"As much as I love that idea, Ki-Ki, I would like to give you a hug." Asher walked over, picked me up in his arms, squeezed me tight. Setting me back on my feet, he stepped back. "And get some fucking sleep. Between training today and getting magic sucked out of my body, I'm pooped. I don't even want to think about how Xan and Cherrypie are feeling." He shook his head. I stopped him as he tried to move past me. "Why would Xander and Scarlet be feeling any crappier than usual?" I turned back to the two in question. Xander did look like he'd been on a bender for at least a week. His dark brown eyes were sunken. The bags under his eyes looked like he was hosting a sleepover in them. The laugh lines around his mouth made him look haggard instead of happy. Scarlet was faring a little better, but I could still see that she'd been zapped by what happened. Her white hair, usually so shiny and white, looked more dull and gray than anything else. Her bottle green eyes were muddy and tir
"What the fuck are we going to do?" I asked once Kiema had finally cried herself to sleep. "This is literally killing her."Saint and Kord looked ready to battle demons barehanded. Saint shook his head. "I don't know. But I can't handle her getting caught in the middle of all of this. This is tearing her apart.""I know I haven't known any of you for very long," Kord began. "But if what Hellion says is true - "Saint snarled, cutting off our fourth. "I've heard the legends of the Reckoning. His story, in this particular part, lines up with what I already knew. I think we can actually trust him on this part. Even if nothing else he says can be taken as fact." He pushed his glasses up his nose, looked between both of us. I nodded for him to continue. "If what Hellion says is true about drawing first blood, then I think we need to act as quickly as possible. Who knows when the Reckoning actually begins? Did they draw first blood by pulling Kiema to the spirit realm and g
The next dayNow that the time had come to implement my plan, I was terrified. Of my mate. She was going to go batshit crazy. Oh well. She'd do the same exact thing if she'd thought of it first. I nodded to Ransom. He leaned over, kissed Kiema awake. "Ransom?" she asked, her voice sleepy and relaxed. "Yeah, angel. It's your favorite mate." He shot me a grin as Kiema snickered.I rolled my eyes. "That's what I tell all of you," she said. I pumped my fist into the air. Suck on that, Ransom.He flipped me off behind her back. "I need you to wake up, angel. We've got a plan we want to run by you."She popped up as if she was spring-loaded. "Hit me."Saint laughed, gave her a mug of coffee. "We're still not hitting you, but we'll tell you the plan anyway."She nodded, took her first timid sip. "We're going to send out the word that we're ready to dance, metaphorically. Once Heppni gets word, you're going to dash in, bitchslap your mother back to the
I heard the thought race through Kord's mind. I wanted to smile, but I also didn't want to ruin his fun. This would be between me and the Directs. Me and my mother. No one else. Although it was nice of my family to bring them here. While they'd been hatching their plans last night, so had I. But I'd done mine on the spirit plane. My body safe in my mates' care, I'd gone to my spirit landscape and thought and plotted for hours. Something Hellion had made a point to say the night before kept gnawing at my brain. How did my power work?As I sat in my familiar spirit landscape, I sifted through the layers and layers of my power. The parts and pieces I'd had with me since childhood. The webs and sheets of power I'd absorbed. I found what I was looking for in the motes and particles Anda had given me. I followed the line of those delicate fibers to their ends. Oliver and his group of Directs had been waiting for me. Last night, the smile on my face could have lit the worlds
I forced Kiema behind me as Atlas fell to his knees. A look of pure rage covered his features. I parried the blow that Heppni shot, letting my sword absorb the magic. I shot her a fierce smile as her howl of rage rent the air. "Back to back, just like we've been training," Taryk said. His back bumped into mine as the twins took up their positions on either side of us to form a weapon-wielding cross. The boys had guns that Kord had managed to fill with magic powder. I had my sword.We slayed a swath through the Directs who had allied with Heppni. The head woman herself was staying near the back, biding her time. A true coward.The goddess who had taunted Kiema lay directly in my path. "Lock arms, we're going invisible," I said to my men through the mental link Kiema had set up. "We're going to destroy this bitch.""Get down wit' cha bad self, Cherrypie," Asher called. "Just make sure you leave some for us. We're the men you know."I chuckled as I drew my invisibility power ov
"Atlas," I fired into the belly of the Direct trying to kill my partner. "Get up. What's wrong?" I asked him mentally."He's here. I thought he was dead. He was supposed to be dead," Atlas said. His words were mere rumbles of tones, even in my head. He got to his feet, his body bent like he was about to go wolf. "Not now, Atlas. We have to help Kiema," I warned him. He looked back at me. His bright green eyes were soaked in pain. He shifted his gaze to something over my shoulder. "Atlas, watch out!" I tried to get to him in time.I would forever see my failure in my dreams. A huge boulder, roughly the size of a truck, flattened the man who'd snuck up behind the man I loved. A knife dropped to the pavement. The noise of the street so loud, I didn't even hear it. I looked up into the sky. Mason was there. Half stone, half man. His wings beat quickly as he dashed to another section of the fighting down the street. Atlas turned to me. He raised his gun, pointed it
Ten ripped through my body as we launched into the air. "We have to save her. Find Heppni. Let's roast that bitch," I yelled. "Way ahead of you, brother," he said as we arrowed down at the woman who had caused our mate so much trouble. A stream of fire poured from our mouths as we got close enough to see the whites of her eyes. Our Pink Kiss melted her skin in an instant. Too bad the next instant it regrew. With a wink and a laugh, she threw a bolt of magic at us. It clipped our right wing, toppling us from the air. We changed back to our human form as the ground rushed up at us. A heavy jolt shook our bodies as we were caught up in stone arms. "This is not the day to die, mes amie. Fight. Take down as many as you can," Mason said as he lowered us to the ground. Queen Arasne hurried over, a plume of purple magic in her hand. "I cannot heal you as your Mate does, but I can offer you numbness and clotting. Do you wish it?" she asked, her amethyst eyes wide.
I lifted my gun, fired off another round. The humans were falling so much faster than the Directs. But there were so many more humans than anything else out here. Nix slashed her sword over another throat, inhaled the motes that sprang into the air from it. She stepped forward, using the dissolving body of her enemy as a jump point to decapitate another Direct. Lady had some fucking moves."Ransom, behind you," Scarlet shouted in my head. I whirled around, blocked a sword with my bare forearm. Shifting the pain aside, I lifted my other hand and fired point-blank into the Direct's face. The magic from Kord's bullets was working wonders. I grabbed the sword as it started to fall to the ground. My bokken skills weren't top drawer, but it was better than trying to defend with my hands. I took a few testing swings and turned back to figure out where Nix went. She was busy slicing through another Direct. Someone grabbed me from behind, his arm around my throat. With a pinch