When we hang up the phone with Ryder, Devin and I sit there just staring at each other. I grab my phone and send a text message to our head pilot, Joan, to see if anyone is available to take me up to Washington tomorrow or the next day. “What the actual fuck is Selene thinking about putting that much information on a 13 year old?” Dev asks me. “I think that she was trying to give him an explanation. But you’re right. That’s a lot of information for someone that young to deal with,” I say. Just then I get a text back from Joan saying that she can take me up there tomorrow at 9. I hurriedly find Roman’s contact information in my phone and shootoff a message letting him know that I’m coming up there and will need a ride to the cabin where Amelia, Ryder, and Kennedy are staying. Then I send a text to Amelia and Kennedy letting them know that I’m coming up. “Couldn’t she have told him what was going on before his wolf came and caused all the havoc that it has? That poor kid h
I think that the only reason that I slept last night at all is because Arya sucked my soul out of my cock and then rode me like I was a bucking bronco and she was a prize winning rodeo rider. That she-wolf has fucking skills. And her stamina is second to none. But my concerns for Ryder and his mates and the poor kid’s mental health came back the second that I woke up the next morning. I tried to put it out of my head while Arya and I got ready, but this has pissed me the fuck off. Why would Selene put this poor kid through this? Isn’t it enough to know that his brother is going to die and no one else is going to step up so he’s going to have to by the time he’s 16? Why would she then give him the information about who his mates are? Especially with this huge fucking age gap between them? It’s not like he can lean on them and get the comfort of a mate. That’s fucking child abuse! All it’s doing is driving a wedge between the three of them and giving the poor kid a perpetua
It had been one month since I had found out that I was pregnant. I can’t believe how fast the child inside me was growing. Or how evil it was. As a goddess, I am able to feel the baby. Know what it feels. Hear, or rather see, what it is thinking. This child is the embodiment of pure evil. The visions that I receive from it are blood curdling. From it being the offspring of a fallen angel and a goddess, it has taken all of our knowledge and combined it together to plan how it will destroy the world, overthrow heaven, and kill the Christian God. With the power that it gains from that, it will be able to create and destroy universes. And rain its evil sense of justice down on the poor inhabitants of those worlds. I had thought that having me as the mother of this child, it would have some kind of goodness, some light in it. Surely it wouldn’t be able to be all evil if it had a mother that wasn’t evil. But it seems that because I became a goddess due to Lucifer’s powers,
“That’s it, Ryder! Get inside her guard and then jump back. Don’t give her access to your flank!” I yell as I watch the two wolves spar. While Arya was here, I thought it was a good time to work on Ryder fighting in wolf form. He had recently graduated from the obstacle to wolf combat. All pups are trained in self defense starting at age five, but they continue to do biweekly classes to learn how to fight until they hit double digits. Then classes increase one day every year until they have training every day but Mondays. All that to say, Ryder knows how to fight and how to defend himself. Now he has to learn how to incorporate his wolf into the fight. Arya’s wolf is huge, since she is alpha blood and a demi-god to boot. But Ryder’s wolf is only a few inches shorter. It is going to make it a little bit easier for him to learn how to get his wolf to move with someone his size there. Kennedy and I are both good fighters, but we’re smaller than his wolf. Our advantage is s
Arya moves forward to greet her mate. It brings Amelia to my side and I see Ryder watching them, a strange longing quality in his gaze. The act of seeing two mates so happy does something to those in the same pack. We want to share in the happiness. Those that are mated will often touch their mates. Those without mates will often have that same longing look as Ryder has in his eyes right now. Though, that look doesn’t usually show up until a wolf is closer to mating age, typically around 19 or 20. It’s odd to see that look on a 13 year old. When he looks over at Amelia and me and catches my eye, that longing doesn’t go away. If anything, it intensifies. Is it because Amelia has pulled me close to her and is kissing my hair? Before I can think about it too hard, Ryder trots off to the tree where his clothes are so that he can shift and get dressed. He’s kind of followed our lead when it comes to shifting and being naked. I know that he’s used to being around other wolves
It’s been about three weeks since Freya and I became handfasted. It’s weirdly calm and happy with her. Everything with Nyx was so dramatic. I’m not saying that she was, but there was a lot of stuff going on while we were together. Rejections every day. Finding out that I wanted to try to be with her. Looking for the Riding Hoods. And then her kidnapping. Nothing got to be calm. With Freya, yeah we’re in the middle of a war and yeah, our parents had some trouble with it at first, but now everything seems…great. Just easy. I’m not saying that I’m glad that I’m not having this with Nyx. Far from it. I love Freya, but Nyx was made for me. It’s a different kind of love. Like…ok, so I’ve heard humans talk about their first love. How they never truly get over them. That they’ll always have feelings for that person. That’s kind of how I feel about Freya. She’s my first love. Ok, not for real, but go with the metaphor. She’s like my first love would be if I was a human.
“I really don’t like this,” Josefina says, stroking my cheek with her hand and pulling me into her by my waist. “I know, asteráki mu (my little star). Believe me, if we thought there was any other way of doing it, I wouldn’t be going to the Underworld either,” I tell my female mate. Yeah, you heard that right. I’m being sent on a reconnaissance mission to the Underworld. I’m not supposed to go anywhere near the palace or any of the main gods and demons that Lucifer has in charge. More, I’m supposed to do a fly over and see what things are looking like: number of soldiers, how the troops are split, and if things are looking copacetic between the soldiers, the generals, and Lucifer. If I can see Persephone or Nyx, try to get some words with them, but don’t blow my cover just to do that. It’s safe to say that Lucifer is pretty damn pissed at me right now. You know that whole turning traitor and beating the shit out of his army when I came back above ground seems to have pissed
“This is going to be fuckign insane,” I whisper to my parents. We’re seated in the large amphitheater where the gods convene and the archangels have been training. It’s my first time coming here, mostly because this is Valhalla. We are surrounded by all of the healers in the different supernatural races that we are allied with. Fairies, elves, pixies, brownies, selkies, shifters, shaaman, witches, and so many more. Add to that the handful of demi-gods and godlings that are here and there are literally a fuck ton of healers in this space. It was sort of a family reunion for me, my parents, my brothers, and our mates. We haven’t seen each other since Hermes had to go into hiding after betraying Lucier. It’s understandable that my brothers want to be with their mates, but that doesn’t make us miss them any less. And then to see Jacob’s transformation for the first time! He’s still our Jacob, but he’s not at the same time. His features are basically the same, but there are seve
So much pain. Those fucking angels! They killed my mate. They killed MY CHILD! And then they tried to kill me. I had enough power left within me in order teleport away from them to the edge of Tartarus. But I was bleeding heavily from a wound that eviscerated my stomach and just missed my heart. Otherwise, I would have died right then and there. I used all the power that I had left to make my way through the cyclopses, the hydra, the river of fire. And then I make my way down the labyrinthine walkways, looking for my first love. Only she will have the power to heal me. Only she will have the power to bring me back to what I was before. I don’t know how long it took for me to get to her. How much blood flowed from my body. How much pain I felt. How low I had to get. I laid on the ground, covered in dirt, dehydrated, and weak. And then I feel someone push me with their foot.
It’s so hard to believe that the war is over. All of that build up and fear for just one, admittedly epic, fight? I guess I just never realized how much war is about waiting for something to happen. Hermes says that it’s really like that, but it’s still hard to believe. The angels are all up in a tither worried that they haven’t been able to find evidence of Lucifer’s body being gone. We haven’t heard anything from their god, so I’m assuming that he’s not worried about it. I mean, it’s been two weeks and nothing. Gabriel has even come to Jacob and said that he can start the process of detaching from the Christian god and giving up his powers. Though, halfway through Gabriel’s instructions on how to do that, Michael showed up and basically begged Jacob to remain a Throne for another six months. Just in case Lucifer came back. After meeting with Maeve, Dougal, and Win, the results were mixed. Maeve hated being a Throne.
A parent should never have to bury their child. Ever. Even though Nyx wasn’t of our blood or even of our species, she was just as much our child as Jared, Summer, and Chris. Even though she was only with us for a less than a year, she was our pup. And this is the worst pain that I’ve ever experienced, aside from the pain of losing Charlie. I stand with Kayla, Brandon, Jared, Summer, Rowen, Chris, and Esteban. Little Lilianna sits on Chris’s lap, the two year old not understanding what is happening. Neither do the triplets, Nixon, Natalie, and Nolan. Each are sitting with the parent that they seem to gravitate to the most: Nixon with her little hands trying to wipe the tears from Kayla’s face, Natalie in my arms and giving me hugs and kisses to try to comfort me, and Nolan sitting stoically in Brandon’s arms though he has his hands wraps around his father’s fingers. No, our pups don’t know what has happened, but they know that something is wrong. Nathan stands on Kayla’s othe
I immediately know when Lucifer has been slain. We all do. There’s a power in the air that just dissipates. It’s there one second and then it’s gone. And then the enemy either surrender or run away, dropping their weapons as they go. Oh, there are a few die hard proponents of what Lucifer was trying to do, but they don’t last long. They are quickly overrun by fae, witches, wolves, shifters, supernaturals, or angels. Within an hour of Lucifer’s death, all of the fighting is done and the medics have flooded the field. Gods and goddesses either heal right there on the field or teleport those that need immediate medical attention to the surgery tents. Arya and I quickly turn to the Elite and pups’ mates, and our friends. “Summer! Jared!” Arya says, looking up from healing a nasty bite to Tomas’s leg that is already showing signs of infection. “Here!” Summer shouts out in a pained voice. I turn to see
All three of us see the Morning star leaving the palace and stepping onto the field with the angels and we know that time is running out. We have to hurry and get to Nyx and sever her bond with Lucifer so that he is weak enough for them to kill him. No one else seems to be guarding the castle, at lest not on our side. I can see that demons and gods are getting into ranks and preparing to get onto the battlefield. The problem is, they’re too slow. The angels are already hear. They have breached the walls that surround the castle, their armor and very skin gleaming, their swords and battle axe’s, and spears coated in the multiple colors of blood that each of these evil beings possess. “We need to get inside while they’re all occupied,” Rowen says as we run towards the gates. “And before anyone comes in as reinforcements.” “Anyone see how to get the gates open?” Alexander says, his eyes rapidly taking in the structure in front of us.
The second that we make our way through the gate into the Underworld, we’re all ready to start fighting. I mean, that’s the logical thing to do, right? Problem is, we seem to have gone into a gate where there are minimal guards. Like, this gate seems to have been forgotten completely. There's two there and they were taken out by the blast that opened the gate. Either we got really fucking lucky. Or we’ve walked into a trap. Angels pour into the hole behind us, creating a perimeter to keep us safe from behind. No, they won’t be able to stop Lucifer, but they are cannon fodder that will slow him down. Yeah, that sounds really fucking shitty to say it like that, but they knew the score when they were assigned to the role. It is what it is. From the gate, I can see Hades’s palace, where Lucifer and his new queen, Nyx, have been staying since they were kicked out of Valhalla. We’re coming in about five miles to the south and three miles above the palace. The gate is in
It is killing me to wait here with the gods while my mates are all in three different spots right now. I’m so agitated and distracted by this fact that my winged shoes are making me float about a foot off of the ground. Josefina is with her parents, fighting near the front lines. What I hate is that she doesn’t have any powers to fight with. She’s just got her strength and skills as a warrior and a wolf. Thank fuck that the wolves take fighting seriously, so she has a ton of skill. But that only helps me feel just a little bit of relief. She is definitely the mate that I’m most worried about. But then there’s Alexander. He and his twin are escorting Nathan to get to Nyx so that he can kill her and the child in her stomach. Hecate had told us that Nyx is in labor starting this morning. So they have to get to her quickly. Of course, that means finding the right time to get past the enemy army ahead of the rest of our allies and then fight whoever Lucifer has guarding the
The contractions had been happening off and on for the past two days. “Braxton-Hicks,” Persephone assured me. “It’s just your body’s way of getting ready for birth. It can happen for a long time before you actually go into labor. I really wouldn’t worry about it if I were you.” But I knew better. I could feel this evil thing’s elation as it could feel me preparing for birth. It had been tossing and turning in my stomach, moving into position for birth. So when I woke in the wee hours of the morning today, feeling strong achy bands of pressure all around my stomach. I let out a wheezy, breathy screams as the feeling took my breath away. I had been laying on my left side, my head pillowed on Lucifer’s arm, his other arm keeping me pulled into him. When I had woken in pain, it woke him up as well. “What’s wrong? What’s happening?” Lucifer asks, his eyes are wide, but his voice is laced with aggression and protectiveness. He had moved over top of me, caging me against t
The screeching sound that comes from above us sounds like a combination between the howl of a wolf, the cry of some kind of bird of prey, and a woman’s scream. We look up and there are seven of these…things. They have the body of a woman, looking heavily pregnant and near giving birth, talons for feet and wings like a giant eagle, and the head of an enormous rabid jackal. But the belly is actually full of the babies and men that they’ve eaten. They are wearing what looks like a skull bikini, a skull covering each breast and her vulva. It’s fucking weird and looks very uncomfortable. In their hands, each carries one knife made of fire and another made of ice. The Lamashtu. The seven aspects of the Mesapotamian Goddess of evil. Think Hecate, but in seven different bodies instead of sharing the same body. And when I say that she was evil, I mean EVIL. Evil just for evil’s sake. One of the few goddesses in all of the various pantheons who didn’t have a reason to be evil. S