Chapter Forty-Six
Kara
How long had it been? Hours? Minutes?
Sweat ran down my back and between my breasts as I sliced through an abomination with two bird demon wings sewn onto his head. The wings didn’t function—they were just limbs thrown together, a grotesque collection of parts pretending to be a body.
We had made no progress.
Isabella was our best chance at finding the portal and shutting it down, but I’d imagine it was hard to concentrate in the middle of a bloodbath. If we didn’t close the portals soon, we’d never make it to the crossover. We’d be fighting until we faded completely.
My translucent hand never returned to normal.
Thankfully, most of our enemies were Harvest’s wretched creations. There were a few demons among them, but we cut those down easily. The ogre had proven toughest to kill—his hide nearly impossible to pierce—but my brothers had brought him down.
Still, it was the sheer number of them that was killing us.
Payne rained fire from above when he wasn’t clashing with the dragons, but it barely made a dent. Within seconds, hundreds more would appear.
My breath came in huge, ragged gasps. My lungs, chest, and throat burned with every swing of my blade. If not for our Reaper conditioning, our bodies would have given out long ago.
Then I noticed it—something clear.
The creatures were spilling in from two different directions.
“There’s more than one portal,” Barron said before I could.
His voice barely carried above the clanking of steel and the wet crunch of decaying flesh. I feared a million baths wouldn’t be enough to rid me of the stench baked into my clothes.
“And I found one!” Isabella screamed.
“Show us and I’ll destroy it,” Nova replied.
It was clear August’s mate hated being forced into restraint.
If not for the risk to her life, she could have wiped out everything around us with a single wave of power.
But as it was, she was clumsy with a blade, and August kept her close—always within reach.
I only ever heard the burst of her magic when it was absolutely necessary.
With a flick of her wrist, Isabella’s magic split in two. One thin blue thread of essence raced west while the other veered east. The dense cluster of trees and demons made it hard to tell how far the portals were embedded in the forest.
Unease twisted in my chest.
I had just returned to their side. But now, that same terrible weight was pressing down on me again—like some invisible force was curling its fingers around my fate, reminding me I had a different path.
My gaze darted between the two directions. The pressure only worsened.
Then—
An ungodly shriek tore through the air, splitting my ears.
I screamed and dropped to one knee, cupping my ears as agony lanced through my skull. Beside me, Maureen crumpled too, her face contorted in pain as Jackal hunched over her, claws flying at a werewolf lunging from the smoke.
“Banshee!” I screamed.
“Fucking kill her,” Maureen hissed through gritted teeth. “We won’t be able to hear a damn thing if she keeps at it.”
Ignoring the ringing pain in my ears, I stood and scanned the battlefield. A pale woman with beady sapphire eyes and bright pink hair was easy to spot within the horde of demons and abominations. Her gaping mouth stretched down to her ribcage, several rows of jagged teeth on display.
“Shut the hell up,” I muttered, heaving my sword at her.
In a second, my blade pierced through her open mouth, flinging her body backward. The pain in my head vanished instantly, though the ringing still roared in my ears. I could only hope we hadn’t taken too much damage to our hearing.
“You three, take the west side,” August ordered.
My gaze darted to Nova, still clinging to his side. She was barely upright, blood trailing from her ears.
“Is Nova okay?” I asked, slicing down a demon that lunged at me while Maureen dispatched another.
“Yes,” Isabella said, leaning on Sebastian as the two of them made their way toward us. “I think witches are more sensitive to a banshee’s scream. Even more so for a proxy like Nova…”
“I’m fine.” Nova lifted her chin, but her voice wavered. “Let’s go.”
“I’ll go with Kitty,” Barron said, cutting between the couples to reach me.
“Good idea,” August agreed. “Even if she’s the Devil’s marked mate, we still don’t understand why he kidnapped her. Nothing about what he did makes sense.”
My heart felt like someone had taken a knife and carved out the insides. Funny how the pain in my head was nothing compared to the ache of thinking about my mate.
There was no time to get teary-eyed. I gave Sebastian and August a slow nod before Barron shoved me in the opposite direction.
Jackal yanked my weapon out of the banshee’s mouth as we ran past her.
I couldn’t hear anything beyond the approaching enemy.
As soon as he tossed me the blade, I grabbed it midair and slashed through the first abomination in our path.
Together, we cut a path forward, pushing as fast as we could.
It didn’t take as long as I thought to find the portal’s source.
Creatures were spilling out, a flood of them. And just to the left—barking orders I still couldn’t hear—was Harvest.
Flames danced high on his head, his pale skin glowing like bone in the shadows of the woods. Red leaves fell all around us, bathing the area in an eerie crimson tinge.
“He’s mortal, right?” Barron asked, stepping forward with a dangerous glint in his eyes.
As if he’d sensed us, Harvest turned—and smiled.
“Ah. So glad you guys came,” he said, voice somehow audible and sharp despite the chaos. “You’re still needed, after all.”
I frowned.
Maureen glanced around us. “What does he mean by that?” When no one answered, she repeated it, voice sharper. “What does he mean?”
He wasn’t looking at any of them.
He was looking straight at me.
I didn’t think he meant my siblings. Not with that gaze. He had been after me ever since he discovered who I was to Luke.
“It means we can’t let him capture me,” I said, just as Harvest vanished.
“Fuck.”
We whipped around, searching. But it was too late—he ported in behind Maureen.
“It means nothing to you,” he whispered behind her. “You just need to die already.”
Jackal slammed into him mid-strike, knocking Harvest away before he could land the blow—but when Jackal hit the ground, he was empty-handed. Harvest had vanished again.
Jackal snarled, shifting protectively in front of Maureen. “Stay close,” he ordered his mate.
Barron shoved me closer to him, blade ready. “Back to back?”
“Back to back,” I agreed, and we pressed together, fighting off Harvest’s creatures as they lunged from every direction.
But the longer we held the line, the more unsettling it became.
Harvest didn’t attack.
He just…lingered, hidden, waiting. And somehow, that was worse. The silence between strikes. Not knowing when he’d move. It drained us faster than the fight itself.
My nerves were shot. Twitchy and raw. Every groan or snarl from behind made me jump, slashing on reflex, wishing it was him—wishing I could sink my blade into the one who started all this.
“He’s stalling,” Barron muttered behind me. “We have to make a break for the portal.”
There was no time for strategy after that.
The four of us broke formation and sprinted. I stopped killing—only dodging, weaving, and conserving my strength and focusing on one goal: the portal.
Barron stayed right behind me, taking down anything I didn’t. His blade never stopped moving.
When the swirling portal came into view, I didn’t hesitate. A tether of magic pulsed in its core—thin and sinewy, like a vein holding it open. I raised my weapon and rammed it straight through.
The exact second the steel sank into the tether, Barron roared.
The sound was jagged and full of pain.
I twisted around—and my heart dropped.
Harvest stood behind him, blade buried deep. Barron was holding it at bay, his hands wrapped around the hilt to keep it from going any deeper.
But from where I stood, I couldn’t see where the blade had struck—or how bad it was.
“You’re such a coward!” Maureen screamed, her blades tearing into the demons swarming our brother.
I sprinted after them—but Harvest’s decaying creatures poured in around me, cutting me off. My breath came in ragged pants as I swung wildly, blade slicing through rot and bone. I couldn’t see Barron. I couldn’t see Maureen. The battlefield swallowed them whole.
My panic roared in my ears, drowning out everything. I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think.
Did I close the entrance?
Please let it be shut.
Then—Maureen’s voice cut through the chaos like a blade.
“No!”
Barron’s scream followed: “Run!”
I didn’t understand—not at first. Not until a flicker of movement appeared ahead of me.
Harvest.
He appeared just in front of me, smile sharp, eyes glowing with cruel delight just as he disappeared again.
My back tingled. Shit.
He’d ported behind me.
I tried to yank my blade from the gut of the creature I’d just slain, but I wasn’t fast enough. A shadow fell over me.
And suddenly—I was wrapped in darkness.
But not from Harvest.
Luke stood in front of me, sword in hand, his body radiating rage and resolve. He glanced over his shoulder, not at me—but at whatever loomed behind.
And I realized…
He hadn’t come to stop the world from ending.
He came to stop me from ending.
“Why back away, Harvest?” Luke murmured as he took a step forward. “I’ve been running in circles trying to get close to you. Why the distance?”
I couldn’t see Harvest’s expression to tell what was happening. When Luke locked eyes with me, I knew Harvest must have fled again.
Luke clenched his jaws as he wiped my cheek. “I said stay put.”
“You mean wait to fade?” I countered. I eyed the wound on his chest. It was there, but not as severe as I thought it would be. He hadn’t been mortal yet. But now?
Sensing my gaze on his chest, he looked down and stiffened. “Don’t, Kitten. I don’t have time to bleed to death. Your family can’t stop this.”
My throat burned with anger and hurt. I love you. The words clawed at my tongue, desperate for release. But I couldn’t say them—not now.
Love might be a cruel thing after all.
Luke wiped my cheek, his touch light—unbearably soft. “When fate comes knocking, and the vortex opens, eyes on me.”
Then he vanished.
And I said nothing.