Chapter 11

Dominic

She accepted our bond.

If anyone told me that I would fear a tiny female, an Atua at that, more than anything in my entire existence, I would've laughed in their face. Hells, I had laughed in the face of death more times than I could count, but a cold sweat covered me, and numbness spread through me just thinking about Brooklyn walking away from our bond.

But she didn't.

A stupid smile stretched my mouth so wide my face hurt.

While Samir was having a tantrum, threatening everyone, mostly Rowen to open the door so he could see what they were doing with the human, I grinned at him like a fool, and arms folded over my chest, I leaned back on the door which was now glowing red.

Brooklyn called me mate, convinced my animal to shift forms with me, and not even an hour later looked at me with her soul shining through her gaze and asked me to trust her. I had no idea what they were doing inside that room, but I trusted my mate. She would never harm, Alice unlike me. And she trusted those demons to bring them to our hiding place. so I had every intention on keep my word.

No one is walking in through the door.

Agonizing pain forked all over my back and shoulders the moment my body touched the wood. Whatever magic they used to make it glow red latched onto my body keeping me glued to the door while it stabbed through every nerve ending I had until I couldn't even scream from the intensity of it. All I could do was keep my eyes tightly squeezed shut and my mouth wide open in a silent scream.

A slight relief came from in front of me. Like pouring cold water over a burn to soothe the ache for a second, but it was gone before I could take a breath. It repeated a couple of times ,and each time I thought I heard Rowen mutter something angrily, but I couldn't be sure. Trains were thudding between my ears, while my beast kept thrashing in hopes to force me to shift.

Fat chance I was going to let that happen.

I was ready to give Brooklyn the time she needed even if it cost me my life.

Something hit me from the side, but it bounced off without pushing me too much aside to have to abandon my post. Although I wanted to see what or who it was, I couldn't open my eyes. Just like my teeth, my eyelids were practically glued together from the agony passing through me in waves. Secretly, I hoped it was Samir so that I could finally have a reason to knock him on his pompous ass.

Suddenly, I was hit so hard, my body went flying halfway down the hallway slamming into one of the random plaster torso's the ancient Atua was collecting as if they were some precious possession and not a creepy obsession with dead people. The disturbing decoration shattered into small parts which sprayed everywhere. Samir's colorful description about how he felt about it penetrated through the fog in my mind, and I wished I could continue to be in the horrible pain just so I didn't have to listen to him.

"The three of you open this gods' forsaken door or I will bring the roof down over your heads, Brooklyn!" He shook with rage as he turned his glare t0 the still glowing door.

I guess cursing me out and telling me where he hoped an ogre would stick his thick dangling appendage left him out of steam with threats for me; so, he focused again on my mate. I chuckled through my misery. It pleased me to no end to see him this pissed.

Rowen, who was kneeling next to me and checking if I was about to keel over frowned with displeasure. "I fail to find humor in any of this." He mumbled angrily under his breath. I noticed a bruise blooming on the side of his head, his temple turning bluish, telling me he was the first one who tried to move me from the door. A few more snorts and chuckles escaped me. "Did you hit your head or did the demon magic fry your brain? None of this is funny, Dominic. We are harboring demons now. What is next? The cursed Fae?"

"Ah! That's what that was." On a groan, I rolled to my side hoping to sit up. The world tilted around me, and I plopped back down with a hiss. "Demon magic is no joke, I agree."

"Tricksters, Dominic." Rowen spat while Samir continued having a one-sided argument with the door. "They're all charlatans and frauds."

"Who?" I squinted at him. "The demons?"

"What? Stop shouting they could hear you." The witch reeled back as if I had just slapped him. "The Fae. Is anyone even listening to me?"

"Someone must've cursed me to deal with you and Captain Droopy Drawers over there. It's the only explanation for my life right now." Grinding my teeth, I pushed off the floor and managed to get on my knees without melting from the killer glance the ancient Atua threw my way. Breathing through the nausea was harder with Samir raging like a toddler having a tantrum a few feet from me. "Samir?"

"How dare you lock me out of my own rooms." The Atua ignored me and shook his fist at Brooklyn who could not see him or his red face. "Gods damn demons! Do you know who I am?"

"Samir!" Holding myself up with a hand on the wall, I rose to my shaking feet while Rowen fretted around me like a mother hen. "Damn that pain did a number on me. I'll tell you who you are, Samir. If you didn't flap your gums so much that I can see all those teeth, I would've guessed you are an asshole."

"I can endure many things, Shifter." Whirling on me, Samir squared his shoulders and yanked on his button-down to straighten the nonexistent wrinkles. "Your childish insults, however, are not one of them. Not today." Leaning forward he bared his fangs in my face on a hiss. "You think this is some philanthropic gesture from the demons? If one hair goes missing on that human's head, I will gorge on your blood. On all of your bloods."

"Do you hear yourself?" leaning a shoulder on the wall to hold myself up, I scrubbed a hand over my face. "That's Brooklyn inside with Alice. Can you be honest with yourself, not me, and tell me if you truly believe my mate will hurt her best friend? She nearly ripped my head off for the human. At this point, I wish the demons do try something so she can kill them both and bet done with it."

"Messing with demons never ends well." Rowen shuddered, his mouth twisting in disgust. "They are vile creatures."

"Some may say the same of your kind, too, Witch." Samir sniffed haughtily at the male, looking down his nose at him. "I will mess with whomever well I please."

The whole situation was getting out of hand, and I was left with little to no patience. My mate was counting on me to have her back, and by all the gods I was going to have it.

"What did you do to Alice, Rowen?" As soon as the words were out of my mouth I realized my mistake.

While angry to be locked out of the room, Samir totally forgot the reason why that happened. Now that I reminded him, he turned all that fury on the witch and before I could stop him, he picked up the shorter male and threw him all the way to the end of the hallway. Rowen flew head over ass with a high-pitched shriek before colliding with the wall and part of the elaborate window frame.

"This is all your fault." Samir thundered and bolted after him.

I started to move in their direction as well, to separate them or get a few punches in to relieve my frustration with both of them, but I paused. Was it really a bad thing for the two of them to fight? As long as I kept an eye on them and made sure the witch does not die, a few bruises might do them both some good.

"I've had enough of you bullying me, Samir." Rowen fought, kicked, and punched to untangle himself from the thick velvet drapes where he ended up rolling into, his voice muffled from the fabric. "I am no longer your subordinate and it's time for you to learn that I have kept my head down only because I chose to."

"Oh, shit." I breathed when the witch finally stepped out of the long drapes.

The robes have ripped down on one side exposing a naked upper body that was not as bony as I expected it to be. Rounded, well-formed muscles twitched as he rolled his shoulders and the visible sigils were glowing so bright it was almost difficult to look at him.

"You will always be, lesser." With a menacing grin Samir gloated at the witch. "You were born to serve me."

It happened too fast to see exactly what Rowen did, but one moment Samir was grinning like a villain, the next bright golden light burst between the witch's hands in a steady stream and jabbed him in the center of his chest. A painfilled shout came from the Atua like I've never heard before, and his body was flung back at the wall behind him. It hit with a tooth shattering crunch, and he ended up on the floor with his extremities at awkward angles.

Seeing the ancient Atua in a heap on the floor took the wind out of Rowen's sails.

"What did I do?" he whispered, horrified at what he was looking at.

I could lie and say it was not a good sight, but I was usually honest with myself for the most part. It felt damn good to see that arrogant prick sprawled like a broken puppet on the Persian runner.

"I'll be damned Rowen." Chuckling low, I shook my head, but the humor died on my tongue when the male turned guilt-ridden eyes on me. "I didn't think you had it in you." Shrugging an unapologetic shoulder, I inched closer and kicked Samir with the tip of my boot to check if he was awake.

"I shouldn't have done that." Self-consciously he tugged on the ripped part of his robe. "And for the record I only tried to help Alice like she was one of my kind because it felt like the right thing to do. The opportunity presented itself and I took it. It worked." The guilt was replaced with defiance when he jutted a stubborn jaw at that. "For the most part it worked, anyway. I don't understand what happened there at the end."

Just like Samir, I wanted to grab him by the neck and squeeze, until he stopped moving, but the logical part of my brain told me that he at least tried to do something. Everything else the rest of us attempted didn't cut it. Alice was slowly slipping through our fingers, and it was my fault. I placed her in harm's way regardless of what way I justified my actions. Instead of yelling at Rowen, I should've thanked him.

The fact that Brooklyn looked very hopeful when she asked me to keep the two males out of the room was a plus in the witch's favor of course.

"Thank you for trying." I decided to tell him.

"Huh?" His face scrunched up in confusion as he looked up at me. "You are not going to try and kill me like this one?" his hand flopped in the direction of the now twitching heap that was Samir.

I snorted and Rowen's lips twitched.

"Nah. We are good." I slapped his shoulder, and he stumbled away a few steps before he caught himself. "Besides, we have all the time in the world for Samir to come about and try to kill you again. It'll be like watching one of those action movies that Alice likes."

When Rowen gave me a mean glare I couldn't help it.

I threw my head back and laughed.

"I'm going to gut you, Witch." Came a hiss from the floor.

"And it starts." I grinned like a fend at Rowen.