22. Mébh
Gray stood fully shifted,towering over all others, with his new black bat wings spread behind him as he harnessed his own blue Hellfire. He looked hot and terrifying all at once, especially as he stood over the charred remains of the last demon who crossed him: Nicodemus. He was truly prince of Shoal, laying claim to his throne.
When I saw him again in the castle entrance hallway, I realized I didn’t need his apology as much as I just needed the promise of a future with him, my mate, and the assurance that he would never leave me out in the lurch again—we had a mind-link connection after all, thank the gods. I admit the slap had slipped out semi-accidentally. I’d still been angry at him for allowing me to believe we were finished instead of allowing me to help. I’d gotten the arrow out of his chest back in London, and I’d learned to tame my own rage and Wolf. Not to mention the cavalry I’d brought into Shoal to fight for him.
As if to demonstrate his complete trust in me, he’d stood back without complaint and let me assist him in stealing that knife from Nicodemus, a task Gray couldn’t have done while imprisoned in chains, no matter what crazy movements he did. We fit together, he and I, and I loved him with all my heart.
There were demons in green sashes and black sashes scattered all around the huge room, mixed in with the back-up I brought from Earth. Nobody moved. It was as if nobody knew what to do now that Nicodemus was out of the picture. Who was in command now?
“All demons bearing green sashes are to be thrown in the dungeon for further questioning,” Gray ordered, his commanding voice rumbling deeply and echoing around the great stone walls.
The demons with black sashes jumped into action and the arrests began as Nicodemus’s remaining loyal soldiers in the vicinity tried to escape. None did, and a parade of captured green-sashed demons were filed out of the double doors—I assume to the dungeon Gray spoke of.
The blue flames surrounding Gray’s massive form slowly died down and went out. He turned to me and swept me up into his arms.
“I couldn’t have done this without you,” he rumbled deeply due to his shift. “You proved yourself every bit deserving of your title, my Hell Queen.” Our lips met tenderly and then I felt his forked tongue slip into my mouth, and it just got dirtier from there. “I can’t do this without you. I am so sorry for pushing you away. I had to convince Nicodemus I wasn’t interested in you anymore, even though it was clear we had just fully mated. I thought at the time it was the only way to save you. I was captured, and I had to keep you from the same fate.”
“It’s okay, Gray. Warwick convinced me you didn’t mean it,” I replied and hugged him tight, taking the scent of bonfire deep into my lungs.
When we split apart, Gray looked around at the Polaris vampires, the pack of hellhounds, Madelyn, who was helping Warwick to stand—the demon wasn’t dead thanks to the witch’s healing powers—and Gabriel, who was still in his massive direwolf form. My cavalry was gathering after the fight for a debrief.
“Thank you everyone for your support. Truly. I could not have done this without your aid,” Gray said to the group at large, then he turned to me. “How did you convince them all to help?”
I turned to Gray. “Well, funny story. I ran into a pack of hellhounds in the forest.” Drew came right up to me then, and I petted between his ears and horns. “Good Drew,” I said to him, then went back to telling my story. “They initially led me to the safety of a town, but when I returned to Shoal, they answered my howl from miles away and came straight away to help fight. I ran into Warwick in town, and he convinced me you had faked pushing me away.”
Warwick interjected. “My prince, for all your sexual escapades, I knew the moment you finally marked your mate, and accepted her, you wouldn’t look back.”
Gray studied the demon for a moment. “Warwick, I am appointing you as my chief advisor. Effective immediately,” he announced and clapped the deer-horned demon on the back.
“I... I don’t know what to say,” Warwick stammered. “That’s a huge promotion, my prince. I don’t deserve it.”
“Yes, you do. Just say you’ll do it,” Gray replied in a mock command.
“Alright,” Warwick mumbled. “Thank you. It would be an honor to serve as your chief advisor, my prince.”
“Very good, Warwick.” Gray nodded at him before turning back to me. “How did you convince the vampires and your Alpha to fight?”
“Cassius was easy to convince,” I stated first.
The vampire grumbled out, “I owed him a debt—you simply cashed in on it.”
I ignored his remark and kept right on telling my story. “Madelyn showed up, having teleported into Polaris headquarters, and she brought Gabriel.”
“That seems like really convenient timing...” Gray narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
“I am a seer, Gray,” Madelyn retorted. “If you are joining this werewolf pack by extension of being mated into it, you better get used to it!”
“She does weird coincidental shit like that all the time and we’ve all just learned to accept it,” I explained.
Madelyn merely grinned her approval at my admission.
The black direwolf stalked forward, his red eyes gleaming. Gabriel’s deep voice entered my mind in a group-wide mind link. Almost everyone here was connected to the pack: Madelyn through Noah, Cassius through Jenny, and Nikos through Molly. Which only left out Xander, Sam, Aramis, and Gray, but by the look on Gray’s face he heard the Alpha’s words. “Gray. You are mated to one of my werewolves; therefore, I welcome you into my pack. You won’t be trespassing next time you mist into pack territory.”
“Well, shit, it’s no fun if I’m not breaking a few rules,”Gray fired back.
It sounded like the massive, imposing direwolf, the beast over six feet tall, chuffed in amusement. “You say that now, but you should know better than to get on your Alpha’s bad side.”
Gray was about to retort but was interrupted by a frantic-sounding Molly. “This means you’re staying here with him in Shoal, aren’t you?” Molly asked me. It was rhetorical. She knew the answer already. Of course I would be staying with my mate. She turned to Gabriel. “Will being so far from the pack harm her? This is another dimension we are talking about.”
“Making Gray officially a member of my pack helps, just like with Cassius and Nikos, but another dimension or not, Mébh will need to visit the pack every now and then to remain a healthy werewolf. If she stays away for too long, there is a risk she will become a lone wolf and go feral, unlike you and Jenny, because you have four packmates all together at Polaris HQ,”Gabriel explained calmly.
Cassius interjected, “Like a self-sustaining outpost?”
“Yes,” Gabriel said simply.
“I’m not gone forever, Moll. I have a demon who can mist me to you, whenever I demand.”
Gray let out a snort at that.
Molly came up to me and started shifting back to human form. Her bones crunched and her fur melted as she stood up from four paws onto two human legs. She wrapped her arms around me, and I returned her hug, laying my cheek on her neck and inhaling her sweet scent. Then the scent of magic filled my nose as a thin white dress magically wrapped itself around Molly. Madelyn had done it to stop the growl that was reverberating from Nikos since Molly’s shift.
“I am going to miss you so much, Mébh,” she said with tears in her eyes. “I don’t think Shoal gets cell service.”
I shook my head tearfully. “No, I don’t think it does.”
Madelyn came up to us and put something in my hand, which I automatically grasped. When I opened my fingers, a small compact sat on my palm, the kind that had a mirror on both sides connected by a tiny hinge. “Split it in two. Each of you gets a half, and it creates a two-way mirror. You can talk to one another this way, even a dimension away,” Madelyn explained.
Tears rolled down my cheeks. “Thank you, Madelyn,” I said as I held the other half out to Molly. She grabbed it and we went in opposite directions, snapping the hinge. I looked down into my half and saw not my own reflection, but Molly’s peeking down at me through her mirror, tears streaming down her cheeks.
Molly glanced up at Madelyn, but the witch was mind reading again. “I know what it means to you, Molly. Just enjoy it.”
Molly nodded and then let out a sob, rounding on me, and pulling me into another hug, this one decidedly more wet because of all the tears.
Shortly after that, Madelyn teamed up with Warwick again to work on creating a portal back to Polaris headquarters. It had been decided instead of opening two portals from Shoal, just one out of the dimension would be easier. The witch would teleport herself and Gabriel back to the pack house after that.
The creation took much less time, and in mere moments, the portal was open and ready. Cassius shook hands with Gray before ducking through the green disk of light. Jenny followed him, and the other random members of Polaris went after her. Gabriel, who was still in his beast form, slipped through next. Finally, it was just Nikos, Molly, and Madelyn left.
Molly swept me up in another bone-crunching hug. “Do you promise to visit me at Polaris headquarters, not just the pack?”
With Gabriel already through the portal, I could comfortably reply, “Moll, there’s really nothing much for me back at the pack, other than making sure I don’t go feral. I’d rather visit you every single time.”
She grinned. “I am so proud of you, Mébh, for controlling your rage and your Wolf. I never imagined you would find your fated mate so young and he would be a demon prince, but I wish you the best of luck.” She leaned forward and spoke out of the side of her mouth. “He can’t father children, right?”
I glanced back at Gray for confirmation.
“You’re correct, demons cannot reproduce. I cannot father children.” He looked slightly worried as he regarded me.
“Oh, thank the gods!” I practically yelled in relief, and Gray visibly relaxed with a grin. I’d never wanted kids, just like my mother before me. There wasn’t a maternal bone in my body. I didn’t want to share Gray at all, and I would never have to. I’d be happy being an auntie figure to my cousin Faelen’s pups when they arrived, and that was about it.
“You’re okay with that?” he asked, clearly unconvinced by my initial response.
“Absolutely. I never wanted kids. I can’t share you.”
He grinned mischievously.
Molly gave me one more squeeze before releasing me. “Stay out of trouble, you, and give me updates!” She held up her side of the two-way mirror. Then she turned and vanished through the portal. Nikos stepped in right behind her.
Only Madelyn remained now. “Well, this has been fun. But, Mébh, you might consider hiding that mirror when you don’t want your sister overhearing . . . certain things.” She wagged her eyebrows suggestively.
My cheeks heated with embarrassment. I slipped the mirror into one of the leather pockets on my belt for safekeeping and then nodded. “Thank you for all your help, Madelyn.”
“Don’t mention it. It’s a seer’s job. All in a day’s work.” She cackled as she stepped through the portal and disappeared. Then the green disk winked out of sight.
Warwick strolled purposefully back into the throne room. “All the demons still loyal to Nicodemus have been imprisoned for further questioning, my prince,” he announced.
“Very good, Warwick,” Gray replied. “I’ll use my gift to see which of them are still brainwashed from Lethe or under Nicodemus’s persuasion.” He paused and glanced at me. “And I have one more request. It would please me to have my old bed chambers, the ones in the north tower, cleaned and prepared for my princess and me.”
“I shall have it done immediately, my prince.” Warwick bowed out of the room.
Gray wrapped himself around me from behind, scooping me into his arms. He kissed his mark on my neck, making me shiver.
“Did you get the chance to ask Molly what she knew about your mother?” Gray mused aloud.
I grabbed the small bag tied to a loop on my leather belt. I pulled the wolf carving, the picture, and the letter out to show him. “Yes, I did. Molly didn’t know Luke had killed her, but she did give me this bag my mother left for me.”
“How do you feel about her now?” Gray asked after reading the letter and looking at the carving and picture.
“I’ve gotten closure,” I confirmed. “I know why now, and I can move on.”
Gray smiled. “Good. I am proud of you. You completely controlled your Wolf for the entire fight, you led the cavalry expertly, and you helped me regain my kingdom.” His eyes shifted to silver as he looked at me with hunger. “I think you deserve to be rewarded, and so does your Wolf.”
“What are you thinking?” I asked in excitement.
He stepped up to me and grazed the backs of his fingers along my cheek. “I am thinking I will give you to the count of twenty to run, then I am tracking you down and claiming you all over again, wherever that may be in this massive castle of mine.”
My belly fluttered.
“Is twenty seconds really enough of a head start?” I played up my whine.
“Nineteen,” he counted, cutting me off. “Eighteen.”
I reached for my belt and released the catch, letting it slip from my waist so Molly wouldn’t hear anything through the mirror if she was checking in.
A giant grin spread across my face as I bolted from the throne room, thrumming with anticipation and lust.
I was going to make this chase fun.