by Katie Reus
Chapter 22
“Do you smell that?” Mira asked as they sprinted down the tunnelway. She wasn’t sure why she even asked. Of course the Alpha and other wolves scented it.
Sulfur.
The scent invaded her senses, making her nauseous. Thanks to their heightened senses everything was often magnified tenfold, and she only associated sulfur with a few things. Sure, there could be some kind of hidden spring down here, but considering the ground was rumbling she doubted it. And she recognized the little lights lining the ceiling of the tunnel. Her sister had many gifts and this was one of them.
“What the hell is that?” one of the wolves behind them asked as they kept pace.
She shot Judoc a glance.
“They’re young, they don’t know what the smell is.”
It was either a Hell Gate or the entrance to a Hell realm. Her money was on gate as the realms weren’t always bad places. As they reached the end of the tunnel she started to step into a connecting one when the earth shook again. Stones started falling from above.
Instinctively, she threw herself on one of the male wolves behind her. He was young and would likely survive a cave-in, but just in case. The last thing she saw was his surprised gaze as she tackled him to the ground.
Rocks pelted her back but she half shifted, letting her dragon take the brunt of the impact. With her thick scales she barely felt it.
As the dust settled, Mira pushed up on her arms to look down at the male. He was so young. Couldn’t be more than thirty. “You all right?”
“Yeah, thanks. Are you okay?” the wolf asked.
She nodded and pushed up, letting the debris roll off her. As she did, she saw Judoc emerging from a pile of rocks. His dark hair was gray from all the dust.
“You guys good?” he asked.
“Yes.” Mira pushed to her feet and held out a hand for the male.
As she did, a shout filled the air that she felt straight to her bones. All the hair raised on her head from the intensity of it. They needed to get to Prima and the others.
Now.
* * *
Gabriel landed on the hard stone but barely felt the impact at all as he crouched in front of Vega.
Trying to ignore all the blood, he tested her pulse, pressing his fingers to her neck. Panic rose when he felt nothing. They were damn near immortal, but they weren’t invincible.
“No, no, no.” He gently lifted her wrist, testing her pulse there.
Nothing.
No.
Blood spilled out from behind her head, creating a macabre pool around her—and that was when he saw the jagged stone piercing through her chest. She must have landed on it… It had pierced her heart. Straight through it. Bile rose in his throat.
Just like in that fucking vision. He’d seen the blood moon that wasn’t a blood moon at all. And blood. Vega’s blood.
In a rush, raw pain and fury swirled inside him as he sliced open a vein in his wrist. Holding his wrist to her mouth he tried to force her to drink, to take the sustenance, but she didn’t move. Didn’t stir at all.
And…he felt the connection between them snap. As if someone had shoved a dagger through his heart and left it there, pain punctured out to all his nerve endings.
No. They’d never even had a chance to truly mate, to have a life together. He knew life was unfair, but fuck this. Fuck all of this!
A scream tore through the cave, echoing off the walls and ceiling, and he realized it was coming from him. He didn’t care who heard. Didn’t care about anything—
He turned at a flash of movement to his right and sprawled back under the impact of the demon tackling him.
Gabriel screamed again, this time in pure rage.
Tunnel vision overtook him as he rushed at the creature. Well over seven feet tall, the male was huge. But that meant nothing, in Gabriel’s experience.
He’d taken down bigger monsters before and he would do it now. Even if he felt like lying down next to Vega and giving up, he would kill this fucking thing.
Instead of going full wolf, he only let his claws and canines extend.
Then something deep inside him, something instinctual, made him call on the shadows in a way he’d never done before. He demanded that all the darkness in the cave come to him. Because it had no choice. He ruled it here and now. Gabriel wasn’t even certain it would work until darkness swirled around him, overtaking him until he couldn’t even see himself.
He was the darkness.
As the creature turned side to side, Gabriel realized that it couldn’t see him.
Good. He was going to make this thing suffer.
Racing at a nearby boulder, he jumped on top of it and, using it as a platform, dove off it onto the creature’s back.
He dragged his claws down the middle of the demon’s back before rolling to the side and jumping to his feet.
The creature swiveled, growling as he slashed out at the air.
Gabriel growled low in his throat, unintentionally giving away his position.
The creature turned and slashed out with his clawed foot. The creature’s feet were like bear’s claws: the perfect creation for destruction.
Gabriel dodged to the side, but not before getting slashed across his chest.
He didn’t care. He did not care about anything other than inflicting maximum pain. He barely felt the scratch. Soon enough he would lie down next to Vega and he wouldn’t move. Not until she came back to him.
Channeling all of his pain, he reared back as the tower of rocks the dragon had built started to crumble around them. Her hold on them must have broken or weakened. He had no idea as he hadn’t looked at her once.
All his focus was on this threat, this enemy that had caused Vega’s death.
No!
He refused to believe she was dead. He didn’t care if it was illogical; he would not accept it.
The creature sprang away, missing the falling rocks by millimeters. Then it growled deeply, swirling around, its six eyes sweeping over the cave.
It still couldn’t see Gabriel.
As another rumble shook the earth, he decided not to drag this out any longer even if it was what he wanted. He needed to take Vega’s body from here, to get her to help. Someone had to be able to help her. To bring her back to him.
Claws released, he stalked toward the creature on silent feet.
His shadows swirled around him, enveloping him, like a warm cocoon he never wanted to leave.
As the creature turned sharply to face him, Gabriel released the hold on the darkness and struck hard and fast, shoving his claws and hands into the creature’s chest.
Decapitating and destroying a demon’s heart—or hearts—were generally guaranteed to kill it. Not always.
But he was going with the odds on this one.
Grasping its two beating hearts in his hand, Gabriel ripped both of them out in one brutal tug.
The creature’s eyes widened as it flailed for a moment. Its horrific mouth flapped open revealing two rows of sharp teeth, but the eyes glazed over as Gabriel dropped the hearts onto the dusty stone floor.
The demon fell backward, unmoving, but just for good measure, Gabriel used his claws to decapitate it.
Sharp and efficient. But he felt no pleasure from killing it. He felt nothing at all.
Nothing but fucking pain, his heart cracked in two.
“You must burn the body.” He blinked as he realized the dragon was now speaking.
He turned to look at her, as if coming out of a haze. The dragon’s eyes were closed, her voice tired and weak.
“What?”
“It should have turned to ash but it didn’t. Burn the body.”
“Fuck you. You brought us here. You killed her.”
“She’s not dead.” The dragon released a sad stream of fire, barely even a trickle, but it did the job, burning the demon, its head and two hearts to dust. Gabriel sucked in a sharp breath at her words, but the female continued. “She has not cros
sed over to the other side yet. There is still time to save her. Bring her to me. Now.”
Gabriel retracted his claws and wiped his bloodied hands on his pants. His instinct wasn’t to trust this unknown creature but at this point he would do anything if it would bring Vega back.
Rushing toward her still body, Gabriel gently lifted Vega into his arms. Without that spark of life, her laughter or smile, it broke his heart to see her like this. A world without her in it wasn’t one worth living in. For so many years he’d fought the thing between them and now he wanted to beat himself senseless because they could’ve had that time to gather. Two years would have been everything. Not enough, but it would have been better than the recent couple days.
Now all that time had been wasted. And he was a fucking fool. Choking back emotion, he gently walked her to the female.
“Bring her as close to me as possible.”
“I’ll kill you if you—”
“I know wolf, I know.” Her eyes were closed and her voice was raspy, exhausted as she gently blew into the air.
Not fire this time. Gabriel felt the magic expending from her, filling the room. Despite everything, he watched in awe as swirling blue and green lights intermixed together, reminding him of a DNA double helix strand, before it plunged into Vega’s chest. Her body glowed as the magic invaded her.
But still he felt nothing. The link between them was severed and he couldn’t do a damn thing about it.
“Female…” He looked at the dragon, frowned. She wasn’t moving anymore either. Wasn’t breathing. He turned back to Vega, took both her hands in his and laid his head on her chest, listening for life. “Come back to me,” he whispered.
Chapter 23
Vega looked around, blinking at the unfamiliar surroundings. She should feel scared that she had no idea where she was but there was a soothing scent in the air. Like lavender and jasmine.
Pushing to her feet she realized she was wearing some type of robe, a pink-colored thing that reminded her of a toga. Slowly turning around in a circle, she saw that she was in a forest clearing by a glistening pond. She could hear a few animals in the nearby trees and… Why the hell was she here? More important, where was here? And why was she alone and dressed like she was going to a Halloween party?
At a sort of shuffling sound, she turned to see a small wolf pup hiding behind a cluster of elephant ear leaves. Crouching down, she said “Hello?”
The little pup took a few steps out and she grinned. The thing was all black with two white ears and one that seemed permanently flopped over.
“Aren’t you just the cutest thing?” she murmured.
The pup yipped as if in agreement and trotted over to her as if he ruled this entire forest. A little prince.
Grinning, she sat down and crossed her legs, letting the pup jump in her lap.
It was definitely a shifter, not a regular wolf. And the eyes looked strangely familiar…kinda like her own. “Who are you?” she asked, as if expecting an answer.
In response the tiny pup licked her face. Then he licked it again. Inside her head she heard what she assumed was his voice. Go home. If you don’t, we will never meet. Please go home now.
“Where are we?” she asked, hoping for a response.
The pup licked her again as it wiggled in her lap. And again, she heard the words, Go home now. You can’t be here too long. Time is running out.
“Vega!” She heard her name being screamed.
Was that…Gabriel?
“Gabriel?” Her voice sounded raspy to her own ears as the pup and forest faded away.
“That’s it, open your eyes. Open your eyes, sweetheart!” Gabriel’s voice was frantic.
She was aware of other voices—Mira the eccentric dragon, the Alpha, and some other people whose voices she didn’t recognize.
Pain splintered through her chest as she struggled to sit up. Or she assumed she was trying to sit up. Her body felt as if it was coming apart at the seams. Blinking once, she ordered her eyes to open and found herself looking into the clear green eyes of Gabriel. “The door?” she asked, as everything flooded back.
“We closed it. But the impact of it closing threw you off the boulders.” His jaw tightened, emotion filling his eyes.
“The demon!” She started to sit up but he placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, even while cradling the back of her head. He stared at her as if she was the only thing in the world that mattered. As if she hung the damn moon.
“It’s dead.”
Damn, she’d been out for everything. Frowning, she felt the middle of her chest and looked down at herself. She could’ve sworn she’d been injured, and her shirt was torn but her skin looked fine. And…she actually felt okay too. A little sore.
Looking around, she saw that Mira was chanting something over the very still dragon. “What’s wrong with her?”
“I’m not sure.” But there was something in Gabriel’s voice that said he knew exactly—
She grabbed Gabriel’s torn and bloodied shirt. “Why can’t I feel our link?”
“You died,” he whispered, agony in his voice. “You died and the link severed.”
“Wait…what?”
“Prima, the dragon—Mira’s sister—did something to you. Breathed something inside you. Like what Liberty said Arya did to her.”
Vega swallowed hard and rubbed the middle of her chest. It was a lot to take in and she’d analyze the heck out of it later. For now… “The door closed for good though, right?”
He nodded, his expression still grim as he looked back at the two dragons. “Yes.”
“And you’re okay?” He was covered in blood but didn’t seem to be injured.
“I’m okay.” He nodded once toward the others. “She might not make it. Her sister is releasing her from the binding spell that connects her to the earth. She… I think she sacrificed herself for you. She only wanted you here to close the door. Not to kill you. She was able to connect to you so she called you.”
“Help me up,” Vega murmured, holding her hand out to Gabriel. It was clear he wanted to say no, but very gently he took her hand and set his palm at the small of her back as he helped her sit up fully.
For a moment, she took stock of herself to see if she was okay. She was covered in a whole lot of stuff she didn’t want to think about, including her own blood. The scents in this cave were nearly overwhelming. But none of that mattered now. She was definitely going to freak out later about having died, especially since she remembered the place she’d been in. She’d tell Gabriel about all of that later.
“Come on,” she murmured, taking Gabriel’s hand as she knelt next to Mira who’d stopped chanting and simply had a hand on the dragon’s huge snout.
Vega placed a hand on her upper shoulder. “What can we do?”
Mira looked up, her gray eyes bright with unshed tears. “Nothing. She’ll either wake up or she won’t. I…thank you for what you did. I didn’t realize what was happening at first. It never occurred to me there might be a Hell Gate down here. The world has shifted so much since we went into Hibernation so…” Sighing, she shook her head. “When—if—Prima wakes up, I’ll ask her for details and let you know what happened. For now…” She looked at Judoc. “I’d like to be alone. I just want to be with my sister.”
The Alpha looked conflicted. “What can I bring you? Clothing? Food?”
“I need nothing. Just to be with my sister. Alone. I…” Her voice cracked slightly. “Maybe I shouldn’t have bound her to the earth. She would have been able to close the gate on her own. If anything, I could have helped her. This is my fault.”
“No, it’s not,” he said. “You did what you did with the best of intentions.”
Instead of responding, she turned away and laid her head on the dragon’s scaled face.
Vega wanted to do something, to find the right words, but knew there weren’t any. Taking Gabriel’s outstretched hand, she let him pull her to her feet.
Vaguely she heard J
udoc tell one of the other shifters to leave their packs for Mira and to send more back with food and fresh clothes.
Vega leaned into Gabriel, not because she needed the help, but because she wanted to feel his arms around her. Right now she felt as if some part of her was missing. As if a piece of her heart had been ripped right out of her chest.
It was the mating link missing. She knew that.
She just wasn’t sure what happened now.
Chapter 24
“At least the shaking seems to have stopped,” Neema said warily.
August didn’t respond, simply looked out one of the library’s windows. Two wolves ran across the lawn in human form, their steps very determined. Something was clearly going on. Because North Carolina wasn’t known for earthquakes.
“I don’t like this,” Eli murmured, the first words he’d spoken in a while.
It was now afternoon and they’d been in here too long. A couple wolves had come to check on them and offer more food. They’d taken it to be polite, but none of them felt like eating.
And August’s patience was at an end. Mainly because he was worried about Vega. And now the earth was rumbling? Nah. He didn’t like this one bit.
The door to the library opened and a tall female with light brown skin and hair shorn close to her head stepped in. He recognized her from the file. Kalisa. Judoc’s second-in-command. He hadn’t seen her when they’d infiltrated the place. He’d thought she was out of town.
“You guys doing okay?” she asked, her hands casually shoved into her pockets.
August stepped forward. “What the hell is going on? Is Carson still captive?”
Her jaw ticked once and all she did was step back toward the door. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
“If something is going on or this place is under attack, we can help. You’re the second-in-command. You have the authority to make that decision,” August said.
She raised a dark eyebrow. “You know who I am?”
August nodded. “Yes.”
