40. Orcus

"Fuck." I can feel Demeter all around Alina now, telling me she's not only touching my Omega but also doing something to her.

Something deadly.

"Who is this bitch?" Reaper asks, a scythe in one hand and a sword in the other. "Tell us what we're walking into here, Alpha."

"She's an Alpha," I mutter. "A very possessive, pissed-off, insane Alpha. One who fancies herself to be the mother of all Omegas. That's why she acts as though she is one herself when she's very clearly not. She sees it as her duty to protect all of Omega kind."

"So she… won't harm Alina?" Flame hedges.

"If Alina's pregnant with an Alpha? Yeah, she'll harm her. And she's sure as fuck going to try to hurt me," I tell them. "She doesn't like competition, and she does not play well with other Alphas."

As evidenced by the fact that she apparently brought all the Omegas to this dimension. And hid them.

I overheard that part of her conversation with Alina.

Fuck, I overheard everything.

Because Alina was practically broadcasting the conversation to me as she puzzled over everything Demeter was telling her.

"She used to be part of an Alpha pack," I say aloud, still talking to Reaper and Flame. "They had a male Omega that managed to impregnate her. An Omega named Persephone was their child. Demeter developed an… unhealthy obsession with her daughter."

And from what I understood of the conversation, Serapina might harbor Persephone's soul.

Which further complicates matters.

If there was time, I would call my brother. But I need to get Alina back right fucking now before Demeter finishes doing whatever it is she's doing to my mate.

"Her focus is going to be on me," I think aloud, puzzling through what we should do. "Her primary goal will be to subdue me." Because killing me wouldn't be an option. Just like I couldn't kill her.

Mythos Fae don't die.

But we can be temporarily knocked out. And trapped.

"She's already weakened," I go on. "Whatever happened when she touched Alina destroyed the Omega prison she created here."

By here, I mean, the Viscount Manor.

Reaper and I were busy pursuing our own leads when we felt the bond snap into place again.

He immediately returned to the Elite City, where Flame and I were reading up on the Viscount. Cain was talking to the Duke of Nightingale about setting up a meeting.

Apparently, he lacked the contact details for the Viscount because he lived outside of the Elite City and was classified as a non-Elite human. It seems the village title means very little to the Elite City.

Regardless, the Viscount matters now.

Because he has a pissed-off Mythos Fae Alpha hiding inside him.

Hell, the Viscount may have always been Demeter. Who the fuck even knows?

"Did you catch any hints of Timothy being possessed?" I ask Reaper, wondering if perhaps Demeter is controlling him as well.

If my jumping topics bothers the Death Fae, he doesn't show it. He simply says, "No. He wouldn't need to be manipulated or possessed; he's a bad soul all on his own."

"Is he still alive?" Flame asks.

"Barely," Reaper says. "I was in the middle of sifting through his mind when I felt Alina. I left him to rot."

Which means he won't be alive for long.

"If Timothy wasn't possessed, then there's a chance Demeter hasn't possessed anyone else. Which means we should be dealing with just her, and maybe some misguided humans."

But I doubt that last part about the mortals.

Demeter would consider herself above humans and would only use them for menial tasks. Such as kidnapping another mortal, like Alina. Not battling a fellow God.

"How do you want to handle this?" Flame asks, his arms folded over his chest as he evaluates the forest before us. We're less than a mile from the manor, the three of us having arrived together once we sensed our mate's location.

But I didn't create a portal that would take us directly to her. I put us here instead.

A plan is needed.

A good plan.

Because we'll only have one chance to get this right.

I heard what Demeter told Alina about changing dimensions. Apparently, she's the one who made all the Omegas disappear over two thousand years ago. If she could do it once, she can do it again now.

"All right," I say. "Here's what I'm thinking…"

I quietly explain the idea formulating in my mind, the one involving the element of surprise.

Demeter is focused on me.

She doesn't know about Reaper and Flame. Individually, they might not be able to take her down. But if we work together as a mate-circle, we should be able to win the upper hand.

"You thought she was imprisoned originally," Flame says after I finish laying it all out—including the part about how to trap a Mythos Fae's soul.

Because we'll need to do that and then take her to my home realm to put her in Pandora's Box.

"How did she escape?" he presses.

"I don't know," I admit. "But I'm guessing it has something to do with breaking up her mate-circle."

There are four Alpha packs trapped in Pandora's Box. The very packs Demeter mentioned to Alina.

She didn't completely lie to my Omega, but she severely embellished her claims.

Alpha kind didn't agree to enslave the Omegas. A few ancient, insane Alphas tried to enslave them.

Twelve Alphas, to be exact.

One of whom was Demeter, but giving birth to Persephone changed her. She grew compassionate and later obsessed.

All while those packs continued to use and abuse their Omega mates. But soon, one Omega wasn't enough. They wanted more. Yet all the children were Alphas.

Except for Persephone.

She was a coveted Omega.

When one of those packs set their sights on Persephone, Demeter reacted, telling them they couldn't have her daughter. But they wouldn't accept her refusal.

Left with no alternative, Demeter turned to another pack—one that cherished and loved their Omega—and begged them to hide Persephone.

That pack was my mother's pack.

And my mother was the Omega in the nest.

She accepted Demeter's request.

Which was how my brother first met his Persephone.

But things soon went to hell after that happened, the four ravenous packs waging war on the other Alphas in an attempt to take their mates.

Then Omega kind vanished.

And the sane Alphas assumed fate had intervened to take the Omegas away as a result of their mistreatment.

Pandora's Box was created to imprison the offending Alphas, in hopes that fate would forgive the rest of the Mythos Fae by returning Omega kind.

Alas, that never happened.

And now I know why.

Demeter took them.

Either she was never put in Pandora's Box with the others, or she escaped.

The latter possibility concerns me because it means she could escape us now. Or maybe even possesses a talent that'll facilitate her ability to thwart us.

Which is precisely the point of Flame's inquiry and concern. He's basically asking, If she escaped before, can she do it again?

And my answer remains the same—I don't know.

But we're about to find out.

"Once she's subdued, we?—"

The hairs along the back of my neck dance, alerting me to an incoming presence. Reaper straightens, his scythe lifted in a defensive pose as Flame takes the sword from his other hand, both of them battle-ready.

But the glass mirror forming before us isn't born of Mythos Fae magic. It's something else entirely.

Helia's face appears, her eyebrow arching at our display of aggression.

Then she casually steps through the glass with Cain following behind her.

"You didn't think we would let you fight a battle in our territory without a little assistance, did you?" she asks conversationally. "Now, bring us up to speed on this Goddess. And tell us the plan."