“Fight back, you fucking coward!” Torfinn roars, picking Seb up by the collar of his black shirt. “You fucking stood there with Dae on her knees and hurt. You knew your insane mother would kill her!”
“Stop!” I shout, elbowing Ryker hard in the stomach. He groans, and I twist his arm, escaping his grip and rushing to them. Seth sighs and leans against the wall as Mossy jumps on his shoulder, and I slide in the middle of Seb and Torfinn. Torfinn glares at me as I wrap my hands around his arm and shake my head.
“He never intended to let me get hurt. He only wanted to save his sister,” I softly tell Torfinn, seeing nothing but pure rage in his glowing eyes. “Trust me, I don’t need you to get revenge for me. If I thought for a second Sebastian wasn’t sorry for his mistake, I would kill him myself, but he is sorry. None of us can judge him for trying to save an innocent young child. I wish more people tried to save me when I was his sister’s age.”
The rage leaves Torfinn’s eyes instantly when I know I’ve struck home. He was a young kid with no one to defend him either at some point.
He knows exactly where I am coming from.
Finn lifts his eyes over my head and looks directly at Sebastian. “Fuck up again and I will kill you. Hurt her? And death will be a mercy.”
“Same can be said to you. Do you think loving Dae is going to do anything but make the gods destroy her?” Sebastian replies, making my heart pound.
“Wow, tension in here is real uncomfortable, and I’m still hungry,” Mossy cuts in. “Can we save the drama for another time? Dae and I need to bond over carbs.”
Finn lets Sebastian go and storms out the door, and I close my eyes for a second. Mossy jumps onto my shoulder, curling his tail around my neck. “Have I said the outfit you’re wearing is cute?”
Sebastian and Seth walk out, leaving me looking at Ryker. He sighs and offers me his hand, no questions asked. No judgment or jealousy.
Ryker is always there for me.
“I think you’ve said a little too much, buddy,” I reply, walking to the door. “But let’s eat. Everyone will come around.”
“They will,” Ryker tells me. “Dae, you’re too addictive not to be around.”
“I like the dog more now,” Mossy comments as we get outside. “I might leave chocolate instead of dog treats for you next time.”
“That was you?” Ryker replies, looking a mixture of pissed off and trying not to laugh. I can’t help it, I chuckle, which only gets me a glare from Ryker.
“Wait, you’re a dog, does chocolate make you sick?”
“I’m a hellhound, not a dog, for one. And two? I bet fried monkey would make me sick. Leave my goddamn pillow alone!” he playfully warns Mossy.
Mossy snickers in my ear. “I just had the best idea. Bone-shaped chocolate treats.”
“Oh Mossy,” I laugh, stroking his little arm. “How would I survive without you?”
He almost cuddles me, resting his head on top of mine. Ryker’s eyes meet mine, and I sigh. Even if we do escape the Otherworld, we have a whole lot of other issues of the heart to sort out before any of us will rest.
Chapter 8
“Be careful,” my uncle warns, holding my shoulders with his hands. “I see so much of your mother in you, and she was brave. So damn brave, and it got her killed in the end. I don’t want to see the same thing happen to you. Do something Ingrid never did and let other people help you.”
“I will come back soon, I promise,” I tell him, meaning every single word. I glance up at the rising sun. “You said the portal opens with one word. You never told me what it is.”
“Heartlocke. The Heartlocke clan’s secret is that portal, and that’s why only a few live now to use it,” he tells me. I smile and turn around, heading over to our big group. My guys are all stood around each other, with Seth looking over at me. Poppy, Laelia and Toth are nearer the trees, talking quietly.
“Ready, Ryker?” I ask, knowing we need him to do the portal for us. Apparently, he can sense where I’ve been in any world (he won’t tell me how) and knows how to get to the island I lived on with my mother and uncle. Ryker turns around, running a hand through his soft hair, making his black shirt pull tensely across his muscular chest. I stare for a second too long, and Ryker’s smirk tells me he noticed and that conversation is going to come up later.
Mossy taps me on the cheek and snickers. I shake my head and pick him up, putting him in Ryker’s bag I have strapped across my chest. Mossy grumbles but does settle down in the bag after I turn it around onto my back. Travelling through any portal is risky, and Mossy is safer in the bag.
“Always,” he replies, cracking his knuckles and harshly clapping his hands, fire blasting out of them in a straight line. Ryker grabs hold of the fire and pulls it apart, making a person-sized portal right in front of him. Without waiting, he jumps through, and I pull out one of the daggers given to me and jump in next, stumbling out into high yellow grass that almost catches my eye.
Ryker holds his hand up and sniffs the air. Lowering his voice, he moves closer to me. “There is someone here. In the house. I’m going to shift and search; don’t move, and tell the others.”
“Got it,” I whisper back. “Don’t get too close on your own.”
“Don’t worry about me, Dae,” he chuckles and shifts in seconds into a massive hellhound, his clothes ripped into shreds. The hellhound-Ryker looks at me with his big flame-filled eyes, and I reach out, but he rushes away through the grass.
“Why has he shifted?” Seth asks, coming through next, followed by Finn, Seb and Laelia. Poppy and Toth are the last ones out before the portal snaps itself shut.
“Shh,” I tell them, placing a finger on my lips. “There is someone here. Ryker is hunting them and will come back.”
“I sense Seelie magic. A lot of it,” Finn claims. “It surrounds us. I believe we are trapped.”
“Oh my god!” Laelia screeches, and we all turn to glare at her.
“Shh!” I snap, shaking my head. “Everyone, let’s wait for—” A wolf-like cry vibrates through the air, and I am running before anyone can stop me. Ryker. I push the grass out of the way, jumping over a few fallen logs and rocks before coming out into the clearing around my old house. Ryker is on the ground, his body bent at a strange angle and blood pouring out from dozens of little cuts.
“Ryker!” I scream, running across the clearing and pausing when a big boot lands on the injured hellhound. The world seems to freeze as the Seelie king appears in the burnt-out doorframe, his cloak draping around his feet, his crown glittering in the sunlight.
“Did your little hellhound not know his fire magic is mute in this world?” The Seelie king’s amused voice fills the air as he kicks Ryker and rolls him across the ground a little. My chest hurts as I can’t risk attacking the king with Ryker so close. He will kill him, I’m sure of it. The rest of my group appears behind me, and then they each run into a force field. The purple glowing force field bounces each of them back in a wave, and Finn is the first one to his feet. His eyes glow gold as his dust wings appear, and his axes slide out of his hands from the tattoos on his arms. They glow with god magic as he slams them down on the force field, and nothing happens. He hits the force field, again and again, each time it seems to fade just a tiny bit. “Ingrid was smarter than I gave her credit for. This island has five force fields that can protect anyone, even from gods.”