Chapter 2
Killian, heir of the House of Chaos
“Where is she?” I roared. “Where is Barbie?”
Wild magic pranced frantically along the boundary of Underhill, responding to Hades’s power, which roared in my blood. The wild magic had once followed Barbie to my house, curious to learn where she lived. It hadn’t interacted with anyone else for centuries, but it’d taken a liking to Barbie. I’d watched, allowing it to survey and weigh the House of Chaos.
Underhill acting in such an antsy manner could only mean one thing—it couldn’t locate Barbie either. My girl was no longer on the academy grounds.
My heart sank under a glacier.
A storm rolled over the sky above the academy. Underhill was upset that Barbie had gone missing. Shadow beasts, its sentinels, howled and wailed from within the dark forest, sending chills racing along my forearms.
The beasts were driven by fear, rage, and Underhill’s command. If they lashed out and came out to hunt, I’d have to contain them, or even slay a few. It would upset Underhill further, but my men’s lives were my responsibility.
My team dashed toward me, flanking me. I could sense their uneasiness, but they held their ground, their weapons drawn.
“Barbie isn’t inside,” I said, my voice rough as I fought to keep a cool head. “She might’ve been taken. Search the region. Turn every stone over outside Underhill until we have her trail!”
“Yes, Your Highness!” my men answered as one.
“Whoever took her will regret they were ever born!” Rock growled. Barbie was known to be a pain in the butt, but she had grown on him.
My men divided into three groups and spread out to track Barbie.
Cami stayed with me, worry on her face. She’d been watching Barbie for me in the shadows. She’d reported to me right away when the other heirs dragged Barbie to perform a private dance for them. She’d also texted me when Barbie kicked down the door to the druid’s class and ran out like a bat out of hell.
I’d dream-walked to my little scorpion when I didn’t see her return to the house. She’d been troubled, but I hadn’t paid close attention since I’d let my lust cloud my judgment. I’d thought with my dick. This primal need to fuck her every moment might get her killed one day.
My dragon growled, blaming me again. He hadn’t protested but urged me on when I tried to get into my mate’s pants last time. But there was no excuse for my neglect of her needs and safety.
I’d thought her anxiety came from being bullied, but she’d handled it well, better than anyone else. I’d meant to ask her why she’d kicked down the druid’s door and if that fucker had crossed a line and bothered her.
Now she was gone.
The possibility of her never returning petrified me, icing over my blood.
No, I wouldn’t accept that outcome. Not a fucking chance! I’d find her and guard her.
My dragon bellowed in rage and fear for our mate, wanting to take over so he could fly to every corner to look for her. I reined him in, reasoning with him. It wasn’t time for him to be out yet and draw the enemies’ attention to us. Plus, he wasn’t exactly an experienced tracker.
My cold eyes landed on Rock, my righthand man, and he nodded and stripped at once.
Rock was a werewolf, different than a shifter. A shifter could transform faster. It took a werewolf over a minute to change to their animal form, even a powerful one like Rock.
Indisputably, a werewolf had a better nose than a shifter and was mightier in physical combat, though a werewolf didn’t have a powerful shifter’s advantage of possessing any elemental magic.
Wild magic touched down on my shoulder as a raven, the form it chose for the moment. Everyone gasped in awe at the sight.
“Underhill demands to assist us in searching for Barbie,” I said.
While Rock was still going through the transformation, I dashed toward another path to cover more ground to hunt for Barbie, my heart encased in ice and my throat tight, but I fought back cold panic. I needed my usual icy calm, so I could bring home the girl who no one else knew was my true mate.
A few minutes later, Rock and I ended up in the same spot halfway between Underhill and the House of Chaos. I scented Barbie. She’d been here and battled her enemies not long ago.
I took in the scene. My gaze moved from the newly broken twigs on the ground to the blood that had splattered the blades of grass. Someone had tried to erase the trail with witch magic, but they hadn’t been thorough. The abductors had left in a hurry. I bet that they hadn’t had a choice. Barbie was never a girl who would roll over. She must’ve given them hell.
As the scent of Barbie’s blood drifted toward my nostrils, nausea shot into my stomach. My dragon coiled in me, thrashing. He’d never been so agitated, his fear for her pounding in my veins, echoing mine.
But feeling afraid and helpless would get us nowhere.
Let me do my fucking job so we can find our mate! I growled back.
Rock in his werewolf form nodded at my silent conclusion before taking off again to double back and track where the trail had gone cold, his shiny black fur vanishing between the bushes.
The raven form of wild magic departed my shoulder and alighted on the spot where Barbie had bled. It raised its head, wailing. A heartbeat later, it was gone, returning to report to Underhill.
I tried to drum out all the panicked noises in my head and focus on the scene, replaying the battle in my head, desperate to find any trace that could lead to Barbie.
They took her from here!my dragon informed me in outrage, sniffing and puffing out a stream of fire and smoke. They took her to the sky. He snarled. Let me out to look for her in the sky. I can do what your two legs can’t do, princeling!
My dragon had stayed dormant by choice, especially after my engagement to the Queen of the Underworld. All these years, he hadn’t talked to me much. He’d only woken up after spotting Barbie, and now he looked forward to every chance to be in her presence, soaking in her scent. He hadn’t exactly demanded to shift in front of her yet, since he was a little shy when it came to her and didn’t want to scare her away with his big, ugly lizard form.
He’d been waiting for me to establish a solid relationship with her first, urging me to break up with Queen Lilith, unable to comprehend not only the political repercussions but also that such a rash act would only get our mate assassinated.
You want to wait until your machination is mature, and now she’s been taken!my dragon roared at me. You should’ve acted earlier. You should’ve protected her!
Back off!I snarled back. Maybe he should stay dormant, so he wouldn’t be such an opinionated, aggressive asshole. And if he thought he was more dominant than me and tried to take the reins, he’d be in for a world of hurt. I wasn’t even known to be merciful to myself. You won’t find her in the sky. They took her somewhere else.
Where?he demanded.
That’s what I’m trying to suss out. Be silent and let me think if you want to help!I said harshly. The day will come when I need you to be in your beast form. But the day isn’t today. So fuck off!
He huffed out a jet of fire, as if that could unnerve me while I was already on the edge. I’ll give you one day to find our mate!
I ignored his threat, regretting my bond with this asshole.
A rush of footsteps came my way. The other heirs had arrived at the scene.
“Barbie was taken, wasn’t she?” Cade shouted his question, panting from running, his face paling. Usually, nothing could unnerve the high mage.
Louis sniffed, then twin crimson rings formed around his pale blue irises. “They bled her! She shed their blood too. Barbie was taken!”
“I felt her distress while I was in the Jacuzzi in my house,” Silas said, his amber eyes glowing. “She and I have a bond too, as she’s no doubt a shifter. Her animal called to my alpha wolf for protection!”
“We all felt Barbie’s panic for a second before her call was muffled,” Rowan said grimly, his silver eyes shining with fury before he stalked toward the perimeter to check around.
I wasn’t too pleased to realize that the other heirs were all drawn to her as well. Power called power. That’s what it was.
Growling, Silas shifted to a large wolf, bouncing here and there to sniff around before he ran off to find where the trail ended.
I could dismiss the heirs. I had every right to do so, as Barbie was a member of my house, but I didn’t. I swallowed my pride, as I needed all the help I could get. I even let Silas participate in our joint effort.
While the shifter heir had always hated me, he also held a grudge against Barbie for rejecting him, so I had no idea why he’d even bothered to come and help. Perhaps he just didn’t want to miss out on any chance to show off his power. While he thought he was in constant competition with me, I’d never really engaged. If he ended up being the one who found Barbie, he’d have bragging rights. If he did, I’d bow to him. I’d bow to anyone who located my Barbie.
Rock returned soon, shaking his head in dismay. Silas also came back to the clearing. The werewolf and the wolf stared at each other for a long second, snarled, then shifted back to their humanoid forms.
“The trail died right here, Your Highness,” Rock said. “There’s no other trail.”
“Guys, look!” Cade called, an incredulous expression on his solemn face.
I tore my gaze from a silver tree, thick blood coating its bark. The blood must’ve erupted from a severed neck. The enemy’s witch magic hadn’t erased every hint of a brutal battle in their hurry to leave the scene. A small measure of comfort and relief settled in my stomach, for I knew that it wasn’t Barbie’s blood. My little scorpion had been fierce, but she’d been outnumbered.
I turned to look at where Cade’s wand pointed—a cluster of white flowers sprouted out from the earth where Barbie had shed blood.
Pain stabbed my chest. Acid rage flooded me as I pictured how those motherfuckers had made her suffer. My dragon thrashed within me, bellowing and demanding to slay every single one who had hurt our mate.
I’d have gutted them if they were still here,I said, clenching my teeth, as it was getting hard to leash him. We have a lot of powers, but neither of us is a tracker. We aren’t good at detective work either, so we must cooperate with others to ensure our mate’s safe return. Keep watching diligently, so even if I miss something, you won’t. Got it?
I won’t even blink!he snarled, peeking out of my eyes in a nasty mood.
“I’m not surprised to see the flowers bloom from where Barbie’s blood soaked the earth,” Louis said. The vampire prince had drunk from her when she was his squire. I gave him a hard look, a muscle twitching in my jaw. He’d never take a drop of blood from Barbie again. “Barbie’s blood is very powerful, as pure as a goddess’s nectar.”
“There hasn’t been any god or goddess roaming for an eon,” Rowan said, frowning. All the heirs had returned after they spread out to find the trail, which led back here. “Let’s focus on helping find Barbie. The battle started and ended in this circle.” The fae heir swept his large hand across the area. “They came to her from all directions to cut off her escape route.”
Silas sniffed and nodded. “There must be at least two dozen of them.”
Rock confirmed, “With another dozen on the perimeter to make sure she wouldn’t get help.”
I knew they were trying to be objective, letting cold logic guide them to sort out the scenario of the kidnapping, yet I was still utterly pissed at everyone. Hatred and anxiety lapped at me as I pictured how my foes had dragged my mate off.
“What did they want from Barbie?” Cade pondered. “We know that Barbie is special. But what made someone send a small army to come after one girl? What are we missing?”
“Barbie isn’t just any girl,” Louis drawled. “She’s been around for a couple of months, yet no one knows her origin.”
“Don’t fixate on her origin!” I hissed, my jaw clenched in fury. “Focus on who the fuck took her!”
“Motive matters, Killian,” Cade said. “We want to get her back as much as you.”
The other heirs nodded in agreement, but I disagreed with them. Barbie meant more to me than they could ever imagine. But no one knew what she was to me, and for her own safety, no one could know that my true mate had come. I’d kept her close until she was taken today.
A stray dark thought slammed me in the face. Could it be the work of my betrothed? My heart skipped an icy beat, but I shook my head, rejecting that possibility.
Not even Cami knew about the true connection between Barbie and me, though my cousin saw how much I was drawn to Barbie and was worried about it.
“She killed as many as she could before she was overpowered,” Louis said admiringly, plucking a white flower that sprouted from where Barbie had bled and sniffing at it. “She’s never one who rolls over and shows her belly.”
Silas nodded. Usually, he wasn’t impressed by anything. “We underestimated Barbie, but the lot that came for her didn’t,” he said, his jaw tight. “Which means they know more about her than us, and that her power scale might be close to ours.”
All the heirs had witnessed Barbie brushing off his alpha stares.
I traipsed around the clearing as I tried to piece together the entire scene of Barbie being taken from here, not wanting to miss any details that would lead me to her.
“The trail ended here,” I called, calculating the odds. “How did they all vanish with Barbie in the blink of an eye?”
Cade flashed open his turquoise eyes after chanting and meditating, whatever a high mage did to get results. His steady gaze was the calm before the storm.
“Teleport,” the mage heir said.
Just what I’d thought.
“There aren’t that many supernaturals who can teleport,” Rowan offered, ice in his silver eyes. “We can narrow it down.”
“And round up all the usual suspects!” Silas growled.
“And then we’ll drain those motherfuckers to the very last drop!” Louis promised.
“It wasn’t teleportation in the usual sense,” Cade said gravely. “Whoever they are, they used the ‘dark substance.’ I can still feel the residue of its foul spell after I deployed the detection spells just now. Dark substance is illegal in all the worlds except?—”
“CrimsonTide,” Rowan finished for him.
I knew that as well, as did the other heirs.
CrimsonTide, the neutral zone where no house ruled, was a breeding ground for the worst criminals, gangs, rogues, and terrible beings you wouldn’t wish to cross paths with.
It was as independent as Underhill. But Underhill didn’t bother us if we didn’t breach its territory. Yet those dangerous hybrids from CrimsonTide would cross to our five kingdoms, mostly on assassination jobs. They had no rules, no codes, and no morals.
Everyone’s faces darkened at the prospect that CrimsonTide had taken Barbie.
“What the fuck are we waiting for?” Silas pulled his lips back. “Let’s march into CrimsonTide now and take back our top bride candidate!”
Something like a kernel of hope sparked in the other heirs’ eyes as they answered the challenge. I didn’t doubt that in their minds, they all thought Barbie could be their mate. She was a wild card when it came to magic, and the heirs would only go for the strongest females.
I suppressed my cold fury, and my dragon growled, sharing my sentiment and rage. Barbie was no one’s but ours!
“What could CrimsonTide want with Barbie?” Cade ran his hand over his face, looking tired and worried, not his usual lighthearted self. “She’s new to the realm, a drifter from the mortal world. Even though she’s gained some notoriety of late, it shouldn’t have attracted such rapt attention from any party in CrimsonTide.”
“Who said the interested party is actually from CrimsonTide?” Silas snorted. “Anyone who has a deep pocket can hire mercenaries from CrimsonTide, so it won’t be traced back to them. When Barbie was in my house, she was safe. She became a target after she was dragged to the House of Chaos.”
Silas’s words were cutting, yet they rang with truth. The instigator behind Barbie’s kidnapping couldn’t be from CrimsonTide. It would be too easy. But then, who wanted Barbie so badly?
I had enemies. And I was tied to a powerful woman, a queen. I doubted that my overprotectiveness toward Barbie had gone unnoticed. Someone might try to use her to get to me. I’d brought this on my mate.
I contained the terrible storm within me. Seeing my mate’s blood soak the earth had nearly undone me, but I must pull it together so I could save her. I’d never accept that it might already be too late.
I’d tear the world apart for her.
“It isn’t the time to point fingers, gentlemen,” Rowan said. “More importantly, we need to form a good plan to find Barbie.”
“I shall go to CrimsonTide alone,” I said. “Stealth is the key. We don’t want our foes to move Barbie if she’s indeed in CrimsonTide.”
“We all have spies in CrimsonTide,” Cade said, patting me on the shoulder. “Let’s pool our resources.”
“Happy hunting!” Silas snarled.
For the first time, I didn’t find the shifter heir despicable. I needed all the heirs, who had once been my brothers, and their teams to work with me and find Barbie.
“We’ll find Barbie, brothers,” Louis vowed. “She’s one of us now.”