Ruhn nursed his glass of whiskey, trying to calm his frayed nerves. Ithan, seated across from him at a quiet bar in FiRo, was watching the sports highlights on the TV above the liquor display. Cormac had dropped them both here before teleporting away, presumably to warn his rebel counterparts about what had happened with Mordoc.
Danika’s father. Bryce would have a fit.
Had her sire’s involvement with the dreadwolves been part of what spurred Danika to work with the rebels? She was rebellious and defiant enough to do such a thing.
And Mordoc knew Ruhn’s scent now. Knew Ithan’s scent had been there. Which was why Cormac had brought them here—so there would be video proof of them far from the Old Square at the time Mordoc would claim Ithan had been in the alley.
Ithan said nothing as the minutes wore on, his whiskey vanishing with them. No matter that it was barely eleven in the morning and only one other person sat at the bar—a hunched female who looked like she’d seen better years. Decades.
Neither of them dared utter a word about what had happened. So Ruhn said to Ithan, “I asked you to join me here so we could chat about something.”
Ithan blinked. “Yeah?”
Ruhn said to him, mind-to-mind, Play along. I have no idea if the cameras have audio, but in case they do, I want our meeting here to seem planned.
Ithan’s face remained casual, intrigued. Got it.
Ruhn made sure his voice was loud enough to be picked up as he said, “How do you feel about moving in with me and the guys?”
Ithan angled his head. “What? Like—live with you?” His surprise seemed genuine.
Ruhn shrugged. “Why not?”
“You’re Fae.”
“Yeah, but we hate the angels more than we hate wolves, so … you’re only our second-worst enemy.”
Ithan chuckled, some color returning to his face. “A winning argument.”
“I mean it,” Ruhn said. “You honestly want to stay at Bryce’s apartment and endure her and Hunt hooking up nonstop?”
Ithan snorted. “Hel no. But … why?” Beyond an excuse for the cameras, Ithan said silently.
Ruhn leaned back in his chair. “You seem like a decent male. You’re helping Dec with the footage stuff. And you need a place to stay. Why not?”
Ithan seemed to weigh his response. “I’ll think about it.”
“Take all the time you need. The offer stands.”
Ithan straightened, his attention darting behind Ruhn. He went wholly still. Ruhn didn’t dare look. Not as light footsteps sounded, followed by a second thudding pair. Before he could ask Ithan mind-to-mind what he saw, Ruhn found himself faced with the most beautiful female he’d ever seen.
“Mind if I join?” Her voice was lovely, fair and cool—yet no light shone in her amber eyes.
A step behind her, a dark-haired, pale-faced female malakh grinned with wicked amusement. She was narrow-featured, black-winged, with a wildness like the western wind. “Hello, princeling. Pup.”
Ruhn’s blood chilled as the Harpy slid into the seat to his left. An assortment of knives glinted on the belt at her slim waist. But Ruhn peered up again at the beautiful female, whose face he knew well thanks to the news and TV, though he’d never seen it in person. Her golden hair glinted in the dim lights as she sat on his right and signaled the bartender with an elegant hand.
“I thought we’d play a round of cards,” the Hind said.
Two against one. Those odds were usually laughable for Hunt.
But not when his opponents were demons from Hel. One of the princes’ cast-off experiments, now acting as the Under-King’s enforcers, feeding long-dead souls into the Gate for secondlight energy. Like all they were, would ever be, was food to fuel the empire.
The demon to his left lunged, teeth snapping.
Hunt blasted his lightning, forks of it wrapping around the beast’s thick neck. It bucked, bellowing, and the one to his right charged. Hunt lashed at it, another collar of lightning going around its neck, a leash of white light clenched in his fist.
Had Bryce made it to the river? The third demon had raced after her before he could stop it, but she was fast, and she was smart—
The demons before him halted. They shuddered and melted back into each other, becoming one beast again.
His lightning remained around its neck. But he could do nothing as it flexed—and shattered the lightning sizzling into its flesh. Something of that size and speed would use the two seconds of slowness it took him to get airborne and swallow him whole.
This wasn’t how he’d expected the morning to go.
He rallied his power, focusing. He’d killed Sandriel with this lightning. A demon should be nothing. But before he could act, a scream rent the mists to the southeast. The beast twisted toward the sound, sniffing.
And before Hunt could stop it, faster than his lightning’s whip, it raced off into the mist. After Bryce.
Bryce crouched beside the Dead Gate, sizing up the threats surrounding her. Not just the hound, but the two dozen Reapers who’d floated from the mists, encircling her.
The half-lifes’ rotting flesh reeked; their acid-green eyes glowed through the mists. Their rasping whispers slithered like snakes over her skin. The Shepherd advanced, cutting her off further.
The crystal of the Dead Gate began to glow white. Not from her touch, but as if—
The Reapers were chanting. Awakening the Dead Gate, somehow.
During the attack on the city, it had channeled her magic against the demons, but today … today it would siphon off her power. Her soul. The Gates sucked magic from whoever touched them, and stored it. She’d inherited her power from that very force.
But this one fed that power right back into the power grid. Like some fucked-up rechargeable battery. Somehow, she’d become food. Was that what she’d traded away? A few centuries here, thinking she’d found eternal rest—and then meeting this end? Instead, she’d face a trip straight into the meat grinder of souls immediately when she died.
Which seemed likely to be soon.
There was a good chance that she could draw from the Gate as well, she supposed. But what if the Dead Gate was somehow different? What if she went to summon power, only to lose all of hers? She couldn’t risk it.
Bryce got to her feet, hands shaking. The Starsword lay between her and the Shepherd.
Hunt’s lightning had stopped. Where was he? Would a mate know, would a mate feel—
Another dog stepped from the mist. Then peeled apart into two—the ones Hunt had been fighting. No blood stained their muzzles, but Hunt wasn’t with them. Not a sliver of his lightning graced the mists.
The three dogs advanced, sniffing for her location. The Reapers kept chanting as the Dead Gate glowed brighter. That teleporting of Cormac’s would have been helpful—she could have grabbed Hunt five minutes ago and vanished.
She glanced at the sword. It was now or never. Live or die. Like, really die.
Bryce sucked in a breath, and didn’t give herself a chance to second-guess her stupidity. She bolted for the hounds. They charged, leaping for her with three sets of snapping jaws—
Bryce dropped, the rocky ground shredding her face as she slid beneath them, until the Starsword was cradled to her body. Something burning shot down her back.
The world boomed with the impact of the three hounds landing and pivoting. Bryce tried to get up, to hold the sword out, but blood warmed her back. A claw must have raked up her spine while one of the hounds had leapt over her, and the splintering, blistering pain—
Hunt was out there somewhere. Possibly dying.
Bryce dug the tip of the Starsword into the earth, using it to shove herself up to her knees. Her back screamed in agony. She might have screamed with it. The three hounds, the Reapers beyond them, seemed to smile.
“Yeah,” Bryce panted, heaving to her feet. “Fuck you, too.”
Her legs wobbled, yet she managed to lift the black sword in front of her. The three beasts roared, threatening to split her ears. Bryce opened her mouth to roar back.
But someone else did it for her.
For Hunt, there was only Bryce, bleeding and hurt.
Bryce, who’d made that brash run for the sword, probably thinking it was her only shot. Bryce, who’d gotten to her feet anyway, and planned to go down swinging.
Bryce, his mate.
The three hounds merged back into one. Readying for the killing blow.
Hunt landed in the dirt beside her and let out a bellow that shook the Gate itself.
Wreathed in lightning from wing tip to toe, Hunt landed beside Bryce so hard the earth shuddered. The power rolling off him sent Bryce’s hair floating upward. Primal rage poured from Hunt as he faced down the Shepherd. The Reapers.
She’d never seen anything of the sort—Hunt was the heart of a storm personified. The lightning around him turned blue, like the hottest part of a flame.
An image blasted through her mind. She had seen this before, carved in stone in the lobby of the CCB. A Fae male posed like an avenging god, hammer raised to the sky, a channel for his power—
Hunt unleashed his lightning at the Shepherd, the Reapers observing with wide eyes.
Bryce was too fast, even for him, as she leapt in front of the blow, Starsword extended. A wild theory, only half-formed, but—
Hunt’s lightning hit the Starsword, and the world erupted.
