42. The Magna Mortalitas
The Magna Mortalitas
Rez
We walk into the campsite, and I’m shocked to find a few different fires set up.
Our family is off to the left within the treeline, while some of the other students have decided to stay close to a clearing.
Apparently, two groups have chosen to continue on, even after being advised not to.
Levi had relayed Devinyx’s message to them as a warning, and a few took it to heart, but the others snubbed his advice in favor of taking advantage of us stopping.
‘We tried to help warn them, along with the one called Levi, but they said they don’t trust the natives,’ Devinyx says, grooming herself by one of the fires.
“Do you get a lot of visitors?” Moni asks, sipping some water. Yeah, I’m shocked too. But she said something about trying to sleep tonight.
‘No. But if we do, we do not make ourselves known,’ she comments. The way she says it has me looking around at the trees and noticing that our campsite isn’t really a normal spot we would typically choose for us to camp, not really.
If I had to pick, I would look for an open area, where the ground was flat, dry, and a place where our fire couldn’t spread. Kinda like where the other campers are.
It finally dawns on me.
“That’s why we’re camping here, right? We’re out of sight of the cameras, and it’s safer for you not to be seen.”
‘Yes, Golden One. It is. We have not been in the eye of the technology since it has surfaced, and we would like to keep it that way.”
‘Then why risk it at all? Why come to help us?” Chester asks, snuggling into Moni, pulling up their sleeping bag.
‘Simple,’ a dark reddish brown netherwraith joins the conversation as it plops down by the fire. ‘Magna Mortalitas called. We can’t say no.’ He winks, and in the next second, there’s a man in the netherwraith’s spot.
The man in front of us is only wrapped in brown cloth pants, leaving his chest and feet bare. The blaze of the fire highlights every chiseled muscle of his chest as he stretches before standing and walking over to me.
“Who?” Lynx asks, and I’m in the same boat.
“Who are you?” Chester calls out.
“Oh, sorry. I’m Axton.” His deep baritone voice comes out with a cocky swagger. He plops down next to me and gives me a wink.
“Now to answer your question.” He looks directly at me, even though I wasn’t the one asking anything, and my stomach sours from his unwanted attention.
I need to look elsewhere, so I look up, and my jaw drops.
On top of his head, two fluffy red ears peek through his long auburn hair, twitching slightly as a tail comes up and wraps around his forearm.
Oh my god, he’s a furry!
“Magna Mortalitas. We grow up hearing the stories and believing he’s a myth.
Hell, I personally thought he wasn’t real.
” Axton shakes his head, and I notice tiny spikes around the base of his neck that move like octopus legs, and sound like tiny bells twinkle slightly.
“But hearing that whoomping call today sent my heart leaping out of my chest.”
His fluffy ears start changing a bright red color as his eyes look me up and down, and a faint smell of cinnamon sours my stomach. “We are honored to fight with and amongst Black Death’s friends.”
“What did we miss?” Levi asks, carrying over two bowls.
He, JP, Knox, and Zeke went to bring back food from the communal pot tonight.
A group of three Seven Seductive Sins students that came through the portal pretty banged up listened to our warning to stay here for the night, and asked if we were down to making stew with them.
How could we say no to that? JP even read their thoughts and vouched that they had no nefarious thoughts.
While the bowls of food get passed around, Knox hands me mine and sits down.
When he sees Axton on the other side of me, he freezes and sniffs.
“What’s the matter?” Lynx asks, pausing and whispers, “Did I miss a pissing contest somewhere?” loud enough for Lucifer to hear him from the moon.
There’s no reaction on his face, but I feel the fire roaring to life through our link, and I shift in discomfort.
I try to send calming thoughts in return, but his feelings are so strong that I can barely think.
Okay, so apparently I’m in the crossfire here between these shifters, but I have no idea why.
Is it something simple that we can work through in a few hours?
When I signed on for mates, being a family therapist was not on the job description. I need my own therapist to make it through the day. Reaching over, I grab his hand and squeeze it instead, and that seems to break him out of his anger.
“Axton was telling us you’re a myth to them,” Moni explains, taking her bowl.
“Yeah, Magna Mortalitas,” Chester repeats their name for him.
“He goes by Slayer now,” Knox growls, still giving Axton the evil eye, not even bothering to hide his distaste for him and allowing his food to go cold.
‘Well, it turns out, someone didn’t want to call me God,’ Slayer grumbles.
“That’s because that name is reserved for me.” Lynx gives me a sexy nod, and I almost choke on my food.
“So what’s the deal with netherwraiths?” Zeke asks, leaning back against a log and studying some of the ones lounging in the trees above us.
‘I don’t know what you have heard of us—’
“Nothing. You don’t exist anywhere in the textbooks,” Zeke informs Devinyx.
‘That simplifies things.’ Axton rolls his eyes, changing back to his animal form, and starts grooming himself. In his animal form, his ears shine brighter, and I notice the tip of his tail glows as it sways back and forth beside me.
A low rumble penetrates through me, and I stare at Knox as he grips his bowl so hard it snaps in his hands.
‘My queen. My apologies, but you might be without an heir soon if your son does not respect our boundaries.’ Slayer’s words are almost incomprehensible from how he’s growling through the pure anger rolling off of him.
‘Tell me what’s going on, now!’ I demand, gripping Knox's wrist tight.
‘He’s hitting on you and trying to lure you away with his pheromones,’ Slayer says simply.
‘Huh?’
‘His ears and tail are lit, that’s his magic working, and you can’t smell it because you’re not a shifter. He’s blatantly hitting on you, not just in front of me but all of us, and I’m barely hanging on from shifting and ripping him apart.’
‘Oh, that’s all?’ I ask and huff, almost laughing. Sheesh. Men. I swear I could have handled this ages ago.
I turn to look at Axton with an open smile, which makes him stop grooming himself and look up with his tongue hanging out of his mouth.
‘Yes?’
I gather up some magic and swiftly push my shield toward Axton, sending him flying a few feet away.
A few netherwraiths jump up in unison in defense, but Devinyx starts laughing, and they ease back into place.
“Oh snap!” Zeke pipes up. “Someone pissed off our woman. Bad move.”
“Indeed,” JP agrees.
Axton limps back to the fire and shakes his fur out, glaring back at me, but his ears and tail aren’t glowing anymore.
“If I had known what you were doing from the beginning, I would have castrated you myself, so be glad I only knocked some sense into you. But this is a warning. Don’t try to fuck with someone who’s already happily mated.”
I don’t need to look to know the laughter I hear is coming from my mates around the fire, but pride finally comes down Knox’s link instead of anger.
Who knew violence was better than therapy?
Looking back at the Queen, apparently, I smile and try to get this night back on track.
“Sorry about that. You were saying.” I smile awkwardly.
‘No need, Golden One. I find you entertaining.’ Devinyx nods. ‘But to start, we were once used as assassins and guards. Once we were no longer useful, we were hunted to make sure the dead shared no secrets, and now we live for ourselves. Simple.’
“Oh my honeybees. Who would hunt you to make sure you kept their secrets?” Moni asks, looking slightly magenta.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know the answer since we are in the Fae Realm, but apparently, Moni hasn’t had enough coffee today.
“Who do you think?” Ryker gives Moni a blatant look, and when she still comes up blank, he rolls his eyes while Chester whispers into her ear.
“Oh!” Her bark turns glitter bomb. “I wouldn’t have guessed that.”
‘We are slowly rebuilding our population and gathering our scattered families, but it takes time since we are still hunted,’ Devinyx admits.
‘So are all of you related?’ Knots asks, before wiping his mouth and putting down his empty bowl.
Levi grabs it and quickly magics it clean. Seriously… talk about a convenient skill to have in a pinch. I want that power.
‘Devinyx is my mother and Queen of all the netherwraiths,’ Axton admits with a cocky wink. ‘We’re the only ones you need to know. But I guess I can ease your curiosity. There are a few noble families here that are below us and about ten small families here as well.’
“It does sound like you’re doing a great job growing your numbers,” Knots nods as he looks up at the trees. “Do you normally stay in your shifted forms a lot?
‘Some are too weak to shift, so we try to stay in animal form so they do not feel uncomfortable. We only go into human forms for special occasions or when we are in our private dwellings.’
Leave it to Axton, the big ass showboater, to show off when he didn’t need to and make the other netherwraiths feel bad about their strength.
‘Hey, I call offense to that!’ Axton calls me out.
‘Oh shit. Did I say that out loud?’ I ask, not really caring if I did or not.
‘YES!’ Axton’s nose wrinkles.
“Good. Then I don’t have to worry about repeating it to your face,” I shoot back, giving him a pointed look, and his jaw drops.
“And with that, maybe it’s time to get some sleep,” Zeke asserts.
“Yeah, we have another realm to get through, and I’m not looking forward to it,” Knots admits, yawning as he turns and walks toward our sleeping area.
“Well, bird boy, no one told you that you had to be here,” Lynx points out, following him.
“I wasn’t about to have a rug beat me with all the fun,” Knots continues, and their banter volleys back and forth, but I block them out.
‘When the time comes, Golden One, we will be there to help,’ Devinyx says, standing up and stretching.
‘I need to know,’ I start, standing up also.
‘Yes?’
‘How do you know I’ll need help in the future, and why are you calling me, Golden One?’
‘Ah, I see.’ She bows her head slightly as she sits down, bringing her head to my shoulder height.
‘The vines speak to me as I am their Queen. They are moving—’ her blue eyes look off in the distance for a moment before seeking out mine once again ‘—preparing for war, to be used in a great battle that I am not privy to the location of yet. But when that time comes, we will be ready.’ She nods.
‘As for the name Golden One.’ Her muzzle curls up on one side like a smirk, and she stands up, her whips lying flat along her back like folded hands.
‘That you will have to find out on your own, and soon, I gather.’
‘So when you say Queen, are you talking about the Vines Queen or the netherwraiths?’ I ask, biting my bottom lip, feeling a little self-conscious.
‘Both.’
Fuck. I just insulted her son, the prince.
‘You’re also mated to the left hand of War, so no harm done. And besides, I’ve been trying to knock Axton down a few steps myself, so thank you, Golden One. Rest now, while we protect you. We will not be able to travel with you, but we can show you the correct path to the portal.’
I shyly smile and say my thanks. Turning around, I walk to the sleeping area and find Levi holding up a corner of a sleeping bag.
“Can I offer you a warm place to cuddle?” he asks with that cute dimple on display.
Who am I to turn down a cuddle with a mage I almost lost?
It’s not like we are far apart anyway; we practically all sleep in a huge pile now, but snuggling up with Levi does soothe something deep inside of me.
Reaper lies across our feet, acting as an extra blanket and a stirrer for our fire.
His tail flicks out and hits the embers, keeping the fire going, and it’s the most ingenious thing ever.
While everyone starts to drift off to sleep, Levi and I give each other make-up kisses. I’ve missed his attention and just being close to him.
“So, this doesn’t hurt you anymore? Me being around you?” I whisper against his lips.
“No,” he answers, before lightly kissing me and smiling. “Famine taught me how to heal myself of it. I’m able to swap some of the taint that Emer gave me with the Earth and heal that way.”
Joy fills me, and I have to bite my lip to keep from screaming with excitement.
“That’s amazing.” I cup his face and give him a deeper kiss, needing to express myself completely.
“There is one thing that might shock you,” he tells me, grabbing my hands, and immediately I hold my breath as my eyes go wide.
“Relax, Rez. I don’t mean to scare you. It’s nothing like that,” he whispers. “I just wanted to let you know, the Queen Harpy might be deformed the next time you see her.” A slight smile rests on his face.
Say what? Deformed?
“Huh?”
“Instead of transferring the last bit of taint into the Earth when I could, I sent it to Emer’s face when she thought we were going to kiss,” he confesses.
I don’t know what to focus on first. The fact that he’s telling me that they were close enough that the Queen Harpy thought they were about to kiss, or the fact she’s now deformed, well, possibly deformed.
Fuck it. He’s here with me, in my arms, kissing me, and the Queen Harpy lost. I’m dropping it and sleeping next to my man. That’s all that matters.
“Thank you for telling me, and if I haven’t said it today, I love you,” I whisper against his chin.
“I love you too.” He kisses me deeply before holding me tighter. “Now let’s try to get some sleep.”
You don’t have to tell me twice.