62. Visitors
~ MELEK ~
Yilan gasped. My first instinct was that Gall had likely misread someone’s proximity to Istral. We both leaped to our feet.
Sure enough, as I turned, pulling one of my spears to my side, the glow of the campfire revealed Gall on his feet, eyes dark and mouth open in a snarl of warning—and his hand gripped on a spear as well.
Shit. I’d forgotten we armed him for travel.
I scanned the space, trying to figure out who he’d drawn that blade for, who he was staring at and preparing to kill, my mind already turning over how I could help him understand the difference between an insensitive comment and a threat to his mate.
Then Gall moved, that blade in his hand flashing as he took a lightening quick swipe at someone.
“Gall!” I barked. “What the hell—”
But as all eyes turned towards me, I realized something was wrong.
Gall was on three-quarter profile to me, Istral standing between us, her hands on her mouth.
I hurriedly counted. The other four Neph—Jann, Hever, Kran and Drek—were all on their feet too, Diadre just behind them, all off to my left, and all looking in the same direction as Gall while he growled a vicious challenge.
The hair on the back of my neck stood up as the mists beyond him cleared enough for me to make out two new Neph, both half-crouched at the edge of the trees, teeth bared, and prepared to fight.
“Come on, Gall,” one of them muttered. “This place is deadly. We can’t let you stand between us and survival.” The voice was rough, ragged, like its owner was injured or sick, but the steely determination was unmistakable.
Gall shook his head and tightened his grip on that blade. “Fuck off,” he snarled, making me blink. “I’m a warrior now. And you’re not taking her. She’s mine—”
I’d seen enough. I roared at all of them to stand down as I tore past Istral and pulled Gall back from the others, whose brows rose in surprise at my intervention.
“What the actual fuck?” I growled, standing between Gall and the two, who I now recognized as Rayan and Norg, two Lieutenants that I liked, but didn’t trust. “What are you doing here?”
Norg’s chin dropped a hair and he glanced at Rayan, who sank back a step to let me know he wasn’t challenging. But he didn’t shift his stance, and his eyes were glinting, darting over my shoulder.
“We were coming for Jann,” Rayan said, his eyes cutting back and forth between me and the others. “But this fucking place is going to kill us. And these Fetch are unmated—”
“No, she’s not!” Gall roared.
I threw a hand back to stop him moving, but his breath was tearing in and out of his throat. If I didn’t get this settled quickly, he would snap.
I heard Yilan’s sharp intake of breath, her hurried steps to her sister’s side, and her whispers. The eyes of the two new Neph widened when they recognized Yilan. And I saw Rayan’s eyes drop to her hands, then feet. Because she was unbound.
Shit. We might have to kill them to keep our secrets.
“Eyes on me, you fuckers,” I growled.
They both snapped wary eyes back to me as everyone else went quiet. Mentally, I pleaded with my mate not to choose now to use that sharp tongue of hers.
I stepped forward to make a barrier between these males and our party, leveling the point of one spear at the closest one, though both watched that steel warily.
The Neph had an almost superstitious fear of my spears.
“Start from the beginning,” I muttered. “Tell me how you got here, and why. And while you talk, don’t. Fucking. Move.”
Rayan’s gaze slid from my face to scan everyone else in the clearing, and I saw him putting it all together—Jann and the others had found me and were bringing me back. But with the girls? And none of them tied or cuffed?
I had to make him believe they were under our control. But I’d only get the chance if I could make these two stand down, and convince Gall that Istral was safe.
I’d already claimed Yilan when she was my prisoner. That I’d return from being abducted by her with her in my control would only reassure the Neph who believed she’d either killed me, or tricked me. If I was in my right mind, they’d expect me to exact revenge.
But if these two were already under stress, and now looking for an escape route, as well as vessels for their own frustrations…
We walked a tightrope.
Rayan didn’t relax, but his voice was calm as he relayed what had happened in the preceding week.
Jann had been dispatched with this crew to find me, either to bring me back if I was alive, or to gather Shadekin prisoners to bring back and help the others get through the Shadows of Shade when they advanced.
But there was already chaos among the Nephilim. And Jannus had been the highest ranking, with the strongest following. When he disappeared, instead of resting as he’d urged the others to do until he returned, the in-fighting had gotten worse.
Rayan and Norg were the surviving pair from a group of six that had been sent to find Jann, or myself—or Shadekin to leash.
“Now… here we are. And you’ve got three females…”
Rayan directed that comment to me with a single, arched brow.
I growled.
“The women are claimed. You touch any of them at your own risk.”
Rayan and Norg both looked at Gall, then at me. “She’s truly his mate?”
“Truly,” I said, internally wincing, because by claiming her overtly as his mate Gall put himself at risk—if any male thought they could win, they’d kill him to get to her.
“And he earned his warrior’s length when the wrong male touched a female in a way he didn’t like.
So, think twice before underestimating him. ”
“And you still have the Fetch spy?”
“She thought to thwart me for a time. She was wrong,” I said with a menacing grin.
Rayan nodded once, then turned to the others.
My stomach sank. Diadre. I’d told them that the women were all claimed, but—
There was a scuffle I couldn’t see because I couldn’t risk looking away from the newcomers, but Diadre gave a little shriek, and a growl, like a pissed off cat, then Jann snarled.
“She’s mine. Don’t even think about it.”
My shock at those words was reflected in all the other faces, but especially Yilan, who startled so I felt it in the bond. Thankfully she was smart enough not to speak up.
Rayan’s eyes narrowed. “Surely you can share?”
Jann didn’t respond, but I could feel the heat of the glare he sent at the two men.
It was Norg who spoke up after that. “If you’re all taking these ones, how are we supposed to get back through safely? This place is killing us!”
Please, please let that be their only resistance. “As long as you stay close to a Shadekin—within earshot—the Shadows will leave you alone.”
Rayan looked skeptical, but I straightened and bared my teeth at him. “We’ve passed through the Shadows once, and now we’re returning; you think I’m lying?”
Rayan blinked as Norg looked at him. There was a long beat when both men were clearly deciding whether or not to make any further challenges. To my surprise, Jann stepped up, shoulder to shoulder with me, dragging Diadre by her elbow.
“You did the right thing by coming for us. Don’t be stupid now.
Stay close and you stay safe. But you touch our females or Melek and you’re done.
There’s no one out here to hear your screams, and I’ll enjoy listening to them.
” I let my spear drop to my side, but hefted it, reminding them it was there.
The tension crackled in the air and it was so silent that when the fire popped, Norg twitched. But the ensuing chuckles broke through the tension. Rayan relaxed and straightened, raising his hands, palms out, like he was surrendering.
“Well, thank God we found you, I guess,” he said carefully. Norg glanced at him and straightened out of his defensive stance as well. But Rayan was continuing. “We just want out of this fucking place. We’ve been wandering for days, and this thing is hunting us.”
As everyone began to breathe again, I shot a look at Gall to warn him to stay quiet and tipped my head for him to go back to the girls, then I turned on the newcomers, speaking to them as if they were too small a concern for me to bother with.
“You stick close, you touch no one, and you get back safely,” I muttered as I turned like I had more important things to do.
“And when we get back? What then?” Rayan asked me, an edge of challenge in his voice.
I turned to face him, keeping my face as blank as possible.
“Then I have a people to dominate and a crown to claim. That’s what you wanted, right?”
I could finally breathe when Rayan smiled. “Yes… yes it is.”