Chapter Ten
Tears blurred Kyrie’s vision. The pain of having his bones crushed combined with having Fen ripped away from him broke him.
It was never ending. He prayed for death.
Kyrie should have known Monnie would keep him trapped on the edge, refusing to let him die.
Each time Kyrie thought he reached the end, Monnie healed him just enough to start all over again.
His mind flitted from one painful event to another.
Every life-shattering moment he suffered could have been avoided if Kyrie had been braver.
All of this was because he was weak. When he had realized he could escape his life in dreams, the relief had been massive.
No way could he have seen this end. Loneliness was a hell of a thing.
It drove desperate people to do desperate things.
When he had met Monnie, it had been so fucking nice to have his attention.
They had spent ages talking. How could he have known Monnie had only sought to know more about Yuri?
Yuri was a wolf from town mated to a hellhound.
Not just any hellhound, but the hellhound—Lucifer’s pet.
There was nothing Monnie wanted more in the world than to destroy Lucifer.
He would go through whoever it took to get to him, but Celeste was a problem.
Monnie needed someone free to move between worlds unnoticed.
Kyrie would say he was damn unlucky to have Monnie choose him.
Unfortunately, it was no accident. He had been groomed for this day.
At first, things hadn’t seemed that bad.
All he had to do was flirt with Yuri—lure him into the woods and get him alone.
Kyrie hadn’t known Yuri was already mated.
In fact, he hadn’t even known the story of Lucifer.
Kyrie had only been doing a favor for his new friend.
He hadn’t realized he was a pawn until he failed.
Monnie’s fury had been epic. At first, Kyrie had refused to return to Monnie’s domain for a while.
He had nearly killed himself by staying awake for days. Then the episodes began.
The moment Monnie realized he could take Kyrie’s soul without alerting any gods, his life had been over.
Monnie had tried the same trick with Fen countless times, only to have Celeste snatch Fen away within minutes.
More than that, the longer he tried, the shorter he had him.
That game lured Monnie into a new obsession: Fen.
Just as it had been with Lucifer, his crazed fixation had never been about love.
It was about alleviating the boredom of an endless existence—one he spent in the dreaming, banned—every bit as much as Lucifer had been—from the heavens he used to call home
Not only did Celeste keep him on his toes, constantly forcing him to become more and more creative to see his obsession, somehow Fen resisted him too.
No one turned down Monnie’s blood and bed while also shaking off his mind control.
It was terrifying the lengths Monnie would go to when he wanted something.
Nothing was too convoluted or too far. All it had taken was a chance meeting between Kyrie and Fen for Monnie to see a new path: Kyrie.
Kyrie swallowed past the sharp shards of cartilage in his throat.
The tears kept flowing. Monnie had sworn once Fen’s soul belonged to Kyrie, he would set Kyrie free.
After all, he had gotten bored with Kyrie a long time ago.
Monnie would create the illusion of mating marks and manipulate Fen’s emotions.
All Kyrie had to do was make Fen actually love him, stealing him from Celeste’s sight.
Kyrie would snort if he had the ability any longer.
The bargain had seemed like a zero-risk venture on his part.
No one ever loved him. The theory of his soul passing to Kyrie with his love and devotion seemed weak to him.
With months passing, and no Monnie in sight, Kyrie had started to believe Monnie had lost interest, and maybe, just maybe, Fen somehow was his real mate.
Monnie had stopped stealing away with Kyrie’s soul, and he had stopped taunting Fen with whispered demands to drive him mad.
No way could he have known that Fen saying those three little words would be like throwing the final ingredient into a cauldron, sealing their fate.
His chest stuttered with each painful breath.
Fen. The tears wouldn’t stop. If Kyrie had been smarter, he would have realized how easily he would fall the moment anyone gave him the smallest attention.
He hadn’t known how amazing Fen would be.
Kyrie hadn’t known how badly this would hurt.
He took another shallow and shaky breath.
Kyrie would endure this punishment he had more than earned.
Not for Monnie’s enjoyment, but as penance for his betrayal. Then maybe he could pass in peace.
The sound of Monnie’s pacing beat at his brain.
The air crackled with power and rage. Kyrie couldn’t even flinch any longer.
His torture had turned boring. Now Monnie simply waited.
Unfortunately, Kyrie knew for what: for him to heal enough to start all over again.
Kyrie kind of wanted to laugh. Physical pain meant nothing anymore.
His spirit was broken. He had nothing left to give.
A bright light burst through the room between Monnie and him, temporarily blinding him. The deadly growl that assaulted his ears had Kyrie trying harder to see.
“You dare touch my son! Mine?”
“Freyr. I—”
Monnie’s body lifted from the ground—like he was no more than a child. Kyrie’s vision faded, but not before he heard Monnie’s pained screams along with the wet and popping noises of limbs being ripped away. Everything went black.
With his heart in his throat, Frost locked himself in his office and tried to calm his nerves.
For too long, he had thought of Kyrie’s advice to confront Celeste.
Every time he had gotten close to a decision on whether that was something he wanted to do, he always took the coward’s path.
Maybe some things were better off staying unsaid.
Tears of frustration beat at the backs of his eyes.
He didn’t know himself any longer. His life had become so out-of-control since he moved to Wulfe, Frost wondered if he would wake up one day and learn this was all some type of crazy dream.
That thought alone was enough to send him over the edge.
He couldn’t live like this. Frost couldn’t wake up and learn Gemini was just a fantasy.
Gemini was everything. The only thing. Without him, Frost didn’t want to exist. He couldn’t.
Frost closed his eyes and took a breath. Jonathan.
Yo.
Despite everything, Frost smiled at the nearly eight-foot golden Nephilim’s nonchalant response to Frost’s mental call. Would it be okay if we talked?
We’re talking now, so yeah.
Frost shook his head and chuckled. He thought he had issues, but he couldn’t even imagine Jonathan’s experience. One day, he had been a normal, everyday journalist, and the next, boom. He was the Nephilim king of the Americas, ruling the land of supernatural creatures.
I meant in person. Something isn’t quite right. His claim brought an eerie silence.
Right when he worried he had been abandoned, Jonathan was back. Lire is on his way to guide you.
Relief poured through Frost. One hurdle crossed.
Maybe he would lose his nerve the moment he set eyes on Jonathan.
It was possible Jonathan had no more answers than Frost. He had to do something.
There was no way he could go to Celeste.
Not to mention, he didn’t want to sound accusing.
There was a very real chance Kyrie was wrong about him.
What could a barely-an-adult wolf know that no one else did?
Frost’s door exploded open, sending Frost scrambling from his chair and fully prepared for an attack. A very nude, chest-heaving Fen stood in the destroyed doorway, holding an equally nude Kyrie.
“Fix him.”
Frost forgot his own worries as the healer inside him took control. This was his purpose. That much Frost knew was real.
Nothing felt real. Fen didn’t pace. He wasn’t sure he even breathed.
Fen damn sure never thought he would see the day he would sit inside King Jonathan’s home, watching his mate slip away.
He couldn’t reach Kyrie. It was like they had never met, and Fen stared at a dying stranger.
Yet his heart hurt, and he thought his chest might cave.
He loved Kyrie. That much was real, even if everything else made no sense right now.
He needed Kyrie’s eyes to open. Nothing would be right again until he knew Kyrie’s soul was back where it belonged: with Fen.