20. Mébh
Before the blacknesscleared from my vision, the scents of an earthen forest met my nose. No more fire and brimstone, just the scent of evergreens and dirt with a winter chill in the air. We were in the forest surrounding the old mountain mine where Polaris’s headquarters was located, and it felt like it was going to snow. I wrapped my arms around my waist to conserve body heat—my “borrowed” dress did little to keep out the cold. I was banking on Polaris’s video surveillance picking us up soon, and a member of the clan would alert and send Molly.
We didn’t have to wait long; Nikos stepped out of the shadows a few moments later. Molly unfurled herself from under his arm and came running toward me. I was practically tackled as my sister wrapped me in her arms and held on with all her might. “I am so sorry Nikos and I shadow walked away before grabbing you when the demons attacked.” The words came out of her in a frantic rush. “I thought with me there your Wolf wouldn’t take you over completely, but she did, and would not let you evacuate with us safely. Are you okay?”
“I am fine, Molly. Really.” I wasn’t sorry. Gray had rescued me instead, and I’d had the most spectacular few days of my life, culminating in him claiming me. I just hoped there still was a forever for us. I had to rescue him from Nicodemus.
My sister pulled back and stared at me at arm’s length. She looked haggard, like she hadn’t slept in a few days, and so did Nikos, and I realized they might not have. They might have been looking for me this entire time. Suddenly, I felt guilty for not even calling. I’d left word with Faelen, but that clearly was not enough. I’d been afraid if I called her, Molly would demand I come home. I didn’t want to go home, and I wouldn’t have listened to her anyway, which would have only pissed her off more. “So where on the goddess’s green earth have you been, Mébh?” She wrinkled her nose as she scented me. “You smell like demon.” She did a double-take, and her eyes grew huge as she spotted Gray’s mark on my neck.
“Around,” I replied vaguely.
“Around?” she spat in disbelief as she gaped. “We’ve been searching nonstop for you for three days, and now you come home with a claiming bite mark on your neck?” she thundered. “Where is Gray anyway—so I can kill him—and who is this?” She vaguely gestured at Warwick, who stood behind me stoically.
Nikos had been staring at Warwick with a hand on the hilt of the sword at his hip. I didn’t blame him, but this demon was not an enemy. “Gray has been captured by Nicodemus, the leader of the demon army who attacked Polaris. This is Warwick, a previous loyal servant of Gray’s. I ran into him in Shoal. He is on our side,” I hastened to reassure them both.
Nikos still looked unconvinced. “What’s your role in this, demon?” he asked, narrowing his eyes.
“I am loyal to Prince Grayson, and by extension, Princess Mébh of Shoal.” He gestured to me and my cheeks heated at him calling me that.
I didn’t feel like I earned it, since the last thing Gray had said to me was words ending our relationship. I clung to the hope that it had all been an act to protect me from capture, but until I heard how sorry he was, I still worried he’d meant everything.
Warwick continued, “I lead a rebel force in Shoal. I don’t mean Polaris harm. I am here to protect my princess in my prince’s stead.”
“Well, that’s semi-reassuring,” Nikos drawled sarcastically. “Let’s take this inside, to the rest of the clan.” He gestured over his shoulder with his thumb.
As a group, we walked to the nearest hidden entrance and entered the relative safety of Polaris headquarters.
Molly stayed beside me in the hallway as we walked toward the war room with all the tech. Her presence and scent were calming in a nostalgic sort of way, but they weren’t something I needed in order to calm down anymore. I had grown. Gray had shown me I could control my rage and my Wolf all on my own. But I believed the presence of my mate gave me the extra push I needed to master myself.
“So where exactly have you been for the last three days?” Molly asked in a semi-exasperated tone.
“Portland, London, Paris, Maui, the true Hell, and then finally Shoal,” I answered honestly.
My sister stared at me with her mouth hanging open in shock. Clearly she was not expecting all that for an answer. “Damn, no wonder we couldn’t find you. And then Madelyn outright refused to use her magic and scry. She said you were having a great time, you were safe—mostly—and to let you grow up.” Molly looked sheepish, her cheeks flaming red. “I’m sorry, but I was worried about you.”
“Madelyn refused to help?” The witch was known for her trickery more often than not. Being a seer gave her a huge advantage. It didn’t mean Molly wouldn’t have been worried sick about me. “I’m sorry I worried you so much, but Madelyn was right. I had the time of my life, and I did a lot of growing up.”
Molly smiled sadly and slipped something into my hand as we rounded the corner into the war room. It was my cell phone. “Well, good. But next time, don’t leave your phone, or better yet, just call me from any other phone to tell me what’s going on!” she growled.
I smirked as I closed my fingers around the device—which was dead—but for the first time in years, I didn’t care about the thing. I didn’t need the attention and interactions. I only cared about getting my demon back.
Polaris’s war room was a large space with a stalactite ceiling courtesy of the old mine. There were several desks with computers set up around the perimeter, and a massive, circular table dominated the space. A large screen was on the back wall and right now it showed the surveillance feed from the chunk of the forest we had just come from. Around the room, I saw Sam and Xander sitting at one of the perimeter desks. Aramis, Polaris’s tech wiz, was on a laptop at the table, and he was typing away. Cassius and Jenny stood together on the other side of the table, chatting nearby.
Upon the four of us entering, we sidled up to the table, and all attention turned in our direction.
“Welcome back, Mébh. So glad you are safe,” Cassius said and then he got right down to business. “We could overhear the conversation through the video feed.” He gestured at the big screen behind him. “What happened to Gray?”
Cassius pressed his palms into the table and leaned forward with an anxious urgency about him. Jenny put her hand on his shoulder in a reassuring way, while Sam and Xander quietly moved to join the group around the table.
Warwick jumped in to explain. “Prince Grayson has been taken hostage by Nicodemus, the demon who has been struggling to regain power in Shoal. He means to enslave Gray and continue to rule as co-regent like Lethe before him and finish her work bringing The Fallen back to take over Earth. But the Lord gave Prince Grayson the job of ruling all of Shoal and keeping us demons in line. All others are pretenders to the throne.”
“Gray is prince of Shoal?” Cassius asked, surprised. The reaction from the other clan members gathered around was the same: complete shock.
“Yes. I served as his Captain of the Guard for many years, until Lethe dismissed me. I have a legion of loyal demons I’ve gathered, the rebel force, to aid my prince in reclaiming his throne,” Warwick finished.
“I assumed he had a military background of some kind.” Cassius stood up straight and tucked Jenny under his arm.
“Before falling, he was part of the angelic army,” I said offhandedly.
“So I wasn’t wrong,” Cassius said in a bemused sort of way before narrowing in on me. “So why are you back here, Mébh? I sense there’s more to it than reassuring Molly you are alright after we frantically searched for you the past three days?”
Guilt again ate at me, but I steeled my resolve. I’d come here to ask for help, so here it went. “I need your help. We need your help,” I hastily clarified and gestured to Warwick. “Gray once helped you get Jenny back from Lethe. I am asking you to help us free Gray and get him his kingdom back.”
The vampire thought for a moment. “I owe him my life and Jenny’s several times over for what he did for us.” He glanced down at Jenny under his arm as he squeezed her tighter to him and dropped a kiss to her forehead. “I don’t know what help we can be. Shoal isn’t exactly easy for non-demons to get to.”
“But you’re willing to fight with us?” I asked hopefully.
“Yes, I am, but like I said, I don’t know what help I can be without a way to get into Shoal.” Cassius shrugged.
“I’m still working on that bit,” I confessed, then turned to Molly. My cell phone was dead and Polaris HQ was too far to mind link with the main pack settlement. “I need to get in touch with Madelyn—”
“I’m here!” The witch herself came around the corner with a wave, her blonde hair and eerie white eyes so familiar. She wore a beautiful, lacy white corset dress and the energy of her magic filled the air. “Oh, and I insisted Gabriel come too.” The direwolf himself followed her in, wearing his usual black suit and a rather confused expression.
I was shocked.
The witch was a mysterious creature known for her uncanny foresight, but she was rarely this helpful. She was quite the trickster at times, so I was grateful she showed up and brought along the very Alpha I needed to ask for help.
Cassius nudged Aramis in the ribs. “So much for that intruder alarm, eh?”
Aramis just put his hands up in confusion.
“Oh I silenced it. It works just fine otherwise,” the witch explained, smirking.
Cassius glared heavenward in exasperation as Aramis seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.
Gabriel’s eyes landed on me, but thankfully I didn’t get the same chill as when my previous Alpha’s did. “What’s happened, Mébh? Last time I saw you, Gray was trespassing and then misted you away with him. Now I see he’s marked you?”
“I told you, Gabriel,” Madelyn interjected. “Gray has been captured and Mébh is recruiting an attack force to rescue her man in Shoal.”
He looked between her and me with raised brows, seeking clarification.
I nodded. “That’s basically it.”
“There is no way into Shoal unless it’s through a demon,” Gabriel snapped. “How do you expect me to do anything?”
I looked at Madelyn. “Is there a way for you to enhance Warwick’s misting ability so he can take more of us back with him?”
The witch looked thoughtful for a moment. “If I combine my magic with Warwick’s, I should be able to open a portal directly into Shoal.”
“That would be even better!” I blurted excitedly.
“Wait, what the heck’s even happened? Where have you been and what have you been doing for the past several days, Mébh?” my Alpha asked. “I am aware you went missing—Molly has been giving me her own search reports—and I’ve had half the pack warriors out looking for you since you and Gray appeared at the pack-house field.”
“I’ve been exploring the world,” I replied. I told them all about my adventures with Gray, staying one step ahead of the demon army chasing him. I made sure to leave out some of the more sensual parts of the story, so I focused on the different cities Gray had taken me to, then explained how I learned to control my rage, and by extension, my Wolf. I gushed about touring London and visiting the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Lastly I recounted the meeting with Lucifer in Hell and speaking to Luke again about my mother. Gabriel’s eyes flashed red, a rare showing of his well-controlled beast. He’d killed Luke when the demented Alpha had challenged him for Victoria, Gabriel’s mate. The previous Alpha was regarded with distaste all around.
Finally, when I finished my story, Gabriel was studying me intently. “I may have only been your Alpha for a short time, but this is the most animated and in control I’ve ever seen you, Mébh. Congratulations on finding your fated mate.”
My face fell. Yes, I’d found him, but so much stood between us. “Thank you, Alpha,” I replied, and dipped my head in the proper bow. “But I need your help to save my mate.”
Gabriel sighed heavily. “I’ve left Noah in charge of the pack with my Victoria. I won’t endanger the pack warriors with this, but I will lend you my own beast.”
My jaw dropped. Sure, I was pissed he wasn’t agreeing to send in the whole pack, but he was agreeing to help and that was something. His direwolf was legendary. He was vastly more powerful than any single werewolf and would be a major addition to the rebel force. “Thank you very much, Alpha. That’s very generous of you.” I bowed my head again in acknowledgment of his station.
“Am I to assume you’ve convinced Cassius and Polaris to aid you?” Gabriel asked.
“She has,” Cassius replied. “Polaris will fight.”
Around the table, the other members of Polaris nodded in support. Sam, Xander, Nikos, and Aramis were all willing to lend their weapons to the fight.
Molly had been silently staring at me with a desperate, pleading look in her eyes since I’d mentioned seeing Luke again and asking about my mother. She had an intensity I’d never felt from the normally calm she-wolf.
“What did Luke say about your mother?” Molly suddenly demanded.
I met her frantic stare. “What do you know that you’ve never been honest with me about?”
She scowled and looked away angrily. “I only wanted to protect you. Sometimes the truth isn’t nice. Mhari was never satisfied with our father, and I don’t blame her since they were forced to wed. She was likewise forced to have you, and the she-wolf didn’t have a maternal bone in her body.” Well, I guess I knew where I got my desire to never ever have children from. It must be genetic or something. “I took care of you from the start, not her. The day she ran away, she told me I was a better mother for you. She gave me a bag to give to you when you were old enough to understand, and then she left and never returned.” That piqued my interest. She left me something? “Luke didn’t even bother to send pack warriors to look for her. I assumed she’d died out there alone.”
“She didn’t die alone. She died with her mate, at least.”
Molly’s face snapped up. “She found her fated mate? That’s what she was doing when she would leave pack territory only to get caught by Luke and punished profusely? I should have known.”
“That makes the most sense.” I’d not really considered how she found her fated mate, only that she had and lost her life for it. “You didn’t know she’d met her mate?”
“No. I had no idea. Mhari and I weren’t exactly friends. Let’s just say that.” This was the most honest Molly had ever been with me. She has always faked it and I could tell. She pretended we had been some big happy family. Her honesty now was like a breath of fresh air. Something I desperately needed.
“Luke killed her.”
“What?” Molly snapped back in utter shock.
“Luke tracked her down after she left. Found her with a rogue pack, including her mate, and he killed them all.”
There was silence all around the room. Molly just gaped at me and then abruptly turned on her heel and walked out of the room.
I was very confused. Should I go after her? Was she upset? Where was she going? Was she coming back?
Madelyn mind linked to me, having read my thoughts. “Stay here, Mébh. She’ll be right back.”
I nodded and then Molly was back, clutching a little pink fabric bag in her hand. She handed it to me unceremoniously. My name was scribbled on the bag in black sharpie. I’d never seen this before and had no idea Molly had saved it for me all these years.
“Your mother handed me this the day she left with the instruction to give it to you when you were old enough to understand. You’ve mated now—you are ready.”
I opened the bag and rooted around in it. My fingers closed on something cool, solid, and smooth. I pulled it out and discovered a little onyx wolf figurine with its head thrown back in a permanent howl. Mhari was carved on the bottom with a runic symbol. Next I took out a small three-by-five picture of a beautiful dark-haired woman with one green eye and one blue eye. I did get my multicolored eyes from my mother, but not much else. Her face, nose, and eye shapes were different from mine. I’d gotten my looks from my father, and that’s why Molly and I looked so much alike for being only half siblings. I’d never been shown a picture of my mother, but I finally held one in my hand. A treasured item as far as I was concerned. The last thing in the small bag was a folded-up piece of lined paper, clearly ripped out of a notebook by the rough edge. I unfolded it and was greeted by a squishy, cursive scrawl:
My darling Mébh,
I will always love you.Never doubt that. But I need you to know that fated mates do exist, no matter what the Alpha says. It’s tearing me in two being apart from the other half of my soul, but being with him means leaving you, my daughter. I have to go, but I leave a piece of my shattered heart behind within you. You’re safest staying in the pack and Molly will take care of you. Grow up strong, baby girl, and don’t make the same mistakes I did. Don’t let the Alpha coerce you. Never settle for less than what you desire.
All my love,
Your mother
I silently readit to myself first before reading it out loud for the group after.
“Are you okay, Mébh?” Molly asked.
“I don’t know,” I replied honestly, looking down at the words until they blended together as fresh tears welled. “I wasn’t ok when I first found out she was dead. I know you said all through my childhood she most likely died a lone wolf since she never came back, but I had hoped she magically survived and would come back one day. But she couldn’t because Luke ended her. He would have killed me, too, if she had taken me with her.”
“She knew you were safer staying with me in the pack. She painted a target on her back by leaving.”
Molly hugged me and I held on tightly as the tears fell. I had a certain amount of closure in finding out what really happened to her and hearing Molly knew no more than I did. The anger I’d always harbored over not knowing had disappeared.
“Thank you, Molly. For everything you have done for me my whole life.”
“You’re my sister, Mébhy, and I’d do anything for you. I love you.”
“I love you too, Moll.”
Molly smiled warmly. “I am so proud of you, Mébh. You’ve grown into a remarkable young werewolf, but did you have to go find your mate already?”
“I didn’t find him on purpose!”
“I know, but you’re so young for all this.”
“She can handle it,” Madelyn said with confidence. “We just have to help her.”
Molly looked worried, but nodded.
Gabriel cleared his throat, drawing everyone’s attention. “Normally I would pull rank and lead the attack if it were anywhere but in a Hell dimension. I am under your command in this, Mébh. What is your plan?”
I glanced at Warwick, who simply raised his eyebrows, awaiting my command also. “I don’t know the terrain or the castle we are attacking, so I will look to Warwick for advice. However, my plan was, we storm in fighting, find Gray, and free him.”
“There are several secret entrances to the castle. Getting in shouldn’t be any issue. It’s our physical numbers that have me worried,” Warwick explained. “We will be up against the largest demon army in Shoal.”
“Clearly you haven’t fought a battle with Madelyn,” Cassius remarked sarcastically.
“Oh, Cassius.” Madelyn waved her hand at him with a smirk. “You flatter me.”
Madelyn was the most powerful witch in existence and even if her magical abilities may be limited in Shoal, she was a strong asset. She’d been known to accidentally clear entire vampire battlefields, reducing all enemies to dust. She wasn’t to be trifled with.
“I am not worried, Warwick. This is a powerful crew. Plus, we can count on your loyal demons switching to our side, and the rest of your legion will join with us when we arrive.”
He looked skeptical, but nodded in agreement. “Yes, my princess.”
“Are you going to be able to keep your Wolf under control for this?” Molly asked, concern written all over her face, and I understood why. In the past, I couldn’t even be trusted at pack training sessions, let alone in a real dangerous situation. Luke had called me a liability for a damn good reason. But I wasn’t that same broken child anymore. I’d grown and learned how to harness my Wolf instead of the other way around.
I nodded, letting my Wolf show in my eyes. “Yes, I will,” I stated confidently. Getting Gray back was still a gamble, but I knew I could control my Wolf at least.
“Prepare your weapons and supplies,” I ordered the entire group. “Madelyn. Warwick. How long will it take to create a portal into Shoal?”
Madelyn shrugged. “Maybe an hour. But we need a safe location on the other side to open the portal.”
“I have the perfect spot in mind. It’s a stone’s throw from the castle’s outermost defensive walls,” Warwick explained.
“Perfect,” Madelyn replied with a clap of her hands.
The two of them began chatting together. Around the room, Polaris Clan members were stirring. Xander had his axe out and was sharpening it on a whetstone. Sam was throwing arrows into the quiver hung across his back. He also had a menacing-looking mace hanging from his hip. Gabriel, Cassius, Jenny, and Nikos began discussing tactics.
It might not have been much, but the cavalry was coming.