Sasha blinked rapidly. I didn't know if she had orchestrated this or if it was only the supernatural acting on its own, but I didn't care. I hated her, and I hated Paul for this bit of domestic reality that I had witnessed. But I didn't hate their baby or their clan. However, I never wanted to be witness to any of this again. Come hell or high water, I was going to wipe these people out of my life."What do you want to talk about?" I asked.He glanced at Sasha in unease. "I need to know if you are willing to work things out between us. I want to know if you still love me, Kim."Sasha looked as if he had punched her in her stomach. Good, bitch. You fucked a married man, and this is the way you're supposed to feel, like someone was sucking the life out of you, like there was no up or down and everything was mixed up. She needed to feel that because that's the way I felt since finding out they had fucked—twice."Stop pretending," I whispered. "You have already moved on. It began when
I screeched in pain and anger, and suddenly my skin began to split and I grew bigger and stronger than I ever had before—even bigger than when I had attacked Tony and bigger than when I was in Poland fighting the Rogues. I was a monster that dwarfed the two Werewolves. With one push, I effortlessly sent Paul flying across the room where he crashed into a wall.Sasha circled me with gnashing teeth, and I swung at her but missed.Eight vicious Werewolves were on me, biting and tearing at me, but the pain helped me to think. I remembered being in my bedroom and waking up to the feel of a Werewolf gnawing at my belly, consuming me while I was completely aware. Now I knew I was about to die in the room being torn apart by a pack of Werewolves.Terror filled me as the pain of gnawing teeth ripped through my flesh. I could do nothing because while in my creature's form I couldn't flash myself way. As I fell close to unconsciousness, I heard the shattering of bones and howls of pain. I blin
I saw that I was nearly nude. Ribbons of flesh hung from portions of my body. My stomach began to turn. I had chunks of flesh ripped from my body…I heard a strange keening sound and realized that it was coming from me. They had eaten me…Alexis sniffed me. "You will heal." His voice was thick due to his partial change. "I will heal you, but I cannot yet return to my true body. It is not yet strong enough to kill the Werewolves that hurt you.""No." That simple word was hard to manage. "I need you here. With me." I had survived Werewolf attacks, and I knew that one man could not take on an entire Wolfpack. Although my current wounds would not kill me, I knew being ripped limb from limb would. I couldn't risk the unthinkable happening to Alexis because of me.I could feel him trembling in rage, but there was a calmness in the way that he held me. Even in his silence, I could feel how dangerous he was as the calm before the storm.Ran's brow was gathered and his expression was somet
"How long have I been out?" My voice felt raw and hoarse."A few days. I do not want to risk returning to my true form to heal you rapidly because while in this Werewolf body I am linked to the Pack. Paul does not know that I am in possession of this Wolf body and does not know that I read his plans for the Pack.""What plans?" I asked."His plans are to locate you and your child." He sat up, his hair tousled and his eyes puffy from sleep. "You will need to rest. There is a Council meeting tonight, and there will be questions that will need to be answered honestly. You will be excused from this meeting."I nodded in gratitude. I had too many other things to think about without worrying about facing a Council who once again had come to my rescue."Everyone is okay?" I asked. "No one got hurt, did they?""There were no casualties on either side," Alexis answered."And what about Monica?""What about her?" he replied."You ripped her throat out in order to feed me.""I did not k
I swallowed, uncomfortable about discussing this with a man who loved me and wanted me. "Removing the bond will stop the pain. I can deal with the rest, but feeling a physical withdrawal because he's not with me is fucking disgusting when I'm so pissed at him, when I want to hate him, when I never want to see him again!""I am happy that you have never said those words about me."I laughed a little. "You never threatened to take my baby from me."His eyes darkened. "The Wolf will not take your child. This I vow."I reached out and gripped his hand. I knew that come hell or high water, Alexis would make sure that never happened."How do you intend to end your bond?" he asked. "They take time to fade on their own, sometimes decades.""There is an old Vampire by the name of Bernard who can sever Vampire bonds instantly. It's one of his Vampire talents, like how you can hijack someone's body and the way we can pull the Succubus out of ourselves and push them into others."He rubbed
He nodded. "Not too many should know. We will include your First Lieutenant as well as Monica.""Why do you think the Elders won't handle this appropriately? You and I know that we don't want a worldwide war. They have to know the same.""The Neratomay do not care about human life," Alexis said. "Before you, I did not either. Through you I have learned to care about much more. But not all of us have a human filter to think through."I hugged him. "Thank you for everything you've done and are doing."He stroked my hair and held me for a few moments before releasing me. "In this day and age, it would be impossible to conceal our battles and keep our identity secret. In the past, we have been able to hide our casualties by creating natural disasters and pandemic epidemics. But with videos and modern technology there will be no secreting our actions. People will see us for what we truly are. Especially if this is a war including all of the Supernaturals.""It wouldn't just be a war be
I shuddered as I thought about Alexis removing my mating mark and how I wanted to fight against it from happening. My neck still hurt, but so did ninety percent of my body. I nodded. "Let's do it." No use talking about it. I wanted it over with.Bernard placed his index finger against my temple.I prepared myself, tensing at the contact.Ran sat on the opposite side of the bed, preparing to hold me if needed. I felt good that he was there. I trusted that he wouldn't do something crazy if things went bad, like ripping out someone's throat to feed me…I felt a familiar buzz in my head. Oh no! It was the same insane bee buzzing sensation that the Elders gave me when they infiltrated my thoughts! It felt like a million flies in my ears. It made me want to run while slapping my head.I whimpered and remembered what I had learned from Paul. He had taught me to build a wall. It was with sadness that I built a mental wall, this time to separate myself from him.I imagined the wall going
When I returned from the bathroom, Bernard was gone and Ran was holding BJ, who was sucking on her binky and clutching him. He was walking around the room talking to her quietly, trying to comfort her. He was her protector, her Rannie, the reason that he hadn't killed himself after he had lost his one true love. They shared a special relationship. Ran knew more than most the pain of a severed bond.BJ's face was puffy from crying, but when she saw me, the binky fell from her mouth and she reached for me desperately. "Mommy!" She kicked and squirmed to get to me.I picked her up and held her to me, and she wrapped her arms around my neck and clung to me. I should have never listened to anyone tell me that I was too beat up for her to see. There had been too many changes in my daughter's life for her to be without both her Dad and me."It's okay, baby girl," I crooned. Feeling her weight in my arms and the smell of her baby shampoo soothed the shredded bits of my soul. I walked her ar
"Are you ready, my love?" Alexis asked."I'm not sure," I said. "She's still so little."Alexis kissed the dark curls at the top of our daughter's head. "Tiye is strong enough to travel back to our realm. We've been here a year. Don't you miss home?""Yeah, but a year here is only like five minutes in the Above," I said."More like a few weeks," Alexis said. "The Ladies are anxious to meet their new niece."He gently lifted his sleeping daughter, tucking her blanket carefully around her body. She had just turned three months old and was as round and plump as a melon. Her thick, curly hair was sure to be as wild as mine was when I wasn't wearing the plaits that Oni put them in. She looked like us—my brown skin with Alexis' nose and Mona Lisa smile.Alexis had named her after an ancient Egyptian Queen who was the deity of light. Leave it to him to name his daughter after an angel and a queen.He carried her outside and stood on the porch staring out at a vast sea made by his own h
Paul smiled and relaxed. I led him to the study where Alexis was waiting. Alexis nodded in greeting."Alexis, thanks for agreeing to this meeting," Paul said.Alexis gestured to a throne. "Please, have a seat."Paul looked at the throne and sat. "Mmm, comfy."Alexis moved the other two thrones to form a triangle, and we sat."We saw the gathering video," Paul said. "We didn't know we were being filmed," I said."I figured as much," Paul said. "But you made a good point when you said that one supernatural group cannot rule over another. My Werewolf Council has been meeting for the last few days. We don't want a war with the Neratomay.""And we do not want a war with the Werewolves," Alexis said.Paul nodded. "We have been in discussions with the Alliance of the Supernaturals, and I expressed King's beliefs that if we do not work together then we will all fall together.""That's right," I said."After a lot of negotiation, the Alliance would like to extend an offer for you to
Ran continued. "We asked the Wolves to coordinate their attacks with ours, and that is all they agreed to do.""But what about the carnage that occurred in Epic Cu?" The Councilmember asked."Are you for real?" I asked in irritation. "There were hundreds of Rectors at that gathering! All it would have taken was for one of those Rectors to snap Alexis' neck before he could summon King to close the portal to the Underworld. We had to take out the Rectors and luckily the Alpha aided us or—well we wouldn't be here and you'd still be kissing the ass of your demon master!"Alexis put his hand on mine but Ignacio smiled in amusement. Will you be quiet! Cyrene snapped silently in my head.When has that ever happened? I snapped back.Ladies, Alexis interrupted. Now is not the time. My love, try to be more…diplomatic.Fine, I replied."We won that war by any means necessary," Alexis said, his voice annoyed. "We don't appreciate your line of questioning. Do you want to go back to the way
The Neratomay flashed themselves away once they were outside of Epic Cut. The Supernaturals carried away their dead and injured, and what was left inside of Epic Cu was blood, gore, and ash. Paul left with his pack, and Ran, King, Alexis, and I flashed back to our villa where King fell in an exhausted asleep.Alexis and I watched him with pride. "It could have gone so much different," I whispered."No." Alexis continued to gaze at King's small sleeping form. "Not if we understand King's true potential—this is the way it was meant to be."It was time discover the fallout so we turned on the radio and television. Many countries were in a state of emergency based on what had happened over the last several hours. News outlets and radio stations made announcements that people should stay indoors because there were reports of wild, strange beast attacks. Videos of humans turning into Vampires and using impossible speed to attack the beasts clogged the Internet. Supposed experts in the s
I moved from zombie to Wraith, pushing them through the portal and trying not to think about those they had possessed.The Wraiths will take you…Oni had said.I saw Alexis keeping King in the light flowing from the portal, but the portal had grown smaller.It was working!King was closing the portal to the Collective!As I zapped zombies and Wraiths, I noticed with surprise that the Supernaturals were fighting with the Neratomay to kill the zombies! When they ganged up and killed a zombie and the wraith left the zombie's body, I was able to zap the Wraith and send it back where it belonged."Aleawdat 'iilaa alealam alsuflii!" I chanted loudly along with King. Although I didn't understand the words, I could repeat them exactly.Then Ran, who still stood sentry beside me, began repeating the words. Alexis joined our chant, and that portal began shrinking even more.The larger Wraiths became bottlenecked trying to squeeze up and out of the shrinking portal. They were so freaking g
I stared at the center of the pentagram where so much power was streaming through to seek out vessels, as if that power was a thinking, conniving being. It infused its targets with power so they could fight for it. And Alexis thought that my son should face that? My little boy?"Alexis, he's just a baby!""He is a demon!" he said sternly. "He only pretends to be a baby because that's what you need, Kim. You have to know that it has been many years since our son was a baby."The way King talked to the Wolf Council, the way he seemed to understood so much and so easily, the way he commanded attention whenever he spoke. I didn't want my child to fight this battle, but Alexis and King both knew this was what King was meant to do.Alexis released me and turned toward the pentagram. He raised his hand and began pulling power from the portal in the center, pulling so much that he glowed with the unnatural light that the energy emanated.Paul squinted and stepped in front of me, preventin
Alexis raised his hand. "We learned the truth, secrets that have enslaved us all!" Alexis' nose began to bleed. He stumbled and swiped at the blood angrily and then raised it to show everyone. "Secrets that prevent me from speaking these truths. But you see! You see!"Ran glared out at the group. "We know, even if we can't speak it. But if you can read it in our heads, you will know this secret, too!"The pain was so sudden that I could not have taken a step. I couldn't even see! Buzzing filled my brain as instead of a dozen bees, hundreds of them seemed to fill my head. I had expected it and thought I was prepared, but there is no way to be prepared when someone is inside of you filling your brain to bursting!"Kim!" Paul shook me.I tried to open my eyes then realized they were open. I couldn't see!"Build your wall!" Paul shouted. "Build it now!"I tried to imagine the bricks—white bricks. White…but I could only see black vapors!Then Alexis was inside my head cutting through
I smelled Alexis and Ran, but so had Paul. He was already heading toward them. When we finally met up, I dropped Paul's clothes on the ground before him. He changed quickly back to a man while I stared up at the castle where more Neratomay than ever attempted to enter Epic Cu."Once we're inside we cannot flash ourselves out," I said.Paul narrowed his eyes. "You'll be trapped inside?"Alexis frowned, but Ran and I nodded.Paul slipped his shirt over his head and peered at the castle. "We can blow this bitch up.""Blowing up Neratomay won't kill us," Alexis said. "Not unless our heads are severed or our hearts pierced.""Why does this castle remind me of Hogwarts?" Paul asked.I smiled. "That's what I thought!""How do we enter?" Paul asked. "That entrance is a hopeless bottleneck." "You could enter through the front door once we're inside," Alexis said, pointing at the opening four stories up. "That's how we exited."Paul licked his lips. "I can make that jump.""Not as a
"You're behind this, aren't you? Somehow—"His head exploded. I flinched at the spray of gore. When it turned to ash, I brushed it off me."Which one of you did that?" I asked."He searched my head," Alexis replied."Well, warn a sister next time," I said.Then I felt a loud buzz in my head, and across the room another Elder's head exploded.This created more bedlam and screaming from Council members who flashed themselves away or who sought the aid of another Elder."Do you feel that?" Ran asked."I don't feel anything because these people are screaming and hollering so loudly," I said.They were the most cowardly individuals I had ever seen. These powerful Vampires sat here crying like wusses! The very Council members and Elders who had tortured and murdered other lower level Neratomay could only hide and cry when they met a foe they couldn't overpower. They were the very definition of bullies!Ran turned to me. "It's Paul.""Paul? How…?""I can still hear him from my tim