by Juniper Hart
Sam nodded, and everyone moved to their respective destinations.
“Stay in touch,” Dane warned the others. “If we don’t hear from each other, we need to assume the worst.”
With a short nod of agreement, everyone separated, and Harmony began to work her magic.
“I feel like I should come with you to the Council,” Dane said as they drove back toward the center of the city. The Council was set to meet at an abandoned warehouse nearby, but Elle was going to drop Dane off first.
“They won’t let you in,” Elle replied dryly. “You didn’t want a seat on the Council, remember?”
“Oh, how quickly everyone forgets their roots,” he joked, but there was no humor in his tone. The gravity of the situation was proving to be too much for all of them.
“Anyway, we have no idea where your father is,” Elle added. “It’s better if you just stay at the house for now. We need to keep Onyx looking for a day at least.”
Dane nodded slowly. “Do you think your sister can close the portal with her telekinesis alone?”
Elle gave him a sidelong look. “You saw her doing it. But it’s going to take a while. From what I remember, Harmony’s abilities are much more potent than any of ours.”
Dane smiled wryly. “That’s probably not true. She’s just the only one who has used the full potential of her abilities.”
Elle raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
“There was a demon prophecy,” he said. “Regarding the Vulpes. It says that once the foxes find their respective mates, it unlocks powers for all the Enchanted.”
“Like the vampires reproducing.”
“And the Lycan twins having no aversion to silver. But it only applies to those closest to the Vulpes. This is why I suggested that the foxes unite. Independently, you can do a lot, but together—”
“You think we’re a ball of power,” Elle concluded, exhaling. She wasn’t sure how true his summation was but, she was beginning to believe in her abilities and her sisters’.
“Don’t sell yourself short, Elle,” Dane said quietly. “You are a lot more than you think.”
She thought of how brave she’d been in her life, even when she’d mistaken her foolishness for courage.
I’ve got this. We’ve all got this as long as we’re together, she thought with a renewed sense of confidence.
“Bring it on, Your Highness,” she muttered, more to herself than Dane. “You’re not going anywhere with my man.”
9
For twelve hours, Onyx continued on his rampage, shifting into his demon form, scaring anyone who looked his way and evading capture by the Council of Seven. He had hoped that Alaric himself would eventually come on one of the search teams looking for him, but as of yet, it hadn’t happened.
My son is not a coward, Onyx thought, stopping his spree to rest for a few minutes. He is purposely avoiding me. Oddly, he felt a smidgen of guilt. Why not leave Alaric among the Enchanted? He had found his own way on Earth. Onyx had had nothing to do with this trip. He idly considered that he was being a sadist, insistent on punishing Alaric until his last breath, but that didn’t seem right, either. After all, he had spent thousands of years doing just that.
With a sigh, he heaved himself onto his feet and made his way toward the street again. The night had fallen unusually quiet. He reasoned that he had created enough fear and chaos among the locals to ensure that everyone was tucked inside what they considered the safety of their own domiciles.
Onyx was feeling antsy. He wanted to leave as soon as possible, and he was sure that once Alaric realized his father was there, he would come to him. Had he not received word that he was on Earth? Well, he was just going to have to make more noise and ensure Alaric found him, wouldn’t he?
The meeting was in uproar, and Lane tried to remember a time before the arrival of the Vulpes when there had ever been such disorder.
“This is not getting us anywhere!” Henry tried to yell above Raven and Landon. Of course, the vampire’s voice was lost among the din.
“Onyx and Alaric must return to the underworld with all the others!” Laurel screeched. “All of them!”
“No!” Elle argued. “Dane isn’t going back, and neither are the others. Yes, the soldiers need to be collected and sent home, but the ones who want to be here—we can’t just send them back!”
“Onyx is terrorizing the country!” Lane growled. “Who knows what he can do? He’s Alaric’s father! Where is Alaric?”
“His name is Dane, and he’s holding off his father until—” Elle stopped talking, realizing she’d said too much.
“Until what?” Landon pressed. “Alaric can put an end to this once and for all. All he has to do is show himself, and his father will probably let everyone else stay.”
“Stop calling him Alaric!” Elle hissed, her eyes sizzling with anger. “And he is not going back. Would you send Wren back, Landon? Lane, would you send Henry?”
“I would go back if it meant ending this madness,” Henry interjected flatly, but Lane’s heart sank at the idea of losing her mate forever.
“He doesn’t belong here, Elle,” Alec said gently. “He wasn’t supposed to be here. It’s unnatural.”
“Well, he’s here, and that’s that,” Elle spat back. “You know, Lane isn’t supposed to be a vampire, either, is she? But we change and adjust for the circumstances. Your solution is to take the easy way out. We have actually devised a plan!” Her announcement was met with wary stares.
“And how is that?” Raven asked slowly. “What is this plan?”
Elle visibly swallowed, and Lane tensed as the fox’s eyes darted around to rest on nothing. “My sister Harmony is working on closing the portal as we speak. She only needs another ten or so hours. Once she’s done that, Dane will present himself to his father and end this.”
“She what?” Laurel cried. “How did you even find this portal?”
“Never mind that!” Lane choked. “What are we going to do with the dead once the portal is closed?”
“So you’d rather leave it open and let more come through?” Elle countered. Lane had to admit she had a valid point. “You just need to ride out these next few hours,” Elle told the Council. “Dane will end this rampage on the country.”
“Onyx has already done too much damage!” Raven insisted. “He needs to be stopped now!”
“Then stop him!” Elle barked back. “But do it without Dane. You’re the Council of Seven! Get your packs, your legions, and your covens together. Are you telling me that you can’t figure out a way to stop him with the entire Enchanted behind you?”
An embarrassed quiet fell over the group until Theo cleared his throat.
“We’re the Council of Eight now, aren’t we?” he joked, trying to clear the air. Elle rose from where she had been sitting on a crate, dusting off her jeans as she shook her head.
“No,” she countered. “You’re still the Council of Seven. I don’t think I like this job. It doesn’t really serve the interests of my skulk.” Without waiting for a response, she turned and sauntered out of the warehouse, leaving the Council to gape after her in disbelief.
“D-did she just quit the Council?” Raven asked. Inexplicably, Lane felt a jolt of pride snake down her spine at the Vulpes’ action. She thought of the first Council meeting she’d attended and how she’d fled in terror.
But there is nothing scared about that girl. I was wrong about the Vulpes. We’re lucky to have them as a part of the Enchanted.
“What are you smiling at, Lane?” Laurel snapped, shaking Lane out of her reverie.
“I’m just thinking that she’s right—we have some work to do.”
Harmony’s body trembled, but she barely noticed, her eyes fixed on the shrinking orb before her.
We’re almost there, she thought, excitement spiking through her veins. Another two or three hours—
“Babe, your nose!” Orion gasped, shattering Harmony’s concentration. Scowling, she looked at him.
“Orion, you can’t distract me when I’m—” She tasted blood as she spoke and realized what had panicked her mate. “Aw, dammit.” Muttering, she wiped away at her nose furiously. They were so close, but a bleeding nose meant it was time to stop. “We’re almost there!” she cried.
“You need a break,” Orion protested. She nodded reluctantly and allowed him to guide her out of the sewer. They had found a much closer opening, one that didn’t take them an hour to escape, and when the night air filled her nostrils, Harmony knew that her nose had stopped bleeding.
“Let’s get back in there,” she urged Orion, who gaped at her.
“We just got out here,” he told her. “Give yourself a minute to recover. You’ve been going strong for almost a full day.”
“And you’ve been at my side the entire time,” she reminded him softly. “I’m sure you’re just as eager to get out of here as I am.” She gave him a placating look, and he begrudgingly rose to join her in the sewer again. “Text Elle and tell her that we’re a couple hours away,” she said, retracing her steps toward the portal.
“Okay. I’ll do that now and be right down,” Orion agreed, pausing outside the grate to pull out his cell. “My reception isn’t good down there.”
Harmony continued back to where she’d been, but when she arrived, she froze in her tracks.
Two beings had come through the light and were standing in the water, seeming dazed. They were the first that she’d seen since she’d started to close the opening, and she’d almost forgotten that the threat existed. Were they soldiers or just returning to their loved ones?
It was impossible to tell from where she was. It stood to reason that if Onyx was on Earth, he wasn’t giving orders for new soldiers to come through, but Harmony didn’t want to take any chances. She hung back, watching until the duo found their footing and headed away from her, through the pipelines.
“What are you doing?” Orion asked, causing her to jump. Harmony didn’t answer him immediately. Her heart was aching for those who would be trapped in the underworld forever, unable to ever see their family and friends again.
Or their mates, she thought mournfully.
“Harmony?” She shook her head. She couldn’t waste another second agonizing over things beyond her control. She needed to save Dane and the ones she could.
“There were crossers,” she mumbled. “Come on. Let’s get back to it.”
But as she concentrated on making the portal go away, Harmony suddenly realized that her heart wasn’t into it anymore. She wondered why the two worlds couldn’t share.
10
“It’s time,” Elle told Dane and Sam. Instantly, they were both on their feet. “Harmony should have closed the portal by now.”
“Good,” he said, moving toward the door. “Can you try and find out where my father was last seen?” Elle eyed him sheepishly.
“I’m not sure they’ll tell me, but I can try.” She reached into her pocket for her Council phone.
“Why won’t they tell you?” Dane wanted to know, pausing at the doorway. Sam cocked her head curiously.
“I kind of quit the Council,” Elle admitted. She had purposely withheld the information until the last possible second, unsure of how Dane might react to it. Sam gaped in disbelief, but Dane scoffed.
“Yeah?” he laughed. “How did that go over?”
Elle shrugged, happy that he didn’t seem to care. “I didn’t stick around long enough to find out.”
“Why?” her sister asked. “I mean, there’s never been a fox on the Council.”
“Yeah, we’ll maybe there’s a reason for that,” Elle replied dryly. She fired off a group text to the Council members, asking where Onyx was last seen.
Dane is going to look for his father, she added when no immediate response came. Almost instantly, her phone exploded with possible sightings, and the couple were on their way out the door of their shared house.
“How are you going to handle this?” Elle asked him nervously. Dane gave her a sidelong look as they climbed into their hybrid car and smiled warmly.
“I guess we’ll find out, won’t we?”
“Harmony, you need to stop now!” Orion told her, the alarm in his voice piercing through her skull, but she skilfully tuned him out, forcing the last of the portal to close. “HARMONY!”
Blinking, she turned to face him, her mouth twisted angrily.
“It’s done,” she told him.
“Your nose is bleeding everywhere. You pushed yourself too hard,” her mate growled. He reached out to wipe her nose, but she swatted him away like he was a pesky fly.
“I’m fine,” she insisted. “See?” She gave him a wicked smile and winked at him, gesturing toward the spot where the portal had been. The gate had been closed but for a small sliver of light.
“Can anything get through there?” Orion asked uncertainly, still eyeing his mate with concern.
“Not as it is,” Harmony said smugly. “But it gives me enough leeway to reopen it… assuming that Onyx does everything he’s supposed to do.”
“That’s a big if,” Orion grunted, extending his arms to let Harmony fall into them.
“He’ll do it,” Harmony said with confidence. “If he ever wants to get home to his kingdom.”
“I feel so useless,” Kendra muttered, pacing around the living room, her cell glued to her hand. For the tenth time in two minutes, she looked at the screen and willed a message to come through, but there was no word from anyone.
“You aren’t useless,” Trevor assured her. “You’ve done so much for us.”
Kendra’s lovely eyes filled with tears as she looked helplessly at him.
“I opened the portal, but I can’t close it!” she growled. “How can you say I’ve done so much?”
“Kendra, you brought your sister’s mate to her. You brought Ellsbeth’s mother and father back to her. How can you think so negatively?”
Kendra shook her head and sank onto the sofa. Trevor hurried to embrace her warmly. The feel of his lips on her cheeks helped to alleviate the stress she was carrying, but her worries were still far too close to the surface. As if sensing that she needed more, Trevor began to massage her neck slowly, his soft fingers working at the muscles in her upper shoulders. In spite of herself, Kendra responded to the sweet motions, her heart swelling slightly, and she fell against him.
“Trevor,” she murmured. “I’m ready to have a baby.” She didn’t need to see his expression to know that the words filled him with happiness.
“Me too,” he whispered, his breath hot in her ear. “More than ready.”
She tilted her head back, allowing for his lips to trace along the fine lines of her face. Gooseflesh erupted over her arms, and she gently fell back to pull his massive frame on top of her. In that moment while she was feeling so vulnerable, Trevor made her feel so loved, so wanted. She shivered as his tongue sampled the sweetness of her skin, trailing along the curve of her neck and across her collarbone, his fingers unfastening the buttons of her silk blouse.
“Is it wrong to make love when my sisters could be in trouble?” she mumbled, feeling Trevor’s breathing grow quicker. Her skirt rode up around her hips, freeing her legs to twine across his waist.
“We’ve done it before,” Trevor remarked dryly, and Kendra couldn’t help laughing. All was so confusing in their world, but despite all the waves, she knew she always had an anchor in Trevor. He was no longer the meek, quiet man she’d met when she’d snuck across the world to escape Europe.
Kendra sighed, arching her back upward to relish the hard lines of Trevor’s body against hers. Somehow, he’d managed to disrobe himself, and the two melted against one another before their forms became one. She moaned, never tired of feeling him inside her, and instantly fell into the rhythm she’d grown to know and crave since meeting him.
“I love you, Kendra,” Trevor groaned, a slight sweat forming at his brow line.
“I love you, Trevor,” she rasped, her
insides responding to his every thrust. Her fingers splayed against the soft skin of his back, Kendra allowed herself to release against her lover, her cries echoing through the huge, empty house. And when Trevor met her height of passion with his own, she knew that they had created a new life between them.
They lay in one another’s arms, recapturing their breaths. All Kendra could think was a strange phrase that continued to replay in her mind, over and over as if someone was whispering in her ear.
“In the light of a Vulpes love, all that wasn’t will rise above.”
The light of dawn had yet to break. It was in those blackest hours that Dane found his father. All he’d had to do was follow the trail of mortal screams and drunken ramblings in the back allies.
“Father!” he cried out, sensing that Onyx was near. “You shouldn’t be here!”
Time froze slightly until Onyx showed himself, his ancient robes trailing after him as he faced his son at the opposite end of the streets.
“Me?” he snorted. “You are the reason I have come, Alaric. You must return with me.”
Dane shook his head, slowly approaching his father, careful to stay in the middle of the street. “No, Father. I’m staying here. This is where I’ve always belonged. My mate is here. My flock. I created another world on this one, and I intend to see it through.”
“You are a fool,” Onyx spat. “Do you have any idea how many resources have been spent on you…?” He trailed off slightly, his words faltering as a look of confusion overcame him. Hope flooded Dane, and he quickened his step, his peripheral vision picking up the figure trailing him in the shadows.
“You sent me here for a reason, Father,” Dane reminded him softly. “Don’t you remember what it was?” As he neared the king, he could read the deep despair in his father’s eyes, and it took everything in him not to shout out with joy.
It’s working. Sam is working her magic on him!
