6. Anders
ANDERS
“ S he’s gone! I can’t find her anywhere. I have this horrible feeling that it’s my father.”
I stand in front of Saar and he groans. “The Devil. Just say it. I know what you are. Why are you here?”
I nod at the sheriff off to the side. “I was here for him and his mate. But now I have new plans. A new future.”
Serenity smiles beside him. “A mate. Love and fate are wondrous things aren’t they?”
I snort and shove my hands through my hair, pacing back and forth. “Unless you’re trying to hide it from the Lord of the Underworld. Then not so much.”
“Would you give up this feeling and her?”
“ No!” I roar, turning to face her. My whole heart feels like it’s about to tear out of my chest. “I think that he’s got her and it’s driving me crazy. I know what he did to my human parents. How he toyed with them until he won my fealty. I can’t let him do that to her. And I can’t tie myself to him if I want her. I want it all. The woman, the life and the family that I should have.”
Saar nods. “Tell us how we can help you.”
“I think that I can fool him into thinking that he’s won and he’ll let her go. But I need you to wait at the veil. I’m sure that he’ll break that pact and try to keep her and as soon as he does, I’ll be free from my vow. But if he has her, he still has me and my vow. I will never be free and neither will she. If you can grab her before she’s dragged back, I will be free, the vow broken and I will be able to leave.”
“But what if he doesn’t try to keep her? What if he keeps his vow?”
I snort. “I can’t see that happening but if it does, she’s free to live her life. If you can do something to ensure that she doesn’t remember me, that she doesn’t hurt, I’d appreciate it.”
“You’ll be trapped.”
“It’s a chance I’m willing to take to protect her and keep her from being used.”
Saar nods, his eyes sad. “I wish that there was another way.”
“There isn’t.”
I stalk from the room. “I’m heading to the entrance to the veil. You wait for half an hour and then follow me when hopefully he’s distracted with me and my mate.”
“Good luck. You’re a good male.”
I smirk at him. “Don’t let it get around. I’ve got a rep, you know.”
The mists of hell swirl around us and I feel the sizzle and heat abound. There’s no shortage of it in hell that’s for sure.
I gasp when I come out into the open ring of fire when I see her. Her eyes are wide, tortured. A demon is picking at her hair and she’s struggling in its grasp. Another demon is building another god-damned fire at her pretty feet.
But it stops as soon as I show up. “Son.”
I nod at my father. The bastard. “You’ve got my attention. What do you want?”
“I want you to do what you’re born to do. I want you to take your rightful place at my side and cast these humans out of the earth and into the fires where they belong.”
His booming voice shakes the rocks around us and fire flares at his angry tone. “And shifters? What of them?”
“They belong with the humans? They allied themselves with them eons ago. They can die with them now.”
His gaping maw and ghastly grin only widens when I shake my head. “You think you have a choice, my son. I have your mate. I can feel that the bond isn’t there fully, you haven’t claimed her. But she’s yours and you’re hers. I will make sure that you feel all her pain if you don’t do what you’re bound to do. This war is going to be rough and I need all my sons in my army.”
I shake my head, my mind whirling. This is it. “I won’t do it unless she’s free and you never touch her again.”
He settles back on his giant haunches, rubbing his chin. “Of course I will agree to that. My very best demons will deliver her home.”
“Then I will stay and do what you ask. But she will always be safe.”
He nods. I hold out my hand and he draws a talon along my wrist, blood dripping onto a piece of paper that magically appears. “It’s sealed. She’s free.”
I rush to her and drag her away, my heart breaking at the tears in her pale eyes. “Go. Stay sharp and stay safe, my love. I’ll always watch over you.”
She holds me tight and the feel of her tears soaking my skin tears me apart, flays my soul. “Go now. You’ll be alright. Just be careful with the veil.”
And with those cryptic words, Fee and Fie, my father’s best minions drag her away, her cries ripping my heart apart.
My father grins. “Young love. So pure and sentimental. It’s easy to twist young fools, you know.”
I nod my head but I’ve got my eyes open and when I hear a ruckus at the veil, I nod my head. The Devil’s eyes go wide when he realizes his mistake. “You tricked me.”
I smile cruelly. A trick I definitely learned at my father’s knee. “I learned from the best. That will be my friends and they’ve got Angel. I knew that you couldn’t resist trying to have it both ways. But you’ve made a fatal mistake. You broke your word. Our vow is now null and void. I don’t owe you a damn thing.”
“I will destroy you, my son. Just as I will them.”
I nod my head. “I have no doubt that you’ll try. But I’ve got something you don’t.”
“Love,” he snorts.
“Yes. And a mate that would gladly love me forever until the end of time. You have never been able to say the same.”
And with those words I walk away, free. For the first time in my life I have no one to answer to but me.
And a mate to claim.