Chapter Nine
A few seconds later, two new supernaturals arrived in the training area.
Castiel instantly recognized Raiden Drakas and Sapphire Ardesia, the new rulers of the Shifter Realm. The dragon shifter and siren-succubus hybrid were a new breed of shifter gods, and very few people knew the extent of their magic or how powerful they were.
Sapphire smiled warmly. “Castiel! I didn’t know you were here.”
Raiden nodded in greeting, then he turned to scowl at Lucifer. “What is the damn emergency?”
Getting down to business, Castiel gave them a brief rundown of what had happened. Raiden’s expression darkened like storm clouds, while Sapphire just looked worried. He handed over the broken pieces of the bracelet to Raiden, who scowled down at them.
“I want the head of whoever did this,” Raiden growled.
“It’s all yours,” Castiel promised. He would be glad to pass the whole mess over to the shifter gods.
He noticed Ava approaching and held out a hand to her. While he had been busy talking to Lucifer, she and her friends had helped the shifters remove the bracelets they were wearing and had placed them in the box she was carrying.
“I’m sorry to interrupt—” she began.
“No need for that,” Castiel assured. “Ava, this is Sapphire and her mate, Raiden, the new rulers of the Shifter Realm. And this is Lucifer. Everyone, this is Ava Fortier, my mate.”
Sapphire’s eyes widened. “You are mated? Congratulations! I hadn’t heard. I’ll have to tell everyone. Castiel is a good friend of my family. He was one of the only normal babysitters I had when I was young.”
“I resent that,” Lucifer teased.
“But it’s true,” Sapphire insisted with a laugh.
“I’m going to need stories,” Ava whispered.
“Of course,” Sapphire agreed with a chuckle.
“Can we get back to the fucking magic-syphoning bracelets?” Raiden growled.
Ava offered him the box she was holding.
“Here are the bracelets. We tried not to damage them too badly when we removed them from the other students, in case you needed them. The rest of the bracelets that weren’t used are in here as well.
I asked the assistants what they knew about them, but they—”
“I want to speak to them personally,” Raiden demanded.
“Okay. You should probably start with the asshole mage who made us wear them,” Ava suggested. “He’s the unconscious guy lying over there. Sorry, my twin brother kicked the crap out of him before you got here.”
Raiden’s lips twitched as if he wanted to smile. “That is an acceptable reason. We will start with the assistants.”
As he dragged Sapphire away with him, she turned around to smile at Ava. “Don’t worry. We’ll talk later.”
Ready to get the hell out of there, Castiel said, “I’m going to take my mate home now. We have another issue to deal with there.”
Grabbing hold of Ava’s hand, he teleported them back to his villa. He chose to arrive on the bedroom balcony so she would get a good view of the water. He was hoping she would like it, and her gasp of delight pleased him immensely. What he hadn’t expected was for Lucifer to follow them.
He scowled at his friend. “What are you doing here?”
“You said there was an issue. Is it something I can help with?”
“What is this?” Castiel demanded. “Are you bored or something?”
“Yes, I am.” Lucifer smiled at Ava. “Hello. I didn’t get to properly introduce myself before. I am Lucifer, King of Hell, dark god of the Realm of Souls, and one of Castiel’s oldest and bestest friends.”
“Ah, hi. Nice to meet you,” Ava said weakly. “I’m Ava Fortier.”
“I know. I’m a big part of why you guys got to meet,” Lucifer bragged. “You should thank me.”
“Thank you?” It came out more as a question than a statement.
“You know what?” Castiel asked, cutting in before Lucifer could say some other ridiculous shit to his mate. “Yes, you can help with our issue. Actually, it’s exactly your type of thing.”
He had wanted to question the wolf shifter about his pack before he killed him, but Lucifer would be able to get the answers he needed and make the bastard suffer before he ended him.
That would be enough to satisfy his need for revenge.
When he explained what had happened down in the maze, he watched as bloodlust made Lucifer’s glowing eyes brighten with interest.
“Oh, yes. It will be my pleasure to deal with him for you. Leave it to me.”
Lucifer really was a little crazy, but years of friendship could make him overlook that tiny flaw.
“He’s in my dungeon. You know where it is.”
Lucifer smiled brightly. “I’ll let you know what I find out about that pack. Did you want to deal with them personally, or should I handle that for you?”
“We can’t just destroy a pack in the Shifter Realm.”
The King of Hell lifted his chin stubbornly. “Yes, we can.”
“Let’s…hold off on that. Maybe we can talk to Raiden and Sapphire about how to deal with the pack.”
Lucifer sighed heavily. “I guess that could work.”
“Oh, and the shifter knew about the spell in the bracelet somehow. Not that it was syphoning magic, but that it was weakening him,” Castiel explained. “I’m not sure how he knew that, and I forgot to ask before I knocked him out.”
“I’ll make sure to ask.” Lucifer clasped him on the shoulder and grinned. “You certainly know how to brighten my day up.”
With that, he disappeared.
“Glad I could help,” Castiel muttered once he was gone.
“He is…terrifying,” Ava said with a tiny shudder.
“He grows on you,” he assured, then chuckled at her look of disbelief. Making a sweeping gesture with his arm, he said, “I told you the view from my balcony was impressive.”
“You did, and it really is.” She took a deep breath of the salt-tinged air and released it with a contented sigh. “It is beautiful here. I can’t believe we are in Italy right now.”
“You said you always wanted to come here. Now, you get to live here.”
“I remember you said that the house in Mystic and the villa are now connected?”
He nodded. “Come. Let me show you.”
Taking her hand, he led her into the bedroom through the double balcony doors, leaving them open. As soon as they were inside, he felt his wolves stirring on his arms. He’d told Ava about his familiars, but she hadn’t gotten a chance to meet them yet. With a sigh, he released them.
Ava let out a loud gasp when Ash and Myst appeared at her feet. “Oh, look at the beautiful babies!”
She fell to her knees and started kissing and hugging both of the wolves. She laughed when they tried to push closer to her, vying for attention.
“Enough of that,” Castiel protested after a few minutes. “Go hang out downstairs, you two. You can spend more time with Ava later.”
Ash and Myst both whined a little, then they disappeared.
“I still can’t believe your wolves have fewer problems using magic than I do.”
“They are not regular wolves since they’ve been infused with my magic.” He paused before saying, “I believe magic will also come easier to you once our bond is complete.”
Her eyes widened. “Well, that’s a bonus.”
He laughed at that.
“This feels weird. I mean, it feels weird because it doesn’t. It feels familiar. Like I’ve known you forever, even though we only met a few hours ago. I’m nervous, but not as nervous as I should be. Does that make any sense?”
“It does. I feel the same way,” he assured.
Ava glanced around the bedroom to calm those nerves she’d spoken of.
She had caught glimpses of it during their video calls, but it was vastly different seeing it in person.
Although some might have seen the bedroom as bare and unremarkable, she recognized a quiet beauty in its simplicity and lack of clutter.
The room was adorned with a high, vaulted ceiling that made the space feel twice as large, and walls that were a gentle, timeworn ivory.
There was a large rectangular fireplace in the center of the bedroom that naturally divided the room into two distinct spaces.
It was a striking centerpiece, encased in clear glass that allowed the flames to be seen from every angle.
Set into a low, rectangular base, the fire was stretched into a clean, linear ribbon, its warm glow contrasting with the cool blue of the water beyond the glass windows and balcony doors.
On one side of the room was an intimate sitting area with soft, comfortable oversized chairs, a small table, and a large dog bed sprawled out on the floor.
On the other side of the room was an enormous bed with a curved headboard that looked like waves carved out of wood.
The bed was covered with crisp white sheets, a mountain of pillows, and a pale gold comforter embellished with tiny flowers on the lower half.
Gauzy gold curtains moved and breathed with the light breeze blowing in through the open balcony doors.
The curtains diffused the sun into a soft, honeyed glow that settled over the polished stone floor, marking some spots with tiny rainbows.
The rhythmic sound of the waves against the cliffs added a musical backdrop that accompanied the quiet beauty of the room, and the air carried the faint scent of citrus and salt drifting up from the garden and sea below.
There were two wide wooden doors that she assumed led to the hallway and the bathroom.
She didn’t get to confirm that before Castiel led her into a wide hallway that turned out to be a massive walk-in closet with glass doors to protect an overabundance of clothes, shoes, and accessories on each side.
She gasped when she realized most of the clothes were for her. There was a wide assortment, ranging from casual outfits to formal gowns, and she had no doubt that everything would fit her perfectly. On the other side of the closet were Castiel’s clothes, though there was far less in that section.
At the back of the closet was another large wooden door. When Castiel opened it, there was a shimmering light. When the light cleared, she saw her studio in her house back in Mystic.
“This is our private entrance. Only you and I can use this portal. All you have to do is step through, and you will be in your studio. There is another portal door downstairs that is connected to the side entrance of the Mystic house.”
“Holy crap, it really is connected.” She laughed, delighted by the idea. “We really can live in Italy most of the time.”
“We can.”
He closed the door and turned to face her, sending her an intense look that made her heat skip a beat.
“We can do whatever you want.”