38. Lost and Found
38
LOST AND FOUND
JADE
A s we catch our breath, still tangled up in Maxum’s embrace, a male appears through a portal outside our demon trap. The doorway snaps shut behind him, and his intense gaze lands on me.
A shiver goes down my spine. We’ve been found. Hopefully, this crazy plan doesn’t backfire.
His long, silver hair falls around his broad shoulders. He’s strikingly handsome, built, and tall, yet I’m not drawn to him like I am to my guys. Nonetheless, there’s an unusual pull to him I don’t quite understand. He doesn’t look like a demon, but he definitely isn’t human. He’s likely in a glamour like my guys often wear in public, hiding a supernatural’s otherworldly features.
Maxum quickly scans the room to see if anyone else has popped in, and then he stands us up and tucks me behind him protectively.
“Mine,” the male whispers, ignoring Maxum completely and staring unblinkingly at me.
“No, mine. My mate ,” Maxum challenges with a low growl.
“Yes, of course.” The newcomer waves him off, dismissively. “Jadeana? Is it really you?”
My eyes almost pop out of my head when he says my given name. I glance up at Maxum and find him jerking back in surprise and he pulls me tighter to him.
The male finally focuses on Maxum, and his brows knit in confusion. “Maxumus Drakona?”
Maxum doesn’t answer to the name, but asks cautiously, “Do I know you?”
Footsteps echo from outside the room. Someone’s coming.
“We don’t have time for this,” the male says and shucks his coat. “We need to get you both out of here and somewhere safe before other demons arrive or the witches discover me here.” He eyes Maxum. “Do not attack me when I bring down this trap.”
Maxum peeks down at me. Then he turns his gaze back on our presumed rescuer. “Swear you won’t bring her to harm.”
“It appears I’ve already inadvertently done her harm, but I swear on my firstborn’s life, I’m here to save your mate from a horrible fate.”
I don’t like the sound of that. But something tells me to trust him. “Maxum, this is our chance.”
“I won’t attack unless you put her in harm’s way,” Maxum promises.
The male’s hand glows, and he slaps his palm down on the circle on the floor. A wave of energy flares out, breaking the circle. He throws me his jacket so I can cover up my nakedness. As I do, he opens a portal.
We step out of the circle, but Maxum hesitates when the male waves us to the unknown destination.
The metal door flies open and slams against the concrete wall. Galiana shrieks when she sees us escaping. A shadow tendril flies out like a whip.
Before it can hit us, an electric bolt shoots out to block it. Another crashes into Galiana, sending her to the floor.
It takes me a half a second to realize it’s not my magic that did that. It’s this mystery guy.
“Go!” the male orders and grabs my hand, dragging Maxum and me into the portal.
The doorway closes before Galiana can follow.
I glance around. By the magic in the air and the unique colors of the foliage, I deduce we’re in a remote location within the fae realm.
“Come. We need to throw off any tracking.”
Maxum snarls. “I know the drill.”
We run a quarter mile, then pop through into a closed clothing store in a strip mall. The new guy grabs a couple pairs of sweatpants and two t-shirts off some racks and tosses them at Maxum and me.
Maxum doesn’t protest, and we quickly put them on. I see a fixture with some flip-flops. Not the best gear, but I tuck my feet into them to protect myself from whatever running we have left to do.
The male tosses some cash on the sales counter and shrugs when we give him a questioning look. “Karma is a bitch. Don’t want to test her right now.”
“Who are you?” I ask.
“Don’t you know already?” His face is strained, like he’s in pain. “Sense it?”
“Are you… my father?”
He nods slowly.
“Are you Erwald Krathion?” Maxum steps closer, studying his face.
My father gives him a sad grin. “It’s been a long time, Maxumus.” His skin color darkens to a reddish hue and there’s a subtle change in his appearance, but his red is not as deep as Maxum’s crimson. His eyes become the palest green I’ve ever seen. His silver hair remains the same and I realize it’s the same as mine.
My jaw drops open. “You two know each other?”
“I suspected Erwald was your father,” Maxum confesses. “But didn’t think he was still alive. When you mentioned you didn’t want to drag him into our problems, I planned on hunting down what happened to him, but only after we eliminated Galiana and Rob.”
“I’ve been incognito since your birth,” my flipping father says to me.
“The last time I remember seeing you was almost three hundred years ago,” Maxum adds.
I’m still in a daze when my father opens a portal for us to keep moving. Maxum clasps my hand and guides me through.
We rush through the protocol I’ve become familiar with when portal jumping and finally we end up outside a simple house in the mortal realm.
Erwald (it’s too weird to think of him as my dad) ushers us inside the quaint cottage. The outside reminds me of a gingerbread house. The inside is painted dark reds, grays, and black and has gothic style furniture and artwork.
I realize he’s brought me to his actual home. Although if he’s a double spy, he likely has many hidden safe houses.
“I’m sure you have a myriad of questions for me.” Erwald stands rigid as if he’s facing a firing squad, waiting for what he expects to be a brutal interrogation.
I don’t really have questions, not right now. I give him a once over now that we’ve stopped moving. He’s handsome, but that’s a common trait in the supernatural realm from what I’ve seen. If I were to guess his age by appearance alone, I’d guess he was younger than I am, perhaps thirty, but with a blend of confidence and weariness that reveals his true age, which apparently is hundreds of years old.
When I look for similarities to confirm that he’s my bio daddy, I find little, except for our silver hair. Even his eyes are a different shade of green. I’m definitely my mother’s daughter in appearance.
“How did you find me?” I ask instead of the thousand other things I could inquire about.
“I was able to pinpoint your location through your mate bond with a demon. I was already on alert after I sensed your concealment spell was broken recently. I have been searching, but I couldn’t get a reading on where you were located. I assume some powerful magic was hiding you.”
My mind swings back to what I’ve been worrying about since my pack split up. Sure, it’s fine and dandy to meet my father, but I need to address what’s really important.
“We need to find the others,” I say to Maxum.
“That is unwise.” Erwald steps closer, as if to prevent me from leaving.
I glare at him with the force of forty years of abandonment. “I’m sorry. But are you telling me how to treat my mates?” I ask with a snarky tone, making up for him missing my angsty teenage years. He left his own mate and me , his daughter, so no, I’m not taking his fucking advice.
“ Mates? ” His eyes dart to Maxum, then back to me. “You have more?”
“Yes, five total. The last I saw them, they were being attacked by Galiana’s main bitch witch. The same asshole who tortured and killed one of them.”
“One of your mates is dead?” His tall frame collapses onto an elegant chair with an expression that speaks of his own grief about losing a mate.
We don’t have time for catching up, and my tone suggests that as I answer him, “He’s a phoenix and not dead, or I hope he’s not, but that isn’t the point right now. We need to rescue them if they have been captured.”
“I’ll go see if they retreated to our fallback location,” Maxum says and brushes his thumb across my cheek in a goodbye.
I grasp his hand and hold it firmly. “I’m coming with you.”
“I won’t have you captured again.” Maxum presses his body up against me as if it’s betraying his idea to separate.
“If you will allow my presence, I can help retrieve your mates,” Erwald offers.
Maxum’s eyes snap up to take him in, finding him wanting. “I didn’t think you’d want to get involved. Don’t you like to lurk in the shadows?”
“How dare you?” Erwald growls, standing up from his chair. “You know nothing of what I’ve been through or what’s happened.”
“I know enough,” Maxum throws back at him. “You didn’t take care of your daughter.”
“I did the only thing I could do to keep her safe.” Erwald takes a few steps forward and I’m pretty sure this is about to devolve into a demon brawl.
“Enough!” I shout, stepping in between them with my hands out. “I need to find my pack. Now! So stop whatever the fuck this is and make me a portal before I zap your asses.”
Erwald’s eyebrows shoot up to his silver hairline, and he says in a wry tone, “I see you definitely inherited my demon side.”
Maxum only smirks at that comment, looking oddly twitterpated with me over that. Then he clears his throat and opens a portal. “We’ll drop out a few hundred feet away from the house and assess if there are witches in the area.”
Erwald huffs but squares his shoulders and gives us a nod. “I’ll stay close to Jadeana so you can focus on our surroundings.”
With a grunt, Maxum grabs my hand and we jump through to the fae realm. We land close to the small home we stayed in last, and the portal snaps shut behind us.
Crouching down, we peer through the vibrant foliage but find no one wandering around.
“I sense brainwaves in the cabin.” Maxum points toward the house. “But it feels muddled. I can’t tell if it’s our pack.”
“Witch magic, if I had to guess,” Erwald adds.
We hear a shout of pain coming from the direction of the house.
In my chest, my bonds yank hard. I bite back a screech of my own agony.
I know it’s them inside.
My mates are in pain.