by Davis, Lia;
“I smell a trap,” Jagger growled and moved toward the front of the buildings. “My bet is that Samoan is somehow controlling them.”
Zach and the others followed. “That would mean she succeeded in creating the Dark Sinew.” If that were the case, then they were definitely walking into a trap. Fun times. “Just look out for demons to pop in at any moment.”
“Try not to kill the Dark Divine. They are victims in this, too.” Lydia fell into step with Zach and Ayden.
Khloe nodded as if agreeing with Lydia. “True, but it’ll be hard not to if they were commanded to kill us.”
Fuck. The whole thing was screwed up. “To kill or not to kill. Samoan must think she has us by the nads. Okay, we kill the demons and knock out the Dark Divine.”
Just then, a half-dozen demons materialized in the parking lot. When they made eye contact with Zach and the others, they charged forward. Jagger and Khloe went off in opposite directions. Ayden charged in, throwing energy balls as he went. That left Lydia and Zach in the middle.
Casting Lydia a sideways smirk, Zach said, “You want to go bowling?”
She smiled, showing the points of fangs and damn if he didn’t get hard. “I’d love to.”
Zach formed a basketball-sized energy ball while she formed a fireball of equal size. Together, they thrust them into the charging demons. Right before the ball hit the demons, they merged, flashing bright orange and red. The demons’ screams died within moments after being consumed by the mixture of magic and fire.
Then there were three. Another couple of screams sounded.
“Correction, one to go.” Lydia laughed, reading Zach’s thoughts. As a mated pair, nothing was a secret.
Zach would have it no other way.
He glanced up in time to see the last demon dematerialize. “Coward.”
Scanning the mall parking lot, he didn’t see the Dark Divine either. Fear cut into his gut. The whole fight had been too easy. As if the demons were only a distraction. Dread burned his insides, and he locked gazes with Ayden.
“Kalissa says everything is good there.” Ayden drew his brows together.
“What is it?” Khloe and Zach said at the same time.
“Sindee feels Samoan calling to her. Lydia, you’ll need to put her out until we find a way to break the control the demoness has over the Dark Divine.”
Lydia frowned. Through their magical bond, Zach felt her sadness at having to do so. He reached out and linked his fingers with hers. Then Ayden said, “It is at Sindee’s request. She’d never be able to live with herself if she hurt anyone.”
Nodding, Lydia released a sigh. “I know. Let’s get home and prepare for another round. I hope Papa can assemble an army soon. We’re going to need all the help we can get.”
This battle was only a small taste of what the crazy bitch, Samoan, was up to.
Desiree wasn’t sure what she’d expected the home of a dragon oracle to look like, but a single-family style cottage wasn’t it. Weren’t dragons huge?
Just then, she caught a glimpse of two pseudo dragons playing in the backyard. They took off running, then soared through the air toward them. Desiree smiled at their red and purple scales with a shimmer of gold that caught the dim light of the Underworld.
Once they noticed her and Lex, the dragons stopped playing and hovered in the air a few feet away. They stared for a few moments, then turned around and yelled, “Xara,” while flying to the front door.
The door opened before the small dragons reached it. They darted inside, and out came a tall redhead with modest curves and few clothes, not leaving much to the imagination. “Hello, Lex, I’ve been waiting for you.”
A spike of jealousy raced through Desiree’s veins. “I thought you said she was a dragon,” she gritted out between her teeth.
Lex grunted before saying, “She is.” Then he stepped forward a few steps. “Xara, I don’t have to tell you that I don’t have time for pleasantries.”
The redhead rolled her eyes. “I understand the urgency. What about payment?”
“You have my word that I will return.”
Just then, a flash rippled in the irises of her purple dragon eyes. A smile lifted her lips. “On second thought, completing your mission will be payment enough. Kahn is bound to the Underworld. It is the way of the ruler. His mate, however, is not. She has the dark crystal and controls the army from above.”
Desiree’s heart sped up, and she moved to stand beside Lex. “How can we stop her?”
Xara slowly moved her gaze to Desiree. “You will know when it is time to do so. Until then, the two of you must stay safe.”
“Is that all you can tell us?” Annoyance rode Desiree, fueling her frustration all the more. There has to be more. When she stepped forward, Lex gripped her arm, stopping her.
Xara was inches from Desiree in a flash, her eyes showing her dragon. Then the pupils elongated into vertical slits while the irises darkened to a deep violet. “You will need your bravado to save everything you hold dear. I cannot tell you what I see because I fear it would change too much of the future. But I can tell you, whatever you do, don’t turn your back on Samoan, and when you have the chance, kill her.”
The words, before it’s too late, drifted in Desiree’s mind. Whether the dragon had sent the thought or Desiree added them, she didn’t know.
A moment later, Xara took Desiree’s hand and held it palm up. Desiree tried to jerk it from the dragon’s grip, but it was no use. She was too strong. Then Xara placed a silver-dollar-size, oval moonstone in Desiree’s palm and curled her fingers around it.
Without letting go, Xara leaned in to whisper in her ear. “Use the stone to call upon the moon for strength.” Xara glanced to Lex and frowned. A shadow of something Desiree swore was sadness passed over her features. But it was gone almost as fast as it appeared.
Xara stepped back. “I’m sorry I can’t give you any more information. I fear your trip here was a waste.”
In a puff of purple smoke, Xara shifted into a four-foot-tall dragon. Her scales matched the color of her eyes with silver lining the edges of each scale. She stepped off the porch, forcing Lex and Desiree to move out of her way. Extending her wings, she jumped into the air and took flight.
Desiree crossed her arms. “That was a waste of time.” Lex shook his head and stalked back to the buggy. Desiree jogged after him. “She didn’t even tell us how to get out of here.”
“Get in. We obviously can get out. We just need to figure out how.”
After climbing into the car, she stared at him. “That doesn’t help.”
He dropped his shoulders and faced her, taking her hand in his. “We will figure it out. There has to be something we missed.”
“Yeah, like the memo to get the hell out before the portals locked down.”
Desiree got out of the buggy and slowly made her way into the house. Before opening the door, she caught movement to her right. A familiar magic drifted in the air. Matty.
She rushed down the steps and met his stare from the woods. “I’d like to talk to you. I’m not going to hurt you.”
He didn’t move or speak.
Desiree wanted to cry, scream, flash over to him and make him listen. Yet, she couldn’t do any of those things. She was a stranger to him. The mother who’d turned him over to the demons.
A sob lodged in her throat. She felt Lex hover near the door, their new bond making her fully aware of the Death Demon’s every move. Just as he feels my pain right now. “Mathew, I would never have abandoned you. Samoan lied. To me, to you.”
Still, he didn’t move. What else could she say to get through to him? Her heart ached more by the moment. “Please, I love you. I only wanted to protect you.”
He frowned then. Maybe it was the crack in her voice as she pled, trying so hard not to burst into sobs. “Matty, I thought you were dying. Samoan said she’d heal you…”
Her heart stilled for a moment as Ma
thew stepped from the tree line. Then his gaze jerked to Lex behind her, and he vanished.
She whirled around and faced Lex. His drawn brows and half-smile stopped her from yelling at him. “What?”
“He is not bound to the Underworld.”
“Huh?” She didn’t understand what he was talking about.
Lex looked at her then. “Mathew. He didn’t just teleport away, he left the Underworld altogether. Did you not see it?”
Glancing to the space where Mathew had stood moments ago, Desiree shook her head. “No.” She’d been too focused on getting her son to talk to her.
“He can freely move between the worlds even with it on lockdown.”
He was basically a full-blood Porter. Of course, he could… But she and Lex could not. Mathew wasn’t a witch—at least not since his transformation—so Hecate didn’t have power over him. And neither did Khan because Mathew wasn’t a demon either.
Returning her attention back to Lex, she asked, “What are you thinking?”
Lex turned and disappeared inside the house. She followed. The demon was up to something. And she’d find out what. Especially if it concerned her son.
“Lex, answer me.”
He faced her then, stopping in the middle of the living room. “Sorry. My theory is that we may be able to piggyback off Mathew’s power the next time he leaves.”
Fury flowed red-hot, boiling Mathew’s blood as he flung the door to Samoan’s apartment open. It crashed into the wall. Samoan sat on the couch with her laptop on her jean-covered thighs. She didn’t look at him when she spoke. “Where have you been?”
“Around.” He advanced toward her, needing answers. “Who is Desiree?”
Samoan’s fingers stilled briefly over the keyboard. “She’s a Divinity currently trapped in the Underworld.”
He walked to her and knocked the laptop from her lap, sending it flying across the living room. “Who is she to me?”
Samoan’s cobalt blue eyes met his, her brows bunched into an angry line, and her lips curled. “She is nothing. A mother who gave away her child because he was turning…and these are her words…‘into a monster.’”
She was lying. Mathew saw it then. The same twitch in the muscle under her right eye. It was slight, but he caught it that time. “I don’t believe you anymore.”
“I see.” Samoan stood and collected her computer. Carrying it to the dining room table, she continued speaking. “You’ve been talking with the witch. How are you sure she isn’t using you to get to me?”
Was the demoness serious? Mathew may only be ten years old, but he was smart. He’d finished his high school education a few months ago. Plus, he’d studied anything he could about history—both human and magickin—and he was more powerful than Samoan. Only he didn’t let the bitch who’d raised him know that.
He’d never call Samoan “mother” because, well, she’d never been one to him. There was no maternal instinct there. No love. Just cold demands. He believed she was incapable of loving anyone.
Mathew, on the other hand, had a heart. He’d dreamt of the day when he’d find his birth mother and be loved.
Deep down, he knew Desiree was who she said. His inhuman senses from being a changeling and a Porter allowed him to recognize that she was being truthful with him. However, Samoan had brainwashed him his whole life. Telling him his real mother had given him away, not wanting to see him ever again. And then telling him she was dead.
“She wouldn’t have to use me,” he muttered and moved closer to Samoan to see what was so important on the computer that had her so preoccupied. A satellite map of Jacksonville was on the screen.
When he glanced at her again, he saw it. The large smoky quartz hanging from her neck. The stone held the magic of the Dark Divine. What was she doing with it?
Samoan lifted her gaze to his and smiled. “The stone will aid me in leading the Divinities into a trap. They want to protect the humans and magickin. Their bleeding hearts for humanity will be their end. Plus, the stone keeps the Dark Divine army under my control.”
He froze. No. When she’d asked him to help transfer the power to the stone, she’d said that the Dark Divine had volunteered; that they were helping them to assist the Divinities. Samoan was crazy. Totally and utterly insane.
She never meant to aid the Divinities. However, he’d figured that out months ago. What could he do?
With the Divinities down three members, they were weaker than as a full unit. Kalissa was pregnant, and Lex and Desiree were trapped in the Underworld—at least until Mathew got them out.
With a new purpose, he turned toward the door. He ignored Samoan when she asked where he was going.
She’d find out soon enough. He could do something about Samoan’s and Khan’s evil plans.
The Divinities would once again have eight members on the front line. And an army at their back.
Chapter Seven
Lex paced in front of the fireplace as he, Ryn and Desiree brainstormed on how to get the fuck out of Hell. There had to be a way he and Des could combine their Porter power to get out.
“What did Xara mean by ‘the way of the ruler?’”
Ryn answered before Lex could respond. “It’s like a magical code of conduct to keep the balance.”
Desiree scrunched up her nose and frowned. “Isn’t that what he wants? To break down the veils between the three worlds?”
Stopping his route, he met Desiree’s stare. “Yes, but there are unwritten and unspoken rules in doing so. If he just left the Underworld and disrupted the balance, he’d be without an advantage.”
“I’m not following you. Breaking out would unleash an apocalyptic event. He would have what he wants—Hell on Earth.” Desiree glanced to Ryn then back to Lex. Her green eyes sparked with worry and fear.
“If Khan was to break out of Hell, the gods would come to Earth also. He’d be outnumbered, and the humans would be no more.” Ryn spoke in a calm, low tone. However, Lex heard the tremor in his voice.
Desiree’s eyes widened. “I didn’t think of that. The gods would be forced to wipe everyone out. Reset humanity.”
Lex shrugged. “Something like that. Khan doesn’t want the gods involved, so he’s building armies and sending out his minions.”
Desiree fell silent as if taking in the information. “Wait. What about the attacks on the Maxville Coven over three centuries ago? He was there.”
“And Hecate was free to stop him. Khan found a way out without throwing off the balance. Most likely, he used a human soul to do it. That night, Hecate gifted the Divinities with their powers and linked the Elders together.” Lex stilled at the sudden surge of power filling the room. Someone was there.
He moved to the front door as a knock sounded. Yanking it open, he froze. Mathew stood on the other side, jaw working and brows drawn together as if pissed off about something. Lex raised his own brow. “Ready to talk?”
“Samoan is a lying bitch.”
“Yep.” Lex stepped aside to allow Mathew to enter.
Entering the living room, Lex watched Desiree closely. She stood, and tears filled her eyes. Unable to stand the heartache flowing through their bond, Lex closed the distance between them. He took her hand in his.
Mathew glanced at their linked hands and then met Lex’s gaze. “Are you my father?”
“No.” Lex answered simply, then waited for Desiree to fill in the rest.
Desiree trembled at Lex’s side as she spoke. “Your father’s name was Stephan. He was a warlock and a Porter, and one of the two men I was in love with in college. We weren’t magical mates, but we did love each other. And then both he and Daniel were taken from me. By Samoan. I was… The demoness used me and then lied to get me to hand you over. I thought you were ill and dying. I would have never let her take you if I’d known the truth.”
With a sob, Mathew ran to her, wrapping his arms around her in a tight hug. Desiree burst into tears and hugged him
back. Lex’s own heart melted at the reunion. Yet guilt and sorrow still filled Desiree’s heart.
After several moments, Mathew pulled back and said, “I can get you out of here. Samoan has the Dark Sinew and control of the Dark Divine army. She plans to trap the Divinities in one place to destroy them.”
“Then let’s get out.”
With a nod, Mathew waved a hand and opened a portal. Then he motioned for them to go. Lex grabbed Desiree’s hand, pushed Ryn through the portal first, and then entered it with his mate. They exited a few yards from the back porch of the Divinity House.
A moment later, Mathew materialized beside them. “Looks like no one is home.”
“They’re most likely at the Maxville Coven.” Lex advanced to the gatehouse while sending Jagger a telepathic message. “Jag, we’re at the Divinity House.”
“Thank fuck. We’re on our way.”
Damn, it was good to hear his brother’s voice.
A moment later, Jagger, Khloe, Zach, and Lydia materialized a few feet away. Jagger crossed the short distance and drew Lex into a hug. With a heavy sigh, Lex let down what was left of the walls around his heart and squeezed Jagger back. A sense of family and unconditional love surrounded them.
Pulling out of the embrace, Jagger met Lex’s gaze. “It’s good to have you back.”
Even though Lex could sense that his brother was glad and relieved to see him, there was a dark feeling of dread hovering over him, as well. “What is it?”
“Samoan has the Dark Sinew.”
“Yes, we know.” Lex studied his brother for several moments. “And?”
Jagger stepped aside and motioned for them to come in. Once inside, Lex’s brother led them to the family room. “Samoan can also control the Dark Divine.”
Desiree hugged her waist beside Lex. “We know that, too.”
“Ayden and the others will be here shortly. Ayd is arguing with Lissa about fighting in the war.” Zach turned.
Lex frowned. “She doesn’t want him to fight?” He could understand it since they’d spent fifteen years apart because of a memory spell. Besides, the female was pregnant and probably suffering high anxiety with everything going on.
