Hells rejection, p.38
Hell's Rejection, page 38
“Dear me, son. Language. There’s a lady present.”
“Fuck you,” Eziel sneers.
His father just ignores him and looks around the table, his gaze pausing on me before landing on Alaric.
“The only way to weaken Dyrk is to bring down his deputies. Now, these colossal demons are no easy feat. It’s far easier to imprison them as I did than attempt to destroy them.” He narrows his gaze on me. “Do you have the key? The one Dyrk stole from me?”
I shake my head, and the Stormfire alpha sneers like he knew how I’d answer that. Anything to show how weak I am according to him.
“Thought as much. Then you’ll have to destroy them. Fortunately, there’s another key sitting right at this table with us.”
His dark gaze latches on me again and each of my guys tense at the unspoken threat lingering around Rizor.
“You’re off your fucking head,” Caspian says.
Eziel reaches for my hand under the table and keeps his eyes rooted on his father.
“How can my mate be the key to destroying these monsters?” he asks.
Rizor doesn’t look away from me. “Because she was born with them.”
A deathly silence spreads around the table, so quiet all I can hear is my own erratic breathing. What is he talking… Oh, gods. The crib in Lord Dyrk’s room.
“You’re a liar!” Alaric spits out. “If you think we’re sacrificing our mate to these monsters, you’ve got—”
“He’s not lying,” I counter gently. “Remember I told you my mother was imprisoned in Hell by Lord Dyrk until she gave birth to me?” I stare almost dazedly at Rizor. “He’s the one who helped her escape, and in payment she promised me to him.”
“A promise left unfulfilled,” Rizor scoffs under his breath.
Eziel makes a move to attack him again, but I squeeze his hand, forcing him to stay put. Beside me, Caspian’s chest rises swiftly, yet his face remains expressionless. He’s dropped into that dangerous quiet way of his that usually results in him lashing out until nothing in the building remains.
I say to Rizor, “If I am the key, how do we defeat the monsters then?”
Rizor sits back in his chair and rests his hands on the edge like he’s a king on his throne again. “You control them. That’s your power, isn’t it? Control.”
“But if they’re so powerful that you couldn’t destroy them, why would they listen to me?”
He rolls his eyes like I’m stupid and unable to grasp what he’s saying.
“Because you were born with them, child! Right in the womb of Hell itself. You share a link with them, a hive-like mentality that allows you to control them should you get close enough. The goddess herself gave you and you alone this power. That’s what makes you so powerful.”
I take a moment to register his words. I’m the only one who can defeat the monsters and everyone, including Rizor, are relying on me. I cut my gaze to him again and my lips twitch into a smirk. Back when he rejected me and then tried to kill me, he claimed I was weak. Now he needs me to get back his precious little kingdom for him. What a beautifully cruel irony.
“Who’s the weak one now, Rizor?” I say to him.
He only smiles in return. “Call that a miscommunication on my part.”
I dig my nails into my palm, forgetting it’s Eziel’s hand and not mine.
“Killing my mom and then trying to kill me was hardly a miscommunication!” My blood boils at the memory hacked forever into the recesses of my mind, and the need to avenge her surges. I take a quick, calming breath and refocus myself. “Thank you for informing us of this information. You may leave now.”
He stands and pushes in his chair. “A word of advice, little mate. Watch your back at all times. Now that the vow we all made to protect you has been broken, every surviving alpha out there will be gunning for the chance to get their hands on you. It would be foolish of them, mind you. Personally, I would wait for a better, less chaotic time to claim what’s rightfully mine.”
“Are you threatening my mate?” Alaric growls, seizing Rizor by the throat in one impossibly swift movement.
“Oh, no. Of course not,” Rizor chokes out with a sadistic smile, “Merely a harmless—observation. Curious, Lyulf. Having invited me to your humble abode, do you now seek to kill me?”
The soldier beside him intervenes. “Alpha, remember the amnesty…”
Alaric releases Rizor, not before he squeezes one last time in warning. Rizor clutches his throat and massages it.
“It’s been jolly good catching up with you all,” he says, “but I better attend to what’s left of my pack.” He turns to Eziel before he leaves. “I will be seeing you and Lilith there shortly.”
It’s not a request but a command.
Eziel doesn’t move or so much as blink as he stares down his father.
“Don’t hold your breath,” he grinds out.
“Pity. There’s a young Caelia female waiting for you, Lilith. She sends her regards.”
He leaves, slamming the door behind him.
“Aurelia’s here?” I ask, turning to my guys. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
Caspian shrugs. “She asked us not to.”
I frown at him. “Why?”
“She wanted to give you time to settle in,” Alaric explains. “I’ll take you to her.”
As much as I desperately want to see my best friend again, I shake my head. “We have work to do here first. Things to discuss, process, such as me being the key to defeating those fuckers outside the wall.”
Eziel raises me to my feet and gently steers me to the door. “It can wait a few hours.”
I’m ushered out regardless if I protest or not.
But to be honest, I could really do with some girl time right now.
CHAPTER 46
“Can I come in?” I ask, knocking on the door of Aurelia’s bedroom after leaving Knight and Dragon napping in bed with Eziel, who isn’t aware they snuck into the room. As long as Knight doesn’t snuggle with him, he should be fine. Maybe. The prince of hell isn’t a fan of the demon creatures. Figures. Aurelia pulls the door open and throws her arms around me in a tight hug, her scent reminding me of my childhood and my mum just like Leo’s does, but now it’s slightly different. Aurelia has never been a weak wolf, not by any standard, but there is a reek of power, like ice and snow, in her scent now. I’ve met pregnant women before, but it’s different when someone you know deeply, personally, and someone that’s been your friend your whole life. I don’t really understand how this happened, because I didn’t think she really liked Alpha Mathi all that much and I’ve been so busy I’ve not had a chance to speak to her until now, which makes me feel like a rotten friend. She lets me go and takes my hand, pulling me into the room, and I shut the door behind us, leaving her guards outside.
Aurelia places her hands on her hips. “I bet you have a lot of questions, like why did I let that moron get me pregnant?”
“That was kind of one of the top ones, yep,” I say with a soft smile. “I brought wine, and then I remembered you can’t drink it, but I hope you don’t mind that I do as it has been a fucked up few weeks.”
“Drink away, my friend,” she waves her hand. “But I am a little bit jealous.”
I pull out a bottle of orange juice. “I brought this for you instead. Well, stole from the kitchens.”
“You shouldn’t have,” she deadpans, and I chuckle. I sit down at a small yellow table and place the bottles between us as she grabs two clear glasses.
I pour both our drinks and take a long sip, leaning back in my seat. “You don’t have to tell me shit if you don’t want to. I won’t ever judge you but congratulations. Your baby is so loved already and very lucky to have you.”
She sighs and picks up her glass, nodding her head at my wine bottle. “It was one night, when I’d drunk too much wine and it was just sex. Part of me wanted to make sure that we were compatible in every single way before mating, and it was a month before the test that took his life in the end.”
“I’m sorry,” I tell her, meaning it. I wasn’t a fan of Alpha Mathi, but she doesn’t need to hear it right now.
“Truthfully, I’m not,” she blandly replies. “He was shit in bed. That’s why it happened just once, and he ruled the pack like an asshole. My people would have suffered under an alpha like him, and when he found out I was pregnant, he would have trapped me for the rest of my life. His death was a blessing from The Mother.”
I glance at her stomach. At the baby in there. I wonder if the baby will feel the same way when it’s grown. I really hope it’s a girl who takes after her strong mother and is nothing like her father.
“Did Mathi not know then?”
She looks away. “Yes, he did know. My scent changed right before the final test, but he still went. He still chose a chance at you over me and the baby.” Her eyes find mine. “He deserved to die because if the test didn’t take his life, I would have done it when he got back.”
“I would have helped you,” I bite out with a low growl rumbling from my chest.
We smile at each other. “Men like power, usually more than they like women.”
I agree with her comment. “That’s why they are pricks.”
She laughs, the sound echoing. “I think this baby is an alpha. I don’t know why, I just have this gut feeling.”
I nod. “I can feel the baby’s power already… so I agree. I wonder if my mum felt the same when she carried me.”
Neither of us says anything because there is a sting of sadness in the air. My mum would have adored Aurelia’s child, like she would adore any children I might have in the future. But she is gone and if I’m not careful, all of us won’t be far behind.
“I don’t have long to spend with you today because we found one of the creatures in New York City, or what’s left of it. We’re going to see whether I can control them properly and this one is weak from human bombings,” I explain.
“Don’t get yourself killed,” she warns me, her eyes sharp. “I need my best friend and this baby needs its alpha female aunt.”
“I like that title, and I will try,” I chuckle. I need to change the subject to stop feeling nervous. “Do you like the pack? Are you comfortable?”
“It’s a nice pack, with kind wolves, but I do miss the snow.”
I smile. “I don’t. The snow was never really my sort of thing.”
She looks down at her hands, twisting them. “I didn’t get enough of the wolves out of Caeli Pack, Lil. I wanted to, and I tried. I really wish I did more, but it was chaos. Do you think The Mother thinks I failed her?”
“You did the best you could,” I say, leaning my hand across the table and placing it on her upper arm. “You didn’t have a lot of warning. It was all a bit of a shock and you brought them here to us, to safety and that was the best thing you could do. There would have been so many more lost if you didn’t look after those you could.”
“I know,” she says, but her voice is so haunted by things I can’t imagine but know she saw, heard and felt.
A pack dying.
“There’s many that would like to try and take advantage of the fact there’s no alpha born for Caeli Pack yet. I asked for more guards outside your door when we aren’t here,” I tell her. “It’s not something I’m willing to budge on.”
“I know the wolves are circling,” she says with a flash of her teeth. “I’d like to see them try to take me down. I’m so angry that I’d quite honestly take it out on anybody.”
“Still, you shouldn’t be fighting,” I remind her. “It’s not safe in your condition and that baby is precious.”
“The guards told me that everyone thinks you will take over as alpha female and Alaric as alpha of all the wolves left alive. One pack,” she says. “But how would that work with my child and Rizor?”
I don’t know.
All the wolves are here and many of their alphas are dead, but I don’t know if it’s right for us to be the alphas of every wolf left alive.
“If Rizor had his way, we’d all be his,” I state. “And that will never happen.”
“Agreed,” she says. “But he ran like a coward from Stormfire, didn’t even try to help his people when he woke up on the beach. And after he was healed, he still left his pack to burn. He could have fought and saved so many. He didn’t have many people loyal to him in the first place and many are calling for the prince of hell to take the mantle.”
“Eziel doesn’t want that,” I say.
“Doesn’t matter. It’s the prince or the king,” she replies.
“It’s more complicated than that,” I gently say. “I’ve got enough to deal with right now that I can’t even worry about Rizor and his shit. I’d rather deal with that issue later.”
“Well, just think about it,” she firmly tells me. “Packs are brutal, and you deserve to be on top.”
I spend about an hour with Aurelia before giving her a hug and leaving the room, telling the five guards outside to keep eyes on her at all times. I spend the next few hours in training before getting dressed for battle and meeting my mates in the meeting room that they’re always in at the moment. They all watch me as they come in, as much aware of me as I am of them, and I softly smile their way.
“Are we ready to kick a deadly creature’s ass?” I ask. “And preferably not get killed?”
“When have you ever strayed from danger, songbird?” Caspian quips, walking across to me and kissing my cheek.
“When the danger is flat out terrifying,” I deadpan, and he smirks.
“Do they always banter like this?” the fae king questions.
I turn to look at him, spread out in a chair. “I’m going to guess that your Majesty is going to sit this one out?”
“Your guess would be right. I don’t usually dally with demons,” he sarcastically replies. I roll my eyes at him, wondering not for the first time how I’m going to get rid of this bastard, and look at my pack. My team.
Everyone is kitted to the nines with weapons and armour, and we all look ready for a fight. New York’s going to be difficult to manage, but I’m not backing out of this when the whole world is at risk. The humans, the wolves, everyone.
“We need to stick together,” Alaric starts, giving me and Caspian a pointed look. “And if anybody gets separated, you come back to this meeting point.”
I go over and look at the map, memorizing where he said we will meet up. He moves his hand across the map, carrying on with his commands. Alaric, Eziel, Caspian and I have gone over our plan a million times, but we all know anything could go wrong in a second’s notice. “This is where we’re going to come in through the portal. It’s a shopping store that I’m pretty sure it’s still standing, from our reports. We have wolves in the area, keeping low, and they’ll be there to help us if we need it or to save any stray humans still lurking in the city.”
“This is like the demon hunting trials on steroids,” I mutter.
Alaric looks up at me, and his eyes are soft, understanding. This is a lot of pressure, and we are risking more than one life by doing this.
“Are you sure you can do this?” he questions, asking about my mental health over my powers, I’m sure. We’ve all been through so much, and I’d be insane if I weren’t a little overwhelmed. But the world, and Lord Dyrk, aren’t going to give me time for therapy.
I straighten up. “I’m not sure I’ll ever want to do this, but we definitely have to try. It’s worth the risk.”
Eziel puts his hand on my shoulder, from my other side, and I barely hear him move closer. I breathe in his scent to calm me, and I look up at him. “Say the word and we will get out.”
I glance at Alaric and nod. It’s time. He turns to Eulah, and she blankly holds her hand up. I hate how she is around the fae king, but that is a problem for another day, one I will sort with Alaric’s help.
Droplets of water rise from the dry ground, appearing out of nowhere and spreading until they make a swirling portal of water, shimmering and scenting of the purest sea magic. The fae king looks over at Eulah, his eyes flashing with something like envy before he turns away.
Alaric walks through the portal, and Caspian takes my hand as we follow. It’s strange to walk through a portal of water and not get wet, but I’m dry as the cold, brittle air of New York blows around me as I stand on something that crunches under my foot. Alaric turns on a torch and Caspian chuckles before sending a dozen spheres of fire hovering around the room.
Alaric playfully growls at him as Eziel steps through and Eulah comes through last, the portal slamming shut behind us. I turn and look at the shell of a broken old building. Most of the ceiling is gone, and that’s how the cold air has gotten it. It looks like claws have ripped it apart, and I try not to let that freak me out.
What used to be shelves lies in bits of metal and junk at our feet, and a few feet away, a sign for the shop’s name flashes and flickers before going out.
“This place was shut down a few months before the attack, so no one was in here and thankfully there are no bodies,” Eziel explains to me, sliding out his sword, the blade flashing in the light from the torch.
I look at Eulah. “You okay?”
She blows out a breath. “I’m bound not to hurt him or say a word against him. I had to make a deal to save everyone, and I’d make it a million times over, no matter what it costs me. Don’t worry.”
“What did it cost?” Alaric growls.
Eulah looks at me for a moment before she casts her eyes away. “I can’t say.”
I reach over and take her hand, squeezing it tightly. “Tell me if you don’t want to go back and you won’t.”
“I want to go back,” she firmly says. “I never make a promise without a plan, and I can see the future. You worry about saving the world, and I will handle my king.”
The steel in her voice makes me let go and nod to her. Alaric searches his friend’s eyes before smirking. “Give him hell and make sure he knows pain.”
