Chapter Twenty-One

Farren

O nce I'm sure that he's going to be okay, I make a run for it through the rain to the cabin door. As soon as I'm inside, Meri huffs grumpily at me for disturbing her and then launches herself off my shoulders and once again curls up on Poca's back. She's no doubt enjoying the extra warmth that his fur kicks off. It takes me mere moments to get my bearings; the cabin is really tiny. It's one room with a pile of straw that looks surprisingly clean in one corner and a stove in the other. That's it. As much as I would love to light a fire and use that to warm up and dry off, fire means smoke, and smoke means that I will more than likely get some uninvited visitors, and right now, more than anything else, I need rest.

With that thought, I reluctantly turn away from the stove and head to the pile of straw in the other corner; I nudge it with my boot just in case there's something living in it, but when nothing jumps out at me, I sink to the floor, finding it surprisingly soft. I am suddenly absolutely exhausted; I barely have time to place Xerxes down and check that all of my creatures are with me before my head hits the straw with a soft thump and my eyes begin to close. I really should put some safety spells up around the cabin before I fall asleep or at least an alarm to wake me up if anything comes near the place. That's the last thought that I have before I slip into a deep sleep.

**********

I don't know where I am, but I do know I'm dreaming. The space around me is empty though, sort of like when the goddess visited me although I don't think that's what's happening this time. It doesn't feel the same.

"Where the fuck am I?" the familiar voice of H has me spinning around.

"H?" I ask.

He freezes and slowly turns around, squinting in my direction, as he cautiously asks, "Ren?"

I sigh, feeling a little bit exasperated, "Seriously, after everything that we've been through, you still can't fucking see me?"

His smile grows as he strides in my direction and reaches out for me. I move so that he can easily reach me, and he pulls me into his arms; he holds me tightly, taking a deep, shuddering breath before his hands slowly travel up my arms, leaving goosebumps in their wake. His eyes become dark as he realises the effect that he's having on me, and I push closer toward him, even though there's barely any space between us anyway. His hands find my face, and his thumb caresses my lips, making me inhale sharply.

That sound makes something in him snap, and his lips come crashing down on mine. There's no slow build-up, no gentle touches.

No.

This kiss is primal, raw, and filled with so much emotion that it makes my heart pound painfully. He's so tall that he has to bend over ridiculously far to kiss me; it can't be comfortable, and considering I'm looking for any excuse to get close to him, I bring my leg up; he gets the message and lifts me so that my legs can wrap around him, he does it with such ease that it sends another wave of pleasure through me.

My hands dive into his hair, running through the strands and then gripping it tightly; the growl that it causes him to make vibrates all through me as his hands grip my ass almost bruisingly. I don't know how long we stay lost in the sensations, but eventually, the kiss starts to slow and become gentler, and I revel in the fact that I'm feeling something other than pain.

He pulls back, resting his head on mine, his eyes filled with so many emotions that it makes my own well with tears, and I'm actually incredibly grateful that he can't see me right now.

"I thought you were dead," he whispers.

I jolt at his words, "What? You did?"

"There was just this bright light, and then you were gone, and I had no idea if you'd succeeded in getting your magic back or if you'd pushed yourself more than your already battered body could take, and you died."

"Shit, I'm sorry," I reply, even though I know that it's not really something that I can apologise for since I had no control over it. "I'm okay. I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" he asks, "My magic still senses some pain."

I sigh, "I'm not nearly dying anymore, but I did have to fight, so I have a few new wounds that are healing," I pause, knowing that he's real is making me question whether I really should be as honest with him as I was when I thought that he was a figment of my imagination. There's not really much point in switching it up now, so I add, "The wounds that don't leave any physical marks are going to take a while to heal."

His hands clench around me as he pulls me closer, and I feel his magic spike with anger, "I'm well aware that those kinds of wounds tend to take even longer to heal."

I nod and then remember that he can't see me, so I reply, "I hate that you know that."

He lets me slide down his body until my feet are once again reluctantly on the floor, and changes the subject, "Are you safe?"

I shrug, taking a step back but stopping when his hand clenches around mine, "As safe as I can be in an unfamiliar realm."

"Tell me where you are, and I'll come and find you." He doesn't ask; he tells me, and if I'm being honest, I don't mind. It would be nice to have a familiar face with me while I try to get out of here. "I don't plan to let you out of my sight, when I have you in my arms for real."

"I know that you're from the Underworld, but I have to get back to the Fae realm. You can't follow me there. I know enough about native Underworlders to know that would be bad."

His smile widens as his grip on my hand tightens, "I can travel between realms, and it has no negative effects. Trust me, I have spent the last few decades in the Fae realm."

My heart lightens at his words, although it drops slightly when the guys flash through my mind. I have feelings for all of them too. How is this going to work?

I'm going to do the really unhealthy thing and ignore it completely. I mean, there's a big chance that when H actually meets me, that he doesn't like me; I'm pretty weird and very bloodthirsty.

I'll cross that bridge if I come to it. There's still a small part of me that doesn't think that he's actually real.

"Shade?" H asks, sounding unsure.

"Sorry, I got distracted. I'm . . ." I start to tell him.

Before I can finish my sentence he's gone, and I'm guessing he's been dragged back to the awake realm. I try to tell myself that maybe it's for the best, and it would get super complicated, especially since I have so much that I need to tell Hades about, and I have the guys and the games. I am entirely unsure about whether we're still in the games or not; we have surpassed the longest-known level by months at this point, and I'm pretty sure that means we've failed.

All of this is extremely complicated and not something that I want to think about when I need to rest, so I will myself to leave the shared dreamscape and fall into a deeper sleep. Awake me can deal with the complicated mess.

Mayhem

W hen Monty said that we only had one more stop to make before we could get to the castle and get to Farren, I really thought that it would be closer than it is. We've been riding for almost two days with only brief stops to eat but no stops to rest, not that any of us wanted to stop for that long anyway. The problem is that we all know that we're running out of time; we know that not only because Monty told us but because we can feel it.

That, coupled with the lack of sleep, is causing us to snap at each other; all of us managed to hold it together for so long, but it's been too long now, and I know that, like me, they've all got images of her being tortured playing through their heads regularly.

I'm not going to lie; at our last rest stop, I got barely any sleep anyway; every time I closed my eyes, I saw horrific images of her being tortured in multiple inventive ways. I couldn't handle it, so I stopped trying to sleep. Poca and Meri clearly had enough of our shit too because I haven't seen them for a while. I'm sure they're in the woods surrounding us keeping pace with our horses but keeping out of the way of our moods. I can't say that I blame them. It doesn't help that the rain that has been threatening for a while has now decided to fall more heavily, and we're going to be soaking through within seconds.

"For fuck sake," Storm growls.

"What now?" Khaos replies, Storm's outburst waking him up. I'll never understand how he can sleep so well on the back of a horse.

He's just as on edge as the rest of us although for a different reason his dream woman is a whole other issue that I don't even have the brain space to deal with right now.

Storm glares at Khaos from the back of his horse, "What I can't curse now?"

"Oh, come on, don't start again," Rival hisses, sounding just as pissed as they both are.

"Wasn't it you who started the last argument?" Zev taunts.

Suddenly, they're talking over the top of each other angrily, insulting each other, and saying things that I know they don't mean. Hades is riding next to me and I share a look with him. The only reason I'm not joining in is because I prefer to keep my pain internalised or fight it out, there is no way I want to risk fighting one of them while I'm on the edge of losing control like I am.

Hades somehow senses this, and he whistles sharply as he faces them all. The whistle startles their horses, and they have to stop arguing in order not to fall off them.

"Now is not the time to fall apart. We are so close to getting to Farren, and we need to stay united. Do you think Farren would want this?" Grey asks, and at the mention of her name, they all start to look guilty, "No, she wouldn't. She'd be kicking all of your arses and telling you to sort it the fuck out."

It's silent for a moment before all of the tension leaves them.

"Sorry," Storm starts.

"Me too," Khaos replies.

One by one they apologise to each other, fortunately no one is going to hold a grudge against anyone else for what has been said during these arguments, we all understand that the words are coming from a place of deep worry and fear for Farren.

"Good, we can't be that far out now," I reply, speaking for the first time in a long time.

"She's alive," Khaos suddenly says.

"What!" Loki exclaims, startling his horse, who should really be used to his antics by now. "Why didn't you say something?"

"Because everyone lost their damn minds and started arguing," he replies.

"Hang on, if she's alive then why are you so pissy?" Reaper asks.

"Because Storm woke me up before she could tell me where she is," Khoas replies.

"Shit, sorry man," Storm apologises, sounding genuinely regretful.

Before Khaos can reply, I spot a clearing up ahead. "Guys, I think we're here. This must be the last rest stop before we get to Farren."

All previous conversations are stopped as we scour the surrounding area to make sure that it's safe. I can't help the wave of relief that I feel when the little cabin comes into view. It means that we're so much closer to Farren. This is the final step before we get to the castle and get her out. We haven't really come up with a solid plan to rescue her. I guess it's pretty much sneak in if we can since the princes probably have the entire realm's Helliers at their disposal and guarding the castle, the whole place will be crawling with them.

In no way are we capable of taking them on and the Princes, so stealth is going to be how we have to play this. We're counting on Hades and Khaos' knowledge of the castle to help us out and get us to the cells as quickly and stealthily as possible. I'm not going to lie, and I'm kind of hoping that we run into at least one of the princes and manage to take them out, not only for the horrible things that I know they've done to Farren but also for this realm and what they've done to it.

It's pretty apparent to us that no one has been here for a long time, although any footprints or animal tracks would have easily been washed away with the rain. I've used my magic to suss out the place, and I can't sense anything inside either, living or dead. Something piques my magic's interest just as I start to pull it back; not wanting to take any chances, I let it loose again and scan the entire place from top to bottom just in case I missed something the first time around. This time, it doesn't even ping or anything; there definitely isn't anything in there, and there must've been a mouse or small animal of some kind that it got locked onto; that's the only explanation I have.

"Anyone find anything?" Hades asks.

"No, nothing at all; it's empty and has been for a while," Reaper replies, although he's got a slight frown between his eyes.

It makes me wonder if Ryu picked up on something I don't bother asking though because everyone else is replying that they didn't pick up on anything either and I just want to get in so we can make a solid plan, eat and then try to get some rest so that we can get Farren.

"Good, gather what you need from the horses," Storm orders. "The little stall here isn't big enough for all of them, so we'll let them rest in the trees. They'll have more room, and they're still close enough to us to get to quickly if we need to."

"Got it," Loki agrees, with no smile and no teasing.

We're all losing parts of ourselves to the worry for Farren. Loki is the most notable out of all of us, but he and Killian were the closest to her, and their bonds were the strongest out of those of us who had bonds with her. As I lead my horse over to the woods and gather the things that we'll need for the night, I can't help but wonder what the bond is; it's like none that I have read about before, and although it has never been my area of interest before I do have a fair amount of knowledge about it.

I hope that I'm going to need to look into it in the future and that we're going to get Farren back. Ironically enough, even though we've been a functioning team at Black Onyx for a while now and have been doing jobs, nothing has been like this and there's a small part of me that's hoping I can barricade myself in a library with Farren for a while before we have to deal with any more deadly situations. I suppose my brothers can be barricaded in too, I might miss them eventually and there's no way that I'm cruel enough to keep them from Farren after this.

I don't think any of them are going to want to be apart from her after we get her back, and it makes me smile wondering how far she's going to let us take it before she curses us out and tells us to give her some space.

"Mayhem, you ready, dude?" Rival asks, looking at me concerned. "Are you okay? I know none of us really are, but you're my twin and I can only remember one time that you were this quiet," looking more vulnerable than he has in a long time he adds, "I really don't like it."

Guilt instantly consumes me, and I pull him into a tight hug, "Shit, I'm so sorry. I didn't think."

He hugs me back just as tightly and replies, "It's okay. I get it. Trust me, I get it, but just don't stop talking to me, okay? I can handle you being mute with everyone else but not me."

I nod, "Yeah, I get it. I didn't mean to scare you. I'm just so fucking worried about her. Even if we do get her back, she's been here for weeks, and after what they will have put her through, she's not going to be okay. That scares me."

Rival swallows thickly as he glances away; when he looks back, it's clear to see my own fear reflected back at me; he feels the same.

Grimacing, he replies, "Yeah, I know. But she has us and we'll help her through it anyway that we fucking can."

I nod but don't voice my agreement as I grab my bag, and we both jog across the boggy ground, catching up with the others just as they enter the house, ending up only a few steps behind them.