Chapter 5

5

GRIMSHAW

“Don’t wake her up,”Oz warned, making a defensive noise nearly escaping from my chest. I didn’t love the idea of anyone telling me what to do with my little jaguar.

Though it was ridiculous because even I had to admit that she looked like she needed sleep. Her silvery skin looked a bit more chalky than normal, and the way she was curled up on the couch, a blanket wrapped around her, made me feel defeated. At the same time, after what we had just gone through outside of Garnet Hall, I had the insane need to have her eyes on me.

Then I would truly know that she was okay, that no one had taken her away from me. I knew what would really make me feel fucking better though—Ozul being dead.

Unfortunately, I had seen how set Deva was on not letting me stay on my own to fight, so I hadn’t had the opportunity. My family was damn powerful, but given enough time, I had no doubt that Astaroth himself would have shown up.

After all, it was very clear he wanted his hands back on Deva.

“I’m going to run to my room,” I decided after a long moment. Lazaro offered me a speculative look that told me not to do anything stupid before going back to reading through some ancient book that had been laying on the coffee table. The guest suites here were used fairly often, but this one always gave the distinct impression of being less used—probably because it was made for a much larger group, one like ours.

“She’s going to be up in about twenty minutes,” Cage said from the window. I didn’t bother asking him how he knew that as he went back to his conversation with Alek, the two of them looking at something on our grounds. My best guess was that it had to do with her heartbeat or something to that effect.

Standing up, I made my way out of the suite, closing the door softly and moving towards the far end of the hall towards another pair of black doors. Pressing my hand against the surface, it opened to reveal a foyer of stone with a fireplace that lit in response to my magic, lighting the space with blue flames. I made my way towards the center of the room and then slowly climbed the two flights of stairs before reaching another set of doors into my bedroom.

Most of my life I had preferred this level of separation from the rest of the house, especially when others came to visit, but right now it felt like a very far distance to be away from Deva. Maybe it would be best to move everyone up here… Realistically, we were probably about to have a lot of guests to fill the suites—namely family.

A muttered curse nearly left my throat as I imagined all the extended family members that would be far too interested in my Deva. Opening up my bedroom door, I nearly stopped dead, narrowing my eyes at one of the figures standing with my mom in the middle of the room. I wasn’t surprised that my mom was waiting to talk with me, our conversation outside of the guest suite cut short by my impatience to be back with Deva.

No, the fucker I didn’t want to see was Lycidas.

“Ah, my favorite cousin.”

“What the fuck are you doing here?” I demanded, annoyed by his mere presence. At nearly five years older than myself, the man deemed himself a leader in our family, not realizing that to everyone else he was a pest. Unfortunately, because we’d been born within the same bloodline, I couldn’t kill him.

“Grim.” My mom shook her head, already exhausted by the tension between the two of us. But ultimately she let us be, going towards the balcony doors and opening them up. A cool rainy wind flowed through the room, and the familiarity of the climate had me relaxing to an extent.

“I heard that you were going to be home, figured I would visit,” he explained simply, but I saw right through his bullshit.

“You heard about her.”

Of course he’d heard about Deva. My father’s sister—his mother—was one of our closest family members, both in distance and emotionally, which is why he had been a constant thorn in my side.

“The girl? Yes.” Lycidas flashed a dark smile. “Yes, I have heard about her.”

And I really didn’t fucking like that.

“Son, it’s good to see you,” my father offered, striding through the door and momentarily interrupting our conversation. I offered the man a curious look. He seemed in a far better mood than usual, clasping my shoulder in greeting before walking towards my mom at the balcony, the two of them talking in low tones. Clearly they had been in the middle of something before I arrived.

“You should leave,” I warned my cousin, feeling on edge at the prospect of anyone paying attention to Deva. Ridiculous, since it was damn near impossible.

“Don’t worry, I’m not here for the girl—although it does appear that everyone has a very keen interest in her, namely our enemy.” Lycidas sighed, sitting on the edge of the sofa, his dark jacket and robes only adding to the dark mood of the space. Something I normally enjoyed.

I loved shadows, but I preferred them wrapped around the beam of moonlight that was my little jaguar, her dark vibrancy filling the space with an intoxicating amount of magic. Without her here, the room felt cold.

“So why are you here?”

“The death toll has increased from ten to fifteen in a mere night,” Lycidas said solemnly.

“He’s escalating,” my father added, approaching us. “We knew this was coming—something is emboldening him.”

How much did I want to bet it was because the bastard wanted to get his hands on my little jaguar?

“So we called a meeting,” my mom added, “of family and allies. All of them will be arriving shortly, which is why I placed your friends and Deva so close to our personal quarters. The rest of the rooms will be filled.”

I nodded along, having expected this. Lycidas straightened up and announced to my parents, “As I stopped by to tell you, I’ll make sure everyone gets settled while you catch up. Grimshaw, I look forward to meeting your new friend.”

Then the doors slammed shut, leaving me alone with my parents.

“I really dislike his presence in our home,” I leveled. My mom offered me an amused smile and my father shook his head, seeming to not understand my problem with the annoyance.

“Yes, well we have much larger things to worry about besides your cousin,” my father stated. “As I said, something is pushing Astaroth⁠—”

“Someone,” my mom corrected, offering me a knowing look. “Something tells me that our intel on Deva isn’t extensive enough. After all, Astaroth rarely spends this much time and energy trying to get his hands on someone.”

“She went through a lot by his hands. He altered her magic like Alek, so it wouldn’t surprise me if he wanted access to that type of magic once again,” I kept my face neutral. If Deva wanted to tell them about the truth of her identity that was one thing, but I wasn’t saying shit.

“Maybe,” my mom said, “or maybe she was more than that. Maybe he thought she was going to be a larger part of his organization.”

“An apprentice—it’s a thought,” my father murmured thoughtfully. “Although clearly she doesn’t want that. You trust her intentions, Grim?”

“She hates him.” I didn’t offer a response to the question of ‘trust.’ I more than trusted Deva, so I wouldn’t validate it by answering.

“You’re defensive over her,” my father said with interest. “I’m assuming there is more here than I understand.”

“She’s the girl who stole the moonstone from us. Our son is smitten,” my mom mused.

“I love her,” I admitted, the words coming far easier than I expected.

My father’s brows shot up as my mom let out an amused hum and picked up a book from the coffee table. “He’s not the only one, either.”

“What do you mean?” my dad asked.

“Phelan, your own sister has multiple husbands. You know exactly what I’m saying.”

My dad looked back over and examined my face. “Your friends?”

“Yeah,” I said evenly, not bothered in the least. “That’s exactly what’s going on here.” Honestly, I figured it wouldn’t surprise either of them. My family in general was more polyamorous than they were monogamous, my parents being somewhat of an outlier. It was how we’d expanded so quickly, why there were so many of us. It was a more than easy way to build an army, to be frank.

“Fascinating. Well, I’m glad she’s here then to meet everyone,” Dad said with a chuckle. “Although I do wish it was under a more celebratory circumstance.”

“Celebratory.” My mom shook her head. “Our family doesn’t celebrate—they kill and then call it a celebration, honey.”

My lips pressed up at that. “Deva doesn’t scare easily,” I told my mom. “She’s been through a lot, and it’s her story to tell—but I’m not worried about the family scaring her, I just don’t want them around her. Mainly my cousins.”

“Not only your cousins.” My dad commented casually. “All members of our organization.”

“Because of his sudden increase in killings?”

“Well, that is a reason,” my mom admitted, “but like your dad said, we all knew that this time was coming—it’s time to act. Astaroth has been amassing power up north, and if we don’t take action soon, it’ll only get harder to shut him down.”

“We aren’t going back to that damn campus until he’s dead,” I said. “They’re blaming attacks and murders on Deva because her magic is different. I have no idea how he’s doing it, but I know he’s the one fucking responsible.”

“Maybe we can figure that out tonight,” my dad said.

Just then the doorbell rang, signaling the first of the family’s arrivals.

“We’ll keep people entertained; join us when you’re ready—I know Deva is sleeping,” my mom said, her tone understanding. “I have a feeling this won’t be a one-night meeting.”

She was most likely right.

“I’m looking forward to meeting this Deva,” my dad admitted.

He was probably interested to see what the hell had changed since I so rarely gave a shit about anyone, let alone women. As the two of them left, leaving me to look over the dark span of walled gardens in the back of our estate, I felt a surge of uncomfortable energy. I didn’t want Deva under scrutiny or to feel uneasy, but this meeting was important.

We were, after all, the unofficial ruling faction of Carmina.

My gaze moved past the walls to the cloudy skies that covered Carmina, knowing that something needed to change. This war that existed between the Nyx organization and Astaroth had held the realm in contention for too long, unable to grow or expand. After this was done, things needed to change. Deva shouldn’t have had to live in such poor conditions those two years after she’d escaped Astaroth—our community needed to be better than that, to do a better job of taking care of its people.

Letting out a sigh, I looked over my room, noting the places that a bed could be added. I wrote out a quick note on the desk, requesting all of our items be moved and a bed added to the far left corner. I knew housekeeping would handle it, and I preferred for us to be separated from the rest of our guests, specifically because of my ability to enhance the wards surrounding my room so they’d be even better than the wards that protected the rest of the property. Once done, I left the room and walked down the stairs, wondering what Deva was up to.

In a way I hoped she was sleeping…but I also craved to hold her. To see her. So I walked past the guest suite, deciding to keep myself busy, even if it just meant wandering the halls for now. As I turned down a familiar hallway, my thoughts turned to a different time…the last time I’d been here, walking towards this room. The last night before school—one of the many times I’d tried to reach her and had thankfully been pulled into her dream realm when I’d fallen asleep in a chair in the corner by the fireplace.

“This has to stop. I won’t tell you where I am.” My eyes opened as my little jaguar’s voice brushed my ears, relieved that I’d get to spend another night talking to her. The feeling superseded even the frustration that I had yet to find her after two months of searching. I had no doubt I would find her eventually, but I had never been a patient man.

“Hate to tell you this again.” I sat up and looked towards the misted fog wall that separated us, her slight frame a beautiful lit up shadow that I’d memorized. “But I’m not the one doing this, little jaguar.”

“I don’t believe that.” She huffed, but it wasn’t with her usual fire. Walking towards the wall, I decided I may as well push the envelope after all this time.

“What’s wrong?”

Her frame tensed before she sat down on the ground, wrapping her arms around herself. I craved to see more of her. I craved to hold her and touch her again, to feel the intensity of her magic against my own.

“Why do you think something’s wrong?” she asked, her usual defensive tone completely absent.

“Just a guess.”

After a long moment, she let out a small sigh. “I mean…nothing is wrong. Or it shouldn’t be. I’m just making a big change tomorrow and I’m…apprehensive.”

“Change?” I felt my frustration leak out because the idea of her changing anything, moving or possibly losing contact with me, gave me far more anxiety than I liked to admit.

“Yes,” she said softly. “Hopefully for the better.”

“Little jaguar,” I said, infusing my voice with as much persuasion as possible, “will I see you again after tonight?” I would find her, I had no doubt, but I didn’t like that this felt like a goodbye. I didn’t like that shit at all.

“I’m…I’m not sure.”

Inhaling sharply, I opened my eyes to find myself in the middle of the treasure room we hoarded like fucking dragons, each artifact decorating the walls spelled for protection. It was how I’d been so easily alerted to her presence when she first came to visit—when I’d first met my little jaguar.

I should’ve known from that moment that the intensity I felt for her was nothing I would ever experience again. It was wild and untamable, and our magic interacted in a way that seemed so incredibly natural. Everything between Deva and I was natural, down to my urge to pin her to the fucking floor and complete our bond, to feel her tighten around me as I finished deep inside of her. My shadows reacted to my thoughts, only increasing my need for her.

As if summoned, Deva’s magical signature filled the space. I turned to find my little jaguar walking through the doors in a dark cloak, her eyes moving hesitantly over the space with curiosity. Maybe she should be hesitant, though, because I had the very strong urge to show her what exactly I’d been wanting to do to her since that first night we met.

Since the first night she’d run from me.