Chapter 7
The bright lights of the club are turned off when we pull into the parking lot. “Is he closed for the end of the world?”
“It looks that way, or is there something else happening?” Raven leans forward, peering out of the windshield.
“C’mon, let’s look for Orpheus. He has to be here somewhere. He can’t leave the gate unprotected.” I take off my seat belt and throw open the passenger door.
Magic tingles at my fingertips and I call the sword Claud made for me at the academy forge. Something here is wrong. Where is everyone? Orpheus should be here and if he’s not, that spells trouble for everyone.
I yank open the door to the strip club and make my way through the halls. It appears that people left in a hurry. Half-empty drinks sit on the side tables around the private rooms.
“Do you see any signs of a struggle?” I ask Raven.
“No, but looks like they cleared out quickly.” Raven picks up a glass and sniffs the contents.
“I wonder if it’s the gate?” I chew my lip.
Could something worse be coming out of the gate than demons?
“That’s the obvious answer to what’s happening here, but if everyone cleared out, how are we supposed to meet with Grant?” Raven sets the glass down with a frown.
“I don’t know. This is delaying us and if we have to hunt the alpha down, that’s going to delay us more and possibly cause an incident.” I open a door and peer inside a private room.
I shiver. I shouldn’t have looked in there. It’s some kind of medieval torture chamber or something.
“Let’s check the gate and see if we can find the immortal asshole.” Raven pats my arm.
“Yeah, I think that’s best.” I close the door and head for the back hall.
I push open the heavy metal door to the gate to the underworld and groan. Magic is sparking off the entrance. Black and purple sparks are flying around the room.
“You’re here,” Orpheus says. “Good. The shifters are waiting.”
He never takes his gaze from the entrance as if determined to keep it closed by simply staring at it.
“Wait a second. What’s happening with the gate?” I ask.
“Nothing you should concern yourself with, daughter of Zeus.”
“Hell yeah, I’m concerned if something is trying to get out of the underworld.” I cross my arms.
“What’s happening, Orpheus? The shifters can wait.” Raven steps up next to me.
“Something is trying to get out, yes. The queen is on the other side trying to contain it while Lord Hades is… away.” Orpheus rubs his chin.
“Persephone is containing it?” I ask in horror.
“She’s the queen of the underworld and a goddess in her own right. She is powerful with gifted underworld power.”
“The black and purple sparks are her?” I ask.
Persephone is the goddess of spring. I never would have thought her magic could be so dark and powerful.
“As you can see, we have the beast contained for now,” Orpheus says. “You can meet with the shifters now.”
“What is it?” I ask. “If it’s taking both you and Persephone to contain it, it must be big.”
“Not so much a what but a who,” Orpheus admits.
“What?” I screech. “Who the fuck is trying to escape, Orpheus?”
“Typhon,” he says.
“We left him in Tartarus,” I yell. “How the fuck did he get out of Tartarus?”
“I don’t know. He probably had help from the queen’s forces. If he gets out of the gate, it’s over for Olympus.”
Raven grips my arm. “Did anyone else escape? We left some nasty things in that place.”
“I don’t think Hecate or the others are free, but I could be wrong.” Orpheus clenches his fists.
“This is fucking bad.”
“We need to stay the course, B,” Raven says. “The hammer will help.”
“She’s right,” Kira says. “The hammer can help trap him again or at least my father can build a reinforced prison to keep him in once he has the hammer back.”
“Are you sure you’ve got this?” I ask Orpheus.
“We will contain him for now.” Orpheus nods. “The shifters are in the reinforced room at the other end of this hall.”
“Okay, as long as you have this.” I turn to the door but glance over my shoulder at him.
“Go, Beth. Save the world again. I’ll do my part here.” Orpheus turns back to the gate.
I follow the others down the hall to the other end where a door is barred from the outside.
“Let me handle warning them we’re out here first,” Greyson says. “That way they don’t attack when we open the door.”
“Good idea.” I nod.
Greyson taps, taps, taps on the door in a series of knocks that appear deliberate. “Go ahead and open it now. It’s a special knock Grant and I perfected as kids when we got sent to our rooms.”
“You get in trouble a lot as a kid?” Raven asks.
“Alpha pups are the worst.” He chuckles.
Raven and I each grab an end of the bar over the door and lift it away into the hallway.
“Greyson?” There’s a muffled shout from the other side of the door.
“It’s me. Tell your wolves to stand down. We’re coming in,” Greyson calls back.
“Stand down,” Grant barks.
I pull open the door to a wall of four large shifters. I raise a brow at the men.
“You think you’d stand half a chance against what’s beating at the gates of the underworld? You don’t stand half a chance against me.” I shake my head.
“Oh, we know we couldn’t beat you or Raven separately and have zero chance of taking you down together. You’re a couple of badasses.” Grant pushes between the two men in the middle.
“Glad you recognize that,” Raven says with a nod.
“I’ve heard the stories about the two of you from two other alphas.” Grant waves his men away. “They’re friends of the packs. Calm the fuck down.”
“Do you have new bodyguards?” I ask. “I don’t think these guys were with you before.”
“They requested to stay behind after the last incident.” Grant runs a hand through his hair.
“Oh, you mean when they got their asses kicked by females?” I ask with a laugh.
“Yeah, they weren’t exactly thrilled with the prospect of that happening again,” Grant says.
“I’m sure they weren’t.”
Two of the guys snicker and I can’t help but laugh myself. That had to be murder on their egos. I bet everyone got a good laugh out of that.
“Okay, so what’s the word on the coming shifter war?” I ask.
Grant scans our group until his gaze lands on Kira. He cocks his head to the side, studying her for a moment, and Draven shifts from foot to foot.
“Grant, what’s going on?” Greyson glances between his brother and Kira curiously. “Why are you looking at Kira like that?”
Grant takes a step toward her ignoring Greyson’s question. “You look familiar. Have we met before?”
“She’s been with us when we’ve talked to you before,” I say.
“No, it’s not that. I swear I have seen you before.” Grant leans forward.
Kira sighs. “You probably know my half sister.”
“Half sister?” I ask.
“I don’t talk about my family because it’s not a fun story to tell.” Kira wraps her arms around herself.
“What are you talking about?” I ask. “What’s the not fun story?”
“My mom is a shifter. I’m not technically human,” she says. “My stepdad is the alpha of the Dark Moon pack in Virginia. You have probably met my sister Kelsey.”
“You don’t have a wolf, though,” Greyson says. “I would have sensed her.”
“Which is the reason that this isn’t a fun story.” Kira shakes her head. “My mom and stepdad know what I am but that didn’t stop the entire pack from basically shunning me because I don’t have a wolf and I’m the stepdaughter of the alpha, which didn’t help at all.”
“Kelsey looks like you?” Grant asks.
“We are practically twins. She’s actually only ten months younger than me.”
“How is all of this even possible?” I ask.
“My mom met her fated mate after she found out she was pregnant with me. Mark has been a father to me my whole life and never made me feel like less, but the pack quietly tortured me because they saw me as a weak wolfless girl. I haven’t spoken to my family since I came to the academy.”
“Dark Moon is a huge pack on the East Coast. An alliance with them could help us with the rogue problem. It’s escalating. Quickly.” Grant stares at Kira.
“I can’t get you an alliance, Grant. I haven’t spoken to them in three years.” Kira sits on one of the sofas.
“Can you try, Kira? You know what will happen if this guy and his pack of rogues aren’t stopped.”
“Why should I care? Why should I help a species that thought of me as weak and treated me as such?” Kira throws her hands up.
“Kira, you don’t mean that,” I say. “The entire species isn’t to blame here. Just the dickheads in your old pack.”
“But you don’t understand. They’re going to try to pull me back into the pack. I never told them how horrible everyone was because I knew they would lose their minds and probably kill some shifters.”
“So they don’t understand why you haven’t spoken to them?” I ask and she shakes her head. “Kira, that’s terrible.”
I could never leave my mother when I was younger and the thought of her being alive and me not talking to her for an extended period of time is awful.
“I know but it’s gone on so long now that I wouldn’t even know what to say to them at this point. I can’t tell them that the people who are loyal to them are assholes.” She rubs her eyes.
“You don’t have to tell them any of that,” Grant says. “Just contact them and tell them what’s happening with the rogues. We need help from every allied pack we can get help from.”
“There’s a problem with this request,” I say. “We literally can’t call anyone without monsters attacking us. And I doubt Alpha Mark would appreciate a shell call.”
“Yeah, that shit is pretty wild when you aren’t expecting it.” Grant nods.
“Your reaction the first time was pretty funny.” Raven chuckles.
“Okay, so what is new about this rogue situation?” Greyson redirects the conversation.
“They have escalated their attacks. The pack in Colorado is seeing attacks almost daily. We think they are holed up in Utah somewhere as it’s neutral territory.” Grant rests his elbows on his knees.
“What about you guys in LA? Are you seeing a rise in those attacks?” I ask.
Are there rogues nearby who work with the gods touched shifter? He was from Arizona to begin with so it’s entirely possible he’s recruiting all over.