by K. A Knight
Bella laughs. “Bella, this is Mira.”
“I’m Ro—” The blue-haired woman shares a laugh with Kyro. “Cassandra.”
“Dabria, this is Mishal. Nyre is asleep right now.”
“I’m Alejandra, and this is my wolf, Slate,” the fae introduces.
Remi looks to me then. “This is like a who’s who of hot supes.” She looks at Atlas and pouts. “Tea please.”
All of my brothers flinch, expecting him to explode. After all, he is the oldest, the warrior, the warlock all magic descends from. Before, he would have killed someone for such a slight, for daring to order him around. Instead, he grabs a mug and hands it over to her, and she smiles sweetly before sticking her tongue out at me. Shaking my head, I lean in and kiss her cheek. “Such a brat, amore.”
“Carry on, and I’ll stab you again,” she snaps, her eyes flashing black for a moment before she sips her tea. I turn to see them all staring at us, but when I catch them, they all quickly look away.
Atlas hands out mugs and drinks and finally sits down, looking around at us. “I’m guessing you all know by now?”
“That Lilith is alive?” Kyro inquires, and then narrows his eyes. “How do you know?”
“We saw her,” I offer. “She tried to kill us.”
“Yup, same here.” Kyro sighs and scrubs his head. “What the hell is going on, brother, and what do we do?”
“We don’t know. From what I’ve gathered from Remi and my own eyes, Lilith was—” Atlas’ voice catches, but he powers through. “Burning in the fires of hell when she reached out for help. It seemed the darkness answered and saved her to possess her in return. She’s been slowly growing in strength by using Lilith’s body and making sacrifices, and now she plans on burning the world and ruling it.”
“Not just that, but when she’s strong enough, the evil will no longer need a host and will leave Lilith’s body, killing her…and then she will be unstoppable. We have to kill her before she’s able to do that,” Remi adds sadly.
Atlas leaps to his feet, his fists coming down on the table. “We are not killing my mate!”
“Brother.” I sigh. “It’s not her anymore, you saw her… That isn’t your Lils, or ours. She’s our sister. Do you really think we want to kill her?”
“We will think of another way, any way, we will try it all, do you understand me?” he snarls. Magic surges in the room until it almost chokes us. “You would not kill your mate, do not ask me to.”
Just then, Dabria speaks up. “Yes, tell him, Cassandra.”
Cassandra’s head jerks, but she steps forward. “Stop reading my thoughts. What if they are rude?” she teases. “Atlas…I think Lilith is still in there. When I saw her, she tried to fight through, and she managed it to warn me…” She looks around then. “I think he’s right—we have to try and save her first, but-but if not…”
“We kill her,” Remi finishes, and everyone nods, but the room is filled with pain.
We lost our sister, but now we have a chance to get her back… Will we really lose her again?
“So where do we start?” I ask.
“We have so much to do.” Mishal sighs.
“We need to stop her from raising more dead and keep her powers from growing first. Stop her from ending the world,” Slate muses.
All eyes keep flicking to Atlas, who seems to be growing, his magic nearly lashing us in anger over our suggestion to kill Lilith. Maybe we are better off discussing this later when he’s calmer. For now, it’s enough that we all are here and that we know.
We know we have to do something, even if it means breaking our brother’s heart again.
“So that’s what we’re doing?” Remi questions, leaning into me. “We stop the world from ending… We stop Lilith.”
We all share a nod. “Agreed,” I say, and others join in.
“Well then, we’re going to need weapons, research.” Remi cracks her neck with a grin. “This is going to be a fun hunt.”
We share a smile before looking at the others. Atlas is quiet and staring out the window. “Everyone settle in. We’ll come up with an exact plan later. Today has been a lot for all of us.”
Slowly, everyone files from the room. Mishal stops near me at the door and looks at me with a smile. “I’m glad you finally found someone who made you want to be in your own skin, brother. We missed you,” he murmurs before leaving too.
I glance over at Atlas, and with a sigh, head over. I touch his shoulder. “If we can save her, we will, brother. Have faith.”
“I failed her once, I won’t again,” he growls.
Unsure what else to say, I turn and leave, accepting Remi’s outstretched hand. She leads me upstairs, and once in our room, she flops on the bed. I plop down next to her, pulling her into my arms as I kiss her head.
She reaches up and kisses me softly. “You aren’t half bad, you know.”
“Half bad?” I repeat as I grab her neck, hard, until she groans, her eyes flashing black. “Admit it, you like me, amore. You don’t want to be without me.”
“Nah, it was the dick that did it,” she teases, so I squeeze harder, and she moans breathily. “Fine, I like you.”
“Good.” I kiss her softly. “Because I love you, amore, and I plan on keeping you.”
“You love me?” she asks. “Idiot, I will still kill you—”
“Shut up, don’t make me whip you again,” I order as I kiss her again. “You love me too. I know it.”
“Fine, fine, I love you, happy now?” she snaps as I squeeze her tighter and tip her head back to kiss her, but she flips us and grinds down on my cock, leaning down as she teases my lips.
“Very,” I murmur against her mouth.
“Erm…” A knock sounds on the wall. “Just FYI, the walls are very thin, so if you’re going to have kinky sex, I just thought you might wanna know,” comes Cassandra’s timid voice, making us both laugh.
“Oh, yes, this is going to be fun.” She grins as she licks my lips. “Just wait until they see me making you bleed. In fact, I might carve my name into your chest.”
Groaning, I kiss her harder.
In this moment, I have everything I ever needed. If only the future wasn’t looming so dark on the horizon. If the world is coming to an end, there is no one else I would rather have at my side.
My amore.
My mate.
My everything.
ATLAS
I can hear them all upstairs—their laughter, their conversations. I would say it feels like being home again, but that would be wrong. There was never any laughter in our home as children. The only time we enjoyed our lives was when we were away from our parents and together…when I was with her.
My brothers all have their mates, but my mate is out there alone, trapped, and scared.
I lost her once, I won’t lose her again.
I know they are all trying to make me aware of what they think needs to happen, but I will never, never, kill my mate.
I’ll save you, Lils, even if it means dying myself to do it. I left you once, I didn’t protect you…didn’t save you, and that will never happen again. I have waited centuries to be with you again. In this life or the next, it will happen.
Sitting on the sofa, I lean forward, my gaze caught on the cage. It’s here for a reason, after all. I’ve spent the last year hunting my mate, but I’ve also been researching and preparing. My brothers may be quick to give up on Lilith, but I’m not. If anyone can survive this, can fight this, it’s my little human…though I can’t call her that any longer.
Scrubbing my face, I lean back, letting my head drop to the sofa and closing my eyes as I try to remember her laughter, her smile, her smell, but it’s been so long. No matter how hard I tried to hold onto those memories, to tighten my grasp on them, they became like smoke slipping through my fingers until I could barely remember. It seems I only see my love in my dreams. Automatically, my hand goes to my pocket and pulls out the stone, smooth from years of touch, as I turn
it over and over in my palm. The crudely carved drawing is fading away after the centuries. She gave it to me when we were teenagers, she said it was her heart…that I would always have it.
That it belonged to me.
Back then, I tried to push her away to protect her from my life, and even then, she insisted I was hers and she was mine. She was so sure of us being together, believed we were meant to be. She didn’t care what I or anyone said, she gave her love willingly to me. She was always strong, so sure, so kind…and look what they have done to her.
They corrupted my wildflower.
Darkened her petals.
Wilted her glow until only the gnarled roots remain.
She saved me once, and now it’s my turn to save her.
I’m coming for you, wildflower.
Oh, Attie, always fighting until the end, the echo purrs, the voice female and also different, darker.
I spin around in the smoky darkness, searching for the source. “Lils?” I call.
Laughter echoes all around me, and I spin faster with a snarl, calling on my magic, but it doesn’t come, I’m human.
The laughter grows louder. “Here, we are both human,” she whispers. “Poor little fallen god, even after all these years, you still love her. The little human who followed you around like a lost puppy. If only you had noticed, if only you had loved her back…maybe you could have saved her from me.”
“Show yourself!” I demand, and a touch caresses my neck, making me whirl. I know now this is a dream space for her to get into my mind. She must be very powerful indeed.
“Yes, powerful, the darkness is mine, as is the troubled thoughts in your head…but all I had to do was follow that fraying thread linking my vessel and you. It’s pathetic, really, how hard she fought to hold onto you, to stay with you. That’s why she did it, you know. That’s why she begged and screamed for help, because she thought you needed her.”
“She was right,” I reply.
“Was she, Attie?”
“Don’t call me that! Only she gets to call me that!” I roar, and she laughs again before she appears before me. It’s my Lils with a smile on her face, her eyes lit up in happiness. I reach for her, but my feet are stuck, and no matter how much I struggle, I can’t get to her. Her mouth opens in a silent scream as flames fill her eyes and climb across her body, and with another horrified cry, she disappears into smoke, and before me is the Lilith of today. Black eyes, evil smile.
“She’s still fighting to protect all of you…to save you from what she has become. She won’t succeed. Before the year is through, your blood will fill my goblet, and I will be free to watch this world burn.” She laughs and drags her nails down my face as she appears before me. My body is frozen. All I can move are my eyes. She leans in and ghosts her lips across mine, so cold and wet like a snake. Not like the warmth and happiness of my first and only kiss with my mate. “I’ll be seeing you soon, lover.”
Then she disappears, and I’m left screaming into the void.
Lilith!
About the Author
K.A Knight is an indie author trying to get all of the stories and characters out of her head. She loves reading and devours every book she can get her hands on, she also has a worrying caffeine addiction.
She leads her double life in a sleepy English town, where she spends her days writing like a crazy person.
Read more at K.A Knight’s website or join her Facebook Reader Group.
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Also By K.A Knight
THEIR CHAMPION SERIES
The Wasteland
The Summit
The Cities
The Nations
The Forgotten
The Lost
The Damned (Coming soon!)
DAWNBREAKER SERIES
Voyage to Ayama
Dreaming of Ayama
THE LOST COVEN SERIES
Aurora’s Coven
Aurora’s Betrayal
HER MONSTERS SERIES
Rage
Hate
THE FALLEN GODS SERIES
Pretty Painful
Pretty Bloody
Pretty Stormy
Pretty Wild
Pretty Hot
Pretty Faces
Pretty Spelled (Coming soon!)
STANDALONES
Scarlett Limerence
Nadia’s Salvation
The Standby
Den of Vipers
Divers Heart (Coming Soon!)
Daddy’s Angel
CO-AUTHOR PROJECTS
Circus Save Me
Taming The Ringmaster
Dark Temptations Volume One (contains One Night Only and Circus Saves Christmas)
The Wild Interview
The Hero Complex
Shipwreck Souls
The Horror Emporium
Capturing Carmen
Stealing Shiloh
Harbouring Harlow
