Her Forever

Parisa’s POV

Uh oh.

I wasn’t expecting this turn of events.

Dad growled as his claws extended, Sampson was in control, and I didn’t quite understand Sampson like I did, dad. Mama was the one who calmed him down, and she was far from here. The thought of her coming down here was out of my mind; she hates basements, and for a good reason.

“Dad!” I yelled, but his shorts began to rip as his hindquarters sprouted hair. Dad was trying to hold Sampson back but to no avail. Hades was a god; I wasn’t worried for Hades, just dad’s sake. Hades wouldn’t really hurt him, rough him up a bit, maybe, but who wants to bring that up at the next holiday party?

“Dad!” I pulled on the silver bars; even if they weren’t burning me like an average wolf, it was still strong. Michael’s eyes narrowed at Hades; he was pissed too. I didn’t need my empath abilities to tell me that.

“Did you know? Did you know he wanted to reject you?” Michaels’ voice was stiff, ridged as he bore his judging eyes into Hades.

“I did,” I spoke. “And that is something that is between him and me, no one else. Get these bars open now before things are said or done that can’t be reversed.” Michael’s jaw tightened.

“He could have prevented it,” Michael waved his hands around. “All of this. If he had just accepted you in the beginning! None of this would have happened!” I shook my head.

“Now is not the time; get these bars open! I swear I’ll explain! Now! Please,” I begged; I pleaded and even gave him the ‘I’m your sister, please help me for once’ eyes. Michael’s face softened as he glanced back at Hades and Dad.

“Hades would win anyway; it’s just a small brawl. I get it though,” he took the key from his pocket and unlocked the door. Dad was entirely shifted, in a crouching position to attack. His sandy blonde wolf, Sampson, bore his teeth, salivating for a bite. Hades wasn’t afraid; his posture wasn’t even stiff. The sorrow, regret already filled him. Memories of his past caught up with him again. He would let my dad do whatever he wanted to remove the mental anguish and feel the physical pain.

Jumping in front of Hades, I latched onto his waist. “Stop!” I yelled again; my dad paused his steps, surprised to see me stand in front of my mate. Why would I not stand in front of him?

“You still want mate?” Sampson mind-linked in his caveman’s voice. I gripped onto Hades’ torso more.

“More than anything,” I replied out loud. “He’s already told me we’ve worked on it on our own. We worked on this. This is between Hades and me, no one else.” I felt Hades grip me tight.

“I wronged Parisa in the beginning. I know that, and I will always bear the guilt. Parisa is too good for me, and yet she decided to stay.” Hades’ voice was low, unable to hear with human ears. “I’ll spend the rest of eternity proving to her how sorry I am. How she suffered because of me, the terrible domino effect, it had on her. I’ll do anything,” Hades took a deep breath as he pulled me close. “Do anything to show her how much I love her.”

My eyes pricked with tears; reaching both my arms up around his neck, I pecked the side of his neck. “I love you too, Hades.”

Dad stood just feet away. No longer showing his fierce teeth, he backed away slowly. Changing instantly back into his human form. “Finish this,” Dad waved to Lyle, who had almost been forgotten. Dad opened the cell door and walked alone down the basement hallway.

“Wasn’t expecting that bit of information to pop out,” I joked. Hades brushed my hair to the side and kissed my cheek. “Neither was I.”

Michael stood leaning on the cell door frame, arms crossed while shaking his head. “I can’t say much,” he sighed. “I made the wrong decision too, so I can’t say much at all. I’m glad you came clean and were honest too.” We all stood in silence as we heard Lyle g***n.

“I guess we should interrogate him further?” I muttered. Hades gave me a quick peck on the lips and had me stand outside the cell. If he thinks he is hiding the whole torture thing, it doesn’t work. I’ve seen every bit of what he’s done; it’s not like there is a vast difference between standing beside the whole thing or being on the outside.

Michael and I watched as Hades, and his demons extracted every bit of information out of Lyle. He became difficult after spilling Hades’ own personal details about a rejection. It must have been a ploy to deter the torturing or bide time for what is yet to come.

The torturing and screaming lasted for hours, and once it was all said and done, you couldn’t recognize Lyle. B***d seeped from his head, his fingers were broken, and his toenails were ripped out. A horror movie couldn’t do justice as Hades did to this wolf.

The torturing and screaming lasted for hours, and once it was all said and done, you couldn’t recognize Lyle. B***d seeped from his head, his fingers were broken, and his toenails were ripped out. A horror movie couldn’t do justice as Hades did to this wolf.

“Let’s go upstairs, relay what we know.” Hades willed the last bit of b***d off his body. It’s pretty handy when you are the god of the dead and can take away all remnants of his tortured’s b***d.

Niko was sitting upstairs on the sizeable decorative chair in the living room. A purple glow stood out from the seat. Bohdi must have cast a small binding spell to keep him seated. Niko rubbed his chin with those manicured fingers, and his tail flicked side to side as we walked into the room.

“Welcome back,” Hades sauntered up to Niko. “Parisa enjoyed your show,” he mocked.

“I’m sorry, Parisa, I couldn’t help myself,” he winked. “What did you think of my acting skills?” I walked straight up to him and slapped him in the face. He chuckled while he rubbed the burn of my hand.

“Don’t ever do that again! You had me so worried!” Nikko frowned and grabbed my hand.

“I’m sorry, I thought you would have remembered after a few minutes. Then I died and couldn’t say, ‘gotcha!'” I smiled and punched him in the shoulder.

“Just don’t do it again,” Hades came forward and pulled me in by the waist.

“There better be a good explanation as to why you got out and to why Nero was in my palace.”

Dad and mom were sitting in the comfort of a love seat next to Niko. Dad kept his glare away from Hades; he didn’t want anything to do with my mate now. I felt his confusion, anger, and contemplative feelings about the situation. My mother must not know because she was too busy talking to Blaze, who had become a chatterbox with all the wolves in my family.

“Master, you gave me free rein over the prison demons in the year 324AD, so they were under my command. I just had them release me and went to my room.” Hades rolled his eyes and slapped his hand on his face.

“I meant to change that.” He grumbled.

“Anyway, Nero came in with the helm; of course, he came in undetected while using it. He brought in several dark witches, sorcerers, and even some vampires,” Niko mused. Mama growled in the corner. She has always said to treat everyone equally because not everyone is evil. Yet, mama still had trouble shaking the thoughts of vampires. All the ones she had met brought nothing but pain.

“Excuse me,” she rubbed her throat. “Please continue.” Dad rubbed mama’s shoulders as she grew quiet.

“Nero came in undetected and opened a portal. I tried contacting you through your office Fire Portal to speak to you, but nothing would go through. It was nothing but static, silence. I haven’t used it in centuries, so maybe the spell had been broken.”

“There’s a disconnection,” Bohdi walked into the room. “There is a ward around the Underworld, a powerful one,” Bohdi brought in a glass ball and waved her hand across it. “Using a detection spell, I was able to find it; it has weakened me severely,” everyone glanced at Bohdi, who indeed looked worse for wear. Her eyes were sunken, and her fingers trembled. “It is a basic spell, one any witch can do, but it is enhanced, enhanced so much I could barely find it with my own detection spell. The aura that was consumed to procure it was arduous.”

The ball showed the underworld in an entire glass dome. “This is where the barrier resides. How did you not notice that you were not receiving messages?”

Hades rubbed the back of his head. “Past thousand years, I’ve been a bit of a recluse. Besides, who wants to spend time with a god in a foul mood.” My dad rolled his eyes while I pulled Hades down to a seat. He placed me on his lap while I cuddled closer to him.

“That barrier and your reclusiveness were used to their advantage. No one can contact you within unless it was with one of your own demons that you had frequent contact with,” Bohdi leaned back on the couch.

“Niko usually has strong contact with me, he tried using the fire portal to summon me back at the Palace, but it seems their ward has grown stronger.”

“You can send messages out yourself, just not receive. It was just enough for you to believe that there was no such ward,” Bohdi concluded. “As for the writing on this spear, it is a basic poisoning spell. A lethal one to any supernatural. What the spell was laced with it is what is frightening.” Bohdi clutched her fists. The room grew silent as Michael watched from the corner of the room. His fingers tapped on his arm.

“Dragon shifter b***d.”

“Dragon’s b***d? That’s it?” Dad spoke out loud. “That type of b***d magic was taken care of years ago!”

“A shifter dragon, big difference. Some witches and vampires have gone rogue in Bergarian again, and they have been experimenting. The land of Vamparia was unsettled with their new Queen Diana taking on the throne. You remember she was a Hybrid, the first of her kind. Some are still fighting for their cause to rid her, and it appears they found some leftover viles from the Dark War years ago.”

The men in the room growled out. “Right now? I was in that war and saw the head which fall along with those bastards!” Father spat. Bohdi shook her head. “This is just a small militia. There are several small groups, and they plan to join forces once enough b***d is found and take up arms again. They have experimented with the magic of pure virgin vampire b***d in the past. That alone has made their magic stronger and helped regenerate their auras to fight longer. They must have finally got ahold of dragon’s b***d again to be able to hit and maim Hades for a good 30 seconds.”

“More like 10 seconds,” Hades mumbled. “If it hit a lesser god, say someone, not of the first twelve, it would do damage,” he stated. “It was intense, most potent I’ve ever had to deal with.”

“Regardless, dragon shifter b***d is hard to come by. They don’t just bleed on a whim. Their skin is tough even in their human forms, and they have to give it willingly. No dragon in their right mind would do that,” Bohdi stressed. “Especially not after the Dark War; that is why I believe they are running low on supplies. They are trying to get rid of Parisa for good if Lyle throws spears left and right. One shot of this dark magic with dragon shifter b***d, and she would suffer.”

Niko tried to get up from his chair but was quickly sucked back down. “Can I at least move? My butt is numb,” Bohdi waved her hand, and he was released rapidly. Her weariness was happy she didn’t have to worry about keeping him to the chair.

“What we extracted from Lyle makes me think that Demeter is hiding in Bergarian and not on Earth where she normally likes to dwell. If we are talking witches and vampires, then Vamparia is where we must go,” Hades played with my hair.

Hades raised his hand and pointed to Niko. “What else? Anything said that would be of use to us?”

“They want her, Master. Parisa. Whoever is controlling Nero thinks Parisa can find the Sphere. I don’t think they are trying to kill her. I think they want to use her.”

“They are right,” Hades stood. “In fact, Parisa already found it.” Everyone in the room gasped.

“The fire,” dad said. “That’s why you stepped in.”

I laced my hands with Hades, “it almost called to me. I felt very drawn to it.” Hades pulled out the pebble; it was still misshapen, in no way was it a sphere. How could something so small be so important, to hold all of the world’s matching souls in it? To see every single one and to watch them become one with one another?

Hades flipped the pebble over a few times. “I still don’t believe it, all of this,” he waved his hand at me. “I never thought a mate would be so precious. I was blind; I was blind for so long. And after finding her….” Hades pulled me in tight. “To know she is mine, and I couldn’t ask for anything better.” Hades eyes glistened while I nuzzled into his chest. The room stood silent as I put my hand up to touch the pebble.

My middle finger grazed the smooth surface. I felt the warmth in Hades’ heart for me; the devotion had had to keep me protected and care for me hit me with all its might. My empath ability wall I had learned to create with Athena fell in an instant. With a flash of brilliant light, the room was engulfed in rays as white as the stars. Blinded by its brilliance, we all looked away until the warmth ceased to be felt on our faces.

Glancing back, Hades held the sizeable midnight-blue Sphere in his hand with tiny specks of grey and white silhouettes floating inside.

How did all of these jumbled pieces come together? Being taken from Hades, missing gods, dragon’s b***d, and the Sphere were all different, yet they all fit right in the same puzzle. We had our work cut out for us, and looking into this Sphere was the first thing we had to do to find Selene.