by Holly Evans
“It seems very likely. Gideon will accompany me to the cult boundaries, and we’ll see if we can figure out how to break in.”
“We don’t know it’s the cult. There are still options to be explored,” Kane said.
“I’m not leaving Wren,” Gideon said.
Dante raised an eyebrow.
“She is my bond. I am not leaving her side,” Gideon said, the deep sense of protectiveness filling the bond.
I stood up.
“So, I want to clear something up here. I am perfectly capable of looking after myself. I started hunting feral lycans when I was ten. I have taken down many redcaps, lycans, witches, and other deeply unpleasant beings.”
Dante took my hands in his.
“We don’t mean any offense,” he said softly.
Kane put his hand between my shoulder blades. “We care. We hate seeing you hurt.”
“And he’s a hellhound,” Dante said.
I glared at him.
“Gideon is a person. He is far more than a hellhound. I don’t know if it’s your father’s blood, your high-society upbringing, or what, but he is a person, not just a hound,” I growled.
He smiled at me, a bright genuine smile.
“You have a beautiful heart, Wren Kincaid.”
“And I am still not leaving her side,” Gideon said.
“You will be able to feel out magic that I can’t. Wren and Kane can research the history of the tattoo while we try and find a way in. Splitting the resources this way is efficient,” Dante said.
I could feel Gideon digging his heels in through the bond.
“He won’t hurt you, and the quicker we find out how to get in there, the sooner this is over and done with,” I said to Gideon.
He stood and pressed his forehead to mine.
“I will keep you safe,” he said before he walked to the front door.
“You’ll need fresh jeans,” Kane said, pointing to the blood on those.
He pulled them off and shifted into his hound form. I got the distinct sense of him being a smartass through the bond. Dante picked up the jeans.
“We’ll be back as soon as possible,” he said.
“What are we supposed to do about Dante knowing I’m a witch?” I asked as I flopped back down onto the sofa.
“We’ll figure something out. It’s not unrealistic for you to not know what your magic is, given you’re from hunter lines,” Kane said, sitting next to me with his laptop.
“I don’t want to go on the run. That’s a shitty excuse for a life, and now I have to think about Gideon, too,” I said.
Kane put his arm around my shoulders and kissed my temple.
“We’ll figure it out, together. At least Gideon seems to be settling in.”
“I don’t know what to make of him. One minute he’s needing gentle affection, the next he’s tearing an assassin apart.”
Kane smiled.
“He’s a hellhound, it’s hard for him. From what Dante said, he’s too lean and pretty to have been favoured by the demons down there, so he will have been heavily abused. His instincts tell him to fight and protect you, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t need a gentle touch. He’s never been loved; I expect the craving for that is pretty intense.”
I sighed. I had no choice but to do my best and hope I could give him some happiness in his new life.
“I’ve been working on access to the Council archives. Dante gave me the access he has, but I’m going to break into the higher levels. There’s something going on with this cult, and we need to know what.” Kane said.
“I guess I’ll Google…” I said with a smile.
“There’s an online database for brands, tattoos and such - a supernal one - I’ll link you. That should give you some insight.”
“You’re such a geek sometimes,” I said, nudging him with my shoulder.
He grinned at me. “You wouldn’t have me any other way.”
I chewed on my bottom lip. “Gideon thought you and Dante were my mates…”
He laughed riotously at that. He doubled over and clutched at his stomach, his laptop almost tumbling onto the floor. He finally looked at me with tears in his eyes.
“Gods be with me, that’s fantastic.”
“Hey, what’s so funny about that?” I said.
He grinned at me and stroked my cheek. “Because he has more insight from spending an hour with us than you’ve gained in years.”
I had no idea what he was talking about with insight, but it was not a topic I wanted to discuss. I’d had a crush on him for years, but I hadn’t dared do anything about it for fear of losing him.
“So, I just search ‘sword and drop of blood,’ right?” I said.
His hand moved to the back of my head and his smile became small and hopeful.
“Don’t run from me, Wren, please,” he whispered.
I frowned, “I’m lost…”
His smile broadened a bit as he leaned in.
“Gideon was closer to the mark than you realise,” he whispered, his breath curling over my lips.
“Don’t tease me,” I whispered back.
His lips were almost against mine, something I had dreamed of for years. I’d never gotten over him, and I was an idiot for telling myself I had.
He slowly pressed his lips to mine, a tentative kiss that tasted of chocolate and sea salt.
“I can’t lose you,” he whispered.
I kissed him slowly, still unsure that this wasn’t some weird game of chicken or a joke.
“You’ll never lose me,” I whispered back.
He kissed me harder, deeper. I dug my fingers into his hair and pulled him to me, kissing with a hunger I’d kept buried for five long years.
FORTY-FOUR
When we broke the kiss, I felt like my world had imploded.
“What now?” I whispered.
Was that a one-off? Was it the start of something much more?
“We’ll take things slowly and see where they lead,” Kane said with a soft smile.
And just like that, he turned to his laptop and everything was as it normally was. I frowned at my laptop and clicked on the link Kane had sent me to the archive. It gave me something to focus on. Oh, gods! Gideon would have felt that down the bond. I blushed at the thought, and he was going to know when I (finally) got laid!
“Everything ok?”
“Gideon’s going to feel when I get laid, isn’t he?”
Kane laughed. “Yes, I’m afraid he is.”
“Fuck.”
Kane laughed harder.
“You’ll get used to it.”
“I don’t think I want to!”
I turned my attention to the plain website before me. It was one of those very clean sites, without any excess information such as how to use it. There was a search bar at the top, so I looked for ‘tattoo with sword and drop of blood,’ and to my horror three thousand results came back. I settled in for a long (and boring) afternoon.
I’d made it through the first 774 results when Dante and Gideon walked into the apartment. Gideon changed back into his human form right there in the middle of the living room. He stood there in his nakedness until Dante tossed the jeans at him. I tried very hard to keep my eyes above his collarbone, but it was difficult.
Dante cleared his throat, and I noticed the blood on his shirt and the bruise on his cheekbone. I went to him and caressed the small bruise that was blooming.
“What happened? Did you bash your head against the barrier?” I teased.
He smiled at me and leaned into my touch.
“The cult had it better defended that we anticipated. The barrier extends for a mile in either direction, and after that there’s a series of traps and guards.”
“We only killed one guard, but they know we were looking around,” Gideon said.
He came up next to me, and I felt his desire for touch down the bond. He slowly reached out and pressed his fingertips to the palm of my hand.
Dante kissed m
y forehead. “I’m going to get a shower and some fresh clothes. We’ll go to dinner once I’m done.”
I sat back down on the sofa next to Kane, and Gideon took the other side, where he leaned against me and rested his hand on top of mine.
“Did you learn anything useful?” Kane asked.
“There’s blood magic woven with earth magic in the barrier. There’s a lot of blood magic deeper within the cult. Wren should be careful around there. It isn’t a good idea for her to get too close.”
I raised an eyebrow at him. “We covered the whole ‘I can defend myself’ thing, remember?”
He smiled at me.
“I’m aware of that, Dante spoke highly of your fighting abilities. I had meant the blood magic.”
I looked to Kane with alarm. Could Gideon know?
Gideon leaned in and whispered, “There are no secrets from the bond.”
I turned to face him with a stormy expression.
“That was just creepy,” I scolded.
He shrank away from me, and I instantly regretted it.
I cupped his cheek in my hand and said gently, “Just, try and think about stuff sounds before you whisper it in my ear…”
He gave me a weak smile and nodded.
“Do you understand the consequences of people knowing?” I asked.
“Execution. I wouldn’t put you in harm’s way like that,” he said, the protectiveness kicking in down the bond.
I breathed a sigh of relief. Of course it wouldn’t benefit him to harm me. Then again, if he ever bonded with another witch, I could be royally screwed.
“What else did you learn?” Kane prompted as he squeezed my hand.
“The blood magic there matched with the blood magic of the assassin, but Dante needs to get permission from the Council before we can break in. The paperwork here is tiresome,” Gideon said.
“Yea, it really is. Just wait until you have to fill in all the paperwork for jobs,” I said.
The hound wrinkled his nose at that.
“Did you make any progress with the tattoo?” Dante asked as he came back into the room.
His hair was still damp, as was his skin, which glistened in the sunlight. I felt Gideon’s amusement, and tore my eyes away from Dante only to see Kane smirking at me. I was surrounded.
FORTY-FIVE
“We’re going to have to get some clothes for Gideon. I don’t have enough spare with me,” Kane said.
“No, you’re not going around naked,” I said before the hound could speak.
He gave me a positively sinful smile. He was settling in just fine.
“Can we put that on the expense account?” I asked Dante.
He shrugged. “I don’t see why not. The shops should still be open, we’ll pick him up some clothing on the way to dinner.”
And just like that, we were clothes shopping for a hellhound.
We’d barely stepped out the door when we were surrounded by Olapireta assholes. They had filled the small alley in front of the apartment, a group of them pressed in close to each other, each with looks of righteous fury. I knew it was them because Darijo’s father was leading the group.
“The cambion must leave the city. Now,” the short blond man next to him demanded.
They all looked so normal. One even wore the type of Hawaiian shirt you only expect to see in gaudy tourists. The rest were in perfectly reasonable outfits from jeans and t-shirts to pretty sun dresses. They looked like average people, not crazed assholes hellbent on destroying people who happened to be born to the ’wrong’ bloodlines.
“Make me,” Dante said with a feral grin.
Darijo’s father lost all colour and stepped back. The younger men in the group put their shoulders back, likely seeing this as a chance to prove they were worthy and had balls. The older members of the group shrank back a little. They had more experience. They knew what Dante and people like us were capable of.
Kane stepped forward next to Dante, and the mood suddenly changed.
“He is a pure-blood,” a woman said in a reverent whisper.
“Yes, he is from the sacred bloodline,” a younger man said his eyes wide in awe.
Whispers rippled through the group, the righteous anger replaced with confusion and worshipful gazes. Dante was almost forgotten as attention turned to Kane.
“What are you talking about?” I demanded.
“That witch is perfection,” a dark-haired woman said.
I rolled my eyes.
“He’s hot, but there’s no need to feed his ego.”
“He is from the purest bloodline, the sacred line,” an older man said as though that explained everything.
“Piss off. Now,” Kane growled.
The leaders of the group, those who looked ready to throw themselves at Kane’s feet, looked like hurt puppies at Kane telling them to piss off.
Gideon bared his teeth and really growled. Darijo’s father yelped and led the rest of the group quickly away.
“What did they mean, you’re from a sacred bloodline?” I asked Kane.
He rolled his eyes. “My coven is a very, very old bloodline, and they’ve been snobby assholes about who’s allowed to breed into it for centuries. Bastards like that love that shit.”
I ran my fingers over Dante’s inner wrist, and he smiled at me.
“Are you ok?” I asked.
He nodded.
“Time to get Gideon some clothing. What type of clothes do you want, hound?”
There was a soft affection to the word ‘hound,’ so he was softening to him.
Gideon looked down at Kane’s old jeans. “I like these.”
“Jeans and t-shirts it is,” Dante said with a smile.
And so, we headed out into the city to go clothes shopping, the worst type of shopping known to man.
The shopping trip was successful. Kane replaced the two pairs of jeans he’d lost to Gideon, and Gideon had more of his own clothes. He was positively gleeful that he’d been able to pick out his own clothes. Dinner was quiet and peaceful, no one sniped at each other, and Gideon’s manners were impeccable. All in all, it was a pleasant evening, a much-needed break from the chaos that had been our lives recently.
Once we were back in the apartment, the topic of conversation turned back to the cult and, inevitably, blood magic.
“Why were they executed?” Gideon asked.
I glared at him. That was not a useful topic. He pulled me close to him and nuzzled my neck, feelings of security and helpfulness pouring down the bond. His idea of helpfulness did not match up with mine. Dante stole the seat next to me on the sofa, relegating Kane to the armchair. Gideon’s amusement rippled down the bond.
“They were executed because they are too dangerous to allow them to live,” Dante said.
“Surely they’re people, they can make decisions,” I said.
“Their magic is inherently dark and dangerous. They will always become a weapon, something which causes harm,” he said.
“Like a cambion?” I said sweetly.
“Never call me that. Call me half-demon, my father’s son, but never cambion,” he said.
“What changed? Surely blood witches existed alongside other witches for many centuries, what made the execution order come into effect?” Gideon asked.
He was leaning against me, his thigh pressed to mine and his hand resting lightly on mine. The happiness at the contact filled every fibre of his being, put me at ease despite the unpleasant topic of conversation.
“They were always solitary witches, but a trio of them started working together. They were hunting for a blood knight. They wanted to bring him back and use him to take over the world,” Kane said.
“Really? They couldn’t think of something less cliché?” I said.
Kane and Gideon laughed.
“Power appeals to many people,” Dante said.
“What’s a blood knight?” I asked.
“The myth goes that a blood witch fell for a valiant protector. He had ho
ped to become a Guardian chosen by the gods, but no god ever chose him. The witch, though, seeing his desire to protect people and make the world a brighter place, she gave him the gift of blood magic. It was a curse that twisted and warped him. Soon, he felt that the people around him were weak, and the best way to protect them was to twist them into monsters. The witch, heartbroken, used the last of her life essence to lock him away in a vault. She had already given him too much of herself; she didn’t have the magic or life essence to be able to kill him. Of course, it’s just a myth. No one has ever found the vault. No one can even agree on which country it was in,” Dante said.
“Some people say it was here, though, not far outside of the city,” Kane said.
Dante laughed. “Are you going to try and tell me you think the cult is the mythical blood knight?”
Kane shrugged. “Never say never.”
“And on that note, I believe we’re all exhausted. I’m going to bed, and I suggest you go, too,” Dante said before he leaned in and kissed my cheek.
The warmth from his lips against my skin spread through my body and made my toes curl. I looked to Kane, expecting to see jealousy or anger after our kiss earlier, but he had a small smirk on his face instead. Had the kiss earlier been a game? No, Kane would never do that to me.
“I’ll get you a blanket,” I said to Gideon.
He frowned, “I had hoped to stay with you.”
Kane shrugged.
“The choice is yours,” he said.
The hope coming down the bond was too much. I couldn’t shatter that.
“There isn’t much room in the bed, but your hound form will fit on the floor,” I said.
Gideon nipped my ear gently. “Then I’ll get a shower and see you soon.”
I buried my face in my hands. What a ridiculous mess I was in.
FORTY-SIX
I woke up in Kane’s arms with Gideon in his hound form laying over my legs feeling very contented to be treated well. I reached down and rubbed behind his ear, as much as it felt weird knowing he had a human form. Kane stretched and kissed me on the forehead before he rolled out of the bed leaving me feeling lost and confused. Nothing had changed since the kiss, and I had no idea what to make of that.
