I nod, shivering and shaking in his arms. With him, I always feel so small, so weak, but when he holds me, I feel his strength bolstering me, his love filling me up. I didn’t even notice the hole where he should have been, but now that he’s here, I feel it and it hurts until it’s replete, like a piece clicking back into place so I can breathe again.
“Where have you been?” I question.
“Here. I spoke to a fate and gathered others, they are outside waiting for orders. And you, Little Monster, you’ve been busy.” He lifts his head and looks around, noting the bodies and destruction.
“Yes, so much has happened I don’t even know where to—”
“Shh,” he hushes me, and the skull melts to reveal his human face, his eyes white and hair flowing over his shoulder. “Show me if you wish. Just reach for my mind and I will look.”
I nod and close my eyes, focusing on his link, his pull. I follow that line and throw open the door to my mind. I feel him rush in, his warmth and the fragrance of nature that follows him filling my head and relaxing me. He flickers through everything, I can almost see it, and then pulls back, leaving a trace of his love in its wake.
Opening my eyes, I meet his gaze as he smiles sadly. “Do not believe him, my little monster. They might have made you, but you are so much more. You choose what you are and what you will become. You are the strongest of us all, and not because of magic or science, but because it was willed. You are special, not just to the world, but to us. To me.”
I shiver. How did he know I needed that? I was so worried about what I could be, what they might have made me, that I didn’t even think about asking for reassurance, yet he knew. He always does.
Just then a pop sounds and we all turn just as a panting Aska skids to the doorway, his eyes going to me as he slumps in relief. My wolf trots behind him with a snarl on his lips as he growls at the others, coming towards me and only stopping when I reach down and pet his silky fur on his head.
Together, we are all together.
It feels so right, I feel so full that I could burst.
But a voice interrupts my happy thoughts, a low, velvety, rough one. Like whisky on rocks that flows through me with a promise of pain and chaos.
“Well, that was interesting. Got to say, you are a lot crazier than I thought you would be. Do you enjoy being killed, walker? I’d be happy to oblige those fantasies.”
We all turn to the voice, and Aska groans as he hesitates in the doorway. “Dawn, meet...Lucifer.”
The man smirks at me, his full, plump lips curling up dangerously. His red eyes flare, his cheekbones are high and arched, and a shadow of horns on his head interrupts the rich darkness of his black hair. He bows, his eyes still on me, ancient and knowing, which sends my heart pounding for some reason. “A pleasure, I can assure you.”
Lucifer…as in the devil?
Oh fuck.
I can’t take my eyes off the magnificent creature held in a forest god’s arms. I scan the others and note I am the strongest...apart from her. Her power feels wild, uncontrolled, and unknown. I can see a link between them as power flows between her and the men, and I don’t think she even realises she is pulling it. Interesting.
I straighten and she watches me, her teeth digging into her plump lower lip. The skinwalker likes what she sees, good, this body was created to tempt weak mortals and supernaturals alike. It is good she is attracted to it, it will make stealing her and taking her for my own that much easier.
“Lucifer?” she repeats, and turns her head, seeming to communicate telepathically with the man holding her before she kisses him and he puts her down. I almost feel the buzz of their minds as they speak. Interesting, that will make it more difficult, but not impossible.
I watch her walk forward, unafraid of me even as I relax against the wall, not worried even when faced with all her monsters...mates. Indeed, she must be powerful to call all of these creatures.
After growing tired of watching the council prepare for yet another pompous