He ran for Marinda.
Meadow was back on her feet in a flash, a vicious snarl pealing from her lips as she spotted him racing towards Marinda. The sixteen demonic males Keras had sensed in the area dropped from the sky, forming a wall of muscle between Cal and Marinda.
Keras teleported, appearing next to Cal, grabbing his arm and pulling him back just in time. The blade one of the male’s had aimed at him sliced across his chest rather than his neck, ripping a cry from his youngest brother.
Keras twisted with him and slammed his fist into the male’s gut, grimaced as pain shot up his arm and shoved forwards, unleashing his shadows at the same time. His head turned as they burst from him, as they engulfed the male and lashed at the two nearest him.
But failed to hurt them.
On the other side of the wall of daemons, Marinda hissed and attacked Meadow, lost in her furie hungers. She wasn’t going to retreat. Their only hope was reaching her.
Enyo teleported into the fray, appearing on the other side of the daemons. She made it a few steps towards the furie before one of the males tackled her, slamming her into the white gravel.
Keras roared and tossed the daemon his shadows had surrounded aside, hurling him at the one who had Enyo pinned, sending him flying off her. She scrambled onto her feet and sprinted forwards.
Meadow delivered a punishing blow to Marinda’s face. Marinda cried out as her head whipped to her left, as blood sprayed from her lips, and threw a stricken look at Calistos.
Cal growled as the furie seized hold of her and a portal formed behind her. His brother stepped and lunged for Mari’s hand as she twisted towards him, reaching for him, and Enyo barrelled towards her too.
Keras’s heart seized as he realised she wasn’t aiming for Marinda.
She was aiming for Meadow.
She would be pulled through Meadow’s portal too, captured by his enemy.
A daemon collared Calistos and yanked him backwards just as he was about to grab Marinda’s hand, and his brother unleashed an agonised bellow as Meadow pulled her into the portal.
Keras swept his hand out and his shadows struck at the male holding Calistos, dislodging the daemon and freeing his brother, an attack that cost him as his head turned and his knees gave out. Enyo skidded to a halt on the gravel and pivoted to face him, her jade eyes wide, filled with fear.
Calistos kicked off, reaching for the portal.
Too late.
It closed before his brother could reach it.
Cal turned wild stormy eyes on the remaining daemons and a tornado tore through the garden as he roared, ripping across the zen garden and coming close to striking the house.
Keras grabbed his brother and Enyo and stepped.
Collapsed in a heap on the slate floor of the dark-wood-clad vestibule of the castle in Scotland.
Wind battered the ancient dark stone walls, rattled the arched leaded windows and blew out a few of the panes. Snow whipped against the building and waves lashed the shore of the small rocky island.
“Cal.” Ares hurried to him, sank to his knees and gathered him into his arms, holding him even as he struggled, trying to break free as he growled and snarled, twisting violently in Ares’s arms. “What happened?”
Keras didn’t have the strength to speak and answer that question. Not yet. All he could do was breathe, and focus on maintaining control as darkness curled through his veins, growing stronger by the second, taking advantage of his weakness. He battled it in silence, waging a war he feared he was going to lose as everything that had happened replayed in his mind, as he thought about the mansion and how he had been forced to flee from his own damned stronghold.
“The other furie,” Enyo said, and he was grateful to her for taking command. “Marinda was fighting her and Calistos tried to get through to her, but… she was taken.”
Darkness swamped the room, the tinny scent of magic flooding it. Provoking the darkness within him. He curled his fingers into tight fists as his nails became claws, as the voice within him whispered tempting things about making the witch fight him. She wanted to fight. He wanted it too. Spill blood. Split flesh. Break bone. The hunger to surrender to that need was overwhelming.
“Taken?” Cass snapped, fury lacing that word, black malevolence that poured off her.
Outside, the afternoon grew dark, verging on pitch-black.
Not Cass’s doing.
His.
Enyo’s gaze came to rest on him, a warm caress that chased some of the shadows from his heart and his mind. He couldn’t bring himself to look at her as he fought the darker side of himself, as he denied the urges running unchecked through him, a terrible need for violence that he feared he would turn on her if he so much as glanced at her.
He didn’t want to fight her. He didn’t want to goad her into hitting him. He didn’t want to turn that fight into foreplay, using it to heighten the pleasure he would feel as he sank himself inside her welcoming body again.
She moved a step closer, her presence a light that drove the darkness back, but it still writhed within him, pushing to the surface even as he forced it back down.
He kept his eyes fixed on the witch, refusing to surrender to the darkness, even when other images flashed across his mind, fragmented memories of holding Enyo against him, her back to his front, and his fangs poised against the smooth column of her neck.
Gods, the desire that surged through him stole his breath as he fell into that memory, flooded him with a need to mark her like that, to sink his fangs into her flesh and hold her in place as he took her.
As he claimed her.
He shook his head, dislodging that memory and denying that need, dragging himself back to the present.
For a moment, Keras felt sure Cass would use a spell to return to the mansion, or lash out at his brother. The vicious expression etched on her face slowly faded as she breathed, as her eyes turned from bright silver to ice blue, as Daimon came to her and took hold of her hand. She looked at him, her face crumpling.
“We’ll get Mari back,” Daimon said, belief ringing in his voice.
Keras looked at all his brothers, at their women, and pushed back against the darkness, denying it and clawing himself back towards the light. He mustered his strength and managed to pick himself up off the floor, stood with effort that had his muscles clamping down hard on his bones.
He refused to give in to the weakness rushing through him. Refused to surrender to the darkness or the insidious voice that murmured sweetly in his ear, speaking of his pills.
Because his family needed a leader now more than ever.
They needed hope.
“The enemy need Marinda alive.” He sagged a little, hoped his brothers wouldn’t notice how weak he was and how much of a struggle it was to remain upright as they all looked at him. He pushed the words out. “We will have a chance to get her back.”
He reached for Calistos.
Placed his hand against the back of his head.
Funnelled the compulsion to sleep into him before he could do anything.
Almost followed his brother into the darkness.
Enyo caught him, keeping him upright, lending him her strength.
“Was that really necessary?” Cass looked from Cal to him.
“It was,” Daimon answered her before Keras could gather the energy to do it. “Cal was getting too worked up. There was a danger he might pass out and the gods only know how long he would be asleep if that happened. This way, he can rest while we come up with a plan.”