“You’re welcome, Guardian,” he said, grinning down at me.
I took his hand in mine. “Thank you, friend,” I said to him, and he looked pleased. I sat up. I was still tired, but most of the pain was gone. I watched as Asclepius started talking to Brennan. I looked around. Sean was still in Artemis’s arms. I had the feeling she would refuse to let him go for a long time. Nain was still pacing, Mollis was standing over Alecto’s unconscious body, and both she and Tisiphone had that blank look on their faces that signaled that they were breaking into someone’s mind. Clearly Alecto’s.
Nain saw me looking, and walked over to me. I held out my hand, and he pulled me into a standing position.
“You’re fucking amazing, E,” he said, hugging me.
“We’ll find your boy as well,” I promised him. “We will.”
He nodded. I have seen the demon angry. I have seen him worried about Molly. I have seen him broken, when we lost her to the Nether. The way he was now, it was clear he was walking the edge of control. His skin was almost completely red, halfway between his human and demon forms. That only happened when he was not focusing on controlling himself, which almost never happened.
I leaned in. “She needs you to be strong now. I know he is your son too. But she is going through everything you are plus blaming herself because once again, someone is using those she cares for to weaken or harm her. Do not lose it, demon, or so help you I will make you hurt like you’ve never hurt before,” I hissed.
I stared at him in shock. It had done its job, though. The redness left his complexion, and his eyes stopped glowing. He took a breath, then nodded.
“Whether they find anything useful from Alecto or not, we will find him. You have gods searching the entire face of the Earth for your boy. We tend to be a stubborn lot, if you hadn’t noticed.”
“I noticed,” he said. “Hephaestus wants to see you when you get a chance. Your team did good.”
I smiled. “They did.”
“Taught by the best,” he added, and I shrugged. Brennan approached us then, draping an arm around my waist. Sean was on his other hip, his head resting sleepily on his father’s shoulder. We stood, watching, as Mollis and Tisiphone both worked, trying to break into Alecto’s mind. Even as weak as she was, Alecto was clearly putting up a fight. The sensation of power swirling around the Furies as they worked, as Alecto battled Mollis and Tisiphone in a war none of us could actually see, was enough to make it feel as if we were standing in the midst of a raging storm. Alecto screamed in rage, and, in the next moment, the Fury disappeared.
Mollis gave an enraged shriek, and there were several moments of chaos during which we searched for any sign of the Fury.
“How was that even possible?” Tisiphone asked, clearly upset and confused. “She did not have enough power to rematerialize away. She was barely hanging on to life by that point.”
“I know,” Mollis growled.
Then she walked over to us, her gaze empty. She shook her head. “We got nothing. I couldn’t bust my way in. Couldn’t see a damn thing about her deeds, the one and only time I’ve ever actually wanted my dad’s ability to see everything to finally work, and it didn’t fucking work with her.”
“We will find him. My New Guardians said they ran from a woman with long black hair. We suspected Megaera. We know now that it was very likely Alecto,” I said, “and knowing now who we are looking for will only help.”
“It will only make her more careful. She’s lost two of them now. The likelihood that we’ll get that lucky again…” she shook her head. “I was counting on her knowing something,” she said. “When Bren called and told me who you had, I thought this was it. I thought I’d have him back…” she trailed off, and when I think most people would have began crying, Mollis released an enraged, anguished scream that raised the hair on the back of my neck and made my ears feel as if they were going to burst.
It was not a sane sound. It was not a controlled sound, and when it ended, and she turned and looked at me, her eyes were glowing white, a snarl on her lips.
I had seen this look before. I saw it the night Nain had died. She had gone on, afterward, to end dozens of lives in revenge for her husband’s death.
Even with what she had gone through then, I knew this was so much worse. Mollis’s family was everything to her. Everything. She had never had one before, and I knew that losing her family was the one thing that could actually break her.
And if I knew it, her enemy likely knew it as well.
“Mollis. I’m going to tell you what I told him,” I said, pointing at her mate. “If you lose control now, you lose focus. You can destroy all manner of things, and it still will not lead you to him. We need to be smart. We need to be organized. We need to keep our shit together now,” I said, using a phrase I knew she would understand, because it is one she used often.
Her breathing was harsh, her power swirling around us giving the sensation of being caught in a tornado.
“Mollis!” I shouted. “Think of him now. You can destroy things afterward.”
She stared at me, and I felt her power dial down.
“I thought I’d get him back, E,” she said, and her voice was full of pain, disappointment, fear. I went to her and put my arms around her.
“Go,” I told everyone around us. They hesitated, and I glared. “Go back to Detroit. Now.”
One by one, they all disappeared, immortals rematerializing the mortals back to our home city. Then it was just Mollis and me, and once we were alone, the first few sobs tore from her throat. I held her, and she cried, occasionally screaming out in anguish as sobs wracked her body. Her grip on me was almost suffocatingly tight, as if she was trying as hard as she could to hold onto some vestige of sanity, and I was it.
I let her get it out. I knew Mollis. There were several things the two of us had in common, and one was the inability to allow ourselves to show this kind of emotion in front of others. I often felt as if I showed strong emotions, if I cried, if I screamed, it showed a certain weakness that would only worry those around me, and I did not want that. We, Mollis and I, were accustomed to playing the strong one, to pretending to be the one who has everything figured out, even if, internally, we were as lost as anyone else. We just refused to let others see it, needing the facade of strength the way a child needs a security blanket.
Eventually her sobs slowed, though she still held me.
“We will get him back,” I whispered. “We will get him back, and we will destroy whoever took him. I promise you that from the depths of my soul, demon girl.”
She nodded against me, still crying. After a moment, she straightened, wiping the tears from her face. “I need to get back. I need to find him,” she said, and there was that steel in her voice again.
I nodded. “We will find him,” I said again.
“You need to rest. I want you to go back to the loft. Nain probably took Brennan and the rest of them there already. I’ll feel better with everyone in secure locations. The time for trying to lure the betrayer is over.”
“It clearly was not Tisiphone or Megaera,” I said.
“Thank god,” she breathed. “I have never seen my mother that pissed.”
“Well, you did not think you got all of your rage from Hades, did you?” I asked with a smile. She hugged me, hard.
“I love you, E. Thank you for always being my rock.”
I hugged her back, a lump in my throat, tears stinging my eyes. “I love you too, Mollis.” I pulled back, wiping my eyes, and she was blinking back tears again as well. “Now let’s get back and find your son.”
“But you’re going to rest for a while first. The rest of us have this,” she warned, and I nodded my assent, smiling.
“Maybe just a short one,” I said. She took my hand, and we rematerialized, appearing back in the loft.
And just like that, I was home again.
Chapter Fifteen
I paced the loft, from the dining room, through the training ar
ea, to the living room windows, and back. As good as it felt to be back, to be surrounded by my friends and family, it did not change the fact that things were very much a mess. Mollis, Nain, Tisiphone, the Bloodborn, Triton, and anyone else available was out searching for Mollis and Nain’s son. I had slept through the night and most of the day, and now it was night again. Mollis had insisted on the fact that I should remain at the loft, getting at least one more night to recuperate, and though I felt like arguing, I knew I was only going to be a detriment in my current state. My body was still sore where Alecto had stabbed and cut me. My back hurt, and that stupid ache in my wings that were no longer there plagued me. Another night of healing, and I would be much closer to full strength. Besides that, Quinn was still recovering, and I did not want him to feel as though I expected him out working again.
So, I stayed in the loft at Mollis’s insistence, and I ate, and I slept. Brennan and Sean were there as well, though Brennan had been in and out all day and we had barely managed a quick kiss between him caring for his son, helping Mollis and Nain, and my much-needed resting periods.
With all of the insanity happening, I almost felt guilty admitting that I felt better than I had since before we had left for Japan. I was back in the loft, the charade Mollis and I had been playing mercifully at an end. It struck me that I should likely be irritated that we had apparently gone through all of that for nothing, but I was too happy over the fact that our betrayer was not Megaera or Tisiphone. Of course, Alecto and whoever was working with her were still out there.
You take the good news where you can, and try to hold on to it. This was one of those times.
With the recovery of Michael, and now, Sean, there was added security at both Hephaestus’s home and at the loft, protecting the children from further danger. Zoe was at Hephaestus’s home, an enraged, protective Mother Gaia watching over both her and Michael. I almost hoped our enemy would take a chance and try it. They would find themselves in a world of pain if they tried to cross Gaia. She would not allow herself to be taken unaware twice.
The previous night, I had changed out of my soaking wet clothing and into a pair of pajama pants and one of Mollis’s tops, a strappy thing that allowed me to see every scar on my shoulders and arms, including the new ones I’d earned at Alecto’s hands, angry pink slashes across my flesh. My hair was wet, slicked back after my shower. Artemis had been there for a while, holding her grandson, and had apologized profusely for any time she had ever been “bitchy” with me. She had then gone out with the rest of them, hunting those responsible for taking Sean and the others.
At the loft, it was me, the remaining imps, Brennan, and Sean. Rayna’s people guarded the exterior and roof, along with a veritable army of shifters, who reveled in the fact that Brennan’s son had been recovered and seemed to have made it their own personal mission to ensure nothing happened to him again.
Brennan came out of the upstairs room, and one of Mollis’s Netherhounds loped up the stairs and walked past him, into Sean’s bedroom. I watched as Brennan patted him on the head respectfully. I heard Brennan thank him, the one Mollis called “Kurt.”
Brennan walked down the stairs, and I wrapped my arms around myself.
I went to him, put my arms around him. He wrapped his arms tightly around my body, lifting me up against his chest, off of my feet. He buried his face against the side of my neck, and I felt the harsh, wracking breaths that signaled that he was finally breaking, after it was all done. I understood. He had been all about finding his son, then dealing with the aftermath and trying to give Nain the same gift he had been given. Other than that one night I had cajoled him into resting with me, he had not rested a moment since Sean had gone missing, refusing to allow himself to be distracted by the terror he had been feeling all that time. Now, with Sean safe, it was all crashing down on him.
I held him, and kissed his cheek. “It is all right, my love,” I whispered against his skin. “It is all right.”
He simply held me tighter. We stood there, in one another’s arms, for a very long time.
“You saved him, Eunomia,” he said finally, his voice muffled, his face still buried against my neck. “I had a few bad seconds there, where I envisioned him falling when she dropped him— “
I squeezed him. “I would have done anything to keep it from happening. I am glad I was quick enough. I wish I could have gotten to him sooner.”
“The wing thing,” he said, pulling back so he could look into my face. “She was taunting you with that.”
I nodded.
“You do the impossible. You amaze me more the longer I know you.”
“I am just glad I was there to help you,” I said. “There is nothing I would not do for you, Brennan.”
“Yeah?” he whispered.
I took a breath. “I would do the impossible, every moment of every day, if that was what it took to show you how much I love you,” I said, looking into his eyes. In the next instant, his lips were crashing down onto mine, and I was consumed, helpless against the rush of emotion, of desire, of pure white hot need that ran through me, and finally, I refused to run from what I was feeling for him. I kissed him back, hungrily, lips, teeth, tongue expressing things words had not been able to. He held me tightly against his body, and I reached up, tangling my fingers into his hair, bringing him closer, needing his touch more than I have ever needed anything in my entire existence.
“Eunomia,” he groaned, trailing his mouth to my earlobe, then down the side of my neck, licking and biting the place where my neck and shoulder met, and I moaned.
“Yes,” I murmured, my voice hoarse, throaty to my ears. He kissed, bit me again. It felt like every atom in my body screamed for him, every touch of his lips, every nip of his teeth, driving me closer to insanity. “I need you now,” I told him.
A low growl escaped him, and I took his hand, pulling him up the stairs to the room next to Sean’s. I closed the door behind him, and immediately grabbed the hem of his t-shirt, pulling it over his head, exposing the expanse of muscle and golden hair I had been fantasizing about for far too long. He held me, his fingers biting into the flesh at the sides of my waist, his breathing shallow, harsh as I kissed my way down his throat, licking the spot at the base of his throat where I could feel his pulse jumping. His collarbone, his chest. My lips closed over one of his nipples, and I sucked, hard, and the low, needy growl I earned in response only encouraged me to do it again.
“Do not expect me to be patient,” I told him.
He let out a low chuckle, which turned to something else when my hands reached for his pants. I unsnapped his jeans, slowly, deliberately pulled down his zipper. “Thousands of years of existence, and I have never wanted anyone the way I want you,” I told him, keeping my gaze locked onto his.
“Eunomia,” he murmured. “I— “ his words turned into a groan when I reached into his jeans, cradling his hard length in my hand.
“You were saying?” I whispered with a smile, and I earned a low, almost pained laugh in response as my hand worked over his hot length.
“Fuck,” he groaned, pushing his hips toward me.
“Yes, that is the general idea, my love,” I said.
In the next instant, my top was off, my breasts bared to his gaze.
“Perfect,” he breathed. I was warm all over, hot desire curling inside me, my body already aching for him. His gaze was almost scary in its intensity, the animalistic need of it.
My hands went to my waistband, and I started slowly pulling my pants down, swiveling my hips in a way that had him groaning as he watched. When they finally dropped to the floor, I stood before him, watched as he stared possessively.
“Let me worship you the way you deserve,” I said softly. I pushed his jeans down and off of him, and then gave him a gentle push, and he settled himself onto the bed, keeping his eyes on me the entire time.
“I’m pretty sure you’re the one who deserves to be worshipped,” he said. I got into bed with him, my body stradd
ling his. I kissed him, and lost track of time as I relished the feel of his mouth on mine, his naked body beneath me, his hands expertly caressing my breasts. I kissed and nibbled his throat, his jawline, his shoulders, and the entire time, his ceaseless caresses, from gentle rubs to firm tweaks, continued.
I felt as if I was about to lose my mind completely.
I kissed my way down his chest, sliding my body further down, licked my way down his stomach, his thighs.
“Eunomia,” he growled. And when I took him into my mouth, a sound of such complete hunger escaped him that it set my entire body into chaos. I relished the taste of him, the sounds he made, the feel of his hands in my hair, the way his hips bucked as I tried to express without words how much I wanted him.
“Come up here,” he said hoarsely, and when I did, he rolled us both over, pinning me beneath his large body, his eyes locked onto mine. His breathing was harsh, and I could see, just a bit, that same edge of the power he held within him. It was time that he finally let all of that break free.
I knew what he wanted, what it would take to show him how completely I was his.
“You want to take me, don’t you?” I asked. He clenched his teeth, swallowed hard. “You want to mark me. That predator, that wild animal inside you needs it, doesn’t it?”
I heard a low growl from him, and he pushed his hips toward me, his hardness pressing into my lower belly.
“I want you to mark me, Brennan,” I told him. “I want everyone who looks at me to know who I belong to. You are an immortal. The only being I have ever known who is my equal in every way. You are the only one I want, now and for the rest of my immeasurably long life.”
His breathing was labored, and…oh, there it was.
It was only so long before his immortal side started truly showing itself. His eyes glowed, bright blue in his desire, evidence of the same power any of the Aether immortals have, and in that instant, I knew I had been right about him and the long life he had ahead of him.
Gods, it was beautiful.
Betrayer (Hidden Book 7) Page 18
