Chapter 36
Sera
A Few Seconds Earlier…
“Ugh,” I mutter, hating this damn magic tree. I’ve been ripping off pieces of bark and breaking twigs, but it just regenerates in a flash.
And each time it regenerates, it zaps me. Like a punishment.
“I need a kn—”
The air shimmers around me, cutting off my grumbled statement.
I swallow and look up, expecting to see more souls. But movement from my left has me snapping my gaze toward a truly unexpected sight. “Maliki.”
I stand, so beyond pleased to see him that I might weep.
But he stumbles forward with Morpheus right behind him.
“Oh, good, you’re—”
Morpheus turns around and runs right into the wall the pair of them just magically fell through. Only now the wall is made of rock again, apparently, so he collides with the solid surface and releases an irritated grunt.
I frown at him. “What are you doing?”
He grabs Maliki as panic settles over his features, the expression not one I’ve ever seen the God of Dreams make before.
Energy swirls and pulses, causing my frown to deepen.
Then Maliki and Morpheus lock gazes with one another. And… and freeze.
I stare at them. “Umm…” I creep forward, half expecting my mates to vanish. This all feels like a strange mirage. But I can feel the heat coming off my fae as I near them, their virile auras a welcome caress to my senses.
Only, they don’t appear to see me at all.
I wave a hand between their faces, trying to grab their attention.
Nothing.
“Are you even real?” I wonder out loud.
I grab Morpheus’s arm, wanting to see if I can feel him, and yank my touch away as electricity zips along my skin.
“What…?” That sensation reminds me of the tree suffocating Hades.
Narrowing my gaze, I poke Maliki and feel the same reaction.
Shaking out my hand, I evaluate their still forms. They’re very much aware, yet focused on each other. “You can’t see me or hear me,” I say, glancing back at Hades. “And you’re rooted to that treelike throne.”
None of it makes sense.
Like it can’t be real.
Only, it is.
I… I know this is happening.
Just like I can sense the life blossoming inside me—a life I couldn’t sense before… But Alina sensed it.
Because she saw through the mirage.
Does that mean I can see through mirages now, too?
Did I finally fracture whatever hold Demeter had on my Omega soul?
Is it because of Pip? I wonder, glancing up again. Does it have something to do with being reunited with my corporeal form?
I have so many questions and not nearly enough answers.
But if I am seeing through this mirage, then maybe there are other talents I can access. Talents like Alina’s.
She saved her mates from the illusions Demeter wove around them. Can I do the same now? Wake them all up to the reality around us?
Am I even seeing the full reality, though?
Hmm.
The tree seems to regenerate every time I try to pull it apart. But what if that’s all mental? What if there is no tree and Hades just needs to be woken up somehow?
I close my eyes, irritated by this game. Frustrated by Demeter’s tricks. Tired of being constantly used as a conduit for her plane of nonexistence.
I didn’t choose this path. I didn’t choose to be Persephone’s host. I didn’t choose to be Demeter’s link to Hades.
However, I did choose my mates.
I chose Maliki. I chose Morpheus. I…
My brow furrows. I didn’t choose Hades…
He was already linked to my soul, our fate intertwined without my consent. Although, I’m not disappointed in our destiny.
Well, I’m disappointed in how that destiny involves Demeter and this very twisted situation.
But when it comes to Hades, I’m not disappointed at all. In fact, I’m enthralled. He was a lot to take at first, especially with his marriage demands and the misunderstandings between us.
Then I saw the real him.
I saw the Alpha inside my fated mate.
The man who cares about his niece. Who is tender with me. Dominant, too. Yet oh so careful.
I walk back over to him and rest my palm against his cheek. “We still have so much more to explore together, Hades,” I tell him. “So much more life to live.”
I want that with all my mates. I want the child inside me to be born, to be raised by me and my mate-circle. To… to have our own experiences. To be Sera, not Persephone, not Serapina, not Demeter’s tool or daughter, just… just me.
No, not quite.
I want to experience us.
I want a future.
I want to build something fantastic.
But to do that, I need my mates to snap out of this daze, to be free from Demeter’s tricks, and to… to dismantle what she’s created.
She’s using my soul to reach Hades. And she’s also using me.
Because he reclaimed me.
So what happens if I claim him? Persephone never did that. She never engaged a bond-link of her own. And in searching her memories, I really can’t determine why. It’s like the consideration never crossed her mind.
Alphas claim.
Omegas submit.
Except, I know Omegas can claim, too.
Is that something Demeter never told her? Is there a reason the desire didn’t even occur to Persephone?
I stare down at Hades’s beautiful features. His cheekbones are so pronounced that they almost appear to be carved from stone. And his square jaw is equally as hard. But there’s a softness I’ve seen in his eyes, a softness I miss right now.
“I need you,” I tell him, my thumb tracing his lips. “You’re my mate, Hades. And I need you to come back to me… to help me fight.”
Because if Demeter can pull from his power by using me as a go-between, then he should be able to do the same to her.
Or maybe I can access them both, I think, looking inward at all the bonds inside me. The connections I possess with Maliki, Morpheus, and Hades. But also the links anchored into my soul—into Persephone’s essence.
My palm remains against Hades’s cheek as I hunt for Demeter’s mental hook.
It’s easy to find. Now I just have to figure out how to use the connection in reverse.
She’s the epitome of a life cycle, the mother of fertility, a creator of the harvest. Yet she’s poisoning her own power with death, weaving together a strand that shouldn’t exist.
It defies the laws of order.
The laws of life.
The laws of resurrection.
I can taste the wrongness on my tongue, the very tangible nature of it drawing me deeper into the web of her creation.
My heart hurts when I discover the plane of Omegas, the way they’re all housed in a prison that shouldn’t exist.
And my heart aches at the reason behind it, too.
Because Demeter’s intentions are not… infallible. She’s protecting lives in the way an Alpha feels she should—by seizing all control for the betterment of others.
However, that’s not what Omegas need or crave.
We want Alphas who respect our rights to choose our fates.
Alphas like Morpheus and Hades.
They’ve valued my consent. Respected my boundaries. Nurtured my desires.
And I’ve learned that Alphas have a goodness to them, too.
Demeter isn’t evil. She’s just… lost. Trying to make amends for a lifetime of atrocities. Trying to be a good mother to her daughter.
She’s failed, a fact that saddens my soul.
But I understand her, too. I understand that she never meant to cause pain. She just… never understood the point of a sanctuary.
All that knowledge comes to me on a whirlwind of energy as I slowly pull myself away from her manifestation and return to the present. To my Hades. My Morpheus. My Maliki.
“It’s time to wake up now,” I tell them. “To see the truth and help me fix the wrongs of the past.”
I’m not sure where these words are coming from; they seem to be a product of my inner being, of Persephone merging with my own psyche.
Or maybe I’m finally awake myself.
Finally embracing my inner Omega. My fate. My purpose.
I don’t question it. Instead, I lean down and kiss Hades softly on the lips, then lower my face to his neck.
“Persephone.” Demeter’s voice echoes through the chamber, her sudden presence not surprising me in the slightest.
Because she felt my mental prodding, my exploration, my knowledge.
She’s been in charge of my being from the moment I was reborn.
But it’s time to clip her wings. To dismantle her control. To free my soul.
A hand clasps my shoulder as a wave of dominance rolls through me, one that tries to force me to submit. My knees shake beneath the weight of it, my spirit screaming inside.
I don’t want to obey.
I don’t want to supplicate.
However, that presence is… it’s… it’s overwhelming. It’s harsh. It’s demanding.
“Stop this nonsense,” Demeter commands, her words echoing through my mind as she asserts even more power over me.
Morpheus and Hades have never made me feel this way. Have never throttled me with their Alpha auras. Have never growled in this manner.
Yet Demeter does so now, her presence suffocating.
Like the roots around Hades, I think dizzily.
My eyes are no longer open, my body succumbing to the will of another. A will I don’t want to bow to. A will that should never be asserted over me.
In all of Persephone’s memories, I can’t find a time when Demeter did this to her daughter.
But I realize now that there are patches of missing recollections, like the one I only recently recalled of what happened after Demeter put Persephone in the plane of nonexistence.
Has Demeter altered her daughter’s mind? That would make sense, given everything that happened. Given what Hades never knew.
The relationship between mother and daughter is so toxic. So wrong.
But she isn’t my mother.
Even if she forced my reincarnation, she’s not the one who raised me.
Alina was more of a mother figure to me than anyone else.
And Alina taught me how to be strong. She may have been a bit overprotective at times, too. But she understood the importance of thinking for herself and ensured I comprehended that importance as well.
It’s a trait my mates admire in me. A trait they’ve praised me for and fostered in their own unique ways.
A trait I refuse to ignore now, I think as my knees touch the ground. I will not bow. I… I dissent. That word echoes through my mind as I force my eyes to open once more.
I’m clutching Hades’s leg, his dress pants in tatters from the tree’s abusive hold around him. His hip is mostly bare, too, which is where I realize I’ve rested my head after kneeling on the cold stone floor.
But that’s not all I notice.
The roots… they seem to be less rigid than before. Almost like they’ve lost their hold due to Demeter being distracted.
By me, I think. She’s focused on me now, not him…
Her hand has shifted from my shoulder to my nape, her power swimming over every inch of my being.
But as I stare up at the Alpha who has shown me compassion, the Alpha who groveled after admitting his mistakes, the Alpha who never truly gave up on his mate… I realize that I want him to be mine. So very much mine.
He may have belonged to Persephone first.
However, he’s my Alpha now.
Part of my circle.
With Morpheus and Maliki.
All three of my fae. My mates. Mine.
Demeter isn’t part of our connection. She’s a foreign entity. A being of the past. The catalyst for our future.
I exist because of her.
But I’ve survived because of my decisions. My determination. My inner strength.
“I choose this,” I say, my voice barely audible due to the crushing presence behind me. “I choose my own path.”
Demeter growls, the sound harsh and clamorous against my senses.
However, a purr inside my mind helps battle the intensity.
A purr I love.
A purr I’m not sure I’m hearing in the present time or from the past.
Though, it doesn’t matter.
Because it’s enough to help free me from the proverbial noose around my neck. Enough to force me to act. I press my face into Hades’s hip, feel his bare skin touch my lips. And do the only thing I can think to do—I open my mouth and bite.