by Angel Lawson
The clock is ticking, but the painting, it shows me that I have time.
We have time.
And the destruction can finally come to an end.
26
Sam
In the training room, seven new uniforms appear in the closet. Davis eagerly assists the Legion and Sue helps Hildi zip up her perfectly fitting suit. Each is equipped with weapons suited for our particular skills. Hildi’s has a shield attached to the back and her long Valkyrie sword is nestled underneath. Her blonde hair is knotted in a dozen braids and her eye makeup is black and fearsome.
“I can understand why people would both love and fear seeing that woman come for them at the final moments,” Damien says as he buckles his boot. “Not a bad way to die and go to heaven.”
A few of the Immortals seem to agree. Their eyes watch her with interest. Rupert walks over to her now and engages in quiet conversation.
“This all seems a little easy, don’t you think?” Damien adds. Boots secure, he checks his weapons.
“How do you mean?” The past week has been exhausting. We fought to the death. We gained contract-owned warriors. I’ve worried over Morgan and in my mind played out a dozen scenarios how this can go wrong.
“We have our army.” He nods at Hildi. “Added a strong, loyal member, and we should get back to the castle in time for the ceremony. That all seems much too easy.”
I study him for a moment. His tattoos peek above his collar. He’s only wearing one ring tonight as well as just two small earrings. He’s in fighting mode, as we all are, but something is bugging him. “What’s your concern?”
“Bunny.” He says his name quietly. “Only the gods know what he’s doing.”
As a group, we’re conflicted about Bunny. His betrayal tears at the fabric of who we are as a unit—as a brotherhood. We’ve fought, lived, and now loved side-by-side since our creation. His actions hurt. Some of us more than others. Dylan and I have faith that he may have been working with us. Clinton and Damien, not so much.
“Dylan says he saved Morgan from Casteel. And she obviously still trusts him. She gave him the uniform and stayed with him on the Otherside.”
“They haven’t fucked,” he says.
“No.” We would have felt it. And frankly, I’ve been waiting for it. The longer it takes, the more worrisome it is. “Maybe there hasn’t been an opportunity? It’s not like the Morrigan will allow them to be near one another. Morgan may be in the dungeons.”
“If Bunny is truly on our side, he could be dead.”
I shake my head and focus on securing my belt. We would have felt that, too.
“I can’t forgive him,” Damien says. “Not for sending us to the dungeons. Not for hurting Morgan like that.”
“I understand, but until this is over we can’t do anything about it. We need him. So does she.” He can’t argue that. None of us can. The circle is almost complete and to beat the Darkness, Morgan needs Bunny to close the gap.
Otherwise, all of this? I look around the room. May be for nothing.
27
Morgan
Nevis is stunned silent when Casteel reveals he is aware of her underground community.
“How long?” she asks.
“Since it began.” He leads the way down to the dungeons, to the tunnel that will take us back to her people, to a safe place for the rest of the day. “There are few secrets in the castle.”
“Does she know?”
“If she pressed it she would, but Anand is obsessively focused on her mission. She’s just happy to have the castle run efficiently and to have the elixir from your water source to keep her healthy and strong.”
The news rocks my friend and as we reach the dark end of the dungeon she stops and whispers to me, “If you stop all of this, what happens to us?”
It’s an honest question—one I had not considered when agreeing to Casteel’s plan. If we close the gate and contain the Darkness to this world, Nevis’ people will never gain their freedom.
“I will not allow your people to suffer any longer.”
“But how? How can you promise that?”
My list of challenges is growing. I pull her close and grip her hands. “Do you trust me?”
“I want to.”
“I understand and if that’s all you can give, I’ll take it.” I step into the tunnel, pulling her with me.
The confusion I feel doesn’t lessen as I travel beneath the castle. It does intensify when I exit the small door and stand at my full height. Bunny is already there.
“Did you…” I start to ask Nevis, but she shakes her head.
“We’re short on time,” she says, looking between the two of us. “Follow me.”
I’ve learned a lot about my sexuality over the past few months. I’ve learned its power and the control I have over my mates. I’ve learned about energy and electricity. Love and compassion. Force and passion. I glance at the man walking next to me on the smooth, dirt path through the village. He’s the only one that has truly hurt me. But then I wonder, as he slips his glasses up his nose with his one good hand and the other lies limp by his side, maybe he’s also the one that has sacrificed the most.
Nevis takes us to the far reaches of the community, to a small but sturdy hut. The walls are made of red clay and the roof thatched from hay. She stops at the door and says, “This is our wedding house. Newlyweds come here to celebrate and consummate their relationships. You’ll have the quiet and peace to figure out your next step together.”
“Thank you,” Bunny says, as though he’s not the least bit surprised. Did he know it would come to this?
“I’ll sound the gathering bell when time is close. It’s important we’re back in the castle and ready when the Queen sends for you.”
I nod. “Yes. We’ll be ready.”
She gives me a tight, understanding smile. “Good luck and may the gods bless you.”
She turns and walks down the path. I watch her go and then spin to face Bunny. He’s already opened the door and holding it wide for me. With a knot in my belly and a grim set to my jaw, I step past him and enter the house.
The cottage is sparsely decorated. A queen-sized bed is the focal point, a white, hand-stitched quilt covering the mattress. There’s a small kitchen with a table and a stove. A claw foot tub sits in the corner.
“I never thought our relationship would end like this,” I say to him. “Forced. A cog in a wheel bigger than both of us.” He smiles wistfully at my description. “Actually, the weird thing is I thought you’d be my first.”
“In a different life I probably would have been.”
We stand before one another, neither dressed in our finest as we were just the night before. At the banquet there had been at least a sense of danger. Of desire. Definitely desperation as the Darkness surged in me and needed quenching. If we’d been pushed together at one of those times I easily would have succumbed, but now I’m cleansed. Clean from that dark energy—primed for the Morrigan’s binding.
Now I just feel helpless. Hopeless, despite what Casteel told me in my room upstairs. There are too many balls in the air; my guardians, the warriors they bring with them, Nevis and her people and the whole gods-damned world back home that doesn’t even realize they’re on the edge of a knife. There are too many people counting on me, relying on me, and I’m nothing but a girl.
“I don’t know what to do,” I say to him in a whisper.
He lifts his hand and tucks my hair behind my ear. Instinctively my body reacts to his touch; butterflies flutter in my stomach, my knees tremble, and my nipples tighten in anticipation. His pupils dilate, the dark center spreading over his copper iris. I feel his fingers clench in my hair and I lean into his palm.
“Do you trust me?” he asks.
“No.” I shake my head. “I don’t.”
He tilts his head and his hair falls into his eyes. His tongue darts out and my traitorous lips quiver, thinking about kissing him. “You don’t have to. It’s okay i
f you don’t. But we’ve got to do this, okay?”
I nod. “Okay.”
He grazes my neck with his hand, the pads of his fingertips rough from use. A chill runs down my spine—the good kind—and he brushes his warm lips against mine. There’s no hesitation, there’s no time for that. I’m thankful because it’s time to turn off my gods-forsaken brain for just. One. Fucking. Minute.
My body responds to his like a flower to sunlight. I lean into him, tasting his mouth, sucking his tongue. The layers of conflict fall between us, like the shedding of our clothes. I unbutton his shirt, slipping the wide metal buttons through the slits one after the other. The solid curves and planes of his bare chest peek out at me along with the taut ladder of his abs. His body is unfamiliar to me, I haven’t had the pleasure of spending time exploring him and today would be no different.
He bunches my dress in his hand, lifting it up my body, his knuckles grazing my stomach. My belly clenches and there’s no denying the warmth between my legs. Our mouths part but our breath mingles as we remove the final barriers between us.
Bunny nudges me toward the bed and I fall back, knees dangling over the edge. He stands before me, hard. Ready. Big.
His eyes drink me in. I brace myself for him, half eager, half feeling a pit of hollowness deep inside. It shouldn’t be like this—out of our control. My fingers clench the bedding and I close my eyes.
I feel nothing but a flutter by my legs, knees brushing knees. I blink and find him over me. His mouth is inches from mine and he whispers, “I can never take back the pain of what I did, but I can redeem myself in the eyes of the gods and my brothers and you.”
His length is between us; pressing and solid. My legs part and his hand ghosts down my inner thigh. I shift, welcoming him, my core slick.
The energy between us ebbs, the Darkness beaten back inch by inch, and something different rises, something I’ve only grasped in my fingers like the wind. I cling to the feeling, the power, and lasso it around us like a bond. I touch his chest, feel the pebble of his nipples beneath my fingers. With my mind—my body—I pull, bringing him closer. To my mouth, to my body, and with one hand I guide him toward me. The goddess flares the instant we meet. I roar against his lips and he pushes in, slowly, achingly.
Finally.
He enters me and it’s like a link in the chain. A piece of the puzzle clicks into place. A rush washes over me. Everything makes sense. Feels right.
And it’s not enough.
It’s like a trigger, those pieces clicking together, link by link and the swirling energy kicks me to life.
“Oh,” I say to him, to the world. “Oh, Bunny. I…”
I push Bunny off and on his back, his expression shock and regret. I feel the loss of our connection but that is short-lived. The entity inside me understands. She knows the path we’re on and is no longer allowing the weaker side of me—the human part of both of us--to fuck this up.
His head presses into the pillows and I straddle his hips. His cock is slick with my heat and I don’t hesitate before sinking down, guiding him to the depths of my core.
“Uhhhh,” I cry, followed by prayers to the gods. The flip switches in Bunny’s eye and once he understands how this is truly greater than the two of us, he reacts with force.
His hips buck against me and I ride him hard, feeling every inch of him, from tip to the base of his cock when he slams into me. Sweat pools between us, I feel it on his fingertips when he pinches my nipples and on his face when I suck his jaw. The walls fade, the bed disappears and we’re just two, bonding, binding, and mating.
We close the circle, the one that started with Clinton and forged with Sam and Damien. Strengthened by Dylan but left incomplete. On purpose. I see that now. He was waiting. I was forced back. Now is the right moment for us to complete the bond of the five. Our eyes meet and for the first time I know the path ahead.
28
Bunny
A goddess, with hair of ebony and eyes as dark as obsidian hovers above me. Her body is perfection, her skin smooth as silk. I grip her hip and pull her to me, harder and harder she rides, tumbling us both toward ecstasy. Her hair spills over her shoulders, bouncing with her breasts. Morgan’s lips part and the moan that comes from her sounds like an angel singing.
Tension builds in me but I know this is a moment about both of us, a unique point that ties us all. My brothers surely feel the mounting energy, the power surging in his glorious woman. She’s in control. She owns us all. Her skin burns as if on fire. Her lip trembles and everything from her sharp breaths to her shaking shoulders sets me on edge. Coiling and twisting in frenzied harmony.
“Do you feel it?” she grinds out.
Fuck yes, I feel it. Her. Everything. I can’t speak. I can’t formulate words. But my eyes meet hers and I nod, grunting with every thrust. Her hands move to the slab of headboard and she grips it as she cries out. It’s not just pleasure. Certainly not pain. The essence of Darkness releases from her body, every dark tendril lingering from the Morrigan’s touch. The infection festering deep in her soul.
Bright light engulfs us. Warm and full of charged energy. Tilting her head back she spirals, biting down on her lip. I let go, the room fading around us. It’s just us and warmth. Love and righteous power. Once we ascend to this, everything I’ve held back for so long frees—I groan.
“Gods above,” I grind out, my teeth clenched. My eyes squint, trying to look at her with the glow of power behind her. I spill everything I have into Morgan just as she tilts her head back. She tightens around me and mercy, it feels like nothing I’ve ever dreamed of. Nothing a mortal man could know. We writhe against one another, riding out the moment, the event, because nothing in our world will ever be the same.
We’re one.
We’re bonded.
We’ve mated.
And as Morgan’s body slows and the bright light fades to a hazy glow, she smiles down at me. Her is mouth lazy and her eyes are glazed and there’s no doubt in my mind we’ve changed the fate of humanity.
29
Clinton
Deep in the bowls of earth, the ground shudders beneath my feet. I touch the wall for purchase. That’s when I realize that it’s not the floor or even the walls. It’s coming from inside my body. My chest.
“Morgan,” Sam says. He’s right behind me. “Do you feel that?”
“Yes,” Damien replies. In the torchlight, Dylan nods. The Immortals and Hildi look at us with confusion.
“She closed the circle.”
Which means one thing. She and Bunny have consummated their relationship. What we don’t know is Bunny’s frame of mind. Did he do this for us or the Morrigan? Which side is he on? Whatever the case, we now have a united bond. It also means that her power is fully balanced. She doesn’t need us to keep her even. She’ll have full control over an enormous amount of ability that she can use for good or evil.
“Do you think she’s ready?” I ask.
“I think Morgan is strong and steadfast,” Dylan replies.
A second wave rolls over me—us, and I cling to the wall. It’s not a bad feeling. Just overwhelming. I can’t help but ask, “And Bunny?”
Damien pushes past me to walk down the hall, his torch taking the light with him. “We’ll find out soon.”
30
Morgan
I can’t see the power, but I feel it. It’s in every inch of my body—trembling beneath my skin, in my muscles. Everything changed the instant Bunny entered me. No, everything changed with that first kiss from Clinton months ago. That simple touch cumulated in this event. My body hums in awakening. Not just physically but mentally as well.
Bunny lies next to me, his cheeks red. His copper eyes are clear and I lay a hand on his chest, feeling the heartbeat inside.
I understand now. His motives. His fears. His loyalty.
“I forgive you,” I say to him.
“I’ll earn that forgiveness for the rest of our lifetimes.” His fingers graze the under
side of my breast and a pool of heat gathers below my belly. There is no ache left in me, not after the explosive orgasm we just shared, but my body crackles and sparks with renewed desire.
I lean over to kiss him. It’s a kiss of forgiveness. A promise.
“They’re coming,” he says. Our noses are inches apart. “They’re in the tunnels.”
“I feel them.”
“They felt us,” he replies.
I open my mouth to tell him about my command; that they bring me an army, but a wave of chimes sounds from outside the cottage. There’s no mistaking. It’s time.
He kisses me where he marked me days ago and the rune ignites.
“Will that help?”
He shakes his head and slips his glasses on. “You don’t need my protection anymore. You’re strong and ready.” He touches the spot. “That’s for me. For you to remember who you belong to.”
I look down and see the outline isn’t the symbol from before but a darker brand.
Five flying ravens.
The white gown clings to the curves of my body like a second skin. I’ve seen the design before, it’s identical to the style the Morrigan prefers. It’s no surprise when I enter the enclosed field behind the castle that Anita is wearing the same one.
It’s dark, but the stone walkway leads to a paved area in the middle of green grass surrounded by flaming torches. Moonlight filters through the rooftop. The ceremony begins at midnight and we wait in a hidden area away from the crowd. Soldiers are positioned three feet apart. They’re everywhere. I strain my ears and search my heart for any signal of my guardians. I find nothing but the steady beat of my own pulse.
“I spent the afternoon reading books from the Queen’s library,” Anita says. Her face looks fresh, but I also see a bit of tiredness in her eyes. Her human vessel is feeling the strain of the Morrigan’s presence. I’ve had my guardians to help carry the weight of the Darkness. “I couldn’t sleep. Too excited, you know?”
