"Don't touch him, Kiema," I shouted as I pushed through a startled couple. Kiema stopped her hand, inches before they touched Ransom's tuxedo jacketed arm. "What's wrong with him, Taryk?""I don't know, sweetheart, but we'll figure it out." I turned to see his dance partner flitting and darting away in the crowd. "Stop that woman!" I pointed in her direction. Immediately a contingent of Wardens barred all the doors. Graysten pushed up to stand beside me. "What's going on? Why isn't he breathing?"Atlas finally made it to us from the far side of the ballroom where he and Lukas had been getting something to drink. He slid to the floor next to our brother, pushed his head to Ransom's chest. "Lukas. Can you see if it's magic?" I asked the red-headed man. Lukas dipped down, not even bothering to answer. He placed his hand on Ransom's. Nothing happened."Here she is, Taryk," Dahlia said as she pushed the slight woman forward. "Her name is Aryn. She's a friend of Javie
"Taryk says we need a fire elemental to save him, sweets," I told Kiema through Junior's mouth on the Gateway. She nodded, huddled around the limp form of Ransom. "Why are we on the Gateway and not his spirit landscape?" I asked. "I guess because he couldn't get there before he passed out? I don't know, Xander. Help me get him up though, yeah?" She tugged at the big man's shoulders. I tried to help as much as possible in my tiger form, but Junior didn't have hands. "Do you know where any elementals are?" I asked as we finally managed to get him draped over my - Junior's - back. She shook her head, wiped a hand under her eyes. "No. But I have an idea. You take him back with you, okay?" She pushed me back towards our physical bodies. "Where the fuck do you think you're going?" I growled. "You said that that bitch confessed that she was set up by Asta, yes?" she asked. I nodded. "Yeah. But that doesn't mean you get to just run off by yourself."She smiled at m
As soon as I felt Xander leave the Gateway, I zipped as quickly as possible to the door of the Spirit Realm. I needed to get this thing done before he came back and found me missing. Letting instinct guide me, its heavy wood façade came into view much faster than I thought possible.Repeating the words I remembered Anda speaking, I laid my lips to its surface. The door seemed to sigh as it opened before me. Taking a deep breath, I pushed through into the one place Anda had warned me away from.The bright and sparkling gold and silver I'd witnessed before were dimmed today. Or maybe it was the rage and hate that grew in my soul clouding my vision. Either way, I wasn't too concerned with the sparkle of the Spirit Realm. "MINNI!" I shouted as soon as the door closed behind me. "I DEMAND AN AUDIENCE!" The whole place seemed to shudder and quake as the last syllable died from my lips. He better pay up on his sacred vow or heads were going to fucking roll.Soon, a host of gods a
I pushed back the power that writhed and seethed to obliterate my mother. Taking a couple deep breaths to calm the raging storm inside me, I counted to ten to get myself - and my newly acquired power - under control."Don't just stand there, Kiema. We have much to do," Heppni said as she threaded her arm through my own. She tried to pull me from Nix's grasp.Nix kept her arm steady.I felt like the rope in a game of tug of war. "What are you doing here, Herpes?" I asked her. My mother's beautiful face pinched and twisted at the nickname. "Stop calling me that."Nix muffled a laugh on my other side. "My question still stands," I said. I tried to pull my arm free of Herpes'. She wrapped her fist around my arm, anchoring me to her side. "Because you've finally done something worthy of my attention.""How did you even know I was in the Spirit Realm?" I asked. Narrowing my gaze at her, I watched a number of different expressions mar her features before she settled on p
"Where to now, Ten?" I asked. "Right up this way, Learned One. We are about to pass through the ancient gates." Ten walked under a crumbling archway. Lukas pushed up from behind me. "What the fuck is this place?"I shrugged. "I've no idea. But this is where Ten and Nix said to come. I'm assuming her contact will know us when he or she sees us. She gave Ten some kind of token to identify us with.""Mmhmm," Lukas murmured. The ancient gates opened onto a manicured lawn full of statues. There were ones that scarcely reached my knees and ones that towered over Ten's dragon form. Rows upon rows, column upon column, statues stood sentry over a hushed meadow that spoke to someplace deep inside me. Just beyond the gathering of statues was a valley of verdant green. It reminded me of a familiar dreamscape from my childhood. The statues were never present, but the gently rolling hill and valley were hard to forget. In the spring, it was covered in vibrant wildflowers. In the fall
Someone was trying to pull me away from Ransom. I edged my body closer to his still form. Another tug on my arm had me baring my teeth as I opened my swollen, heavy eyelids. "Back the fuck up or get fucked up. Your choice," I snarled. "Kiema, they've made it back. My friend needs you to move. You've done your job beautifully. Let someone else help Ransom while you continue to rest," Nix said in a soft voice as she helped Kord pull me back from Ransom's prone form. I shook my head, focused my gaze. My mate was no longer blue, but he also hadn't woken up once since I started working on him. A commotion from the other side of the giant ballroom had me rubbing my eyes and squinting in confusion. "You're friends with a mountain?" I asked Nix. The Mountain's lips quirked. "You flatter me, belle. No, I am Mason Roche. Sacred Protector of Nix, Daughter of Anda, Goddess of Spirit." He tipped his head to the side as he bent to his knees beside Ransom's body. The corners of h
I bit my lip to keep from laughing at the small woman who was now my Kona, the one I offered my life as protection for. I could feel the strength in her spirit. The indomitable steel that pervaded her entire being. Her smile and attitude reminded me of Sebastian, my Prime. The one who'd given me a piece of his soul and brought me to literal life. The ache of his loss, even though it was almost too long ago to count now, still darkened my heart. Drenched my soul in pain. The men who had escorted me from Heilgat Samkoma had given me the very basic information of time and place. There was still much to discover about this new world I found myself in. Kiema, and what a beautiful name she carried, wiped the back of her hand over her mouth. Her cheeks pink, her solemn gray eyes downcast, she said, "Welcome to the club. We're all a little crazy here."The laugh started in my belly as a faint twitch. Soon, my whole body shook and trembled as my throat loosed it to the ceiling. And j
My rune was itching. It felt like I had bugs crawling under my skin. I rubbed at it. Again. When was my life going to settle down? Right now, I'd be down for boring, staid even. The room we entered was the one my guys and I had been sharing before the doomed ball. But now that everyone was going to be staying in here, it had been changed again. Several beds lined the edges of the room while the biggest table I'd ever seen dominated the middle of the space. Twelve chairs surrounded the table that was already groaning under the weight of a feast. I smiled as we all took our seats. As I looked around, I noticed that, except for Nix and Mason, we'd chosen our spots that we had in Asher's kitchen area. One big happy family. Conversation and laughter floated in and through the dinner. As if by some unspoken cue, no one talked about anything more serious than Faery's weather - gorgeous, or the clothes - bordering on ridiculous.After we'd stuffed our faces, we all sat back in our c