Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
ARABELLA
Three hours later, I felt more like myself than I had in days.
Not only had I changed into a pair of badass black combat pants and a tight turtleneck, but I was wearing a pair of kickass boots with a chunky heel.
I was someone who was more comfortable in heels than sneakers, so it felt like slipping into my favorite pair of slippers.
I shifted in them, applying some light makeup and putting my hair into a neat updo that could easily be covered by a hat if necessary.
I didn’t know how stealthy we needed to be when it came to these god terrors, but considering my men had pulled on their ISS uniforms, it was starting to feel very official. Which meant, in all technicality…
I was going on my first mission with them!
My smile was uncontrollable as I turned toward the doorway of the bedroom. I was unsurprised to see Blackwell standing there, looking at me intensely. I wrapped my arms around his neck, loving that these heels made it a bit easier to kiss him.
His scowl didn’t lessen.
“What’s wrong, cranky?” I had a feeling what he was worked up about, but I refused to let him overthink this.
“Cranky?” Blackwell tested, his eyes flashing with amusement. “I’m not sure that’s how I would describe myself right now. Concerned that your little ass is going to get hurt on a mission, wanting to tie you down to a bed and not for a reason you would like—”
I narrowed my eyes at that.
“I am feeling a lot of things, love, but cranky isn’t one of them.”
“I can’t stay here,” I said softly. He took a deep breath and sighed.
“I’m aware,” he murmured.
That was one of the rules of these missions—everyone worked in pairs to an extent, and since we were odd-numbered…
I had to go with them! Plus, if these boys thought I was going to be sitting in a hotel room while they confronted god terrors, especially after seeing what Hate could do, they were out of their minds.
“Come on.” I tugged his hand. “I’m excited for this.”
Apparently not everyone felt the same as myself, because when I went downstairs, everyone was far more tense than normal.
I had already talked to my father before going to get ready, forcing myself out of the daze from everything with Razar…
who was looking at me right now like he could devour me whole.
Oh man, I felt like a massive divide between us had been destroyed, and I loved it. For the first time in weeks, I felt fully connected to him. I blushed, which was ridiculous considering everything we’d done, as he motioned me over.
“Nope.” Damian wrapped an arm around my center. “I want time with you. Sorry, Razar, but you can deal with it.”
The night terror growled but didn’t argue with him as I leaned into Damian and offered him a small smile.
“Are you positive you want to go?” he asked, examining my face with concern. “We know Hate actively wants you—”
“I’m not afraid of him,” I interjected. “More so, if I feel like the situation is too dangerous, I can always stay in the car. I want to be with you guys.”
I needed to be with them, and I sure as hell wasn’t staying in the car. But if it made Damian feel better, I would say it.
He grumbled something but relented. Looking around the penthouse, I noticed that Zain and Amun were both talking to Ashur, who was listening to them intently.
I smiled because I knew both of them were making an active effort to keep him a part of this, which was surprising since Amun himself was so new to the team.
Then again, Zain and Amun handled situations a bit differently than my other men.
I knew that Razar didn’t personally dislike Ashur; he just didn’t like change or the idea of a new male around me.
Very similar to Saint’s possessiveness. Damian and Blackwell both viewed him cautiously, and while they wouldn’t actively voice their distrust, I knew neither trusted easily after what they’d been through with their families.
I couldn’t blame them for being careful.
Which left Cy. I knew the man was okay with Ashur in theory, but he also wouldn’t go out of his way to help him.
No, he was completely focused on me. Always. Even now his gaze was on me.
I hadn’t asked Ashur if he wanted to be part of this. In fact, we hadn’t talked about the future past him coming with us… Yet he still had.
As we entered the parking garage, I saw a dark SUV waiting for us instead of the navy Escalade from before.
The swap was a seriously good idea. I knew my father hadn’t realized what color he had chosen for our rental car because despite being beautiful, it was a bit more noticeable, and that wasn’t what we were going for right now.
I briefly wondered who had traded it in, guessing it had happened while Razar and I were occupied.
The easy lull of conversation had me feeling relaxed as I sat in the passenger seat again with Razar driving.
The sun had nearly disappeared beneath the horizon, and as we began driving towards the mountains, the sky turned into a gorgeous ombre of lavender to midnight blue, creating a shadowy effect that made the mountains appear as if they were shifting.
Hell, maybe they were. The mountains being sentient wouldn’t even surprise me at this point.
I let out a hum at the beautiful sight, the cool air coming in through the windows as we cruised along back roads to the base of the mountains.
The desert environment had cooled significantly, and as we approached closer, we turned off our lights.
We had no idea where the god terrors were except that they were in this general direction, but it was better to arrive quietly just in case.
When we finally reached the base of the mountain, Razar bringing the car to a stop, I slipped out and looked up, noticing the gorgeous stars that were making such a brilliant effort at shining.
When a large hand wrapped around me, I looked down to find Ashur staring at the same area of space as myself.
I could hear the others discussing the plan moving forward, so I took the moment to really look at Ashur.
Despite his ancient air of power, there was also an element of curiosity and wonder, like he hadn’t experienced this world.
As if he had been reborn and was trying to relearn everything.
“It’s been a while since I have seen the night sky like this. I thought humans had removed any traces of this kind of beauty,” he said softly.
“It still exists in small protected areas.” I hesitated, adding, “And places humans won’t go.” Much like the Oceanic Forest.
“Yeah,” Zain mused, appearing next to us. “These mountains are rumored to be deadly. Apparently a lot of people go missing and then show up dead months later.”
No doubt the consequence of one of the ridiculous games that god terrors played. I didn’t want to imagine how many people had fallen victim to their absolute bullshit.
“Saint, have you got a location for them?” I turned to the man in question, his eyes trained on the mountains as if listening for something. When he didn’t respond right away, I approached him, drawing his gaze as an uncharacteristically serious expression filled his face.
“No. Worse—there are a ton of fucking nightmares in the area,” he growled.
“It’s not a place I created,” Ashur said, “but it has the same type of magic. Someone created it for a similar purpose or as a hiding place for themselves.”
“Maybe if we start walking up, you’ll get a better range on them?”
“Drive,” Amun said, bringing all our attention to him. He pointed at a road that would take us up the mountains. “The car will give us some protection in case anything tries to attack us.”
Everyone agreed, probably because I was with them.
This time Saint drove as I sat in the passenger seat, keeping our lights on dim as we began to drive uphill.
Immediately, I was able to sense the intensity of the power he’d been talking about, so I kept my eyes peeled, curious to see how many nightmares we would come across.
Unfortunately, the answer was very few. The higher up we got into the mountains, the more the plant life thinned, leaving few places a terror could hide. The only possible place for nightmares to be was a series of caves where the road stopped.
Yea, they were totally in there. We were going to have to go into the freakin’ caves.
I could feel it in my gut.
“Where are you going?” Damian caught me around the waist.
“In the caves. They are obviously in there.” I wasn’t the only one who could feel the power, right?
“You will not be going into a confined space with god terrors. We need to bring them out here,” Razar rumbled.
I sighed and looked up at Damian before twisting from his grip, striding forward into the cave.
The sense of dominant power was thick in the air, almost overwhelming, so I paused and waited for the others to catch up to me.
I could tell when they felt the shift in the air, and Cy’s arm slid around me, securing me against him in a protective effort.
Saint’s magic filled the space as a chill rolled over my skin. After a moment, he chuckled. “Yeah, they’re in here. They have a shield at the entrance of the cave to avoid detection, but they’re here.”
“Awesome.” I nodded, glad I had been correct.
I tried to walk forward, but Cy held me back, allowing some of the others to pass us before he released me.
Instead of fighting it, I stayed between him, Amun, and Zain as we ventured further into the cave.
I had a feeling the god terrors we sought were well aware who had come to visit them, so they were either hoping to hide… or attack us.
The latter wouldn’t end well. At least for them.