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“That’s enough of that,” Gideon commanded, striding forward and smothering the ball of magic before it could erupt, shadows laced with purple fire encapsulating her hands.
“No!” she screamed.
I agreed with Gideon. My unhinged laughter joined Ezra’s as I shook my head and cinched her windpipe closed with my tail. “Shall, we?” I asked the brothers and they nodded in unison.
Tail still subduing Little Red, I helped my mate sit, gingerly stretching her injured leg before her, then kissed the top of her head. Miko let out a long, relieved sigh, causing a grin to split my face.
Unable to contain my glee, I bounced to my talons, relishing the sights and sounds as Ezra and Gideon flung the HHC members one by one into the cavernous abyss with their powers, the witches’ screams a delightful chorus of terror. My claws clacked as I strummed my fingertips together.
Finally, only three to go.
I lifted my tail, dangling Little Red in open air above the pit, and noticed the demons doing the same with the other two in my peripheral. “Any last words?”
She screamed behind a shadow gag, blood shot eyes darting in every direction. “Oy, Ezra. Do me a favor and remove the gag? I don’t want to miss her final screams.”
The demon grinned at me, flashing a full mouth of thin, sharp teeth. We worked in tandem and she fell, the very screams I craved fading into nothing well before she’d hit the bottom.
“Well, that was fun,” Ezra said. “Can we go now? It’s almost time to watch My Sugar get home from work.
I ignored the pair, their bantering fading into the background, and I dropped to my knees. “Honeybee, are you okay?” Curling over, I buried head between the armor molded to her tits and breathed. “I’m fucking sorry I didn’t ask sooner, but I couldn’t risk turning my back on the witches.”
“Surprisingly,” she laughed. “Monstera’s armor protected me.” Her smile softened. “And so did you.”
My hands glided around her waist, careful to avoid grazing her injury with my tail and wings, squeezing her into a tight embrace. Sliding my arms under her knees and behind her back, I stood, lifting her into a bridal carry. Miko smirked, then curled her cold fingers around my horns and pressed her lips to mine. We fell into the kiss, tongues dancing languidly until a throat cleared.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Gideon stated, mirth flashing behind his pale green irises.
“No, you’re not,” I chuckled.
He shrugged, stoic expression unchanging. “We should be going.”
As a group we navigated the declining, rock strewn path and a sharp zapping noise stung my eardrums, causing my stare to fly to the looming, vibrating portal. “Ah, shite.”
Picking up my pace, I hurried for the magical doorway, but we were too late. A flash of blinding light and a screech akin to nails of a chalkboard, signaled the dissolution of the portal. My eyes peeled open, only to reveal nothing but empty space.
“What…What are we going to do now?” Miko croaked, her body shaking in my arms.
My thumb rubbed circles on her spine. “It’ll be okay. We’ll…” Well, I hadn’t the slightest clue of what we’d do but I’d figure out something. Like bleedin’ Hell was I letting my mate stay trapped in a prison realm. Thoughts whirling, half formed plans shot through my damaged brain like scattershot. My panic rose right along with Miko’s thundering heart and I growled low. “Fuck.”
“There really is no need for concern. We have a solution. Never go into a war without multiple back-up plans,” Gideon said calmly.
Hope flared beneath my skin.
“That, and I’ve been trapped in the Shadow Realm one too many times without a means of escape not to be prepared,” Ezra commented.
Gideon strode over to a cracked bolder sitting at the base of the hill and removed a rectangular mirror edged in gold scrollwork from the crevasse. “Plan B.”
I whistled, then grinned. “Do we want to know what Plan C entails?”
His lip twitched. “No.”
Without further preamble, Gideon angled the mirror against the rock, and I carried my Honeybee through the portal into Thumbling.
“Where do you think I’ll find Monstera?” I asked Miko, my gaze snagging on the Jolly Roger hovering close to the ground and taking up much of the clearing, pirates offloading injured parties.
“Hmm. Perhaps over there?” she responded, pointing to the glaringly obvious aqua portal to the side of the ship, lavender Heechu magic streaming into it.
I jogged in the direction she’d indicated, slowing my pace when she hissed in pain.
