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RUNE PACED IN FRONT OF THE FIREPLACE, A GRAVE EXPRESSION CEMENTED ON HIS WORN FACE.
The fire crackled behind him, enchanted with magic to emit cold instead of heat. Its icy flames danced in the pit, casting shadows of his every movement along the surrounding walls. He’d spent over an hour pacing, but no matter how hard he tried, Rune couldn’t tame the restlessness raging in his chest or his mind.
Before he and the others had departed for Earth, they had been warned.
Whatever you do, keep your identity a secret from the humans, protect them at all costs, and never expose your magic to them.
Despite having every intention of following those orders, Rune failed.
In the brief time after they arrived, he’d not only revealed himself to a human—he’d also endangered that very person and used magic to clean up the mess afterwards. Breaking one rule was bad enough, but all three? The very thought made the parlor seem too tight and enclosed for comfort.
After altering the memories of any neighbors who may have witnessed the debacle, including the woman’s husband, Rune was tired and wary. Questions lingered in the background of his thoughts. He wracked his brain for hours, but still couldn’t come up with an explanation for the old woman’s attack.
They’d only set up their temporary home-away-from-home a few hours before Aries knocked on their door. That the enemy knew exactly where they were in such a short time unnerved him...
Images of Aries being stabbed played on repeat in his mind. The terror and confusion he had seen on their mate’s face was embedded in his memory. Even horrifying details like the blood blooming across his shirt and the way his body shook as the pain shocked his system.
Rune would have made the woman pay dearly for what she’d done to him if she hadn’t exploded after completing her job.
The unsettling thought led to a host more.
As he paced, he couldn’t help the feeling that they were being watched. He stalked over to one of the grand windows and yanked the curtain closed. It did little to settle his nerves.
Terra, who wandered downstairs in search of him, approached Rune and wrapped an arm around him.
“How’s our neighbor doing?” Rune asked, leaning into the angel for comfort.
Although the four of them—now five—had only discovered their fated connections less than twenty-four hours ago, they felt comfortable with each other. To him, it was as though he had known them for a lifetime. In actuality, Rune knew that was how fated mates worked—adjusting to it in his own life was another matter.
Once he gave it more thought, he decided he’d rather them come together as a cohesive team now than figure it out when it was too late. Getting to know his four mates would take time, too, and the sooner they started, the better.
Plus, being so close to the ones he knew he was fated to love made Rune feel safer and more disciplined. With fated mates on the line, Rune couldn’t afford to screw up. He needed his magic and his body to be strong enough to protect them from the danger creeping up to their doorstep.
“He needed stitches, but the bleeding is under control now. I know it’s rough, but try to have some optimism, will you?”
“Easier said than done, Terra,” Rune murmured, his fists clenched.
“I know...” Terra said, “but it will be all right.”
“How can you be so sure? We just got here. In twenty-four hours, we’ve broken all the rules and blown our cover with the enemy. What are we going to do when our lords find out we’ve ruined the mission?”
“Why do you think that?” Brava asked from a nearby chair, his hands occupied with peeling an orange. “So the enemy knows where we are. Big deal. Doesn’t change what we came here to do, does it?”
“Maybe not, but we still broke the rules. We won’t be able to wash our hands of that when this is all over.”
“Why are you so uptight about that sort of thing?” Brava wondered between a bite of citrus.
“Someone has to care about it,” Rune sniffed.
Once upon a time, breaking the rules had changed the Magi’s life forever. He wasn’t the type to make the same mistake twice if he could help it.
“I think you should loosen up. Use that energy to live a little.”
“How exactly am I to do that, Brava?” Rune asked warily. “First, we were assigned to this mission. Then we found out we’re fated mates. Now, we’ve stumbled upon a human mate and the enemy? How can you can sit there so calmly peeling your orange with all of this going on?”
His own words summoned a plethora of feelings within Rune. Feelings that had long threatened to bubble over.
Frustration at having to adapt to a brand new world; temptation and desire for his mates, for which he struggled to maintain proper restraint; fear of the consequences of their actions; and a lingering doubt that whispered tales of failure into Rune’s ear.
Now, he also had to worry about the human sleeping upstairs and the monsters lurking beyond their doorstep.
Before Brava could respond, Shen poked his head out from near the bottom of the stairs. “His condition is worsening.”
The three of them exchanged wary looks.
Rune led the way with Terra and Brave on his heels. They climbed the stairs and followed Shen into one of the upstairs bedrooms where the human they'd met at the bar, and earlier when he came by to visit, lay still.
After the attack, the perpetrator blew up into ash. Likely an intended side effect of whatever dark magic had been controlling her, Rune figured.
Looking at the man lying on the bed made Rune's heart race.
The human was impossibly gorgeous. But in his battered shape, Rune could only pity him. Yet the longer he looked at Aries, the angrier he became. If they’d only been able to avoid him properly, he wouldn’t have gotten stabbed.
Rune approached the bedside and ran a gentle hand through Aries' sweaty blond hair. What a horrible state for a human like him to be in.
Rune's hand trailed down to his cheek, where he rubbed his thumb up and down, until his senses returned to him.
"Don't be ashamed by these feelings," Terra said from behind him.
The angel placed a warm hand on the small of Rune's back and traced his fingers together in one large circle. The sensation relaxed Rune, but the sight of Aries broke his heart. "Fate does mysterious things. We may never know why it led us to his side, let alone each other's, but
here we are."
"He's right," Shen agreed.
"We can only do what we can with what fate gives us," Terra went on. "It gave us him. And speaking of him, what are we going to do about this?"
As if to show what he meant, Terra gestured to Aries, whose clothes were dampened with sweat. The fever he had gradually developed after being stabbed did not subside even after several magical purification attempts on Rune's part.
How in the world was he going to solve this dilemma?
Rune pulled up a chair and sat down, determined to analyze Aries with his magic until he uncovered the root of the man's worsening symptoms. Exhausted, he leaned over the side of the bed and reached for Aries' hand.
The moment they touched, a jolt of memories flooded into his mind.
Rune saw a series of sad looking ceremonies where everyone, including Aries, dressed in formal attire. He saw a slew of memories where Aries got accosted by others, sometimes even during the ceremonies. More painfully, he saw the hand of an adult woman's hand slip from a child version of Aries, who sobbed uncontrollably, refusing to let go of her hand.
And then, at the very end of it all, he saw a memory that shocked him.
Suddenly, a powerful zap of magic shot through Rune's arm from Aries', causing him to yank his hand away in surprise.
"What happened?" Terra asked. "Are you all right?"
"Did you figure something out?" Brava wondered curiously.
Rune looked back at them with a sad feeling tangled in his gut. "He's not human."
Shen, Brava, and Terra stared at him as if he'd spoken in tongue.
"He's not human?" they repeated in unison.
Rune shook his head. "That's what my magic showed me."
Well, that wasn't all Rune had seen, but for now, he focused on what mattered most: tending to Aries.
Brava walked around the other side of the bed and peered at Aries' sleeping face. "What is he, then?"
"You won't believe it," Rune chuckled, his cheeks stinging from embarrassment.
Terra frowned at him. "Surely it isn’t that bad."
"Oh, it's bad all right..."
"Tell us," Shen insisted.
He turned to look at the others and exhaled a heavy breath. "He's an incubus—and if we don't have sex with him soon, I'm afraid he will die."
His confession brought on a long, awkward silence. It appeared that none of the others knew what to say. They simply gawked at the sleeping man who they'd thought only moments before was a human.
"How is that possible?" Shen asked slowly as he slumped down into a chair across from the foot of the bed. "We were told only humans live here. Our enemies haven't been here long enough to rear children..."
"I doubt they're giving away powers, either," Brava added solemnly.
"There's only one answer," Terra decided. "The portal must have been opened in the past."
The others gasped.
"But that would mean..."
The angel shook his head. "We will have to confirm the details with Lord Summers and the others."
"Why Lord Summers?" Shen asked.
"I overheard before we left... Bloodborne was partially responsible for uncovering the portal in the first place. It's rumored that one of Lord Summers' deceased fathers used the portal to come here himself..."
"If that's the case, there could be half-humans all over," Brava realized, stunned.
"It's possible, but until we know more, we should avoid making assumptions," Rune advised.
The four of them fell silent once more as they processed the situation.
Rune chewed on his lip. He watched Aries' sleeping face for any signs of improvement, but his health only worsened.
"Are you sure he's an incubus?" Brava said.
"Positive."
"Then we really will have to do it," the demon sighed. "Not that I mind—you all are my fated mates—but... can he even consent to it?"
“Let me see if I can wake him.”
Rune leaned over Aries and placed his hand against the man's forehead. His magic provided the slight zap he needed, for moments later, Aries opened his eyes. "Aries, listen to me. You were stabbed. You're injured, but we can help you."
His beautiful eyes glistened beneath a haze of confusion. "What? Where am I? How...?"
"You're with us, remember?” He gestured around to the others, who popped their heads into Aries’ field of vision.
Recognition bloomed across his face.
“Ah... Right. The four sexy guys from the bar. Rae wants your numbers...”
Rune did not understand who Rae was or why he wanted numbers, but he let the compliment wash over him.
“You’re an incubus," Rune told him.
"I’m... what?" Aries barely managed, his voice but a whisper.
"An incubus.” Rune repeated. “I can explain it more later. If we don't have sex soon, you'll die. Do you understand?"
“Sex?” Aries’ eyes grew cloudier as he spoke. “I don’t understand why... but we can’t do that.”
Rune ran his free hand through Aries' sweaty locks and gazed down at him with tenderness. "You will die if we don't."
Aries chuckled softly, the sound barely audible if not for Rune's well-trained ears. "If we do, you will die... Just like all the others."
Just like that, all of those funerals Rune saw when he touched Aries made sense...
His poor, poor mate. He’d probably been trying to find love his entire adult life, only for his hidden powers to sabotage his efforts.
His misfortune only made sense when placed within the right context.
Like a vampire, any mortal he slept with would die. None of them had enough life force—let alone magic—to give.
But unlike humans, they had plenty of both to spare... especially for a fated mate.
Rune assured him, "trust me, we aren't going to die like the others."
"But...”
"If we wouldn't die, would you have sex with us?" Brava blurted impatiently.
Aries smiled weakly. “Who wouldn’t?”
Rune could see the power quickly draining from Aries. As the sheets below him soaked up sweat, Aries’ eyes closed. Rune felt his life force wane.
“If we don’t act now, he will die,” Rune said more urgently than before.
He turned to the others with questioning eyes.
Brava loosened his overcoat and dropped it onto the floor, drawing everyone’s attention.
“I’ll go first.” Pointing to Terra and Shen, he added, “if he needs more than I can give, one of you two can step in.”
“What about me?” Rune asked.
“You’ve done plenty,” Brava said sternly. “If you keep using your magic, we’ll have two fallen mates to deal with instead of one.”
Rune wanted to protest, but the others quickly chipped in.
“He’s right,” Terra soothed. “Let us handle it from here.”
Brava undressed and crawled onto the bed, where he tentatively pulled the covers off of Aries.
A tingly feeling crept down into Rune’s groin as he watched.
Seeing one of his mates naked influenced him like nothing he’d ever experienced before. He longed to join them, to make love to them, to claim them as his own.
But for now, he would have to sit back and enjoy the show.