CHAPTER 5 #2
A heartbeat passed, and then Delano pressed his muzzle against the Primal’s hand.
“Well,” Emil drawled. “I guess he’s got the Delano stamp of approval.”
One side of the Primal’s lips curled up, and, sure as shit, a dimple appeared.
My gaze locked with Malik’s. There was no way he wasn’t thinking what I was.
This Primal was of our bloodline.
It made sense. Elementals were directly descended from gods. But a Primal god?
Delano backed off and returned to my side as I felt a pulse of awareness in my chest. My hands fisted.
The Primal’s stare lifted, a slight frown pulling at his brows as he swept his gaze over the hall. He’d felt Kieran, even though no one else seemed to have even heard his approach yet—not even Delano. I filed that piece of information away as the others finally picked up on Kieran’s arrival.
A second later, he burst into the shadowy hall, his chest rising and falling quickly.
My jaw clenched as I opened my senses, linking my mind to his. Did you forget what I said?
His pace didn’t change. I know what you said.
And?
As he drew closer, I saw that the bruises were gone. Good for him.
This isn’t about us, came his response.
I shut myself off from him before he could say more. My nostrils flared as I inhaled deeply. He was right. This wasn’t about us.
Kieran’s steps slowed as he caught sight of our odd-as-shit group. “I felt…” He trailed off as his gaze darted back to the Primal. His brows snapped together, and his stare shot toward Malik. “What the…?”
“Join the club,” my brother remarked.
“Interesting,” the Primal murmured, eyeing Kieran.
Kieran returned the blatant stare with one of his own.
Emil cleared his throat. “So, are we just going to ignore the fact that he looks like he’s a long-lost Da’Neer?”
The Primal didn’t look all that surprised by the last name. His gaze flicked to Malik. “Reaver said you needed help.”
Snapping out of my stupor, my chest tightened. “Did he tell you why?”
He pulled his stare from Malik and focused on me. Maybe it was my imagination, but he seemed to do so reluctantly. “He said you may have an…issue with your Queen.”
Feeling my brother turn toward me, I nodded. “Yeah.” I glanced at Kieran as he inched closer. “We have an issue .”
The Primal’s gaze flicked to the door behind me and then swept over our group again. “You can stay,” he said to me, then looked Kieran over once more. “He can, too. The rest need to leave.”
Malik stiffened. “I don’t know you. We don’t know you. So how about—?”
“It’s okay,” I cut in. “Kieran and I can handle him.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the Primal raise a brow.
“He’s a god,” Malik argued. “Who just popped up out of nowhere.”
“I asked Reaver to return to Iliseeum to see if anyone could help Poppy.” I confirmed what the Primal had said, not missing how his head jerked slightly when I said her name. “Clearly, that’s why he’s here.”
“That’s what he says.” Malik stepped in close. “And clearly , there is more going on than what you’ve said. Cas—”
“It’s fine,” I assured him, pushing my impatience down. My brother was worried; I could understand that. But we didn’t have time for this. “We’ve got this.” I let out a rough breath. “I need to get back to Poppy.”
Malik was still for a moment, then his jaw flexed, and he stepped back. Inhaling sharply, he turned to the Primal. “I don’t give two shits what you are,” he said, his voice low. “You fuck with my brother, I’m going to fuck with you.”
The Primal tipped his head to the side. “Noted.”
“I won’t be far,” Malik said to me.
I nodded, quickly glancing at Emil. His nostrils flared, but he gave me a curt nod and followed my brother. Delano hesitated, but I knew it was for a different reason. “You know I won’t let anything happen to her,” I quietly reminded him. “Go.”
For a few moments, his blue eyes remained locked on mine. Then, he rose, darting off and quickly catching up with the other two.
Kieran came forward with a frown, his observation of the Primal almost clinical.
“I understand their reluctance,” the Primal said, snapping my attention back to him. “They should be wary. You?” His shrewd gaze roamed over me. “You don’t seem wary at all.”
“I’m not,” I replied. “Because if you fuck with us or her, I won’t fuck with you back. I’ll rip your fucking heart out and then feed it to you.”
The glow of eather behind his pupils turned his eyes a luminous shade of quicksilver. “The one that looks like me. He’s your brother,” the Primal said after a moment. It wasn’t a question. “But he doesn’t feel like you.” He glanced back at Kieran. “And you don’t feel like a normal wolven.”
“Is that so?” Kieran asked, crossing his arms.
The Primal’s half-smile raised my hackles.
Mainly because I now knew what I looked like when I gave that same shit-eating smirk.
“Your brother is worried about your safety.” Silver eyes lit by eather locked on mine.
“That’s the only reason I let him speak that way to me. ” He stepped toward me. “But you?”
Kieran tensed.
“Clearly, the female beyond that door isn’t just a Queen to you,” he said.
“She’s not.” I held his stare as we stood toe-to-toe. The aura of power he let seep out of him coated every surface in the hall. “She’s my everything.”
“Which is the only reason I’m letting you speak to me like that.” Streaks of eather flashed across his irises. “But my tolerance has its limits. I hope that won’t become a problem.”
“As long as you know I have no tolerance when it comes to her safety, no.”
A muscle ticked…right in his temple . Fuck, it was eerie to see that.
Seconds passed. Neither of us moved or spoke. Our eyes remained locked. I knew I was pushing it.
“Casteel,” the Primal said, breaking the tense silence as he spoke my name for the first time. “Reaver was not exaggerating in his description of you.”
I could only imagine what that fuck had said. “It appears he left some details out, though. Like the fact that we’re related,” I drawled.
“That he did. And more.” He looked at Kieran. “Which makes you the wolven.”
“I have a name. It’s Kieran,” he replied. “And you are?”
“Someone you likely haven’t heard of.”
Kieran raised his brows. “Why don’t you indulge me and find out?”
“We really don’t have time for that.” The Primal’s gaze went to the door.
I moved to the side, blocking his view. While I believed Reaver had sent him, he wasn’t taking a step toward her without me knowing something about him. “What’s your name?”
Silence stretched between us, heavy and strained. “If your brother and I didn’t share such similar features, your”—he shook his head—“your attitude would be a clear indicator of our relation.”
My lips pressed flat. “Your name.”
Eather flared in his eyes. “Attes.”
“Never heard of you,” I replied.
“I’m likely too old to be remembered.”
“How old?” I asked.
“Only Nektas and Kolis are older than me,” he stated, shocking the shit out of me. “ That’s how old.”
“Wouldn’t that make you…?” Kieran trailed off.
My gaze sharpened on the Primal. “One of the original Primal gods.”
“Not original,” Attes corrected. “I am of the gods born of the original Primal gods.” His cool, silver gaze moved between us, then to the door. “I assume she sleeps?”
“She was asleep when I stepped out,” I told him. I had a feeling we’d know if she was awake. “What did Reaver tell you?”
“The basics.” Attes stepped back, running his fingers over the strap across his chest. “That your Queen woke from stasis with an…attachment.”
“Did he tell you she is a Primal god?” Kieran questioned.
Attes nodded.
“And did he tell you what the attachment is?” I followed.
“Kolis.” He spat the name with such vehemence it would be hard to feign such genuine disgust. I allowed myself to relax a fraction. “Reaver said he sensed him but wasn’t sure how it happened.”
“I’ve been trying to figure out how something like this is possible,” Kieran said. “I even spoke to Sven.”
I stiffened at the mention of Perry’s father.
“I didn’t give him any details,” Kieran quickly added. “But other than my father, he was the only person I could think of who might know something. Everything he brought up couldn’t have occurred.”
“I thought of something. The Revenant,” I said, and Kieran frowned. “He touched her while she was in stasis.”
Kieran inhaled sharply. “Fuck.”
“Where is this Revenant?” the Primal asked.
“Apparently, dead and decomposing in another cell,” I shared. Kieran showed no reaction to that, so I figured he’d either learned that around the same time I had or before.
Attes turned his head toward me. “How?”
“I killed him.”
His eyes narrowed. “You feel like a Primal. As does the wolven.” Eather crackled behind his pupils as he stepped closer to me. “But that’s impossible. Just as you being able to kill a Revenant is. So, what are you?”
“Extraordinarily impatient to help my wife,” I said since I couldn’t answer his question. I had no idea what the answer was. “That is what I am.”
The muscle in his temple started ticking again, more fiercely now. It caused the skin along the edges of his scar to pull taut. “There are some things I need to know first. Understand?”
My flesh cooled as the essence pulsed within me. “Understood.”
“Good,” he snarled. “What kind of state has she been in?”
“Not great.” I gritted the words, my chest throbbing.
“I need a little more detail than that,” he pressed. “What was she like when she first woke compared to now? How has her behavior been?”
Itching to get back to her, I took a deep breath and told him how she was upon waking and what had occurred since. “But even though she was confused, she was more worried about—” My voice thickened, and I cleared my throat. “She feared hurting me. Even now.”
Attes’s gaze sharpened. “It should’ve been impossible for her to fight the need to feed after Ascending.”