by Setta Jay
His eyes hardened and he looked vaguely disgusted. “With a mortal?”
The place had finally cleared and she was ready to end the chitchat. She was a few feet from him when she broke into mist and reached for his mind. It stopped his movement as she fogged her presence, but she hit some kind of force field and slammed back into human form, landing in a crouch as she slid wet hair off her face and narrowed her eyes.
“Did you truly believe I wouldn’t have set some safeguards against your powers?” He tisked, and that just pissed her off. She flicked her wrist and her small blade lodged in his throat with the help of a sharp telekinetic burst. His eyes flashed as blood trickled down his neck. He pulled the blade free and she watched the hole begin closing up.
“Guess the safeguards weren’t that impressive,” she mused, pleased to know weapons worked.
She felt an unseen grip on her body and her feet started sliding across the wet floor. The bastard was using his telekinesis to bring her to him? Fuck that. She split into mist again and broke the hold. She saw his eyes darting around. He ported a few times, still eying the shadows in the room, not finding his prey. She needed to end this or move the party. She already heard the sound of sirens off in the distance.
“Still having trouble controlling your emotions, Chaos? You need to work on that.” He sneered.
The water was flooding the ground around them and she reformed and kicked low to knock him to the ground with a splash. He barely hit before his eyes darted to the left and he disappeared. A second later he was in front of her with Brigitte. He smirked as he stood with his hand around the Mageia’s delicate throat. Brigitte looked physically ill and fragile as she gripped Apollo’s wrist. Nastia was furiously going through her arsenal.
Get here now. Apollo has Brigitte, and don’t try to attack him, she sent to her twin.
She stood in front of the bastard, trying to look bored when she was fucking pissed. “Why are you really here, Apollo?”
Brigitte’s eyes widened and Nastia sent her a warning look. This was not the male to try her defense skills on. She seemed to understand that.
“I’ve come for you, but it seems you can’t be trusted to behave. I’ll give you some time to think about that. To wonder what she’ll suffer for your insolence.” He smiled and flashed away.
Tasha ported in a second later with Bastian and two others.
Nastia was too busy mentally feeling for any hint of the God’s teleport, anything to trace, and coming up empty!
“Fuck!” She tossed a table into the wall, fracturing it into tiny bits. She’d never been so damned furious.
“What happened?” Tasha got in her face, holding her shoulders as she fought the fury, the red seeping into her vision.
She snarled out the details.
She’d almost had the damned God. She would have if Brigitte hadn’t been pulled in to it. Of course he would have set safeguards against her and her twin’s mist. He would have expected that to be their strongest ability, and it was. Though she and Tasha used it differently, it was deadly to a God. She’d gotten around that. Her blade had gotten through and she’d been seconds from getting him out of there.
“How did he know where I was? And how the fuck did he know to use Brigitte?” she railed, trying to recall if he’d seen her interaction with the Mageia. She swore he hadn’t been in the room yet.
She heard sirens now. She also heard Guardians being sent to deal with the cameras, but it was all far away. Natasha was busy trying to find any trace of the teleport, but it was useless. They were gone.
Nastia’s spine stiffened in an instant… Exactly when she felt the Phoenix there. He was the one being she couldn’t deal with right now. His presence was making the currently fucked-up situation ten times worse. She spun around and saw his nostrils flare. His hazel eyes darkened when they landed on hers before narrowing. A deep growl escaped his lips as he stalked toward her, his eyes eating up every single inch of her body, making it respond against her will.
He was beautiful, wet and furious, and she couldn’t deal with any of it. When he disappeared only to reform inches from her, she misted away while mentally snapping the link to the platform staging above.
She was shaking with a combination of fury and need by the time she reformed by her sister.
The metal and lighting had fallen right on his head with a roaring crash and the bastard roared in fury before tossing it into another stage, the earsplitting creak of metal resounded through the room, but she couldn’t care less. He’d been a second from touching her and she was too furious to even contemplate anything to do with the damned male.
She put out a hand. “Do. Not. Fuck with me now, Phoenix.” She glared daggers at him.
“You. Came. To. Me. Less than a fucking hour ago!” He growled, getting hotter by the moment, and she didn’t have time for this. “You’ve been stalking my fucking ass. You’ve been in my bed and now I know it’s because you’re fucking mine?!” Waves of heat pulsed from him directly to her, through her. Sucking the air from her lungs and making her need. Her fucking nipples were going to break free of their cage at any moment, and all she could do was glare at the male because it was his fucking fault. Her body was on fire, because that heat was all over her, drugging her, and she hated him for it.
The other Guardians were shouting at him, but he didn’t seem to care, his eyes were solidly on her. Nastia barely registered her twin’s shocked gasp and spouted questions. None of it mattered. She needed to find Brigitte, not deal with any of this shit.
She ported away, pissed that he’d forced her to retreat. She needed air and sucked it in greedily the moment she reformed. She was on the roof of a building two blocks over as she tried to think of where to search while fighting off her body’s response to the damned Guardian.
Guilt was too busy eating her alive; there wasn’t room for anything else. What if she’d somehow led Apollo to the club? But how? It was warded and she’d ported in from another city. He couldn’t have tracked her from anywhere else.
Tasha was at her side a second later, anger and worry warring on her features. “The Lykos is going to see if he can track Brigitte’s cell phone.” She saw her sister look off into the shadows, likely anticipating the God showing up at any moment.
“Good,” Nastia snarled as she paced. “We need to find her.”
“We will. He won’t kill her and he can’t harm her.” Unless he had someone else do the deed. That was left unsaid and the thought made Nastia physically ill.
“I’m meeting the Guardians at the home here in France,” her twin bit out. “They want the God. They’ll help us get Brigitte back, and then you and I are going to have a damned talk.” Tasha ran a hand through her hair and paced. Her twin was just as worried.
“I thought Brigitte was already out of the fucking club.”
Her twin blew out a breath. “She probably came back in.” Tasha’s words didn’t ease the guilt. “That isn’t your fault, Nastia.”
“Don’t,” Nastia ordered her twin.
“Why didn’t you tell me Sander was your mate?” Tasha finally bit out.
Nastia was going to melt that Guardian for outing that she’d gone to him.
“Why the hell wouldn’t you say something? You went to him tonight?” Tasha bit out.
Nastia rubbed the back of her neck. “Lecture me later. It’s not important now. Not when I’m trying to figure out how to get Brigitte back,” she ground out, still having trouble not thinking about the Phoenix.
“Oh, I will. This isn’t over,” Tasha snapped. “What’s your plan?”
“I don’t have one,” Nastia snarled, feeling like a caged animal.
“Then take a breath and get your ass to the house so we can figure something out. We need to know if Apollo tracked you somehow.”
Nastia was left standing in the dark.
Chapter 25
France, Earth Realm
Bastian paced the wood floors in the living room of the place
his mate had offered up after pointing out that they had no idea how the God had found Nastia. That it was possible the bastard could track them somehow. Since everyone had needed to get out of the club, there hadn’t been a lot of debate on location. Not when fire trucks were arriving everywhere outside the building.
Now the living room was full of all the Guardians, including a fuming fucking dragon.
Natasha ported in after checking on her twin, and he wasn’t fucking happy that she’d just teleported away in the first place.
Sirena ported in and within seconds the three of them were heading back to one of the bedrooms so the healer could check Natasha out and see if there was some way for Apollo to track her and Nastia. He heard Drake demanding answers on what the fuck happened as they headed down the hall. Conn would deal with the dragon since he’d been at the club when Natasha had dropped the bomb about the possibility that the God could track her and her twin.
He crossed his arms just inside the doorway, not liking his mate’s silence, but he forced himself not to lift the block to her thoughts. He’d been staying away and giving her mental space. Every intrusion would only make things more difficult when she found out that he’d been in her thoughts from the first moment they’d touched.
Natasha turned to Sirena and stood stony eyed for the examination. He knew the healer’s powers were flowing over and through his mate’s body and also knew instinctively how much she hated every second of it. There weren’t any outward indications, but something about the look on her face made him want to fucking break something.
“There aren’t any magical markers. Alex is going to come in and check your mind for any kind of hidden mental link,” Sirena said, and he felt his mate’s tension. He also noticed his sister Guardian’s jaw tightening.
“Just have her do it,” Natasha said with a tight nod. “We need to know. If he’s somehow tracking us, we might be able to do the same to him in order to find Brigitte.”
Nastia ported into the room a second later.
Alex walked in as Sirena started working on a silent Nastia.
The Demi-Goddess gave the twins a sympathetic smile as she stepped up for introductions.
“I’ll get in and get out of there fast. I’m only looking for some kind of link, not going on some tour of your private life. Not that any of my assurances are going to make this less awkward.”
Tasha nodded. “I appreciate the effort, but you’re right. So let’s just get it over with.”
Her eyes flickered to him for a split second and he was at her side, sliding his fingers through hers. He needed to touch her and she seemed to want it just as much. He was fucking happy Sirena had called Alex in, he hated the idea of Uri or any fucking male near his mate, but he’d have lost it having his brother in her mind.
He rubbed his thumb over her smaller hand as the Demi-Goddess did her thing. It was just a matter of seconds, but he’d felt Natasha’s nerves the entire time, making it feel like hours had passed by the time Alex was done.
When they walked back out, the balcony doors were all open and smoke filtered out into the night from the fuming dragon.
“Well?” Drake demanded and it set Bastian off. He forced it back and gentled his hold on Natasha’s hand.
Sirena answered, “Nothing. Alex checked for a hidden mental link, and I couldn’t find any tracking spells inside them. Apollo found them some other way.”
“Even if he had another Rod, it wouldn’t have located Nastia because of the ward on the club,” Alex pointed out. “Unless he used blood, but it would have been a lot of blood and from a relative.”
The Demi-Goddess looked over at the twins.
Natasha shook her head. “We don’t have blood relatives.”
“It doesn’t make sense,” Nastia snarled. “He knew I was there. I can’t guarantee he knew Brigitte was a friend, though. How, then? He doesn’t have access to the other Gods, right?”
Drake snarled, “No. Why?”
“If it was possible to track us using blood, he could have used Hera’s. He’d added her DNA in the mix when creating us,” Nastia snapped back in answer.
The dragon stared at her and then slowly answered, “None of the Gods have been touched.”
“Then how?” Nastia asked and she looked like she was ready to throw something out the window.
Sander was leaning against the open balcony doors with his arms crossed over his chest, anger and sexual tension radiating from him to Nastia and back. The Guardians had been forced to talk the Phoenix down when she’d left and again when he’d gotten to the house. Nastia’s scent had hit the Phoenix hard. Now the male was eying her like he wasn’t sure if he wanted to fuck her or kill her; it was probably pretty even at the moment.
“Brigitte’s cell phone was at the club,” Conn muttered. The Lykos had picked up his laptop at some point and was clicking away. “No news reports that look related.”
“Give me details,” Drake growled at Nastia.
Bastian was surprised that Drake wasn’t roaring and demanding why she hadn’t called them when she first saw the God. A few days ago he would have been, and Bastian wondered if the reason for Drake’s more subdued attitude was because he’d lost the God because of his temper days before. He couldn’t see that sitting well with the dragon, not when he would have chewed any of their fucking asses if they’d have done what he had.
Nastia braced her hands on her hips and bit out every detail for the dragon. Obviously pissed at having to do it, but apparently she was more concerned about getting her friend back.
“He’s going to use her as leverage. The fucking question is what he wants from the two of you. He’s planning on coming back. Why?” Drake said and Sander growled low. All eyes went to him, and Bastian noted that Nastia’s did as well.
Sander didn’t say a word, he just stared at his mate, and the heat flew back and forth as everyone attempted to ignore it. The Phoenix didn’t seem to like that his mate was bait any more than Bastian did.
Drake snarled. “Fuck me.” He looked at Uri and Alex. “Have you gotten through any more of Apollo’s memories?”
Uri answered, “It’s all fucked up and hazed over. Each section takes unraveling to get it to focus, and it seems to be getting harder as the days pass. We got most of what he did in the cave on the first day, along with what happened when the truck hit him. Several really old memories popped up but didn’t add up to anything but him being a dick.”
Nastia started pacing by the kitchen, as far from Sander as she could get and still be in the same room. “He was in a very expensive-looking suit. What about checking tailors?”
“In all of Earth Realm? We’re looking at a lot of possibilities.” Vane shook his head.
“It’s not like we have anything else,” Uri ground out in frustration. “Alex and I have gotten nothing to unravel in the last day. He knows I have his memories. He won’t go anywhere he’s been before even if I found out where the fuck that was,” Uri snapped.
“Let me see the suit.” Natasha told her twin. A second later his mate was broadcasting the image in the Guardian link. She’d finally gotten the links a couple of days ago and appeared to have no problem using them now. She hadn’t been happy when they’d finally shown up, but he imagined it was a fucking shock.
“He would have expected the best, so that has to limit things, right? Maybe check for missing tailors,” Nastia added, and Conn started clicking away at the laptop.
Jax nodded. “Messing with minds was not one of his strong skills, so if anyone interacted with him, he wouldn’t have bothered to try to take their memories.” Jax was one of the original Immortals, and Apollo was the God he’d been assigned to. He knew Apollo better than anyone else.
Conn mused, “Nothing’s coming up on missing tailors.”
Natasha asked, “He would only live in the best, but he wouldn’t want to draw attention, so what about vacant homes that are fit for a God?”
“We were looking at mostly islands and
the nicer cities for the same reason, but I’ll set the dollar amount high and print out a list. It’s going to be ridiculously long,” Conn pointed out.
“Vane, make a list of tailors,” Drake demanded.
Vane had lived on Earth and he liked nice clothes. Brianne smirked at her mate. “Everyone knows what a fussy kitty you are.”
“Laugh all you like, Lark,” Vane murmured, but the look in his eyes promised she’d pay in a good way later. Bastian’s eyes were too busy tracking Sander and Nastia and his mate’s reaction to the two. The Phoenix was leaning against a French door and he hadn’t taken his eyes off Nastia. The two were going to be combustible.
“Expensive tailors aren’t just going to divulge their clients’ information,” Alex muttered. “We’re going to have to go in and check minds.” With humans and Mageia that would require no more than a simple touch for Alex and Uri.
“We can divvy up that list.” Nastia’s tone was commanding and everyone’s eyes went to her.
Drake scrutinized her for long minutes until everyone felt the tension. She wasn’t backing down and the dragon was weighing whether he wanted her to help.
“Fine,” Drake finally growled.
Minutes later Vane was naming off a list of shops for Nastia to check, and the female teleported away. Sander was gone right behind her and Natasha noted it with narrowed eyes.
He won’t hurt her. He’ll protect her even though he’s pissed, Bastian assured his mate. Sander was an asshole, for his own reasons, and Bastian had no doubt the two would light the place up, but in the end Sander could never hurt his mate. Or any female, no matter what he’d said about putting Delia down. Nastia would be fine.
“I’ll have housing lists in five minutes,” Conn said.
Tasha blew out a breath.
Bastian led his mate to where Sacha was standing by the balcony door Sander had just vacated.
“This is my mother Sacha.” Not the way he’d planned on doing this introduction. He heard her sharp intake of breath, and it was difficult not to lift the block to see what she was thinking.
