Chapter 39 Maliki
Maliki
Energy ripples through the room, causing my tattoos to writhe as I squeeze them around the Alpha bitch who dared to hurt my mates.
That branch came out of fucking nowhere, infuriating me to my core.
One moment, Demeter seemed to be asleep, and the next, her bloody tree creation speared through Hades and Sera.
If anything happens to her… I can’t finish the thought. I felt my own fucking heart break when the scene unfolded, but Sera almost instantly pieced me back together when she burst into a ray of power.
She’s alive, I tell myself for the thousandth time. She’s alive and needs me to fucking focus.
I send another bolt of agony—agony that rivals my own after watching that tree assault my mates—through my inky ribbons and directly into Demeter.
The bitch doesn’t even flinch.
Because she’s not aware.
She’s gone inside her mind to fight a battle none of us can see. But we can feel it.
Because Sera is tugging on our life strands as she weaves some sort of magical haven. Hades has taken the brunt of her need for power, his forehead sheened with sweat. He’s still holding Sera in his arms, his dominance and aura cloaking her in a shield of protection.
While Morpheus focuses on Demeter.
Through his mind, I can hear some of what’s happening, because he seems to be able to see it through her thoughts. Sort of like a mental escape or a dream, only this is very fucking real.
Our Goddess has created a new state of existence. A sanctuary for Omegas. I can feel it. And now—
Demeter roars, the sound echoing through the cavern as everything seems to go still.
The world.
The souls.
The entire fucking kingdom above us.
Even my heart.
Until a whooshing wave follows, the scream of spirits piercing my ears and forcing me to drop to the floor. They swirl in the cavern around us, answering to Hades’s power—a power that is furious in nature and marking him as a true God of this world.
He’s mending the Netherworld Kingdom, I realize, the sensation of it caressing my skin and raising the hairs along my arms. Styx…
I’ve always known Hades was powerful, but this is on a whole other level.
Because of Sera, I suddenly understand. Because of our circle.
He’s weaving together a new tapestry of death through his creation, healing the damaged souls and sending them back to where they belong—into an afterlife cycle.
Relief filters through the atmosphere as the spirits find peace, the flows of the death pits restoring order and allowing icy vitality to reenergize the fae of the kingdom.
I feel it running through my veins, healing something deep inside me that I didn’t even realize was broken.
Hades has always commented on how the fae don’t need to worship him, that referring to him as a lord was a ridiculous formality.
However, he’s proving to the kingdom now that he truly is their God. Their source of power. Their life.
Typhos Lucifer might be the Hell Fae King and manage the Hell Fae Realm, but the Netherworld Kingdom thrives because of their Mythos Fae Alpha God.
It’s something I never considered before, mostly because I’ve never seen Hades use the full extent of his abilities.
I’m absolutely witnessing it now.
And not just his talents, but Sera’s as well.
Fucking incredible, I breathe, my tattoos losing their grip on Demeter.
Because she’s no longer breathing.
Sera knocked the Alpha out, though I’m not quite sure how. Regardless, I’m fucking proud and wish our Omega would wake up so I could tell her.
And apologize, I think, wincing. I should have seen that damn tree…
Impossible, Morpheus replies into my mind, obviously hearing my thoughts. None of us saw that coming. But our mate is okay, as is the child inside her.
My focus instantly goes to Sera’s belly. “You can sense the baby?” The question spills from my lips, my body vibrating from a very different source than that power around us. “And it’s okay?”
“Yes,” Morpheus says, answering both of my queries with the single word.
Hades’s eyes open and he looks at me, his irises swirling with intensity. “I can sense you in the life energy inside her,” he says, then holds Sera out toward me. “Comfort our mate, Maliki. I need to have a word with Demeter.”
His choice of demands—comfort, not protect—makes me wince.
“Voicing a protection command is pointless,” Hades remarks, obviously overhearing my insecurity.
Or perhaps he just read it in my body language.
“You’ll always protect her, Maliki. We all will.
She’s our heart. Now help her heal; she just exuded a lot of effort, and it’s going to take her time to recover. ”
I don’t make him ask me a third time, just step forward and take our girl from his arms. She instantly curls into me, her lips parting on a sigh that warms every part of my being.
Sera’s alive.
She’s safe.
And our child is thriving, too, I think, closing my eyes as I wrap her in my soothing shadows. I don’t know if it’s actually my son or daughter, but it doesn’t matter who helped create the life inside Sera. That child will be loved by the circle and treated as our own, regardless of genetics.
Because we’re in this together.
As a unit.
Forever.
I press my forehead to Sera’s and hum into her mind, letting her hear my adoration and promises of eternity.
My mate. My everything.
I’m only vaguely aware of the energy swirling around us, of Hades approaching Demeter and grabbing her by the throat.
Morpheus joins me in surrounding Sera, his lips pressing a kiss to her temple. “Sleeping beauty,” he murmurs. “You are a wondrous Goddess, little dreamer. Your plane for the Omegas is beautiful and perfect.”
“Can you see it or just feel it?” I ask him.
Rather than respond, Morpheus pushes a visual into my mind of what he imagines the world looks like. I realize it’s not quite that he can see it for himself, but he’s picked up on the details through Hades’s and Sera’s minds, his power to fantasize and create visages helpful in painting a picture.
It might not be completely accurate, but I trust his instincts.
Just as I trust that Sera manifested exactly what the Mythos Fae Omegas need to thrive.
Hades releases a low growl, drawing my attention to him for a moment as he rips Demeter’s head from her body with his bare hands.
“A bit grotesque,” Morpheus murmurs. “But I understand the need.”
“She can’t die, though, right?” I ask, frowning as the body magically dissolves into a pile of dusty bones. “And how can we even be sure this is real? She’s proved to be clever and evasive.”
Hades doesn’t answer right away, his hand holding her head by the hair as it slowly begins to disintegrate like the rest of her. When whatever spell he’s woven reaches her forehead, he finally releases what remains of her form, then watches the rest of her turn to bone-colored ash.
With a wave of his hand, he sends her remains into a nearby geyser of souls and watches as the particles swirl upward with a scream of sound.
My lips part as a spirit seems to appear in the middle of the chaos, eyes wide and mouth open in an agonized snarl.
Hades cocks his head as he stares at the entity. “Thanks for the tip, Demeter. May your second chance be fruitful…” With another gesture of his hand, he sends the soul straight upward, the sound of fury echoing in its wake.
Until silence descends once more, and the other spirits continue to writhe happily in their space.
Order is fully restored.
I can feel it in every ounce of my being… because I feel Hades’s peace. Sera’s contentment. And Morpheus’s… amusement.
“That was clever,” the God of Dreams remarks. “Using her own invention against her.”
Hades shrugs. “Seemed a fitting punishment—she forced all the Omegas to go through a form of resurrection, why not send her into the same cycle? At least she won’t remember anything she’s done.”
“Until someone tells her,” Morpheus drawls.
“Maybe she’ll be reborn as a better God.”
“Is there such a thing?”
Hades looks at him. “We can hope, can’t we?” His words are serious, his mind telling me he’s thinking about all of the fallen Alphas in the Mythos Fae Realm. “Our home world is about to change… perhaps for the better.”
“With the return of Omega kind,” Morpheus says, his tone a bit more sober now.
“It would be nice to be able to return to our palaces someday.” He looks around the cavern, his blue-green gaze zeroing in on the flow of souls.
“But I fear we’re equally needed in this realm. Perhaps more needed, actually.”
He and Hades lock gazes.
“It would be nice to be able to visit the Mythos Fae Realm in the future,” Hades finally replies, reiterating Morpheus’s words with a twist. “But this is our home now—the Netherworld Kingdom and the Morpheus Kingdom.”
“Does that mean you’ll consider helping me build a new palace?” Morpheus asks him. “Perhaps on the mountain that stands over the tunnel between our kingdoms?”
Hades considers him. “What’s wrong with my palace?”
“Well, for one, it’s been destroyed,” Morpheus informs him. “Seems the God of this kingdom went on a date with a tree…” He looks at a pile of burnt bark crisps, making me recall how Morpheus and I were wrapped up in roots and branches after falling into this room.
Though, apparently, it was all a mirage.
But Hades was very much tied to whatever Demeter had created down here.
A tree, I guess, based on the mental conversation flowing in our mate-circle.
I shake my head. “This is going to get tiresome,” I mutter, already exhausted by all the outward and inward commentary. “Is there a way to turn it off?”
Morpheus, who is still standing close to me and now running his fingers absently through Sera’s hair, grins. “No, Enforcer. I’m afraid not.”
A sigh escapes me. “Great.”
Hades steps up to Morpheus’s side and looks at me. “I seem to recall you being in favor of listening to my cousin more,” he tells me, referring to the time when I told him that perhaps he should consider working with Morpheus, not against him. “I hope you enjoy headaches, subordinate.”