Chapter 28 #2
I butt the side of my face against his chest, rubbing against his skin. “Since the banquet.”
The slightest jerk is Askari’s only physical response as he says, “And Leonora didn’t ? —”
“I severed the threads before Leonora had a chance to find out.”
There’s a long beat of silence between us before Askari asks, “And now?”
“I’ll have to ask her what she wants, but if she’ll have me, I want to claim her.” I pause and shift back to my human form so I can say out loud, “I want to claim you both.”
He grins, his eyes alight with his joy.
Whoosh! Heat fills the room as Aries appears.
The giant god made of fire stumbles back, his hands raised, and lands on his ass.
I roll my lips between my teeth to keep from laughing as Alexandros staggers back in the opposite direction.
He’s half-shifted and hissing with hackles raised.
He looks like a feral street cat that was just in a fight …
and won. Alexandros glares at his father, and Aries waves his hands.
“All right. All right, already. We’re back. See?”
I bite my lips harder, but my smile is winning out.
Alexandros points a shaking finger at Aries. “Don’t ever pull a stunt like that again. Do you understand?”
Aries lowers his arms, places his hands on the floor on either side of his hips, and his flaming face pulls down in an actual pout. “Fine. Sorry.”
A loud snort escapes from me, and I slap a hand over my mouth as almost everyone looks at me in surprise …
including my brothers. Even Askari is looking back at me with wide eyes.
My shoulders tremble as I fight to keep my self under control, but then Kat giggles, and when I see Aries still sitting on the floor pouting like a child, I lose it.
My head falls back as my entire body shakes with laughter.
More giggles and laughs join mine. It feels so good to laugh—genuine soul-deep laughter.
I can’t stop. All the stress and adrenaline, all the worries and fear, all the …
everything comes out. Soon tears roll down my cheeks, and I realize I’m crying on the verge of breaking down into full-blown sobs.
My family closes in, hands, shoulders, legs … simple touches from those I love and who love me back, calming me like sun breaking through rain clouds.
When I refocus, Aries is up and towering over Gema and Leonora, but his earlier outrage is gone.
Now, he looks at Leonora with … pity? No.
It’s hard to read a face made of flame, but his expression holds something deeper.
The god crouches, wraps his hand around the Tooth of Sobek, and yanks.
Leonora screams, slumping forward, her long hair curtaining over her face.
Aries stands and holds out the tooth to Alexandros.
“You’ll want to hold on to this. It now contains …
” As his words drift off, he glances around the room and doesn’t finish that sentence as if deciding now isn’t the best time.
Alexandros takes the weapon with furrowed brows, questions obvious in his expression, but Aries just turns back to Leonora.
Alexandros weaves a quick sign, and the tooth disappears.
Not having eyes on the weapon that now holds most of Leonora’s power makes me twitchy, but Bodi trusts Alexandros, so I will as well.
Alexandros comes over to join our group …
our family, and Bodi opens an arm, making room for his beta to slide into his embrace.
He nuzzles Sadie’s hair, and the three sigh, melting into their shared hug.
Aries shakes his head with a quiet sigh, sending his fiery hair dancing.
With a gentleness I don’t expect, he bends down and scoops Leonora into his arms, but she kicks out, thrashing against his hold, shouting, “Let me go! They took it. They stole it! Aries, do something! Argh!” Her scream tears through the room, her pain and fear and rage almost palpable.
“I’ll kill them! I’ll kill them all and start over! The Leo clan will be reborn! I’ll?—”
Aries shifts his hold on her, gently grabbing the back of her neck with a burst of his magic.
Leonora’s eyes snap to his face a moment before she slumps in his arms, unconscious.
He tucks her back against his chest, ducking his head and whispering something to her, then looks at me, then Rian, Bodi, Alexandros, then back to me and says, “Those bonds you all severed, they were never about you, not really. She needed the guarantee of your love. She’s been … ”
Aries looks back down at Leonora, tenderly brushing her hair back from her face.
She looks so small in his arms, so fragile …
He aims his fiery gaze back at me. “We are gods. Forever is a long time, and when your existence stretches before you …” His eyes travel over my brothers before landing on his son.
“You all are demi-gods, so you have a long life ahead of you.” He hugs Leonora a little tighter.
“I can only hope that you never have to experience looking into eternity and find it empty of a love you once cherished.”
Amri’s body vibrates where it’s pressed against mine, and a soft growl rumbles from her throat. “It sounds like you’re making excuses, Aries.”
The god turns his flaming gaze on her, and I push my power into my muscles, growing taller and broader, but Aries doesn’t even flick a glance at me as he says, “No. No excuses.” He tilts his head, and a strange smirk tugs at his lips before he shrugs and says, “Okay, maybe I am, but?—”
Alexandros says, “Are you saying you and Leonora …? ”
Aries sighs, curling Leonora even tighter into his chest as he says, “It’s a long story.
” He is watching me, and when I meet his gaze, we stare at each other for a long moment before he dips his head in a barely perceptible nod.
His voice in my head crackles like flame, and the way my brothers and Alexandros stiffen tells me Aries is in their heads as well.
“Is this enough? You know how important power is—was—to her. Now that you have succeeded in taking almost all of it, is it enough?”
I narrow my eyes. “Almost all?”
“There’s still a spark. I pulled the tooth out before it could drain her completely."
Alexandros asks, “And if you hadn’t?”
Aries’ flames flare white before settling back to their reddish-orange. “She would have become human.”
Bodi chimes in. “You asked if this is enough. What if it’s not?”
Amri leans into me. “Look at her. I almost feel sorry for her.”
Bodi growls at my mate, and while I should say something about him using that tone with her, I don’t, because I just barely keep my own growl from escaping.
Amri ducks her head, partially hiding her smile. “I said almost .”
Kat shifts her weight. “You all have been silent for too long, which makes me think us non-Zodiacs are missing out on something.”
Rian nuzzles her hair. “I’ll explain in a minute.”
A hunter shouts, “Where are you taking her? We need her. She’s our goddess. The clan?—”
A deer shifter steps forward, and Amri’s voice slips into my mind. “That’s Mara. She’s the Virgo representative on the Council.”
I get the sense there’s more to the relationship between Amri and Mara, but the deer shifter raises her voice. “The Council will intervene to keep the magic of the Leos from unraveling, but the shared Sun-magic seems to be holding for now.”
Another Leo shouts fearfully, “Unraveling?”
And yet another cries out, “Just tell Aries he can’t take her! We can’t survive without the magic of our goddess.”
I push into my brothers’ minds. “Do we tell them she no longer has the power to sustain our clan?”
Bodi says, “Now doesn’t seem like the best time.”
Rian frowns. “But maybe ? —”
Leonora blinks and lifts her head. The room goes silent. She looks around, and then winces, arching against the obvious pain in her back. “Aries.” Leonora says his name like a plea, and the two disappear in a flash of flames.
A hunter shouts with a raised hand reaching for his goddess. “Hey!”
Kat moves her weight from foot-to-foot. “Are we really going to just let Aries take her? What—” She snaps her mouth shut as Rian explains using the mind-speak of their bond. Bodi does the same with Sadie, and the two witches stand wide-eyed as they absorb the information.
Leonora no longer has enough power to act as our goddess.
Rian knuckles Kat’s chin upward and presses a kiss to her lips. “ Let Aries deal with her. We’re done fighting gods for today. ”
Her gaze darts between his eyes. “ But? ”
Rian shakes his head, and maybe he said something just between them, because Kat drops her shoulders and doesn’t say anything else.
Amri pushes into my mind. “Are you worried about her coming back? What if Aries is able to restore her power? ”
I take a moment to think about it, but can’t seem to find the strength to dredge up any more anxiety, so I say, “Not really. I get the feeling Aries has been looking for a second chance with Leonora for a very long time, and maybe she’ll find some peace with him?
But if not, I’m pretty sure Aries will do almost anything to make Alexandros happy and keep him safe, so … ”
Amri turns, looking up at me, and I see the skepticism on her face, but after a second, her features smooth out, and she stands on tiptoes, whispering, “What now?”
I look over her head at the crowded room.
At some point, Gema and Justice left. Circe stands near a side wall, having a hushed conversation with Hela and a few of the other witches, and Ramesh, actually in his human form, hovers close to the coven leader.
Other witches talk with shifters, making introductions, gesturing around the room.
Some—shifters and witches—sit on the floor, looking too tired or shocked to do anything else.
A few shifters remain in their full animal form, and some in their half-shift.
Both witches and shifters help heal those too drained to do it themselves.
Even a few hunters with masks either removed or pushed up on top of their heads, help where they can.
This. This is the clan I wanted and thought I had as a cub, but the reality of it … I’m not naive enough to think it’s going to be all sunshine and roses from here on out, but I hope the Leo clan—at the very least—can find our way and be … better.
My gaze snags on a small group of half-a-dozen hunters and a few other Leos, arms crossed, eyes narrowed, lips tight.
And there … leaning against the far wall are two more hunters with that same unhappy scowl on their faces.
As I continue to look around the room, I count forty-three Leos and hunters who look less-than-pleased at the outcome of today’s events.
The last thing I want is for them to have the ch ance to rally and start fear-mongering.
Freedom can be a scary thing … daunting, and it would only take some carefully placed words to make some Leos decide that they were in fact better off with Leonora calling all the shots.
I realize I haven’t answered Amri, because I’m not sure how to answer. What now, indeed?
My panther purrs and brushes his side against me. “I have a few ideas.”
I smirk at him, but find myself glancing around once more, but this time I’m wondering how inappropriate it would be to sneak off with Amri to find a little privacy.
Her hands wrap around the back of my neck, pulling my attention down to her, and I’m met with her brilliant ice-blue eyes and her wicked smile as she says, “I like what that look in your eye suggests, but?—”
I press my mouth to hers, sealing her bottom lip between mine for a long, luxurious moment. When I pull back, I brush our noses together. “No buts.”
She raises a brow. “No butts?”
I bark a loud laugh that startles Sadie where she’s standing off to the side and draws more than a few eyes. Askari chuckles, and while Amri lets go of my neck, lowering from her tiptoes, I keep an arm around her waist, holding her close.
I look at my beta. “Are you okay? Is there still any pain? Any discomfort? Stars, I’m so sorry, Kar. I?—”
Askari holds up a hand, shakes his head, then rolls his shoulders.
“That guilt you feel? I feel it too.” He presses a hand to his chest. “You were out.” He nods at my neck, bare of the collar.
“You were free, and I was used to draw you back.” I open my mouth to protest, but he holds up a hand again, stalling my words as he says, “I know I’m not responsible for Leonora’s actions.
And I know if it hadn’t been me, she would have found another way to get you back.
But it was me, and I’ll carry that guilt until I’m somehow able to let it go.
” Askari stands taller, and a smile lights up his eyes.
“And that hit of your god magic or whatever it was, healed everything. So, I’m fine.
More than fine, actually. That was some powerful magic. Thank you, Alpha.”
I frown at him. “Malik.”
He smirks and shakes his head again. “You know my conditions.”
Meeting and holding his stare, I say, “And I’m happy to meet them.”
Alexandros claps Askari on the back. “Welcome to the family. I’m Alexandros, Bodi’s mate and beta.”
Askari hugs Alexandros, and the two rub cheeks as is the Leo way, and when they pull back, Askari says, “Thank you, and I know who you are.” He looks around at my brothers and their mates. “I know you all, and I’m so very pleased that Malik has his family back.”
Sadie wipes a tear from her eye before it falls, and Bodi wraps his arms around Askari, picking him up in a big hug. “There’s no amount of gratitude I can show you for taking care of Malik.”
Bodi sets my beta down, and Askari blushes as he bows his head. “It has been and always will be my honor.”
I clear my throat, denying the emotion that’s trying to mist my eyes, but Kat sniffles and chokes out, “Damn.”