I got it. I did. To Cain we must seem like worms. I mean, the ancient power he possessed was incomparable and… Oh god, we needed to stop him from doing whatever nefarious thing he was planning before it was too late, because he had to have a plan. I mean, he’d had centuries to come up with one.
“You have a brother…” Cora said shaking her head.
My gut squirmed. “Cain could be lying about the whole sister thing.”
“You don’t believe that.”
I sighed. “No, I don’t. Fuck. I don’t need this.”
“No, you don’t,” Grayson said. “It’s not your problem. It’s Eve’s problem. Let her deal with it.”
“I can’t just ignore the fact that he’s free and wants to rule humanity.”
“But does he?” Cora asked. “I mean he never said that. Eve said that.”
God, she was a suspicious one, but her gut was usually spot on. I rubbed my temples. “We need to track him somehow. Just to be sure.”
“Leave it to me,” Cora said. “I’ll find him, and I’ll track him.”
“And then what?” Grayson said. “We have no way of stopping him.”
He was right. We were fucked. “Uri might find some answers.”
A crack sounded by the entrance, and then the scent of summer filled the room signaling my doppelganger’s arrival. “Urgh.”
Cora turned in her seat to face Eve before I could.
“You failed,” Eve said. “A simple task and you failed.”
I let her derisive voice wash over me and allowed my anger to surge up to saturate my tone.
“I failed?” I took my time turning to face her. My pack house. My fucking domain. “No, Eve, you failed. You failed to give me all the facts.”
She balked before her expression smoothed out. “What do you mean?”
“You didn’t impress that the cuff had to be applied by me, and me alone.” My smile was thin and empty of humour. “You also neglected to tell me that Cain was my brother.”
Eve’s eyes narrowed. “I was clear in my instruction that you should place the cuff on Cain. As for your heritage, yes you do carry mine and Samael’s essences, but you were born of a mortal womb.” She shrugged.
“You could have told me.”
“What would be the point?” She looked over her shoulder. “I have to go, but you must find him, and you must bring him to me.”
“Do your own dirty work,” Cora said. “Leave Fee out of it.”
Eve’s lips flattened. “If I could I would. I’ve already lingered too long. If Cain is left unchecked, your world will fall into ruin, trust me on that.” She threw something toward us. “This will bind him. It’s the final anchor I have. All you must do is place it on him somehow. You must do this, Fee. No one else can.”
She stepped back and vanished, taking summer with her.
“I don’t like her,” Cora said.
I pushed off the sofa and retrieved the object. It was length of dark hair woven into a slender braid. Cain’s hair.
“Now that’s not creepy at all,” Cora drawled.
Fuck my life.
Grayson joined me. “You’re not alone. We’ll do this together. We’ll get eyes on the streets. I’ll contact Hunter now. We will find Cain.”
Cora rubbed my back. “Go have a bath, babe. A long soak, and then we’ll have a nice dinner.”
Oh god, I loved these guys. I tucked the braid into my back pocket. “Yeah I think I’ll—”
Movement caught my eyes, and I froze with my gaze on the figure in the doorway.
Azazel grinned at me, and my heart jumped into my throat. I leapt over the back of the sofa and threw myself at him. He was quick to catch me and gather me to his taut chest. His strong arms held me securely, enveloping me in the scent of an upcoming storm, and I wasn’t even going to try and analyse the portentous nature of that observation. Instead I buried my face in his neck and resisted the urge to lick him.
I sighed against his skin and nuzzled him. “You’re here. I can’t believe it.” Wait a second… He was here. Why was he here? I pulled away. “What is it? What happened?”
He cupped my face and kissed me firmly on the mouth. “I’m here for you. Samael is lucid, and we have a map of the pit, but we need you to get us into the fortress.”
I stared up at him. “You need me?”
Grayson growled low in his throat and Azazel’s gaze flicked over my head. “Do we have a problem?”
I looked back at Grayson to find him standing with his fists clenched and his chest heaving. “Fee’s been through enough.” His voice was a low almost-growl.
Azazel tracked my features with a frown. “Cain found you, didn’t he?”
“How do you know about Cain?”
“Samael told me.”
Grayson made a sound of impatience. “Fee almost died fighting Ulrich for the alpha spot for Rising Pack.”
Azazel’s face paled. “I knew I felt something. Fee…” He sank his hand into my hair and tilted my head up as he looked down at me. “Fuck.”
There was a world of torment and regret in that word, but I wouldn’t allow him to feel guilty for a situation outside of his control. The Loup world was mine, and its trials and tribulations were also mine.
“I’m fine. I’ll be fine.”
His grip eased so that I could focus my attention on Grayson, who looked like he was holding back from tearing me out of Azazel’s arms. This was his alpha nature wanting his mate by his side. It was stronger now that the Tribus was complete, and it was probably a good thing Hunter wasn’t here to add fuel to the spark that begged to morph into an inferno.
It was up to me to defuse this situation.
I kissed Azazel’s lips lightly tasting the bitter tang of the sea on his skin, before bridging the distance between me and my fated mate.
“Babe.” I touched Grayson’s cheek lightly and he blinked before slowly tearing his gaze from Azazel and settling it on me like it was a blanket of protection.
Because that was all this was, a primal instinct to protect me from whatever fate might await me in the Underealm—a place he couldn’t go.
“I’ll be fine. Azazel will take care of me. You know he will. The packs are safe, but the Underealm isn’t. I have to do this.”
He gave a shuddering sigh and the tension in his shoulders melted. “I know. I just… I can’t lose you.”
“You won’t,” Azazel said. “I won’t let that happen.”
“And Cain?” Cora reminded me. “What do you want to do about him?”
Fuck. I’d almost forgotten about the new potential pain in my ass. “Cain will have to wait. Track him for me and ask Uri to send a phoenix if you find him. I’ll come.”
“We got this, babe,” Cora said, placing a hand on Grayson’s shoulder. “You go save Lilith.”
I took Azazel’s hand, revelling in the abrasion of the callouses that spoke of years of wielding a sword.
I was going home.
Chapter Nineteen