I’m not getting mated, not now with all the crap we’re dealing with and living with Mormo and Hecate. He put his foot down on the accelerator.
Kraft giggled again. “Sorry. Can’t help it. That really tickled.”
Orion shot him an incredulous look. “What is wrong with you?”
Kraft groaned. “So much. We don’t have time for that talk tonight.” He squinted at the dash in the vehicle. “Only another hour to sunrise.” He rubbed his chest. “That’s one hell of a punch you’ve got there.”
Orion couldn’t believe he’d let it out, and at his kin no less. He hated to say it, but he owed Kraft an apology. “I’m sorry.”
“I’m not. Finally! It’s good to have you back.”
Orion laughed, relieved—and surprised—he hadn’t done Kraft permanent damage. “You’re an idiot.”
“Yeah, but it’s good to know you’re not the lesser being I thought you were becoming.”
“Fuck you.”
“Didn’t we already have this conversation?” Kraft sat up, still rubbing his chest. “You’re mating the nymph. Go with it or kill her. But you can’t stand in the middle anymore. Not when we need your power to face what comes.” He paused, his voice growing quieter. “The things Varu has are talking.” He glanced behind him at the backseat, reminding Orion of the warlocks in the trunk.
“Huh?”
“You know. The talking things that sometimes sing,” Kraft snarled.
“Oh, right.” The Bloode Stones.
“They warn of the Darkness. It’s not all the way gone the way we thought it was. You know, when you danced with those goblins.”
“Wait, really?” Orion had helped take down goblins and minor demons in a hell realm not long ago. The threat then had been to open the world so that the demon lord, Abaddon, might have dominion over mortals. Then, when the predicted Darkness came, it would have a toehold in the living worlds, because the mortal plane would always be connected to the other realms, no matter how much fae and gods wished otherwise. “I thought we took care of the demon threat when the big guy died.” When Macy and Duncan had killed Abaddon, also known as the Lord of Doom.
“So did the rest of us. But the boss says no. It’s connected, she thinks, to demon-kin. Something about you-know-who’s mom and that guy she slept with and the other guy who’s his dad and—”
“I’m going to stop you right there, Kraft. You’re confusing me, and I need all my brainpower to drive.” He yawned. “That took a lot out of me.” He hadn’t talked to Kaia yet tonight. But did he have to? She wasn’t really his mate. Or was she? Make a choice, Kraft had said.
Well, Orion was making one by not making one. Not about Kaia. He didn’t have the energy, frankly, and he’d never admit to anyone that he was so unnerved about a female.
“That lightning was massive,” Kraft said as they pulled into the driveway of the house. “And I’m thinking it’s not something Mormo or Hecate know about.”
Orion frowned.
“Well, they’re not going to hear it from me.”
Orion parked in the garage and sighed. “Thanks.”
“No problem. But now you owe me.”
Orion groaned.
“The next time Onvyr loses his mind and tries to attack us, and Mormo puts me on elf-sitting duty, you take my place.”
As far as debts went, that one seemed fair. “I suppose I did try to kind of kill you.”
Kraft glared and pointed at the scorch mark still healing on his chest. “Kind of?”
Orion flushed, embarrassed to have lost control. “Fine. I’ll elf-sit when he loses it. But you don’t mention any of this to anyone.”
“Scout’s honor.”
Orion frowned. “Since when were you a Boy Scout?”
“I’ve eaten a few.”
Orion raised a brow.
Kraft scoffed. “Oh please. Not kids. I mean mature, used-to-be Scouts. Does that count?”
“I guess.”
Kraft said in a low voice, “Now let’s get our stories straight before we’re interrogated by ‘Mr. Mormo.’” They snickered at the stupid name.
As if they’d conjured him by saying it, Mormo appeared, annoyed as usual.
“What the heck did you two do? I saw that lighting, and it wasn’t natural.” His steady gaze went from Kraft’s bare, healing chest to Orion.
“We got the warlocks.” Orion popped the trunk, and Rolf appeared to carry the unconscious warlocks away.
“What happened to the Land Rover?” Mormo blinked. “We just got this fixed!”
“Drug gang,” Orion said quickly. “Oh, and I wanted to tell you, some guy named Morpheus said you owe him a drink.”
Mormo’s face took on a blank expression.
Kraft looked intrigued. “Mormo, who’s Morpheus?”
Orion grinned. “No, wait, he told me he had plans to ‘tag that sexy magician.’ He meant you. So who is the guy?”
Mormo shot him a scorching look before vanishing.
Kraft blinked. “Oh, wow. You have to tell me what that’s all about.”
Orion slung an arm over his kin’s shoulders and tugged him toward the door to the house, where Shadow sat waiting, taking a cat bath. “Sure thing. But let’s do it over drinks. Because it’s a lot more involved than it seems.” He paused and in a lower voice admitted, “I think I had a dream.”
Kraft frowned. “Vampires don’t dream.”
“Exactly.”
CHAPTER
TWENTY-ONE
Sunday, January 16
Kaia had thought about it for days, but she refused to be scared of her own mother. It might have been nice to talk to Orion about it last night, but he hadn’t shown up before midnight, and she’d been too tired to wait up for him.
Disappointed but trying not to be, she forced herself to not care about seeing him again as she took a boat taxi to her mom’s island. She would have swum the whole way, but she still felt odd after that last bout of power swimming in addition to going too near a god’s territory. It all felt like a dream, honestly, and she preferred to keep it that way.
Dressed in a cute blue dress that made her feel pretty and gave her a boost of confidence, she’d also added her best leather boots for warmth and because they worked great in the snow. But when she left the dock for the trail leading to the keep, she found it devoid of snow or sludge, the weather also warmer than she’d expected. Still cold, but not bitterly so.
She didn’t see Lord Ruin guarding the front gate. Instead, a new minion, this one an ogre, waved her in. He had a blank look, obviously someone her mother had brainwashed. So far so good. And then she entered the front door and froze.
Two of the lycans she’d set free that fateful night stood in the entryway, like the ogre, with blank stares. They wore fancy suits, looking so out of place in finery when she’d recently seen them barely clothed and nearly wild.
Her heart raced, and she wondered if she should leave now, while she still could.
“Oh, Kaia, there you are, sweetie.” Sabine waved from just a few steps beyond the foyer.