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While the rational part of my brain acknowledged the recent respective death-defying moments occurred during the span of only minutes, the other couldn’t grasp that we hadn’t been marooned on this fucking ice for years, centuries even. I failed to concentrate on anything other than Bane.
Gideon stiffened beside me. “Look,” he pointed a finger tipped in a black claw behind me, “stay alert.” The portal abruptly shifted farther over the lake and expelled the remainder of the enemy. My eyebrows rose nearly to my frosted hairline as they pulled themselves to their feet, standing confidently as if they'd already won the battle.
I rubbed my hands together, thinking of our options. One thing I knew for certain, I wouldn't stand there like helpless prey and let these witches kill us.
Hmm. If I were moving, at least their focus would be split. As if Grimnyr and I shared the thought, a flash of light heralded his shift into some kind of bird of prey. I squinted and smirked. A falcon. Excellent, now their attention would be split into no less than three places.
Nodding to myself, I formed a plan. Was the plan epically foolish? Yes. Would that stop me from enacting it? No.
“Gideon?”
“Hm?” The demon tilted his head, blowing out a cloud of grey smoke, but continued staring daggers at the HHC.
“Has the portal to the pocket realm shifted or is it where it should be?”
He took in another drag of his cigarette, then nodded his chin at the base of the cliff hanging over the lake. “Unfortunately for the witches,” he replied, his deep, gravelly voice holding the fainted trace of amusement as smoke filtered past his lips with his words, “it shifted but to our benefit. The portal is now level with the frozen lake, hidden directly around a sudden bend just past the entrance.”
“Surprisingly good news for once.” My boot squeaked against the ice as I turned on my heal and ran, ducking my head and awkwardly swerving, expecting backlash from the witches to end me at any moment. But it never came, even as I tripped, belly flopping on the ice, my momentum spinning me in a circle. My jaw dropped as dozens of rubber ducks seem to peel themselves off my armor, zipping through the air like quacking bullets. I broke into a fit of inappropriate giggles as the witches shrieked, the colorful rainbow of ducks diving directly into the middle of their ranks.
I had witnessed my ducky army attack a lone witch in the library, but it was nothing like this. Mo must've given them a dramatic upgrade.
“For shame, Honeybee. What an inappropriate time to laugh,” Bane joked as he picked me up, pressed a searing kiss against my lips, and sprinted to the cave opening. My heart ballooned with unfiltered relief, the mate bond humming in agreement and warming my chest. I had no idea when he ditched his miniature ice island and I didn’t care.
Fascination stealing my gaze, I openly gawked at the fight unfolding over Bane’s shoulder, framed by his wings. I had my doubts when I learned of the serious demon twin’s roll as leader of Hell’s military, now I wondered how I ever questioned it. Gideon widened his stance, simultaneously unsheathing his sword strapped across his back, and with flick of his wrist, ignited a searingly bright arc of towering purple flames around the witches, starting at their backs and curving to both sides.
I blinked, unable to look away from the magnificent display of power. “Damn that’s impressive.”
Bane’s fur trembled lightly against my skin, as if barely containing his excess energy craving destruction. “What is?”
Bane tried to look over his shoulder, but I slapped my hands to his cheeks. “I’ll tell you, just pay attention to what’s in front of you.” I relayed everything happening as Bane carried me toward the cave.
One of the HHC yelled some kind of spell in what I believed was Latin. Gideon moved seamlessly, swinging his sword in an arch, repelling the spell, and reflecting it back at the witches. The chaos of battle grew in volume, causing my ears to ring.
As we reached the mouth of the cave, I spotted Grimnyr in falcon form, shrieking birdy battle cries as he worked with the Hell Fyre to herd the witches off the ice and into the portal.
My mate’s big cat eats swiveled and he squeezed me tighter to his chest. “Won’t the fire melt the ice? What about the others?”
A booming laugh shook the walls of the cave, loose pieces of dirt and small stones dusting our heads as Bane turned the corner and I eyed the portal shimmering ahead. Ezra poked his head through the hovering oval, just casually risking his neck like he didn’t give a fuck that all of the Heechu Hunter portals were unstable. “Calm your tits, gargoyle.” I winced, knowing Bane was not going to let that intentional word choice go. “My twin controls the temperature of his Hell Fyre.” Ezra shrugged a huge shoulder, the intensely defined muscles straining against his plum hoodie.
The demon continued, “If I had to guess, the flames are probably waaay fucking colder than the ice itself. Don’t worry your pretty little head over it. Your friends won’t die a horrible death by burning or drowning. Not on Gid’s watch, anyway. Fucker is serious about waging war.”
There’s something disconcerting about conversing with a disembodied head. I rubbed my clavicle, obscenely aware of the delicate network of bones keeping my head in place.
Bane growled. “I’m a godsdamn grotesque and you know it, demon. There’s no motherfucking waterspout and there never was.”
“Uh-huh.” Ezra scanned his pastel green eyes over Bane’s body. “I don’t see the difference.”
Bane’s his claws extended, pricking my ass where he held me. His tail uncurled from my waist and darted across the distance between us and the demon, bashing Ezra in the nose.
My eyes widened as the air pressure in the cave seemed to drop, swallowed by a dark force emanating from Ezra. He bared his teeth and growled, deeper and louder than Bane. I shrank against my mate as Ezra shifted forms, growing at least a foot taller, his skin darkening to a grey, and horns and a tail sprouting into existence. Something zipped through a lock of hair hanging by my face and cinched around Bane’s throat.
My upper body curved in the opposite direction. “What the shit?” Whatever it was jerked my mate, and consequently me, through the portal. My eyes narrowed on the band of obsidian circling Bane’s throat.
Is that a shadow? Wait a goddamn second…Shadow daddies are real, too? I rubbed my temples. Of course they are. Why not throw in sexy demons with shadow magic into the mix. An irresistibly intriguing, and therefore dangerous, thought scrolled across my mind. I wonder what they feel like. Resisting the urge to appease my curiosity, my nails scraped against Bane’s trapezius muscles as the wonderous magic shimmered mere inches from my fingertips.
This argument is only going to worsen without intervention. These two males are so alike it would almost be funny, if not for the literal war occurring as they measured dicks.
Closing my eyes, I blocked out their rising growls and embraced my sheer disgruntlement of the whole situation, everything from finding out magic and supernatural creatures were real to this final clusterfuck of a battle with the Heechu Hunters, not excluding all the shit in between.
