Chapter 24

Chapter Twenty-Four

RELIC

“Smells the same,” Loth said. “Like chemicals and fear.”

“Some other shit as well.” I shoved open the boiler room door. The darkness was like a dense cloud. The scent of the foul magic that had been done in here sat heavy in the air. “He was spelling in here.” There was a sigil or glyph of some kind drawn in the soot on the floor. “I can smell blood as well.”

Lothar had gone back to the building we’d found Fern in and picked up another scent. It was ancient. Demon. And it had led us here, to this vacant house.

“Faron?”

Jag narrowed his eyes. “Yeah, but something else as well. I’ve smelled it before, a long time ago. There are echoes of it in the back of my mind, but I can’t pinpoint it.”

Lothar tilted his head back, scenting the air again, and nodded. “Yeah, it’s the same for me.”

Both were a lot older than me. They’d lived many, many lifetimes, which meant that, sometimes, things that weren’t important were pushed to the depths of their memories.

I planted my hands on my hips. “That could’ve been our last chance to get ahold of that fucker. He knows we’re looking for him now. Whatever he did in here with that blood, he was making sure we wouldn’t find him again.”

He’d be stupid if he weren’t long gone by now.

“We’re not giving up,” Lothar said. “We’re not letting that sick fuck get away with what he did to your female.”

No, I wasn’t giving up. I’d never give up.

We left the building and headed for our bikes.

“You mate her yet?” Jag asked.

They could smell her on me, of course, and that knowledge filled me with possessiveness and pride.

“After what happened to her, I’m not pushing her into anything she’s not ready for. I’ll wait until she is.”

Loth nodded, approval on his face.

I’d never much cared what Lothar thought about the shit I did. He was my sire, yes, but that hadn’t meant anything. Now, though, for some reason, his approval felt … really fucking good. I studied him, and, yeah, I’d noticed our resemblances before—his eyes and hair were the same color as mine, and when he was thinking hard about something, he tilted his head to the side like I did. But, no, he didn’t feel the type of connection a father usually did for his son because it had never been that way for us. I wasn’t the result of loving mates bringing a pup into the world, like War and Wills, so Lothar hadn’t developed the ability to feel. His emotions were still as stunted as they’d ever been. I was Lucifer’s experiment, one he’d decided never to repeat. Loth and I, we’d always been tight, but something felt different now—for me anyway—and I wasn’t sure what to do with it.

Loth swung his leg over his bike. “You need to bring her home. Your den’s the safest place for her.”

Jag nodded in agreement. “Mate her, brother, as soon as you can. Get a pup in her. She’ll want to stay close to home then.” He grunted, “Safe.”

I crossed my arms and shook my head. “If it were that fucking easy, I’d be going home to her now.”

“You’re her male,” Jagger said. “Lay down the law. It’s for her own good.”

I was starting to see why War shook his head at us all the damn time now. He saw things differently since he’d found Willow and gotten the full spectrum of emotions, and I guessed now so had I. I actually laughed, because for being so fucking old, we seriously had no clue.

“Fern would hate me if I snatched her from her place and locked her in my room. It would also scare the fuck out of her.”

Lothar frowned. “You’re her male. What’s to be scared of?”

“First, she doesn’t know we’re mates. Second, females have minds of their own.”

Jag grunted again. “We know that. I listen when they tell me what they want, and I give it to them.”

“Not talking about the females you take to your bed, brother. I’m talking about their feelings and their thoughts beyond an orgasm.”

“That’s where you lose us.” Loth grinned.

“No shit.” I swung my leg over my bike as well. “I can’t fucking wait until you find your own mates.”

Loth grumbled and started his bike.

Jagger’s expression hardened. “I don’t need a female fucking with my head.”

“You don’t get a choice, Jag. It happens when it happens.”

Jag snarled, started his bike, and rode off. Loth followed, and I pulled out my phone and hit Fern’s number. I was done playing. Yes, Loth and Jag saw things in black and white, but they were also right about one thing.

Fern was safer with me.

* * *

FERN

My phone started ringing.

“It’s Relic.”

Phoebe gave my arm a squeeze. “You got this.”

She hadn’t talked to Rune—he hadn’t been around—but she’d found the book we needed in the library. I finally had the words to set him free. Phoebe gave my arm another squeeze and walked out.

Ignoring the pain in my chest and the sick feeling in my gut, I put the phone to my ear. “Hey.”

“I want you to come back to the clubhouse,” Relic said by way of a greeting. “I’ll swing by now and pick you up.”

I shot to my feet. “Whoa. Hang on a minute. What’s going on? What’s happened? Did you find something?”

He exhaled roughly. “We found where they’d been hiding, but they were gone before we got there. I don’t want you out of my sight—”

“I’m safe here. The wards are strong. There’s no way he can get through them.”

“I fucking love that you’ve found your people, baby—you have no idea how much I love that for you—but I need you with me, Fern. I need you in my den, in my bed. I know it’s fucking selfish—believe me, I know it. But I need to be the one to protect you.” Another rough exhale. “I just need you.”

This was killing me. Gods, this hurt. I wanted to believe it—I did. But I’d been right; Phoebe had found proof in the texts about unhealthy obsessions growing between those who did deals like the one I had. He wasn’t thinking clearly, and I couldn’t do this to him anymore. I knew what it was like to be held against your will. Keeping him tied to me would make me as sick and twisted as The Chemist.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Why?”

“Because what you’re feeling it isn’t real. It’s just … not. This connection between us—it’s the deal I forced you into.”

“No, it’s not.”

“Relic, it is. You can’t see it right now, but there is nothing you can say that would convince me that you would’ve ever wanted me, truly wanted me, after seeing all you have. The compulsions—gods—what I did to myself, hurting myself, the vomiting, the selfish and reckless way I fed from you. Finding me on that gurney the way you did.” I shook my head, even more convinced now than before. “You wouldn’t be talking to me now, you wouldn’t be so … so concerned about me, and you wouldn’t have been with me earlier today if I hadn’t tricked you into selling me your soul.”

I felt sick to my stomach. I really was a fucking monster.

He was breathing hard. “How can you think that?”

“It’s not your fault. I know what a good guy you are. But I own you, and that has twisted everything between us. Everything.”

“You don’t own shit, Fern,” he rumbled. “Everything I’ve done with you—for you—was because I wanted to.”

He was delusional.

“By the power of Lucifer, the lords of perdition, and the fires of Hell, I release you, Relic. Your soul is your own; your mind and heart belong to you alone.”

Several beats of silence followed.

“Fern,” he said huskily.

“Thank you, Relic, for all you’ve done for me.”

“Fern—”

“You have no idea what it meant to me.”

“Fern,” he barked louder.

“Have a good life.” I disconnected quickly, blocked his number, and slumped back on my bed.

How was I going to survive this? Gods, the pain of it surpassed anything else I’d endured in my life.

How would I live without him?