Kalina ~ Book Four

Sylvie lay on the stones, staring at the cobwebbed ceiling above as Will and Sam prowled around her, eyeing her up but not yet touching.

Above hundreds of black shadows, she could only guess where demons swirled around as if the ceiling were a whirlpool— silent observers of her struggle. She wondered how many she had killed in the fight against Fray's pack.

Her mouth slowly regained use, and she asked Will, voice a husky whisper. “Where is your pregnant mate, Will? Surely you don’t want your child raised in this hell hole.”

“Shut up.”

“Why are you even here? You could live in the Earth realm. Why would you do this to your brother?”

“He was a coward.” Sylvie’s body cringed at his venom. She hated that word. One look at Fray’s face told her he was no coward. He had lived through the same things she had. He had survived.

Will continued, “The demons saved me from a fate worse than death when I was a child. He didn't. He left me in the care of monsters when our father left us.”

Familiar pain hit her, and a weight she had wished she could forget settled on her chest. “He was a child, too,” she wheezed.

“Too little, too late.”

She curled and uncurled her fingers, her toes. “Where is she, Will?”

“Safe enough.”

“Give her to me. I’ll keep her safe. I’ll keep your child safe.” It was a lie. She would support Claudine with whatever she asked, whether that was to keep the baby or not. She could only be a few months along at most. The sooner she got her back to the pack and modern medicine, the better.

Will disappeared from view, and Sam crouched by her face, brushing hair away from her cheeks. “Stop bargaining. It isn’t becoming.”

She snapped her teeth at him, hoping to bite off a finger or two, but missed. He grinned. “Besides, I won’t keep you for long. You’ll stay long enough to understand, and then, you’re free to go.”

What the fuck was that supposed to mean? She understood plenty. He orchestrated everything. He planned her death, time and time again, all for some vendetta against the fucking Fates.

“Just speak then.” She screamed in frustration, flaring her nostrils at the bastard. “Tell me what to understand!”

His chuckle almost sent her into a frenzy, her body thrashing against his invisible hold. “You are wise enough to know that isn’t how understanding works.”

“So what? You hate the Fates. So do I! I’d happily fucking kill them if I could find them. Every pain I’ve ever suffered is because of them.” Every happiness, too, if she were an optimist. Not today.

From his grin, she could tell he didn't believe her either.

“Think about it. Really think, child.”

After the life she lived, being called a child was irritating, to say the least, though she supposed that compared to him, her life was a blip on the timeline of existence. She shook her head. “You were responsible for Bea.”

He nodded, eyes narrowing. “Indeed, she was possessed.”

The fact was almost a relief. She killed the demon and not the innocent child.

“I’m glad I could rid the world of another monster then.”

His curved teeth bared in a sneer. “My demon is fine. It returned home before the killing blow. You only killed the shell.”

No. “Fuck you.”

He grinned. “Sad to hear about your healer, though. Amy, was it?”

Heat sprung to her face as her rage ripped a hole through her. “Amira, you fucking piece of shit. You killed her, too.”

The shadows above slowed their swirling as if waiting for his response. She did, too. It was the one death she hadn't received the answers for. At least not proven.

“Ah. No. I believe the Fates had something to do with that one.”

The world tilted.

“Liar.”

He smiled as if he could sense her understanding sliding into place, her turning towards his cause.

“Don’t believe me?” he asked. “Go and ask them, and tell them Yalbaox sends his regards.”

The shudder that had been so deeply repressed surged outward from the name that sounded like hell itself as it passed his lips. “I can feel your lackeys knocking at my door. Find your answers, and I’m sure I will see you again.”

With that, she fell through the earth, the sight entering her eyes phasing from grey to kaleidoscope hues to the ruins of a familiar water fountain.

In front of her, her mates, sister, and parents huddled around a sputtering portal, and she sat trying to get their attention.

“Hey.” The word was barely a rasp that got swallowed up by the voices of a hundred shifters.

“She’s back! The Fates Champion is here!”

Elias spun first, his red eyes aflame, followed by Rowan, Fray and Kerensa. The portal winked out of existence, and they swarmed to her, unknown hands roaming around her aching torso.

“Tell us everything,” Kora demanded, and despite the exhaustion in her bones, the blood still flecking every inch of her skin, the pain that weighed her heart down like an anchor in hell, she did.

Elias hadn't spoken a word. They had hired six buses to transport everyone to Rowan's pack and were almost home. Gods only knew where they would fit them all; the nursery would have to be returned to a packhouse, and more cabins would need building.

Elias could only hope Fraser's pack were no longer as useless as they were while possessed by demons. After they had all been exorcised, the earth looked like it had been bathed in tar. The gardens around the hospital had sizzled and withered from its touch, and Fraser had agreed to move his pack away from the toxic death would be safer.

They’d have to return sooner or later to clean up the mess. The land was far too vast to be left to rot. He couldn't stand the thought of Kian’s hard work being in vain. As they pulled away, Sylvie told them everything. From her suspicions of Fraser and Will to the real facts about them, to every detail, the Demon Yalbaox, formerly Sam Grey, had told her. He sensed no deceit this time. She offered the whole truth and passed out in Rowan's arms soon after.

Elias stared, his mind curiously blank. Such a small, perfect woman was at the centre of the schemes of an age-old feud between demon and fate- old enough that even he had no idea about it. The thought irritated him.

He touched his mate mark without thinking and caught the eye of Fraser, who was sitting a few rows down, his eyes dark but curious.

Now that they knew the truth of the Lycan Alpha’s story, he supposed they would tell him the truth eventually. He would leave it to Sylvie.

She stirred in Rowan's arms, and tears slid down her cheeks as she slept.

Rowan caught Elias’ stare. “I need you to take her for a bit. I’m going to run ahead and warn the pack.”

They must have just passed the barrier. With a nod, Elias stood and took Sylvie into his arms, sitting back in his seat as Rowan jumped from the bus and shifted, disappearing into the bush in a blink.

Now in his arms, the shivering form of his mate tugged at his heart, and he squeezed her, worrying for a moment that she would fade away like she had done when she grabbed Will. He had been there, tailing right behind her as she latched on to him and fell into an abyss of darkness. He had tried to follow, but he had been too slow, his hand only brushing her blood-encrusted hair as she disappeared.

He wouldn't let her disappear again.

Thumbing the tear from her cheek, he didn't look at the Northern Alpha sidling beside him in the opposite row.

“What do you want, Lycan?”

“My brother and his mate... Claudine,” he corrected himself, “we need to bring them back.”

“There's nothing we can do at this moment.”

“But you have plans to in the future.”

“I never said that.”

Fraser sat a little straighter. “I have accepted your Alpha’s suggestion of a merge for the safety of my pack, but I have not ceded my title, and my pack has not defected.”

“I do not care.”

“I will not be belittled by you, Vampire.”

He chuckled, shifting his grip on Sylvie long enough to push back the hair falling into his eyes. “I remember a time when Rowan was just like you. An uppity child who didn't realise who in gods name he was speaking to. You may be an Alpha, boy, but I am a King.”

At that, Fraser's eyes dropped to the woman in his lap, his queen, and, in Fraser's growing awareness, a queen in title too. She was still formidable, even without knowing her bond with Kian and Rowan.

“The only reason you are alive is the woman in my arms who granted you mercy. I would not have been so gentle. Your brother is a traitor to shifter kind, and as far as I’m concerned until you prove otherwise, so are you.”

The bus pulled to a stop near the path to the main house, so Elias stood and sauntered away, leaving his back open to attack from the other Alpha. He dared him to attack; all he needed was one excuse to rip his head off, but as he carried his mate to their bed, he realised with resignation it wouldn't come.

His mate was a feral wee thing, but Kian wouldn’t have it any other way. He held her under the spray of the shower as she cursed and fought. It wasn’t the reception he expected on return from the Sun court, but he welcomed it nonetheless.

After learning everything he was allowed to learn about the demons, the fates, and the history of the five realms, he returned, prepared to share his knowledge. Instead, he found his mate, dirty as a pig, perched on the chair in her office, scouring every website known to man about demon lore and fates. He could sense she knew her pursuits were fruitless, but it gave her the power she had lost—the control.

“Stop scratching,” he grunted, twisting her so that her stomach felt the full pelt of the warm water.

“It’s too cold!” she screeched back, pushing her weight against him.

He cranked up the heat until it burned his arms wrapped around her middle, but she relaxed. He knew not to push her or take her grief too quickly. Healing would never come if she never actually felt any of the emotions, and even if he tried, he didn't know if he could touch the depths of her despair.

“Princess.”

“No.”

“Elias told me everything.”

She humphed but didn't protest as he scrubbed her arms with soap. She could only watch the water turn rusty around her feet and drain away.

“Don’t touch my emotions.”

“I won’t.”

“Good.”

He washed her hair and face and soaked her in the bath until her skin turned pink. “Where were you?” she finally croaked.

“Sun court,” he said softly, massaging her fingers as she lay atop the jets. “Kerensa banished me to heal.”

She blinked a tired eye open and looked him over. “You look good.”

He smiled wryly. “And you’ve seen better days, my love.” She had. The purple tint staining her under eyes and gauntness to her cheeks concerned him more than he would ever let on. He would have to follow her around with food to make sure she was eating enough again.

She scoffed but didn't make a move to swat at him. Not a good sign either.

“What did you learn?”

Still as astute as always, though. “Much, but they’re tales for another day.”

She sighed and looked up at the ceiling. “I lost Claudine.”

He had heard about that, too, and the news sickened him. What a demon prince like Yalbaox would plan for his grandchild went beyond his vilest imagination. Demons- hedonists to the core with a vendetta against the Fates. None of it could end well.

“She isn’t lost, Princess. Not yet. We will bring her back.”

“You promise?” Her eyes held a wildfire, the waterline swimming with silver.

He wasn’t one to make promises, for they were impossible to undo once sworn, but for the lion shifter he viewed as a friend, he would.

“I promise we’ll bring her back, Princess.” He kissed her palm and brushed the damp hair from her forehead. “I promise.”

With a sudden grip on his wrist, he let her guide his hand under the bubbling waters. Her emotions clear. The need real. Make me feel something, it said. Anything but this pain.

With a look that showed he would do anything for her, give anything she ever asked for, he followed her pull and gave her what she needed.