Chapter 21 - Alex
I knew Harper hadn’t slept with so much fidgeting. My soul was calmer, as if claiming her tonight had been the final puzzle piece to fall into place.
My mate and my children, that was all I needed in life. And I had finally gotten them. A future I never thought would be mine could finally take shape. But I didn’t expect to be woken up by the stifled sobs of my mate.
I was sitting up immediately, on edge for the danger, braced for the demons entering the cottage. But there was nothing—no scent, no humming in the air. Only Harper’s distressed cries, and her hand on my bare shoulder.
“What is it?” I demanded, already throwing back the sheets. “What’s happened?”
She shook her head, her eyes red-ringed, and only then did I realize what she held in her hand. It was everything we had bought at Greta’s store. The realization of why she had woken me up sank into me.
“Harper,” I began.
“I’m not going to wait any longer,” she said, her mind made up. “I can’t. I can’t , Alex. I want to summon the demon tonight. Now. I want to take the triplets to Adalyn’s or the villa.”
“Not the villa,” I said. “If you want to do the summoning, we’ll need them here.”
She nodded, wiping her eyes. I went to her, pulling her into my chest. I would protect her. I would keep her safe.
I wiped her tears from her cheeks, holding her face. I kissed her softly.
“I need you to hold on a moment,” I told her. She shook her head, stepping out of my embrace. But I held her still, not willing to let her go. “No, Harper. I mean it. Just hear me out. I know it was my idea, and I thought I could summon a demon to, I don’t know, bargain with it, or own it and influence it never corrupt this island ever again, but that was a flawed plan. It won’t work. I can’t control all of the demons by summoning one.”
“We can try .” She tugged on my forearm, trying to get me to budge.
“No,” I said softly. “No, Harper.” I grasped her face again. Her emerald eyes were filled with tears and fear. With urgency. “I can’t bear for this to potentially go wrong or for me to miscalculate anything. I—Harper, where are we going?”
“Just look.” She pulled me downstairs. Only then did I realize it was half an hour to midnight. Just enough time to drop off the triplets and call the group here. She was well-planned, and I loved her for it so much.
In the living room, Harper had cleared a space on the floor. She had prepared her summoning circle with candles, salt, and crystals. There was a grimoire on the sofa, all bought from Greta’s store.
“I need you to listen to me,” I demanded. “We’re not doing this. It's too unpredictable. I can’t guarantee that I’ll keep you safe.”
“But is our safety guaranteed otherwise?” Harper cried. “At least this way, we can say we tried—”
“Or we invite more danger!”
“Alex, I can’t live the rest of my life on this island, wondering when the next demon attack will happen! I can’t lose you. You’re not always going to be here to fight them. I might not always be at the triplets’ side when the demons arrive. But this… We could give this a shot. It could work. We have to try.”
“Harpie, we don’t know what demon this will even summon. We could get a low-ranked one with no power. Or we could get the most powerful demon who could kill us in an instant.”
She gripped my shoulders, curling her fists against my chest. “This place was always supposed to be my haven,” she told me. “My fresh start. From Haystock but also from you, at first. I need to do anything I can do, with or without you.”
“We do everything together now,” I growled.
“Then stand with me. If you want to protect me, I need you to do this. I once told you I didn’t need you…” I braced myself for what was coming up. “I need you now.”
“You’re lethal,” I told her, not quite finding the bite I wanted. I wasn’t trying to meet her with anger and quips anymore. Harper cried in my arms for a moment before she tipped her head back to me.
“I’m taking the triplets to Adalyn. Either come with me or don’t, but I’m asking your group to help on my way back. It’ll be their decision.”
***
Ten minutes to midnight. The triplets had been dropped off. Greta had taken them instead while insisting that Adalyn go because she was stronger, to which Adalyn argued, but she stood in the middle of Zephyr and Hector as Harper grabbed a box of matches.
“We don’t know what will be summoned,” I said. “But everyone needs to be on guard. Adalyn, any wards you can put up now, before the demon is summoned, would be great. Take whatever you need to do that.”
She nodded and darted away, outside. Zephyr followed her. I could hear their raised voices, and fought a smile. Two big personalities, clashing. Hector pulled his eyes from where they had disappeared to focus on his tablet.
“I can only give you a few seconds warning before a demon steps through,” he said. “But it's something. I can at least tell you if it's powerful.”
I nodded. Sweeney and Johnson were braced with knives. Frazer was outside, where Zephyr would also stay, both of them in wolf forms by the time the demon was summoned.
“Wait,” I said as Harper lit her match. I blew it out and grasped her face, kissing her deeply. She moaned into my mouth, and a cough sounded in the living room, but I didn’t care. I held her face roughly, kissing her with everything I had.
“If this fails,” she whispered. “You get to say I told you so .”
“Now isn’t the time to joke,” I muttered, kissing her again. I tried not to think about how tightly I had hugged my triplets before Greta had herded them into her house. They hadn’t known anything was wrong, and I envied their innocence. They had been enamored by the thought of a playdate with Greta and had packed their backpacks willingly.
This had to work. I refused to lose my mate and family the day I had claimed them.
“Okay,” I whispered. “Are you sure about this?”
“I’d never forgive myself if something happened to them, and I hadn’t tried to do anything beforehand.”
I hated the whole thing, hated that I had even suggested it and rooted that idea in Harper’s mind.
She finished the summoning circle and began the chant to summon the demon. The grimoire’s pages fluttered, blazing that familiar blue color. Harper’s hands trembled, her voice cracking, as she continued to chant. The space inside the circle crackled, clouding with smoke, and I saw the shape of a demon begin to become more visible.
“Harper,” I warned. “I’m going to shift.”
She nodded, and I hated shifting in such small spaces. But I had to. I would be able to protect her better as a wolf. I landed on all four paws just as the demon let out a screech into the night.
“It’s one of the demons on Commander Tylen’s radar,” Hector said. “It's one of the… Overlords, I suppose. I don’t know what term would be correct, but it's powerful. Be on guard.”
He unsheathed his own knife, brandishing it in front of me. But the demon cocked its head, waved his hand through the air, and Hector went flying through the air, slamming against the adjacent wall.
I let out a rumble at the demon at the sight of Hector picking himself up.
“Well, well,” the demon rasped. “This is a sight. Three wolves, three men, and a human. And…” It sniffed the air. “Is that a witch ? My, my, what a summoning! I would say this should go into Azure Cove’s records, but I’m afraid you won’t see out the night to record anything. I think I’ll start with you, wolf.”
Before I could dodge any magical attack, the demon cast a spell and hurled it at me. Suddenly, I found myself bound. Invisibly frozen, watching everything happening around me, still able to hear and see, but unable to move or even blink.
The demon laughed. “Much better.”
Internally, I roared and fought against the spell, which was powerful. I could feel it draining my energy rapidly, and I tried to push through it, but I couldn’t. My eyes remained open, and I wanted to tear the world apart when the demon spread its hand, revealing a leash of blazing blue.
“Now, pretty human, what’s your name?”
Harper glowered at the demon. “We’re here to make a deal.”
“Oh?” the demon smirked. “And why do you think you have that power?”
“I don’t,” she answered honestly. “But—”
“We do not make deals,” the demon said. “But I’ll make an exception if you tell me one little thing, human.”
“Anything.”
“How does it feel to exchange his life for your own?”
Before I could try to break free again, that leash was around Harper’s neck, and she was yanked to the demons side. She scrambled, kicking and crying out, fighting back to no avail. Everything in me fought the spell, but it was no use. I was useless. I had never felt so helpless. I had no power at all.
“What do you think, wolf? I can smell your bond with her. Would you give your life up for hers?” It cocked its head and let out a ringing, screeching laugh. “No, of course, you won’t. Here, why don’t you just blink if it’s a yes?”
It laughed, taunting me, knowing full well I couldn’t blink thanks to its spell.
“Or will you be selfish, Alpha?” the demon asked. “Just as you were all those years ago, and left your precious mate? It’s a shame. I could kill you both right now. Poor children, left without a mother or father. But I suppose they never really got to know their father, did they? They’d forget you, Alex. How does that make you feel?”
The taunts grew, and I forced myself to absorb all of them. I braced myself, gathering every inch of strength I had. The thought of my triplets growing up without either Harper or I, and the sight of my mate being dragged ever closer to that summoning circle—and wherever it led to beyond that—finally spurred me into action.
I broke the demon’s spell, and roared, launching myself across the action.
“Run!” Hector yelled to Harper. She rammed an elbow back into the demon’s side, doing very little, but she ducked in time, rolling towards Hector.
I bore down on the demon, my claws posed to tear into shreds.