by A. K. Koonce
“When the time is right? You have a little over twenty-four hours, Arlow.” Kain’s big hands spread wide, and the exasperated look he has just shoves more anxiety into my chest.
“I know!”
I know.
I have twenty-four hours, and the mages I need are either lost in a snow storm in the middle of Attika or buried in the darkness of the queen’s dungeon. None of whom have really practiced the full extent of their magic in decades.
I know. I know exactly how bad our situation is.
“I have three mages on the way. We have three more imprisoned downstairs. I have three incredibly strong but incredibly moody shifters and one sweet demon. And then we have me, a mage who’s actually considering attacking with roosters and mice instead of actual weapons just to piss Ellise off. All I really need right now is some fucking optimism. Okay?” My wild eyes match the shrill of my voice, and when I look from one man to the next, they each nod so damn quick I’m just now realizing how crazy I sound.
Damn. Maybe I should take a nap.
“I’m going to sneak downstairs. I’ll be back up soon.”
“You should wait,” the alpha shifter says.
The simple arch of my brow makes Kain take a step back, and he immediately explains.
“The guards sleep in shifts after midnight. The demons are all supposed to be up and alert, but on our way up, I heard one of them creating a rotation, a sleep schedule of sorts.”
I narrow my eyes.
Huh. Even demons half-ass a job from time to time, it seems.
“Okay.” I nod to him, my shoulders falling the moment I say the word.
The press of their stare is felt against my skin. It tingles into me and reminds me that I’m not alone. They’ll never let me do any of this alone. I just have to remember that. I have to stop trying to save them and let them help me.
“Come sleep for a little while, Low.” Chaos finally comes closer. The rough feel of his calloused hand skims over mine.
He pulls lightly, and I follow.
He sweetly lifts back the cream-colored blanket, and when I slide in, he lowers the heavy bedding neatly over me, his big palm running slowly across my abdomen as his attention drifts up. His beautiful gaze heats my skin, warming more than the fire or the blanket ever could. It’s the way he’s always looked at me. Right from the start.
Chaos is so pure and good. I know what he’s thinking just by glancing at him.
“Come sleep with me.” I lift my hand to him, and when he turns to walk around the bed to join me, I catch his wrist and bring him down.
His solid body jostles, but he stills the moment he realizes he’s lying between my thighs.
Just like he used to.
“Mmm, I knew you liked me like this.”
I roll my eyes at him, and he only smirks more, his white teeth revealed amongst his dark beard. His palms are firm on my hips, and just slightly, I roll them instinctively against him. He skims along my stomach slowly, trailing his hands lower and finally pushing them beneath my back, holding me to him but never lowering his head to my abdomen like he used to. Two-tone eyes search mine with a hooded gaze. Just like before, I know what the sexy shifter is thinking.
Sex.
It’s not a mystery. It isn’t a puzzle waiting to be solved.
He wants me. But he wants to take care of me more.
“Get some sleep, Low,” he whispers in the quietest rasp.
Rime passes the two of us with an odd, knowing little hint of a smile against his lips. His attention lingers on me, then he leans in to the frost-kissed window and gets comfortable as he picks apart the night.
“Why don’t you rest?” I tilt my head at him and his ramrod-straight spine. If I gave him a massage, would that tension ever go away?
“I’ve spent enough time sleeping and enough time in the head of my dragon to last me a lifetime.” He looks back at me with the sweetest concern in his features. “Go to sleep, Tamer.”
The bed dips, and then another set of hands are pulling me to him. Kain’s head lowers to my pillow, his gaze holding mine.
And he’s shirtless.
And I’m…expected to just go to sleep…surrounded by sexy men.
“Stop thinking about the endless dirty things in your head and sleep.” Kain’s lips tilt at the corners with a soft smile. “I know you’ve worried about us night and day and you’ll probably continue to do that for the rest of our lives. For right now, just sleep.”
His lips press to the side of my head, and I’m listening to the nice words he’s saying, I really am. But I keep drifting my fingers down the cut lines of his stomach, skimming down to touch the trail of light hair the leads even lower before slipping right back up to the hard panes of his pecs.
“Sleep,” he says again, his mouth curving fully into the most perfect smile.
“Fine.” My lips purse with the word, and I lower my fingers, stroking down his skin one last time before forcing my hand to stop touching the solid hardness that is his glorious body.
Then they torture me some more, telling me one thing while doing another.
Sinister strides to the side of the bed. He doesn’t even say anything. He claims my mouth with a firm press of his lips to mine, his tongue parting my lips and tasting me deeply. Chaos shifts against me as I lift, trying to eliminate any space left lingering between myself and the demon currently threading his fingers roughly through my hair.
He even bites my lower lip at the end, sucking there slowly until I feel that pressure right between my thighs.
And then the asshole pulls back, stepping away and continuing to walk backward toward the door with the most asshole smile stretched across his lips. “Yeah. Get some sleep, love.”
I glare at him.
He smirks harder. “I’m going to snoop around. These demons have clearly been promised something from Ellise for their service. They wouldn’t break their promise for scheduled naps. Something’s off there.”
“And you had to tongue-fuck me before you do all that?” I’m sitting up fully now, all but pouting where he left me.
“I didn’t have to but, yeah, I really wanted to.” He bites the inside of his cheek, giving me a little wave of his fingers, then he opens the door quietly and slips right out.
I can’t decide if they’re being sweet to me right now or being total dicks.
I lower slowly, the pillow puffing up around my hair. Another slow kiss brushes over the side of my temple, and Chaos squeezes me against him before settling in. I’m surrounded by strength and love.
So, yes, they’re sweet.
But they’re still dicks.
“Arlow.”
Kain’s breath against my cheek registers in my mind and then my name filters in.
I curl into the feel of his warmth, pressing my cheek to the smoothness of his chest, drifting my fingers all over again down the etched lines of his abdomen, along the veering angle of his hips, and then, straight down the front of his pants before anyone else can tell me and my sex drive to just go to sleep.
“ARLOW!” He grips my wrist and flings my hand away just as I skim along the smooth, perfect length of his cock.
“What?” I roll, looking up into Kain’s deep-green eyes.
A faint smile is on his lips, and for a second, he just shakes his head slowly.
He leans in close, that smile still curving his lips. “Your mom’s here,” he whispers.
Oh. Great.
I close my eyes and count to five before opening them and looking around the dark room. Her petite frame is almost swallowed up by the darkness. A long, dark cloak covers her, shadowing over her features with a heavy hood that’s hiding her dark hair. Another woman stands at her side in an even inkier cloak, her face entirely unseen from where I sit.
“Arlow.” My mother barely says my name. It’s a gasp of a sound.
The moment I stand, she comes to me, wrapping her arms around me and pulling me against her like she’s never going to let
me go. Her hood falls back, and the once glossy locks of her dark hair are messy and tangled, streaked with thin lines of gray.
“I was afraid King Barron hurt you. I had no idea what happened until Kain and Sinister sent me your message.”
Searching eyes take in my appearance, and she holds me at arm’s length for several seconds. Meanwhile, the three shifters in the room haven’t taken their attention off of the stranger lurking near the door.
“Who are you?” Rime tilts his chin toward the hooded figure, and the silence settles as long fingers slowly lift back the dark cloak.
And there stands the mysterious mage from Isolde Island. The mermaid keeper.
“Took a break from your murderous mermaids?” Rime’s glare pins her in place, and his look alone cuts anger into the woman.
Her blonde head tips up with a defiant glint her eyes. “You mean the ones you didn’t kill? I know a murderer when I see one.” Her mouth snaps shut before she can spit in his face.
“That’s enough.” My mother steps in between them, glancing back at her friend to give a quiet glance that seems to say so much. “We’re all here for a different reason.”
“You…you came to fight your own cousin?” I ask hesitantly.
Will she really join us against her own family?
“I’m not here to fight her. I’m here to stop things from becoming even worse for us. If a mage tries to steal Minden, and fails, they won’t stop until they’re sure every last one of us are gone. She made us seem like a threat once before. I won’t sit back to let history repeat itself.” The woman’s attention drifts from one person to the next, seemingly checking which of us appears to be harmful to her.
She oddly settles her glaring attention on Chaos who’s still leaning back on the bed.
He’s so big he easily takes up most of the mattress, and I can see why she’d think he’s the most dangerous one.
It’s hard for me to say which of them is the most dangerous. If I’m threatened, Chaos might truly be the deadliest one of them all.
Even if he doesn’t look it at the moment.
“So this is our team? Three shifters and young girl who can’t even do a summoning spell without my help?” the woman says.
“I’m a mage.” I narrow my eyes on her, and she doesn’t even give me a second glance of attention.
“And there’s a demon. And three other mages in the dungeon which I’m going to get right now.”
“The elder women? They’re here?” Her big eyes focus intently on me now.
“What’s your name?” Kain walks toward her, coming close to really study the woman who once threatened to feed us to her fish.
If we’re a team, we’re the shittiest team I’ve ever seen assembled. The trust in this room is nonexistent. Seconds tick by in absolute silence. When it’s painfully clear the woman has no intention of answering Kain, my mother does it for her.
“This is Seara. She’s a friend of mine.” My mother stresses the word friend hard as she looks from one defensive man to the next.
Well, really, it’s just Rime and Kain. Chaos is still being pinned with the full weight of Seara’s glare, even though he has the most blank expression right now. He looks like he’s ready to roll over and go back to bed.
That doesn’t stop the mage from being suspicious of the shifter.
“I’m going to sneak downstairs. I’ll bring the other women up in just a few minutes,” I say and my mother nods to me. “Did Sin come back?” I peer back at Rime. The ice shifter gives a subtle shake of his head, and my anxiety fires to life all over again.
So much for that restful sleep.
I weave through the now crowded room and find Kain trailing quietly behind me. Cold metal meets my fingertips for a single second before the knob turns and the door opens, nearly slamming right into my face. Strong arms wrap around me, and Kain pulls me flush against him just as crimson eyes peer around the door.
“Hey,” Sin whispers. His attention drifts, and his eyes light up with a charming smile when he spots my mother. “Bella, good to see you again.” He waves from around the door, still not stepping inside, and despite all his sweet greetings, my mother still darts her eyes quickly away from the demon as if he might slap his dick out right here and now.
It happened one time. One time. Can we let it go, Mom?
Sin notices the awkwardness, and I can see the moment he remembers his fuck-up.
“Right.” He nods to himself but seems to just ignore the unease.
Thank the goddess we have more pressing matters than my mom seeing more of my mate than any mother should ever see.
“I have something tell you,” he whispers and gestures for me to follow him out.
I slip out into the dark hall, and Kain follows. It’s quiet. Not a single footstep can be heard down the narrow brick staircase or the level below. It’s so silent it presses on my nerves. Everything about it is an unnatural sensation.
The door clicks closed, and Sin looks around the empty corridor before coming close to the two of us. “I checked around. The guard with the splitting face is in charge. He arranged the rotation. He told them to rest up.”
“Why?” Kain’s chest brushes along my back, and I feel his quiet question more than I hear it.
Sin shakes his head.
“Maybe he wants them well rested for the queen’s attack.” I search through my thoughts and try to organize them the best I can. “No, he was Linden’s guard first. The demon’s working both sides. He knows something,” I whisper.
We won’t truly know unless we ask him. And I also know he’d never tell a living soul. He helped me. Once. That doesn’t make us friends. He won’t risk his life to keep a nobody like me informed.
But his plans could interfere with my plans…
“Let’s get the mages for now. They’ve been imprisoned for long enough.” I take quiet steps down the stairs, running my fingers along the wall because it’s the only way I can tell when I’ve reached the bottom of the stairwell. The wall slips away, the air feeling colder now.
I could use my magic to light our steps but I’m terrified of being found and questioned by a guard. At the moment, the darkness is our friend.
I race toward the dungeon door. I can’t hear them, but I know Sinister and Kain are close by. Once again, I skim my fingers along the wall until rough wood meets my palm. I fumble and grip the cold knob. Just like before, it doesn’t turn when I try it. It’s still locked.
A frustrated sigh parts my lips, and Kain’s big hand grips over mine.
I push his hand back.
“I’ll just open it,” he says.
“No, you’ll break it. There’s a difference.” I glare over at his shadowed form and can just sense the annoyance in his gaze. “Saying you’ll open the door for me sounds gentlemanly, while what you’ll really do is notify anyone who walks past here that someone broke in. I will open it.” I all but stick my tongue out at him before turning away.
“Okay, kids. Let’s just get the door open, yeah?” Sinister’s palm presses low on my back, and I square my shoulders with confidence.
I lift my fingers and do basic but perfect magic, sending tingles buzzing through my veins in a comforting sensation that eases my nerves.
The metal grinds beneath an unseen force, and a little thrill blooms through me when I hear the lock click beneath my hand. I turn the handle, and the door opens with ease. I’m beaming from the simple trick I did.
“Show off,” Kain whispers, bumping his shoulder into mine and I smile even more.
The sound of their boots echoes faintly when we descend. The door pulls closed behind me, and the moment it does, a flame of white light glows from my hand, it’s flickering flames casting crawling shadows all around us. The meager little lighting in the dungeon seems dimmer than I remember. Or maybe I was just used to it.
The three of us walk slowly past my open cell. The bars are endless along this wall, creating cell after cell. A dozen of them at least. Suppo
sedly, the former King of Attika is in the very last one. But he isn’t who we need right now, and freeing him will only gain us more unwanted attention.
The king will have to wait.
Somewhere in the middle, in a random cell, movement scatters, and a white robe scurries away from the glow of my magic.
I lift it higher, revealing a figure hunched into the corner, pressing herself as far away from me as possible. Long white hair hangs in thin strands around her face, her hands held tightly to her chest; she’s keeping very close to the damp, dark wall.
“It’s okay,” I whisper. “I’m Arlow.”
Big eyes look to the two men standing behind me.
“These are my mates, Kain and Sinister.”
“I heard their names quiet enough that last night you were here, girl.” Her attitude is right there in place, but she’s still hunching away from me.
I smile just slightly. I like her. She’s a fighter, even if she doesn’t look it.
“Where are the other two?” I glance around the little square space, but everything is dark and still, unmoving.
“They’re in the bed.” She nods to the cot across the room from her, positioned right in front of me through the bars. She stares there with a vacant sort of emptiness in her gaze.
I glance to the bed, and the tattered brown quilt that’s draped neatly. It’s formed rather tightly to the two figures beneath it, every angle of their body defined against the fabric. It seems thin. Not at all warm enough for two elderly women.
“I need your help. I need to talk to you three.” I try to plan what I’m going to say, how I’m going to ask them, but I don’t want to overwhelm them. “Can you wake them?”
That emptiness in her eyes is like looking into a well. It’s unending and only growing deeper by the second.
“Can you wake them?” I ask again.
She shakes her head so very slowly, holding herself even tighter now.
“It’s just…I need you. I need all three of you. Please. Please wake them.”
Her white hair jars as she shakes her head back and forth even harder.
“You won’t?”
“I can’t.”
A feeling presses into my chest, the cold crawling across my skin like a spider now. I can do nothing but stare at the woman’s strange behavior. I don’t know what to say or do, and something feels monumentally off right now.
