“Which is even more reason for me to go home and follow through with my mission. I can’t let him hurt anyone else I love. I won’t.”
Her eyes darkened again. “Who has hurt you, Koios?”
“A manticore,” Ben said. “He tried to kill Koios and my brother Jack. He’s causing chaos, but we can’t find him.”
Phoebe squeezed Koios’s shirt once more before letting it go. “Then I must come with you. My father will be most displeased.”
Her wicked grin made Koios laugh again. He’d seen the same expression on his own face several times. “Did he create this fortress to keep his daughter safe?”
“My gilded prison,” Phoebe said. “Everything my heart desires lies within these walls. Or so my father thought. He should have sent me to my twin instead of leaving me alone.”
Koios shrugged. “It’s not like I’m easy to find.”
Phoebe arched a brow in another too familiar expression. “Brother, your magic is rare and easy to trace. Why do you think my father left me within these walls?”
“Probably the same reason your father trained you to be a warrior,” Logan said. “You are welcome to return to our pack with us, Phoebe. If the manticore learns of your existence, you will be in as much danger as your brother. You should know that before you make your decision.”
She scoffed. “A manticore is no match for me. Or for my brother. He doesn’t yet know his strength.”
“Goddess,” Koios said, “am I always this cryptic?”
“Yes.” Logan, Gideon, and Ben chorused.
Two voices didn’t reply, though. Koios touched the earbud in his hear. “Castor? Pollux?”
He turned to Logan when he didn’t get a reply.
“Hellfire and damnation,” Logan groaned. “The cavalry is on the way.”
18
KOIOS
Koios turned to Phoebe in a panic. “We need access to our phones. I’m guessing you’re blocking cell signals.”
“Of course. The moment you passed through the gates.”
“Then we need to get outside the gates, or our pack and a bunch of our friends are going to show up on a rescue mission.”
Logan ran for the gate, and Phoebe once more held out her hand. The gates opened at her command.
Logan stopped several feet outside the gate and began barking orders into the comms. Koios let out a sigh of relief. Luckily, they’d only been off comms for a few minutes, but it would have been long enough to scramble their rescue.
Always have a backup plan.
Always.
“How many people know my location?” Phoebe asked.
“I can’t answer that question with one hundred percent accuracy. Probably at least a dozen, but some of them may not have the exact address. My brothers know as they were tracking us here.”
“The more people who know about this location, the less safe it becomes. There are those who seek my father’s power, not realizing he returned to the hell realm before the closure. He didn’t think it was safe for either of us for him to remain with the magic in such turmoil.”
Dear ole Johnny probably had the best idea. A powerful hell creature trapped in the human realm could give someone like their good friend Jim the manticore a big power boost at a time like this.
“The pack is holding,” Logan said as he returned to their side. “But no one is happy about it. Least of all my mate.”
“No soup for you,” Ben teased, and Koios couldn’t help but laugh.
