Chapter 4

4

DEVA

Shadowy apparitions spannedthe space in front of us in an unbreakable wall of strength, standing out like a dark stain amongst the tombstones and silver sky. A chill rolled over me as I realized just how powerful the Nyx family was, just what their nature entailed.

It was one thing to be around Grim every day, but to be around a group of people all with Grim’s level of power, all united under the same cause—to stop Ozul and the witches he led from breaking through and reaching us…it was enough to rattle my own magic. It made sense now why the Nyx family estate had been so hard to break into—it made sense why so many people feared Grim’s name.

And it sure as hell made sense why Astaroth considered his family a threat.

“Nyx.” Ozul’s voice was stoney and hard, and I noticed his entire group was at a standstill, not willing to attack the black cloaked figures that stood between them and us.

It took me a moment to realize who Ozul was speaking to until a woman from the center of the group stepped forward, her cloak falling to reveal a veil of dark hair with silver streaks in it. Her magic vibrated around her like a black cosmic force as she spoke in a silky tone. “You should run, Ozul. Run back to Astaroth and tell him that if he ever comes for my family again, nowhere he hides will be good enough.”

The intensity of her words had a sense of apprehension pulsing through me as my own magic flared in response to the threat. It was enough that Grim slid a hand over my waist, his silence a bit unusual for him, as he seemed to be hyper-focused on Ozul’s reaction.

“Absolutely not,” Ozul growled. “We just want the girl. Your family has nothing to do with that.”

“That girl,” the woman hissed, her voice spiking with the slightest amount of anger, “is under our protection. Leave or face the consequences of attacking one of ours.”

I nearly reared back in shock. I understood it was probably for Grim’s benefit, but the way she said it—the way she claimed I was under their protection—was so much more ‘sure’ than I would have expected. I didn’t even know who this woman was.

“Deva will be coming with us.” Ozul’s words were final despite the fear prominent on his face.

The woman laughed softly and stepped back into line. “Very well then.”

In a quick motion she turned towards us as the others closed ranks to form a wall without her. A horn sounded, vibrating the air in a force that blanketed the graveyard with an eerie feel, the haunting melody momentarily interrupted by the woman shouting a word in a harsh tone before a wall of shadow shot straight up into the sky like a shield…

…and collapsed over Ozul’s men.

A clash of magic and furious cries rang out, the horn continuing to bellow as colors exploded within the haze of dark magic. My attention was only drawn away from the spectacle by the woman walking towards us, an individual that held so much authority and power that it baffled me for a long moment, until another element drew even more surprise from me.

The woman looked exactly like Grimshaw. It wasn’t just a familial similarity, either—no, this was down to her face shape—and while she had more distinctively feminine features, she had the same dark eyes and the same inky shade of hair. She was gorgeous, and her gaze was critical yet interested as she looked over me.

“We need to get to the estate immediately. They have reinforcements incoming. Follow me.”

“I’m staying,” Grim said evenly, looking towards the line of fighters, their bodies obscured by the shadows that encapsulated the front line of a battle that sounded gruesome, even from the outside. Then his words hit me fully.

“You want to stay?” I turned towards him as his dark gaze flickered down to mine.

“To fight with them, yes,” Grim said quietly. I could see that he was completely serious, and after a moment of thought I understood—this was his family, and they had come to save us. Which meant that I would stay as well, until I could ensure that Ozul wouldn’t leave without taking any of their lives⁠—

“You need to go through the portal, though. I want you safe and back in the house,” Grim said. I blinked up at him as he stared at me intently, trying to will me to do exactly what he wanted.

Cage chuckled softly at my confusion. Why the hell would I leave him? Looking around at all the other men, Oz and Cage seemed neutral if not amused, whereas Lazaro and Alek looked a bit too much like they agreed with him, watching our interaction with interest.

“Absolutely not,” I finally said. “We stay together—you’ve said that yourself. You want to stay and fight, then we stay and fight.”

“The others will go with you.”

“I’m not so sure about that,” I said, my eyes flickering towards the others, knowing that Oz, as well as a few others, wanted Ozul dead as soon as possible. “But it’s not happening, Grim. If you are staying to fight, then so am I.”

“Little jaguar,” Grim warned, his eyes darkening before his hand came up to cup my jaw, darkness leaking through his facade—one I hadn’t even realized he had in place until now. I kept my gaze on him as he spoke in a hard whisper, “I need to kill him. You can’t stop me from doing that.”

“Later,” I promised, not only to him, but the others. There was no use trying to deny him the satisfaction, because I completely understood. If someone had hurt or tried to abuse my men the same way Ozul had tried to hurt me…well, I already had plans for Alek’s father as it stood.

“All of you need to leave,” the woman said finally, a hint of amusement in her tone. I’d almost forgotten she was there. “Including you, Grimshaw.”

I tried to not find it frustrating that she was giving orders because I agreed with her in this case, but I also didn’t like the idea of anyone making decisions for us, family or not.

“Seriously. You should listen to her,” the woman said evenly, causing Grim to narrow his eyes over my shoulder momentarily before looking towards the others. A silent agreement seemed to take place within the group before Grimshaw muttered a curse and led me towards where the woman had directed. I thought I heard her murmur something under her breath, and as we moved further away from the battle, I noticed that she skipped ahead.

As in she appeared to have moved ten feet ahead of us in the blink of an eye and then created a black portal-like door frame.

“Think of it as how we portal using our shadows, but instead being able to do groups at a time,” Grim explained.

“I didn’t realize that was an option,” I murmured thoughtfully. Before we faced Astaroth, I needed to perfect that trick—the idea of an escape plan, especially from someone so toxically dangerous, was needed. I knew my men would never let me face him alone either, so having an ability like that would be amazing.

“I don’t believe lunar witches have anything similar,” the woman said as we approached.

So she knew me only as a lunar witch, then. It would be common knowledge that I had multiple strains of magic around the campus of DIA, but what about outside of that? It was clear they knew about Alek, but would they accept the same about me?

“This one shouldn’t make you sick,” Alek pointed out quietly. Oz grabbed my other hand, and without another word we all went through the shadowy portal. I had nearly argued that my other men go first, worried they would stay behind, but I could feel through our bond that we were mostly on the same page.

I could immediately feel the difference and found myself unable to fully call it a portal. It felt like my own magic rolling over my skin but with a distinctly different edge, one that was pure shadow magic, pure darkness.

For a long moment it was silent, but then I was deposited right on a stone floor. Grim tightened his hold on me as I moved out of the way, knowing the others would be right behind, and Oz muttered a curse but seemed to shake off the effect. I kept my gaze on the place we’d landed, unable to look around until I knew each had made it through safely. When the woman finally joined us and the shadow portal closed, I felt equal amounts of relief and maybe a bit of disappointment.

I felt like I should have stayed and fought as well, even if logic dictated otherwise. Even if I knew this wasn’t a battle I could fight right now—or at least not one I could win with how exhausted and drained I was.

“Well, glad we have that sorted.” The woman removed her cloak to reveal a dark black leather outfit before flashing me a softer smile. “I understand why you wanted to stay and fight, but I promise they have it handled.”

“I don’t like others fighting my battles,” I admitted.

“It’s not just yours,” Grim said quietly, the tone of the conversation shifting to something more relaxed.

The woman looked at him and narrowed her eyes, ignoring his words. “You, on the other hand—you don’t have nearly as good of reasoning. Just like your father, far too focused on the damn killing.”

Grimshaw chuckled. “I don’t know, Mom—I feel like that’s a bit like you.”

I froze as I stared up at Grim, wide-eyed. “That’s—she’s your⁠—”

“Mom?” Grim mused. “Yes. Mom, this is Deva. She’s our girlfriend.”

Shit. Talk about a first impression.

Of course, it was logical that Grim had a mom. What other explanation could there be for their uncannily similar appearances? Maybe it was because of my lack of parents, or anything resembling a parental figure in my life, but I just felt more than a bit shocked. I was also embarrassed because I had never been one to date, let alone ‘meet the parents,’ and now I was overthinking the interactions I had with her prior, wondering if I had already messed up her opinion of me. It was probably ridiculous, silly to even consider something like that right now, but I also loved Grimshaw and it was clear that he was close with his family.

In fact, I was so caught up in the moment that I only barely processed my men talking around me. “Girlfriend. Still not a fan of that title.” Cage sighed but then flashed Grim’s mom a smile. “Mrs. Nyx, wonderful to see you again.”

“Yes, good to see you also.” She looked amused. “Same to you, Lazaro and Oz—although Alek, I was surprised to see you.” Her eyes flickered to me. “Makes a bit more sense now. I should have realized that the woman who broke into our house, stole a moonstone, and captured my son’s attention would do the same with his friends.”

Ah, shit.

“Is she blushing?” Alek tilted his head, his amusement causing me to scowl. I was absolutely not blushing. Although even I had to admit that I felt more than a bit awkward and maybe ashamed about what I’d done.

“Nothing to be embarrassed about,” she assured me. “I was honestly impressed. Even more so when you avoided detection all summer.”

Well, at least there was that.

“I don’t really know what to say,” I admitted.

“Nothing to say,” she promised. “My name is Circe.”

Meeting her extended hand, I felt a surge of magic whip across my skin as I held her gaze and allowed my magic to meet hers, recognizing that we were very similar when it came to the raw strength of our magic. The difference? Grim’s mom had a lot more control than me, and that was saying something.

“Wait.” I offered Grim a look, dropping my hand. “You told them about looking for me all summer? Did you tell them⁠—”

“About the dreams? No,” Lazaro answered for him. “He failed to mention that you were pulling him into a dream realm for months.”

I had been pulling him into a dream realm…I suppose that made sense since I was a lunar witch and he was shadow. I hadn’t realized it until more recently, but that was a power that shadow witches didn’t have. With my mismash of magics, it wasn’t always clear where my powers came from.

“Circe, do you have some medical supplies?” Oz asked, drawing my thoughts to the present. “Deva was injured at school before we left.”

Grim’s mom looked over at me in concern, examining my shredded clothes. “Of course we do. I can show you to your quarters and bring them to you there. Before we get into the nitty gritty or have any meetings, let’s get you more comfortable.”

“And food,” Lazaro rumbled.

Honestly, I probably needed some time to regroup after everything that had happened in the past few hours. Following alongside my men, I examined the fortress that Grim called a home in the light of day. The cold stone and blue flames on the wall were far more warm and welcoming in the daylight compared to when I had first visited.

If we could call it that.

My brows rose as we left the smaller room we had arrived in and entered a foyer that featured a direct view of the center courtyard of the house, which had a garden filled with rich toned botanicals that were most likely poisonous. It was the same garden that I’d noticed the night I’d stolen from the Nyx family. The little oasis-like garden that I would have never expected in Carmina, but now knowing the type of influence and power the Nyx family had…

After all, only the very top percent of people in Carmina lived comfortably; everyone else stood in the shadows of society, just trying to make it through the day. I would have blamed the Nyx family and others for the disparity, but I had a feeling it went deeper than that.

“We can come down here later, little jaguar,” Grim promised me, making me realize I had paused at the window, the others watching me with interest.

As we climbed up three sets of stairs, I briefly noticed a familiar corridor, my magic picking up on the fact that it was the one where the treasure room was located…and I couldn’t help but look at it with interest, seeing this place with an entirely new perspective. After a long moment and a few more turns, I realized that it wasn’t that far from the guest quarters we were being led to. Grim’s mom stopped at a pair of black double doors.

“We need to talk after this,” Circe said, “but for now, relax. Grim, if I can have a word.” I couldn’t help but wonder what she wanted to talk to him about, but I tried to control my curiosity, knowing it would just get me in trouble.

Grim kissed the top of my head as we all stepped into the room, and I let out a slow exhale. The space was exactly what I would have expected with triple-height ceilings, iron chandeliers, and three massive beds positioned throughout the room against the dark stone walls. Hanging tapestries warmed the space up a bit, but the hearth in the center of the room paired with the furniture created a cozy atmosphere that nearly mesmerized me, pulling me forward and offering me rest. Sitting down on one of the couches in the center, I let my body melt into the soft material.

All at once everything seemed to hit me hard, and my eyes closed as I gave into the momentary need to escape. Escape what happened at school in class, security busting into our dorm, the claim of more deaths on campus, the confrontation with Ozul, and meeting Grim’s mom. All of it.

When I felt my men settle in the chairs and couches around me, I fell into sleep, knowing that I was safe. I was always safe with my men.