by JL Madore
Zander staggered forward as a Fire Demon jumped him and took him down. They rolled in a frenzied battle between his ringed fists and the freak’s two-inch fingernails. Fire singed his shoulder as the bastard’s buddy plunged a dagger into his back. With a violent twist, he peeled the flame-throwing fucker off and snapped his neck.
A grunt from Brennus had Z rolling back to his feet. The Celt took a mother of a kick to his side but managed to stay on his feet. The Aswang that attacked him had abandoned her feminine witch form and raced forward on all fours as a wolfhound.
The bitch sunk her teeth into Brennus’s arm and locked her bite. Zander grabbed the two halves of her jaw and snapped them back and off the beast’s face. A quick slash with his dagger and her head rolled onto the ice.
Seth cursed behind him, the brick shithouse of a warrior being pin-cushioned by three guys with red knives. The Egyptian staggered back, twisting his shoulders as he ripped and yanked the hilts out of the ones he could reach.
Zander hoofed it over to help. He took out a foul-smelling, Edios and sliced its neck wide. The thing spat acid. His jacket took the brunt of that.
Movement in his periphery had him turning. The undulating darkness moving in on them loomed denser and darker than the surrounding shadows. Shades. And by the size of the translucent blotch oozing from the shadows—a lot of them.
He cursed.
“Everyone, listen up,” Bo said, coming over the comms as an all-call broadcast. “The ambush is a distraction. The family is the real target. Fall back. Tanek, lock down the house.”
Zander’s beast burst forward.
His eyes blew white and he didn’t fight it. His beast flooded him with a rush of possessive power.
Target Austin and Nio? He would annihilate them all.
Phoenix’s beast obviously felt the same. The Egyptian’s dark magic polluted the air, and he rose into the violet sky. Darkworlders clutched their throats and fell to the ground, immobilized.
Crack. Lightning struck. Crack. Again. And again.
Zander pointed at the enemy and the skies obeyed, burning the attackers to ash. The many became the dead in a matter of seconds. He coiled to launch into the air when a massive surge of power hit him from behind. Instead of getting air, he face-planted into the pile of ash.
Tanek hit the lockdown on the comms console and bolted out of the war room. As the sleepy silence of the house exploded into the ringing alarm bell of a schoolhouse recess, he ghosted up three stories and started the evacuation to the tunnels at the furthest point of the house.
“Thea,” he said, ignoring proper decorum and rematerializing straight into her bedroom. The angel sat by the window, reading, while Zane slept on the football field-sized bed she shared with Seth. Good, that saved him a stop. “Take Zane and get into the tunnel panic room. No stops. Go now.”
Racing next door, he entered the other Egyptian suite. “What’s happening?” Storme said, pulling on a housecoat.
“Possible attack on the home front.”
“What can I do?”
“Grab Ronnie and Sunshine and get to the panic room in the tunnel.”
Storme bolted from the room and he dropped through the floor to the second floor. Stetson barked at him the moment he materialized next to Austin. The cowgirl was out cold. “Austin? Austin, sweetheart, you need to wake up.”
By the pharmacy of cold remedies and tissues next to the bed, he guessed she’d knocked herself out.
“What is it?” she said, barely awake. “Is it Nio?”
“No, the baby’s fine. We need—” The explosion of one of the perimeter sigils brought the urgency home. “We’re under attack. I’ll get the baby. You get Stetson and get to the hall. We’re going straight to the tunnel panic room.”
Without waiting for her reply, he ran into the nursery and scooped up Zander’s baby girl and headed into the hall.
“What’s happening?” Ringo said, staggering out of his room, his ebony hair sticking out in every direction, like he’d touched one of those static balls at the Science Center.
“Tunnel panic room now. Help Austin.”
A second explosion hit, this one close enough to rattle the windows and shake the floor beneath them. Tanek cradled Niobi in his arms and drew his dagger, gunning it for the stairs. “I’ve got the baby, Austin. Go.”
Ringo had an arm around the cowgirl and ran her down the stairs. Stetson raced ahead of them, his tail wagging and clunking against the wall.
“Three, two, one, floor,” Ringo called as they descended onto the marble tile of the foyer and took a hard right to the closet door that led to the tunnels below the house. “Railing on your right,” he said, but Austin was already grabbing it.
Thank the Egyptians for their obsession with Otherworld paint and safeguarding Austin’s surroundings.
“Tanek?” Austin called back. “You’ve still got her?”
“Right behind you, cowgirl. Focus on your footing.”
The lights flickered, and Tanek smelled dark magic being used to gain access to the house.
“Where’s Zander?” Austin asked, her voice far too calm for the situation.
Tanek tapped the comm he wore at his ear. “Z? Where are you? What’s your ETA?”
When nothing came back at him, he cursed.
“Tanek,” Ronnie said, running out of the living room. “I can’t find Sunshine.”
“I’ll find her,” he said, giving Ronnie the baby and forcing her down the stairs ahead of him. “First, we get you all locked down.”
Rounding the corner, he looked at all the panicked faces in the room. “You have everything you need in here. I’ll find Sunshine. Is everyone else here?”
“Yes,” Storme said, grabbing the door. “We’re good. Go find her.”
Ignoring the instinct to go vapor and ghost through the house, Tanek retreated and pulled the door closed. What was the sense of getting everyone to safety if he ignored the lockdown protocols?
Keying in the codes, he locked the family in tight.
Magic proof. Fireproof. Impenetrable and sealed. With self-contained oxygen and environmental controls, even if the rebellion burned the house down, this bunker would survive.
They would survive.
But would they still have their mates?
And where the hell was Sunshine?
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Kyrian paced the basement of the hotel, his dagger drawn, his soul torn. Cassi was safe. Dougal had her locked in the safety vault by the time he got there, and she alone had the codes to let herself out in twelve hours when the timer released.
Still, his heart thundered at the back of his throat, the misbehaving organ choking him more every moment.
“Go,” Cassi said over the phone, her voice off because of the echo of the sealed chamber. “I’m fine. Dougal and my men can secure the vault. I’m not going anywhere. Go help the others.”
Kyrian cursed and scrubbed through his hair. “I don’t want to leave you, Cass. These rebels are dangerous. What if they try something I didn’t anticipate? If I’m not here—”
“You anticipate everything, my love. Have Zander and the others checked in yet?”
He cursed again. “No. Tanek keeps calling over the comms, but only Bo check in.”
“Go,” she said again.
He dropped his head back and roared, his beast furious to have to choose.
“You’re not choosing them over me.”
He slammed his palm into the wall and growled. “How did you know that’s what I’m thinking?”
“Because I know you as well as myself,” she said, her tone far too appeasing for his liking. “If I were in danger, I’d be your first priority, but I’m not. Zander and your brothers need you. Now go.”
He met the solemn gaze of Cassi’s second-in-command and then studied the two dozen armed Shedim soldiers lining the corridor. “Dougal? Have you got this?”
The old warrior might be her sage advisor, but despite his more sal
t than pepper hair, the soldier still had plenty of fight in him. And he was loyal and dedicated to Cassi.
“My men are ready, Kyrian. We will do whatever is necessary. We are each prepared to die for her should it come to that, but it won’t. The Darkworld rebels won’t go out of their way to attack the Shedim. We have more warriors and resources than any other species. It would be suicide.”
He wished he could be sure.
“Go!” Cassi said again on the phone. “I love you and your beast, but you’re incredibly overprotective. Please, love, if something happens to Zander and your brothers, we’ll always wonder if things could have been different if you were at their side. Go.”
Fuuuuck. “Okay, you win, baby. I’m locking the stairwell and putting sigils on it for extra protection.”
“Be safe, love. Come back to me in one piece.”
Kyrian jogged up the corridor toward the stairs. Goddess willing, they’d all make it through in one piece.
Bo parked under the draping fall of the old willow behind the barn and stables. There were Darkworlders everywhere near the main house and crawling over the racetrack grounds. The old delivery dock to the barn was his only shot at getting inside and ensuring his family’s safety.
Rolling out of the truck, he rounded the bumper and met Layne at the passenger door. Exiled from her community, he didn’t know where to stash her to keep her secured. With Zander not answering, he couldn’t spare the time to delay.
“Promise me you’ll stay out of sight.” He checked that things were clear. When he was sure they had a straight shot to the clinic, he beat feet and made a run for it.
Something dropped on his back. The momentum pushed him into a freefall and took him down hard. Red-metal burned through his flesh, but thankfully, the bastard missed his spine. After the grunt of hitting the dirt, he rolled, struck out with his dagger, and wiped his blade through the arm of his attacker.
Rolling onto his feet, he bent in front of Layne. “Pull that out, will you?”
A weak whimper was the only protest he got, and a moment later, the excruciating pain dissolved. He drew a deep breath. Straightening, he took in the two demons. One rolled around, grabbing the oozing black stub of his arm, the other crouched, ready to pounce.
“Were you hiding in the fucking tree?”
Tweedle Dum overcommitted and was decapitated before the fight began. Bo grabbed the noggin of Tweedle Dee, sliced, and tossed the head next to his friend.
His enchanted dagger burned off the demon ichor and he sheathed it. He didn’t have time to check if Layne thought he was a brutal thug. If she did, fine.
To keep her alive, he’d gladly take the insult.
“Okay, back to Plan A. Let’s move.”
Guns drawn, they closed the distance to the racetrack outbuildings. They back-flatted against the horse arena and ran in the shadows until they stood at the edge of the pool of light cast by the bulb above the door.
Layne tucked in tight to his side. The scent of her fear burned like acid in his nostrils. His beast raged within and he fought not to scream. He didn’t want her here. He didn’t want her to be any part of this side of his life.
“On one, I’ll to unlock the door with my gift, open it, and you’re going to book it.”
For once, his little Djinn didn’t argue. Her chin dipped in acknowledgement, and he drew a deep breath.
“Three. Two. One.”
They moved in unison and got inside without incident.
Layne had a vice grip on his wrist and it soothed his soul. As much as he hated it, it was good she was scared. A healthy dose of fear might keep her cautious enough to stay out of trouble for a change.
They moved like Shades, ghosting deeper into the arena without a sound. He paused at the access stairs to the tunnel and reached out to the locking mechanisms. Completely shut down. He expected that.
Okay, off to the stables.
They trotted across the arena, their footsteps absorbed by the high-quality footing Austin used to cover the arena floor.
As they approached the far side of the arena, he reached out to check the security of the stables. No one had tripped any alarms or forced their way in. Still, he took his time and cleared the shadows as they moved.
“What’s with the glow-in-the-dark?” Layne whispered. “You guys into laser tag in your free time?”
The Otherworld paint on the doorways, stairs, and obstacles allowed them to make their way without difficulty.
“Zander’s wife is blind but has Otherworld sight. The paint helps her maneuver on her own better.”
Gunshots out on the oval track rang out.
He needed Layne stashed so he could join the fight. He picked up the pace, jogging to the stable that housed Austin’s Painted Pony. “Hey, Pinto,” he said, stroking the horse and easing him to the side. “Don’t mind us. Just passing through.”
At the back of the stable, he opened the false panel and pointed inside. “In you go.”
Layne’s eyes widened as she stepped back. “I can’t . . . it’s too small . . . too dark.”
Fuck. He forgot she was claustrophobic.
Drawing a deep breath, he offered her what he hoped was a reassuring smile. “The boards aren’t sealed. You’ll see out the cracks. And you won’t be locked in. The latch is on the inside. You hold the power. Just you and the horses, waiting out the storm. You can do this, Layne. Trust me.”
He gave her a second and though it seemed like ages, it likely wasn’t. With her emerald eyes locked on his, she nodded. “Okay, I’ll try to trust you.”
He bent down and kissed her. He meant for it to be a thank you for her meeting him halfway, a quick reassurance for himself before he headed off. Instead, she ignited, and his beast responded, bursting out in full bonded neon. Clutching her close, he felt her heart race against his chest. How much was him versus the situation, he had no clue.
Still, she was right there with him.
Damn, he wished they had time to explore it.
Slowing the sweeping caress, he pulled back, breathless. “Stay safe, kona. Don’t unlock the door. Understand?”
With her assurance she was on board, he replaced the panel, waited for the latch to click, and swept the displaced straw back in front of the door.
Where was she? Tanek searched the house top to bottom. He’d ghosted under beds, through closets, he’d even looked through all the kitchen cupboards. Sunshine was nowhere. He’d been an unstoppable warrior for over two thousand years, and he couldn’t find one little girl. “Please, sweetie, come out. I’m not mad. I want to get you someplace safe.”
Nada. Fuuuuuck.
The pop-pop-pop of gunshots rang out on the racetrack, and he gave up the search. “Wherever you are, Sunshine, stay there and stay hidden.”
If he couldn’t find her, he needed to keep the bad guys out, so they didn’t either. Gun in his left, Crystalline dagger in his right, he ghosted out to the grounds.
Total. Fucking. Chaos.
Bo shot his molecules across the vast, open oval that stood as the night’s battlefield. Intruders scurried like little ants in every direction, searching for a way into the house.
Yeah, no, not gonna happen.
The nine of them had worked to make Austin’s dream ranch a fortress. Fort Knox could take pointers.
They were each dedicated to protecting their females. It wasn’t chauvinistic in any way. The wives were tough and smart enough to keep themselves safe in normal situations, but this wasn’t normal. This was a targeted attack on the males through their better halves.
Those females and the kids truly were their better halves. They were everything. To every one of them.
Love, straight to the marrow.
Bo zeroed in on the Greek and assessed the sitch. Kyrian was all-in, going toe-to-toe with a Serpentine and two Rugaru. The two dozen assorted demon assholes cheering them on stayed well out of the reach of his wicked strong wings.
Thankfully, it was more about the b
igshots putting on a show for the troops. The rebels circling the fight weren’t getting involved.
Tanek had a blonde bitch in white leather and another half-dozen over by the front steps. The garrison’s ghostly co-commander was in no danger of dying because, hello, been there, got the pink slip to the afterlife to prove it.
Bo materialized into the circle of melee and joined Kyrian, back-to-wings. “Did someone call pest control?”
Kyrian blocked an incoming punch. “Is everyone safe?”
“No idea. Where’s Z and the others?”
“No idea.” With tension squeezing his breath from his lungs, the two of them found their groove. It wasn’t like some nights when they got off on the calisthenics of a good fight. This was rote. Both of them worried about everything they didn’t know. Both of them fighting to whittle down the numbers while hoping help would arrive.
Bo caught movement in the sky above and thanked the heavens his brothers were finally there. Except, it wasn’t his brothers. The sky ignited in a bolt of flames, singeing the hair on his body and burning his flesh. Tackling Kyrian from behind, the two of them dove to the side.
Motherfu—
Layne closed her eyes and focused on breathing. In. Out. She wasn’t trapped. She was in control. She trusted Bo. He would come back for her when it was safe. She tried to connect with her Viking protector. Nothing. Where she’d grown accustomed to reaching out and finding his familiar signature, now only darkness met her.
Did he have his mental shields up and fortified? Was she too shaken? Did the stench of horse manure negate her power? She didn’t know.
What she did know was she’d played a part in this attack and regretted it. If people targeted Jhaia to take down Gheil, she would lose her mind.
Nephilim weren’t perfect, but they weren’t the enemy she thought. She let Taid’s death cloud her judgment. If she got the chance to tell him and his brothers that, she would.
