward bent toward her. Unlike every other time, it didn’t flare or defend. The magic answered her call.

The room pulsed. A gust of wind swept through the shattered window, but it wasn’t natural. The air circled my mate in a tight spiral, tugging at her hair and dancing over her skin.

The assassin turned toward her, but Calliope didn’t look afraid. Her eyes blazed with green fire. “You’re not taking him from me.”

She raised her hand, and lightning struck through the open ceiling, crashing down between her and the assassin, making him stumble.

The assassin snarled, teeth flashing as he reeled back in surprise. He hadn’t expected her to wield power. And he sure as hell hadn’t expected The Abyss to answer her.

“You brought a conduit into the fight,” he spat. “She doesn’t even know what she is.”

“Not yet, but she will.”

He pivoted and lunged for her. It was the wrong fucking move.

I roared, letting my control snap. My wings spanned wide enough to block the archway. I launched forward, claws extended, and tackled him in midair. We crashed into a pillar, stone cracking beneath the force.

Hellfire surged through me, hotter than it ever had before. Fed by rage, power, and the instinct to protect my mate.

I slammed my fist into his ribs over and over again until his coat burned and the stench of scorched leather filled the room. Then he twisted free and vaulted backward, blood dripping from his mouth.

“She’s more than a distraction,” he spat. “She’s fueling you.”

It was more than that, but he’d never understand because he didn’t have a mate.

A glyph flared to life near Calliope’s hand, one she hadn’t touched yet. But it recognized her. The Abyss was beginning to shift its allegiance. Not from me, but to us as a mated pair, even though I hadn’t branded her yet.

A low hum rose from the walls. The storm was now building inside the hotel’s bones. Thunder rolled again, this time beneath the floor.

The assassin bared his teeth and surged forward again, ignoring the burn of The Abyss’s wards as they tried to repel him. His blade flashed, and I met him with mine—a conjured weapon of raw hellfire. Steel shrieked against fire, but I didn’t back down. Not when Calliope was still standing behind me, holding the full weight of the storm in her hands.

I caught a glimpse of her out of the corner of my eye—her palm pressed to the glyph, her eyes alight with power. Lightning danced around her feet. The very air bowed to her will. Her power had awakened, and she had never looked more beautiful.

The assassin realized it too late. He turned his attention toward her, blade shifting mid-strike.

“No!” I roared.

Calliope stepped forward, and her voice rang out. “You will not touch him or me.”

She lifted her other hand, and a current of wind slammed into the assassin’s chest, lifting him off his feet. He hit the ground hard but still tried to rise. Then I was on him.

I landed the final blow with both hands wreathed in fire. Not to kill, but to hold him in place. To bind him.

“Now, Calliope!” I shouted.

She moved to my side. Her fingers curled into mine, and together we pressed our hands to the glyph between us. The Abyss answered.

Power erupted through the floor—an explosion of storm light and hellfire interwoven into a single, devastating force. The assassin screamed as it consumed him. His body began to crack, as if the magic binding him to this world was being undone.

“You should never have come here,” I growled.

He vanished, leaving nothing but ash and a scorch mark where he fell.

The wards fell still, and the air stopped crackling.

Calliope stumbled forward and crashed into me, her body trembling with the aftershocks of raw power. I shifted back to my human form before I caught her, pulling her tight against my chest.

“It’s over,” I murmured.

She looked up at me, storm light fading from her eyes. “We won.”

I nodded, pressing a kiss to her brow. “Together.”