After I get changed, I follow Luka and Jax down a floor and into one of the large meeting rooms. There’s a long table surrounded by leather chairs in the middle of the room and a large tv screen on the back wall. I walk over to the wide window and lean against it.
Jazmyn, Kane, and Malik are already there talking to Kai, Axel, and Rion at the end of the table. Jazmyn sees me and walks over to me while Jax and Luka join the others.
Leaning beside me, she bumps my shoulder. The lightness around her and smile on her face is not something I’m used to seeing on her.
“Don’t worry, everything will work out.”
“Yeah?” I stare back at the guys.
Their worried gazes slide over to me every couple of minutes. I smile to myself when I catch Kane and Malik do the same to Jazmyn.
“Yeah. Those men of yours are batshit crazy, but they’d move the world for you if you asked them. Shit, they’d probably do it anyway, just to see if you like it.”
I watch their determined faces as they drill Kane for more information.
Moments later, a tall man arrives with four guards trailing behind him. His dark hair is a similar shade to Malik’s, and his build and skin tone match Kane’s.
“Is that—?”
“Draven… Yep.” Jazmyn clenches her jaw, staring right at him.
Draven orders his men to wait outside the room, leaving me to believe that whatever he’s about to say is important enough that he doesn’t even trust his own men with. His gaze finds Jazmyn as soon as the door shuts behind him. It lingers a moment before Jazmyn shifts, making him snap out of it. He moves down to the end of the table where the guys are.
Standing in front of Malik, he looks right at him. Malik is as stiff as a board; his hands are clenched at his side as he stares right back. A moment passes before Draven pulls him into a hug, shocking him.
He murmurs something in his ear, too quiet for me to hear before pulling back. Clearing his throat, he takes a seat while Malik stares at him like he doesn’t know what the hell just happened.
Draven leans forward, clasping his hands in front of him. He looks at the guys and Kane before landing on me, then he stares, unblinkingly.
“Keep staring at my mate like that and you won’t have to worry about the Underworld and old demons ending you,” Jax tells him, being the over possessive ass he is. But Axel grunts in agreement, backing him up.
“Calm down, I’m not interested in your mate. At least not like that,” Draven tells them. Which only makes it worse.
“You better not be interested in any way.” Axel steps forward, but Rion puts a hand out, stopping him from moving any closer.
Draven gives Axel an exasperated look just as Kai cuts in. “Tell us what you know.”
“I’ll get to that, but I need you to know that plenty of different supes have already made contact with me regarding what they witnessed or heard. Some want to know if they can use her, while others are looking for her to be… destroyed.”
The temperature in the room plummets. Each of the guys barely hold back their beasts upon hearing Draven’s words.
“They come anywhere near her, and they’re already dead.” Kai growls before continuing. “Not one of us will hold back when it comes to her. We’ll annihilate every last one of them before razing the ground they stepped on. Worry about your own family, Draven. You have no idea what we’re capable of or the lengths we’ll go to keep her safe.”
The guys grunt in agreement.
“There’s no doubt that you take care of yourselves, but what happens when more come? When hundreds attack from all angles? All they need is one opening and your mate is gone.”
A crack breaks the silence as Luka snaps the small table behind him. A burning smell permits the air as smoke seeps from Axel’s hands. The metal on the chair he’s holding has begun to melt.
“You’re an idiot,” Kane mutters, looking at Draven.
Draven gives him a sharp look before watching each of the guys warily.
Jax and Rion aren’t fairing too well either. Rion’s eyes shift, and his body is taut as a bow, ready to attack. Jax’s eyes are glowing, and his hands turn into claws and back again as he tries to pull back a full shift.
I move to go to them, but Jazmyn grabs my arm, stopping me. “Not yet.”
“What do you want?” Kai asks, glancing at me before glaring at Draven like he’s a bug that needs to be squashed.
“I have a proposition for you,” Draven tells him.
Jax’s chuckle is dark, his voice full of promised violence. “Of course you do.”
“I can send word that Kiarra is under my protection and not to be harmed. Along with your power as alphas, they should back off until we can figure out something more permanent.”
“And in return?” Kai snaps, his voice like quiet thunder.
“Kiarra helps me with our… demon problem.”
Of course, I was going to help. This was affecting the guys as well. But Draven coming in here and blackmailing us was not the way to go about asking for it.
“We already agreed to help you,” Kai tells him.
“Yes, but since then, that little problem has grown out of control. Staten Island won’t be able to hold them at bay for much longer.” Draven looks at me. “But now that Kiarra has potentially awakened, she may be able to help us.”
“What do you mean by awakened?” Kai asks, mirroring what I was thinking.
Draven sighs, still looking at me. “You’re not a supe.”
“What are you talking about?” What else can I be? I’m not human; my healing ability affirms that.
“You’re… more.”
“More, what?” I ask him, having no idea where he is going with this.
“More than what you are… what we are.”
“You’re making no sense right now,” I tell him.
“Get used to that. He likes to talk in circles. I think it’s an alpha thing. They all like to hear the sound of their own voices.” Jazmyn smirks at me, ignoring the glares aimed at her.
“Okay, she can stay.” Jax nods, sending me a wink.
“I wasn’t going anywhere, but thanks for reaffirming what I already know.” She scoffs, folding her arms.
“What I was trying to say was that you’re not a supe, human, or anything that has ever existed before.”
Everyone freezes and looks at Draven like he’s lost his damn mind.
“You can’t just drop a bomb like that without backing it the fuck up. What the hell are you talking about?” Jax gives him a murderous glare.
Draven sighs, cracking his neck. “When I took on the position of Demon Leader of Staten Island, I was made aware of the rules we had to abide by while we lived alongside the Underworld. I had to get up to speed on the history between both worlds and how I could ensure we coexisted among each other.”
“So you greased a few palms and climbed the power ladder. What does that have to do with what Kiarra is?” Axel asks, glaring at him.
“One of the rules I was to follow was to keep an eye on Reyna Erebouse and her daughter,” Draven tells him before focusing back on me.
“Why would you have to keep an eye on my mother and me?”
Mom wasn’t even a supe. Not that I knew of. We both thought I just got my abilities from my father’s side. Whoever that was.
Draven shifts in his chair, looking uncomfortable. “I thought the same thing. But when I inquired about it, I was told that if I wanted to find the truth, I’d have to go to the Underworld to find out.”
“That makes no sense. My mom was never in the Underworld,” I tell him. He must be confusing her with someone else.
Draven frowns. “Your mother was from there, Kiarra.”
“What?” I shake my head, “No. Do you know how crazy you sound right now? My mom wasn’t from the Underworld. I would have known something like that.”
Draven sighs, his frown deepening. “She wasn’t only from there; she was a Guardian as well. One of the good ones, from what I hear.”
“No.”
Jazmyn takes my hand, giving it a squeeze, but all I can focus on is Draven as he tries to make me believe something that can’t possibly be true. She would have said something to me… Right?
“I’m sorry, Kiarra, but I wouldn’t have told you this unless I was absolutely positive.”
Jax and Luka walk over to me. I hear Jazmyn sigh as they take her place by my sides.
“Say I believe you… Then why was she here instead of the Underworld? Why didn’t she ever visit it if it was her home?”
“She grew tired of her duties and role. She wanted more and went to her superiors for change, a new life. She wanted the chance to bring another life into this world. She wanted to experience what mortals had: love and a mortal life with its fragility.”
No. Draven is wrong. My mom never talked about anything to do with the Underworld. Surely if she was this Guardian, she would have had powers, abilities of some kind.
I saw her bleed from a paper cut, and she complained about getting gray hair, so I know she was ageing. So how can any of what he is saying be possible?
“I doubt her request was met with approval,” Kai says, his soft eyes meeting mine.
“It wasn’t. Her request was denied. But she found another way.” The tone in his voice fills my stomach with dread.
“How?” Rion asks, briefly glancing down at me before focusing back on Draven.
“She went to the deepest part of the Underworld. The very bottom level of hell itself and sought out someone or something that could help her.”
“Shit,” Jazmyn whispers.
Jax narrows his eyes on her and she winces.
“She went missing from the Underworld soon after and eventually showed up pregnant with you on earth. She was no longer immortal, nor did she remember anything from her life before that.”
“How are you so sure it was her?” There’s no proof that any of this is real.
“Our father was one of the demons who looked into it.” He sighs, sharing a look with Kane. “He found out everything I told you and more.”
“What more?” Kai demands.
But Draven looks right at me, and I can tell from the look in his eyes that whatever he’s about to tell me isn’t anything good.
“You weren’t born Kiarra. Not in the normal sense.”
“What the hell are you talking about now?” Jax inches closer, ready to gut the lunatic.
“You were created… made.”
Made? That’s not possible. I had a mother. He said it himself. She gave birth to me.
“My mom—”
“Was a vessel who contributed to your birth.”
“Fuck,” someone whispers, but I can’t tell who. My brain is overloaded with Draven’s words.
I shake my head, trying to hold on to anything I know is true. “I look like her.” My green eyes and dark hair are a mirror of hers.
“She helped create you, but your birth did not come from a union of any kind. It came from the product of power and the source of the Underworld itself.”
But she was still my mother… wasn’t she?
Kai, Rion, and Axel start drilling Draven with questions, but I can’t hear anything past the loud ringing in my ears.
You were created.
Draven’s words play over and over in my head.
Created, not born. Like an object. A soulless… thing. Did I even have a soul?
My eyes widen as I glance at each of my guys. Jax and Luka and their matching scowls as they stare down Draven. Rion as he stands involved but stays quiet, listening to everything around him, absorbing it all. Axel as he tries to start a fight with Kane and Kai… Kai as he forces Draven to tell him everything he knows.
If I don’t have a soul, then how can we…
My chest gets tight at the thought of not truly being theirs. The room closes in on me, the guys too focused on Draven and shouting at him to notice I need out.
I take a step back and another and another until I’m heading out of the room. Luka finally notices, calling out to me, but I can’t hear him past the loud thrumming in my ears.
I head out of there and back upstairs. I’m not foolish enough to try to run away, but I need time. Time alone to think, to try to figure out all this mess inside my head.
I find my room, closing the door behind me. Walking to my bed, I sink to the floor. Everything runs through my head, but it’s like a fog is blocking it from processing. I can’t think or focus on one thing.
Why didn’t I know? Were there signs that I should’ve seen? My mom’s smiling faces flashes before me. Image after image of us spending time together. She always had time for me. She even sang me to sleep when I was afraid of the dark. Me, someone who is supposedly created from that very thing.
I glance down at my hands, thinking I’ll see something different, but they look the same. What if I really didn’t have a soul?
I rub my chest as the band around it squeezes tighter.
The door thrusts open, slamming into the wall as Kai and Rion stalk in. Releasing a harsh breath, I push myself up, standing in front of the bed.
“You’re not doing this. You’re not pulling away from us again. I won’t let you,” Kai tells me, his voice resolute.
“I wasn’t…” I shake my head, the knot in my throat growing. “I just need some time alone to digest all this.”
“As a family, we work as one, meaning we solve our problems together. We help one another. You don’t get to hide from us and take that on by yourself. That’s not how this works.”
“That’s not…” I squeeze my eye shut.
I open my eyes just as Kai moves in front of me, reaching a hand out to the side of my face. He looks down at me with a frantic energy in his eyes.
“Stop trying to fight everything alone. We’re here now.”
“Kai… I’m not… whole,” I beg him to understand. “How can I be when I was… created? My mother wasn’t…”
She wasn’t a supe, and this other side of me… “I’m…”
Kai’s eyes flash with resolve. “Ours. You’re ours, Kiarra. Created. Made. Whatever you want to call it, but you are ours, and every part of you was made for us.”
Made… That the problem. I was made not born. I was created, so how can something molded by hell itself have a soul?
“Kai…”
Rion steps up to my side. “He’s right, Kiarra, and I think deep down you know that, too. You’re letting your fears and doubts get in the way right now, but you know that if anything makes sense, we do.”
“You don’t understand,” I plead with them.
“Then tell us,” Kai says.
“I’m not whole. How can I be if I was created? How can I have a soul, Kai? And if I don’t have a soul, how can our bond—or any of this—be real?”
