by Katie Reus
“Damn it, Nyx,” he growled, but she slammed the door behind her and strode over to Finn and Drake.
“Morning,” Finn said, a frown on his face as his gaze trailed over her shoulder to Bo.
He could likely sense, or even scent, her anger at Bo. She wasn’t really sure of the specifics of shifters’ capabilities. She didn’t bother turning around at the sound of the male’s boot steps. Since she was barely keeping her emotions in check, it was probably a better idea not to look at Bo anyway.
“Is that it?” Finn asked, nodding at the brown package she held by her side.
“Yes.” She wished she could just burn the thing. “So what happened during your fly over?” Nyx asked Drake, wanting to get right to the point. She was doing a pretty good job of ignoring Bo, who was standing next to her, crowding her personal space. Something told her it was intentional.
Which was even more frustrating.
Drake looked between the two of them, his gaze landing on Bo. “You didn’t tell her?”
She turned to glare at him.
Bo rubbed the back of his neck. She tried not to watch the way his muscles tightened and flexed. “Not exactly.”
She snorted. “He hasn’t told me anything,” she said, focusing on Drake.
The dragon shifter’s expression was grim. “It’s nothing I can put my finger on but when I flew over it last night with Victoria I sensed…something supernatural. There’s a scent in the cemetery similar to a Hell Gate. It’s not the same, of that I’m sure, but the scent reminds me of one.”
Nyx didn’t know all the details of how Drake, a dragon shifter, had come to live with a wolf pack, but she did know that he’d been held prisoner in Hell. He’d been freed through a Hell Gate. Keelin had told Nyx that after Nyx had saved her, but she’d been a little fuzzy on the details. Regardless, he would be an expert. Still… “You’re certain?”
“That scent is embedded in my brain. The similarity bothers me.” He looked at Bo. “Do you have any idea what it is?”
“Maybe.” He shot a glance at Nyx, his amber gaze intense.
It reminded her of the way he’d looked at her last night when he’d gone down on her. Nope, not thinking about that.
“The same way your mother and father live in different realms, it could be the entrance to a Hell realm,” he said quietly.
She frowned even as Drake asked, “What’s that?”
“It’s not actually related to Hell at all, it’s just called a Hell realm because it’s an alternate place for half-demons and other beings who don’t love earth, but also don’t belong in Hell. In some cases they’ve been banished to one—”
“One? As in, there are more than one?” Nyx asked.
He nodded, his expression grim. “Those who get banished to one don’t last. The realms are dangerous. Only predators survive there.”
“So…how do they get opened? The same way Hell Gates do?” Which involved a lot of chanting and blood sacrifice.
“To get into one, yes. More of a specific chant than a sacrifice—though blood sacrifice will work too. To leave one, however, it’s just a matter of finding the door.”
“Okay.” A sliver of relief slid through her. “Since we don’t plan on chanting any ancient ritual spells or sacrificing humans I should be fine to drop this thing off and leave. It’s not just going to open up randomly, right?”
He shook his head. “It shouldn’t, but I still don’t like it.”
“I really miss the days when all I had to worry about was rogue vampires or the occasional escaped demon to kill,” Finn muttered, his gaze straying to the surrounding fence.
“I’m doing this now then. There’s no reason to wait.” It was morning, there weren’t any humans that she could see past the locked gate, and her time was running out. She didn’t want to wait until the last minute and miss her deadline. Because if her mother sent her to her father’s realm, she wasn’t positive that she could get out. Sure, she was stronger than that side of the family, but for all she knew her mother could do something to tether her there.
Bo’s amber eyes flashed. “Nyx—”
“I’m not asking.” When he started to argue, she held up a hand. “I made a deal and I have to honor it no matter what. It’s happening.”
He watched her for a long moment before nodding. “Fine. I’m going with you.”
“We’ll flank you, give you about fifty feet of space on either side,” Finn said, pulling his cell phone out. “I know where the gravestone is.” He held out his phone and showed them the path they’d have to take to get to it.
Nyx wanted to argue, but knew it was pointless. Three males, all different species, but alphas were all the same it seemed. Must be something in their genes. She was just glad Victoria wasn’t there because she couldn’t bear the thought of anything happening to her friend. Drake had probably either snuck out or actually won an argument with his mate on leaving her behind. Nyx was betting on the former.
“Okay, let’s do this.” Bo fell in step with her as they headed to the arched gates.
Finn yanked on the heavy chain, snapping the lock as if it were made of paper mache.
On instinct, Nyx looked behind her, but across the narrow street was an old abandoned-looking church. No one was there that she could see and she figured Drake and Finn would be able to scent people anyway. As they all stepped through the gate, Finn and Drake moved out on either side of them like well-trained warriors. Next to her Bo was practically rippling with energy, his gaze alert, his body on edge as he scanned the wide open cemetery with bright, amber eyes.
It was insanely sexy—something she wished she didn’t notice.
“I don’t want you to leave my place,” he said quietly, though he had to know the other two males could hear him.
She didn’t know how to respond and she didn’t want to talk about anything with an audience. It was embarrassing enough that he’d literally run from her after making her climax—when her dress had been hiked up to her waist, her body still trembling from the aftermath of the best orgasm she’d ever had. Nope, not talking about that here.
Feeling her cheeks flush, she looked away, scanning the gravestones. “We can talk about it after we’re done.” Except her mind was already made up.
Huge oak trees draped in Spanish moss lined their path as they cautiously turned down another walkway. The gravestone they wanted wasn’t far off the next path.
Nyx’s anxiety kicked up, but she couldn’t smell anything weird, couldn’t sense anything off either. She didn’t doubt Drake’s senses, but just because there was potentially a gate to another realm didn’t mean anything.
There were gates like that all over the world, but they had to be opened intentionally. If she had to guess, her mother probably wanted her to leave this for someone supernatural and didn’t want to do it herself because Chaos thought everyone was an enemy. And she wouldn’t worry about a little thing like Nyx getting ambushed by someone. Well, if that was going to happen, then she figured the three males would be able to sense it. Or she really hoped.
“It should be down here,” she motioned with the package to a line of simple square gravestones. According to the layout Finn had shown them it would be five markers in from the path.
Bo stepped in front of her in a protective move that completely melted her, even if she didn’t want it to. She was still angry at him, there should be no melting. But the idea that he would place himself in harm’s way for her twisted her up inside.
She could barely see Drake and Finn moving through the trees and gravestones on either side of them. The two males were stealthy.
When they reached the marker with the name Charlotte Bessey, who’d died in 1850, Nyx knelt down with the package and propped it against the square-shaped headstone.
As she looked up at Bo, he took her hand and started to pull her to her feet. She didn’t need the help, but the weakest part of her loved touching him. Males clearly made females lose their minds.
&nb
sp; “Let’s get the hell out of here,” he muttered.
“Gladly.” She stood, moving close to him—and the world literally fell away under her feet.
Before she could react or even think, Bo wrapped his arms around her in a fierce grip as they fell into a maelstrom of wind and pelting rain.
It was similar to when she transported, but she wasn’t doing this.
Wind whipped her hair into a frenzy as rays of color exploded around them, painting the expanding tornado with bright rainbow splashes.
As if they were traveling through another galaxy. Time seemed to stretch out forever but she knew only a few heartbeats passed before the vortex spit them out.
Fear punched through her as they slammed into a concrete surface, Bo turning them to take the brunt of the impact.
Squinting through the rain and wind she saw rumbling stone ruins surrounding them on all four sides, but there was no covering above, showing an eerie lavender sky that definitely wasn’t of earth.
They’d been sucked into another realm. And she had no idea which one.
Chapter 5
It took Bo all of two seconds to realize where they were. He’d never been here before, but he knew it had to be a Hell realm because he was in his half-demon form and there was no way for him to cloak himself.
Nyx was on top of him, her eyes huge as she stared down at him. The wind and rain had dissipated with the portal closing, but her hair was still damp and slicked back from her face.
She had to be terrified. He held up his palms. “It’s me—”
She smacked his chest. “I know it’s you. I’d know your eyes anywhere.”
The offhand way she said it did something strange to his insides. He had no time to contemplate it though as he slid her off him, conscious that her sparkling, ethereal fae wings were visible as well. They flared out from her back through her clothes, a beacon of light in this dim place. He’d never seen them before—hadn’t known she even had them—but in certain realms you couldn’t hide what you were. He was surprised she even had wings given that she seemed to take after her mother, but it made sense she’d have gotten some qualities from her fae side.
Regardless, he needed to conceal her wings and hide her. He didn’t even know if he could cloak the wings, but he had to try. A half-fae in a Hell realm was unsafe. She’d be considered prey. Not to mention she was a beautiful female. In a place like this she was automatically in danger.
As she moved to stand, her eyes widened when she realized he was completely naked. Yep, transforming had shredded his clothes. Instead of his light brown skin, in this form he was a pale blue color, a foot taller and a lot broader, just like his fucking father. Unlike his father he didn’t have horns, but he did share the same tattoos symbolizing his lineage. God, he loathed himself. She must be disgusted, but that didn’t matter now. He couldn’t do a damn thing about it.
“We’ve got to get out of here.”
“No problem. I’ll just transport us out.” She grabbed his hands, frowned after a moment. “It’s not working.” A trace of fear laced her words.
“We’re in a realm created by…a deity is probably the wrong word, but by a powerful being not connected to your mother’s pantheon. You won’t be able to get out that way.”
Her cheeks paled as she slowly nodded. “I get what you’re saying. Will I have any of my powers here?”
“Possibly. But we’re here because someone wanted you here.” There had to have been some sort of trigger set up by that grave marker and Nyx’s presence activated it. One guess who’d set it up. When they got out of here, he was going after her mother himself.
A clawing sound echoed around them, like a hundred nails on chalkboards.
“We’re not alone,” Nyx whispered.
“Put your back to mine.” Bo was tense as he swept his gaze over the crumbling ruins. There was a wild scent in the air that reminded him of the rainforest.
The ground rumbled beneath them as Nyx moved into place, her back against his. He could barely feel her thin wings against his skin, but they were cool.
“My chaos works here. That’s me,” she murmured.
Creatures that looked like a cross between a scorpion and a hellhound skittered out of the darkness on long, spiky talons. He counted eight.
“There are a dozen creepy things moving toward me,” Nyx breathed out, raw fear in her voice as the rumbling intensified.
He hooked one arm through hers, keeping her pinned to him, and started to do a slow turn. Twenty in all. He’d seen similar creatures before. “You have to cut off their tails, not their heads.” Because otherwise two more heads would grow back in place.
He had no doubt he could take them on, but not with Nyx here.
“Uh, how the hell do we do that?”
The creatures moved closer, forty feet away now.
“We don’t. Unleash all of your power. Bring this place down. Then we run.” As plans went, it was shitty, but right now his only concern was getting Nyx to safety.
It raked against his instinct to turn from a fight, any fight, but he could shelve his warrior pride and run. For Nyx. Luckily he could run very, very fast.
“Okay.” Her voice was a low murmur.
He unleashed his own talons, extending them as concrete exploded around them, raining down on everything in a burst of chaos.
“Shit!” Turning, he grabbed Nyx and tossed her over his shoulder.
She yelped but wrapped her arms tight around his back as he draped an arm over her jeans-clad legs. Dodging a falling brick, he slashed out with his talons at one of the advancing creatures, slicing its tail off in one quick swoop.
It wailed in agony before turning to ash, but he wasn’t stopping to see his handiwork. There was an opening in the falling walls and he had to get through it before this place collapsed.
“Behind us!” Nyx shouted. “I can’t stop it!”
He glanced over his shoulder to see one of the walls teetering inward. His heartrate skyrocketed. It would crush them and while he was certain they’d survive, it would break a lot of bones. They’d be weak while they recovered; prey.
The creatures were all running now too, none of them focused on Bo and Nyx. On a burst of adrenaline, he raced faster, the muscles in his legs tightening as he jumped onto a pile of fallen concrete.
He jumped off it, using one of the creatures’ bodies as a springboard to leap to another pile. A rushing sound, like hail slamming against the earth echoed around them as they reached the opposite wall.
It was only eight feet high. “Hold on!” he shouted above the growing din of cries and rumbling.
Letting go of her legs, he jumped and latched onto the low wall. Using all the strength of his upper body, he barely felt the exertion of energy as he hoisted them up and over it. His feet landed on the hard earth on the other side with a thud.
Adrenaline punched through him like lightning as he surveyed their surroundings. A lush jungle spread out before them under the lavender sky. He had no idea what creatures waited for them here, but he had no choice except to find out.
A deafening boom sounded behind them, spurring him into action. He didn’t waste energy looking back. It wouldn’t matter if he saw how close the rushing avalanche of debris was. He couldn’t afford any distraction now.
Not when he was very aware of the peril they were in until they escaped the landslide of rubble. The ground rumbled beneath them as a few giant bricks slid past him.
Shit, shit, shit.
He sprinted for the line of trees, a thin film of sweat covering him as they breached the forest. The thick trunks of the high canopy trees were a bright red, the color streaking past him as he raced deeper into the unknown. Ducking low-hanging branches and jumping over protruding roots, he didn’t break pace.
“We can stop now.” Nyx dug her fingers into his flesh. She seemed that much more delicate when he was in this form. That alone triggered his most protective urges. Normally in his demon form he wasn’t prote
ctive of anything, his beast was more primal. But all he wanted to do was keep her safe. Claim her. Make her his forever.
The forest had started to thin, the thick trunks growing even smaller. Ahead he could see what looked like a clearing. He started to slow, when a blur of motion moved out from his left.
Three of the scorpion-hellhound creatures advanced. Without losing momentum, he dropped Nyx onto her feet and shoved her behind him.
His talons unsheathed again as he swiped at the first, slashing across one of its eyes.
Nyx screamed behind him. He turned at the sound, his first mistake. One of the beasts lunged, its talons tearing into Bo’s chest as he fell back.
Out of the corner of his eye Bo saw a hooded figure grab Nyx, toss her over his shoulder the same way Bo had done.
A savage roar ripped from his throat, and it wasn’t because of the fiery pain where the creature’s claws had sunk into his flesh. No one was taking his female.
He punched up at the underside of the creature on top of him, slicing right through its body. There was more than one way to kill these things, but he’d told Nyx the simplest.
Now he grasped its heart, ripped it from its body. Ash sprayed over him as another creature jumped on him.
He rolled quickly, punching the thing in the face even as it slashed at his arms, legs and torso.
Flesh tore from his body as the thing fought him, but he blocked the pain. Seconds mattered now. He had to get to Nyx.
With a twist, he turned the beast and sliced off its tail. More ash exploded everywhere as the third creature turned and ran into the woods.
He didn’t bother giving chase, but raced in the direction Nyx had gone. In his human form he might not have the same abilities as shifters, but in his demon form, in this realm, he could follow his female anywhere by tracking her scent. Though she couldn’t have gone far, he hated not having a visual of her.
Her scent, like roses and sunshine, was potent, calling to him on the most primal level. He wouldn’t stop hunting until he had her back.
