“Issues?” Wrath hissed. “That man killed the only man I’ve ever loved.” Her voice hitched.
Atieno closed his eyes and ran his hand through his hair then took a step into the house and followed us to the living room. He let out a sigh. “You know it was the only option. He killed an entire village. The supernatural council and your father didn’t give me a choice. Why am I the only one you’re mad at?” Atieno’s eyes held pity.
“Because the three of us were friends.” Wrath threw her arms up. “You tore our makeshift family apart and joined sides with the council. And it seems you are still doing their dirty work. I don’t know how you work for those people. He was your son, and you killed him.”
Since I wasn’t part of a pack or supposed to be around other shifters, I had distanced myself from the supernatural council and the laws. Every time someone brought the council up around Wrath, she got a murderous look in her eyes, and I suddenly knew why. Her sadness made me want to wrap my arms around her. Atieno didn’t look too happy, either.
“Someone has to make sure the council doesn’t become a court again. You think I don’t think about it every day while I’m at work? I know the council made my son go insane, but there was no way to bring him back from that bloodlust. I miss him too. I didn’t only lose him—I lost you as my close friend as well, and I work to make sure shit like that doesn’t happen again. I’m here because more shifters are going missing, and we need to figure out what is happening.”
Mary brought in a tray of glasses of water. She had bags under her eyes. Ryker had taken the seat next to me on the couch, and Atieno paced in front of it while Wrath stood next to my side of the sofa with her hand still on her long, shiny blade.
“I know you two hate each other, but it’s been three hundred years. You can take up hating each other again after this. No matter how badly I want to kill Atieno, I’m dealing with him,” Ryker said as he glared at the man. “Lucifer said the person we need to find is Paldon’s mother, and we will get answers. I have a pack looking for one option.”
Atieno stopped pacing and glanced around the room. “Why are we taking Lucifer’s advice?” The gorgeous half vampire, half lion took a swig of water.
I couldn’t help but stare. I’d thought vampires drank human blood to stay alive.
His lips turned up when he caught me staring. “I’m not all vampire. I’m part lion. I eat and drink water, though don’t get me wrong—I love to have blood with a good steak.”
“Stop reading her mind.” Ryker grabbed me around the waist and pulled me to his side. “Why are you here, Atieno, uninvited?”
Atieno pinched the bridge of his nose. “It’s time.”
“No,” Ryker growled. I could feel his claws along my side. His wolf was coming out. “I have to protect my pack and Paldon. We can discuss this when this is over.”
Wrath had somehow magically gotten popcorn. She lowered the bag toward me and whispered, “This is going to get good. The fight about to happen is almost worth seeing that piece of shit.”
Atieno seemed to think about his next words. “We’ve got intel he’s taking the missing pack members. You need to claim your place and save the missing shifters.”
“Who?” I asked.
“You haven’t told her?” Atieno asked.
“Told me what?”
“The council and the gods made sure to train me to be the North American alpha. I don’t want the job. I’m happy being alpha to my pack.”
My world seemed to turn on its axis. Wrath and Marilyn’s conversation came back to my mind. They’d known and hadn’t said anything. Wrath winced when I looked at her. The more I pondered the information, the more irritated I became. “How long have you dodged the job?” At Ryker’s hesitation, I knew my answer but wanted to hear him say it. “How long, Ryker?”
“Ten years.”
“Oh, this is getting good.”
I sent a blast of magic in Wrath’s direction, and the sound of her scream satisfied me. Though I was mad at Ryker, I still winced when I heard the sound of glass shattering.
Ryker tried to wrap his hands around me, but I jumped off the couch before he had a chance. “You mean to tell me that asshole could’ve been out years ago?”
“I’m okay, by the way.”
I ignored Wrath’s comment. She was immortal.
“We’ll discuss this later, Paldon.”
When I was angry and scared, I had a harder time controlling my magic. Black glitter started to swarm around my body, and sparks flew from my fingertips. I needed to get my magic under control, so I took a couple of deep breaths. Since Ryker was holding information back, I asked, “Is Joseph also the one creating the demons?”
“I’ve sent a couple of council members to scope out what is going on, and they haven’t returned. We need Ryker to take his place and see if the missing shifters are there. But I don’t think he has anything to do with the demons, and we have two different cases—one is missing shifters, and the other is that someone from the underworld is upset. And Ryker, you know this is your destiny.”
My gaze snapped back to Ryker. But I didn’t have time to ask more questions because something hit the back of the house.
14
“What the hell?” Ryker said as he ran to the kitchen.
My brain didn’t seem to understand we were in trouble, because my eyes went straight to Ryker’s ass as he ran in front of me. “With the way this week is going, who knows.” A shiver went down my spine as I thought of the zombies, and I rubbed a hand over the healed wound on my arm. “Let’s hope it’s not a zombie attack again.”
“Are you serious?” Ryker growled.
He’d stopped so fast I ran into his back. Wrath let out a laugh, and Atieno mumbled something I didn’t understand. I peeked over Ryker’s shoulder and blinked at the mess in front of me. Ryker’s muscles were flexed in anger, and he looked close to killing my newfound father. I laid my hand on Ryker’s forearm, and his growling stopped.
“Umm, Lucifer, do you want to explain why you blew a hole in the side of the house?” Those were words I’d never thought I would use.
Lucifer stood and brushed off the dust and debris. A giant hole had replaced the dining room glass doors that Wrath and Paul had walked through an hour earlier.
“You know you can turn the knob and walk in? Why did you blow—” My train of thought stopped, the world tilted, and my future pet walked through the door. Lucifer’s pandacorn was in Ryker’s house, and I didn’t plan on letting him go that time.
Wrath walked over and hugged the cuddly creature. He giggled at something she said.
“Mine!” I yelled before I took a step forward.
Ryker slipped his arm around me and pulled me back toward him. “Not yours. Look away.”
I slowly pulled my eyes from the beautiful creature and looked at my father. “Explain.” I waved my hand at the mess.
“Someone put a spell on the house, and I couldn’t get in.” He voice didn’t hold an ounce of remorse. “You have been using a lot of magic, and I don’t see anyone in this room who could be your mother. And I’m missing a bunch more demons. So, when are you going to stop giving googly eyes to the dog and find your mother?” Lucifer’s eyes had turned red.
When I looked at Wrath, I saw she had another bag of popcorn and was watching the show. Ryker stepped forward, but I gripped his arm. “I don’t think the missing shifters and the demons attacking is the same person. We plan to go to Georgia in the morning and look into the missing shifters. Atieno gave us some intel. All you’ve seemed to do is blow a hole in the side of the house. Now if you want to make it up to me for blowing up the house I live in, you can leave the pandacorn with us while we head up north. Ryker said he is a good fighter. We need someone to protect our pack.”
“You said ‘our pack,’” Ryker interrupted.
I rolled my eyes at the sexy alpha. “You knew I would join all along. Don’t get me wrong—I’m still pissed about the North American�
��alpha thing.”
Lucifer pushed a two-by-four out of his way and took a step forward. “I will leave some demons with you for protection. Paxdon comes with me.” An evil smile spread across his face.
“If you ever want to be part of my life, you will leave Paxdon to help protect us and send some demons to fix the wall.”
Lucifer leaned over and whispered something in Paxdon’s ear, and somehow, he blocked us from hearing what he said. Paxdon nodded.
“Fine. You get Paxdon until you return from Georgia. Well, since we have that solved, I’m surprised Wrath and Atieno are in the same room and haven’t destroyed anything. My dear daughter, did you forget what he did?”
I stared at the man who had just walked into my life. “What are you doing here, Lucifer, besides causing trouble? Wrath and Atieno have come to a slight understanding. Now, if you have anything to tell us, proceed. Otherwise, you can leave.”
My father’s eyes flashed a deep red, and Ryker pulled on my arm, but I had more to get off my chest. Maybe it was the stress of heading back to my old pack or finding out the man in front of me was my father. Black glitter circled around me. “You and Atieno showed up in my life suddenly, and both of you have turned everything upside down.”
“Hey now, I came to see you on behalf of the council to warn you someone was after you,” Atieno said as he crossed his arms.
Wrath mumbled something about him being a backstabbing ass hat.
Lucifer’s eyes turned a deeper red. “You cannot speak to me that way. I’m Hades, god of the underworld.” Smoke swarmed around him. “You are to do what I say.”
I looked at my father then the man I loved. He shook his head. He wanted me to stop, but I didn’t know how I felt about him just showing up and saying he didn’t know I existed. “Tell us what you want or leave.”
His eyes flashed with something that almost looked like hurt. “You used a shit ton of magic again, so I came to see the progress.”
“I used the magic three days ago. Why did you wait three days to show up?” It hurt knowing he knew I’d used a bunch of magic because I was in a fight and he’d done nothing to help, nor had he shown up to see if I was okay.
“Okay,” Ryker said as he sat on the kitchen stool and pulled me between his legs. “Lucifer, if you know anything, please tell us. Shifters are going missing, and we have zombies attacking. The council thinks it’s two different people.”
Lucifer leaned forward and rested his hands on the counter. “The council doesn’t know shit. They are connected, and if you had listened to what I said the first time I came, you would know that you need to go back to where you came from.”
My stomach flipped. Everything pointed to going back to Georgia. The idea of fighting zombies again sounded better than facing the people who’d betrayed me. I didn’t know what I would do or say when I came face-to-face with the brothers. The alpha of the pack could go jump off a roof, but facing the people I’d thought were my friends hurt more than anything.
Atieno stepped next to Wrath. “Paldon, this is a dangerous mission. You could come back to the council under our protection, and we can send people to your old pack.” He looked at Ryker. “You need to go. It’s time you take over your duty.”
“I’m going with him. My place is next to Ryker, not in some room inside the council while my pack and friends fight.”
The sexy alpha ran a hand through his hair. “I will go and maybe claim my spot, but I will rule as I want, and the council will stay out unless I need them. Also, I will run the pack from here, and I will find someone to take over the pack members who don’t want to move.”
“You can run the pack however you want,” Atieno said, keeping a neutral expression. He glanced at Wrath before turning to me. “Paldon, you are important. Try not to die.” With a flash, he left. No goodbye, just don’t die.
“I really want to jab my sword through his heart,” Wrath said as she thrust her sword in the air.
“I agree with you, but the whole immortal thing makes it hard to kill him,” Lucifer said before he waved a hand over the wreckage of the house. In a blink of an eye, he fixed the hole, and the layer of dust disappeared. “Now, are you finally going to listen to me and go to Georgia and find out about your mother? Who knows—you might find some missing shifters.” I hated how it seemed he knew more than he was letting on.
Ryker squeezed his arms around me. “Yes, we are heading to Georgia in the morning. Paxdon will stay here and stand guard with my enforcers.” He placed a kiss on the back of my neck and whispered, “We aren’t going to keep him.”
Lucifer’s phone beeped, and when he looked down, he frowned. “Seems hell doesn’t run itself.” With a flash, he left, and the smell of brimstone filled the kitchen.
“He does that to piss me off.”
Ignoring my gorgeous mate, I walked toward the giant half panda, half unicorn. I couldn’t believe Paxdon was in my house. I was one step closer to making him mine. “Hi, Paxdon.”
He reached his paws out and wrapped me in a hug, and I felt like I was floating in the peaceful sky, music playing in the background. I had never felt so relaxed—until someone ripped me back from the fluffy arms. It felt like all of my emotions came crashing down at once.
“Paul and Wrath, pull up aerials for me. We are heading out first thing in the morning. Paldon and I will be back in a few.”
15
Before I had time to ask what he was doing, Ryker pulled me through the door Lucifer had blown up and put back to normal.
“Where are we going?”
Ryker didn’t say anything. He kept tugging me down the trail from his home to mine, and he didn’t slow down until he swung my back door open.
It felt strange stepping back into my house. I had lived in the same home for ten years, and it had been like my safety net, but it suddenly felt foreign, and Ryker’s house felt like home. But the kitchen and living room were back to normal.
“Why are we here, Ryker?”
My sexy mate dropped my hand and paced back and forth in the living room. “We might be heading into danger tomorrow, and we haven’t talked about us.”
“I know.” I sat down on the couch and patted the cushion next to me. “We can talk about us after we get Mary’s daughter back and figure out who my mother is.”
“I don’t like the idea of you heading into danger,” Ryker said, finally sitting next to me. The moonlight was the only light in the room.
“I’m going, but do you think the whole key thing and shifters going missing are separate or together?” I asked as I laid my legs across Ryker’s and my head on his shoulder. My wolf rolled over on her belly when Ryker wrapped his arm around me.
“So much will change when I take over the North American pack.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Fuck, I don’t want to do it. I’ve put it off for years.”
“Why didn’t you take over when your father passed? How did Joseph end up becoming the North American pack alpha?”
Ryker closed his eyes and leaned his head back. “Someone killed my father on a hunt when I was ten. Do you know much about bonds between mates?”
“Yes, I’ve heard the other mate has nothing left to live for and ends up dying not too long after their mate. But aren’t we close to the same age? Joseph was the alpha my whole life.”
“I’m a lot older than I look. After my father died and my mother went into a deep depression, Atieno came and raised me.”
“Wait, you acted as if you hated him a second ago.”
Ryker shrugged. “I’m four hundred years old, and I have issues with Atieno for the same reason Wrath does. Her husband was another one of Atieno’s sons, but he was a vampire. Back then, the council was corrupt and fed him tainted blood. By the time we found him, he had killed an entire village. He was so far gone to bloodlust Atieno had to kill him. Is it a problem how old I am?” he asked with raised eyebrows.
Age wasn’t an issue. Wrath had told me I would live forever, so it seemed my f
uture mate might as well be. “Are you immortal?”
“Yes.”
Okay, I needed more than yes. “How?”
Ryker went on to explain that after his mother died, Lucifer and Atieno came to him and told him they had watched how he had taken over the pack at ten years old. They put someone else in charge, and he spent the next few years in hell and living with Atieno. When he turned eighteen, he met with the three fates, and they changed the course of his life.
“So, the other day when I thought you died?”
Ryker’s lips twitched. “Nope, can’t die. Don’t get me wrong—it was as sexy as hell when you went all glittery and destroyed everyone. Not so much when you collapsed to the ground that scared the shit out of me. I rushed you back to the pack house and called Marilyn.”
My sexy alpha stood and cradled me in his arms. “Let’s go check your bedroom out.” He carried me to his room and laid me down on the bed. The sun had gone down a couple of hours earlier, and the moonlight filled the room. He stripped his shirt off before he climbed in next to me. His jeans hung low on his hips, accenting his perfectly sculpted abs.
He trailed kisses up the side of my neck and stopped at my earlobe, whispering softly, “You are mine, Paldon, and I’m going to show you what that means. Once I take you, I won’t ever let you go. If you have any doubt about us, you need to tell me.” His eyes flashed yellow.
I no longer wanted to run from my past and was ready to look at my future. Instead of answering with words, I pulled Ryker’s head in so that his lips were brushing mine. Then his tongue demanded entrance. The kiss started out slow and became hungrier with lust. When we pulled apart, I was barely able to talk. As if he knew how much I needed him, Ryker rolled to his back and pulled me on top of him. Straddling him, I could feel his hard cock against me. I moved a couple of times, rubbing against him, and Ryker threw his head back and closed his eyes. His hands shot to my hips to get me to stop moving. I loved seeing the sexy alpha lose control under me.
His soft hands ran across the bottom of my white T-shirt, then he slowly worked it up my body. Ryker’s eyes never left mine, and I could see the hunger in them. “You’re gorgeous.”
Fated Mates of the Underworld, Books 1-3 Page 11
