“Ben!”
Someone had frozen everything other than the fighters on our side. That was some powerful fucking magic. I didn’t know of a single being capable of such a move. My eyes darted between the newcomers, trying to suss out who was the source.
When my gaze landed on the fae, I knew I’d found my answer. He was not simply a weather fae as I assumed, butsomething far greater. He had to be royalty of some kind; they were the only ones with access to the type of power required for such a feat.
“I can’t hold them much longer. There’s too many,” he gritted out, sweat dotting his brow.
“We have to retreat,” Lilith said.
“We can’t leave Ben. We fucking can’t.” Remington raced to his brother’s side and moved to rip the beast off him.
“Stop.” Drystan was trembling now, but his voice was forceful. “If you remove that tentacle, you risk doing more harm.”
“What the fuck do you suggest we do then?”
As they shouted at each other, Sin and Malice moved to my side. The three of us exchanged wary glances.
“This didn’t go exactly as planned, did it?” Sin asked softly.
“When does anything go according to plan?” Malice muttered, eyeing the others with interest.
Drystan swallowed, seeming to have considered the shifter’s question before biting out, “We portal out of here together and leave the monster behind. As soon as we’re safe, one of the vampires can heal him.”
“I’ll do it,” one with an Irish accent offered.
“There’s no way he’ll let anyone other than Rosie do it,” the other countered. “He has trust issues with vampires.”
“Work that out between yourselves.” Lilith leveled her gaze at me. “Come with us. This fight isn’t winnable in our current state.”
Everything in me protested the thought of a retreat. War did not retreat. War razed entire armies to the ground single-handedly.
Reading the conflict on my face, Lilith snapped, “What’s more important to you, Chaos? Getting Merri back or staying to finish this?”
Grim’s voice broke through my thoughts. “Merri. Let’s go.”
“Oh, he’s back. Have a nice little nap?” Sin quipped.
“Where are we going?” Malice asked.
Lilith shook her head. “If I told you, I’d have to kill you.” Then she opened a portal and stepped through, leaving the rest of us to follow in her wake.
The vampires were quick to slip through, followed by Gabriel. Hades hung back until the four of us reached the shimmering air, pausing only long enough to slap a hand to my shoulder.
“It’s fucking good to see you boys.”
“We have a lot to catch up on,” I said, and he nodded before ducking through the portal.
“Wait!” Remington called. “Do you really just expect me to leave him?”
“I’ve got him,” Drystan said. “Trust me.”
With no little uncertainty in his eyes, Remington went through the portal.
Drystan looked to us. “Go on. I will be there with him. I swear it.”
“We really doing this?” Sin asked.
“We came here to find Lilith and get help finding Merri. I’d say we’ve accomplished the first part,” I pointed out.
