Chapter 35

AYRA

Ever since Nathaniel mentioned Ryker was waking Draven up, he’d been on the edge, doing some research in his well-stocked library.

He never came down for meals. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner were in his office or the library. He spent every waking hour in one of those two places, and at this point, I was frustrated. Whatever he was looking for, he wasn’t finding it, and that left him frustrated.

“At some point, you’re gonna have to sleep,” I said, pressing my lip into a flat line when I found him in the library, bent over yet another book. “You’re fucking crazy, Nathaniel. Stop, okay? You’re slowly losing your mind.”

“You don’t understand, Ayra. I have to stop this.”

“Stop what, exactly?”

“Draven. If he wakes up, we won’t survive the attack,” Nathaniel replied with a crazed look in his eyes. Fuck, I wasn’t getting through to him.

“The baby!”

That effectively snapped him out of his haze. “What happened to the baby?”

“How about we talk about that in the bathroom? You stink.” I snapped the book he was reading shut, pulling him to his feet. “When was the last time you showered?”

“I... fuck, it’s been that long?”

I led him to our bedroom, stripping him of his clothes.

“Yes. One week. Your Enforcers are worried that you’re slowly losing your mind. That is the last fucking thing they want. You run The Borough. Without you, this place wouldn’t exist.”

“I probably have a shit ton of work waiting for me.” He sighed, slipping into the bath I’d prepared beforehand. He clamped his hand around mine, leaning his head against the edge of the tub. “I just realized you mentioned the baby to make me snap out of it.”

“No.”

“No, to what?”

“You having a shit ton of work to do. I took care of it with Logan’s help.”

“You’ve been taking everything in The Borough?”

“Someone had to do it. Kai made me understand why he’s a ‘Zeta’. He plans war strategies. I thought it was something you made up.”

“What else has been going down?”

“Kai has been working with Trey and Ryan in the lab. They’ve hit a dead end. Your brothers got the news of my pregnancy, and they sent a message to check-in. They also got messages about the whole Draven and Benjamin ordeal. Seems like the pregnancy is no longer a secret.”

“Yeah. Fuck. I was hoping to buy us some more time. It’s pointless now.” He brought my hand up to his lips, placing a kiss on the back of my palm. “Thanks for taking care of things in my absence.”

“I figured I was the Luna of this pack, and it was time to take on some responsibilities.”

“Still getting morning sickness?”

“Yeah. It’s tolerable now. Only happened twice this week.”

“Sorry I’ve been inattentive. Won’t happen again.”

“Knock it off. Everyone should have the chance to take a break for a while. Yours was just overdue.”

“I appreciate the help. You gon’ get into the water or you’re going to keep staring at me.”

“I showered already. I’m not...”

He yanked me off the edge of the tub and into the water. “We’re both wet now.”

I giggled, the sound filling the room. “You’re an asshole.”

“You love me.”

“I do, and unlike you, I’m not gonna be awkward about it.” He was already staring at me when I looked up at him. “I love you, Nathaniel.”

***

NATHANIEL

“I love you, Nathaniel.”

The sincerity and love in her eyes were what did me in. I lowered my lips against hers, warmth filling my chest.

“I love you, too.”

She grinned at me. “I know. You kinda said that, like, a week ago.”

“Well, get prepared to hear it often, because it’s the fucking truth.” I splayed my hand over her stomach. “And you too, buddy.”

“Think it’s gonna be a girl?”

“It’s cool either way. She’ll be the first female Alpha this pack has ever had, and I bet she’ll be a pain in the ass like her mom.”

“Can’t make it easy for you. Do you want to get some sleep?” She asked, sinking deeper into my embrace.

“My limbs have been stiff for a while now. I’m gonna need a few more minutes.”

“Got it. Wake me when you’re ready.”

She yawned, making me realize just how tired she was. She probably stayed up this late to get me out of the library.

In a few minutes, her breathing evened, and her body became limp against mine.

For a week now, I’ve been looking for any text on waking demons from their stasis. The only ones I’d found were about waking vampires up, which brought me to the conclusion that demons have never been woken from their stasis. If they had, only a few could do it.

Some demons of over ten thousand years voluntarily went into stasis. That was why there were a few of them in the demon realm, and those that didn’t want to go into stasis kept to themselves.

It would be pointless walking up to one to ask him if he knew how to wake a demon from his stasis.

Time was ticking, and I was nowhere close to coming up with a solution.

‘It will be too late, Nathaniel,’ Acheron said. ‘Benjamin is relentless.’

‘Look at you being all optimistic,’ I drawled sarcastically.

‘Just stating obvious things. We both care about her, but it would be stupid to delude ourselves.’

‘I’m trying, Acheron.’

‘I know.’ He sounded just as frustrated as I was. ‘We should talk with Martha. If she’s being stubborn, I can take over.’

‘Tomorrow.’

‘I know.’

He quieted down after that, and it was lights out for me.

***

Martha lived in a dump.

She was one of those lonely old women we watched on TV. The town whispered about her, preventing their children from going near her, and she hated everyone else. Except she wasn’t an old woman. She just had the attitude.

I was no exception from her hatred, but she was a sucker for shiny jewelry. She’d a pile of it in her... living room? I couldn’t tell what the space was supposed to be.

To the side were kitchen utensils. Another part had buckets and a pile of clothes. Next was the giant bathtub that somehow fit in the space, and finally her pile of jewelry. It had grown since I’d last been here, but that was a decade ago.

So, the space was a kitchen/bathroom/laundry room/jewelry room combo. Nice.

“Nathaniel,” she hissed, sitting up in the bathtub where she was taking a nap in.

Adding in a bedroom to the combo.

“What are you doing here?” She took in Logan and Kai behind me, her lips curling up in displeasure. “You brought company.”

“Jeez, take a shower,” Kai said, turning his nose up. “It’s not that fucking difficult.”

Her hair was a bird’s nest, and she had dirt caked on her face. Her dress. Yeah, we were not going to talk about that. It was basically some pieces of rag thrown together to make an outfit.

“While you’re at it, maybe comb your hair and wear something nice,” Logan suggested.

“Why, you little shits. You think you can come in here and start talking nonsense about me?” Her eyes changed to a bright yellow. “You came to find me. It’s not the other way around.”

“Calm down, Martha,” I placated, holding my hands up.

She switched to her hands and knees, growling at us. “Do you think you can control me?”

She opened her mouth, prepared to let out a scream that’d throw us out of her house.

“Back the fuck down, Martha!” I ordered with a growl of my own. “Now!”

She whimpered, retreating from her predator stance. “Why are you here, Nathaniel?”

“I need some information.”

She turned her head to the side. “I have nothing to say to you.”

“I don’t think so, Martha.” I dug into the satchel I brought along, dangling a diamond necklace in front of me. “You can have this if you tell me what I’m here for.”

Her eyes followed every swing of the jewelry, desire sparking in them. “What do you want to know?”

“How do I wake Draven?”

“Why is everyone eager to know this? A demon just left here a minute ago.”

Fuck. We were a step behind them.

“Who is he?”

She huffed, climbing out of the tub. “I don’t keep track of every demon around the block.”

“He wanted to know the same thing?”

“Yes.” She held her palm out to me. “The jewelry, please.”

“Tell me everything you told him.”

“You’ll need to sacrifice the life of someone dear to you to kick start the process.”

“Some dear to me?”

She looked frustrated at my questions

“Your mate, Nathaniel. Congratulations on that one. I can see you wearing her mark. Vampire, huh?”

The way she stared at my neck had me tugging the collar of my shirt up to hide the mark from her gaze. “Continue.”

“You’ll need to sacrifice her life. If I were you, I’d wake Draven before anyone else can. He’ll be loyal to you if you do.”

“I will not sacrifice my mate just to wake some psycho.”

“Then await destruction. If anyone else gets to him before you do, it’s game over for you.” She yanked the satchel from my hand before returning to the bathtub with a smile.

“Come on, Nate. Let’s get out of here,” Kai said, tugging on my arm. “She’s probably talking nonsense.”

She wasn’t. Martha always spoke the truth. It was the only reason I came to her for information.

Her eyes locked with mine, a dark look coming down her face. “Wait for it. They’ll ruin you.”

“Fuck you,” Logan spat, pushing me out of the house before promptly slamming it shut.

***

RYKER

“Is it necessary to kill her? She did no wrong by letting us into the house,” I said in a bid to talk Samuel out of killing the Nighthowler, who was on her knees in front of us.

Samuel shrugged. “It’s fun.”

“Fun? Killing an innocent is fun?”

“Oh, spare me that crap. You’ve killed innocents in the past.”

“By accident. This has nothing to do with our war with Nathaniel and the Staxtons.”

I had no idea why Samuel had to throw in the Staxtons at the last minute, but I wasn’t about to go against him. He was my brother, after all.

“Innocents will die when we attack Nathaniel. Do you have a problem with that?”

“It’s different.”

“How so?”

“This is a war we’ve planned for decades.” I’ve had time to make peace with the destruction we would cause.

“How is it fucking different, Ryker? Lives will be lost either way.”

“It’s...”

The rest of my sentence died off when I was knocked off my feet by a gust of wind, only I didn’t land on the floor. I flew through the air, knocking into tree branches. When my back hit the ground, a splitting headache attacked me.

“This is all your fucking fault,” I heard before Samuel pounced on me, his fists colliding with my face until I heard a crack. “You piece of shit. She wouldn’t have blown us out of her house if you hadn’t stopped me from killing her. Now, she’s gonna go tell Nathaniel that the woman he met was me disguised as her.”

“If we’d just wiped her memory, none of this would have happened. You just had to kill her,” I snarled, pushing him off me.

I jumped to my feet, wiping the dirt and debris off my body.

“I wish you’d died with our parents. Then, I wouldn’t have to look at your fucking face and see how weak and fucking pathetic you are. You’re a disgrace, Ryker. A shame to the bloodline.”

“We were once the weaker ones.”

“Exact-fucking-ly. We were once the weak ones, and they showed us no mercy. It’s an endless fucking cycle that isn’t going to just magically end with us. Find me that fucking Nighthowler and kill her.”

“And if I don’t?”

He got in my face, his eyes holding hatred and anger. For me. “You cease to be my brother, and I swear, I’ll drive a fucking sword through your head, and watch the life leave your eyes. Not only that. I’ll feed your body to the vultures.”

I swallowed visibly. “You don’t mean that.”

“Don’t I?”

He teleported after that, no doubt going to rake and rave to Benjamin.

A sharp pain pierced my heart when I replayed everything Samuel said in my head. He didn’t care about me. I chuckled bitterly, stumbling through the woods.

He was the only reason I was doing this, the only reason I put my life on the line, the only reason I turned my back on my coven brothers. I carried out his plan to a T, only for me to find out he didn’t care about me as much as I did him.

“How long are you going to slave away for Samuel?” A soft, feminine voice asked behind me. “When will you realize he doesn’t care about you?”

A feeling I’d kept repressed all these years surged through my heart on hearing the voice after so long.

“Nikita,” I whispered.

She appeared in front of me a second later, a grim look on her face. “Ryker.”

“What the fuck do you want?”

“Why don’t we go talk about it somewhere else?”

***

“When did he turn so vile?” I mumbled, staring at myself in the mirror.

Nikita walked up behind me, my freshly cleaned clothes in her hand. “He never changed. He’s always been vile. You just couldn’t see it.”

She held out my jacket to me, and I took the chance to pull her against my chest. “Where the fuck have you been?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” She said dryly, ruffling my hair. “You need a haircut.”

“I don’t. You just said that to evade my question.”

“I met Ishmael. He doesn’t recognize me.”

“He only saw you once, and it wasn’t long enough to make a lasting impression.”

“Maybe. He’s charming.”

I growled, jealousy rearing its ugly head.

“We already talked about this. Until you can cut Samuel out of your life, you’ll always remain a terrible person. Everyone thinks you’re this vile, heartless person, but they don’t know the real you. You’re not that person. You are kind, compassionate—”

“That is enough,” I barked, pulling away from her. “I am none of those things you just mentioned. I am not kind or compassionate. Nothing you say is going to change who I am.”

“Look me in the eye right now and tell me all of this isn’t Samuel’s plan.”

“That’s what I thought,” she said when I didn’t reply. “Cut Samuel out of your life.”

“I can’t. I’m sorry.”

We were the last sorcerers from our bloodline, and there was no way I was losing him, just like I’d lost the rest of my family.

I tugged on my jacket, rushing for the door.

“You are a coward, Ryker. Odin would be disappointed. Don’t you care about the lives that will be lost?”

I paused by the door, squeezing the knob until my knuckles turned white. “There are always casualties in every war. The war that separated demons and werewolves was no different. It’s inevitable.”

“It is. You can stop all of this.”

“This will probably be the last time I see you. Whatever happens, make certain that you stay away from the war, and tell Ishmael I said I’m sorry. I never knew he would turn out like this.”

There was no turning back now. I had to carry through with the plan.

“So, you will not stop? Not even for the woman you claim to love?”

“No, Nikita. Not even for you.”

***

I tossed Martha’s head on the floor in front of Samuel, watching pride replace whatever hatred had been there earlier.

“I knew you could do it.” He pushed the naked woman, who knelt between his thighs, away, skidding over to me.

He clamped his hand down on my shoulder, scanning my face for a brief second before pulling me into his arms.

“I meant nothing I said earlier. I was just pissed off.”

I encircled my arms around him, taking in a whiff of his cologne. “I know. I was at fault for hesitating. We die the moment we hesitate.”

That was the line I’d chanted to myself repeatedly on my way back here. There was no place for emotions in war. You made sloppy decisions, and that could lead to death. I wasn’t the only one involved in this plan, so I had to make sure I didn’t fuck things up by letting my emotions fuck with my head.

I blamed it all on Nikita. All the work I’d done to ensure none of this affected me came undone the second I laid my eyes on her.

“I’m glad you realize that, little brother. Want to have some fun with the lady?”

“I’ll pass.”

“Tomorrow, we hunt for the items we need to wake Draven.”

“I’ll be ready.”