“If Wicker is Erebus …” Levi frowned and shook his head. “He probably took Lucie because he thinks she’s Ken’s mate. Because of the premonition, we can guess he must already know Ken is mated to the fairy princess. And Lucie is a fairy princess. Lucie would never tell him she wasn’t the one he was looking for either. No matter what he does to her.”
Abe looked darkly across the room. They needed to find her, but how? All they could keep doing was search the area that drew him the most. He had a general direction, but that was it.
“Let’s keep looking. I can’t stand even taking a breather,” Abe growled out, and Levi nodded his head in agreement. “What will you do if you find this Erebus?”
“I’ll disintegrate him. A dark deity, even a tier-one, can’t be stronger than a light deity. At least not on their own merit.”
“What is the Kraken … Ken?”
Levi frowned. “He was a light deity who went dark and ended up cursed, forced to remain bound to the sea. He is only able to roam the earth now because his life is still linked to Asher. He was cursed by the other deities. Ken rose up against the other gods, but before that … well, he had some run-ins with Erebus. There’s history between the two of them. This has become a personal vendetta for Erebus. But that bastard is involving my family in his feud with Ken.” He balled his fists. “He doesn’t realize it yet, but he just created another enemy. I don’t forgive those who mess with what is mine. I’ll kill Erebus, or he will have to spend eternity running from me. For what he has done to Lucie, and what he plans to do to Alexa … I will end him.”
“What is going on here?Why have the vampires and dragons descended upon us?” Beryl asked angrily from her hidden location.
“I don’t know, but they seem angry. We haven’t even done anything yet, but the way they’re fighting now is different. Merciless and unyielding,” a dark elf said nervously, seeing the witch’s anger.
“I am so close. I didn’t go through everything I did for nothing! And of course, those damn cowards haven’t shown themselves yet.” Beryl clicked her tongue and paced madly across the floor. “What set them off? Something must have happened.” What was she going to do now? It was only a matter of time before she was found. If she was going to go down, she might as well at least take one member of the Chain family down with her. Yes, even if it was only one of them.
She just needed to hold out and stay hidden. The opportunity would arise to at least destroy one of them. She had waited so long already, and she wouldn’t lose now. She would disappear until things calmed down some. Yes … she just needed to disappear for a bit longer.
“Deploy the next two units. Let’s keep them busy,” Beryl said with a smirk, looking at the dark elf. She would use this moment to escape deeper into the darkness … for now.
Jasper wipedthe damp beads off his forehead. They’d been scouring the land, looking for the witch and any sign of Lucie. It was all they could do. They could only continue to fight and wait. It was torture. He looked at Derrick, who was leaning his forehead against a nearby tree. He was worried about him. He was breaking little by little. He walked up to him and placed his hand on his shoulder.
Derrick glanced at the hand for a brief moment before closing his eyes. Where was his Lucie? How was she? Was she okay? It was his job to protect her … and he’d failed her. How could he have let her fall into dangerous hands? What kind of mate was he? It hurt so much. It hurt that he’d lost her when shewas right in front of him. It hurt knowing how weak he was that he couldn’t get her back. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt.
“Hey … we are going to get her back,” Jasper said gently.
“We? We aren’t going to do anything because we aren’t strong enough to get her back.” Derrick spit out bitterly.
“Don’t do this to yourself,” Jasper whispered out.
“If anything happens to her …” Derrick stifled a sob, and Jasper wrapped his arms around him.
“Don’t. Don’t think like that. She is coming back to us. So let’s get rid of this witch. It’ll be one less thing for her to worry about, right?” Jasper felt Derrick’s body tremble slightly. He had been forcing himself to look strong in front of everyone, but their strong and fearless leader was actually shattered.
“Jasper, listen to me.” Derrick straightened up and turned to look at his cousin. “Just listen, okay?” He watched Jasper nod slowly. “If … if something happens to her, I’m giving you the throne. No words, Jasper. I can’t go on without her. I won’t go on without her. Gosh, Jasper, do I even deserve her anymore? I let her down. I told her she was safe with me.”
Jasper was crestfallen as he stared at the red, watery eyes of his cousin. “You didn’t let her down, Derrick. There was nothing anyone could do. Who could fight against a deity?”
“Another deity. Maybe that’s what Lucie really needs. Someone strong enough to protect her.” Derrick swallowed bitterly, the sting of his own failure burning him.
“Derrick!” Jasper gripped his cousin’s shoulders tightly. “You need to be strong for her right now. She’s going to need you and your strength when she comes back. Be the man she needs. You can’t afford to break. I know you want to, because it sucks, and it hurts like hell. I want to destroy the world looking for her.” He gripped Derrick’s shoulders tighter as his own eyes watered up. “I depended on her too much. I took for granted that I would always have her light around.” He gritted his teeth and shookhis head slowly, his eyes closed. “We don’t know what kind of hell she might be going through, and when she comes back, she’s going to need our light this time.”
Derrick’s bottom lip quivered, and he nodded his head as his tears fell. “My poor little mate,” he breathed out in a whisper. When Jasper looked up, the two men locked eyes. “You’re right. I’ll be whatever Lucie needs me to be. I just need her back.”
“I know you do.” Jasper gave him a weak smile. “We all need her back.”
Derrick straightened up. He would do everything in his power to fight now. It was the only way he could fight for Lucie. And if something tragic happened to her, he’d already decided. He wouldn’t go on either. He would also die. Because life without Lucie would not be a life at all.
“Incoming!” Chaz yelled from the distance. “And there are a lot of them!”
“Good,” Derrick said coldly. “I need to take this aggression out on something.”
CHAPTER 58
Lucie opened her eyes to the darkness of her mind. She’d been here before. She looked around expectantly. Sure enough, a familiar glow appeared.
“I didn’t think you actually cared,” Lucie spat out angrily.
