Chapter 270

“He cannot kill me,” the God says, laughing darkly as I come closer. Suddenly a hand lashes out, hitting Jesse hard in the chest and sending him sprawling down on the ground next to Rafe. But even as he falls away, Jesse’s shadows stay tight around the god before us, winding around him. “Even if this is merely a shard of my power, do you think a gift of magic to a mortal would be enough to kill a God?”

“Ariel!” Rafe shouts, and behind me I can hear him working hard to scramble to his feet. “Get away from him!”

I ignore my brother.

“I think it’s enough to weaken a God,” I say, my voice shaking with my rage as I take another step towards the God of Darkness, looking up into his face now. “Or else you would have killed us by now.”

“Kill you,” the God says, laughing down at me, almost as if he’s entertained. “Dear heart,” he snarls, “I don’t want to kill you. You’re far too interesting to me.” He raises a hand, reaching to cup my cheek, but one of Jesse’s shadows whips out and the God gasps as his wrist is yanked down.

“And you in particular,” the God purrs, leaning closer to me after sending a dark glare Jesse’s way, “are so like your grandmother – the woman she was tens of thousands of years ago – when we first began our reign. So fiery. So…delicious.” He smirks as his eyes drop to my body, as I feel again the perverse lick of his tongue up my neck, my cheek. I slap my hand to my cheek, trying to wipe the sensation away – but of course I can’t. He’s using his magic, even though it feels…so real, so vivid.

“Enough,” Jackson growls, and I realize that he moved without me realizing it, stepping forward to wrap his hand my arm, to pull me back.

“Mated, yes,” the God says with a vicious laugh, standing up straighter as Luca moves to my other side, standing close and likewise glaring at the shadow before us, both of my mates ready to take on a god for my sake. “And to one of mine, nonetheless,” he murmurs, turning to Jackson with interest. “What an…interesting choice for my wife to have made.”

I go pale at these words, staring between Jackson and the God of Darkness, wondering…what the hell that means.

“But nevermind,” the God sighs, even as a wicked midnight glimmer comes into his eyes. “For you have…a sister, don’t you? Even more like my goddess bride, and she is as-yet free…”

I break, lashing forward, my teeth snapping as I whip my hand forward, my claws extended, intending to rip him to shreds for the threat against my sister – my Juniper –

But it’s enough, and as his hand flies up, snatching my wrist out of the air, I realize that I fell precisely into his trap.

Jackson keeps his hold on me, not letting go, even as I fly forward, caught in the God of Darkness’s grasp. Luca likewise grabs me, an arm around my waist, and Jesse’s shadows tighten around the God. Jesse gasps with the strain of it, clearly reaching the limits of his newfound control.

“It has been fun, little demigoddess,” the God of Darkness says, drawing my face close to him, “watching you these past few months in that worthless form. But now the time for games is up.” He moves fast then, pressing his mouth perversely to mine.

And as his lips move hard against my own, I feel something…wake in me.

Something dark, and cold, moving within the depths of me.

“Come and find me,” he growls, breaking away and leering down into my face. “When you are of need. And you will be of need – and then…” he flicks his eyes now to the Alphas of the room, each of whom I suddenly realize is frozen in place so that it is…

It is just me now, taking the Dark God’s whole attention.

“Then, we will see what you are willing to bargain, when you are stripped of your protectors and your pride.”

He snarls one last time, snapping his teeth so close to my face that I flinch and gasp –

But then he’s gone.

Disappeared, vanishing into nothing.

My hand falls to my side as everyone in the room suddenly comes back into time, their bodies unfreezing.

Luca gets to me first, pulling me hard against his chest, tucking his head down against my shoulder. But Jackson’s here too, at my side, taking my chin in his hands and turning it towards him.

“Ariel,” Jackson whispers, desperate, “are you…all right?”

Slowly I nod, staring at him, unable to do more than that in my shock.

Behind me, Rafe groans and Luca turns toward him, taking me with him. My eyes go wide when I again see the ruin of Rafe’s chest – where his uniform has disintegrated, the God of Darkness’s two handprints seemingly burned into his flesh. I cry out in dismay to see my brother wounded but Jesse is already there, his shadows beginning to sink back into him as he slips his hand beneath Rafe’s shoulders, urging him to lay down flat on the floor, murmuring to him, inspecting the wounds.

I look anxiously around the room then, terrified. “Is he…is he gone? Or just invisible?”

“He’s gone,” Jesse calls over to me, lifting attention away from Rafe for a brief second. “I can feel him when he’s here. Which is probably why he decided to attack today.”

Still shaken, but I think encouraged by the idea that he’s gone, Luca, Jackson and I move over to stand over Rafe and Jesse, staring horrified down at my brother, baffled by what just happened, none of us able to fully comprehend it just yet –

“Kids?”

All of our heads turn towards the tinny electronic voice.

It takes me a moment to focus on the laptop on its side, half broken, and the images of my mother and my aunt leaning close to the camera, peering at their own screen, trying to figure out what the hell is going on.

“Rafe, Jesse?” I hear Cora’s voice ask. “Is…everything okay?”

“Mom,” Rafe croaks out, a little sigh in his voice alongside a wince of pain. “I think…you need to come here.”

I see my mom’s eyes go wide with panic.

“Whoa,” says a voice across the room.

My head flies up to see Ben standing there on the other side of the splintered wreckage of our door.

“What…what happened here?” Ben’s eyes are wide with shock as he stares around the room.

“I’m coming now, Rafe,” our mom snaps, and my eyes move to the computer to see her beautiful face framed in the screen. “You just hold on, baby – I’m coming right now.”

The screen goes dark and we all stand very, very still.

Until I exhale, taking a stumbling step back. Jackson’s there already, the warm bulk of his body steady behind mine. I let myself go slack against him as I look around the room – at the furniture scattered everywhere, the wood splinters all over the ground, and the passed-out – perhaps dead? – body of our professor laying heaped on the floor.

We all just stand completely still, staring around. Even Ben seems to be unable to catch his breath, words.

“Um,” I whisper, feeling a little ridiculous. “If mom’s coming…maybe we should clean up.”

Everyone’s eyes turn slowly towards me to stare at me like that’s the understatement of the year.

We all tense simultaneously when we hear movement from area by the window where Alvez lays slumped. I reach for Jackson, wanting him close, as we all turn towards Alvez, watching as his body slowly stirs.

Jesse lets out a dark growl, slowly rising to his feet as Alvez’s shoulders twitch and he lifts his head.

None of us move as he blinks around at us, confused. “Who…who are you all?” he asks, seeming frightened and baffled. “Where am I?”

“Professor Alvez?” Ben asks, stepping into the room and starting towards him, the only one of us who has found his voice. “You don’t…know who your students are?”

I stare at Alvez, trying to figure it out – if he’s just…faking it?

Or if he really was…possessed this whole time. If we’re actually meeting John Alvez…kind of for the first time.

Alvez pulls himself to a sitting position, but as he does I can tell that it costs him a great deal. He leans back against the wall, panting like he’s run a marathon, looking around at us. When his eyes land on Rafe and Jesse, he goes a bit still. “Are you…Rafe Sinclair?” he asks like he kind of can’t believe it.

Rafe doesn’t respond, just looks up at Jesse. “Can you do anything? To…tell if he’s still in there?”

“If who’s still in…where…” Alvez murmurs, raising a hand to his forehead and pressing it over his eyes like he has one hell of a headache.

I watch, completely still in Jackson’s arms, as Jesse’s shadows snake across the floor.

Ben gasps in shock, taking a step back, and Luca’s whole body goes tense next to me. “Fucking magic…” Luca whispers, awed and I think a little horrified, “of course, I always forget that you’re all…fucking magic.”

But I ignore him, watching as the shadows slip over Alvez, begin to explore him.

Alvez gasps in surprise, his eyes flying open, going a bit stiff. He stays perfectly still as the shadows finish their exploration, clearly not hurting him even if he does look very, very freaked out by them. Then Jesse’s shadows begin to slide away, reeling back into my cousin’s body.

“I think he’s…gone,” Jesse says, crossing his arms as the last of the shadows disappear. “I mean, I don’t know, I’ve been doing this for less than ten hours now. But…I could sense him in there at first – and now I think it’s just…this guy.”

“Come on, Ben,” Jackson says with a sigh, loosening his arms around me and urging me a little towards Luca. Luca immediately opens his arms, taking me into them as Jackson waves Ben to come along as he strides for Alvez. “Let’s get the professor down to the infirmary.”

“Where am I?” Alvez asks, exhausted, looking up as Jackson takes him by his hands and pulls him to his feet.

“We’ll fill you in on the way down,” Jackson says kindly, draping one of Alvez’s arms over his shoulders as Ben moves to support his other side. Luca loosens his arms around me, starting to move towards Jackson and Ben, eager to help – but Jackson holds a hand out.

“It’s okay, we’ll handle it,” Jackon says, looking back down at the professor who is slumped against him. “Stay here with Ariel, Luca. Make sure she’s…safe.”

Luca nods, stepping back and holding me tight again. I sigh, letting him take some of my weight, wanting the support.

“Get bandages?” I call out, my voice a little choked as Jackson and Ben move Alvez towards the door. “On your way back up?”

Jackson gives me a steady nod and then the trio disappears down the hall.

Luca keeps his arms tight around me as Jesse kneels again by Rafe’s side, helping my brother peel his shirt back so that they can fully inspect his wounds.

“Rafe, what the hell…happened,” Jesse murmurs, looking closely at his chest that I originally thought was burned? But…

“I think he started to…disintegrate me,” Rafe murmurs, looking down in horror at his raw flesh. “That was always Alvez’s power, right? Or, at least what we thought it was. Clearly, he could do more.”

“That is…horrible,” Jesse whispers, looking up into my brother’s face, his expression saying what we’re all thinking. That the God of Darkness didn’t get far on Rafe…but given a few more seconds to concentrate…

God.

I turn my head away from my brother, unable to look and think on it any further.

“What about you?” Luca whispers, and I look unsteadily up into his eyes. “Are you all right?”

“I don’t know,” I whisper, my wolf and I both turning towards this new thing within me. Or, perhaps not new just…awake.

“Sweetheart,” Luca murmurs, frowning at me with worry. “What can I do?”

“Um,” I say, glancing over at my brother and my cousin on the floor.

But as much as I wrack my brain for something he – or any of us – can do to fix this…

I’ve got no answers.

Because even if we all did miraculously survive our first encounter with a great and powerful magic, this all…it just got very serious, and very real, didn’t it?

And I honestly have absolutely no idea where to turn next.