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Ari
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JONAH TOOK US DIRECTLY to the kitchen of the Scottish Archives. A crowd was gathered inside and scattered when we suddenly appeared. Hands that had been reaching for weapons stilled when they recognized us.
Mirra and her mother were sitting at the kitchen table with Blair, Jean and Xavier Vale. “Thank God you’re back,” Mirra said in evident relief. “What took you so long?”
My blood ran cold when I saw someone was missing. “Where’s Jake?” I asked.
Looks were exchanged and my fear increased. Reaching out with my senses, I picked up on fae energy in Jake’s bedroom.
“He’s fine,” Mayra said, but she sounded strange. “He’s...resting at the moment.”
“I wish I was resting like that,” one of the male alphas said and sniggers broke out.
Narrowing my eyes, I started for the door. Winston and Brandi moved to intercept me. “I’d allow the man to get his rest if I were you,” the ex-Archivist said.
“Let me pass,” I said in a near snarl. Something was wrong and I intended to find out what it was.
“He isn’t alone,” Brandi said. “He’s having sex with two female alphas.” She clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle a giggle when my face went bright red.
“That young man has more stamina than even our kind does,” Xavier said with an almost admiring glance towards the doorway.
“Where’s Rudy?” Connor asked when he realized another face was missing.
“He had to take care of some family business,” Mirra replied. She rose gracefully and moved to the coffee machine. “Take a seat and I’ll make you some food and coffee.”
Studying their faces, they were finding it hard to meet our eyes. Quin noticed it as well and took a seat next to Mayra. “What happened while we were gone?” she asked.
Xavier was the one to answer her. “Jake made me his second in command and we headed to one of the towns that was being besieged by hybrids.”
“Did you manage to save any of the humans?” our boss asked.
“A few thousand,” he replied. “We did the best we could.”
“How many of our people did we lose?”
“A dozen or so,” Jean said, leaning against her mate. “We’re more than a match for the hybrids.”
“Why does everyone look so spooked?” I asked. We knew they weren’t telling us something and I had a feeling it had something to do with my foster father.
“Jake lost his temper,” Mirra said, turning to face us when no one was game to answer me.
“So, he killed a few hybrids?” I guessed.
She grimaced and made way for a shifter who took over the duty of making our food and drinks. “He went way beyond killing a few of them,” the siren told me. “He went berserk. I’ve never seen anyone move so fast, or kill so viciously before.”
“I wouldn’t want to challenge him to a fight again now that I’ve seen what he is truly capable of,” Xavier admitted. “He bested me with barely any effort when I questioned his right to lead us.”
Quin gave her father an appraising look. He met her eyes without his usual antagonistic expression. “I wouldn’t want to challenge him either,” she said, offering him the tip of an olive branch. He smiled and their resemblance was suddenly uncanny.
Jonah looked down, blinking away ghostly tears. I wasn’t sure if the pair could ever have a normal relationship, but they’d made a start at possibly reconciling one day.
Mayra toyed with her half empty mug of coffee, then offered her opinion. “I’ve heard some fae have uncontrollable fury and that to cross them is to invite death. I’ve also heard they hail from the Unseelie Court. I find it disturbing to think Jake’s origins could be linked to the dark fae.”
“My father is a full-blood Unseelie fairy,” Jake said as he sauntered into the room. Mayra’s face drained of color, but he continued before she could say anything. “My grandmother on my mother’s side was half-blood Seelie. I have the blood of both Courts in my veins, but I guess I inherited my father’s rage.”
His hair was rumpled and he needed a shower to rid himself of the activities he’d participated in with the two females, but I rushed over to hug him anyway. “Are you okay?” I asked, sensing how tired he still was.
“I’ll live, darlin’,” he replied and placed a kiss on my forehead. “As long as those two ladies allow me to get some sleep, that is.”
Winston slid a sly look towards my foster father and I knew without asking that he’d spied on the trio. Jonah waggled his eyebrows and the ex-Archivist nodded, silently telling him he’d spill everything once they were alone.
Rolling my eyes, I took the plate of sandwiches the shifter handed me and sat down to eat. It was good to be back at our base, but it wasn’t home. I longed for the normal routine of waking at six, eating disgustingly healthy cereal and killing rogue packs of monsters. Instead, we were in a foreign country surrounded by shifters and embroiled in a war that could end with the human population being enslaved, or wiped out.
“Why were you gone so long?” Mirra asked when we’d finished eating.
She’d given Stephanie a hug, but the Archivist had been silent since sinking down onto her seat. “That was my fault,” Stephanie said.
Roderick ambled into the room, saw us and gladness flitted over his face as he joined us. “Hello,” he said, offering Stephanie his hand. “I’m Edward Roderick III, but everyone just calls me Roderick. I’m an Archivist from the London Archives.”
“I’m Stephanie,” she said in return. “I’m an Archivist from the US.” He held her hand a little too long, then flushed when he realized it and released her.
“What was your fault?” Mirra asked.
“Von Hades sent his hellhounds to my Archives,” Stephanie replied. “Wayne and Jimmy had been called away to assist an injured hunter, so I was there alone. I called Quin for help, just like the Master Archivist knew I would. They came to rescue me, but it was a trap.”
Jake’s hand tightened on his coffee mug and the room quickly emptied out as his temper flared. “What happened?” he asked in a tightly controlled voice.
“Druids used spells to incapacitate Ari’s magic,” Quin replied. “We were sent through a portal to one of Von Hades’ mansions. We were placed in cells that nullified our abilities.”
“Did you use blood magic to break free again?”
“Not this time,” I replied.
“It was awesome,” Jonah broke in before I could explain. “Greg tore Ari’s soul free and they astral projected up to the third floor. They spied on the demon and Harrow and overheard their plans.”
“He didn’t tear my soul free,” I said with a scowl. “You’ve got to stop exaggerating.” He stuck his tongue out at me, then withered beneath Quin’s flat stare.
“How did you get out of the cells?” Roderick asked, tearing his gaze away from Stephanie. Her cheeks had gone pink in embarrassment at his obvious fascination with her.
“Greg and I ran into a room full of hybrids,” I replied. “I siphoned their energy into me and it flooded into my body. When he put my soul back into my body, I was overflowing with power. It was enough to short out all the spells when I released it into the walls.”
Jake shook his head. “I’ll never understand how you manage to fumble your way through what should be impossible odds and somehow come out on top, darlin’.”
“It’s a gift,” I said with a sheepish shrug.
“So,” Mayra said to get us back on track, “what is the demon’s plan?”
“He harvested some blood from the dragon heart before we stole it,” I told her. “He was just pretending he hadn’t, which means he must want it for something else.”
“If he has dragon blood, then he can separate the reaper from the witch,” Mirra said.
“That’s what he intends to do,” Quin confirmed. “He and Harrow are heading to Russia to lure the witch to one of the druidic woods. Then he’s going to use the spell to weaken her. He says he needs some sort of element to activate the mask, but we aren’t sure what it is yet. When he has it, he believes he’ll become invincible.”
“Just what we need,” Brandi said. “An invincible demon ruling the world.”
“He intends to rule more than our world,” I told her. “He’s going to bring his demon lackeys through portals and send them out to conquer other dimensions as well.”
“Obviously, we need to stop him,” Roderick said. “We just have to figure out how.”
Looking around the room, I searched their faces to see if anyone had any ideas. To my complete lack of surprise, no one did.
