Chapter 20 #2
"Oh, it worked alright," Rhodes drawled, his eyes darkening with something that made my stomach flip. "Though not quite how you planned."
No, definitely not how I'd planned. I hadn't counted on the instant attraction, the way their presence seemed to call to something deep inside me. I sure as hell hadn't expected to find out we were fated mates.
"I remember watching you that night," Misha said quietly, his usual silence broken by the weight of memory. "You moved like you owned the place, but there was something in your eyes..."
"Fear? Hatred?" I suggested.
"Recognition," he corrected. "Like some part of you knew you belonged here, even if you weren't ready to admit it."
Snake chittered in agreement, the little traitor. But Misha wasn't wrong. Even then, even when I was dead set on completing my mission, something about The Exiled had felt... right.
"Well," Ashland's voice cut through my reminiscing, "you're home now. For real this time."
I glanced at him, and the raw intensity in his icy eyes caught me off guard, pinning me in place like a butterfly under glass.
The way he looked at me reminded me of that first night at Port Black, like he could see straight through me.
There was something unspoken passing between us now, loaded with meaning I wasn't quite ready to decipher, truths I wasn't prepared to face.
The air crackled with an electric tension that made my skin prickle, and I fought the urge to look away first, to shatter whatever this moment was becoming.
But Ashland had always been impossible to read, his carefully constructed walls rivaling my own, maybe even surpassing them.
Right now, though, those impenetrable defenses seemed just a fraction thinner than usual, offering glimpses of something that made me want to lean in closer, to unravel the mystery he kept so tightly wrapped around himself.
Home. The word hit me harder than I expected, lodging somewhere between my ribs and making it hard to breathe.
Because he was right, this was home. Not the sterile halls of Montague Industries where Asrael had shaped me into his weapon.
Not the empty apartment I'd kept as a cover.
Here, in this underground labyrinth with my demon mates and my undead squirrel.
"Yeah," I managed, my voice rougher than I'd like. "I guess I am."
We started walking together, deeper into the maze, and Snake's claws clicked against the stone floor as he scampered ahead of us. My familiar had always been drawn to the darker corners of places, probably because that's where the most interesting shit usually went down.
"So what's the plan?" I asked, trying to ignore how the neon lights painted shadows across Ashland's face in a way that made my stomach do backflips. "Because if we're hiding out down here, I need to know there's coffee somewhere. A girl can only survive on magic and spite for so long."
"There's a whole setup through here," Felix said, gesturing toward a corridor I'd never noticed before. "Kitchen, bedrooms, everything we need."
"Convenient," I muttered, following them through the twisting passages. "Though I guess when you're running an underground criminal empire, you need a proper evil lair."
Talon snorted. "Says the assassin who showed up in fuck-me boots and bunny ears."
"Those boots were tactical equipment," I protested, but couldn't help grinning. "And hey, they worked, didn't they?"
"A little too well," Rhodes murmured, his voice carrying an edge that made heat pool in my belly.
We emerged into what looked like an industrial kitchen crossed with a high-end apartment.
Stainless steel appliances gleamed under more neon lighting, and plush leather furniture created intimate seating areas.
The walls were covered in Felix's artwork—massive murals that seemed to move in the shifting light.
"Holy shit," I breathed, taking it all in. "This is... not what I expected."
"What did you expect?" Misha asked, his quiet voice curious.
"I don't know. Chains? Torture devices? A dungeon full of your enemies?"
Misha sighed deeply, almost in annoyance, and we all turned to look at him. “What? I don’t think that’s really out of the realm of possibilities, Mishy…”
“I just remembered I have something I need to take care of.” He stalked out of the room, throwing an “I’ll be right back” over his shoulder.
I looked at Talon with questioning eyes. “What the hell is that about?”
He shrugged. “Guess we’ll find out when he comes back. In the meantime…” Talon trailed off and pulled me against his body, letting me feel exactly what was on his mind. I moaned when he pressed his lips to mine, and I wondered if I’d ever get tired of how fucking good it felt to kiss him.
“That was quick,” Ashland drawled, pulling my focus away from the way Talon had started palming my ass. I looked over to see Misha standing in the room once again.
He shrugged. “There was this kid. I threw him in a holding cell on fight night.”
“You what?!” I shouted. “A kid?”
“Well, more of a teenager. One of Scorpio’s. And before you flip out, he saw me in my demon form. I didn’t have time to get a cognitive mage in here to erase those memories before we left for Besmet,” Misha explained, completely unapologetically. I blinked at him, not really knowing what to say.
Rhodes sat down at one of the barstools around the kitchen island. “So what? You just told him he’s not gonna die and he’ll be free soon?”
Misha nodded. “Basically. Can we move on now?”
I think the fuck not.
“Fight night?! That kid’s been down here thinking he’s going to die since fight night? Has he even eaten?”
“Of course he has,” Ashland replied, completely unflustered.
Felix moved to stand next to me, taking some of my hair between his fingers. “We take care of our prisoners. You should know that by now.”
“Oh, is that what I am? Your prisoner?” I teased, lifting my eyes to his.
“You were,” Talon stated, wrapping an arm around my waist. “Now, you’re just ours.”
The sexual tension in the room was rising, fast. My heart hammered in my chest as I clocked every movement each of my demons made as they moved closer. Surrounding me.
Snake suddenly chittered urgently in my mind, his mental presence spiking with alarm. I spun out of Talon’s hold toward where he was perched on a counter, his little body rigid with tension.
"What is it?" Jasper asked, his form flickering with concern.
Before I could answer, a wave of dizziness hit me hard enough that I had to grab the counter for support. The air felt thick and heavy, with an energy that made my teeth ache and my skin crawl. Something was wrong. Very wrong.
"Palmer?" Multiple voices called out in concern, but they sounded distant, underwater.
"Something's happening," I managed to get out, my voice tight. "The veil… It's— Fuck!"
Power surged through me without warning, raw and electric. My vision blurred, reality splitting into layers—the physical world overlapping with the spirit realm in a nauseating double exposure. Through the haze, I saw something that made my blood run cold.
"He's here," I whispered, horror crawling up my throat. "Scorpio... he's here. And he's not alone."
The others tensed, moving closer to me as if they could physically shield me from what I was seeing. But this wasn't something they could fight. Not yet.
"What do you mean he's not alone?" Ashland demanded, his hand finding my shoulder, grounding me.
I turned to look at them, knowing my eyes were probably glowing with residual power. "I'm not sure." I shook my head, trying to get a clearer grasp on whatever my body was trying to tell me. "He's just… not alone."
Snake's claws dug into my shoulder as every nerve in my body went rigid. The guys had been spreading out, discussing strategy and defensive positions, but something... shifted. The air itself seemed to thicken, pressing against my skin like a physical weight.
"Stop," I breathed, the word barely a whisper but carrying enough urgency that everyone froze. "Nobody move."
My spirit witch senses were screaming; the veil between realms was practically vibrating with wrongness. It felt like standing in the eye of a hurricane, that eerie calm before everything goes to absolute shit.
"Palmer?" Jasper materialized beside me, his form flickering with concern. "What is it?"
I held up a hand, trying to focus on the sensation crawling up my spine. "There's... fuck, I don't know how to explain it. It's like when you're about to get struck by lightning. The air gets charged, your hair stands on end, and every instinct screams at you to run."
"You’re sensing spirits?" Rhodes asked, his voice tight with tension.
"No. Yes. Maybe?" I squeezed my eyes shut, forcing myself to breathe through the overwhelming input. "It's different. Like... like someone's trying to tear open the veil, but they're doing it wrong. Violently."
Snake chirped in agreement, his little body trembling against my neck. My familiar could sense it too, this perversion of natural order.
"Scorpio," Misha growled, and the name alone made bile rise in my throat.
“Yes, but this is new. Different from his mind control bullshit. How would he even know how to do something like this? This feels—"
A sudden wave of nausea hit me so hard my knees buckled. Ashland caught me before I collapsed to the ground, his strong arms keeping me upright as reality seemed to splinter around us.
"We have to stop him, whatever he’s planning, he has to be stopped." I pushed away from Ashland, forcing myself to stand on shaky legs. "But we need to be smart about this. He's expecting us to rush in, guns blazing."
The space around me suddenly vibrated, and it felt like the air itself dropped in temperature by twenty degrees.
"You have no idea what I'm expecting, babe."