Home sweet home.
“So nice of you to finally join us,” a male voice called over my shoulder, and I swallowed hard.
Turning slowly, my gaze landed on three Akuma, one of them holding a knife to my father’s throat.
Oh fuck. Take me back to the underworld.
19Akuma douchebags
“Dropthe knife and back away from my dad,” I snarled, drawing my katana, sensing Brock climbing out of the gate behind me with Cass on his back a few moments later.
The Akuma demon threatening my dad only sneered, its ugly black teeth on full display. “Not until you open the gate to let our demon army through.” He ran a gray tongue across sharp teeth, and bent further over my dad in his wheelchair, pressing the black blade against my dad’s throat until he drew a few droplets of blood.
I squeezed the hilt of my sword, working to remain calm. There was no way in hell I was going to let anything happen to my dad, especially not now that I finally had a chance at a life with him in it. But I also wasn’t opening that damn gate.
I edged farther away from the gate, closing the distance between me and the fucker threatening my dad. There was no easy move here. The three Akuma were much like the ones who had tried to kill me at the selkie cave. They looked almost like humans, if said humans were strung out on pure evil. The two men and one woman were hulked out, bulging muscles straining through minimal clothing. What looked like black sludge circulated through their veins, visible just beneath the surface of their flesh. But the worst thing about them were their eyes. This particular set of demons had black, pupil-less eyes, rimmed in red; dirty, black, stringy hair framed them.
The other two demons threatened Cho and Tianna. Each held a similar obsidian blade pressed to the witches’ throats. Neither woman appeared afraid, but rather biding their time for the opportunity to rip the fucking Akumas’ throats out. Even the composed Cho revealed murder in her gaze.
The Akuma threatening my dad bent his face closer to him, but his stare remained on me as he spoke. “Open the gate, kitsune, and we’ll let all of you go.”
There was no chance they would. The Akuma weren’t the kind of snuggly demons to leave survivors behind. Besides, I was going to kill every single one of them for coming here and threatening the people I loved. My patience was at an all-time low. We’d only just managed to recover Cass, only to return to this...
“T,” Cass whispered, edging around me, his gaze jumping across all of the threats.
Tianna’s eyes brimmed with emotion as she took in her little pink lover. This should have been a happy reunion. The fae-witch smiled at Cass, and my bestie took another measured step toward her. Like me, he was moving into position to take the Akuma down.
“Don’t fucking take another step,” the Akuma seethed.
Oops. Guess we weren’t being very sneaky.
Brock was poised to move in the opposite direction as Cass, but now he froze, broadcasting through my mind, making an announcement to the entire pack:‘Wolves, we have a situation. Three demons are on pack land, and two very pissed-off sirens will be trying to make their way through the gate to us any minute now, a demon army right behind them. I need all hands on deck. Wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, head to the gate immediately.’
Had I not been able to hear him, I wouldn’t have realized he was communicating. A few moments later, Brock spoke just to me.‘Ray is getting Haru, Reo, and Molly. We’ll have more than a hundred wolves to back us up in minutes.’
I didn’t reply in any way. Brock didn’t even look at me, his eyes pinned on the Akuma. Some of the more intelligent of demons, it was better for them not to get overly suspicious. If we moved fast, maybe we’d have the chance to take them out before they could hurt my dad.
I had no doubt Calista was on her way. If the bartender demon had managed to walk out of the underworld without a problem, the gate wouldn’t keep her out. She’d slither her way through the crack, and she’d bring her scary-ass sister with her, even if the other siren was wounded.
Calista had been bad enough before. Now that I’d killed one of them, and Brock had shot the other one, she was worse. She was going to be a pain in my ass until I lopped her head off too.
‘Let’s kill these assholes before they hurt my dad and the sirens can get up here,’I said to Cass, and then Brock.
“Open. The. Gate,” the Akuma growled a final time, pulling the blade tighter against my dad’s throat. A small rivulet of blood rolled down his neck and I swallowed hard.
“Okay, okay. I’ll do it,” I lied, half holstering my katana and placing my hands palms up. “I need to connect with the earth,” I told him. Bending down, I placed my palms over the earth and tried like hell to come up with a plan. I didn’t know how to open or close that damn gate, but my dad’s life depended on it.
My dad was the only one without some sort of supernatural powers, and he was the only one bound to a wheelchair. Cho and Tianna looked ready to tear their captors limb from limb the first chance they got, and I was pretty sure Cho was hoping to punish the Akuma hunched over my dad.
But the blade was too firmly pressed against my dad’s throat. And the witches had no leeway either.
We needed a distraction, and if there was anyone who was good at distracting, it was Cass. With his hot-pink fur and sparkling personality, there was no one better.
‘Cass,’I mind-messaged.‘I need a big distraction. Can you handle that with the cuffs still on?’
‘Oh I can definitely handle it. I’m going to strangle that nasty demon for daring to touch my woman.’
‘Brock,’I said.‘Cass is going to distract them. Be ready to move in.’
