Seven

Moon

I t takes Tristan three swings to chop his father’s head off. I gag several times and have to look away.

Once he’s finished, I find myself reluctant to look at him. He’s got his father’s blood all over him. It’s disturbing. I shake it off and approach him anyway. That couldn’t have been easy for him.

“That man was my father in blood only. I was raised by nannies and hardly ever saw him. I hated him my entire life because I believed he killed my mother. I’m glad he’s dead.” Tristan pauses in front of me. “You can look at me, Moon.”

I look up, meeting his magenta eyes. He looks like the same man he was just minutes ago, only more bloody. “Are you okay?” I ask him, and he nods.

“The King is dead, long live the Queen,” Tristan says, looking over at Evie.

“I’ve been a Queen for less than two weeks,” Evie says with wide eyes, but Tristan shrugs.

“And yet the crown still rests atop your head, Queen Genevieve.”

“You are next in line to rule,” Evie says, looking like she’s starting to panic.

“I was. Now I’m not. If I wished to be King, I’d have to marry you or murder you. I already have a mate, and I have no intentions of murdering you. So, long live the Queen,” Tristan says with a shrug.

“Are you sure you’re okay? That was a lot? I know you hated him, but he was still your father.” I ask, once Evie turns to her brothers.

“I’m okay. I promise, Badger. He wasn’t my first kill, and I doubt he’ll be my last. But a kiss would go a long way to make me feel better.” Tristan wiggles his eyebrows. I bite my lip, staring up at him.

“You have um,” I point at his lips, and he cringes.

“Right. Rain check?” He smirks, and I kiss my fingertips, before pressing them to his bloody lips. “I’ll take it,” he says, blowing me a kiss.

“Should we maybe go inside?” I ask, looking around at the still-cheering crowd. No one seems to care that the King is dead now. Which is good because we’ve got shit to do. “Or, maybe we should leave this realm? We need to get one of your crystals for Daire’s sister, and then we have a couple of prisoners to rescue.”

“Moon,” Crow says, giving me a look I don’t like. “I need to stay here with Evie. Tristan should also stay to help her establish control. We can’t leave her here alone at a time like this.”

“Fuck,” I say because he’s right, and I feel like an ass for suggesting otherwise.

“We should probably also talk about the fact that Fenrick is already gone,” Daire adds, making my head snap to him.

“What?!” I yelp, eyes wide. “Where did he go?!” I demand, looking around, but even if he was still here, he was hidden.

“Probably to the Fae Realm.”

“Fuck…alone?!” My heart is racing, and I’m ready to hunt my Fae mate down. “We have to go after him…but Daire…fuck!” I push my hands into my hair and drop into a squat. Fen is alone. Daire needs to go to his sister. Cato and Odas need to be saved from a dungeon. Lust needs to be saved from whatever the fuck made him kidnap the other two. Warrior needs to remain at my side so his fucking evil “mother” doesn’t get control over him again. Tristan just chopped his own father’s head off…

“The owner of the crystal has to be with me… Otherwise, I’ll be accused of stealing it,” Daire adds, and I nod. That makes sense. Except, Crow just said he can’t leave his sister.

“Can Crow transfer ownership to you?” I ask, but Daire is already shaking his head no.

“Moon!” I hear a soft voice call out and look up to see Teresa and Percy making their way over to us. I wave. Glad to see she’s okay, like I told her she would be. Unfortunately, I don’t have it in me to greet her with any more oomph. She doesn’t seem to care, though.

“Hey,” I murmur, my mind still searching for solutions. “Could a Phoenix feather cure her?” I ask, even though I don’t know if we’ll even be able to figure out what the fuck happened to Lust.

“No. We’ve tried different magic. There’s only one cure we know of, and it’s insanely expensive.”

“Okay. Kili, can you stay with your sister, and then Crow can take Daire to his sister?”

“You can have my crystals. I shouldn’t have won. If she gets a hold of them… I can’t keep them,” Warrior says, looking between us.

“If you’re sure?” I ask, and Warrior nods. “Kili, Warrior, Daire, and I will go to save Daire’s sister. Tristan, Crow, and Arlo stay here to protect Evie.” I lift my arm, talking to the mate still wrapped around my arm. “And you go find Fenrick and make sure he doesn’t get himself killed?” I ask, and my Murder Noodle nods his head.

My heart is torn in different directions, and I hate that I can’t be in multiple places at once. I don’t want to leave my men here. And I don’t want Silas going after Fen without me. But I don’t have much choice.

I have to stay close to Warrior, and he needs to go with Daire.

Silas unwinds himself from around my wrist, and once on the ground, he transforms once more.

“I’ll keep the idiot alive. I suspect he went to free your mates.” Silas presses a soft kiss to my forehead before leaving. I watch him go, my heart hurting.

“You four should go,” Arlo says, walking over to me and pulling me into his arms. I hug him back, the pain in my chest only increasing. I don’t like being separated from my men. “Be safe, come back to me soon. I love you.” His kiss is sweet and soft, just like him.

“I love you too,” I murmur, unable to hold back the tear that slips free.

“Everything will be okay, little Badger,” Tristan says, spanking my ass playfully and making me giggle. “We’ll be thinking of you every second you’re gone. Especially this perky ass.”

I give his arm a playful pat and roll my eyes at him, but his ability to make every moment feel less intense is something I need.

“Go save Daire’s sister, and then we’ll figure the rest out together,” Crow says, sweeping me up into a messy kiss that steals my breath. He spins me away from him and shoves me into Kili’s waiting arms.

Warrior has remained silent through it all, and I’m starting to worry about him. I allow Kili to lead me, but I take Warrior’s hand and pull him to my side.

“How's your head?” I ask Warrior, even as I melt at the way he looks at me. Like I’m the only woman in all the realms that he’s ever seen. Given that he’s been controlled by a Necromancer his entire life, I guess I might be.

“Quiet,” he says, still watching me closely.

“We’ll need to go to my place for the rest of the night. The facility my sister is being taken care of in won’t allow us in at this late hour,” Daire says, and I nod. We’ll have to walk to a safe area, and then one of them will take us to the Witching Realm.

“When you say quiet, do you mean you can’t hear your mother’s voice?” I ask, but Kili growls.

“She is not his mother. She is his kidnapper. His thief.” Kili’s chest rumbles, and I wonder if that was the Shadow Wolf in him.

“Yes, I do mean that I can’t hear her. But it’s more than that. Even when I cannot hear her voice in my head, her will is always in my thoughts. Carrying it out, doing whatever it takes to do what she demands. I have no desires of my own or even wants or needs. There is only her.” Those words infuriate me. There’s a weird sense of jealousy I don’t fully understand. There’s also the rage. That’s very understandable.

“So when you’re with me, that all fades?”

“Yes. It’s the clearest my mind has ever been. There were moments…before. Where her control would slip. Where I fought harder to break free from it. I paid for those moments in blood.” Warrior glances down at his scars, and I lace our fingers together.

“For every mark on your skin, she will bleed twice as much,” Kili growls from beside me, and it sends a shiver down my spine. The bloodthirsty murder in his tone should not be so sexy.

“Your brothers might be even more protective than I am,” I tease, smiling at Warrior. He frowns, looking so lost.

“I was told how much they hated me, how they would want me dead if I ever met them. I was taught that I needed to kill them on sight if they ever revealed themselves to me. To know that they want to save me from her control, feels so…” he trails off, searching for the right words.

“Good?” I ask, and Warrior nods.

“If I had known you lived, I would have come for you long ago. Thirty-five years of torture is too long. I am sorry I failed you.” Kili’s head bows low, and the shame in his eyes makes me angry.

“You were four years old, Kili. You were much too young to know any better.” Reaching out, I lace my fingers with his as well. Daire leads the way, walking in front of us and trying to give the brothers as much privacy in this moment as he can.

“I should have known.”

“We can’t change the past. All we can do now is right the wrongs. We’ll hunt down the woman who stole your brother from you, and we’ll end her,” I say. “If she dies, what happens to the magic keeping Warrior alive?” I ask.

“Her magic made his heart beat again. He is not an animated corpse. He is fully alive. She controls him through his heart. The brand she put there…a name freely given with love. She uses it to control him. Once she’s dead, Warrior will be free. His heart will keep beating, but he will no longer be under her control,” Kili explains, and I nod.

“Can you shift into a Shadow Wolf too?” I ask, and Warrior nods.

“We can travel now,” Daire says, and it’s only then that I release the brothers’ hands.

Moon

“I apologize about the size,” Daire says when we step into his apartment.

“It’s the same size as my apartment,” I say, shrugging. “We only need it for one night. Thank you for stopping by my place first.” I hold up the bag I packed in a hurry. The guys agreed that we couldn’t stay at my place for the night because even though the goblin attacks stopped, there’s still a pretty good chance whoever was hunting me is still out there.

“Your bed might be an issue,” Kili says, pointing at the twin mattress. I wince. Yeah, okay, fair. Looking at the size of the three men with me, I doubt two of them will fit together on that tiny bed.

“I have an air mattress that you can use Kili, and I can sleep on the couch,” Daire says as he heads to a small closet and opens it, pulling out the inflatable bed.

“Warrior and Moon can share the bed then,” Kili says as he takes the deflated bed from Daire.

“Come take a shower.” Daire heads into the bathroom, and I follow him in. It’s surprisingly spacious. I stop, put my bag on the sink, and then grunt when someone walks into my back. I look at Warrior in the mirror, and he stares at me intensely.

“I think he just meant me… I’m not sure if you’re ready to shower with me…” I murmur, and Warrior frowns.

“Why wouldn’t I be ready?” he asks so sweetly, and I just can’t bring myself to answer.

“Moon is about to be naked, dripping wet, and she is your Heart-Bonded mate. I’m going to assume that you’ve never had sex before.” Daire says, as he turns the shower on and adjusts it to a good temp. He looks over his shoulder at Warrior while I stand here with my mouth hanging open.

“I have not.” Warrior swallows, and I snap my mouth shut.

“Right. Well, unless you want your first time to be in my shower, I suggest you wait your turn. Or not. Either way,” Daire shrugs, and I choke on my own spit.

“You can shower with her, and it’s not an issue?” Warrior asks Daire, and my Vampire mate tilts his head side to side.

“I mean, I get a raging hard-on which is rather uncomfortable, but I can shower without fucking her. I’m also not a virgin. No offense.” Daire shrugs, and Warrior seems to consider his words for a few moments before he speaks.

“I’ve never been free. My mind was not my own. It is now, and all I want is to be in her presence. I can restrain myself if Moon does not want me to touch her. I would never harm her.”

“I never thought for a second that you would harm me, Warrior. But… Well, you aren’t the only one that feels…stuff…when you see your mate naked…” I wince. “I just mean that… I don’t know what I meant. I want you to be comfortable. I want you to be free with me. To do what makes you happiest. I never want you to feel like I’m asking you for anything you aren’t ready or willing to give me, and I don’t want you to think that my devotion to you will change if you can’t give me certain things.”

“She’s worried you’ll feel pressured to do things you aren’t ready for. And he’s worried he won’t be enough for you. The fates chose you for one another for a reason. Show her your mark.” Daire nods to Warrior. He’s still shirtless.

Warrior lifts his arm, showing me the mark that's in the same place as my other guys’, except for Tristan and Arlo.

“Take your shirt off, Moon. Show us your mark.” I do as Daire commands and pull my shirt off, leaving me in just a bra.

Just as before, it starts at my fingers, wraps up and around my wrist, covering my forearm. It’s crawling up my bicep now, too. Lightning marks and tree branches, leaves and flames…the eyeball, feathers, and smoke. My mate mark represents all of my men, and it warms a place in my soul that I get to wear their connection to me on my skin.

“We’re all there, on her skin, just as we are in her heart. And she’s right here.” Daire shows us his mark, and I smile. “We’re all perfect for her, like she is perfect for us. So claim your girl. Show her all the ways you wish to love her.” Daire moves to make his way out of the room, but Warrior stops him.

“Stay? Show me how to claim her.” His voice is soft, and the look in his arctic eyes is filled with determination.

“Tell me I get to watch?” Kili calls from somewhere outside the bathroom door, making me giggle.

“Only if Warrior is comfortable with it,” I say and smile up at him. I want this moment to be special for him. Memorable but not because it’s something he regrets. I want him to be as happy about this moment as I am.