by Maggie Walsh
“Where the hell did you come from?”
“Around. So, gentlemen, what will it take for you to leave my home, run as far away as you can, and never come back? But let me tell you this, now that I have your scent, I can find you whenever I want. Doesn’t matter how far you run or where you go. I can find you in an instant and be there just as fast,” Micah explained with an evil smile.
“Welcome home, babe.” Jesse flashed Micah a bright, loving smile.
Micah’s eyes flicked to Jesse’s and they softened. “Hi, my love. You look beautiful as always.”
“Thank you. And you look edible as always,” Jesse said seductively and gave Micah a lustful look.
“You’re killing me, baby,” Micah groaned. Jesse chuckled and gave him a “who me?” face. “You know I can’t resist you and we need to get rid of the trash first.”
“I missed you,” Jesse said with a pout.
“I was only gone for a few hours, baby.”
“I still missed you. I need you, my love. Can’t we just make them disappear now and then we can go up to our room and explore every inch of each other’s bodies again. I mean, they are only humans. It’s not that hard, but I am.”
“Does my baby need?” Micah asked with a smirk.
“I ache for you,” Jesse said as he ran his hands slowly down his chest.
“Soon, sweetheart, and I will take care of your every need. Right now, I need to talk to these idiots,” Micah said and turned his attention back to Dirk.
“What are you people, crazy?” Dirk asked in confusion.
“No, but we are all pretty deadly.”
“Yeah, well…” J.C. said and jumped toward Raffy. He grabbed one of Raffy’s arms and pulled it painfully behind his back as he wrapped his other arm around Raffy’s throat. “Now we have two of your men. So you will let us walk out of here unharmed and maybe we’ll release them.”
“Stupid humans,” Ryland said in exasperation.
“Looks like we arrived just in time. What’s going on around here?” Raith asked as he, Aaron, Rory, Viktor, and Adam stepped into the room from the foyer.
“These stupid humans took Crew hostage when they held up a bank. That was their first mistake. Their second was shooting Haven and taking Crew. Then these numb nuts brought Crew here to our house to hide out from the police.” Taylor snickered.
“Wow, could you get any more unlucky than that?” Rory laughed.
“Why do you keep referring to us as the humans? What are you?”
“Storm, why don’t you go first,” Micah said.
Storm stood on all fours and stretched his body. A bright light appeared around him and disappeared. Storm’s naked human form now stood there, with a menacing scowl on his face.
“What the fuck?” J.C. asked in shock.
“First you better remove your damn hands from my mate, before I remove your hands from your fucking body,” Christian’s angry voice came from the doorway.
J.C. looked toward the voice. “Now who are you? How many fucking people live in this house?”
“First, I am the mate to the man you’re holding. Second, no human people live in this house.” Christian slowly stepped forward as he spoke.
“Well, we can count Rory and Zane as human right?” Taylor asked in amusement.
“Not now, sweet baby. I think Christian is trying to make a point,” Gabriel said as he walked into the room.
“Man of mine,” Taylor squealed out in excitement and ran to Gabriel, throwing himself into his arms.
“This is fucking crazy. We walked into crazy town,” Dirk said.
“Take your damn hands off my mate,” Christian said with a deadly growl.
“I’ll take my hands off him when I’m done with him. Maybe I’ll keep him for a while and show him how a real man can satisfy him,” J.C. said with a smirk. Christian took another step forward and J.C. tightened his hold on Raffy. Raffy flinched, his face twisting in pain from the movement.
“I told you not to hurt any of them,” Crew growled.
“Shut the fuck up,” Dirk said.
“Fuck you, asshole.” Crew threw his head back as hard as he could and smashed it into Dirk’s face. Dirk screamed out in pain and released Crew’s waist, but not his throat.
“I’m gonna fucking choke the life out of you for that,” Dirk sneered in Crew’s ear and tightened his hold around his throat. Crew closed his eyes and suddenly he was gone.
Dirk fell forward from the loss of Crew’s body holding him up. He caught himself before he fell and stared in shock as Crew appeared behind J.C. His eyes were red and he raised his hand, showing off long, sharp claws. “I told you not to hurt my family,” Crew said in a deadly voice as he lifted his clawed hand and swiped it across J.C.’s throat.
The man’s eyes went wide and he released Raffy and wrapped his hands around his neck, trying to stop the bleeding. Gurgling noises started to escape his throat as blood appeared on his lips. Crew grabbed Raffy and moved him away from J.C. as fast as he could, delivering him into Christian’s arms.
“What are you?” Dirk asked. His face was as pale as a ghost, his eyes wide open in terror as he stared at Crew.
“I say we show him. Because there is no way I am letting either of them out of this house while they are still breathing,” Micah said.
Storm shifted back to his tiger. Christian, Gabriel, Cass, Taylor, Raffy, Raith, and Crew all shifted into their wolves, and Aaron shifted into his ocelot. Bastian, Lexi, Bailey, Xander, and Xavier all walked into the room and shifted, too. Haven came in next and his eyes met Crew’s.
“I’m okay, baby,” he said with a smile, then shifted into his mountain lion.
“What…the…fuck?” Dirk whispered as he took a step back away from the deadly animals.
“I think he’s starting to realize his big mistake, Micah,” Dante said as he strolled into the room with his mates.
“Oooh, are we going for a run?” Dale asked excitedly and wrapped his arms around Dante’s waist. “That would be so much fun, Alpha. Let’s give him a five minute head start out the back door and then we can hunt.”
“Maybe Noah can heal the other idiot first and give you more game to hunt down,” Dare suggested.
“That’s a great idea,” Micah said with a smile. “Noah?”
Noah returned the smile and walked past all the snarling animals. He placed his hands on J.C.’s throat and closed his eyes. He dropped his hands and moved away. J.C.’s eye went wide and he checked his neck with his hands. All the wounds were gone. “How?”
“I am fae,” Noah answered nonchalantly and walked away.
“It may be fun for me to shift into my dragon and go on the hunt with you. I haven’t hunted in my dragon form in over a thousand years,” Dare said.
“That would be a sight to behold, my love,” Dante said and kissed Dare’s cheek.
“Dragon? You’re like them, but a dragon?” J.C. asked. His body shook visibly from his fear. Dare smiled evilly and nodded.
“And what are all of you?” Dirk asked the remaining men.
“Ryland is King of the fae. My beautiful mate is his son, so he is half-fae. But he is also like his other father, so he is part angel and part demon. Rory and Adam over there are witches. Viktor is a vampire and Dante is King of the vampires. I am King of the shifters,” Micah explained proudly.
“Technically you’re King of all the paranormals, but I don’t think it matters to them at this point,” Dante said with a laugh.
“V–vampires?” J.C. asked as he stared at Dante. Dante gave him a smirk and his fangs slid from his gums as his claws sprang from his fingertips. His eyes flashed red and then changed completely black.
“W–what a–are y–you g–g–gonna d–do with us?” J.C. stuttered.
“We can turn you over to the FBI. We can release you and hunt you down as Dale suggested. That would definitely be fun. Or we can hold onto you until Crew’s other mate gets here and we turn you both over to his mates and let
them tear you apart.”
“Ooh, Micah, maybe you could give them to me and I can practice my spells on them,” Rory said in excitement.
“I vote for turning them over to Crew’s mates,” said Ryland.
“Me too,” Laylen’s angry voice echoed through the room.
“What the hell was that?” Dirk asked in terror.
“That, would be Crew’s other mate.” Micah smirked.
Suddenly Laylen stepped through the wall, dragging an ugly demonic creature with him. Laylen hadn’t been kidding. That thing was freaky looking. Crew had never seen anything so pale and slimy-looking before. And those weird spindly legs reminded Crew of a spider. Next the room filled as all the Legion Warriors stepped through the walls and surrounded them as a clap of thunder so loud shook the house.
“Sounds like a storm is brewing,” Nuriel said as he stepped next to Micah and scowled at Dirk and J.C. Crew was shocked to see all the Legion there. Each one wore the same cold, angry look on their faces.
“No one hurts our Legion brother’s mate,” Duma said in his deep voice. He and Ryx immediately walked over to Dirk and J.C. and grabbed onto them.
“What do you have there, Laylen?” Micah asked.
“This is the demon, Envy. This is who has been tormenting my mate,” Laylen answered angrily and tightened his grip on the demon’s arm, causing the creature to hiss.
“Shit, you weren’t kidding. He is one ugly fuck,” Ryland said in disgust. “Where is Phen?”
“We found someone in the Underworld as we were looking for this one. Phen is chasing him down for you,” Nuriel explained.
“Someone for me? Who is it?” Micah asked.
“I think I’ll let that be a surprise. I don’t think you’ll believe me anyway without proof.”
“So what do we do with this creature?” Ryland asked as he motioned toward the demon.
“He has a story to tell us, don’t you, spawn of evil?” Laylen sneered.
The demonic beast snarled at Laylen and then stared at Jesse. “The one,” a cold, raspy voice came from its throat. “Must have the one.”
“You will never touch him,” Micah growled and Envy flinched. Another rumble of thunder rocked the house as a flash of lightning lit up the room. A pounding rain began to beat against the windows.
“He is mine,” came the raspy voice again.
“He is mine!” Micah growled so loud the windows shook.
Envy drew back in fear and whispered, “They promised him to me.”
“Who promised you?” Dante asked.
Envy lifted its long rear leg and held it straight into the air and twisted it. He lowered it quickly, trying to hit Laylen with it. But Laylen was ready for it and grabbed the demon’s leg, holding it tight and twisting it. A blood curdling cry came from Envy as he tried to twist free. Laylen punched Envy in the face hard, and the demon relaxed in Laylen’s grasp. “Calm the fuck down before I slowly rip each limb off one by one.” The demon bared his long, sharp teeth at Laylen as he growled deep in his throat.
“Who are you working for?” Micah asked.
“They promised me I could haves the Heart. They promised me that if I destroyed each one of you that I could haves the Heart for my very owns for all eternity. He is supposed to be mine. I wants him,” Envy whined like a small child. “I wants to play with him and haves him. I will make him mine.” His voice changed from whining child to lustful determination.
“Who are they?” Micah asked in a deadly voice.
“Malachi and the other one. The powerful one. The one that makes even demons and hell hounds tremble,” Envy explained as his body shook in fear.
“Lucifer?” Dante gasped in shock.
“No. Lord Lucifer would never hurts the Heart. Lord Lucifer respects the Heart and his family. The one is more powerful than Malachi, but less powerful than Lord Lucifer. The one can destroy us all. He wields his power over us all. He controls us. We must do as he wishes,” the demon explained.
“The one controls all of who? All the demons, or all of the sins?” Micah asked.
“He controls the sins and more, but not all.”
“The sins? What the hell is that…thing talking about?” Dirk asked.
“The seven deadly sins, you asswipe. Now shut up,” Ryx snarled at him.
“This is too much shit for me,” J.C. whispered.
Micah flicked his eyes in the two humans’ direction. “Stay quiet,” he ordered.
“But that thing is…he’s…” J.C. cut himself off.
Micah looked at Jesse. “Would you mind, baby?”
“Not at all, my love,” Jesse answered. He looked at Dirk and J.C. Suddenly their mouths were taped shut with silver duct tape, their hands and feet were bound with the same tape. And Jesse looked at Christian. “Would you?”
“My pleasure,” Christian said and raised his hands toward the two. Dirk and J.C.’s eyes went wide and they tried to fight as their bound bodies rose off the floor and lifted to the ceiling, then hovered there.
“Thanks, Chris,” Jesse said and smiled. Christian gave him a smile and nodded.
Micah turned his attention back to Envy. “So the one sent you after us to get to the Heart? Why?”
“No, no, no.” Envy shook his head violently in annoyance. “To get to the Kings. I destroy you one by one until I gets the Heart. He becomes mine and the one gets the Kings.”
“Which Kings?”
“I know not. The dead one comes to me to tell me what I am to do and who I am to go to.”
“The dead one? Who is the dead one?”
“Malachi servant. He do all Malachi bidding. He is evil.”
“Malachi or his servant?”
“Both, but not as evil as the one. The one is beyond evil. He is a masquerade. He hides among the blessed. You cannot defeat him. Not even the Heart and the Guardian together can defeat him,” Envy explained.
Micah looked to Jesse and saw that his face had gone pale, his eyes were full of fear, and he was shaking. Micah went to him, wrapped his arms around him, and held him tight. “I will never let this vile creature touch you, baby,” he whispered comfortingly.
“I know, Micah. It’s not him I’m afraid of. It’s this one that he’s talking about. If Taylor and I together can’t defeat him, then we’re all in trouble,” Jesse whispered and pressed his face against Micah’s chest. He wrapped his arms around Micah’s waist and held him tight.
“You mine, Heart. Release that beast,” Envy ordered angrily.
Jesse snapped his head quickly in the demon’s direction, his eyes full of hate and anger. “I am not yours and I never will be, you foul creature. Just because they said you could have me doesn’t mean I am yours. They don’t have the right to give me to you. I belong to one man, and one man only. My mate, the king of the wolves. The Alpha Prime, leader of all paranormals. If you even look at me again, I will pull your insides out slowly.” There was so much venom in Jesse’s voice that Envy and everyone else in the room took a step back. Envy lowered his eyes and cowered in fear.
“I think this one may have some information for you,” Phenex’s voice came from across the room. Jesse shifted his eyes from the demon and looked at his father. His body froze in terror and shock as he stared at the man Phenex held in his grasp.
Chapter 11
“How?” Micah asked, just as shocked as everyone else. The room shook when another clap of thunder came and all the paranormals shifted back to their human forms, their faces showing their surprise as they stared at the man.
“My guess is someone just as powerful as Jesse, who can bring someone back from the dead,” Phenex answered. “Is this man not one of yours? Well, used to be?”
“Yes, but he was put to death for his sins,” Micah hissed.
“I have been reborn, Micah. I have been resurrected so that I could come back to you and prove to you that I belong with my pack. With all of you. The gods saved me for a reason. They said I was part of the prophecy to help you d
efeat Malachi,” Thomas explained.
“I don’t care what the gods say if their intention is to have you anywhere near my mate. They can fight Malachi on their own if this is their will. The gods can take all my power, all my worldly possessions, and I will walk away with my mate, never to have anything to do with them or their prophecy again,” Micah bit out angrily.
“Me too,” Dante agreed and stepped next to Micah. One by one everyone in the room moved to stand next to Micah and Jesse, all agreeing with Micah.
“The gods can take everything we all have, right now, if you coming back here is their wish. I won’t let you anywhere near my Alpha or Alpha mate again as long as I have a breath in my body,” Taylor said adamantly.
“I made mistakes. I was wrong. I admit that. What I did to Jesse and to you Micah was unforgivable. I know this. But the gods think that I can help you to fight against Malachi,” Thomas pleaded. “They said that the prophecy stated that all your inner pack must have their mates before the final battle is to be fought and that it would take all your inner pack and their mates to defeat Malachi. That includes me.”
Jesse couldn’t stand to look at the man as he begged for Micah to understand and take him back. Jesse looked at Envy and saw the hatred on his face as he stared at Thomas, but the demon said nothing. Jesse’s eyes flicked back to Thomas and then back to Envy. Something wasn’t right. The demon was quiet, but he was speaking volumes with his eyes. Those eyes were black, soulless orbs, but there was something there. Jesse could see the pure hatred within those eyes. “He’s lying,” Jesse said, but kept his eyes focused on Envy. As the words left his mouth a small smile came to Envy’s lips and a look of pleasure passed in his eyes. Jesse knew he was on the right track.
“I’m not lying, Jesse. The gods brought me back to you,” Thomas said.
But Jesse heard a slight hitch in his voice. Jesse looked to Thomas and stared into his eyes. He said nothing and kept his face emotionless. As the minutes went by and no one said a word, Jesse could see Thomas beginning to falter. Something was blocking Jesse from seeing inside Thomas like he could with anyone else if he tried. And then there it was, that shadow that always passed behind Thomas’s eyes when he looked at Jesse. The look of pure hatred. Jesse’s eyes flicked back to Envy to watch his reaction. “If the gods truly saved you and wish for you to be back here with us, then why were you in the Underworld?” A smirk crossed Envy’s lips at Jesse’s question and his eyes darkened.
