Undying Hope (35 page)

Kyros materialized from the shadows. “You can’t take her anywhere. I challenge you for your lifebond.”

“Your challenge is nothing to me.”

“But we are the same once again, Cadeyrn.”

Quinn’s eyes flashed. “You have broken all the laws of our kind. I pass my judgment. The sentence is death.”

Fear flickered across Kyros’s face and then settled into a deep rage. He stalked forward. “You have no right to condemn me. We are the same!”

Quinn’s muscles rippled and bunched under his skin. He poised for battle. Wolf pulled her back. She struggled and then went still. Fear gripped her belly, but she had to trust Quinn would defeat him. He’d already done the impossible, and now, she knew he could do it once more. Other Undying warriors surrounded them. Some she recognized, but others she didn’t. Power surged in the room, making the air around them spark and sizzle. All the illusions dropped away, leaving the main hall a shamble of crumpled stone. Two torches lit the area with an eerie light as the two men circled each other.

Quinn’s voice rumbled out. “I am the Cadeyrn. We are not the same and you have threatened the woman I love, my lifebond. There will be no mercy.”

Quinn was moving before the last words were out of his mouth. The two were locked in a deadly combat worthy of the ancient Roman Coliseum. Neither man was willing to yield to the other. She winced with each blow Quinn took. It should have been impossible for either of them to survive the punishment they were giving to each other. She let out a strangled cry when Kyros’s sword slashed across Quinn’s chest, but he only let out a rumbling laugh. “Is this the best you can do?”

The ground under them started to rumble and shake, but Maverick knelt down and placed his hand on the ground in a gentle, almost loving manner. The ground groaned and then fell silent.

* * * *

“You cannot use outside help!” Kyros shrieked.

Donovan stalked forward, his gaze never leaving the demon eyes. His voice was a quiet menace. “You were right. I was unable to defeat the
treòir
in me. Nor did I allow him to consume me.”

Kyros hit Donovan with the full force of his mind. Twisted scenes of Haven looking up at Kyros with love filled his mind. He fought against them, but it brought him to a stumbling halt. He knew they were false, but he couldn’t get the images out of his head the way Kyros showed her body being abused and used by Kyros. He growled though the pain in his head as he fought to clear his vision. Kyros was the master of illusions, but Donovan knew Haven would have never let him touch her like that, not while there was still breath in him. The hold Kyros had on him was beginning to slip, so he switched tactics.

Haven’s wail of soul-shattering grief ripped through him like not even a burning sword could. He merged his mind with hers, but she tried to reject him. He pushed forward to see what she was seeing. His body was broken on the ground. His heart smashed and lying in a bloody heap on top of him. Kyros wasn’t able to make pain affect Donovan directly, but through Haven, he was able to bring the warrior to his knees. With a mighty roar, he forced himself up as Kyros’s sword stroked downward. Donovan blocked the attack with his own sword, and then with his other arm, he rammed his fist into Kyros’s chest. The images assaulting his Haven vanished. His arm moved up through blood and organs for his hand to wrap around the heart. Kyros’s eyes went wide with shock. He looked down at the arm sticking out of him and then back at Donovan’s face. His eyes flickered and then extinguished into a chocolate brown. A wave of relief and bliss washed over his face as he fell to his knees. Donovan went down with him. The grief that threatened to consume him was great, but he steeled himself and yanked down and out. A hushed silence fell into the room.

Donovan stood and moved back a pace. “Be at peace, brother.”

Kyros fell face-first into the soot-covered stone. His heart beat once and then twice in Donovan’s hand before it beat no more. Donovan bowed his head for the man Kyros had once been, for his brother in battle and his best friend. He gently laid Kyros’s heart on his body.

A ragged sob tore out of Haven as she ripped herself from Wolf’s grasp and ran to Donovan. She slammed into him. He wrapped a non-blood drenched arm around Haven and buried his face in her hair.

The men gathered around them. Brogan knelt and lightly touched Kyros, setting the body to flame. She had lost all color and looked so small and delicate standing in a protective half circle of the males.

Scraping started along the walls. He hissed, “Mortis. Everyone out!”

Donovan let Wolf take her, hefting her up over his shoulder as they all ran out and down the mass of stairs that had led to the front entrance. “Maverick,” Donovan bellowed. “Seal them in.”

Hunter pulled off his shirt and handed it to Donovan so he could clean off the worst of the blood before he went to take Haven from his brother. Her body shook with pent up emotion. She leaned into him and watched Maverick with unblinking eyes. The Earth Warrior drove his fist into the bottom stone step. The focused shockwave sped up the stairs and exploded the door into a pile of rubble. Haven drew in a sharp breath and Donovan whispered the command. Brogan’s body shimmered into his dragon form and took to the air. He circled what was left of the Black Rose Mansion, setting every square inch on fire.

A breath shuddered out of Haven. She could handle this. She turned from where a real, live, dragon filled the night sky, breathing fire. She was not going to question how or why they didn’t have the air force here trying to shoot Brogan down. There was probably some answer to explain it all, but for now she focused on other, more important things. “Riordan?”

“I’m here,” he said, coming up behind them.

She twisted around and closed her eyes. “I can’t send you back to Nadia looking like—”

“Shh,” Wolf said as he moved in closer. “He’s a healer. Nadia will never know he broke a nail.”

The three huge men closed in on her in a massive group hug.

She sagged against Quinn and willed the tears not to come. “What about everyone who had been inside?”

“The others got them out,” Wolf assured her. “Everyone who should be alive is alive.”

At this point she was beyond caring if he was just trying to make her feel better or if what he was saying was true. She sniffled. “I want to go now. Can we go now or did you need to stay?”

He brushed the back of his knuckles down the side of her face. “I have to take care of one last thing.” He lifted his head. “Bring me the werewolf Nathan.”

“I will,” Memphis said from somewhere behind Haven.

Several moments passed before Nathan’s voice stammered, “You wanted to see me?”

“Aye,” Quinn said. He turned Haven in his arms so she was also looking at Nathan. “How many of your men here tonight survived?”

Nathan wore a stunned expression. He blinked a few times and then shook his head. “All who didn’t turn into Mortis.”

“Good,” Donovan said. “Can you find your men shelter for the night?”

“Most of them have their own homes.” Nathan’s voice grew steadier. “Those who do not can stay with my pack until other arrangements can be made.”

“Good,” Quinn said. He gingerly moved Haven behind him and stepped up in front of Nathan. “I need a man your men will trust to ease the transition from Marcus’s authority to mine.”

Nathan snorted. “I don’t think there will be any opposition. Not after what we just witnessed.” He took Quinn’s hand in a hearty handshake. “Thank you. I was at a loss of how to correct the damage Marcus was doing.”

Quinn hooked his arm around Haven and pulled her up next to him. “It is no longer your worry. I will leave the others to aid you in the cleanup and make sure your people have safe lodging for the night.”

“This part we can do,” Nathan said with a strained laugh. “We were trained to clean up after supernatural disasters, though we’ve never had one so large before.”

“My men will help,” Quinn assured. “Now, I have a mate who needs my care.”

“Of course,” Nathan said. “Again, thank you.”

Quinn nodded and turned. He lightly brushed a stray strand away from Haven’s face as he bent down to kiss her before lifting her into his arms. “Home.” He brushed his mouth against hers once more. “Memphis.”

In the next moment, the portal to home opened up. Quinn bellowed, “Nikon! We’re leaving.”

Tears were already running down her face before the portal closed. Mason was gone. Her grandfather no longer controlled the Black Rose. Kyros could never hunt her again, and yet, here she was curled up in Quinn’s arms like a sobbing ninny. At the moment, she was grateful she had to consciously think about having the shield up to not feel her connection to Quinn. She was absolutely sure she’d go mental if she didn’t have the strong hum of his presence warming her from the inside, even as he held her.

He shifted her in his arms to open the door of his portal room closet. Haven latched onto him tighter. Crying was ridiculous. Really, it was. The danger was over, but the stupid tears kept coming, and what was worse, she was now shaking.

Nikon pranced around Quinn. “
She doesn’t go anywhere without me,”
he lectured. “
She is too important to lose. I will not have anything happen to her where I cannot rip out throats if needed. Medea will be able to guard our den soon. You are not to take her away from me again. It will not go well for you if I have to call Memphis to open a portal for me again.”

“Aye,” Quinn murmured. “Help me figure out how to make a cup of tea without blowing up the kitchen.”

“Haven?”
Nikon pleaded. “
You can’t be that bad that he has to use modern cooking appliances.”

She sniffled and hid her face against the tawny skin of Quinn’s bare chest. She must have left his shirt at the mansion. “I’m fine,” she mumbled. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

“Shh,” Quinn murmured low against her ear. He sat her on the countertop and stroked her hair for a moment before he pulled back to give her a critical look. “All right. Nadia dishes out tea like it’s a magic elixir when people are upset. I think she sent some of what she uses with Riordan the other night. Just talk me through this.”

“I can do it,” she said softly. “Making tea is not that difficult.”

One of his dark brows arched up close to his hairline. “Of course it is.” He made it sound like making a pot of tea was the most impossible task in the world. “I can stop earthquakes, but a tiny cup of tea eludes me completely.”

She giggled nervously, despite herself. She remembered the rumble that had shaken the mansion under her feet, and how it had suddenly stopped when she’d felt her Quinn’s
treòir
fill the entire building. “I thought Ean stopped that first one.”

“An Earth Warrior is not nearly as impressive as when I do it.” He went to the sink to wash off his arms and torso before going to the stovetop and picking up the kettle sitting on the back burner. “Okay. This is about as far as my knowledge of this goes.”

“You need to fill it with water, but not too full or it will boil over.”

He clunked around in the kitchen. At first, he didn’t add in enough water; then he over filled the pot, and then he took to letting a few drops of water drip into the sink until the water level was just right.

He grinned at her with triumph. “Now what?”

She was laughing as his antics kept her mind off what had happened. “You have to turn the burner on, preferably a back burner.”

“Uh oh. This is when things might get dangerous. I might have to barricade you in the living room for safety—of course the bedroom is farther away.” He winked at her. “You’re probably safer there.”

“Hmm, I bet you think so. I can do this myself.”

“Yes, yes,” he agreed placidly. “Medea keeps telling me I need to at least learn how to boil water. Now seems like a good time to me.”

Haven slipped off the counter and went over to the front of the stove. “All right, then let’s teach you how all this really works.” She gave him the remedial course on how to get the gas burners to work and then made him practice a few times before she let him turn on the back burner. “Great. Now you have to put the kettle on top of the flames.”

His face was perfectly straight. “You’re sure? That seems dangerous to me.”

“How else is the water supposed to heat if you don’t put it on the burner?”

He shrugged. He put his hand under the kettle bottom and the lines of his face creased with concentration. She felt the buzz of power stirring, and he murmured a few words. Several moments later there was steam coming out of the kettle spout. Quinn put the kettle on the front burner and turned off the back one. “Faster and safer.”

She reached out to put her hand near the kettle. Sure enough, there was real heat coming off. “How did you do that? Can I do that?”

“You probably can now.” The laughter in his eyes faded. “Creating a spark is a pretty standard Undying trait. It’s nowhere near what a dragon can do with fire, but it does keep us warm and helps dispose of…things.”

She shuttered at what those
things
could be. Then she crinkled her brow in confusion. “If you can heat the water like that, then why did you go to the trouble to learn how to use the stove?”

He reached up and lightly trailed the pad of his thumb down the side of her cheek. His voice went deep and buttery. “I needed to see you smile. I love the sound of your laugh.”

After everything they’d been through, he just wanted her to smile. Haven’s heart melted. The stupid tears collected again. She captured his hand and held his palm to her cheek. Whether the reason she could feel him so completely came from her newfound power of the necklace or the growing connection between them, Haven didn’t know, nor did she care. His purpose was as solid and pure as the man’s heart. She placed her other hand over his heart. The sniffle couldn’t be helped, nor the tear slipping down her cheek, but she could smile for him. She wanted to smile for him. She wanted to more than just smile for this man. His intentions for her were clear, be it their connection or the necklace, she was able to feel it. He wanted her happy above all things. “You are a wonderful man. All I am in love with all of you.”