His mate. His beloved.
“Could you guys maybe wait with the reunion shit until we’re out of here? I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we’re in a fucking dungeon underneath one of the queen’s residences. If we want any chance at getting out, it needs to happen before they manage to call for reinforcements.”
Selma pulled away at his brother’s snide comment, her brown eyes filling with worry instead of joy.
“He’s right,” she said, her voice tight. “Kirigan is trying to contain the guards upstairs. We have to hurry.”
His father was there? Kesh had taken her to their father?
Through sheer force of will, Kain pushed away the worry clenching in his stomach. He could have words with his brother about putting his entrusted mate into danger—which damn well included bringing her here—later.
He glared at Kesh over the top of Selma’s head, but the other demon was too preoccupied with examining his chains to care.
“Resistant to our magic,” he muttered as he gave the lock an experimental prod with the tip of his knife. “It’ll take forever to pick this. They sure didn’t want you getting loose, eh? Selma, give it a try.”
Kain frowned as his mate grabbed the shackles around his wrists and stared intently at them. His unasked question was soon answered when pure white light burst from her palms and into the metal, cracking the lock open as efficiently as a rock to a walnut.
“What the fuck was that?”
Kesh quirked a sardonic eyebrow at him. “Oh, that? Yeah, turns out your Breeder is capable of killing even the strongest among us. And may I take this opportunity to congratulate you on your choice of mate? Well-picked. She sure is worth the shit-ton of trouble your claiming has caused.”
A defensive growl rumbled from his chest even as he eyed Selma with some hesitation. Had she always been capable of this? Had she somehow manipulated him into believing she was defenseless?
Her face contorted under his scrutiny, giving way to lines of anxiety and exhaustion.
“I didn’t know, Kain,” she whispered as if the questions were plain is his eyes.
No, she wasn’t pretending to be weak—he’d smelled her terror when she was cornered and abused the first time he saw her, and now… she looked so frail, tired. Whatever was going on with her unexpected power, she obviously wasn’t in control.
His protective instincts drowned any lingering doubt, and without a care for his many welts and cuts, he lifted her into his arms. They could talk later—right now, he needed to get his mate to safety.
Instead of objecting to being carried, she sank further into his grip and buried her head in his shoulder.
“I was so afraid I’d lost you,” she mumbled, her voice soft and intimate. His heart throbbed oddly in response, but just as he went to nuzzle against the crown of her head, he caught Kesh’s exasperated eyeroll out of the corner of his eye.
Right. Reinforcement of their bond had to wait until they were in safer, and more private, quarters.
Kain followed his younger brother out through the dungeon, silently promising himself to also have a chat with Kesh about the exact reasons he’d thought it wise to bring his mate into enemy territory.
On the other side of the dungeon door, the body of a female demon lay crumpled against the wall, her skull bearing the undeniable marks of having been crushed with a great amount of power. A similar sight met them at the top of the stairs, and in the adjoining hallway they found three more bodies. Clearly the operation hadn’t gone seamlessly.
Kesh paused at the end of the long, marble-tiled hallway, his hand hovering over the doorknob.
“I can’t hear anything.”
His hoarse whisper made Kain freeze, his senses straining to push past the limits of his fatigued body. Complete silence met him.
There should have been noise—the sounds of fighting.
“We have to go,” Kesh hissed. “We can’t attempt to save him without endangering her.”
“Him” being their father.
Kain shook his head, determined not to let any lingering loyalties to the man who’d brought him up risk his mate. There was no choice to make—she was his only priority.
They shared a short look before Kesh kicked open the door, ready to cover their escape.
Yet they didn’t manage more than two steps before dark magic wrapped around Kesh’s throat and brought him to his knees with a gurgle.
