We found her. We fucking found her.
Technically, we don’t have a clue where she is, but she was in the link with us, and that had to mean something.
I clench my hands, wanting to put my fist through something. Preferably that psychopath’s face until no one can recognize the sick bastard. And then I want to rewind time so I can do it all over again.
He’s fucking electrocuting her. He’s hurting her, and I just want to tear apart the world to make it stop.
She’s alive, but even though she keeps saying she can heal from anything, my mind goes to all the fucked up dark places it can.
It sees her gone from this world, lost to us all, and fucking rips my black heart out with it. I rub my chest; the tightness fucking choking me.
My girl is strong, stronger than us all, but there is always the unsettling thought that King, the twisted fuck, would do something to push her over the edge.
Fucking electrocuting her is cutting it close.
Seeing her today has slightly eased the rage inside me. That all-consuming rage that’s been slowly eating me up and making me want to give in to the madness and burn everything around me.
Draven better pull through and find her. We don’t need to be wasting our time covering his ass when we can be out there looking for her.
The fucking pansies can’t handle a couple of their own, a few times removed, that is.
The old creatures that come from the pits of the Underworld are still just demons at the heart of it. Why Draven and his army of demons, warlocks, and witches, can’t just handle it, makes no sense.
After we leave the link, Draven’s guards are waiting outside our room. All jumpy as fuck. Apparently, Draven told them to get to us as soon as the old demons arrived.
Five of them have shown up and spread out across the island, causing havoc and destruction. A couple have shown up near the club where Rion had come across one, and he and Kai were heading down to deal with them now.
I head for the bridge that sits between Staten Island and Manhattan. One of the guards spotted an old demon near it.
The fucker probably thought he’d take his shit into our territory. Well, not today, asshole.
The shift slides over me. Scales trail down my arms and up my body as it expands and grows. Flames engulf me just before my dragon pushes through.
Towering over the buildings beside me, I take to the sky. Soaring upward, I glide through the clouds and come up over them.
Pulling the energy in the air to me, I let it wrap around me to camouflage my dragon. If anyone was to look up, they’d see nothing but the bright blue sky.
Speeding up, I glide through the clouds, the wind and energy around me keeping the dark thoughts at bay.
I hear the screams and explosions before I see it. Swooping down, I chase the line of abandoned cars and follow it to the carnage. Coming up to the long bridge, another explosion rings out as a car lands into a pit of flames that runs along its entrance. People are everywhere. Some trying to escape the destruction and others try to head toward it. I fly closer, getting a better look at this old demon.
Damn.
Jax was fucking right. They are ugly, or at least this colossal thing is. Its whole body looks like one big dirty gray rock with multiple heads and arms. Its many eyes look hollow, as if something had carved them out.
The giant of a mutant demon is smack in the middle of the bridge, and there are a dozen small beasts around it, adding to the chaos.
The beasts look like a mix between a hyena and lion, with long pointed tails that whip out at anyone stupid enough to get too close.
The hideous giant is attacking from every angle, tearing apart anything within its proximity. Cars, trucks, and chunks of concrete lay scattered and broken at its giant ass feet.
Supes are trying to get away, some fight back, but most of their attacks are not doing much.
The smaller beasts start herding the supes towards the old demon while it smashes its massive hands onto the ground, cracking it wide open and dragging anyone close enough into it.
Still in camouflage, I glide up and over the bridge. Once I’m far enough out above it, I begin to circle back and swiftly soar down, revealing my dragon and raining my flames down on them.
The giant demon notices me, pausing its destruction. Turning around, it lifts a truck like it weighs nothing and throws it at me.
I drop down, twisting into a spin to avoid colliding with it or any of the beasts that attempt an attack. I take a couple of the little fuckers terrorizing a group of witches out with my flames and make my way back towards the giant.
Circling back around, I draw in my energy and camouflage myself. Just as I get close to the giant, a small beast jumps out of nowhere, trying to hitch a fucking ride. Its thick claws catch the end of my wing, scraping down it.
It heals within seconds, leaving me and my dragon more pissed off than anything.
Hovering for a moment, I get an idea. A crazy ass idea Jax would approve of, though the rest might think I’d lost the plot.
I could destroy the bridge, and cut off its exit, sinking the demon in the process, but it was going to be one hell of a re-build for Draven.
Fuck it.
I wasn’t going to let that demon or any of those beasts get any closer to our territory. And if it ended up pissing off Draven in the meantime, well, that was just an added bonus.
The giant grabs multiple vehicles in each hand and starts throwing them like missiles in my direction.
I avoid them, swooping straight up.
Hovering above, I open my wings wide and bring them together and back out again. A loud aerial echo sounds out as I absorb more and more energy and draw it into my wings.
Opening them wide, I hold my aim on the giant and quickly snap them together. A rush of energy flies out around me, followed by a strike like thunder heading toward the giant. It hits it, along with a couple of beasts beside it, making them all fall backwards.
Once it’s down, I rush forward and strike at every angle, attacking and slicing a couple of its arms off in the process. I continue my assault, not giving it a second to retaliate. My flames rain down around it, melting some of its rock-like body.
Before it gets the chance to get back up, I carve out a circle around the demon using my flames, destroying the bridge’s foundation.
It cracks open and crumbles to the ocean beneath it, leaving the demon nowhere to go but down. Its hands reach out, trying to grab something, but there’s nothing left to hold on to.
It drops into the ocean with a large chunk of bridge landing on it and pushing it down. The water caves in around it before the demon disappears completely.
I finish off the rest of the beasts before landing at the end of the destroyed bridge. Keeping my guard up, I watch for a moment to make sure the fucker hasn’t somehow survived it.
More of the bridge’s foundation sinks, but nothing comes back up. I wait another moment, but it’s obvious the creature is finished.
Soaring back up into the sky, I make my way back to the guys.
Shifting back, I sense the guys’ location. The bond leads me to Draven’s headquarters.
Walking into the room, Draven’s guards tilt their head in respect, opening the door for me on my way in. I shake my head at their whiplash of a change in attitude toward us and make my way over to Kai and Rion.
“Any problems?” Kai asks.
“Nothing I couldn’t handle.” I lean against the window, watching around for any further threats.
“We might have a location.” Jazmyn waltzes into the room with Draven on her heels. He’s staring at her like a lovesick puppy.
Damn, I hope I don’t look like that when I’m around Kiarra.
I glance away, catching Rion staring at me with a brow raised, a smirk on his face like he knows what I’ve been thinking.
Fuck. He probably does, with the way his mind works.
Rolling my eyes, I look back at the train wreck about to happen. With Draven’s lovesick puppy act and Jazmyn’s act of trying to seem uninterested, it is only a matter of time before the two of them come to a head.
We have enough going on. I want to be well clear of their drama when it starts.
Jazmyn’s words finally filter through, hitting me. “What do you mean, might?”
I wasn’t messing around, friend or not. I’d fry all their asses if they didn’t give me something to work with.
Jazmyn narrows her eyes on me as if knowing what I was thinking.
Oh right, she’s an empathic witch. I shrug, not caring either way.
Crossing my arms, I stare the little witch down as she tries to intimidate me. If she is waiting for some sort of apology, she might as well wait for hell to freeze over. She was shit out of luck getting anything from me. I’d fry her ass if it got me even the slightest bit closer to finding Kiarra.
She seems to figure this out on her own. Shaking her head and sighing, she looks at Kai and the others, explaining what they figured out.
“King is using a powerful concealment spell—a couple, by the feel of it—but we think we’ve got a general location. It’s just a lot wider than we expected.”
I share a look with the guys. It’s better than nothing, but we’ll have to move quickly. If King finds out we know, he could move her again and make damn sure we never find her. I can’t let that happen.
“Where is it?” I ask.
“Basically, in the middle of nowhere,” Jazmyn says, laying out a map on the table.
I move closer.
“He’s good. He even removed it from the maps.” Jazmyn points out the spot they think Kiarra is. It’s up near Boston, out in the ocean—at least fifty miles out. But it’s not as far as I thought.
She’s not halfway across the world, which is something. Not that it would matter with the way we have access to portals, but the idea of her being closer to us helps ease the tightness in my chest a little.
“The area is not only concealed but blocks any portals to or from it, so we’ll have to go the old fashion way…” Jazmyn continues.
“Guess we know where the power from those spells from the Cardinal Three went,” I mumble. Rion and Kai nod.
Jazmyn looks at me. “Unless…” She narrows her eyes at me like she’s trying to drill a hole into my skull.
“Unless? Spit it out. I’m not going to play twenty questions with you just so you can hear the sound of your own voice.”
Jazmyn rolls her eyes so hard it looks like she is about to a have a seizure. “That girl deserves a fucking award for putting up with you.”
“I am the fucking reward, and Kiarra will figure that out once she gets acquainted with my dick, so say what you need to, so I can be on my way. We don’t have all fucking day.”
Draven looks like he wants to take me to the Underworld himself. I smirk at him, hoping he’ll try.
“You’re an elemental Dragon?” Jazmyn asks, knowing quite well what I am and where I’m from. But I play along, hoping it’ll get me out of this room sooner.
“Half. What about it?”
“Elemental Dragons are known to have the ability to manipulate energy when shifted,” she says, more in a statement than a question.
I give her a deadpanned look. “Again, what about it?”
Jazmyn clenches her jaw, getting sick of my apparent lack of psychic abilities, because hell if I know where she’s going with this.
“I’m not a fucking mind reader, so spit it out or move the fuck on.”
She sighs, looking like she’s losing all will to live. But she can wait until after she’s helped us find Kiarra, then she can go and jump off a cliff for all I care.
“You should be able to draw the energy from the spells King is using to block portals. And since I have to fucking spell it out, you can then portal there and go all fucking Hulk and get your girl.”
Huh.
I guess it could be possible. Not that I have ever tried before, but power is power, and I can draw it to myself in whatever form it is made from. I just need some way to release the energy I absorb.
I smile to myself, thinking of ways my little mate could help with that.
“But you’re going to need a couple of more members from your flight to pull the amount of energy King is using on these spells,” Jazmyn says with a smug look, making me lose any sliver of happiness I had.
It was no secret that I didn’t get along with my flight—my so-called family. My flight was nothing more than dead-beats and traitors. The thought of having to deal with them made my blood boil.
The guys give me a look, but I’m not about to make a big deal about this. If contacting them was the best way to get Kiarra back, then I’d drag them down there myself.
“I’ll contact them,” I tell her.
Kai turns to me, “If you need me to—”
“No. I’ll do it.”
Kai stares at me for a bit longer before telling Rion to get in touch with Luka and Jax and to put some of the stronger leaders under us in charge while we’re gone.
Hopefully, they can hold down the fort until we’re back.
Making our way through the halls, I see Kai and Rion watch me from the corner of my eye, probably thinking I’m going to lose it, but there’s no way I’d jeopardize something this important, especially not when it comes to Kiarra.
I’d go to the ends of the earth for that girl. She’s my whole fucking heart.
Once they go off to get things ready, I pull out my phone and dial the prick’s number.
“Who the fuck—” The grainy voice on the other end doesn’t get a chance to finish as I cut him off.
“Listen asshole, I’ll be opening a portal to you very soon. Fucking accept it, and I won’t add arson to your list of problems.”
“Hello, Axel. How’s life been treating you? Not too good, it seems, if you have to call us.”
“Fuck you. Accept the portal or I’ll—”
“Yes, yes, you’ll huff and puff and blow my house down. Wait until Father hears this. See you in a few… brother.” The dick hangs up, and I hurl my phone toward the wall. It shatters on impact, leaving a dent behind.
That bastard wasn’t my family. My real family were the guys and Kiarra. The one I chose, not the people who didn’t give a crap about me. Not the bastard who brought me into his world only to make me pay for it.
My biological father was demented and probably took a page out of King’s book. I never met my mum because his fucking wife, Amaris, killed her. There’s no evidence, but everyone knows it was her. Too jealous that one of her husband’s mistresses got pregnant by him.
When I ended up with my aunt—who wasn’t really an aunt—it fucking saved me. Even though she was a piece of shit, I met the guys and then Kiarra. Without them, I would have been on a path that led nowhere but down.
I focus on that and push the rest of the shitstorm twirling around in my head away. Kiarra needs this. My shitty past doesn’t matter.
After having a quick shower and rearranging the entire room—and by rearranging, I mean completely fucking upending and destroying it—I’m calm enough to meet the guys.
Or at least, now more in control.
Kai and Rion frown at me but say nothing. They know better than to try to baby me. They give me space, talking to one another about the upcoming plans.
They know me better than anyone. That’s what true family is. They know your ins and outs. Your little tics and buttons and help you manage or fight them.
Focusing on them and Kiarra pushes the boiling rage down to a simmer. When they know when I’m calm enough to talk to, Kai grabs my shoulder just as a portal opens.
“Let’s go get our girl back,” Kai says.
And destroy anyone who gets in the fucking way.
