Chapter 47
Deejay
The twins are well into their growing phase again. They’ve spent the last week fattening up, and now it’s time to get longer again. They ate their breakfast and by the time everyone left for school, they started fussing like they were ready to go back to sleep, so as soon as I get Cary set up with a movie in my bedroom, I take the twins to the nursery. I put Alex in his crib with a bottle and change Eren, who’s a stinky mess. I get him cleaned up and put in his crib with a bottle. I check Alex’s diaper, but he’s fine, so I sit in the rocker and sing to them while they take their bottles.
It’s been a surprisingly quiet week. I’ve been able to just be a parent and a lover without the stresses that have harangued my demesne for weeks. Nothing bad happened with Matt. Tio’s been absent with no surprise visits. I’ve done some online shopping, and I called Amelia and made a plan to have dinner with them this coming weekend. Wednesday afternoons after school Robbie and Kendall have their weekly therapy appointments, so this afternoon, when I take them, I plan to talk to the therapist about seeing Colt again and get her advice on how to ease him into accepting Matt and me being together. I love the man and I’m never letting him go; Colt and I need to work this out and I trust our therapist can help with that.
I hear footsteps on the stairs and get up to see who’s here, wondering if Matt came back after dropping the kids off at school. I get two steps out of the rocker, when a mass of bodies clad in black run into the nursery. Before I can react beyond noting that they’re all Elves, one of them throws a bolas at me, the cord wraps around my neck, cutting off my air and voice, then a combat staff comes flying at my head, connecting to my temple, knocking me unconscious.
Chapter 48
Matt
The loudspeaker crackles, interrupting my math teacher’s lesson. “Miss Savanna, will you please send Matt Blank to the office with his things.”
“Sure,”
my inexorably cheerful teacher chirps, smiling at me. “Get the notes from me at lunch or tomorrow if you have to leave school.”
Worry makes me frown as I pack up my stuff and head down to the office. When I get there, Gage Swanson comes up to me. “Follow me,”
he murmurs as a man I recognize as one of Robbie’s teachers comes up beside him.
I glance between them, frowning and follow them back to the teacher’s classroom.
Loki lets us in, and I’m astonished to see the state of the classroom. The students sit in fear at the far corner of the class, someone broke two windows and scattered the desks. A huge scorch mark mars the floor, and our principal lies unconscious on the floor. “What happened? Seriously, how do you fuck up this bad before nine am?”
I demand. Also, why the fuck do they need me? I can’t do anything about this.
“Matt,”
Loki quietly brings my focus to him. “Did you bring Robbie to the Hub two Saturdays ago?”
“Yes,”
I answer hesitantly. What does this have to do with that. Wait. This is Robbie’s first class, isn’t it? I look around, but don’t see him.
“I wish you hadn’t,”
Loki sighs. “Robbie wasn’t a legal adult when you brought him to the Hub. Do you understand what that means?”
“What?”
I exclaim, whipping my head back to him, shocked. I know what that means because I’ve read all the laws. It’s a capital crime to bring minors to the Hub because of the violence, sex services, and gambling. It’s considered child abuse and most non-humans do not give second chances when it comes to their children. The Houston Hub’s laws are absolute on this. Anyone who even attempts to bring a child into the Hub gets a swift and speedy execution. There are no second chances.
“We are going to figure out a way to save your life, but you’re going to have to let me arrest you. Deejay is my friend and you have been a friend to my brother. I will save your life, but you have to let me bring you in.”
Loki looks like it pains him to tell me this.
Not nearly as much as it pains me.
I have kids. Oh fuck, I might be sick.
Shit.
I squat down putting my hands behind my head, trying to breathe through the panic. “I have kids, Loki. I would never endanger them. I knew he was non-human, but he hasn’t told us what he is. How was I supposed to know he was a minor? He’s eighteen!”
I want to beg him not to do this.
“I promise I am going to do everything in my power,”
Loki swears.
“Shitshitshitshitshit,”
I cuss, thinking about all the ways this is so fucked up. “I have to tell Deejay.”
He’ll know what to do. He can help me.
“You have a few minutes before the rest of the enforcers get here to clean up this mess. Then I have to take you in,”
Loki tells me, keeping his voice smooth and his tone calm.
I put my knees on the floor and pull my phone out of my back pocket, dialing Deejay. It rings and rings but goes to voicemail. Dread fills me as I leave him a message. “Hey Deej. I’m not going to be home for a bit.”
Tears burn in my eyes as I realize this has got to be Loretta’s doing. I shouldn't have provoked her. Fuck. “I’m being arrested for bringing a minor into the Hub because apparently Robbie was a fucking child at the time. I have Loki with me, and we are going to get this sorted.”
I take a deep breath, but my voice cracks anyway. “Take care of my babies and yourself. I will see you soon, I promise. I love you.” I end the call, wiping my eyes.
Fuck.
“Swear to me that I did not just lie to him,”
I beg Loki.
Loki squats in front of me and offers me his hand.
I look at it for a second, then put my hand in his unsure what he’s doing.
“I swear I will do everything in my power to ensure what you promised was not a lie,”
he swears. The air around me crackles and I see a portion of his aura reach out and attach itself to me.
“What the hell? I didn’t make that oath.”
I look up at Gage, who’s grabbing at his chest, and see a tether like the one between Loki and I hanging taut between us.
Loki jumps to his feet as Gage grabs his head in pain. He gets in Gage’s face, grabbing his wrists. Gage’s eyes shoot open, blue fire raging in them.
“What is it?”
Loki asks.
“Do you know what you’ve done, Hyssasstia?”
Gage demands, but it's not just his voice. There’s something in that voice that spikes an instinctual fear in me, a deep and ancient rumble that sparks terror. It’s the voice behind the growl, and it is terrifying.
“What—?”
Loki starts.
“You’ve given that Rock-Eater what belongs to me! Your life is mine and you’ve thrown it at that thing! I am bound by your life-oath!”
Gage shouts in Loki’s face.
Shit! This is bad.
I get to my feet, ready to tear the brothers apart.
“I did not—”
Loki tries again.
“What is in your power to save him, Headsman? What can the Headsman do if he can’t or doesn’t want to take a life?”
Gage growls furiously.
“No,”
Loki whispers, dropping his hands.
“Mine!”
Gage grabs Loki by the neck. “I will not live another life without you.”
And then that fucker kisses his brother in front of everyone, tongue and all.
Holy. Fuck.
I see Loki’s aura go from carmine to bright lime green like the flip of a switch.
I look away because I don’t want to watch only to see other the students all staring agog at the scene. Of course they are. One of the most popular guys in our school is kissing his own brother.
Also, Robbie isn’t here. Where the fuck is that kid?
“Gage,”
I hear Loki whimper.
Gage growls in response as I catch the teacher’s eyes. He looks at me wide-eyed. “Isn’t that his brother?”
he whispers.
“Stepbrother,” I shrug.
“I will never allow you to die,”
Gage says, drawing my attention back to him.
I don’t know why they think Loki is going to die, but I can see that they’ve figured something out I haven’t.
When Gage turns his gaze on me, it makes me want to skitter back and hide. “I am bound by my Hyssasstia’s oath to you. If I were not, I would burn your world to ash to save him. So now you have the only thing in this world that I value. Do you understand me? If Loki dies, I will destroy you.”
Fuck. That is the dragon talking. It sets my survival instinct on fire and mutes me. Not that I know what to say because I did not intend to let Loki put his life on the line for mine.
“Gage,”
Loki gasps, pulling at Gage’s choking hand.
Gage looks at him furiously. “You won’t be around to stop the Drakon and I won’t bother trying to control him.”
“Gage, I swear I will not allow Loki to put his life down for mine,”
I promise, hoping to calm the dragon in him.
The dragon goes silent, staring at his brother until his eyes start watering. “You’re mine,”
he whispers to Loki, pulling him into a tight hug.
Loki clutches at Gage, burying his face in Gage’s shoulder chanting, “Fuckfuckfuckfuck.”
Guilt gnaws at me that I am partly responsible for this.
“I’m sorry, Hyssasstia,”
Gage whispers, hiding Loki’s face with his hand.
“What is wrong with him?”
I ask genuinely worried. I know that lime green in Loki’s aura isn’t natural and it’s getting more intense by the second.
Gage growls at me, a warning to butt out if I ever heard one, and then one of the students behind me goes absolutely nuts cackling like a crazy person. That guy has two fucking auras, and one of them is pure, unadulterated lust green too. He says something in a language I don’t recognize, the teacher barks something at him in the same language, and the door opens.
“Headsman?”
Solomon, the man who led the cleanup crew when Tio tried to intercept Deejay’s courier, says, poking his head in.
Loki looks like he’s in pain as he straightens up and takes charge. “Wipe all the humans. Take Dr. Tanaka and that kid, back to the Hub annex for typing and registration. Inform Loretta that I am bringing Matt Blank D’Aquino in, and make sure that there’s no trace of the shit that went down here.”
“Understood,”
the guy says and starts giving the Hub enforcers/cleanup crew under him their orders.
Loki turns on Gage, glowering at him. “See you after school,”
he says intentionally.
“I’m coming with you,”
Gage refuses.
“You most certainly are not.”
Loki takes several steps back as his lime green aura flares almost blindingly bright. I don’t think Gage meant it that way. “As if I would break my oath to Chanda over this,”
Loki mutters, grabbing a knife off his thigh and cutting a deep gash into his arm. “Matt, with me,” he orders me, but I’m staring at the cut, aghast when I see it heal immediately.
“I didn’t mean it that way,”
Gage laughs, taking the knife from Loki.
“Give that back,”
Loki orders him, stalking out of the classroom.
I follow them, dread pooling in my stomach as Gage explains. “I meant I am joining the trip to the Hub because there is no way I am leaving you in your own hands after you gave your life away. Matt, guard the door,”
he commands me before pulling Loki into the men’s room. I stand with my back to the door surprised when a kid scoots around me, but I guess that’s just what happens when you go into a semi-public restroom to take care of an unnatural burning lust.
I wait there, nerves wracking me as every possible worst-case scenario goes through my head. I realize why Gage is so pissed when my mind puts me in the Cage with Loki. Because Loki is the Headsman, I will have to fight him if I am sentenced to death, which means it will be a fight to the death. It’s within Loki’s power to throw that fight. No wonder Gage was pissed. I’d have to kill Loki. I’d win my freedom, but at the cost of Gage’s brother. What did he call him? Hyssasstia? I don’t know the meaning of that term, but I do know what I’ve seen in their auras. Like the small cord binding the three of us together, there is a chain of Gage’s aura wrapped around Loki, tying them together.
“We’re ready.”
Loki’s voice takes me out of the thoughts as I look over my shoulder at his red face and step aside.
Without further comment, Loki leads us to a large SUV parked in the fire lane. I get in the back and sit in the middle, leg’s spread to accommodate their length. For a while, no one speaks, and then Loki’s phone rings through the car’s speakers. “This is Loki.”
“It’s Solomon. We’re missing a student here. Robert Julien. We’ve been told that the Elves that attacked abducted him.”
What the fuck?
I barely manage to hold back my shocked worry instead of jumping into the conversation.
“I am aware. I already have someone handling it,”
Loki replies carefully, glancing back at me in the rearview mirror.
“Understood,”
Solomon says and hangs up.
I lean forward. “Robbie was abducted?”
I question, not even sure what to do with this information, but knowing that I need to be out there looking for him.
“Chanda is getting him back,”
Loki assures me as my phone buzzes in my back pocket, startling me.
I pull it out of my pocket seeing Chanda’s caller ID. “Chanda. Did you get Robbie back?”
I question, hoping he did.
“I did not. Can you come to me? I'm out of power right now.”
He sounds as stressed as I feel, and he’s out of power? He can’t track Robbie if he’s run out of his own psychic power.
“What? I—don’t know,”
I hesitate, looking at Loki.
“Robbie needs you, Matt. What’s the fucking problem, get your ass to the teacher’s parking lot!”
“Chanda. I’m on the way to the Hub right now, Loretta—”
I try to explain.
“God fucking dammit!”
he screams then the phone goes silent.
“Chanda. What the hell is going on? Chanda? Fuck!”
He hung up on me
“What did Chanda say?”
Loki questions as his phone starts ringing again. “This is Loki.”
“It’s Chanda.”
He sounds pissed. “Make sure you secure Matt. Do not let him leave the fucking Hub.”
“I can fucking hear you!”
I yell, shocked that he would change his mind about having me help him so quickly.
“If you can hear me then you know I am giving Loki permission to knock your ass flat to keep you at the Hub. So stay the fuck in your goddamn cell until it’s your turn in the fucking Cage. You brought a minor to the Hub. You’re going to have to face the consequences of breaking non-human law.”
“What the fuck, Chanda? I didn’t know Robbie was a minor. And how the fuck do you know what the charges are against me?”
I demand, unable to understand why he would specifically order Loki to put me somewhere I can’t help Robbie. I didn’t know Robbie was a minor—he knows that!
“I’m the one who reported you,”
he answers as betrayal crashes over me, silencing me in my shock.
He’s been staying with us for a week, playing with our kids, wooing Robbie, eating our food, being our friend, and he’s the one who’s turned me in for a capital crime? He put me on death row while smiling at my face and playing with my kids? How did I not see this coming?
“Loki, remember your oath to me and keep him at the Hub. And do your fucking job like I told you to do.”
Furious rage sweeps through me on the heels of Chanda’s betrayal. If I survive, I will make him regret ever meeting me and mine. And I will do whatever it takes to survive even if that means taking down a fucking dragon.
“If I’d known you were going to throw him under the bus, I wouldn’t have gone to bat for him,”
Loki sighs into the dead air—Chanda ended the call without a word of goodbye again. “Fuck, Matt. If Chanda is working against you, I can’t do anything to save you. I’ll keep to my oath, I can’t not, but I don’t know how to save you against a Diviner’s machinations.”
Loki is going to do what Chanda tells him to do. I have to warn Deejay, but if I do that in the car, Loki will tell Chanda. I don’t know when Chanda turned against us or if we trusted the wrong person all along, but I will figure out a way to get out of here before they get me in a cell. I might be able to fight Loki, but he’s armed to the teeth right now. My best bet is a surprise attack…why am I so sleep…y…