Masuk<3
OCTAVIA. Two months had passed since the war. Some days felt like a lifetime ago; others, I could close my eyes and be right back in the blood and ash.Blazing Fire lost forty-six members. Some were warriors cut down on the battlefield, while others survived the fighting only to wither away when their mate-bonds shattered. Those losses gutted Storm the most.The bonds broke the moment their partners died, leaving her no time to get to them. Otherwise, her Phoenix fire might’ve helped. Heartbreak killed some immediately. Others held on. Their bodies slowly shut down from the pain of losing the other half of their souls, something that destroyed a person.One woman fought for an entire week, enduring seven days of pure agony while the healers did everything they could just to keep her comfortable. Storm tried desperately to fix the damage, but nothing worked.In the end, we were completely helpless, left with nothing to do but hold her hand as she faded away. That was the loss that stay
OCTAVIA. Khufu was the first to voice the question they had both been sitting on.“Why us?” he asked, tilting his head. His usual sharp smile faded into something serious. “Out of everyone down here, why choose us?”There was more beneath the question than simple curiosity. His voice carried a slight roughness, and beside him, Breandán went completely still.Osric didn’t hesitate. He told them exactly what he had told the rest of us back in Roman’s office. He believed in second chances—not the kind handed out blindly, but the kind that gave someone the opportunity to become more than the worst thing they had ever done. Mistakes still carried consequences, and harm still demanded restitution. But punishment without purpose only created more pain, more anger, and more monsters.If someone was willing to own what they had done, make amends, and choose differently when given the opportunity, then they deserved the chance to prove they could be better. Restitution mattered more than retrib
ROMAN.Now, there is one less thing on our plates.But I couldn't tell you how good that felt until it happened... until there was a ruler in the Underworld who wasn't actively trying to destroy our species... until the burden I didn't know I carried finally lifted off my shoulders.And my mate didn't have to carry the burden of running it.Ever since Octavia and I had found each other, it had been one threat after another, an unbroken chain of wars and near-misses and enemies lining up to take a shot at tearing everything we'd built apart. Richard Vladimir. Lezdeus. All the little devils that had come out of the wood between.‘Nice pun,’ Creed said approvingly.‘Thanks. Thought so too.’Sadly, because of those issues, there had not been a lot of time that had been just for us. Not really in a way that counted.I wasn't normally a selfish man. I liked to think I put my pack, my people, before myself more often than not. But when it came to carving out time with my mate, I'd decided tha
OCTAVIA. I continued to go back and forth between the start and the end, studying each move that had been made since Lezdeus was placed on the board.Vladimir was bad enough without any help. An army of vampires with centuries of violence and cruelty carved into their bones, all of them hungry for a war they were arrogant enough to believe they couldn’t lose.Then Lezdeus had arrived. And he hadn’t come alone. He arrived with a massive contingent of demons.Vampires and demons. Two armies stronger than any other, with more soldiers, more power, and more experience. Twice, it had made me question whether we would have come out of this as winners or another chapter in someone else's conquest narrative.But we had. That's what I found myself going back to. For all their manpower, all their centuries of experience, all the bloodthirsty bastards they’d thrown at us, they still hadn’t won. Vladimir was dead. His army had fallen with him. And Lezdeus? He’d come expecting to enslave a Phoeni
ROMAN. ‘Bossy.’Warmth curled around me through the bond, carrying all the affection she didn’t need to put into words.‘You love it,’ she replied matter-of-factly.I did.Goddess help me, I fucking loved it.My muscles groaned in protest as I dragged myself out of bed. After the quickest shower that I’d probably taken since puberty, I yanked on the first pair of clean clothes within reach and went in search of my mate.Octavia looked up at me the second I stepped inside and smiled that brilliant smile of hers. The bright, unguarded one that belonged solely to me. It got me every damn time, knowing I was the lucky bastard who got to make her smile like that."There you are,” she said.Violet perched on the edge of the desk, clutching a mug of coffee as if it were the only thing keeping her conscious. Diera sat in the armchair by the window, looking far more put-together than anyone had a right to after the shitshow that was last night. The dark circles beneath her eyes, however, weren
ROMAN.Octavia was asleep before her head had even finished hitting the pillow.One second she was still talking, and the next her voice just stopped mid-word. Her whole body went slack against my chest. I caught her before she could fully collapse, easing her the rest of the way down, tucking the blanket around her shoulders while she didn't so much as stir.I didn't blame her. She and Storm had spent the entire night bleeding themselves dry twice over—first tearing through Vladimir's vampires and King Douchebag’s demons like judgment given teeth and claws. And then going back out to heal whoever would let her close enough to try, when any sane person would’ve collapsed and called it a night. My mate didn't know how to stop. Never had, and I doubt she ever would. It was one of about four hundred things I loved about her and one of about four hundred things that was going to put me in an early grave.I breathed in her scent, with one hand resting lightly on her hip, and let myself fina
OCTAVIA.My eyes fluttered a few times before they finally opened. Sunlight peeked out from behind the closed curtain.I looked around the room, disappointment filling me when I didn’t see Roman. He had offered to stay in the room if I wanted him to. I wasn’t certain if Storm told him that I’d been
ROMAN.“Man, that was amusing. Hopefully, you’ll get more opportunities to put people in their places. Watching that is always like watching a sports match where the hits keep coming, but you’re always undefeated. Not to mention that I’m currently in the pool of odds for you making someone piss the
ROMAN.“You good?” Brock asked me, raising a single brow.“Mhm. Just needing to get my head in the game. We need to keep our senses open. Creed feels like this mission will be important.”He nodded in understanding and put a three-way call between us and the guys that came with us so that we could
ROMAN.A cup of coffee obscured my vision. I grunted thanks and took a much-needed gulp of it.Brock chuckled and started the car. He knew that my morning functionality stayed about 10% until I got some caffeine in my system. That was what made him the best Beta that I could’ve asked for.It also he







