He growled his pleasure against me, making my muscles clench and my fingers grip the mattress. He drove me wild with his mouth, seeming to enjoy it as much as I did.

When the orgasm rushed over me, it nearly broke me. I gasped and cried out, sinking my hands into his hair as he kept up his passionate assault. As it finally faded, I opened my eyes and looked down at him. He stared up at me, his eyes so hot that they might as well have been made of fire.

“Lachlan, that was—” A tugging sensation pulled at me, yanking hard at my middle. Panicked, I grabbed him. “I can’t stop it!”

He held onto my hips, worried, but it wasn’t enough. The magic that had brought me there sucked me back through space, spinning me through the ether until I opened my eyes on the cold, hard floor of my workshop.

I stared up at the ceiling, my body still vibrating with pleasure.

Holy fates, had that just happened?

19

Eve

 

* * *

 

Of course, I slept like shit. My recovery nap was full of dreams of Lachlan, of desperate plans to free him and bring him back to me.

It was crazy. I knew that what we’d just done was the most we could hope for. It had been stupid of me to even try for it, but I hadn’t been able to help myself. The stress and fear of losing him had pushed me forward, and I found it difficult to regret.

With aching muscles, I climbed out of bed. There were still a couple hours left before we needed to be at the Maker’s ceremony, but it was time to rise.

I found Ralph sleeping on the sofa in the living room and another furry tail sticking out from beneath a pile of blankets on the chair across the room.

Cordelia.

I had no idea what mischief the two had been up to, but clearly, it had worn them out.

I left them to it and made my way downstairs to the main room. Most of my friends were already there, waking up with coffee and savory pastries.

Carrow met my gaze. “Garreth went to collect the shifters. Kenneth agreed to meet him in their courtyard.”

I nodded, taking coffee and a pastry for myself. Though I tried not to think of it, the previous night flashed through my mind.

“What’s that look on your face?” Carrow asked.

“Nothing.”

“Hmm.”

The door opened, and the Devil of Darkvale walked in, dressed entirely in black tactical wear. Carrow smiled at her mate, the most powerful vampire in Guild City.

I nodded my thanks to him, grateful that he was here. Normally, he kept busy with his own affairs as Guild City’s busiest mob boss. Today, though, the stakes were high enough that he’d come to help.

My other friends rose from their seats: Mac, Beatrix, Seraphia, and Quinn.

“Hades will meet us there,” Seraphia said.

How could we fail with this lot on our side?

We can do this.

I repeated it to myself over and over as we went to the Haunted Hound, where we would meet the shifters. Our forces were big enough. We would be okay.

Even as I said it to myself, I thought of the Maker.

I’d never seen anyone with his power. We might have gods on our side, but we had no idea what he was capable of. He also had an unknown number of soldiers on his side.

I shivered and pushed the thoughts away. This was the time for positive thinking.

A crowd of two dozen shifters waited for us in the Haunted Hound, piled between the tables as Kate, the third bartender, stared at them suspiciously.

Garreth stepped forward as I entered. “We have enough transport charms for our lot. Do you have enough for yours?”

I nodded. We’d managed to scavenge up enough.

“Then we’ll go.” He turned to the group, raising his voice. “I don’t know what to expect when we arrive. A great number of enemy forces, certainly. They’ll be spread out around the chambered cairn, I suspect. The Maker will hold Lachlan wherever he wants Eve to be, so we have to help her get there, all without being captured.”

It made the most sense. The Maker would draw me there and try to catch me. I just needed to be quick.

He’d been smart enough to know he shouldn’t bother telling me to come alone. It wouldn’t have happened. The downside of that was that he was likely prepared with his own army.

“There will be three glowing Moon Stones,” I said. “Likely near Lachlan, very likely within the cairn. We need to recover those.”

Everyone nodded.

“And thank you,” I said.

The shifters looked at me like I was a little crazy. Of course they would go to save their Alpha. But my friends nodded at me.

“It’s time.” Garreth pulled a collection of transport charms from his pocket and handed them out.

I did the same, and our groups gathered around. One by one, poofs of silver smoke exploded upward. We’d used a map to agree on a destination, and when I stepped into the ether, I imagined it.

Moments later, the magic spit me out in the cold, dark wind of Orkney’s main island. I drew in a bracing breath as my adrenaline hyped up, racing through my veins.

This was it.

I spun in a circle, taking in the thick, ancient forest around us. Trees were rare on these windswept islands, but I could imagine the Maker had chosen this one for the cover it provided.

My friends arrived at my side, wary and ready. Silently, our group appeared, growing larger and larger among the trees. There were nearly thirty of us, and the sight of them made hope flare in my chest.

We were going to succeed.

I took stock of the Shadow Guild, making sure everyone had arrived. As promised, Hades had joined us. He stood at the back, his black cloak billowing and his dark eyes trained on the forest ahead. Seraphia stood next to him, dressed in a deep green catsuit that suited her as the goddess of life.

Quinn shifted into his panther form, large and golden, while Mac drew her sword and gripped a potion bomb. I’d given her and Beatrix bags of bombs to fight with, and they wore them at their sides. Carrow stood with the Devil, her golden hair blowing on the wind as she stared ahead, her gaze hard.

My team was accounted for.

I sought out Garreth and nodded at him. He nodded back, the signal that he was ready to start. In a swirl of magic, he transformed into the huge auburn wolf that was his other form. All around him, his pack shifted into animals of all sizes and colors: wolves, panthers, an enormous stag, and a bear. The bigger, predatory shifters had come, and they stared intently forward.

We set off through the forest, moving silently among the trees. According to the map Garreth had created from memory, we were about two hundred yards from the chambered cairn.

The moonlight filtered through the trees, sparkling upon my skin and making power surge through me. I gripped my potion bomb, unsure if I should unleash my newest, most volatile magic. It was powerful, yes, but I’d been growing weaker every hour. If I used it, the odds were good that I would collapse and be unable to rise, the pain too much.

Safer to stick to the potion bombs.

When the first attack came, we were ready.

A line of demons charged, their faces twisted with menace and their weapons raised. There were fifty of them, easily. I hurled a potion bomb at one of the closest ones, taking him out in an explosion of fire.

The shifters charged, leaping upon their foes and taking them to the ground. Quinn joined them, his golden form sailing through the air to attack.