Her Night Wolf (Fall Mountain Shifters Book 5), page 5
“You’re a naughty female, Mai,” he tells me.
I grin at him as he pulls out of me. “I know. Only when it comes to you and my personal mission of making you lose control more often.”
He only darkly chuckles, his cheeks burning red as he gets me a cloth and helps me clean up before dressing. I wrap my arms around him and cuddle him for a second. “I’m going to look at the book and order you all food before we both lose control again.”
His resounding growl sends shivers down my spine. “I’m coming for you when I’m done here.”
“Good,” I say, heading towards the door. I look over my shoulder at my alpha and the heat in his eyes. “I won’t run, and I will be naked when you do.”
His groan stays with me as I leave the room and try to ignore the guards outside who follow after me. After finding the cooks and ordering food for the alphas, sweet treats for Jesper, Trey and Serendipity, I go back to my bedroom and pull the book out from the side of my bed unit. I nibble on a turkey and stuffing sandwich as I start flicking through the empty pages. When my sandwich is gone, I feel nothing but annoyed at the empty book.
Why would the library give me this, right after Dot’s death, if it didn’t mean something? If it wasn’t useful?
The blank pages before me glow green, brightly beaming light into the room, and I have to cover my eyes before it starts to fade. I look down, surprised to see green vines crawling over the page, shaping themselves into words written in thorns and leaves. The words twist and spiral until they make a long paragraph for me to read, in an old language I shouldn’t know. But I do.
Or Persephone does, and somehow, I read it too. The book explains that the seven are the purest and strongest magic in the world, purer than the gods because they are souls of pure magic, made into mortal weapons.
“Morganis was made as a shield around the city Hades had made, using the mortal weapon to protect his home. He wished for more weapons for the spell he made, but he only had the one.”
It goes on and on about the details of making the shield, how Hades made it in the first place, and how the water in the waterfall is connected all the way to hell.
How does this help me?
The book flicks its pages over, and on another plain page, a spell appears, along with instructions on how to cast it. Everything from dropping the blood of a god or goddess on the weapon and the exact words to cast the shield.
“You want me to make a new shield? Or I suppose, strengthen the one that exists?”
Of course, the book doesn’t answer me, but I get a good feeling that I’m right.
I lean back on my bed, looking at the book and then to Morganis on my hip, Chaitala on the wall opposite me, and Iris on my finger. I have three of the seven, and I should be able to make a gigantic shield. I barely believe it as I look back down at the book. I don’t want to trust it for a second, but something deep down inside me knows that this is the right thing to do. I search for the alphas, wanting to tell them about this and deciding we can make this decision together.
“We are coming, mate,” Valentine whispers down the bond, and I smile. We do this together or not at all...and if it works, it might buy our pack the time we need to save us all.
Ragnar Fall
Following the pull towards my mate, I walk down the dim corridors of my home, feeling the shadows spreading around me, reacting to the dark magic in the core of my soul. It’s hard to avoid the shadows, the magic that comes with it, and the reminder of Hades, the presence I always feel connected to me. I am Hades. We are Hades. Yet even gods can’t always manage to save the ones they love, and every single day feels like another moment leading up to a war where I could lose her.
Mai.
My mate’s name is like a prayer as I whisper it to the shadows, to Hades, who is always listening in. He wants to protect her too, but not Mai...more Persephone. I believe he loves her blindly and deeply, and they were together for centuries. I want to say I can understand that love, but I see all the perfect and imperfect things in my mate, and I’d never, ever let her destroy herself in the way Persephone clearly has.
She took control of my mate.
A low growl echoes out of my chest, and the guards outside the corridor leading away from my mother’s room blanch in fear. When they see it wasn’t directed at them, they hold their heads higher. I glance back at the door to my mother’s room and think about her lying there, so pale and lifeless. I’ve always seen my mother as a fierce alpha female, strong and ready to battle any opponent. But now...she is broken, and I don’t know how I could possibly fix her. I don’t blame her for not waking up, because if something happened to Mai, I’d simply stop existing too. Part of me wishes she would wake up now, however selfish it may be for me to want her to wake up to help us save our pack. She could help me deal with the stubborn and stuck-in-their-ways plaza leaders, the never-ending list of problems, the last-minute mating ceremonies that need to be approved by an alpha, and the list that never seems to stop. I know it’s not always going to be like this, and my brothers are each taking their part of the responsibility, but we all feel like we have been given keys to a car when none of us can drive.
I miss tinkering in the garage, fixing things...and I barely remember a time when I had free time to do things like that. I wouldn’t change things, not when they led me back to Mai and back home to our pack, but it’s another tiny thing I will fight to have once again.
Mai.
I smile as I think of her, my length hardening in my trousers at the mere thought. Now that I remember who she is, I can’t get enough, and I always, always need to be around her. The protective and possessive urges are sated when we are close, but the war coming up is making my wolf feel threatened. The memories are all fleeting, but they are all bits of a long story that I now pretty much know everything about. My mind feels like it’s unlocked. I turn around a corner, the castle whispering in the wind, and I nearly bump straight into Phim, her hand tightly wrapped around the little girl’s hand at her side. Five guards follow them, and they all bow, and Phim only cockily smiles at me.
“Alpha,” she says. “What you up to?”
I smile at Serendipity, who shyly hides behind Phim. “Going to see my mate, what else?”
She peeps out from behind Phim, and the resemblance to her mother—my mate—is astonishing. She looks just like Mai did as a child, but there are some things about her that clearly come from her bastard of a father. This little girl, who is shy but bossy, makes me kneel down so we are on the same level.
The wolves guarding look shocked, but I don’t care what they think.
This is my mate’s daughter.
I will treat her as my own.
“Do you remember me? We travelled with Niall here together,” I question, offering her my hand. She looks at my hand and back up to Phim, who nods.
“This is your alpha and your mum’s mate,” Phim says, like she is reminding her and has told her before. She knows who I am and spent weeks asking me many questions about the pack that I didn’t have the answers to. I do now.
“Mairin,” she corrects Phim, with a sweet voice that seems so much older than she is. “I remember you.”
“Hello, Dip. How are you settling into the castle?” I ask.
She steps closer but doesn’t take my hand. I do notice she has a piece of folded paper in her hand. Her eyes, so much like her mother’s, flash like a green forest on fire. “I like it and my Auntie Seraphim.”
Phim cringes at the auntie title, and I smirk, remembering that for teasing her later on. “Good. What’s that you’ve got?”
Dip holds up a little painting for me after unfolding it. It’s good, for a toddler, and I’m pretty sure it’s meant to be fireworks over a sea. “That’s the famous firework show at the Styx Court? I saw it once on my travels. They set off thousands, and it’s beautiful.”
She nods. “You can have this.”
I take it off her and fold it carefully into my pocket. I’m going to treasure it.
Silas’s frustrated voice fills my mind. “Bastard. You got a gift from Dip? I gave her cake and a teddy bear, and she only frowned at me.”
“I gifted her the painting set, so really it’s a sign she liked my gift,” Henderson adds, very pleased with himself.
Mai chuckles down the bond. “So, fess up. Who gifted her the little sword? I thought it was Silas, but clearly not.”
All of us go silent, but it wasn’t me, and that means it must have been one of them. Valentine is unusually quiet.
“I’ll be with you soon, mate,” I tell her.
I feel her smile down the bond as they all leave. I smile at Dip. “Do you like fireworks, then?”
She nods. “The lights are pretty.”
“Just like you, princess,” Phim says, flicking her nose. She pulls a face at Phim, who pulls one right back.
For a second, a new memory flashes back into my mind of fireworks, brilliant and bright, filling up the black star-filled skies above the trees. It was when I was six, nearly seven. I was sitting with Mai at my side, her hand in mine. Even back then, even as a kid, I just wanted to be close to her, touching her all the time. Even just holding hands was enough to set my heart on fire. Enough to make my wolf howl. All I could see was the fireworks going off reflected in her eyes, because I don’t think I ever looked away. I just looked at her, all night, and it was the most beautiful firework show I’ve seen.
The memory flickers away, and I clear my throat before standing up. “We’ll have to have a firework show when things are a bit better. What do you think? They could be in your honour.”
She smiles widely at me. She is such a beautiful little girl, and it makes me paranoid how I’m going to fight off all the males who will one day want to court her.
“We will come up with a plan to scare them and see if they are worthy,” Valentine smoothly adds to my thoughts. I could put up a wall between us so he doesn’t hear them, but after sharing our thoughts for so long, it would be stranger to do that. “And if not, Dip will be well trained in combat by that age, and she can chop them up for us with the weapons I give her and have Silas train her with.”
“I knew the sword was you, Val,” Mai chuckles.
I grin at the conversation, and Phim frowns at me. “I hate the mating talking thing you do. It’s creepy.”
“It’s amazing,” I reply, looking at the dark circles under her eyes. “Do you need a break?”
“No,” she sharply replies. “I’m the best wolf to defend the children, and you know it. Plus, Dip and I have a lot of missed time to catch up on. It’s a great honour…it doesn’t mean I don’t worry.”
I nod, understanding. None of us deserve Phim, and I’m glad I now remember what a great wolf she is. I hope one day she finds that special female to make her happy and help heal the darker parts of her past.
“I have to go to see your mum,” I tell Dip.
“Mairin,” she corrects me quickly, and I try not to frown at that. She is very confused, and I don’t blame her.
I look at Phim. “Mai might have found a way to make a new shield with that book that was given to her in the library.”
Her eyes show nothing but relief. “This could be a game changer for us, and it means we don’t have to make any more deals with Draycian, who will no doubt end up our enemy when he realises Dip isn’t going anywhere.”
I agree. This is her home.
Phim looks down at Dip. “Let’s go and get some lunch to eat on the balcony. A bit of fresh air and a walk is good for us.”
“Stay with the guards at all times, Phim,” I warn her, an alpha command to his beta, and I know she is aware of the change. She is always my friend first, but sometimes I need her to be my beta, especially when war is on the brink of our city. “I feel like something is coming, and I want you to be ready.”
She nods at me. “Nothing will touch her or Trey or even that weird kid Jesper who my sister seems to adore so much.”
She wrinkles her nose, and Dip giggles. The sound is very sweet.
“He’s not that weird, just confused and scared,” I say, but I’m not sure even I believe it myself. I’ve only spoken to him twice. By spoken, I mean stand in silence in the same room as I try and fail to start a conversation. I have seen that he just opened up to Mai, and now that we are all aware he is Dip’s uncle and last living relative from her biological father’s side, I know we all need to try harder to make him feel welcome and safe here.
She arches a perfect eyebrow. “He’s very weird, but maybe you are right.”
I watch her walk away with Dip, who gives me a tiny wave, and it makes my heart feel warm. The guards follow after them, but we all know that Phim would kill ten times the amount of angels before the guards could even catch up.
I carry on down the bookcase-lined corridor, and on the stairs down to our floor, I catch up with Henderson.
“How are the memories today, brother?” he questions, tugging on his black cloak and clipping it at his neck.
“Fleeting at times. I remember the important parts, but little details pop up and surprise me sometimes,” I reply as we round a corner. “How is the training going?”
“Soren trained them well,” he states, but I get the feeling they aren’t quite as well-trained as he hoped they would be. I can sense his disappointment and fear for their lives. The angels have spent years killing and fighting, and our wolves have spent years locked behind walls, training only with themselves and not anything real.
I’m not surprised when I walk into Mai’s room, Silas and Valentine are already here. I breathe in my mate’s scent. Frost-kissed peaches and wisps of lavender but with our scent lying underneath hers. A reminder to every male that she is our mate.
A possessive thrill spreads through me from her scent alone.
When I see her, my body all but falls. She is so beautiful, so unaware of it, and her bright green eyes, the same colour as the jaded oceans of the Fenrir Court, lock onto mine. She smiles, and it lights up my entire body like a shot of electricity.
Or that one time I electrocuted myself while fixing a shit show of a car.
It hurt, but with Mai, gods, I want to feel it a million times over.
All three of them are looking over the book, and they are frowning. Valentine clears his throat, leaning back. “Why is it blank now? Doesn’t it know we can see your memories and you’ve shown it to us?”
“Maybe it doesn’t like Hades’s magic?” I question. “It could be warded against it, and if this book was from Dot—Demeter—then she would have bound it to not reveal anything when Hades was around. She hated him.”
Mai sighs and shuts the book. “It doesn’t matter. I can remember it. It feels like I know the spell, the old language, and I’m not sure I could forget a word if I tried. It makes me wonder if Persephone wrote this book.”
Silas tucks a stray bit of hair behind her ear. “Can we trust this book?”
I look from the book to the glowing sword, the dagger, and ring. Three of the legendary seven in one room, and a book who thinks they can be used to make a shield around our pack. Hundreds of thousands of lives rely on our decision.
Mai stays silent for a moment, and I feel her emotions slip into a spiral of worry. She is scared that this could be a trick and this whole decision could end our pack.
“We trust you,” I gently say, walking over and placing my hand on her shoulder. She covers my hand with hers, so soft, and a buzz of pleasure bounces down my spine at her nearness. I haven’t had enough of her, and I don’t think I ever will, and every hour has me counting down to when I can be with her again.
“I trust the book,” she says, her voice firm. “We need the help of the gods to save our pack at this point, or they will all die. We don’t have a choice, and I don’t feel like I’m making the wrong choice. This gamble is worth it.”
“Agreed,” Henderson says first. Silas and Valentine nod, and Mai looks up at me. My eyes drop to her pouty lips, so soft and pink like somewhere else. Fuck, focus, Ragnar.
Silas darkly chuckles at the change in my scent, and I pull my finger up at him. “I think we have to do this. I have something else I feel that we all need to talk about urgently and alone.” Any thoughts of stripping Mai bare and hearing her sweet moans as I slip inside her disappear as I begin. “I was going to see Reine when I received some news from our spying guards on the borders. Three armies of angels have joined Cenwyn’s forces outside, and I’m pretty sure Niall is with them, Deimos too.”
“They should be coming into the city soon,” Mai says with a big smile. I know how much her time cost us all, and her, to get those alliances that might just save us from a complete massacre. “We must have the tents set up and supplies ready.”
Valentine nods. “I will order it to begin immediately.”
“How many do you think they’re bringing?” Silas questions. “Callahan told us how well-trained the angels of Fenrir are. A few thousand of them could really help us.”
“Hundreds of thousands,” I say, remembering what the guard said. “They have both brought near enough their entire courts to this fight. I’m sure Cenwyn is thinking how fucking loyal they are.”
Silas wickedly smirks. “Wait until he finds out they are only loyal to our mate.”
“Hopefully, he makes some rash and unplanned decisions that we can use against him,” Henderson suggests.
“We need a better shield. Now,” Mai firmly says, climbing off the bed. She places her hands on her hips, and the bossy alpha female look she gives us all makes my cock hard.
Valentine leans down and kisses her softly. I thought I’d feel jealous of another male kissing my mate, and there are moments it’s hard to make my wolf back down because she’s our mate. But we grew up together, and I trust these males with my life, and with hers. Loving Mai has always been our connection, deeper than Hades and any magic could be.
I love her completely. I’ve willingly let her consume my entire soul without a fight.
