Elementi: The Complete Series Copyright 2025 © Creative Wonder Publishing

All rights reserved.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used to reproduce, scan, or be distributed in any printed or electronic form in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations for articles or reviews. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials.

Knight, Elizabeth

Elementi: The Complete Series

Editing: Ms. K Editing & Leavens Editing

Cover artist: Malice & Mayhem

Formatting: Creative Wonder Publishing

ONE

LAILAH

No matter how old you are, going to a new school always sucks. When that new school is in an entirely new country? Well, that makes it even worse. After graduation, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life, so I decided not to force myself into choosing right away. I knew that having no friends and no aspirations would eventually be a problem, especially since I was the only one in my family who had no goals.

After graduation, I helped out at my parents’ diner for a few months, which they begrudgingly let me do while I added my name to every college list I could find. None of the schools I applied to seemed quite right though, until I received an email from a school overseas, Ryevick University.

The school’s aesthetic enraptured me. Ryevick was somehow both whimsical and modern. The grounds were filled with ornate gardens and buildings with architecture I’d only seen in history books. I’ve always had a soft spot for history. It’s a chance to see what we’ve lost, but also to see how far we’ve come. Once I discovered Ryevick required an ancestry test with their application, I sent off my essay and pinprick test the very next day. Three weeks later, I received my acceptance letter in the mail with a full-ride scholarship, housing included.

Ryevick University is located in Drittilyn, a small country in northwest Europe. Although it was a country that I’d never heard of, it seemed too good to be true. Drittilyn is surrounded by so many countries, it's a wonder the common language of the people is English. They drive on the right side of the road, and the US dollar is worth double the value. Who knew that such a magical place existed? And I would never have known about the school in the first place if I hadn’t received that email.

I walked out of the airport into a new world, and it was nerve-racking. I couldn’t even figure out where the taxis were located. My sense of direction has always been horrible. For the love of God, don’t tell me to go north, then head east. Give me landmarks! The last time I thought I could find my way with compass directions, I ended up in the boys’ locker room after a football game. So many naked men, my eyes burned for weeks. Not to mention the onslaught of voyeurism jokes from the football players in the halls for the next month.

Following the signs in the airport, I successfully managed to find the area where Taxis were waiting. Walking up to the first one available I smiled at the driver as he helped me with my two suitcases.

“Where to?” the driver asked with a hint of an accent I couldn’t place.

“Ryevick University. I’m a new student there,” I answered as I slipped into the back of the cab.

“I’ve done that trip twice today already, so you’re in good hands. It’ll take us about an hour if the traffic isn’t too bad,” he said as he pulled away from the curb. “Ever been to Drittilyn before?” he asked.

“No, I’ve never left the US before,” I answered, letting the conversation end as I took in my surroundings.

Once we were outside the city, I felt like we had driven straight into a Jane Austen novel. The rolling hills stretched on for miles. They were dotted with local farms and pastures full of sheep, cows, and goats eating their fill of grass. Amidst the greenery, old brick houses were covered in overgrown ivy. It reminded me of a Thomas Kinkade painting my mother had gotten for Christmas one year. It felt like I was traveling into a dream world, only I could never have come up with something so perfect on my own.

As we got closer to the school, the scenery started to transform into a modern traditional hybrid. New contemporary homes and businesses were mixed in alongside original homesteads. All the while, still retaining the true nature of the surrounding land. The campus covered a vast acreage with historic-looking buildings blending with newer additions, like the dorm that I would be staying in, Ashfall Hall. Thankfully, the taxi driver was familiar with the school grounds, so I didn’t have to navigate for him. With my lack of directional skills, we would have been driving around until dark and still looking for the dorm.

As I got out of the taxi, I stared up at the two tall, glass buildings that made up the dorms. The tempered glass reflected the waning sunlight, making it seem like it was glowing from the inside out. From the information booklet I had received with my acceptance letter, I knew one building was for the boys, and the other was for the girls. Bridging the two buildings were three common rooms: one on the third floor, one on the fifth floor, and one on the tenth floor. Seeing it in person, I realized the pictures sure as hell didn’t do it any justice.

As I looked around, what terrified me the most was ten floors full of complete strangers that I was going to be living with. I’d never had trouble getting along with people, and I was always able to fit in, but my problem was finding a way to stand out, to be noticed, to be remembered. Pushing past my trepidation, I took a deep breath, gripped my suitcases tighter, and strode in through the front doors. No turning back now.

My first impression of the dorm was chaos. In a small sitting area, crying mothers hugged their children goodbye while fathers carried in the last of the belongings. Old friends reunited and shrieked with excitement for the new school year to begin. I was a lost entity in the storm of activity and had no clue what I was supposed to do next.

“Hey, you! Are you here to check in for Ashfall Hall?” a girl carrying a clipboard and a haggard expression on her face asked.

“Yes, I’m Lailah, Lailah Mackenzie,” I answered.

The girl scanned down her list of names until she found mine. She frowned and looked up at me. “Oh, you're the scholarship kid.”

“Um, I guess,” I said, with a shrug.

“Cami,” the girl yelled, startling me. “Your charity case is here for you.”

After the unflattering summons, a small ball of energy popped out of the crowd and walked toward us. Her silver hair was shaved on both sides and the longer strands on top were tousled in every direction. Cami wore a baggy gray sweatshirt that hung off one of her shoulders, proudly displaying her neon-yellow bra strap and tattooed shoulder. I didn’t think she was even wearing pants, then she shifted, and saw a sliver of neon-yellow shorts peeking out from underneath her sweatshirt. With wide green eyes and an expressive face, I watched every move she made.

“Welcome to Ashfall Hall. Lailah Mackenzie, I presume,” she said, stopping in front of me and thrusting out her hand.

“Ah, yes that’s me,” I said, shaking her hand.

“I’m Cami, your personal attaché for your first week of school,” she said with a wide grin.

“Attaché? Why would I need one of those?” I asked.

“Who knows, but it sounded like fun.” Cami shrugged her shoulders and grabbed my suitcase. “Come on, let me show you where you’ll be staying.”

I followed behind her and asked, “Why was that girl acting all weird about me having a scholarship? Doesn’t stuff like that happen all the time?”

“You, missy, are the first female student to ever get a full-ride scholarship. At Ryevick there seems to be a predominantly-male student body,” she replied, faking a gag. “So, when a girl gets to come here on a scholarship, you better believe she’ll be the talk of the town. They’re just jealous because they got way lower scores then you did. So they have to pay. They also miss out on my stellar company, which I find is the bigger loss,” Cami said, wagging her eyebrows at me.

I was shocked by this information. Sure, I’d always done well in school, but I wasn’t some wonder child. What score could I have possibly gotten on the ACT that would have given me a full-ride scholarship?

“You must be tired from your flight,” Cami said offhandedly.

“How did you know I flew here?” I asked in surprise.

Cami winked at me. “With an accent like yours, and the out of control mane you’ve got going on, it lets me know it’s been a long flight. So, my money's on somewhere in the States.”

A laugh burst out of me at her bluntness. “I’m from Wisconsin. I come from a small town no one’s heard of. The population is a thousand people, most of them farmers.”

“Yeah, your clothes look like they come from a place no one’s ever heard of either. No need to fret, I’ve got you covered, sister. I know all the best spots near the school to shop,” Cami said, nudging my arm.

Cami and I stepped inside an elevator at the end of the hall, and she hit the button for the tenth floor. It only took a few seconds, and the doors to the elevator opened. Across the entry, floor-to-ceiling windows made up an entire wall, overlooking the campus. Since this was the top floor, I was overlooking the entire campus in all its glory. I saw small groups of people on tours and a large garden across the road that spanned a few acres from what I could see. Close by, there was a large reflecting pool with a stunning fountain in the middle of it. Past that, was a flower garden blooming with color. I spied the top of a huge mansion in the distance, hidden behind ornate windbreak trees. From what I could tell, whoever lived there would give Bill Gates a run for his money.

“Oh my gosh, look at that place. Who lives there?” I gasped.

“Oh, that place. The students call it The Manor. The five prodigal sons live there. Trust me, you don’t want to mess with them. A cute girl like you would be too tempting for them,” Cami said, winking at me. “If I thought I had a shot with you, I’d be first in line, but something tells me that you live on the straight and narrow path.”

I blushed under the compliment and her teasing, unsure of what to say. It had been a long time since I'd had a girlfriend to hang out with. I never seemed to find the right group of friends to fit in with. My biggest hope for this new adventure was to be more confident and make some friends. Cami seemed like the perfect person to start with.

“To be honest, I never thought I’d get into this school. It was just so breathtaking online I couldn’t help but send in my application. Then, to find out I not only got in but got a full ride. I couldn’t believe it,” I said, following Cami as she walked down the hall.

“I guess it’s a pretty cool place. This building is super strange though, because none of the dorm rooms have windows. Weird, right? They say this building was funded by a major corporation that wanted to construct an energy-efficient building,” Cami said, using air quotations. “Not sure how trapping us in a box without sunlight is energy efficient, but whatever. The payoff is when you walk out of your room, you’ll have one of the best views of the grounds. Plus, you’ll be close to the common room and the elevator,” she continued as she walked.

“I never knew a place like this could exist,” I muttered to myself. “The dorms seem so modern whereas the school seems to be stuck in a time capsule.”

“This is you,” Cami said excitedly, guiding me to the door and waving a keycard in front of the sensor.

I expected the room to be tiny with two twin beds, two desks, and a small closet, but that’s not what I found when I opened the door. This quaint room clearly was meant for one person. The main area was open and simple. A brown loveseat and a low table made up the living room area. To the left of the couch was a bare bed, waiting for me to dress it. Along another wall, there was a desk with a chair that would be perfect for doing schoolwork. On the opposite side of the room was a wall covered in wooden cubby squares for storage.

“So, what do you think?” Cami asked with a grin and her hands on her hips.

“I can’t believe this is really going to be my dorm room for the next year,” I said, returning her smile. “This will be the first time I’ll be on my own.”

“Now it’s time to party like a rock star! I saw that you shipped some boxes. I might know a guy who can help bring those up if you want me to ask,” Cami offered. “Oh, before I forget, classes start on Monday, so make sure you have everything you need by Sunday. Normally, all the shops close early on Saturdays and Sundays, but lucky for you, they’re open late this weekend.”

“Thank you for everything,” I said, feeling my eyelids drooping as a wave of tiredness hit me. “I don’t know what I would’ve done trying to manage this on my own.”

“Girl, don’t stress it. Hey, if you want, I can go with you into town and help you find things you need,” Cami offered, squeezing my arm reassuringly.

I nodded. “Oh, God, I would love you forever; you have no idea how bad I am with directions. I might get lost and never be heard from again if I tried to go alone.”

Cami laughed like I made a joke. Little did she know how bad it really was. “Let me see if I can get those boxes up here so you can take a nap. You’re fading faster than a stoner.”

As Cami left my room, I tried to stay awake by unpacking my suitcase. I found a dresser built into the wall by the cubbies, and I thought that was a brilliant idea since space was limited. When I finally finished putting away the basics of my life, I trudged down the hall to find the bathroom. I badly needed to wash up, fifteen hours on a plane was brutal, and I felt gross.

I found the girls’ bathroom in the opposite direction of the common room, as far away from my room as possible. I walked in carrying my gallon Ziplock bag of toiletries and set it on the long counter of sinks. I looked up at the mirror and groaned, my mascara had given me a lovely raccoon shadow to compliment my crystal-blue eyes. I blew a rogue strand of my curly blonde hair out of my face as I bent down to wash my face. It wasn’t until I had rinsed off that I’d forgotten that I needed a towel. I looked around for something to use and found the dispenser for paper towels. I grabbed a few and started to dab at my face.

“Looks like the charity case can’t even afford a towel,” a girl commented as she passed me, coming out of one of the showers.

“I have one,” I called after her as she left. “I just forgot it in my room.”

Just what I needed: catty girls to deal with. I hope this whole scholarship thing will blow over fast.

Not feeling very optimistic, I grabbed my Ziplock and left the bathroom without doing anything to the mass of curls on my head. Besides, I didn’t want to be gone too long in case Cami’s connection brought up my stuff. Sure enough, when I got back, two boxes were sitting outside my door. The third and last box was filled with books, and I kind of felt bad for whoever was roped into bringing it up. When I packed, there was no way I could leave behind the closest things to friends that I had. Shoving the first boxes in my room, I started to remove the tape when a knock sounded at my door.

“I have the last of your things. If you don’t mind opening the door, this one is a bit heavy,” a deep voice came from the other side.

“Be there in a sec,” I answered, trotting over to the door.

I opened it to find a large black man with a charming smile on his face. I pulled the door open the rest of the way so he could walk in. As he set the box down, I noticed the back of his black polo read Security.

I didn’t realize Cami would send someone from security to carry my boxes.

“Thank you very much for bringing all this up. I hope it wasn’t too much trouble. I wasn’t sure how much I was going to need from home,” I said, a little embarrassed by the amount that I’d packed. It was almost as if I’d moved half my room by the time I’d packed everything.

“No trouble at all, Cami’s a good egg with all her crazy,” he said with a conspiratorial grin that I couldn’t help but reciprocate.

“I’m sorry, I feel so rude, I didn’t even ask your name. I’m Lailah,” I said, holding out my hand.

“Tony,” he said, swallowing my own hand with his.

“Nice to meet you, Tony. How did Cami manage to rope you into helping me out? I’m sure working security has you very busy today with all the students and families coming and going,” I mused.

Tony just shrugged his broad shoulders. “This building is part of my zone, so when she asked me to help a damsel in distress, her words, mind you. I couldn’t refuse. She doesn’t ask for too many favors, and she doesn’t exactly blend in at this school, so making real friends is a little tough.”

“Seriously? I would have guessed Cami is the person everyone would want to be friends with,” I said in shock.

“I agree, but when your family has ties to the five most eligible men on campus, you never know who’s truly your friend,” Tony explained.

I nodded my head and tried to muse that over. I’d never had any connections with desirable people, so I had no way to relate. “Don’t worry, I have no interest in getting involved in the school drama. I just want to enjoy my first year of college and being out on my own.”

“Let’s make a deal. You keep an eye on her for me, and if you ever find yourself in trouble, I’d be happy to come to help you out,” Tony said and pulled out a card from his back pocket. “Here's my cell number; call or text me anytime if you need me.”

“Thanks,” I said, taking the card and feeling more at ease, now that I had someone looking out for me.

After Tony left, I looked at the unopened boxes on the floor. “Well, if I’m going to sleep tonight, I might need to unbox these. I wouldn’t want people thinking I can’t afford sheets,” I said, opening the box I knew had my sheets and towels in them.

Once the bed was made, I gave in to my exhaustion and curled up, falling asleep the moment my head hit the pillow.

TWO

LAILAH

Having slept peacefully through the night, I woke up feeling refreshed and excited. I glanced over at the clock and saw it was well into the day. How had I slept till almost noon? I wandered over to the dresser and grabbed fresh clothes for the day. I pulled on some yoga pants and an oversized Notre Dame hoodie that my brother Dylan had given me. That he had given me in hopes that I’d follow in his footsteps.

I decided to finish unpacking and opened the box that had ‘books’ written on it. I peeled off the tape and started placing the books in the cubbies along the wall. Seeing all my favorite books made me feel more at home. Just when I was going to open the next box, someone knocked on the door. Curious to see who it could be, I opened the door and smiled.

“Did Tony bring up your stuff last night?” Cami asked, brushing past me and jumping on my rumpled bed.

“Yeah, thanks for asking him. He’s super nice,” I said, walking back over to my boxes.

“Tony has been with Ryevick for ages. He knows my sisters, so when I started here last year, they had him keep an eye on me to make sure I didn’t do anything too crazy,” she said, flopping onto her belly to watch me unpack while kicking her feet.

I opened the next box and Elle the elephant, my favorite stuffed animal, popped out and landed on the floor. Cami jumped off the bed and picked Elle up before I could even blink.

“This is so cute,” Cami squealed.

I laughed at her excitement. I’d wanted to take Elle on the plane with me, but I didn’t think I could handle the looks I would have gotten from people. Now that I’d seen how being the scholarship student had drawn so much attention, I was glad I hadn’t added to it.

Carefully, I pulled out the family photo my mom had packed for me. After my graduation, she’d made us all get dressed up and take a fancy family photo. I went to go set it on the desk, but Cami was right at my elbow, pulling the frame out of my hands.

“Is this your family?”

“Yup, those are my parents, Bonnie and Luke. They own the best diner in my hometown, called Percy’s. The good-looking guy is my older brother Dylan. He just graduated from Notre Dame this past summer with his MBA and is going back to get a law degree. He has always wanted to take over our parents' diner when they retire, so he decided to stay in school a little longer. The little punk next to me, who looks like he has been tortured for the past hour, is Kyle. He’s a freshman in high school this year.” As I talked about them, I felt tears well up in my eyes.

I’d been so good about not crying through this whole thing. Mom had bawled her eyes out as I got on the plane, but I’d managed to hold it together. Apparently, this was the moment it all started to hit me like a ton of bricks. I was in a completely different country, with an ocean and a fifteen-hour flight between us. I wasn’t going to be able to just drive a few hours and be home for a weekend like Dylan could.

“Oh, hun, don’t cry,” Cami said as she threw her arms around me. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you sad. Let’s go out this afternoon, and I’ll show you around town. That will cheer you up.”

As much as I appreciated her comfort, I couldn’t help but giggle because she was so short, her head was resting perfectly on my boobs. That thought lightened my mood, and I brushed away the tears.

“That sounds like fun,” I said, patting her on the back before I pulled out of her hug. “So, tell me about you.”

Cami walked back to my bed and fell backward on it again. “Me? Well, my room is one floor down, right next to the elevator, lucky number six. Thank God I don’t have a roommate this year. The girl I lived last year with was the worst. Hmm, let's see, what else,” Cami said, sitting up suddenly. “Oh! I’m going to school for journalism! I love to get all up in people’s business, so my parents suggested that I make it a job.”

I shook my head and laughed as I continued to pull stuff out of the boxes and put it away. “You mentioned Tony knew your sisters, are they older or younger?”

“I have two older sisters, but one's a half-sister. They're cool, I guess. They are always trying to push me into being more involved in the family business,” Cami said, scrunching up her face in distaste.

“That's funny, my parents couldn’t wait to get me out of the family business. Since Dylan was already planning on taking it over, they didn’t see the need for me to waste my potential. I think they have me mixed up with Kyle, because he’s the wonder child. He’s at this crazy prep school an hour away from home that my mom has to drive him to every day,” I explained. “When I said that I didn’t understand how I got a scholarship for this school, I wasn’t kidding. I’m a good student, but nothing that could match up to his abilities.”

“They must have seen something impressive about you if they gave you one of the four scholarships they have for the year,” Cami countered.

“The only thing I’m really good at is running track and hurdles, but this school doesn’t have anything sports-related on campus,” I said, sitting on the couch.

“Oh, girl, you will never catch me running. I would much rather take out what's chasing me than run from it,” Cami said, standing up. She waved at me to follow her. “Come on, let's go get some lunch. There’s a great little sandwich place in Nettleton. And don’t forget to bring your class list so we can grab your books.”

“I really need a shower. Can we go after I get ready quick?” I asked Cami before she could drag me out the door.

She gave me a once-over and nodded. “That might be a good idea.” She walked over to my dresser and started rifling through my clothes. When she got to my T-shirt drawer, she started laughing. “These are gold, girl. I couldn’t have picked better. Where did you get them?”

“My brothers started my collection of sassy shirts after they broke into my room and read my journal from when I was in middle school. They said my inner snark needed an outlet, so for every birthday and Christmas, I get new shirts that they find. After a while, I embraced it and started buying some of my own,” I said, smiling and remembering how it all started.

“Sounds like your brothers and I would get along,” Cami said, handing me a stack of clothes. “Now, go shower. We have important shenanigans to get up to.”

I showered as fast as I could so she wouldn’t have to wait too long. I tore a comb through my curly hair as it fell to the middle of my back. There was no time to dry it with my diffuser, so I threw some curl cream in and called it good. I wiggled into the jeans Cami had grabbed and looked at what shirt she picked out. It said, “I’m not short, I’m concentrated awesome.” I laughed and put it on. I’d never thought of myself as tall, but compared to Cami, I was. Ready for the day, I headed back to my room to grab the rest of my stuff so we could head out.

“So, how are we getting to town? Do they have a shuttle for the students to use?” I asked, slipping on some sandals.

Cami looked at me like I had just asked her if she wanted to eat dirt. “Oh, my poor, sweet country bumpkin, that will never happen. I have a car here. I’ll drive, unless you know how to drive a stick?”

I shook my head vigorously. “Trust me, you do not want me driving, we’ll end up in another country.”

“Perfect, I love driving,” Cami said, grabbing a purse that she must’ve brought up while I was in the shower.

I walked with Cami to the elevator, and we exited the dorm out the back, where the student parking was. I scanned the cars, wondering which one was hers. All of them looked sleek and expensive. I would only ever own one in my dreams. Cami walked up to a small neon-green car with black detailing on it. The car chirped as she unlocked it, and she waved for me to hurry up. The car didn’t look like it could hold more than two people, but once I was inside, I was surprised by how roomy it was.

“What kind of car is this?” I asked.

Before she answered, she hit a button, and the fabric roof started to roll back, letting in the sunlight and fresh air. “It’s a Fiat 500, custom color, of course. I can’t get lost in the parking lot looking for this little guy.”

I laughed, thinking that is exactly something I would need to do when I got my next car. My laughing got cut short as Cami dropped the clutch, and we rocketed out of the parking spot and onto the street. Looked like I was going to die before I even got to start school.

“Cami, slow the hell down,” I yelled after clutching the armrests.

“Calm your tits, we’ll be just fine. I drive like this all the time. Why do you think I bought this car?” Cami said and giggled as she turned on the radio, blasting the car with the top ten hits.

My wild curls whipped around my head, slapping me in the face as we went. Thankfully, I always kept a scrunchie on my wrist for moments like this. I trapped my hair in a messy bun on my head, and I was now able to at least see some of the blurring scenery as we went. Unsurprisingly, it didn’t take us long to get into town and for Cami to swoop into a parking spot. As she cut the engine, she looked over at me triumphantly, like keeping us alive was noteworthy.

It took me a minute to get out of the car and get my equilibrium back. Once I got past the dizziness, I finally had a chance to look around. The little town of Nettleton had been well-preserved. All the modern cars that were parked along the stone-faced shops looked so out of place. The tires of the cars passing by sounded funny as they rolled over the cobblestone roadway. Each shop had a hand-painted, wooden sign that let shoppers know what they offered inside. Groups of students, full of energy, laughed and dashed in and out of the stores with loaded bags.

“Come on, the sandwich shop is just around the corner,” Cami said, locking the car and walking away.

Slipping my purse over my shoulder, I jogged after her. For a person with such short legs, she moved superfast. I couldn’t get over the feeling that I was on a movie set or something. There’s no way a place like this could be around in real life. Maybe it was just because I hadn’t traveled out of my home state, but this felt strange.

The sandwich shop was cute. We ordered our sandwiches at the counter and then found a place to sit and eat. We decided to eat inside since the last of the summer heat was still hanging on.

“Besides your school supplies, is there anything else we need to get you while you're in town?” Cami asked as we cleaned up after our meal.

“Not that I can think of, but I’m sure I’ve missed something. Guess we’ll just have to make another trip,” I said, smiling because I liked the idea of having a friend to go shopping with.

“To make the most of today, I figured we need to stop in every shop, so you at least know what is available. For research, of course,” Cami said, winking at me.

Cami was going to be good at helping me get out of my own bubble. “Where to first?” I asked.

“Seeing as we just finished lunch, I think dessert is in order. There is a kick-ass bakery just up the way that you have to try,” Cami said, holding the door open for us to leave.

Cami wasn’t lying when she said the bakery was awesome. Everything they displayed looked so decadent. As I scanned the case, I stumbled upon the cookie section and was immediately drawn to the colorful ones. Sugar cookies were my favorite thing in the world. My mother made the best soft-textured sugar cookies ever. She promised to send me a care package of them at some point, but I knew I would have to find a new dealer for my obsession.

“Would you like a sample?” the older woman behind the counter asked.

“Yes, I would love to try them,” I said, practically bouncing with joy.

“Did you want to try the frosted or soft kind?” she asked.

“Um, the soft, please,” I said, lifting my hands to take the chunk of cookie she’d cut for me.

I popped the morsel into my mouth and hummed with delight. It was almost as perfect as my mother’s recipe, and that was singing some high praise. “I would like to buy two of them, please.”

The woman wrapped up the two cookies for me and handed them to me when I’d paid.

“You seemed pretty happy to get those cookies,” Cami commented, giggling.

“They say that diamonds are the way to a woman’s heart, but for me, it’s through sugar cookies.” I laughed and pulled out a cookie.

As we exited the bakery, I lifted the cookie to my mouth, when I bumped into someone and dropped the cookie. I stared in shock at the crushed bit of cookie on the sidewalk and looked up to glare at whoever ran into me. Cami beat me to it.

“God! Parker! You’re such an idiot! Don’t you know to look where you're going? You totally smashed her cookie, asshole,” Cami snapped at the guy who’d run into me.

“Fuck off, Cami, it was an accident,” Parker said, going toe to toe with Cami.

Parker was handsome, like came-down-from-Mount-Olympus handsome. He was tall and buff like a football player, but I could tell he would still move with agile grace. His spiky red hair, warm brown eyes, and full lips perfectly complemented his strong facial features. He also seemed to have quite the female posse shadowing him. There were five girls behind him frowning at us.

“At least buy the girl another cookie to make up for your complete incompetence,” Cami said with her hands on her hips, eliciting gasps from the other girls.

Parker looked up at me as if he was noticing me for the first time. “I’m sorry I killed your cookie. I wasn’t expecting an angel to come crashing into town, let alone crash into one myself. If I’d known, I would have been paying better attention.”

I almost choked on my own spit hearing this guy making a pass at me. I had only ever had one boyfriend before, and that hadn’t ended very well. I cleared my throat quietly, trying to pull my act together.

“It happens. But make sure you’re watching out for people next time,” I said, trying to sound as disapproving as I felt, though I was flustered by his attention.

“Let me make up for it by getting you another cookie. It’s the least I can do,” he said, ducking into the shop without waiting for an answer and ignoring the fact that Cami came up with the idea first.

Cami and I waited awkwardly outside with the other girls he had been hanging out with. I couldn’t help but fidget uncomfortably. Thankfully, Parker didn’t take long, and he reappeared with a fresh sugar cookie for me.

He handed it over with a flourishing bow. “Might I know the name of the fair maiden this cookie is for?”

“Lailah, that’s my name,” I said lamely. Avoiding his eyes as I added the cookie to the bag with the other one I bought for safekeeping, not wanting to risk it while he was still around.

God. Why am I so awkward when it comes to good-looking guys?

“Lailah. A lovely name for a lovely lady. Where are you guys off to next? I would like to offer my escort services to make sure this cookie remains unharmed,” Parker said, grinning again.

“We don’t need your help! It looks like you have enough women you're dealing with today. No need to worry about us. I’ve got this covered,” Cami said, grabbing my arm and pulling me away without a second thought. “We need to hit up the bookstore before we have that leech trying to attach himself to us for the rest of the day.”

“What’s his deal?” I asked, surprised at how much he’d gotten under Cami’s skin.

“He’s one of the five that live in The Manor,” Cami said as we crossed the street and headed for a building that had a line wrapped around the corner.

“Cami. Lailah. Wait up,” Parker yelled from behind us.

I looked over my shoulder to see him running after us, free of his fan club. Cami didn’t slow at all but sped up instead. Parker jogged up to us and then fell into step on my other side.

“Did you guys hear me?” he asked.

“We heard, just didn’t care,” Cami retorted.

“Geeze, Cami. Why do you have to be such a hard-ass all the time?” Parker grumbled.

Cami stopped and looked at him with a frown. “Parker, we’ve known each other for almost our entire lives, I know Lailah is not going to be your next plaything. I am doing you both a favor, just trust me on this.”

I felt like there was more to that statement than I got at face value, but it didn’t seem to matter to Parker.

“Whatever; I can be friends with Lailah,” he said and turned to me. “Would you like to be my friend?”

My head was spinning from all their back and forth. “All I want to do is go to school and keep out of the drama. I just want a normal college experience.”

“I didn’t hear a no in there,” Parker said, smiling and walking with us toward the bookstore.

As we approached, I noticed a familiar security guard at the front of the line. “Wow. They need a bookstore bouncer?” I asked.

“Yup, that’s Tony. He is a nice guy; he also works for the school security team,” Parker said as he walked up to Tony.

“Hey, Lailah, good to see you again,” Tony said, winking. “I see you’re already making more friends. You let me know if Parker here ever gets out of hand, I’ll straighten him out for ya.”

“Not cool, man. Don’t be spreading lies about me,” Parker said, punching Tony’s arm.

Ignoring Parker, Tony turned to me. “You got your list of books?”

“Yeah, I have it right here,” I said, showing it to him.

“Well, in you go then,” he said, holding the door open for us and grinning. “Not you, Parker, I know you don’t need anything from the bookstore,” Tony said, grabbing Parker’s shoulder.

Cami proceeded to stick her tongue out at him as she passed him into the bookstore. “Thanks a million, Tony. You’re a real gem, and don’t let anyone tell you any different.”

THREE

PARKER

Iwatched the girls enter the bookstore and then turned to Tony. “What gives, man? Why is Cami back at school anyway?”

“You know I can’t tell you stuff like that, no matter who you are. If you want to know, ask Beth,” Tony said, crossing his arms.

“Have any of the other guys seen her back at school?” I pressed.

“Talk to Beth,” Tony said, unwilling to budge.

“What happened to pals before gals? Man code? Is nothing sacred?” I asked, shaking my head slowly.

“Leave, Parker. You can’t wait out here until they come back out,” Tony said, catching on to my plan.

“Fine. I’m going. But know that I’m disappointed in you, Tony,” I said over my shoulder.

After I walked down the block, I found a bench to sit on. I pulled out my phone and sent Beth a text.

Parker:

Hey, I ran into Cami… didn’t know she was coming back.

I set my phone down and gave her a few minutes to answer. My thoughts drifted to the girl Cami was with—Lailah. I felt awful that I ran into her and killed her cookie. I hated that it happened to such an attractive girl, too. I’m sure Cami is filling her head full of lies about me just for her own enjoyment.

Lailah was not like the typical girls who came to our school. She didn’t seem rich, power-hungry, or a gold digger. No, I got a small-town vibe from her. She didn’t need makeup to look beautiful or have perfectly-styled hair. I liked that she was comfortable in her own skin. It was super attractive in a whole new way. I would even say there was something between us. It was like my powers recognized that she was unique as well. Hmm, I wonder if Beth knows anything about her?

My phone buzzed with Beth’s response.

Beth:

Leave her alone, Parker. It took a lot of convincing to get her to come back. I don’t need you sticking your nose in this.

Parker:

That’s harsh, Miss B. Hey! Do you know anything about her friend Lailah?

Beth:

She’s a scholarship student, freshman, why do you ask?

Parker:

IDK I just felt something when I ran into her and wondered if you had any intel on her

Beth:

Parker, I am not your dating service, if you want to know something, maybe you should talk to her. Oh, and don’t call me Miss B.

I shook my head, knowing that was all I was going to get out of her. She was right about one thing; I was definitely going to need to talk to Lailah again.

FOUR

LAILAH

For the rest of the weekend, Cami and I hung out, and she showed me the basics of dorm life. She also helped me find the dining hall after I failed to find it on my own and spent a good hour wandering around. Having Cami around also seemed to keep people from making snide remarks about my scholarship. I hoped that the novelty of it would fade soon.

“I know you don’t have classes tomorrow because it’s orientation day, but I could really use your help finding the auditorium,” I begged Cami as we headed back to the dorm after dinner.

“You’re lucky I like you, Lala,” Cami said, using the nickname she had picked for me. “What time do you need to be there?”

“You're a lifesaver, Cami,” I said, and I hugged her. “It starts at eight.”

“Why are you taking that stupid class anyway? Who actually signs up for Freshman 101?” Cami grumbled.

“It’s University 101 Cami, and I’ve been so fascinated with the school, I thought taking a class about it would be fun,” I said, defending my choice.

“Whatever. I’ll make sure I get you to your lame class tomorrow, but you’re buying my coffee,” she said, waving goodnight to me as she got off the elevator on her floor.

The next day I would be starting my first day as a college student, it was exciting and terrifying at the same time. Thankfully, I had managed to figure out a plan with Cami so she could help me get to classes for the first week. We had a lot of classes in the same buildings, or at least they were on the way, so it worked out easily enough. When I reached my room, I sorted through what books I would need and double-checked the syllabus to make sure I didn’t forget anything. Feeling as ready as I was going to be, I set my alarm for six-thirty and curled up in bed with my favorite book. I needed to end the night with a little Mr. Darcy.

“Rise and shine. This is your six-thirty-a.m. alarm. The forecast today is overcast with a high of sixty-eight degrees.”

I rolled over and groped around for my phone on the nightstand to turn off my alarm. I groaned as I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and remembered that I hadn’t given myself a huge amount of time to get ready. I shuffled my way down the hall to the bathroom. After washing my face and brushing my teeth, I tackled my hair. I left it down and contemplated how it looked. I felt like the cowardly lion from the Wizard of Oz with my wild curls loose. I tried to pin it up in a cute way but failed to find something that worked. Giving up, I just piled it on top of my head again in my usual messy bun. I brushed on some mascara and filled in my brows, trying to make it look like I made an extra effort.

Back in my room, I pulled out my nice white skinny jeans and a silky blush-colored top to go with it. After slipping my shoes on, I was about to leave to meet Cami in the lobby when I paused to grab my long olive sweater just in case the classroom got cold. I threw my messenger bag across my body, and I did one last sweep of the room to make sure I didn’t forget anything. Satisfied, I headed down to meet Cami so we could grab a coffee on the way to my class.

It wasn’t hard to spot Cami, half asleep in one of the lobby armchairs. “Lala, I’m not sure this friendship is going to work out if you're going to make me do this all the time.”

I walked over and pulled her out of the chair. “Come on. I’ll get you the biggest cup of coffee the school has to offer.”

Cami grunted at this and followed me out the door. Once we crossed the street onto the main campus, Cami took over leading the way. We reached the coffee shop, and thankfully, it wasn’t packed.

“Morning, Cami. Want your usual extra-large black coffee?” the guy taking orders asked.

I raised my eyebrows at Cami, surprised to see this guy knew her and her order so readily. Cami just shrugged at me. “I like coffee, so sue me.”

“I’m paying for her addiction today. Could you add a chai tea latte for me?”

Cami gave me a funny look as the barista handed over her massive cup of coffee. “You make fun of me for my coffee, and yet you order that crap?”

“I love the smell of coffee but never acquired a taste for it,” I said, walking over to the pickup counter.

“Just so we're clear, I am never ordering that for you. I will not have anyone thinking that I’m drinking that froufrou shit,” Cami said, walking out of the coffee shop. I grabbed my drink and hurried after her.

“I never would have guessed you’d be so judgmental over my drink choices,” I said, teasing her and knowing that her attitude would lighten up as she drank her coffee.

Cami’s only response was a grunt from behind the lid of her coffee cup. I took in the sights of the school as we walked through the main buildings. The architecture was beautiful and showed the beauty of an age gone by. The intricate craftsmanship of each door, window, and archway could never be replicated. Finally reaching the core of the school, I noticed all the other students bustling about and heading to class. They milled about, chatting with friends or looking at school maps trying to find the right building. I was so grateful to have Cami at my side, so I didn’t have to wander for hours. Even with a map, I would have been lost in less than ten seconds.

“Remind me again. You have this class, and then when am I supposed to check in with you?” Cami asked as we reached the auditorium doors.

“This class has two parts today. We have the class here for an hour, then we go on a tour of the grounds. They didn’t say how long it would take, so I’ll just text you when I get done and tell you where I’m at,” I said, double-checking that I had my phone on me.

“Works for me. Make good choices and learn lots!” Cami said, waving as she walked away.

I pulled open the old, heavy wooden door and walked in. The auditorium had stadium seating and a stage with a podium in the front. I found a seat in the middle section for the best view and took out a notebook and pen.

A girl behind me snickered to her friend. “Look at the good little scholarship student, she thinks she’s going to learn something in this class.”

I reached my breaking point with all the snide scholarship remarks. I turned slightly in my seat and looked over my shoulder. “If you think this class is so lame, why did you decide to take it?”

Not feeling the need to wait for an answer, I faced forward again just in time to see the teacher walk up to the podium. He was an older man with white hair that was cut close to his head, trying to diminish the fact that he was balding. His face was full of laugh lines, giving me a clue to his personality. His brown eyes were intelligent and warm as he looked out over the room.

“Welcome, students. I’m Mr. Phillips, your professor for University 101. In this class, we will be learning about the history of our school and the town surrounding it. I hope that by the end of this semester, you will have a greater appreciation for the history that you get to experience every day,” Professor Phillips said, greeting the class.

“Today, our class will be broken up into two sections. First, we will go over the syllabus and my expectations for my students. Then, we will head out for a tour of the grounds. We have combined all the different classes together for today, so the Student Council will be helping me out since I am severely outnumbered by all of you,” he said with a smile and a wink that made everyone laugh.

I could tell I was going to like learning from Mr. Phillips. I pulled out my syllabus to follow along as he went over it. The class went by quickly, and soon, we were all asked to gather in the quad for the tour. I filed out of the auditorium and pitched my empty cup. I followed the crowd, hoping that they would lead me to where I was supposed to be. Some students broke off to the left, chatting with one another, and the other group went straight. I took a guess and followed the group going straight.

“All the students going on the tour need to split up into their appropriate class groups. I need the eight o’clock class on my left, noon in the middle, and the five o’clock class on the far right,” a girl shouted over the group. I assumed that she was part of the Student Council.

I walked over to the left group and waited, looking around at all the people running from building to building. I was so distracted, I didn’t notice that my group left for the tour. Not wanting to get left behind, I jumped into the noon-class group before I could get lost. I was totally absorbed in the tour and all the history of each building. Who wouldn’t find this stuff interesting?

“Aiden Ryevick founded this school in 1623 at the end of the Renaissance and entering into the Baroque period. At this time, churches were overseeing the type of art being produced, so Aiden Ryevick decided to found his own school specializing in the arts,” our student tour guide shared as we passed a statue of the founder. “We have come to find out that he lied to the Catholic church about adhering to the restrictions placed on all creations produced by artists. He was successful at the time because he put in the chapel, which we now use as an auditorium, as a facade.”

As the tour went on, I learned more about Ryevick’s founder and his drive to free artists and later scientists of all kinds, so they could dive further into their fields. We moved past several other buildings and went out into the gardens.

“Our school prides itself on being fully self-sufficient, so we aren’t taking away from the community around us. The school has its own livestock, vegetable gardens, and grain fields that are used to make all the food here on campus. We also have our own herb garden that our medical students use to produce modern and holistic medicine.”

I was so distracted by all the indigenous plants that I had to stop to investigate. Unfortunately, when I looked up, I couldn’t find my group.

Why do I always do this? I know I get lost all the time, so I should be better at staying with the group.

I remembered them saying that they would be heading to the garden maze next. I looked around, hoping I might see something that would point me in that direction, but with no luck, I headed off to the right, praying that was the direction I needed to go. I wandered for a while and ended up by the reflecting pool I had seen from the dorm windows—nowhere near where I needed to be.

Lost on the school grounds, I sat on the edge of the reflecting pool, letting my face fall into my hands. “Are you okay?” a voice said, making me jump.

I looked up and was shocked to see a gorgeous man peering down at me. He was tall and attractive, just like Parker, that other guy I had met in town. His clothes were of the latest fashion and very high-end but still practical. His rich-brown hair was styled in the latest trend—short on the sides but longer strands swept back on the top. Did this school only have gorgeous model-esque students attending here? His warm hazel eyes were still looking at me, filled with concern, and I realized then that he was still waiting for my answer.

“I am hopelessly lost. I was on a tour of the school, but I got distracted and lost my group,” I admitted as my cheeks heated.

“Yeah, this school is huge, it takes some getting used to. Would you like me to help you find your group? I’m actually supposed to be helping out with the tours anyway, but another obligation made me very late,” he said and held out a hand to help me up.

I reached out and let him pull me to my feet. When his skin touched mine, a slight tingle ran down my arm, causing me to shiver slightly. I smiled up at him awkwardly, hoping he didn’t notice my reaction to his touch. I was acting like I didn’t know how to be around attractive guys. I took that moment to collect myself and brush off the back of my pants.

“I’m Brayden, by the way,” he said, giving me a small smile.

“I’m Lailah,” I said, returning his smile. “Thanks for offering to help me out. Let’s just say I’m directionally challenged, and that’s a severe understatement. I would have wandered around out here till I gave up and went back to my dorm. I can at least see that clear as day,” I said, gesturing to Ashfall behind me.

“Ah, you’re staying in Ashfall Hall. I heard that the rooms don’t have windows. Is it true?” he asked as we started walking along the edge of the reflecting pool.

“Yup, but with the school load I decided on, I’m not sure I’ll be around much except to sleep. Thankfully, there are common rooms that have massive windows to make up for it.” I chuckled.

“Well, at Aiden House, there are lots of windows and plenty of sunlight. The concept of not having a window and natural light freaks me out a little. As an agricultural major, you could say I’m pretty attached to the outdoors,” Brayden said with a grin.

“Aiden House?” I asked. “I don’t think I know that dorm.”

“Most of the students here call it The Manor,” Brayden clarified for me.

I stopped in my tracks and gaped at him. “You’re one of the five?”

Brayden turned to look at me. “Is that a problem?”

“No, I guess not. The campus is so big, I just thought the odds of me running into any of you would be rare, and now I’ve met two of you,” I said. I’m not sure why it surprised me.

“Oh? Who else have you met?” Brayden inquired, starting to walk again.

“My friend Cami and I ran into Parker when we were in town.”

“You know Cami? What a small world. Our families have known each other for a long time. We grew up together,” Brayden said.

“Funny how that works. I grew up in a small town where everyone knows everyone. Although it sucks when people who used to be your friends aren't anymore. It makes things awkward because they live down the street.” I was rambling.

“I’m sure that would be challenging. I’m sorry to hear that happened. Is that why you decided to come all this way to attend college?” Brayden asked.

Why am I telling him all this? I don’t even know him. He’s just so easy to talk to. Plus, he keeps asking questions, it would be rude of me not to answer—right?

“Yes and no. I knew that I wanted a change, but I didn’t know what exactly. Then I got an email from Ryevick University after my parents signed me up for this crazy college finder website. Funny, what really got me excited about this place was the history, the different culture, and the art. Like that fountain, for example.” I pointed to the huge fountain in the middle of the reflecting pool. I’d seen a picture on the website, but seeing it in person, it was much more impressive.

Brayden looked to where I was pointing and smiled. “That is one of my favorites. Would you like to hear the story behind it? But I have to warn you, it’s a bit fanciful.”

“Now you’re just taunting me,” I said, nudging his arm encouragingly.

“The story claims that Aiden Ryevick started going crazy in his old age. This fountain was the last piece he created before he lost his mind and died. When people asked him what it represented, he would explain it like this.” He was setting up the tale expertly. “As you can see, there are five human figures holding hands with an additional human figure standing in the middle of them. He said that each one represented an element.”

I frowned. “Wait. I thought there were only four elements: earth, wind, water, and fire. What are the other two?”

“The fifth element is less commonly known; it is called by a few different names. Some people call it aether and others call it spirit. I actually have a friend who likes to call it heart.” His eyes were shining with mystery. “The final one in the middle is what Aiden called Synergy.”

“Synergy isn’t an element at all. It’s more of an action, isn’t it?” I asked, knowing I had heard the word before.

“Synergy means to combine one or more elements to make them stronger,” Brayden said, giving me an answer straight from the dictionary.

“Okay, so how do the elements relate to the figures in the fountain?” I asked.

“This is where the fiction comes into play. He explained to one of his students that five men were gifted with these elemental powers by angels. If they fought for good and didn’t turn evil, then one day, they would be gifted a great power. This power was titled Synergy. These magical warriors were not told what Synergy would be or when it would appear, they just had to continue defending the world from demons, and they would someday be rewarded. Aiden had always envisioned that Synergy would be another human, so he made this fountain to represent the five warriors and when they were gifted Synergy.” He looked at me out of the corner of his eye.

I took in the fountain with a whole new perspective. I noticed that each of the figures had a symbol carved into it. I could only assume the symbols represented each element. “That is a beautiful story; did they ever discover their hidden Synergy?” I asked, looking back at Brayden.

A shadow of sadness flickered through his eyes before he started walking away from the fountain. “The story, as far as I know, hasn’t been finished yet. It seems they’re still in an endless journey of looking and waiting.”

“Stories like that are why I fell in love with history. If I’d never come here to try something new, then I would’ve never known this amazing story about this school. Sure, it might be fiction, but what life doesn’t need a little dash of fantasy to make it interesting?”

“I can see why you and Cami are friends; she sees the world through a technicolor lens and hates to be sucked into the humdrum of life,” he said with a wistfulness in his voice. “Ah, look. There are our tour groups. Seems we’re meeting them on their way over to the reflecting pool.”

Brayden and I waited till the groups caught up to us, and I filed into one, not caring if it was the right one. This time I was determined to stick with them and not get left behind again. Before I could wander too far off, Brayden gently grabbed my elbow.

“It was lovely to meet you, Lailah. I hope we run into each other again some time,” Brayden said with a smile that gave me butterflies.

“I would like that. Maybe you can share some more stories with me about the school,” I said, blushing and falling in with my original class group.

FIVE

BRAYDEN

Iwas having a hard time staying focused as I helped with the rest of the tour. Thankfully, I didn’t have to do much. I answered any questions that the students had, but even then, I gave half-hearted answers. My mind kept wandering back to those clear blue eyes and long golden hair. I’d originally planned to just walk past her because I was already late for the tour. Yet seeing her lost and alone made my protective instincts run wild. Something about Lailah drew me in. I could’ve sworn that my powers reacted when I grasped her hand.

I had watched her face carefully as I told the story about the Elementi, and she listened with rapt attention. What would she do if she knew the story was true? Would she still see it as something so magical? What would she do if she knew the current five Elementi Warriors were actually failures?

In the last week, demons had been sneaking onto the school grounds more and more. Every night, the five of us took turns patrolling the school. There seemed to be something drawing them here. The previous generations of Elementi Warriors had always been able to band together as a united front and keep up the wards guarding the school. We had failed to find a way to work as a team and fuse our powers to recharge the wards. With the lack of added security, the lesser demons had been able to sneak through the cracks.

My uncle was the previous Earth Elementi Warrior, but he died before I ever got to meet him. He had been killed on a mission when I was six years old, but Michael, my older brother, was eighteen months older than me and had worshiped him. What would Michael think if he could see the five of us now? He would’ve been able to figure out a way to bond us together. I continue to fail every time I try.

My phone vibrated in my pocket and pulled me out of my melancholy thoughts. I looked down to see that it was a text from Micah.

Micah:

Beth has me patrolling with that idiot again

I sighed. Micah had been my best friend for almost my whole life, but I couldn’t understand the animosity between him and Parker.

Brayden:

It can’t be that bad

Micah:

How would you know? You always get paired up with Hudson or Jay. Why can’t you and I just be a team every time and call it good?

Brayden:

You know why. If we can’t get you and Parker to get along, then there's no hope for our group ever coming together. Also, you hate going on patrol with Hudson and Jay. You need to pull your head out of your ass and deal. The rest of us seem to make it work.

Micah:

Some fucking help you are.

I shook my head and put my phone away. If Synergy was really out there and Aiden Ryevick was right about it being human, I didn’t envy that person being stuck with this dysfunctional family.

SIX

LAILAH

The next few days went by smoothly, and I didn’t have too many problems getting lost. I made sure that I never went very far from the places I recognized and called Cami if I doubted my surroundings at all. Which, unfortunately, was all the time. Cami was a good sport though, and helped me find my way around. The plan we had set in place the first week worked flawlessly.

It was only week one, and a few of my professors had decided to assign homework on the first day. I was looking over an English assignment at the coffee shop while I waited for Cami, when a shadow fell over my textbook. I assumed she had arrived.

But when I looked up, I saw Brayden instead.

“Hello,” I said, smiling. I was happy to see him again.

“I hope I’m not interrupting,” he said, looking from the textbook to me.

“Nope, not at all. I was just glancing over this assignment for one of my classes. Would you like to sit?” I asked, gesturing to the chair across from me.

“Truly, I would love to, but I’m just grabbing a coffee before my Student Council meeting.” He gave me an apologetic look.

“No worries, I’m glad you stopped to say hi. Maybe next time we can actually chat,” I said, hoping he would agree.

“For sure, maybe we could even plan the next time.” He pulled a pen out of his bookbag and wrote his number on my open notebook. “Feel free to text me the next time you’re coming here, and I’ll try and meet up with you.”

Oh. My. God. Did Brayden just give me his number? I nodded, the only answer I could give because I was so nervous that my tongue began to stick to the roof of my mouth.

“Medium latte for Brayden,” the barista called.

“That’s me.” He turned to go and gave me a parting wave.

I waved back because I didn’t know what else to do. Once he was gone, I propped my textbook up on the table and hid my head behind it so I could freak out in privacy. Could I have been any more awkward? It’s not every day that a gorgeous, sweet guy gives me his number. And I couldn’t think of one thing to say?

“Um, hello? You okay back there, Lala?” Cami’s voice asked from the other side of my book.

I peeked over the top of it to find her sitting across from me. “How long have you been there?” I asked.

“Long enough to get tired of listening to you mutter to yourself,” she retorted. “Wanna tell me what’s up?”

“Nothing much. Except one of the hottest guys I’ve ever met just gave me his phone number,” I said, almost hysterical.

Cami reached out with both hands and slammed my textbook closed. “I cannot have this conversation with you while you’re hiding behind an English textbook. Now, start at the beginning. Where did we meet this guy?”

“On the grounds tour. When I was with my group, I got distracted and ended up separated from them. I tried to find them again, only to get lost.”

“Why am I not shocked?” Cami said, resting her head on her hand and giving me a knowing look.

“Shh! If you’re not going to be helpful, no comments from the peanut gallery,” I said, frowning.

“I’m sorry, are you calling me small?” she said in mock horror. “Just kidding, I totally resemble that remark, you know, because I’m short and all.”

“Anyway,” I said, “I ended up by the reflecting pool, and he found me sitting there. He helped get me back to the rest of the group”

“Wait. That’s it? He found you and then brought you back to the group? What kind of romance is this? Nope, I’m using my best friend card and vetoing this guy.” Cami reached over to rip off the corner of my notebook that had his number on it.

I lunged forward and pulled the notebook away from her. “No, that’s not all. He shared his favorite story about that ornate fountain in the reflecting pool. Then, he kept asking me questions and wanted to know more about me. He was so easy to be around.” I felt butterflies bouncing around in my stomach.

“So, what’s your next move? Are you going to text him, or are you more a talking-on-the-phone kind of gal?” Cami asked, seeming to change her mind about writing this guy off.

“Who says I’m going to do anything about it?” I grumbled.

Cami laughed. “Oh, Lala, you kill me. Of course, you’re going to do something about it. Look at you; you’re twitterpated for sure.”

“I am not,” I said, slapping the notebook back down on the table.

“Oh girl, if I were you, I’d be all over that like a monkey on a cupcake. When was the last time you had your biscuit buttered?” Cami asked, leaning in closer.

“What?” I was totally confused.

“You know! Bumping uglies, a good old slap and tickle, Netflix and chill.” Cami raised her brows higher with every phrase. “Wait. Hold the phone. Are you a virgin?”

“No. Well, I don’t think so. I’ve only done it once.” I could feel my face burning with embarrassment.

“Okay, let’s take this all the way back to the basics. Did he sheath his sword? If the answer is yes, then you are no longer a pure maiden.” Cami was grinning at me.

“Yes, he did, and it was awful. I’m not really interested in going through that again.” I was shivering at the thought of it.

“I may be more into gal pals, but I do know my fair share about sex. If you hated it that much, then that asshole was doing it all wrong.” Cami scooched her chair closer to me. “Now, tell me the whole story with all the ugly gross bits, so I can smash his face in for you.”

“His name is Freddy.”

“I hate him even more now,” Cami said. “Sorry, go on.”

“He was on the football team at my high school. We ran into each other all the time because I was on the track team. We trained at the same time after school, the track was around the football field. It was about two months through my freshman year when he started trying to get my attention. He was a junior and one of the best players on the team.”

“Scratch that, football makes me despise him more than his name did,” Cami cut in.

“Are you going to let me tell this or not?” I snapped, frowning at her.

Cami mimed by zipping her lips closed and tossing away the key. Then she motioned for me to continue.

“He asked me to the homecoming dance for our first date. Of course, I said yes. How many freshmen got the chance to go with an upperclassman who was also on the football team? After that, we dated for about six months. He was charming and funny, of course, he was fit with all the training he did for football. I didn’t care for the other guys on the team, but he seemed to be a little more interested in the world outside of football. He would even let me drag him to the museums in Chicago in the spring.”

Cami rolled her eyes at this but kept her mouth shut.

“I’m sure you can guess at this point that he asked if we could sleep together. We’d made out, of course, and we had gotten in each other’s pants, but never more than heavy petting. My parents had always told my siblings and me about how they waited until marriage. They’re so in love, it will make you gag. I always dreamed of having a love like that. Somehow, Freddy had convinced me that sleeping together would deepen our relationship.”

Cami laughed, and I did too, thinking of it from Freddy’s perspective.

“I finally gave in, and he came up with some lame plan to leave prom early. Freddy had picked a place for us to go afterward. When we got there, I discovered it was a pool house at one of his teammate’s houses. He didn’t make an effort to make it look nice. There wasn’t anything romantic about it, it was just a place we could be alone.” I paused and closed my eyes. Now that I was reliving the moment, I realized I’d been an idiot. “I remember thinking I couldn’t change my mind because if I did, he would have dumped me for sure. So, I went along with every awkward, painful moment of it. It ended fairly quickly, and he just left, making me think I had done something to make him upset.”

Cami’s arms wrapped around me, and she hugged me tightly. “I’m so sorry, Lailah.”

I could feel my throat begin to tighten, and my eyes stung with tears as I remembered that night. “That’s not the worst part,” I continued.

“How could it possibly get any worse?” Cami asked, leaning back to look at me.

“It turned out that the only reason he was interested in me was that my two ex-best friends from middle school had spread rumors that I was a slut. Obviously, Freddy realized that this was a lie, but then he made a bet with the football team that he could take my virginity at prom. If those girls hadn’t spread those lies, then he never would have taken a second look at me. Needless to say, I spent the rest of my high school days as a “slut,” and I was endlessly teased by the whole football team.” I brushed away the tears that slipped out.

“Why would anyone do that to you?” Cami demanded.

“One of the girls had a crush on my older brother, and I thought I was being a good friend by telling him about it. When I went back and told her that he was interested in another girl at school, she freaked out on me. They decided that I wasn’t good enough to be friends with them, so they cut ties with me after that.”

Cami tackled me with her another hug and would’ve knocked me out of my chair if it wasn’t for the wall behind me. “You have me now. I’ll never let anything like that happen to you ever again. Any guy that even looks in your direction will have to be vetted by me before they can even talk to you.”

I laughed at Cami’s protectiveness and soaked up every ounce of it. Meeting her and becoming friends had been a dream come true. “Same goes for me. Any girl who thinks she can just waltz into your life will be cleared with me first. We’ll protect each other.”

“Preach, sister!” Cami yelled across the café, causing everyone to stare at us. “Now, tell me the name of this mysterious fountain man. I’ll need to check him out.”

“Actually, you already know him. It’s Brayden.” I looked at Cami out of the corner of my eye.

Cami paused and looked a little shocked. “Huh.”

“What the hell does that mean?” I asked, exasperated.

Cami shrugged her shoulders. “I would just take it slow, no matter who you decide to make a move on. This time though, you’ll have me to do some investigating. As for Brayden, he’s got a huge white-knight complex, but there could be worse things about a guy.”

I grinned because I had experienced his white-knight skills the other day. I mulled over what she said about taking it slow though. It was only the first week of school. There was no need to jump into anything. I looked down at my watch and noticed the time.

“We better get to the dining hall if we want to get dinner before it’s all picked over. I really don’t want to have another PB&J sandwich,” I said, stuffing my school books into my bag.

SEVEN

LAILAH

Ishould have known better than to expect I could just breeze through the classes at Ryevick. The first week lulled you into thinking things would be easy, but once the second week started, I was hit with project after project. I felt like I was starting to live in the common area of our dorm, just studying my life away. I had gotten into this school on a scholarship, and I needed to prove that they hadn’t made a mistake. I wanted to be worthy of the gift they had given me. Cami would come to check on me from time to time, but I was too focused to be bothered for long. This time, Cami came with a bribe.

“Come up for some air, Lala. I brought you one of those god-awful chai lattes,” Cami said, holding a cup in front of my face.

“Now, if I remember correctly, you said you’d never order one of these for me,” I said, smirking at Cami as I took the cup.

“One of the baristas who knows me took my order, so I wasn’t worried he thought it was for me. I also needed to grab a few things in town, so I brought you this.” She was holding up a white paper bag.

I recognized the bag from the bakery and grabbed it quickly. I peeked inside to find two sugar cookies. I squealed in excitement and bounced in my seat. I pulled one cookie out and took a bite. I savored the soft, buttery texture with its coating of raw sugar crystals. I let out a low moan of pleasure and ignored the strange looks from a study group across the room

“Geez, Lala. That’s the biggest reaction I’ve gotten out of you all week, and it’s over a cookie. You desperately need to get out more if this is setting you off.” Cami shook her head in mock concern.

“Forgive me if I’m a little overwhelmed. I got slammed with so many projects this week. I need to add a shirt to my collection that says, ‘It’s a TRAP!’ I can’t believe school started only two weeks ago. I wasn’t prepared to be flooded with so much work so soon,” I said, munching on my cookie.

Cami smiled sympathetically at me. “Okay, I’ll let you study to your heart’s content tonight, but tomorrow you have to go to a party with me.”

“Cami,” I groaned. “Chemistry is already kicking my ass. For psych, I have to watch the next part of the case study and make notes on the progress. I also have to finish writing my proposal for my English project, and I have to find a book about the school that is old enough to have information about the original chapel. How can I even justify going to a party?”

“Don’t you fret. I’ve got this all figured out. Watch your case study tonight because it will take the longest. Then we can both look over your chem stuff tomorrow afternoon. That just leaves the book and the English proposal. Do you know what you want to write about?” Cami asked.

“Yes, I have that all planned out,” I said, rubbing my forehead. “Where am I supposed to find the book?”

“The school library has a reference section that holds crusty, old history books that can’t leave the building. There has to be one in there that would work.”

I was running out of reasons not to go to this party. She had basically planned out my study needs perfectly. “Are you even any good at chemistry?”

“I’m better than you are. I took that same class last year. How different could it be?” Cami asked, shrugging her shoulders.

“You took Organic Chemistry your first year too? I was told by everyone it was a stupid choice.” I was surprised, since I knew Cami wanted to be an English major.

“What the fucking hell, Lala!? Who takes Organic Chem in their first year? No wonder the class is kicking your ass! Forget what I said! I can’t help you with that shit! I barely made it through Intro to Chem!” Cami exclaimed as she almost fell out of her chair. “Christ! You’re even doing that class while taking three others? Are you asking for college suicide in your first semester?”

I grabbed Cami and covered her mouth with my hands, trying to get her to shut up before we got kicked out of the room. “I tested out of doing an intro class, so I had to pick a higher level, and this one sounded more interesting than the others.”

When I didn’t let go of her, she licked the inside of my hand and got the desired effect of me releasing her as quickly as possible. “Very mature.”

“It’s official. I’m dragging you to that party whether you like it or not. You need to live a little. Be a real college student. Everyone fails a course at some point and has to take it over again. It’s part of the experience.”

“How come I didn’t read about it in the brochure?” I grumbled. “You don’t understand. My brother graduated top of his class at Notre Dame, so I have to do well here.”

Cami grabbed my shoulders and looked deep into my eyes, freaking me out a little. “I bet if I called your parents right now and told them that you haven’t seen the light of day all week, except to go to class and eat, they would tell you the same thing I am. Enjoy the experience. Try new things. What happened to the girl who told me she wanted to live the college dream? Going to a college party is the pinnacle of being an official student.”

“Okay, you can tone down the theatrics. I’ll go,” I relented.

“Whoop whoop! It’s time to jam out with my clam out,” Cami said, throwing a good fist pump into the air as she got up to leave.

I shook my head as she left me to my studies. I wasn’t going to have a chance to worm my way out of this now that I had said I would go. I smiled as I pulled my laptop out to watch the video for psych. What should U wear, I wondered, I’ve never gone to a party before.

Saturday passed in a blur of studying. Cami kept me on task to make sure I finished everything. When it came time to get ready for the party, Cami came up to my room because she decided I needed help. I really couldn’t argue with her. She had laughed at me when I showed her the five things of makeup that I had. When I opened the door for her to come in, she had so much stuff that I thought she was moving in, not just helping me get ready for a party.

I took in Cami’s outfit and suddenly got worried. She was wearing a bright-pink crop top with a cropped black mesh top over it. Her black jean shorts were very short, but they came up higher on the waist. Her makeup was flawless, and her eyeshadow looked like a sunset had burst from them. I hoped to God that she didn’t think I was going to dress like that tonight.

“Take a deep breath, Lala. I’m not going to Cami-fy you. I don’t think you could handle the power a look like this would give you,” she said, giggling at the panic I was sure was written all over my face. “You’re way too girl-next-door. We just need to pump up the natural look that you’ve got going on.”

I sighed in relief. She walked over to prop a mirror on my desk and motioned for me to sit in front of it. “First, we need to tackle that outrageous head of hair that you have. I hope Pinterest doesn’t fail me now.”

I sat down in the chair and pulled the scrunchie out of my hair, releasing the beast in all its wild glory. I watched intently as Cami took my spray-in conditioner, misted my whole head, and dove in. Taking more time than I ever would, she spritzed and scrunched my curls until she molded them into the shape she wanted. When she was done, I was amazed at how sleek it looked compared to the frizzy puff that I always managed.

“Hell yeah. God, I’m good. Maybe I need to change my career path and go into the hair taming business,” Cami said, clapping excitedly at her handy work.

“Cami, this is amazing. Seriously, I’ve never been able to get it to look this good,” I gushed, turning to and fro in the mirror.

“Now, for my next trick, I will turn your beautiful face into a look that would stop a bus in its tracks,” Cami said as she rummaged through the bags she brought.

She piled a ton of products I was unfamiliar with on the desk. I tried not to flinch as she applied all of it to my face. She kept turning me away so I couldn’t catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror. Finally, when she was done, I got to see the final masterpiece. I blinked a few times, unsure that it was really me looking back. A girl—no, a woman—stared back at me with bright, fresh skin and crystal-blue eyes that popped. She had even put on a soft-pink lipstick that made my lips look much fuller than I could ever remember them being.

“Holy shit,” was all I managed to say.

Cami bounced around the room, singing her own praises to Elle the elephant, who was sitting on my bed. “Why, thank you, Elle. It’s my best work if I do say so myself. Oh, you're too kind. Stop, please. I’m blushing.”

“I picked out two outfits, but you’ll have to tell me which one works, or not,” I said, walking over to my coffee table where I had set them out.

Cami walked over and looked them over; one was a simple black dress that was knee length and had cap sleeves. The other was a pair of skinny jeans with some distressing on the knees and a slouchy, off-the-shoulder, light-blue shirt.

“If you’re willing to give it a try, I have a shirt that would go with these jeans perfectly.” She pulled said shirt out from another of her bags.

“I’m not sure you and I are the same size on top. I might stretch it out,” I said sheepishly.

“It’s fine. You can say your chi-chis are bigger than mine. I’m very happy with my little handfuls.” She handed me the emerald shirt.

I shimmied into the pants and pulled the shirt over my head. I was surprised to find it fit perfectly. It was off the shoulder and skintight, but the sleeves went to my elbows, so I didn’t feel exposed.

“Wow, you had this?” I said, looking in the mirror she brought. The green set off my fair skin and made my blonde hair shine.

“I might have gone into town and bought the shirt for you to wear tonight,” Cami said. I turned to scold her, but she raised her hands, stopping me. “I knew that this was your first party, and I wanted it to be perfect. I couldn’t in good conscience let you wear anything that you already own.”

I frowned, but I wasn’t sure if I was more bothered by the fact that she went shopping for me, or that she didn’t like any of my clothes.

“Don’t get me wrong. I live for your T-shirt collection. That one the other day that said ‘Shhh, no one cares’ was priceless. I love that you don’t need fancy clothes to be who you are, but every once in a while, every girl needs some new clothes.”

I had to agree with her. The shirt was amazing, and something that I never would have tried on, but I loved it. “Thank you, Cami. It means a lot that you care so much to make this night awesome.”

“Aw, of course, you’re my girl. Now it’s time for me to get ready for this thing,” Cami said. When I paused at what she said to look at her, she started laughing. “Oh man, I had you for a minute.”

The party was being hosted at a student housing complex off-campus. Apparently, Ryevick had a strict policy about parties on school grounds. The students had quickly figured out a way around that, and truthfully, I think the school was quite aware of what was going on. When we arrived in Cami’s car, the party was well underway. I had asked Cami why we didn’t start getting ready till eight, but she informed me that the party didn’t really get going until eleven. She told me it was embarrassing to show up too early, but she took into consideration that it was my first party, and we got there at nine-thirty.

The house was a beacon in the dark night. Loud music could be heard thumping as we drove up the country road where it was located. When we walked up, tons of students were milling about on a large wrap-around porch with drinks in their hands. The front door was wide open, so we just walked in. The living room was filled with people chatting, making out, and playing what looked like poker at the dining room table. I followed Cami into the kitchen, where food was spread out on the counter, along with three kegs of beer.

“Cami, I wondered if you would be gracing us with your presence at the first party of the year,” a busty redhead greeted her and kissed Cami on both cheeks.

“Once I heard it was one of yours, Maggs, I couldn’t refuse. This is my friend Lailah; she’s a freshman,” Cami said.

Maggs nodded her head at me and looked me over with a critical eye. “What can I get you ladies to drink?” she asked, apparently satisfied with what she saw. “I have a dark, amber, or cider for those of us that are gluten-free.”

“I would love the amber, and Lailah should probably have a cider,” Cami said, giving me a look over her shoulder. “I’m guessin’ you're not much of a drinker?”

“You would be correct on that, but it’s because in the states we can’t drink till we’re twenty-one, and that’s still a few months away.” I didn’t want to appear lame in front of Maggs.

They both shrugged and seemed to accept that explanation as Maggs handed over our drinks. “You guarding the goods all night, or are one of the other girls going to take over for you later?” Cami asked.

“Not tonight. I have to set the newbies straight on how my parties roll,” Maggs said, winking at us. “Go have fun. We opened up the backyard because it’s still nice out.”

Taking her cue, we headed outside onto the patio. There was a ping pong table set up for beer pong, and it looked like there was quite an intense game going on. Squealing from across the yard caught my attention, and I saw a hot tub filled with people. The water was sloshing over the sides like a tidal wave had hit.

I looked over to say something to Cami, but she was talking to another girl I didn’t know. I caught her eye and motioned that I was going to sit on one of the patio chairs. She nodded and gave me a smile with a wink of encouragement.

I sipped on my drink and was surprised when I discovered that I really liked it. It was sweet and yet had enough of a bite to it that I knew it was for adults. My eyes wandered over the crowd of people dancing in the grass where the DJ was set up. Some danced in groups enjoying the flow of the music, while others looked like they might as well just be having sex; it would actually have been less provocative.

Before I knew it, I was done with my drink. I scanned the patio to see if I could find Cami to let her know that I was going to get a refill, but couldn’t see her. How lost can I get in a house, I thought. I feel like I can manage this on my own. I made my way back toward the kitchen, grabbing a few snacks along the way.

“Ready for another?” Maggs asked, holding out the hose for the keg.

“Yeah, thanks, this is really an awesome party,” I said and found I really meant it.

“You’re welcome. I’ve found it’s my calling in life to provide a place for people to let loose while in the throes of college life. Some students get so caught up in the schoolwork, they forget to live in the moment. Don’t you agree?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

I laughed. No wonder Cami liked this woman, they were kindred spirits. “I would be one of those people if not for Cami.” I nodded my thanks and headed back out to the patio.

On my way out, I ran into a group of guys walking in. I almost spilled my drink all over one of them. “I’m so sorry, I hope I didn’t get any on you,” I said, looking him over.

“I wouldn’t have minded if you had, then you could have helped me clean off,” the guy said, giving me a sly grin.

I groaned internally. Please, no; please don’t let this be happening to me. I was having such a nice time.

“Thankfully, crisis averted, and there's nothing to clean.” I tried to brush past him, but his friends blocked my way.

“I’m Max, by the way,” he said, holding out his hand.

I shook it quickly before pulling my hand back not wanting to get trapped. “Lailah.”

“Oh, you’re scholarship girl. Damn, who knew someone from the states could pull that off? Smart and sexy, what an enticing duo.” He was trying to be charming but failing.

“Thanks, I was pretty surprised to get the scholarship too, I fully expected to be rejected.” Ha, what are you going to say to that, idiot?

“Did you send a picture along with your application? I know they try to have diversity, and we are on short supply of doe-eyed Yankees,” Max said.

“Excuse me?” I snapped. Was this guy trying to be an asshole or was this his poor attempt at charming? He was strongly leaning in the asshole direction. “First, Americans do not find that term endearing. Second, if you’re trying to pick up a girl, don’t call her a derogatory slur. It pisses us off and makes you look like a douchebag.”

“What the fuck,” Max said, towering over me.

Oh God, how I wanted to run away from this fight, but my big mouth started it. What was wrong with me? I’d never started a fight; sure, I’d dreamed about stepping up for myself and telling people what I thought all the time, but it never really happened.

“Look, bitch, I was just trying to be friendly, no need to get all high and mighty. Maybe you were right, and you shouldn’t be at this school.” His friends now started to close in on me.

“Lailah,” Parker said, appearing out of nowhere putting his arm around my shoulders. “Why didn’t you text me and tell me you were here? Hey, Max, have you met my friend, Lailah?”

“Actually, we did meet, and I was just about to excuse myself to look for you.” I played along with Parker’s ruse.

“Here I am, no need to look any further. See ya later, Max,” Parker said as he turned us around and headed through the house and upstairs.

“Where are you taking me?” I said, worried I had jumped from one problem to another.

“There’s a small deck up here that not many people know about. I figured you might want a little space from the party, and it gives Max a chance to chill the fuck out.” He opened a set of French doors to a wrought iron patio with two large deck chairs piled with pillows.

“Is this where you take all the girls you rescue at parties?” I teased, settling into one of the chairs.

“To be honest, I think you’re the first person I’ve brought up here. Typically, I chill up here alone when I need a breather.” Parker stared out over the lawn filled with people.

I looked at Parker with a different lens. I never would’ve guessed that he would need a breather from people. He seemed to thrive on the interactions with others, but maybe everyone needs a moment to themselves.

“Thank you for getting me out of there.” I turned to watch the party and took a sip from my drink. “I don’t know what came over me, I never get in people’s faces like that.”

“I think it might be your drink loosening your tongue and lowering your normal censoring ability.” Parker chuckled. “Either way, I’m happy to help, but you didn’t look like you were doing too badly on your own. Max is an idiot when it comes to hot girls, he always manages to piss them off. You were kind enough to tell him why he pissed you off, most just walk away.”

“I’m glad to know I’m not epically failing at my first party.” I took a gulp of my drink.

“This is your first college party or first party ever?” Parker leaned his elbows on his knees.

I blushed under his focused attention. “Ever. I never got invited to any in high school, and with my town being so small, I didn’t want to spend extra time with any of those people.”

Parker shot to his feet and reached out to me. “Come on, if this is your first party, there is no way I’m letting you stay up here. You need to get the full experience; finish your drink, and we’ll get in on the next beer pong game.”

“Nope, not gonna happen, there’s no way I can go from not drinking ever to a game of beer pong.” I shook my head vigorously.

“Fine, I’ll drink all the beer, but you’re going to play with me,” Parker said, reaching down and grabbing my hand. “Trust me, this is going to be a night to remember.”

“I am so going to regret this tomorrow. I just know it.” I let Parker tug me back downstairs.

We managed to get in the next game of beer pong fairly quickly, and Parker explained the rules for me. “You’re going to toss the ball into the cup; when you do, they need to drink it. The same happens in reverse when they have a ball land in one of our cups. I had three of the cups filled with hard cider, so you have to do those, I’ll do the rest.” Parker was grinning.

We managed to win, even though I sucked at the game. I managed to get the ball in the cup twice, much to Parker’s delight. I ended up having to drink two of the three cups of cider. By the time we finished the game, my whole body felt warm and tingly all over.

At some point, Cami appeared by my side to check in on me. “You good, Lala? I just want to make sure that moron isn’t pushing you too far.”

“I love you for checking in on me, but I’m actually having a great time!” I said, grabbing her into a hug. “What about you? Are you having fun? Did you find a cute girl to hang out with?”

Cami smiled and shook her head at me. “Lala, tipsy is a good look for you. I knew somewhere in that perfect outer shell there was a wild child hidden.”

“Lailah, come on; now, we have to go get our groove on,” Parker said, grabbing my hand again waving to Cami. “You coming, half-pint?”

“What did you call me, asshat?” Cami said, laughing as she followed after us.

“I have no idea how to dance,” I yelled over the pulsing music.

“You don’t have to, just let the music move you,” Cami said. “Close your eyes, and just let your body figure it out.”

Taking a deep breath, I took her advice and closed my eyes, letting the music flow across my skin. I danced all the time at home while I cleaned, or Kyle and I would have dance-off battles with video games, but never something like this. A song I knew came on next, and I started to relax into it, singing along and swaying. The song was remixed and moved with a slightly faster beat that just pulled my body along. I opened my eyes and found that I’d drifted father into the mob of gyrating people. I looked around to see if I could find Cami. She was off having some dance battle with another guy, and they could both dance crazy good. Then I felt someone behind me, I stiffened when the person put their hands on my hips gently. They didn’t crowd me but just guided me along with the beat. I looked over my shoulder and saw that it was Parker.

“I hope you don’t mind. A few guys were on their way over to make a move, and I figured I might be the lesser of evils,” Parker said into my ear.

Someone bumped into us and caused him to pull me against him, so I wouldn’t fall. We both paused a moment, unsure of what to do next. Parker loosened his hold, letting me move away if I wanted. I’m not sure if it was the alcohol or the fact that Parker felt safe to me, I leaned back against him and let him lead. One song flowed into another, and Parker and I spent the rest of the night on the dance floor. Cami came to join us with another girl, and we showed off every bad dance move we all knew. Utterly exhausted and dying of thirst, I had to get something to drink. I grabbed Cami and forced our way out of the crowd. We burst out of the people, laughing when a girl ran into me, spilling her full beer all over me.

“Better watch where you're going, charity case, wouldn’t want to ruin too many clothes,” the girl who ran into me said, flipping her hair over her shoulder and walking off.

“What the hell is her problem?” I grumbled, wiping at my shirt. My happy buzz was officially killed now that I was covered in warm beer.

“What a twat-a-potamus, she should be watching where she’s going,” Cami yelled after the girl.

Parker emerged out of the dancing mass and walked over once he spotted us. “What happened? You okay?”

“I’m fine, but some bimbo just spilled her beer all over me,” I explained. “Looks like we’ll have to head back. I’m not spending the rest of the night in wet jeans.”

“You also smell like a homeless drunk,” Cami said as she leaned in and sniffed me.

“Gee, thanks,” I said, rolling my eyes.

“Are you guys going to be okay getting home?” Parker asked, looking at Cami.

“Yup, I only had one drink when we first got here. Tonight was all about Lala getting the full experience, and that includes a hangover tomorrow.” Cami gave me a thumbs up.

“That is a horrible thing to do to your best friend,” I scolded her.

Parker just grinned, watching our interaction. “Sounds like you’re in good hands to me, Trouble.”

“Trouble is the opposite of what I normally am,” I said defiantly.

Cami coughed, trying to cover her laughter at that statement. “Yeah, says the girl who ends up in trouble whenever unsupervised.”

“Whatever,” I said, waving a dismissing hand. “Thank you, Parker, for forcing me to have fun. I actually ended up having a blast.”

“Give me your phone,” Parker said, holding out his hand.

I reached into my back pocket and pulled it out, handing it to him. He then proceeded to add his number into my contacts and handed it back over. “You really should put a lock on your phone, you never know who might be slipping their number in.”

I bit my lip at his scolding since Cami also was on my case about why I didn’t lock it. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Parker gave me a side hug since I was still covered in beer, and we made our way back to where Cami had parked.

“Look at you, ya little player! Two numbers in almost as many weeks; I’d say you’re on a roll,” Cami teased as we drove back to Ashfall.

“He really is very sweet, he’s like a big teddy bear that just wants to have fun.” I smiled, remembering his body against mine. He definitely wasn’t fluffy like a teddy bear; nope, that was solid muscle I felt.

Cami helped me to my room, and I fell into my bed like it was going to save me from the shifting ground beneath my feet. I felt her pulling off my shoes, but I didn’t manage to stay awake long enough to hear her leave. Darkness enveloped me, but it wasn’t the blissful void of sleep. No, this was something different, I felt afraid of this black world. It seemed that I had fallen into one of those dreams where some unknown evil was chasing me, and it was all I could do to keep running. The danger was closing in on me, claws catching in my hair⁠—

“You have a new text message.”

My phone notification cut through the darkness and pulled me out of my nightmare. I groped around to find my phone and looked at it with one eye. It was Parker making sure I’d gotten back okay. Letting the phone drop, I rolled over, and this time when I shut my eyes, I was blessed with a dreamless sleep.

EIGHT

LAILAH

On Sunday, I didn’t get anything done. I stayed in bed and felt like I died slowly. Cami took pity on me and brought me food and ibuprofen to help with the pounding headache. I think I drank a gallon of Gatorade and still felt like I was run over by a Mack truck. I tried to work on my chemistry homework, but I just couldn’t focus on the words in the textbook, so I gave up. Cami brought up her laptop, and we watched America’s Next Top Model and ate junk food all afternoon.

Thankfully by Monday, I was back to normal, except for a lingering headache. I vowed that I was never going to drink again—the aftermath was so not worth the buzz. Cami met me in the lobby so we could eat breakfast together before she walked me to my University 101 class. I was starting to figure out where things were, but I didn’t trust myself quite yet. Cami didn’t mind, because any time I had her up before ten, I bought her coffee.

“You have a test in your chem class today, right?” Cami asked as we bussed our trays.

“She called it a quiz, but she made them all worth ten points each in the class. Professor Lark didn’t tell us how many there were either, saying that surprises were the spice of life.” I groaned.

“That’s just plain evil,” Cami said, linking her arm with mine as we walked to class.

“Oh yeah, I need to go to the library tonight after classes so I can look for that book you were telling me about,” I said.

“I have a family dinner tonight with my sisters, but I can come get you after I’m done if that works for you. That is, if you think you can find your way to the library on your own,” Cami teased.

“There are enough people on campus that I can stop and ask directions from if I need to. The map you made me really helps, though; you should add that to your skills. Cami: specialty map maker for the directionally challenged,” I said as if I were reading it off a blinking street sign. “What is your last name? I should make sure they spell it right in the headlines.”

“It’s Whittemore,” Cami said offhandedly.

“Any relation to my psych teacher? Her last name is Whittemore, too,” I said jokingly.

Cami didn’t answer right away, so I stopped and looked down at her. “She’s my older sister; she’s one of the sisters I’m having dinner with tonight.”

“Seriously,” I said, shocked. “I was totally kidding when I asked that.”

“Yeah, I don’t like to talk about it much; people get weird when they know you’re related to a professor,” Cami said, shrugging. “Top that off with the fact that I grew up with the five guys that live in The Manor, and I make a lot of fake friends who just want something from me.”

“Except me, I couldn’t care less that you have a sister who teaches here, and I don’t really feel the need to use you to get to those five guys,” I pointed out.

“No, you seem to be doing just fine with that on your own.” Cami laughed, breaking the tension. “Come on, wouldn’t want you to be late for your ever-so-interesting freshman class.”

“You know you love all the stories I tell you. I can see the way you perk up whenever I talk about that branch-off group from the Knights Templar. I wonder if I can find more about the Elementi when I’m looking up stuff about the chapel,” I mused as we arrived at the building my class was in.

“Only one way to find out. Text me when you're done at the library, and I’ll come get you. You’ll be the perfect excuse if I need to leave dinner early,” Cami said, shoving me through the door.

My University 101 class flew by; we all spent the class researching our part of school history that we had picked out the week before. I’d been intrigued by Ryevick’s bypassing of the church’s ruling by creating the chapel. I was also curious to figure out why the church felt the need to monitor what the artist produced. When the class ended, I walked up to Professor Phillips.

“Do you have a moment?” I asked.

“Of course, Lailah, what can I do for you,” he asked, setting down a stack of papers.

“I picked the chapel to research, and I just wanted to know if our library had books about it,” I inquired, not wanting to waste my night looking for something that wasn’t there.

Professor Phillips paused, scratching his chin. “Yes, I do believe it should. It will be in the far back reference room. You need teacher permission to have access to those books since they’re one of a kind and very old. Let me write you a note that you can give to the librarian. They should let you in no problem.”

“Oh,” I said, surprised that there would be such guarded books at the school. I should have known better though, this school was all about preserving its history. “Would this section also have any information on the Elementi?”

Professor Phillips paused in his writing and looked up at me, with a raised eyebrow. “Now, why would you want to know more about that?”

“I’m a huge sucker for history and a lover of fantasy. I feel like with what little you mentioned about it, it sounds like a wonderful combination of both those things. I just figured if I was already back there, I might take the opportunity to find out more.” I was feeling shy at admitting my curious mind.

“If there is anything more about them, that would be one of the only places available for you to find something,” Professor Phillips said a little cryptically, handing me the note for the librarian.

“Thank you, I really appreciate it,” I said, bobbing my head in thanks.

I looked down at my watch and realized I was running behind for my psych class. I hurried down the hall and took the covered walkway across to the other building. I managed to slip in a few minutes late but didn’t draw any attention to myself. Professor Whittemore was typing away at her computer, pulling up the slides we would be going over today in class. I looked at her with new eyes knowing that she was Cami’s sister.

Nona Whittemore was just slightly taller than Cami; they had the same bright-green eyes, but Nona wore large round glasses. I bet if Cami didn’t bleach her hair white, it would be the same honey-brown color as Nona’s. For as much as Cami cared for her appearance, Nona did not; her clothes were rumpled and looked like they might have been slept in.

“Okay, class. Today we’ll be going over the study we’ve been following. Have any of you figured out the objective they settled on for this experiment?” Professor Whittemore asked.

“They’re doing a study on lying,” one student called out.

When she didn’t react to that answer, others started to call out their ideas as well.

“It’s about cheating to get ahead.”

“No, I think it’s about how lying can get you places, what power it can give you.”

“No, that was the original objective, but it changed once they got started.”

Professor Whittemore held up her hand at this last guess, cutting off the rest of the answers. “You are correct in the fact that they started out with one objective, some of you named elements of it, but failed to grasp the whole idea.”

While the rest of the students murmured amongst themselves, I went over the notes on the videos; then I saw it. Underlined in my notes, I saw the answer Professor Whittemore was looking for. I had been so intrigued by the idea that I made a note of it. Taking a deep breath, I raised my hand and waited for her to notice. She looked up at me, pushing her glasses up her nose and gave a little smirk, or at least I thought it was one before her face went neutral again.

“You think you know the answer?” she called out to me.

I nodded my head, and she motioned for me to go ahead. “The study started out about lying to get ahead, but when they got further into the study, they decided they cared more about why they lied. What drove them to use that tactic to get what they wanted. They wanted to understand the human brain and what effect it had on it when they lied.”

Professor Whittemore clapped her hands once, leaping back to her desk in excitement. “Yes! These scientists and psychologists wanted to know what lying did to the human brain.”

She flipped to the first slide and started going into the chemical changes that happened when someone lied. I was riveted, seeing how something we all do without even realizing it changed the way we thought and what was real. Some people lied so much that their lies became a reality to them. Others, in extreme cases, got sick over the guilt of lying, unable to keep the truth hidden. Some said that when they lied, it felt like they were hypnotized or possessed into saying it. Overall, I was pumped to follow this case study.

Once psych was over, I had enough time to head to the coffee shop and get a pick-me-up chai before my Organic Chem class. I passed a bulletin board that had ads all over it for tutors in various subjects. I looked over all of them and was shocked at the price of a one-hour session. Do all tutors charge? Does the school have any on staff who will help struggling students? I chewed on my lip absently while I looked over the board one more time to see if I missed any.

“Would you look at that? The charity case is getting overwhelmed and needs help. Too bad, she can’t afford it,” a girl walking out said to a friend.

“Maybe she should have picked an easier school to go to; elite schools are for elite students,” her friend responded.

I tried to shake it off as I walked up to the counter to order my drink. Clearly, it didn’t work because the barista gave me a sympathetic look. “Don’t mind them. They get catty any time one of The Manor boys takes an interest in a girl. It will stop once they move on to someone else.”

“That’s stupid, I didn’t ask for them to talk to me,” I complained. “What gives them the right to get upset anyway? Why don’t they make an effort to get to know the guys instead of torturing innocent people like me?”

The barista just shrugged her shoulders, probably wishing she’d never said anything to me. I collected my chai and rushed off to class. I wanted to get there and go over my class notes to refresh my brain on the information before the quiz. I found a seat, pulled out my books, and glanced at the syllabus, making sure I was looking over the right section. I knew this quiz would tell me if I was going to need to bite the bullet and get a tutor or not. Before I knew it, I looked up, and the classroom was full, and it was time.

Professor Lark had her TA pass out the quiz for us while she went over the importance of them again. “These quizzes are not to be taken lightly. They can make or break your grade. Fail two of these, and you might make it; fail three or more, and you can kiss your GPA goodbye. Good luck, and when you finish the quiz, bring it up front and leave it in my box. My TA, Hudson, will be watching over you. I have learned my classes do better when I’m not present for the test-taking.”

I could feel the sweat starting to bead on my forehead. I could not fuck this up, I needed to pass this class with a B+ or higher. When Hudson reached me, he handed me my sheet and gave me an encouraging smile. I tried to smile back, but I was pretty sure I had failed. I grabbed my pencil and stared at the quiz. It was only twenty questions; I could manage this.

As I went from question to question, I started to second-guess myself at every turn. I would mark one bubble, then erase it and try again. When I was finally down to the last three questions, someone cleared their throat above me. I looked up to find Hudson standing next to me.

“I just wanted to make sure you knew there were only five minutes left for the class,” he informed me.

I looked around, and I was the only person left in the classroom, everyone else had finished and left. Are you kidding me? It has taken me almost an hour to do this stupid twenty-question quiz!

“Thanks for the heads-up, I’ll be done in time.” I returned to my test, randomly picking the answers to the last two questions.

I collected my things and walked quickly up to the front and dropped my test off in the box. I gave Hudson a small smile and bolted out of the room, humiliated that I had taken so long over a simple quiz. God, could I have looked any more stupid?

Done with classes for the day, I headed to the cafeteria on the main campus that had simple pre-made foods. I was so thankful that my scholarship covered everything—even the food. I just had to let them scan the special card they sent me, and it was taken care of. I grabbed a turkey sandwich and headed to the open seating. The routine Cami and I had fallen into was meeting here to do homework we didn’t want to suffer through alone. I glanced down at my watch and saw it was already past four. I was surprised that she wasn’t already here waiting for me. I texted her just in case she had lost track of time.

Lailah:

Hey, I’m at the cafeteria if you want to join me

Not wanting to give anyone an excuse to come pester me, I pulled out my school books. I started on my psych homework since I was excited about that. After that embarrassing moment with the quiz, I was going to need something fun. Lost in my work, I didn’t notice how much time had passed. When I looked outside, the sun was already setting, and the students were now eating dinner. I looked at my phone surprised that Cami hadn’t called me. Sure enough, my phone had been on silent, and I didn’t notice her texts come through.

Cami:

My sisters decided they wanted to make a night out of it, so we went into town.

Cami:

Sorry, I forgot to text you sooner.

Cami:

Please don’t be mad at me. I LOVE YOU!

Apparently, she hadn’t taken my silence well.

Lailah:

I’m not mad, calm down, I left my phone on silent and didn’t see them until now.

Cami:

DON’T DO THAT TO ME!!!!!!! Text me if you need anything, you know it won’t take me long to drive back.

I smiled, knowing Cami would love the excuse to drive like a bat out of hell to come to my aid.

Lailah:

I’ll be fine, I have to learn how to do this on my own sometime.

Cami:

My baby’s all grown up!

I grabbed a power bar to eat later while I searched through the library. Now would be the perfect time to go since everyone would be at dinner, and I could find a good spot to camp out. I pulled out my map for dummies that Cami made me, with everything written in landmark references that I would understand. Lucky me, the library was close by, just behind the building I took claculus in. I headed off, confident I could manage the rest of the night on my own.

I managed to find the library with ease. I mentally patted myself on the back for a job well done. I pushed open the heavy wooden doors to the hush of the world within. I loved how reverent every library was, the hushed tones of people, the smell of books, and the calm that came over you in the silent world.

I walked up to the information desk in the front of the lobby area. “Hello, I’m looking for a book in the reference library.”

“Do you have written permission from a teacher?” the woman asked, peering over her computer at me.

I pulled the note out and handed it to her. The woman slipped on a pair of glasses and read over the note. Then she picked up the phone and spoke softly into it. “Someone will be with you shortly to escort you into the room,” she said, looking back at me.

“Thank you,” I said, thrown off by all this extra effort for a room full of books.

I looked over at the section of books by the front door. Moments later, an older man walked up to me in his loafers and a Mr. Rogers cardigan

“Are you looking to get into the special archives?” he asked.

“I think so. Mr. Phillips gave me a note for the reference section. Is that the same thing?” I asked.

“Hmm, I see. Follow me then,” he said and walked away.

I trailed after him, even more curious to see what could be stored in the special archives. We walked to the very back of the library and down a short hall. At the end of the hall, a metal accordion gate blocked the way to the room beyond. There was a soft glow emitting from the room, making it seem like something out of Harry Potter.

The gentleman pulled an old iron skeleton key out of his pocket and opened the gate for me. “You will have one hour to use the books; no food, no drinks, and no flashes are to be used on or near the books. These are priceless archives that are irreplaceable. Handle them with care.”

I nodded my agreement to the instructions. “I understand. I will be very careful with the books.”

“I will be back in an hour to let you out, unless you are done sooner. In which case, there is a phone in the room that connects to the front desk. Let them know you're done, and I will let you out,” he said, frowning at me as if he wasn’t sure he should let me into the room.

I walked into the room, and he pulled the gate closed behind me, locking it. It made me wonder if, at some point, kids had gotten permission to be here and let others in who weren’t supposed to be. I looked around the room, unsure of where to start. Everything in the room was made of dark glossy wood that made the room feel comforting. There were two levels to check out, and I was so drawn to the metal wraparound staircase, I couldn’t help but start on the top floor.

Once on the second floor, I looked at the shelves to see if they were labeled. Plaques on the top section of the bookcase provided guidance as to what each column held. The columns were ordered by date, dating back to the twelfth century. I worked my way around to the sixteen hundreds until I could find the right year. Finally locating the appropriate area, I started to look through the books to find something that would help in my research. I found logbooks from different artists at the time, filled with clients and commissions. Finally, I found a book filled with letters going back and forth with the builders of the chapel.

I sat down on the floor, resting against the wrought iron railing, flipping through the letters. Although super interesting, I didn’t find anything that I could use for my project. Slipping the book back on the shelf, I tried a few others, getting some good information that I copied down in my notebook. I checked the next few years to see if there was anything I could use but decided I had gotten all the history on the subject these books held. I then decided to look at what they could possibly have dated back to the twelfth century.

I found documentation of major events during the time Renaissance art was on the rise, medieval universities were being founded, and the Knights Templar were founded. I continued to pick randomly from the section, since so many fascinating things happened during this time in history. Then I picked up a book on the Knights Templar and their history. As I was flipping through, I stumbled upon the first mention of the Elementi I’d seen. The passage briefly mentioned that it was a branch of the Templars after the Battle of Hattin, during the decline of the Knights.

I googled the date of the battle and scanned the books to find something closer to that time. I pulled a few books that looked promising, but they were much older than what I’d been reading before and were hard to read in the soft lighting. I looked at the lower floor and found a couch with a lamp next to it. I noticed it was darker in the lower section as I hurried down the steps and over to the couch. I set the stack of books gently on the coffee table and grabbed the top one to start on first. I was so excited, I flopped onto the couch, and instead of landing on the couch cushion, I landed on a person. Before I could stand up, I was already in motion toward the floor.

“What the fuck? Don’t you look before you decide to sit on someone?” a male voice said as he pushed me off him.

Unable to think fast enough, I thumped to the floor in a heap, slapping myself in the face with the book. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t know anyone else was in here!” I looked up, rubbing my nose to find angry sapphire eyes glaring at me.

“Who the hell are you, and what are you doing here?” he barked.

I looked at him wide-eyed, shocked by the angry words directed at me. His long dark brown hair was all mussed from laying on the couch, making it stand up in all different directions. He was handsome to be sure, even with the scowl scrunching up his face. His deep-blue eyes seemed to sear right into me as he waited for my answer. The contrast of his overbearing demeanor to his wild hairstyle struck something inside me, and I couldn’t help but laugh. That reaction caught him off guard. He frowned deeper at me, swinging his feet off the couch so he was sitting directly in front of me and leaning close enough I could feel his warm breath on my skin.

“What the hell are you laughing at? Do you have any idea what deep shit you’re in right now?” he demanded, trying to intimidate me. “How the hell did you even get into this room?”

“I’m sorry, I truly am. I didn’t mean to laugh, it’s just this whole situation caught me off guard, and to see you so angry, and your hair,” I said, gesturing to his head. “It just struck me as funny, and I couldn’t help myself,” I said, wiping my eyes with my sleeve. I laughed so hard I had teared up.

“Are you mental?” he asked, combing his fingers through his hair and trapping it away in a man bun.

“I don’t think so,” I said, still unsure how to handle this whole situation. “Wait! How long have you been in this room? The man who let me in here didn’t tell me that anyone else was here,” I challenged.

“It doesn’t matter how I got in. Why are you here?” he asked, waving off my question.

“I got permission from one of my teachers to be here. I’m going to assume that you didn’t, or why else would you be hiding on the couch?” I said, pointing a finger in his face.

“I wasn’t hiding, I was napping. There’s a difference. Whatever. I don’t need to justify myself to you or anyone else. Just make sure you look before you sit on someone else.” He knocked my hand out of his way as he stood up. “What an idiot.”

“What did you call me?” I snapped, clambering to my feet. “Why am I an idiot for sitting on a couch in a dark room, when you’re the one sleeping in the middle of the library!”

“Who jumps on a couch like a little kid? Only an idiot wouldn’t turn the light on in a room this dark to make sure they didn’t sit on something. It’s only logical,” he said, glaring at me before he turned and started walking away again.

Normally, things like this wouldn’t bother me. I always let stuff like this roll off, not wanting conflict. Yet, for some reason, there was something about this guy that set my emotions on overdrive. It was as if he’d shocked me into action, and I could feel emotions building up inside me. How dare he treat me like I’m some bug on his shoe! I apologized for sitting on him, he doesn't have to be a dick about it.

I watched him walk across the room to a door I hadn’t seen before. While I was glaring at him, I felt my anger slowly fade as my brain absorbed the drool-worthy body he had. I’d never been one to check out a dude, but I think it’s because I hadn’t seen anyone with such a great ass before. Letting my gaze wander up past his muscular ass, I noticed the snug T-shirt that showed off his toned back. My hands clenched with a desire to run them across his skin to make sure what I saw was real. My train of thought came to a screeching halt when I realized he’d stopped and looked back at me from the door, catching me checking him out. His face grimaced at me as if my appreciation of him was unwelcome. Saying nothing, he pulled open the door and left, heading outside.

“Well, that couldn’t have been any worse,” I muttered to the empty room.

NINE

MICAH

Holy shit. They found Synergy.

Synergy is real—and a woman.

I never thought the day would come that we truly would have all six of us together. I knew the stories and the history we were taught, but I never really believed that the sixth element was real.

I stopped in the path outside the library and punched the wall to my right. I took my hand away to see I’d cracked the stone and the skin on my hand. Why did it have to be a woman? None of the five before us had ever been female. It always passed to a male of the family line. How can we do our jobs if we’re worried about some silly woman who was clueless enough to sit on me? I punched the wall again, this time knocking off a chunk of stone as I remembered the rush of power that I felt when she touched me. I could tell she didn’t feel it with the same intensity I had. Could it be that she has no idea what or who she is?

Why did I, of all people, have to be the first one to meet her? I know for sure the others would have said something if they’d stumbled across her first. They believed in the fairy tale we’ve been fed all these years. Damn it, why is my power reacting like this? I didn’t spend the last five years learning to manage it for one woman to ruin it.

I thought back to the archive room. I’d felt my power flare and reach out towards something it was drawn to. I assumed it was sensing one of the lesser demons that we’ve been hunting nearby, so I ignored it. It wasn’t until seconds before she sat on me that I knew someone was in the room with me. No one other than the Elementi used this obscure records room, and students needed permission from one of the Elementi to get access. So, imagine my surprise when the fragrance of rose wafted into my nose. The aroma was light and delicate, pure almost. I took another deep breath, and this time, the scent was stronger as if the source had gotten closer to me. That’s when it crashed onto my chest, knocking the air and the crap out of me.

I shook my head, trying to get the memory of her crystal-blue eyes looking at me out of my head. I knew it was futile, I would be dreaming about those eyes for days. Even just thinking about her, I could still feel the current of power flowing between us as if she were still here. I had to fight the urge to go back and talk to her again, just to see if I’d dreamed the whole thing up.

What the hell is happening to me?

“Damn, Micah. Larry is going to be pissed that you damaged a four-hundred-year-old building. What’s up?” Brayden asked, pulling me out of my thoughts.

I looked up to see my best friend leaning against the wall in front of me. He must’ve seen me punching the wall – a common occurrence for me when I was royally pissed.

“I think I might have just met the infamous sixth element,” I said, brushing the stone chips from my bleeding knuckles.

Brayden’s brows shot up and his eyes widened with surprise. He pushed away from the wall and walked over to me. “What makes you say that?”

“A strange girl was in the special archive and managed to sit on me,” I said, wrapping the cloth hankie Brayden always kept on him around my bleeding hand.

“As entertaining as it is to hear that it happened to you of all people, I can’t say that would be enough to qualify her as Synergy,” Brayden teased.

My parents died when I was twelve, and I moved in with the Doltens. Our families had always been close, so it worked out for the best. I was an only child, and my extended family wasn’t really interested in raising a kid that wasn’t their own. Brayden’s family was so welcoming to me. So, believe it when I say that Brayden knew just how much I didn’t care for social interaction and took great joy in this happening to me.

“Har, har, har’ Let's poke fun at the antisocial orphan. Nice move, asshole,” I said with mock anger.

Brayden shrugged his shoulders. “So, I’m assuming something else happened for you to think this person could be Synergy.”

“I can’t explain it, but when her body made contact with mine, it was like I was sixteen again, and my powers just manifested. It was wild, out of control. It was all I could do to keep from setting the room on fire,” I said, trying to explain the experience.

Brayden, who seemed to finally be taking me seriously, tapped his index finger on his chin. He always did that when his brain worked overtime figuring out a problem. “Out of all five of us, you have the greatest control over your powers, so for you to have that ripped away from you is something significant to consider.”

“Why don’t you ponder the universe later with Hudson? We have demons to kill. The sun has finally set, and I want to find them before they end up on the campus grounds,” I said, walking toward the parking lot where my car was waiting.

“What section did Beth give us tonight?” Brayden asked, walking alongside me.

I pulled out my phone to double-check the text I’d gotten earlier. “Looks like the pasture lands between Aiden House and Ashfall Hall. Christ, that’s a huge area! What does she think we are?”

“Magically-gifted descendants of the Knights Templar,” Brayden deadpanned.

“Looks who’s a funny man tonight,” I said, frowning at him. I mumbled under my breath, “Dick.”

We walked up to my bright, fire-engine red Bugatti Veyron and slid into the low sports car.

“Remind me again why we can’t take my car? It’s much less conspicuous than this,” Brayden said, giving me a reproachful look.

“Because I’m not riding in that futuristic egg you call a car. I don’t care if BMW made it; I’m still not going to ride in it,” I said, pushing the button and letting the engine roar to life.

“At least mine isn't killing the earth one hit of a button at a time,” Brayden grumbled.

“If you start on that bullshit with me again, I’m going to kick you out of my car, best friend or not. I let you talk me into a reusable straw and a bamboo toothbrush, but do not diss my car while you’re in it,” I snapped as I slammed down on the gas pedal, letting the rear wheels smoke before we launched forward.

Brayden opened his mouth, his face showing his disapproval on my burn out. “Not a word, Brayden.”

He made the smart choice and kept his thoughts to himself as we drove the access road to the pastures. The night was clear, and the moon was bright, so it would be easy to wander through the fields looking for demons.

The world has no idea about the hidden battle that’s been raging for almost a thousand years. Demons and angels have been fighting since the dawn of time, but it wasn’t until the demons decided to try a different tactic that they started to involve us—the blessed Elementi. There are many levels of demons, and typically, the school was warded by the five blessed Elementi warriors. Over the past seven hundred years, those blessed Elementi have helped to keep the demons from taking over, but the demons were getting smarter and stronger. Meanwhile, the Elementi were stuck with the first generation of blessed Elementi who couldn’t all be in the same room together without fighting. With this fatal flaw, lesser demons were finding their way through the cracks, and they were all heading in the same direction: the school.

I parked the car at the end of the access road. Brayden and I got out and started our search grid. Every night we paired up into two groups of two, rotating who we worked with, keeping the school safe. I was thankful that I had Brayden tonight, Beth had taken it as her mission to get Parker and me to get along by forcing us to patrol together. Thankfully, he had the night off and was stuck doing homework.

“Micah.”

I spun on my heel and ran after Brayden as he chased after something. I channeled my powers, producing my blessed weapons—two black swords, slightly curved with leather-wrapped handles—formed in my hands in a swirl of red energy. Ahead, I saw a burst of green coming from Brayden, and he pulled up the earth around the demon, trapping it in on all sides.

I charged past him and leaped over the wall of dirt, landing in front of the little demon. Thankfully this one didn’t have wings, but I saw Brayden raise the walls around it just in case, blocking us from view. It snarled at me, its tiny mouth full of needle-sharp teeth that wanted nothing more than to tear me apart. This one was the size of a two-year-old and had claws for hands that whipped out at me, catching me across the side of my arm.

“Okay, asshole, you want to play dirty? I can play dirty,” I said, absorbing my swords and replacing them with two balls of flickering flames. I chucked one after the other at its feet, causing it to jump to avoid them. “Take that, ya little fucker.”

“Micah, cut that shit out and get it over with. We have more ground to cover,” Brayden hollered from the other side of the wall.

Knowing Brayden was right, I produced my swords again and charged at the distracted demon. Crisscrossing my swords, I sliced its head off in one motion and blood spurted out. The moment it hit the ground, it drifted away, sizzling into smoke.

“All clear,” I called out so Brayden knew he could drop the wall.

The dirt around me crumbled back to the earth, letting me go free. Brayden, with his arms crossed, glowered at me. “How many times has Liam told you to just get in, get it done, and get out? We need to make sure we don’t get discovered.”

“The Elementi have been undiscovered for almost eight hundred years, I don’t think taking my time killing a demon will crash our hidden empire,” I said, dusting the demon blood residue from my pants.

“Did the demon get you?” Brayden asked, noticing the tears in my sleeve.

“It’s just a scratch,” I said, waving it off.

Ignoring me, he hit his speed dial and lifted the phone to his ear. “You know that demons carry venom in their claws, who’s to say you won’t drop dead in an hour?” Brayden said as he waited for whoever to pick up the phone. “Professor Creed, it’s Brayden. Micah got scratched by a lesser demon. Do we need to have him come in?”

Brayden paused to listen to the answer, he gave Creepy Creedy the description of the demon, said yes and no a few times, then hung up. “Looks like you’ll live, it was a scouting demon, not a lethal one.”

“So, you're telling me I’m gonna live,” I said, rolling my eyes in mock relief. “Looks like you’re stuck with me for a while longer.”

“Shut up, come on, we still have a lot of ground to cover,” Brayden said, walking past me and punching me in my unwounded shoulder.

The rest of our patrol was uneventful, and when it reached midnight we decided to head back. I never picked early classes, but Brayden was one of those strange early-bird-who-gets-the-worm guys, so he had a class at seven. Before we left, I popped the trunk and pulled out the first aid kit to wrap my arm so I wouldn’t get any blood on my leather seats. Brayden helped me tie it off, tired of watching me struggle with it.

“Hey, did that chick ever text you?” I asked once we got back in the car and headed back to school.

“No, but I’ve seen her in passing at school. It looks like she’s in deep with her studies. Always has her nose in a book,” Brayden said, shrugging his shoulders.

Out of the five of us, Brayden and Parker had the biggest following of girls, but I was surprised to find out just how many fans Hudson had. With the way Jay avoided attention, I’m not sure that anyone knew he was even attending classes at school. I tried to follow in his footsteps, but somehow, I also managed to have a fan group. I tried everything in my power to ignore them, but they still left notes and things for me in my mailbox. That’s why I had to resort to hiding out in the special archives room if I wanted to be left alone on the main campus.

“Maybe she’s more of an in-person girl, she could be like you and suck at technology.” I grinned, looking over at him.

“I can manage a phone just fine. It’s when it comes to computers that I have a problem. When I run into problems, I just have our resident tech mogul fix it for me,” Brayden said.

“At least Parker’s good for one thing,” I said, pulling into my parking spot in the teacher parking area.

“Not all of us can own a country and have family ties with powerful political figures,” Brayden countered, smirking at me.

“Whatever. It’s not like I’ve even been to the country I own. My extended family won’t let me have access to any of my inheritance, except the money. Once I turn twenty-one, everything will finally be made available for me to look over,” I said, irritated with the fight that my aunt and I had before school started.

“Hey man, I didn’t mean to hit a sore subject,” Brayden said, gripping my shoulder in an apology.

“It’s fine, I didn’t tell you about the fight with Aunt Muriel,” I said, shaking him off and slapping him on the back, letting him know we were good.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw what looked like a naked child run around the corner of a building. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. What have Jay and Hudson been doing all night?”

I took off in the direction that I’d seen the little demon disappear, knowing Brayden would follow. The little bastard was fast as it zigzagged around buildings, sticking to the shadows. Just when I thought I’d caught up to it, I lost sight of it. When it reappeared, it was running across the road toward Ashfall Hall.

“Brayden, the dorm,” I called as I shot off after it.

Brayden tried to box it in, but the demon sprouted wings and flew. We couldn’t do anything too noticeable right in front of the biggest dorm, that had floor-to-ceiling windows. The demon flew the rest of the way to the dorm with us tracking its every move. It managed to find a small open window in what I guessed was a bathroom.

“We need to get inside; looks like it’s on the third floor. Do you know if that was the girls’ side, or the guys’?” Brayden asked as he swiped his keycard through the reader, unlocking the door.

“How would I know? That would be something Parker would know; I never visit the dorms,” I snapped, yanking the door open and jogging over to the stairs on the right-hand side.

This was the one time I would ever thank Liam for making us train on the stair machine all the time. I took the steps two at a time until we made it to the third floor.

“Let’s spread out, you go right, I’ll go left. Text once one of us kills the little shit,” I whispered harshly, short of breath.

Brayden nodded and took off. I walked quickly down to the end of the hall, where I found the bathroom. I was hoping that it was still trapped in there and couldn’t manage the door latch. I turned the knob slowly until I heard screaming. Girls burst out of the bathroom, knocking me out of the way. Guess it’s the girls’ side. I waited till the stampede of girls passed, and then I ducked through the door. The demon was fighting off a wet towel that someone had apparently thrown at it. It tried to dart past me, but I tossed a fireball without thinking and watched as it hit the towel, bursting it into flames and causing the fire alarm to go off. The high-pitched blaring of the alarm threw the demon off, causing it to freeze in its tracks, and giving me the chance to run my sword through it. Wiping the water out of my face, I looked around the bathroom at all the sprinklers going off.

“Beth is going to skin me alive for this,” I muttered as I trudged my way out of the bathroom. My clothes were soaked through. Thankfully, the rest of the building didn’t have the sprinklers on, but all the girls were emerging bleary-eyed from their rooms to evacuate the building.

I found Brayden waiting for me in the lobby, and we walked out together into the crowd of sleepy students. We tried to weave our way through the mass to head back to Aiden House, when I crashed right into a blonde-haired, blue-eyed, rose-scented woman.

Fuck my life.

TEN

LAILAH

“You have got to be fucking kidding me! Do you need glasses or something? Or are you just that much of a klutz?” a voice I distinctly remember from earlier that night said.

I looked up, greeted once again by those disdainful blue eyes, but this time he was soaking wet. Brayden appeared beside him, shocking me even more. How could someone so kind be friends with this asshat?

“Micah,” Brayden said, smacking him on the backside of his head. “What the hell, man?”

The guy I now knew as Micah rubbed the back of his head and scowled at Brayden.

“I’m so sorry, Lailah, I don’t know what comes over him. When he’s in public, he forgets how to act like a human,” Brayden said, trying to manage his friend's blunder.

“Why are you wet?” I asked, still not able to get past that fact.

“Matters that don’t concern you,” Micah grumbled. “Come on, Brayden. We need to get back.”

“I hate to do this to you again, but I do have to go,” Brayden apologized. He turned to go but then paused and looked back at me. “I hope you decide to reach out sometime soon. I would love a chance to really sit down and talk with you.”

“I’ll see where I can fit you into my schedule; I promise,” I said as he walked off after Micah.

“What were Micah and Brayden doing here?” Cami asked as she walked up behind me.

I looked over my shoulder at her. “I have no idea. Wait, is Micah one of The Manor guys, too?”

“Yeah, he’s Brayden’s best friend. They grew up together, they’re like brothers,” Cami explained.

“The building is clear, you can all go back inside,” someone shouted from the front of the building.

“How was your family dinner?” I asked as we walked back into the dorm. Cami shrugged. “Everything okay?” It was unlike her to be so quiet about things—good or bad.

“It’s fine, Lala. Things are just changing faster than I’d like,” Cami said cryptically as we got on the elevator.

“What does that mean? Do you think I’m going to abandon you for some guy? Is that what this is about? I haven’t even texted Brayden since he gave me his number,” I said, making sure that Cami knew she was number one in my life.

“You haven’t texted him?! Lala, do you know what a bitchy thing that is to do to a guy?” Cami said, pulling me out of the elevator on her floor. “You like him, right?”

I paused to think about that; I did like Brayden a lot, but I could also say that I had a thing for Parker too after the party.

“Yes, but he’s not the only one I think I like,” I said, deciding to be honest with her and myself.

Cami raised her brows at this announcement. “Oh, well, I guess that does make things more interesting. Still, you’re not dating anyone, so there’s no harm in trying out a few different guys before settling on one, or both.”

“Both,” I said, shocked. She opened the door to her room, holding it open for me to follow. “Why would I pick both? There is no way I could handle seeing two guys separately. Also, that’s a dick move to make. Way worse than not texting them at all.”

“Lala, honey, this is twenty-twenty; if you want two boyfriends, who’s to say you can’t?” Cami challenged. “Hell, I could have a girlfriend and a boyfriend if I ever cared to.”

I laughed at the excitement on her face at the idea. “I couldn’t even make a relationship work with one guy, how could I manage to keep two guys happy?”

“See, that’s where you're wrong,” Cami said, waving a finger at me. “It’s not your job alone to make anyone happy in any relationship, ours included. They take effort from both sides. If you’re the only one paddling the boat, then you’re just going in circles. You need your partner—or partners—to put in the same, if not more, effort.”

“Where were you four years ago when I needed to hear that?” I asked, sitting on the edge of her bed, which was the only clean surface in the room.

“You have to go through the bad to understand how good the right thing is,” Cami said, flopping onto her bed behind me. “Let’s have a sleepover since you're already here, it’s one a.m., tomorrow is Tuesday, and we both have late starts. It’s perfect.”

I shrugged, looking around the room and seeing how every surface was covered in clothes, accessories, and food wrappers. “Um, I don’t see anywhere for me to sleep. I think there might be a couch under that mountain of clothes.”

“Sleep next to me, the bed’s big enough, and I promise not to turn you into a lesbian after a night with me,” Cami teased.

I laughed, shaking my head at her. “I wasn’t worried about that; who's to say I won’t take advantage of you and add you to my growing list.”

“Don’t tease me with things that will never happen, Lala, it’s just cruel,” Cami said, wriggling under the blankets and making room for me.

“Sweet dreams then, it’s the only place that would be able to happen,” I said with a giggle, glad to finally dish back some of the sass I always got.

The next morning, I woke with Cami wrapped around me like an anaconda. I had to pee so bad, but any time I moved, she would hold tighter. Finally, when I’d tried to wake her up nicely—and failed, I decided I needed to resort to desperate measures. I readied myself, knowing it was going to hurt, then rolled off the edge of the bed and landed on the floor.

“Fuck, I’m up, what happened?” Cami said, popping up from the floor, ready for anything.

I started to laugh as she turned from side to side, looking for whatever caused us to fall out of the bed. “Serves you right, I needed to pee,” I said, picking myself up off the floor and heading out of the room.

“Not cool, Lala, see if I ever invite you for another sleepover,” she yelled as I left.

I took the elevator up to my own room and grabbed things I would need to shower and get ready for the day. When I glanced at my clock, I was surprised to see it was only eight-thirty. I had plenty of time this morning, since my first class didn’t start until eleven. I couldn’t be late. It was a hands-on lab class for chemistry that I needed to do well in. I headed down the hall to shower, passing by a bunch of girls who were putting on their makeup at the large mirror over the sinks. As I walked by, their chatter died out, and they watched me with stony silence. I ignored them and set my clothes on the bench outside the shower so they wouldn’t get wet. I grabbed my towel and shower things and stepped into the first open stall. I took my time letting the hot water run over my skin, enjoying the luxury of not being in a hurry for once. I even took the time to shave my legs while I let a deep conditioner sit in my hair.

Finished, I wrapped up in my towel and walked out to find my clothes were missing. The only thing left in their place was a Post-it with leave The Manor boys alone or else written on it in angry block letters. How charming. I crumpled the note up, glad that I brought my towel in with me or else I would’ve been left with nothing. The calm that I felt in the shower was thrown to the wayside as I stormed down the hall back to my room. When I got there, I realized that one of the things they took was my Notre Dame sweatshirt. I threw on some clothes and ran around the dorm, trying to find where they put my clothes. I finally went around the back of the dorm to where the dumpster was and opened the lid. Sure enough, they had thrown all my clothes away.

How dare those fucking bitches do this? What the hell had I ever done to them? I didn’t ask for The Manor boys to decide to talk to me. I would love it if they stopped talking to me after this. I paused at that thought. Did I really want to let some insecure bitches control what I did or who I talked to? Nope. Now I wanted to spend all my time with those guys just to piss them off. I think I’ll go text Brayden right now.

Heading back to my room, I tossed the clothes into my dirty basket so I could wash them later. I grabbed my phone and scrolled down to Brayden’s number. Riding on the high of my anger, I typed out a simple message asking him when he would be free. Then I decided I was way too worked up to get anything done. I needed to do something to relieve all this stress that school had built up in me. I thought back to the last time I’d gone for a run and realized it had been almost three weeks. That was part of my problem, I always found I handled life better when I ran.

I switched into running clothes, selecting my favorite tank top that said, “I’m a ray of fucking sunshine.” I piled my still-wet hair on top of my head and slipped my room key into the pocket of my shorts, zipping it closed. The last thing I needed was to get locked out of my room. I looked at my phone and decided against taking it with me. I just wanted to be left alone. I looked over the school map that I had from orientation and saw that there was a path running around the school property. It looked like an easy three miles and hard for me to get lost on.

I decided to go down the stairs to get my blood pumping and ready me for my run. When I reached the bottom, I stretched out my legs a little, so I wouldn’t get a cramp along the way and headed off. Once on the asphalt path, I zoned out, letting the sound of my breathing and the slapping of my shoes on the ground be the only things I focused on. The pure joy of running filled me like a long-lost friend. I needed to make this a routine again, it would keep me from losing my shit while stuck in a building of evil women.

As I ran, I felt my legs getting tired, my breathing becoming more labored, and my pulse rose slightly. That’s strange, I can run three miles easily, it’s when I get closer to six that I start getting winded. Am I that out of shape? I stopped and took a moment to catch my breath, shaking out my legs. I looked around and froze—I was nowhere near the school. I didn’t even have my watch on to know what time it was. How long have I been running?

I turned around and started walking back the way I came, giving my legs a chance to recover. I didn’t know how long it would take me to get back. I kept looking around to find a glimpse of the school trying to get a read on what direction to head. I felt my panic begin to rise as I kicked myself for leaving without my phone. What kind of an idiot am I? Feeling the need to move faster, I started jogging again, hoping I might run into someone on the path.

As if the gods had heard me, a half-naked guy came running up behind me and passed me with long powerful steps. His golden skin was glistening with sweat, drawing my eyes to watch him as he ran, making me forget I needed help.

“Hey,” I yelled, waving at him to get his attention.

He slowed, then stopped looking back at me with a blank expression, his chest heaving as he caught his breath. Don’t just drool over him, ask him for help, you idiot, I chided myself.

“Sorry to stop you on your run, but I seem to have taken a wrong turn,” I said and waited for some response.

He just silently looked at me with his gorgeous almond-shaped eyes that were the color of slate. He blinked slowly at me and ran his hand over his buzzed head. It was then I noticed the tattoos covering his whole left arm in a black and white design that went over his shoulder and dipped onto his peck. Finally, he nodded at me and started jogging again slightly slower.

I looked around to see if there was anyone else who could help me or if I would have to manage with the silent Asian god. Who am I kidding? Why wouldn’t I follow the half-naked man? I took off, jogging to catch up with him. Now that I felt more rested and I had a guide to keep me from freaking out, I picked up my normal pace. I fell back into my zone and smiled at the sound of both of us matching paces. Part of me wanted to push my stride longer to see if I could keep up with his original pace. I knew better than to do that this far into the run, and I didn’t know how long I was going to need to last.

In our companionable silence, I took the time to appreciate having a running partner for once. I used to be on the track team in high school and never minded being a lone runner. I think it happened because I didn’t have anyone who could match my stride, let alone push me further. Even though I was only five-three and didn’t have the typical legs for running, I made up for it in speed and stamina. At my peak performance, when I added hurdles to the list, I could run a half marathon for a warm-up. I was shaken out of my reminiscing when a hand grabbed my arm and pulled me to the right.

“This way, if you want to head back to school,” a rich deep voice said beside me.

I looked up, shocked to hear him speak for the first time. “Thanks. I would’ve been running to another country if you hadn’t been here,” I said, grinning.

“No, you would have ended up running all the way to Nettleton, which is another twenty-four clicks from here,” he said.

Okay, this guy doesn't do sarcasm well apparently, but since he’s willing to talk, why not take advantage.

“How far did I manage to run off course?” I asked, slowing a little to make talking easier.

“Close to fifteen clicks give or take,” he said, matching my pace.

“Clicks?” I asked confused. I’d only heard military people use this term.

I saw the corner of his mouth pull up like he might smile. “It’s nine point three miles.”

“Holy crap. How did I manage to get that off track?” I said more to myself than him.

“By the time we make it back, I would say it will be around seventeen total. I’m taking you back a more direct route to the school,” he explained.

“Oh, God. I’m going to be so sore tomorrow. It has been way too long for me to run that far,” I complained.

My running partner shrugged his shoulders. “I think the body can handle more than we give it credit for. You’re an experienced runner, you’ll be fine.”

“How can you tell that?” I asked, intrigued.

“You lose yourself in your running. Only people who have been running for a while know how to tune out everything but the run,” he said, looking at me out of the corner of his eye. “Also, not many people can get close to matching my preferred pace.”

I grinned widely. I didn’t know why, but I felt like it was something he didn’t often do. When I looked down the path rounding a shrub wall, I saw the school dead ahead. I wasn’t lost forever! I picked up my pace looking over to my right, where I found him watching me with the first glimmer of emotion in his eyes. He saw my challenge for what it was. He edged past me, pushing the pace faster. I rose to the bait and nosed past him. Soon we were both running full tilt down the path, not a care in the world. My bun jostled loose from its confines, and I saw my scrunchie fall to the ground. I didn’t care; I had a race to win and an ass to beat.

I gritted my teeth as I felt my energy begin to waver, I couldn’t let up yet. The school was so close it was only a few more feet that I had to make, and I would be waiting for him to brush off my dust. Just when I thought I had this in the bag, I saw him blur past me; he’d been holding back till the very end. I knew I’d been beat. I didn’t have anything left in the tank, so I slowed to a more manageable pace. Once I caught up to him near the reflecting pool where I’d started this run, I flopped into the grass.

“You run like the flippin’ wind. Where did you have that last boost stored away?” I asked, looking up at him from the ground.

I was happy to see that he had to take a moment to catch his breath before answering. “It’s always the best tactic to let your foe think they’ve won. It makes them careless.”

I blinked up at him, surprised by that nugget of information. “You read the Art of War before bed, don’t you.”

“It might be a personal favorite, but no, I didn’t learn that from there,” he said, reaching a hand to help me up. “You shouldn’t let your legs freeze up like that or you will be sore tomorrow.”

As he helped me up, I looked down at his watch and gasped. “Oh, fuck!”

He looked at me questioningly, looking down at his watch. “Is there something about the time being noon that offends you?”

“No, it’s not that. I can’t believe I was gone that long. I left for my run at nine-thirty; it was supposed to take me forty-five minutes at most to do this run. It’s now been over three hours, and I totally missed my lab for a class I can’t screw up in,” I said, sitting dejectedly on the low brick wall of the reflecting pool. “Why did I choose Organic Chemistry of all things?”

My savior came and sat next to me, rigid and unsure. “I’m sorry you missed an important class.”

“It wouldn’t be so bad if I wasn’t already sucking at it. The other day it took me an hour to do a simple twenty-question quiz. I’m going to bomb this class and lose my scholarship if I can’t perform to the school standards,” I said, wallowing in my self-pity.

“Would it help if I knew of someone who could tutor you?” he asked, tilting his head to the side.

“That would be amazing, but I don’t really have the extra money to pay someone.”

“He wouldn’t charge you. He has no need for the extra income.”

“Sure, sounds like a dream come true,” I said, smiling up at him.

He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and handed it to me. “Put your number in, and I’ll text you his number. He’ll be glad to help if you tell him Jay gave you his number.”

I smirked at him as I typed in my number, “Is that your name—Jay?”

“It’s Jalen, but everyone calls me Jay,” he answered as I handed him back his phone.

“You’ll find my name under Lailah, but since you only have ten contacts, I’m sure you would have figured it out,” I said, standing up.

“I hate phones, but it’s how everyone chooses to communicate these days,” Jay said, following my lead. “Let me know if you want a guide on your next run. I know all the trails around here.”

“Thanks, I think I’ll take you up on that offer,” I said, waving goodbye as I crossed the street to Ashfall.

ELEVEN

JAY

Iwatched as Lailah made it across the street to her dorm, waiting to make sure she didn’t get lost again. I looked down at my phone, which now had her number in it. Why did I feel the need to help her? Normally, I wouldn’t have stopped to help someone on the trails. If they got lost, they could figure out how to get back, it would be a valuable lesson.

When she called out to me, I felt a tug demanding me to stop and see what was going on. When I looked back to see this small woman with desperate crystal-blue eyes, I couldn’t help but hear what she needed. I quickly typed out Hudson’s number and sent it to her, then sent another one letting her know it was coming from me. Tucking my phone back in my pocket, I turned and headed off to Aiden House. I had a meeting that I needed to get ready for with my father. There was a new company that was looking to use our private security company.

Even though I was part of the Elementi Warriors, my father still had me working alongside him. He was loyal to the Elementi cause, but saw our group of warriors as a hindrance to the mission. We’d been training together during the summers since some of us were about fifteen. Now that we were in college, and at Ryevick to get our education and more intensive training as a team, we were failing. My father worked with Liam from time to time, improved our methods, and witnessed our failure at restoring the wards.

Deciding my skills would be better used in his company, I had limited classes at school. In fact, I only had the one required for the Elementi. I wasn’t really bothered by it; I prefer not to be forced to interact with the typical student body. It was chaotic, messy, and loud. One couldn’t think clearly in all that busyness. I much preferred doing my studies in the mansion where I could have the private library all to myself. Hudson would join me there, but we both liked the pure silence, so it worked.

As for the others, having to live with Brayden and Micah wasn’t too much of a hassle, they kept to themselves. Parker was the problem in the group; he didn’t take anything seriously. He was forever playing practical jokes on everyone. He tried to do that to me once, but when he woke up with fire ants in his bed the next day, he decided never to do it again. Wise choice on his part. I wanted our team to be successful, but I refused to put in the effort when none of the others did either. They all had other goals they wanted to achieve that had nothing to do with being an Elementi Warrior.

My phone vibrated in my pocket. It was a response from Lailah.

Lailah:

Thanks for the help today and the number! Oh, I plan to run every morning at 6am to get back into my running routine if you want to join me

I couldn’t help but smirk, liking the thought of having her as my running buddy.

Jay:

Tomorrow, reflecting pool, 0600.

TWELVE

LAILAH

When I made it back to the dorm, I checked my phone and, sure enough, Jay had texted me the number. I laughed at how direct he was in his messages. I’d also gotten a response from Brayden on when he would be available to meet up. I decided to get back to him after I took another shower, taking my clothes with me for safekeeping. I hurried out of the dorm and off to English class, trying not to miss my only other class for the day.

Thankfully, English was one class that I didn’t have to worry too much about. I was good at writing, and this one was a basic class that all students had to take. Heading to the coffee shop, I got my beloved chai and decided to reach out to this guy Jay suggested.

Lailah:

Hello, you don’t know me but your friend Jay gave me your number. I am struggling in organic chem and he said you might be able to help me.

Here’s to hoping he would reply. I pulled out my schedule and looked over what projects I had coming up and what tests I would need to be prepared for. Feeling like I could step back the next week and do something fun, I texted Brayden back, feeling kind of nervous.

Lailah:

Hey, so Thursday works for me if you want to meet up at the coffee shop.

I pulled out my notes from what I had found in the special archives and started picking out what I could use for my paper. I was so focused on my work that when my phone vibrated loudly on the table, I jumped. I glanced at it and saw that it was a response from the mystery tutor.

Mystery Tutor:

Jay gave you my number? How do you know him?

Lailah:

Bit of a strange story, but he rescued me when I got lost on a run. As we were talking, I told him about not doing so hot in my class, and he said you would help me. I hope I didn’t overstep in reaching out to you.

I knew I shouldn’t have trusted a guy I’d just met and a strange phone number. This is how people get catfished and crap like that. This guy must have thought I was an idiot for believing this rando running around school grounds.

Mystery Tutor:

No, it’s fine. Just surprised. Jay doesn’t mingle much. I am free tomorrow after 4pm if that works for you. We can meet at one of the study labs in the library.

I breathed a sigh of relief; this guy wasn’t a joke.

Lailah:

I can make that work, thank you for doing this!

Mystery Tutor:

Sure thing, I’ll text you the study room number tomorrow.

“Thank God,” I said, dropping my head on my notebook in relief.

“What’s up with you, Lala? Did you have someone roll you off the bed at an ungodly early hour because they needed to pee? Oh, wait, no, that was me,” Cami said, plunking her stuff down across from me.

“Hey, if you hadn’t wrapped yourself around me, I wouldn’t have had to do that. I tried to wake you up before jumping to such drastic measures,” I said in my defense.

Cami rolled her eyes and took a long pull on her monster-sized coffee. “Whatever, how has your day been? I haven’t seen you at all.”

“It’s been a day, let me tell you. First, I got my clothes stolen and tossed in the dumpster. Then, I went on a run to clear my head and got lost running almost twenty miles. Thank God someone happened to be running in the same area, and he helped me get back. If that all wasn’t enough, because I got lost, I missed a lab class for Organic Chem. Those are big deals, Cami,” I said, exasperated at the whole day.

Cami sat back in her chair and looked me up and down. “You can run twenty miles and still look this good, damn I’m impressed.”

“Out of all that, running twenty miles is what you zeroed in on?” I asked, shaking my head.

“What? It’s impressive,” she said in her defense.

I shrugged my shoulders, “It’s not really. I used to run twenty miles on a normal basis and did marathons for fun when it was off-season.”

“Kill me now!” Cami said, shivering at the thought. “I would never run like that for fun, sounds more like torture.”

I laughed and took a swig from my now-cold chai. “Oh! I meant to tell you this earlier, but the day got away from me. So, when I went to the special archives yesterday, I took the chance to do some investigating into the Elementi.”

Cami stilled and peered at me over her coffee cup. “What did you find?”

I leaned in, excited to share. “So, it looks like the first mention of it is when the Knights Templar had this huge battle and lost, it was toward the end of the golden era of the Knights. After the battle, they splintered off and started being known as the Elementi.”

“So, are they rogue knights?” Cami asked, frowning.

I shook my head, waving off her comment. “No, they went off to help defend many small towns and villages that became super prominent places later on. It’s like anywhere they went, some influential person popped up from there sometime later. If they’d gotten wiped out, then we wouldn’t have some of the most brilliant minds in the world.”

“How crazy is that? Do you think they might have known these places were going to be important or could it just be chance?” Cami asked, setting down her coffee.

I grinned, knowing I had her full attention now. “I don’t have a clue, but don’t you think it’s crazy that they always seemed to be around when something important was going down? When I dug a little deeper about the places where they were spotted, strange occurrences happened afterward at each one.”

“Strange occurrences?” Cami asked.

“Yeah, like a massive rainstorm, earthquake, forest fire, or tornado. There was even a mention about people having mass hallucinations, and a whole town believed angels came down from heaven and possessed them,” I said, letting that hang for Cami to mull over.

“Why would angels possess people?” Cami ventured.

“According to my research, these people were saved because they all were woken up and walked out of town before a volcano erupted. It would have been Pompeii all over again. When the village woke up, they were all in boats out on the sea, safe and sound.” I flipped through my notebook to see what else I had discovered.

“Are you saying you think this Elementi splinter group is causing all these strange things?” Cami questioned, scrunching up her face.

Leaning back in my chair, I sighed and stared up at the ceiling of the coffee shop. “It’s crazy, right? This is the real world, not some fantasy story where the impossible can happen.” I looked back at Cami and gave a wistful smile. “I guess I’m connecting things that probably have nothing to do with each other.”

“You never know, Lala, maybe it would take someone who believed in the impossible to see the truth,” Cami said with a look in her eyes that I couldn’t place.

“You might be right, but I have lots of other things to study that are more important than that. It’s my first semester, and I’m already on the way to failing a class,” I said, closing my notebook and the topic.

“You’re done with classes, right? We should go into town since you’ve had such a crappy day. You can get those sugar cookies you love so much,” Cami said, wagging her eyebrows, knowing that was the one thing I couldn’t say no to.

“Sounds like fun,” a male voice said behind us.

The look on Cami’s face was enough to tell me it had to be Parker. I knew that they got along better than they liked to let on, but I’d figured it out. I tilted my head back, and sure enough, Parker was right behind me with his signature grin.

“Who said you’re invited, dickweed?” Cami shot at him.

He pulled over a chair and sat on it backward as he leveled his gaze to Cami. “Lailah is my friend, too. You can’t keep her to yourself all the time. Sharing is caring, Camilla, I know Beth taught you better than that.”

Cami’s hand shot out, and she had Parker’s hand with his thumb twisted at an awkward angle, and his face twisted in pain. “Call me that one more time. Go on, I dare you,” Cami growled.

“Uncle, uncle I give, I give,” Parker said, trying to twist his body to lessen the pain.

Cami released him, tossing his hand away like it was going to bite her. “I better never hear that out of your mouth again, or I really will break off your thumb, ya douche-canoe.”

“Wait! Is that what Cami is short for?” I asked. “I never would have guessed you as a Camil⁠—”

“I love you, Lala, but if you finish that sentence, I will bitch-slap the shit out of you,” Cami said, glaring at me and scaring me with how intense she was about it.

“Okay, I’ll forget I ever heard it,” I said, raising my hands in submission.

“Look what you’ve done, ya twat waffle; you made me scare Lala,” Cami said, turning her anger back on Parker.

“Why don’t you keep from getting your panties in a knot and calm down,” Parker said, holding his own against Cami.

I looked between the two of them and started to giggle. Hearing me, they paused their stare-down to look at me in surprise. The way they were so similar just struck me as funny. I couldn’t explain it, but I loved seeing them go toe to toe. Getting myself under control, I waved them off and gathered my stuff.

“Come on, let’s head into town so I can get my sugar fix,” I said.

“Wanna ride with me?” Parker asked, giving me puppy-dog eyes.

I looked over at Cami with a questioning eyebrow, and she just smirked at me. “Sure, sounds good.”

“Awesome. I have my ride in the faculty parking lot, so we don’t have to go far,” Parker said, giving me an excited smile.

“Parker, if you do something stupid and get Lala hurt, I will kill you, raise you from the dead, and kill you again. You feel me?” Cami said, giving Parker a stern look.

“Chill, I won’t let anything happen to her,” Parker grumbled.

We all walked out of the coffee shop, and I waved at Cami as she split off to grab her car from the dorms. I followed Parker until we stopped in front of a bright-yellow motorcycle. I felt my panic level rise as I realized why Cami had been worried about my safety. I looked up at Parker to tell him I changed my mind, but he settled his hands on my shoulders and looked me in the eye.

“I know I come off as an impulsive child, but I promise I will make sure you’re safe,” Parker searched my face before he grabbed the spare helmet from the saddlebag on his bike. “I’m not sure all your hair will fit in here, but let’s give it a shot.”

I laughed, my fear about the situation calming down. I pulled my hair out of its bun and jammed the helmet on over my head. It took a little wiggling, but I managed to get it to fit snugly on my head. Parker helped me with the chin strap, and having him so close gave me butterflies in my stomach. I could feel his body heat and the subtle scent of his cologne that smells like warm spices.

“Perfect,” Parker said, patting the top of my helmet to let me know he was done.

I struggled not to blush, and I dipped my head so he couldn’t see my face as I looked at the bike. “What kind of motorcycle is this?” I asked, knowing I would have no idea, but it gave me something else to think about.

“It’s a Harley Davidson Fat Boy, smooth ride, but still stylish, just like me,” Parker said with a wink.

At that comment, I lost the battle with my flushing cheeks, and I knew from the heat coming off my face that I was as bright as a stop sign. I coughed, choking on my own spit at the suddenness of the teasing. I knew Parker and I were becoming friends, and I knew I kind of liked him, but I didn’t know we were at the flirty stage yet.

“Shit, I’m sorry, Lailah. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I don’t know how to have a friend that’s a girl. I always have girls around, but they only want one thing from me. I know you’re not like that. I shouldn’t have said that, it just popped out,” Parker said, groaning and rubbing his face with his hands.

I didn’t know how I felt about him seeing me as just a friend, but I knew for sure I was happy that he saw me differently than those vipers that had tossed my clothes in the dumpster.

Recovered from my coughing fit, I reached out and patted him on the arm. “It’s all good, I tend to be super awkward around people, so I get it, it happens. Come on, at this point, Cami is halfway there with how she drives.”

“Yeah, and she was worried about me getting you hurt. She’s a psycho when she drives. Her and Micah, one of my other dorm mates, used to have drag races all the time; they’re just nuts,” Parker said as he straddled his bike and pulled on his helmet.

“Oh, so you’ve known Micah for a long time, too?” I asked, surprised, thinking they had only met at school.

“Yeah, all of us who live at Aiden House have known each other for a long time. Our parents all mingle in the same social circle,” Parker said offhandedly. “Okay, climb on.”

I gulped and threw my leg over the machine and settled in behind Parker. I tried to keep some space between us, but the way the seat was designed made me slide right up against him. Since I couldn’t keep my lower body away from him, I tried to lean back, so my chest wasn’t resting on his back.

“I’m going to assume this is your first time on a motorcycle.” He grabbed my hands from where they were resting on my legs and wrapped them around his middle. “Hold on to me tight and follow my lead. Lean into the curves, flow with the road, and stay relaxed, that’s all there is to it,” Parker instructed.

I gave in and let myself lean against him, reminding me of us dancing at the party. It didn’t feel strange then, and it didn’t now either. In many ways, it felt like I was right where I belonged, safe, comfortable, and almost like I was home. It gave me a zing of excitement, but it also made me worry that I was reading into things that weren’t really there. Obviously, Parker didn’t see me as more than a friend, and I needed to keep it that way. Parker was growing on me, and I didn’t want to mess up and lose out on the friendship we could have. Parker pulled out slowly, letting me get a feel for the bike, but once we were on the main road, he kicked it into high gear, and we raced down the open road.

The ride was exhilarating, and I could see why people liked to ride motorcycles. It made you feel like you were free. The wind across your face, the scents of the world around you, and the speed were all intoxicating. It was close to the feeling I had while running, only way faster. It also helped to have Parker’s warm body to cut the chill of the ride. All too soon, we made it to town and found a place to park. Parker held the bike steady while I hopped off, and he followed shortly after.

“What took you so long?” Cami called as she walked over to us.

“You told me to keep her safe, I was doing just that, don’t be an ass,” Parker retorted, locking the helmets up. “Just because you can get around the world in twenty minutes doesn’t mean it’s right.”

“Whatever,” Cami said, brushing off Parker’s answer. “Oh, we need to stop by the book store for my sister. She texted me on my way over here. You guys need anything else while we’re here?”

“Nope. I’m just along for the ride,” Parker said, grinning at us.

I shook my head and headed off in the direction of delicious smelling cookies. This was exactly what I needed after the shitty day I’d had. I wondered what the girls will do next when they see me and Parker hanging out today and then me with Brayden later in the week. I smiled to myself, glad that I wasn’t going to let them rule who I made friends with.

“Where are we off to?” Parker asked.

“The bakery to get God’s gift to the human world,” I said, humming to myself.

“Um, what?” Parker said, walking backward in front of me so he could see my face.

I rolled my eyes at him, no one ever understood my strange love for all things sugar cookie. “Remember when we first met, and you smashed my cookie?”

“Yeah, I still feel bad about that,” he answered.

“That was a small piece of heaven you shattered. Some girls have an obsession with clothes, shoes, or coffee, but for me, it’s all about the sugar cookies,” I said, smiling when I saw him understand.

“Wow! So, I’m lucky you’re even still talking to me after I murdered your cookie?” Parker said, letting out a low whistle.

“No, you’re lucky Lala is more forgiving than I am. I would’ve written you off for good,” Cami piped up.

“Hey, I bought her a new one, I took responsibility for my actions,” Parker defended himself.

“Guys, come on, it’s over and done with. That happened weeks ago,” I said, trying to end the squabbling as we arrived at the bakery.

I pulled open the door and listened to the little chime signaling our arrival. I wandered over to the cookie display and started to search for the treasured item. Cami and I had never come this late in the day, and I got to the area where they were normally displayed, but it was empty. I quickly looked back through the cases on either side, but there was not a single sugar cookie in sight.

“Well, hello, Lailah, good to see you,” Anne said, coming out of the back, wiping her flour-covered hands on her apron. “You’re here much later than usual.”

Parker turned to look at me with raised eyebrows. “Come here often?”

“Anne, am I too late? I don’t see any in the display case,” I asked, even I could hear the desperation in my voice.

“Oh, don’t worry, love. I always have a batch set aside in the back just for you.” Anne gave me a warm smile before she grabbed a box to place the cookies in.

“You’re a real MVP, Anne,” Cami said. “I think after the day Lailah’s had, she might have gone catatonic right here in your bakery.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. I’ll go get them right away,” Anne tutted before she returned to the back room for the cookies.

“Damn, you must really love those cookies if you’re on a first-name basis with the baker,” Parker said, enjoying watching this whole thing going down.

“I guess so, things have been so stressful with school, that Cami or I popped in to get cookies a few times. Anne is just super sweet and reminds me a lot of my mom, so we bonded,” I said as Anne walked back to us.

“I have never met someone who has such a mature palate when it comes to cookies. She can even tell me when I’ve added too much butter and not enough vanilla,” Anne said, chuckling.

“My mom’s also a baker, and I would taste test all her dough, so I learned from her. Other than Anne, I’ve never met someone who can make a better sugar cookie than my mom,” I said proudly.

“Oh stop, you’re going to make me blush,” Anne said, waving a hand at us. “Now, those are on me tonight, love, seeing as you had a bad day and all.”

“Bless you, Anne,” I said, blowing her a kiss as we walked out the door.

Once out on the sidewalk, I couldn’t help doing a little skip of happiness now that I was holding the magical white bakery box.

“So, is it off-limits to ask if you’re willing to share?” Parker asked as we walked over to the bookstore.

I gave Parker a sideways glance, deciding how I was feeling about sharing my cookies with him. I liked Parker, but I felt like sharing my cookie wasn’t a right he’d earned yet. A girl had to be careful who she gave her cookies to. You never knew if they would appreciate them the way they should be appreciated. I knew the value of that round golden sugary goodness, but would he treat it with the proper respect? That was yet to be determined.

“I’m not sure we’ve reached that level of friendship yet,” I said and watched the shocked look on Parker’s face.

“Seriously?” he complained.

“Look, cocknugget, I didn’t even get my cookie until this week! Wait your turn,” Cami said, wagging her eyebrows at him.

“Cami! Don’t tell him that, you make it sound dirty,” I shrieked.

“What? The way you treat your cookies, it might as well be sex,” Cami said, nudging me with her elbow.

“Okay, I feel like this conversation has taken a turn that I am not comfortable with. My slight obsession with sugar cookies might be a little unorthodox, but it could be worse,” I said, feeling my cheeks heat.

“Note to self: if I ever get you mad at me, I’ll make sure to visit Anne right away,” Parker said, laughing.

“What do you mean if, more like when,” Cami mumbled as she opened the door to the bookstore.

We walked in, and since I didn’t really need anything, I decided to check out the fiction section. It was in the back of the bookstore next to the small music section where they sold old vinyl records and CDs. Parker trailed after me, seeming content to follow my lead. I headed to the fiction section and started pulling random books that caught my eye off the shelf. I picked up one book, and on the cover, the woman in the middle was surrounded by five half-naked men. I remember Cami telling me that dating more than one person wasn’t as taboo as it used to be. Before I could turn it over to read the back of the cover, Parker reached over and plucked the book out of my hands. I looked over my shoulder at him as he looked over the book. He blinked a few times and then looked at me and back at the book.

“Is this the type of stuff you read?” he asked, his cheeks pinking up a little.

Was Parker embarrassed? Had the thought of sharing a woman with other guys made mister adventurous uncomfortable?

“No, but Cami keeps telling me I need to be more open-minded, so I figured why not,” I teased, unable to let him shake off his embarrassment.

“You’re saying that you’d be into being with more than one guy?” Parker asked.

I started to laugh at his reaction. How he thought I would ever have more than one guy interested in me was priceless. Also, as I said to Cami, I could barely manage one relationship, how could I deal with multiples?

“Parker, it’s in the fiction section. That means it’s for us women to dream about but doesn’t actually happen in the real world, let alone for me,” I answered, taking the book off his hands and putting it back on the shelf.

I headed out of the fiction section, thinking I might just need to come back for that book sometime. I looked over to my right and saw Micah flipping through the vinyl in the rock section. I ducked behind one of the lower bookshelves that made up the wall around the section. Parker looked down at me and then over at Micah. Seconds later, he was squatting next to me with a scowl on his face.

“Why are you hiding from Micah?” I whispered.

“Because he’s a rat bastard, and I can’t stand him,” Parker answered in a loud attempt at a whisper.

“I can’t say the few interactions we’ve had have been great, so I would rather avoid him,” I said, trying to waddle by in my squatted position.

Just as we were about the clear the section, Micah walked by without sparing us a glance. “Parker, next time learn to whisper. We rats have good hearing.”

Unable to hold it together, I landed on my ass, laughing hysterically. After all that had happened today, to end it being caught in such an awkward position was just too much to handle. Parker started cracking up next to me till we both had tears streaming down our cheeks.

“What the hell is wrong with you two idiots?” Cami asked us, her hands on her hips.

I shook my head, unable to answer her question. I tried to calm myself down by taking deep breaths, but I would just hear Micah’s comment and lose it all over again. Truly this was what I really needed, friends, laughter, and cookies could fix anything.

THIRTEEN

LAILAH

“Lailah, did the special archives help you with your paper?” Mr. Phillips asked as I handed him the first three pages of my paper.

“It was super helpful, but I have to say that I was shocked at the security. I’ve never seen a library have that kind of protected section before,” I said.

“I imagine not, we are very blessed to have an archive of such old historical books. These are the only copies in the world, and we need to protect that history,” Mr. Phillips explained.

“I couldn’t agree more, it was so cool to read something that was written so long ago. Thank you very much for letting me have access,” I said, smiling at him.

“My pleasure, it’s students like you, who have such a thirst for history, which makes keeping that stuff around worth it. Now off you go, I don’t want to hold you back from your next class,” Mr. Phillips said, shooing me away from his desk.

I waved as I left the room and headed off for psych class. It was another riveting class going over our case study. I loved this class so much I almost wanted to change my major from history to psychology. I decided that I was going to take another class next semester and see if it was still as interesting when it wasn’t the intro class. As I learned from Organic Chem, not everything was as interesting at the harder levels.

After having such a wonderful morning, I almost considered ditching my chem class. I knew we would be getting our quiz back, and I was not looking forward to seeing how badly I had done. We would also be moving on to a new topic, and I still didn’t understand what we’d learned last week. I took my normal seat in the middle section and steeled myself to get my test back. Once everyone was in their seat, Professor Lark charged in with her TA close on her heels, holding a stack of papers.

“Well, class, I must say that these quizzes were atrocious. I think only two of you passed with a score of over seventy-five. I hope you take the feedback written on here by Hudson very seriously. It will be the only way to save yourself in this class,” Professor Lark admonished, motioning for Hudson to pass out the tests.

Proceeding with the lesson, she turned her back on us and flipped to the first slide discussing acid-base reactions. Trying to follow along as best I could, I didn’t notice right away that my test had been set next to me. I glanced over at it and felt the blood drain from my face. A large sixty-four written in red and circled glared up at me. I was so fucked if I couldn’t get my act together. My tutoring session couldn’t come soon enough. It was much too late to withdraw, and I needed to pass this class to keep my scholarship. I didn’t care how it happened, but it needed to happen fast.

After class, I trudged my way to the coffee shop and ordered the biggest chai tea latte I could get. I even asked them to put whipped cream on it to make me feel better. I found my usual table and sat down to look over the test that I had bombed. I read over the carefully written notes that the TA had left, and for the most part, I understood what I had done wrong. Tomorrow we have a lab, and because I missed one, I was behind on my practical application. I let my head fall onto my folded arms and groaned at the headache I could feel coming on.

“Someone looks like they need a cookie,” Cami said as she slid into the seat across from me.

“I need more than a cookie to make this better,” I grumbled. “Any chance you have something stronger hidden away in your room?”

“Lala, are you asking me if I have contraband in my dorm room? Would I go against school policy like that? I’m highly offended that you think that of me.” Cami gasped.

I looked up from my spot on the table and frowned. “Right. And the water bottles in your mini fridge with the different colored caps are just so you know what day of the week to drink them.”

“Drinking will not make Organic Chem any better. Don’t you have your first tutoring session today?” Cami said, brushing off my snarkiness.

“Yeah, he’s supposed to text me and let me know what room he set aside for us at four.” I looked down at my watch. “I have two hours.”

“Perfect. We can go get lunch, and I can try and get you out of this strange funk you’re in,” Cami said, grabbing my backpack and walking away. I quickly grabbed the rest of my things and headed after her.

Cami had me laughing halfway through lunch, forgetting how upset I was about my test. I looked down when my phone buzzed on the table and saw that my new tutor had texted me. I realized that I hadn’t gotten the name of the guy I was going to be spending time with this evening. He gave me the study room number and confirmed that he would be there at four.

“Looks like I should head that way,” I said to Cami.

“Lala, you have thirty minutes before you have to meet up. What’s the rush?”

“You trust me to go to the library and find the study room in less time?”

“You’ve been doing so good lately, I figured this wouldn’t be that bad.” Cami shrugged.

“I’m not going to take any chances. With the test that I got back, there is no way I can mess this up. I’ll text you when we finish,” I said, picking up my tray and putting it on the belt that took it back to the kitchen.

I took a deep breath and headed over to the library. I had learned to navigate my normal routine just fine, but I didn’t want to chance that I might get lost and miss the whole thing. Once I made it into the library, I walked up to the information desk.

“Hello, I’m looking for study room fifteen,” I said, smiling at the woman behind the computer.

She peered over her screen, giving me a disapproving look. “Head up to the second floor, turn left, then head down the hall. It will be the room at the very end.”

“Thanks.”

For some reason, I felt like the lady was judging me, and I couldn’t figure out why. I looked down at my shirt to make sure I didn’t have anything spilled on it, then I realized what it said. I groaned. In big, bold letters, it said, And then Satan said “Put the alphabet in math!” I got this shirt from my older brother when I had a meltdown after failing my first math test. I guess it was fitting since this was the first time I was close to failing a class. Once up the stairs, I made my way down the hall as instructed. When I came to the last door, I didn’t bother to knock, I just walked in. I looked up, hearing someone already in there.

“Sorry, I must have the wrong—” I halted when I saw Hudson, the TA from my chem class.

We both looked at each other for a moment, then he cleared his throat, standing up and reaching out his hand to me. “Lailah, right? Jay gave you my number for help with Organic Chem.”

I felt my jaw drop at the realization of what was happening. Jay had given me the number of his friend who apparently was Hudson, which meant he was the last of the five who lived in The Manor. I then felt a blush creeping up my skin because I was going to be working with the one person, besides my teacher, who knew how badly I was doing in class. When I didn’t take his hand, he pulled it back and used it to push his glasses back up his nose awkwardly.

“Sorry,” I blurted, walking the rest of the way into the room. “Jay didn’t actually tell me it was you whose number he gave me. I’m Lailah. It’s nice to officially meet you.” I held out my hand to him.

He grasped my hand in his firm, confident grasp, and gave it a solid shake. I felt a static shock between us, and I snatched my hand back from him. He gave me an apologetic smile and mumbled something sounding like sorry as he sat back down at the table between us. I took my seat and pulled out my books, notebook, and pen.

“The good part about this is that I already know what we’ve covered in class and what you’re struggling with, so we can get right down to business,” Hudson said, pulling out his own notes and textbook.

“Is there any hope for me? I never had trouble with science classes before, and I’m not sure why this one is causing me such a problem,” I said with a huff.

“Organic Chem has a lot of formulas and structures to remember. Not many people do well in this class the first time around,” Hudson pointed out.

“The first time?” I cried. “How many times do people take this class? I can’t just give up and try again. I need to pass this class, Hudson,” I said, slamming my hand on the table in frustration.

Hudson looked at me, a little surprised at my outburst, then tried to school his face. I could see the corner of his mouth twitching like he was going to smile at my pain. “I’ll see what I can do. If you’re that determined, we might be able to pull this off. I would just recommend not getting lost and missing another class.”

“He told you about that?” I said, hiding my face in my hands. Lord, Hudson must think I’m a disaster, not only am I bombing this class, he knows I can’t find my way out of a paper bag.

“Jay is a man of few words, so I only got the basics of the situation. He thought I might be able to help you find a way to do some extra credit work based on the situation.”

My head popped up, and I looked at him with hope. “Could you do something like that?”

“I might be able to ask that you assist me in my own research; I need a lab assistant. We could call it an even trade; I’ll help you with classwork if you take the time to help me out around the lab.”

I wanted to jump across the table and hug him for the gift he was giving me, but I held myself back knowing that he probably wouldn’t appreciate it. He didn’t strike me as the type who liked unwanted physical contact.

“Thank you so much, Hudson, truly, you don’t know what this means to me,” I said, trying to make sure he heard my sincerity.

“My pleasure. Jay doesn’t ever ask for favors, and you seem ready and willing to put in the hard work to catch up,” Hudson said, shrugging his shoulders. “Let’s start with the hydrocarbons; you keep mixing up the different types, which is part of your problem.”

Over the next hour, Hudson and I worked slowly through what he felt were the biggest things I was missing. He was easy to understand and never seemed bothered when I didn’t get it right away. He broke down every composition and made sure I knew all the elements and understood how they worked together. I was amazed at how effortless this was for him and how he could make it seem so simple. He even helped me draw out compositions so I could have a reference when I was working on my homework. When our hour was up, his phone started to beep, letting us know we needed to pack it up for the day.

“What days work best for you to meet up?” Hudson asked.

“Tuesdays and Thursdays are my light days.”

“Why don’t we do Tuesdays working on classwork and Thursdays you can help me in the lab? That way, we can do practical application from what you’re learning, it will make more sense to you if you can see it in action.”

“Sounds good to me. My last class on those days is at two, so I can do anything after that.”

“Why don’t we stick to four, that works best with my schedule, and I can block out this room for the rest of the semester. Not many people come at this time, since it’s so close to dinner time.” He held the door open for me.

“Awesome, I really can’t thank you enough for all of this,” I said, biting my bottom lip, still feeling embarrassed.

“Really, it’s no problem. I have to admit that I was very intrigued to meet a person who got Jay to carry on a conversation long enough to even have him offer my help.” He smiled as we headed down the hall.

I laughed, remembering how he didn’t speak to me for the first half of our interaction. “I did notice he is a man of few words. I wasn’t sure if he was going to take me back to school or chop me up into little bits in the field.”

As we made it back to the first floor, a girl walked by but apparently didn’t see me and knocked into me, causing me to spill all my books.

“Oops, sorry,” she said, then flashed a smile to my left. “Hi, Hudson, what brings you into the main library?”

I rolled my eyes as I bent down to gather my books and was surprised when another set of hands was also doing the same thing. I glanced over and saw Hudson ignoring the girl talking to him while he helped me. I took the books from him and stood up, unsure of what to do since the girl was still waiting for an answer.

“I was tutoring, Mallory,” Hudson stated.

Mallory’s eyebrows went up, and the shocked look on her face was priceless. Then it quickly turned into an angry scowl. “You never offered to help me study.”

“Why would I have done that? You were Parker’s girlfriend, but that doesn’t mean anything to me,” Hudson said flatly.

Now it was my turn to be shocked, I looked at the girl with new eyes. She was tall, slender, legs for days, and a face that could have made her a model. She was not at all like someone I would have pictured Parker dating. Not that I cared, really. We were just friends. I had no right to feel this flare of jealousy at the fact that I was the opposite of everything she was.

“No need to be a prick, Hudson. I know you never liked us dating,” Mallory snapped.

“That’s where you’re wrong. I had no problem with you two dating. What I had a problem with was you making moves on me while dating him.”

Holy shit! She tried to cheat on Parker with Hudson? I truly had no idea how close the guys were to each other, but from the looks of it, it was enough to piss Hudson off.

“Come on, Lailah. If we don’t head to the cafeteria soon, there won’t be anything good left,” Hudson said, gently grabbing my elbow and leading me out of the library.

Confused, I let him lead me away without saying anything. I don’t remember agreeing to eat dinner with him. I looked up at Hudson and saw the anger in his eyes as we walked in silence out into the quad.

“Hudson, are you okay?” I asked, turning to him as I felt him drop his hand from my arm.

He pushed his glasses up on his head and rubbed his eyes as if trying to scrub them clean. “Sorry about that, I hope I didn’t make you feel uncomfortable.”

“No, you’re fine. I’m glad I could be an excuse to get you away from her,” I said, knowing what it felt like to be cornered by someone you didn’t want to talk to.

Hudson looked at me with an appreciative smile. “Since I dragged you all the way over here, would you like to eat with me? You don’t have to if you don’t want to, I wouldn’t want to put you in an awkward position.”

“Sure, I’ll join you, wouldn’t want to leave you alone in case she comes back,” I said, grinning at him, trying to lighten the mood.

FOURTEEN

HUDSON

Iwas worried that eating dinner with Lailah would be strained after our encounter with Mallory. Surprisingly, it turned out to be the highlight of my day. Conversation seemed to flow smoothly between us after a few halting steps in the beginning. I was amazed to see that she had any interest in hearing about the thesis project I was working on. Most people’s eyes glazed over, but she was willing to try and follow, even if she didn’t understand half of what I was talking about.

“So, you’re telling me that you’re working on a solution that can be used to help detect pancreatic cancer?”

“That is the simplest way to explain it, yes. This is one of the few forms of cancer that we can’t test for with early detection. Most cases are found when it’s too late, and there’s no chance of survival,” I answered, smiling, pleased that she was getting the gist of what I was doing.

She shook her head, sending her golden curls wild around her shoulders. “That is crazy ambitious for a thesis project.”

“My parents own one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the eastern hemisphere. Compared to what they work on, this project is small time. I grew up with dinner topics that would make the average kid cry from the complexity.”

“Man, holiday gatherings with your family must be something else. Do you have siblings? Are they joining in on the family business too?”

“I’m the oldest of three, my brother and sister are still in high school. My sister Grace is projected to graduate a year early and will also be going to school to work in the medical world. She wants to work with patients, though. She is probably the most social out of the whole family. Ben, my brother, is a senior and wants to study biomedical engineering when he graduates.” I paused, hating the uncomfortable feeling I get when I have to share about my parents. “Three years ago, my parents separated, they still own the business together, but they work separately. It was not an amicable divorce, but they knew if they split the company, they would lose too many clients.”

“Wow, that must have been hard on you,” Lailah said, her soul-penetrating eyes filled with concern for me.

I was glad to see her gaze wasn’t filled with pity like most people when they heard. I’d known for years before they split that my parents didn’t like each other. They no longer hid their fights from us.

“Enough on that topic,” I said, waving a hand trying to move on from the subject. “I’ve taken up far too much of your evening. I’m sure you have better things to do than sit here with me.”

She looked down at her watch, and I saw her eyebrows shoot up. “Shit! It can’t be this late already.” Looking back up, she gave me a guilty smile. “I do need to head back and get some work done, I have a paper to finish for my English class tomorrow.”

“Of course, I wouldn’t want to hold you back from your schoolwork. What kind of tutor would I be doing that?” I said.

I was surprised when she laughed at my words. I hadn’t meant them to be funny, but when I played them over in my head, I understood where she could see the humor in them.

“I know we said to meet up Thursdays for lab work together, but I already have an obligation tomorrow,” Lailah said as we walked our trays to the drop off area.

“Not a problem, we will just plan to meet up next Tuesday. Feel free to reach out if you get stuck on something; I might be able to talk you through it,” I said, not wanting her to think she had to wait a whole week.

“You’re awesome, Hudson,” she said as she gave me a quick side hug as we exited the cafeteria. Then she took off toward her dorm.

My arm tingled with electricity where she’d touched me. It was stronger than when I’d first made contact with her as I shook her hand in greeting. I first thought this was a reaction of my power to my anger at being cornered by Mallory. Now I knew that it was Lailah who was giving off the energy, but I couldn’t figure out why.

“Thanks for helping her,” Jay said at my left, making me jump.

“God, Jay, stop doing that shit to me,” I growled. I hate when he sneaks up on me..

Jay just gave me a disapproving side-eye but didn’t say anything more.

“Why are you here?” I asked.

“Check your phone,” Jay commented.

I pulled my cell out of my backpack, and sure enough, I had a few missed calls and texts. I unlocked it and scrolled through what I had missed.

The first one was from Beth an hour ago.

Beth:

Hudson, I need you and Jay to assist in patrolling. The demons are getting worse and only two of you a night isn’t working.

Beth:

Hudson, I need you to answer that you got my message. It’s unlike you to be unresponsive.

Followed by another twenty minutes later.

Beth:

I am sending Jalen to find you if you don’t answer this text in the next five minutes and he has my full permission to stop you from doing whatever is causing you to ignore me.

Jay:

location?

Jay’s simple demand for my whereabouts. Though I never got to answer it, seeing as he was standing next to me.

“What’s got Beth so worked up?” I asked, looking up from my phone.

Jay signaled for me to follow him, not wanting to talk around so many people. I trailed after him until we made it to the parking lot, and I saw his Jeep, which was more like a tank than a car, waiting at the curb. I jumped into the passenger side while he started the engine, causing the car to rumble with its diesel engine.

“There was a flare of demonic energy on the school grounds. They think something is trying to create a portal,” Jay informed me.

“That can’t happen while we have the wards up.”

“They’re failing faster, too much demon activity.”

“What are we supposed to do about it?”

“Beth wants us to do recon and get more information before we do anything.”

“Ah brains and brawn at it again,” I said, using Parker’s nickname for us.

We rode in silence for a while before I couldn’t let the question that I’d wanted to ask him wait any longer. “Why did you give her my number?”

“Fuck if I know.” Jay sighed.

For Jay, this response was the equivalent of freaking out. Jay didn’t do unknowns, he dealt in strategy, calculated responses, and practicality. The fact that he had no idea why he did what he did must have been throwing him for a loop.

“I needed to help her. I don’t know why, but I couldn’t just walk away from her when I could help,” Jay finally said after I didn’t press the matter.

I didn’t have a chance to question him further about that since we had reached the area where our sensors had picked up the demon activity. Jay handed me a tablet with a beacon flashing on it once we got out of the Jeep. I looked around and found that we were in the same field where Micah and Brayden had dispatched a lesser demon last week. I headed off in the direction the map was showing, with Jay’s silent presence at my side.

It didn’t take us long to find the spot we were looking for. The ground was scorched where the demon had tried to get the portal to open and had failed, as evidenced by the charred husk of remains. I squatted down and examined the ground, looking for the portal marking that would tell us where the other side of this was. Unfortunately, the body was sitting on top of it, and I was loath to move it myself. I looked up at Jay with a raised eyebrow. Jay grunted, and with a flick of his hand, a small dust devil of wind wrapped around the remains and lifted it up and away.

“Thank you,” I said absently as I worked on deciphering the runes that were now visible.

I took the stylus out of the tablet and started to copy down what I saw so I could send it back to Beth and the others. I knew the typical symbols we studied, but I found a few that I had never seen before. I frowned as I noticed that the spell almost worked—if the almost complete circle was anything to go by. Our wards were barely able to prevent this portal from being opened. What kept bothering me was that the body of the demon that had been left behind wouldn’t have been strong enough to make this kind of portal.

“Jay, you haven’t seen anything close to a mid-level demon show up on your patrols, have you?”

“No, they’ve all been lesser demons, but way more than ever before,” Jay said.

“We need to head back. I’ll need Mr. Creed’s help to decipher these new runes.” I stood up and sent a text to make sure both Beth and Mr. Creed would be there when we got back.

“This is bad, isn’t it?” Jay asked.

I looked up at him in surprise. He was never one to be all doom and gloom, that was Micah’s department.

“If we can’t figure out how the demons are breaching our wards, they will fail, and we’ll have no defense against them,” I answered.

FIFTEEN

LAILAH

The day seemed to be passing so slowly, yet way too fast. I was excited to finally get a chance to hang out with Brayden, but I was also freaking out about it. Was this a date? Should I change into something nicer than my T-shirt and jeans? Would we even have stuff to talk about? Granted, I thought the same thing last night when I was sitting with Hudson for dinner, but that turned out to be a great time. I was excited to start working with him in his lab next Thursday. It was so cool that he was doing something so amazing; I couldn’t even dream of being able to do anything that important for the human race.

“Lala, watch out,” Cami called out, but it was too late.

I crashed into someone who was walking out of the building and carrying a huge stack of books. The books went flying, and I crashed to the ground hard on my ass while the other person landed with a grunt. Once the books and papers fluttered to the ground and I reoriented myself, I found an angry older gentleman scowling at me.

“Do you not have eyes in your head, girl?” the man snapped as he worked to get his large form off the ground.

I scrambled to my feet and reached out a hand to help him to his feet. He slapped it away and sputtered something about being fat but not an invalid.

“I’m so sorry, sir,” I apologized as I started to gather up the papers and books.

I looked down and found a sheet covered in strange symbols that gave me the willies. As I handed the books over, I noticed most of them were on the occult. Who is this guy? I had never seen this man before, but I didn’t know all the teachers at the school. What class could he be teaching with such strange material?

“Mr. Creed, I apologize for my friend, Lailah. She’s such a ditz sometimes,” Cami said, brushing off the man’s black suit jacket.

Something about what she said had him looking sharply at me, but it was more of a curious look than an angry one.

“Yes, well, no harm done. Next time, pull your attention from your phone and watch where you’re walking young lady,” Mr. Creed said before he continued to his original destination.

I opened my mouth to tell him that I wasn’t on my phone, but Cami elbowed me in the ribs causing me to gasp instead. “What the hell, Cami?”

“Trust me when I say not to argue with that man. He knows more about arcane arts and voodoo shit than anyone I know. He could hex you in your sleep, and you would never know,” Cami said seriously.

I rolled my eyes. “I don’t believe in that crap, no one can take a strand of my hair and curse me. That shit only works if you give it power.”

“I wouldn’t be too sure about that, Lala,” Cami said before linking arms with me and dragging me away.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“You have your date with Brayden today, right?”

“Yeah, I meet up with him at the coffee shop in two hours.”

“Perfect just enough time for you to change.”

“What’s wrong with my outfit? I put a lot of thought into it,” I grumbled. “I’m even wearing a skirt.”

“I know you tried, darling, but you are going to have a public date at school with one of the most sought-after bachelors here. You need to knock ’em dead,” Cami said with an evil grin on her lips.

“Wait, what?” I said, trying to follow what she was going on about.

“If you want the other girls to leave you alone, you need to show them you have every right to be hanging out with those guys. You’re my best friend, but if you like to hang out with those idiots, then I’m going to have to help you. This is the first step in showing your dominance in the female world. You have a bangin’ body, use it,” Cami declared.

I decided it was better to just do as I was told than to fight Cami when she got like this. We made it back to the dorm, but she dragged me into her room instead of mine. I was shocked when I found the room was spotless, but I was even more shocked to see Maggs from the house party sitting on the couch.

“Hey girl,” Maggs said, waving her hand in greeting.

“Hi” was all I had time to say before Cami was throwing clothes at me. “Cami, what is all this?”

“Maggs was kind enough to share some of her clothes with you for this event. She’s much closer to your size than I am, so no need to worry about busting out of the tops,” Cami said, winking at me.

I blushed, as she so casually called me out about something I tried to hide.

“As much as we all appreciate Cami’s eclectic style, she has no idea how to dress a classic woman,” Maggs said, standing up and walking over to me. “I, on the other hand, know how to create sex appeal without showing too much skin.”

I gulped as I took in Maggs’ retro-glam style that matched her figure and her bright-red hair. There was no way I could pull off the confidence she had in those clothes. Truthfully, she was one of those girls who could be wearing a garbage bag and still look stunning.

“None of that,” Maggs said as she tapped me on the nose, surprising me out of my thoughts. “You are gorgeous, and I don’t want you to think any less of yourself. I found what makes me happy in my own skin, same with Cami. What we’re looking for is what you need to wear to feel confident. Each woman wears her clothes like armor; we need to find your battle gear, love,” Maggs said with a grin.

I smiled back at her, excited to see what she had brought for me to try. It took us about four outfits till I decided on one that I knew would be perfect for this occasion. It was a maroon sweater dress that fit my body snugly from neck to knees. The game changer for this dress was the back had a deep V that showed off the contrast of the rich color and my pale skin. I felt like I could stare down anyone in this outfit. I pulled my hair into a high pony, so it didn’t cover the dramatic effect of the back.

“Now for the shoes, I would say heels, but something tells me that you won’t agree,” Maggs said, giving me a knowing look.

“You’re right, I wouldn’t be able to do that, I might break an ankle if I tried,” I said, shivering at the thought.

“Would you be willing to try wedges? I find they’re easier to walk in,” Cami suggested.

I shrugged my shoulders. “Why not, this is about trying new things, right?”

Slipping my feet into the simple ankle booties, I took a few steps and grinned when I didn’t die. I looked up and found them both clapping for my success. Cami looked down at her watch and gasped.

“Damn, we have fifteen minutes to get you to the coffee shop,” Cami said, grabbing my arm and jerking me out of the room.

“Thanks for everything, Maggs,” I called as we headed down the hall.

Letting Cami set the pace, I followed as best I could on the new shoes. It took all my concentration to keep from toppling over when we hit the steps outside the dorm.

“Cami, slow down. This does me no good if I show up with a broken leg,” I snapped, pulling my arm from her.

I stopped, took a deep breath, smoothed out my dress, and then started walking confidently over to the school. Cami walked at my side, making sure I didn’t trip and die on the way.

“So, Maggs . . .” I ventured, looking at her out of the corner of my eye.

Cami’s cheeks pinked, and she shoved her hands into the pocket of her bright-blue hoodie. “She’s a friend, Lala.”

“Right, how long is that going to last?” I asked, pushing her.

“I don’t know, we haven’t gotten that far yet. We’re taking things slow, hanging out and stuff,” Cami said, kicking a stone off the path.

“I know I haven’t known you for long, but I never thought I would see the day that someone made you blush,” I teased.

Cami sighed, stopping as her shoulders sagged. “I haven’t been in a relationship for a long time. The last time didn’t end well. I’m just not sure I’m ready.”

I wrapped my arms around Cami and hugged her tightly. “You deserve to be happy. If Maggs can do that for you, then I give her my approval.”

“Thanks, Lala,” she said, returning my hug. “Now, let’s get your sexy self to your date.”

We both laughed, and as quickly as I could manage, we made it to the quad. I gave Cami another quick hug, and we parted ways. Taking a deep breath, I squared my shoulders and made my way across the quad to the coffee shop. Thankfully, at this time in the afternoon, it wasn’t too busy, and I got in line to order my coffee. When I reached the register, I ordered my chai latte, but when I was about to hand over my money, someone else reached across me with their bank card.

“I would like to pay for the lady’s drink,” Brayden said, suddenly standing next to me.

I blinked at him a moment then felt my cheeks heat with my blush. “Thank you.”

“Of course, it’s my pleasure.” Brayden smiled, making my heart skip a beat. “I saved us some seats over by the window if that’s okay with you.”

“Sounds great,” I said as he led me over with a gentle hand on my elbow.

“You look amazing,” Brayden whispered in my ear as I sat down in one of the large overstuffed chairs.

My heart pounded in my chest as his words registered, sending a ripple of energy over my skin. My tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth as it went dry, and I was left unable to answer him. Thankfully, the barista called out my drink was ready, and he walked over to get it for me.

Pull it together, Lailah. It’s been a long time since a guy has shown he is interested in you, so don’t blow it.

Brayden came back with my drink and handed it to me as he sat across from me. Apparently, he had been there long enough before me to already have a drink, which he picked up and took a sip from as he let his eyes wander over me. Trying to act normal, I took a large gulp of my drink and was rewarded with burning my tongue and wincing at the pain, causing me to cough.

“Careful, it’s hot. Do you need me to get you some water or something?” Brayden asked, leaning forward, worried.

I waved my hand as he tried to stand. “No, I’m fine, just didn’t test it before taking a drink.”

“There’s no rush on my end. I have the whole evening free,” Brayden said, settling back into his chair.

“Oh, I guess I don’t have much going on tonight either except for homework, but who doesn’t,” I said, feeling a little awkward.

“What piece of the school did you decide on for your University 101 class?”

“The chapel. I remembered hearing about how Ryevick used it to get the church off his back so the school could run the way he wanted it to,” I said, remembering that was when I’d met Brayden for the first time. “I’ve also been doing a side project on the Elementi.”

Brayden choked on his coffee. After taking a moment to compose himself, he looked up at me. “Why would you be looking into that?”

“Come on, you’re telling me that you wouldn’t want to know more about a secret group of the Knights Templar? Professor Phillips even gave me access to the special archives room. I found the stuff about the chapel, but I also found a lot more about the Elementi. I was talking to Cami about what I learned and the strange things that happened around them. Something she said made me think of the story you told me about the fountain,” I said, excited.

“What would the fountain have in common with the Elementi? Aiden Ryevick was born way after the Knights’ golden era.”

“Yes, but this Elementi group didn’t get started until the end of the Knights’ peak. What if Ryevick was part of this splinter group? He might not have been as crazy as people think he was,” I said, sharing for the first time the thoughts that had been rolling around in my head.

Brayden set his cup down and leaned into me like he was going to share a secret. “Let’s say he was, do you think this group is still around today?”

I sighed and shook my head, sitting back. “No, I think that the group died off. The strange happenings that came with their involvement died out during the Victorian age when coal took the world by storm.”

“I have to say that I’m quite impressed with your detective skills. Maybe you need to change from a history major to something in criminal justice.”

I grinned at him. “You tease, but when I get interested in something, I can’t seem to let it go, especially when it’s history related.”

“So how would someone find himself gaining your interest?” Brayden asked, a smoldering look in his eyes.

“Seeing that it only happened once before, it won’t be easy.” I decided to leave off that once I’d been an idiot, letting myself be used and left when he was done.

“Nothing worth having is ever easy,” Brayden said, looking me over.

I never would have guessed that Brayden would have this side to him. He had struck me as a go-with-the-flow kind of guy. I guess even the mellow guys have a wild streak in them.

“How are your studies going?” I asked, trying to change the topic. I wasn’t sure how much more sexual tension I could handle in public.

“We’re working on a project to find the best way to help restore forests after wildfires. It happens all over the world, and it’s one of the hardest things to control, but what we do with it after it happens is as important as controlling the burn.”

“That’s cool; we didn’t have that problem where I grew up. Wisconsin gets lots of rain, so everything stays really lush and green,” I said, thinking about the forest fires I’d heard about in other states and how devastating they were.

“The Student Council is working on our Halloween party in three weeks. We always do some big gathering since it will be right before cracking down for midterms.”

“No way. That’s awesome. Does everyone dress up?”

“Those who want to can, but it’s not required, although lots of people do. Everyone here likes to let loose.”

“Do you dress up?” I asked, not sure I could picture him dressed up in some silly costume.

“I dressed up last year,” Brayden admitted.

He was not going to make this easy. “As?”

“Guess you’ll have to go with me to find out,” Bryden said with a wink.

I laughed, seeing how he’d played me. “Sounds good to me.”

“No fair. I was going to ask her to go with me.” Parker’s voice came from behind me.

I turned and saw him dragging a chair over and sitting next to me. I looked over at Brayden, unsure of what to do. Brayden’s answer to Parker joining us was to move the small table between us and drag my chair over closer to him.

“Sorry, Parker, but Lailah and I were having a private conversation,” Brayden said, glaring.

“Sorry, but you’re in a public place, and I’m allowed to sit where I want,” Parker said, scooting to my other side.

“Um, I can go if you need to talk to Brayden about something,” I said, trying not to fidget while stuck between them.

“No, Trouble. That’s not the problem. Brayden just needs to learn how to share time with friends,” Parker said, patting my hand that was gripping my dress. “So, did I hear correctly that you’re going to the Halloween shindig?”

“Brayden was just telling me about it, I don’t see any reason not to go,” I answered, trying to stay neutral when I saw Hudson walking over to us.

“Hey, Lailah, guys. I didn’t know you all knew each other,” Hudson said as he pulled a chair to join our group.

“I had the pleasure of meeting Lailah on her first week here; we bumped into each other in town,” Parker said, puffing out his chest.

“If crashing into me and crushing my cookie is what you call bumping into each other.” I snorted.

“Come on, are you ever going to let that go?” he whined.

I ignored him and looked over at Hudson, “Brayden, like Jay, rescued me from wandering around the school grounds lost during the school tour.”

“Wait, when did you meet Jay?” Parker butted in again. “Trouble, you been keeping secrets?”

I laughed. “It’s hardly a secret. I got lost going on a run, and Jay found me and brought me back to the school grounds. He’s also the one who gave me Hudson’s number to tutor me.”

“Well, it seems you’ve met all of us now,” Brayden said.

I quickly counted each interaction. “Huh, you’re right. I didn’t notice that till you just said it.”

After a bit, all the guys seemed to relax, and we all chatted comfortably with each other. I noticed that even though they all lived together, it didn’t seem like they really knew each other. I was laughing at something Parker said when the sprinklers in the coffee shop went off, and the blare of a fire alarm filled the room. Parker grabbed my wrist, pulling me out of my chair and ushered me out before I even realized what was going on. Brayden followed on our heels, and I felt his hand on my lower back, making sure I didn’t get knocked over by others running out of the cafe.

“You alright?” Hudson asked once we found an open space to stop.

“Yeah, a little damp but no worse for wear,” I said, trying to brush the water droplets off my dress. “What happened?”

“I’m not sure, but I’m sure we’ll hear about it later,” Brayden said, brushing his damp hair out of his face.

I felt internal heat rise as I noticed the light-blue T-shirt he had on was sticking to his chest, showing his well-defined muscles. Trying not to stare, I looked over at Parker, whose back was to me as he was taking his shirt all the way off. The muscles that moved along his sculpted back made my mouth water.

“Lailah,” Hudson said, putting a gentle hand on my shoulder.

“Hmm?” I said, turning to look at him after being caught ogling Parker.

“Do you want one of us to walk back to your dorm with you?” Hudson repeated with a knowing glint in his blue eyes.

“Nope. I mean, I’m good; it’s not that far, honestly,” I said, trying to pull my scrambled thoughts together.

“After hearing how often you seem to get lost, I just wanted to make sure.”

“Thanks, Hudson, really, but I actually have gotten much better,” I said, grinning.

“If you say so, Trouble. Call one of us if you get lost so we can send out the search party,” Parker said, and I could feel his body heat from behind me.

I looked up at him, smiling. “You got it.”

I waved at them all and made my way back to my dorm, grinning at how the evening had turned out.

SIXTEEN

BRAYDEN

When I got back to the house, I headed directly to Micah’s room. When I reached it, I didn’t even knock before I walked in. I found Micah lying on his bed with his obnoxious red headphones on and his foot tapping to the beat. Walking over to him, I grabbed his phone and unplugged the headphones. Quickly stepping back out of reach, I watched as he bolted upright with murder in his eyes.

“Who the fuck,” Micah spluttered before his gaze landed on me. “Brayden, what the hell man?”

I walked over to his desk and rolled his computer chair over and sat down facing him. “Remember when you told me that you met Synergy, and I laughed it off?”

“Yeah . . .”

“Well, I’m listening.”

“What happened? Something must have changed for you to believe me now.”

“I just had a coffee date with Lailah, the one you ran into that night we killed the demon in the bathroom.”

“You’re telling me about your dating life, why?”

“Because I ended that date with Parker and Hudson joining us.”

“Okay, that’s awkward, but I don’t get the correlation here, Bray.”

“I spent an hour with them after they crashed our date, and I wasn’t pleased, but I also didn’t want to chop their dicks off for interfering. We all had a good time and didn’t bicker once after we got settled. Not to mention that Lailah is leaking elemental energy like crazy.”

Micah grinned. “You sure it was energy she was leaking?”

“Shut the fuck up, you know what I’m talking about. I just didn’t connect it, but Lailah is the one you met in the library, isn’t she?”

“Yeah, that’s why I was so thrown off when I ran into her again that same night. It seemed odd that the demon was trying to get in the dorm, but when I thought about it, I think they’re going after her.”

After Micah dropped that bomb, I was glad I was sitting. Holy shit, it all made sense. The demons were trying to get to her before we did. I sat up and jumped to my feet.

“Where are you going?” Micah called after me.

“We need a family meeting now,” I said, pulling out my phone and scrolling to the group text Beth had created, but we hardly ever used.

Brayden:

Meeting in the library in 10 min this is NOT an option, Synergy has been found and is in danger.

Parker:

WTF Brayden you’re joking, right?

Beth:

Brayden what is the meaning of calling this meeting. You need to run these things by me.

Beth texted me privately. I knew I was going to piss her off doing it, but I was more worried about Lailah and the unknown danger that she was in.

Jay:

Already there.

“Brayden, are you trying to get Beth to salt your Wheaties with a stunt like that? You know she takes her role way too seriously,” Micah said, jogging up to me.

Shrugging my shoulders, I pushed open the door to the library and came face-to-face with the woman, her hands on her hips and a look that told me I was in for a tongue-lashing.

“Brayden Dolton, what the hell is the meaning of this?”

Beth was our mother while we lived here at school. She ran the house and made sure we had everything we needed. She was also the person in charge of training the new generation of Elementi Warriors.

“Like I said, we found Synergy, and she’s in danger. We need to protect her before the demons get to her,” I said, cutting to the chase, knowing I couldn’t bullshit Beth.

“How could you possibly know about her?” Beth asked, letting out a breath.

“You knew?” Micah snapped, catching us all off guard.

Micah was one of the loudest to mock Synergy's existence, so for him to be upset about it was something I didn’t see coming. I figured he would have been happy if we never found Synergy and were able to let this task die out.

“I’ll explain when the others get here,” Beth said as she walked over to the couch and took a seat.

I gripped Micah’s shoulder and then walked over to take a seat and wait for the other two. Jay was already in one of the leather armchairs with what looked like files in his lap. He must have been working on something for his dad. We didn’t have to wait long for Parker and Hudson to join us. I knew they were somewhere in the house since we all walked back together after hanging out with Lailah.

“How should we start this?” Beth asked, looking at me.

“Did you know that Synergy was human, female, and here, attending school?” I demanded.

Beth nodded her head, looking at all of us before she spoke. “Yes, we found her and brought her to the school on a scholarship.”

“Brayden, what are you guys talking about?” Hudson inquired.

“It would seem that the reason for the rise in demon activity is because Synergy is here at the school, trickling elemental energy all over the place,” I explained.

“Talk about dropping a bomb! Hell, Beth, why didn’t you say anything?” Parker said, running his hands through his hair.

“She has no idea who or what she is. I wanted her here so we could keep her safe and give her a chance to learn about us. I purposely helped make sure that many of her teachers were Elementi and could direct her to find out about us on her own, before we brought her into the fold,” Beth said, laying it all out for us.

“Who is it?” Jay demanded.

“Lailah,” I answered.

The room went into chaos at that final piece of the puzzle.

“What the actual fuck, Beth!”

“How could you leave her to fend for herself like that?”

“How long till you were going to tell us?”

“What the hell are we going to do now?”

“Enough!” Beth commanded, silencing everyone. “Keep in mind that she was raised in the states with a normal family, and she has no idea that this is even a possibility for her. You were all told about the idea of being an Elementi Warrior from birth. Imagine the shock she would face if we just pulled her in cold turkey.”

“She knows more than you give her credit for,” I said, thinking back on our conversation.

“Phillips has been keeping me apprised of her interest and what she has figured out. I also have Cami as her personal guardian, who is also letting me know her findings,” Beth informed us.

“That’s how you got Cami to come back,” Parker said, connecting the dots.

Beth nodded. “I needed the best guardian for her, and Cami is one of our elites.”

“At the rate her power is building, she’s going to crack sooner rather than later. How are you going to deal with her coming into her powers now that she’s around all of us?” Hudson asked.

“I knew keeping you all away from her wasn’t going to work, but I had to try,” Beth said, rubbing the back of her neck.

“That’s why you kept it from us,” Micah stated.

“Yes, the more she’s around you, the faster her power will awaken. It’s also causing the demons to come in greater numbers because they can taste her power.” Beth looked at all of us before she continued, “The only way to contain her powers is for her to bond with the group.”

“So, this is what it’s come to,” Micah said bitterly. “I have to give over control of my powers to a directionally-challenged, doe-eyed, country bumpkin.”

“Shut the hell up, Micah, you don’t even know her,” Parker growled.

Micah smirked at him. “Well, it seems like you have already become the perfect pet without even getting the benefits.”

Parker jumped to his feet and charged at Micah. I met Jay’s gaze and gave him a nod, right before a gust of wind shoved Parker to the other side of the room, pinned to the wall.

“Don’t think you’re safe with your fancy trick, Jay. I would be careful when you fall asleep tonight. No telling who might take control of your body,” Parker taunted.

“Parker Jones, do not make me put you in a void room tonight because, so help me God, I will do it,” Beth barked.

At this threat, he sagged against the wall, surrendering, and Jay released his hold. I dropped my head into my hands. Now we had all the information, but we were no better off in understanding how to handle the fact that Synergy was found and had already worked her way into our lives.

“I’m sure it may come as a surprise to you all, but I do have a plan in the works,” Beth said once everyone had calmed back down. “I have been in charge of making sure you all get trained and prepared for the battles to come since you all came into your powers. I know how to handle Lailah.”

“It’s not that we don’t have faith in your abilities, Beth. Lord knows you have been through it with all of us,” Hudson said, rubbing his chin thinking. “Synergy is an unknown. We all know what each of the five is capable of, but we know so little about Synergy. If she is to be the axis that we all pivot from, we need to be around her. That portal attempt almost worked; we need to keep her safe until you decide to bring her here to The Manor.”

“I agree with Hudson, Lailah is a walking accident,” Parker said. “I think we need to be around her more. If the demons are getting worse, then we need to be ready for something bigger to happen.”

I looked around the room, wondering if anyone else was aware that this was the first time that we were working toward a common goal. Typically, after an outburst like Parker’s, Micah would have stormed off not to be seen for the rest of the night. Now here we all were, trying to hold it together to make sure Lailah was safe.

Beth seemed to contemplate this suggestion a moment before she answered, “How do we do this without making it seem strange? I’ve already had to back Cami off, so she doesn’t think it’s suspicious that her best friend never leaves her alone.”

“I’ll get her to run with me in the morning,” Jay said. The room froze in shock.

Beth coughed surreptitiously before nodding her head. “That would kill two birds with one stone. It will help to burn off some of her energy and not have her sitting in one location for too long.”

“I’m already meeting up with her Tuesdays and Thursdays for tutoring and lab work,” Hudson said.

“I can be around whenever you need me to be; she’s used to me popping up at random times,” Parker said with a grin directed at me.

“Coordinating with Cami, I’m sure all of us can be around when she feels like she can’t,” I said, not willing to fall for Parker’s bait.

We all turned to Micah, waiting to see what he had to offer.

“Fuck, I’ll look after her, but that doesn’t mean I have to hang out with her. I can be around if she needs help. I will intervene, but I’m not a damn babysitter,” Micah grumbled.

“We can work with that,” Beth said, standing up. “I had hoped to give her time to adjust to being in a new school and in a new country before we dropped this all on her. Best laid plans and all. Goodnight, boys; let me know if you need me for anything.”

SEVENTEEN

LAILAH

“Lala, we have to strike back!” Cami said, slamming her fist on the cafeteria table.

“How would you suggest we do that? Look, it’s not that big of a deal. So, I got a little wet, but it really was a fun night, even if the others ended up joining us,” I said, smiling at Cami’s protective streak.

“Nope, we can’t let this slide. Those bitches set the sprinklers off on purpose. How much more are you going to take from them?” Cami badgered.

When Cami found me at our normal spot for lunch, she had been fuming about how some of the girls were telling everyone what happened last night. Apparently, it was another one of their plots to disrupt me hanging out with The Manor boys. I smirked at the fact that I’d been not only hanging out with one, but the top three most-wanted of the bunch.

“This is how I see it. I’ve already won, they choose to hang out with me and want to be my friend. I didn’t have to do anything to get them to like me, except get lost and suck at Organic Chem. You can’t change someone’s mind when making genuine friendships,” I pointed out.

Cami paused and looked at me for a moment like I had just told her I was going to be president. “Look at this, one group date down, and my little Lala is ready to take over the world. Maybe we need to get you more of those dirty books about having all those boyfriends you like.”

“Shut up. You promised not to say anything after you found it in my room. I know I had it hidden under my pillow, but I’m not going to ask what you were doing snooping,” I grumbled, narrowing my eyes at Cami.

She laughed so hard I was afraid she was going to fall out of her chair. “Oh man, if that’s your pissed off face, we’re going to need to work on that. It’s like a bunny trying to bare its teeth. It just doesn’t work.”

I picked up my crumpled napkin and chucked it at her, hitting her right in the nose.

“Nice shot,” Parker said, sliding in to sit next to me.

Turning to him, I beamed. “Thanks.”

“Knock it off, you two. The last thing I need is for you to gang up on me.” Cami pouted.

“Stop making such a good target, Cami, and we won’t,” Parker pointed out.

“You’re one to talk. I heard you let Micah get under your skin last night,” Cami said with a smirk.

“What happened with Micah?” I asked. I knew that they didn’t like each other one bit.

Parker shot Cami a glare before he turned his attention back to me. “Nothing really, all he needs to do is open his mouth, and we have a problem. He is just an ass, and all he cares about is himself.”

I didn’t have much to say about that, not knowing Micah well. Both he and Jay weren’t seen around school very often, if at all. My phone vibrated on the table, showing I had received a text. I made to grab for it, but Parker swooped in and plucked it out of my hand.

“Still no lock screen, I see,” Parker said as he started reading my text.

“What the hell, Parker. Give that back. God, Cami’s right, you’re like a two-year-old,” I said, trying to grab my phone.

Not even looking at me, Parker held me off with an arm around my waist while he typed something back.

“You can’t answer that. You don’t even know what I would have said. Who was it? Come on, Parker, knock it off,” I said, lunging at him.

Parker’s head had been turned away from me, but just as I made my move, he turned his head back to me. Surprised at my proximity, he didn’t hold on to me, and I crashed my forehead into his. His head was harder than concrete, making my eyes water from the impact. I was now draped over the front of him, and when I tried to move off him, I felt him place a gentle kiss to the side of my neck, below my ear. I froze, unsure of what to make of it. Maybe it was an accident, there's no reason Parker would make a move like that. We’re just friends, right? I mean, he saw me on a date with Brayden last night. Oh God, what if that wasn’t a date? Parker grasped my shoulders and gingerly set me back in my seat, looking me over.

“Damn, looks like you’re going to have a bruise,” Parker said, standing up. “I’m gonna get some ice. I’ll be right back.”

Unable to say anything, I just sat there, staring at his empty seat. Cami decided to come check on me since I still wasn’t moving. She took Parker’s seat and rested her chin in her hands, staring up at me. “So, is this where I ask you how many men you want in your harem?”

“What?” I asked, finally regaining the ability to speak.

Cami gave me a toothy grin. “Oh no, Lala. You can’t play this off. I totally saw that lip action Parker snuck in there.”

“So, it was on purpose?” I asked.

“Hell yeah, it was. That boy just made his move! I have to say, I’m impressed he waited so long. Parker is not one for delayed gratification.”

“Last night, that was a date, right? Not just a friend coffee date, but a real date.”

“Brayden doesn’t do friend dates, look who his best friend is. Why do you ask?”

“If Parker knew I was on a date with Brayden, why would he make a move on me? Oh God, how did this happen?” I said, cradling my head carefully.

“Do you know how many women would kill for one of them to make a move, let alone two of them?”

“Can we talk about this later when my head isn’t having its own drum jam on my brain?” I begged. “Thank God I’m done with classes for the day.”

“When he comes back with the ice, I’ll walk you back to the dorm, and you can sleep it off. You have the whole weekend to work on homework.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“Found an ice pack, sorry it took so long. The nurse was removing a splinter from some kid’s ass,” Parker said, shoving said ice pack into my hands.

I tentatively placed the pack on my head, and even though it hurt, it also helped. Parker squatted down in front of me, so I didn’t have to look up at him.

“I’m really sorry, Trouble, I didn’t mean to scramble your brain right before the weekend,” he said, squeezing my knee. “Oh yeah, the text was from Jay. He asked if you wanted to try a new running trail tomorrow. I told him you would love to, but I can text him back and tell him your asshole friend took you out of commission.”

“No, it’s fine. I’ll deal with it. I’m sure it will be gone after some ibuprofen,” I said, trying not to make him feel worse.

“Come on, Lala, let's get you back to your room before someone else tries to knock you out,” Cami said, grabbing my arm.

I kept the ice pack on my head while we walked back to the dorm. Parker was following us like a kicked puppy, and wouldn’t stop apologizing. When we reached the steps to the dorm, I turned and frowned at him.

“Parker, enough, I get it. I’m not mad at you about us crashing skulls. It was an accident, but if you keep this up, I’m going to be pissed at you for a whole other reason,” I snapped.

Parker’s eyes widened at my outburst, and he stood there a little stunned. “Right, okay. I’ll leave you alone, but text me if you need anything.”

I felt a little guilty about snapping at him, but my head hurt, and all I wanted to do was lie down. The fact that he’d tried to sneak a kiss by me also had me on edge. I didn’t know how I was going to handle the situation since I wasn’t sure if there was anything really going on with Brayden. I flopped into my bed with the ice pack wrapped in a damp towel.

“Hey, I’m meeting up with my sisters tonight, so I’ll be off campus. If you need anything, let me know, but I’m sure you could also reach out to any of the guys if you needed someone right away,” Cami teased.

I lifted the towel to glare at her, but she just winked and blew a farewell kiss. I fell into a light sleep filled with strange dreams that seemed to flow from one to another. In one dream, I felt like I was being chased down a hallway by a strange monster. The hall never seemed to end, and the monster kept getting closer and closer. Just before it was about to get me, I tripped and fell into the next dream.

Now, I was on a dance floor, swaying with the music. I felt someone come up behind me and place their hands on my hips. I looked back to find Parker, his typical playful grin was replaced with one that had more heat behind it. He pulled me against him until there was no space between us from ass up. As I relaxed into his hold, letting the desire in his eyes draw me in, his hands traveled up from my hips and up my sides. I shivered at his touch against my skin. When I looked down, I found I was wearing some crazy tiny top that was more Cami’s style than mine. In that moment, though, I was glad for it. I relished the feel of Parker’s touch. I closed my eyes to enjoy every moment.

I felt another presence appear in front of me, and before I could open my eyes, I felt lips place a soft kiss on my neck. I moaned, letting my eyes flutter open and found myself looking into Brayden’s heated gaze. He pressed his body along my front while Parker kept up his attention from behind, setting my body on fire. Brayden drew my attention back to him by trailing a finger along my jawline, down my neck, and gliding over the swell of my breast. I felt my breath hitch as Parker, not to be outdone, started to nibble on the back of my neck. If I hadn’t had both of them holding me up, I wasn’t sure my legs would have been up for the challenge.

Brayden slipped his hand into my hair and pulled my face up to him as he took my lips. It was a slow, drawn-out kiss, like he had nowhere else to be but with me. Parker worked over my neck with his teeth while his hands traveled up to my chest. I arched into him as he let his fingers graze over my nipples before he pinched them, making me gasp. Not needing any other encouragement, Brayden slipped his tongue in, teasing me to join him. I’d never kissed anyone like this, so I hesitated, unsure of what he wanted. As if sensing my unease, Brayden adjusted his hold on me and delved deeper into the kiss, taking me along for the ride.

Parker’s hands trailed down my chest, kneading along my sides and hips till he reached the border of my pants. He slid one finger on either side, caressing the skin that was still covered. I felt the button of my jeans pop open, and one of his hands slip deeper till he hit what he was looking for. I whimpered as his fingers grazed my clit, sending shocks through my body.

“Moan for us, Lailah,” Brayden whispered against my lips.

His words sent heat surging through my body. I quivered at the dirtiness of it, never having had someone say anything like that to me. Parker stroked again, and I moaned in pleasure, my fingers digging into Brayden’s arms.

“Oh God,” I panted as Parker started to rub two fingers on my needy flesh. “What are you doing to me?”

“Setting you free, Trouble,” Parker growled into my ear, his voice thick with his own need.

I tipped my head back and wrapped an arm around his neck to pull him down to me. This time, I was the one who took charge of the kiss, taking all I wanted from him. Brayden freed my breasts from the shirt and took one in his mouth. I cried out at the overstimulation that was coursing along my body.

“Let go, Lailah. Let us set you free; you’ve been locked away for too long,” Brayden said before he took my nipple in his teeth and gently bit down.

It was all I needed to be pushed over the edge, and I was no longer able to support myself as pleasure overtook my body.

I woke up panting, skin covered in a sheen of sweat, and knew by the dampness in my pajamas I had just orgasmed in my dream. What the fuck just happened? With a shaky hand, I wiped my forehead, trying to make sense of what I’d just been dreaming. I reached under my pillow and pulled out the book I’d hidden there. I looked at the cover that had a confident woman backed by five guys with whom she was in a relationship at the same time.

That could never work, there is no way that guys would be willing to share one woman in the real world. I thought back to my dream. Well, it seems that I wouldn’t mind if two certain guys could figure out how to share. I blushed as I remembered their touch on my skin. It had felt so real.

“Time for a cold shower,” I mumbled to myself.

Grabbing my shower stuff, I made my way down the hall and breathed a sigh of relief when I found it empty. I really didn’t want to deal with the crazy girls who had it out for me. Now, I always made sure to take everything I needed in with me so it didn’t wander off. I gently scrubbed my scalp, and combined with the heat of the water, the last of my lingering headache faded. I took the time to shave since there wasn’t a demand for the showers at five o’clock in the evening.

“I can’t believe he blew you off like that. What has gotten into them lately?” a girl whined.

“Ever since Parker’s been hanging out with the charity case, he hasn’t been paying attention to anyone else. Did you hear that Hudson is actually tutoring her?” another girl shared. “He even blew off Mallory, and remember how he was so into her last year?”

I frowned, pausing mid-shave of my right leg. Hudson had told me the whole story at dinner that night. The one he shared with me was a seemingly different version than these girls knew. Of course, Mallory wouldn’t want to be seen as a cheating whore, but if the shoe fits… Not that Hudson acted on her advances, he was too good a guy to do that to his friend.

“I asked Brayden to go with me to the Halloween party, but he said he was already going with someone. How much you wanna bet it’s her?” the first girl said.

“Parker has been turning down everyone, too. Even Hudson said he wasn’t going to go with anyone. I know he keeps saying as a TA he needs to focus on school, but he’s making time to work with her twice a week,” the second girl screeched.

“You know what’s crazy, I’ve even noticed that Micah has been scaring off girls who have been messing with her. I’ve never heard or seen of him looking out for anyone besides Brayden,” the first girl said, sounding confused.

“What’s so special about her? I mean, I guess she’s kind of pretty, but she isn’t even that smart if she needs that much help from a tutor,” the second girl grumbled as they left the bathroom.

I quickly finished my shower and hustled out of the bathroom. I peeked out the door first to make sure they weren’t still in the hall. I dashed to my room and flopped onto my couch while I processed what I’d just heard. I knew Brayden had asked me to go, and I agreed, but so did Parker, but I never gave him an answer. I didn’t think Hudson had said much about it other than he was going. What caught me off guard was what they said about Micah. I didn’t think he liked me at all, why would he look out for me from the shadows?

My phone chirped at me from the coffee table. Grabbing it, I saw it was a text from Jay.

Jay:

Parker said he hurt you, you okay?

I smiled; I liked that he was checking in on me.

Lailah:

He has a hard head but I survived. Next time, I won’t try to headbutt him when he does something stupid.

Jay:

You still up for running?

Lailah:

Totally! What time do you want to meet up?

Jay:

6?

I groaned. I was out of my early morning routine thanks to Cami and her love of sleep and late nights.

Lailah:

I can manage that.

Jay:

Meet you out front of your dorm. We have to drive to the trail head.

Lailah:

Sounds good, see you tomorrow.

This will be good. I need to get back to running, and it might help keep me from having crazy sex dreams. I shivered at the phantom feeling of their touch. Standing, I shook it off, not wanting to get distracted, and I decided to do some homework. Nothing like working on a psychology project to keep your mind from wandering.

EIGHTEEN

LAILAH

Ijogged down the steps of the dorm to find a big black Jeep waiting, rumbling as it idled. I peeked up in the window and saw Jay inside, waiting. I opened the door and had to pull myself into the Jeep since it was lifted. I had always wanted a Jeep growing up, but that was before my mother showed me all the reports of people dying in them from rolling over. I didn’t think that would happen with Jay, but it kept me from buying one in high school. Jay greeted me with a nod of his head and a small twitch of his lips that was as close to a smile as I guessed he gave. We drove in silence, but it wasn’t uncomfortable; it felt tranquil, peaceful. There was no need to fill the car with pointless chatter, the quiet said just as much.

It took about thirty minutes to get where he was taking us. I noticed the open fields and grazing lands faded away to tree-filled hill country. Jay pulled into a small parking lot that looked like it didn’t see much traffic. I saw the trail marker for the Lullwater trail, and the map of the trails carved on a large panel of wood. I hopped out of the Jeep and walked around to look at the map. I saw there were a few different trails we could pick from, some longer and some shorter.

“You wanna do a hard trail or a more open trail?” Jay asked.

I woke up to find no lingering issues from the mishap with Parker, so that wasn’t a problem. I shook out my body, seeing how it was feeling today. “Let’s do something more challenging. I think I need to push it to the max today.”

This time Jay really smiled at me, excitement flashing in his eyes. “I was hoping you were going to say that.”

He walked to the back of the Jeep and pulled a few things from the trunk. He handed over a vest that had two water bottles on the front for easy access, and the backpack portion had snacks and a water refill sleeve. Jay shouldered what looked more like a military-style pack that clipped around his waist, keeping it snug to his body.

“Wow, you are super prepared for this. What if I’d said I wanted the easy run?” I asked.

Jay looked at me with a small grin as he locked up the car. “You like a personal challenge, and this will definitely give you that.” He walked up to me and leaned in to whisper close to my ear. “Also, I think you don’t have many people who challenge you like I will.”

I stood stunned. He gave a soft chuckle and nudged me with his shoulder to shake me out of my frozen state.

“Have you done any trail running before?” he asked.

Shaking my head, unable to look at him, I messed with the straps for the backpack vest.

“Keep your strides short, you need to be able to dodge and jump at short notice. Keep your gaze a good fifteen feet ahead, so you don’t trip.” He paused to make sure I understood. “When we run uphill, keep your knees soft, but if it’s too rough, don’t try to run it, just fall to a fast walk. Downhills, don’t land on your heels, keep it soft; otherwise, your knees are going to be screaming tomorrow.”

“Got it,” I said, hopping up and down a little, shaking out my legs and excited to get this run started.

“Keep up if you can,” Jay taunted as he took off down the trail.

I was quick on his heels, keeping in mind what he told me, not getting too close behind him so I could see what was coming. The trail dimmed as we got deeper into the woods, the trees casting shadows across the path, making it harder to tell what to avoid. I trusted my body to respond the way I needed it to and focused more on what was around me. The forest was lush and green, full of animal activity. We reached our first downhill portion, and the decline was steep. A wooden plank had been placed every two feet to give traction as you made your way. Once down, we worked our way around large trees with roots spreading out around them.

I could feel my lungs burning at the effort to keep up with Jay, but I wasn’t going to wimp out on this. He’d been right, he laid down the challenge, and I was now going to rise to the occasion. The feel of my blood pumping through my veins and the sweat trickling down my back made me feel so alive. I craved the ability to push my body to use the pent-up energy I had and set it free through my muscles. Jay led the way across a fallen log over a river that was flowing swiftly under my feet.

Jay seemed to float over these obstacles, nothing seemed to faze him. He ran with such a fluid motion; it was like he was flying along the ground. I could see the muscles in his arms tighten as he leaned into the uphill climb, his calves bulging as he pushed away from the rocky step. I was so distracted I almost slid down the hill when rocks shifted under my feet, sending me careening to the right. I caught myself with my hands, but I could feel the rocks biting into my skin. I knew they would be scratched up along with my knee, but I managed to keep from backsliding. I scrambled the rest of the way up the hill—even though it was more like a rock face—and managed to make it to the top without further incident.

Jay was waiting for me at the top, gulping down water as his chest heaved. Good to know I wasn’t the only one who was winded from that last part. I brushed the rock from my hands, and some of the cuts started to well up with blood, but I had expected that. I poured some water over them to wash away the last bit of dirt, and they stung, but I would live. Jay walked over and grabbed my wrist, turning over my hand to inspect it himself. When he touched me, I felt a current of energy wash over me, causing me to jerk my hand away from him. He looked at me with a questioning gaze, unsure of my reaction.

“You didn’t feel that?” I asked.

“Feel what?” said he asked, taking my hand once again, but this time there was no energy. “Hold still. I’ve got a first aid kit.”

He dropped his pack and started searching through it. Had I been the only one who felt that energy when we touched? Granted, it didn’t happen the second time, but it couldn’t have been just me. Jay deftly bandaged up my hands and my knee, and we were off again. I assured him I was fine, and we didn’t need to head back just because I’d gotten scraped up. The farther in the woods we went, the more breathtaking it became. Never before had I seen such an old forest untouched by human hands. After we ran for another hour or so, I was dripping sweat, and my legs started to tremble.

“Jay, I don’t know that I can keep going if we don’t take a break soon. We’ve been running for almost two hours,” I said in between gulping breaths.

“Do you think you can make it just a little farther if we take it easy?” Jay asked.

“How far is a little father?” I asked, not trusting him to be honest.

He grinned at me as if he was pleased that I was challenging him. “Just down this hill and to the left a little. It will be worth it.”

I groaned, knowing that he was going to win this. “Fine, but if I don’t think it’s worth it, then you owe me a foot massage.”

“What do I get if it is?” Jay asked.

I paused, unsure of what he would want. “What do you want?”

“You, running with me every morning for a week,” Jay answered.

“Really? That’s what you want? Sure, I’m fine with that,” I said, surprised that was his choice.

“Let’s get a move on then,” Jay said as he disappeared down the hill.

“Come on, Lailah. You can do this,” I said, trying to get a little pep in my step.

I made my way down the hill, which was steeper than any we had managed to this point. I was glad there were rocks embedded into the trail, so I didn’t end up sliding down it on my butt. When I got to the bottom, I hung a left where the trail split, like Jay had said, and followed along a small stream. The going was rough, like animals, and not people, used this path. I had to manage every step carefully, so I didn’t twist my ankle and end up not making it back to school at all. Just when I was about to give up and just sit right there on the path, I turned another corner around a stand of trees and gasped.

The grove of trees opened up to show a waterfall that was shooting out of a rock wall ahead of me. The water splashed into a pool of water that fed the stream that I had seen as we’d been running. The cool mist of the waterfall felt like heaven on my sweaty skin, refreshing me. I felt a breeze weaving through the trees, sweeping up the mist, causing the sun to reflect in it, creating a giant rainbow. The wind swirled around me, wrapping me in the prism of colors before it dissipated.

“So, I guess we’re going to see each other a lot this week,” Jay said, appearing behind me, making me jump.

“Ah, don’t do that, stomp your feet or something, will you,” I said, clutching my chest.

Jay just grinned and made his way over to an open area with a fallen tree. He slipped off his backpack and sat down and began pulling out food.

“You thought of everything, didn’t you,” I said, joining him.

“It’s always smart to be prepared,” Jay said, handing me a white paper bag.

“How could you possibly know to bring these?” I said, looking into the bag, confirming that they were indeed my favorite sugar cookies.

“You forget, I live with Parker,” Jay said, shrugging. “He felt bad and gave me these for you, said it would make you forgive him.”

I laughed so hard I almost knocked myself off the log into the dirt. Parker knew just how much I loved these cookies.

“I’m going to assume from your reaction that his guess was correct.”

“These cookies could get anyone back in my good graces,” I said, pulling one out and breaking it in half. “Wanna try some?”

Jay tentatively reached out and took the chunk of cookie. “Normally, I don’t indulge in sugar.”

I held my breath, waiting to see what he thought of it. He chewed for what seemed like an eternity and swallowed, but didn’t say anything right away. I couldn’t hold it any longer. “Well?”

“They are quite good.”

“Quite good? Seriously, that’s all you have to say about the small piece of heaven you just ate?” I said, exasperated.

“You’ll come to find that I don’t give compliments easily or often. Take it or leave it.”

This caused me to start laughing again. I should have known better than to expect him to react like a normal person would. “What else did you pack in your bag of tricks?”

“The normal things: a map, compass, satellite phone, Leatherman multitool, first aid kit, flashlight, binoculars, and food,” Jay said, pulling out each item to show me.

“You have a satellite phone? Who has a satellite phone?” I said, snatching it out of his hands and looking it over.

“My dad owns one of the biggest private security companies in the eastern hemisphere. I work with him a lot and end up in places that phones don’t work, like here,” Jay explained.

“Wow! You do that and go to school? You must be crazy busy.”

“I don’t attend classes at Ryevick. I do online classes.”

“Is that why I never see you on campus? I was wondering if you did all night classes or something.”

“Yes, my father doesn’t feel that Ryevick has much to offer me that he can’t give me through experience. I have been working with him since I could shoot a gun.”

I balked at that; I’d never been around guns, my family was very much against it. “How old was that?”

“I think it was about ten when I passed my qualifications, but I prefer a bow to a gun. Personally, I think it takes more skill to use than a gun.”

“Holy shit, are you a ninja or something?”

Jay laughed and coughed, choking on his trail mix at that comment. “Is it because I’m Asian?”

“What? No, I mean you can shoot a gun and a bow, you run like the wind, and you snuck up on me like a ghost,” I said, scowling at him.

He looked at me with contemplative eyes before he answered. “My father taught me to be a force to be reckoned with. I am skilled in many ways of fighting, infiltration tactics, and strategic planning.”

“Remind me never to piss you off, but if I get in a tough spot, I’ll know who to call,” I said, bumping into him with my shoulder.

Jay stilled at my words and turned to look at me, holding my gaze intently. “I know you’re joking, but I truly hope that you know that I would come to your aid in an instant.”

Under his intense gaze, I felt a trickle of fear at his words. It was the first time I truly got a glimpse of the person under the stoic expression. It would be terrifying if you found yourself his enemy. I hadn’t a clue what caused Jay to consider me a friend, but I was thankful for it, knowing how dangerous he could be.

“Here, eat this. We still have to make it back to the car,” Jay said, his mask back in place, handing me an energy bar.

“How far is it back to the car?” I asked, letting the topic change.

“About thirty minutes, but it’s the toughest part of the trail.”

“I should have known, by how wild the path was. How did you find this place anyway?”

“I like to go camping when things get crazy back at the house. It’s more peaceful out here in the woods when Micah and Parker get into it.”

“They’re that bad, huh?”

Jay shook his head, “It’s like two wild dogs fighting over the same bone. It’s messy and loud, even Beth can’t break them up sometimes.”

“Who’s Beth?” I asked, feeling irritated to hear a woman’s name.

“She’s the one who looks after us while we’re here at school. Come on, let's get going.”

I was already groaning as I stood, feeling my legs crying out to rest just a little longer. Jay wasn’t kidding that the way back was rough. It was uphill the whole time, and the path was rocky with lots of shifting dirt to manage. When we reached the Jeep, I almost couldn’t pull myself back into the seat, Jay had to give me a boost.

“Please tell me we aren't going to be doing this the rest of the week, I don’t think I could survive that.”

“No. I only go trail running once or twice a week. The track we did today I normally can only manage once a week, it’s the hardest one I do.”

“What the fuck, Jay! You took a beginner on a trail you can only manage to do once a week?”

“I told you I would challenge you. If I had told you, then you would never even have tried. Now look, you managed to do the whole thing. You’re stronger than you give yourself credit for,” Jay said looking at me out of the corner of his eye as he drove.

I stuck my tongue out at him and huddled in the seat, not looking at him but smiling to myself. I’d managed to do something like this on the first try. I should get a gold star and another cookie for that.

NINETEEN

LAILAH

The next two weeks flew by, and I fell into a routine that made me feel like I’d been living here on campus for much longer than two and a half months. Jay and I went running every morning, hitting the harder trails on the weekends. I could feel my strength and endurance get back to what it was when I was on the track team. With Jay pushing me to be better and to run faster, I was now able to beat him in some of our friendly races.

Hudson and I spent Tuesdays in the library study room, trying to improve my failing grade. I was excited because it was actually making sense, and I didn’t feel quite so stupid. That is until I went to work with him in his lab on Thursdays. The math and material he was working with was like an alien language to me. He had me help mainly as his runner, grabbing slides, chemicals, and other equipment he needed. It was cool to see him in action and to spend time talking to him about what he was passionate about.

Brayden offered me a spot on the Halloween party organizers committee. We all helped to make the decorations, paint backgrounds for photo booths, and make sure we had everything we needed to make this one epic party. Parker popped up here and there, typically when Cami was busy or was spending quality time with Maggs. I think she felt bad that she was leaving me alone, so she sent him to keep me entertained.

Out of the five, the only one I didn’t see much of was Micah. Not that I was looking to spend a whole lot of time with him, it just seemed odd he was never around much on campus. I had expected that me spending time with his best friend would mean he might be around more. Maybe it was more of a girl thing to include all your friends in everything.

I set my dinner tray down at the table Cami and I always sat at. She was doing dinner with her sisters, so I was on my own. Parker had texted me, telling me he was busy tonight too, with lots of sad crying emojis to show how he felt about me eating alone. It didn’t bother me; I was used to being on my own. It wasn’t until I met all of them that I was constantly surrounded by people.

A shadow crossed over the book I was reading, causing me to look up. Standing in front of me were four girls I recognized from my dorm. I groaned internally, knowing that this was not going to be enjoyable.

“Lailah, right?” one girl asked.

“Unfortunately,” I muttered.

“We would like to have a word with you,” another said.

I closed the book and heaved a big sigh. “How can I help you?”

“Is it true that you’re going with all The Manor boys to the Halloween party?”

“I am attending the party, but I was only asked by Brayden,” I said, trying to keep my answers simple so they couldn’t read into it.

“Then why are Parker and Hudson telling girls they’re going with you if you already have a date?”

“I can’t control what they say or who they hang out with. I did not ask to go with them, and they didn’t ask me. It looks like they might just be saying that, so they don’t have to go with you guys.” As soon as I said it, I knew it was the wrong thing to do, but I was so sick and tired of these girls causing trouble that it just slipped out.

One girl picked up my glass full of soda and tossed it in my face. I shut my eyes waiting for the cold, sticky liquid to hit me, but it never came. I felt my chair getting pulled away from the table, and someone stand in front of me. The girls all gasped. When I opened my eyes, I found Micah, of all people, blocking my view of them. He reached a hand up and wiped his face off with napkins someone handed to him.

“Oh my God, Micah, I’m so sorry. I seem to be so spacey today, I can’t believe I spilled my drink like that,” one girl said, her voice shaking.

I peered from behind him to look at their faces. Sure enough, they were scared shitless of Micah right now, and I couldn’t be more pleased it was them and not me for a change.

“I think you had better go before your clumsy ass spills something else on me,” Micah growled.

And just like that, they scattered like mice getting chased by a cat. Micah pulled out the chair next to me and sat down muttering as he tried to dry his shirt. I stared at him with bold curiosity. Why had he just done that? What was he doing sitting next to me? Did he want something?

“I’m not an animal in a zoo. It’s rude to stare, or didn’t your mother teach you that?” Micah said, meeting my gaze.

“Thank you,” I said, not backing down from his challenging look.

“Whatever.”

“How long were you watching?”

“Long enough to see you do a great impersonation of a doormat. Why didn’t you do anything about it, you were just going to let them douse you because they’re petty bitches?”

“I didn’t ask for your help, and I certainly didn’t ask for your advice,” I snapped.

I wasn’t sure what it was about Micah, but he seemed to set me off. I couldn’t manage to keep him from getting under my skin.

“It's not advice, anyone with eyes could see that something was going to happen. It was almost too painful to watch, like some National Geographic shit where the lion takes out the gazelle.”

“I’m confused. You come over here, take a bath in my soda for me, and now you’re mad at me for not doing anything about it? Who the hell do you think you are?” I stood up from my seat, grabbed my book, and turned on my heel. Then on second thought, I turned and looked over my shoulder. “You want me to do something, well here is me walking away from an arrogant asshole who doesn’t deserve my thanks.”

I was so mad at him, I was shaking as I left the cafeteria. What really made me mad was the fact that as I was telling him off, he had excitement in his eyes, like he was proud of me for standing up to him.

“Fuck him,” I said a little louder than I had intended.

“Lailah?”

I gulped as I turned slowly. “Hey, Brayden.”

Great, I was just insulting his best friend right in front of him. Not good.

“You okay? Did someone do something?” he asked, reaching out and touching my arm.

A jolt of energy shot through me at his touch, just like it had with Jay on our first running hike. This time Brayden reacted, jerking his hand away from me and shaking it out like it stung.

“What was that?” I asked.

Brayden just shook his head, looking as confused as I felt. “I have no idea.”

“Hey, dipshit, good thing you didn’t get very far. You left your backpack behind,” Micah said, walking up to us.

I snatched my bag from him, but our hands brushed, sending another electric current through my body.

“What the hell is that?!” I demanded as my backpack fell to the ground. “Why do I keep getting shocked when I touch people?”

“Wait, this happens to anyone you touch?” Brayden asked.

I shook my head, wrapping my arms around myself. “I don’t know, maybe not everyone, but it happened with Jay a few weeks ago. Now it just happened twice with you guys.”

“Lailah, I’m going to try and touch your arm again to see if it happens again,” Brayden said as he slowly reached out. When his hand grasped my arm, nothing happened. “Did you feel anything?”

“No, nothing,” I said. “I have no idea why it happens or when it chooses to do it. Is there something wrong with me?”

“No, nothing’s wrong with you,” Brayden said, pulling me into a hug.

I nestled into his chest, letting him hold me. I breathed in his soft scent that reminded me of fresh-turned earth and spring showers. He rubbed my back, helping to calm me down from my panic attack, making me feel more grounded. The comfort I felt in his arms was amazing, and like nothing I had ever experienced before.

“Hey, what happened?” I heard Parker’s voice from behind me. “You say something mean to her, asshole?”

I could only assume he was talking to Micah. He wasn’t wrong, but Micah wasn’t the reason I was burrowed in Brayden’s arms. I pulled away from him, not willing to let Micah get yelled at for something he didn’t do.

“Parker, it wasn’t him,” I said, reaching to stop him from going after Micah.

“Wait, Lailah,” Brayden said, trying to grab for me.

When I grabbed onto Parker’s arm, instead of a spark like the other two, a jolt of power almost knocked me off my feet. I gasped as my hand locked around his arm, unable to let go.

“Fuck, Lailah, what’s happening?” Parker looked at me with a worried expression.

I tried to let go, but no matter how I demanded that my hand release its hold, it wouldn’t listen to me. Brayden came up behind me and placed his hand on my shoulders and started to knead his thumbs into my shoulder blades.

“Take a deep breath, Lailah. You need to calm down, breathe in through the mouth, out through the nose,” he said calmly, resting his head against mine, so he didn’t have to talk very loud. “That’s a girl, nice easy breaths.”

I tried to follow Brayden’s direction and breathe the way he wanted, but the shuddering breaths came and went as they pleased. It was more the feel of him and his touch that seemed to calm me down. I relaxed into him, and once I was able to do that, the strange energy flowing through me stopped, and I could let go of Parker’s arm. Brayden pulled me back to him, and he wrapped his arms and body around me, trying to get as much contact as he could. He kept talking to me in a calming voice, relaxing me further. Finally, I let go and closed my eyes, drifting into darkness.

TWENTY

MICAH

“What the hell did you do to her, Brayden?” Parker asked as he watched Brayden gather Lailah into his arms.

“She needed to be grounded, or her powers were going to explode right here in the middle of the quad. I might have overdone it a bit, but I’ve never done something like that before,” Brayden said, frowning at Parker.

“Well, if you're concerned about people seeing something weird going on, you might want to go somewhere less obvious,” I said, looking at the students who were whispering to each other and looking at Brayden, who was holding a passed-out woman in his arms.

“Right. Well, if you don’t mind grabbing her backpack, we shouldn’t be lingering here,” Brayden said as he walked toward her dorm.

I shook my head, grabbed the bag she’d dropped, and slung it over my shoulder. We made quite the sight, Brayden holding Lailah, and Parker and I trailing after them.

“I thought you had an obligation tonight, which is why I was babysitting her,” I grouched at Parker.

“It seems that my father didn’t need me at the board meeting after all,” Parker said as anger flashed in his eyes.

I grunted, not really caring to know the cause of that anger. I was more worried about the fact that Lailah had almost lost her control, and with her powers released, she could have taken the school out. The demon threat was getting worse, which is why we were all hanging around her all the time, but that was also making it worse. The more we interacted with her, the more the pull to Bond was building.

“Why are you wet?” Parker asked, giving me the side-eye.

I looked down, forgetting the fact that my shirt was still covered in soda. “I was protecting Lailah from The Manor boys’ fan club. They were giving her a hard time about you all, saying you’re going to the Halloween party with Lailah and no one else.” I looked up at Parker’s stupid, grinning face and glared at him. “Douche move to make her an even bigger target. You're the one that’s her friend, and I don’t have time to deal with bitch fights. So, if this is going to be a regular thing, I’m not babysitting anymore.”

“You say that, but you’re always lurking in the background, watching her. Don’t think I haven’t noticed you in the shadows like a stalker,” Parker said. I tripped over my own feet, surprised that he would even notice.

Whenever the guys were with Lailah, they seemed to only have eyes for her. I felt the draw to be with her just as much as they did, but I knew that wasn’t real. The angels made her that way so we would feel the need to Bond with her. Well, I wasn’t falling for it. I didn’t need anyone to worry about but myself. With her powers building, having more of us close to her wasn’t helpful. Today was a perfect example. She would have been fine if Parker hadn’t walked up, adding to the clusterfuck. Three out of five was way too much energy to have around her at this point. If we had any hope of bringing her in before she exploded, we needed to move fast.

“Would one of you be so kind as to get the door for me? I seem to have my hands full,” Brayden called out when we reached the door to the dorms.

“Fuck, sorry,” Parker said, grabbing the door.

We headed for the elevator and stopped, looking at each other.

“Anyone know where her room is?” I huffed.

“You don’t know?” Brayden asked Parker.

“Why the hell would I know where her room is?” he asked, offended.

Brayden shrugged. “Just assumed, since you hang out with her and Cami, you might have hung out here.”

“Nope. She’s never offered to have any of us to step foot in the dorm. We always meet out front,” Parker said.” Hold on, I’ll call Cami.”

“Don’t tell her what happened, she’s with Beth and Nona,” Brayden warned.

“Shit, then I shouldn’t call her. Beth has a sixth sense about shit like this,” Parker said, putting his phone away.

I pulled out my phone and dialed the one person I knew would know.

“What, I’m busy.”

“Jay, what’s Lailah’s room number?”

“Why do you need to know?”

“Look, she had a power flair and passed out. Cami is with Beth, and we need to get her to her room,” I snapped, not seeing why I had to go into all the details.

“Tenth floor, room eight.”

“Thanks,” I said and hung up heading for the elevator. I hit the button for the tenth floor once we were in.

“How did you know Jay would know where her room was?” Parker asked.

I gave Parker a look, wondering if he was really this stupid. “It’s Jay. Once he met her on the run and had her phone number, he did a full background check on her. Of course, he knows her room number, he would never let something like that go unknown.”

“Why the fuck would he do that?” Parker asked.

I groaned, rolling my head back to stare at the ceiling of the elevator. “He talked to her, gave her Hudson’s phone number, even had her program her number into his phone. Jay doesn’t do things like that. So, you bet your ass he would do everything he could to find out who she is and why he did those things.”

“Jay doesn’t do friends,” Brayden said, backing me up.

“Hmm, guess I’ve never seen him hang out with anyone but us and the guys he works with on jobs for his dad. Never thought about the fact he didn’t have any other friends.”

“God, you’re as smart as a box of rocks. How are you one of the top ten smartest people with technology?” I said, stepping out of the elevator looking for room eight.

I started going through her backpack to find out where she would keep her keycard, but I couldn’t find it. Then I looked at her in Brayden’s arms, blonde hair cascading down like a golden waterfall. She nuzzled closer to Brayden’s throat and sighed. She looked so fragile, and I hated it.

“I’m going to need to slip her key card out of her back pocket since it’s not in her backpack,” I said. Brayden adjusted his hold on her so it would be easier for me to get her key card without groping her.

“Oh, like hell you’re reaching into her pants,” Parker said, blocking me from reaching out to her.

“Because she would like the idea of you touching her ass better? I don’t think she would appreciate any of us doing this,” I pointed out.

“If anyone is going to do it, Brayden should. She doesn’t seem to have a problem with him touching her,” Parker said, making a good point. “Give her to me, Brayden.”

“Okay.” Brayden handed her over without jostling her too much.

She fidgeted in his arms but settled once she was cuddled against his chest, her hand clutching his shirt. Brayden made quick work grabbing her keycard and let us in. Her room was simple but homey. Family photos and letters were pinned on a corkboard by her desk. A soft-looking blanket covered in elephants was tossed over the back of her couch. I then noticed her bed had bright tie-dyed sheets on it with a well-loved stuffed elephant sitting by the pillow. God, this chick is strange. Who picks elephants as a favorite animal? I pulled back the sheet and noticed a book peeking out from under her pillow. I pulled it out and set it on the nightstand, so she didn’t sleep on it. Parker set her down gently and pulled the covers over.

“Should we stay?” Brayden asked.

I shook my head. “Fuck no, she’d freak out if she woke up to us being in her room. If she hasn’t invited any of you up before, I’m thinking this would not be a welcome way for that to happen.”

“Well, what do you know,” Parker said with his damn grin on display. “You do have a heart, though not enough for me to control it.”

“Can it, dickweed,” I said, heading out of the room and looked back when they didn’t follow. “Let’s go assholes, we don’t need to set her off again. We are on the tenth fucking floor. I’m not getting blamed for the shit storm if she takes the building down.”

We made our way back to the house in silence, unsure of what to do about Lailah. Brayden already texted Beth to tell her we, including Cami, needed to talk. Each of us needed to be on the same page, and Cami was one of the few people who wouldn’t set off Lailah’s powers by being around her. When we walked into the library, we found everyone waiting for us.

“What happened?” Beth said, walking over to us with worry showing in her eyes.

I first met Beth a week after my powers manifested. We all came together as kids during the summer—their master plan to get us to become a unit. Beth was our den mother, she broke up fights, bandaged us up, and made sure we ate our meals. She’d always been looking out for us, and it seemed that even though Lailah hadn’t met her, Beth already considered her one of her cubs.

“Lailah’s powers are at the breaking point. I’m not sure how much longer it will be before something triggers her coming into her element,” Brayden said.

Beth turned to Jay. “I thought you said the running was helping to bleed off the extra energy?”

“She’s growing stronger every day. I didn’t account for the fact that she would advance so fast. None of us adapted as fast as she is. I’ve had to make the runs longer, harder, faster to get her to the point of being maxed out,” Jay said. His face was neutral, but I could hear the irritation in his voice. He didn’t like to be surprised and unsure of how to handle a problem.

“Like I’ve been saying, we need to leave her the hell alone. Yet these assholes are creating more problems by being attached to her all the time,” I said, cocking a hip to lean on the back of one of the couches.

“What other problems?” Hudson asked.

He had been working with Nona to research all we knew about Synergy’s powers, and from what I heard, it was very little.

“The fangirls are getting more aggressive toward her,” I said, glaring at Parker. “The sprinklers the other week, I have to admit, was kind of brilliant. They’re sure coming up with interesting ways to keep you guys from hanging out with her.”

“Like you fucking care, you would just love it if we all walked away from her. It would be so much easier for you if we just ignored the fact that Synergy was here at school,” Parker growled.

I could feel my blood begin to boil at his words. He didn’t get it at all. How dare he assume to know how I was feeling? None of them understood what it meant to lose people they loved and cared about. How could they possibly understand that letting Lailah into our lives could be the end of everything?

“That’s quite enough, Parker. Can we please stay on topic?” Beth said, frowning at us both. “I would have agreed that we need to back off, but with the increase of demon activity, we can’t leave her vulnerable. It seems that bringing her into the fold sooner rather than later would be the best course.”

“Can we wait till next week?” Brayden asked. “Just till after the Halloween party. I would like to let her have one last normal college experience before we destroy her whole world.”

Beth contemplated that, tapping her finger on her chin. I wanted to tell Brayden that he was being a hopeless romantic, but I also saw his point. When she was told about what she really was, it would change her life forever. As much as I hated the idea of being bound to her forever, I didn’t want her to hurt when the life she knew crumbled around her. I experienced that when my parents died, and I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. Although I have to admit, seeing her get pissed at me when I pushed her buttons gave me hope that she wouldn’t be a complete lamb to the slaughter.

“If you think she can make it to the end of the week without further incident, I will agree to wait. With one condition, though. You all need to make yourselves scarce for the rest of the week. We need to keep her under control until we can get her somewhere safe for her to experience her full power,” Beth said, looking each one of us in the eye.

“Not a problem for me,” I said. Parker rolled his eyes at me, and I flipped him off.

“I already needed to cancel with Lailah for our Thursday session, so I will just add on tomorrow’s as well,” Hudson said.

“My dad has been wanting me to take a job that will take me out of town till Thursday night, but she still needs to go running. Cami, can you make that happen?” Jay asked.

“God, please tell me you’re not asking me to go running with her? I fucking hate running. What else could we do to help burn off the extra energy?” Cami asked.

“Sex would be an acceptable alternative,” Jay said with a blank face.

Cami choked on her own spit at that answer. “Excuse me?”

“There is no way in hell that I’m going to allow that to happen,” Parker said, storming up to Jay. “Come up with something else.”

“He does make a good point, although research says oral sex uses more energy than standard intercourse. The most energy burned though is actually a make-out session lasting thirty minutes or more,” Hudson said, stunning us all into silence.

“I would hope you’re joking, Hudson, but I’ve known you long enough to know that you’re not,” Brayden said, eyes wide with shock.

I groaned as I pictured Lailah’s perfect mouth going down on me, and her crystal-blue eyes looking up at me as I fisted a handful of her hair. Just because I didn’t want to be stuck with her for life didn’t mean I was blind. She was hot. My body temperature began to rise as my heartbeat gained speed. If I didn’t get those damn innocent eyes out of my mind, I was literally going to combust.

“God damn you, Hudson,” I snarled and stormed out of the room, needing to calm myself down.

I heard someone follow after me and was surprised to find that it was Cami, and not Brayden, who grabbed my arm.

“What do you want, ankle biter?” I said, jerking my arm from her grasp.

Cami put her hands on her hips and looked up at me. “Look, cockwaffle, I get that you might not love the idea of Synergy being a human, but you’re the only one of the guys who hasn’t even given her a chance. Lala is one kick-ass chick who will surprise you if you just took a second to know her.”

“I don’t need to give her a chance or get to know her. She’s only here to get us to bond to her so she can take over our powers and use us as she sees fit,” I said, disgusted at the idea. “You don’t have to worry about what she’ll do to you because you're completely human. You don’t have fire shooting out of your hands, setting things on fire when you can’t control it. You didn’t have to spend five years training your ass off to learn to bend your powers to your will. I’m one of the only fire Elementi who hasn’t killed one of their instructors by accident. I can’t allow someone else to fuck this up for me no matter how kick-ass a chick she is.”

This time when I stormed off, she didn’t stop me, but I could feel the pity in her eyes, like lasers drilling into my back. I couldn’t let Lailah get under my skin, and the best way to do that was to keep the hell away from her.

TWENTY-ONE

LAILAH

Iopened my eyes to find that I was in complete darkness. It wasn’t the kind of darkness that had a soft edge to it. No, this was void of any light to give me a hint of where I was. I felt my panic begin to rise as I stood up carefully. I couldn’t remember how I ended up in this place, wherever it was.

I took a small tentative step forward, reaching my hands out in front of me as far as I could, trying to feel for anything familiar around me. I made my way forward with my heartbeat banging in my chest and my ears straining to hear anything that would give me some clue as to what was going on. The only thing I could make out was my ragged breathing as it was eaten up by the silence. I started to shake, my fear seeping into my bones with the realization that I could die here, and no one would know. No one would find me until it was too late. That fear crept up my spine like cold fingers, making me flinch from its touch.

“Please let someone find me, anyone. Oh God, please don’t let me die here,” I whispered.

Out of the darkness, I felt a presence, one that made me want to curl up into a ball and hide. I knew whatever was out there was going to kill me, and I couldn’t do a thing about it. I was defenseless against this evil that was inching closer to me. I gasped, trying to breathe while my lungs refused to fill with air from the fear choking me. Tears started to stream down my cheeks as the knowledge of my fate settled in the pit of my stomach.

“I taste your fear, and it’s like fine wine on my tongue,” a raspy voice said, cutting through the silence. “How foolish of them to leave you so vulnerable and ripe for the taking.”

The voice was like nails on a chalkboard, grating and sending my body into convulsions. I fought to stay on my feet, unwilling to let this creature take more from me.

“Look how the little lamb fights against the inevitable, such spirit. Too bad we’ll never get to see what you would have become once unleashed on the world,” the voice said, sounding much closer than it was before. “My master will be so pleased to know we took you from the world before the angel’s little warriors got their new weapon.”

I fought back a scream when I felt a sharp claw caress my cheek. My body shook with the terror coursing through it. I tried to fight against the hold my panic had on me. I needed to think of something to save myself. How could I just stand here knowing it was going to kill me without a drop of care or guilt afterward? Spinning on my heel, I ran away from the evil energy as fast as I could. I pushed myself hard, knowing that my life depended on getting away from this thing that was trying to kill me.

“The little lamb can run. But for how long?” the voice laughed, sending pinpricks of pain all over my body.

Ignoring the taunt, I ran. Jay had been pushing me hard the past few weeks, and I knew I couldn’t keep this speed up forever, but I could do it long enough to come up with a better plan. Wracking my brain, I kept trying to figure out some way that I could get out of this alive. The only problem was that I didn’t know what I was dealing with. Was I dreaming? Was I trapped in a building? Was I still at the school? Had I been kidnapped? Why the fuck was this happening, and what the hell was this creepy fuck talking about?

My thoughts drifted back to Jay and the conversation we’d had at the waterfall. He’d promised to come help me whenever I needed it, no matter what he was doing. I checked my pockets to see if, by chance, they had forgotten about my cell, but I wasn’t so lucky. I kept my legs pumping, keeping the distance between the psycho killer and me. I cried out as I took a misstep and twisted my ankle, crashing to the floor.

“No, no, no, no, this can’t be happening,” I said, trying to get back on my feet, but I crashed back to the floor when my ankle gave out.

I started to crawl, anything to keep me moving forward. I wept as I called out for Jay, begging with everything I had that he would be able to find me and save me. A warm breeze stirred in the darkness, wrapping me with its comfort. It felt like being surrounded by the waterfall’s mist. I sobbed, knowing deep in my soul that Jay had heard me and was coming to help me. A flare of blinding light surrounded me; I covered my eyes, seeing stars from the sudden shock of light. I blinked as fast as I could to clear my vision. When I looked up, I found Micah standing in front of me. His eyes flashed with a fury that I’d never seen in anyone before. At first, I thought he was pissed at me for something, but then he scooped me up, and I knew I was safe.

I clung to him, and the heat from his body seeped into me, chasing away the rest of the fear that had been clinging to me. Brayden stepped up on his right, followed by Parker. On Micah’s left, Jay materialized with Hudson next to him. They all looked ready to kill, bodies rigid with anger. I looked forward and saw a shifting apparition of black smoke on the edge of the light that was emanating from Micah.

“Begone demon, you are not welcome here. She is under our protection, and you will not touch one hair on her head,” Micah declared, his voice vibrating through his chest.

The shadow hissed. “My master won’t lose to the likes of you, even if you have your sixth. We will come for her again, and the next time, you won’t be so lucky.”

“Luck has nothing to do with it. We are her protectors to call, and we will always answer,” Brayden said, stepping forward, closer to me.

“The lamb will die before you can truly take that role, Elementi. You are not as safe as you think you are,” the demon said before he vanished into the darkness.

I clung to Micah and cried. I let the tears stream down my face as he just stood there, holding me tightly to him. I felt the others come around me, someone touched my shoulder, someone else stroked the top of my head, then someone else’s hand wrapped around my ankle, followed by another hand on my calf. I felt their energy hum along my skin, filling me with comfort and assurance. My tears slowed, then stopped, and I relaxed, being held and cared for by them. The rightness of it all settled my soul, making me feel more complete than I ever had in my life.

“It’s time to wake up now,” Brayden said, whispering in my ear, then placing a gentle kiss on my cheek.

With those words, my eyes flew open, and I found myself in my dorm room. I laid there, taking a few deep breaths to calm my heart rate before making my next move. I sat up slowly and looked around my room, noticing Cami, who was sleeping on the couch, wrapped in my elephant blanket. I slipped out of my bed and stood up carefully, not really believing that my ankle could be okay. There was no pain or sign that I’d done anything to hurt myself. Silently, I walked over to Cami, sat on the coffee table next to the couch, and shook her awake gently.

“Cami,” I said gently. “Hey, wake up. I need to talk to you.”

Cami grumbled and pulled the blanket over her head. I looked over at my nightstand and saw that it was three in the morning. I shook her harder this time, pulling the blanket off of her.

“Cami!”

This time she shot up, looking around bleary-eyed till she focused on me. “Lala, what’s wrong?” She slid her feet to the floor, so she was sitting, looking at me and rubbing her eyes clear of sleep.

“Why are you in my room?” I asked, feeling like I’d missed something important.

“What do you remember about last night?” she countered.

I rubbed my forehead, trying to organize my thoughts. “I was eating dinner and some girls were giving me a hard time about the Halloween party. Micah was there too. We argued, and I left. After that, I don’t really remember much. I think Parker and Brayden might have shown up at some point, then it all goes blank.”

Cami took my hands in hers, drawing my attention back to her. “You passed out in the middle of the quad. We don’t know why, but thankfully, Micah, Brayden, and Parker were close by. They brought you back to your dorm and waited until I could get back to look after you.”

I frowned. “I passed out? That’s so odd. I don’t remember ever doing that before.” I could feel a headache building with all this confusing information. “I also just had the worst nightmare of my life.”

“Want to talk about it?” Cami asked, squeezing my hands.

I shook my head as I stood up. Walking over to my backpack, I pulled out some pain meds. “Not really, I just want to go back to sleep and hope to God that I don’t dream again.”

“Would a snuggle buddy help?” Cami asked as I swallowed the pills.

I smiled at her, glad that she was here and I didn’t have to wake up alone. “Sure, I’ll take whatever defense I can get.”

I crawled back into bed, clutching Elle to my chest. Cami joined me, laying on her side, so I had her back and she faced the rest of the room. I let my head lean against her back, so I could hear her heartbeat. The steady rhythm lulled me to sleep faster than I thought it would happen. Thankfully, I didn’t have any other nightmares and slept deeply.

“Lala, you gotta get up, or you’re not gonna to have time to get ready for class,” Cami said as she poked me gently.

I groaned, not wanting to leave my bed just yet. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and looked up at her. “How are you awake before me?”

“It’s ten o’clock, silly.”

That had me sitting up and tossing the blankets off me. “What? How is it so late already? I never sleep that late. Oh God, I stood Jay up. I have to call him.”

I hopped out of bed and started looking for my phone, but couldn't remember the last place I had put it. Cami stepped in front of me, holding out my phone, rolling her eyes at me for freaking out.

“I already texted Jay and told him you had a rough night and needed sleep. Besides, you passed out yesterday, your body must’ve been exhausted from everything you’ve been doing,” Cami said as she gathered up her stuff. “Oh, he also said that he’s going on a work trip and will be gone until the weekend.”

I felt my shoulders sag at that. Running with Jay had become one of my favorite parts of my day. I knew I couldn’t slack off and wait till he came back; he would expect me to still keep training to be able to keep up with him when he returned.

“What if you switched up your workout for the week?” Cami said.

“What did you have in mind?” I asked, surprised. I knew how much Cami hated to work out.

“There’s a kickboxing class that I like to go to off campus if you want to join me. There’s a class tonight if you feel up to it.”

“I should have guessed that if you did work out, it would involve you hitting something. Check-in with me at dinner, and I’ll let you know how I’m feeling.”

“Works for me! See you later, Lala. Text me if you need anything,” Cami said as she headed out so I could get ready.

I looked down at my watch, and I cursed, seeing I had just thirty minutes to get ready and make it to class. I threw on a random T-shirt and a pair of jeans and ran out the door with my backpack. I made it to my labs on time, but it took me a few minutes to calm down and concentrate. I could tell that the time I spent with Hudson was making a major change in my chem class. When the teacher was talking, I no longer felt as lost as I once did, and I followed along more confidently.

Thankfully, Tuesdays were easy days, and I made it through classes easily enough, though I’d skipped breakfast. Cami waved to me from our table in the cafe, I dropped my stuff off and headed to order some food along with my chai. As I was waiting for my muffin to be warmed, I felt my phone vibrate. Pulling it out of my pocket, I saw it was a text from Hudson.

Hudson:

Hey, I won’t be able to meet up this week. If you have any questions feel free to reach out. I’ll try and get back to you when I get the chance.

I didn’t respond right away, unsure of what to say to him. Going a week without his help would be a good test to see how I was really doing, but I was bummed. Working with Hudson in his lab was always a good time. We seemed to work well together, and I was always blown away by his intelligence. I took a deep breath and wrote out my response.

Lailah:

Sure thing! Hope our teacher isn’t working you too hard. Will I still see you this weekend?

Hudson:

Of course, I wouldn’t miss going to the party.

For some reason, his answer wasn’t what I wanted him to say. He was still going to be at the party, and I was already going with Brayden, but I wanted to hang out with him, too. Before I could reply, Hudson sent another text a second later.

Hudson:

I didn’t forget my promise to show you that I can have fun once in a while.

Unable to stop myself, I grinned at my phone with a warm feeling fluttering in my stomach. He hadn’t forgotten the conversation we’d had when I found out he’d never gone to any kind of party. Well, after I told him birthday parties didn’t count. Now that I had one college rager under my belt, it was time to share the love.

“Large chai latte with a pumpkin muffin!” the barista called out, sounding like she had called the order more than once. Shaking myself out of my daze, I grabbed my items and headed back to Cami.

“You okay? They called your order twice before you responded.”

“Fine. I was just texting Hudson and got distracted,” I said, breaking apart my muffin.

Cami’s fingers darted out snatching a piece. “What’s that nerdy wizard up too?”

I scowled at Cami for stealing my food and moved it out of her reach. “Get your own. He was just letting me know we wouldn’t be meeting this week.”

“Hmm,” Cami said with a mouth full of muffin.

“Seems like my week is freeing up, just when I got into a routine,” I said, munching on my muffin.

“Sounds like the perfect time to have a girls-only week. I know we’ve both been busy with things going on, but I would love to get a chance to hang with you and Maggs,” Cami said, unable to look me in the eyes.

I felt my brows rise in surprise. “Are we at the point where you’re going to finally admit that Maggs is your girlfriend?”

“Yeah, I guess you could say we made it Facebook official yesterday,” Cami said, grinning at me.

I clapped my hands excitedly and slid my muffin back between us. “In celebration, you may share my muffin with me.”

“Oh-kay, let’s not make this a major thing, Lala.”

“Why? It is a major thing! I am so excited for you, and now that I have more friends to hang out with, you don’t have to worry about leaving me alone all the time.”

“Fat chance. You can’t get rid of me that easily. Just because I have a lady friend doesn’t mean that we won’t be best friends.”

“I wasn’t thinking that, Cami. I just know that you worry about me, and now you’re going to have someone else to worry about besides me.”

Cami laughed. “Trust me. One of the most attractive things about Maggs is that she can take care of herself just fine.”

“Should have guessed that a damsel in distress wouldn’t be your type.”

“If you come to kickboxing tonight, you’ll see just how well she can manage,” Cami said, wagging her eyebrows suggestively.

“Alright, you talked me into it. I’ll go with you.”

“Awesome! I’ll let Maggs know, and we’ll head over around six-thirty.”

“Works for me. I’m heading to the library to get some homework done before we go,” I said, grabbing my backpack.

“That’s my cue, see you later,” Cami said, grabbing her coffee and heading out of the cafe.

Crossing the quad to the library, I found an open spot to camp out in for the next few hours. I popped on my headphones, selected my favorites playlist on my phone, and got down to business. I worked on the edits for the second draft of my English paper, totally absorbed, ignoring the world around me. Needing to reference something from my notebook, I bent down to grab it when someone ripped the headphones off my head and let them clatter to the ground. Jerking back up, anger swirling in me for being treated so rudely, I shouldn’t have been surprised by who I saw standing in front of me.

Mallory. Of course, her posse was with her, ready to back her up. “We have some unfinished business with you.”

I sighed; I’d never been very good at dealing with situations like this. I always ran from my problems rather than confronting them. The need to make friends and have people like me always turned me into a doormat. At some point over the past few months, something in me had changed. Maybe it was Cami’s confident influence, or possibly the fact that I now had more friends than I’d ever had in my life, but I was getting tired of running from these girls.

“What do you want, Mallory?” I asked, closing my laptop.

Mallory glared down at me, hands on her hips like she was some kind of supervillain. “We want The Manor boys back. Ever since you became friends with them, they’ve been blowing every other girl off.”

I shook my head and let out a heavy breath. “What makes you think I can control what they do? I don’t force them to hang out with me over you and your crew.”

“Listen, you little bitch, no one has ever been able to grab the attention of more than one of them. There is something you’re not sharing with the rest of us that gives you some hold on them.” Mallory bent at the waist, so we were now at eye level. “Either share your secret, or we will have to do something more . . . drastic.”

I laughed in her face, unable to stop myself. I couldn’t believe this was happening to me. Some of the most popular girls at school were threatened by little old me. This was a twist that I never saw coming in my wildest dreams.

“Let's say I tell you what I did to get them to like me. What would you do with that information? You don’t seem like the type to share well with others,” I said, my voice filled with my disdain.

Mallory looked at me with a glint in her eyes, telling me everything I needed to know. Once she had the information, she was going to use it as she saw fit. I could just see the guys like magic genies bending to her will, enslaved to her need to have what people wanted.

“You let me worry about that because once you tell me, they won’t be any of your concern.”

I leaned in, closing the small distance between us so I could whisper in her ear. “Make sure you’re paying attention, Mallory, I’m only going to say this once.”

I paused, feeling the tension in her body, desperate for what I was going to tell her. The power I held in the situation blazed through my veins. I knew, deep down in my soul, that the next words out of my mouth were the truth, even if I wasn’t ready to act on it yet.

“They are mine,” I hissed in her ear, causing her to rear back from me. “Trust me when I say I will never hand them over to a conniving cunt like you. Stay the fuck away from them, or I might have to do something drastic.”

Lightning-fast, she whipped out with her hand and slapped me across the face so hard I knew my cheek glowed with her handprint. I closed my eyes and took a breath before I shot out of my seat and returned the favor, but I did it with a closed fist. The impact of my knuckles meeting her jaw hurt, but the terrified look on her face made it worth it.

“That’s the last warning I’ll give you, Mallory. Stay the hell away from me, and stay the fuck away from my guys.” I swept up the rest of my stuff and headed out of the library before anyone could react.

Once outside, I wasn’t sure if I was horrified at my action or wanted to jump for joy. I felt electric. I’d never stood up for myself like that. It was exhilarating and empowering, but once that faded, I realized what I’d done.

What the fuck did I just do? I had no right to claim those guys. Not only did I deck a girl for going after them, I declared to the whole school that they were mine. Oh God, they’re going to hate me. I can’t claim ownership of five guys. I’m not even romantically involved with any of them. Sure, Brayden and I went on a date, kind of, I think. Then it was crashed by Parker and Hudson. So, I’m not sure what that turned it into. A triple date? Ha! Who am I kidding? There is no way those guys could ever share a woman when they can’t share the same room without arguing.

I made it to the dorm, and I raced up to my room, dumped my stuff, then ran down to Cami’s room. I knocked on the door and waited, tapping my foot and biting my thumbnail.

“Lala? I thought you were studying?” Cami said when she opened the door. She took a moment to look and then her face sobered. “What’s wrong? What happened? Did someone slap you!?”

Cami grabbed my face with a hand to look at my cheek, then dragged me into her room. She sat me down on her couch, which was amazingly clear of clothes.

“Maggs, can you grab an ice pack from my fridge?” Cami asked.

It was then that I noticed Cami was only wearing a big T-shirt and nothing else. I felt my face flush with my embarrassment when I noticed Maggs slipping out of Cami’s bed.

“Oh, God, Cami, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to . . .”

“Shut up, Lala. Someone hit you, you did the right thing coming to me,” Cami said, gently placing the icepack on my cheek. “Now, tell me what happened.”

“You told me to shut up,” I said, taking the pack from her and feeling the need to lighten the heavy mood in the room before I broke into tears.

Cami gave me a stern look I’d never seen from her before. She was taking this situation very seriously, and it was freaking me out more than I already was.

“Mallory happened,” I said.

“Should have guessed that snooty bitch was the problem,” Maggs said, sitting on my other side, placing a comforting hand on my shoulder.

“I was minding my own business when she and her girl gang cornered me and demanded a chat. She wanted me to tell her how I got all the guys to be interested in me and no one else. Not so subtly, she threatened me, and I got pissed off.”

“I didn’t know you could get pissed, Lala.” Cami looked at me in surprise. “Sure, I’ve seen you get mad, but not something worth getting you slapped.”

“Never been threatened before, I guess,” I said, shrugging my shoulders. “I told her that they were mine, and she could fuck off.”

Cami and Maggs stilled, shocked at my words, before Cami started laughing, and Maggs joined in. I couldn’t help smiling at my response to Mallory’s threat. It was totally out of character for me to say or do something like that.

“What I wouldn’t give to have been there when you told her that,” Maggs said, wiping her eyes with a finger. “I can see why she slapped you. She’s not one who handles being told no very well.”

“She’s going to make your life hell, you know that, right?” Cami warned.

I shook my head. “I’m not so sure about that since I decked her in the face and threatened her before I left.”

“You did what?” Cami gasped.

“God, Cami, I can see why you two are best friends. She’s a little spitfire, all right,” Maggs said, falling back onto the couch, laughing.

“When she slapped me, I lost it. I couldn’t stop myself. I was so tired of them bothering me, and then she was threatening me to get her grubby hands on my guys. I couldn’t help myself.”

Cami shook her head and gave me an odd look like she knew something I didn’t. “Your guys, huh?”

“You know what I mean,” I snapped, not liking that she was focusing on that point.

Cami flopped against the couch, looking way too pleased with herself. “The guys are going to love this when they find out. Lord, the Halloween party is going to be so much better because of this.”

I frowned, not understanding.

“Lala, I love you to bits, but how you manage through life I’ll never understand,” Cami teased. “You just told the whole school you’re dating them—all of them.”

Cami let that information hang in the air waiting for it to hit home for me. I groaned, letting the ice pack fall into my lap. “No one could really believe that could they?”

“Guess we’re going to find out.”

“So, are we still going to kickboxing?” Maggs asked, her eyes shining with humor. “Looks like you might need to hone your skills if you want to beat off all the unwanted girls from your guys.”

I rolled my eyes but laughed with them at the image that played in my head. “Maybe they’ll teach me to punch better, so next time my hand doesn’t hurt so badly after.”

TWENTY-TWO

LAILAH

The rest of the week passed without further incident, and the rumors I was afraid would be spreading didn’t get much traction. Seems that no one believed I could date more than one guy at a time, so they dismissed it. The other reason might have been that the guys were busy all week, and I wasn’t seen with them at all. Cami, Maggs, and I enjoyed the week doing fun girl stuff and taking self-defense classes as a joke. Cami kept telling me that I couldn’t let someone get the drop on me like Mallory did. I had to be honest, the classes did make me feel better about protecting myself.

The day of the party had finally arrived, and I spent the whole morning decorating the large hall where the school held events. Now that I was covered in paint and sweat, and all the final touches were set up, I was heading back to the dorm to get ready for the fun to start. As I walked down the hall, I saw everyone running in and out of each other’s rooms, giggling, chatting, and in various states of undress. Clothes and other items were getting tossed from one room to another as girls hollered from somewhere in their rooms. Dodging the chaos, I made it to the bathroom and managed to find an open shower to rinse off in.

I grabbed my stuff and headed down to Cami’s room, where we had agreed to get ready. I had never been very big into Halloween since I didn’t really have friends to do stuff with. I went with my little brother when he was younger, but that stopped four years ago. Cami flung her door open and pulled me inside the moment I knocked on her door.

“Let’s see it. No more holding out on us,” Cami said, her hands on her hips.

Cami and I had argued all week about what costume I was going to wear. I promised her I had something I could make work for the occasion.

“Um, I’m wearing it,” I said, looking down at my clothes.

“Nope, no, hell no, there is no way that is going to fly. Maggs, I told you we couldn’t trust her.”

Maggs walked up, looking like the picture-perfect replica of a red-haired vintage barbie doll. Cami, on the other hand, was dressed like tomb raider, and I expected nothing less from her. Compared to them, my shirt that said This is my costume. was sadly lacking.

“This is what I have, so you’re going to have to deal with it,” I said, shrugging my shoulders.

“You really didn’t think I would let you pick your own costume, did you? I got one for you weeks ago when I figured out that you were going to be terrible at this,” Cami said, giving me a sly smile as she walked over to the couch where a dress bag was laying.

She unzipped it and revealed a dress that was a pale yellow and seemed to shine in the light. I walked over and touched the fabric, surprised to feel that it was a soft velvet. It looked like a replica of a medieval-style dress. It was simple in shape and didn’t have a crazy amount of detail on it, and I was in love.

“Well? Are you going to put it on, or do I have to strip you myself?” Cami asked, grinning at me.

“Fine, you win,” I said, tugging off my shirt and slipping the dress over my head.

I shimmied out of my jeans and let the dress fall around my legs. It fit snuggly to my chest and waist, but then it fell away loose and flowing. The sleeves were long and angled, so they almost brushed the floor. Cami walked over with a long string of pearls, wrapped it around my waist a few times, and let the rest drape down the front of the dress.

“How did you find something like this?” I said, twirling and looking at myself in Cami’s full-length mirror.

“Surprisingly, no one here at school likes historically-based costumes, so it wasn’t too difficult. It’s not slutty enough for most of the girls,” Maggs said as she sat me down and started doing something with my hair while Cami started to attack me with makeup.

“What’s with all the effort, it’s just a school party,” I said. They were making me feel nervous.

“You want the first time you see all the guys since you claimed them for your harem lookin’ like a bum?” Cami said.

“Seriously, Cami. I did not do that. How many times do we have to go over this? I don’t even know if they all like me that way,” I grumbled.

“As many times as it takes for you to get it through your head, that’s what you did. Also, you’re an idiot if you think they don’t want you in that way. Lord, anyone with eyes can see the way they watch you.”

“You make it sound so simple. We’ve never talked about crap like this. I wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t talk to me at all tonight.”

Cami laughed and booped me on the nose. “Lala, just you wait and see. They haven't been around you all week, so they will be running to your side the moment they see you.”

I sat silently as they finished working on me. Once they were done, I got to look at myself. What I saw wasn’t the same Lailah Mackenzie who showed up to school three months ago. This version of myself was much happier and sure of herself. I grinned at the woman in the mirror and turned to hug Cami and Maggs.

“Thanks, guys. This is amazing!”

“Any time, girlie,” Maggs said, hugging me back.

“Come on, we're already late, as usual,” Cami said, hugging me back, then took Maggs’s hand as we headed out of the room.

As we walked over to the hall where the dance was taking place, it was fun to see everyone in their costumes. Some people got really creative, and others were so generic it made me shake my head. With the doors open to the cool night, the music could be heard before we even got close. The entrance was mobbed with people taking pictures with each other in the dying light. We managed to shove our way into the hall. People were already on the dance floor, grinding on one another. Most of the others were wandering around the border where we had the photo stations set up and props that went with each theme.

“Lailah, this looks amazing, you guys did a wonderful job!” Maggs said, giving me a side hug. “You’ll have to help me with the next party we throw at my house.”

“I’d love that,” I said, nearly yelling over the noise.

“Oh, look, witch’s brew. I gotta try that. Wonder if anyone’s spiked it yet,” Cami hollered as she dragged both of us after her.

It was cool to see the dry ice giving off the smoky effect that we’d hoped it would. The large cauldron was filled with green juice with gummy eyeballs floating around for added drama. I helped myself to some, and the moment it hit my tongue, I knew it had been spiked with something strong.

“Hell yeah, this is going to be a great night!” Cami whooped as she chugged and refilled her cup.

“If you get shwasted tonight, I’m not babysitting you as you puke your guts out,” Maggs warned Cami.

I smiled, the more time I spent with them, the more I knew that she was a perfect fit for Cami’s wild side. Cami pouted at her but nodded her understanding. Something caught her eye, and she grinned, elbowing me. “Looks like one of them found you.”

I turned in the direction she was looking, and my jaw hit the floor. Hudson was making his way over to us, and I prayed that it would take him a minute so I could stare at him longer. He had on tight-fitting black pants with a long elegant jacket that fit him so snuggly I was afraid it would rip. It had blue waves embroidered on the edge of the cuffs and halfway up the sleeve. The embroidery was along the bottom of the jacket as well. The deep-blue shirt under the jacket set the whole thing off. I had to check to make sure I wasn’t drooling before he reached me.

“Lailah, you look amazing,” he said, leaning close to my ear so I could hear him.

I felt his hand brush against my hip as he pulled back to look me in the eye. I placed a hand on his chest to balance as I leaned into him and found his shirt was silky against my touch. “You look quite dashing yourself.”

We grinned at each other while I kept my hand on his chest, not willing to give up his closeness after a week without it. Another hand brushed down my back, drawing my attention, and I found Parker standing behind me. I had been so focused on Hudson that I hadn’t noticed him. Parker was dressed as a pirate with a billowing purple shirt that was only buttoned halfway up. I grinned at him and wrapped my arms around his waist, hugging him tightly.

“Hey, Trouble, you miss me?” he asked, chuckling into my hair as he hugged me back.

“I guess you could say that. It’s been a rather boring week without you guys,” I said, returning his grin.

“That’s not what I heard. Did you really deck Mallory?” he asked.

“Hell yeah I did, that bitch slapped me.”

Parker laughed and hugged me tightly to him again before letting me go.

“Do I get a hug?” Brayden asked, sidling up beside me wrapping his arm around my hips, tugging me from Parker.

“Since you asked,” I said, allowing him to pull me into his arms.

He held me tight and placed a gentle kiss on my head before letting me go. Finally getting to take in his costume, he looked like the Count of Monte Cristo. His Victorian jacket had an intricately woven tree embroidered on the back in greens and browns.

“You guys look so dashing,” I said, not sure who to stare at first.

Then I caught sight of Micah and Jay walking over to our group. I gulped at the sight of the black T-shirt poured onto Jay’s chest. I could see the outline of all the muscles I knew were under there. He paired it with a pair of black and white military camo pants and black boots. He looked more ready to kill than to party, but I was just glad he was here. Micah had on a bright-red shirt covered with a leather jacket that had flames crawling up it. He looked like the leader of some motorcycle gang, and it was totally working for me.

“Looks like the gang’s all here,” Cami yelled at me. “We’re going to do our own thing since it seems like you’re going to be busy.” With a wink, she was gone, leaving me with the best eye candy our school had to offer.

I wasn’t sure if it was the fact that we had spent time away, but feeling them close to me seemed to settle me in a way I didn’t know I was missing. They had become such a huge part of my life in such a short time. It scared me as much as I loved it.

“So, are we going to stand here all night staring at each other or what?” Parker said, making everyone glare at him. “What? This is a party, right? Let's party!”

Without warning, Hudson surprised me by grabbing my wrist and pulling me onto the dance floor with the ever-growing mass of bodies. He shoved his way through the crowd, causing people to swear at him until they saw who it was, and then they moved out of his way with apologies. Once we got to a spot that seemed to work for him, he let go of my hand and started to sway to the music. I was nervous, since I’d only ever danced once before, and I’d been drunk at the time. Hudson, much to my amazement, was very comfortable on the dance floor. They always said that it was the quiet ones you needed to watch out for. A new song started that moved a little faster than the last one, and I was caught off guard when he stepped into my space, causing me to step back.

“Trust me,” he said as he gently put his hands on my hips and guided me in how he wanted me to move. Once I figured out what he was trying to get from me, I relaxed to the rhythm of the song. I was so caught up that I didn’t realize that Parker had come up behind me and was following along with our movements.

This reminded me of the dream I’d had some weeks ago, but that was Brayden and Parker on the dance floor, not Hudson. I was about to bolt from the dance floor, when the song changed to something slower. Hudson backed off, and Parker wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close. Of all the guys, I was strangely comfortable with Parker manhandling me. This, however, sent my libido into overdrive. I was covered from head to toe, but I still felt like this dress didn’t give me much coverage.

“You’ve gotten better at this, Trouble,” Parker whispered along my neck.

I shivered at his touch and fought against everything in me to turn in his arms. I wasn’t willing to make a move on any of them until we had talked about things between us. If they knew about Mallory, then they knew about what I’d said. I couldn’t let something as big as this be a misunderstanding. I allowed myself to relax in his hold and let him guide my body how he wished. I closed my eyes, enjoying the contact when someone was shoved into me. My eyes flew open as I felt a bone-chilling cold fill my body. I was suddenly scared, my heart racing as I looked around to see who had run into us. With everyone in costume, I couldn’t tell who anyone was at a glance. I pulled out of Parker’s arms and looked around.

“What’s wrong?” Parker asked, grabbing my arm to stop me from running off.

“Nothing, I just need some air, there are too many people,” I said, needing to get out of the crowd.

I don’t know who or what I’d come into contact with, but I knew I didn’t want it to happen again. This many people packed into a small space was just too unnerving for me right now. Parker took my hand and led me off the dance floor to an area where we had set up tables. I pulled on his arm and shook my head, pointing to the door, so we could head outside. I needed to hear myself think, and the music was way too loud. Smiling, he changed his direction and led us outside where I took a deep calming breath.

“Hey, everything okay?” Brayden asked, jogging up to us.

“Yeah, I just got overwhelmed with so many people,” I said, sitting on a bench off to the side.

A short while later, Hudson joined us with drinks for everyone. Thankfully, it was just water, and none of that spiked punch. “You looked like you needed some hydration.”

I smiled at him. “Thanks for looking out.”

Gulping down the water helped to even out my adrenaline. Something about that cold feeling had me remembering that awful nightmare I had earlier that week. I shivered, thinking of that darkness that made me want to give up in defeat. Turning to set the empty cup down beside me, I jumped as I noticed that Jay was sitting there, watching me with his dark, unreadable eyes.

“You really need to stop trying to give me a heart attack, Jay,” I said, glowering at him.

Jay smirked at me. “You just need to get better at reading your surroundings.”

“Leave it to you to turn this into a training session.”

“Speaking of which, did you keep up with your running?”

I shook my head but grinned knowingly. “I decided to try something else. Cami and I did a bunch of kickboxing and self-defense classes.”

“Good.” He nodded. “Building your strength is smart since you have good stamina.”

“I’m glad you approve. We’ll have to test out my skills one of these days. I seem to remember you telling me you know quite a few fighting styles,” I said, smiling at him.

Jay returned my smile with his own version. “That could be interesting.”

I looked up to see all the guys were milling about, watching over me while I pulled myself together. “You guys don’t need to wait on me. Go, have fun, enjoy the party.”

“Nah, I’m good hanging out with you,” Parker said, plopping down on my other side. “Besides, I heard somewhere around school that no females were allowed to hang around us, or they would get punched by a certain someone.”

I blushed and ducked my head, so I didn’t have to look at them. “Yeah, sorry about that. It came out in the heat of the moment.”

“I should be thanking you. Ever since that happened, the vultures stopped circling,” Micah said.

My head shot up, hearing Micah’s response. I wanted to gape at him but didn’t want to let on how surprised I was in case he was just pulling my leg.

“Man, I can’t believe you really did it. I saw her the next day, and her jaw was all swollen and black-and-blue,” Hudson said, rubbing his own jaw.

“Growing up with brothers was useful for something. I may never have wanted to fight with anyone, but my older brother made sure I knew how to throw a decent jab,” I said, rubbing my knuckles, remembering how sore they’d been for a few days.

“Smart brother,” Jay said.

“About the rumors, though, I said them because I was mad, and it came out before I realized what I was saying. I hope you guys don’t hate me for making it harder to find a date or whatever.” I stopped myself, realizing that I was rambling because I was nervous.

“Why would we hate you for that?” Brayden asked.

I looked over at him as he stepped closer to me, then sat on his heels, so we were eye to eye. His beautiful hazel eyes shone with something I was scared to name, but looked a lot like desire.

“Well, I just became the biggest cockblock to the five of you. I can’t imagine that was a helpful thing to do as a friend.”

“Hmm, I can see that you might view it that way,” Brayden said, bobbing his head and then turning his gaze to me, locking me in place. “What if we were all yours and not interested in anyone else?”

I laughed at his outlandish suggestion. “How could that ever be a real thing? I mean, for starters, I’m fairly positive that Micah doesn’t like me as a person, let alone as a love interest.”

“How the fuck did you come to that conclusion?” Micah barked, pulling my attention from Brayden.

“Um, case in point. I don’t know if you’ve ever been nice to me since our unfortunate meeting at the library,” I pointed out.

Micah stepped over to me and glowered down at me. “What do you call me taking a bath in soda to keep you from getting hit with it? Let’s not even add the fact that I’m always watching your back when you’re studying in the library alone at night. You saying that doesn’t make us friends?”

I sat blinking at him, unable to answer, stunned by his words.

“Why do I even bother?” he said, throwing up his hands and stomping off.

Watching him walk away, I still had no idea what was going on. I leaned in closer to Brayden and whispered, “Am I dreaming right now?”

Brayden leaned in and kissed my cheek, letting it linger longer than normal. “I don’t think so, unless we’re having the same dream.”

Brayden’s eyes glowed with humor and heat, and he did not move back from my personal space. I slowly leaned back so I could think again, which I wasn’t able to do when I was so close to him. Clearing my throat, I stood up, careful not to knock Brayden over.

“I need to use the ladies’ room. I’ll be right back,” I said before I turned and bolted, needing some space from a situation I never thought I would be in.

Once in the bathroom, I splashed cold water on my face trying to calm the fuck down. I blotted my face gently with a paper towel, trying not to wash off all my makeup. I heard someone enter the bathroom, but didn’t really bother to see who it was. Still bent over the sink, I didn’t see the attack coming, but I felt it as my head was smashed into the porcelain sink. Then I blacked out.

I groaned as I sat up, my head pounding like I was kicked by a horse. I opened my eyes slowly and found that I wasn’t in the bathroom but an open field in the middle of nowhere. Or that was my guess, since I couldn’t see anything to give me a clue to where I was. The night sky was clear, and the moon was full, so the field was cast in a cold glow, making the whole scene look eerie.

“Little lamb, little lamb, I found you . . .”

The raspy voice grated on my nerves, sending me into a panic. How could the creature from my nightmare be here? I dreamt that whole thing, there’s no way it could be real.

Out of the shadows, a person materialized a few feet in front of me. It was Mallory, but she was ashen, and her eyes were dead, unseeing orbs in her head. Her body was limp and seemed to move like a puppet on strings. I scrambled to my feet as the feeling of pure terror coursed through my body, and I froze at the vision before me. Black smoke seemed to pour out of her mouth, and when it was done, the body fell limply to the ground. The black smoke seemed to solidify into the shape of a creature that would only be in someone’s nightmares.

It was tall and skeletal, the remaining flesh on it was black and charred, falling from him like ash. The face, if you could call it that, had no eyes, just a gaping mouth with rows of teeth. Even without eyes, it seemed to know right where I was, so it could see in some fashion. Its arms reached all the way down to its knees with long, sharply-pointed fingers. It reached out to me, its claws falling short by a mere inch.

“You won’t get away from me this time, little lamb. I will have you and bring you to my master. He will be most pleased with me.” It stepped forward in a strange, disjointed way, like it didn’t really know how to use its legs.

“Why does your master want me?” I stammered, trying desperately to understand what was going on.

It cocked its head at me as if it didn’t understand the question. “The little lamb doesn’t know?” It laughed, the sound as grating as rocks crashing to the ground. “The angels’ weapon is clueless to its power. I am truly lucky to have been given this task.”

“You’re right, I have no idea what the hell you’re talking about. You must have me mistaken for someone else,” I said, clinging to that hope.

“No, little lamb, you may not know what you are, but I do.” It raised its hand again and let a claw-like finger scrape down my cheek hard enough that I felt it begin to bleed. “Your power is close, but you have not owned it yet. Pity we will never see what you will become. I imagine the heaven’s light would have shone brightly from you, little lamb, or should I say, little Synergy.”

If I hadn’t already been frozen where I stood, that one word would have done it. Synergy, the sixth element, according to Aydin Ryevick, that was to be the most powerful element of them all. Why would this creature be bringing that up now?

“I have delayed enough, now I must end you and bring your lifeless body to my master,” the creature said, pulling his hand back and straightening two fingers, readying to slit my throat.

My terror bubbled up in my throat strangling any cry for help. I railed against my fear and the power that was holding me frozen in place. I cried out with everything I had, desperate to live and save myself. Hot tears streamed down my face, stinging in the cut on my cheek. Finally, my voice returned, and I screamed loud and long, hoping anyone would be able to hear me and come to my rescue. With that cry, I felt something deep inside me crack and burst, filling my body with explosive power.

My back bowed at the force of my power. It shot out of my hands and my mouth, seeking escape where it could, trying to free my body from its dark hold. With that surge of power, my body was freed, and I fell to my knees, gasping for breath. My throat burned as if I had just swallowed an ember. I blinked a few times, trying to clear my eyes from the golden haze that clouded them.

“It seems that the little Elementi had found her spark,” the creature said, its voice no longer as sure as it once was. It had taken a step back from me and shrank away from the golden light I was surrounded by.

My power-filled body flowed with the knowledge that this was a demon, and he was the enemy. I had no idea where the knowledge came from, but I didn’t argue with it. Unfortunately, I didn’t know what to do about it. Before I could come up with any sort of plan or idea, the demon attacked, lashing out at me with its talons. Still on my knees, I rolled out of the way and surged to my feet, keeping the demon in my eyesight. I sorted through the things I learned at the self-defense classes, but nothing was going to help me in this scenario. It wasn’t trying to hold me and take me somewhere, no, this attacker was trying to kill me.

“Lailah, duck!” Hudson’s voice called out of the darkness.

Without hesitating, I dropped to the ground. Gunshots went off, and the demon staggered back with two glowing blue bullet holes in its chest. It was followed up by an arrow to the middle of its head, knocking it to the ground. Parker charged up to the demon with a glowing purple staff that had a blade attached to the end of it. The demon was trying to stand, but in one fluid move, Parker severed its head. The force of the hit sent the head flying off into the field and out of sight. Micah strode forward, glowing from some internal light that made it seem like he was an ember in the dark of night. Fire shot out of his hands, engulfing the demon’s body in flames until it was reduced to ashes.

Slowly, I made it up on my knees, but I knew I wasn’t ready to try and stand. Jay, holding a glowing white bow, walked over to me and crouched, looking me over. “Are you okay?”

I tried to nod my head yes but the power that had receded with their arrival burst forth again, drowning me until all I could see was golden light. I was drifting, lost in the swirling golden light of a power that I knew was held in my body. It had been dormant, waiting for the right time to be released. No, that wasn’t right. It was waiting for the right people, who I was meant to find, to show up, and now they were here with me.

“Lailah Mackenzie, chosen bearer of the element Synergy, you have been awakened at last,” a soft lilting voice said.

Slowly, my eyes cleared only to be blinded by a bright white light as if I was staring into the sun. I raised a hand to shield my face from the rays. I could make out an outline of a figure dressed in white with large wings flared out on either side.

“Am I dead?”

“No, sweet child, you are very much alive for the first time. The promise has been fulfilled in you, Lailah. We angels chose you to be the light in a dark world. With your help, the Elementi will be able to free the world of the Dark Master’s influence.”

“Why me?” I asked, dumbfounded.

“You are exactly what each of those boys needs in their lives and the same for you. This group of men was never meant to be a group of five, they always needed a sixth to balance them out. With you beside them, great work can be done, the like of which no other blessed Elementi Warriors have done before.”

“I don’t understand any of this, what is happening to me?” I said, feeling like I was going to lose my mind with all the questions I had.

“Trust in them, child, we picked them just as we have picked you. These men will guide you through this. I must send you back now, I have kept you too long, and they grow fearful for you.” The angel reached out and touched my cheek, the same one the demon had scratched. “The wards must be renewed in order to keep you all safe. I will give you this knowledge so that you may rest easy while you learn. It will not hold them off for long, though, they grow in strength and numbers.”

The angel bent down and placed a kiss on my forehead, sending a spark of energy through me. “Blessing upon you, child, we will see each other again.” With those parting words, the angel thrust me back into my body back in the fields.

“Lailah. Lailah,” someone yelled, shaking me and making me grunt at the abuse.

“Stop, Micah, you’re hurting her,” Brayden said, and the shaking stopped.

I pried an eye open, unsure if I really wanted to wake up just yet. I saw the guys’ worried faces hovering around me. I decided that I was just going to have to suck it up and deal with what was happening around me. I let Micah help me into a sitting position, and then I reached out to Hudson, who pulled me to my feet.

“Fuck, I never want to do that again, it hurts way too much,” I whined, rubbing my temples.

“Yeah, it’s been years since I came into my powers, but I remember what a bitch it was,” Parker said with a grimace.

“We should get you back to the house; the first time your powers show up takes a lot out of you,” Brayden said, resting his hands on my shoulders.

I leaned back into him, welcoming the support. “Unfortunately for me, it’s not quite over yet.”

“What do you mean?” Jay asked.

“We have to fix the wards before the night is over,” I stated.

“How the fuck do you know about that?” Micah demanded.

I smirked at him and the shock on his face. “Had a lovely chat with an angel a moment ago.”

“You’re handling this all surprisingly well. Too well for my liking,” Hudson said, eyeing me.

“A combination of exhaustion and denial is a potent cocktail for dealing with mental breakdowns. Give me a little bit, and I’m sure I’ll be a hysterical puddle on the ground in no time.” I took a deep breath and held out my hands. “Now, let's get this over with while I’m still in a delusional state.”

Brayden took my left hand, Hudson my right, and the others followed suit, so we were one large circle. Closing my eyes, I let the information the angel gave me come to the forefront of my thoughts.

“We, the Elementi, ask for blessing on this sacred ground. With fire we burn back the darkness, with spirit we guard the souls of those we protect, with earth we replenish the purity of our lands, and with water and air we cleanse the evils from areas we hold dominion over.” As I spoke, I could feel the flare of power from the corresponding barrier of the element. “Binding together the powers of the blessed Warriors, I, Synergy, light of the heavens, anoint this land.”

As the words left my mouth, I felt each of the guys’ power shoot into me like arrows into a target. I held tight to their hands as I fell to my knees under the weight of their energy residing in me. I swirled it into a little ball, wrapped neatly in my own power, and thrust it into the ground at my feet. The earth rumbled with our combined power, and the wards began to glow in my mind’s eye, replenished and stronger than they’d ever been. Done with the task that I was given by the angel, my power drained from me, as did the last bit of strength to hold myself up. I was lowered to the ground by the guys, and I sat there relearning how to breathe.

Holy shit. I was Synergy, and the five guys I’d been hanging around were the Elementi. I knew they were real! But that was going to have to wait for another day, I was too tired to even try to process everything. I felt my body being lifted, and I was carried away somewhere, but I wasn’t worried. I was with my guys, and they would look after me and protect me. As the angel said, they were meant for me, but what they didn’t know yet was I was made for them and only them.

TWENTY-THREE

BRAYDEN

Iheld onto Lailah’s arm as she crumpled to the ground after she renewed the wards. I could feel her power draining from her, taking the last of her strength with it. Bending down, I went to scoop her up, but Micah gathered her in his arms before I could. Raising an eyebrow, I looked at him.

“You have clean-up duty. I’ve got her,” Micah said as he cradled her against his chest.

He’d been the only one of us fighting against what having Synergy here now meant, but it seemed that Lailah might have found a way to get under that thick skin of his. I knew Micah was afraid to let himself care, but Lailah was hard to resist.

“We need to get her back to the house; we can’t let her stay in the dorms until we know she can manage her power,” Micah said, walking off toward the car.

Parker stepped up next to me, watching Micah’s back and shaking his head. “Do you think he’s possessed?”

“Why would you ask that?” I asked, frowning at Parker.

“Um, because Micah just had his power manipulated by Synergy. The one true villain who is going to wreck our lives, and now, he’s clutching her to his chest like she might disappear on him.”

I sighed at his words. He wasn’t wrong. “Yeah, but none of us was prepared for it to be Lailah. Who would have guessed the most powerful blessed Elementi Warrior would appear in the body of a girl who gets lost in her own room. Lord, she finds more trouble than any human could manage, and acts like it’s nothing.”

“Until it comes to us. She lost her shit on that one,” Parker said, grinning.

“Speaking of that. How do you think we should tell her what being Synergy entails?” Hudson asked, joining in our conversation.

“Fuck, not me, I don’t need her mad at me now that I know what that looks like,” Parker said, shivering dramatically.

That reminded me about Mallory, and I found Jay crouching next to her, examining the body. We all knew that she was dead the moment the demon used her as a host to get past the weakened wards. It was sad to say that it was no great loss for us that she was gone. I was sad that an innocent bystander in our fight had to lose her life though, even if she’d been a bitter, selfish person.

“Find anything useful?” I called out to Jay.

He shook his head and stepped back from the body. “Nope, clean kill, no markings or demon trace on her. You can do your thing, we won’t learn anything more from her.”

I wasn’t proud of the fact that I’d buried many such bodies deep in the earth, but we couldn’t leave behind any evidence of the demon’s attack. Closing my eyes, I pulled the earth apart under her body and let it fall where no one would find her. Letting the ground close back up without any sign that anything had happened, we all headed after Micah.

My phone started to vibrate in my back pocket, and I pulled it out to see it was Beth calling.

“Hey Beth, we got to her in time. We’re all headed back to the house,” I said, knowing what she was going to ask.

“Thank God, how did we let her get taken from under our noses?” Beth asked, sounding tired.

“The demon possessed another student’s body and must’ve used it to get close to Lailah. With it hiding in human skin, the wards wouldn’t have been activated in their weakened state. Once it was out of the host, we got to her as soon as we could.”

“Did her powers present?”

“You could say that. We just did the ritual to renew the wards. From what I can feel, they are stronger than ever. Beth, I’ve never seen anything like it, she took a thread of each of our powers and bound them together to do it.”

“Are you telling me the ground shaking was her?”

“Yeah, that’s what I’m telling you. Try standing next to her while she’s doing it. That shit’s fucking intense.”

“Brayden, language,” Beth chided. “I didn’t raise you boys to have such foul mouths.”

She never seemed to scold the others when they swore. Just me. Maybe it’s because I didn’t do it very often.

“We’ll be at the house soon. Do you have a room set up for her?”

Beth huffed at me. “Of course I do! There’s been a room ready for her before she even landed in the country.”

“I should’ve known better than to question you,” I said before I hung up and hopped into Jay’s jeep. We took off with Parker following us on his bike.

Once back at the house, we all filed in behind Micah, who was still holding Lailah. Beth met us at the entrance. “Micah, her room is going to be the north one off the common room.”

Beth opened the door for him, flipping on the light so he could make his way to the bed without running into something. As he settled her, Beth drew back the blackout curtains, so the moonlight shone in through the glass French doors.

“I want to make sure if she wakes up in the night, she can see her surroundings,” Beth said, answering our questioning looks. “We should also have someone stay here, so when she does come around, she won’t be freaked out by being in an unfamiliar place.”

“I’ll stay,” I said before any of the others could volunteer. “If she starts freaking out when she wakes up, I have the ability to ground her powers. I’ve done it once before.”

Beth nodded her head. “Sounds like a good plan, but I want to chat with you all a moment. Let's step out into the living room, so we don’t wake her.”

Stepping out of her room brought us to the hub of the house. It was a common area that we called the living room that each of our bedrooms faced. If we weren’t in the library, chances were, we were here. I settled into my favorite battered leather armchair, and the others ended up in their respective spots around the room.

“Things are going to change for Lailah now that her power has manifested. I’m going to need your help making this transition as smooth as possible. If she is as powerful as you say, Brayden, I don’t want her tearing down the house around our ears,” Beth said, perched on the edge of the couch cushion.

“She’s going to have tons of questions when she wakes up; how do you want me to handle that?” I asked.

“Manage what you can, but I would like to have a face-to-face chat with her. I realize that she’s comfortable with all of you, but I need to start building my rapport with her since I’m going to be the one she comes to with her needs.” Beth sighed, rubbing her temple. “Once she finds out that I knew all along, I have a feeling she’s going to be very angry with me. I can’t say I blame her, but I hope she will see the reason.”

“Have Cami here for that conversation. That will help,” Parker pointed out.

“If you’re straight with her and give her facts, she will handle it much better than appealing to her emotions,” Hudson offered.

“Letting her know that no other secrets will be held from her is also going to be something she needs to hear. Her having access to everything and everywhere will prove that to her,” Micah said, surprising me that he realized that about her.

“Getting her back into a routine as fast as possible will give her some stability,” Jay added, drawing everyone's attention.

Beth smiled at us like a proud mom. “My, it seems you’ve really figured her out.”

“It’s not that hard. She’s an open book to those she feels comfortable around,” I said, shrugging my shoulders.

“That brings me to the other thing I wanted to address.” Beth’s demeanor changed, and she shifted from the loving mom into the fierce protector, pinning us all with a pointed stare. “I expect all of you to treat her with the respect she deserves. We always knew that you would need to bond with Synergy, and now seeing it’s a woman, it's not lost on me how that will happen. Not the way you have been attracted to her like moths to a flame. Hear me on this, boys. If any of you disrespects that sacred bond and the gift that it is, heaven help protect you from my wrath. Do I make myself clear?”

We all bobbed our heads in agreement, each of us having experienced Beth’s anger at least once in our lives. It was something none of us wanted to repeat.

“Excellent! I’m going to fill Cami in on what’s been happening while she was enjoying the party and failing to do her job,” Beth said, smiling at us once again.

I did not envy Cami and the hell she was going to pay when Beth was done with her.

“Don’t ream her out too badly; we told her that we would take care of Lailah while she had a little fun. We’re as much at fault as anyone,” Parker said, speaking up for Cami.

“Oh, I’m fully aware you all fucked up tonight, Parker. It would be wise for you not to remind me of it while I’m feeling forgiving,” Beth said as she left the living room.

“Shit, did you hear her drop the f-bomb?” Hudson said, cradling his head in his hands. “We are so fucked; I don’t even want to find out what our punishment will be.”

“Nothing we can do about it now. Might as well make the best of it,” I said, standing and heading to my room.

I wanted to change before I camped out in Lailah’s room for the night. Once out of my Halloween costume and in comfy sweatpants, I quietly entered Lailah’s room, which was lit only by the light of the full moon. Looking at her lying on the bed in her yellow dress made her look like some fairy tale princess. I walked over to her, brushed a few rogue curls out of her face, and let my fingers trail down her cheek. She moved into my touch as if even in her sleep, she knew it was me. Sitting down next to her, I studied her face. I looked at her for the first time as Synergy, the sixth element. Her skin seemed to glow with a faint golden light, her power pulsing just under her skin. I reached out, took her hand in mine, pulled it up to my lips, and kissed the back of it. I let my lips linger longer than I should have, but it was harder to fight her pull now that her power was released.

I set her hand back down and tried to move away, but she clutched my wrist as if her life depended on it. Unable to keep myself from grinning, I let myself be trapped by her. As the minutes passed, I realized she wasn’t going to let go of me, so I did the only thing I could. I stretched out beside her, letting the length of my body rest against hers. Letting out a contented sigh, I watched as she nuzzled into me as though having me here was a normal occurrence. If the others were to find out about this, they would be so pissed, but that was a risk I was gladly willing to take. They were going to need to learn to share her sooner or later because she was ours to treasure and protect for the rest of our lives.

To be continued in Refining Earth

ONE

LAILAH

Aloud crack of thunder pulled me out of the blissful dream I was having. Not wanting to let the dream slip away, I snuggled deeper into my bed and relished in the warmth it was radiating. Oh God, this detergent is heavenly. I don’t remember my laundry smelling this good. Too tired to care, I nuzzled my nose into the fabric to get a better whiff. All of a sudden, the fabric under me moved. My eyes popped open, and I discovered that I was shamelessly smashing my face into someone's chest. Slowly, I lifted my face and looked up to find Brayden’s warm hazel eyes greeting me.

“Good morning,” Brayden said, brushing his hand down my back. “Did you sleep well?” I could feel his words rumbling through his chest, which I was still splayed across.

I lurched away from him so violently that I fell off the bed and onto the floor. In addition to my uncoordinated behavior, my body felt sore, but I couldn’t remember why. Wait! Where am I? Why was I in bed with Brayden? And why can’t I remember what happened last night after the party?

I could feel my face burn with embarrassment as I realized I’d koala-ed him in my sleep. I panicked for a second and wiped the back of my hand across my mouth, making sure that I hadn’t been drooling on him all night. Thankfully, my wild mass of curls shrouded my face, keeping me from having to look at him.

Brayden slid off the bed and crouched in front of me. “Hey. It’s okay, Lailah, you’re safe. We brought you to our place after everything went down last night.”

Momentarily distracted, I took in his handsome face. His soft, dark brown hair was mussed, when it was typically styled perfectly in that Mad Men slick look. Brayden’s eyes were filled with worry as he watched me—it was as if waiting for a reaction of some kind.

Wait—what did he mean by we? I tried to grasp for anything about what happened after I left the guys outside the event hall. Suddenly, the memories came crashing back, and I gasped at the force of it.

“That was real?” I whispered, wrapping my arms around my legs, trying to keep myself from freaking out.

Brayden sat on the floor next to me and pulled me close, putting his arms around me. When he touched me, a wash of calm flooded through me and brought me back from the edge of a panic attack. “Tell me what you remember after you left us to go to the bathroom.”

I paused, sorting through the fragments of the night and trying to put them in order. “Someone smashed my head, knocking me out . . . Oh, God. It was Mallory.”

Brayden nodded, encouraging me to continue.

“When I came to. I-I was in a field, and there was a demon . . .” I stopped as I watched the scene replay in my brain, and the nightmare unfolded before me once again. “She’s dead, isn’t she?”

“Mallory’s been dead for some time. I don’t know when the demon fully took her, but there was nothing we could have done for her last night.”

“The demon wanted to kill me. He kept saying that his master would be so pleased that I was killed. Why would someone want me dead? He said something about not knowing what I would be like with powers.” I looked up and met Brayden’s steady gaze. “He called me Synergy. It’s true, isn’t it? I’m the sixth element.”

Not saying a word, he just nodded his head and took my hand in his. All I could do was take a deep, shaky breath and squeeze his hand like he was my only lifeline.

“We did something special last night, didn’t we?” I asked, vaguely remembering a talking bright light. “Something made me use my powers, but I can’t remember what it was for.”

“You helped us renew the protective wards around the school. You even made them more powerful than before. Now there's no way a demon can try a stunt like that again.”

“I did what? How could I do that? I don’t even know what the hell is going on!” I said as the panic began rising again.

Brayden stood and pulled me to my feet wrapping me in a comforting hug until I stopped shaking. “Why don’t you take a shower and change? I know that helps me when I feel like life gets to much. Then I can show you downstairs and get you some breakfast. I think this is going to be better explained by someone else.”

“But I don’t have anything to change into.”

“Cami brought some stuff for you when we told her what happened. She stayed here last night too.” Brayden still hadn’t let go of my hand and led me to a half-open doorway. He flicked on the light to reveal the bathroom. “Everything you need should be here for you. Beth made sure it was stocked for when you needed it.”

“Beth?” I think I’d heard the guys mention her before…

“She's our resident director, or as Parker likes to call her, the Den Mom. She makes sure we’re looked after while at school. She'll be the best one to explain things to you after breakfast. If you need anything, my room is to the left of yours.”

“Thanks, Brayden. If you hadn't been here, I think I might have lost it,” I said, smiling.

“Anytime.”

He surprised me by kissing my forehead before leaving to get ready.

As I pulled myself together for the day, it gave me a sense of normalcy and kept me from letting the panic close in. It could also be that the bathroom I was using belonged in some million-dollar home, and that never failed to perk a girl up.

Once I was dressed, I pulled my hoodie over my tank top and smiled at the words written on it—Feed me and tell me I’m pretty. The need to feel warm and safe was at the top of my list, but as I walked out of the bedroom, I was unsure of what would happen outside of these walls.

I opened my bedroom door and discovered there was a large open sitting room with a giant TV and an assortment of armchairs and couches. This looked like a place the guys would hang out in a lot. There were large bookcases on either side of the TV that were filled with movies and video games. As I walked closer, I scanned over the movies and was surprised by how many I hadn’t seen.

“I’m thinking you have the right idea, Trouble. We should totally have a movie marathon and do nothing all day,” Parker said from across the room.

I turned and saw him leaning against a doorframe to a bedroom that I could only assume was his own. He had his signature goofy grin aimed right at me, and I couldn’t help but return the smile. I also couldn’t help but notice that his t-shirt was tight across his chest and showed off his linebacker physique. His vibrant red hair was, of course, spiked and wild just like him. A day lounging with him sounded amazing.

“Sounds good to me, but I’m going to need food first,” I said.

“Follow me. I was just about to head down.”

“Is it just you and Brayden that have rooms up here?” I asked.

“Nope. The rest of the guys are here too. Micah is on the other side next to Brayden, then Jay and Hudson.”

“Oh, you're all right here,” I said, surprised. I figured in a house this big they would be spread out.

“Yeah, it’s easier for Miss B to keep track of us if we’re all in the same area,” Parker said with a wink as he led me down the short hall to the main staircase.

“Miss B?”

“It’s the horrible nickname that Parker has given me,” a woman answered as we reached the bottom of the stairs. “Hello, you must be Lailah. I’m Beth.”

Beth was not at all what I pictured when I heard the guys talk about her. Her warm brown eyes welcomed me and were framed by a sleek shoulder-length bob of dark brown hair. She was smartly dressed in a soft lavender button-down, paired with a pencil skirt and heels. Beth gave off a very capable air that gave me no doubt she ran this house well and always kept the boys in line.

“It’s nice to finally meet you,” I said, grasping her hand. She gave me a firm handshake and smiled.

“Don’t trust a thing these boys say. It’s all lies,” Beth said, giving Parker a knowing look.

“What? I didn’t say anything,” Parker said, raising his hands in defense. “Not this time anyway.”

I laughed, enjoying the way Parker was squirming under Beth’s gaze. My stomach growled loudly to let everyone know that I was hungry. I blushed and clutched my stomach as if I could tell it to shut up.

“Come on, let's feed the poor girl,” Beth said, turning and heading further into the house.

She led us to a large dining room that had a massive table with twelve chairs. Jay, Hudson, and Cami were already at the table with food in front of them.

“Take a seat wherever you’d like, Lailah,” Beth instructed.

I slipped into a seat next to Cami, thankful that she was here for all this. As close as I had gotten to the guys, I still needed my best friend. Once I was seated, a lady came out of a side door with two place settings that she set in front of Parker and me. Breakfast was laid out on the table, and without even asking, Jay and Hudson began to pass trays of food in my direction, ignoring Parker.

“Hey!” Parker said as Jay pulled a plate of sausage away from him. “I wasn’t done with that.”

“There would be nothing left after you,” Jay said, sliding it my way.

I couldn’t help but smile at the banter between the guys. It was different to see them in their own environment where they were more relaxed. Even though I really hated breakfast meats, I took one sausage so as not to be rude. Cami, knowing better, slid over the large bowl of fruit, and I took a big scoop. Then I plucked one of the large cinnamon rolls and took a bite.

“You really shouldn’t eat that much sugar in the morning,” Hudson pointed out.

Cami snorted. “I wouldn’t get in the way of Lala and her sugar, especially her sugar cookies. If you ever see any lying around and you value your life, I wouldn’t eat it.”

“I’m not that bad!” I said, gaping at her.

“Supposedly, I’m your best friend, and I’ve only been allowed to eat one of your cookies,” Cami challenged.

“I’ve eaten one,” Jay said, and everyone froze to look at him.

“What!?” Parker said, slamming his fork down on the table. “You let him have some of your cookie?”

With the looks I was getting from Cami and Parker, I wanted to crawl under the table and hide.

“I think an explanation is in order,” Parker said, crossing his arms.

I looked over at Beth to see if she could help me out of this. Shockingly enough, she was reading the newspaper and sipping her coffee like nothing was going on.

“Trouble?” Parker insisted.

I hesitated, but then couldn’t take the pressure anymore. “Jay and I went on a long run, and while taking a break, I found out he’d never eaten a sugar cookie before, and Parker just happened to send some along, and⁠—”

“What the actual fuck. You gave him one of my apology cookies?” Parker shouted.

“Not a whole cookie, just half,” I said, not understanding why he was so upset.

Jay just sat back and watched the whole thing, his eyes shining with humor. It made me linger on him a moment, because typically he never showed that much emotion. His head was freshly buzzed, so his hair was just a faint black hue over his scalp. He was taller than most Asians I had met before, but even though he was lean, he was buff. Guess that comes with the territory of working with a father who owns the largest private military organization in the world.

“Fine, I won’t share my cookies with anyone ever again,” I huffed, rolling my eyes. “Happy?”

“No,” Parker snapped. “I want you to share your cookies equally. If you're going to give Jay some, then you have to be fair with the rest of us.”

“Wait, are you still talking about cookies?” Cami piped up.

My gaze snapped back to Cami with my mouth open in shock at her suggestion. “Cami.”

“What?” she replied.

“If that’s the case, then Cami, you can never have another cookie,” Parker said, laughing so hard he almost fell out of his chair.

“Parker,” I yelled.

“Oh, come on, that was too good to pass up,” he said, smiling.

I just blushed and ducked my head while stuffing my face with the cinnamon roll.

“Well, look who’s up before noon,” Hudson said as Micah joined us and sat next to Jay.

Micah’s thick chestnut hair was in a haphazard messy bun, and he wasn’t wearing a shirt. My eyes lingered on his tan skin and muscular chest, which led me to notice the fact that his sweatpants were low on his hips. His sapphire gaze wandered over the table, taking in the food and people around him with a scowl on his face.

“With you assholes being so loud, how is anyone supposed to sleep?” he muttered.

Hudson put down his book and looked at Micah, running a hand through his honey blond hair. Normally he had product in it to keep it there, but it was nice to see him so relaxed for once. “Studies have proven that sleeping longer on the weekends throws off your whole sleep schedule.” He pushed his glasses up, drawing me to his blue eyes that shone with intelligence.

Micah didn’t answer and poured himself a cup of coffee.

“Seems like I’m late to the party,” Brayden said as he sat on my other side.

“If you want to call it that,” Micah muttered, loading up his plate.

“Well isn’t this nice having everyone here for breakfast,” Beth said, smiling at us. “Lailah, I’m sure you must have lots of questions about what happened last night. If you feel up for it, we can chat about it when you're done eating.”

“Thank you, I do have lots of questions,” I sighed, glad that I wouldn’t have to beg for people to explain.

“Lovely. Cami can show you to my office when you're done,” Beth said, rising from her seat and heading out of the dining room.

“Would you like any of us to come with you?” Brayden asked.

I smiled at him and shook my head. “No, I’ll have Cami with me, but thanks for offering.”

“When you're done with Beth, you better not run off. You said you’d have a movie day with me. I might even be talked into teaching you how to play Call of Duty,” Parker said.

“What’s that?” I frowned.

Parker’s eyes widened in shock. “You’re joking. You have two brothers, and you’ve never heard of Call of Duty?”

“My brothers were never into video games. Our parents told us that if we wanted that stuff in the house, we had to buy it ourselves,” I explained.

“This is something we will have to rectify. I, myself, am not in favor of wasting brainpower on video games, but it does help with hand-eye coordination,” Hudson interjected.

Grinning, I looked at the rest of the guys, and they all seemed to be in favor of teaching me how to play. “Okay, I’ll give it a try.”

Parker whooped as he shot up from his seat, mumbling about having to hook up the second unit for more players as he left the room.

I turned back to Brayden. “Should I be worried?”

“No, I think you just became Parker’s dream girl. No one else likes to play video games with him . . . he gets a little intense.”

“Come on, Lala. The sooner we talk to my sister, the faster we can get this shit show started,” Cami said, nudging my arm grinning at my shocked face. “Told you I had two sisters, guess I forgot to tell you who the second one was.”

TWO

LAILAH

Cami led me to a set of wooden French doors and opened one without knocking. I followed her in and gaped at the stately office. It was warm and inviting, but it had a polish that let you know everything in here was expensive. Beth was working at a contemporary wooden desk with bookshelves and a large tapestry of some crest as the backdrop.

“Come in, please, have a seat,” Beth said, standing and motioning to two love seats framing a low coffee table. “Do you want any coffee or water?”

“I’m fine, thank you,” I said as I took my seat.

“She hates coffee; Lala is more of a tea drinker,” Cami shared.

“Good to know, I will make sure we have tea stocked. Do you have a preference for a particular type?”

“Um, I’m a bit of a chai addict, although I’m fine with most tea,” I answered, feeling awkward that she was being so accommodating, like she thought I was going to be here a lot or something.

Beth just nodded and typed something on her phone before setting it down and crossing her legs to look at me. “Now, I’m not sure where you want to start this conversation, so let's just start with your questions.”

This whole thing had been feeling so surreal that I didn’t really know what I wanted to ask anymore. I took a deep breath and sorted through my thoughts and what happened last night.

“Demons,” I said, looking up at Beth. “One wanted to kill me, and I don’t understand why. I didn’t even know that demons really existed other than in books and religion.”

“Our world has been in a fight behind the scenes for a millennium. Since the fall of man, demons have been hidden in plain sight, doing their best to keep the world in chaos,” Beth said, smoothing her hands down her skirt. “The angels have been doing what they can to balance out the attacks, but they are limited because they are truly unable to interact with the human race. God’s blessing of free will is not to be affected, even if it is for the greater good. So the angels created a handful of blessed warriors gifted with abilities to help them battle the demons.”

Realization slammed into me; Beth was talking about the Elementi. “That story is true?”

“Tell me what you know, and I can fill in the blanks,” Beth said, nodding for me to share.

“Five Knights of the Templar were blessed by an angel with powers to battle evil in the world. When the Knights started to die out, a group separated and became known as the Elementi. They helped those in need, but as time went on, they disappeared from society and became more legend and rumor,” I said.

“That is all correct, but we didn’t fade from the world. We went underground, literally. We have a whole training facility under the school and this house. The Elementi are still active to this day, we just needed to become invisible. The demons got smarter and started hiding in places and positions we couldn’t get to them. We could no longer fight out in the open like the Templar days.

Nowadays, demons place themselves in a spot where they can influence someone of a higher power. A secretary to a military general, wife to a politician, advisor to a king. Without the right place in society, we couldn’t enter the world they were a part of. That’s when the Elementi came up with the idea of this school. Its founder, Aiden Ryevick, was a member of the Elementi and our registrar. Most of his records are kept in the protected records room Mr. Phillips let you have access to,” Beth said.

My head was spinning with the information Beth was sharing with me. “Wait! Is Professor Phillips part of the Elementi?”

“Yes. So is Nona, Professor Whittemore—our sister,” Beth said, glancing at Cami to give me a moment to connect the dots.

I turned so I could look at Cami, and the guilt in her eyes told me everything I needed to know. “You knew this whole time the Elementi were real?” I whispered.

Cami opened her mouth to say something, but Beth cut her off. “I was the one who instructed Cami to keep this information from you. I wanted you to be protected while at school, and since Cami is one of our best warriors, the task fell to her.”

Whipping back around, I narrowed my eyes at Beth. “Are you telling me you knew who and what I was this entire time?”

I felt the betrayal of my best friend like being stabbed in the heart. I’d survived it once before in high school, but I thought Cami was different. She understood what it was like to feel used and different. Knowing that her sister made her keep this from me did not help the situation, since I didn’t trust or know Beth.

“Lailah.” Beth spoke in a calm, steady voice, like you would to a small child. “Please understand, we wanted to ease you into this world. I didn’t want to take away the chance for you to have a normal college experience, if I could help it. I placed you with teachers who could direct you into finding out about the Elementi on your own. We in no way were trying to manipulate you or to harm you.”

“Did the guys know too?” I snapped. I wasn’t sure I could handle that on top of everything else.

“No, I didn’t tell them about you. They figured it out on their own about a week ago. They came to me as upset as I can see you are now. From this point on, there will be no more secrets between us. There are no locked doors to you here, and I will answer any question you can think to ask. The Elementi is founded on truth and honor; we would not have been sent you if we had betrayed the angels,” Beth tried to explain, holding her hands out in surrender.

I took a shaky breath, relieved to know the guys hadn’t lied to me this whole time. Then another thought popped into my head. “Did I actually get into this school on my own merit or was it because you knew I was Synergy?”

Beth stilled, looking down at her hands. “Do you remember the ancestry test we had you send in?”

“Of course—it was such an odd thing to ask for.”

“If you hadn’t been Synergy, you wouldn’t have made it into our school on your ACT score alone,” Beth admitted.

I shot to my feet, fury surging through my body. “So you're telling me that NOTHING about being at this school has been real. All of it has been a manipulation to get me to come here so I can be a part of your cult!”

“Lailah, that’s not true —”

“Name one thing you haven’t twisted for your own needs,” I demanded.

“The boys. I wanted to keep them away from you. I never wanted them to meet you until you understood what you were,” Beth said, slumping back against the couch, letting her perfect shell crack a little. “I should’ve known better than to keep them from you or to lie to you all. You are made for them; there’s no way they wouldn’t be drawn to you.”

“Explain,” I bit out, my hands shaking at my side in frustration.

“When the angels blessed the original five warriors, they were told if they stayed true to their task, they would be gifted with the sixth element. This element was to be the turning of the tide, the weapon they needed to win against the Dark Lord.”

“What does that have to do with the guys?”

Beth stood as well and began pacing around the room, trying to ease the tension that was thick around us. “You are the sixth element, Lailah. No one was ever told what Synergy would be, but Aiden, our school’s founder, said he had a vision showing him it would be a human. He went so far as to write down this vision in his journals, one that we could read, but the second journal was sealed away from us until Synergy’s power unlocked it. Even though the council didn’t believe him, we knew better than to ignore the information. That is when we started to test people who seemed to be drawn to the Elementi. None of us imagined you would be born in the States. You are the first American we have ever let enroll in our school, and do you know why?”

“How could I, you're not very good at sharing information,” I grumbled.

“It never happened before. In the hundreds of years our school has been around, no one from the US has ever applied, until you. I knew even before we had you tested who you were. Nothing was going to keep you away from the boys. The six of you were always meant to be together,” Beth said, pausing to stand in front of me and giving me the full weight of her gaze. “Synergy’s power is to combine all the elements to become stronger. To bond and become one unit, with you at the center.”

My anger washed away, but was replaced by terror as I sank back onto the couch. Nothing about my life was what I thought it was. My mind raced trying to process this new revelation. Did this mean the guys were drawn to me because of what I was, not because they really liked me? Could this be why I was so comfortable around them? What does this all mean, now that we all know? Will they reject me now that they understand?

“Lala, breathe. It’s going to be okay,” Cami said, rubbing her hand up and down my back.

I turned to her, feeling my eyes welling up with tears. “Are you drawn to me too because I’m Synergy? Is our friendship real, or was it all an act?”

Cami looked at me like I slapped her. “How could you even ask me that? Of course our friendship is real. I never once pretended with you. It killed me every time you talked about the Elementi and I couldn’t tell you everything. Hell, I even encouraged you to connect with the guys against Beth’s instructions.”

I blinked at that in surprise. Cami ignored her sister's orders to help me get closer to the guys? When I looked over at Beth, I could tell she didn’t know about Cami’s rebellion.

“Thank you. I don’t know if I could handle losing my best friend through all of this,” I said, pulling her into a hug.

“Oh, silly Lala, you can’t get rid of me that easily,” Cami teased, hugging me even tighter.

Feeling my emotions settling down, I took a deep breath and looked at Beth. “What now?”

“We start your training. Now that you have come into your power, we need to make sure that you can control it. Typically, the Five Warriors’ power presents during puberty, which is helpful to hide it happening because your emotions are already more volatile. For this reason, I am going to ask that you move into the house with the others.”

“Um, you want me to what? Why would I move into The Manor? Do you have any idea what that would do to me? I have enough trouble with the other girls just being friends with all the guys. If they find out that I’ve moved in with them, I might just get murdered in my sleep.”

“That wouldn’t happen if you stayed here. We have the best security on campus,” Beth said, unbothered by my concerns.

“Beth, don’t be like that. You know how much trouble the girls have been,” Cami snapped, glaring at her sister. “If we do this, there needs to be a plausible reason for it, and right now there isn’t any.”

Suddenly an idea came to me. “What if I finish the semester out in my normal dorm, and then when we leave for holiday break, we can change things up. Lots of people make changes during that time. This way they don’t need to know I’m living in The Manor; they'll just know I’m not in Ashfall anymore.”

Beth considered this for a moment, tapping her fingers on her chin. Coming to a decision, she pinned me with a look as she leaned forward. “I will allow you to give it a try, but—if anything goes wrong or you lose control, then you're coming back here, no arguments.”

“Deal. I can work with that.”

“I expect you to still attend classes here, on top of your current load,” Beth said, narrowing her eyes at me. “After this semester, we will change your schedule so these special classes take more of a priority.”

“What kind of classes are they?” I asked.

“Elementi history, demon theory, element manipulation, combat, and physical fitness, to start off with.”

“And you want me to add this all to my current class load?” My mouth fell open in disbelief.

Beth stood and grabbed a tablet off her desk, and with a few swipes, looked over something before she answered me. “Hmm, it seems that you changed what I had originally set your schedule up with.”

After I’d been accepted, I’d received a pre-filled class schedule that was far too easy for me to waste my time taking. “They were all easy classes; I knew I could push myself more.”

“As much as I admire that, I did have it arranged so that when you came into your powers we could easily add to your schedule. Now it seems I’ll have to wait till next semester to add them all,” Beth said, making notes on her tablet. “There are a few areas we can’t neglect. I am going to inform Professor Phillips and Nona that you will not need to complete the finals for their classes. I need you to work with them on different subjects right now. Nona needs to work with you on elemental manipulation, and Professor Phillips will catch you up on Elementi history. We also need to add in some physical training to help you deal with your new powers.”

“That makes sense to me. I don’t want to hurt anyone because I don’t know what I’m doing,” I agreed even though dropping my favorite class would suck.

“I’m glad you realize that. When an Elementi Warrior has a meltdown, it can have catastrophic effects. To make sure that doesn’t happen, I want you to keep one of the guys around you as much as possible. They are the only ones who can handle it if your power gets out of control.”

“Can’t I just have Cami with me? I don’t think this will help with my mean girl situation,” I mused before I glanced over at Cami with a questioning look.

“Oh, I’ll be around, but when shit gets real, I’m ducking for cover. The power you have will make me one crispy critter, and I like my pasty-ass skin just like it is.” Cami smirked.

I laughed, relieving some of the fear that was building about me hurting people.

“Do you have any more questions for me?” Beth asked.

“I’m sure I do, but I don’t think I could handle any more information right now. That was a lot to take in,” I answered, rubbing my temples.

“Fair enough. Feel free to ask the boys or Cami if anything else comes to mind. They’ve grown up in this world, so they might not notice doing or saying things that seem weird to you.”

Nodding, I stood and followed Cami out of the office and back upstairs to the common room, where we found the guys throwing cheese puffs and yelling at each other. Cami looked at me and wagged her brows.

“Aren't you a lucky girl to have all that to look forward to for the rest of your life.”

I laughed, drawing the attention of the guys, who changed from yelling at each other to waving us over.

THREE

BRAYDEN

“Trouble, you are truly terrible at this,” Parker said as Lailah cheered after she killed Jay again. The problem was, he was on her team.

She stuck her tongue out at him and turned back to the game. “I can’t help it! I see someone and I just get so excited I forget to check who it is.”

“That doesn’t bode well for us on a mission,” Micah grumbled. “If you fucking shoot me, I will burn all your hair off while you sleep.”

Cami chucked a pillow right in his face. “Shut the fuck up, asshole.”

“God damn it, Cami, look what you made me do,” Micah yelled as he blew himself up walking over the landmine that he just placed.

“Serves you right for being a dick to my Lala.”

I smiled to myself, watching the chaos before me. Little did Lailah know, us all hanging out like this hadn’t happened in years. Typically, we all did our own thing, and if we did hang out, it was just two or three of us—never all five. Cami had grown up around us, and she was the annoying little sister who always wanted to play with us. Now she was going toe to toe with Micah, and I wasn’t sure who was going to win if they really had it out.

My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I looked down to see it was one of my little sisters. I frowned. She never called me. I answered it as I walked into my bedroom, away from all the noise.

“Kayley, what’s wrong?”

“Why would anything be wrong?”

“Kayley.”

“Fine, I need you to come get me, but our parents cannot find out about this.”

I scowled. Kayley was always the wild child, but she’d never called me to bail her out of a problem. “Where are you?”

“Jail . . .”

“What the fuck, Kayley, what happened?”

“Look, I can’t explain it over the phone. I was only given five minutes. I’m only three hours away from you, in Enderton. When you come get me, I’ll explain everything, I promise.”

“Know that if what you tell me isn’t a good enough reason, I will tell our parents,” I threatened.

“Whatever you say, big bro. See you soon.”

I looked down to see she’d hung up on me. “Fuck!” I said, running my hands through my hair.

Things with my family had been strained after my brother died three years ago. Before that, we'd always been a very close-knit unit, always together. Now I was lucky if I saw them all at the holidays, which wasn’t helped by the fact I avoided going home if I could help it. My mother didn’t take Michael's death well; it changed her into a hollow shell of a woman.

A soft knock sounded on my door, and I looked up to see Lailah poking her head in. “Hey, you okay?”

I didn’t even know how to answer that, so I just shrugged my shoulders. Lailah slipped in, shut the door, and walked over to me, her crystal eyes filled with concern.

“I don’t mean to intrude, but I’ve noticed that unlike the rest, you're not one to swear unless you're mad about something.”

I blinked at that, surprised she’d picked up something so subtle about me. “I got a call from my little sister. It seems she has found herself in trouble and wants me to go get her.”

“Oh no, is she okay?” she asked, resting a hand on my arm. “I think I would react the same way if my little brother called me in trouble. Do you need to head out right away?”

“Yeah, she’s about three hours away, so I should get going if I want to get back at a reasonable time.”

“Are you going to bring her back here?”

I shook my head. “No, her boarding school isn’t too far from where she’s at. If it’s not serious, then I’ll just get her back in time for school.”

“Drive safe. Will you text me when you get back?” Lailah asked, her cheeks blushing as she looked down at her hands. “Just so I know you're safe.”

I smiled, loving that she didn’t even question me needing to go. After my brother died because of me, I shied away from having a deep connection with anyone outside the four guys. Even in that, we failed at having any kind of meaningful relationships like most of the Elementi Warriors before us did.

I leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. “Of course. I promise you’ll be the first to know.”

I made good time, since it was a Saturday and there was hardly any traffic. When I pulled up to the police station, I sighed and headed in. What could Kayley have possibly done to end up here?

“Hello, how can I help you?” the officer at the front desk asked.

“My name is Brayden Dolton, I believe my sister, Kayley Dolton, is here.”

The officer typed something into the computer and scanned the screen. “Looks like she was detained for starting a fight and assaulting another female while in a clothing store. Because she’s still a minor and this is her first offense, we’re letting her out on bail in the amount of ten thousand dollars.”

“Wait, you said this was her first offense, why is the bail so high? She isn’t a flight risk, and like you said, she’s a minor,” I challenged, frowning.

The officer just gave me a bored look. “Look, if you don’t want to pay, then I can file this paperwork here and she will have a record. As of right now, we’ve held off putting anything in permanently. The choice is yours. How much is it worth to you not to have this arrest in her file forever?”

“Can I pay with this, or do I need to get cash?” I asked, holding out my card.

“This will do fine,” the officer said, swiping the card without hesitation. “It will take us a few minutes to process her out; there’s a waiting area over there where you can take a seat.”

“Do I need to sign anything?” I asked.

“Your family owns Dolton Plant Sciences, right?” I nodded, seeing where this was going. “Then we thank your family for this donation to our department. It was lovely having your sister stay with us. Did you want the official story to go differently?”

“No, that won’t be necessary, officer. I’m sure my sister was in the best care,” I said, trying to keep from rolling my eyes.

I sent Beth a text letting her know what Kayley was in trouble for and what happened with the cops. She agreed with Kayley about not letting my parents know, since I could handle the situation. Who knew what would cause my mother to spiral, or what drastic measures she would use toward my sister. I found out that she once ran away from home when she was twelve, and when they found her, Mother locked her in her room for weeks to make sure she stayed safe. The thought of my mother possibly losing another child made her react irrationally, so my dad and I worked to get Kayley out of the house and into boarding school.

“What up, big bro? Long time no see,” Kayley said, pulling me from my thoughts.

I looked up to see her in her school uniform, which was torn and wrinkled with a little blood splatter on a sleeve. The little girl I’d seen at Christmas two years ago was long gone. Now stood a young woman of fifteen, with the same stubborn jaw as our father. Clearly, she had taken after him in more ways than one if her temper was anything to go off of.

“Kayley,” I replied as I stood, wanting to give her a hug but knowing she wouldn’t want one. “Come on, let's get you back to school.”

“Yeah, that’s not going to happen.”

“Why is that?”

“Because the girl I beat the shit out of goes to school with me. I’m sure she’s informed the headmistress about what happened, and fighting is grounds for expulsion.”

“Of course. Why did I think you would make this easy?” sighing I rubbed a hand across my forehead before deciding the next step. “Looks like you're going to have to come back with me, and we can ask Beth where we can get you into another school this late in the year. But we’ll at least have to go back and get your things if you don’t want Dad to notice you spending money.”

Kayley punched me in the shoulder and grinned at me. “Whatever. Come on, big bro, this is going to be fun. Some good old sibling bonding time.”

I sighed as we got into my car, trying to remind myself that I was the oldest and it was my job to look after her. “Care to share why you beat up the girl?”

“No.”

“Well, isn’t that a great start to our bonding time,” I huffed, pulling out of the parking lot.

FOUR

LAILAH

The house was quiet as I wandered through the rooms. It seemed that I was up before anyone else. Granted, it was five a.m. on a Sunday morning, but I couldn’t sleep. I kept having nightmares of that demon's face chasing me. This time the guys didn’t come to my rescue, and I was left to fend for myself. The adrenaline rush when I woke up was enough to keep me from falling back asleep. I have to admit, I was glad to be alone as I explored the rest of the house, settling my nerves.

So far, I’d discovered a game room filled with a pool table, foosball, ping-pong, and even a few arcade games. Apparently having one hang out room wasn’t enough for these guys, but I noticed it didn’t look very used. A workout room was next door to the game room, filled with all kinds of weight machines, treadmills, and stationary bikes. I didn’t think it was possible for me to be more impressed with what was going on in this house until I found the pool with an attached hot tub. There was no reason to ever leave this house—it had everything you could possibly want or need. Finally, I found the kitchen, and there were already two people cooking and getting things ready for breakfast.

“Good morning, Miss Lailah, can I get you anything?” the woman who I saw yesterday at breakfast asked. She set her work aside and walked over to me with a soft smile on her face.

“Um, if you could just point me to where I can find the hot tea,” I said, taking in the huge intimidating industrial appliances. It reminded me of what my mother always dreamed she could have one day at the diner.

“Of course. Did you have a particular tea in mind? Ms. Whittemore mentioned you enjoy chai teas, so I made sure to have a selection for you,” the woman said, leading me over to a small three-person table.

She was older, her graying hair wrapped up in a neat bun on the back of her neck. As she smiled, her eyes seemed to disappear under the wrinkles around them. For some reason, it instantly made me like her.

“That would be lovely. I’m sorry, I don’t know your name.”

“Goodness, look at me, forgetting my manners. My age must be catching up to me,” she chuckled. “I’m Sarah, and that handsome-looking man over there cooking is my husband Garrett. We’ve been working in the Aiden House for nearly forty years, along with Garrett’s brother Larry. He takes care of the grounds and maintenance-type things.”

“It’s nice to meet you.” I smiled as she handed me a good-size basket full of thirty different tea packets. As I looked through the selection, Sarah set down a small tray that had a mug of hot water and little containers of sugar and cream.

“Can I get you anything else? Breakfast should be ready soon; we're not used to someone being up this early on the weekends.”

I shook my head, plopping in a teabag. “No, I can wait, I just couldn’t fall back asleep.”

“Can’t say I’m surprised. You’ve had quite an upheaval in your life,” Sarah said, going back to the cutting board.

I watched the tea bloom in my mug, the brown infusion slowly taking over the water, morphing it into something completely different than what it once was. In a matter of minutes, this simple cup of water would be transformed entirely until you couldn’t even recognize it anymore. Was I any different? I thought I knew who I was, but then all of a sudden, along comes this flood of power, and I’m transformed. Now my whole future is changing from what I had planned. I was no longer in charge of my fate. I was a part of a bigger plan, according to Beth, but what about my plans? My dreams and aspirations?

“That must be some fascinating tea.”

I jerked up from my hunched position to find Hudson sitting across from me at the table. I’d been so lost in thought I didn’t even notice him sitting down. He watched me with bright blue eyes that were only enhanced by his black-framed glasses. His blonde hair was tousled, and he even had some scruff on his jaw. I was surprised by how much I liked seeing this rugged side of him.

“Just lost in thought.”

“Would you like to talk about it? I find it helps me process a problem if I verbalize it.”

I smiled. Hudson was ever the practical one. Sarah set down a full coffee cup for Hudson, and I sighed as she patted him on the shoulder before walking away.

“I was thinking about how everything has changed now. All the plans I had for the life I thought I was living are now going to be thrown out the window. There’s a bigger purpose for me, and that is the path I have to follow.” I paused as I took the teabag out and mixed in the milk. “How am I going to explain this to my family? Can I even tell them? Did they have any idea what I am? What the hell am I going to do now?”

Hudson reached out, placing a hand on mine, making me realize how tightly I was holding onto my mug. I’m surprised it didn’t shatter in my grip. These feelings were overwhelming, and I didn’t know what to do with them as they built up inside me.

“You're looking at the big picture. No problem can be solved unless you take it apart piece by piece to make it more manageable.”

“How do I do that? It’s my whole life that’s changed; everything I thought I knew isn’t true anymore.”

“Wrong.”

I looked up at the tone in that one word. Hudson was rational; he didn’t do dramatic, but that one word was filled with such emotion, it took me by surprise. “What?”

“You said everything you thought you knew isn’t true anymore. That, Lailah, is incorrect. You're now the person you were always meant to be. Will it change a few things, sure, but that isn’t the same as everything not being true. Your parents may not know about this, and we will have to come up with a way to explain it to them, but that won’t change their love for you. Sure, they will have questions and be shocked, but who you are at the core, the daughter they raised, hasn’t gone anywhere.”

I sat stunned at the words that were coming out of Hudson’s mouth. Never would I have guessed that he would be the one sitting there telling me in the most rational way possible that I was overreacting.

“As for what you're going to do now, you're going to take it one day at a time. We’re all here to help you through this. The five of us have been where you are now. I remember how volatile my emotions were after I came into my power—it made me feel like I couldn’t control anything. That will change in time. The more you learn, the more your confidence will grow. Never feel like you can’t talk to us about what you're feeling. You're part of the team now; we have your back.”

I felt something wet hit my hands that were folded in front of me, and when I looked down, I realized I was crying. Hudson had literally said exactly what I needed to hear. He stood up and walked over to me, wrapping his arms around me as I hid my face against his stomach. Without saying anything, he just stood there, rubbing my back, letting me feel the emotions that had been building over the past twenty-four hours.

“Can I get a hug too?” Parker asked.

Pulling away from Hudson, I smiled, wiping away the last of my tears, and stood. “Sure.”

Returning my smile with his signature grin, Parker pulled me against his chest, almost squeezing me a little too tight. He placed a kiss on the top of my head and set me back on my feet, pulling me away from him but still not letting me go. “Why the waterworks so early in the morning?”

“Just trying to figure out this new version of my life and what it means for the future.”

“Whoa, that’s a little heavy for first thing in the morning. I would cry too.”

I giggled, wondering if Parker could actually survive a serious emotional discussion.

“Goodness me,” Sarah said, pulling my attention. “This is a sight, seeing you up so early, Parker. Should I be expecting the rest of the boys joining us here in the kitchen?”

“If Lailah stays here, then I would say there’s a strong chance you’ll have us all underfoot soon enough,” Hudson said.

“Off with you then, to the dining room. I’ll bring out what we have ready now, and then everything else when it’s done,” Sarah said, shooing us out of the kitchen.

Parker slung his arm around my shoulders, guiding me out and across the way to the dining room. Hudson pulled out the chair at one end of the table for me, and I sat as he pushed it in. They settled down on either side of me, sipping on their coffee, making me realize I left my tea untouched back in the kitchen.

“Here you are, love,” Sarah said, placing a fresh mug of water and a tea packet at my elbow. Bless that woman.

Soon, the table was full of delicious-smelling food, making my mouth water. Hudson took my plate and filled it with a little of everything. I opened my mouth to tell him I wouldn’t be able to eat that much, but before I could, he cut me off.

“You’ll find that with your new powers, you're going to eat a lot more for the first few months. It’s a side effect of your body adapting to the high rate you will burn calories.”

I took the plate and decided it wasn’t worth arguing about when they were more familiar with the changes that would be happening to me. As we ate in a comfortable silence, I was surprised when a teenage girl came waltzing into the dining room and sat down. The guys both had frowns on their faces but didn’t seem alarmed that she was there.

“Kayley,” Hudson said, pulling her attention from her plate of food. “To what do we owe the honor of your visit?”

“Hey, Hud, Parker.” She smiled, waving her fork at them. “I just needed some bro time, so I called Brayden to come and get me from school for the day.”

Hudson’s frown deepened, and Parker’s eyebrows raised at her words. I had to admit that my curiosity was through the roof. I was about to ask her a question when Brayden made his entrance, pausing when he saw us all staring at him.

“Oh, good morning. I didn’t think anyone would be up so early,” he said, sitting next to his sister.

“So, are you going to introduce me to your girlfriend?” Kayley asked, her keen brown eyes looking over at me.

Brayden sighed as he poured himself some coffee. I wasn’t sure what caught me off guard more—that she assumed I was his girlfriend or that Brayden wasn’t denying it.

“Kayley, meet Lailah. She is a good friend of ours. Lailah, meet Kayley, one of my little sisters.”

“So, she isn’t your girlfriend? You made such a fuss about getting back so late and not knowing if she had stayed up last night waiting that I just assumed.”

“Kayley,” Brayden groaned, hiding his face in his hands, not looking at me.

“This is why I’m glad that I don’t have siblings that bother with my personal life,” Hudson interjected, pulling the attention away from Brayden.

“As a fellow younger sibling, Kayley is only doing her sisterly duty in embarrassing Brayden,” Parker said with a wide grin.

“What the hell is the pint-sized menace doing here?” Micah interrupted.

“Micah,” Kayley said, jumping up from her seat and racing over to hug him.

I sat stunned, watching Micah hug her back with a hint of a smile on his face. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him happy to see anyone before. Though I had to admit, even the ghost of a smile transformed his face into something breathtaking. Micah caught me watching the exchange, and the warmth fell from his features, shuttered behind the cool blank expression he normally had.

“What the fuck did you do this time?” Micah asked, holding her away from him.

“Language,” Brayden snapped.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Young virgin ears present, my bad,” Micah grumbled.

Kayley rolled her eyes and looked back at her brother. “Seriously, it's not like I haven’t heard it all before. Even some of the teachers swear around us. I’m not a little kid anymore.”

“Oh, so ending up in jail has made you an adult now, has it?” Brayden asked, glaring at her.

Micah spun Kayley back to face him as he scowled at her. “What the hell is he going on about? Did you really land yourself in jail? I will spank you myself if you pulled some crazy stunt.”

Now there was the Micah I knew well; the disapproving look she was getting that I had become well accustomed to.

“I was just defending myself. I wasn’t going to let that snobby bitch talk about my family that way.”

“Explain,” Micah bit out.

“This girl at my school found out about Michael and said that the reason I was sent to boarding school so young was to keep Mom from killing me too. That Mom wasn’t stable, and she’s the reason that Michael killed himself.”

Everyone in the room froze at her words. I flicked my gaze over to see Brayden’s reaction. The shame and hurt that washed over his face told me there was more to this story. Kayley started to cry, and Micah pulled her against him and let her cry it out.

“Goodness, what happened here?” Beth asked, walking in with Cami.

“Just a typical day in the Dolton household,” Brayden said as he passed Beth on the way out of the dining room.

I was torn whether to follow after him or to worry about his sister. Hudson touched my elbow and gave me a look that made the choice for me. Pushing my chair back, I hurried after Brayden. I really wasn’t sure where he would run off to when he was upset. My instinct was to try his room.

When I knocked on the door, I didn’t hear a response, so I opened it and peeked inside. Empty. Then I remembered seeing a library on the first level and headed off in hopes he would be there. When I reached the library, one of the wooden sliding doors was partially open, and I could see Brayden hunched over in an armchair. I slipped into the room and closed the door the rest of the way.

Brayden looked up at me with tears shining in his eyes. Seeing him so vulnerable made my heart break as I walked over to him. I wrapped my arms around him, holding him close, his head resting on my chest as he wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me onto his lap. With anyone else, it would feel far too forward, or I’d worry that they would take advantage, but this was Brayden. Not wanting to push him to talk, I just held him and showed him I was there for him. Brayden had been my safe place through all this, and I wanted to be that for him.

“Michael was my older brother,” Brayden said, breaking the silence. “We were eighteen months apart, and we were inseparable. He was the other half of me, but he always struggled with some mental health issues. He was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at the age of ten. His only dream in life was to be the next Earth Elementi. He talked to my uncle incessantly about it.”

Brayden pulled back to tuck me under his chin as he continued. “Michael and my father had many arguments, being so similar, with strong opinions and even stronger tempers. My father knew that the chances of Michael becoming the next Earth Elementi were five to one, so he didn’t want my brother pinning all his hopes on that one thing. He tried to get him interested in the business side of things, but nothing would deter him. When his thirteenth birthday came and passed with no powers, he became despondent and inconsolable.”

“The final straw was when I turned thirteen and inherited the earth element. Michael wanted nothing to do with me after that, telling me that I stole everything from him. We had to have him admitted into a mental health facility because he kept trying to kill himself. He made it another two years before he finally managed to find a way to end his life. He wrote me a note telling me that if he couldn’t be an Elementi Warrior, then he didn’t want to exist in the world, couldn’t watch me have what he longed for. After that, my mother became depressed and started to do odd things trying to keep us safe. It became too hard to be around the house, so Micah and I moved into this house a year early with the other guys and started training as Elementi Warriors. As you can see, that has worked out well for us.”

I waited a few moments before I said anything, just absorbing what he told me. I had never lost anyone in my life—both of my grandparents were even still living. There was no way I could even imagine the pain of losing a sibling and having them blame you for it. Sitting back, I looked him in the eye and saw that a few tears had escaped and trailed down his cheeks. I cupped his face in my hands and wiped away his tears, pulling his head down so I could kiss him on the forehead.

“I am so sorry you have to live with this pain. I can’t even begin to know the burden that you hold on your shoulders. Just know that I am here for you, and I will be by your side, however you need me,” I whispered, leaning my forehead against his.

“Thank you, Lailah.” Brayden sighed, holding me close again. “You have no idea how much it means that you're still here. Most people would run away from a mess like this.”

“Can I assume the rest of the guys know about this?” I asked. “I just don’t want to say anything to people who have no business asking.”

“They know, not all of it, but they know enough. Well, except for Micah, who lived through it all with us. He came to live with us when he was twelve and his parents died,” Brayden said, surprising me once again at the loss they both suffered.

“Now I know, and I’m not going anywhere. You're stuck with me, so get used to it.”

I leaned back so I could see his face, and his lips landed on mine in a gentle kiss. My surprise quickly faded, and I melted against him, threading my fingers through the hair on the back of his neck. With my reciprocation, Brayden deepened the kiss, one hand on my lower back holding me tight while the other swept into my hair. I was lost in his lips and emotions, letting all else fall away from my mind.

“I thought she wasn’t your girlfriend?” a voice I didn’t know asked, and we jerked apart.

Feeling my cheeks burn with my blush, I peeked to see Cami smiling at me with a knowing look and Brayden’s little sister gaping at us.

“Kayley, could you mind your own business just this once?” Brayden sighed as he let me slip off his lap to stand next to him.

“Whatever. Just so long as she doesn’t get any ideas about my Micah,” Kayley said with a sniff.

I blinked at her, totally taken by surprise at her words. Micah was definitely attractive, but once he opened his mouth, everything changed. Apparently, Kayley having grown up with Micah, allowed her to see a different side of him. I might have seen a glimpse of it here or there, too.

“I just wanted to say I’m sorry that I got kicked out of school. I know how hard it was for you to convince Mom to let me go,” Kayley said, dropping her eyes, her shoulders slumping. “Please don’t tell Mom and Dad. I can’t go back to the house. I know you haven’t been home in a long time, but Mom has gotten worse. It’s almost like she is starting to get dementia or something.”

“What do you mean?” Brayden asked as he stood and pulled his sister to sit next to him on the couch.

I made to leave, wanting to give them space, following after Cami when Brayden grabbed my hand.

“Stay, please.” Nodding, I settled in the open spot next to him as he turned back to Kayley. “Is everything okay? Ms. Tabitha is still there caring for David and Hope, right?”

“Yeah, but I think she’s part of the problem. She keeps making Mom drink this weird tea that’s supposed to help with her memory loss. But I think it’s making it worse, not better.”

“Is Charlotte still doing classes at home?”

“Yeah, her school is all online, so she does it in Dad’s office. Charlotte told me Mom is working on some new project, but she won’t tell us anything about it. I don’t understand how she can forget to turn the water off after washing her hands but still do complex physics. It doesn’t make any sense.”

“Mom has always been the brain of the family, you know that. If she is having dementia problems, it's always the short-term stuff that goes first. She has been a scientist for a very long time; it will take longer for that to be affected,” Brayden reasoned. “Has Dad taken her to get checked out by a doctor?”

“That would mean that he’d have to take time off of work to get her to the doctor,” Kayley said, frowning. “No, Ms. Tabitha took her to get some tests done, but they couldn’t find anything wrong with her. They changed her meds, but that’s about it. I’m telling you, Brayden, there is something strange going on. You just have to see it for yourself.”

“Okay, what if I came home for Christmas? It’s not that far off, and I can stay for two weeks with everyone,” Brayden asked.

“Are you bringing Micah?”

“You know he always comes back with me. Who knows, I might even talk Lailah into coming,” Brayden said, grinning at me.

I smiled at the idea. “We’ll see, I’ll have to check with my parents about that.”

“Come on, let’s sit down with Beth and see if we can find a new school for you to finish out the year at.”

FIVE

LAILAH

Spending the weekend with the boys was great, but it made for a rough return to reality on Monday. I looked over at the books and new assignments that Beth had given me to start working on in addition to my current workload.

Of course, this needed to happen while I was gearing up for finals. It’s not like this has been hard enough already, why not add more to the list? A knock sounded on my door, pulling me out of my inner grumblings.

I opened the door to find Cami with two coffee cups, one of which she handed to me as she walked in and flopped on my couch.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Why would you think there’s something wrong?” Cami asked, frowning at me as she gulped down more coffee.

“For starters, you're awake, dressed, and got us both our morning kick-start, and it’s only seven-thirty.”

Cami leaned her head on the back of the couch and groaned. “Don’t remind me what time it is.”

“Out with it. Trust me, after everything I learned this past weekend, I’m pretty sure I can handle whatever you have to tell me,” I said, placing my free hand on my hip and glaring down at her.

“It’s nothing major, Lala, really,” Cami said, waving off my look. “Beth, in all her wisdom and overbearing ways, thought that I should be here in case you had a meltdown.”

“What? Why would I have a meltdown now? If I was going to have one of those, I would have done it already.”

“That’s what I told her, but of course she didn’t believe me. Like seriously, does she not think I know my best friend enough to judge how you’re taking all this in? Which, by the way, you're kicking ass at,” Cami said, grinning.

I smiled back and sat beside her, finally giving in to the piping-hot chai latte she had provided.

“So, if you're going to have a breakdown before your first class, then you have exactly fifteen minutes before you have to leave.” Cami looked down at her imaginary watch and then back at me. “Times a tickin’.”

I shoved Cami with my shoulder, laughing. “Stop. I promise, as of right now, I’m good. If that changes, I’ll let you know. My plan is just to take this all one day at a time. There’s nothing I can do about it, so now I just have to learn this new part of my life.”

“So you're telling me that I did all this for nothing?” Cami said, dramatically collapsing against me. “What will I do with all this extra time in my day that I could have been sleeping?”

“Why not take your girlfriend out for breakfast? I’m sure it will shock the hell out of her, and you didn’t get to see her this weekend because of everything that went down.”

Cami popped up from the couch and grinned at me. “That’s a great idea! Breakfast in bed sounds amazing!”

I rolled my eyes at her as I gathered my stuff for the day. “You're worse than Parker.”

“Gasp! You wound me; how could you say something like that to me?” Cami said, faking being stabbed in the heart. “I have my Maggs, and she is enough for me. I don’t need five people to satisfy my needs, unlike someone I know.” Cami gave me a pointed look.

“I’m leaving now. See you later.” I waved as I walked out the door, not falling for her tricks.

All it took was one kiss with Brayden, and suddenly I was in a relationship with all the boys. Brayden and I hadn’t even talked to each other about that kiss yet. Not letting myself get carried away with my emotions like I had with my ex, I chose to lie to myself and believe it wasn’t a big deal. I jogged my way to class, knowing I was cutting it close.

“Lailah,” Brayden called out.

Had I summoned him just by thinking about him? Can I do that with my new powers? I stopped and turned to see him coming out of the coffee shop on campus.

“I’m glad I caught you before class. I just wanted to see how you were doing?” he asked once he reached me, giving me a soft smile that made my heart melt.

“I’m good, but I have to run. My class starts in five minutes. I’ll text you when it’s over and see if you're free,” I said, returning his smile.

I did not want to have a talk about our kiss before class. If he was going to tell me it was a mistake, then I didn’t want to be a basketcase during a lecture. Better to wait for me to have some time to hide in my bed and ugly cry.

“Okay, sure. I’ll be around,” Brayden said, his smile fading a little at my brush-off.

I stopped, hating to see the doubt in Brayden’s eyes. He had opened up to me and told me about his brother, had shared his pain. Deciding to trust that even though my world changed in the past few days, he hadn’t, and he wasn’t going to use me like my ex did, I walked back up to him and kissed him on the cheek, letting it linger for a moment too long.

“See you after class,” I murmured into his ear and stepped back to see his shocked face and his cheeks blush slightly.

Laughing to myself, I raced off to class, feeling the heat on my own cheeks. Never was I the one to initiate things with a guy, but when it came to Brayden, I had always felt comfortable. I tried to focus on class and what Professor Phillips was saying about our final project… that I didn’t need to do anymore. But instead, all I could think about was the spark in Brayden’s eyes as I walked away.

“Miss Mackenzie, could you please stay a moment,” Professor Phillips called as we filtered out of class.

Nodding, I walked over to him, and he just stood there waiting until everyone left the room.

“I wanted to touch base with you on the changes Ms. Whittemore informed me of,” he said, leaning against his desk.

“My psychology teacher?” I questioned, surprised that he would be interested in my other schoolwork.

“Ah, no, I meant Beth. I forgot that you had Nona as a teacher as well. I know Beth told you that I would be doing all the teaching on Elementi history,” Professor Phillips said, handing me a sheet of paper. “Here is what I would like for you to work on for the remainder of the semester. Also, on the sheet is the code to get into the special records room where these books are. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out or even email if it’s after office hours.”

I was excited to be learning more about this new secret history. I had a weak spot for history in general, but getting to study an underground ancient society was a whole new level of awesome. Even though I didn’t have to do the final, the list of books to read was long.

“Thank you, Professor, I will definitely reach out,” I said, grinning and waving as I left the classroom. I immediately pulled out my cell and texted Brayden.

Lailah:

Done with class. You still free?

Brayden:

Yes. Checking out at the library. Meet you at the quad?

Lailah:

On my way!

Taking my time, I texted Cami to see if she met up with Maggs, or if she was free. When I didn’t get a response by the time I reached the quad, I had my answer. Cami always answered her texts, except in rare moments when she didn’t have her phone with her.

“Hey,” Brayden said, drawing my attention to him as he shoved two books into his messenger bag. “How was class?”

“Nothing too exciting, just going over the project we have to complete for finals. Thankfully, in that class, I won’t be working on anything but the reading list Professor Phillips gave me. Adding on these new studies is going to take over what little brain power I have,” I sighed.

“Take a walk with me and give yourself a break for a few minutes,” Brayden said, holding out a hand to me.

Shrugging my shoulders, I took his hand, and we headed out to the gardens by the reflecting pool. We walked in a comfortable silence, allowing me to just enjoy watching the fall leaves swirl around us and breathing in the crisp fresh air.

Tugging on my hand, Brayden pulled me down beside him on a bench near a small water fountain. “I know I already asked you this, but how are you doing—truthfully?”

“I can’t tell if I’m just in shock about the whole thing, or if I truly am feeling totally fine about all this. Hudson and I had a good talk before breakfast yesterday, and that helped. I was feeling a little lost, like my whole life was a lie. He made a very convincing case that I was being overdramatic.” I chuckled, remembering his scolding.

“If you ever need someone to point out the facts and keep a level head, he’s the one you can always count on,” Brayden nodded with a small smirk. “Beth was worried that since you had a night to think on things back at the dorm, you might run for the hills.”

“Yes, I gathered that when Cami showed up at my door this morning before class. Poor thing was rudely pulled out of bed for nothing.”

“Cami needs to learn how to live like a human, not a vampire.”

“Wait,” I said, grabbing Brayden’s arm. “Are vampires real? What about werewolves and other mythical creatures?”

Brayden smiled and looked like he was holding back laughter. “I hate to crush your hopes, but as far as we know, there are no paranormal creatures besides us.”

“Bummer. I totally would’ve thought Mr. Creed was a vampire, or something equally creepy,” I mused, remembering the strange teacher I’d seen around campus.

Brayden burst out laughing. “Mr. Creed is our demonology specialist; you will be working with him next semester, I imagine. He also teaches religion classes to the normal students.”

“Seriously, I didn’t make such a great first impression on him.”

“Oh?”

“I ran into him and knocked him and all the books and papers he was carrying to the ground. I don’t think I’m his favorite person.”

“Lailah, no one is his favorite person. Actually, I take that back—Micah and he seem to be amiable, bordering on friendly.”

“Of course they are, that seems so fitting,” I said, tossing my hands up in defeat. “Oh, did Kayley end up finding a school to finish out the year with?”

“Yes, thankfully. We’re running out of schools that she hasn’t been kicked out of. So here’s hoping this one will last her longer than the previous school.”

We both laughed and fell into a comfortable silence. I was so relaxed I didn't even realize I was resting my head on his shoulder until he shifted to wrap an arm around me.

“How would you feel about me taking you on a date? A real one this time, off campus. No more coffee dates that others crash.”

I smiled at the memory of our first attempt at a date that Parker and Hudson crashed. Turning, I looked up at him and searched his face a moment before answering.

“I would like that very much.”

Pulling me closer to him, he brought his lips to mine in a soft kiss that made me curl my toes. Wanting more, I reached out and pulled his head closer to deepen the kiss. More than willing, he shifted me so I was straddling him. My arms wrapped around his neck, and I lost myself in our connection. I could feel my new powers humming under my skin, alight with the emotions I was feeling. Brayden’s hands gripped my hips and pulled my body flush with his, and I could feel his body vibrating, trying to contain his power from leaking out.

Finally, I pulled away and looked down at him, his lips swollen and his eyes blazing with elemental power. I could feel my face heating with embarrassment at my wanton actions and dropped my gaze.

“None of that,” Brayden said, tucking two fingers under my chin, lifting my face so I was looking him in the eyes again. “I don’t want you to ever feel like you need to hide from me.”

Brimming with emotions I couldn’t express, I pressed my lips to his again, hoping to show him how much his words meant to me.

“Well, this would explain why neither one of you is answering your texts,” Micah snapped, causing me to jump and pull back from Brayden.

I tried to move out of his lap, but his hands held me firmly in place as I watched Micah approach over my shoulder.

“What’s up?” Brayden asked casually.

SIX

MICAH

Thank God she didn’t run.

When I got the text that she didn’t show up for her psych class with Nona, I feared the worst. Brayden had told me he was going to check in on her to make sure she was really handling things okay. I just didn’t picture that would involve her on his lap and his tongue down her throat. Jealousy roared in me at how easily he could be around her. How he was just letting his power draw her to him without a worry. I had decided long ago I wasn’t going to be attached to someone, especially if I didn’t know if I could be with them forever. Out of everything that we’ve told Lailah, our little gift from the angels, we didn’t go over the most important part.

“We all got a text from Nona when Lailah didn’t show up for class. Apparently, they were supposed to meet about the new elemental classes assigned to her. So when she didn’t show up, Beth freaked and sent us all out to look for her,” I said, letting my irritation sharpen my words.

“I didn’t miss class; it was on the syllabus that today was an optional day. Beth never told me I was meeting with Professor Whittemore,” Lailah said, tugging at Brayden’s arms to let her go.

I could tell from his face he didn’t want her to move, but he gave in when she insisted. Look how everyone is blind to the hold she has on us. I may not have been able to avoid being around her now that we needed to train together, but I wasn’t going to be her lap dog. She had Brayden and Parker for that.

“Yeah, well, Beth is on high alert when it comes to you, so why don’t you make it easier on all of us and just stick to the normal routine. I don’t have time in my day to keep hunting you down when you decide to get frisky.”

Lailah stomped up to me, her crystal eyes alight with anger. For reasons I couldn’t explain, I loved to see the fire in her, so I pushed her buttons just so I could see it. My need to push people away by pissing them off seemed to have the opposite effect on Lailah, drawing her to me even more.

“Fuck you, Micah. It’s not your life that just imploded two days ago, so shut the hell up. Brayden was kind enough to check on me and give me the chance to feel like my world isn’t crumbling around me. He’s supposedly your best friend, so maybe you should get your head out of your ass and see he’s taking the time to look out for someone besides you. Stop getting jealous over it and leave. You found me, so just back off,” Lailah snapped, her chest heaving with the exertion of her tantrum.

“You think I’m jealous because he’s spending time with you?” I asked, scrunching up my face at her accusation. “I’m not a twelve-year-old girl. Brayden is allowed to do whatever the hell he wants. What I have a problem with is the fact that you can’t seem to stay out of trouble, and we keep having to bail you out.”

“Forgive me for not knowing that I was being targeted by demons because I’m a Blessed Warrior from the heavens. I didn’t get a training manual like some people, or grow up around people who knew what was really going on in the world,” she huffed as hurt flashed across her face before her anger covered it. “From now on, I will try to be less of an inconvenience for you, so that I don’t disturb your life further.”

My anger at her words flared. I balled my hands into fists, trying to keep from letting my power take over at my volatile emotions.

She didn’t understand how I was feeling at all.

I needed to walk away, or I was going to do or say something that I was going to regret. Spinning on my heel, I stormed away, ignoring Brayden calling after me. I pulled out my cell to text everyone that she was fine and with Brayden so they could call off the search.

SEVEN

LAILAH

Watching Micah storm away hurt me more than the words he’d hurled at me. I knew that Micah and I had a very tenuous friendship, if you could even call it that, but I didn’t mean to lash out at him like that. For some reason, every time we were around each other, he seemed to always be picking a fight with me. Something about him brought out my need to fight and prove myself.

I started to follow after him, but Brayden grabbed my hand and pulled me into a hug. “Let him be. When he gets like this, no one can talk sense into him. Once he cools off, he’ll realize he was being an asshole.”

“If you say so. You know him better than anyone,” I said, taking in a deep, calming breath of his fresh, earthy scent.

“You also have to keep in mind that you’ll be much more emotional for a little while as you adjust to your powers. One reason it goes unnoticed for us is because it typically hits around puberty.”

“So, you're telling me that for the foreseeable future, I’ll be PMSing?” I asked, leaning back so I could see his face.

“Ah . . .” Brayden said, shifting uncomfortably, not wanting to look me in the eye.

I laughed, seeing how the mere mention of a woman’s cycle made him cringe. “Seriously, you have sisters, and you’re freaking out about this?” I teased.

“My mom dealt with all that, I just stayed out of the way. You’re the first female to have an elemental power, so I really have no idea how it’s going to affect you, honestly.”

“Fair enough,” I said, blowing out a breath and feeling calmer. “We should probably head back—wouldn’t want to miss my next class or Beth might send out the search party again.”

The rest of the day went smoothly. I even had another quiz in Organic Chemistry, and thanks to Hudson, I felt much more confident in my answers. I swung by the cafe and grabbed a chai before heading to the dorm to get some homework done. Sometime later, my phone chirped, letting me know I got a text. After what happened this morning, I figured it was best to leave the sound on just in case.

Beth:

Can you come to the house tonight? I have a few more things I would like to discuss with you.

Lailah:

Sure, when did you want me to come over?

Beth:

Are you free now? I don’t want to keep you too late.

Lailah:

Okay, I’m on my way.

Beth:

Lovely. You can join us for dinner if you'd like.

My mouth watered at the thought of Sarah and Garrett’s cooking. It’d only been a weekend, but I was already spoiled, and nothing from the cafeteria could live up to their cooking.

Lailah:

Sounds awesome. Be there soon.

Stretching from sitting for so long, I grabbed my jacket and headed down. Not having been running for the past few days, I decided on taking the stairs so that I could get my blood pumping a little. Bursting out of the stairwell, I spotted a group of girls crowded around the front entry looking out at something. Peeking over the shoulder of one of the girls, I saw what caught their attention.

Now I understood the gawking. Jay was leaning against his Jeep, arms crossed over his chest, showing off his muscles. I’m sure he had no idea what a stir he was causing, but I took a moment to appreciate him. I can’t say I’d ever been that drawn to an Asian guy before, but there was something in the mystery of Jay that did it for me. I pushed my way through the crowd and exited the door. I could feel Jay’s eyes on me the moment I stepped outside, even if I couldn’t see past the lenses of his aviators. Jay couldn’t help the soldier vibe he gave off; it was truly in his blood. His hair was freshly buzzed, and as always, he was clean-shaven. This was the first time I’d seen him in black fatigues—he must have come right from working with his dad.

“Hey, what are you doing here?” I asked, knowing the answer but fighting back my grin.

Pushing away from the car, he opened the door for me. “Beth.”

“Figures. She probably thinks I’m going to get lost on my way over to the Manor,” I said, grabbing the handle to help pull myself up into his car.

“That’s because you would.”

I paused at his words and giggled as he jumped into the driver's seat. “Did you just make a joke at my expense?”

“It’s not a joke when it’s true.”

This caused me to burst out laughing, and Jay just gave me a raised eyebrow. “The fact that you guys know me well enough to send an escort is killing me. My own family still forgets this flaw of mine anytime we go somewhere new. I could regale you with so many stories of family vacations where I got lost and they spent half the day trying to find me. I think the only reason I got a cell phone so young is so they could just call me to find out where I’d wandered off to.”

“You sound close to your family.”

“Yes, I’m very blessed to have amazing parents and some overbearing brothers. What about you? I don’t really hear you talk about anyone besides your dad,” I asked, turning my gaze towards him.

“My parents had an arranged marriage, and I am their only child,” Jay answered succinctly.

It was moments like this that I couldn’t tell if he didn’t want to talk about it or if it was just his normal tendency to just give the facts. I didn’t press the issue, since we’d already pulled into the large underground garage where the guys kept their vehicles.

Jay waited for me to hop out of the Jeep before he led the way into the house. We walked up a short flight of steps to the main floor of the house back near the kitchen. As we walked through, I waved at Sarah, who was busy getting dinner ready. She smiled back and gave me a wink.

“Ah, Lailah, perfect timing. Thank you for picking her up on your way back, Jalen,” Beth said as she met us in the foyer.

Jay nodded once, a quick, sharp movement, and started up the stairs, leaving me with Beth.

“Let's have a seat in the library. It's more comfortable than my office, and I don’t want you thinking you're in trouble.”

Is Beth a mind reader? How did she know that I was concerned she was going to yell at me for what happened today? Letting her lead, I followed her into the library, and we both settled into armchairs next to each other.

“First, I wanted to apologize.” She paused, seeing what I’m sure was a shocked expression on my face. “These boys are like my own children, and even though you haven’t known me that long, I view you that way as well. I have been keeping an eye on you since I got your application last year.”

Frowning, I opened my mouth, but she held up her hand to stop me. “Please, I promise I will answer any questions you have, but let me explain myself first.”

Deciding to give her that, I settled back in my chair, ready to listen.

“The world of demons is new to you, but I’ve grown up knowing about them and what lengths they will go to in order to plunge this world into darkness. As you have seen, almost no one around you is safe from their tricks. We of the Elementi are smart and well-educated to see the signs around us, but we are only human and will fail from time to time.” Beth paused to let that sink in. “Knowing that your family has no idea who and what you are, or of the darkness that is around us all the time, I couldn’t leave you unprotected. I had a few of our best men and women watching you from afar to make sure you got here to us safe and sound.

“Now that you are here and know that you’re Synergy, it only makes the world more dangerous for you. I trust the boys to take care of you, but they are also still learning and have more growing to do. Today when you didn’t show up to class, I chose not to listen to Cami and Brayden when they told me you were okay. I assumed the worst. It’s my job to assist them and you in this battle, but ultimately, it’s the six of you who are going to change the world. I need to let you guys grow, fail, and get back up again.” Beth sighed heavily like she was releasing a weight from her shoulders. “So, I hope you can forgive me for doubting you and the others.”

All the irritation I had towards Beth melted away at her explanation. This was something I’d seen my mother have to go through with my brother when he went off to college. They got into arguments all the time when my brother would do things without telling her, or do things she didn’t agree with. Beth and I didn’t know each other very well, and we were going to have the same bumps in the road as we figured things out between us.

“There is nothing to forgive; hearing your side of things makes sense. I appreciate you looking out for me,” I said, giving her a smile.

Beth smiled back and reached out to squeeze my hand. “Thank you.”

A knock sounded on the door, and Sarah popped her head in. “Dinner will be ready shortly, but I can hold off if you need more time.”

“We’re ready when you are, Sarah,” Beth answered, getting up from her chair.

“Lailah, are you joining us for dinner?” Sarah asked.

“Absolutely. I’ll never turn down the opportunity to eat anything prepared by you and your husband.”

“Lovely, I’ll set a plate for you. Looks like everyone will be home tonight but Micah.”

I wanted so badly to ask why Micah wasn’t home, but decided to leave it alone. I wasn’t sure I could handle it if I found out it was because we got into a fight. Making my way to the dining room, I picked a random spot and sat down.

“Well this is a nice surprise, I didn’t know you were coming for dinner,” Hudson said as he entered the room and sat across from me.

“Uh-oh, Trouble in the house,” Parker called as he plopped down next to me.

“Stop embarrassing her or she might never want to come have dinner with us again,” Brayden said as he walked in.

I grinned as the guys sat down, loving the dynamic of them all together. “Wait, where’s Jay?”

“Here,” Jay said, from the seat on my right.

I jumped and swore under my breath to see him sitting there as calm as could be. His eyes shimmered with humor, pleased with catching me off guard.

“One of these days I’m going to put a bell on you,” I grumbled.

“Still won’t hear me. I control air,” Jay pointed out.

“I’m pleased to see that I’m not the only one he does that to,” Hudson said, winking at me.

Conversation paused as dinner was set on the table and we all dished up our plates. Everything looked delicious, and I was afraid to run out of space on my plate for everything. It was like eating a holiday dinner with all the options.

“You know, I don’t think we’ve actually told Lailah what element we each have,” Brayden mused.

My ears perked up at this. The guys all knew what I was, and I had a hunch as to what each of them could be, but I didn’t know for sure.

“I think we should make her guess first. It’s more fun that way,” Parker said, wagging his brows at me with an excited grin.

“Does everything need to be a game, Parker?” Hudson said, frowning.

Parker shrugged his shoulders, then looked at me expectantly.

“Fine, I’ll take a guess. Jay just told me he controls air, so that one I know. Brayden I know is earth, so there’s three left. My guess is Parker fire, Hudson spirit, and Micah water,” I guessed.

Parker looked down at me, mouth gaping like a fish. “Wow, you suck at this game. Why did you think I was fire? How in the hell am I anywhere close to being like Micah?”

“Unfortunately, none of those were right,” Hudson said. “I am water, Parker spirit, and Micah is fire, if you couldn’t already guess that.”

“This is why we should have just told her. You're offended, and now she feels bad,” Brayden said, giving me an apologetic smile.

“Whatever. Being spirit is way cooler than fire anyways,” Parker pouted.

Racking my brain, I tried to think of something that could get us off this subject. “What is everyone doing for Thanksgiving? It’s a few weeks away, the holidays are coming fast.”

The guys paused and gave me a strange look, then looked at each other as if silently trying to communicate with each other.

“We don’t do Thanksgiving,” Jay said, breaking the silence.

“What? Who doesn’t celebrate Thanksgiving? It’s all about food and being grateful. Who can’t get behind that?” I questioned, utterly confused.

“What was the original purpose of Thanksgiving?” Hudson asked.

“Well, the pilgrims left England . . .” I started to explain when understanding hit me like a brick, and I dropped my head in my hands. “Oh God, I’m such an idiot. Of course you guys don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, it's an American holiday.”

Parker, unable to hold it in any longer, started laughing, causing me to follow and then the rest of the table, Beth included.

“Oh man, Trouble, that was amazing. I needed a good laugh.”

EIGHT

LAILAH

“Okay, Lailah, I need you to focus within to find your power source,” Nona said as I sat across from her in the yoga studio.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes once more, trying to do as she asked. We had been at this for nearly two weeks now, and I still couldn’t find my power source. My power flowed around me readily, but I couldn’t pinpoint the center of it, which is how I was supposed to control it better.

“All I see is blackness, and I can’t feel a damn thing,” I grumbled, gritting my teeth.

“Don’t focus on your outer senses, you need to delve deeper than that. Your power is a part of you. Like your heart, it controls life running through you. All you need to do is tap into it once, and you will be able to find it again easier,” Nona said. Her voice soothed me as my irritation flared.

Fidgeting on the pillow I was sitting on, I tried to push all the other emotions in my mind out. I needed to be calm and centered. Every other Elementi Blessed Warrior had managed to do this, so I could figure it out too. The ticking of the metronome in the background wasn’t helping me regulate my breathing, though—instead I wanted to chuck it against the wall. Snapping my eyes open, I got to my feet and started pacing, feeling too wired to sit and do this.

“Tell me what’s going on right now. The only way I can help is if I understand,” Nona said.

Being half-sisters, Nona and Cami shared similar features, but Nona had this eccentric free spirit thing going for her. Nona’s honey brown hair was in a big messy bun, and her large glasses were sliding down her nose, which she pushed up for the hundredth time. Even though her outward appearance didn’t impress, the intelligence in her green eyes told a different story.

“I’m pissed, Nona,” I ranted, spinning to face her. “Sitting here on a cushion with the new-age meditation crap is just making it all worse. All I want to do is smash that damn metronome and get the hell out of this stuffy little room.”

Getting to her feet, she walked over to me and grabbed my shoulders, stopping me from pacing. “This is exactly why we do this; your emotions are going haywire, and this will help you gain some control over them. We can’t start working with your power until you can manage to keep it contained.”

Glaring at her, I brushed off her hold of me. “It’s been contained for twenty years. It's done being put in a box or whatever it is you want me to visualize. Nothing I do right now will work.”

“Are you telling me that you can feel that your power is upset with being locked away for so long?” Nona asked, her eyes full of curiosity. “I had always hypothesized that Synergy would need to be around the boys to be triggered. Now knowing it was a person all along, it gives my theory even more ground.”

For some reason, hearing Nona talk about me like I was one of her case studies made me lose it. “There is more to me than being Synergy! I am a human being who is just as frustrated and angry as her power. Stop turning me into one of your experiments! If you can’t help me, then just leave me the hell alone!”

Nona looked at me, shocked, her eyes wide and mouth hanging open. I could see her gearing up to address my disrespect to her as a teacher and as someone older than me, but Jay’s appearance in the room drew our focus.

“I think it might be best if we take Lailah out for a little while,” Hudson said from the open doorway. “Come on, we’re going on patrol of the school grounds.”

My first reaction was to argue, but Jay took hold of my arm and dragged me out of the room after Hudson.

“This isn’t optional,” Jay said, pushing me towards the elevator.

“Just what I wanted to do on my Saturday night—go hunting for demons,” I muttered as I waited for the doors to open, bringing us back up to the Manor.

When Beth told me that the Elementi went underground, she wasn’t kidding. Under the school and the house was the hub for the secret society. It was something out of a science fiction novel with a dash of James Bond. I had fingerprint access to the whole facility, and it was where I spent many of my nights, working with Professor Philips and Nona. All I wanted was to go back in time before Halloween when I didn’t know about any of this. That night my life had changed, and I thought I could roll with the punches, but the way my emotions had become so volatile, I didn’t even know who I was anymore.

“The plan tonight is to patrol the border of the school to make sure the wards are still functioning as they should,” Hudson explained as we exited the elevator in the oversized pantry of the kitchen. “I think it might be best to take your Jeep tonight. The south pastures are still wet from the rain we’ve had the past few days.”

I hopped into the back jump-seat without further protest. I would much rather spend my time with the guys than any of the other Elementi at the moment. They understood what I was going through and didn’t hold my nasty temper against me . . . for now, that was. Jay took us out to a dirt road that was far from the used part of the campus.

“How can you tell if the wards are working or not?” I asked, peering out into the blackness.

“Bring your power up to the surface and let it coat your vision,” Jay said, glancing at me in the rearview mirror.

“Personally, I think of it filling my eyes with my energy, but it’s whatever comes naturally to you. Water is more fluid, and air is more external, so that is how Jay and I use it. For you, it could be completely different,” Hudson said, seeing the question mark in my expression. “Don’t think of your power as something separate; it’s an important part of you. Just like your blood flows through your veins, so does your power.”

This had been exactly what Nona was trying to explain to me, but for some reason, hearing it from Hudson it made more sense. Like a cat brushing itself against me, it surrounded me as I reached out to it. Unlike what they were talking about, it seemed my energy was more sentient. This time, I tried asking it to show me the wards, instead of trying to demand it to bend to my will.

Suddenly the world around me lit up, and I could see the dome the wards created around the school property. “Holy shit!”

“Pretty cool isn’t it? Like we have our own private aurora borealis here at school. Before we boosted the wards, they were just a faint glimmer, but now they’re holding strong,” Hudson said, twisting to grin at me.

“If they’re strong, then why do we still need to patrol?” I asked, my head smashed to the window, trying to see the top of the dome above us.

“Everything has a weak spot, even magic,” Jay said, slowing down at a dim spot in the shimmering wall of light. “Just because demons can’t get in now doesn’t mean they won’t scope out another way to make it happen.”

Stopping the car, we all got out and walked up to the weak spot in the ward. It was low to the ground, and it looked as if on the other side someone had etched something into the ground.

“A demonic rune will cause a crack in our defenses over time,” Hudson explained. “Runes like this could take days, weeks, or years to work, depending on how strong the demon who cast it was.”

Reaching out, I ran my fingers over the magical wall, feeling it send tingles of energy down my arm. My power pooled in my hand as if it was just as curious as I was about this blemish in our creation. It tried to fill the spot, but it was missing something to bind the powers together.

Turning to the boys, I held out one hand. “Hold on to me, I think I can fix this spot.”

Hudson’s eyes grew wide, and he looked at Jay, then back to my outstretched hand. Tentatively, he placed his hand in mine, with Jay grabbing my wrist. Shifting my attention back to the shield around us, I placed my hand back on the weak spot, and this time, I could feel the difference. I was pulling from both Jay and Hudson, their gray and blue energy mingling with my golden power before it seeped into the shield. The spot glowed and became more solid than it had been, but still not as bright at the rest.

“That’s incredible,” Hudson cried out, letting his hand slip out of mine to examine the ward more carefully. “I wonder if the rest of the guys had been here if it would have repaired completely. It would only make sense since it took all of us to make the shield.”

I glanced over at Jay, who was still holding my wrist, and grinned at Hudson’s excitement. Jay gave me a ghost of a smile before his typical stoic expression returned, and he removed his hand.

“Still a lot more ground to cover,” Jay said, heading back to the Jeep.

We stopped twice more to patch up spots, and we were only halfway done with the route. Being able to bleed off some of my power this way helped me feel a little more like myself. The next half would be closer to the school and would be more populated.

“I think it should be late enough that no students will be lingering around campus,” Hudson said as he looked down at his watch. “The library is closed, and they lock down the buildings on Saturday nights for us to do our scouting. If they’re still awake, they’ll be at a party or in their dorm.”

Suddenly, I was slammed into the back of Jay’s seat as he slammed on the brakes. Tossing open his door, he leaped out of the car and started running. Hudson quickly followed, leaving me to scramble out of the car and catch up with them. Luckily, I was a fast runner, so I was right on their heels once I had my feet on the ground. Running in a forest with hardly any moonlight to go off of was tricky, but I wasn’t going to be left behind.

I still had no idea what we were chasing after, but I could feel the wards as we passed through them. Jay was like a heat-seeking missile—he didn’t hesitate for a second, and he never took his eyes off whatever it was we were chasing. Whipping out a hand, I saw him swirl his wrist and cast it out like he was holding a lasso. Wind burst out from him, trapping whatever we had been chasing against the trunk of a large tree.

Having caught the creature we were chasing, we all slowed down to a walk. Hudson’s hands glowed an icy-blue color, and two pistols appeared, one in each hand. Jay’s silver energy glowed, and he had a bow in his hand with a quiver of arrows on his back. I had so many questions, but I knew now wasn’t the time.

“Stay behind us. Until you can manage your own powers, it's not safe to have you use them,” Jay said, casting a quick glance back at me.

As much as I wanted to argue, I couldn’t. I had no idea what I was doing and didn’t want to hurt either one of them. Hudson and Jay slowly approached the creature, weapons at the ready. Jay dropped his wind trap, and Hudson shot a stream of water at the creature's feet and legs while Jay sent a gust of cold wind, freezing the water. The toddler-looking thing trapped before me could only be a demon. Its gray-looking skin was sunken, showing every bone in its body, eyes glowing red with tiny rows of razor-sharp teeth. Knowing it was trapped it suddenly let out a high-pitched scream that made me wince.

“Shit, we need to kill it now before it calls more to his rescue,” Hudson said, lifting one of his guns.

Jay snapped out a hand, stilling Hudson’s movement. “We need answers first. There’s been no other sign there are more minor demons around.”

“You really want to take that chance while we have Lailah with us?” Hudson argued, frowning at Jay.

Jay just stepped away from him and closer to the little demon. “What demon has been carving the runes? You're not powerful enough to do that with the holy wards so close.”

The demon hissed at him, spit flying out of his mouth like a rabid animal before it answered, “The Dark Lord knows Synergy has awoken, he is coming for her.”

“That’s not what I asked you,” Jay snapped, placing an arrowhead flat on the demon's body, causing the skin to smoke like it was burning.

The demon started his keening cries again, squirming to get away from the pain. Feeling sick to my stomach, I turned my back to what Jay was doing. I knew the demon was our enemy and that it wanted to hurt us or others—that wasn’t what bothered me. It was the fact that Jay seemed so calm and practiced about the whole thing, that he had obviously done it many times before. The demon started ranting in another language, but by the tone, I didn’t really need someone to translate it.

“Speak if you want us to end this, and we will banish you back to the furthest gates of Hell,” Hudson cut in over the demon’s tirade.

Something in the shadows caught my eye, and I moved away from the guys to get a better look. I could see movement in the forest, but it was hard to tell if it was just my mind playing tricks or not. It might just be animals in the woods, scurrying away from all the noise the demon was making. But… the glimpses of movement were getting closer, not further away. Then, as if my nightmares over the past few weeks had come to life, a demon much like the one that had killed Mallory appeared out of the darkness.

Its tall, skeletal frame moved in a strange, disjointed way. What little flesh it had was black and charred, falling from him like ash. The face, just like last time, had no eyes and a gaping mouth with rows of teeth. I froze at the sight of it, a scream clawing its way out of my throat.

“Lailah,” Hudson yelled, and I could hear feet pounding in my direction.

I hadn’t wandered that far from them, had I? I wanted to peer over my shoulder to see how much longer it would take them to get to me, but I couldn’t force myself to move. What I thought were animals in the dark had been other small gray demons that now popped out on all sides and rushed past me to attack the boys.

“Goddamn it, Jay, I told you there would be more of them! They never work alone,” Hudson growled as I heard shots going off behind me.

The soft twang of a bow and grunts from demons being killed was the only sound in the forest, aside from my wildly beating heart. The larger demon approached me slowly, letting my fear eat away at me. A clawed hand reached out to me, the tips oozing black liquid that sizzled when it reached the ground.

“Synergy . . .” it rasped. “Dark Lord . . . wants . . . must . . . bring you.”

I gulped, trying to get my body to do something, anything, that would keep me from being a sitting duck. There had to be something I could do to protect myself that wouldn’t endanger anyone else. My power flared to life, swirling around me, agitated at the sight of the demon. I could feel something solidifying in my hands, and I looked down to find two golden weapons. Never had I seen anything like them before. One long, sharp point came out of the middle of the handle, while two shorter points framed it. They were like tridents, only smaller and handheld.

Having no idea what to do with them, I clutched them for dear life and lifted them just in time as the demon took a swipe at me. The impact of the hit broke me from my frozen state, and I dodged to the left as it sliced at me again. Man, was I glad that I was tiny and fast while the demon was large and cumbersome. Not knowing how to really fight put me at a disadvantage, but the kickboxing I had done kept me light on my feet and out of harm's way. Deflecting another attack with my weapons, I stumbled, not having my legs under me to withstand the impact. Leaping out of the way, I fell to the forest floor and scrambled away like a crab on the beach.

“You guys, I could really use some help here,” I called out, having lost track of where they ended up in my effort to stay alive.

Stabbing pain roared through my leg as two of the demon’s claws punctured my skin. It felt like liquid fire had entered my bloodstream, and I screamed and screamed and screamed until my throat was raw. I could feel my body convulsing on the ground, but there was nothing I could do to stop it. Hands latched onto my arms and legs, and I kicked and fought against them. I was not going to be dragged to Hell.

“Lailah, it’s us.” I stopped fighting as Jay’s voice penetrated my panic. “We need to get you back to the house and get this wound looked after.”

The relief of knowing I was safe allowed me to let go and blackout at the pain.

NINE

HUDSON

Scooping Lailah up, I noticed the weapons in her hands had dissipated into golden light, staying hidden until she needed them again. I had wondered if she would be given her own set of blessed weapons, and now I had my answer.

“How the fuck did we not sense a greater demon?” I growled as we made our way back to the Jeep.

Beth was going to be furious; she hadn’t wanted us to take Lailah with us tonight. I’d thought it would help to get her out and see the other side of what we do as Elementi. We were warriors, but they had been treating her more like a lab experiment, keeping her in controlled environments. That wasn’t real life, and we lived in a far more dangerous world than anyone was telling her.

“It had to be cloaked somehow, there’s no other explanation,” Jay said, opening the passenger door for me and holding Lailah until I got seated. “It’s a trap.”

“That’s what I was thinking as well, but how would they know that we had Lailah with us?” I mused, holding her tightly against me.

Her body still shook with the poison running through her, but I had managed to flush a large portion of it with my water power. I just hoped that I had gotten to her fast enough that there wouldn’t be any after-effects. In a normal person, demon poison could make them go mental and start attacking people for no reason. In some cases I had read, it changed the way they thought and would cause hallucinations.

“Beth, you need to call Mr. Creed. We got ambushed by demons, and Lailah got poisoned,” Jay said into his phone. Not waiting to get yelled at, he hung up and tossed the phone on the dash.

“How mad do you think she’s going to be?” I asked, brushing stray hairs out of Lailah’s face.

Jay didn’t answer, and a couple minutes later we pulled up to the front door. It was tossed open, and Brayden came rushing out to meet us. I knew the two of them had gotten super close lately, but the panic in his eyes told me just how much she meant to him. Ripping open my door, he pulled her from my arms and cradled her like she was the most precious thing to him.

“Get her to her room, Mr. Creed should be here any second,” Beth instructed. “Do you know what kind of demon got her?”

“It was a greater demon, seeker class, just like the one that took over Mallory,” Jay answered.

Taking the steps two at a time, I was on Brayden’s heels. Guilt for endangering her gnawed at my stomach, seeing how pale she was. How had I not noticed she had wandered off from us? I should have just ended the lesser demon’s life, ignoring what Jay wanted. This was all my fault; I let my quest for knowledge endanger Lailah. Some guardian warrior I was.

Brayden laid her out on her bed and formed one of his blessed daggers to cut open her jeans on her wounded leg. Two long gouges circled her calf. They weren’t bleeding, instead looking almost like they had been charred. The black-colored poison still seeped out of it a little bit, but with holy water and a blessing, it would be fully cleansed.

Jay stood by the door, his eyes fixated on Lailah. I knew that Jay felt protective of her—he had since the first time he found her lost on a run. Even though he would never voice it, I could see the disappointment in himself, letting her get hurt by forcing himself to keep distance between them.

“What the fuck happened to Trouble?!” Parker asked, bursting into the room with Micah and Mr. Creed right behind him.

Parker made right for the bed and sat near her head, looking over the sight before him. Anger flashed in his eyes as he reached out to touch her but then thought better of it. Micah carried the items Mr. Creed would need, setting them on the nightstand before he turned his gaze to Lailah. He was another one that was holding himself back from being close to her. Jay, I understood—he didn’t ever interact with people outside of a select few. Micah, on the other hand, seemed to be irritated that she even existed, using his anger to drive a wedge between them.

“If you’re going to stay in the room, I need you to step away from the bed and leave me room to work,” Mr. Creed instructed, pulling off his suit coat and laying it over the back of one of the armchairs in her room.

Mr. Creed smoothed his black slicked-back hair as he undid his cufflinks and rolled up his white shirt. I often wondered why a more rotund man would wear a three-piece suit when it didn’t really flatter his shape. Everything about him reminded me of a pig, especially his squashed nose and his small round eyes. He was the best at his craft and knowledge of demons, which was why he was here at the moment.

Mr. Creed turned to look at all of us standing in a semi-circle around Lailah’s bed. “No matter how painful it sounds, I need you all to stay out of my way. Removing demon poison is not a pleasant process, but it must be done. I need your word you lot won’t try to stop me from healing her.”

The five of us all looked at each other and nodded. Looking back at Mr. Creed, I placed my hand over my heart and bowed. “We give you our Knight’s oath that we will not hinder you from your work.”

Mr. Creed huffed and turned back to his ingredients. Holy water, myrrh, and olive leaves were placed in a bowl, where he ground them up into a paste. Sliding a thick towel under her leg, he took the concoction and drew a series of runes around the wound, each one glowing with her golden power once it was complete. I could see her stirring, her head turning from side to side, her fists and jaw clenching. No sound came out of her, even if it was obvious to us how much pain she was in. Once he was done with the runes, he grabbed the vial of holy water and poured it over her wounds.

This time she sat up, screaming and fighting against Mr. Creed’s hold on her. “Micah, come hold her down for me; her body is fighting me more than I anticipated.”

Micah walked over and slipped in behind her, holding her tightly to his chest. He turned to look out the patio doors, not wanting to see the pain written all over Lailah’s face. Everything in me wanted to toss Mr. Creed out of the room and pummel him for hurting her, but my oath kept me rooted. It was the only thing keeping any of us from acting on our need to protect Lailah.

“Not much longer now; it would have been much worse if Hudson hadn’t cleaned out as much as he could,” Mr. Creed muttered as he poured more holy water on her skin.

The blackened, charred look of the skin was gone, along with the black matter oozing out of the wound. Now it looked pink and raw, as if it was a burn that was weeks old instead of minutes. Eventually, Lailah’s cries turned into whimpers, tears streaming down her face as she clung to Micah’s arm.

“Brayden, I need you to place the blade of your blessed weapon on the wound so I can see if it’s been purified enough,” Mr. Creed instructed, stepping away from her.

Dagger in hand, Brayden slowly lowered the weapon to her skin. When nothing happened, we all took a deep breath. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who had been holding it in; all of us were a nervous wreck.

“Very good, my work here is done. She will need lots of sleep and food when she wakes up. Don’t be surprised if she doesn’t remember any of this—the effects of demon blood present as memory loss most of the time,” Mr. Creed said, wiping off his hands.

We continued to stay silent as he packed up all of his things and left the room. Unable to hold myself back any longer, I approached Lailah. She lay there, passed out, sweat beaded on her brow, her curly hair damp from the pain. Micah looked torn between not wanting to move and knowing that he couldn’t stay there. Brayden saved him as he cradled her, freeing Micah to leave. I pulled back the covers so we could get her tucked in.

“We should have Beth or Cami clean her up,” Parker whispered and gestured to the state of her clothes covered in mud and other substances.

“Good call. I’ll go get one of them,” I said, needing to leave the room while I still could.

TEN

LAILAH

Feeling the sunlight on my face, I rolled over and groaned as my body protested the movement. I felt like a piñata after it had been attacked by children and split open. Slowly, I opened my eyes and then quickly shut them. The sunlight that filled my room was too much for my eyes to handle, sending sharp pricks of pain into my brain.

“What happened?” I rasped, slowly rubbing my face with my hands, trying to clear the cobwebs.

My bedroom door opened, and someone came in, but I wasn’t willing to open my eyes again.

“Can you close the blinds? The light is giving me a migraine,” I asked.

“No problem, Lala. Maggs, can you do that for me since my hands are full?” Cami asked, sounding close to my bed.

I could sense the room darkening through my eyelids, and when I felt like it was safe enough, I cracked them open. The now dusky-lit room was much easier on my eyes. Opening them all the way, I looked up to find Cami setting a tray of food down on my nightstand. My stomach growled at the smell of whatever she’d brought me.

“Come on, let's get you sitting up so we can feed the beast,” Cami said, sitting on the bed and supporting me as I moved.

Maggs stepped up on my other side, pulling pillows behind me so I could lean on them. Gingerly, I settled into the new position and took a few deep breaths, cataloging my body. Nothing seemed to hurt too much, more of a stiffness that ached with each muscle movement. Although my right leg ached deeper than the rest, almost bone-deep.

“What the hell happened to me?” I asked, looking at each of them in turn.

Maggs sat next to Cami, nudging her as if to make her explain. Maggs and Cami had been dating for a few months now, and they had fallen hard for each other. Maggs was much more grounded and even-tempered, where Cami was the wild child. I loved Maggs’s sense of style—true rockabilly pinup, complete with flaming-red hair and soft-green eyes outlined in cat-eye makeup. She also led one of the off-campus sororities that hosted the best parties.

Cami took a deep breath and grabbed her hand before looking at me. This worried me. Cami never had a problem telling me things like it is—why would she be worried about this?

“Yesterday, Hudson and Jay took you with them out on patrol off the campus grounds,” Cami started.

Memories came back in flashes; we had fixed some weak spots in the wards. Then we’d discovered something and chased it into the woods. I remembered fighting, me screaming, the sound of Hudson’s guns going off. Then the haunting face of the demon hung before my eyes, causing me to lock up once again.

“Lala, it’s okay; you're safe,” Cami said, reaching out to take my hand, grounding me. “You got hurt, and the boys brought you back to the house. The demon that attacked you has venom that runs through its claws, and it scratched you. The wound needed to be cleansed.”

I flashed a worried look between Cami and Maggs, gripping her hand to stop her from saying more.

Cami smiled, then nodded her head towards Maggs. “She’s one of us, Lala. Maggs works in our IT department, tracking those demon cockwaffles.”

Just when I didn’t think I could be surprised anymore, Cami had done it again. If I hadn’t felt like roadkill, I’m sure I would’ve been more upset, but right at that moment I just wanted to eat and go back to sleep.

“I’m sorry I didn’t say anything sooner, but I felt like you had enough on your plate to add me to the list. Cami didn’t want to keep this from you, but I asked her to wait until things settled down; seems like that isn’t going to happen any time soon, though,” Maggs said with a smile and a wink. “You sure seem to find adventure wherever you can.”

“Trust me, I would love to have things quiet down,” I said, giving her a grin before I turned back to Cami. “What did you mean by having it cleansed?”

“Mr. Creed came and did a ritual to cleanse your wound and purify it so it would heal. He did warn that there might be some side effects to the poison, though. You will be extremely tired and hungry for the next day or so, and the wound might ache more than usual. Less likely repercussions are that it could make you hallucinate or hear voices. But Mr. Creed seemed to think that being a Blessed Warrior might keep that from happening, especially with you being Synergy,” Cami explained.

I leaned my head back, looking up at the ceiling, absorbing what she told me. Not only were my emotions on a hair-trigger; I could also start hearing or seeing things. I could only imagine the delightful things that demon venom might induce to torture me.

“Let’s not dwell on that right now,” Maggs interjected. “We should let you eat so you can go back to sleep. I can already see you're struggling to stay awake.”

She carefully set the tray on my lap, and I looked over what they brought me. A large bowl of creamy soup and a hunk of fresh bread that made my mouth water.

“I asked Sarah to make you potato soup since that is what your mom used to make as a comfort food,” Cami said, grinning at me.

“Thanks, I could use some warm comfort food right now,” I said, digging in and slurping down the first spoonful. It tasted just as amazing as it smelled, but I would expect nothing less from Sarah.

Cami and Maggs chatted about things going on around the school as I ate, keeping my mind off darker thoughts. By the time the meal was gone, I could barely keep my eyes open. A warm, full belly did little to help me stay conscious enough to lay back down. Cami and Maggs got me situated and tucked in before leaving the room.

“One of the boys will be around up here. If you need anything, just give a shout, okay?” Cami said as I gave into my desire to sleep.

I slept the day away and didn’t wake until the next morning, and my stomach demanded that we get up. This time as I moved, my muscles didn’t hurt so bad—it was more of a mild ache, like the second day after a tough workout. When I opened my eyes, I had to blink a few times to remind myself where I was. My head pounded, reminding me what it felt like to be hung over. I stretched in bed, letting my body work out some kinks. I took a moment to look around the room that apparently was mine to use whenever I needed it.

The bed was huge—three people could fit comfortably. The cream sheets were soft against my skin, which made it even harder to get out of the bed. The whole room was in tones of golds and soft cream, making it very soft and feminine. To the left of the bed was a set of French doors that led to a small balcony with two chairs and a small table. In front of the bed was a large fireplace with a simple sandstone mantel that had decorative knickknacks on it. Two comfortable armchairs faced the fireplace with a coffee table in front, a perfect place to curl up and read on a winter night.

Did all the bedrooms have fireplaces? I guess that would make sense for how old it is, even though they remodeled it for updates.

To the right of the bed were two doors, one I knew led to the bathroom, and the other I could only assume was the closet since I didn’t see a dresser anywhere. After a hot shower and some more stretching, I was back in action. My right leg still had phantom pain, but every time I felt around the area, nothing seemed to be amiss. There were two pink scars that hadn’t been there before, but I was thankful that was all it was. If something worse had happened and I’d lost the ability to run, I didn’t know what I would do.

It took me longer than usual to get dressed because I was sorting through my T-shirts until I found the right one to fit my mood. The challenge was deciding what my mood was, but I knew when I saw the right one, it would click. And it did. Pulling the shirt off the hanger, I grinned. This would do nicely. Slipping it on, I looked in the mirror, making sure of my choice: Do you see my personal bubble? Pop it. See what happens.

Stepping into my slippers, I headed out of my room and down to the kitchen. I had no idea what time it was, but I knew I could find something to satisfy my demanding tummy. Passing through the common area, I saw Hudson asleep on the couch. He must have been there in case I needed him. Not wanting to wake him, I tiptoed my way past and jogged down the steps. The rest of the house was quiet, so that meant it was either super early or everyone was out. Reaching the kitchen, I glanced at the large clock on the wall, and it halted me in my tracks. It was three in the afternoon. Either I had only slept half a day, or I had slept a full day and a half.

My stomach grumbled louder, as if it knew that we were close to finding food. Opening the fridge, I skimmed over what leftovers there were and what would catch my stomach’s attention. Spotting the tell-tale signs of spaghetti and meatballs, I grabbed the container and tossed the whole thing into the microwave. Minutes later, I was elbow deep in some pasta, not even bothering to sit at the small table, opting to lean against the counter. That's how Brayden found me when he walked in from the garage.

“Feeling better?” he asked with a humorous glint in his eyes.

Grunting, I continued stuffing my face while he set his bag down and walked over to me. Gently, he grabbed my arm and escorted me over to the three-person table and pushed me into a chair.

“Let’s eat like the civilized human I know you are,” Brayden teased, but I just rolled my eyes. “Let me get you some water to wash all that down. We can only save your life once a year, and you have already used up two years’ worth.”

Will he just shut up? Why is he harping on me about this? He’s acting worse than my mother, and she’s half a world away, I mused, the thoughts popping into my head as I glared at his back, watching him move about the kitchen.

I couldn’t place why what he was saying was rubbing me the wrong way, but many odd things were happening with my emotions these days. Having powers was cool, but the side effects were rough to get a handle on. I envied the days when I only had to deal with a week or so of these crazy feelings.

Brayden sat across from me, placing the glass of water down next to my dish of pasta. “How are you feeling? Mr. Creed warned us that you would be hungrier than normal.”

“I just slept for almost forty-eight hours, you would be hungry too,” I grumbled, gulping down some water, not happy he was pointing out I was eating a lot.

“Fair point. Cami told me that you don’t have much memory about what happened after you were attacked. Do you have any questions? It was only me and the other guys in the room when Mr. Creed did the cleansing.” Brayden leaned his elbows on the table as he waited for my answer.

I paused, thinking as I chewed my food. “The only real question I have is why do the demons want me? I thought once my power came that I wasn’t going to have to worry about them coming after me.”

Brayden sat back, his frown growing deeper by the second as he thought about my question. “You're right, it doesn’t make sense. Unless we were wrong on the reasoning for why they wanted you from the beginning.”

This thought seemed to make Brayden more agitated than I was. He chewed on his thumbnail, something I had never seen him do before, as he became lost deep in thought. I just continued to eat my food, watching until he decided to share. Finally, he looked over at me, holding my gaze, determination radiating off of him.

“You can’t go back to the dorms. It’s not safe. It would be best if you lived here where we can keep an eye on you. Better yet, one of us should be with you at all times. If something like this happens again who knows what could happen,” Brayden said, finality in his voice.

I slowly set down my fork, not wanting to stab him with it as my anger burst forth. “Who the hell are you to decide that for me? Beth and I already came to an agreement on me living in the dorms until after winter break. Now that I know the demons are after me, I will be more aware of what's going on.”

Brayden scoffed. “You don’t even know what to look for to avoid demons. Two high-level seeker demons have gotten the drop on you, and both times, it almost killed you. Hudson told me what kind of blessed weapons you have. Sai are meant for police to disarm and block attackers. It’s not an offensive weapon, it's defensive, and they are no help to you unless you know what to do with them.”

Shooting up from my seat, I slammed my hands down on the table. “Then I’ll fucking learn! Why are you being such a dick about all this?”

Brayden’s eyes softened and I could see how scared he was for me. “That’s not something you can learn overnight. We’ve been training since we were thirteen, and you can’t handle your own powers. You're not in control, and that’s okay. It’s barely been a few weeks; just let us help keep you safe. That’s what a team does. We work together to protect the weaker members until they are stronger.”

His words were like a slap in the face. He didn’t think I could do this. Brayden thought I was the weak link in the group, that I wouldn’t be able to catch up to them in time to be useful.

“You know what, Brayden? Fuck you and the high horse you rode in on. I don’t need this shit from anyone, least of all you, so back the fuck off. I’m doing the best I can. Sorry that’s not good enough for you!” I snapped, fists clenched and chest heaving as I tried to control my anger.

Unable to look at him any longer, I stormed out of the room and headed back upstairs to my bedroom. Hudson was now awake, watching me silently as I slammed the door to my room. I could hear Brayden running after me, so I twisted the lock in place and started to gather my things.

“Lailah, open the door. We need to talk about this,” Brayden said through the locked door.

Ignoring him, I continued what I was doing and grabbed the last few things and stuffed them in my backpack. I slipped into my shoes and pulled on my puffy winter coat. When I yanked the door open, Brayden was still waiting on the other side, arms crossed, mouth tight with disapproval.

He opened his mouth, but I held up a hand. “If you don’t want me to practice my kickboxing on you, I wouldn’t say anything right now. You have already expressed your opinion loud and clear.”

Shoving past Brayden, I jogged down the steps to the front door without looking back.

“Lailah,” Hudson said as my hand grabbed the door handle.

Turning to look over my shoulder, I saw him at the foot of the stairs, giving me my space. “What?”

“Let me take you home, the temperature dropped a lot last night,” he offered.

I sighed, knowing I should take his offer, but in my head, it just seemed to show that they couldn’t even trust me to walk back to the dorms without their help. “Thank you, but I think the walk will do me good.”

Hudson gave me a soft smile and a nod as I left.

ELEVEN

LAILAH

The next week, after my fight with Brayden, I didn’t spend much time with the guys. I was locked away in a library study room or in my dorm. If demons were going to come for me, then I wasn’t going to make it easy for them. Weak link or not, I was going to prove I didn’t need the guys hovering around me to keep me safe. Not having been this alone since I got to Ryevick, I was becoming homesick for the first time. Sure, my parents and I talked on the phone or emailed when things were crazy, but it wasn’t the same as being with them. As Thanksgiving loomed closer, my outlook grew darker. This was one of our favorite holidays as a family. We always cooked crazy amounts of food and would host whoever didn’t have a place to go at the diner.

I knew that everyone was noticing my spiral, but I just didn’t know what to do about it. I had never suffered from a gloom like this before. Even after my ex and I broke up, and I found out everything about my best friends, I just pulled away. This was different. I was getting angry over silly little things and habits that people couldn’t fix. I felt like in some ways I was going crazy. Beth was certain that this was a direct correlation with coming into my powers and couldn’t tell me if it would get better or worse. On the edge of my emotions, I could feel something else eating away at me, but I just couldn’t seem to put my finger on it.

“Knock, knock,” Cami said, cracking the door to the study room I was using. “Is it safe to come in?”

“To be determined, but I think you're fairly safe,” I responded, setting down my pen.

“Well, that’s an improvement over throwing your textbook at the door like the other day,” Cami teased, pulling a chair out from the table and sitting on it.

“Oh God, I did do that, didn't I?” I groaned, dropping my head on my arms. “Why do you keep coming back? I would just cut my losses and run.”

“Nope, not gonna happen, Lala. You’re not in control of yourself like you normally would be. How can I blame you for that?”

“Have I told you lately how amazing you are?” I asked, looking up at her with a smile.

Cami tapped her chin. “Wow, I can’t even remember the last time you told me that, so clearly it’s not often enough. I’m going to need you to step up your quota on that, like stat, little missy.”

I chuckled at Cami’s antics, making me smile bigger. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d done that. “This is killing me. I know I’m acting like a crazy person, but I can’t seem to do anything about it. Even Nona tried to help me with some tricks to calm my anger before I lashed out at someone, but it clearly didn’t help.”

“Yeah, I heard about that. Brayden is fine, by the way. He doesn’t hold it against you, and neither do the other guys.”

“Oh, even Micah? I haven't seen him around since we argued that day Beth thought I ran away,” I grumbled, scribbling on one of my notebooks.

Cami leaned forward and started flipping through one of my textbooks. “So, about that. We might have all told him to stay away if he couldn’t keep to the Thumper rule.”

“The Thumper rule? What the hell is that?”

“You watched Bambi as a kid, right? Remember the bunny that he’s friends with, Thumper? There’s that part where he makes fun of the skunk for being called Flower.”

“Okay…”

Cami waved me off as she was getting to her point. “His mother told him that if he couldn’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.”

I froze as understanding washed through me like a tidal wave, bringing me to my feet. “You're telling me that he’s keeping away from me because he has nothing nice to say to me?! That asshole treats me like shit all the time, and the one time I stand up for myself like he always bitches at me I should, he runs away?!”

“And… I owe Parker fifty bucks,” Cami muttered.

“Get out!” I snapped.

Cami looked at me blindsided. “What?”

“I am following the Thumper rule. Now, get out,” I said, pointing at the door.

The look of hurt in Cami’s eyes made me pause and gave me a moment of clarity in my blind rage, but I knew if she stayed, I was going to say something I would regret even more. Cami didn’t say anything, and the click of the door was the only thing that told me I was alone in the room once again.

I picked up my phone to see what time it was back home. Being nine hours apart made trying to connect challenging. Seeing as it was still early in the morning, I decided to chance it and see if my mom would answer.

“Hey, Ladybug, everything okay?”

I couldn’t hold in the sob when I heard her voice. “Mom.”

“Luke, I need to step into the office, Lailah called,” I heard my mom tell Dad before the noises of the diner faded away, letting me know she was alone. “Oh, Ladybug, what's wrong?”

I tried to answer her, but all the sadness and chaos I’d been feeling fell away at the sound of my mother’s words. I just let myself sob while she tried to soothe me and tell me everything would be alright.

After I’d cried myself out and felt like I could catch a breath, my mom tried again. “Tell me everything, young lady.”

It broke my heart to know that I couldn’t. I hadn’t figured out a way yet to tell my family that I wasn’t the same daughter that they sent off to school. I was blessed by an angel to hold the element of Synergy, and I was training to fight demons that were hidden everywhere in our world.

“I’m sorry, Mom, I didn’t mean to lose it over the phone like that.”

“Don’t you dare. I’m your mother, and that is exactly what I’m here for. To be honest, I’m surprised it hasn’t happened sooner. Did you know it took your brother only three weeks to call me crying on the phone because things were harder than he thought they would be? Look at you, making it almost four months.”

I smiled, wiping my tear-stained face off with the sleeve of my sweatshirt that just happened to be from the brother in question. “I had no idea.”

“Of course not, because I never told anyone but your father. Some things are meant to stay between parents and their children, just like this will.”

“I don’t know what it is, but all of a sudden, it hit me that Thanksgiving is in two days, and they don’t even celebrate it here. Then it made me think of you guys and what it would be like at the diner, and here I am studying my brains out for finals.”

“I’m sure this makes me sound like an ignorant American, but it didn’t even cross my mind that they wouldn’t celebrate Thanksgiving,” my mom said, making me feel better that I wasn’t the only one who forgot that. “Would your friends be up to celebrating it with you? What if you did your own version? You said that the group of boys all live in a house, right?”

I could just picture it now, Sarah and Garett letting me take over their kitchen for the day to make our traditional Thanksgiving foods. All the while, the guys trying to help and ending up just arguing amongst themselves, causing more work.

“That’s actually a great idea. I’ve been a bit of a bear to them all lately.”

“Ladybug, you know when you get too stressed out it’s never good for you. It’s one of the reasons you started running,” my mother reminded me.

Rolling my eyes, I sighed. “Yeah, Mom, I know. The weather here turned this last week, and they’re saying it might snow soon. I haven’t found a place to go running inside, so I’ve been slacking off on that.”

“Seems like you might need to find a new outlet then. Do they have any fitness classes you can take? Anything to help drain all that stress out of you? I know you also used to cook, but seeing as you don’t have a kitchen, that puts a kibosh on that, doesn’t it?”

“You're right, I need to be better about finding a way to manage my stress. My friends have been trying to help, but I keep scaring them off. I don’t know how I’m going to make it up to them.”

“Sounds like a home-cooked meal might help smooth things over,” Mom said with a chuckle. “If they’re still coming round with you acting like an ogre, I don’t think you have too much to worry about. Not all friends are like Clara. To me, it sounds like these friends are not the type to give up on you so easily.”

“Mom, have you always been this smart?”

“Where do you think Kyle got his smarts from? It certainly wasn’t your father, Lord love him.”

We both laughed at that and took a few minutes to catch up on other things that had been happening before she had to head back to work.

“Ladybug, I love you more than fresh brownies with ice cream.”

My eyes welled with tears at her words. My parents and I had always played this game when we were young, trying to show how much we loved each other by saying they were more important than our favorite thing.

“I love you more than sugar cookies, Mom.”

“Oh, that’s a tough one to beat, Ladybug. Fine, you win. I’ll talk to you later.”

After hanging up with my mom, I felt better and more in control of myself. It’s amazing how one conversation with the right person can change everything.

Lailah:

Hey Beth, what are the chances that I might be able to take over the kitchen this Thursday?

Beth:

Depends on why you need it.

Lailah:

Two reasons: an I’m-sorry dinner that I want to surprise everyone with and it would be Thanksgiving in the states.

Beth:

Let me talk to Sarah and Garett and see how they feel about a night off. I’ll get back with an answer soon.

Lailah:

Thank you Beth. I appreciate it.

Setting aside my homework for the evening, I pulled out a clean sheet of paper and started writing down all the things I would like to make for the holiday if I got the kitchen. This was going to be as traditional as I could make it. Getting lost in my planning, I didn’t realize the time, and when the door opened and someone flicked off the light, I yelped.

“Oh gosh, I’m sorry! I didn’t know that anyone was still in this room,” a gentleman in a janitor uniform said, turning the light back on for me. “I do have to ask you to pack your things up though, because the library is closing for the night.”

“Sure, no problem. Let me clean my stuff up and I’ll be on my way. Didn’t realize it had gotten so late,” I said in apology, shoving books and papers into my backpack while waiting for my computer to shut down.

“It happens more than you think, especially this time of the year. Everyone’s cramming,” he said, holding the door for me as I exited and he locked up the room. “Have a good night, and try to get some sleep.”

I thanked him and headed out into the chilly night air. I must look awful if he told me I needed to get some sleep. Sniffing myself, I grimaced. A shower might be a good call too. Man, when was the last time I ate? I mused as my stomach grumbled at me. Learning from Jay, I kept a few power bars in my backpack for cases just like this. How major of a fog have I been in this last week?

The campus was quiet this late in the evening and the moon was high, giving me enough light to see by as I crossed the campus to my dorm building. Swiping my keycard, I yanked open the front door and made my way up to my room. When I got there, I noticed that my door was slightly ajar, which was strange. I always made sure to keep my door closed, since I didn’t have the best relationship with the girls in the building. Apparently, being close with all the most wanted men on campus made you a target and not friend material.

I pulled out my cell, Cami’s number ready to dial if I needed it, and nudged open my door the rest of the way. Flicking on the light, I took in the room before me, and it made my blood boil. All the calm that I had gained from talking to my mom was blown away like a leaf on the wind, replaced with an erupting volcano. The first thing that hit me was the smell of rotten milk and garbage. My clothes had all been pulled out from the drawers and left in piles on the floor, where it looked like someone had emptied the trash from the cafeteria on top of them. My bed was also covered in garbage, but the final straw was to see Elle, my stuffed elephant, covered in eggshells and a brown banana peel.

Written on the wall above my bed in black spray paint was:

TRASH LIKE YOU ISN’T WELCOME HERE.

Ever since the Halloween party, the mean girls believed that I was the reason that Mallory had left school, and hideous rumors spread. None of them came close to the truth, but they did not paint me in a good light. I’d been surprised that the other girls of her squad had left me alone, but it seems that they were aiming for a bigger hit than normal.

My rage flowed out of me, causing me to shake, my hand crushing whatever was in my grasp. All else was forgotten, except for the fact that my sacred safe place of a room had been violated. I could take their snotty comments and petty tricks, but this was going too far, and I wasn’t going to stand for it.

“Lala, what the hell is going on?” someone said behind me, but I didn’t respond.

I heard more words, but I blocked it all out and plotted my revenge on those who’d dared to act against me. I was Synergy, I was the most powerful weapon on Earth, and they dared to defile my sacred space?

You’re more powerful than them. It’s time they learned what it means to fuck with a Blessed Warrior.

Cami appeared in front of me, pulling me from the voice inside my head, fear making her eyes wide as she took me in. I could see her lips moving, but I couldn’t hear what was being said. My gaze flicked from her back to the words written on the wall, the words that were now seared into my brain. Turning on my heel, I started to make my way out of my room to exact my revenge, but something stopped me.

Blocking my exit was Brayden—but this wasn’t a Brayden I’d ever seen before. Green power flickered across his skin, his eyes alight with determination, and it brought me to a halt. My power lashed out at him, but he brushed off my attack with the flick of his hand, not backing down. My golden power surrounded him, checking for any weaknesses, but found none, which only irritated me further.

Crush him. He is weaker and does not deserve to stand in our way.

Just as I was about to lash out another attack, his voice rang through my head, clear as a bell and capturing all my attention. “Lailah, I am not your enemy.”

TWELVE

BRAYDEN

As I walked out of the bathroom, getting ready to turn in for the night, I noticed my phone light up and vibrate across my nightstand. Grabbing it, I noticed it was Cami, so I swiped to answer immediately, knowing this wasn’t a good sign.

“Cami, what’s wrong?”

“You need to get to Lailah’s dorm right now! She’s going to lose it, and I’m afraid she’ll take everyone with her.”

“Slow down, tell me what happened.”

“Brayden, you're not understanding me, there is no time to explain. You need to get here now.” With that, the call was cut off, and I flew into action.

I thought about telling one of the others since Lailah still wasn’t really talking to me, but I didn’t think I had time for that. I threw on sweatpants over my boxers and grabbed a zip-up hoodie, then raced out the door. Needing to get there as fast as I could, I grabbed the keys for Parker’s motorcycle off the wall. He would forgive me later when he knew what it was for.

Racing out of the garage, I decided to avoid the main road. I took the walking paths instead. Since it was so late, I was betting on there not being anyone out. As I got closer to the dorm, I could feel the waves of power pulsing from somewhere inside. It didn’t take a genius to know it was coming from Lailah. Watching her adjust the last few weeks made me appreciate my parents and Beth so much more. Lailah was volatile and could turn on a dime between her sweet, normal self and the wicked witch of the west. It killed me not knowing how to help her through this, but I knew it would pass in time—we just needed to survive through it first.

All the guys decided to give her some space after she and I had our blow up. Micah avoided her at all costs, knowing that the two of them were like oil and water, setting each other off. This alone showed me, in his own way, how much he really cared about Lailah—because if he didn’t, he would do as he pleased, damning the consequences.

I pulled up right on the sidewalk in front of the steps leading to the dorm entryway. Thankfully, I thought to grab the master keycard that we had so I could get into the dorm without having to get someone to let me in. Not wanting to wait for the elevator, I flew up the steps, taking them two or three at a time, my heart beating wildly in my chest, knowing I was running out of time. Lailah’s power vibrated around me, zapping across my skin, causing my own to flare up around me and seek out the owner of the golden energy.

Finally, I made it to her floor. Why did she have to be on the tenth floor, of all places, at a time like this!? Running down the hall, her doorway was the only thing in my sight. It was open, and I could see a glowing, golden light that flickered like flames. Anger and violence pulsed through the energy, giving me a heads up on what I would be dealing with. Skidding to a halt in her doorway, I growled at the state of her room and the words plastered across her wall. This was the perfect thing to set anyone off, but little did they know they’d pissed off the one person who could take out the whole school with one flick of a finger.

“Lala, listen to me. I know you're upset, but this is not the way to handle this. You need to take a deep breath, or your power is going to take down the building with you in it,” I heard Cami beg, but Lailah didn’t seem to hear her.

Turning on her heel, she stalked to the door, where I was standing. I don’t think she noticed me at first, but her power did. If I had any doubt about who Lailah was, or how powerful she would be, the sight of her right now would erase that. Golden power swirled around her, pulling at her loose curls as if there were a breeze. When her eyes finally met mine, they were no longer their normal crystal blue color, instead, they were like liquid gold.

Finally seeing me, she paused, taking me in, and yet not really seeing me. As if testing me, her power lashed out, but I had been ready, knowing she wasn’t in full control. Creating a shield with my power, I wrapped it around myself and braced for impact. I didn’t let it show how hard her attack had hit, not wanting to seem weak. When her blow glanced off my shield, she frowned, her energy wrapping itself around me, seeking out any place it could wiggle its way in.

“Enough,” I said, putting power into my words. “I am not your enemy, Lailah.”

Her body jolted as if I had struck her, and I could see in her eyes that she was fighting to gain control.

“Lailah, I need you to take my hand. Let me help you. I know you’re angry, and you have every right to be, but this isn’t the way you want to handle things. Not really,” I said, trying to keep my voice calm but still backing it up with my power.

I could see Cami behind Lailah, tears streaming down her face as she fought against the staggering amount of power echoing in the room. Humans, for the most part, could never feel or see our powers—unless an overwhelming amount was being used. At this moment, in this tiny room with two of us letting our power loose, it was. I couldn’t imagine how suffocating it must be for Cami, but she wasn’t going to abandon her friend.

I turned my attention back to Lailah, who I could see struggling for control. Her breathing was erratic and panicked. I took a step closer to her, seeing that she couldn’t do it herself. I grasped her hands in mine, and she sucked in air like she could finally take a deep breath. Her power no longer fighting mine, I was able to twine our powers together and attempt to bleed off some of hers by sending it into the earth. The floor beneath our feet started to shake as the earth below tried to disperse her immense power. This was not going to work. I was going to need to do something else.

“Lailah, take a deep breath for me, and when you let that breath out, send your power away from you. Let it go like sand through your hands. You’re safe, and I won’t let anything happen to you. I promise you no one will harm you,” I said, reassuring her by rubbing my thumbs over the backs of her hands.

She took a deep, shuddering breath, closing her eyes, and the energy in the room lessoned, making it more manageable. When she opened her eyes, they were that mesmerizing clear blue once again. Seeing the fear, sadness, and lingering anger flicker through her gaze made me pull her close to me.

“How could they do this to me, Brayden? They broke into my room, my safe place,” Lailah sobbed, wrapping her arms and power around me.

This time, I noticed the golden wisps didn’t try to fight with mine; instead, the gold and green energies mingled. I could see them intertwining, swirling, and cocooning us in their protective hold. My heart broke for the woman in my arms. So much had happened to her in the past few weeks, and then to add on this petty girl shit seemed so pointless. It also made me mad. I was one of her guardians, and we had failed at our job to keep her safe. If random twenty-somethings could break into her room this easily, then who or what else could?

My protectiveness reared up, and I held Lailah even tighter as I said, “I promise you that I’ll do everything in my power to make sure this never happens again.”

With those words, the world around us began to glow in a pure, white light. Then I realized it wasn’t something around us—it was Lailah. Her whole body burst into a blinding beacon that forced me to let her go and drop to my knees before her.

Then she spoke.

THIRTEEN

LAILAH

Hearing Brayden’s promise flipped a switch in me, and my body exploded with a new power. It was almost like someone else was using my body as a conduit for them to funnel their essence through. Something about it made me think about the night my power first manifested and I talked to the angel.

I opened my eyes and found Brayden on his knees, his body glowing with green energy, and two daggers in his hands that glowed with the same pure white light. As I looked at him, it was almost like I could see a shadow of another figure flickering deep within him, dressed like a medieval knight. Power drew me in, and I was a puppet in my own body.

“Brayden, Knight blessed with Earth’s power, Warrior for the angels. I find you true of heart and mind, upholding the agreement given to your ancestors. Do you accept the eternal bond to protect the people of this world, and vow to cherish the vessel that holds the gift of Synergy, who has been placed in your protection?” I heard myself ask Brayden with a voice that echoed with another.

“I, Brayden Dolton, Blessed Elementi Warrior gifted with Earth’s power, vow to cherish and protect this world, my fellow brothers, and the one bound to us as Synergy; or my life be forfeit,” Brayden whispered, bowing his head and presenting his daggers to me.

My hand reached out and touched him on the shoulder. “Rise, faithful one, and seal your Oath.”

Brayden rose to his feet, his daggers disappearing from his hands as he cupped my face between his hands. “I have been waiting for you all my life, even if I didn’t know it.”

He placed a gentle kiss on my lips, causing our power to burst forth and whip around us like a tornado as a tether snapped into place between us. I could feel a new flickering power resting in my soul, a piece of Brayden to be with me forever.

Brayden stiffened at the exchange, but only for a second. Next thing I knew, his hand wrapped around the back of my head, holding me steady for him to kiss me more thoroughly. I melted into his kiss, letting him lead as I felt his power flow into me and mine into him. I couldn’t tell where I ended and he started. He moved his other hand to my lower back, pulling my body to mold against his. He pushed us till I bumped against the wall, but that only gave him the leverage to deepen his kiss.

His hand moved to my side, sneaking under my shirt so that his powerful grip held my waist. I could feel the calluses on his palms, rough against my skin, sending tingles up my spine. I let out a small moan, reveling in the feeling of our power and his touch. My approval caused his power to surge through us and around us till I felt the foundation of the building begin to rattle.

Brayden broke the kiss first, shoving himself an arm’s length away, panting, “If you keep making sounds like that, I’m going to bring this building down around us.”

Snapping out of my haze of power, I felt my cheeks flush, embarrassed at what I’d just done. Brayden's face glowed, seeming more than happy with how things had turned out.

“If I’d known that bonding with Synergy would be that amazing, I would’ve led the search party to find you sooner,” Brayden said, dropping his hands from me and running them through his hair, causing it to stand on end.

“Is it safe to look now?” Cami’s voice called out from behind me.

“Oh my God, Cami, when did you get here?” I asked, shocked, my cheeks flaming deeper with embarrassment.

“Um, Lala, I’ve been here the whole time. You called me but didn’t say anything. So I came up to find out what was going on and discovered you on a rampage to kill every bitch in this building,” Cami explained, wiping at her red eyes.

“I didn’t hurt you, did I? You’ve been crying!” I gasped, rushing over to her and squashing her head on my boobs.

“Not that I don’t appreciate your hug, but don’t you think this is a little inappropriate to do in front of your boyfriend, who you were just climbing like a tree?”

“Ugh, you're totally fine,” I let Cami go and gave her a little shove.

“I’m just looking out for you, girl. I don’t want lover boy over there to get the wrong idea about us,” Cami said, grinning from ear to ear. But her smile faded as she looked around the room again. “I think it might be best if you stay with the boys tonight. It’s going to take a few loads of laundry and a shit-ton of air freshener to get this place back to normal.”

I didn’t want to look over my room again, afraid that it would trigger me into another rage. Strong hands grasped my shoulders and pulled me back against a solid chest. “Come on. I’m sure I can lend you something to sleep in, and we’ll figure this out tomorrow. You need to rest. It may not have hit you yet, but using that much power is going to wipe you out,” Brayden said.

Letting out a heavy sigh, I settled back against Brayden. “You’re right, this will still be here tomorrow, no reason to stress about it now.”

Brayden took my hand and led me out of my room, leaving Cami, who was on the phone. My money was on Beth—she would be the first person any of them called when there was a problem.

“How did you know what was going on?” I asked Brayden once we were in the elevator.

Brayden slipped his hand around my waist and pulled me close. Our powers hummed against each other in a comforting way, reassuring me of the Bond we now shared.

“Cami called me demanding that I come ASAP because you were about to bring down a building. Thankfully, I was home and could get here fast enough.”

“What else would you be doing on a Tuesday night?” I asked, curious but also a bit jealous.

Typically, I was never one to be jealous of others, but now that Brayden was bonded to me, the green-eyed monster reared its ugly head. I shook myself out of it. I had no right to be jealous for any reason. We may have made out a few times, but we’d never talked about what that meant. He didn’t answer me right away as we stepped out into the lobby and made our way down the steps to Parker’s waiting bike.

“Lailah,” Brayden said, grabbing my hand and turning me to look at him. “Do you remember what I asked you at the Halloween party when you apologized for being a cock block to us all after your declaration to Mallory?”

I frowned, trying to think back to that night, but many of the little details had been lost to me. “There are a lot of things that I can’t remember from that night. I’m sorry, you're going to have to remind me.”

“I said ‘What if we were all yours and not interested in anyone else?’”

I was struck dumb at his words. He can’t really mean that. There is no way that all five of these guys liked me that way, let alone them all being okay dating the same girl. How could this ever work? Wouldn’t they get jealous and fight even more than they already do? There is no way that Micah would ever see me as anything more than a friend he merely tolerates. He can't even talk to me right now because he has nothing nice to say. Parker is practically my other best friend, but he wouldn’t be interested in more . . . would he? Jay and I are close, but I don’t ever get a romantic vibe off of him, same with Hudson.

“Stop. I can see your mind running a million miles per hour,” Brayden said, taking my head in his hands as if that would slow down my panic. “What I’m trying to say is that I, personally, am all in, whatever that looks like for us and this new bond. As for the others, I’m not saying this is going to happen overnight, but I just wanted you to know it could be a possibility. There are a few aspects to being Synergy that we haven't quite gone over yet.” Before I could ask what that was, he held up a hand. “We are not going over that tonight. A lot has already happened, no need to add more to the plate that’s already full. Come on, let's get you back to the house.”

I hopped on the bike behind Brayden and snuggled into him like I had always wanted to do to Parker. It was definitely helping to settle my nerves. There was something about Brayden that always seemed to ground me, keeping me calm. I felt safe with all the guys—even Micah—but with Brayden, there just seemed to be a different level of trust. He was my rock and always stood by me. Even after I lashed out at him last week, he’d raced over here to help me, not even knowing what really was going on.

As Brayden drove, I settled into myself and found that the new connection between the two of us glowed in the darkness. It was a pale green light, and when I touched it, it filled my body with warmth and love. Could I feel Brayden’s emotions? Or was I just projecting my own? Then the warmth turned hotter, setting my skin on fire, flooding my body with need that I’d never felt before. It reminded me of that dream I had of Brayden and Parker on the dance floor and how they made my body burn for them.

Brayden shivered as I felt the heat seep into his skin. He parked the bike close to the door and yanked me off, cradling me to his body. He ushered us inside and then kicked the door shut with his foot, tossing the keys on the counter of the kitchen before racing to the stairs. Surprised at his need to rush, I looked up and saw his eyes filled with desire. The urge to drag his face down so I could kiss him was overwhelming. Taking the stairs two at a time, we made it to the second floor in record time. Darkness filled the rec room, but that didn’t slow Brayden down at all. Kicking open his door, he stalked over to the bed and placed me gently on it before he turned and shut the door, locking it with a soft click.

Laying on his bed made my body hum with excitement at what I could only hope was going to happen next. Flicking on a lamp near the bed filled the room with a soft glow, setting the mood further. I didn’t get a chance to take in his room, having only been in it once before, because Brayden unzipped his hoodie and tossed it aside. He didn’t have anything on underneath, and I was blessed with the sight of his bare chest.

Brayden was fit in all the right places; he took care of himself, but he didn’t look like a guy who lived in the gym. The soft light set off his golden skin, making it almost impossible to look away. He climbed up on the bed, straddling me but keeping his body above mine, not letting anything touch. His hazel eyes were alight with need, his breath coming more quickly, as if he were having to hold himself back.

“Lailah, I need you to tell me right now if you're not ready for this,” Brayden said, his voice strained.

I gave myself a moment and made my decision. I reached up and pulled him to me so I could kiss his perfect lips. He moaned and let his body cover mine, careful not to smother me beneath his larger body. I could already tell this was going to be a far different experience than the one I’d had with the one other guy I’d gotten this far with. Never had I felt the need to have my naked skin on someone else's. With Brayden’s help, I peeled off my shirt, and he helped to unhook my bra. Not needing my encouragement, Brayden slipped me out of my jeans, pulling my underwear with them. I was now bare under him, and the heat of his gaze on my skin set me alight.

“Lailah, you are stunning; you could make angels weep.” I could feel my face begin to heat with embarrassment at his words and inexperience of what to do now.

As if sensing my insecurity, Brayden pulled me to him, nipping and licking at my lips until I let him in, and he swept me away from my worries. I let myself surrender to him and the intensity of our feelings. He gently kissed down my neck, using his teeth ever so slightly, causing me to gasp under his attention. When he made it down to my breasts, he held one in his hand and looked me in the eye as he let his tongue flick over my nipple. Sensations I’d never felt before rocketed through my body, directly to my core. I shifted under him, needing friction between my legs.

“Liked that, did we?” Brayden asked before doing the same thing again, only this time after the lick, he latched his mouth on my nipple and swirled his tongue around the pert bud.

“Brayden, please,” I begged, but I didn’t really know what I was asking for or how to get it. I just knew my body was pleading for him.

“Patience, my Angel. All in good time,” Brayden said, moving to my other breast, causing me to arch under his attack.

My blood was singing and breath quickening with the onslaught of sensations as he used his other hand to flick the nipple that wasn’t in his mouth. I let out a sharp cry as he bit down gently on one nipple and pinched the other. I bucked, trying to get away from the stimulation, but his body kept me in place.

“I am going to erase any other memory you have of someone touching your body. I want you to think of me and only me right now,” Brayden said, whispering along my lips before he kissed me hard and pulled away to slide further down my body.

“That won’t be hard to do,” I panted, knowing that the space between my legs would be soaked with my desire for him and him alone.

Brayden chuckled along my stomach, driving me crazy with his nips and fingers trailing closer to where I needed them to be. Lost in all the sensations, I didn’t notice that he had finally gotten to where my need was pulsating until he languidly let his tongue make his presence known. Gasping, my hand latched onto his hair, and I felt myself bolt into a sitting position with him between my legs. He gently put a hand on my stomach and pushed me back so he could have better access between my legs.

I’d never had anyone go down on me before, it had me wondering what other amazing things I’d been missing out on. Brayden’s tongue swirled around my clit, causing me to dig my nails into the sheets so I could have something to hold onto. He shifted, and I felt one of his fingers rubbing between my lips, wetting his finger before he began to nudge at my opening. For all intents and purposes, I was a virgin, and I wasn’t sure if Brayden knew this or not, but I couldn’t find the mental capacity to tell him.

Slowly, his finger entered me, and I groaned. “Oh God, yes.”

Brayden just let his finger sit there, and he wiggled it along the top of my channel. I writhed under his assault as he timed his tongue to what he was doing with his finger. Just when I wasn’t sure I could take anymore, he added another finger, sending me off the cliff. I cried out his name as he drew out every ounce of pleasure, making my body shake. Slowly, he slid his fingers out, and he crawled back up my body, scattering kisses as he went.

“That was amazing,” I panted.

I rose up and kissed him, letting our lips linger and taking my time. I could taste the saltiness that I could only guess was myself. I thought I would be grossed out, but hey—it came from me originally.

“You are the sexiest woman I’ve ever seen,” Brayden said, a pleased smile on his lips.

“Is that what sex is supposed to feel like?” I asked, still trying to catch my breath.

Brayden chuckled. “No, Angel, that was just foreplay. Think you're up for the real deal?”

“Oh, hell yeah,” I said, causing his grin to grow wider.

He slid off the bed and slid down his sweats and boxers, revealing what he was packing. My eyes widened when I took in all his glory. I didn’t have much to go on, only having seen one other dick up close, but I had no doubt he was above average. While not overly thick, he was long and had a slight curve. Crawling off the bed, I had the strongest urge to touch. Kneeling in front of him, I let my finger trail over the length of it. Brayden hissed at my touch, and his dick bobbed with my attention. Getting braver, I grasped him firmly, feeling how silky and soft the skin was.

“Angel, if you don’t let go, I am going to come here and now. That is not how I want this to go down tonight,” Brayden said, pulling my attention back up to him.

Yanking me to my feet, he then bent down, cupping my ass and pulling me up so I could wrap my legs around him as he walked back to the bed. He flopped me down so that my ass just made it onto the bed. Standing over me he looked down at me with such tenderness and desire, my heart was bursting. Bending my knees, he pushed them back till they were hugging my chest, leaving me utterly exposed to him.

“I could feel how tight you are, so I’m going to take this slow at first. I don’t want to hurt you. This is all about your pleasure too, not just mine.”

I could have wept at his words, and I relaxed even more knowing he wasn’t going to just use me like my ex had. The sensation of Brayden’s dick gliding across the outside of my vagina caused me to throw my head back and let out a moan of pleasure. Doing that a few more times, Brayden gently pushed the head of his dick in with a steady pressure, letting my slickness guide him in bit by bit. I knew he was doing this for my benefit, but at this pace it was pure torture. My hips bucked, trying to get him to move faster, but he ignored my encouragement and kept at his lazy pace.

Finally, he was in as far as my body could take, his cock butting up against the end of the road. He started to pull back just as slowly until I latched onto his wrist.

“If you don’t start fucking me like you mean it right this moment, I am going to lose my mind,” I snapped.

“Seems my little angel has a dark side,” Brayden commented.

Then, giving me a wicked grin, he pulled all the way out, causing me to cry out in ecstasy as he plunged all the way back in seconds later. He did that two more times before I started to break out in a sweat as my body burned with pleasure. Seating himself deep in me, he got to work plundering my vagina, letting out his own grunts of pleasure to accompany my own. Reaching out for him, needing to feel him closer to me, he leaned forward and captured my lips as he kept up his steady rhythm. Pausing, he picked me up and moved us both farther onto the bed. My legs, now free, wrapped around his waist and clutched him to me, our bodies molded together.

As I could feel my release building, my power started to as well. I could feel Brayden’s response as well, both whirling around us in a torrent of heat, passion, and power. My breath quickened, as I knew I was teetering on the brink of an orgasm, and I noticed that Brayden’s rhythm was becoming more erratic. Unable to hold back any longer, I let myself fall over the edge, letting it take me, and Brayden was soon to follow behind.

Power burst out, causing us to float a few inches above the bed, knocking things off the wall. Our pleasure bounced off one another, dragging it out further, both of us lost in our ecstasy. The bond that I felt earlier glowed brighter, and stronger emotions flowed between us as if a curtain had been pulled back. I could feel Brayden’s joy at having me in his arms, the contentment of having shared this experience together, and a fierce protectiveness over me. As I basked in his emotions and the warmth of his body around mine, I let myself drift.

Until the sound of a door getting kicked in broke us out of our stupor.

“Brayden, wake up! We're under attack!” Micah’s voice bellowed as he flicked on the main light to the room. “What the fuck?”

FOURTEEN

LAILAH

Brayden scooped me up and wrapped me in his comforter before he turned to deal with his best friend. Micah stood there with only a pair of boxers on and red headphones around his neck. The shocked look on his face as he absorbed what he had walked in on was priceless. I had to cover my mouth so I wouldn’t burst out laughing and make his embarrassment worse.

Brayden, unbothered by the fact that he was still naked, stood up from the bed and grabbed his boxers off the floor. “What the hell are you talking about? No one is under attack.”

“I felt a power surge, and the walls rattled, I assumed . . .” Micah said, trying to justify his actions.

“Bro, you're going to need to tell me what kind of headphones those are if you couldn’t hear the noises that were going on in there,” Parker said, leaning against the door jamb.

Oh my God. They heard me. I am going to die of embarrassment. Please ground, open up under me so I can just hide in a hole deep underground.

“Shut the fuck up, Parker, you’re freaking Lailah out,” Brayden snapped.

Parker looked as shocked as I was. Brayden never yelled at the others; he was always the last to get riled up about things. Wait, could he hear what I was thinking? Can he understand what I am thinking right now?

Turning, Brayden walked over to me and wrapped me in his arms, and I buried my face into his neck. “Angel, you're going to need to calm down. Your panic is driving me crazy with the need to fix it.”

“You can feel her emotions?” Hudson asked.

Is everyone awake? Did I keep everyone awake with how loud I was during sex? Kill. Me. Now.

Brayden pulled back from me to look at the others, but I continued to hide behind his chest. “Yes, now you all need to leave before her embarrassment chokes me to death. God, guys, show some class and go back to bed.”

“You try going back to bed with the worst case of blue balls ever,” Parker muttered.

The sound of shuffling feet and the slam of the door brought a flood of relief.

“They're gone now,” Brayden confirmed.

I sat back and searched his face, feeling his irritation at the guys for barging into the room like that. Then his gaze met mine, and I was flooded with warmth at being so cherished.

“I’m sorry our first night together ended so poorly.”

“How could we know that sex would send off a power burst like that? I guess we can’t fault him for jumping into action,” I said with a smile.

“True, but still. He and the others didn’t need to linger after they knew everything was okay. Parker most certainly didn’t need to bring up how vocal you were.”

I slapped a hand across Brayden’s mouth, glaring at him. “Which is something we are not going to bring up ever again.”

He just nodded his head under my hand before licking it. “Gross.”

“That’s not what you said when I was licking you before . . .”

Blushing furiously, I grabbed a pillow and slammed it into his face. “That’s it, I’m going to sleep in the other room by myself.”

“Yeah, that’s not gonna happen, Angel,” Brayden said, grabbing me around the waist as I tried to hop off the bed. “You’re going to stay with me all night. Who knows, if you're lucky I might remind you how much you liked my tongue on you.”

My body tingled at the thought of him giving me a repeat. “Fine, but I need to use the bathroom first. I can’t sleep feeling so . . . sticky.”

“Shit,” Brayden muttered, letting his head fall to my shoulder. “I feel like such a dick.”

“What? Why?” I asked, feeling panicked. Did he regret what we just did?

Brayden looked up at me, his lips thinned and worry creasing his eyes. “I didn’t put on a condom or even ask you if you were on birth control. God, that makes me such an ass. I’m also clean by the way I haven’t been with anyone in a long time.”

“I appreciate that you’re worried, but we're all good. I got the implant before coming to school. My mother insisted that you never know what could happen, and it was better to be safe than sorry,” I said, feeling my cheeks flush.

He let out a heavy sigh and kissed my lips before lifting me to my feet and giving me a swat on the butt. “Go get cleaned up. We both need to get some sleep.”

I could feel Brayden’s heated gaze as he watched me walk to the bathroom, making me feel sexier than I ever had before in my life. The connection between us warmed me, letting me know just how much he liked the view. Quickly washing up, I made my way back to him, and he lifted the covers for me, inviting me in. As I slid in, he wrapped his arms around me and hummed his contentment. Wrapped up in strong arms and nestled against his warm chest, it was easy to drift off to sleep.

The late-night and early morning classes weren't the combination I wanted after the amazing night I’d had with Brayden, but there wasn’t much I could do. Letting him sleep in, I borrowed a t-shirt and made my way into the room they had set up for me. I found a pile of clean clothes on the bed with a note from Beth letting me know that the rest would be cleaned and brought over along with all my other things. As much as I wanted to argue with her, I was going to need to put a pin in that for later. I quickly showered and sorted through the clothes on my bed. I smiled when I found the right shirt to pair with my jeans. This one said Physically, I’m here. Mentally, I’m in a galaxy far far away. It would fit my mood perfectly. Swiping the hoodie I took from Brayden’s room, I tossed my backpack over my shoulder and ran down the stairs to the kitchen.

“Oh good morning, Lailah. I heard about what happened last night. How awful is that,” Sarah said, reaching out to hug me.

“Thanks, Sarah. It definitely was not a college experience I was expecting to deal with. I have to run to class, so I’ll just grab something at the cafe between classes. I just didn’t want you expecting me,” I said, when she released me from her hug.

Sarah frowned at me and walked over to where breakfast was waiting to be set out on the table. “There will be none of that, dear; you will just have to take this with you,” she said, handing me a breakfast burrito.

“Wow, this is amazing, thank you!” I smiled, wrapping it up in a napkin and waving as I left the kitchen.

Stepping out the front door, I was shocked to see Jay’s Jeep idling in the driveway. The passenger window rolled down, revealing Jay in the driver's seat. “Get in, you're gonna be late.”

His words made me jump into action, and as soon as I hopped up into the car, we were off. I noticed that Jay was just in sweats and a T-shirt, which he never wore. He was always ready for anything to happen at any moment. Seeing him so relaxed was nice to see for once.

“Did you just wake up?” I asked, unable to keep my curiosity to myself.

“Yes.”

Okay, strange. He’s always up at five am to go running or work out. Seems like everyone had a late night last night. Then a thought struck me.

“By any chance, did you wake up just so you could take me to class?”

“Yes.”

Seriously, I thought we’d gotten past the one-word-answer part of our friendship.

Wait, does he no longer want to be my friend because I slept with Brayden? No, that doesn’t make sense, you don’t wake up to take someone you’re not friends with to class. Chill, you’re making more out of this than you need to. Just be grateful; you probably would have gotten lost as it is on your own.

“Thank you,” I said, and shoved my burrito in my mouth so I couldn’t question him more.

Jay’s gray eyes flicked to me then back to the road as we pulled into the parking lot. “You’re welcome. Call me if you need a ride back.”

Jumping out of the Jeep, I flashed Jay a grateful smile.

“Sure thing,” I said, and shut the door, heading to class.

My first class went without a hitch, even if I struggled to keep my mind on the material that Professor Phillips was having me go over. I kept drifting back to all that had happened last night. Days like yesterday made me wish I could go back in time to when I was a simple girl from Wisconsin. Then my mind would bring up images of my night with Brayden, and I went back to thinking that I wouldn’t change a thing about my life now.

Class finished early enough for me to get a chai latte before my psych class, which I was eternally grateful for. I didn’t notice the looks everyone was giving me as I waited for my drink until someone knocked into me.

“Trash,” someone said under a lame, fake cough as the girl continued on her way.

I looked around the coffee shop to see everyone glancing at me. Some snickered behind their hands, as I was totally clueless to what was happening. I grabbed my drink as soon as they called my name and headed for the door. That’s when I noticed the bulletin board near the entrance. Pictures of my dorm room were plastered all over it, showing everyone what they had done. I was rooted to the spot at the horror of realizing the whole school knew and that they’d left these pictures here for me to see.

As my anger increased, power rose within me, burning through my veins. I wasn’t even trying to hold it back. I was over being a doormat for these bitches. I was sick of it! As I pulled my power around me, I noticed it was stronger than it had been yesterday, and I could see my golden energy tinged with flickers of green. The Bond seemed to have added to my strength, and it made me grin.

With this much power, I could bring everyone to their knees. They would know how inferior they are and beg for mercy that I wasn’t going to give them. I didn’t start this fight, but I was going to end it in a way they would remember.

I let my power pool into the ground below my feet, and with a swipe of my hand, I collapsed the wall the bulletin board was hung on and watched it crash down into the fissure that I created on the floor. Another swipe of my hand, and I shut it so no one would ever see those photos again. Then, pulling on my own golden energy, I let it swirl around me and let out a piercing scream that shattered all the windows and glass in the place. This caused everyone else to scream and dive for cover. There was no way out since I was blocking the front door, and in their panic, they didn’t think about a back door. Watching their tear-stained faces plead with me to let them live pleased me, but mercy wasn’t what I was going to give them⁠—

“Lailah!” Parker shouted.

Suddenly, the whole scene around me shattered, and Parker was standing in front of me shaking my shoulders. Panic was all I could see in his normally playful brown eyes.

FIFTEEN

PARKER

“God damn it, woman, don’t scare me like that,” I said, resting my forehead against hers.

“What just happened?” Lailah hesitantly asked, her voice shaky with confusion as she looked around the quad.

“Come on, let’s talk somewhere quieter,” I said, putting my arm around her shoulders and guiding her away from the gawking onlookers. Once we were away from the majority of people, I pulled her to sit on a short wall bordering trees on the walkway. I didn’t press for answers right away; I just held her to my side, giving her a moment while I texted Brayden.

Parker:

Hey, something weird happened with Lailah and I think you need to be here to keep her grounded.

Brayden:

What happened?!

Parker:

I’m not too sure but she seems to be really freaked out by it. We’re sitting by the tech lab building.

Brayden:

Ditching class now, give me a minute and I’ll be right there.

I took a deep, calming breath, knowing that freaking out wasn’t going to help. Normally, I wasn’t at the school this early since my classes were later in the day, but I had to do some work in the Tech lab before class started. Thank God I did, because if Lailah had been left alone much longer, she would have exploded like a nuke and taken out the whole damn school.

“Care to share what’s going on in that brain of yours?” I asked.

My words made her jump a little, like she’d forgotten I was there. She looked up at me and reached out to touch my cheek with a slight frown on her face. I had to admit, it was kind of cute to see that wrinkle between her brows. I quirked a questioning brow at her as she continued to poke at me.

“I know I’m attractive, but let’s try not to get too distracted,” I teased, grinning at her.

“Sorry, I just needed to make sure this was really happening. Apparently, I’m imagining things,” she murmured, not even blushing at my joke like normal.

I frowned. “What does that mean?”

“What was I doing when you found me?” Lailah asked, shifting so she could look at me better.

“Nothing. Standing in the middle of the quad as if in a trance, but you were giving off crazy power vibes. I was afraid you were going to explode if you didn’t get that shit under control. I tried to talk to you, but you didn’t hear me or even seem to see me. It wasn’t until I shouted at you that it seemed to bring you back,” I explained, my panic still fresh in my mind.

“Have you been into the cafe today?” she blurted out.

“Random segue, but no, I haven't.”

“This is going to make me sound crazy, but can you go and see if there are pictures of my dorm on the bulletin board by the door?”

“Seriously?” When she gave me a stern look, I raised both hands in surrender. “Okay, I’ll be right back.”

Leaving her to sit there alone was not what I wanted to do right now. She strangely seemed more fragile than I’d ever seen her. Whatever happened had really messed with her. As I made my way back to the cafe, I ran into Brayden.

“Where is she? Is everything okay?” Brayden demanded, searching for her when he didn’t see her with me.

I grabbed his arm before he could brush past me. “Wait a sec, would you? Look, she asked me to go to the cafe and see if someone posted pictures of the shit they did to her room. I have no idea what it has to do with anything, but just come look with me. Having two people confirm will be better than just one.”

Brayden looked at me, then back over in the direction of where Lailah was sitting. “I can feel the panic and chaos in her mind; she’s terrified of something.”

I envied Brayden having that connection to her. I knew I shouldn’t be jealous of him. Yes, he was the first to bond with her, but eventually, we would all have to share. I clenched my jaw at the realization that the first time I thought about being truly committed to someone, she wouldn’t just be mine.

“Let’s go so we can hurry back. I don’t want to leave her alone that long,” I said, walking to the cafe and yanking the door open.

Brayden followed me in, and we both stopped in front of the bulletin board. Without saying anything, I pulled my phone out and took a picture of it, then headed back out.

“What the hell do you think is going on?” Brayden whispered to me as we approached Lailah.

“Fuck if I know, but we need to get this figured out sooner rather than later,” I answered, back just as quietly.

Lailah was sitting right where I left her with her head in her hands, and I panicked at the thought she might be crying. What the hell was this woman doing to me that I cared so much?

“There are no pictures, Trouble,” I said. She lifted her head and looked at me. “Here, I even took a picture so you could see for yourself that it’s got all the same stupid crap on it that it always does.”

Handing her my phone, I knew what she would see—the bulletin board covered in flyers and other news that students had left over the past few months. Brayden sat on one side of her, wrapping an arm around her waist as she handed back my phone. I sat down on her other side, taking her hand in mine, needing to feel connected to her.

“What’s going on, Angel?” Brayden pressed, rubbing the small of her back comfortingly.

“Everything was normal. I went to class, and then when it was over, I left and headed to the cafe to get a chai. I didn’t get a chance this morning since I overslept,” Lailah started, and Brayden shifted uncomfortably.

We all knew why she had been up late last night. Serves him right to squirm; he had no idea what kind of hell it was to lay there and listen to her sexy moans coming from his room. Never in my life had I been so hard and turned on for a woman that wasn’t even in the same room as me.

“When I got there, everyone was staring and whispering about me and calling me trash,” Lailah continued, pulling me back to the present. “I grabbed my drink and bolted, but that’s when I saw the pictures of what they did to my dorm plastered all over the board. I was so mad, and I let my power overwhelm me. With the addition of your power, Brayden, I was even stronger, and I was able to manipulate your powers, and I might have ripped open the ground under the wall holding the board and sent it crashing to Hell.”

“You what?” Brayden sat back, shocked.

“Oh, that’s not the end of it. I used my powers to shatter every window and piece of glass in the building and send everyone screaming for cover. I reveled in their fear of me and was going to kill them all before Parker pulled me out of whatever the hell I was in,” Lailah murmured, tears starting to trail down her cheeks.

My hands clenched into fists at seeing her this distraught over a situation that didn’t even really happen.

“Brayden, am I broken? Did I do something wrong to turn out like this? Are we sure that a demon hasn’t possessed me and I just don’t know it?” Lailah babbled, clutching at Brayden’s arm.

“Angel, no, you’re not broken,” Brayden said, pulling her onto his lap so he could hold her close. “Parker, I’m going to take her back to the house. Could you give Hudson a heads up? I’ll make sure Beth knows what’s going on too.”

Fucker, why do you get to be her knight in shining armor? What about me? I’m the one who was here first.

“Yeah, no problem, text me if you need anything. I only have one class left for the day,” I said between gritted teeth.

“Come on, let’s get you home,” Brayden said, standing and setting her on her feet.

Watching them walk away hand in hand was its own brand of torture, but I knew I just needed to make it through one more class, and then I could get back to her.

Fuck, this class was pointless. Why did I need to study old books that no one reads anymore? I was going for a technology degree. What did Jane Eyre have to do with anything? I looked down at my watch, counting down the minutes until the class was over. Suffering through this was hard enough already, but to know that something was going on with Lailah made it even worse.

That girl deserved her nickname—she found trouble without even trying. Remembering, for the millionth time, the image of her dead eyes looking at me in the quad made me shiver. That crystal blue gaze was always filled with some emotion or another. It's what made it so fun to tease her. Cami used to be fun, but after fifteen years of me messing with her, she had finally learned to fight back. Cami was like my little sister, even though I was only three months older than her, but she was still half my size. She used to follow all of us around during the summer when we were forced to spend time together before training started.

Thanks to that little punk, I was able to run into Lailah—literally. I was worried that she was going to turn Lailah against being my friend, but it seemed to do the opposite and made me want to be friends with her regardless of whatever trash Cami was going to spout. Now knowing that Trouble was Synergy changed everything. I wanted to give into the need, the pull to be close to her. Everyone always saw me as the big flirt, the guy who always needed to be around people and a party. They weren't wrong, but Lailah was different.

“Okay, class, I expect to get your second draft in by the end of the week. This final paper counts for twenty percent of your grade, and some of you cannot afford to do poorly,” Mrs. Blackwell announced.

I burst out of my chair and headed for the door.

“Mr. Jones, a word.”

I groaned internally, knowing what she was going to talk to me about. I turned to see Mrs. Blackwell signaling for me to join her at her desk.

“Mr. Jones, it appears that I still don’t have your first draft that you promised you would have for me by Monday. I can’t keep giving you extra time. It's not fair to the other students. I don’t care who your father is, you are on equal footing here in this classroom, do you understand me?”

“Yes, ma’am, I understand.”

“If you get me a draft by this weekend, I will count it as your first and second draft, so it better be good. You need this paper to pass my class, as I’m sure you know.”

Taking a deep breath, knowing she was right, I had no other option but to do as she asked. “Thank you, I’ll get it to you by this weekend.”

“See that you do. You may go,” Mrs. Blackwell said, waving me off as if she knew I was a lost cause.

Not wanting her to change her mind, I raced out of the room and shouldered my backpack. I jogged to the parking lot towards my truck—the weather was getting to the point it was too cold to ride my bike. I grinned at the vintage Chevy twelve-valve five-nine Cummins. It was lifted, dually, in cherry red, with stacks. My bike was amazing, and I loved the freedom it gave me, but this baby right here was my pride and joy. I got her out of a junkyard and had her all fixed up. Technology and an engine had a lot of the same feel to them. It was bits and pieces that fit together in just the right way to make the whole thing work. I didn’t share much about my mechanical side, as it was something I did just for me.

Climbing up into the cab, I let her idle for a bit. You never wanted to rush a lady; it was better to get her all hot and ready before you demanded things from her. I checked my cell just to make sure Brayden hadn’t texted me needing anything. There wasn’t a message from him, but one from Hudson.

Hudson:

Any update?

I grinned. Looks like Hudson might have actually found a girl that would get his head out of his research for once.

Parker:

Heading back to the house now.

In all the years I’d known him, I’d never seen him date. I knew his parents split, and he took it really hard, but even knowing him as a kid, he was just so closed off from emotions. Hudson and I got along well, and in our group, that was saying something. If Lailah hadn’t shown up in our lives, there would be no family meals at the dining room table. I couldn’t even remember the last time we all played video games together before she arrived.

The bigger miracle was that Micah was spending time around people other than Brayden and actually trying not to piss everyone off the moment he opened his mouth. Thinking about him made me grip my steering wheel tighter as I made my way back home. That bastard thought he was so much better than everyone else. He never wanted to be a Blessed Warrior. He resented the fact that he was forced into it and took it out on all of us. Oh, I’d tried to play nice and win him over, but a man can only be told off so many times before he says fuck it. If he wasn’t going to be part of the team, then fine. Who needs the prick anyways.

Just as I pulled into the garage, my phone buzzed, and I looked down to see Beth had sent out a group text.

Beth:

Meeting in the library in one hour. This is not negotiable.

Fuck. That isn’t good.

Dropping out of the truck, I made my way up the stairs into the kitchen, hanging up my keys in the lock box by the door. I noticed Sarah wasn’t in the kitchen, and neither was Garrett. Smiling to myself, I looked around, making sure the coast was clear before making my way to the fridge. Sarah always had stuff in here for us to eat whenever we got hungry, but she also hid whatever delicious dessert or baked item she made on the top shelf. I treated my body like a temple, but my sweet tooth was my downfall. I could eat a whole cake by myself if I was allowed to. Anything sweet was good, but if it was chocolate then it was game on!

“Parker Allen Jones, I know you’re not thinking about taking that chocolate cream pie I made for dessert tonight,” Sarah’s stern voice called out from behind me.

Cringing, I turned and looked at her over my shoulder, knowing I was not going to talk my way out of this. But one had to try, right?

“How could you think that of me?” I said, letting my face show my horror at the idea. “I was merely peckish and looking for a snack to tide me over till dinner. I was going to waste away from hunger. Would you deny me nourishment?”

I knew I wasn’t fooling her, but the twinkle in her eyes and the smile she was fighting meant she wasn’t really mad at me. I have gone many nights without dessert because I crossed her. Contrary to popular belief, I was a fast learner if the punishment was harsh enough.

“If that’s the case, you're in luck. I just finished making the power bites that Jay likes, on the second shelf in there,” Sarah offered, knowing I hated those overly healthy oatmeal balls of death.

“Yeah, great, that should hit the spot,” I said, trying to keep the grimace off my face.

Sarah started laughing at me, shaking her head, knowing that she had won this round. “Goodness, the look on your face—you would think I was offering you balls of dirt!”

“It would be about the same,” I muttered.

A timer went off on the oven, and Sarah grabbed her oven mitts and pulled out a tray of muffins. “It seems you're fortunate enough to be around when these came out. I was going to take these to the staff working in the offices below, but I suppose you can have one.”

I hugged Sarah and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. “I knew you loved me.”

“Now take your muffin and scat, I don’t want to hear you were lurking in my kitchen while I was gone,” Sarah said, smacking me with one of the oven mitts. I took the delicious-smelling chocolate muffin to go.

“What if I need milk?”

“Go, now, or I’m taking the muffin back,” Sarah frowned. I had reached my limit with her.

I saluted her and hastily made my way upstairs before she could follow through on her threat. As I entered the common room that all our rooms centered around, I found Brayden sitting in his favorite chair sleeping, his head resting on his hand. I wanted so badly to play a prank on him, to get even for the fact he was bonded to her and I wasn’t.

“Leave him alone,” Jay said, surprising me, causing me to jump and almost drop my treasured muffin.

“What the fuck, man!” I hissed, trying not to yell at him.

Jay just gave me a side glance filled with warning and headed to his room, leaving the door open a crack. He never left his door open; he was all about security and the sanctity of his space. I don’t think any of us had ever been in his room or seen the inside of it since he moved in two years ago. Deciding it would be best that I hid out in my room, I left Brayden to his nap and retreated until the meeting.

SIXTEEN

LAILAH

Inever fell asleep, just laid on my bed, rehashing what just happened. When I couldn’t take it any longer, I slipped out of bed and wandered over to the closet. I knew Beth moved fast, and I shouldn’t have been shocked that all of my clothes were hung, folded, and placed on shelves, clean and ready for me. I grabbed some comfy clothes and headed for the bathroom, needing a shower to rinse off the rest of this crazy day. Turning the water as hot as it could go, I stripped down and hopped in. It was then I noticed everything I had in my shower caddy was placed in here, ready for me to use.

Beth really doesn’t want me going back to the dorm.

Choosing to let that go further down on the list of things to deal with, I indulged in a long shower. I did not want to go back out there and face the conversation we needed to have about my meltdown.

“Trouble, you okay?” Parker called out.

I whipped around to find him standing in my bathroom.

“What the hell, Parker!” I screeched, trying to cover myself with my hands.

“Fuck, sorry,” Parker said, turning around. “I knocked a few times, and you didn’t answer me, so I was worried you lost it again.”

“As you can see, I’m fine. What are you still doing here while I’m in the shower naked?” I demanded.

“Beth wants to see us all in the library. She sent a text, but I’m guessing you didn’t get it,” Parker explained.

“Great, thanks, now get the fuck out of my bathroom.”

“Alright, I’m going, I’m going,” Parker said, but he paused at the door and turned to meet my gaze. “You should swear more, it's kind of hot.”

Before I could show him just how much I could swear, he left and shut the door behind him. I liked Parker, and he was becoming one of my best friends, but I wasn’t in the habit of letting friends see me naked. I wasn’t sure what pissed me off more—that he was totally comfortable waltzing into my bathroom with me in the shower, or the way my body tingled knowing he had seen me.

These are not thoughts you have about people who are your friends! You just started something with Brayden; you slept together. Get your head right. Parker is a flirt and likes to get under your skin. Deal with the man you know you can count on first, then figure out how the rest of them fit in all this.

Shutting off the water, I toweled off and got dressed before I dealt with my hair. If I had any other unwanted guests, I wanted to have clothes on. I rushed to finish up in the bathroom and headed out to make my way to the library. It appeared that I was the last one to get the memo since everyone else was seated, waiting for me. Glancing around the room, looking for a seat, I hurried and slid in between Brayden and Hudson on the couch.

“Sorry, didn’t see the text,” I mumbled.

Beth just nodded to me and looked over everyone else gathered. “Alright, let’s start this off with the matter of Brayden and Lailah bonding the other night.”

I could feel my stomach sinking at her words. Please don’t tell me we’re going to talk about us having sex in front of everyone. Sensing my discomfort, Brayden grabbed my hand and held it in his lap, stroking my knuckles with his thumb.

“Lailah, there are a few aspects to being Synergy that I haven't discussed with you yet. There was so much to cover once you discovered who you are that I didn’t want to add this on until it was necessary. It seems that things have progressed faster than I anticipated,” Beth said as she glanced down at our conjoined hands.

“Remember when I told you that Aiden Reyvick, our school founder, had a vision about Synergy? He wrote in two different journals about the enlightened conversation he had with the angel that came to talk to him. One we were able to read right away and gave us the limited information we have had up to this point. The other was protected by an angel’s seal and was only able to be opened when Synergy came into power.” Beth paused, looking at all of to see if we were following.

It struck me then that whatever she was going to tell us, the guys didn’t know about either.

“What I held back from telling you was that Synergy was meant to bond with each of the elements. You control the ability to harness your own power, but additionally, you can take and give power to those you are bonded to. Let me make it clear that the Oath and the Bond are two different steps. The Oath is the first step in bonding yourself to each element. That oath is to be taken very seriously—you are giving your word in front of the angels themselves. From this new information, we gathered there was a warning that the Oath can be broken if the Blessed Warrior turns his back on Synergy to serve the darkness. Once the Oath is given, then it progresses to the Bond.

The Bond is the physical part. Where the Oath is magical. Once bonded, it is believed to be an unbreakable connection. We are all adult enough here that I don’t think we need to go further into the details of that interaction. I will only ask this once because it is my duty as your caretaker here. Lailah, do we need to get you to a doctor?”

My face flamed, and all I wanted was to sink into the couch and never be seen again. “No, I have an implant already, there’s no need.”

“Moving on then,” Beth said with a swift nod. “Once both steps are completed, your powers are combined, and it will be that way forever. There is no changing what has been done. As each Bond is formed, we will need to work with both parties on how to control the new power levels they will both have. Any questions?”

The way that Beth was talking about the bond made me think that I was missing something in all this. It was staring me right in the face, and I just wasn’t seeing it. Seeing or feeling that I was struggling to understand, Brayden squeezed my hand, drawing my attention.

“What Beth is trying to explain is that you and I are connected to each other for life.”

My jaw fell open at the shocking reality of his words. Now that I had bonded with Brayden, he was tied to me for life. How could I have done this to him without knowing!?

“Angel, listen, you might not have known what it meant to have bonded—but I did. I went into this knowing that accepting the Oath meant that you would be the only woman for me for the rest of my life. Before finding out that you were Synergy, I struggled with keeping my distance, because I knew that at any moment I might have to leave you. Not everyone agreed with Ryevick’s assumptions that Synergy would be human. I always suspected it would be a woman. How else could the Bond have worked between all of us?”

I sat there, silent, as I searched his face and reached for our Bond to understand what he was feeling right now. Finding what I was looking for, he let his emotions free, drowning me in his affection and confidence that he made the right choice. He didn’t feel trapped or upset that he was stuck with me. Quite the opposite—he was thrilled.

“Lailah, I know this is a lot to take in, and you and Brayden I’m sure will need to have a more personal talk, but there is more,” Beth hedged, breaking me out of my connection with Brayden.

“Oh good, there's more,” I muttered.

Hudson chuckled.

“Nona, Mr. Phillips, and I have all been going over the new journal the last few weeks, and there is a matter that we have to discuss with all of you.” This caused all the guys to sit up a little straighter, their attention trained on Beth. “Synergy was brought to us as the ultimate weapon, but this weapon can be used by either side. What we have learned is that Lailah is in danger until she has bonded with each of you. This would cut off any chance that the demons could come and take her from us.”

“More Elementi propaganda bullshit,” Micah bellowed, jumping to his feet.

“Shut the fuck up, Micah, no one cares what you think,” Parker growled, flipping him the bird.

Before the room could erupt into a fight between the two of them, Hudson cut in. “It might help if you could explain that more. I’m not sure I understand. How could the demons have anything to do with a heavenly being?”

Both Micah and Parker paused, waiting to hear the answer.

“That’s the thing. Lailah isn’t a heavenly being, she’s a human. The rule of free will still applies, even to her. If she decided to turn away from us and leave to join the demons, then that is her choice. By completing the Bond with all of you, it is her deciding to stay on our side. She will bless us with the chance to fight the darkness and bring peace back to our turbulent world.”

This information was like a slap in the face. It made all of my strange nightmares and the hallucinations I had make more sense. “Wait, why did the demon that took over Mallory want to kill me if they could use me?”

“We believe that they wanted to take you from the world before you came into power, removing the chance you would side with us. If the threat is taken out before it’s a true threat, then they are no longer in danger,” Beth answered. “But, this second attack on you had more to it than just trying to draw you to the Dark Lord. When he poisoned you, it gave them a hook into your mind. Parker and Brayden explained what happened today, and I believe it was induced partly because some of the demon venom is still in your system.”

That made sense in a strange, twisted way. The whole thing seemed so unlike me that it was comforting to know it wasn’t just me going crazy, but the demons using my fear against me. What I still couldn’t wrap my brain around was that if I wanted to live without fear of turning demonic, I would need to fully bond with all five of the men in this room. I looked at them, studying each for a moment.

Jay was someone I counted on to have my back and to always look after me. Parker was the guy who could always make me laugh and forced me to have fun and try new experiences. Micah—Micah’s anger, all of a sudden, became clearer. Of course he resented me for who I was—who wanted to be forced into a lifelong relationship with someone? If what Parker said was true, and he didn’t even want to be a Blessed Warrior, then he would hate being bonded to me. Then there was Hudson, my nerd with a heart of gold. He helped me take a deep breath and look at things logically. There was always a solution if you just took the time to find it. But I wasn’t sure any of them felt any kind of romantic feelings towards me.

Wait, when did anyone say that it had to be romantic? Maybe what happened between Brayden and I was just that, between the two of us. I didn’t have to sleep with all of them, did I? Then I remembered the feeling of the Bond solidifying into something unbreakable when we’d had sex. All hope I had to reason my way out of this was gone like a balloon being popped.

“What do we do now?” I said, more to myself than to anyone in particular.

The room was silent, as if no one really had the answer. I tried to fight against the urge to run and hide in my room, but this wasn’t just about me anymore. I had five other people who this directly affected.

“First things first, you will be living here from now on. I can’t allow you to be alone and not have one of the boys around you after what almost happened. Besides this strange happening, it seems that your power has leveled out somewhat since you bonded with Brayden. I think you will gain more control each time you do so. The boys will keep a closer eye on you, much like they were doing before your powers came to light,” Beth said, breaking the tension. “When school starts after Christmas break, I will be changing your whole schedule. We need to get you in physical defense classes as well as demonology, elemental manipulation, and the like. I know you and Mr. Phillips have been going over the history that you don’t already know, but we need to get you on the fast track.”

“Okay, it looks like you already moved me in for the most part anyway. I’ll just need to go back and collect the last of my things,” I said, knowing that everything she was saying was wise.

“No need, we have everything here already. They are just cleaning the last of it before they bring the boxes to your room. Does anyone have any other questions? I wanted to make sure we are all on the same page.” After a beat, when no one made a move, she clapped her hands together and sent us on our way. “Dinner will be ready shortly, so don’t go wandering off too far. Oh, Lailah, could you stay a moment?”

Staying where I was seated, Beth waited for the guys to leave the room before she turned her attention back to me. “With everything going on, I didn’t get to tell you that if you still want the kitchen tomorrow, you are more than welcome to it. Sarah did say that if she could be of any help to please ask.”

I had all but forgotten that tomorrow was going to be Thanksgiving. “I have a list of ingredients that I need. Would she be able to tell me what I need to get if you don’t have it already?”

“I am sure she would be happy to. If you want to email me the list, I will make sure she gets it. Don’t worry about going to get things yourself. We are more than happy to provide what you need. You are feeding everyone, so it only makes sense,” Beth said with a smile. “I, for one, am very excited to try all that comes with a Thanksgiving meal.”

I returned her smile, feeling a bubble of excitement well up. Finally, something fun to look forward to after all the crazy that’s been going on.

SEVENTEEN

LAILAH

“You really don’t have to help if you want to take the night off. This was my crazy idea, after all,” I told Sarah.

“Lailah, I know you don’t know me very well, but trust me when I say I would love to help make this meal. Cooking is how I show love, and these boys have been eating my cooking for years. I might want to strangle them from time to time, but they are all good boys deep down,” she assured me.

“Yeah, way deep down in the basement under piles of cement,” Cami chimed in, tying on the ridiculous apron she got just for today.

I couldn’t help but laugh when she showed me. It was neon pink and had Sorry, your opinion wasn’t in the recipe written on it. Knowing my love of sassy t-shirts, she got me one as well. Mine was a pastel blue, and my saying was All this . . . and can cook!

“Why are you so amazing!” I said, wrapping Cami up in a hug.

After the crazy past two days, it was doing me good just to have time with Cami and not worry about school, boys, or being Synergy. Today was all about Thanksgiving and stuffing our faces with food. I let my teachers know that I was still sick and wouldn’t be in class today and asked if they could email me anything I needed to know. I just wasn’t up to dealing with it today.

“The turkey is in the roaster, freeing up both ovens for us to use on other things. What should we start with first?” Sarah said, looking over the different recipes I had laid out on the counter.

“Cami, why don’t you wash, peel, and cut the potatoes for us to boil. Sarah, I’ll put you in charge of green beans and stuffing for now while I work on the pies,” I delegated, knowing that I was the only one who knew my mother's methods to make her pie crusts.

In true Cami style, she turned on some music, dancing and singing along while she peeled. We chatted and laughed as we worked, making it feel just like it would back home. Cami had already warned me that she wasn’t going to be much help but for the chopping part of things. She could handle a knife just fine, but other than that, we were putting the food at risk. Sarah and I worked together as if we had been doing it forever, just like my mom and me.

“So are you going to spill the details about you and Brayden yet?” Cami asked as she started washing up some of our mess.

I grinned over at Cami. “I’m amazed it took you this long to ask me about it. I for sure thought you were going to corner me yesterday when you got done with classes.”

“Trust me, I would have if a certain sister of mine hadn't told me to leave you alone for the day. Beth said you had some kind of mental breakdown?” Cami questioned.

“I wouldn’t call it a mental breakdown,” I said, kneading the dough for the rolls. “It’s hard to explain, it was more like having a dream while awake. I felt like everything was really happening, but it wasn’t. It scared the shit out of me, Cami.” I shuddered at the lack of mercy I’d felt towards everyone in the cafe I was about to destroy.

“Do we know what caused it?” Sarah asked.

Even though Sarah was part of the Elementi, I still wasn’t sure what her clearance was to know all the information Beth told us. “They have a few thoughts, but truthfully, more questions than answers at this point.”

“Everything will work out in due time, dear,” Sarah said, patting my arm reassuringly.

“And that’s enough heavy, depressing topics, let's talk about something more fun, like you and Brayden,” Cami said, bringing us back full circle.

“Let’s just say that Brayden and I bonded on a spiritual and physical level the other night,” I said, feeling my cheeks heat with my blush.

“Thank the lord. It’s about damn time you both gave in to the epic amounts of sexual tension between the two of you,” Cami crowed and did a little happy dance. “I won’t ask you the dirty details, because I know you won’t tell me, but I have to know one thing.”

I stopped working on the rolls and turned to look at her when she didn’t ask right away. Cami walked up to me and grabbed both my hands in hers and looked me dead in the eye. I was beginning to worry that this wasn’t going to be a good question, the way she was acting. Cami only became serious when it was about my safety.

“Am. I. Going… to be your maid of honor?”

My mouth fell open at her question. “What? Why would you ask me that? How did this turn into Brayden and me getting married?”

At this point, Cami lost it, and peals of laughter flooded out of her. Tears started to seep out of her eyes as she continued to laugh, keeping hold of my hands as she slid to the floor, still carrying on.

“Cami,” I groaned, still not following her crazy logic.

“The money I would pay to go back in time and get a picture of your face when I asked that. I don’t think I have ever seen you more terrified in my life.” Cami finally stood and used her apron to wipe her eyes. “You poor thing, you have no idea what you’ve done, do you?”

“Now what does that mean?” I demanded.

“I know Beth told you that the Bond is forever, right?” I nodded when she paused for my answer. “Since you and Brayden have done both, you're practically married. Hell, you're more than married, you couldn’t even get rid of the guy if you wanted. I mean, I guess you could kill him if you really needed to…” Cami said, getting lost in her thoughts until she turned back to me. “Okay, okay, take deep breaths, Lala. Thatta girl. Maybe you need to sit down.”

Taking Cami’s advice, I slid down the wall of the counter and sat right there on the floor, staring off into nothing while my mind finally caught up. Beth tried to explain this to me yesterday, but I was so overwhelmed with everything else we had to talk about that I didn’t really dwell on things with Brayden.

“Holy shit,” I finally said when something else clicked into place. “He knew exactly what he was agreeing to and still did it.”

Cami squatted down in front of me and placed her hands on my knees, grounding me. “Yeah, I kinda figured you weren’t really understanding things with how calm you’ve been. If it’s any help, that boy has been head over heels for you since the moment you ran into each other at the fountain, he just didn’t know it till after your lame coffee date.”

“How could you possibly know that?” I asked, dumbfounded.

Cami grinned at me. “You forget, I’ve known these boys almost all my life. Brayden never makes the first move, aka giving you his number. He never has to wait for a girl to text or call him back. Lala, he had to remind you that you never did. The other reason is that Brayden doesn’t do girlfriends. He has girls that he spends time with and takes on dates, but he is never real around them, and he definitely never talks about his brother with them. We don’t even know the full story about that situation, but I bet my sparkly ass you do.”

I let my head fall back against the wall as this all settled in. “What am I going to do now? Beth wants me to be fully bonded with the others sooner rather than later. That means I will be more than married to five guys?”

“Now the lucky bitch gets it,” Cami said with a wink.

I laughed just like Cami hoped I would, then she jumped to her feet, hands on her hips. “What the hell do you think you're doing? This dinner isn’t going to cook itself, now is it?”

She pulled me to my feet, and I took a deep breath, then let it out. “Right, let’s get to it. We don’t have tons of time before the boys are back and demanding to be fed.”

Throwing myself into the meal, I shut out dealing with my personal life until I could talk to Brayden, and focused on right now. With Sarah’s expert skills of figuring out how to stage what went into the oven, things went without a hitch. As we waited for the last few things to finish, my stomach growled with all the delicious-smelling food around. We decided to skip lunch, knowing we would be eating dinner much earlier than usual. I had Beth text all the guys, telling them they had to be home by three for something important.

We tried to make it look like Cami and I were hanging out in the kitchen while Sarah cooked and kept all the food hidden away in the warmers. Jay was the first one home, but he went right to his room, so we didn’t need to worry about him. Hudson was next, but he had his head stuck in a book and headed for the library, mumbling about something I didn’t understand. The next three were the ones I was worried about spoiling the surprise.

“What if we just tell them they can’t come in from the garage? Then we don’t have to worry about them seeing a thing,” I suggested.

“No, that would never work. The moment we do something like that, they’ll know,” Sarah said, making a good point.

“When Micah gets here, I’ll just piss him off so he doesn’t even care to know what we’re doing here,” Cami volunteered. “Then you can just drag Brayden out of here with the promise of a make-out session.”

“Let’s be honest, Parker is the one who will be the biggest challenge,” Sarah said. “He has this ability to know when I don’t want him to find something in the kitchen.”

“Oh, I can play video games with him!” I smiled, knowing that would get him for sure.

“Not if you’re getting hot and heavy with Brayden,” Cami said, wagging her brows at me.

“Who’s getting hot and heavy with Brayden?” Parker asked, leaning on the counter next to Cami.

“Fucking tits on my ass, Parker,” Cami yelled, almost falling out of her chair.

“When did you get here?” I asked at the same time Cami was swearing.

Parker just propped his head on his hand like he was an innocent little cherub. “You guys seem to be plotting oh-so-carefully over here, you didn’t even notice me walk in. I have to admit, it hurts a little right here,” he said, pointing to his heart. “Care to fill me in on the juicy deets?”

“Parker, the nineties called, they want their slang back,” Cami said, rolling her eyes.

“Burn,” I added, unable to stop myself, causing Cami and I to burst out laughing.

“Mock me all you want, but the nineties was an epic era, and I refuse to let it die,” Parker said, waving off Cami’s diss.

Then an idea hit me, and I knew how to get Parker out of the kitchen for us to get this all finished. “Parker.”

His gaze met mine with a questioning brow and a smirk. “Yes, Trouble?”

“If I promise to share my next fix of sugar cookies with you, will you leave the kitchen and not bother us until we call for you?” I asked, batting my lashes at him.

Parker paused, and I could see he was really thinking this over. I thought for sure he would go for it without hesitation.

“I will agree to that, if I’m the one to go with you into town to get them,” Parker countered.

“Wait, are you turning this into a date?” Cami asked, amazed.

Parker shrugged his shoulders and grinned wider. “Guess it’s up to you on how important it is that I leave the kitchen.”

Shaking my head, I wasn’t able to fight the smile that was plastered on my face. “Fine, I agree. Now go,” I said, pointing, enforcing my words.

Looking way too pleased with himself, Parker pushed off the counter and left the kitchen without further argument.

“Seriously, I think he was the devil in a past life. He is way too good at making deals,” Cami said, and I agreed with her.

“I would say that we’re almost done here, we just need to carve the turkey and get the table set up,” Sarah said, looking over the list once more.

“Cami and I can do that.” I looked down at my phone to check the time. “We are running right on schedule.”

Just as we were heading to the dining room, Micah and Brayden walked into the kitchen. We apparently didn’t need to worry, because they were arguing about something to do with Micah’s car.

“I am not getting it converted into burning oil from Chinese restaurants. It’s a sports car, let it be a beautiful blight on your environment,” Micah grumbled as he passed by.

“Think of all the fuel that car burns! What about getting it switched for ethanol then?” Brayden pressed, not being dissuaded, following Micah close on his heels up the stairs.

I laughed as I grabbed the tray of silverware while Cami got the plates. During a previous break, I’d decorated the table from the stash of things Sarah kept for special occasions. It was simple, but let's be real—it was more about the food than the fancy folded napkins. Finished with the table, we headed back in to find Garrett carving the turkey for us, and the smell made my mouth water. I stole a scrap and had to hold back a moan at how perfect it was.

“I’ll grab Beth, and she can get everyone else down here,” Cami said, bouncing excitedly.

Sarah came over to me and gave me a side hug as we looked over all the food ready to be taken out. “I’m not sure we made quite enough . . .”

“You’re right, a twenty-pound turkey, three kinds of potatoes, two kinds of stuffing, three different vegetable options, and three pies is not nearly enough for ten people,” I said, shaking my head.

“Don’t forget the cranberry sauce when we have both homemade and straight out of the can,” Sarah added.

“Who could possibly forget the cranberry sauce when our hostess was so adamant about it?” Cami said with a laugh.

The sound of the guys making their way into the dining room gave us our cue, and I hefted the large platter of turkey. I found the guys standing, staring at the table as if they weren’t sure what to make of it.

“Pick a seat, guys, and get ready to experience your first American Thanksgiving,” I said proudly, setting my platter in the middle of the table.

“Oh, hell yeah,” Parker said, sitting down and tucking his napkin into the collar of his shirt, grinning at me.

Following his lead, everyone took a seat while we brought out the rest of the food. I could see the guys’ eyes getting wider as we kept placing dish after dish on the table. Parker reached out to grab a roll, but Micah slapped his hand away. “Didn’t your mother teach you any manners?”

Parker scowled and flipped him off but sat back in his chair, crossing his arms and waiting for us to take our seats.

“If you don’t mind indulging me, it’s tradition to go around the table and say one thing we’re thankful for,” I said, looking around the table. “I’ll go first. I’m thankful for coming to this school and meeting all of you. I know that the past few weeks have been crazy, and I am truly grateful for you all sticking with me through it.” Turning to Cami, I gave her an encouraging nod.

“I am thankful for my kick-ass best friend and for my girlfriend, Maggs, who couldn’t make it today.”

“I am thankful for my husband, health, and for all of you,” Sarah said, smiling at all of us.

“Right, my turn,” Garrett grumbled. “Guess I’m thankful for still being able to work and have a purpose at my age.”

“I feel like I have so many things to be thankful for—the wards are stronger than ever, we found Synergy, and my family is working together again,” Beth said, with a nod of her head.

“I am thankful for the student lab getting a grant for upgraded equipment that will make my work more efficient,” Hudson said.

“Um, dude, I don’t think that’s how this is supposed to work,” Parker whispered loudly next to him.

“Why not? It is something that I am extremely grateful for,” Hudson defended his answer.

“Guys, it’s fine,” I said, not wanting to start a fight right now. “What about you, Parker?”

“Well, I’m happy you asked. I am very thankful for this kick-ass meal that I get to eat soon, but I’m also thankful for the person who came up with the idea. Life has been a hell of a lot more interesting since you showed up,” Parker said, his grin in full force.

I blushed under his gaze at being called out in front of everyone.

“I, too, am thankful for Lailah,” Brayden started off and paused to clear his throat. “If anyone in the world had to be Synergy, I am thankful it’s you, because I’m not sure anyone else would have been so perfect for us all.”

Now I could feel my face burst into flames as his heated gaze and swoon-worthy words hit me.

“And barf,” Cami said, breaking the tension in the room. “Moving on. You’re up, Cranky Pants McGee. Think you have anything you can come up with to be grateful for?”

Micah scowled at her, gripping his knife like he wanted to throw it at her. Cami just blinked at him with wide-eyed innocence.

“I’m fucking grateful it’s almost winter break, and I get three weeks of not having to deal with all your sorry asses,” Micah managed from a clenched jaw.

“Encore! We demand an encore!” Cami said, standing and clapping her hands. “Look at that, you didn’t even burst into flames or anything.” Cami ducked as a roll went flying through the air at her.

“Micah, Cami, Sit down,” Beth snapped from her spot at the head of the table.

Once they both sat and looked away from each other, I looked over at Jay. “Last but not least,” I said, smiling at him.

“Thankful to be alive,” Jay said, then grabbed the bowl of sweet potatoes in front of him and helped himself.

As if he broke the seal holding everyone in place, the guys dove into the food, piling their plates high. I smiled as I watched everyone enjoying the food that we had worked so hard to make. I took a small sample of everything; I knew better than to stuff myself on the first round. Besides, there was still dessert to come.

The rest of the meal went without any further incidents since everyone was distracted with the food in front of them. Easy talk filtered among the table, and I learned that Sarah and Garrett had two grown children that were not part of the Elementi. They both took a vow of silence and left to live their lives more normally. Because of this—and the fact that they are full-time here, looking after all of us—they didn’t get to see them often. It made me sad to think of them not being able to see their grandchildren, but it gave me a window into another side of the Elementi. You were either all in or you were all out, no room for the in-between.

The boys all helped bring in the dishes, and we all tackled the major task of cleaning up. Cami had helped along the way, but there was still so much to deal with. Hudson washed the dishes while Brayden dried them. Parker and I were putting things back while Jay helped to pack away the leftovers. Micah, being the social butterfly he is, was clearing the table of all the decorations and putting out dishes for dessert. Many hands made quick work and gave us time to make room for dessert.

“Sarah, I have to say, you have outdone yourself on these pies,” Parker said as he tried not to drool over them.

“I didn’t make those. That would be Miss Lailah’s work,” Sarah said with a wink.

Parker came over to me and dropped on one knee, taking my hand. “Will you marry me right now?”

“What?! No, stop that, get off the kitchen floor,” I said, pulling my hand out of his and taking a step back.

Parker pouted and stood back up. “Come on, where else am I going to find a girl who is smart, kind, sexy, puts up with me, cooks, and bakes? That is a perfect storm of a woman, and I know it.”

As I looked at Parker, I couldn’t tell if he was totally messing with me, or if he meant any of that. His chocolate-colored eyes seemed to glow with his feelings, but I still couldn’t decipher what they were. I didn’t want to be a notch on Parker’s belt. He was too important to me for me to take the wrong step with our relationship—friends or otherwise.

“Parker, lay off, you’re making her uncomfortable,” Brayden said, walking up behind me and putting his hands on my hips.

Parker’s eyes flicked to where Brayden’s hands were, then back up to my face. I could almost see a flash of hurt in his gaze before it was gone. “Calm down, lover boy, I was just yanking her chain.”

Turning, he grabbed two of the pies and made his way back to the dining room. I followed after him with my eyes, feeling like I might have misjudged the situation.

“Stop thinking so hard, you’re going to give yourself a headache,” Brayden whispered into my ear before he kissed my neck. “Come on, I can’t wait to taste your pie.”

“That’s what she said,” Cami called out as she walked by with the last pie.

Brayden groaned and grabbed my hand, pulling me after him.

EIGHTEEN

BRAYDEN

After we were all stuffed beyond reason with all the amazing food that Lailah, Sarah, and Cami made, everyone dispersed for the night. I grabbed Lailah’s hand and took her to a sitting room that we never really used. It had a large sectional couch with a fireplace and a TV over the mantle. I flipped on the switch, turning the gas on and lighting the fire, which warmed the chilled room quickly. Lailah grabbed a blanket off the back of the couch, and we snuggled together under it.

“Thank you for sharing Thanksgiving with us,” I said, kissing the top of her head.

She nestled in closer to me, tucking her head under my chin. “You’re very welcome. It was also an apology for being such a bitch the past few weeks.”

I chuckled at how apologetic she was. “Angel, I think I’ve known you long enough to know that isn’t your normal. Don’t beat yourself up about it.”

“Who knows what my normal will be now? I could lash out at anyone or have a psychotic break in a dream and start hurting people who have wronged me.”

At her words, I thought back to yesterday and how distressed she was. Lailah was a pure spirit, and to see herself capable of doing something like that, even in a hallucination, must’ve made her question everything.

“Lailah, you don’t have to handle this all on your own. You have all of us to help you, no matter what happens. I have no doubt that you’ll win this fight against the demons’ tricks. You are filled with pure light, and it’s much harder to cast a shadow where there is nowhere to hide,” I said, running my hand up and down her back.

“I hope you’re right, because if things change, I don’t think anyone could stop me,” Lailah muttered.

Seeing that she wasn’t ready to believe me on this yet, I let the topic drop. We could come back to it later when wasn’t not so fresh in her mind. “Hey, what do you think about coming home with me for Christmas? We get three weeks off, and I figured you could use the chance to get away from school.”

“That actually sounds amazing,” she said, sitting back to look me in the face. “I told my parents I wasn’t going to have them fly me back for Christmas. It would be way too expensive. Instead, I’ll go back the whole summer. Three months is better than three weeks.”

I grinned at her. “I’ll let my parents know, they’re very excited to meet you.”

“You’ve told your parents about me?” she asked, blushing.

“I have talked about you to them, yes, but when it came out that you are Synergy, all the important members of the Elementi were informed,” I said. “It doesn’t change the fact that they are wanting to meet my girlfriend.”

Lailah frowned, and I tried to hide my surprise. Did she not think she was my girlfriend?

“There has to be a better word to describe what we are. I feel like girlfriend isn’t a strong enough word for someone you’re bonded to for life.”

I laughed. “You had me worried for a moment. I thought you were going to tell me you didn’t want to be my girlfriend.”

“No, that’s not what I meant at all,” Lailah said, grasping my arm.

“Well, until you come up with a better word you want me to use, then I will just settle for calling you my girlfriend,” I teased.

“Where does your family live?”

“In another country, but I want to keep it a surprise. I have a feeling you’re going to love it.” Excitement flooded through me from her as she thought about the possibilities.

I smiled and placed a gentle kiss on her lips, unable to hold myself back. When I pulled away, she chased after me; apparently, she wasn’t interested in such a chaste kiss. She curled her fingers into my hair, and it sent a shiver down my spine.

This woman had no idea what she did to me. My body craved her, and the more I had her, the worse it got. The love and affection that she could bestow on someone were more magical than the powers we both held. Never had a woman made me feel so wanted, and not for the typical reasons. Most wanted the benefit of money, my family name, or the power we held in the Elementi. No, Lailah, saw me for who I was, never knowing that I was willing to give her anything she wanted.

Without breaking our kiss, I scooped her up and laid her down beside me on the couch so our bodies touched from head to toe. She moaned into my mouth, setting me on fire. I gripped her ass and pulled her even tighter to me, tossing a leg over her hip. Responding, she ground against me, making me growl at her in encouragement. Sliding my hands under her shirt, I slipped it over her head, exposing her creamy white skin.

I kissed down her neck as she wriggled in my arms, trying to pull my shirt off of me. Quickly, I let her go and yanked the fabric off so she could have the access she wanted. Her soft hand roved over my chest as if she were memorizing every part of me. My cock twitched, pressing painfully against my jeans, trapped, wanting her attention. Surprising me, she licked my nipple, and I groaned, one hand sliding into her hair to hold her to me. My other hand went to the fastener on her bra and flicked it open.

Rolling her under me, I slid the bra off her body and showed her breasts my appreciation, molding one with my hand while torturing her with my mouth on the other. I noticed the other night how much she enjoyed having her nipples played with, and I was more than happy to oblige. Shifting so I could get her jeans off, I undid the button but took my time slowly peeling them off of her. I wanted to enjoy her body and the delicious sounds she made when she got frustrated at me.

“Brayden, please don’t tease me. I need you.” She panted once I got her jeans and underwear off.

Shucking off my own jeans, I crawled up her body, placing kisses along the way until I reached her perfect lips. “My Angel wants for nothing.”

I lowered my body, and she spread her legs for me to nestle against her core. Bucking her hips encouragingly, I reached between us and stroked her, feeling how wet she was for me. The ego boost you got from having a wanton woman begging you to take her was amazing, but when it was also the woman you loved, it was incomparable. I slid a finger in, then a second, and pumped them in and out a few times just to make sure she wasn’t too tight.

Last time I thought I was going to bust a load before I got all the way in, she was so narrow. This time she gave under my touch faster, and I knew she was getting close. For a moment, I thought about tasting her before I entered her, but looking up and seeing the need in her eyes settled it. Lining up, I kissed her deeply as I slammed home, causing her to cry out. I trapped it with my kiss, not wanting her to feel ashamed of the noises she made in her enjoyment. To me, the sounds she made when she lost herself in passion were everything, but this moment I didn’t want to share with anyone. She was mine for now, and I was going to take full advantage.

Pulling her legs around my waist, I pulled her up so she was sitting in my lap, and I leaned against the back of the couch. Thrusting into her, I clutched her to my body, holding her steady as I moved. She wrapped her arms around my shoulders and muffled her cries in my neck. Even though she wasn’t as tight as the first time, it was still almost too much. Feeling myself edging on release, I tried to slow down, not wanting this to end. Lailah shared her opinion on this by setting her teeth to my neck. She didn’t bite down hard, but it was a clear warning she didn’t agree with what was going on.

Picking back up the pace, I could feel sweat beading on my skin as I kept the rhythm. Lailah tensed, letting me know she was close too, then she cried out, and her teeth latched on to me, sending me off the edge. I lost it, thrusting up into her as deep as she could take me and moaned my own release. Never had sex been this satisfying, making all others experiences pale in comparison. Lailah released her hold on my neck and rested her head there, panting. Neither of us moved, not wanting to break the closeness of this moment between us.

“Lailah, I know this is crazy to say, but I’m falling in love with you,” I whispered into her ear.

Pulling back, she looked me in the eye, searching, trying to determine if what I was saying was true. She leaned in and kissed me, showing me with action how she felt.

“Please don’t hate me, but I’m not ready to say those words to you yet,” she answered, her lips grazing mine as she talked.

Kissing her quickly, unable to miss the opportunity, I answered, “I could never hate you, and it’s fine. I’ll wait however long it takes. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Good, because I kind of like having you around,” she said, grinning at me before her face seemed to fall into a more serious expression. “Is it weird for you knowing that I have to bond with the others to keep myself safe?”

I paused before I answered, searching her eyes and seeing that this had been something she’d been rolling around in her brain for a while. “The idea we all had to share Synergy is not new to me, we always knew that was going to happen. Does that change because you are human and a woman that I am falling head over heels for… yeah. Am I relishing the fact that I get you all to myself right now? Hell, yeah. On the other hand, knowing that bonding with them will keep you safe, how could I stand in the way of that?”

“So you don’t like it,” Lailah said with a slight wrinkle on her brow.

“Pretty sure that’s not what I said,” I chuckled. “I am fine with you bonding with the others. It will take some time to adjust for us all. Some will have an easier time than others, but I trust them, and we were all made for you. Each one of us was picked to be in the generation that would be your guardians and everything else that comes with the Bond.”

“You make this sound so easy. I haven’t even had a real relationship, and now I’m going to be bonded to five guys for the rest of my life? What if they change their mind and don’t like me anymore or get tired of me?” Lailah said, snuggling deeper against my body.

“I can only speak for myself on this, but there is no way that I would ever change my mind. Lailah, you are everything that I’ve been looking for in a woman. I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” I placed a gentle kiss on her forehead, letting it linger, needing her to believe my words and the feelings behind them.

This seemed to get her to relax again, and I could feel the anxiety bleeding away from our connection. “Would you be upset if I asked you to keep our relationship quiet around school? I’m afraid that the bitchy girls will lose their minds if they find out we really are dating.”

“I can understand that, but when it’s just us or around the guys, I’m not holding back,” I said, knowing that it would be a struggle not to want to hold her and kiss her all the time.

Lailah lifted her face to me and smirked. “Deal.”

Enjoying the intimacy a while longer, I hummed to myself as I stroked her bare skin.

NINETEEN

LAILAH

“Why the fuck would we do that? I get to leave all you fuck heads for three weeks, and you want us to come back a week early? Hell no,” Micah growled, stabbing his knife into the dining room table.

“Micah, no matter how upset you are, please do not take it out on the furniture,” Beth chided, giving him a look that made him remove the knife.

“Just because your cunt of an aunt called to bitch at you today doesn’t mean you get to act like more of an asshole,” Parker taunted. “I was just thinking it would be fun for all of us to be together for New Year’s, especially since it will be Lailah’s first one in Europe.”

“If Micah wants to stay behind at home, then let him. The rest of us have already agreed,” Hudson said, settling the issue.

I looked around the dinner table, smiling at the interaction that was now becoming strangely normal. The past two weeks had flown by in a blur of studying, finishing papers, and projects for finals. I was thankful that no other strange happenings had occurred, and I was able to find a new normal living in The Manor. Jay was making sure that I was swimming laps and working out with him to help me adjust to the added power I now had from bonding with Brayden. It took me a few days to stop jumping at shadows, worried that the girls would be even more vicious against me because I’d moved in. Then I found out the school had taken action against those who did the prank, quieting them for now.

Tonight was the first dinner we’d had all together in a week, and I’d missed them. Even though one of them was with me all the time, our group hangouts didn’t happen as often. It was strange—in one way, I felt like we were one big family, and our dynamic was growing stronger. Then other times, it seemed that there was no way some of them could get over themselves and get along.

“We have one day left to survive each other before we all go our separate ways for the holiday,” I said, drawing everyone’s attention. “What will you three be doing?”

Parker grinned with excitement in his eyes. “My dad loves Christmas and goes all out. We host parties, go caroling through the neighborhood, and eat a shit-ton of food. Oh yeah, and of course, there’s the presents to open too. We compete to see who can give the best gift. I’ve won the past four years running.”

“Okay, now I wish I was going to your place,” I tease, giving Brayden a wink. “What about you, Hudson?”

“My parents are divorced, so my siblings and I will be doing Christmas Eve with one and Christmas day with the other. We don’t really do a whole lot, but it will be nice to spend time with everyone,” Hudson informed, and we all turned to Jay.

“We don’t celebrate Christmas,” Jay said, shocking me. “I’ll be in Tokyo visiting my mom.”

My ears perked up at this new information about his family. He said so very little about his mom that I jumped on any tidbit I could gather.

“Did you grow up in Japan?” I asked, hoping he would answer me.

“Yes,” Jay said, flicking his eyes up to me. “Until I was thirteen.”

I couldn’t hold back my smile, pleased that he’d given me just a little more information about himself. Was it dumb that I felt moments like this were a victory of sorts, that each step in him opening up was like winning a new level?

“Remind me why can’t we leave sooner? I’m done with my classes, and Brayden, you’re done tomorrow morning,” Micah asked.

“Lailah has a final later in the afternoon. I figured it would be better to leave Friday morning instead of rushing,” Brayden answered for me.

“You have your own private plane. How is it rushing when it comes and goes when you tell it to?” Micah challenged.

“Just leave it. Twelve hours won’t make that big of a difference,” Brayden said, fixing Micah with a glare.

Micah’s answer was to mutter something under his breath, shove his chair back, and storm out of the room. While I was glad that he wasn’t going to pick a bigger fight, him running away didn’t ever fix things. He was the only one that didn’t do anything with me one-on-one. He was only around when it was a group setting or something Beth mandated he needed to be at. I secretly was hoping that in the next two weeks, we might be able to grow our friendship from someone he had to tolerate to maybe an actual friend.

“Oh, is Micah not having dessert? I made his favorite,” Sarah said, holding a plate with what looked like a large tart on it.

“He needed to cool his head,” Brayden said with a sigh.

“I see. Well, I’ll just make sure to save him a slice,” Sarah said, putting the dessert down and serving us each a slice.

“What is it?” I asked, curious to find out what Micah could consider a favorite.

“It’s a dark chocolate truffle tart with sea salt,” Sarah said, handing me a plate.

“Of course the bastard would only like bitter chocolate,” Parker grumbled, but still took his slice.

“Brayden, you have your own plane?” I asked him to come back to that tidbit of information.

“Technically, it belongs to my dad’s company, but when it’s not in use, then we do that over flying commercial,” Brayden explained.

I couldn’t keep from jumping in my seat. I was going to fly on a private plane for the first time! “It’s crazy. Sometimes I forget that you guys are from some of the biggest families in the eastern hemisphere. Then I find out you have a private plane.”

“Trust me, it has more downsides than up,” Hudson said.

“Yeah, but a private plane is one of them,” Parker grinned, shoving Hudson with his shoulder. “Let Trouble be excited about the experience, would ya?”

Hudson looked back over at me and gave me a small smirk. “If you think a plane is cool, then you should see the yacht my dad has for his ocean research projects.”

“What are the chances of him letting us have a party on it over the summer?” Parker asked, pouncing on the idea.

“Depends. Are you coming?” Hudson asked Parker with a raised eyebrow.

I felt my mouth fall open, then started to laugh. “Oh my God! Hudson just made a joke!”

The whole table broke out into laughter, and I wasn’t sure if it was from Hudson’s joke or if they were laughing at me.

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up everyone. See if I get a super badass toy and share it with you all. Ungrateful assholes,” Parker said, pouting.

“Lailah, are you going home for the summer?” Hudson inquired.

“Yeah, since it will be for three months, I decided that would be best,” I said. “I could use the work at the diner for more spending money.”

The guys all looked at each other as I shared this information, and I could tell they didn’t love the idea. Yet none of them said anything about it and let it drop, moving on to other subjects.

As everyone dispersed throughout the house, I took the plate Sarah set aside for Micah and took it with me. I paused outside his bedroom door; I saw the light was on, but the room was quiet. I knocked and waited but didn’t hear anyone moving around. I knocked again, louder, but still no response. I sighed and almost turned to walk away but changed my mind, squaring my shoulders. I grasped his door handle and pushed the door open.

I found Micah laying on his bed in just boxers and headphones. His foot tapped to the music as he was lost in the song, eyes closed. Looking around his room, I was amazed. The walls were a dark slate gray with black and white photos of concerts and bands covering the walls. An electric guitar hung on the wall with an amp under it. His desk was covered in clothes, clearly unused. His room told me more about him that I had learned in the months I’d known him.

Unsure of what to do, I decided I’d already made the choice to leave the dessert in his room, so I entered. Walking over to his desk, I shoved aside some clothes and set the plate down. I was just going to walk out of the room, but I felt Micah’s gaze on me. Glancing over at the bed, I saw his deep sapphire eyes trained on me. Frozen like a deer in the headlights, I wasn’t sure what to do. Suddenly, this seemed like a horrible idea.

Slowly, he pulled his headphones off and settled them around his neck. “Who the fuck told you that you could come into my room?”

“Sarah said this was your favorite dessert, and I didn’t want Parker to eat it all, so I brought you the last piece,” I rambled. “I did knock, but you didn’t answer, so I thought you might not be in here.”

“Which gives you the right to come into my room?” Micah challenged.

My shoulders sagged in defeat. “I’m sorry, you’re right, I shouldn’t have come into your room without your permission.”

Micah brushed his hands through his hair, which was loose and fell past his shoulders. I didn’t think I had ever seen it down before. “Fuck, it’s fine, just don’t do it again.”

I gave him a sharp nod and hurried out of the room.

“Lailah . . .”

Looking over my shoulder, I saw Micah standing by the desk. “Thank you. It is my favorite.”

“You’re welcome. Sleep well,” I said, giving him a soft smile and closing the door behind me.

Thursday came and went. Cami and I spent most of the day together since I wouldn’t see her for the next two weeks. She helped me pack for staying at Brayden’s, which I was thankful for, not being a fashionista. Cami warned me that there might be fancy dinner parties and other posh events I hadn’t even considered. Slowly, Cami was adding to my closet, trying to even out the trendy with my sassy saying shirts.

“Girl, what are you wearing tomorrow? This is a big deal, after all. You only get to meet your in-laws for the first time once,” Cami said, hands on her hips, looking over the options we had laid out.

My stomach clenched at her words. For me, it was still hard to wrap my head around the fact Brayden and I were dating, let alone bonded for life. “You pick, I think I’m going to throw up.”

Cami just rolled her eyes at me. “It wouldn’t be so bad if you had told me that the only winter coat you had made you look like a damn green Michelin Man.”

“That jacket will keep you warm in negative degree weather, I'll have you know,” I said, defending myself. “How was I supposed to know I would need to worry about dinner parties?”

Cami grabbed my hand and dragged me out of my room and down the stairs. We went past the library into the other side of the house that I really didn’t go into. Stopping at a door, Cami knocked, and without waiting for an answer, she flung the door open.

“Cami, how many times do I have to tell you the purpose of knocking is to let the occupant answer you?” Beth said, looking up from her tablet, seated in an overstuffed wingback armchair.

“Lala needs a winter jacket for her trip to Brayden’s. I know you have like fifty of them, and you're closer to her size than I am,” Cami said, marching right into Beth’s closet.

Shaking her head, Beth went back to reading as if this was a normal occurrence.

“I’m sorry, Beth, I keep telling her I have a winter coat and that I don’t need to borrow another one,” I said apologetically.

Beth looked up at me with a gentle smile. “It’s quite alright, Cami isn’t wrong. The Dolton family is a prominent family, and the chances of you going to a party are high. Brayden is the heir to the Dolton estate and will be expected to be there as well. You being his significant other means you will attend with him, so you’ll need the jacket.”

I gulped. “You make this sound like I’m dating royalty.”

“In a way,” Beth said, setting aside her tablet and giving me her full attention. “All of the boys are from the five most influential families on this side of the world. It is the purpose of the Elementi to be present where demons would most likely attack. We can gain access to almost anywhere with the connections we have from the five boys alone. Add in the network of thousands of other Elementi placed all over the world, and we are unstoppable.”

Even with all the extra studying I’d done with Professor Phillips, I’d only seen the tip of the iceberg of the influence this society has.

“When you get back from holiday, we will get you more up to speed,” Beth said as if reading my mind.

Cami popped back out of the closet with two jackets in her hands, and both of them looked classier than anything I’d ever owned.

“What do you think, Gucci or Burberry?” Cami asked, holding them out for approval.

Beth didn’t answer, she just looked at her sister for a moment.

“You're right, she needs both,” Cami said, folding them over her arm and heading back out of the room.

Beth chuckled at whatever expression was on my face and waved me to chase after her little sister.

“Thank you, Beth,” I said before leaving her room.

Back in my room, I took in the two large suitcases and my carry-on pack, all ready to go. “I don’t think I have ever had this much luggage for a two-week trip before.”

“Then you have been vacationing all wrong, Lala,” Cami pointed out from where she was lounging on my bed, eating popcorn.

“I’ve only been on family vacations, and we are not the type to do anything crazy. Really, we were lucky to get one since my parents had the diner to run.”

“What if I came out this summer and we went on a girls’ trip?” Cami suggested.

I flopped on the bed next to her. “Really? Oh man, that would be amazing.”

“Lovely. Because it was going to happen whether you liked it or not.”

Grinning, I took the whole bowl of popcorn, dumped it on her head, and ran out of the room before she could retaliate.

TWENTY

LAILAH

Stepping onto the plane, I felt like I was still sleeping, because this could only be a dream. Moments before, Beth had dropped us off at the small private airport, where they took our bags, leading us out onto the tarmac where the plane was. I’d envisioned something close to what I saw from watching Criminal Minds, but this was way nicer than that.

Boarding, I found myself in what looked like a living room with a geometric-patterned carpet and a black suede couch, throw pillows and all. Next was a set of captain’s chairs with a small table between them. On the other side was a larger table and four chairs around it. Setting my stuff down, I went down the small hallway and found a bedroom with a bathroom adjacent.

“Holy shit,” I muttered, taking it all in.

Brayden peeked his head in, grinning at the shocked look I must have had on my face. He walked over to me and took my face in his hands, placing a gentle kiss on my nose, then my lips. I grinned up at him and caught his lips, wrapping my arms around his waist.

“It’s going to be nice having you all to myself these next couple of weeks,” he murmured against my lips. “You’ve been a hard lady to get alone.”

Butterflies fluttered in my stomach as our energy wrapped around each other, making me sigh. It was almost like our powers missed interacting as much as we did. We agreed to keep things between us on campus limited so I could study at the library hidden in the Elementi’s private section. If I was at the house, Parker always found some way to talk me into playing with him and getting distracted.

“Hate to break up the love fest, but they are ready to take off as soon as we’re seated,” Micah said from the doorway.

Micah, I was finding, was the biggest cock-block in existence. He always seemed to know when Brayden and I had found time alone, and suddenly he needed something. I glared at him as Brayden took my hand, and we walked up front to the couch, where he pulled me down next to him. Micah plopped down in one of the captain’s chairs and immediately placed on his headphones.

“How long did you say the flight would be?” I asked, resting my head on Brayden’s shoulder.

“Smooth flight, a little under two hours. It sure beats the ten-hour drive or the fourteen-hour train ride,” Brayden said as he ran his hand up and down my back absently.

I loved that he was always doing little touches like that when we were at home. Other than my parents, physical touch wasn’t something I had practice with. Brayden seemed to need it, and I was more than happy to oblige, having gotten a taste of how good it could feel. Most nights, I’d taken to sleeping in his room, and even though we didn’t have sex, it was nice to be held. After the last experience in his room, it had made me paranoid of being heard again. We made up for it in the sitting room we had taken ownership over.

“Sorry to disturb you, Mr. Dolton, but can I get you or Ms. Mackenzie anything?” a strange male voice asked.

I opened my eyes and found that I’d drifted off to sleep and was now laying on Brayden’s lap, curled up on the couch. A flight attendant was standing, poised ready to take care of any need we might have.

“I would love some coffee,” Brayden said, then looked down at me. “Do we have the chai tea?”

“Yes, we made sure we had it stocked per your request, along with the sugar cookies,” the attendant said as I sat up. “Would you like me to get those for you as well?”

“That would be great, thank you,” Brayden said as I just blinked at him. Swiftly, the attendant went off to grab our requests.

“You made a special request to have chai tea and sugar cookies stocked on your dad’s plane?” I said, shocked.

“Of course. I also had them make sure we had Micah’s favorite energy drink and Cheetos, along with my favorite organic fair trade coffee. It’s another perk of having your own plane. It has what you like,” Brayden said, amused at my reaction.

I leaned over and kissed him. “Thank you, that was very sweet.”

“Not as sweet as you,” he countered.

“Barf. Barf, barf, barf. You're going to make me sick.” Micah groaned, apparently having decided to include himself in our conversation.

“Fuck you, no one asked your opinion,” Brayden shot back.

I looked over at him in surprise. He never talked to Micah that way, no matter how mean he was.

“Is this what I have to look forward to this whole trip, because if so, I need to invest in some barf bags. It’s sickening to watch you both.”

“You're just jealous,” Brayden said, yanking me onto his lap and wrapping his arms around me. “I have her all to myself, and I plan to live it up before you lot join the party. Don’t be too disappointed when she keeps coming back to me, ignoring you. It happens when they practically lose their virginity to you.”

Micah’s face darkened into a scowl. “How the fuck can you be so chill knowing that eventually you and four other people will be sticking their dicks in the same woman? I know I’m no saint, but that’s just fucked up, and the fact that she is totally willing makes me disgusted.”

Micah’s words slapped me across the face as he verbalized my worst fears. If he was feeling that way, then did the other three think the same thing? Would I fail at the one purpose I had—to bring this group of warriors together—by splitting them further apart? The angels picked the wrong person. I wasn’t going to be able to do this; I wasn’t strong enough. Seeing this unfold around me sent me reeling; I just wanted to leave and hide somewhere, but I couldn't while trapped on this plane.

“Angel. Lailah, wake up,” Brayden said, shaking me and pulling me up so I was facing him and straddling his legs. His worried eyes searched mine. “Lailah, take a deep breath, you need to calm down.”

I tried to do as he said and noticed how fast my heart was racing and how ragged my breath was. Was I having another episode? I looked around and saw the cabin of the plane filled with a slight haze of golden power.

Oh my God, was I going to crash the plane if I didn’t calm down?

Any calm I had was now blown away, and new panic crashed into me. I was too dangerous to have around; anything could set me off. What was even scarier was that I couldn’t even tell what was real and what was a dream. Another set of arms grabbed me, and I was whirled around to face Micah. I couldn’t look at him after hearing those words come out of his mouth, real or not. I was fairly certain he felt that way, even if it was a dream.

“Lailah, you need to get your shit under control before you destroy this fucking plane,” Micah snapped, shaking me a little, forcing me to look into his eyes again.

He trapped me with his burning gaze, and this time, I clung to it like a life preserver. Something moved behind me, but I couldn’t lose focus. If I did, I would drown for sure.

“No, Brayden, gentle isn’t going to work this time. We need her to snap out of it now,” Micah said, his hold on my arms so tight I might bruise. “See if you can ground her. If we get the edge off, it might be just enough to steady her.”

It was surreal to be trapped in my brain, unable to control what my body was doing, lost in the flow of power. Another pair of hands settled on my hips, and I could feel his energy surge into me, but it didn’t fill me. Instead, his power seemed to be absorbing mine, but it wasn’t working fast enough for me to fight through this power-induced panic.

“Micah, reach out and see if you can burn off some of the energy. My power isn’t strong enough this high in the air,” Brayden said, fear in his voice.

Micah faltered at this suggestion, fear and doubt creeping into his eyes. I was right—he didn’t want there to be any chance he might bond with me. He was more willing to let the plane crash than to possibly end up with me bound to him for eternity.

“Micah, get your head out of your ass and do something,” Brayden yelled, snapping Micah back to attention.

TWENTY-ONE

MICAH

Panic surged through my body. I couldn’t help her. My power was too volatile. I could hurt her. Nobody understood how much effort it took to keep my power in check, and now he wanted me to use it against Lailah!

Fear screamed at me through Lailah’s eyes, which latched onto mine. Behind that fear, I saw hope that I might be able to help and save us. The plane rattled around us like we were in rough turbulence, but I knew it was Lailah’s power trying to burst from the confinement of the small space. I had to do something, and trying to get her to snap out of it on her own wasn’t working. I took a deep breath in, practicing the meditation that I’d been taught so long ago.

The need to close my eyes was strong, but I couldn’t leave Lailah alone without an anchor. Inwardly, I traveled deep down into my center, finding the well of my power. I always thought of it in a metal box wrapped in chains and padlocks, keeping it at bay. Slowly, I started to unlock my power, and halfway through, it started to leak from the lid. Pausing, not wanting to let more out, I directed the wild flame upward and down through my arms into my hands.

I heard Lailah gasp when my energy lashed out at her, flames licking up her arms. I could feel it devouring her excess energy, reveling in the ability to wreak havoc with my blessing. Lailah’s body began to shake as she regained control, sweat breaking out on her forehead. My power coursed through her body, and I felt her strength and determination, but it was overwhelmed by fear and doubt. It was then that I realized that she and I might be more alike than I thought. Both of us feared our power and how dangerous it could be. She was just in the beginning stages of this, and it brought back memories of my own journey.

Refusing to revisit the past, I shook them away and refocused on what was happening right in front of me. Her eyes were clearer now, more in control. I don’t know when she brought her hands up to grab my arms, but I could feel them bridging the connection. We were a perfect circuit as our energy flowed between us.

“Lailah, I need you to help me push my power out of your body.” It was having way too much fun for it to listen to me alone calling it back. “Pull your power back from me. Make sure not to leave anything behind. I will do the same, but once you have your power back, I need it to flush out the rest of mine before we cut the connection.”

What I wasn’t telling her was that if her power accepted mine, then we would start the bonding sequence, and I was definitely not ready for that shit to happen. This whole experience showed me how not ready I was to be responsible to care for someone other than myself. If Brayden hadn’t challenged me, I would have waited too long to use my powers. That was always a last resort, not considered until it was our only chance.

I grunted as Lailah thrust my power out of her body, taming it to her will with ease. Searching her for anything left behind, I slammed my power back into its box and locked it down tight. I pulled away from her, flopping back into my seat. Panting, my adrenaline still high, I let my head hang between my knees as I tried to slow my heart back down. When I felt as centered as I got, I looked up and found Lailah cradled in Brayden’s arms, tears streaming down her face.

Brayden looked up at me and mouthed thank you before turning his attention back to Lailah. He knew what he’d asked of me, the risk I’d taken. It was proof that he was worthy of being her guardian, and I had a long way to go before I could even consider that. Leaning back into the chair, I pulled my headphones up and got lost in the music, the only thing that seemed to calm me down.

TWENTY-TWO

LAILAH

It took the rest of the flight to calm me down. Brayden took me to the back bedroom and cuddled me close, playing with my hair and chatting about nothing in particular. I just listened to the sound of his voice and savored the feel of his body against mine. It kept me grounded to what was really happening.

“Up for talking about it?” Brayden asked, brushing my hair out of my face to place a kiss on my temple.

I wanted to pour my soul out to him, but I didn’t even know where to start. “It always seems so real.”

“The dream?” Brayden asked, continuing to comb through my hair.

“I never know when it starts, or how long I’ve been trapped in that strange reality until one of you pulls me out of it.” Twisting, I turned to Brayden. I needed to see his face. “This time was much worse, but I think it’s because I believed it so much more. That, or the demon taint on me is getting worse,” I said, shivering at the thought.

Brayden’s brows furrowed. “Explain that to me.”

“When I was in the coffee shop, I knew it wasn’t normal for me to want to hurt someone. I have always tried to avoid conflict in my life, and for me to attack first was just out of character.” I paused, thinking back on this last episode. “This time it was more centered around you guys. I was more of a passenger watching you two fight.”

“Wait, the two of us, as in Micah and myself?” Brayden asked, and I nodded. “Angel, Micah and I have been best friends since we were both twelve. We might argue, but we’ve gone way past the point of fighting each other. I know too many things that can hurt him, secrets I’ve kept. We don’t fight.”

“That was the first clue that something wasn’t right. I’ve seen Micah fight with the others, but never as cruel as he was in my dream. It was almost like it was searching for what my biggest fear was and made him say it,” I said, trying to explain.

“Fear is the greatest weapon demons have. They feed off of it, along with anger and deceit.” Brayden cupped my cheek and let his thumb stroke against my skin, his eyes sad. “I wish we had found you sooner so you would be more prepared for this. It kills me that I wasn’t able to do anything to help you. Thank God we had Micah here.”

“Guess that’s why they assigned five of you to deal with me, one wasn’t going to be enough for all this crazy,” I teased, giving him a small smile.

“Hmm, maybe Parker has been right this whole time. You are trouble,” he murmured before his lips connected with mine in a slow kiss. He nuzzled into the side of my neck, whispering, “I’m glad you’re okay.”

Wrapping my arms around his shoulders, I held him close, needing the comfort as much as he did. “Me too.”

A soft knock on the door had Brayden pulling away from me and moving off the bed to answer it.

“If we could have you back in your seats, we’re about to land,” the attendant said.

“Thank you, we’ll be up shortly,” Brayden said, then looked back at me with a grin, holding out his hand. “Ready to see where I live?”

Pushing aside all that had happened, I rolled out of bed and grasped his hand. I let him pull me to the other chairs near Micah.

When we sat down, Micah pulled off his headphones and met my gaze. “You doing okay?”

I blinked a few times before answering, startled that he would ask. “I’ll manage. Thank you for whatever it is that you did. I still can’t really tell what happened, but I know without your power, I might have killed us.”

Micah searched my face for a moment, then looked down at his hands. “You’re welcome.”

I assumed that was the end of our conversation, so I turned to look out the window, but then he drew me back to him.

“Look, I know I’m an ass most of the time and not easy to be around, but if you need some tips on handling your powers, you can always ask. Fire is the strongest and most unruly of the elements for an Elementi Warrior to handle. After experiencing your power, I think it might even be stronger than mine, which is fucking crazy. If this is what you’re like with only bonding to one of us, I can’t even imagine. No one needs that much power,” Micah said, starting to ramble. “What I mean is that I get it, fearing yourself and your powers. So, if you need help or someone to talk to, I’m around.”

I struggled to keep a blank face at the shock hearing him talk. Micah was offering to help me of his own free will. Brayden squeezed my hand, but I didn’t look at him, not wanting to jinx it.

“That means a lot, Micah,” I said with a smile. “Thank you.”

He flicked his eyes up at me guardedly. “Don’t make a fucking deal about it, we’re a team, right? We can’t have you being a liability and getting us killed with your random episodes.”

Ah, there was normal Micah. That didn’t last long.

“Got it,” I grinned, knowing it would irritate him. Brayden chuckled.

“Don’t you even fucking start, Dolton,” Micah challenged, pointing a finger at his best friend.

The landing was smooth, and we touched down without any other excitement. The flight staff didn’t seem to act at all like the plane had almost crashed when they shook Brayden’s hand as we disembarked. I still had no idea where it was that we landed. The airport sign was in another language, so that didn’t give me much help. Brayden caught my hand, and we headed into the small building of the airport where they checked my passport and put a new stamp in it. On the page in bold letters was ‘Republic of Austria, Graz.’

“Oh my God, we’re in Austria,” I said, doing a little hop of excitement. “I’ve always wanted to come to Austria, the art and history here is incredible. Just when I didn’t think you could be more perfect, you live in Austria of all places.”

Unable to contain myself, I bounced around, ready to hit the sights and savor what this amazing city had to offer. I was in one of the places in the world where the renaissance area was preserved for your viewing pleasure.

“Oh my God, I’m going to spend Christmas in Austria! Please tell me we can go to the Advent night markets!?”

Micah looked at me like I had lost my mind, and Brayden just had the biggest smile I had seen on his face in a while.

“Mr. Dolton, Mr. Lazonick, welcome home,” a sharply dressed man said, bowing his head slightly to the boys before he turned to me. “Ms. Mackenzie, it is lovely to meet you. I’m Martin, valet to the Dolton household. If you would follow me, I’ll take you to the house.”

Wrapping my arm around Brayden’s, I leaned in and whispered, “Your family has a butler?”

Brayden glanced down at me, smirking. “Martin is more than a butler to us, but yes, I guess his job would fall under that title.”

Martin led us out to a beautiful white Mercedes SUV, opening the door for me to get in the back seat. Micah hopped in the front, and Brayden joined me in the back. The windows were so tinted it was hard to see the world around me, but it was much too cold to open the windows. Thankfully, I had two weeks to take in the sights.

The whole town was covered in a light dusting of snow, making it all seem so picturesque. Garland and other Christmas decorations were tastefully placed along the buildings, making it seem like a hallmark film. I felt like a little kid with my face plastered to the window, but I couldn’t help myself. This was one of the top ten places I had always wanted to visit, and I was drinking it all in.

“Imagine my surprise when talking about places we both wanted to travel to, my hometown was listed,” Brayden said, squeezing my leg, trying to draw my attention.

I leaned over and planted a dramatic kiss on Brayden’s lips, making him laugh. “Thank you for keeping this a surprise.”

“Seems like I might need to do them more often, seeing how happy you are,” Brayden said, wrapping his arm around me.

“If they all are this amazing, be my guest. I love surprises.”

In my mind, I was thinking Brayden would live in a mansion like the one in The Sound of Music. Instead, we drove down an alleyway to the back side of a historic four-story home in the middle of the city. It was whitewashed, with dark wooden shutters that had garland around them, and a single candle in each window. I saw traces of what must have been ivy growing on the house when the weather was warmer. Everything about it was charming and welcoming.

Micah led the way as we entered through the back door into the kitchen. It was like I had just stepped into a storybook. I half expected Cinderella to pop out from somewhere, it was so whimsical. Instead of Cinderella appearing in the kitchen, a young girl walked in, wearing some type of princess dress with her long, brown hair a wild mess. She looked up, surprised to see us in the kitchen, but once she recognized who it was, her face lit up.

“Bray-Bray!” she squealed, running and jumping into his arms, causing Brayden to drop the bag he was holding.

“Oof, Hope, look how big you’ve gotten,” Brayden said, hugging the girl tightly. “Hey Hope, I have someone I would like you to meet.”

“You do? I love making new friends,” Hope said as he turned so she was facing me.

“Hope, I would like you to meet Lailah, my girlfriend. Lailah, this is Hope, the youngest of the Dolton gang,” Brayden introduced before setting down the wiggling mess of purple tulle that came running over to me.

Without hesitation, Hope tossed herself at me next, not giving me much time to brace myself. She was young and small but could have easily knocked me over if I didn’t get my balance. Hope wrapped her arms around my neck and snuggled in for a hug and a kiss on my cheek.

“I like you, you’re really pretty,” Hope announced before her face scrunched up all serious. “Will you play dress up with me? I feel like you would make a very pretty princess like me.”

I giggled, unable to hold it in at the onslaught of pure emotion only kids can provide. “I would love to play dress up with you.”

“Hope, no one wants to play stupid dress up with you,” Kayley said, making an appearance in the kitchen, hands on her hips as she scowled at her sister. Then her gaze landed on Micah. “Hi, Micah.”

Hope and I watched the interaction silently, and I noticed Kayley’s cheeks start to pink as she talked to Micah.

“Kayley, are you getting sick? Your face is all red,” Hope blurted out, breaking the silence that had filled the room.

Kayley glared at her sister and stormed out of the room, her face now red for an entirely different reason. I set Hope back down, and she took my hand, swinging it back and forth as she hummed a song I didn’t recognize.

“Hope, why don’t we go show Lailah where her room is?” Brayden asked, grinning at me from ear to ear, his eyes shining with laughter.

Apparently, I had been adopted by Hope and wasn’t going to shake the little princess anytime soon. “Sounds good to me.”

The rest of the home was a mix of traditional carved wood accents and modern updates. The stairs were an ornate wooden spiral staircase that went up all four stories. We stopped on the third floor and walked down a narrow hallway that had doors on either side. Hope skipped her way down the hall until she threw open the third door on the left. Brayden rested his hand on my lower back, guiding me to follow her into the room.

It was magical. Even though the room was tiny, it had so much personality in it. The walls were painted a soft blue color, with white lace curtains bordering the one window. Walking over, I peeked out and found that the house next to Brayden’s was shorter, so I got a view of the city. Turning, I took in the wrought iron bed frame that took up most of the room, but it had ornate designs in the headboard and the foot rail. The bedding was soft and inviting like the rest of the room. A small dresser with four drawers and a narrow closet completed my investigation of the room.

“What do you think?” Brayden asked, watching my reaction.

I smiled widely at him and walked over, wrapping my arms around his waist. “It’s lovely.”

“I know it’s a little smaller than what you're used to, but in a city, living with this many people in a house doesn’t leave much extra room,” Brayden rambled, trying to justify himself.

Shutting him up, I placed a soft kiss on his lips. “Stop. I think it's utterly charming. Besides, my hope is that we will have so much to do that I will only be sleeping here.”

“Come see my room!” Hope said, tugging on my coat.

“There you are,” a young woman said, standing out in the hall, giving Hope a pointed look. “I told you not to bother them right away and let them unpack first.”

Looking up at me, she smiled, and instantly, I knew she was another one of Brayden's sisters. The fact they had the same hazel eyes helped, but the smile was a dead giveaway. “It is so nice to meet you, I’m Charlotte.”

I gave her a small wave since I was still in Brayden’s arms. “Lovely to meet you too, I’m Lailah.”

“Charlie, I was going to show Lailah my room,” Hope said with a stomp of her foot, crossing her arms.

Charlotte dropped her gaze at her little sister, her whole demeanor shifting into a woman I didn’t want to mess with. “Hope Sophia Dolton, that is not how we act in this house. Lailah is going to be with us for a few days, and she will see your room. Now come here and let them settle in.”

Hope didn’t move, just stood her ground, glaring at her sister.

“One… two…” Charlotte started counting.

Before she made it to three, Hope dashed out of the room and down the hall without any further fuss.

“Do you have younger siblings?” Charlotte asked, looking back at me.

“One younger brother, but he was born an old man, far more interested in taking over the world one book at a time. Our biggest challenge was getting him to stop asking us to read the newspaper to him,” I laughed, thinking of Kyle.

“Lucky,” Charlotte said, heading off in the direction Hope had gone.

TWENTY-THREE

LAILAH

Brayden left me to go unpack in his own room and let me settle in once Martin had brought up my suitcase and travel bag. There was just enough room in the closet for the few dresses and the winter coats that I had. Everything else went into the dresser. Thankfully, I had talked Cami out of making me pack even more than she already had. It seemed everyone on this floor shared one bathroom that was in the middle of the hall.

Wandering down the hall, I entered the bathroom with my toiletries and washed my face. There was something about traveling that always made me feel like I needed to wash up after. There was no shower, just a large claw-foot tub with a handheld shower attachment to the faucet. Shelves lined the wall, holding different colored towels and everyone else’s bathroom items in baskets. I smiled as I found one with my name pinned to it, along with some cream towels. It seemed that Brayden’s family had gone the extra mile to make sure I felt welcome.

After cleaning up, I went back to my room, flopped on the bed, and texted Cami.

Lailah:

Made it to Brayden’s. It’s so cute and his sisters are adorable, especially Hope.

Cami:

Hope is the best! Glad you made it alright, make sure to send me a lot of pictures!

Lailah:

You got it! TTYL

Turning so I was looking out the window from my bed, I saw it had started to snow. Flurries danced in the wind, making it look so inviting. The soft dusting on the roofs in my line of sight seemed to add something magical to the world. I couldn’t have been in a more picturesque place for Christmas.

My bedroom door crashed open, and Hope came running in and jumped on my bed excitedly. “Daddy’s home! He never comes home so early in the day; he’s even going to have dinner with us!”

“That is very exciting, I can’t wait to meet your dad,” I said, grabbing her before she rolled off the bed. “Is your mother going to be at dinner too?”

Hope paused and frowned at the mention of her mother. “I don’t know, Mommy’s sick, she keeps forgetting things and hurting herself by accident. Ms. Tabitha tells me that Mommy will get better if she keeps taking her medicine, but I tried it once, and it tastes gross.”

“I’m sorry to hear your mom isn’t feeling well. Who is Ms. Tabitha?” I asked. I already knew her mom wasn’t doing well from what Kayley had told us.

Hope picked at some of the beads on her dress, pouting a little before she answered me. “Ms. Tabitha is our governess, but I don’t like her, but I’m not allowed to say that, so don’t tell Charlie that I told you.”

“I promise, cross my heart,” I said, making an X over my heart. “Why don’t you like her?”

“She’s scary, one time I caught her putting funny-smelling stuff in Mom’s tea, and I asked her what it was. Ms. Tabitha told me it was medicine, but it didn’t come out of a pill bottle like the other stuff Mommy takes. I tried to tell Daddy, but he just told me I was too little to understand,” Hope said, jutting out her bottom lip.

Unsure of what to say, I poked Hope in the side gently, trying to get her attention. But instead, she fell over, letting out a peal of laughter. Grinning, I sat up and started to tickle her until she was crying and gasping for breath.

“What’s going on here?” Brayden asked, leaning against the door frame, a soft smile on his face.

“Tickle war, but it seems that someone didn’t put up much of a fight,” I teased, freeing Hope to jump off the bed and run to hide behind Brayden.

“It was a sneak attack,” Hope said, hands on her hips like some superhero.

Brayden chuckled, shaking his head. “Lucky for you that it’s dinner time and father wants us all down in the dining room.”

“Yeah,” Hope whooped and tugged on Brayden’s hand to get him moving. “Come on, we don’t want to keep Daddy waiting.”

Slipping off my bed, I followed behind as we made our way back to the first floor. The dining room was inviting, with a large wooden table that could easily seat twelve people. Place settings were out and candles already lit, waiting for us to be seated. Brayden pulled out a chair for me and helped push it back in. The rest of the family filtered in and took their seats, all of them looking excited, and I didn’t think it was because of me.

Looking around the table, I noticed there was one sibling I hadn’t met yet, Brayden’s younger brother David. His chocolate hair was shaggy, much like a young Justin Bieber, and his eyes were a soft brown color. He had on a red and white soccer jersey that I would assume belonged to the Austrian soccer team. In a house full of girls, this young man was all boy. He must be thrilled to have Brayden and Micah back in the house.

Then an older gentleman walked in with a beautiful woman on his arm. The power couple that were Brayden’s parents. His father was still in his suit from work, adding to his very orderly look. His dark brown hair was heavily salt and peppered, along with his neatly managed beard. His glasses had a wooden frame, which seemed to compliment his pale green eyes. His wife was stunning, even as she was letting her hair grow out to her now silvery-gray color. It was thick and full, cut in a very trendy just-past-the-chin bob. She was thin, almost too thin, her skin crinkled slightly as if it was lacking in nutrients. Her beautiful deep hazel eyes that leaned more towards the blue side seemed to be glassy, like she wasn’t really there with us.

His father walked up to where I was sitting, so I rose, as did Brayden.

“Lailah, it is so lovely to meet you and to have you in our home,” he said, smiling as he reached out to take my hand, then covered it with the other and gripped it tightly.

“Thank you so much for having me. It's very kind of you, Mr. Dolton,” I said, returning his smile.

“Oh, now, none of that. You’re family now that you and Brayden have bonded. Call me Oliver and my wife Adriana. Hopefully, one day, you will feel comfortable enough to call us Mom and Dad as well,” Oliver said, his eyes misting over with emotion.

I slid my hand into Brayden’s, feeling overwhelmed with emotion at how they welcomed me with open arms. “I would like that. Thank you, Oliver.”

“Now let’s get settled and eat the delicious meal that has been prepared for us,” Oliver said, walking Adriana to her seat and getting her settled before taking his place at the head of the table.

Brayden’s mother remained silent through the whole exchange and moved mechanically, as if she were just going through the motions. I could see why Kayley and Hope thought their mother was not well. Then, as she took a sip from her wine glass, it was like she snapped out of her fog and realized where she was.

“Oh, honey, you're home in time for dinner, what do we owe the occasion?” Adriana asked as she took the basket of rolls, helping herself and passing it along to Brayden.

“I wouldn’t dream of missing meeting our son’s girlfriend. It’s the first time he’s ever introduced us to someone special, isn’t it, dear?” Oliver said, not even trying to address the fact she’d missed the whole introduction that happened right in front of her.

“Goodness me, how could that have slipped my mind,” she said, peeking past Brayden, surprised to see me sitting there. “It’s so lovely to have you in our home, sweetie. Brayden is one lucky man from what I hear.” She grinned, winking at me before passing the platter of meat but not taking any.

“I have to say, I feel pretty lucky to have a guy like him. You raised your son to be a wonderful man,” I said, resting my hand on Brayden’s leg and leaning against him.

Adriana smiled widely at me. “Oh, now I really like her.”

Oliver smiled and chuckled us as he dug into his food. Once everyone had filled their plates, we all dove in, not talking much. I watched, taking in the dynamic of the family, trying to get a feel for what normal was for them. Charlotte helped Hope by cutting up her food if she was having a tough time with it. I had the feeling that Charlotte was the real mom here, for the time being. David and Micah talked quietly about sports and other boy subjects, and a disgruntled Kayley poked at her food. My guess was that it had something to do with not sitting next to Micah, seeing as I was on his other side.

“Lailah, tell us about your family. Brayden hasn’t been sharing much information with us,” Adriana said, drawing me out of my musings.

“I’m the middle child. I have an older brother, Dylan, who is in school to be a lawyer. Apparently, getting an MBA wasn’t enough for him, so he needs a second degree. Kyle is my little brother, he’s a freshman in high school, taking all AP classes and smarter than all of us,” I said, smiling to myself as I thought of my brothers. “My parents, Luke and Bonnie, own a diner, and it’s the best place to eat in town.”

“Isn’t that lovely. Did your mother teach you her skills in the kitchen?” Adriana asked.

“That was something we all learned, whether we liked it or not. Each of us has spent the summers working there to make money; there were no handouts if there was a way to earn it,” I said, remembering the early years washing dishes and busing tables. “I assume that will be what I spend my summer doing until Cami comes to visit.”

“Camilla, how is that dear girl?” Adriana inquired, pushing Brayden out of her way when he leaned in to get more food.

“Cami is Cami, living life on the edge and pushing my boundaries to try new things,” I laughed.

“Seems like she’s bounced back from all that mess of last year. I thought we were going to lose her for good this time,” Oliver interjected.

His statement caught me off guard. What had he meant by that? But he started up again before I could think on it too much.

“Enough of that talk. Brayden, what do you have planned for your time here? Can we still expect you at the shareholders’ Christmas party next Saturday evening?” Oliver asked.

“Of course. I made sure Lailah knew about it so that we would come prepared,” Brayden said, taking the chance to get another helping of potatoes.

“Very good. Micah, will you be attending? You are a shareholder, after all,” Oliver queried.

I turned to look at Micah, my eyes wide in surprise. He, on the other hand, scowled down at his food, gripping his knife tightly.

“Is she going to be there?” Micah bit out.

“Not if you're going. No need to have both of you there,” Oliver said, simply.

This information caused him to relax slightly, so I wasn’t worried he would stab the table again. “Fine, I’ll go, but if she does show up, I’m not to be held at fault for what happens.”

Oliver grunted, nodding his head sharply. “That is fair.”

I had so many questions, but I knew that this was not a subject I could ask about now. Who was this woman that Micah hated so much that he wouldn't share the same space as her?

The rest of the meal was uneventful and filled with trivia about Graz and Austria in general. Adriana and Oliver gave many suggestions on fun places to visit and museums to check out.

“I did come up with my own ideas, you know,” Brayden grumbled.

“Oh honey, I’m sorry, are we butting in too much on this? Forgive your mother, it’s hard to remember you're all grown up and have a wife already,” Adriana said, patting Brayden’s hand.

I froze and looked around the table to see if the others had caught what she said. It wasn’t the fact that I wanted to keep how serious our relationship was; it was more that I didn’t know what was common knowledge in their family. Did the younger ones know about the Elementi? What about the Blessed Warriors?

“Darling,” Oliver said, his voice full of caution.

Adriana sucked in a breath and covered her mouth with her hand, her face awash with worry. Taking a moment, she cleared her throat and settled her hands back in her lap. “Right, well, it seems that I am getting tired. I think I’ll turn in for the evening.”

“Martin!” Oliver called.

Seconds later, the man himself was standing at the ready.

“Will you please escort Adriana to her room for the night?” Oliver requested.

Charlotte shot up from her seat, startling me. “I’ll get her ready for bed.”

“Charlotte, sit down. You are not her maid, you are her daughter. If she needs anything, she can call for Ms. Tabitha to help her,” Oliver said, pointing for Charlotte to be seated.

“Dad,” Charlotte started, but one look from her father had her shutting her mouth and sinking into her seat.

“The cook made us a lovely apple strudel, and I would hate for us not to appreciate the hard work that has gone into it,” Oliver said, settling back in his seat.

“I love apple strudel. It’s my favorite, just like you, Daddy!” Hope declared, causing us all to smile at how excited she was.

“My little princess has good taste,” Oliver said, winking at her and making her giggle.

The strudel was amazing and everything that had been promised. Once done with the meal and bringing all the plates to the kitchen, I turned in for the night. Just as I was about to fall asleep, Brayden snuck into my room and cuddled up behind me, burrowing his face into the back of my neck.

“I hope I didn’t offend you by giving you your own room. I didn’t want to assume you would want to share one,” Brayden murmured.

I smiled into the darkness of the room. “No, it’s fine. I think if you had us sharing a room, it would have made me way too nervous. I don’t know that we’re quite there in our relationship just yet, and definitely not starting at your parents’ house.”

Brayden kissed my neck, pulling me even closer to him. “I’m excited for you to be here and with my family, but alone time with you is going to take some work.”

“I’m sure we’ll manage just fine for two weeks,” I teased.

TWENTY-FOUR

LAILAH

There was no sleeping in when the house was as busy as the Dolton home was. Hope raced around the house with David as Charlotte tried—and failed—to keep them quiet. Kayley locked herself in the bathroom for what seemed like hours, so I had to find the one on the second floor to use. As I made my way back to my room to change and get ready for the day, I ran into Charlotte.

“I’m so sorry if they woke you up, we’re a home full of early risers. Micah had to learn to wear earplugs growing up here if he wanted any peace,” Charlotte said, brushing a strand of her long, wavy hair out of her face.

“Please don’t worry about it, I am used to being up at the crack of dawn to go running, but since it’s snowed, that has changed to swimming laps or working out in the gym,” I said, resting my hand on her arm to reassure her.

Charlotte let out a huge breath as if she had been worried I would have been upset with her. “It would seem the snow is exactly what is getting everyone in a tizzy this morning. It snowed all night, and there’s enough to go sledding. David and Hope are beside themselves with excitement, trying to convince Mom to let them go.”

I turned to look out one of the front windows on the third floor, and sure enough, the world had turned white. Tracks in the snow showed where people had walked or driven through it so far this morning. The sun glinting off the pure whiteness made the world look like a picture.

“Sledding in this would be amazing. Do you think your mother will let them go if Brayden and I go with them?” I asked, looking at Charlotte over my shoulder.

Charlotte worried her lip as she thought. “She might, but sometimes the decisions she makes don't seem reasonable. After she lost Michael…”

“Yes, that makes sense,” I said. Charlotte paused, giving me a questioning look. “Brayden told me about Michael, though it was more like he was forced into it when Kayley brought it up.”

Charlotte rolled her eyes, shaking her head. “Of course Kayley needed to throw that in his face. Not like he doesn’t have enough on his plate to deal with, she feels the need to add more.”

“Siblings, right?” I said, giving her a light shove with my shoulder and a smirk. “Where is your mom? Let me go talk to her and see if I can get her to give us the go-ahead.”

“Guess it can’t hurt,” Charlotte said, leading the way upstairs to the fourth floor.

The space up here was much more open and only had three doors along the hall. Charlotte walked to the first door and rapped on it, waiting a moment, then pushing the door open. I followed her inside and found a large study filled with shelves of books. There was also a large whiteboard taking up one whole wall that had math equations all over it. Sitting at a large vintage desk, Adriana sat flipping through pages of a book and scribbling notes down in a journal. Ink was covering her hands and had splattered on her white shirtsleeves.

“Mom,” Charlotte said, heading over to the desk. “Mother.”

Adriana acted as if she had no idea that we were even in the room, utterly focused on the work before her. Even with all my extra credit helping Hudson in his lab, I had no idea what she was working on. To me, it all looked like a foreign language or code to be deciphered.

“Charlotte, what are you doing in here? You know better than to bother your mother when she’s like this,” a woman said, walking in with a tray holding a tea set.

“Ms. Tabitha, I was just asking my mother if we could take everyone out sledding. She would never just let us leave without checking with her first,” Charlotte said, looking like this woman had taken the wind out of her sails, head bowed, voice soft and unsure.

Ms. Tabitha was tall and willowy, with sharp facial features. If I had ever pictured a governess before, it would have been just like her. Gray hair pinned tightly back in a French twist, face bare of any makeup, and piercing dark brown eyes. Everything about this woman seemed rigid and cold. She set the tea down on the desk and poured a cup for Adriana, setting it next to the journal she was writing in. Without hesitation, Adriana paused in her work and took up the tea. Ms. Tabitha then handed her a small dish that had pills in it, and Adriana took them all in one gulp. Once done with that, she resumed her work, still not acknowledging anyone in the room.

As Ms. Tabitha picked up the tray and headed out of the room, she paused. “Since I was charged to look after all of you, then I will tell her I gave you permission to take them out. Go, enjoy time with your family. I know they aren't visiting for long, and getting outside will do the young ones good.”

This woman was giving me whiplash. I couldn’t decide if I liked her or not, she was full of contradictions. One moment she was upset to be here then she was sending us off for a nice day together. I decided to put a pin in that until I could get more information.

“Come on, before she changes her mind,” Charlotte said, grabbing my hand and dragging me out of the room.

She led me down all the way to the kitchen, where everyone was eating breakfast. Everyone but Micah—he must have been wearing his ear plugs. Brayden smiled at me over his cup of coffee, which I returned as I was handed a mug.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Martin, I don’t drink coffee,” I said, in reflex.

The older man just smiled patiently. “Then it is a good thing I handed you a cup of hot tea. We don’t have any chai, but I hope this traditional Austrian Sacher blend is to your liking. They serve it only at the finest hotels in Vienna.”

I took a tentative sip and then another, letting the flavor roll over my tongue. “It’s wonderful, thank you. I might even need to get some so I can take it home with me.”

“I am pleased that I was able to guess your taste; tea drinkers can be a fussy bunch. Speaking for myself, that is, being London-born and all,” Martin said, ushering me to a seat next to Brayden. “Now, let’s get you some breakfast. The cook is off on the weekends, but we all seem to make do with a simple fare.”

Turns out their version of simple fare was far from simple. I was given a plate with a roll slathered in butter, a thick slice of ham, two soft boiled eggs, and a bowl of something called muesli, their version of cold oatmeal with fresh fruit and berries finished off with milk. Set on the table, there were also sweet pastries, croissants, and other small cakes with jam.

“Just for the record, this is not simple,” I muttered as I navigated my way around all the food. Not being a breakfast person, this was overwhelming.

Charlotte sat on my other side and giggled. “Here in Austria, we believe that breakfast on the weekends is the main meal. It fortifies you for the day of fun ahead. Speaking of, we talked to Mom, and we are all going sledding!”

David jumped out of his chair, whooping, punching his fists into the air. Hope let out a screeching sound to show her excitement, wiggling in her seat and knocking over her glass of orange juice.

“Have fun, losers, I’m going to stay at the house and relax. Besides, I wouldn’t want to leave Micah all by himself,” Kayley said, leaning back in her chair, sipping from her coffee mug.

“Why would you need to do that when I’m going with them?” Micah said, entering the kitchen and taking the proffered mug from Martin. “I promised David last night I would go if Mom said yes.”

I tried not to gape as I took in this new side of Micah. One, he was being social and willing to participate in things, even making plans to do something fun. Then there was the fact he called Adriana Mom. I knew they had told me they would love it if I did that, but it was just strange to hear it come out of his mouth.

“Great, then I’m coming. I was only going to stay behind for you,” Kayley said, doing a complete one-eighty.

“I thought you said sledding was stupid and who wants to spend time out in the cold getting wet snow down their backs?” David taunted.

“Shut up, no one asked you,” Kayley said, slamming her mug down and storming out of the room.

Did she learn that from Micah?

“We should get ready, the sledding hill will only get busier the later it gets,” Brayden said, sliding back his chair and taking his and Kayley’s dishes to the sink.

“You really should stop doing things like that for her, she needs to learn responsibility,” Charlotte said, frowning at Brayden.

At her words, Brayden looked sheepish, ducking his head from being called out. Shrugging his shoulders, he cleaned up after himself and headed out of the room. Hope dashed after him, yelling the whole way to her room how excited she was to go sledding. David finished his food and silently cleaned up and left the room. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but there was something missing in him. Almost as if he felt like an outsider in his own home and was used to doing things alone.

“You forgot to put earplugs in last night, didn’t you? Otherwise you wouldn’t be up this early on break,” Charlotte said, giving Micah a knowing look. “Or was there another reason to be awake?”

I saw the sideways glance in my direction, but I wasn’t going to call her out on it. I was thoroughly intrigued by this new version of Micah.

“Like I said, I promised David I would go sledding with him. You and Lailah just beat me to asking Mom if we could go. The poor kid’s a loner, and being in a house with all girls, homeschooling doesn’t help. He needs time with guys, not sitting around watching you all do needlepoint or whatever the hell that old bat is teaching you.”

Charlotte rolled her eyes and sighed. “It’s not the middle ages, Micah. We don’t learn needlepoint—until senior year, that is.”

Micah tossed his cloth napkin at her, frowning before taking his dishes to the sink.

“It’s refreshing to see someone give Micah a taste of his own medicine. Most of the time, people are too scared of him or too in love with him,” I said, nudging Charlotte with my elbow.

Micah whirled and pointed a finger at me with a stern look on his face. “Don’t get any wild ideas, woman.”

Charlotte and I burst out laughing, causing him to storm out of the room.

Growing up in Wisconsin, it always snowed enough at least once that we could go sledding. To me, that meant going to a park that had a sledding hill and walking up and sledding down fifty times or so until your legs gave out. Sledding in Austria was on a whole other level. It took us an hour to drive to the mountain that we were going to be sledding down. That’s right, a mountain.

“Okay, explain this to me one more time,” I said, shifting to face Brayden better as he drove. “We take a bus up to the top of this mountain, rent a traditional wooden sled, then proceed to sled back down.”

“You got it,” Brayden said, nodding his head and grinning at me.

“It’s the coolest thing about living here. You can get up to fifty kilometers on the straight-aways,” David added. “This year, I’m old enough to have my own sled.”

I quickly googled what that speed was in miles per hour and found it was thankfully only about thirty. Incredibly fast for sledding, but I was picturing Olympic luge sledding where they got up to eighty miles per hour.

“How do you even steer a sled?” I asked, feeling more panic set in.

Charlotte, who was sitting next to me, took my hand and gave it a squeeze. “They’ll teach you how to do that. Lots of foreigners come to do this, so they will tell you everything you need to know. Although it is very simple—you just use your feet like rudders.”

“Do they have helmets?” Everyone in the car laughed at me like it was the silliest question I could have asked.

Now I was grateful that I had still packed my un-fashionable winter jacket, because I was perfectly comfortable in the biting cold. I borrowed a hat and gloves from Charlotte, so I was set for this adventure. Brayden and I sat next to each other on the bus, Hope in my lap.

“I want to ride with Lailah.” She pouted for the hundredth time.

“No, Hope, let her get one ride down before we saddle her with a passenger. You’ll ride with me, and then we will see what Lailah thinks for the second run,” Brayden answered, his tone leaving no room for argument.

“Wait, you're going to make me go down by myself?!” I was shocked. I had assumed Brayden and I would be sharing a sled.

“I’ll share one with you, Lailah, for this first run,” Charlotte piped up, turning to look back at us.

I sighed, letting my shoulders sag in relief. Cami was always pushing me into things like this, but she’d learned early on I needed a little hand-holding at first. “Thank you.”

The bus dropped us off at a building that was half sled rental and half cafe serving hot drinks, wine, and beer. Brayden and Micah went to get our sleds while Charlotte and I hung back with David and Hope. The track that we would be sledding down was wide enough for a car to drive easily and wound its way down the mountain.

“How long is the track?” I questioned.

“Hmm, seven kilometers, so four and a half miles, give or take,” Charlotte answered, following my gaze. “It starts out fairly gentle, then gets a little more exciting towards the end. The forest is the tricky part—more turns to avoid the trees.”

“That is so not helping,” I muttered.

We wandered over to a beginner’s class that was going on so I could watch them explain the basics. Just as they finished up, the guys returned with the sleds and ski goggles. We shuffled into line with the others, letting groups go together, then waited for a gap to build before letting the next group go.

“I’ll sit behind you, but I want you to be in the first seat so you can figure out the steering. I’ll back you up if you need it,” Charlotte said, getting settled on the sled as we all lined up in a staggered formation.

The starting attendants gave us a shove, setting the sled in motion. Brayden and David were in front of us, with Micah and Kayley behind us. I was grateful for the goggles, because the wind blowing past us as we gained speed would have been awful without them.

“Okay, our first turn is coming up; hover your right foot over the snow, and then dig your heel in as we get closer,” Charlotte yelled in my ear.

I followed her instruction and put my heel down—too hard—and almost spun us out of control, but she corrected us. Easing up on the pressure, I figured out the balance and eased us into the next curve. As we accelerated and I became more confident, the excitement finally reached me. We flew across the packed snow, weaving in and out of people who were going slower than us. Laughter started to bubble up, and I let out a whoop as we drifted perfectly around the turn, hardly slowing at all.

Micah and David were racing, tossing snow at each other like their own version of Mario Kart. Kayley was laying down on her stomach, trying to keep up with them and avoiding being hit by snow. One more curve, and we were in the forest area. The trees were dense, and if you wiped out, trying to avoid hitting one would be a miracle. For some reason as we zoomed past, I felt this lurking unease that there was something out in the woods and it wasn’t anything good. I wanted to get Brayden or Micah’s attention, but they were too distracted.

A loud crack sounded through the quiet forest, and a huge tree started to fall. I looked back to see that Brayden and Hope just made it past before it blocked the sled path. I dug my heels in, trying to slow us down so he could catch up to us and I could make sure he was okay. Then I noticed movement in the forest and knew what that gut feeling had been.

“Demons,” I screamed before grabbing Charlotte and bailing from the sled as one came hurtling towards us.

TWENTY-FIVE

BRAYDEN

Everything happened in a blur. Narrowly getting crushed by a falling tree, Lailah screaming, then demons flooding the path. I had never seen so many minor demons of various kinds swarming before. They poured out of the trees, some flying while others crawled. Hissing and screeching echoed around us. Hope clung to me, sobbing as a demon dive-bombed us, but I was able to roll us out of the way.

The chaos made it hard to see where everyone was. Balls of fire were being tossed in all directions, giving me a clue as to where Micah was. I picked Hope up and held her to my front, wrapping her legs around my waist and her arms around my neck.

“I need you to hold on to me as tight as you can. I need my arms free to keep us safe, can you do that for me?” I asked, trying to keep my voice calm. Not speaking, she whimpered into my neck, clinging as hard as she could.

“Brayden, over here,” Lailah called, kicking a demon away from Charlotte, who was trying to beat a demon off with a stick.

Feeling my daggers form in my hands, I charged over to them, slashing and stabbing as I went, not stopping to see if I had killed them or not. Seeing a boulder off to the side, I used my power to pick it up and send it crashing into a group of demons trying to overwhelm the girls.

A demon latched onto my leg, trying to slash through the snow pants I had on. I tried to shake it off, but it only held on tighter and dug its claws in deeper. Needing backup, I looked around for Micah but couldn’t find him anywhere. Then the demon was engulfed in flames, and a boot kicked it off my leg, sending it screaming into another demon.

“What the fucking hell is going on?” Micah demanded, whirling to slice off the head of a demon trying to tackle David. Micah and I, having grown up and trained with each other for years, moved seamlessly together. I handed Hope off to Kayley who was with David, and circled to keep the three of them in the middle, while Micah and I moved us towards Lailah and Charlotte.

“How the hell should I know what's going on?” I snapped when I caught a second to answer.

“The two of us can’t keep this up, there are way too many of them and too many people we have to look out for,” Micah said, giving me a hard look. “You need to do something drastic, and fast.”

Before I could answer, Lailah sent out a pulse of power, blasting all the demons away from us. Quickly we gathered, panting and sweating from the effort of fighting in winter gear.

“Please tell me one of you has a plan,” Lailah said, her worried eyes flicking between the two of us.

That’s when the reality of the situation hit. Most of the people I loved were here with me and under attack. With only two of us that could defend and protect, the odds were not looking good. Micah was right. I needed to step up my game and think big.

“Brayden, can you make an avalanche?” Charlotte asked, pulling David close to her side, her body rigid with fear.

“It could work,” Micah said, nodding his head, slashing away at encroaching demons with his swords.

“The fuck it could work. How do you plan on surviving that? I can’t really control how it happens once it starts. We could get buried alive,” I fumed, throwing one of my daggers at a flying demon.

“Better than what the demons would do to us,” Micah countered.

“I can make us a shield to protect us from the avalanche,” Lailah said, stabbing at a demon with her sai.

Micah and I both looked at each other in shock, then over to her. “How do you know you can make a shield? No one has done that before,” Micah demanded

“Does it really fucking matter at this moment?” Lailah barked. “It’s not like we have that many options. Trust me, I can keep us safe. I know I can do this.”

Just when I didn’t think things could get much worse, a second wave of demons flooded out of the trees. There was no more time to figure out a better plan. It was now or never.

“Okay, cover me while I figure this out,” I yelled.

A wall of flames burst up around us, slowing down the demons' advance. “I can’t hold this for long, so make it good, man,” Micah said through gritted teeth.

Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath and sent my power into the mountain beneath my feet. I felt along the ridges that were farther from the ski resort, not wanting to endanger more people. Finally, I found a weaker section that I could shake loose and send the snow falling. Reaching deeper into my power, I pulled up as much as I could and sent it out to do my bidding.

The ground rumbled under our feet, and I could sense the shift on the air, but it wasn’t enough. I was too far away to get the right punch I needed to break the ground loose. Then a hand slipped into mine, and golden power flooded my system, sending out a shockwave that hit the mountain right where we needed it. A loud CRACK reverberated through the air, then a muffled WHUMPH of the snow breaking off signaled the start of the avalanche. The ground bucked under our feet as the earth shifted against the oncoming wave of snow. When we saw it coming in the distance, it looked like a fast-moving wall of clouds that would be harmless.

I grabbed Kayley and David, hugging them close while Charlotte and Hope gathered around. Micah framed them in, opposite of me, trying to keep everyone close. I lifted my head in time to see Lailah throw her arms wide, facing down the avalanche like she could tame it with that look alone. Praying that the angels would give her the strength she needed, I watched as the first wave hit.

When the snow slammed into her shield, it shone like a golden dome surrounding us. Lailah took a step back but didn’t falter as she held her own against the onslaught of snow. Having only seen this sort of disaster on TV, I was blown away by the power it had to take down the trees like they were nothing more than a blade of grass. Time seemed to still as we waited for the snow to settle, and I could see Lailah beginning to struggle. Stepping closer to her, I rested my hand on her shoulder just as Micah did the same. Our powers flowed into her, and the dome became awash with green and red, along with the gold.

The rumbling stopped, and the world became quiet. I could feel the earth had settled and everything was calm. Confident that the avalanche was over, I took a deep breath.

“How the hell are we going to get out of this damn snow?” Kayley grumbled. “Seems someone didn’t think this all the way through before bringing a mountain down on us.”

“Really, Kayley, now is not the time,” Charlotte snapped, cutting our sister a look to shut the hell up.

“I should be able to melt a way out,” Micah said, looking up at the snow above us.

“Try it. I’ll hold the shield until you test it so we don’t have a cave in. It will at least tell us how deep under we are,” Lailah said, looking pale and exhausted.

Rubbing his hands together, Micah got them to heat up and placed them above his head against the barrier and the snow. Seconds later, sunlight shone through, showing that we were buried under only a few feet of snow. Lailah slowly let the shield fall, and the snow tumbled in, but it was nothing we couldn’t wade out of easily.

As we looked around, it was like a whole different world. The trees had snapped off, leaving branches and tree trunks poking up all around. Thankfully, there was no sign of any demons. Now I could relax and figure out our next step. We didn’t need to wait too long before a search and rescue team on snowmobiles showed up to take stranded people back to the ski lodge.

TWENTY-SIX

LAILAH

Drained from the amount of energy that I used to make the shield, I passed out the moment I leaned against the window of the car. Charlotte sat next to me with a sleeping Hope in her arms, who refused to be put in her own seat. Kayley and David sat silently in the back of the SUV. No one knew what to say about what just happened on the mountain. I had no idea what was known as common knowledge, but whatever it was didn’t prepare them for what we experienced.

Micah drove back this time. Brayden was just as worn out as I was, having brought down a mountain around us. Before my eyes closed for the rest of the drive, I locked eyes with Micah in the rearview mirror. He gave me a nod and the hint of a smile that I took to say I had done good today.

My dreams were fitful and full of demons jumping out of the shadows to attack me. That had been the second time that I had been swarmed while out in a forest. What did that tell us? Could we have done something differently? How did they find us? Did I lead them there with my tainted blood? Question after question filled my mind with doubt. Was I a danger to this family?

“Lailah,” Charlotte said, shaking me awake. “We're home.”

Slowly, I sat up, my neck feeling stiff from being smashed up against the window the whole ride back. I rubbed the grit out of my eyes, trying to pull myself out of the haunting thoughts that I’d been trapped in. Solemnly, we all entered the kitchen, shedding our winter clothes and putting them in the mudroom. Charlotte took Hope and David upstairs to put them down to rest. Even though David hadn’t said anything, you could just see the lost look in his eyes, unsure of what to do or say. Kayley went to the stove and put a kettle on to boil water.

I sat at the kitchen table, watching as Kayley pulled down five mugs, plopping a tea bag in each of them. As if on cue, Charlotte rejoined us as the kettle started to whistle. Once everyone had their mug and was seated, we all took a deep breath.

“We have to tell Father,” Charlotte said, breaking the silence.

Brayden lifted his head to look at his sister, eyes tired and filled with sadness. He nodded. “We can’t let him tell Mom. If she knows it will send her off the edge.”

“Especially since Father won’t let her go to a hospital after what happened with Michael. He would rather treat her at home than let her out of his sight,” Charlotte agreed, gripping her mug tightly.

Kayley finally broke and slammed a fist against the table. “Who the hell is going to explain what the fuck happened back there?”

“Language,” Charlotte snapped.

“Right, because that’s something we need to worry about when there are goddamn demons running wild in the woods. Do I need to worry about them attacking us here at home?” Kayley snipped, rolling her eyes.

“The house is warded, no demon should be able to get in,” Micah said, voice muffled from his head lying on his arm folded on the table.

Kayley shot up from the table, causing her chair to crash to the floor behind her. “What do you mean the house is warded? Are we witches or something? Is that what the Elementi are?”

Brayden let out a sigh and ran his hands through his hair. “No, the Elementi are not witches. Far from it. We are the good guys fighting against the demons and keeping the world safe.”

“Right, sure. The good guys, because causing an avalanche, manipulating fire, and making magical shields is totally normal stuff,” Kayley said, crossing her arms. “You better have a fabulous explanation for all this.”

Looking around the table, I could see that everyone was running out of steam to handle her torrent of questions.

“Do you know the story of how the Elementi was started?” I asked, surprising everyone.

“No… just that our family and many others have been a part of it for generations,” Charlotte said, catching me off guard.

I glanced over at Brayden, who wouldn’t meet my eyes. “So you have no idea who and what Brayden and Micah are?”

“What the hell does that mean?” Kayley demanded. “Up until today, I’ve never seen anything strange like that going on, and I grew up with both of them.”

“The three of us are Blessed Elementi Warriors, gifted with elemental powers by the angels,” I said, meeting Kayley’s eyes, then Charlotte’s.

Both of them looked at me like I had just told them they were adopted. Kayley took a moment to right her chair and then sank into it. Charlotte gulped down the rest of her tea as if that would calm her.

“I mean I knew about some things but… Explain what that means—please,” Charlotte whispered.

I reached over and took her hand, giving it a squeeze until she looked at me. “I’m new to all of this too. I didn’t learn who I was until about a month and a half ago. I understand how shocked and betrayed you must feel.”

“How did you find out?” Kayley asked, making it sound almost like she was accusing me of something.

“When I was being attacked by a demon much worse than what we faced today. It was trying to kill me, and my powers saved me until the guys could kill the demon,” I said, nodding at the boys to my right. “Parker, Jay, and Hudson are also like us.”

“Speaking of them, I think we need to fill them in on what’s going on. They could have something like this happen to them too,” Brayden said, pulling out his phone.

I smiled at him, but the dark thoughts from earlier told me that I was the reason that we had been attacked. The further people were away from me, the better things would be for them. Now I had to take responsibility for putting them in danger and explain this whole crazy world that I was now a part of.

“Brayden, Micah, Parker, Jay, and Hudson are known as the Five Blessed Warriors who were gifted with elemental abilities. It is passed down the family line—any male could be the next blessed warrior. Brayden told me it was your uncle who was the last Earth Elementi Warrior,” I said, starting with the basics. “The Elementi are a branch off of the Knights Templar and have been working to defeat the demons causing chaos in the world.”

“If there are only five, then how do you fit in?” Charlotte asked.

“When the original Five Warriors were blessed, they were promised a power that would turn the tide in the battle. If they stayed true to the cause, then when they needed help the most, Synergy would be given to them. It was never known how Synergy would be presented. Some thought it might be a weapon or some other mystical object. Only one man thought that it might be another person. Turns out, he was right, because here I am,” I said, waving my hands to present myself like I was Vanna White or something.

Kayley snorted. “Right, you expect me to believe that you are some magical woman who will save the world. I know I’m young, but I’m not stupid enough to believe in the bullshit.”

“Really, then was I in a different avalanche protected by a force field that was made by her?” Micah said, lifting his head to give Kayley a blasé look. “No one has ever been able to do something like that before.”

Kayley opened her mouth to argue but then shut it again and flopped back in her chair, glaring at me. “Whatever, it still doesn’t explain why demons came out of the woodwork to attack us today.”

Just as I was about to confess my thoughts on the situation, Brayden’s phone started ringing. He answered it and put the phone on speaker.

“What the fuck to do you mean you were attacked by demons?! You’ve only been gone for a day! Is everyone okay? Trouble didn’t get hurt, did she?!” Parker’s frantic voice blasted from the speaker. “I will kick your ass if she gets hurt again.”

I couldn’t hold back my smile hearing how worried he was; it warmed my heart to know he cared so much. “I’m fine, Parker. I even learned a new trick.”

“What kind of new trick?” Hudson asked, butting into the conversation.

“Seems like I can make a shield strong enough to withstand an avalanche,” I said, and everyone on the other end of the line fell silent.

“Is that an estimation of its strength, or has that specific scenario been tested?” Hudson questioned, his voice unsure if he wanted to know the answer.

“If Brayden dropping a mountain’s worth of snow on top of us counts as being tested, then yeah, I’ll say that’s a sure thing,” Kayley interjected.

“We’re coming to you,” Jay said as the call was disconnected.

I looked from the phone to the guys, then back again. “Wait, you don’t think he means right now, do you?”

“It’s Jay,” Micah pointed out. “My money’s on seeing them at dinner tonight.”

“Where will they all fit? We don’t have enough rooms to house everyone here,” Charlotte said, worrying her bottom lip.

“It’s fine, there is an Elementi safe house here near the city they can use,” Brayden said, rubbing his face with his hands. “Now I just have to tell Dad what’s going on.”

“How much trouble do you think you’ll be in?” Kayley asked.

At first, I thought she was being passive aggressive with that statement, but looking at her, I could see the worry in her eyes and the way that she was picking at her nails. She was genuinely nervous about the reaction their father would have about this. Then I remembered Brayden telling me the story about how their mom locked Kayley in her room for weeks after she tried to run away. We could have died today—what extreme outburst would Adriana have when she learned this information?

“Only one way to find out,” Brayden said, hitting the speed dial on his phone for his father.

I could hear it ringing, but there was no answer, and he went to voicemail. Brayden hung up and then texted his father to call him when he could about an urgent matter. Having done what he could, he set his phone aside and let his head fall into his hands, waiting for the world to drop around him.

I stood up and walked over to him and put my hands on his shoulders. Leaning down, I whispered into his ear, “Come on, why don’t we lay down for a little while. You have to be as tired as I am. We will figure this out, but trying to do it while we’re this exhausted won’t help anyone.”

He nodded, got up from his chair, and headed upstairs. I paused a moment and placed a hand on Micah’s shoulder, causing him to jump slightly and look up at me. His deep blue eyes were guarded and vulnerable at the same time. As if he was waiting for me to say something but hoped I didn’t.

“Thank you for trusting me, Micah,” I said and kissed him on the cheek, letting it linger before following Brayden.

I could hear Kayley snarl something behind me, but I didn’t care. It was obvious that she had a thing for Micah, but I also knew that he saw her as a sister and nothing more. Even though I was still coming to terms with bonding with all the guys, I knew they were mine. Micah needed time to build a friendship and trust me before it could ever be more. This trip was showing me there was so much more to learn about him as a person, and what I was seeing made me want to know more.

Checking my room first, I found Brayden sprawled out on his back across the bed, arm thrown over his eyes. Shutting the door, I crawled into the bed next to him and rolled to my side so I could watch him. I could feel the guilt of his supposed failure at keeping his family safe rolling off of him through our connection. Typically, he kept his side of our connection shut down, so I didn’t read much from him, but right now, the door was tossed wide open.

“Brayden,” I said, my throat tight with emotion, unable to tell if it was his or mine. Tears pricked at my eyes, causing them to burn as I shut them, refusing to let the tears fall.

Brayden rolled over and buried his face in my stomach, clutching me close to him. I wrapped my arms around his head and just curled around him, lending him what little strength I had to offer.

We must have fallen asleep like that, because the next thing I knew, a phone was ringing and Brayden stirred to answer it.

“Hey, Dad,” Brayden said, sitting up to lean against the headboard. “Can you talk privately? It's Elementi-related.” There was a pause, and then Brayden’s eyes widened, and he gulped. “You’re already on your way home? Yeah, everyone is fine. Okay, we’ll talk more when you get here.”

“That didn’t sound good,” I murmured, yawning and rubbing my eyes.

“It seems that the Elementi HQ here in Austria reached out to my father when they detected the abnormal demon activity and the avalanche. Combined with my phone call and the notice that the other guys requested to use the safe house, Dad put two and two together. He doesn’t know the whole story yet, but that’s why he’s on his way home,” Brayden explained as he absently played with my hair, looking out the window. “Lailah… I can’t be responsible for causing another family member pain.”

My chest ached with our combined guilt, and I couldn’t look at him or I would start crying. “This time has nothing to do with you. I’m the reason they attacked us; it’s me they are after, and your family was just a casualty to them. If anyone is to blame for this, it’s me.”

Brayden stilled beside me, then he tried to get me to look at him, but I wouldn’t. I just hid my face in the covers. I didn’t want to see the look of betrayal on his face for having me bring my trouble to his family. A loud bang of a door slamming caused both of us to scramble off the bed, guessing it would be Oliver.

Brayden took my hand and led me to the second floor, into a study that was clearly his father’s. Charts of plant growth and ground levels were covering both the desk and the large corkboard behind the desk. Instead of books on shelves, there were various plants labeled with numbers. It was the sunniest room in the house, with extra windows added for the plants. Brayden pulled us down onto the leather loveseat, and Micah entered next and seated himself in the armchair near me, even moving it so it was closer. Almost like he wanted to make sure I knew he was on my side when things went down.

Oliver’s thudding footsteps could be heard coming down the hall before the office door was tossed open, slamming against the wall. The calm, kind man I'd met last night was nowhere to be seen. His eyes flashed with anger, and a vein on his forehead pulsed as he tried to contain his fury. Kicking the door closed, he tossed his briefcase on the desk, followed by his coat, before he started pacing, not even able to sit down.

“Who wants to explain to me what the hell happened today,” Oliver snarled.

“It was my fault—” Brayden started, but I slapped my hand over his mouth and stood.

Oliver stopped his pacing at the sudden actions, glaring between Brayden and me. “Well?”

“Mr. Dolton,” I started, and he narrowed his eyes at me. “Oliver, what happened today was no one’s fault but mine. I’m demon-tainted, and I believe that draws them to me. Because of who and what I am, it puts everyone around me in danger.”

The shock of understanding bloomed over Oliver’s face. “But you’re Synergy, how can you be tainted by a demon?”

“I’m still human. They were able to remove almost all of it, but there is still a small amount left. Until I’m bonded to all five of the elements, I won’t be free of it. As of right now, only Brayden and I are bonded.”

Oliver blew out a sigh as he finally sat in the armchair, his anger abating. “Why haven’t you just bonded with the others so this isn’t an issue anymore?” he asked, looking between Micah and me.

Stunned at his question, I didn’t know how to answer it right away and sank back onto the couch. Brayden grabbed my hand and gave me a soft smile before turning back to his dad.

“That’s not how it works, Dad. Once you make the choice to bond, there is nothing that can break it. It’s a lifelong commitment that comes with a connection that is deeper than anything I’ve ever known before. I can literally feel every emotion she feels, and it’s the same for her,” he said, trying to get his father to understand.

“Like in any relationship, you need to build trust before you even think about asking someone to marry you,” Micah said, shocking me. “We’ve only known each other for a few months, and Lailah didn’t even know who she was or anything about this world we grew up in. So on top of that, you want her to just jump into a relationship with five guys?”

“No, of course not. I didn’t think that all the way through; please forgive me,” Oliver said, running his hands through his hair. “I was informed that the other three are on their way here. Do we need to worry about them attacking so soon after this event?”

“Honestly, I have no idea. It’s not normal for them to attack us the way they did. Who knows what their next move might be at this point,” Brayden said, watching his dad with a worried crease on his brow.

Oliver leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, taking the three of us in. “We can’t let your mother know about this. If she finds out, I don’t know what she will do.”

“Madam, please, you are not well! Come back to your room, I’m sure your husband will fill you in on what's happened,” Ms. Tabitha’s voice called from the hallway.

The one thing we had all hoped wouldn’t happen did. Adriana burst through the door, her silver hair wild like she had been pulling at it. Her eyes were crazed, like an animal trapped in a cage trying to get out. When they landed on me, she let out an ear shattering screech and lunged at me. No one was able to move fast enough, and a resounding slap sounded as pain bloomed on my cheek.

“How dare you put my family in danger. Isn’t one son enough to lose over this meaningless war?” Adriana fell to her knees in front of me, grabbing my shoulders. “Why would you need to take all my children? What have I done in my life to be so punished?” Adriana demanded, tears rolling down her cheeks as she shook me.

“Mom,” Brayden yelled, standing and trying to get his mother to let me go. “This isn’t Lailah’s fault; you need to let her go.”

“Enough,” Oliver bellowed. “Unhand her, Adriana.”

Hearing her husband’s words, she melted to the ground, sobbing at my feet. Her whole body shook with the strength of her crying. “Please, please, keep them safe. I beg of you. Don’t take them from me. They are all I have left that is pure in the world.”

On instinct, I leaned over to comfort her, but that was the wrong move. The moment I touched her, she screamed, throwing herself away from me and crawling towards Oliver. “No. No, you can’t be here. You have to leave, I won’t have you in my house.” She clung to her husband's legs and looked up at him, anger marring her face in a sudden transformation. “Oliver, make her leave. If you don’t, then I will have to take matters into my own hands.”

The pain in Oliver’s face as he looked at his wife told me all I needed to know. I stood, not wanting to force him into the choice. “It’s fine, I agree with her. It’s not safe for your family if I stay here. I’ll join the others where they are staying.”

“I’ll be going with her,” Brayden said, standing at my back.

Micah stood as well but didn’t say anything as we left the study to pack.

TWENTY-SEVEN

LAILAH

The car ride to the Elementi safe house was silent, but the air was full of tension at the unspoken words. Martin drove us since we couldn’t take a taxi to the location; it was also out of the main city and up in the mountains. I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to anyone in the house—we had to sneak out like some dirty secret. Knowing that I didn’t want to push Adriana any further than we already had, I didn’t argue. It’s not like it would be the last time I see them or talk with them. Brayden had Charlotte's number, so I could at least text her and let her know what was going on. I hoped that David and Hope didn’t get the wrong idea about us leaving, but Charlotte promised she would talk to them.

Martin turned off the main road and started on some winding track along the mountainside. The view was breathtaking and made me feel so small in the world compared to the impressive nature of the mountain range. After a few miles, we entered a plateau of sorts between two mountain peaks that had a helipad and a charming three-story wooden home. A helicopter was already sitting on the pad, its black metal shining in the sunlight reflected off the snow.

As we stopped in front of the house, the door was yanked open, and Parker started waving at us from the porch like we wouldn’t be able to spot him. His wide, welcoming grin made my heart melt, and I felt overwhelmed by how much I had missed him. It hadn’t even been two days, but Parker was one of my best friends and always knew how to make me feel better. I hopped out of the car and ran right into his arms. He hugged me so tight, I thought I might crack.

“Trouble, I can’t leave you alone for a minute, can I?” Parker chuckled.

I gave a laughing sob before I broke down, clutching his shirt in my hands as I cried. Parker didn’t say anything; he just picked me up and carried me into the house and sank onto a sofa, holding me.

“What happened?” Hudson asked, a hard edge to his voice that I hadn’t heard before.

“Mom freaked out and blamed Lailah for everything and kicked her out of the house,” Brayden explained.

Parker just kept rubbing my back, letting me feel all of my emotions, not trying to fix it. Then I felt a trickle of his power caressing against mine, soothing the torrent of my emotions. Typically, being around Parker made me fearless, bold, and willing to try new things. Yet this time, it felt different; it was as if he was able to manipulate how I was feeling, like he was taking on some of my pain. I leaned back and looked Parker in the face. His warm brown eyes looked back at me with so many emotions, all of them full of comfort and understanding.

“What did you just do?” I asked, curious.

Parker shrugged his shoulders, and a pink flush crossed his cheeks. Why was he embarrassed about what he had done?

“I couldn’t stand how much you were hurting, so I stole some of the pain from you. It’s part of being Heart. It gives me the ability to give or take emotions from people, among other things,” Parker explained, then his face fell to a frown. “You're not mad at me for using my powers on you, are you?”

I shook my head and leaned in, placing a gentle kiss on his lips. “No, not for something like this.”

Sliding off his lap, I curled up next to him and wiped my face with the palm of my hand, trying to pull myself together. I looked around to see all the guys watching me cautiously from various places in the room.

“Man, I missed all you guys; everything goes to hell when we’re not together,” I said, with a forced smile.

My comment made everyone smile, relaxing the tension in the room. I had a sneaking suspicion that not many women broke down crying around them. They were going to have to get used to it, because I was definitely a crier when my emotions got too much.

“Do you want to talk, or would you rather go on a house tour?” Hudson asked, adjusting his glasses.

Glancing around, I took in the living room for the first time. It was beautiful, rustic, and homey, with a large stone fireplace as the center focus. The large sectional couch I was sitting on made a U shape around it, keeping everyone warm. A large stack of wood was packed into a square cutout for storage, filling the room with its earthy smell.

“I’d love to see the rest of the house,” I said, extracting myself from Parker and the couch.

Hudson nodded and started down the hall but stopped and turned to me, holding out his hand. I grinned and grasped it, letting him pull me along. The next room we entered was an open kitchen and dining area with tons of windows showing a panoramic view of the mountains we were nestled between. The dining table was interesting; half was bench seating along the wall and the other half was chairs on the opposite side, and it looked like it could seat far more people than were here.

The kitchen was simple, with all the basic needs, and the fridge was even full of fresh ingredients. Tugging on my hand, Hudson drew me out onto the patio through a sliding glass door. The air was cold, but the breeze was gentle for being this high up. Sturdy wooden furniture was set out here for people to enjoy the view, and off to the right, I noticed a cutout in the floor.

“There’s a hot tub here?” I gasped, looking up at Hudson.

He grinned, and his ice-blue eyes shimmered. “Yes, there is, and I believe they have some extra swimsuits too in one of the guest rooms.”

“Yes. This is going to be epic,” I whooped and did a little happy dance before we headed back in.

Hudson led me up a flight of stairs into an open concept floor with a wall of bunk beds. Looking closer, the beds were all full-size mattresses instead of the typical twin. One wall was a gigantic sliding glass door that led out to a short balcony and gave the room an open feeling. There was a large bathroom made for two or more people to use, easily. Heading up another set of stairs, we ended up in a master bedroom with its own fireplace and seating. The bed was large and welcoming, as was the rest of the room. Another patio door faced the view leading to a small outside sitting area.

“We didn’t know that you were asked to leave, but figured there could be a chance you might sleep over, so we left this room for you and Brayden,” Hudson said, leaning against the fireplace as I scoped out the bathroom.

Peeking out the door to look at him, I blinked. “Really?”

“Of course. It only makes sense since we might be working late, and it’s an hour drive back to the city.”

“That makes sense but wasn’t what I was asking. I was more surprised that you’re okay with Brayden and I sharing a room,” I said, stepping back into the bedroom.

Hudson’s eyebrows raised in surprise. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

I dropped my gaze and fidgeted with my fingers, unsure of how to explain how I was feeling. Hudson was the one I seemed to turn to when I couldn’t figure something out, but it was harder to talk about this when it involved him.

“Well—I—um,” I stuttered, trying to figure out how to explain. I took a deep breath, then lifted my head to look Hudson in the eye. “It’s hard for me to wrap my mind around being with all of you. In my soul, I know that it’s how things are meant to be, but my brain isn’t moving as fast.”

“Hmm, so you’re wondering how I can be totally fine with you and Brayden when I and the others want you as well,” Hudson said, bluntly.

I gaped at him, stunned that he would just lay it all out on the table, so to speak. Not having the ability to speak just yet, I nodded my head in agreement. Hudson sat in one of the chairs by the fireplace and motioned for me to join him.

Oh God, he thinks I need to sit down for this.

Once seated, he crossed his leg and leaned back in the chair, watching me a moment. “I don’t think that this would have worked if it wasn’t with you. Tell me this—has it been hard since you met us all and became friends to spend time with us together and individually?”

I opened my mouth to answer, then took a moment to really think over his question. Had it been hard to juggle the five of them? In a strange way, it’d worked out that I found something that had become individualized for each of them. When we all spent time with each other, it had its up and downs, but it wasn’t related in any way to me being around all of them.

“No, it's been the easiest friendships I’ve ever had,” I answered, feeling something settle in me.

Hudson smiled. “Not many women can figure out how to equally share their time with so many men. You did it without even thinking about it. It might take me time to be comfortable seeing the others physically affectionate with you, but it’s inevitable that all of us will be bonded to you, and that comes with the territory.”

I laughed at how practical he sounded. “It’s going to take me some time to come to terms with that as well. I’ve only ever dated one other person in my life, and that didn’t end very well for me.”

“Just remember we are all human, and no one is perfect, but all of us would rather die than let anything happen to you,” Hudson said, getting to his feet, brushing a hand along my cheek. “What are the chances that we might talk you into cooking for us tonight? Sadly, most of us are not skilled in that area.”

I chuckled and stood, wrapping my arm around Hudson’s. “Come on, we don’t want to let the others waste away from hunger. You guys made it out here fast.”

“Fortunately, we were all packed ready to head out to our various locations,” Hudson shared. “That, and the fact Jay has a helicopter to use whenever needed.”

“Glad you guys were still at the house and hadn’t left yet. Hopefully, we can get this figured out so you guys can be with your families for the holidays.”

“One could argue that all of us together is being with family,” Hudson said, shocking me.

There are a few people that I would have expected that to come from, he was just not one of them. Grinning, I tightened my grip on his arm. “I like the sound of that.”

The kitchen was fully stocked with anything you would need to cook with and all the basic ingredients you could ask for. I whipped together some spaghetti, making the sauce from scratch since my mother never allowed us to use the premade stuff.

“Are you sure I can’t help?” Brayden asked, hovering in the kitchen.

I stopped and turned to look at him, spoon raised so it was right in front of his face. “If you don’t stop asking me that, I’m going to burn your portion. Now. Go!”

Brayden opened his mouth to argue once again that the over-cooked pasta paste wasn’t his fault.

“Just let it go, man,” Micah said, slapping Brayden on the back, grabbing two beers from the fridge.

Apparently, Beth never let them have alcohol at the house, but most of them drank on occasion. Brayden sighed, taking the beer from Micah and following after him into the living room. Never in my life did I think someone could be so bad at cooking that you could turn noodles into soggy goop. Parker offered as well, but I decided that for tonight I would just manage on my own. The others steered clear of the kitchen and watched a movie in the living room.

Taking a final taste of the sauce, I deemed it ready. “Dinner’s ready.”

Grabbing the salad and the bread, I set them on the table along with the dressings that I found in the fridge. When I turned back around, I found all the guys holding plates, practically drooling as they looked at the stove.

“Can you guys manage to dish things up yourself, or do I need to portion it out so everyone gets some?” I asked, hands on my hips.

They all looked at each other and nodded, so I waved them on. Grabbing the water pitcher, I filled the glasses as Jay walked over to me with a full plate. Setting it down, he pulled back a chair and pointed to it. Smirking, I set the pitcher on the table and took the seat he picked out for me. Jay had taken it upon himself to be my caretaker, making sure I didn’t go hungry by making up my plate first. He also drove me to school every morning, so I was in class on time. Jay didn’t need words to show that he cared; his actions spoke loud and clear. Once I was settled, he left to go get his own plate while the others settled around the table.

Parker moaned as he shoved more pasta into his mouth. “God, this is the best spaghetti I’ve ever eaten.” He looked over at me with a glint in his eye. “Is it too soon to say that I’m glad you have to stay here with us, so we don’t have to live off of Jay’s cooking?”

“There is nothing wrong with my cooking. You get everything the body needs with each meal,” Jay said, narrowing his eyes at Parker.

“Yeah but rice, chicken, and vegetables with no flavor for every meal is not nearly as enjoyable as this,” Parker rebutted, waving his fork at Jay.

Jay looked down at his plate, then brought his eyes to meet mine. “He is correct on that; this meal is delicious and full of nutrition.”

“Thank you, both of you,” I said, feeling my cheeks heat at their words. Cooking like this is normal when your family does food for a living.

“Where do you guys want to start with this whole shitstorm?” Micah asked after eating a few mouthfuls.

Hudson set down his fork and wiped his mouth with his napkin before answering. “Why don’t we start with the whole story. We only got bits and pieces from all different sources.”

“There really isn’t much to the story, we went sledding where we always go. Everything was normal until we got to the wooded part of the trail about halfway down. Then all hell broke loose—literally,” Brayden said, finishing off the rest of his beer.

“You're forgetting the part where the demons blocked the trail by knocking down a tree. You know, the one that almost landed on you and Hope,” I pointed out, not liking that he wasn’t being very specific. If we were going to do something about this, they needed all the facts. “When we hit the forest, I could feel down in the pit of my stomach that something wasn’t right. I thought it was just that I was scared of sledding, but then I saw the demons moving in the shadows like they had that night I was with you guys.”

Hudson nodded his head, tapping away on his phone, making notes I assume. “Interesting. What makes you think the demons were responsible for the tree?”

“It was healthy, huge, and looked like something with claws hacked it down,” Micah said.

I looked at him with a raised brow, impressed that he would notice something like that.

“What would be your best guess on how many attacked you? Our sensors said it was over a hundred, but that can’t be right; never has that number attacked as a unified group,” Hudson said, looking at some report on his tablet now laid on the table.

Parker pushed back his chair, walked to the living room, and returned with a laptop. Pushing his dish out of the way, he opened it and started typing away. “Okay, I’m hooked up with the Elementi HQ here and their number is, and I quote, ‘an overwhelming amount.’”

“Overwhelming would be the right word for what we faced. It’s the reason I had to create an avalanche,” Brayden pointed out. “I wasn’t even strong enough to do it alone, Lailah had to help give me a power boost.”

The three that hadn’t been there stopped and looked at me. “You gave a power boost and held a shield strong enough to hold back an avalanche?” Parker asked, jaw falling open. “This happened today, right? Why is she still awake?”

I looked at all of them, suddenly feeling very nervous. “Is that bad? Did I do something I shouldn’t have?”

“Quite the opposite, actually. You’ve done something none of us could have. We are strong and have powers, but we also have limitations with how much power we can use. From the sound of it, you used far more than any of us. Even Micah couldn’t have managed and stayed conscious,” Hudson said, taking off his glasses to rub the bridge of his nose.

“I took a nap earlier,” I offered.

Micah barked a laugh. “Your nap was only an hour before Dad made it back to the house, Lailah. Truthfully, I’m amazed that Brayden and I are still awake.”

“You bring up a good point. I think we should call it a night and go over this tomorrow. The house is warded just like the school, so we are safe here. No need to rush with muddled thinking,” Hudson said, collecting his plate and heading into the kitchen.

Now that bed was an option, a wave of tiredness hit me. After we woke up and everything went down with Brayden’s parents, I’d been running off adrenaline. Now that I was safe and comfortable and had a full belly, nothing was holding back my fatigue. I picked up my plate and headed for the sink, but Parker blocked my way.

“Nope, not gonna happen, Trouble. You cooked, so we clean up. Only fair for the delectable meal you made,” Parker said, taking my plate out of my hands. “Now, you march upstairs and get into bed, or I’m sending Jay to babysit.”

“Fine, you win,” I said, not having any fight left in my body.

Stumbling up the stairs, I made it to the bedroom Brayden and I were going to share. Then I remembered that I didn’t bring up my suitcase, but there it was, sitting on the bench at the end of the bed. Bless whoever did this for me. Grabbing what I needed, I sped through my bathroom routine and had enough effort left to ditch my jeans and bra before curling up in bed. My body sunk into the mattress, and the pillow was just as welcoming, helping me to drift off into a dreamless sleep.

TWENTY-EIGHT

MICAH

Iwatched Lailah head up for the night, and the mood in the kitchen changed. We all silently brooded as we cleaned up from dinner, each lost in our own thoughts.

Growing up without any siblings, I’d adopted the Dolton clan when they took me in. Knowing what it’s like to lose family that you loved, I could connect with them. David and Hope were too young to really remember their oldest brother, but Charlotte always told them stories, keeping his memory alive. Today, I’d come close to losing every person in my life that I gave a shit about, and as much as I had been fighting it, Lailah was one of them. It also fueled my hatred of the demons that kept taking all that was good in the world from me.

I didn’t know if it was fate or some angelic magic that kept pulling me to Lailah, but I was starting to get tired of fighting it. Seeing her step up and put her life on the line to protect all of us, and then taking responsibility with Oliver, hit me like a bullet straight to the heart. When I first met Lailah, I thought of her as weak because she never stood up for herself. What I didn’t realize was that she might not defend herself, but she would do whatever it took to protect someone she cared about. The confidence she had in her eyes when she asked me to trust her gave me no other option than to do as she asked.

“How do you think she’s really doing?” Parker asked, leaning against the counter and pulling me out of my thoughts.

“In what sense?” Hudson asked, putting away the plates.

“Seriously, Hudson?” Parker snapped. “I don’t need to be bonded with her to know that this is taking a toll on her. The emotions that woman holds inside her are more intense than any of us could imagine.”

Hudson paused and set down the glass he’d been about to put away and looked at Parker with a storm of anger in his eyes. “Do not lecture me on emotions. I might not be good at understanding them or expressing them to you all, but you have no idea the relationship that I have with Lailah. It is not lost on me that bringing her into our world has helped as much as it has hindered.” Hudson paused to take a deep, shaky breath. “The reason I ask is because I wanted to know if you might have seen something I missed.”

I smirked, seeing Parker put in his place by Hudson. It didn’t happen often from the rational man, but when it did, he went for the kill.

“Fuck. Sorry, man, I didn’t mean to jump on you like that. I just don’t know how to help her, and we really have no leads on anything that would explain why this happened,” Parker apologized, combing his fingers through his hair.

Not that I would ever admit it aloud, but I agreed with Parker. We didn’t have much to go on, other than they were after Lailah. The attack was clearly planned, but our trip had been last minute. The only people who knew about it lived in the house, and they were all vetted by the Elementi before ever stepping foot in the house.

“We need to do better,” Brayden said, deciding to come out of his shock at failing to be the white knight for once.

Walking over to a cabinet I’d discovered earlier that held the hard liquor, I pulled out a bottle of whiskey and shot glasses. Plunking them down on the counter, I poured out five shots, took one for myself, and tossed it back. Parker and Jay grabbed theirs while Brayden and Hudson just looked like I’d grown a third eye.

“Take the shots, you babies. We aren't going to solve this tonight, and we could all use something to take the edge off,” I said, gesturing to the two shots left.

Brayden rolled his eyes at me and drank the shot. Hudson glared at me, crossing his arms and looking at the small glass for a few moments before he huffed and knocked it back. He gasped and sputtered but managed to get the whole thing down and keep it down.

“Alright, so here are my thoughts,” I said, pouring myself another shot. “Jay, we need you to work with Lailah on how to defend herself. She has the basics, but she needs more skills that are effective against demons. Parker, you need to catalog any demon movement in the area for the past few months. These demons didn’t just show up overnight, and there were way too fucking many of them to go unnoticed.”

Jay grunted, taking another shot while Parker just glowered at me. “Who died and let the asshole take charge?”

“You saying you don’t want to keep Lailah safe?” I said, baiting him.

“Fucking dickhead, telling me what to do. I’ll show you just how good I am at keeping Lailah safe. Fuckwit doesn’t even know what's coming for him,” Parker mumbled to himself as he poured his shot.

With a flick of my fingers, I lit his shot on fire just as he was going to take it. Yelping, he started blowing at it furiously, trying to put it out before it burned his lips.

“You fucking prick,” Parker growled, taking a step towards me.

Jay held out an arm, stopping him from doing whatever he thought he might be able to do to me.

“Knock it off, you’ll wake Lailah up. She wouldn’t like us fighting,” Jay said, narrowing his eyes at the both of us. When neither of us instigated further, he relaxed slightly. “Micah is right, Parker. We need to know how the demons got here without us noticing. It’s our job to notice.”

“I’ll work on it,” Parker said, through clenched teeth.

Gulping one last shot, I felt it burn all the way down as I pushed away from the counter. “I’ll work on giving her a crash course on demons since that was one of my strongest subjects in training.”

“Because you are one,” Parker jabbed, lamely.

Rolling my eyes, I headed for the stairs, hoping my slight buzz would knock me out and let me sleep dreamlessly tonight. The last thing I needed to do was wake everyone up with my memories, and I had a feeling that what happened today might bring on my nightmares again.

TWENTY-NINE

LAILAH

The first thing I noticed as I started to wake was how my body tingled with energy. Sparks of heat danced on my skin as I shifted against the solid form behind me. My breath started to come in shallow pants as the feeling built until it became too much, and I was engulfed. I let out a deep moan as I felt my orgasm being drawn out by skillful fingers.

“Good morning, Angel,” Brayden whispered in my ear, causing me to shudder as my body still pulsed with arousal. “Sleep well?”

I turned to face him and grabbed his face, pulling him down to me, devouring him. That one orgasm had done nothing but make my body want him even more, and I wasn’t going to be denied. Brayden was more than happy to follow my lead as I pulled him over me and yanked his shirt over his head so I could feel his skin. He managed to shimmy my shirt up and out of his way so he could lavish my breasts with attention. I arched under him, letting my body rub against his, needing friction against my bare skin. Working his way down, Brayden hooked his fingers on my underwear and slipped them down and off my legs to be lost in the room.

I let out a whimper as he massaged my legs and kissed my inner thigh, avoiding the one place I was begging for him to pay attention too.

“Brayden, please,” I cried as his fingers brushed across my center.

He just chuckled, peering up at me. “Please what, my Angel?”

Squirming, I frowned at him. “Don’t play with me, Brayden. You started this, now it’s your job to finish.”

“Oh, trust me, this is not a job I plan to leave unfinished. I enjoy it far too much,” he purred, right before he dragged his tongue through my center, causing me to cry out. “Now let go, and I’ll take care of things from here. You need to relax.”

As I was about to give my retort, Brayden latched onto my clit, biting it gently with his teeth. My body convulsed as another orgasm tore through me, but he wasn’t done. Settling in further between my legs, Brayden slipped two fingers in and stroked along my channel, making me moan. My body was putty in his talented hands as I let my eyes close so I could enjoy the moment. I let everything wash away except the feel of him and what he was doing to my body.

His fingers teased the most sensitive spot inside as he swirled his tongue around my clit, working simultaneously to drive me crazy. I could feel another orgasm building as my breath became quicker, and the noises that came out of my mouth would make anyone jealous. Finally, Brayden seemed to decide to end the torture, speeding up his fingers and sucking sharply, tossing me into blissful oblivion. My body hummed with pleasure, tender to the touch, but fully sated and languid as I laid there feeling Brayden move to lay beside me. He kissed me tenderly, causing me to open my eyes and curl up against him, enjoying the closeness.

“I see you still enjoy watching,” Brayden said, his voice rumbling through his chest against my ear.

Confused, I pulled my head away and looked up at him, brows creased.

“Anyone would have enjoyed seeing that,” Jay’s voice said from behind me.

Letting out a squeak, I yanked the covers up and turned to see Jay leaning against the doorway, arms crossed and heat in his eyes. My jaw fell slack as I looked back at Brayden.

“How long was he watching? Why didn’t you say anything?” I demanded, scowling before giving Jay my attention. “Care to explain yourself?”

Jay pushed off from the door jamb and stalked over to me. This was a side of Jay that I’d never seen before; I felt like a rabbit about to be eaten by a wolf. It sent a shiver down my spine, but it wasn’t with fear. I trusted Jay far too much to be scared of him. When he reached me, he leaned over, boxing me in with an arm on either side, never breaking eye contact.

“Why shouldn’t I watch what will someday be mine?” Jay said before placing a ghost of a kiss on my lips. “Best get dressed, we have work to do.”

With no other explanation, Jay left me stunned and Brayden laughing next to me, falling back against the bed.

“Angel, you should see your face.”

I grabbed the pillow behind me and slammed it into his grinning face before I stormed off to take a shower. Brayden was hot on my heels, slipping under the water with me.

“Lailah, don’t be mad. I’m sorry I didn’t say anything, but I knew all he was going to do was watch,” Brayden said, grabbing my shoulders, turning me to look at him.

“Wait, he’s done this before?!” I demanded, gritting my teeth as the wave of anger hit me.

“No, I would have told you, I promise,” Brayden said as if that would make this better. Seeing the scowl that I’m sure was on my face, he continued. “Some women like to be watched, and he is happy to oblige, but he doesn’t do it with anyone but the four of us. That’s the only reason we all know about it.”

I slapped off his hold, grabbing the shampoo bottle and starting to wash my hair. I wasn’t even sure why I was upset about what he was telling me. Surprisingly, I wasn’t mad at all that he had watched Brayden and me, it was the realization he had done it with other women. I knew that none of them were virgins, and that didn’t bother me either; what did piss me off was being told about them.

They were mine.

I paused at the force of that statement as I rinsed my hair. It was as if the switch had finally flipped, and I was getting it. My power knew they were all mine and loved to wrap itself around them when it had the chance, but I had been slow to accept it. This was the first time I’d thought about another woman getting close to one of them. Since we’d started hanging out, all of them had ignored the advances I’d seen other girls give them.

“Lailah, what’s going on in that head of yours?” Brayden asked, taking a loofa and washing my back, kissing my shoulder.

“Just having a revelation is all.”

“Care to share what it is?” Brayden asked.

I twisted to face him, placing my hands on his abs and kissing his chest. “That you’re mine, and so are the others.”

Brayden’s face broke out into a wide grin, his eyes lighting up with excitement as he cupped my face. “Damn right, I am.”

If I had any doubts about how Brayden felt when I walked into that shower, I didn’t once I left it. Lovingly, he toweled me off, peppering me with kisses until I was sure that every inch of my skin had received attention from him.

“We better head down, I’m sure they’re wondering what’s taking us so long,” I murmured, not wanting this moment to end.

“I’m fairly sure they have a good guess,” Brayden said, giving me one last searing kiss before heading back into the bedroom.

Knowing it was just going to be the boys today, I dressed more comfortably and snagged one of the t-shirts I packed when Cami wasn’t looking. This one seemed to fit how my day started off—Ha, Ha, Wait What? The house was cozy, but it was still winter in the mountains, so I pulled on thermal leggings and wool socks before skipping down the stairs.

Appearing in the kitchen, I found all the boys gathered around the table with some sort of technology in front of them. Parker had headphones on that looked suspiciously like the ones Micah always used. He was lost in a screen of data, a full plate of food next to him. Hudson was scrolling through a tablet, lying on the table with his coffee in the other hand. He looked up when I entered and gave me a soft smile. Micah was on his phone and appeared to be texting someone, his ever-present frown curving his lips. Jay, at the opposite end of the table from the boys, had maps and charts of the land laid out on the table with a laptop open. He kept reading, then going and marking spots on the large map over and over.

It seemed as though they weren’t at all bothered by the fact Brayden and I had taken our time getting ready for the day. Jay gave no sign of the predator that I had experienced in the bedroom, for which I was thankful. I wasn’t sure I could handle any more male attention than I had already, and I’d only been awake for a short time. I wandered over to the stove and saw there was food still left for me to pick from.

“Your plate is in the microwave,” Jay said, not even glancing up from his task.

I couldn’t help but grin at the fact he had set food aside for me. Opening the microwave, I found a plate with a huge omelet waiting for me. Glancing at the stove, I noticed the frying pan had scrambled eggs left, and that is what was also on Parker’s plate.

Had he made this just for me?

Grabbing a fork, I sat at the counter since the table was overrun by their work. Cutting into the feast before me, I found it was stuffed full of vegetables and cheese. I, of course, preferred sweet to savory, but I wasn’t going to say anything since it was made just for me.

“Fresh orange juice in the fridge if you want,” Hudson said, looking over at me. “We don’t have any tea, but I put in a request when we get the next grocery order.”

“Might be some hot chocolate,” Micah mumbled.

I perked up. “Really! That would be perfect. Do you remember where you saw it?”

“I don’t fucking know. Go find it yourself, there’s not that many cabinets to look in,” Micah said, rolling his eyes at me.

All the boys paused and looked at him, and even Parker, who had taken off his headphones, frowned. Here I thought Micah and I had been making headway on becoming better friends after the experiences we shared. Guess the magic of the Dolton household was no longer working. Deciding to save the hot chocolate for later, I settled for orange juice instead.

The sliding glass door opened, and Brayden came in from the patio. “Just got off the phone with my dad, and it seems my mom has calmed down. He, of course, didn’t take her to the hospital for a sedative, but they seemed to manage with what we had already at home from other breakdowns.”

The chipper mood that I had been in faded instantly as I remembered his mother screaming at me yesterday. My fork clattered on the plate, and my shoulders slumped. Suddenly, I was no longer hungry. Brayden wrapped me in a hug from behind, hiding his face in the crook of my neck, holding me tightly.

“I don’t care what you think; it’s not your fault. My mom is not well, and anything could have set her off,” Brayden said softly against my skin.

“That’s not completely true. Like Parker said, I’m a magnet for trouble right now. This is better. I shouldn’t be around people who don't know anything about demons, or it could get them hurt,” I sighed.

Hugging me once more, Brayden let go and went to get himself something to eat. I turned in my chair, watching the boys work.

“What exactly are you guys doing?” I asked.

“We’re trying to figure out how so many demons got here without anyone noticing. Parker is also looking into all the data that the Elementi here in Austria have gathered over the past year or so. The thing is, we are lacking information, so we’re gathering every bit we can. Once we can put it all together, it will give a clearer picture of what we’re dealing with,” Hudson explained.

“Anything I can help with?” I ventured, feeling a little out of place.

“Finish your breakfast,” Jay said, not even looking up from his work. “You and I are going to be sparring later.”

Heaving another sigh, I turned back to my plate and did as he asked.

A few hours later, I found myself outside facing Jay, who was holding out two weapons that looked just like the ones my power created. I was bundled up in a jacket and snow boots, but the wind had died down and the sun was beating down on us from clear skies.

“These weapons are called sai. They are a defensive weapon but are handy in close-quarter fights. Today, all I want to do is get you familiar with holding them and maneuvering with them so you don’t hurt yourself. These practice ones have no sharp points, so they are safe to work with,” Jay explained as he adjusted my grip on them.

“They’re a lot heavier than the ones I have,” I commented as the cool metal rested against my skin.

“Our blessed weapons are not real; they are formed with our power and can only be used against demons. If I were to shoot a human with my bow, the arrow would just pass right through. Unless they were possessed, that is.”

Knowing I couldn’t hurt someone I shouldn’t with these made me feel so much better. Jay showed me how to hold the weapon against my forearm safely and how to swing it around so I could use it to defend or attack.

“Now, do that motion fifty more times,” Jay said, stepping back and watching me with a critical eye.

I could feel my brows dip in concentration as I did what he showed me again and again. I dropped each one at least ten times, making me thankful for my snow boots and that they weren’t sharp. I would have lost a toe for sure.

“Stop trying to fight against the sai’s natural balance. It was made to make this motion easy, so let it flow,” Jay instructed as I once again dropped it.

My wrists started to burn with the strange movement, and the top of my arms ached from holding the heavy object. I could feel the muscle bunching up at the strange abuse it was getting. Yeah, Jay and I worked out my whole body when we did gym days, but this was not a muscle we focused on.

“Better. Now try and speed it up, alternate which one you flip forward. This needs to be something you can do in your sleep,” Jay pushed, walking a circle around me.

I gritted my teeth and did as he asked, feeling as if my arms might fall off. Surprisingly, as I got more comfortable, my motions became more confident. I wasn’t perfect, but I felt a change in understanding of what it should feel like when done right.

“Good, now let's do some blocking work. Remember your kickboxing classes—they will help you move, but what you need to focus on is keeping your sai flat to your forearm,” Jay instructed, standing flush with my back as he showed me what he meant. “When you pull them back to your chest, make sure you keep them vertical so you don’t stab yourself with the pointed yoke.”

Even through my winter jacket, I could feel Jay’s body heat against my back. Memories of what happened this morning flooded back and made me blush, forgetting everything we were working on. Jay nipped at my ear, making me yelp and jump in his arms, which were still holding mine. Having jerked my arms back, I was afraid that I was going to stab him in the gut with my weapons. I shouldn’t have been so worried, though, because Jay swiftly moved out of the way, twirling me around so I was facing his chest.

“Do not lose focus, Lailah, it could endanger you or someone else. When you have your weapons in hand, you need to be prepared to defend or fight for your life,” Jay chided, but I could see a glint of humor in his dark eyes.

I couldn’t get over the change that was happening with Jay. He was becoming bolder with our interactions. He had always been opinionated in certain areas, always making sure I ate, driving me to school, and making sure that I was safe, but this was different. If I was being honest with myself, I didn’t think I minded.

THIRTY

JAY

Ilooked down at her, those crystal-blue eyes swimming with so many emotions. In some ways, I was as confused as she was about how I was acting towards her. Emotions had no place in battle or war, and right now we were always at war with the demons.

My father had told me that it was his duty to keep our family line going, so he married. I knew my parents cared for each other after being together for so long, but I wouldn’t say they loved each other. Only honor demanded that they couldn’t get a divorce. Mother lived in Japan because that is where her whole family lived; if she’d moved here to be with my father, she would have been alone. He had even taken me away from her when I was thirteen to start training with his men on our base of operations in Dubai. Long ago, I decided that I didn’t want that for my life and never planned on getting married or having someone special.“Not that I really mind waking up to find you in my bed, but what brings you to these parts?” I asked, running my fingers through his thick hair.

“Nope, too early, come back later with your questions,” Micah said, his voice muffled from the pillow.

Growing up as a soldier, I did as I was instructed to do and worked with the team that I was placed with. Father disapproved of the other four Elementi Warriors, but it was the one thing he didn’t hold power to change. Now adding Lailah into the mix, the emotions that I felt for her were nothing I’d fathomed. I had read in many books how women could use tactics to distract men, but it had never worked on me. I wasn’t swayed by a pretty face. At least I thought so—until this morning, when I walked in on Lailah and Brayden.

A man's needs were a distraction, so I slept with women to keep it from ruining my focus before a big job. I had also taken to watching, using it as sort of a desensitization tactic—that’s what I told everyone, at least. It was my guilty pleasure to see a woman lost in passion, watching a man put the woman’s needs first. Nothing would compare to seeing Lailah’s angelic expression as Brayden brought her to climax. Being this close to her was suddenly more difficult, but I would never let my body dictate how I acted. I was a master of my choices.

“Why did you really watch this morning?” Lailah blurted out.

I was surprised it had taken her this long to bring it up. Women either loved it or thought it was some creepy fetish. Once again, Lailah didn’t respond the way I thought she would. “I already told you why.”

“Right, about that.” Her porcelain skin glowed pink as she blushed.

I kept my expression blank, not wanting to influence what she was going to say. If she told me she didn’t want me to do it again, I wouldn’t. I would never make her feel unsafe around me.

“Brayden might have mentioned that you’ve done that before with some of the other guys.”

Ah, I could see where this was going.

“Hudson and I talked yesterday about him being fine with Brayden and I sharing a room.” I gave a small nod, seeing she was looking for confirmation from me as well. “He might have also mentioned that the rest of you want me, but I want to make sure that’s true. I don’t want anyone feeling forced into this just because some angel tells us that’s how it should be.”

I blinked, a little shocked this was what she wanted to ask. Yet again, she never does things how I think she should. “Are you asking me if I have feelings towards you?”

Her blush deepened. “Yes, I guess that is what I’m asking. I just don’t want to read into what happened this morning if it's something you do with lots of other women.”

I had to clench my jaw at the thought of watching someone other than Lailah again. After that sight, I don’t think anyone else would measure up to her. “There are no other women.”

“Oh, I see,” she said, trailing off, unsure of what to do with that statement.

I tucked a finger under her chin and made her look up at me. “I don’t need anyone else when I have you. Yes, Lailah, I do have feelings for you, and they started far before I found out that you were Synergy.”

I gently placed a soft kiss on her forehead to make sure she understood me. I knew many times my words fell short of how I really felt about things.

She grinned up at me, her face shining with delight, causing me to relax right before I was knocked to the ground. Apparently, she had been paying attention in her kickboxing classes.

THIRTY-ONE

LAILAH

“You guys are leaving me here alone with Micah?” I asked, confused as they all pulled on their coats.

I had spent the last few days working with Jay on protecting myself, cooking for the boys, and helping catalog data. We had stumbled upon some interesting information about the project that Brayden’s mom was working on. They wanted to go back to the house and see if they could find out any information. This then brought us to why I couldn’t go—no one wanted to cause trouble with Adriana, least of all me.

“Way to make a guy feel special there, Cookie Monster,” Micah drawled from where he was sprawled out on the couch.

I glared at him. “You’re going to need to let that go, Micah. Yes, I did make a dozen sugar cookies and eat them all myself. No, I’m not sorry I didn’t share, I made them—for me!”

“I wasn’t the one that was all butt hurt about it, that was Parker. I’m just impressed you could eat that many,” Micah said, swinging his legs around so he was now sitting up.

I turned to look at Parker, who was still pouting that I didn’t share last night. “I promised that I would make more later, I just really needed a sugar rush after all the training that Jay has put me through.”

At this, he perked up and grabbed my hands, his eyes glowing with excitement. “Does that mean there will be cookies when we get home?”

Rolling my eyes, I grinned. “If I survive the night with Mr. Killjoy, then yes, there will be cookies.”

“Fuck yes!” Parker shouted with a fist pump. “Let’s go, so we can get back already.”

Parker, Jay, and Hudson headed out while Brayden hung back, walked up to me and wrapped his arms around me.

“We will probably end up being there for dinner, so don’t wait on us. I’ll make sure to say hi to Charlotte and Hope for you,” Brayden said, kissing the tip of my nose.

“Thanks. I still feel bad that I couldn’t say goodbye to them when we left. I know Charlotte and I text, but it’s not the same as spending time with her in person,” I sighed, wrapping my arms around his neck. “Be safe and text me when you guys are heading home.”

Placing a searing kiss on his lips, I untangled myself from him and sent him on his way. I watched out the front door as they drove off until I couldn’t see the taillights anymore. Heading back into the living room, I settled on the couch to see what Micah was watching.

“Seriously? You're a Supernatural fan? Don’t you get enough of this in real life?” I laughed.

Micah just shrugged, flopping back on the couch. “You have a better idea of what to do in the middle of the afternoon on winter break? Because this is my ideal situation.”

“How is this any different from what you do back at The Manor?” I teased.

Raising his head, he glared at me, pointing the remote. “Watch it, woman. There’s no one to save you if you start a fight.”

Shaking my head at him, I shoved off the couch. “I’m going to the kitchen for some snacks, you want anything?”

“Yeah, bring the Cheetos and some beer. I’m going to teach you my favorite drinking game.”

I looked at Micah, wide-eyed. “You want to play a drinking game at two in the afternoon?”

“Hell, yeah. Now that all the uptight members of our fucked-up little family are gone, it’s time to get some real relaxing done. Something tells me that you need this too. Cami’s not around to force you to have fun,” Micah taunted.

I narrowed my eyes at Micah, unsure of if I trusted him enough to follow along with his idea. Going on this trip, I’d told myself that I wanted to get closer to Micah, and here he was, wanting to do something with me.

“Fine, but I’m getting us more snacks than just Cheetos,” I mumbled as I headed into the kitchen.

Rummaging around the kitchen, I found popcorn, Micah’s Cheetos, a large bag of M&M’s, and then cut up some cheese to go with crackers. I grabbed two beers for us each, unsure of how this game was going to go down, having never played a drinking game before. I also made sure we had water too.

“Oh, we’re going to need way more than two beers,” Micah pointed out once I was back in the living room. “We’re going to start at the very beginning, because I have a sneaking suspicion that you’ve never watched this show before.”

“You’re right, I haven’t seen it, but I know what it is—someone would have to be living under a rock not to know who Sam and Dean are,” I retorted before eating a handful of popcorn.

“Okay, here are the rules. You must drink every time the lights flicker, either of them talk about salt, get in or out of Dean’s car, mention that Dad is missing, or a secondary character you just met is killed,” Micah said, opening his beer and pushing play on the first episode.

Halfway through the first episode I knew that this was going to be the worst idea I had ever been talked into. Typically, I didn’t watch any scary movies—they always made me upset. Now I wondered if it was because of being Synergy that anything demonic made me uncomfortable on some level.

“Is any of this even real?” I asked after the first episode was over and I was almost done with my second beer.

Micah walked back in from the kitchen with more drinks, smirking as he looked at me. “Very little of it, but in some areas, they had the right idea. There are no vengeful spirits or ghosts; if the demons want something done, they will do it themselves. It’s much more common for them to possess someone or to brainwash them. Their whole mission is to work in secret, not to draw attention to themselves.”

“So what happened in the forest and on the sledding hill is really out of character,” I mused, munching on Cheetos.

Micah landed back on the couch, closer to me this time, crossing over to reach the M&M’s. “You could say that, but I think you being demon tainted and all might be making matters worse.”

It had been almost a week since that last freak out on the plane. Micah had witnessed firsthand what it looked like when I lost control of my powers. I shivered at the memory and tried to focus more on the TV show, but I kept getting distracted by the thoughts running through my head.

“We found demonic runes outside the wards. What kind of demon would be able to do that?” I asked.

Micah paused the show and shifted to face me, an odd look on his face. “Depending on the symbol and what it meant, it could be a few different kinds. The small ones are what we call lesser demons, they are minions causing mischief. Let’s say they needed to scare someone or get them to leave, lesser demons would be used to ‘haunt’ a place. The more someone fears something, the weaker it makes them against demons. Fear gives them more power, and the stronger you believe in something that scares you, the more it works in their favor.”

“So like, if someone doesn’t believe in ghosts and the supernatural, they would eventually frighten them into belief?” I asked.

“Close enough. The ones with wings are messengers, fairly self-explanatory. Then there are medium level demons, which are tricky because they’re still weak enough that you don’t notice them right away. They are the newly dead that are so evil they get turned into demons. We find them being used as scouts because they can be in the real world acting as real people for a short time. Ever wondered where the whole zombie thing came from? Yeah, it was them.”

I scrunched up my face, grossed out at the thought of someone's face melting off while I was talking to them. It would definitely make me think of zombies.

“You’re most familiar with one of the two higher level demons, the trackers. Once a mid-level has scouted out the perfect person, then this demon is sent out to bring them back to hell for a nice body takeover. People think it happens here on Earth, that they just inhabit the human, but we’ve discovered it’s not true. See, the host can’t have a soul if a demon is going to live in it. So, the soul gets a one-way trip to Hell, and the demon fills the void it leaves behind,” Micah said, taking a long pull from his beer, his face shadowed in anger.

“Wow, that’s a lot to unpack,” I said, trying to break the tension that had settled between us at the talk of demons. “How many seasons are there of this show, anyway?”

“Twelve, I think,” Micah said offhandedly.

I gasped, choking on my beer. “Twelve! I’m going to die if we have to drink through all of them.”

Micah let out a surprised laugh at my reaction. “You're in luck, this game only works for the first two or three seasons.”

“I’m not sure that’s any better,” I whined as he turned the show back on.

As we got further into the show, the more I became uncomfortable with what was happening. Something deep down in my gut was telling me something was wrong. The creatures in each episode looked more and more like ones that had attacked us. Others I’d never seen before but knew that they were demons who lurked in the dark. When it came to the episode where they went back to their old house where their mother died, I was curled up in a ball, hidden behind pillows. During a flashback of the scene, I saw a face appear in the flames. As I squinted to get a better look, the fire changed to a mixture of black and green.

The flames began to pour out of the TV like a mist taking over the forest. The room started to heat up as tongues of black fire spread around the room like wildfire, trapping me. I could feel my heart erratically beating as if it would burst out of my chest at any moment. Then, before my eyes, the sea of fire morphed into a shape that froze my body in terror.

It formed into a black exoskeletal humanoid creature, showing every bone that made up its form. The creature glowed with an aura of black flames, as if they were drawn to the creature like a black hole. The face was a hybrid of bat and human, sharp cheekbones and pointed ears. Where there should have been eyes in the sockets, there was only darkness so deep it pulled you in like an undertow. The top of its skull was shaped like a crown of black bone, flaring up with sharp points. There weren't any lips on its face, so silver razor-sharp teeth were in clear view. Its forked snake-like tongue flicked out towards me, brushing against my skin. I let out a squeak but couldn’t pull away.

My reaction must have amused it, because it let out a husky laugh, sounding as if it had smoked way too many cigarettes in its life. A claw-like hand, tipped with long, black, deadly points, reached out to me. One sharp tip caressed my cheek, being careful not to scratch me. I tried to fight its pull, but as tipsy as I was, I didn’t have the mental strength to free myself. The feeling of my mind being clouded swallowed me up. Desperately, I tried to fight against it, and pulling myself to the surface sent me into a hysterical panic. Trapped under his hold, the world around me froze, leaving me helpless with this demon standing in front of me.

“Synergy, we meet at last,” it said with a deep, gravelly voice that made chills run down my spine.

Opening my mouth, I wanted to ask who he was, but no matter how hard I tried, I was so deep under his control my voice refused to work. A small exhale of air was all I managed as he stepped closer. I could feel the heat of the flames wrapped around him against my skin.

“Little Synergy, you know who I am,” he chided, reading my thoughts. “You can feel it in your bones. After all, you hold a part of me inside you,” he taunted, cupping my face with both his boney hands gripping tight enough I could feel each of his claws prick into my skin. If I moved, I would be dead. “My hold on you is stronger than you realize. These boys play at being warriors, but they are not worthy of the power you hold.”

Visions of the boys fighting against a legion of demons floated up before my eyes. I saw them scream as they fell one by one, demons feasting on their flesh. Then I saw myself wrapped in a cloak of darkness, leading the horde as we scorched the Earth as we know it. The Dark Lord was right; the boys were nothing but fuck-ups unable to work together and do what was needed to be done. They had Synergy, the most powerful weapon in the world, but they kept me locked away, treating me like an inconvenience. The Dark Lord knew I was something to be used, shown off, and valued. With my help, I could give him everything he craved just as easily as I could crush him.

“Yes, my little Synergy, you are a goddess among these pitiful humans. Grow, become stronger, learn all you can from them; their time is limited. My plans are in motion, and when the time is right, I will send for you. Those loyal to me are growing and slipping in the cracks. The Elementi have become careless, little Synergy,” the Dark Lord said. “Follow what your heart really wants. I will show you what only true power can achieve.”

Then he leaned in as if he was going to place a kiss on my forehead, but my golden energy exploded from me. The shockwave of power tossed the Dark Lord back, freeing me from his grasp on my mind. Understanding what had almost happened, I leaped to my feet, my whole body shaking with anger. My power heeded my call and burst out, battling with the Dark Lord’s fire and keeping it at bay.

“You better stay the FUCK away from me!” I screamed, my golden power whirling around me like a cyclone as I stalked over to him. “I will never be your Synergy! Those boys may have a lot to learn, but I was made for them, not you. Together, we will defeat you and your demons. All you have done here is show me how I would rather kill myself than be used by you.”

The Dark Lord just chuckled at me, and the sound of it was like nails on a chalkboard, setting me on edge. “The fire and vengeance in you burn so bright, even you cannot see how you are more like me than them. I did not put that scene in your head; no, that came from within you,” he hissed, pointing a claw at me. “I will be back to ask you one final time, Little Synergy. If you throw my offer in my face again, you will not live to regret your choice, and neither will they.”

Before I could offer my retort, in a swirl of flames, he vanished, but not before setting the room on fire and freeing it from its frozen state. I was trapped in the middle of the living room, surrounded on all sides by a raging fire. The walls of blue-purple flame flicked out at me as if it was teasing me before it killed me. I couldn’t see anything through the blaze to know where Micah was. Was he safe? Did the Dark Lord attack him as well?

Cupping my hands around my mouth, I yelled as loud as I could. “Micah.”

I never knew that fire could be so noisy, but the crackling and popping sounds made it hard to hear if he was responding. Sweat began to roll down my back as the heat began to climb, smoke swirling above my head along the ceiling of the room. There was no way out of this. I didn’t have the feeling I had during the avalanche, the one that told me that my shield would work against this. Was demon fire different? I could feel tears streaming down my face as I came to the realization that I might not survive this. Apparently, the Dark Lord wasn’t going to give me a second chance.

“Lailah, where are you?” Micah bellowed.

A cry escaped out of me as a glimmer of hope blossomed. Micah was alive.

“Over here. Near the hall to the kitchen,” I yelled, hoping he could hear me.

I kept my eyes moving to catch any sign of movement, but then I noticed that the fire around me was changing color. It was no longer blue, but was slowly shifting into a bright red-orange color. Then, as if someone had pulled the plug on a drain, the fire around me flowed towards the direction I had heard Micah yelling. Tongues of flames wrapped around me, but this time, it was warm, welcoming, gentle and caressing. It reminded me of when Micah was burning off the excess power I had on the plane ride.

Lost in the wild swirling glow of the fire, I didn’t notice when Micah was standing in front of me. His hair was loose and flowed around his head, his eyes wild with his power as he absorbed the flames. Shocked, I gasped and reached out to him, needing to make sure he was alright.

“Don’t touch me. With this much wild power, I might hurt you,” Micah said, his voice rough with his struggle.

Abruptly, my power surged up, showing me what I needed to do—how I could help him. He didn’t need to fight this alone; I could help him just as he once helped me.

“I trust you,” I whispered as I wrapped my arms around him, melding the two of us together.

A crack sounded, much like lightning hitting the ground when it was too close to where you were. The ground rumbled at the impact of our combined energy. I let my power mingle with his, blending together seamlessly until it became a bright orange color. I could feel the damage that the demon fire had done to the house and the evil that permeated through the air.

“Lailah, what are you doing? You're making it worse. This much power is going to destroy the house and us along with it,” Micah growled, fighting my hold on him.

Gripping him tighter, I nestled my face against his neck, right under his ear so he could hear me. “Micah, stop fighting your power like it’s the enemy. Yes, fire can destroy and burn the world down around us, but fire is also pure. Your flames can purify what has been tainted, but you need to believe it can.”

I felt him stiffen against my hold as he absorbed the words I was saying. Now that he wasn’t fighting me, I pulled one hand back so I could place it on his heart. “Trust me once more, and I can show you another way.”

He didn’t need to use words to give me his answer. Slowly, he wrapped his arms around me and rested his head against my shoulder, surrendering to me. I wanted to weep with the joy I felt as our powers flowed through each other. Taking that pure emotion, I tossed our power out through the house, burning away any evidence of the Dark Lord's presence. That which was destroyed and broken was brought back and revived. Once it was done with that, it continued on and flowed out into the yard and down the mountain, purifying any trace of demon activity. This land was now sacred and blessed; no evil could survive while we were both here to keep it maintained.

“How are you doing this?” Micah murmured.

“Not me, us. This is the power of Synergy; this is the power of an Elementi Warrior. Too long have you hidden from what your calling is. We will purify the world and send the Dark Lord running; he will not survive us,” I said, feeling that same angelic power overtake me, talking through me.

I pulled him away from me so I could look him in the eye. We were now surrounded in that pure white light, making Micah fall to his knees. I knew what was coming next, but I didn’t know what his answer would be.

“Micah, Knight blessed with Fire’s power, Warrior for the angels. I find you true of heart and mind, upholding the agreement given to your ancestors. Do you accept the eternal bond to protect the people of this world, and vow to cherish the vessel that holds the gift of Synergy, who has been placed in your protection?” I intoned with that angelic voice.

“No,” Micah answered, raising his head to look at me.

My heart clenched, making it hard to breathe. I knew he might reject the oath. He’d been up-front about his feelings on the matter, but hearing it hurt far more than I thought it would.

“I am not worthy yet to accept the oath,” Micah continued. “This vessel deserves more than I am able to give at this moment, but I hope someday that I will be able to accept this bond. I will promise to protect her, to become the man and warrior that is worth the gift of Synergy.”

Tears slid down my cheek as his words struck me with his honesty. “Your request is an honorable one, blessed Knight, and will be accepted.”

With that, the light was gone, and my body was released from its hold, causing me to crumble. Micah was there in a second, wrapping me up in his arms and placing a desperate kiss to my lips. I moaned at the contact, feeling the fire behind it, causing me to thread my fingers into his hair and hold him to me. Nipping at my lip, I opened for him and let him rule over our connection. Micah was an inferno burning me up from the inside out. All too soon, he pulled away and gently brushed my hair out of my face as he gave me a searching look.

“What the actual fuck just happened?” Micah demanded.

I couldn’t fight back the grin. No matter what happened, Micah would always be Micah. “I got a visit from the Dark Lord.”

Micah jerked his head back as if I’d slapped him. His eyes were wide and filled with panic as he started to pat me down, trying to make sure I was still in one piece. I reached up and grabbed his face and forced him to look at me, needing his full attention.

“He didn’t hurt me. This time, at least. He wants me to choose him over you guys,” I explained. Micah growled, his grip on my arms so tight it made me flinch. “Surprisingly, that is not what we should be worried about at the moment. He told me that his plans were in the works, and I needed to grow and learn all I could. To become powerful.”

“We need to call the others, they need to know this,” Micah snapped, helping me to my feet as he pulled out his cell.

“No,” I said, grabbing his hands and stopping him from texting. “Let them be. Nothing will change between now and when they come back.”

I looked him in the eye and waited for him to agree. “We can work on this together, and when they get back, we’ll have more to go off of. I learned more from that interaction than I think that bastard realizes.”

Micah smirked at me as he relaxed, dropping his hands. “Parker was actually right about something; it is sexy hearing you swear when you're mad.”

“Asshole.” I chuckled, smacking his arm as I walked into the kitchen.

Moving about, I pulled what I needed out of the cabinets and fridge to make cookies. I needed something to keep my mind busy to keep from freaking out while we talked. Micah was here, and I was safe, having purified the house. As long as I didn’t leave this place for too long, I wouldn’t have any trouble with demons.

“What did the Dark Lord tell you exactly?” Micah asked, sitting down at the counter with one of the boys’ laptops.

As I scooped out the flour, I went over the interaction again. “Some of it was spoken, but much of what I figured out is from when he was messing with my brain. He wanted me to believe that you guys were failures and would never be able to win against him or value what I have to offer. The only way that he can get my power to work for him is if I choose to help willingly. There is something about Synergy that can’t be forced.”

Micah nodded his head as he got up and poured himself a finger of whiskey. “At least we have that going for us.”

“The important part of what he told me is that his plan is in motion.”

Micah rolled his eyes at me. “That doesn’t tell us shit, babe.”

I paused a moment from measuring out ingredients to look at him. Had he just referred to me as babe?

“Don’t make a big deal about it or I’ll come up with a nickname you’ll hate,” Micah grumbled into his drink.

I set down the mixing bowl, rested my hip on the counter, and gave him a look with a raised eyebrow. “What if I hate that one?”

“Well, then, Cookie Monster it is,” Micah said with a wicked grin, seeming positive I would hate it.

I shrugged my shoulders as I turned to grab the milk out of the fridge. “Works for me.”

THIRTY-TWO

LAILAH

The boys didn’t return before I went to bed, but I woke up with an arm wrapped around my waist, making me smile. Rolling over, I opened my mouth to wake Brayden up but found Micah’s sleeping face instead. I paused, giving my brain a moment to catch up to the fact that someone new was sleeping in my bed. The scowl that was on his face ninety percent of the time was gone, and he even had the hint of a smile on his lips. Gently, I took a finger and brushed his chocolate locks out of his face to get a better look.

He’d always been handsome to me, but after what we had been through this past week, I saw deeper than face value. The man he kept trying to hide from the world was far more attractive to me than his outward appearance, as wonderful as it was. At my touch, he began to stir, so I rested my head on my arm and just studied him while I could. All too soon, his eyes fluttered open, and in the soft morning light, the sapphire color of them was breathtaking.

“Good morning,” I whispered, not wanting to break the moment.

He grunted, shifted to pull me closer to him, and buried his head further into the pillow.

“Not that I really mind waking up to find you in my bed, but what brings you to these parts?” I asked, running my fingers through his thick hair.

“Nope, too early, come back later with your questions,” Micah said, his voice muffled from the pillow.

I giggled and relaxed into the bed, enjoying the moment. A few minutes later, Brayden walked into the room with a wide smile on his face as he saw us together and walked over to me, placing a gentle kiss on my lips. “Good morning, Angel.”

“Hi,” I said, rolling over to give him another peck on the lips. “You guys made it back late last night. Have too much fun without us?”

“I could say the same about you,” Brayden said, his smile shifting into a scowl. “Don’t think we didn’t notice the purification rites you did around the property. What happened, and why didn’t you call me?”

I snuggled farther into the bed to get away from the wave of disappointment and hurt that Brayden was sending me through our connection. I knew he might be irritated that I didn’t tell him right away what happened last night, but I didn’t want to cause any more problems when he was with his family. Once he knew, he would have left and come back to the house, and there was no reason he needed to do that. Micah and I had managed just fine on our own.

I had maneuvered myself so I was hidden by the blanket and back shrouded by Micah’s body. Feeling Micah shift, I was caught completely by surprise when he planted his foot in the middle of my back and shoved me out of bed. I landed on the floor with a thud and a yelp, while Brayden smirked down at me.

Micah’s face appeared over me from the bed, his scowl in full form. “Don’t you dare use me to hide from your problems. I was the one who said we needed to call them; you told me not to.”

Gaping at Micah, I sat up, irritation bursting through me. “You agreed that we had it handled! There was nothing they could have done once we fixed everything the Dark Lord had burned.”

“What?” Brayden barked, drawing both our attention to him. “Get dressed now,” he said, turning on his heel and leaving the room.

“Oooh, someone’s in trouble with Daddy Brayden,” Micah chuckled.

I scrunched up my face. “Don’t ever call him that again—ew.”

Picking myself up off the floor as Micah laughed at me, I grabbed my clothes and headed for the bathroom to get ready. After scrubbing my face, I looked in the mirror and studied my reflection. Was it really that wrong of me not to tell him right away? It wasn’t like I hadn’t planned on sharing, I just wanted to do it when they got home. They were the ones who got back so late.

Making my way to the kitchen, I found them all standing around the counter, arms crossed and frowning. Parker even seemed upset with me as he held one of the cookies I’d made last night for him. I needed tea if we were going to start the day like this. Ignoring them, I bustled around until I had a steaming mug of chai made. I sat at the kitchen table and turned the chair to my jury.

“Okay, I’m ready; let me have it.” I sighed.

I could see Brayden fighting to keep control, his jaw clenched and eyes narrowed at me. Micah just looked bored as he sat at the counter, sipping his coffee and watching the other four. Jay, of course, was the hardest one to read, but there was a slight downturn to his lips that spoke volumes.

Hudson, as always, took the high road and stepped forward to break the silence. “Having been newly introduced to our world, I’m not sure you understand the implications of what it means that the Dark Lord showed up here yesterday.”

I knew Hudson wasn’t trying to make me sound stupid, but having them all turn on me like this was getting my feathers ruffled. “Oh? So you’ve met him before?”

Hudson’s brows furrowed at my remark. “No, no one has seen the Dark Lord since Aiden Ryevick’s time.”

“Then let me just tell you that he certainly leaves an impression on you,” I snapped.

“Apparently, he gives you nightmares too,” Micah added. “I could only get you to calm down by holding your hand—that’s how I ended up in your bed, FYI.”

“Let’s back up and start with what happened after we left,” Hudson said, sitting down at the table with me and motioning for the others to do the same.

I huffed and took a sip of my tea before I got into it. “Micah and I watched some TV, drank, and ate snacks. Then out of nowhere, the Dark Lord popped out of the TV and started to brainwash me into turning to the dark side. It was almost as if he was planting ideas and thoughts in my head. Just when he was about to place some crazy hex on me, my power freaked out and blasted him across the room. Then I got pissed and started yelling at him, so he threatened me and lit the room on fire.” I paused a moment to take a deep breath. “Micah managed to turn the demon fire into normal fire and control it. We combined our powers together and apparently purified the whole mountain. I didn’t even know that was a thing.”

“Wait, the Dark Lord tried to burn down the house?” Parker interrupted. “How come there's no sign of that even happening?”

“It would seem that when you fix things that a demon ruined, it brings it back to its original state or better. We managed to fix any problem that was caused by a demon anywhere on this mountain,” I answered, grinning because it really was kind of a cool trick.

“Why haven’t we been able to do that before?” Parker demanded, looking at Hudson.

Hudson removed his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose, ignoring Parker before he looked at me. “I can see that you have no idea how close you came to dying or even being turned into a demon-possessed puppet, Lailah. This is not something you should have kept from us; we deserve to know if anything this important happens. We are a team, and that means we have to do this together.”

“You guys are acting like I wasn’t going to tell you at all. If you guys gave me a minute to explain myself without jumping down my throat, I would have shared what else we figured out last night,” I grumbled, slouching in my chair.

They all looked at me expectantly.

“Oh, now you're ready to listen?” I asked, raising a brow at them. “Fine, while you guys were working on stuff at Brayden’s house, Micah and I looked into things ourselves. We took all the data that you guys gathered and added in the information that the Dark Lord slipped up and gave me. Mainly, the point where he said the Elementi are not as impenetrable as we think.”

Hudson froze and then looked at Brayden over his shoulder.

“Care to share with me what you guys found? Because I have a feeling that it might be tied to what we know,” I said, resting my chin on my hand.

Brayden came to sit on the other side of me, and I turned my focus on him. “Remember that Charlotte told us that Mom was working on a new project? Well, Hudson was able to sneak into her office and get a good look at what it was.”

“And…” I encouraged when he stopped talking.

“It’s a new drug that helps make the brain more open to suggestion,” Hudson answered.

“Wait, what?” I said, jerking back from both of them. “I was going to tell you guys that Ms. Tabitha was the spy in your house. Now it makes sense why they need her to be there, though.”

“Back up, what do you mean Ms. Tabitha is a spy? For who?” Brayden said, grabbing my arm.

“The Dark Lord told me that his plans were set in motion and that the Elementi were not as powerful as they thought. What he didn’t know is that he let the thought slip that someone was in place in one of the families,” I said.

“That still doesn't add up to it being Ms. Tabitha. She was checked out by the Elementi and has been with our family for two years now,” Brayden challenged, his eyes wide with fear.

“Think about it. When did your mom start to lose it? I know your brother’s death was the trigger, but your mom—from what everyone has told me—seemed to be able to manage her mental illness with medication. Now she is totally losing it. That, and when we asked to go sledding, your mom was so involved in her work that she didn’t even notice that Charlotte and I were in the room. Ms. Tabitha told us to go have fun, and she would make sure your mom knew where we went,” I said and watched the understanding light in his eyes.

“Ms. Tabitha must have also been the one to tell Mom what happened. I couldn’t figure out who would have told her or why. None of us would have, and she also could have sent the demons after us while we were there,” Brayden said, finally connecting the dots.

I grabbed his hand that was still gripping my arm tightly. “I think Kayley has been right this whole time. Ms. Tabitha must be spiking her tea. Do we even know if she was really taken to see a doctor? Ms. Tabitha did that as well, then came back with all these new holistic meds for your mother to take. What if she’s using your mom to create this drug? She’d need your mom for the science behind it, but someone else would have to make it. Who is helping her?”

The tension in the room rose as I looked around the table. Everyone was looking at Hudson with varying looks of apprehension and fear.

“My dad is the other person working with her,” Hudson whispered.

My jaw dropped. “Holy shit.”

“Yeah, that’s one way to put it,” Parker agreed, nodding his head. “So, what do we do now?”

I sat back and looked at the guys around me. This was it; this was why I was finally brought into the world. The Dark Lord was gearing up for something, and we were the only ones that could stop it. Now, we just needed to figure out the game and the end goal of this whole thing.

“We do what we were created to do. Kick the Dark Lord’s ass and make him wish he never left Hell to begin with,” I said, holding each of their gazes. “We have to find out the big picture, and fast. Hudson, can you reach out to your dad and find out what he can tell us about this project?”

“Of course,” Hudson said, nodding his head. “I can’t imagine why he would be doing this project so secretly. Unless he wants to hide it from my mother for some reason.”

“Only way to know is to ask,” Jay pointed out.

“True, or we could do something more fun,” Parker said, wagging his brows.

Micah groaned. “Please don’t tell me we’re going to be taking any ideas from this idiot.”

“Can we at least hear him out before shooting down his plan?” I said, shooting Micah a look that he just rolled his eyes at.

“That big party for your dad’s company is tomorrow, right? Why don’t we just confront the evil governess right in the middle of an Elementi party?” Parker suggested, bouncing with his excitement.

“Because, dumbass, there will be normal businessmen and women there that have no idea about the Elementi. If we expose demons into the world like that, how well do you think that will go over?” Micah said, smacking Parker upside the head.

Parker growled at him, walked over to me, picked me up, and placed me on his lap.

“Are you using me as a human shield against Micah?” I asked, trying not to laugh.

“Yeah, some man that makes you. What makes you think that will stop me from hitting you?” Micah challenged.

Parker just wrapped his arms around my stomach and hid his face in the back of my neck. “Maybe it was just the excuse I needed to get some snuggles from Trouble. I haven’t been able to spend much time with her since we got here. If Jay isn’t sparring with her, then she’s working on stuff or cooking. I just needed some cuddles is all.”

I burst into laughter. It was probably one of the most adorable things anyone has ever said to me. “Works for me.”

“Whatever,” Micah grumbled, giving Parker a dirty look. “I still think your idea is shit.”

“It might not be,” Jay said, causing us all to look at him in surprise. “I agree we can’t confront her in front of everyone, but what if we got her alone and did it then? It would keep it away from the family and in an area we can choose for the best advantage.”

I grinned at him and gave him a wink. “This is why they pay you the big bucks, Jay.”

“Trouble, hand me my laptop,” Parker said, his lips brushing my ear and sending shivers down my spine.

Flipping it open and keeping me on his lap, I watched as his fingers flew over the keyboard. I hadn’t a clue what he was doing, but I was impressed nonetheless. Moments later, a blueprint was pulled up on the screen, and when I saw the name on the top of it, I gasped.

“Did you just find the blueprints for the hotel they’re having the party at?” I asked, amazed.

“Sure did. Now we can have the master of war look it over and see where our confrontation would best be held,” Parker said, smugly.

“Hold on, are we really doing this asinine plan?” Micah cut in, throwing out an arm to stop Jay from grabbing the computer.

“We need information, and we can’t let her stay in our house,” Brayden said with a shrug.

“Logically, it has its risks, but if it goes well, then we will get our hands on a valuable asset,” Hudson agreed.

“We all know it was my idea, so I’m in,” Parker grinned.

They all turned to Jay expectantly. “I want to look over things, and if I feel it can be done with no casualties, then yes, I think we should move forward.”

“Hey, isn’t anyone going to ask me what I think?” I snapped.

Micah looked at me and set his head on his hand. “Cookie Monster, your answer is going to be to take the bitch out so we can keep the kids and family safe, no matter the danger to yourself.”

Opening and closing my mouth a few times, I didn’t have a comeback for that because he was right. So instead, I just leaned back into Parker and huffed, taking a swig of my now cold tea, causing the table to burst out in laughter.

“Now that we all agree, let the planning begin,” Hudson said, clapping his hands.

THIRTY-THREE

LAILAH

We spent the whole day Friday planning for what was going to happen Saturday. It was amazing to see the guys working side by side, each of them using their strengths. This didn’t mean that fights didn’t break out every hour or so between them, but we all managed to figure out a plan that we all agreed to. Needing a break from all the testosterone, I went upstairs and called Cami.

“Lala, babe, I’ve missed you so much. Can we please never go a week without seeing each other ever again?” Cami yelled through the phone.

I laughed. I missed her more than I realized. “Girl, you have no idea how much I could use you right now. Have they filled you in on what's been going on here?”

“No, I’m just your personal guardian who was made to stay home for this winter break because you were supposed to be safe at the home of one of the top Elementi families. Of course, I know. I’m more hurt by the fact that you haven’t bothered to tell me jack shit about what's been happening. You survived an avalanche; don't you think that’s a story your best friend in the whole wide world would love to hear?” Cami ranted.

I had to pull the phone away from my ear as she kept getting louder and louder the more upset she got. “You’re right, I’m sorry. I should have kept you in the loop myself. I just got overwhelmed trying to manage all the disasters as they come.”

“Humph,” Cami pouted. “I suppose that is a legit reason, but I’m still not happy with you.”

“Would you still help me pick out an outfit for the dinner party tomorrow?” I asked, knowing her answer.

“Tits on my ass, that’s right. Of course I’ll help you. Hold on, give me a sec. I'm going to turn this into a video chat,” Cami said.

I cradled the phone in my hand, and her face popped up on the screen.

“Cami… did you seriously dye your hair neon green?” I asked, my eyes wide, taking it all in.

“Hell yeah, I did! Do you like it? I’ve been wanting to do this for a while. Maggs did it for me,” Cami said with a proud grin on her face.

Shaking my head, I smiled. “It looks amazing. You’re one of the only people I know that could pull that off.”

“Now I match my car,” Cami said, rolling on her bed laughing.

I didn’t realize how much I had needed this, just to spend time talking and goofing off with my best friend.

“Okay, so remind me what dresses I made you pack,” Cami said, sobering up to the task at hand. “Where is it being held?”

“The Hotel Das Weitzer,” I said, looking at the invitation that Brayden had given me. “It says black-tie event.”

“Oh, my baby girl’s going to knock ‘em dead! Now there is only one dress that you packed that will fit this event, and it’s the one at the very bottom in the black garment bag. I’m guessing you’re one of those people who don’t unpack their suitcase if you haven't noticed it yet. Lucky for you, it doesn’t wrinkle.”

“I don’t see the point in pulling everything out of my suitcase when I’m only going to be here for a short time,” I muttered.

“Two weeks isn’t a short time. Lala, I don’t know about you sometimes,” Cami laughed. “Now go save your dress and hang it up so it can breathe before you have to wear it.”

Setting down the phone, I rummaged through the suitcase and pulled out the garment bag. Unzipping it, I pulled the dress out and examined it. Hanging before me was a stunning matte black dress that would hit me at the knee but had a mesh over-skirt that fell in a hi-low fashion. I hooked it on the back of the bathroom door and grabbed my phone.

“Cami! Where did this dress come from?” I demanded.

Cami was now sitting next to Maggs, who waved at me. “It’s one of mine. Cami said you might need something with flair, so I donated to the cause.”

I sighed and relaxed a little. “Oh, thank God, I thought Cami went shopping behind my back again. Somehow things keep showing up in my closet that I’ve never seen before.”

Cami frowned as Maggs punched her playfully in the arm. “Baby, you can’t keep treating Lailah like she is your dress-up doll.”

“Thank you, Maggs,” I chirped.

“Not cool, you guys; I can’t have both of you ganging up on me. Lala, for the record, you're the one who told me that you wanted to start updating your wardrobe but hated shopping. I happen to have impeccable fashion sense and love shopping. Really, you should be thanking me for all the hard work I’ve done.”

I rolled my eyes and pulled my hair up into a messy bun, having set my phone against the window in the room. “I’m going to try this dress on and make sure that it fits. Maggs is curvier than I am.”

“Actually, that’s why I picked that dress. It flares out at the waist, so it gives you more va-va-voom,” Maggs said, leaning closer to the phone and giving me a wink.

“Don’t flirt with my best friend!” Cami said, playfully yanking her back and starting to tickle her.

I grabbed the dress and changed in the bathroom, not wanting to start any fights between the lovers. It was nice to see Cami so carefree and real with Maggs; I hadn't seen her do that with many people. Quickly, I slipped the dress on and zipped it up as far as I could before walking back out to look at the long mirror hung on the wall.

The dress fit perfectly, and it was a higher neck that fit around the edge of my shoulders, showing off some skin but still keeping me covered. Like Maggs said, the dress puffed out slightly at the waist, giving the illusion of having hips that I’d never had before. I twirled and was happy to see the back went to the floor but didn’t drag too much.

“Lailah, you look amazing,” Maggs said as Cami let out a wolf call.

My face shone, and I had a wide grin on my lips as I turned back to them. “This is awesome, thanks Maggs. Cami, what would I do without you looking after me? Now, what am I going to do with my hair?”

The three of us spent over an hour chatting and deciding the last of the details for what I was going to do for tomorrow. I promised to take pictures so they could see the final outcome, and with that, we ended the call. I’d already removed the dress and hid it in the closet, so I lounged on the bed in sweats and enjoyed the quiet. I should have known it was too good to be true when seconds later, Parker ran into the room and jumped on the bed. He quickly crawled across and pulled me in front of him like I could hide him from sight.

“Where the fuck did that cocknugget run off to?” Micah snarled from the room below. “Parker.”

I peered at him over my shoulder. “What did you do now?”

“What makes you think I did anything, Trouble?” Parker drawled as he traced a finger down my arm, trying to distract me.

I slapped his hand away and narrowed my eyes. “You better tell me so I can make a judgment if I should protect you or not.”

Parker’s eyes widened. “You wouldn’t?”

I opened my mouth to yell for Micah, but Parker stopped me by crashing his lips into mine. I froze as he wrapped a hand around the back of my head to keep me still. His full lips were as soft and playful as I thought they might be. As he pulled my lower lip into his mouth and let his teeth hold it there for a second, I groaned and opened to him. Rolling me over on my back, he caged me in his body, hovering over mine as he kissed me like we had all the time in the world. Nothing was going to rush him. I knew that he was known as a flirt and had far more experience than I did, but I never thought I would enjoy his skill quite so much.

I arched under him, wanting to feel him everywhere, wanting him to give the rest of my body the same attention he was paying my lips. Slowly, he drew back and peppered my face with soft kisses. I giggled and looked up into his face, his eyes glowing with heat that I had put there. I let my hands wander up his muscular arms and across his back till they met at his neck. Gently, I tugged at him so I could kiss him easier, but he resisted, playing with me.

“Now, what were you saying?” he asked, giving me a toothy grin.

“Micah, he’s in here,” I yelled.

The shock on Parker’s face was priceless.

“Traitor,” he gasped as he flung himself off the bed and ran to the balcony, tossing the door open and turning to look at me. “I’m so going to punish you for that, Trouble.”

I just rolled over on my stomach and kicked my legs. “If you live long enough after Micah catches up to you.”

He barked out a laugh as he leapt out the door just as Micah zoomed into the room.

“That sneaky bastard. When I find him, I’m going to wring his neck,” Micah bellowed.

As I looked at him, something seemed to be off. His skin was tinged orange, like he had applied too much self-tanner, and it was blotchy.

“What happened to you?” I dared to ask.

Micah whipped around as if seeing me for the first time. “The fucktard put orange dye in my conditioner, and when I washed it out, it colored my skin. Asshole is gonna die when I get my hands on him.”

Biting my lip, I tried to hold my laughter in because if he heard me, I was going to get killed right alongside Parker.

“Lucky for you, I know a few tricks to get color off your skin. I once tried self-tanner and turned myself into an oompa-loompa, so I needed to get it off,” I said, sliding off the bed.

I grabbed his hand and dragged him after me down into the kitchen. Gathering the things I needed, I mixed them together in a large bowl, making a scrub out of lemon juice, baking soda, and sugar. Then I handed it to him and smiled at his confused look.

“Now you're going to take another shower, or even a bath, and scrub, scrub, scrub until you're back to your natural color. Feel free to use my shower if you're worried about other things being messed with,” I said.

Micah looked down at the bowl then back up at me. “This will work?”

“It better, because I’m not going to show up with you to a fancy party looking like that. My date better look his best,” I said, winking.

Before I lost my nerve, I walked into the living room and sat down on the couch. OMG. Did I just outright flirt with Micah? What has gotten into me? Since I’ve been here, I’ve had Jay walk in on Brayden and me, made out with Micah and then Parker a day later. This is so unlike me! What if I took what Micah said the other day too literally? He did say he didn’t want to be bonded to me, yet he did say one day he hoped to. That doesn't make him interested in being your date! Brayden is my date; he is the one I am bonded to. I mean, if you want to get real technical about it, I’ll be bonded to all of them at some point.

“Angel, if you think any harder, your head is going to explode,” Brayden said as he sat next to me, wrapping his arm around me and pulling me against his chest. “You’re not even blocking your freak out from me. What happened?”

I felt my cheeks heat. How could I tell him what I was freaking out about?

Brayden gently gripped my chin and forced me to look up at him. The love and trust in them gave me the courage to be honest.

“I kissed both Micah and Parker, and then there is the whole thing with Jay,” I said, flicking my eyes away from him, feeling too overwhelmed. “When everything went down with the Dark Lord, Micah got asked if he would accept the Oath. He said no, he wasn’t ready.”

Brayden released my chin, cuddled me against his chest, and rested his head on top of mine and just held me. I felt his natural calm sink into me, showing me just how much this had been building up inside of me. This wasn’t something I could talk about with Cami, it needed to be worked out by the six of us.

“I think we need to have a family meeting,” I murmured.

“I think that’s a good idea. It might also be a good thing for you and Micah to have a conversation one-on-one,” Brayden said, kissing the top of my head. “He is opening up to you and finally learning to deal with the others. I know it doesn’t seem like it, but he’s never been one to play by anyone else’s rules.”

“Hmm, I hadn’t noticed that. He’s always so easygoing.” I snorted. “Not sure he and Parker are getting any better.”

Brayden laughed. “Angel, before, Parker would have never tried to prank him. If this had happened before you entered the picture, I’m not sure any of us could have stopped him from killing Parker. Now Parker is just getting his own revenge. This prank was retaliation from something that happened earlier in the week.”

“Sure sounds like improvement when you put it like that,” I said, snuggling in deeper against Brayden.

Sensing that I was done talking for now, he grabbed the remote and put on a movie.

THIRTY-FOUR

BRAYDEN

“Istill think there are too many ways this plan can go sideways, man,” Micah said as he got ready for the event tonight.

We’d all decided to get ready in the second-floor bedroom and leave the master for Lailah to use without us underfoot. The morning had been spent going over the plan, and everyone’s part they were to play. I had called Charlotte to make sure that none of them were coming, so it would just be our parents. I wouldn’t do this if they were at the party.

“Yet none of us had a better idea,” I said, trying to get my damn bowtie figured out.

“The last thing we should be doing is poking holes in the Dark Lord’s plans while Lailah is still vulnerable,” Micah grumbled.

I paused and looked over at him. Not many people would see it, but Micah had been my best friend since I was twelve, and he was head over heels for Lailah. “She told me about you not accepting the Oath.”

He froze and slowly raised his head to look at me from where he was tying his shoes. He licked his lips and brushed off imaginary lint from his pants before saying anything. “I couldn’t. God, I wanted to, but I knew I wasn’t ready to make that commitment to her. Look at all the fucked-up things that have happened since you two bonded.”

I raised a brow. “Micah, her getting demon poison in her system is what set all this in motion. It had nothing to do with us bonding. I wasn’t even there with her when it happened.”

Micah shot to his feet and got up in my face. “That right there is the problem! You left her to be looked after by the others when they aren’t fully committed to this or her.”

“What?” I scoffed. “So are you saying I shouldn’t have left her with you the other day?”

“Damn straight. The fucking Dark Lord showed up. What good is one man who isn’t even bonded with her going to do against that? She could have been killed, but my sorry ass was frozen, suspended in time until it was too late. It’s only a miracle he didn’t want her dead this time,” Micah snapped.

I rested my hands on his shoulders and gripped them tightly so he had to look at me. “It wouldn’t have mattered if it had been me or one of the others. None of us would have had a chance. Each of us keep being selfish and taking on the role of being the weak link when it’s all of us. We are all failing her. Everyone keeps telling her that we’re a team, and we need to work together if we want to beat this son of a bitch, but we don’t even follow our own advice.”

Micah sagged in my hold as my words hit home.

“Did you know she’s feeling guilty that she kissed you and Parker? Lailah is so afraid of causing more of a divide in our group that she is pulling away from everyone, even me. Part of that is my fault—I shouldn’t have assumed that she would be okay with Jay watching, but I will own that. At least they had a conversation about it, and he could share how he feels about her. What about you? Ever stop to think how she would respond to you saying no, then making out with her?” I took a deep breath, realizing how worked up I was getting. This wasn’t helping anyone.

“You’re right,” Micah breathed. “I need to explain that I turned it down because I do care about her, not because I don’t want her.”

“Let’s deal with this first, then we can all sit down and deal with family matters,” I said, clapping him on the back.

Pulling on my tux jacket, I met the rest of the guys in the living room, all dressed and ready to go. Everyone looked a little nervous—well, except for Jay, but this is what he did all the time. Then I heard the telltale sound of heels clicking on the wooden floor, signaling Lailah’s arrival. When she entered the room, everyone rose to their feet and took in the splendor that was our girl.

Lailah’s golden curls were piled up on her head, but a few pieces escaped and brushed against her collar bone. Simple diamonds glinted in her ears, and I couldn’t ever remember her wearing earrings before. The black dress hugged her body in all the right places, showing off her curves. I especially loved that the dress showed off her legs, perfectly toned from all the running that she does. Her black heels set off the whole outfit as they glinted in the light with black rhinestones. Never had I seen a more beautiful woman, and she was mine—well, ours—to cherish and love.

“Angel, you look stunning,” I said, walking up to her, taking her hand, and kissing the back of it, not trusting myself to taste her lips.

The blush that crept up her cheeks just added to her look, and I couldn’t hold back my grin as I saw the guys behind me stunned.

THIRTY-FIVE

LAILAH

Seeing the boys in their tuxedos took my breath away, and my body heated up at the same time. My instinct was to keep them all home, because I didn’t want any other woman seeing them—they were mine. The possessiveness caught me off guard, but I swallowed and gave them each a brilliant smile after Brayden stepped to my side, tucking my arm through his.

“Who knew you guys pulled off the James Bond look so well? It’s almost a crime to take you to a party where you’ll put everyone to shame,” I said, deciding to really share what I was thinking.

Parker’s grin got wider, if that was even possible, and he sauntered up to me. “Is our little Trouble going to get jealous tonight?”

“Of course not, because you wouldn’t do anything that would make me need to be jealous, right?” I teased, deciding to play along.

Parker laughed and kissed my forehead before stepping back from me.

Hudson walked up to me, and a soft blush graced his cheeks as he took me in. “Lailah, you are truly radiant. I am honored to accompany you to this party with the others.”

A finger trailed along my shoulders making me shiver as lips brushed against my ear. “Look what you do to us with a pretty dress and a simple blush,” Jay whispered.

Micah let out a loud groan, walked up to me, grabbed my hand, and yanked me after him. “What is this, prom? Come on guys, we have bigger things to deal with.”

I really shouldn’t have been shocked by how Micah acted; the moment things got emotional, he bailed. Out front was the limo Brayden’s dad had sent for us to ride into the party. The driver held open the door, and we climbed in and shifted to the far end so the others could sit.

Once settled, Micah leaned over, and I could feel his lips brush against my ear as he spoke. “You always look beautiful, but tonight you outdid yourself.”

The butterflies that fluttered in my stomach at his words made me giddy. Micah would always be Micah, but seeing the glimpses of this softer side of him made me crave it, wanting more.

“Looks like you managed to get all the orange dye off your skin,” I teased, not wanting him to know how much his words affected me.

Micah grunted. “My date told me she wouldn’t go with me unless I got rid of it. Selfish request, don’t you think? Who doesn’t want a sun-kissed-looking date?”

I let out a bark of laughter. “God, she sounds awful. Why are you going out with her? I would have just ditched her and done my own thing.”

“See, the thing is, I don’t think that she really knows how much she means to me. Figured I would take this chance to be able to show her,” Micah whispered and placed a soft kiss on my cheek.

My body froze as the meaning of his words hit me. Was Micah trying to tell me that he wanted this to be a date? What about rejecting the Oath? I turned to look at him, and my eyes widened as I took in his face. He had a gentle smile on his lips, and I could see his affection towards me in his gaze. Never had I seen him so vulnerable before, and it thrilled and terrified me at the same time.

“What are you whispering about over there?” Parker called from the other side of the limo.

Micah’s soft expression instantly changed to one of irritation, and his normal scowl was back on his face. “Isn’t the point of talking quietly that no one else hears what you're saying?”

“Yeah, but that always makes me want to know what they are saying more,” Parker grinned.

“Idiot,” Micah mumbled.

Parker leaned forward, cupping his ear. “I’m sorry, what was that?”

Just as Micah opened his mouth to share, I butted in. “Will there be any dancing at this gathering, or is it more of an eat fancy food and talk shindig?”

“It’s been a few years since I’ve gone, but typically it’s pretty formal with stuffy rich people that like to rub elbows with my parents,” Brayden said, his head tilted back with his eyes closed.

“That doesn’t mean that we can’t start some dancing, maybe they just need someone to take the lead!” Parker said, wagging his eyebrows. “If there’s music, dancing can always happen.”

“This isn’t some frat party, Parker,” Micah grumbled. “Can you really dance, or is the bump and grind all you got?”

“Oh, because you know how to dance there, flame boy?” Parker said, baiting Micah.

Micah leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees. “I was classically trained when I was younger. My parents found it was a valuable skill and helped with learning control.”

Parker busted out laughing and almost fell out of his seat at the force of his laughter. “Oh God, I could just picture little Micah learning to ballroom dance.”

Micah lunged out of his seat to tackle Parker, but I grabbed his arm.

“Enough, Parker!” I snapped. “This is not the time or the place to be picking a fight. We are going to a party, yes, but let's remember why we are at this event. Now knock it off before we leave you both in the limo.”

Both boys stopped and looked at me, a little shocked. Parker picked himself back up and slid into his seat without another word. Micah settled back and turned to look out the window, resting his hand on his fist. The mood in the limo definitely dimmed, but I didn’t really care; we needed to act like a team, even if we weren't.

The rest of the ride was quiet as we all turned to our own thoughts. I ran through the plan again, trying to look at it from all angles. I just didn’t know enough to figure out what I might have missed. This was my first battle with a demon, and I had little else to go on other than faith and trust in myself and the boys. As we pulled up to the hotel, everyone seemed to come back to life as we exited the limo. I made to get up so I could exit, but Micah stopped me, grabbing my hand.

“Would you really have left us in the limo?” Micah questioned.

I leveled him with a look. “Without hesitation. We can’t afford any more unknowns in this.”

Much to my surprise, he grinned at me and pecked me on the lips. “That’s my girl.”

Flushed, I maneuvered my way out of the limo to where Brayden was waiting for me. He smiled at me and wrapped an arm around my waist as we headed into the hotel.

The Hotel Das Weitzer was beautiful, set right in the older section of Graz and overlooked the Mur river. The inside was very rustic-chic, decorated beautifully for the holiday seeing as it was only a few days before Christmas. A hotel staff member walked up to us, and Brayden spoke to them in fluent German before being led in the direction of the party. I gazed at the beautiful architecture of the hotel until we came to the ballroom filled with people dressed to the nines.

I gasped at the sight; it seemed like something out of a Christmas Hallmark movie. The ballroom had light wooden floors that shone in the light of a large glass chandelier. Fresh evergreen garland was draped along the ceiling, making the room smell wonderful. Beautifully decorated Christmas trees were set up around the room, adding to the festiveness. Cocktail tables were scattered throughout, with people standing by them chatting. Smartly dressed servers filtered through the crowd with food and drinks of various kinds.

“Holy crap, I wasn’t expecting this,” I whispered to Brayden. “This is so out of my league.”

Brayden looked down at me and gave me a squeeze before he took my hand to lead me into the room. “Trust me, you’ll be great; everyone will love you.”

Taking a deep breath, I plastered a smile on my face and followed his lead. The other boys were at my back, lending me their support by sticking close. Brayden led us to the back of the room where some couches were set up, and I spotted Adriana and Oliver with a few gentlemen and another couple.

“Shit,” Brayden said under his breath. He stopped and looked at me with worry showing in his eyes. “I totally forgot that this might happen.”

“What?” I hissed, fear building in my chest at what he might be telling me.

“Parker, what on earth are you doing here?” a woman said, standing up, joy lighting up her face in a familiar way.

“I hope you don’t mind meeting everyone's parents tonight,” Brayden said with a sheepish smile.

My shoulders sagged in relief that it wasn’t something demon related, but then his words hit home, and I jerked my head over to the people sitting with his parents. “Oh God, that’s them, isn’t it?”

“Yes, all but Hudson’s mom. His parents can’t be in the same room together,” Brayden said in a hushed voice.

“Mom! I didn’t know you guys were going to be here,” Parker said, catching his mother up in a big hug that seemed to engulf her small body.

Parker’s mother is where he got his looks from, but his height and build were all his dad. His mother had red hair as well, but hers was a deeper red whereas Parker’s was more orange-red. Her warm brown eyes matched her son’s, along with the smile that was lighting up the room.

“Well, son, it’s nice to see you taking an interest in the business side of things,” Parker’s father said, giving him a side hug and slapping him on the back, rather hard by the sound of it.

Parker’s dad was just as tall but bulkier than Parker. I could tell back in the day he had a more fit physique like his son, but age caught up to him and made him a little softer. His brown hair was graying at the hairline, but it was still thick and healthy. His hazel eyes were filled with humor, and smile lines were prevalent around them.

“When half my friends were going to be here, I figured why not. Oh, and I couldn’t pass up seeing Lailah all dolled up. Speaking of…” Parker turned and beckoned me over with a hand.

Brayden gave my hand a squeeze before he let go with a little shove on my lower back. Once I was close enough, Parker snaked an arm around my waist and yanked me in front of him. “Mom, Pop, I would like you to meet Lailah!”

“Oh, isn’t she lovely,” Parker’s mom said, cupping the sides of my face and giving me Parker’s signature grin.

“It’s lovely to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Jones,” I said, trying not to show my surprise at how touchy-feely they were.

“Oh Lord, please call me Dolly, Mrs. Jones sounds so old,” Dolly tittered, waving a hand at me.

Before I could say anything, Parker’s dad swept me up in a bone-crushing hug, picking me up off my feet. “We are so happy to finally meet you, Lailah,” he said and set me down, resting his hands on my shoulders. “Please call me Tobias or Pop, whatever you're more comfortable with. We’re family, after all.”

I laughed, unable to hold it back with the amount of happy energy that I was surrounded by. I could now see why Parker was the way he was and could only imagine what it must be like at family gatherings.

“When you said you had something important to take care of, you could have just said you wanted to spend the holidays with Lailah,” Dolly said, giving Parker a wink. “We would never get in the way of your budding family, or someone special in your life.”

I blushed furiously at how casually they were talking about how I was going to be with more than just her son. Apparently, they were very open-minded people; I just wasn’t sure that the others would be as understanding.

“Do you mind if I steal her?” Hudson said, coming up behind me.

“Of course not, son. As much as we would like to hog her attention, she has more than one family to meet,” Tobias said in his booming voice.

If I could crawl under a rock, I would. The whole room heard what he said. Praying that not everyone here understood English, I slipped my arm around Hudson’s, and he led me away.

“Don’t worry, none of our families will judge you. To be honest, they’re thrilled to be the parents of the boys who matched with Synergy,” Hudson said encouragingly.

I looked up and gave him a small smile. “Thanks. I just was caught off guard. I totally wasn’t expecting this tonight.”

“With everything going on, I think it slipped all our minds. I was supposed to be with my mother first, so it didn’t even dawn on me that Father would be here,” Hudson said as we approached a stoic-looking gentleman.

His father was tall and lean, much like Hudson. His hair was dark silver with white sprinkled through and was impeccably styled. His beard was whiter, trimmed close and well maintained. Hudson had the same piercing blue eyes that were full of intelligence. This man was a professional through and through, everything perfectly in order.

“Father, allow me to introduce Lailah Mackenzie, the sixth member to our team,” Hudson said once we reached his father.

“Pleasure to meet you, Lailah. I’m Chadwick Lacy,” he greeted, holding out his hand to me.

A little thrown off by the drastic difference between the two families, I left him holding his hand out for a few seconds. Quickly, I gripped his hand and gave it a simple shake before he released it, and he tucked it away in his pocket.

“Hudson tells me you're from America. It must be quite the change to be here in Europe,” Chadwick said, taking a sip of his drink.

Suddenly nervous, I cleared my throat before answering. “Yes, it was quite a big difference, but thankfully, I have Hudson and the others to help me out.”

“I’m glad to hear that my son has been someone you can lean on. He tends to get so lost in his studies that he forgets there are other things in the world. My hope is that with you now around, he will get to experience more of what life has to offer,” Chadwick said, surprising me by giving me a wink and a slight upturn of his mouth.

Smiling back at him, I nodded my head. His father was more of a surprise than I thought he would be. “I’ve already made him go to his first college party—there may even have been some dancing involved.”

“My, my, you work quickly. Well, I won’t keep you; I’m sure there are a few more people who would like to meet you. Until we chat again,” Chadwick said with a slight bow of his head before he wandered off into the crowd.

Hudson let out a low whistle. “Wow, he must have really liked you. I’ve never seen him talk that much to a person he’s just met before.”

I gaped at Hudson. “That was a lot of talking? He could give Jay a run for his money.”

We both laughed, and we headed back to where the guys were talking with Brayden’s parents. I was a little nervous to see Adriana again, unsure of how she would react to seeing me. Brayden seemed to think that it would be fine, that she was just having a bad day when she threw me out. And if what we believed was true, then most of her mental illness was caused by the demon.

“Lailah! Oh, it’s so good to see you again,” Adriana said, a genuine smile on her face as she reached out to grasp my hand. “I am so sorry about how I acted before; from what Oliver tells me, I was just awful to you.”

I faltered a little. Did she not remember what she said or did? Should I bring it up or just leave it alone?

“No hard feelings, I would be upset too if something ever happened to my family. Moms can’t help but be protective,” I said, choosing to follow her lead.

“I do hope all of you will be at the house for Christmas! It would be so lovely to have all six of you,” Adriana pleaded, clutching my hands in hers.

I looked around at the boys to see what they thought, and they just nodded in agreement. “Looks like we’re doing Christmas together then.”

“Hey, Dad, is Ms. Tabitha around? I have something I wanted to ask her,” Brayden said, reminding me that I had all but forgotten why we were here.

“She was joining us later once she got the little ones down for the night. Martin is a good man, but he’s too easily persuaded to let them stay up too late,” Oliver explained.

I glanced over at Brayden, and through our look, we both seemed a little uneasy at the fact she wasn’t already here.

“Jalen,” a man barked, startling Adriana and me, causing us both to jump.

I turned to see an older Asian man wearing a black and white traditional Japanese yukata. His face was stern with dark-brown eyes holding no warmth. His slate-gray hair was brushed straight back, neatly in order.

“What are you doing here? You are supposed to be with your mother. That is the only reason that you had the time off,” he snapped, his accent heavy.

Jay’s father was almost half his height, but that in no way made this man any less intimidating. The dominant air that was coming off him in waves set me on edge. I didn’t appreciate how he was treating Jay either, and the only reason I wasn’t saying anything was the slight shake of the head he gave me.

When Jay responded, he did so in Japanese, and whatever he said about made his father turn purple. His father, in a voice low enough not to cause a scene, ripped into Jay, his knuckles white as he gripped his polished wooden cane. Jay just stood there and took the tongue-lashing with a stoic face, but I could tell he had tuned out by how vacant his eyes were. Once his father had said his piece, he gave a huff and rounded on me.

“I know who and what you are,” he snarled. “Let’s hope that you are more worthy of the gift bestowed upon you than these other useless so-called Knights.”

Astounded at his words, I just stood there, unable to think of a thing to say in our defense.

“Let it also be known that I forbid my son to ever bond with you. Just because you are blessed by the angels does not make you worthy of my son. His wife will be chosen for him as was mine, to bestow honor on our family,” Jay’s father said with a smack of his cane on the wood floor.

Having nothing more to say, the man stormed out of the room. Getting over my shock, I walked over to Jay and grabbed his hand in both of mine, letting my thumb gently caress the back of his hand. I leaned my head on his arm and didn’t say a word to him, just let him feel my support. Nothing his father said changed my view of Jay. He had more than proven to me that he was nothing like his father.

“I’m sorry he said those things to you,” Jay said in a low voice for only me to hear. “He has never thought the Elementi Warriors were any match against his military.”

“Don’t worry about me, I don’t care what he thinks. Your opinion and the other four’s matter to me, not some shortsighted man,” I said, letting my irritation leak through.

I looked up when I felt his body shake slightly, worried I had upset him with my words. What I wasn’t expecting to see was the grin on his face and the humor in his eyes. “I think you are one of the first people to ever call my father short before. Although, I would advise you not to do that to his face.”

My spirits lifted knowing that I was able to put that smile on his face. I chuckled, leaning into him further as we looked out over the party. It had been far more interesting that I’d thought, not knowing anyone but the boys and Brayden’s parents.

“Who the fuck let you into this party,” Micah bellowed.

Looks like it’s about to get even better.

THIRTY-SIX

LAILAH

Peering around Jay, I saw Micah toe-to-toe with a short, rotund woman. She was dressed in a skintight black dress that did not flatter her shape, and was dripping with gems. Her dark auburn hair was pinned up, and her face was covered in gaudy dark makeup.

Was this the woman that Micah didn’t want to share the same room with? Seeing how he was looking at her, I no longer thought he had ever hated me. The look of disgust that he was giving this woman would have curdled milk in seconds.

“Don’t you talk to me like that, you ungrateful brat. You're lucky that anyone in our family took you under their wing. Do you know how much I have done for you?” she shouted back.

Micah scoffed at her and motioned to her outfit. “Looks like I’ve been the one taking care of you. How much have you spent out of my trust, you stupid cow? This is more than the contract you signed would afford you as the CEO of my family's business and estates.”

“How dare you!” the woman screeched and raised a hand to slap Micah.

Now I’d had enough. No one was allowed to hit my boys. Without even thinking, I sent out a burst of power that knocked her away from Micah and on her ass as I marched over to them.

“Madam Lazonick,” a man cried out, rushing over to help her get to her feet.

“Get off me,” she grumbled, shaking the man off once she was upright and brushed herself off.

I had now reached Micah’s side and stood proudly next to him.

“Do you have any idea who I am, you little bitch?” she growled, sparing me with her gaze.

I gave her a smile that was more teeth than would be friendly. “I don’t give a fuck who you are, I won’t let you talk to him or me like that. If you don’t watch your mouth, I’ll do it again.”

“I am Micah’s legal guardian, and the person who is entrusted with looking over all of his family assets until he is twenty-one. If he wants anything left to inherit, I would suggest you watch yourself, you little chit.”

I laughed, unable to take this woman seriously. “It just so happens that I have a brother who is a lawyer, and I know the laws are different here in Europe, but I have a feeling that what you’re doing is considered illegal. It might even count as fraud, which in most places would get you put in jail. So, I would take a step back and tone down the threats before you end up behind bars.”

As I talked, I could feel my power twining its way around her, making her feel the weight of my threat. It would seem that our weapons may not inflict any damage to humans, but our power was another story. I didn’t want to truly hurt this woman, but fearing what might happen was acceptable when it came to protecting my people, my family.

“Who. Are. You?” she gasped.

I leaned forward so I could whisper in her ear, letting the word fall from my lips. “Synergy.”

Hearing her gasp, I held her in place with my power so she couldn’t pull back. “Just so we are perfectly clear, Micah is mine, so when you fuck with him, you fuck with me. You might be his family, but you’re not mine.”

Putting a smile on my face, I stepped back and freed her from my power and wrapped my arm around Micah’s waist. Hesitantly, he put his arm around my shoulder, but when I put my hand on his chest, he held me tighter.

“If you don’t mind, we have a Christmas party to enjoy, and you are not welcome here,” Micah spoke, his voice hard, leaving no room for question.

Yet that didn’t seem to stop his aunt. “You don’t have the authority to do that.”

“Then I’ll say it. You are not welcome here, Muriel. I made it clear that you were not to show up at this gathering. Micah is the shareholder in this company, not you. Now leave before I have you escorted out,” Oliver said, coming to stand with Micah, resting a hand on his shoulder.

Muriel huffed and thought about saying something, but just grabbed a glass of champagne and chugged it before waving to her attendant. “Don’t think this is settled, Micah. You still have three years until you can take over.” Turning on her heel, she made her way out of the ballroom, shoving people out of her way as she went.

“Can’t imagine why I’ve never heard you talk about her,” I drawled, looking at Micah.

“Everyone has that family member you not so secretly wish you could kill,” Micah muttered.

Oliver chuckled, waving over a server that had a tray full of drinks. He handed us each one. “I think we all need one after dealing with that.”

I wasn’t sure what it was, but the short tumbler was half full of amber liquid. I took a sip, and the spice of the drink hit me first, then the smooth liquor caressed my tongue. Not having had much liquor before, I had no clue what I was drinking, but it was delicious.

“What is this?” I asked, taking another sip.

“Spiced brandy. Old family recipe that we only have made during the holidays,” Oliver explained. “I wouldn’t drink it too quickly—it sneaks up on you.”

“Good to know.” I smiled as he wandered back to Adriana.

Micah set his drink down on a table next to us and placed his hands on my hips, turning me to face him. “What did you say to her? I’ve never seen her look so scared before.”

I gave him a soft smile and shrugged my shoulders. “Nothing really, just told her I didn’t like how she was treating you.”

Micah frowned at me, not believing me at all.

“Shouldn’t you be proud that I stood up for myself?” I teased, poking him in the chest.

“I would be, if you were really standing up for yourself, but you weren’t. You were defending me,” Micah griped.

I searched his eyes, trying to see if I could figure out what about that had upset him. “Micah. I don’t think you really know how I feel about you. I’ve claimed you as one of my people, and I will do anything for people that are close to me. It’s the five of you and Cami; you guys have become my family out here. When someone does something to you, it’s like them doing it to me.”

Micah’s eyes filled with so many emotions, I couldn’t pick them all out. “Why would you do that? Getting close to people only gives them more power to hurt you along the way.”

I smiled softly at him, knowing what he was getting at. “Those that are worth being part of my family may let me down or hurt me, but the difference is, they wouldn’t have done it intentionally. They will also do whatever it takes to earn back my trust.”

“How can you know that?” Micah asked, his grip on my hips getting tighter.

I shrugged my shoulders. “I have faith in them. Trust is not given or earned lightly, but all of you have never given me a reason not to put my trust in you. Eventually, you will see this too, but I’m not in a rush. I’ll wait till you're ready.”

I hadn’t at all known I felt that way until the words came out of my mouth, but now that they had, I knew it was the absolute truth. Cami and these men of mine completed me, and I was going to show them that we were better together, rather than butting heads and arguing.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Brayden making his way over to us with a determined look on his face.

“Looks like it’s showtime,” I whispered, placing a kiss on Micah’s cheek as he let me go.

As Brayden reached us, I felt fear slam into me from our connection. “What’s wrong? What happened?”

“She brought Charlotte with her,” Brayden said through clenched teeth.

“Fuck,” Micah growled.

I looked around the room, and my eyes landed on Parker’s mom. “I have an idea. All of your families are very close, right?”

Brayden’s brows creased as he looked at me. “Yeah, I guess it’s been a while since they have all gotten together.”

“That's even better. I’ll be right back,” I said, rushing off towards Dolly.

Dolly smiled at me when I reached her, but then the smile faded and her face became more serious. “What’s happened, darling?”

“I need you to do something for me and not ask any questions, because I don’t have the time to answer them,” I said quickly in a hushed voice.

Dolly just nodded, the look of a protective mother shining in her eyes. “I need you to find Charlotte Dolton and keep her away from her governess that brought her to the party.”

“Done,” Dolly said, and she was off like a shot.

That had been way easier than I expected that to be.

Seeing Hudson and Jay, I signaled them to follow me, noting Parker was already with the other two. Once all together, I explained what I did.

“That was brilliant, Trouble! There is no way that shifty governess will suspect anything odd when an old family friend wants to catch up. I think it's been years since they’ve seen each other, lots to talk about,” Parker said proudly.

“Now we have to set the rest of the plan in motion,” Hudson said, pulling out his phone and passing it around. We all had one more look at the blueprints so we knew where to go.

I held a hand out in the middle of our circle and quirked an eyebrow at the others. Parker grinned and plopped his hand on mine, followed by the others, until it was just Micah. He rolled his eyes and set his on the top of the pile. I gave a sharp nod, and we broke, no cheer needed. I just wanted them all to acknowledge that we were all in this together.

Scanning the room, I found the exit that I needed to take and slipped out into the hall. I pulled the black zip ties out of my pockets and zip-tied the doors shut. I did the same for the two others before I made my way out into the garden, where we would have the confrontation. We needed to make sure none of the party guests accidentally made their way out here and got hurt in the crossfire. We didn’t expect Ms. Tabitha to go down easy.

On silent feet, I felt Jay come up behind me. I would have never known if my power hadn’t been out and swirling around me. It was ready for a fight, having gotten a taste of it with Muriel. Neither one of us spoke as we waited, tension high in the air around us. This was going to be our first stand as Elementi Warriors united with Synergy. A declaration of war.

“Brayden, I understand you are upset that your girlfriend got kicked out of the house, but we have to consider what is best for your mother. She is not well, and I fear that the next thing to set her off will do permanent damage,” Ms. Tabitha said, her voice the only sound in the silent night.

“You’re someone she will listen to. If you explain that what happened had nothing to do with Lailah, she would believe it,” Brayden pleaded as they walked into the garden.

Ms. Tabitha stopped and turned to Brayden with a gentle hand on his arm. “She is my boss and someone I care about. Using my position like that wouldn’t be right. This is a family matter and should be handled as such.”

Taking a deep breath, I steadied myself before I called out. “You’re right, this is a family matter we need to talk about.”

Ms. Tabitha stiffened ever so slightly as she turned her head to look at me. Unmasked hatred and anger were alight in her eyes upon seeing me. “What would you know about this family? I have been with them for almost two years. Looking after them, nurturing the little ones, and protecting their ailing mother.”

I unfurled my power even more, letting it fill the garden, and when it reached her, she flinched. No normal human would have been able to feel my energy in such an open space.

“Ms. Tabitha, I believe you are nurturing the whole family, but I also think it’s for your own agenda,” I said, proud that my voice was strong and even as I approached her. “I got the pleasure of meeting your real boss the other day. He seemed to think that I might be useful to him, so I was surprised that he would send such an attack on us on the sledding trail.”

Ms. Tabitha paled, and her eyes flicked around, searching for a way out. As I had been talking, the boys made a circle around us, and each of them had their blessed weapons in hand. If she tried to escape, then she would be met with force.

“I had trouble placing you, because I know you're not a demon. You aren't like the other greater demons I have interacted with that hide in the shell of a human, but you're also not a mid-level either. You have been around for two years, and most known cases say that your body can only survive a few months before it begins to deteriorate. So… what are you, Ms. Tabitha?” I mused, watching for any signal she would attack or flee.

“I am a true follower of the Dark Lord!” she snarled.

At this admission, her appearance began to change. Her eyes bled completely black, and her skin turned sallower and grayer. Black veins appeared on her skin, crawling up her throat and around her eyes. She looked like what you'd think a dark witch would look like. Her gray hair was released from its bun and floated around her, adding to her creepy look.

“For years, I have trained in the Dark Lord's ways. I was blessed with his seal, granting me access to his demonic powers.” Ms. Tabitha said, showing us a symbol on the back of her hand. “While the world was waiting for you to be born, our Dark Lord and master was creating an army. We of the Dark Army cannot be traced like demons, and our ability to infiltrate the Elementi is unparalleled.” Her voice boomed around us, aided by her magic.

Holy shit. This is not at all what I thought was going to happen.

“What are you going to do now, Synergy?” Ms. Tabitha sneered. “If you think you can simply kill me, then I should warn you that I tied my life force to his mother. Not only do I control her mind, but her life as well!” she said, starting to cackle.

My eyes shot over to Brayden. Nothing we’d prepared for would deal with a situation like this.

“Oh, does that change your mind on killing me? Look at you, so pathetic worrying about the death of one woman when she created the tool that the Dark Lord needed to gain more followers to his cause. The Elementi’s time is up, and the Dark Army will rule the world. You can’t stop us. The wheels have already been set in motion,” she taunted.

My heart skipped a beat as understanding hit. “What did you do?! We know what Adriana was making, but she hadn’t even developed an actual serum yet.”

Tabitha looked at me with her emotionless black eyes and gave me an exaggerated frown. “Oh, you poor thing. You think we care for playing by the rules? Who needs that when all it takes is the right cocktail and some demon venom in the guise of a miracle drug? The rich and powerful don’t want to wait; they will do anything, pay anything, for a cure to whatever ails them. Even if it hasn’t been tested or approved. Besides, if one of the top pharmaceutical companies in the world produced it, who’s to challenge it?”

“NO! My father would never allow something like that to happen,” Hudson barked, taking a step forward.

“Silly boy, what do you know? You hardly even speak to your family since your parents divorced. You hide away and hope that it was all a lie,” Tabitha said, baring her teeth at Hudson.

His face was stricken as her verbal attack struck a nerve. I could see the truth of her words in his eyes and the pain that was flooding them.

Oh, she did not just fuck with my family!

Trusting my gut and my powers, I lashed out at Tabitha, pulling strength from all the boys. I blended all of our powers together into a ball, then thrust it at her. It glowed bright white as it slammed Tabitha, but it was blocked by a shield of bright green flames. The attack enraged Tabitha, and she spoke words I didn’t understand, a flaming green sword appearing in her hands. I felt my power manifest my own weapons.

The battle had begun.

THIRTY-SEVEN

LAILAH

Iknew that the boys had been training together since they were sixteen, but seeing them move as one unit was impressive. Micah darted in with his twin swords, blocking Tabitha from attacking me. Jay’s arrow, propelled by the wind, hit home deep in her back, causing her to let out a scream that chilled my bones. Tabitha let out a shot of demon fire in Jay’s direction, but Hudson blocked it with a shield of water. When the fire hit, steam billowed out, making it hard for us all to see.

“Is that all you have, little knights? I thought you would be tougher,” Tabitha cackled.

Thankfully, I was able to see everyone’s energy like a haze around them. Tabitha glowed in that neon-green fire and black void, so it wasn’t hard to keep track of her. Parker swept in with his long-bladed staff, aiming for her legs. Tabitha blocked the attack but wasn’t prepared for Hudson to appear on the other side, shooting her right in the head twice. She stumbled and fell to her knees, black blood seeping out of her hairline, but she shook it off and sent out a burst of green flame in all directions, pushing us back.

“We aren’t strong enough!” Hudson yelled as he dodged another attack. He wasn’t fast enough and got nicked by her sword on the leg and let out a grunt of pain.

Parker lunged, his blade slicing deep into her arm, causing her to drop her sword and open herself up for Jay to land another arrow right into her heart. To my shock and horror, she yanked out the arrow and started chanting. The ground began to tremble, and the air became thin as she continued.

“What the fuck is this woman made out of?” Micah said, making his way over to me.

“Pure evil, if I had to take a guess,” I muttered, my mind racing to find a solution.

Somehow, there had to be a way to kill this creature and make sure we didn’t kill Brayden’s mom. If it was even true that they were tied together—no one said demons were the honest type.

Not giving up, the boys bombarded Tabitha with everything they could think of, but nothing made it through the shield her power made. As the oppressive dark energy kept building, it sent me crashing to my knees. I clutched my heart, knowing that the pain I was feeling stemmed from the demon taint. The dark power she gathered called to it, almost as if it was going to pull it right out of me.

“Make it stop,” I screamed, feeling blood in my mouth and something running down my face from my eyes.

“Fucking hell,” Parker said, stumbling his way over to me. “Hang in there, Trouble, we’ll figure this out.”

My eyes were blurred red from all the blood as I knelt there, shaking. I wrapped my arms around myself, trying not to shatter. How is this happening to me? I’m Synergy, the power that can turn the tide in the fight between good and evil! What a disappointment I am. Maybe they were right all along: I am the weak link, and I will get everyone killed. I should just give up and let them take me. It would be better than letting them harm anyone else.

“Yes, Little Synergy, come to me. You need my help. I will teach you what it means to have true power,” the Dark Lord's harsh voice whispered through my ears.

I let out a sob as my mind and heart battled over what choice to make. Just when I felt like the pain was just too much, I felt a hand on my shoulder that burned like a hot coal. Then another that was cool and soothing, like a cold drink on a hot day. A soft breeze swirled around me, giving me the chance to breathe. Someone grasped my face and brushed away the bloody tears, sending me a burst of strength. The pain in my heart eased slightly, and I felt life flood my senses. Then someone took my hand, and the love that flowed through that connection, along with the calming steadfast reassurance, grounded me. I knew where I belonged, and it was with these men. Together, we were unbeatable.

Slowly, painstakingly, I gave them power this time instead of taking it. I let my power flow freely into them, flooding their system with my golden light. It melded with theirs, and each one burned brighter and hotter than before. When they’d taken as much as they could handle, I pulled back the connection but didn’t close the door.

“Blast the bitch back to Hell, boys,” I declared, my voice hoarse but strong.

They each released me as I wiped furiously at my eyes, trying to clear them. I needed to see what was going to happen next. My sight was still blurry as I watched in amazement. Each of the boys now were adorned with armor and upgraded weapons that glowed with holy light. I shifted, trying to stand by myself, and that is when I noticed that I had glowing armor too. Instead of my two sai, I had a short sword and large, round shield in my grip. I used the shield as leverage to heave myself to my feet. There was no way I was going to end this battle on my knees.

Tabitha, bloody and broken, hissed at all of us as the demon energy she had gathered swirled around her in a dark mist that was easily seen in the light we shed. “You might kill me, but you won’t defeat the Dark Lord so easily. He is more powerful than you can imagine, and he gains more power every day.”

Realization of what she was going to do sent my body into motion. “She’s going to sacrifice herself!”

“Not if I stop her first,” Jay growled as he nocked an arrow, locking onto his target. The arrow flew true and hit her right between the eyes, and holy light burst out, making her gasp and crumple to the ground.

“Duck!” I screamed as I hoisted up my shield, jumping to stand in front of them.

The blast of demon energy burst out, and a shockwave of sound followed like a bomb exploding. Digging my feet into the ground, I held off the blast from hitting us, but I could feel my feet slipping. Then my guys were right behind me, supporting me, keeping me strong and upright against this attack. When the demonic energy had dissipated, we noticed we’d attracted a small crowd of people. All the boys’ parents were there—even Jay’s father, hands clasped on his cane casually. I scanned the group, and my eyes landed on Oliver holding Adriana in his arms.

“Did we win?” Parker asked, breaking the silence as our armor and weapons faded away.

I’m not sure if it was the shock or the overwhelming relief I felt, but I burst out laughing. Eventually, the others joined in as we all huddled together in one big, laughing hug. We had done it! Had we almost died? Maybe, but we won in the end, and that is all that matters.

Finally, we broke apart, still chuckling, but Brayden reached out for me, holding my face in one hand and caressing my cheek with his thumb. “Angel, are you alright?”

“Honestly, I don’t even know how to answer that. I’m in desperate need of a shower and a stiff drink,” I said, leaning into his hand.

“I think we can arrange that,” he murmured, placing a kiss on my forehead.

“Damn, Trouble, you look like you were trying out for the part of Carrie,” Parker said, wrapping an arm around my shoulders and leading me towards the group of parents.

“I look that good, huh?” I teased, giving him a half-hearted smile.

“Nothing some sugar cookies and sleep couldn’t fix,” he said, smiling.

I groaned, leaning more into him. “God, that sounds amazing right now, but somehow I have a feeling that sleep is going to have to wait.”

“Yeah, I figured that too. Parents are going to want a debriefing,” he muttered, kissing my temple.

“Parents,” I gasped and pulled out of his arms, moving as quickly as I could over to Oliver. “Is she okay? Please tell me she’s still alive.”

Oliver looked at me, his green eyes full of questions as he looked from me to his wife. “She is alive but unconscious. We were on our way to take her to a hospital because she was seizing when we stumbled upon… whatever just happened.”

I blew out the breath I had been holding. “Thank God she’s alive! If you give us someplace to clean up, I promise we will answer any and all questions you have.”

“This is going to be some explanation, by the looks of it,” Tobias said, shaking his head at me.

“You have no idea,” I mumbled.

An hour later, I found myself in a hotel room, freshly showered and wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt that were both too large. We had to make do with what the hotel could provide for us from the gift shop in the lobby. They had nicer options to pick from, but I was looking to be warm and clean. I passed through the master bedroom into the living room of the penthouse suite we’d been placed in. There sat all the fathers waiting for us to get cleaned up—Dolly was keeping an eye on Adriana.

Oliver and Tobias had ditched their jackets and bowties, sitting more relaxed. Chadwick still looked put together, but his hair was mussed from him combing his fingers through it. Jay’s father, whose name I still didn’t know, sat in the armchair, back ramrod straight, hands perched on his cane, eyes closed. The moment I stepped into the room, he opened them and held my gaze for a second before closing them once again.

“Here, I brought up a bottle of the Dolton’s family brandy for us to drink,” Oliver said, handing me a glass.

“Thanks.”

I settled in the middle of the long couch, curling my legs under me and taking a long drink out of the glass. The liquor warmed my belly and chased away the last of the chill from the battle. Hudson was the first of the boys to finish up and came to sit next to me. Then Brayden, Jay, and Micah followed, getting settled around me until Parker joined us last. He decided to sit on the ground, leaning against my legs and resting his head on my thigh. Unable to hold myself back, I combed my fingers through his damp hair, setting me more at ease.

“Where do we even start?” Tobias asked, giving us all a critical look.

When none of the boys spoke up, I decided to take the lead. “Let’s start with what you don’t know.”

“How did all the boys end up here? That was not what we had been told would be happening over winter break,” Jay’s father demanded.

I took another sip of my drink, needing to center myself before dealing with this man. I reminded myself that he was Jay’s father and would be in my life for a very long time.

“A week ago, Brayden, Micah, and I went with the other Dolton kids sledding. While going down the sledding trail, we were attacked by a horde of demons. We decided to reach out to the others to make sure they weren’t also in danger.” I paused and met his cool gaze. “They decided on their own to come here to help us figure out what was going on. I did not ask that of them.”

“Parker, why didn’t you tell us that is why you came here? We wouldn’t have stopped you from dealing with Elementi business! We know that is part of being a parent to an Elementi Warrior,” Tobias asked, disappointment written all over his face.

“We came just to make sure Lailah was okay, there was no way we could guess it would turn into something like this. Plus, there are other things you don’t know about the situation that I couldn’t tell you,” Parker explained.

Tobias’s frown deepened. “The Elementi do not keep secrets.”

“It’s not a secret when it’s not your information to give. Certain things have happened that involved Lailah, and I didn’t have her permission to share her private matters with others,” Parker explained.

My heart warmed that he would be so considerate not to share all the things that had happened since I came into power. I knew the Elementi prided themselves on being open and honest—no locked doors, as Beth would say.

“What Parker didn’t tell you is that I’m demon tainted. I was out patrolling and got attacked, and even though I was healed and cleansed, I still have some demon venom lingering. It has caused some side effects, and the Dark Lord is trying to use it as leverage to get me to join him,” I started, not wanting to cause any trouble between the boys and their families.

“What?!” Jay’s father spluttered, shooting to his feet. In his anger, he shifted to speaking Japanese, but you really didn’t need a translator to tell that he was unhappy.

“Makoto, English, please,” Chadwick chided the older man. “Now sit down and let the dear girl explain herself.”

I was beginning to like Hudson’s father more and more. Once everyone was settled back down, I continued.

“I understand that this may not be what you want to hear from the mythical Synergy you’ve been waiting for. What you have to understand is that I am still HUMAN. That means I will make mistakes, unforeseen things will happen, and I might lose my way. On the other hand, I have five other people to encourage me and help me walk this path. Synergy isn’t meant to be just a weapon, it’s not an object or power that can single-handedly wipe out the demon race,” I announced and watched as they shifted, unable to meet my eyes. “As you saw tonight, I am a conduit. I can pull their power into myself and use it, or I can pour myself into them, boosting their ability.”

“The Elementi need to adjust their thinking when it comes to Synergy. Lailah is not an angelic holy being, she is human, and that is what makes her perfect,” Hudson said, taking my hand and giving it a squeeze. “It was only because the Dark Lord came to her that we figured out about Tabitha. None of us had any idea. That was all Lailah and Micah.”

Oliver leaned forward, rested his elbows on his knees, and rolled his glass between his hands. “How did we miss that? We had her vetted, and she passed all the tests that we threw at her.”

“They are called the Dark Army,” Jay said. “Humans that are blessed with demonic abilities when the Dark Lord gives them his seal.”

Oliver nodded, draining the last of his drink before pouring more. “So the rumors are true? He has an army?” Oliver glanced over at Makoto. “Why didn’t you tell us? You and Jay have been investigating this for months.”

Makoto looked at Oliver out of the side of his eye and tipped up his chin slightly. “We did not have any definitive evidence. Each time we raided a camp, they’d abandoned the place, and there wasn’t much left behind for us to gather intel from.”

“Tabitha informed us that she was not the only one in the Elementi. In fact, she specifically said there was one or more in your company, Chadwick,” I said, redirecting the conversation and getting to the heart of the matter we needed to talk about. “Oliver, what do you know about the secret project Adriana was working on?”

“She didn’t tell me much when I asked her. She always made some excuse that I wouldn’t understand. I knew that she was working with Chadwick, but I didn’t want to go behind her back to ask,” Oliver said, his face looking more haggard. “I should have paid more attention to what was going on at home, but Tabitha always had a handle on things.”

As he talked, an idea filtered into my brain, and I turned to Hudson. “Could he have been dosed with enough of the serum to make him suggestible enough not to look into the matter?”

Hudson paused a beat before looking at his father. “What was the purpose she gave you for the formulation she was putting together?”

“Adriana came to me saying that she thought that she was getting Alzheimer’s or that her depression was so bad that it was affecting her memory. She seemed to think that there was a way to slow down the progression or make the brain more open to receiving new information to compensate for what was being lost,” Chadwick answered.

“Have you dealt much with demon venom?” I asked.

Chadwick’s eyebrows raised. “No, I can’t say that it has been something I have spent much time working with. Once we figured out the basics of how to remove it from someone infected, there wasn’t much reason to keep looking into it.”

“Fair enough. But what if demon venom had been added to the formulation that you were creating with Adriana? Do you have a guess as to what that would have done?” I pressed, knowing I was on to something.

Chadwick looked stricken when he seemed to understand. “Oh God.”

Quickly he pulled out his cellphone and called someone. They didn’t answer right away, but he called them back immediately. “Denis, I’m sorry to call so late, but I need you to run down to my lab and see if the Day-Brite serum is still there in the fridge. Yes, call me back as soon as you get there.”

Something about that conversation made my stomach sink. We all waited in silence, watching the phone laid on the coffee table between us all. When it lit up with Denis’s name, Chadwick snatched it up to his ear. Whatever Denis told him wasn’t what he wanted to hear, as he closed his eyes and dropped his phone to the floor.

“We finished the serum today. It was ready to be tested, and we made a batch of twenty vials. They’re gone.”

To be continued in Liberating Water

Elizabeth Knight

Elizabeth is an International Best Seller, originally from Illinois but now living in sunny Phoenix, AZ. Elizabeth has been writing for nine years and started out in YA Fiction but recently found herself loving the Reverse Harem genre. Like her favorite books, Elizabeth loves to write about strong women of all varieties. Not all strength is flashy or apparent at first glance—some lies just under the surface.

Don’t Miss Out!

Be the first to know what is coming next by following Elizabeth’s social media! You never know when or what will be coming next!

Facebook: Elizabeth Knight’s Unicorn Queens

Instagram: elizabethknightauthor

TikToc: elizabethknightauthor

Newletter: https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/i0m1g8

ONE

LAILAH

“We finished the serum today. It was ready to be tested, and we made a batch of twenty vials. They’re gone,” Chadwick said, his British accent becoming stronger in his distress.

I sat stunned on the hotel couch between Hudson and Brayden. This was worse than we thought. Not only had we discovered that the Dark Lord has a hidden army, but he now had the one tool he needed to make more soldiers for it. Watching Hudson’s father start to fray at the edges of his perfectly maintained exterior made my heart ache for him. I wanted to reach out and comfort him, but seeing as we only met a few hours ago, I didn’t think he would welcome it.

Pulling himself upright, he gathered his thoughts and stood. “If you will excuse me, it seems that I must be getting back to the facility. There is an investigation that needs to be done. We must find out who took the Day-Brite formula.” Chadwick turned to Brayden’s father, Oliver, gripping his shoulder. “Please tell Adriana I’m sorry.”

With that he left the room in a hurry, phone to his ear, talking to someone in what sounded like French. I turned to Hudson and found his face void of emotion, but his mouth was tight, as if he was holding himself back from following. His honey blond hair that was typically styled to perfection was mussed, and his bright blue eyes were guarded. Pushing his glasses back up his nose, I saw his hand shake with the need to do something.

“Hudson, you need to be with him,” I said softly, taking his hand. “We will stay here tonight, so go take care of your father.”

Hudson held my face in his hands and placed a kiss on my forehead. “I’ll be back in the morning.”

I nodded, waving for him to follow after his father. “Go.”

Hearing the door close after Hudson, I sagged against Brayden, the events of the evening catching up to me. Battling a demon-enhanced warrior from the Dark Lord’s army sure takes a lot out of a girl. Never had I expended that much power, or been attacked quite so viciously. It had taken me shampooing my hair three times to get all the blood out of it. Made me jealous of Jay’s shaved head.

“Father, I think it’s best if we turn in for the evening. We can talk more tomorrow when we’re rested. There isn’t much we can do at this point,” Brayden said, wrapping an arm around me.

It was moments like this that the connection we had by being bonded was very useful. I knew he could feel how exhausted I was through my emotions. Not that he was much better—the worry he had about his mother was chipping away at any energy reserves he had. When I glanced at my other three boys, they all looked ragged too.

Even Jay was sitting on the edge of the couch. For some this wouldn’t be a big deal, but Jay always preferred to stand. His dark gray eyes, that typically were alert and watchful, drooped slightly, making their almond shape more pronounced. Micah sat next to him, head tossed back, staring at the ceiling with his signature scowl. His thick brown hair was loose around his shoulders when he typically kept it up. Then there was Parker, the man who looked at life as a big party or game to play. His bright orange-red hair was still damp from his shower and flat on his head instead of styled in his signature spiked faux-hawk look. As if he knew I was watching him, he looked up at me from where he was sitting on the floor, leaning against my legs. His brown eyes were missing that teasing glint as he gave me a half-hearted grin.

I didn’t like how defeated everyone looked right now. I clearly needed to do something about it.

“Of course, you’re right. We can meet over breakfast and figure out the next course of action,” Oliver said, slapping his hands on his knees and standing. “Come along Makoto, Tobias. Let the kids get some sleep. They worked hard tonight keeping us safe.”

Jay’s dad, Makoto, slowly stood and opened his mouth like he was going to say something to his son but thought better of it. Nodding to us all, he shuffled off in his yukata and slippered feet.

Tobias walked past Parker and ruffled his hair, giving him the grin Parker had inherited. “G’night son, proud of you.”

Once the dads left and it was just us in the room, emotions were heavy in the air, thick with defeat. Pulling myself away from Brayden, I stood and walked to the other side of the coffee table, taking them in.

“Why do you guys look like a bunch of kicked puppies?” I asked, placing my hands on my hips. “Did I just come from a different battle where we didn’t kick that creepy woman’s ass?”

Micah, of course, was the first to glare at me with his sapphire eyes. “Did you not just hear what happened? What we did doesn’t matter.”

“Bullshit it doesn’t matter, Micah!” I snapped. “We saved Brayden’s mother from possibly being turned into one of those things. Besides, if we hadn’t gotten that information from Tabitha, how long would it have taken Chadwick to check his office?”

“She makes a valid point,” Jay said, standing up and starting to pace behind the couch. “There is a very small window in which the Day-Brite serum could have been taken.”

“Thank you, Jay, for seeing my side of this,” I said, giving him a soft smile. “Can we also talk about what happened during that fight?”

“You mean the armor thing?” Parker asked with a hint of his real grin. “That was pretty sweet! What do you think brought that on?”

The three boys all looked at Parker like he was an idiot, and Micah slapped him upside the head. “Lailah, you moron.”

“Fuck off, a lot happened all at once,” Parker said, getting up and shoving Micah over, then taking a seat on the couch. “Notice she isn’t bringing up the fact that she almost bled to death right before that.”

Now I was the one that was under their scrutiny. I raised my hands in surrender, trying to hold back my grin of triumph that I’d pulled them out of their pity party.

“Who would have guessed that she could gather that much demonic energy? Let alone try and pull the small bit I have out of me,” I said, defensively.

“Is that what she was doing?” Micah asked, leaning forward, his eyes swirling with anger.

I shrugged my shoulders. “It’s the only thing I can think of. It felt like she was trying to pull something out of me that definitely didn’t want to leave.”

“It could have been your heart. You know, like the wicked stepmother from Snow White,” Parker suggested.

I could see Micah gearing up to smack Parker again, so I interjected. “Whatever it was, we stopped it and I’m fine. Let’s get some sleep before something else happens and we’re running on empty.”

Parker groaned, flopping against the couch. “Why would you even put that into the universe, Trouble? So not cool.”

I chuckled as I headed into one of the bedrooms that had the king-size bed. Tossing off the extra pillows, I pulled back the covers and got settled in the middle of the big bed. A few minutes later, Brayden crawled in next to me and pulled me against him, intertwining our legs. I tucked my head under his chin, and we both let out a heavy sigh.

“You scared the shit out of me, Lailah,” Brayden whispered after we had been lying there for a few minutes in silence. “I could feel how much pain you were in, and I couldn’t do anything to help you.”

I wrapped my arms around his waist, clutching him to me. “You did do something—you saved me. If you all hadn’t placed a hand on me, I don’t think I would have survived.”

He kissed the top of my head, then my forehead, the tip of my nose, and then our lips met. I could feel his need for reassurance that I was truly okay. This wasn’t about sex; it was purely the need to hold me. I surrendered to him, giving him what he needed—what we both needed.

“I didn’t know how much I was truly in love with you until I thought you were going to leave me,” Brayden said, pulling me away so he could look me in the eyes.

I felt my eyes widen at his words. “Brayden, did you just declare your love for me?”

“Apparently not very well if you’re questioning it,” Brayden said, love and laughter in his gaze. “Lailah Mackenzie, I am hopelessly in love with you.”

My chest burst with the happiness and love that flooded my body. I couldn’t tell if it was from him or if it was me… not that it mattered, since the feeling was mutual. This time I could say it in return.

“Brayden Dolton, I love you too,” I admitted seconds before his lips came crashing onto mine.

We made out until both our lips were swollen and red from being nibbled, bit, and sucked. Neither of us had much energy to do anything else, but with our connection, there was no doubting how we each felt about each other. Finally, we both found ourselves drifting off to sleep, my hands under his shirt planted on the skin of his back, while he wrapped his arms around my waist.

Sometime later, I was awoken when I felt someone climbing into the bed on my other side. I cracked an eye and found Micah, who was pulling up the covers and laying on his back beside me.

“You okay?” I murmured, untangling myself to face him.

“Couldn’t sleep,” Micah said gruffly.

“Want to tell me about it?” I pushed, knowing there was something more. He never showed his vulnerability.

He turned to look at me, and the fear in his eyes shocked me. I’d seen many emotions from Micah, but fear like this hadn’t been one of them. I reached out and took his hand, and that seemed to break whatever control he’d been holding onto. Yanking on my arm, he pulled me away from Brayden and across his chest. His breathing was fast and uneven, like he was on the verge of having a panic attack.

“Shhh, it’s okay. We’re all safe. We made it out in one piece,” I murmured as I combed my fingers through his hair.

“You can’t leave me, Lailah,” Micah rasped.

I squeezed him tighter as his words almost made me cry. “I’m not going anywhere, Micah. You’re not going to get rid of me that easily.”

“I won’t be able to survive if another person I care about dies. Losing my parents nearly broke me, and I haven’t let anyone else in besides Brayden,” Micah said, talking quickly. “I don’t know how it happened, but you somehow forced your way into my heart, and I can’t lose you too.”

I pulled Micah’s face away from my neck and looked into his eyes before I kissed him. Unlike my kisses with Brayden, Micah’s was desperate, clutching at me, fisting my shirt in his hands. I held onto his face, cupping his jaw in both my hands so he could feel me. Kissing Micah was like a thunderstorm; it was wild, electric, and completely unpredictable. Micah kissed down my neck, biting every so often, making me gasp at the jolts it sent through my body. He started to fumble with my shirt, but I stopped him.

“Micah, wait,” I panted.

“Why? You want this, I can tell,” he asked, frowning.

I shook my head at him with a smirk on my lips. “Yes, I want you, but I don’t want the first time we have sex to be because you’re upset. Not to mention that your best friend is right next to us.”

“Brayden won’t care. I’m sure he’d even join in if he woke up,” Micah countered.

I sighed, fighting what my body was crying out for now that he had lit the fire within me. “I’m still going to say no tonight, Micah. As much as it kills me to stop, it’s not the right time to do this. I want you to be absolutely sure you want to be with me and are ready to take the Oath, because I don’t take sex lightly.”

Micah flopped onto his back and ran his hands through his hair before looking back at me. “You’re right. It’s not fair of me to ask you to give me your heart when I can’t offer mine in return.”

Leaning forward, I pressed a kiss to his lips. “Thank you.”

“Can I still sleep here tonight?” he asked.

“If you think you can manage it, you’re more than welcome,” I said, letting him snuggle up against me.

Once we got settled, Brayden pressed up against me from behind, wrapping himself around me and nuzzling the back of my neck. I’d never felt so safe or cared for in my life, and this was just the beginning.

TWO

HUDSON

Islept fitfully on the couch in Father’s room. It had been too late for him to get a flight tonight, but he was able to get on the first flight out in the morning. Oliver had arranged for a driver to get him so he didn’t need to worry about that detail. Oliver also sent up another bottle of brandy that we indulged in as we chatted before heading to bed.

“Do you have any idea who it could be?” I asked.

Father looked at me with a frustrated frown. “It’s hard to tell, because all of Isabelle’s staff have access to my labs, as well as my own staff. That alone expands the pool exponentially. Not to mention that Isabelle isn’t going to let me interrogate her people. She will see it as an attack on her leadership.”

The divorce had been finalized between them three years ago, but they had been living apart for two years before that. Assets in the company had been the only thing keeping them from doing things sooner, all the legal legwork of dividing everything up taking years. My mother fighting every move my father made didn’t help, either.

“What if you have the Elementi head up the investigation? It would keep it bipartisan,” I suggested.

“Hmm, that might be an idea. Once I get back and take inventory of everything we’ve been working on, it will tell me if this was an isolated occurrence or if something else was taken.” Father tossed back the last of his brandy. “You really don’t need to stay with me, Hudson. I’m sure you would rather be back with the others, after what happened.”

“I’m sure they all just went to bed. Besides, the only one that would be worried about me is Lailah,” I said, sipping my drink.

Personally, I didn’t see the point in drinking, but since Lailah came into her power, I kept finding myself in scenarios where drinking would help take the edge off. When we came out here to help Lailah, I figured it might be a chance for me to relax a little around her. As the others have pointed out many times, I am not good with emotions, neither showing them nor dealing with them. Lailah felt everything so easily; it was stunning to watch. Lately, though, I’d felt myself becoming less pragmatic about everything and deciding to get more involved with the group.

A few nights ago I even lost my temper at Parker, which never happens. Anger was a pointless emotion that did more harm than good. I had far too many experiences seeing it happen in my own family. My parents still fight any time they are even near each other. Hell, they even fought on the phone.

Being factual and analytical was a much more productive way of handling a situation. This is what I had to offer Lailah in our dynamic. She had Brayden and Parker to keep her smiling, Jay to keep her healthy and safe, and Micah, without even realizing it, was teaching her to be more confident in herself. Even Cami was adding to Lailah’s life in more ways than I could. No, I was there to guide her with my knowledge and level thinking.

“Hudson, that can’t be true,” my father said, resting a hand on my shoulder. “You may not see it, but the five of you have grown closer since she came along. There was a time that you never would have been able to defeat a demon like that. You fought so much amongst yourselves that there was no need to let anyone else do the work. Lailah is good for you all, and not just because she’s Synergy.”

“We finally have a leader. She doesn’t know it yet, but she is the one who is getting everyone to try,” I shared, giving my father a small smile.

He nodded his head. “The best leaders are the ones who help bring out the best in the people around them.”

“If that’s the case, how did things with Mother go so wrong?” I asked, knowing it was a risk.

“I keep telling you that you don’t have to continue calling her Mother. She was only ever your stepmother,” my father said, deflecting from my question.

“She is the only mother I have really ever known, seeing that you got married when I was three,” I pointed out.

“That’s fair, I suppose. Are you still going to see her for Christmas?”

“Something tells me that the others will want to help hunt down who took the serum. If that’s the case, it would be easier to stay with Mother at the villa. I also wouldn’t want to miss spending some time with Ben and Grace,” I answered.

Father sat back and looked at me with an odd expression. “What makes you think they’ll want to hunt down the serum?”

I gave my father a knowing grin. “If I know anything about Lailah, it’s that you don’t mess with her people. Adriana is Brayden’s mom, therefore someone she considers ‘her people.’”

“Fascinating,” Father mused, turning that tidbit of information over. “Well, my boy, I am off to bed. I will make sure to say goodbye in the morning before I leave.”

“Goodnight, Father. I’m sure it won’t be long before we see each other again,” I said, watching him walk into the bedroom.

I poured myself another finger of brandy and spread out on the couch. Isabelle was the only example I really had growing up to base my knowledge of relationships on. Many years I’ve tried to pick apart what happened to see where the marriage had failed. What had my father seen in her to marry her in the first place? There had to be something other than loneliness that would have drawn him in. Isabelle was from old money in France, and her family had been in the pharmaceutical world for almost as long as our own.

Then my thoughts turned to my birth mother, who I didn’t have a chance to meet, having died in childbirth. She had been a brilliant scientific mind that made changes in the medical world that still to this day save lives. I have a picture of her and my father from when they got married, and they both looked so happy. They had lived in England, where they met, but when she died, father couldn’t bear to be anywhere that reminded him of her. So he brought us down to France, where he started a new branch of the family business.

Thinking of my mother had my thoughts drifting to Lailah. Could I really learn to love someone as amazing as her? The fact that she would have four other people to rely on actually made me feel better. If I failed her, then the others would be there to comfort her and give her what I couldn’t. The science behind having multiple partners was actually quite logical. More members to provide for her, and added caretakers for when the female reproduced. Not that I wanted Lailah to have children any time soon, and thanks to medical improvements with implanted birth control, it wasn’t something we had to worry about for the next three years.

Finally, the brandy seemed to hit my system and slow my brain down enough that I could fall asleep. I could understand the appeal of drinking now, for situations like this. It took all your choices away from you and made your body comply with the suppressant quality of the alcohol.

THREE

LAILAH

Sleeping with two extremely cuddly men was wonderful, but when you woke up and needed to pee like a racehorse, it had its challenges. Brayden had my legs trapped between his, and Micah was sleeping with his head right on my bladder. The more I tried to move, the tighter they held on. I let out a loud groan of frustration that apparently had been loud enough to hear in the living room, because the bedroom door opened and Parker’s grinning face appeared.

“Trouble, you are in a bit of a pickle, aren’t you?” Parker teased as he sauntered into the room shirtless, sweatpants low on his hips. I would have appreciated the sight of him more if I didn’t have more pressing issues.

“It would be rather lovely if you could help me get out of this mess,” I begged, waving a hand at my situation. “I have to pee so bad.”

“What do I get out of it?” Parker asked, crossing his arms at the end of the bed.

I growled as Micah shifted and nuzzled into my bladder. “Whatever you want! Please, I’m going to pee my pants!”

Parker gave me a wide, toothy grin. “Alright, Trouble. I’ll get you free, but you owe me, and you have to do whatever I ask in return.”

“Fine, fine, I agree. Now help me!” I said, nodding my head as sweat started to break out on my forehead.

“Be right back,” Parker said, heading back out into the living room. A minute later he came back with the ice bucket in hand.

“No! No, Parker! Don’t do that! If you do that, even I can’t protect you,” I hissed, but it was too late.

Parker upended the bucket full of slushy ice water all over Micah’s back, causing him to bolt upright, gasping.

“Holy fucking shit!” Micah bellowed.

Hearing Parker snickering, Micah flew off the bed, blessed sword in hand, and lunged for Parker. Being smarter than I gave him credit for, Parker bolted out the door, closing it behind him to slow Micah down. Unable to hang on any longer, I scrambled out of the cold, wet bed and dashed for the bathroom.

“What the hell is going on?” I heard a gravelly Brayden call from the bed.

I smothered my laughter as I relieved myself, waiting to hear the telltale signs that Micah caught up to Parker. When I still didn’t hear anything after walking back into the bedroom and finding it empty, I headed to the living room. I paused, seeing a shivering Parker on the small balcony in only his boxers, pounding on the glass door. Micah stood near it with a smirk on his lips, his arms crossed.

The door to the room opened, and Hudson walked in and also took a moment to assess what he was seeing. “Do I even want to know?”

“Probably not, but I’m just glad they aren’t actively trying to kill each other,” I said, walking over to Hudson. “How’s your dad doing?”

Hudson shrugged. “As well as can be expected. He left before the sun was up with an action plan in place.”

“Can we help? I know it’s your parents’ company, but surely there’s something the Elementi can do to assist,” I said, grabbing Hudson’s hand and twining our fingers together.

Hudson gave my hand a squeeze, and a soft smile appeared on his lips. “Actually, I said the same thing. My mother and her people have open access to his office and lab, so both staffs will need to be looked into. I believe it would be best to have an outside group handle the situation, especially since we know the demons are a part of it.”

“So does that mean we’re going to your house for Christmas?” I asked with a grin.

I knew we had an opportunity to stay here and to celebrate with Brayden’s family, but I felt like so much had happened, it might be better if we didn’t. Besides, who wouldn’t want to travel more of the world if you had free transportation and a place to stay?

“Yes, it seems that’s the way things are turning out. I will have to call my mother to give her a heads up, but I know we have more than enough room in the villa for us all to fit,” Hudson said.

“Where exactly does your mother live?” I asked, realizing I didn’t even know.

“Nice, right on the coast of France.”

I let out a shriek of happiness that seemed to get everyone’s attention, causing Jay to come out of the back bedroom. The rest just gawked.

“Micah, let Parker back in before he freezes to death. We need to get back to the house so we can pack. We’re going to FRANCE!” I crowed as I did a happy dance.

I heard the sliding glass door open and was promptly scooped up by a frigid Parker, who rolled me up with him in the comforter on the bed.

“Oh my god, I think I might have literally frozen my balls off. They are so far up inside me I’m surprised I’m not talking like a girl,” Parker said, shivering around me.

“We don’t have time for this! We need to get going, we have important things to do,” I grumbled, squirming around in the blanket.

“Nope, you’re going to make good on your promise to do whatever I ask. So you are going to be bundled up in here with me until I’m warm enough to know I’m not a eunuch,” Parker pouted, snuggling his head against my neck.

Letting out a heavy sigh, I resigned myself to my situation and relaxed.

“You know, there is something you could do to help me warm up faster,” Parker said, sliding his icicle hand under my sweatshirt.

“I am not getting naked and letting you grope me like some frat boy,” I said, tweaking his nipple.

“Ah! Damn, Trouble, that wasn’t what I meant, but I should have thought of that first,” Parker grumbled, twisting so he was wrapped around my body, pinning my arms to my sides. “I was going to say we could make out, but now I don’t think I’m going to ask. You owe me after that titty twister.”

“Is it still called a titty twister if you’re a guy?” I asked, getting totally sidetracked. “Isn’t it a purple nurple?”

Parker pulled back just enough so we were nose to nose. “God, you really are the perfect woman, aren’t you?”

Not letting me answer, he captured my mouth with his, and I hummed against his full, kissable lips. Parker nipped, catching my bottom lip between his teeth and pulling me closer to him before he released it. I chased after him and wiggled one of my arms out of his hold to wrap around his neck. I let my fingers scrape along the back of his neck, making him shiver with pleasure. He grabbed my ass with both hands and pulled it flush with his pelvis so I could feel the swell of his dick. I couldn’t hold back—I moaned into his mouth, feeling how thick he was. Now that I had been introduced to good sex, I craved it.

I knew for sure that Parker was no longer cold, as his skin heated under my touch. His lips were hot as they ran down along my neck and nipped at my jaw. He slid his hand under my shirt again, letting his wide hand trail along my ribs until it stopped right under my breast. I arched into him to be closer, not that it was even possible with how close we were already. My power hummed in delight at the contact, his power reaching out and swirling, caressing me. His power was emotions, and there were a hell of a lot of them flying around right now.

“Sorry to interrupt, but just checking if you still wanted to go to France. If we want to be there in time for Christmas, you’re going to need to come up for air,” Brayden called from somewhere in the bedroom.

My answer was to shove Parker away from me and fling off the blanket. Rolling away and off the bed, I landed on my feet and ran over to Brayden, who caught me with an oof when I flung myself at him.

“Let’s go to France!” I cheered as Brayden grinned at me.

“Damn, should I be offended that that’s all it took to get her to drop me like a hot potato?” Parker muttered as he followed Brayden out of the bedroom.

“Just wait until she finds out we are taking the helicopter back up to the cabin,” Micah said with a smug expression.

Wiggling, Brayden set me back on my feet so I could face Micah. “Run that by me one more time?”

“Oh, you mean the part about us taking the helicopter back? Let’s hope you don’t have an episode and try to crash this aircraft too. It’s less forgiving,” Micah tossed over his shoulder as he walked into the back bedroom.

My jaw fell open at his comment. “Not cool, Micah!”

“Come on. My father called and said they’re waiting on us to have breakfast with them in their suite. Seems he has gathered all the parents so we can share what’s going on,” Brayden explained as he took my hand and led me out of the room.

I was seated at the large dining room table in the equally giant suite that Brayden’s parents were staying in, a plate of food piled high in front of me. Jay had promptly sent me to sit down as he made up the plate for me, saying something about replacing the calories I used last night. My stomach growled, but I waited until everyone was seated at the table before I started. Jay sat on my left and Hudson was to my right, following my lead and waiting for the parents to be seated.

I was thrilled to see Adriana here with us, her hazel eyes bright and clear just like Brayden’s. Her silver-gray hair was tucked behind her ears, and she seemed so much more relaxed than the last few times I’d seen her.

“Lailah dear, the boys tell me that you’re off to France. I’m sad that we won’t get to spend Christmas with you, but there is always next year. Let’s hope that things will settle down by then. I have a feeling there’s a lot that I’m going to find out I missed and will need to deal with. Please let me know if there is any way that I can help. I already sent my research to the Elementi HQ, so they have that data,” Adriana said as frown lines creased her brow. “I can’t believe I allowed myself to be manipulated in such an awful way.”

Reaching across the table, I grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze. “I’m just thankful that we were able to help. We will figure this out, I promise.”

“That’s a hefty promise to make, girl,” Makoto interjected. “You might be careful you don’t make a promise you can’t keep.”

Bristling at his words, I turned my gaze to Jay’s father. Today he was wearing a dark burgundy yukata, and I wondered if he only wore traditional Japanese clothing. His salt-and-pepper hair was swept back from his face in a neat and orderly fashion, and his wrinkled face showed that the scowl he was giving me was a normal expression.

“I couldn’t agree more—I don’t make promises I can’t keep,” I stated and turned back to my food, ignoring the cranky old man.

Jay’s hand found my leg, and he gave my thigh a gentle squeeze, causing me to look up at him. His slate-gray eyes watched me intently as if he was checking to see how upset his father had made me. I gave him a smile, stretching to place a kiss on his cheek.

“I’m fine,” I whispered, wanting to set him at ease.

Jay’s shoulders relaxed, and he picked up his fork and started eating. Looking around, I saw everyone was seated and digging into their own meals.

“It seems that we all have been keeping things to ourselves, and I feel like if we are going to have any chance figuring things out, we need to come clean,” Tobias announced once the meal was underway.

“That better not have been directed at me, Tobias Jones,” Makoto snapped.

This was going to get us nowhere.

Taking a deep breath, I pushed my seat back and stood up, drawing everyone’s attention. “I appreciate all of you trying to start us off on the right foot for this investigation, but I think it’s best if we go into it with no preconceived notions. We know a member of the Dark Army was in the lab and took the serum. That’s more than enough to go on, and the more time we waste here, the more information we will lose. It has been a pleasure to meet you all, and I truly wish it had been under different circumstances.”

With that, I started for the door, knowing that the boys would be following after me in a moment. There was too much at stake and not enough time to get ahead of it.

FOUR

LAILAH

Huddled on the roof of the hotel, I took in the helicopter that we were going to take back to the cabin and then to the airport. The perk of having a secret, well-funded organization at your back was the convenience of travel. I wasn’t afraid of heights, but all I could think of was every war movie my dad and brothers watched where the helicopter was always the first thing to go down.

“You look concerned,” Hudson commented as he stood next to me. “The pilot is very experienced, and we would never put you in danger.”

Turning to him, I wrapped my arms around his middle, soaking in his comfort. “I know. I’m more worried about what it’s taking us to.”

“Lailah, you don’t have to keep putting on this brave face for us,” Hudson said, pulling me into a tight hug. “I understand not wanting to look weak in front of our parents, but we are in this together, and none of us are prepared for what is to come. The six of us are a team, and we’ve already proven that we are far stronger together than we are apart.”

I couldn’t help but think of Tabitha’s face of shock and horror as she realized that she wasn’t going to take us down with her. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be standing here on the edge of a war with the Dark Lord, only the five of us able to stop him.

“Alright, everyone in!” the pilot called, waving an arm at us.

Tucking low like he instructed us to earlier, we piled into the helicopter, and Jay slid the door shut. He waited for everyone to get buckled in and came over to double check mine before he settled himself. Jay grabbed the headset that was on the hook by his shoulder and motioned for us to do the same.

“Brayden, is the plane ready?” Jay asked.

“Yup. They’ll be waiting for us once we get there. Hudson, have you talked to your mom yet?” Brayden questioned.

Hudson nodded. “She is sending a driver to meet us at the airport with a company car. My siblings will be home and can get us settled.”

“Shouldn’t we be going right to the lab?” I interjected.

“I figured it would be best to drop our stuff off before we head over. The driver will be available to us whenever we need,” Hudson said.

We fell into a comfortable silence as I peered out the window, taking in the snow-covered mountains. I was a little sad that I didn’t get to see very much of it, but I knew that I could come back any time. Once we landed and hurried into the house to begin packing, I was assured by them all that we didn’t need to worry about anything else, that cleaners would come in and set the house to rights once again. There was a procedure with safe houses, and we just needed to lock up as we left.

Finally on the plane, we were able to relax for a little while, seeing as it was an almost six-hour flight. Micah promptly passed out on the couch and Jay pulled out a book and started reading while Parker, Hudson, and Brayden kept me company playing card games. After a few rounds of rummy, I started to get sleepy.

“Come on, Trouble. Let’s get you laying down before you pass out on the table here,” Parker said, scooping me up before I could argue.

I gave the other two a wave as I was carried off to the back of the plane. Expecting Parker to just drop me off and then head back out, I was surprised when he curled up against me. His large, warm body wrapped around mine was solid and grounding for me. Falling asleep on the plane was making me nervous, seeing as the last time this happened I almost crashed the plane.

“You’re safe with me here, Trouble. I’ll know if anything happens to you and I’ll wake you up,” he said, nuzzling the top of my head.

Shifting slightly, I looked up at him. “What do you mean?”

“My element isn’t the same as the others’. It’s not one that you can see or touch; it’s all about feelings. I can give or take away certain emotions from people, but the other part of that is I can control that emotion. Let’s take fear, for example—I can take away your fear or I can make you become afraid. Then I could take the fear and turn it up and force someone else to become terrified.” Parker paused, taking a shaky breath. “I can do it with any emotion, so if I feel you falling into whatever the Dark Lord uses to mess with you, I’ll know. He seems to play on your fears and insecurities, turning them into a reality for your dreams.”

His fear of my reaction was written all over his face and the fact he couldn’t look me in the eye. If I was anyone else and didn’t know him the way I do, it might have worried me that he could play with my emotions, but I wasn’t.

Reaching up, I grabbed him by the back of the neck and pulled him down to me so I could kiss him. “Thank you for watching over me.”

Parker grinned at me. “Trouble like you should never be left alone.”

Snuggling against him, I drifted off to sleep with him running his fingers up and down my arm soothingly.

“Little Synergy, did you really think you could hide from me?” The Dark Lord’s voice swirled around me in the darkness. “Oh, your Knight is trying very hard to remove my hold on you, but he isn’t strong enough yet. So it seems I have you at my mercy for the time being. Isn’t that fun?”

Panic started to rise as I felt the Dark Lord’s clawed hand run down my back. I’d been trapped in this void before, and the guys always seemed to be able to pull me out with their powers. I tried to call on my golden energy, but the spot where it sat in my chest was empty and cold.

“Do you think they can save you in time? My darkness in you is spreading, and your fight with Tabitha only increased the hold it has on you. It nearly killed you when she tried to call it out of your soul, but it wouldn’t give up on such a prey as yourself. Your Knights are but foolish boys trying to protect you from me. If they truly wanted that, then your Fire Knight would have taken the Oath and Bonded with you. Selfish, that was, on his part—how can you trust a man who wouldn’t put your best interests above his own? Ah, but be wary of your Spirit Knight. Things of the heart can be so... fickle.”

“Shut the hell up,” I growled, my anger pushing away all my previous fear. “I trust them with my life. I would do anything for them, and I trust they would do the same for me.”

“Is that so? What if I told you that I would spare them if you gave yourself to me?” the Dark Lord taunted. “Once I have the world under my rule, you would be free to rejoin them and live happily together.”

Scoffing at his words, I shook my head. “Why would I ever believe a word that you tell me? Get the fuck away from me.”

“Very well. I will leave you for now, but know that what is to come rests on your shoulders. You could have stopped this all from happening, Little Synergy.”

“What do you mean it’s not working? You said you could handle it if something went wrong!” Micah’s angry voice bellowed.

“I thought I could, but this demonic hold on her is stronger than anything we have ever seen before, so unless you have something to offer, then back the fuck off,” Parker growled back, his hands holding my head.

Groaning, I tried to roll out of Parker’s hold, feeling like I was going to be sick to my stomach. “I don’t feel so good.”

There was movement around me, and I was scooped up and carried to the bathroom. I might not have gotten sick if I’d been left alone, but now that I didn’t have a choice, I was glad to have the toilet ready. Hands swept my hair back as another rubbed my back in comfort before placing a cool, wet towel around my neck.

Finished heaving my guts out, I slid against the wall of the bathroom, taking the towel off my neck to wipe my face. A water bottle appeared before me, and I took it, gratefully sipping on it as I looked up. Micah and Brayden were standing shoulder to shoulder in the tiny airplane bathroom, worry pinching their faces.

“I didn’t try to crash the plane, did I?” I asked.

They both seemed to relax at my question. “No, Angel, you didn’t try to crash the plane. Truthfully, we wouldn’t have known anything was happening if it wasn’t for Parker telling us when he couldn’t wake you no matter what he did.”

“Why do I feel no nauseous?” I grumbled.

“If these assholes would let me through, I could fix that,” Parker snapped.

Brayden and Micah stepped out of the bathroom but stood right by the door, keeping an eye on what was going on.

“Sorry, Trouble. When I couldn’t wake you, I tried to trick your body into thinking you were going to be sick so it would wake up. Obviously it didn’t work, so now I have to turn it off,” Parker explained, placing his hands on either side of my head.

A warmth flowed through my body, and in an instant my nausea was gone. The headache stuck around, but other than that I was back to normal.

“Thank you,” I whispered before I leaned my head against his chest and closed my eyes.

“Hey, hey, no going back to sleep. You have to tell us what just happened,” Parker said, pulling me away from him.

“Can we talk about this not in the bathroom?” I asked with a grin pulling at my lips.

Parker shook his head, helping me to my feet, and we headed back out to the main seating area. They were serious about this no sleeping thing. Brayden wrapped his arm around me and led me over to the couch where I snuggled in next to him, feeling a bone-chilling cold from my encounter with the Dark Lord.

A hand rested on my knee, drawing my attention forward. Hudson was squatting in front of me, his blue eyes filled with worry. “What happened? This seems different from what you told us about the other attacks.”

“The Dark Lord decided that we needed to have another chat. He knew that Parker was trying to get me out of the dream, but he wasn’t worried because Parker wasn’t strong enough,” I sighed.

Brayden’s arm tightened around my shoulders as his body tensed at my words. “What did he want?”

“He wanted me to give myself to him with the promise he would spare all of you from what he has planned for the world,” I answered. “I told him to fuck off.”

Micah snorted at that, causing me to look at him and the glint of humor in his eyes. “Really, you stood there and told the Dark Lord to fuck off?”

Frowning at him, I turned and snuggled back against Brayden, refusing to look at him.

“Is there anything else that he said? I can’t imagine he would take that response very well,” Hudson pushed, bringing us back to the topic at hand.

“He told me that whatever happens from here on out is on me because I could have stopped it, but nothing specific,” I said, my gaze falling to my hands, unable to look at them.

A hand tucked under my chin, and Hudson brought my gaze up to meet his eyes. “Lailah, you did the right thing. You can never trust what any demon tells you, let alone the Dark Lord himself. He is the king of lies and manipulation. Whatever happens going forward, we will deal with together. That’s why the angels brought the Elementi into existence in the first place. No one person would be able to do this all alone.”

I leaned forward and wrapped my arms around Hudson’s neck, hugging him to me as he pulled me close. As much as Brayden grounded me, the logic Hudson provided always soothed my fears.

“If you guys won’t let me sleep, can we watch a movie?” I asked into Hudson’s neck.

His body shook with a soft chuckle. “I think we can do that.”

FIVE

LAILAH

Thankfully, the rest of the flight was uneventful, and we all relaxed as we watched How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days for the last few hours of the trip. When we landed, it was early evening, the sun still bright enough to see my surroundings. The airport was literally right on the water… like, if the plane didn’t stop in time, we would end up in the sea. It was a stunning teal-blue color though, with soft ripples as far as the eye could see. For someone who never planned on traveling much in her life, this was an experience.

Since we flew in on a private plane, we had a separate office that we had to exit through, and I got yet another stamp in my passport. Out front was a black limousine with a driver standing, holding a sign that said “Lacy Pharmaceuticals, Inc.” Hudson led the way over to the limo as the driver opened the back door for us all to slide in.

“Okay, is this going to be a thing with all of your families? Do you all have limos and drivers to take you everywhere?” I teased once we were all in.

“Nah, limos aren’t my dad’s style. We’re a stretch Hummer kind of family,” Parker said with a wink, making it hard to tell if he was serious or not.

Hudson nudged me with his shoulder. “This is not normal for us, either. I think it’s the only vehicle they had that would fit all of us.”

“My father would expect us to find our own way,” Jay stated, looking out the window at the sights. Truthfully, with the little that I knew of his father, that didn’t surprise me one bit.

The driver took us up into the hills, maneuvering the narrow streets with an ease that I would never understand. I was beyond thankful that I had the guys with me for these adventures, because I would have been lost beyond hope. Finally, we pulled onto a long gravel drive that ended with a circle, providing a way back out. The front of the villa was a breathtaking piece of history sitting right before me on the edge of a cliff overlooking the town and the water below.

The villa was made out of white stone with terraces on each of the two upper levels, the railings made out of wrought iron. Once out of the limo and standing at the bottom of the stone steps leading up to the front door, I just gaped in awe at the wooden French doors inlaid with beautiful stained glass. Looking to my right, I saw a large swimming pool with a garden just beyond it. As I gawked, Hudson knocked on the door, and moments later it was opened by a small older woman with wispy gray hair piled up on the top of her head.

“Hudson, mon coeur! I am so happy to have you home,” she cried, reaching up to grab his face and kiss both his cheeks. “Tu es parti depuis trop longtemps. Come in, come in.”

“Juliette, it is good to see you too. Are Grace and Ben home?” Hudson asked as he let the woman tug him into the house.

“Oui, oui, they are home for Christmas break,” Juliette said, waving off his question as she turned to take the rest of us in. “So, these are your friends your mère told me to expect, mon coeur?”

“Yes, this is Lailah, Brayden, Micah, Parker, and Jay. We all go to school together at Ryevick University. Guys, this is Juliette. She has been looking after me since Father and I moved to France,” Hudson shared, giving the older woman a soft, sweet smile.

“Oh, so you must have many embarrassing stories to tell us?” I grinned, excited to learn more about Hudson.

As much as I loved how stable and even Hudson is, it caused me to feel like I didn’t really know who he truly was. No one could be as perfect as he seemed to be; there had to be something in his past to make him seem more human like the rest of us.

“Les enfants, viennet ici!” Juliette called up the staircase.

By the sound of feet coming down the stairs, I guess she had called for Hudson’s siblings. Sure enough, a young man with olive skin, dark, thick hair, and chocolate-colored eyes appeared. He was striking to look at, and there was almost nothing of Hudson’s father in him. Following on his heels was a tall, willowy girl with a bouncing chin-length bob of honey brown hair. Her blue eyes looked at us curiously as they came to stand at the bottom of the stairs.

“Ben, Grace, these are my friends from school,” Hudson said as they bobbed their heads in greeting to us.

“Coucou,” Grace said, waving at us with a smile.

“Bonjour.” Ben’s voice was so soft I almost missed what he was saying.

“Did Mother tell you guys that we will be around for a few days?” Hudson asked.

“No, but Mère has not been home much the past few days,” Grace said, shrugging her shoulders. “It will be nice to have some people in the house for a change.”

“Oh! What am I, you ungrateful child?” Juliette scoffed. “Now show them where they will be staying so this old woman doesn’t need to climb the stairs while I’m trying to make dinner.”

Grace blushed as she gestured for us to follow her with her head. “All the guest rooms are on the third floor, but some of you are going to have to share. We only have three.”

I don’t think my eyes could have gotten any wider as we made our way through the house. The ground floor was all white marble that flowed onto the stairs with a wrought iron banister that curved up to the second floor. The whole house was painted in creams and white, making it seem so regal. It wasn’t a place you would call “homey,” like Brayden’s home. This was filled with antique furniture and brocade fabrics, crystal chandeliers hanging in the halls. I felt like I was on some period movie set. Taking us up another flight, we ended up in a small sitting area with two large glass doors that opened onto a cobblestone terrace.

Grace gestured down the hall to the left. “Feel free to pick what works for you. There’s a bathroom at the end of the hall.”

Not needing more encouragement, I wandered down the hall, opening the first door to find a room with two twin beds on either side. It was light and cheerful with lots of windows, making the small space seem bigger. Moving to the next room, I found what I was guessing was a full-size bed with a tufted couch against one wall and a set of doors to a small balcony. Going across the hall, I found the room I was going to be staying in. Framed in a set of arched French doors was a view of the water. The room was the most inviting, even if it was the gaudiest with gold accents and warm-toned hardwood floors.

“So, how are we going to decide who gets to bunk with Lailah for the next few days?” Parker asked from right behind me, making me jump.

“It only makes sense that I do because we are bonded,” Brayden said, sitting on the bed.

Parker crossed his arms, looking down at him. “Nope, not gonna happen this time. The only reason we didn’t argue before was that none of us had even kissed her yet. Now that that’s changed, we need to come up with a new plan. I want my time with her.”

“Hey, Parker, your man whore is showing,” Micah growled.

Rounding on him, Parker raised a fist, but before he could land the blow, Jay intercepted and twisted his arm behind his back. “Lailah is not a bone to fight over. She can decide who she spends time with, and we will all listen to her choice, giving her the respect she deserves.”

I felt my brows climb in my surprise at Jay’s outburst. When he felt that Parker was back under control, he let him go and stepped away but kept a wary eye on him.

“If I might offer a suggestion,” Hudson interjected. “If Lailah feels comfortable with this, we could alternate who gets to share the bed. That way no one person gets the privilege over the other.”

None of the boys seemed thrilled with the plan, but I wasn’t totally opposed. I just wasn’t sure that all of them wanted to sleep next to me. Sure, most of us had exchanged a few kisses, but that didn’t mean they were ready to be that intimate with me. Nor I them.

“If we cannot agree, then Lailah will have the room to herself and one of you can bunk with me in my room on the second floor,” Hudson added when no one said anything.

“I think that will be best,” I decided.

Parker looked like he wanted to argue with me, and Brayden looked none too happy, but a grunt from Jay had them keeping their mouths shut.

“Seriously, guys. It’s not like I won’t be spending all my waking time with you. Is it that big of a deal not to bunk with me?” I asked, not getting why this was such a big deal.

Jay walked up to me and cupped my chin in his hand. “You do not have to justify your choice, Lailah. I will make sure that it is respected.” Kissing me gently on the forehead, he headed out of my room and down the hall.

“I call the single room!” Micah called out as he headed off after Jay.

“Too late,” was all I heard, followed by Micah swearing.

I couldn’t help but giggle at them and how much they sounded like my own brothers back home.

“Who’s gonna room with me?” Hudson asked, looking at Parker and Brayden.

“Somehow, I think it would be best for me to room with Micah.” Brayden grinned. “I’m not sure Parker would live through the night if he was alone with Micah that long.”

Parker scrunched up his face in disgust. “Like I was ever going to share a room with him. I would sleep on the couch in Jay’s room before I did that.”

“Come on, let’s leave Lailah to get settled before we all head down for dinner,” Hudson said, ushering out the guys. “After dinner, we can head out to the lab and find out what my parents have for us so far. It’d also be good to check in with Beth to make sure she is in the loop on all that’s happening.”

Hearing him talk about Beth made me realize I should call Cami. Things had been so crazy, I hadn’t called her back after the party like I promised. Grabbing my backpack, I tossed it on the bed and pulled out my phone, then wandered out on the balcony. I found a wicker bench with seat cushions and settled down, hitting the video call button. After a few rings, Cami’s face popped up, her bright green eyes wide with excitement. I’d forgotten that she dyed her short, funky hair neon-green—her favorite color.

“LALA! You beautiful bitch you, why didn’t you call me sooner?” Cami demanded. “How did last night go? Did they all drool over your bangin’ body in that dress? Oh, did they have any dancing? Come on girl, stop stalling and spill the tea!”

“The guys loved the dress. You should have seen them all—even Micah was impressed,” I shared, smiling as she rolled her eyes. “There was no dancing, but it really wasn’t that type of party. Much too posh for that.”

“Well, that’s boring. What did you end up doing all night?” Cami asked. Something must have shown on my face, because she sat up in bed and her face turned more serious. “Lala, tell me what happened.”

Taking a deep breath, I told her the whole story about Tabitha and the showdown we had outside in the hotel garden. She waited patiently until I was finished and explained how I was now in France at Hudson’s mom’s house.

“Babe, we really need to work on this communication thing between us. Now I know why Beth has been MIA for the last day or so. Damn it, I should have been there with you instead of here safe in my bedroom,” Cami grumbled.

Fear shot through me at the thought of Cami in danger. “Absolutely not! I would have lost my shit if anything happened to you.”

“Aww, you’re so upset you’re even swearing. I feel so special,” Cami teased.

“I’m being serious here. The only reason we survived is because we are the Elementi Warriors. A normal human would have been destroyed,” I snapped.

Cami blinked at me, surprised at my outburst. “That battle really scared you, didn’t it?”

It was then that I realized I had been holding it together for the guys, but now, talking to my best friend, I couldn’t pretend anymore.

“You have no idea how terrified I was that I would lose one of them. Tabitha was so much stronger than I could have imagined, and she’s only the tip of the iceberg. The Dark Lord is talking to me in my dreams, taunting me, and I’m afraid one of these times I’m not going to survive the encounter,” I sobbed, finally letting my emotions out. “What if he’s right and the evil inside of me is growing? Could I become a danger to the people I care about? The guys act like nothing’s wrong, but I know the truth.”

“Shut the fuck up, Lailah,” Cami barked at me.

Stunned, my mouth snapped shut, and I sat there silently.

“You listen to me, and you listen good. I get you are scared and this battle showed you the dark side of being part of the Elementi and what it could mean for you and the guys in the future. Now, what I want you to do is take that fear and use it, learn from it. You’re going to be starting your studies when you get back, and now you see just how much you need to catch up on if you want to protect those around you. Don’t let your fear chase you away from the darkness. Own that it’s a part of you and do something about it!”

“You’re right,” I murmured, feeling thoroughly chastised.

“Damn right I am! Now pull your shit together, investigate what that bitch-ass demon lord is up to, and enjoy being in France for Christmas surrounded by your men,” Cami commanded.

Wiping the remnants of my tears off my cheeks, I gave her a smile. “Yes ma’am.”

“I love the fuck out of you babe, but sometimes you get lost in that beautiful head of yours,” Cami said with a smirk. “Now hang up with me and go enjoy your night.”

“Love you, talk later,” I said, giving her a wave and hanging up the call.

SIX

HUDSON

Dinner was a quiet affair, but it always had been growing up in this house. Mother always had lots on her mind, and our “chatter” would give her a headache. So now all of us were conditioned to eat in silence, and the others seemed to follow our lead. When I was young, Father would join us, but as I got older, he stayed late at the office more than he was home. He tried doing what he could to keep the fights from happening in front of my siblings, but Mother’s voice would carry through the house. That’s what led to him moving out before everything was finalized.

I know many kids feel responsible or part of the cause for their parents’ divorce, but I was raised far too rational to believe that. My mother and father were better off not being married. If they had stayed together just for us kids, it would have done more harm than good. So I don’t resent them having to do what they needed to, dissolving their marriage.

Back in the limo once again, we headed to the lab. I stared out the window at the place I spent most of my early childhood. A hand twining its fingers with mine caused me to glance down to see Lailah’s crystal blue eyes looking up at me, worried.

“Everything okay?” she asked in a quiet voice.

“I haven’t been back here in many years. The only reason I decided to come back was because my father asked me to,” I explained.

Just because I didn’t show my feelings outwardly didn’t mean once I was away from my parents I didn’t see how toxic it was. I loved my father deeply, and on his own he was the man I grew up admiring, kind and logical. When he was around Isabelle, though, it was like he changed into a different person, more spiteful.

“When I came into my powers at thirteen, Mother sent me away to be trained at an Elementi facility,” I continued when Lailah didn’t say anything. “That’s where I completed high school. During the summers, the other four would join me, and that is where we started training together. My mother didn’t want Ben and Grace to know anything about the Elementi. Part of me thinks that is what started to cause their marriage to crumble.”

To my surprise, all Lailah did was rest her head on my shoulder and hug my arm, offering her support. So many times when I tell people my story, they want to fix things or help me find resolution to my situation, but here she was, giving me what I needed most.

“I talked to Beth before dinner,” Brayden announced, and all eyes turned to him. “She is aware of the situation since my parents and Hudson’s dad reached out to her. On their end, they are combing through the video footage, trying to place a timeline on when the serum went missing. It’ll give us a better pool of people to talk to based on who was in the building at the time.”

Micah grunted. “What makes them think it will be that easy? Demons are the best at going unnoticed; it’s how they survive this world.”

“True, but if Tabitha was correct and it was a member of the Dark Lord’s army, then it would be a human and not a demon,” I countered.

“Seriously, Hudson? Why would we believe anything that came out of that woman’s mouth? You saw the demonic energy she had inside her. How is that much different than being possessed by a mid-level demon?” Micah challenged. “No, we need to do what Lailah said this morning and go into it without any preconceived notions.”

Lailah sat up, grinning at Micah. “Hold on, Micah—did you just say that you agree with me about something?”

Micah rolled his eyes at her, but I could see the glint of humor in his eyes. “I wouldn’t go that far, Cookie Monster.”

I turned to Jay, who, as always, was watching what was going on around him with a calculating gaze. When he saw me watching him, he raised a questioning brow.

“What do you know of the Dark Lord’s army? Your father mentioned that he had been keeping an eye on their activity,” I asked, quieting the others.

“We don’t know much as my father said. Every time we find the location of one of their hideouts, it’s been abandoned. They don’t behave like other armies or even terrorist cells; there is no communication or paper trail to follow,” Jay explained.

I nodded, leaning my head back against the window, closing my eyes as I rolled that information around my brain.

“Monsieur Lacy, I presume?” the woman at the reception desk asked as we entered the large building that housed the lab and offices of Lacy Pharmaceuticals.

Walking out from behind the desk, I noticed that she wasn’t much older than I was. She had bright red hair that fell around her shoulders, contrasting the emerald-green button-down she had on. As she approached, she had a smirk on her lips as she let her eyes rove over me. Flipping her hair over one shoulder, she revealed that a few too many buttons were undone, and the black lace of her bra peeked out.

“I’m Sophie. I work in the Department of Human Resources, and your father thought I could be of use to you getting whatever information you needed,” Sophie purred as she leaned in to greet me.

Lailah stepped in between us, holding out her hand. “It’s so nice to meet you, Sophie. I’m Lailah.” Sophie tried to hide her distaste for Lailah—poorly—as she shook her hand. “Speaking of Mr. Lacy, where might we find him? There is some information we can only get from him directly, something I don’t think we could find in the HR department.”

Someone behind me coughed, trying to cover their laughter, and I myself had a hard time keeping a smile off my face. To see Lailah so protective of me warmed my heart in a way I don’t think anyone else could. My golden ray of sunshine didn’t need to worry about a woman like this distracting me from her. The only light I needed in my life was standing guard over me like the Knight she was.

“But of course,” Sophie said. Walking back to the desk, she grabbed lanyards that had security passes hanging from them.

When she tried to place the lanyard over my head, I grabbed her wrist, stopping her. Gently, I removed the lanyard from her hand and put it around my own neck.

“You will need these to get anywhere in the building. Monsieur Lacy gave you full access to the labs; there is nowhere that is off limits to you and your friends in that section. I shall wait here when you are ready to deal with any of the employee matters. If you wish to enter the office side of the building, I will need to escort you personally, per Mademoiselle Dupont’s wishes,” Sophie said, giving Lailah a lofty look.

“Tonight we will just be in the labs, so you may leave for the evening,” I stated, giving Sophie a sharp look.

“Tres bien,” Sophie huffed with another flick of her hair. “I shall see you in the morning.”

Not wanting to deal with her any longer, I headed for the door I knew would lead us into the labs, swiping the key card over the sensor. Once the door was shut behind us all, Parker burst out laughing.

“Oh man, that was priceless!” He slapped me on the back much harder than I would have liked. “Who knew you had game, Hudson? That woman wanted a piece of you, bad. And let’s not forget how Trouble almost clawed her face off when she tried to make a move on you.”

Lailah shoved Parker, scowling at him. “It’s not funny, Parker.”

“You’re right, it wasn’t funny. That shit right there was hilarious,” Parker chuckled, grabbing Lailah in a headlock as she tried and failed to attack him. “Aw, come on. The jealous side of you is adorable. You’re just going to have to own that shit.”

“Fuck off,” Lailah grumbled.

We all laughed at that, and I had to agree with Parker. It was cute to see her so protective over me.

SEVEN

LAILAH

As we all walked down the hall following Hudson, Parker refused to let go of my hand. One side of the hall was full of glass walls showing clean rooms, and the other side had labs filled with equipment that I had no idea what they did. It reminded me of the days I’d worked with Hudson at school for extra credit, only far more high tech.

At the end of the hall, a large wooden door with a nameplate on it told me we had arrived at his father’s office. Without knocking, Hudson walked in, holding the door open for us. It was an interesting combination of workspace—with microscopes, sample trays, veils, and other lab paraphernalia—and a typical office with a large desk.

Mr. Lacy was seated at said desk, the blue glow of his computer reflecting off his glasses. He didn’t even look up when we entered the room, just kept typing away at whatever he was working on. Papers were strewn across his desk, and some even fell onto the floor. From the little I knew of the man, I hazarded a guess that this was very uncharacteristic of him.

“Father,” Hudson called out, causing his father’s head to shoot over to our direction.

His immediate frown relaxed once he saw who it was that had interrupted him. “Ah, you’ve all made it.”

Pushing away from his desk, he walked over to us, gesturing for us to take a seat on the leather couch he had in the office. From the looks of it, I could tell he’d spent a few nights sleeping on it.

“You didn’t have any trouble getting your security passes, did you?” he asked, combing his fingers through his hair.

Seeing Hudson’s dad this ruffled told me that this was turning into a bigger deal than we originally thought.

“No problem, Sophie was very helpful,” I answered, unable to keep the bite out of my voice.

Mr. Lacy nodded his head as he leaned against the front of his desk, rubbing his chin, lost in thought.

“Father, why don’t you tell us what you’ve found out so far,” Hudson directed, seeing that we wouldn’t get anywhere fast.

This seemed to perk Mr. Lacy up, as he started digging through the files and papers, grabbing a few and muttering to himself. “Where did that report go? Ah! Here it is,” he exclaimed, swooping down to grab a few sheets off the floor.

“Lailah, since you asked me about the properties of demon venom, I have my specialty Elementi section running tests. We don’t have a ton of new information, but we have more than we did this morning. As things progress, I will have them combine what we know with the Day-Brite serum so we will have a better clue as to what the effects will be,” he said, handing over all the findings to me.

With a quick glance at the information before me, I knew there was no way I would be able to tell what it said. I passed it to Hudson, hoping he could make heads or tails out of it.

“The first thing we discovered is that demon venom is able to change its makeup so that the body won’t reject it. It shifts itself into something that resembles your DNA. If you know to look for it, you can see the small differences, but it’s close enough that if you went to the doctor and got a blood draw, no one would see anything wrong,” Mr. Lacy continued.

“So, the blood test we do at the school will be useless,” Brayden said, his face showing his shock.

I frowned, not understanding. “What does that have to do with anything? I thought it was a way to search for Synergy?”

“No, originally we did it so that if a demon-possessed person tried to enroll in the school, we would know. As we have experienced, the wards are great when they work, but it’s always wise to have a backup system,” Brayden explained.

“That’s not even the worst of it,” Mr. Lacy announced.

“Sure, why not, because that wasn’t a big enough problem to deal with,” Parker muttered.

Micah reached over and slapped him upside the head, glaring at him.

“Lailah, you said that you are demon-tainted, correct? What are the side effects you have experienced?” Mr. Lacy asked, his eyes softening as he looked at me.

My stomach dropped as I remembered what the Dark Lord said to me about it spreading in me. “Please just tell me what you found out,” I whispered, dropping my gaze to my hands.

“Know that this is only a preliminary finding; it’s not to say that this happens every time and in all situations. This sample was not treated like yours was, it was left in its pure form.” Hearing that didn’t make me feel better. “We are finding that the venom can change existing cells of the body as well. It slowly alters your essence into something else.”

I blinked rapidly, trying to keep tears from falling as I absorbed the news. It seemed that the Dark Lord wasn’t lying about everything. Makes sense, though. It was an easy way for me to feel defeated and to believe that giving into him was the only way to survive.

Well, I would rather kill myself than end up as a weapon used to destroy everything around me.

Clearing my throat, I looked up, meeting Chadwick’s gaze and seeing the pity there. Parker wrapped his arm around my shoulders, and Hudson placed a hand on my knee, giving me a reassuring squeeze. “Thank you for letting me know the possibility of what might happen, but let’s not let it distract us from dealing with the reason we are here.”

Something akin to admiration now showed in his eyes, and with a nod of his head, he shifted to grab another file off his desk. “I pulled all the reports we have on tests conducted on the Day-Brite serum to see if I could find anything new now that I’m looking at it from a different perspective. It seems that in allowing the brain to be open to more information, it also has made it more susceptible to persuasion. Not only in thinking, but personality as well. When memory loss happens, it can make the person more irritable, short-tempered, and mean. That was one area we wanted to help improve by boosting the limbic system.”

“Sorry sir, but not all of us are science nerds and understand what you’re saying,” Micah interjected.

“Oh, thank god someone said it. I thought I was gonna need the dummy’s book version there for a second,” Parker muttered under his breath.

Mr. Lacy smiled. “Sorry, I forget that I’m not talking to colleagues. The drug by itself is meant to help the brain still retain information while keeping the mood stable. If it was tampered with, it could make the brain more suggestible or even alter emotions—positively or negatively.”

“Okay, let me see if I understand,” I ventured, leaning forward, elbows on my knees. “In an average human, it would help to prevent them from becoming so volatile, but if it was used on someone who might be mentally ill or unstable for another reason, it could amplify those emotions.”

“Yes. When you look at it as a weapon and not as a drug to help someone, it opens up a whole realm of possibilities. Add in the demon venom, and we have people who could have their whole personality rewritten into the perfect soldier that is extremely hard to detect. What really worries me is that even if we have all this information, we don’t know where or why he is building this army now.” Mr. Lacy sighed as he rubbed his forehead.

I stood up and gently placed my hand on his arm. “We will take this one step at a time. You didn’t sleep very well last night, and you were up before the sun today. My guess is that you haven’t taken a break or really eaten anything with the amount you’ve gotten done. Go home. We will be back tomorrow, and we can look at this with fresh eyes. We are here to help in any way we can, starting with the personnel.”

Mr. Lacy covered my hand with his and gave me a soft smile. “I think you’re right. A tired brain is a careless brain, and we need to be sharp. Our enemy is sly, so we must be up to the task of searching it out wherever it might be hiding. Come, I’ll walk you out since you will need to leave your security passes here. Last thing we need is for one of those to fall into the wrong hands.”

Taking off our passes, we left them on his desk as he grabbed his suit jacket and briefcase. As we headed out of the office, Hudson stopped me and pulled me into a hug.

“Thank you, Sunshine. He wouldn’t have listened to me if I’d asked,” Hudson said into my hair.

Wrapping my arms around him, I held onto him tightly. “He’s your family, Hudson. Therefore, he’s family to me, too.”

As I snuggled into bed, I stared out the glass French doors at the sea alight with the moon’s glow. Even though it had only been a little over a month since Brayden and I bonded, it was hard to sleep by myself. It didn’t help that my brain wanted to go over every detail that Mr. Lacy told us about the demon venom and the serum.

Synergy. The fabled sixth element that was supposed to be the change in the tide. What good was I to anyone if I turned out to destroy the world instead of save it, all because of demon venom? Could I actually be changed into something else? Was the Dark Lord right? Seriously, what could a bunch of kids do against the darkest evil that roamed the world?

In our conversation tonight, we’d just touched the tip of the iceberg of what could happen with the serum, let alone what the serum mixed with demon venom could do. Was it really that easy to infect someone with demon venom and let it run its course? How many people had they turned this way?

In the quiet of the night, alone in this room, I let myself break down. I’d tried so hard not to let what the Dark Lord said get to me, but it’s harder when you have the facts laid out in front of you. These were the top researchers and scientific minds the Elementi had working on this; I couldn’t just dismiss what they found… could I?

I felt my tears roll down my cheeks onto the pillow, trying to keep my sobs quiet. I didn’t know anyone was in my room until I felt the mattress sink under their weight. I lifted my head and found Jay looking down at me, his brow creased with concern. The moment he saw my tears, he lifted the blankets and crawled into the bed, pulling me against his bare chest. Wrapped up in his strong hold, I felt shielded from the world and all the darkness I knew was lurking out there.

My sobs shook my body as I gripped his shoulders, my face buried in his neck. Gently, he combed his fingers through my hair, helping me to calm and soothing my gasping breaths. When I was finally all cried out, he pulled me away from him and wiped the tears off my face with the sheet. He searched my face, and I felt like I was laid bare to him, my emotions raw. Still silent, he pulled me back to him, kissing my forehead, and tucked me under his chin as he wrapped us both up in the blanket, letting out a heavy sigh that caused me to do the same. Listening to the steady beat of his heart and the even breaths he took, I was finally able to drift off to sleep, knowing I was completely safe.

EIGHT

LAILAH

As the warm sunlight filtered into the room, I scrunched up my face and tried to roll over, but I was stopped as arms tightened their hold on me. I tried to open my eyes, but they were gritty from crying last night. Pulling an arm out from under Jay’s weight—he was half laying on me—I rubbed my eyes. One of Jay’s hands was still in my hair, and it tightened as I once again tried to move out from under him.

“Jay, you need to let me up. We have a lot to do,” I whispered as he nuzzled into my neck.

“No.”

I couldn’t hold back the smile at how cuddly Jay was. He wasn’t one who needed much physical affection, being more of a man of action and service. This was a change, and one that I wasn’t mad at. I let my hand trail down his back, tracing over his muscles and a few of the tattoos that he had draping over his shoulder. His muscles shifted under my touch, followed by his lips brushing along my neck, sending tingles through my body.

Using his hold in my hair, he pulled my head to the side, giving him better access to my throat. He let his teeth skim along the column of skin, causing me to gasp and dig my nails into his back. This made Jay growl into my neck, nipping at me before he shifted so we were both on our sides with him behind me.

“We don’t have time to play that game, beautiful,” Jay rasped in my ear, his voice still thick with sleep. “But I can take care of you another way.”

Catching up both my hands, he trapped them to my chest, holding me tight against him. Slowly, he dragged his teeth on the outside shell of my ear before he bit down on the lobe. I arched against him, rubbing my ass along his rigid dick, which let me know he was as into this as I was. Jay let his free hand roam over my bare stomach, my shirt having ridden up in the night. Slowly, he moved lower until he let a finger dip just under the elastic of my sleep pants. Squirming, I tried to urge his hand lower, but he withdrew it, letting it rest just under my boobs.

“You have to keep still or I’ll stop,” Jay threatened, the command clear in his voice.

Letting out a whimper, I surrendered to his hold, and after a moment he began his slow journey back down. This time he let two fingers skim under the elastic, letting them run along the top of my pelvis—so close, yet so far. It took everything in me to hold still and not thrust up into his hand. Distracting me, he started kissing along my neck again as he moved further down my leg, pushing my sleep pants down. Once my pants were off, by some magic he’d performed with one hand, he lifted my right leg and settled it over top of his, leaving me exposed if anyone walked into the room.

My heart started beating faster with the fear—and oddly, the excitement—of us doing this and getting away with it. I knew that Jay, in particular, enjoyed watching, but I wasn’t sure if the other men in my life shared that proclivity. I sucked in a sharp breath as Jay’s fingers trailed along the inside of my thigh until he reached where it met the rest of my body. He hadn’t even touched my clit or anywhere near my vagina, and I knew it was drenched with anticipation. Catching me off guard, he glided his finger along the seam, making me cry out at the shock.

“If you don’t want them seeing this, then I might suggest keeping your voice down,” Jay purred against my jaw.

Swallowing down another moan, I couldn’t help but arch as he circled my clit with his finger. I almost wept as he pulled his hand away in punishment for my actions.

“Jay, please,” I begged, turning my face slightly to look at him. “I’m sorry, I won’t move. Please just let me come.”

A predatory glint showed in Jay’s silver eyes as he plunged two fingers into me, muffling my scream with his mouth. Everything about Jay in this moment was commanding—he set the pace, and I was only allowed to follow. Using his thumb, he applied pressure to my nub as he worked his fingers in and out of me. I desperately wanted to pull my arms out of his hold so I could wrap them around his neck, but there wasn’t a chance in hell I was going to let him stop.

His kiss was harsh as he explored my mouth, shifting me so he was slightly more on top of me. Never had I been so at someone’s mercy and reveled in it. There wasn’t a fear in my mind other than he might stop before I completed, but all I had to do was let him take care of me as he always did. My orgasm blindsided me as it rocketed through my body, but Jay didn’t stop. Instead he sped up and pushed through the tightening of my walls. Moments after the first one, he slipped a third finger in, and a second release was barreling down on me.

There was no way I could hold still as I shattered apart under his touch. My body acted of its own will, curling up on itself as Jay forced every ounce of mind-blowing pleasure out of my body. Finally, he slowed, sending shockwaves through my body each time he flicked his fingers before he removed them. Languid and panting, I watched as he took those three fingers and placed them in his mouth, holding my gaze as he did. If I hadn’t been wrung out, I would have demanded another round right then and there, but I wasn’t sure I could move yet.

Gently, Jay rolled me so I was facing him, and he gently massaged my body, helping me come down from my high. He cupped my face with both his hands and placed gentle kisses on my forehead, nose, lips. “You listened well, my beautiful girl.”

I blushed at his words as they filled me with such warmth I couldn’t help but smile. A door somewhere along the hall slammed, letting us know that someone else was awake and I might not have been as quiet as I’d thought I’d been.

No one made any comment or even asked about what they might have heard during breakfast. Granted, Ben and Grace were eating with us, so that would have been embarrassing. Just when we finished our meal, I heard heels clicking on the marble floors, announcing Isabelle’s presence. She quickly entered the dining room and stopped as she was putting on her watch, looking surprised to find us all there.

Her thick, dark hair had a slight wave and was shaped into a trendy short style. Defining brows shaped her dark brown eyes, and her full lips were pursed in displeasure. Quickly, she regained her composure and let her gaze sweep the table until she landed on Hudson.

“Why aren’t you at the office?” Isabelle demanded. “It’s almost nine. I was expecting you to be there early so you didn’t disturb us during business hours.”

As she spoke, I watched Hudson become more rigid and his expression slip into the cool, detached look he’d always worn when I first met him. “I wasn’t aware of this, Mother. We stopped by last night, and Sophie didn’t share that information with us.”

Isabelle’s eyebrows rose. “Why would she? I explained this all to your father. He should have told you my expectations. Things need to carry on like normal. We can’t let Chadwick’s blunder tarnish the reputation I have built for this company.”

Hudson told me that his parents didn’t get along, but the things that were coming out of this woman’s mouth were shocking me. Coming from a home with loving parents, I had no experience dealing with a situation like this, and I was afraid to say something and make it worse.

“We were just going to head that way. You have my promise that we will do all we can not to disrupt things. There is still more that we need to do in the labs, so we can deal with that today and get an early start tomorrow, if you would like,” Hudson suggested, proving just how skilled he was at dealing with his mother.

Isabelle sniffed and pulled on her suit jacket. “What I would like is for this never to have happened. This is what you get for working with friends. It’s better to keep things professional on all levels. That woman is losing her mind. Why would he think she was a safe project partner? I’ll bet she’s the one who had it stolen. Paranoia is strong in the early stages of dementia.”

As Isabelle’s words registered in my brain, my temper flared. I moved to get out of my seat, but Brayden grabbed my arm. Looking at him, shocked, he just gave a quick shake of his head. Frowning, I couldn’t understand why we weren’t more upset about this. She was trash, talking badly about his mother, who wasn’t at fault for any of this.

“Ben, Grace, I expect you to be working on those projects for next semester. These two weeks are not a time for you to get sloppy if you want to get into Harvard next year, Grace. Ben, I talked to the school board at MIT, and there is still hope for you if you find the will to apply yourself this semester. Two Bs—honestly, how could you have let your grades slip like that?” Isabelle huffed, shaking her head as she grabbed her purse and marched out of the room.

I waited long enough to hear the door close and for the house to fall silent before I let out what I’d been holding back. “What the hell was that?”

Hudson dropped his head into his hand, and his siblings shifted in their chairs as if they wanted to be anywhere but here. I couldn’t blame them. If I had just had my mother verbally smack my hands with a ruler in front of strangers, I would have been mortified too.

“Well, now you have all met our mother,” Hudson said, lifting his head back up, but he still wouldn’t look me in the eyes.

I could see right away that he needed to stay far away from that woman or all the progress I’d made with him opening up to me would be lost. Never had I imagined a mother being so cold to her kids.

“Let’s go. We don’t want to waste any more time getting this done,” Micah said, pushing back from the table. It didn’t surprise me to see the anger shining in his eyes. Adriana was as much a mother to him as to Brayden.

This time, an SUV came to get us, and we all piled in as we headed back to the lab. Sophie was nowhere in sight when we got there, making me feel better. A lab assistant came out in an all-white jumpsuit with a hair net on, handing us out passes.

“Monsieur Lacy asked me to escort you,” the lab tech said, waving at us to follow.

We all looked at each other, then Parker shrugged and headed off after the guy.

NINE

LAILAH

Icould see why Mr. Lacy wanted us to have a guide, because there is no way we would have found this specific lab tucked away. It was even in a separate wing with retinal scanners off the main lab section. Since we are in the Elementi database, we didn’t need to add our information and just needed the lab security cards to get in, but again—only if we found it.

“As you can see, this is the lab set aside to work on any and all Elementi-specific needs. We have been able to recreate the serum and combine it with the demon venom to see what the reaction will be,” Lewis explained, stepping over to a counter that had a large screen hanging on the wall.

He typed in the passcode, and information sprang onto the screen. If I had any clue as to what it said, I might have had more of a reaction, but as it stood, we all waited silently. Hudson stepped forward, adjusting his glasses as he scanned the information.

Hudson turned sharply on Lewis. “Are you sure? Can it be reversed?”

“No, it is permanent.”

“Um, anyone care to share with the rest of the group what we should be freaking out about?” Parker interjected.

They both looked back at us with grim looks on their faces. “This serum with the added venom turns them into the perfect host for a mid-level demon, but because they don’t need to fight the host, they don’t deteriorate the same way,” Lewis answered.

“You can’t tell that from computer scenarios,” Micah snapped. “This is all speculation—right?”

Lewis grabbed a remote and clicked the center button, and the sound of something being pulled back whirred behind us. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw a man strapped to a table, writhing and spitting as he yelled. The glass must have been soundproof, because I couldn’t hear a thing.

“Okay, a demon-possessed man behind curtain number one is something I would have expected from Jay’s dad, not yours, Hudson,” Parker stage whispered.

Registering what Parker just said, I gasped. “That man is possessed by a demon?”

“Yes, mademoiselle, we have a sacred circle around him to keep him from exiting the body, so he is trapped at the moment. There is nothing to fear from it,” Lewis informed me, misunderstanding my shock.

Anger spiked as I connected a few things. Marching up to Lewis, I got right in his face.

“Did you give him the serum and then let him get possessed before it was stolen, or did you summon a demon and trap him in that poor man’s body so you could study it?” I demanded.

Lewis looked at me without batting an eye. “Both, I guess you could say. He was one of our human test subjects, the only one to have been given the serum before it was taken. Once the serum was taken, we then suggested he read an incantation as a test to see how his recall skills were doing. It so happened that he managed to summon a demon and was possessed by it.”

“You are part of the Elementi. How could you have done that? It’s wrong.” I yelled.

“That is where you are wrong. I am not part of the Elementi, just hired by them. We are not bound by the same rules as the inducted Elementi. They need us to work in the gray areas. If we do not, then we are left at a disadvantage when fighting the demons,” Lewis said to me, his face reserved and eyes dull.

I took a few steps back and scoffed. “You can’t even see how wrong this really is anymore, can you?”

Glancing at the others, I saw the same look of disgust on their faces. I let out a breath, relieved to know they didn’t agree with what was happening here.

“Open the room. I want to talk to the man-demon-thing,” I ordered, my hands clenched into fists.

“Mademoiselle, even if you remove the demon from the man now, he will be incredibly susceptible to having it happen again. His brain pattern has been imprinted with the demon venom, making him a beacon to any roving spirit,” Lewis challenged.

Jay stepped up next to me, glaring down at the man. “That is what you meant by permanent.”

“Yes. We also don’t know how much of the real him is left. Having a demon dwelling in you is sure to speed up the transformation.”

“This is nuts,” Brayden shouted as he started to pace the floor, running his hands through his hair.

“I did not want to show you for this reason, but your father insisted that I did,” grumbled Lewis. “You are all too young to see that this type of work is needed to keep us all safe.”

“Enough,” Hudson snapped, shocking us all. “Take us to a place that we can have a secure video call with the Elementi HQ at Ryevick.”

“Very well.” Lewis nodded and ushered us out of the room.

“Please tell me you didn’t know about this, Beth,” I said to the screen after we explained everything we knew thus far.

Beth looked like she hadn’t been able to sleep the last few days. Her usually sleek bob was disheveled, as was the button-down shirt she was wearing. Beth was always particular about a clean and orderly appearance.

“I won’t lie to you, Lailah. Did I know about this exact situation—no. Did I know that some of our more dubious work was handed out to contract workers—yes. It is hard to keep every step pure while trying to find a way to deal with demons, I’m afraid. Now, if this matter had been brought to my attention, or if I had even known it was being considered, I would have shut it down completely.” Beth sighed, rubbing her forehead. “I need you all to keep in mind that your parents left us out of the loop on this completely; we didn’t know anything about it until you did.”

“What can we do on our end to help?” Brayden asked, steering the conversation to a safer topic.

Beth looked down at her desk, looking around for something. “So, it looks like we narrowed down the pool of people who were in the building to five hundred and fifty. The tricky part is that with the holiday, not all of these people have been back since. I need you all to find out if they’ve really just left or if they are taking time off. The HR department likes to keep their information locked away from us if it’s not related to Elementi issues.”

“Five hundred and fifty isn’t that bad with the six of us working on it,” Brayden said, relaxing a little.

“Oh, that was just the lab techs. That number didn’t include everyone. The total is looking at around two thousand. Honestly, I thought it would be more since they have over seventy thousand people working for them,” Beth shared, not noticing the shock we were all in.

Hudson coughed, clearing his throat. “How exactly do you expect us to go through that many employee records?”

“Contact the HR department and they will be able to get you tablets with all the files on them. If Isabelle gives you a hard time, let me know. Chadwick Lacy and the Elementi own the company, not her, a thing she seems to be forgetting. As one of the major shareholders, we can request an employee audit without any suspicion, so there is no harm in giving you what you need. Good luck, and call if you need us to look into anyone further,” Beth said with a wave, and the call was cut off.

Parker groaned and flopped onto the table, ever the dramatic one. “Remind me that I never want to be a private eye. There is way too much paperwork.”

I smiled, rolling my eyes.

“On the plus side, we get to see Trouble lose her shit when we have to go talk to Sophie again,” Parker said, grinning at me.

“Excuse me, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I did not lose my shit,” I huffed.

“You keep telling yourself that, but I can already see you gearing up for another showdown. Here’s an idea—just plant one right on his lips if she gets too handsy. Better yet, sit on his lap, staking your claim so she can’t miss it,” Parker suggested, his eyes wide with excitement.

Micah stood and smacked Parker upside the head as he walked by. “Knock it off. She’s not you, all needy and shit.”

“Fuck off, man, I know that. I’m just saying she can feel free to claim any one of us in front of another person. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m not interested in any other woman besides our Trouble,” Parker announced, rubbing the back of his head.

Hudson stood from the conference table we had been using. “I think this is a talk we all need to have, but now is not the right time to do that. At the moment, we need to tell my mother that she has to hand over thousands of employee files for us to work on for the next few days.”

We all cringed at that thought. If our encounter at breakfast was anything to go by, this wasn’t going to be pretty. Already on the office side of the building, it didn’t take us long to find Sophie sitting at her desk. Today she was wearing a blood-red wrap dress that had a plunging neckline and might as well have been painted on her body. Her lip color matched the dress, and her thick, wavy hair waterfalled over her shoulder.

“Oh, Monsieur Hudson! I wasn’t expecting to see you today. Mademoiselle Dupont said you would be busy in the labs. Although I am very pleased you decided to seek me out,” Sophie said, turning in her chair to cross her legs, showing them off.

I thought I could keep my cool, trusting that Hudson wasn’t interested in some vapid diva, but the anger coursing through my veins would say otherwise.

“We are looking for Ms. Dupont, could you tell us where to find her?” Brayden asked, trying to pull her attention away from Hudson.

“Oui. She is in her office, but she is on an important call and cannot be disturbed. Is there anything I can help you with?” Sophie asked, letting her gaze wander over Brayden.

Okay, now she had gone too far. Brayden was mine. Walking out from behind Hudson and Brayden, I got right in Sophie’s face. Since she was sitting down, it brought us to about even so I could look her in the eye.

“Allow me to clear a few things up for you, Sophie. Do you see these highly attractive men behind me? I know you do, because you’ve been molesting them with your eyes since we met. They are off limits,” I all but growled.

Sophie blinked at me, looked around me at the guys, and then brought her attention back to me. “And who are you to declare such a statement?”

“I’m their motherfucking girlfriend, and wife to that one,” I announced, pointing at Brayden, whose eyes went wide with shock.

Parker was doing everything in his power not to burst out laughing, causing his face to turn bright red. Micah just shook head at me, but I could see the humor shining in his sapphire eyes. Jay, of course, didn’t look any different, other than to have a hint of a smirk on his face. Hudson surprised me by taking my hand and threading our fingers together, bringing it up to his mouth and placing a kiss on the back of it.

Sophie gaped at me, speechless for the first time since we had met her. “Non! My, how very French of you, mademoiselle. I have to say, I am impressed that you can manage that amount of such men.”

Taking a deep, calming breath, seeing that she was going to back off, I relaxed. “Thank you. Now, we do need to speak with Hudson’s mother. Is there a time you can get us in? Also, we need some employee files. Can you gather them for us on a portable drive?”

“I would need to know what employees to pull, but I don’t think that will be a problem.”

Brayden stepped closer, putting his arm around my waist. “We need all the employees who worked on the nineteenth and twentieth and haven’t been back since.”

“Tu es serieuse? Do you know how many people that is? How exactly are you planning on going through all of them?” Sophie gasped.

“Well, our plan was that you could load them onto a portable drive or a tablet with access so we can work off-site and not disrupt things here,” Brayden explained.

“For this you will need to speak with Mademoiselle Dupont. I cannot do this without her approval. Give me a moment to reach out to her personal assistant and see what I can do,” Sophie said, picking up the phone and speaking rapid French to whoever was on the other line before she hung up again. “She will see you now.”

TEN

HUDSON

I’d never been in my mother’s office before, and I wasn’t surprised to see it was all white and completely modern looking. Her need to have perfect control over everything wouldn’t allow her to have much self-expression in such a setting. This was the corner office of a powerful CEO, and the woman behind the desk lived up to that description.

“Why are you here, Hudson? I thought we discussed you not being in the office during business hours,” Isabelle demanded.

I could feel Lailah tensing behind me at how Mother was addressing me, but I couldn’t let her blow up at my mother like she did Sophie. Mother would tear her apart. It was a special gift that she had, finding your weakness and exploiting it. Typically, she reserved that skill for business transactions and her children, but I wouldn’t put it past her to lash out at Lailah because she was mad at me.

“Mother, it would seem that there wasn’t as much to do in the labs as we thought. What we need now is access to employee files,” I stated, keeping to the facts.

Mother narrowed her eyes at me. “That still does not answer the question of why you are in my office at this moment. Sophie should have been able to get you any information you needed.”

Lailah, ignoring the way I tried to pull her back, shook off my hand. “Ms. Dupont, I am sorry we are intruding, but we did ask Sophie first for the things we needed, and she said you would have to give clearance for the number of files we need and permission to work on this off-site. We know you don’t want us to disrupt things, so we thought working at the house would be best.”

Mother slowly stood and walked around her desk, approaching Lailah. To Lailah’s credit, she didn’t back down—she never did when she was protecting one of us.

“I know who you are, Synergy. Tu putes is more like it, sleeping with all these boys like there is nothing wrong with it. If Hudson was truly my son, I would have never allowed him to attach himself to the likes of you,” Mother sniffed, crossing her arms and looking down at her.

You didn’t have to know French to know that my Mother just used some sort of derogatory term at Lailah. Watching Lailah carefully, I saw the hurt flash in her eyes before she covered it up, trying to keep a blank face. I had grown up most of my life dealing with this woman, used to her venomous tongue, but Lailah didn’t deserve to be talked to like that at all.

“That is enough, Mother,” I snapped, pulling Lailah behind me. “I do not care what your personal opinions are, but you will show some respect to her as someone I treasure. Now, will you give us the files we need so we can work at home, or do I need to bring this to the board’s attention?”

Mother held my gaze, checking to see if I was bluffing or not, but I wasn’t backing down from this. “Stupide garçon, you would let this woman ruin everything you have worked for? These Elementi are taking everything from you and your father. Don’t you see it? Already you cannot live a normal life with the powers you have, now you let them tell you who to love?” Shaking her head, she waved us off. “Take what you need, but I don’t want to see you back in this building during business hours, no matter who calls to try and overrule my authority. I’ll have you arrested for trespassing.”

“Have it your way, Ms. Dupont. We won’t bother you any further,” I said coldly.

All my life I’d been trying to gain her favor, but it was becoming clear to me now that she was never going to give it to me. I wasn’t a son to her, for all she let me call her “Mother.” That was going to change now. No longer was I going to cling to a childish fantasy when I could build a new family that wanted me around.

Lailah took my hand, intertwining our fingers as we walked out of the office without a backward glance.

Armed with the information we needed on a thumb drive and a few tablets, we headed back to the house. I wanted to distance myself from the lab and my parents after everything we had learned today. It was late afternoon once we exited the building.

“What if we went out for lunch? It might do us good to have a little break before we dive into these files,” Lailah suggested.

“Yeah, I like that idea! This is supposed to be Christmas break, and we’ve hardly done anything fun,” Parker whined.

Looking at the others, I raised a brow. “Everyone else okay with that?”

“If it means stalling looking at paperwork for however long, then hell yes, please. Let’s go do anything,” Micah agreed.

“Alright, I’ll have the driver take us into town and we’ll go find something that looks good to us,” I said, turning to the driver and letting him know the change in destination.

Shortly after, we found ourselves walking through Old Town, where the buildings were packed together, forcing you to walk or bike through this part of the city. Shops spilled out of their stores onto the cobblestone alleys. Cafes with their doors open, tables scattered with people drinking and eating lined the street. This was the heart of the city that brought the magic to this place.

I couldn’t keep the smile off my lips as I watched Lailah take it all in. Her love of architecture and history was showing full force. Parker joined in her fun, grabbing odd hats and other things off the vendors’ tables and trying them on, making her laugh. Brayden grinned like a fool, no doubt being flooded with her emotions and energy, and even Micah and Jay seemed to be enjoying themselves. Eventually, we all decided to eat at a small cafe that had a good view of the beach and the sea.

“Guys, I have no idea what half this stuff is on the menu.” Lailah sighed, looking at me for help. “Hudson, could you just order something for me?”

My heart warmed at the fact that she trusted me to make that choice for her, knowing she wouldn’t understand me as I ordered. “I would be happy to. Anything you hate or are allergic to?”

“I don’t care for olives or mushrooms, but I’m not allergic to anything,” she answered with a grateful smile.

Parker elbowed me as he leaned closer. “Any chance you can help a bro out and tell me if they have pizza?”

“You want to order pizza in France?” Micah asked in disbelief. “Do you have any culture to you at all?”

Parker leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms. “What the fuck, man? Why’d you have to go and announce it to the whole table? I was trying to be discreet.”

“That makes no sense. We would have seen what you ordered when you got it,” Micah countered.

“So what are you getting, Micah?” Lailah asked, cutting into their argument.

“I’m going to get the catch of the day since we are here on the coast. I never pass up fresh fish since we live so inland,” Micah shared, giving Parker a smirk.

“Jay, what are you gonna choose?” Lailah inquired, turning to our ever-silent member.

“Ratatouille.”

Parker rolled his eyes. “Of course you would pick the healthy option. You do know we are on vacation, right?”

“No, Parker, we are not on vacation. We are on a mission, an important one, which you would know if you took anything seriously,” Jay corrected, stunning us all as he chided Parker.

“What the hell is going on with you guys today? Do I have a ‘fuck with Parker’ sign on my back I didn’t notice?” he demanded.

“Usually,” Micah muttered behind his hand.

I could see the tensions rising at the table now that we didn’t have the distraction of the chaos around us. “Guys, we cannot have this discussion here. Let’s wait until we get back to the house and we can hash it out then.”

“Fine. If we can’t talk about that, then how about we talk about your so-called mother and the shit she was saying to Lailah?” Micah snapped.

“Oh, and the fact she claimed us as boyfriends and Brayden as her husband. I think that deserves a few moments of our attention as well,” Parker added.

All eyes turned to Lailah as he said that. Her cheeks were bright red, her blush setting her eyes off and making her more beautiful than she already was.

“I don’t actually think we need to talk about that,” Lailah said, fidgeting. “It was Parker’s idea to claim you all, so I did. There’s nothing more to talk about.”

She was given a momentary reprieve when the waiter came over and took our orders, then dropped off our drinks. Unfortunately for her, Parker was not backing down from this and was like a dog with a bone.

“Sorry Trouble, but you are so not getting out of this. Now, tell me again what we are to you?” Parker grinned, pleased that Lailah was blushing beet red.

Taking a large gulp of her wine that I’d ordered her, she braced herself. “If I was wrong to call you all my boyfriends, I’m sorry, but I couldn’t stand the way she was eying you all up. It’s just rude to do that like you’re a piece of meat or something.”

“Especially when their girlfriend is standing right there to see it,” Parker agreed, nodding his head.

“Exactly,” Lailah exclaimed, then paused. “Wait—what did you say?”

“Oh, so you can call us your boyfriends, but we can’t call you our girlfriend?” he goaded.

“I think ‘wife’ has a better ring to it, myself,” Brayden chimed in, causing Lailah’s eyes to widen in shock.

Lailah opened her mouth to say something a few times but just ended up closing it, unable to get the words out.

“You know, Lailah, we would have been calling you our girlfriend much sooner if you didn’t want us to keep it a secret from everyone at school,” Brayden pointed out. “You made that call, so don’t be so shocked. I think we’ve all made it fairly obvious how we feel about you.”

Hearing Brayden say that, it struck me that I was the only one who had not shown her how I feel. I’d told her that I am interested in her and that I know that we will end up being together—which is far from romantic. Even Jay made his intentions glaringly obvious with that stunt he pulled this morning. Thankfully, the only reason I heard it is because my room is directly under hers; it would have mortified her if either of my siblings had heard instead. Situations like these were why I was so on board with sharing her between us. In relationship and physical matters, I was ignorant. I’ve never slept with anyone before. The one time Parker got me drunk, some random woman gave me a blow job at a party, but I didn’t want fake intimacy. It was the real thing or nothing for me.

“That was unfair of me, wasn’t it,” Lailah said dejectedly. “I was so worried about the backlash I didn’t think of how you guys would take it. I’m sorry for that. Starting now, I don’t want to hide our relationship. But I think calling me your wife might be a lot for people to take in when they figure out I have four other boyfriends.”

Parker laughed, and the rest of us followed suit, thinking of people’s reactions.

“Well, there’s an easy way to fix that,” Parker pointed out. “We gotta get a move on with this whole Bond thing.”

Micah glared at Parker. “This isn’t something you take lightly, fuckwit. It’s better to not commit than to do it for the wrong reasons.”

“It’s gonna have to happen eventually! If we want to keep our girlfriend from having dream conversations with the Dark Lord, or her power fluctuating when the demon venom fucks with her, then I suggest we stop dicking around the subject,” Parker retorted.

“Stop it,” Lailah snapped, cutting in before Micah could say his piece. “Let us enjoy our dinner. No one is allowed to talk about anything having to do with demons… or school.”

With a few grumbles, everyone agreed just in time for our food to arrive.

ELEVEN

LAILAH

After we returned from lunch, we spent the rest of the day with tablets and computers going over the employee files. We took note of who had filed for time off and when that was submitted versus the people who just had normal days off or hadn’t returned at all. It was monotonous and slow-going since we had to check in several different places to find everything we needed to rule someone out.

The following day was the same. We got up, ate, and went right back to work. Since it was Christmas Eve tomorrow, we wouldn’t have much time since we were all going over to Mr. Lacy’s place for the day. Something told me that would be the closest thing to a real Christmas, because I didn’t see Ms. Dupont making merry.

Late in the day, I was sitting out on the second-floor veranda, enjoying the breeze and the scenery. The others were scattered throughout the house, not as content to be still the same way I was. With my headphones on while listening to music, I didn’t notice anyone sitting next to me on the oversized chaise lounge until I was tapped on the shoulder.

Snapping my head to the right, I found Hudson’s blue gaze alight with a smile.

“You scared me,” I gasped, pulling my headphones out.

“Sorry. I called your name a few times, but you obviously didn’t hear me.”

“It’s fine, clearly I was too invested in this project to pay attention to my surroundings.” I smiled and bumped my shoulder against his. “What’s up?”

Hudson seemed to pause, as if he was second-guessing himself in whatever he wanted to bring up.

“Hey, you can talk to me about anything,” I reassured him.

“Do you really consider me your boyfriend?” Hudson asked, not looking me in the face.

Stunned by his question, I didn’t answer right away. “Why do you ask?”

“I see how intimate you are with all the others, but not with me. Sure, you come to me when you need someone to help you figure things out logically, but that’s something you could easily do with a friend as well.”

Never had I expected this from Hudson—maybe Parker, but not Hudson. My fear of him being around his stepmother was coming true. Since the showdown in her office yesterday, the one I thought might help him to move forward, he had been set back more. Even though we didn’t see Isabelle again after that, I could tell it was eating away at him.

Shifting, I set down the tablet and sat cross-legged next to him, giving him my full attention. “Hudson, do you truly believe that I don’t care for you the same as I do the others?”

I needed him to admit how far his mother had gotten into his head.

“I don’t want to believe it, Lailah, but I have doubts worming their way into my brain, and I can’t seem to fight it,” Hudson answered honestly.

Cupping his cheek in my hand, I lifted his face so I could look him in the eye. “Hudson Lacy, if you asked me to Bond with you right this minute, I would without question say yes. Brayden might keep me grounded when I get lost, but you, you are my trusted confidant. I know that I can come to you with anything that is weighing on me and we will figure it out together, no matter what it is.”

I paused to see if anything I was saying was hitting home, but I still saw the shadow of doubt. “You brought up that I wasn’t as intimate with you, but I never got a signal from you that it was important. After having someone use my emotions before, I would never want for anyone to give me what they weren’t ready and willing to give. I think you’re damn sexy and would climb you like a tree, as Cami would say, but I didn’t think you wanted me to.”

This seemed to surprise Hudson. “You didn’t think I wanted you?”

“No, that is not what I said. Never did I have doubt you wanted me, but everything you do is with precision and timing. I was not going to push you when I knew you would get to it when you were ready.”

Full understanding flashed in his eyes seconds before he grabbed my arms and pulled me forward, our lips crashing together. It was a desperate kiss, and yet at the same time tentative, still questioning if I was alright with it. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and shifted so that I was straddling him, our chests pressed together.

With the torrent of emotions flowing around us, I could feel my powers reach out and caress his. I pulled back from him just enough that I could see his face.

“Just know that if you are not ready and say no right now, I will wait for you, no matter how long,” I whispered.

“I’m done waiting, Sunshine,” Hudson answered as he unleashed his powers.

There was a flash of light, and when it diminished, I was standing, with Hudson kneeling before me. “Hudson Lacy, Knight blessed with Water’s power, Warrior for the angels. I find you true of heart and mind, upholding the agreement given to your ancestors. Do you accept the eternal bond to protect the people of this world, and vow to cherish the vessel that holds the gift of Synergy, who has been placed in your protection?”

“I, Hudson Lacy, Blessed Elementi Warrior gifted with Water’s power, vow to cherish and protect this world, my fellow brothers, and the one bound to us as Synergy; or my life be forfeit,” Hudson answered, holding up his dual pistols to me.

“Rise, faithful one, and seal your Oath,” I intoned as the angel’s presence left me. Hudson scooped me up, wrapping my legs around his middle, and headed inside to my room.

I couldn’t keep from kissing him as we fumbled our way down the hall, running into walls. His hands kneaded my ass as I clutched the back of his neck, unable to get close enough to him.

“We need to warn the others so we don’t have Micah busting down the door again,” I mumbled against his lips.

“No need. We just passed Parker in the living room; I’m sure he’ll figure out what we’re up to.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at that response as he kicked the door closed and tossed me down on the bed. He crawled up my body, placing kisses as he went even though I was still fully clothed. Once he reached my lips, he dove in, taking his sweet time exploring every inch. I groaned, as I wanted to feel more of him against me, but he still held his body above mine.

Frustrated, I let out a little growl before I pulled him down and flipped us over so I was on top. Grabbing the bottom of my shirt, I pulled it over my head and tossed it behind me, followed by my bra. Hudson watched the show with wide eyes, filled with hunger and amazement.

Then something struck me. “Is this your first time?”

Hudson licked his lips and nodded his head. “Yes.”

“Am I going too fast?” I asked, worried that I was being too aggressive.

“No, I really like that you are taking charge and putting me at your mercy,” Hudson said, letting his hands rove over my bare skin. “All I want to do is bring you pleasure and satisfy your needs.”

Heat flared through my body at his words. “God, that has to be one of the sexiest things anyone has ever said to me.”

“I am a blank slate, Sunshine. Teach me how I can please you.”

Groaning, I dropped my head to his chest, unsure of what I wanted to happen first. “Clothes. Clothes have to go. I need to feel you against me, because right now I don’t believe this is happening.”

Without any more prompting, Hudson rolled me off of him and shucked off his shirt. Then he stood and removed his pants along with his underwear, baring himself fully to me. His body was toned but not overly so, and his golden skin shone in the setting sunlight, making my mouth water. Bending down, he unbuttoned my jeans and stripped them off of me so there were no more barriers between us.

He took his time taking me in, letting his gaze wash over me, making me blush. I sat up and took his hand, pulling him back to the bed to lay beside me. Tossing my leg over his hip, I held him closely to me, listening to his rapid heartbeat under my ear as I let my hands run down his back. He mimicked every touch I made as we explored each other.

“Sunshine, you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen,” Hudson said against my neck as he placed gentle kisses along my collarbone. “To think I get to spend the rest of my life with you, learning everything about this body of yours.”

Gasping as he took my nipple into his mouth, I clutched at his hair. He had to be taking notes of my reaction with every nibble, lick, and bite, because he was driving me wild. After spending an equal amount of time with each breast, he moved lower and lower, watching me squirm as he stopped just above where I wanted him most.

“Just to put your mind at ease, my Sunshine, I might be new at this, but I have conducted extensive research,” he said with a smirk before removing his glasses and setting them on the nightstand. “The key is to find what will apply best to you.”

Before I had a chance to say anything, his mouth latched on to my bud and sent me arching and moaning with pleasure.

“If my assumptions are correct, that reaction was a positive one. Let’s try something else, shall we?”

Hudson trailed a finger around my clit slowly, then applied pressure, dead center, causing me to pant and wriggle under him. Dipping his finger lower, he slid it inside me and bent it up like he was telling me to come, and come I did. With a shout of surprise, I sat up, clutching the comforter in my hands as he continued the movement, making my body spasm.

“Holy fucking shit!”

Hudson gave a low chuckle as I flopped back down to the bed. “Seems that move is a favorite.”

“If anyone says that research is a waste of time, I will be the first to tell them to shut the hell up,” I shared as I was still trying to catch my breath.

Hudson crawled up onto the bed next to me and scooped me up, pulling me on top of him. “For my first time, I want you to watch you, Sunshine, for you will be the only woman to ever ride me.”

Catching him in a kiss, I nibbled on his lower lip as I slid myself onto him. We both moaned together as he filled me; it was a bit of a struggle, as he was thicker than Brayden. Relaxing into the fullness, I rocked slowly, watching the pure ecstasy that was written all over Hudson’s face. It did something to my ego to know that I was the reason it was there, causing me to do more to see what other faces he would make.

Lifting myself up slightly, my hands on his pecs, I swirled my hips around, triggering a hissing sound to come out of Hudson. Pushing back, I sat up straight and rode him hard, his hands gripping my hips so tight I might have bruises to show after this. Heavy breathing and the sound of slapping skin was all you could hear, each of us lost in the sensations of our bodies.

Hudson started to buck more erratically under me, and I knew he was getting close. Leaning forward, lowering my body to his, needing more friction on my clit, I sped up, urging us both to the finish line. As we cried out, the walls rattled with our powers, and once again it lifted us up off the mattress as our souls were joined forever.

Toppling back down, we were a mess of limbs and naked skin glistening in sweat. I could feel Hudson’s shock at our connection and the depth of his feelings that I never would have guessed being buried so deep.

“I can feel you, as if what you’re feeling is an echo in my mind,” Hudson said in awe.

Cradling his face in my hands, I kissed him on the forehead and then the lips. “There’s no hiding from me now, Mr. Lacy.”

“I wouldn’t even try, my sweet Sunshine.”

TWELVE

LAILAH

After sneaking into the bathroom and sharing the shower since neither one of us wanted to be far from the other, we finally had to separate so we could get dressed and find the others, knowing that we all needed to talk after this happened. I only hoped that the power surge didn’t affect the rest of the house and we didn’t need to make something up for Hudson’s siblings.

As I was headed out of the room, I caught what I was wearing in the mirror. It just so happened I grabbed my I just want to cuddle, eat cookies, and drink chai tea shirt. I thought about changing it but decided against it. Eventually I would be cuddling with all of these boys, and we all needed to get comfortable with it. Taking a deep breath, I made my way to the upstairs sitting room, where I guessed they would be waiting. This was not a conversation that anyone else should be overhearing.

“Did you two have fun?” Parker asked as he sat up from where he was sprawled out on the couch, patting the seat next to him. “Have a seat, I would love to hear all about it.”

Ignoring Parker, I went over to Brayden in one of the armchairs and sat on his lap. He wrapped his arms around me and nuzzled his face against my neck. The other two were already here as well but were wise and didn’t say anything. Moments later, Hudson came up the stairs, taking a seat on the furthest end of the couch from Parker. I could feel his embarrassment even though his face was carefully blank.

Oh, this was going to come in handy.

“If you guys are trying to find a way to not make this awkward, I don’t think it’s going to happen,” Parker pointed out.

For once, Parker was right, but I wasn’t going to say that out loud. Instead, I shifted so I could see Brayden better. “Did you notice anything change after we Bonded?”

“Yeah, nothing too exciting, but I can feel where Hudson is now. Like, if he left here and didn’t tell us where he was going, I would know right where to find him. I can’t feel his emotions like I can yours, but I know that he is fine and not in danger,” Brayden explained.

“I have to say, that makes me feel better,” Hudson interjected. “Having one person who can know everything about how I’m feeling is going to take some getting used to, but having all of you would have been overwhelming.”

Brayden gave me a squeeze as he rested his head on my shoulder. “How are you feeling? Notice any differences now that you are Bonded to two of us?”

I paused for a moment and took stock of myself. The one thing I did notice was that in the space that my power resided, I could see a small ball of blue energy had joined the orbit around my power with the green one. Then again, I hadn’t seen any change after I bonded with Brayden until I had to use my powers, so it might be the case this time as well.

“Nothing is sticking out to me, but as we have learned, that can always change,” I answered, looking at all the others with a smile. “Is there anything else we need to talk about, or can we move on to other things?”

Parker raised his hand, making me smile as I nodded for him to ask his question.

“Can we revisit you sleeping alone? I mean, we all know Jay found his way into your bed at some point—not that I care,” Parker said, holding up his hands to ward off the others, who were glaring at him. “I’m just curious is all.”

“If you five can come up with some agreed-upon system, then I’m open to the idea,” I answered with a smirk, knowing if I didn’t they would all be trying to sneak into my bed.

Hudson cleared his voice, drawing everyone’s attention. “How is everyone doing with the employee files?”

Jay grabbed his tablet from the side table and started to tap away at it. “I have ten possibilities with another fifty to go through. Since the Elementi have a base of operations here, we should send our findings to them and confirm the information.”

“Wait, you want the Elementi to go door to door and check to see if they are really gone or that they are really the people they say they are?” Brayden asked.

“Both,” Jay said, pausing to look up. “You can put anything down in your employee file; there is no way to tell if any of this information is correct or not. Feet on the ground is the best move, but it will be done more efficiently if a trained team does it.”

“So what happens after we are done with this part?” I questioned.

Jay held my gaze as he answered. “We go back to Ryevick.”

“What? Why?” I blurted. “That doesn’t make any sense. Any clues we have are here.”

“True, but we are not the right people to take this further. We will be needed elsewhere,” Jay countered. “The serum is out there, and it’s going to be used. When that happens, it’ll be up to us to deal with it.”

I wanted to argue with him, fight for us to stay here and see this through to the end, but I knew he was right. None of us had the training to take this further than we already had. We had discovered many things that other Elementi wouldn’t see the same way we did, but now it was crossing over into the normal world, and none of us were prepared to deal with the legality of it all.

“Then I propose that we push and try and finish tonight so we can enjoy Christmas Eve without this lingering,” I said, pushing myself off of Brayden’s lap to find the tablet I’d been working on.

We all managed to finish the task and send off all the suspicious files to the Elementi here in France. It took us late into the night, but we wouldn’t have to worry about it and could enjoy the last few days here in Nice. Heading off to my room, I changed into my pajamas and settled into bed. Grabbing my phone, I double checked the time back home and saw that it was six-thirty in the morning, so my mom would be up.

Lailah:

Merry Christmas Eve! Hope you guys haven’t been snowed in. We had a small change of plans and I’m in France, of all places. Hudson’s parents live here in Nice.

Mom:

Merry Christmas Eve to you too, Ladybug! Oh, how exciting is that, you little world traveler you. Have fun with your friends and send me some pictures. I’ve always wanted to go to France.

Lailah:

I will! Love you guys, miss you tons!!

Mom:

We love you too. Can’t wait for summer when I can have you home. Then I can finally meet these friends of yours.

Since I’d moved into the Manor, my parents had video chatted with all the boys and Beth, wanting to make sure that me moving in was an appropriate option for me. Of course I couldn’t tell her it was the only option just yet, but I was working on a way to figure out how to do that.

Just as I was going to turn my light off, Hudson walked in wearing just a pair of sleep pants. I tried to keep my emotions in check as I took him in, but the blush on his cheeks told me that I didn’t do a very good job. Lord, it was like we were both little kids, embarrassed about seeing a little skin when only a few hours ago we were both completely naked.

“How did you manage to get first dibs on staying here tonight? Figured they would have objected since we already had cuddle time,” I teased.

Hudson slid into bed and took off his glasses before rolling over to face me. “They put up a fight alright, but I had logic on my side.”

“Are you going to tell me what that means?” I asked, having not a clue what he was talking about.

He reached out, grabbed what he could of my pajamas, and pulled me close to him. Snuggling in, I tucked my head under his chin and hitched a leg over his hip. The koala hold was my favorite way to sleep, I’d discovered.

“Well, you explained previously that you consider yourself married to Brayden after being Bonded. So if that is the case, then tonight would be our wedding night.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Oh, I’ll bet they hated that argument.”

“That may be, but I’m still here with you wrapped around me, so I see this as a win—don’t you?”

“Well played, Mr Lacy. Well played,” I murmured as Hudson kissed the top of my head and I drifted off to sleep.

The next morning found us all at the breakfast table, but this time everyone was chatting and the mood was much more relaxed. It was Christmas Eve, after all, and we would all be heading to Mr. Lacy’s house. Ben and Grace were much more interactive and told us all about what the plan for the day was.

“The most important thing we have to do today is get the Christmas tree!” Grace told us as she clapped her hands.

“I wondered why you didn’t have one up already,” I mentioned.

Grace paused at this and gave Ben the side eye before she seemed to deflate a little. “Oh, well, Mother doesn’t really like to have one in the house. She says it’s too messy and we only have it up for a week or so anyway, so it’s not worth it.”

I was a little shocked at this, although I’m not sure why. Since Hudson’s confrontation at the office, we hadn’t run into his mother. I wasn’t sure if she was avoiding us or if this is what they meant by her being gone a lot.

“When is your father expecting us?” Brayden asked, ever the one to need to be on time.

“If Grace has anything to say about it, the sooner the better,” Hudson said, giving his sister a look that made her smile.

Just as Grace was going to add in her thoughts, Isabelle walked into the room. “Grace and Ben will not be going with you. They will be staying here.”

I gasped as I felt rage rocket through me, and I knew it was coming from Hudson even as his face showed none of it.

“Why would that be?” he asked.

“They cannot afford to take the time away from their studies,” Isabelle offered, crossing her arms. “I may not be your mother, but I am theirs, and what I say goes.”

“You’re wrong. According to the court’s ruling, Father is entitled to spend time with them on Christmas Eve. Just like he has to make sure they are back on Christmas day for you to be with them—or did you forget those details?” Hudson shot back.

Isabelle gaped at him in shock. Try as I might, I couldn’t hold back my smile at her reaction, so I grabbed my coffee, trying to hide it.

“How could you possibly know that?” she asked, floundering with her response.

Hudson stood and put both his hands on the table as he looked the only mother he’d ever known in the face. “For this exact reason. There is absolutely no reason that Ben and Grace shouldn’t come with us to spend time with their father. Do you not even see how hard both of your children try to please you? Of course not, because you would need to be around for that to happen. Ben could get into any school he wanted, even with the two Bs you seem to be lording over him. Grace is graduating a whole year early! Most parents would be thrilled to have two such accomplished children.” Hudson paused to take a breath, closing his eyes a moment before he continued. “I made sure to read over the divorce agreement so you couldn’t use them as a tool to get back at Father. We will be leaving now, with both of my siblings, and they will be back tomorrow. The rest of us will not.”

Unable to provide an argument for anything Hudson said, Isabelle turned on her heel and stormed out of the room.

“That’s it, I’m calling it. Bonding with Lailah definitely causes us to level up—because that shit was amazing, Hudson!” Parker announced, breaking the tension.

Grace was the next one to kick back her chair and run over to Hudson, throwing her arms around him. “I can’t believe you stood up to her, thank you!”

“It seems like we should get packing before the wicked witch of the west kicks us out,” Micah muttered as he got up from the table next to me.

Reaching down, he grabbed my hand, pulled me up, and tugged me after him as he headed upstairs. We walked into the room he was sharing with Brayden, and he directed me to sit on the bed he’d been using.

“Um, everything okay?” I asked, my brows raised.

Micah started to move about the room, gathering things. “Why does something need to be wrong? Maybe I just want to spend a little time alone with you.” He paused and looked at me. “You okay with that?”

Just when I think I’m starting to figure these guys out, they pull shit like this.

“Totally okay with that. I’m sorry I didn’t realize sooner that you were feeling this way,” I answered, feeling guilty I hadn’t realized it myself.

“None of that,” Micah ordered as he walked over and cupped my chin, forcing me to look up at him. “It’s just as much my responsibility to tell you I need some time with you. There is only one of you in this relationship of six. Hudson has needed you more the past few days, and we all know that.”

“When did you get so insightful?” I asked, grinning.

Micah shook his head at me and dipped down to give me a forceful, all-consuming kiss. Pulling back slightly, he winked at me. “Looks like you might need to hang around me more to notice.”

“Micah, are you flirting with me right now?” I teased.

His answer was to push me down onto the bed, using his body to pin me down but not smother me. Sliding his hands in my hair, he held me where he wanted me as he proceeded to show me just how much he missed me. Reaching up, I pulled out his hair tie, letting his thick, wavy locks free for me to return the favor.

“Pardon the interruption, I’m just going to start packing my things while you two are busy,” Brayden said from somewhere in the room.

Micah pulled back and shifted to the side so he could pull me into being the little spoon. “What, you don’t want to join in?”

Brayden looked over at the two of us, cocking an eyebrow and setting his hands on his hips. “Oh, I didn’t think we were at that level yet. Have you finally decided to take the Oath and Bond with her?”

I snorted as I tried to hold in my laughter but utterly failed once Micah started poking me in the side.

“Think that’s funny there, Cookie Monster? I’ll give you something to laugh about,” Micah grumbled as he proceeded to tickle me until I was gasping for breath.

“Bryaden, help me,” I cried.

“Sorry, Angel, you got yourself into that one,” Brayden sighed as he packed his things like nothing was going on.

“Do you surrender?” Micah demanded as he kept on with his attacks.

“I give up, you win,” I gasped.

Micah stopped but loomed over me, his nose touching mine. “Bet your ass I win. Now, go pack your shit. Can’t have you holding up the rest of us.”

I huffed indignantly at him. “Oh right, because that would be my fault how?”

“Don’t sass me, woman. Get going,” Micah ordered, giving my ass a slap, sending me towards the direction of the door.

“Oh, you did not just do that!” I gasped.

Micah smirked at me. “Sure did. Now move along or I’ll do it again.”

Frowning, I walked out into the hall, crashing into Jay. Quickly, his hands settled on my hips as I bounced off him, a soft smile on his lips. “Spanking is on the table now? That is going to make things much more fun.”

“I never agreed to that.”

Jay leaned down and nipped at my ear. “Oh, I have a feeling you will, Beautiful.”

THIRTEEN

LAILAH

Mr. Lacy sent two cars to get all of us and our luggage since there was no way we would all fit in one with Ben and Grace joining us. Isabelle didn’t show her face as we all left, which I was thankful for. No need to make things worse. The driver took us back into Old Town where Mr. Lacy’s apartment was, which made me even more excited. The streets were filled with pop-up markets for presents and Christmas trees. Overnight, this place had turned festive. It wasn’t as gaudy as I was used to back in the States; they used more natural decorations and ribbons versus glitter and lights.

Reaching our destination, the drivers helped us carry our things up the five flights of stairs to the top floor. A set of dark stained wooden French doors greeted us. Grace promptly pulled out her key and unlocked the door, flinging them both open as she bounced into the place.

“Père, we’re here,” Grace called out.

The difference between this place and Isabelle’s couldn’t have been more extreme. Here the furniture was overstuffed, covered in dark leather, and very welcoming. It had a rich, warm feeling to it that just made you want to light a fire and read a book. Just another sign to show how different the two of them were.

Mr. Lacy walked out from a room dressed in pressed slacks and an emerald-green sweater, looking far more relaxed than I had seen him.

“I feel so honored to have you all here for Christmas Eve, a wonderful surprise indeed,” Mr. Lacy said with the biggest smile on his face.

Grace ran up to him, threw her arms around his waist, and hugged him tight. Mr. Lacy returned the hug and kissed the top of her head. “Well, my Gracy-goose, are you ready to show these guys how we do Christmas Eve?”

Pulling back just enough so she could look up at him, she nodded furiously. “Yup, but Hudson gets a special prize because Mère wasn’t going to let us come. If he hadn’t stood up to her, then we wouldn’t have been able to have a Christmas here at all.”

Chadwick’s eyes narrowed, and his smile dimmed a little as he looked at Hudson. “I’m sorry you had to do that, son. You should have called me. I would have handled it.”

“It was something I needed to do. It was time to stand up to her, to protect my family and do what’s right, even if it’s hard,” Hudson said as he took my hand.

The pride I felt for Hudson was overflowing, and I made sure that he could feel it too. What he had done might not seem big to others, but it was another step in the direction of not hiding his feelings anymore.

Chadwick watched Hudson for a moment before he nodded his head. “I can understand that. Well done, son.” Letting go of Grace, he clapped his hands before rubbing them together. “It’s time to find ourselves a Christmas tree.”

Already being in the heart of Old Town, all we had to do was walk out the front door of the building to find what we were looking for. Hudson took my left hand while Parker took my right, making me smile. As we wandered, inspecting tree after tree, I couldn’t help having this feeling that this was the first time that I had ever felt completely content.

It was clear to see that this tree was important by the way Ben and Grace argued over each selection. Just when I didn’t think we would find one, Ben gave a shout, causing Grace to race over to where he was. This tree was about six feet tall, and it was so full you couldn’t even see the trunk through the branches. I don’t think I’d seen a more picture-perfect tree in all my life.

“Que c’est beau. It’s perfect,” Grace said, smiling and clapping her hands.

Chadwick looked at the tree, then at us. “This is the moment that I always wished I’d had more help to bring home whatever they pick out. It seems to get bigger and bigger each year.”

The guys laughed along with him, and the vendor tied up the tree so that it was easier to carry. It took four of them to lug the tree back to the apartment, but the real adventure was getting it up all the flights of stairs with the narrow twists and turns. Once back home, Grace grabbed my hand, and we raced off deep into the back of the apartment to a large closet.

“We keep all the decorations and everything else for Christmas here,” Grace explained as she handed me boxes.

Unable to carry more, I headed off to the living room, where I assumed the tree would be set up. Placing the boxes down, I watched as Chadwick directed and Hudson and Ben tried to get the tree to stand up straight while Micah and Parker were tightening the stand underneath. I covered my mouth with my hands, trying to keep in the laughter.

“He said to stop tightening on your side, dipshit,” Micah snapped as the tree tilted to the left.

Parker’s head popped out front under the tree. “No, he didn’t. If you actually listened to someone for once, Mr. Know-It-All, you would have heard him say it was you who needed to stop.”

“Boys, if we could stay on the task at hand,” Chadwick interjected unsuccessfully.

“Oh you wanna go, asshat?” Micah growled, rolling out from under the tree. “You wanna say that to my face this time?”

Just as I was about to step in, Jay walked up and grabbed them both by their ears and tossed them onto opposite sides of the large sectional couch. Both of them looked shocked at the action, eyes wide, Parker’s jaw hanging open.

“We are guests in this house—act like it,” Jay stated.

Without even raising his voice, Jay had managed to make both of them look chagrined and mumble out an apology. Satisfied, Jay dropped down to the floor and within moments had the tree secure and standing straight.

“What magic have you performed on our silent ninja?” Brayden asked into my ear as he wrapped his arms around my waist.

I jumped slightly but relaxed into his hold. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“There was a time not so long ago that Jay would have just walked away and left them to fight amongst themselves. He kept himself detached from all of us, knowing that his father disapproved. Ever so slowly, he is proving again and again that he will fight for us to be a team—hence why he wouldn’t let them fight like that,” Brayden said with his head resting on my shoulder. “You, my Angel, are the miracle we needed to make this whole thing work.”

I let Brayden’s love for me and the other people around us flow through me. Never in my life did I think I would have a boyfriend like Brayden, let alone someone who, for lack of a better word, was my husband. Wait—I had two husbands now that Hudson and I had Bonded.

“About time you guys finished with that, we have some serious decorating to do here. Ben, will you grab pens for everyone to write with?” Grace directed as she brought in more boxes. “I always make sure that we make some of our decorations each year; it means more that way. Anyone can put things on a tree and make it look nice, but that takes away from the spirit of Christmas, non?”

The more I got to see Grace away from her mother, the more I liked her. She reminded me of a milder version of Cami, in some ways, with her drive to make things fun. Ben, on the other hand, was just as quiet, but he didn’t hunch his shoulders like he was waiting for the other shoe to drop, like he did at his mom’s. Coming back with pens, he handed one to all of us and then Grace followed, passing out strips of green and red paper.

“Now, we are going to write our wishes for the new year on these. I’m giving everyone three, so if you have more wishes you can put them down. I know that personally I’m going to want more than one,” Grace explained as she sat on the floor, legs crossed.

I had to agree that there was a lot that had changed in this year alone, and I didn’t know what would happen in the next. Part of me was worried to even try and think about it, but I’d promised myself that I wasn’t going to let the Dark Lord take away more from me than he already had. Walking over to the couch, I snuggled into the corner and grabbed a pillow to write on. I hunched over my work, not letting any of them see what I was writing. A girl had to keep some secrets. Just as I finished, I felt someone lean over the back of the couch, casting a shadow on my slips of paper.

“What are you wishing for, Trouble?” Parker asked from right beside my ear.

Quickly, I flipped the slips over so he couldn’t see. “Nope, I’m betting the same rules apply to all wishes. You don’t tell anyone what it is that you’re wishing for or it doesn’t come true.”

“That’s no fun,” he whined, trying to give me puppy dog eyes. “How are we supposed to make sure your dreams come true if we don’t know them?”

“Nice try, but I’m not going to tell you. Back me up here, Grace,” I said, looking up to find her grinning at us both.

“I have to agree with Lailah. You can’t tell people what you wish for.” Grace smirked.

Leaning back into the couch, I looked up at him. “Nice try, but not quite good enough.”

As Parker pouted at me, I gave him a peck on the lips but scooted out of the way when he tried to come back for more. I was not going to make out with one of my boyfriends in front of another’s parent and siblings.

“Now what do we do?” I asked even though I had a guess.

Grace stood up and took the slips from me and everyone else. “I’ll staple them together. That way no one will be able to peek.”

“Lailah, would you help me in the kitchen while Grace directs the boys on the decoration process?” Chadwick asked with a soft smile.

“Of course, I would be happy to,” I said, following him.

The kitchen was just off the living room with a door that led right into the formal dining room. It was far more simple than the one I’d glimpsed at Isabelle’s, and there was no hired help to do the cooking, it seemed. Chadwick pulled down a large wooden board, setting it on the counter, then started taking things out of the fridge.

“If you wouldn’t mind arranging all these things on the board while I cut up the cheese, that would be helpful,” he asked, nodding to the array of items.

We worked in silence as I tried to organize foods I didn’t recognize while he chopped cheese and some meat as well.

“Do you mind if I ask you a question?” Chadwick ventured.

I paused, scooping out the mini pickles to look up at him. The concern written all over his face made it hard to deny him what I knew he wanted to ask. “I don’t mind, as long as you are alright if I don’t answer it.”

“That’s fair,” Chadwick agreed, resuming his task. “I know that Hudson sees Isabelle as the closest thing he has to a mother, but I know she doesn’t view him as a son. It was one of the major reasons we got divorced. At first, we tried to work it out for Ben and Grace since they were still at home with us, but I could tell it wasn’t healthy.” Chadwick seemed to pause and switch gears on what he was going to say. “Did you know that this is the first time in ten years that Hudson has been home for Christmas? When he was at boarding school he never came home, even on breaks.”

Shocked, I snapped my gaze up to meet his. “Ten years? He told me it had been a while, but I just figured it was since he’d been at school.”

“He was sent to the Elementi schools as soon as his powers presented. Isabelle didn’t think it was safe to have him around Ben and Grace. I should have fought harder against her request, but I didn’t know the first thing about dealing with any of that. I’ve always been a scientist, and it was my cousin that held the water element before Hudson, and I never interacted with him. In trying to do what was best for my son, I also sent him away and made him feel unwanted. We have always stayed in contact, and he kept saying that he would visit since I moved out, but he never did until now.” Setting down his knife, he turned to me and grasped my hands. “I have seen the change that has come over him, and I know it’s because of you. Thank you, Lailah. Thank you for giving me another chance with my son.”

He leaned forward and placed a kiss on my cheek, making me blush at his heartfelt words.

“Um…” I started and cleared my throat. “You said you wanted to ask me something?”

“Right,” he said, combing a hand through his salt-and-pepper hair. “Are Grace and Ben safe with their mother? I don’t want what happened to Hudson to happen with them.”

I thought about that question for a moment and wondered if answering it was even my place. Yes, I was now part of this family for better or worse, but they didn’t know me and I didn’t know them—not really. “I won’t give you an answer to that question, but I do have a suggestion to help prevent something like that from happening, if you care to hear it.”

“By all means.” Chadwick gestured for me to continue.

“Find out what those two really want to do. Where do they want to go to college? What job truly interests them? Not what would be best for the family image, but what gets them excited about learning? They are extremely smart, kind, and they might even have talents that you don’t even know about that they would like to pursue. I think if you let them know they are heard and their opinion matters, it will change everything,” I answered with a shrug of my shoulders. “What could it hurt?”

“Indeed, what could it hurt...”

FOURTEEN

LAILAH

The rest of the day was filled with fun, laughter, and quality time with each other. This is what it was like for me and my family during the holidays, and I didn’t realize how much I had missed this in my life. After the tree was decorated, we played games until it was time to start making dinner. Chadwick had us all working in the kitchen, giving us our own assignments. Once he figured out that I was no stranger to cooking, he had me working on a few of the more involved dishes. It was enjoyable to learn a new style of food and the tricks they used for ingredients I hadn’t worked with very often. Finally, it was time to sit down and eat.

“Père, we never use the formal dining room,” Grace commented with a slight frown.

“Well, Goose, we never have this many people, and with the meal we made, it might be harder to manage sitting in the living room,” Chadwick said, setting down the last serving dish.

Grace nodded her head and took a seat next to me, cutting off Parker at the same time.

“Ah, I was going to sit there, Grace,” Parker complained.

“You get to be with her all the time. I, on the other hand, have no idea when she will come back to visit,” Grace stated as she placed her napkin in her lap.

Parker opened his mouth like he was going to argue, looking between me and the fifteen-year-old who had just outsmarted him. Letting out a heavy sigh, he moved on and took the seat next to Jay.

Grace turned to me with a slight frown. “How do you manage having so many boyfriends? I would think trying to deal with five needy men is a lot of work.”

I couldn’t help it. I burst out laughing at her sincere tone, like she genuinely wanted to know the answer. “I’m still figuring that out myself, Grace, since this is new for me still. Some days I’m better at it than others. Although, I was reminded the other day that it’s not just on my shoulders to keep up with what everyone needs. We all have to communicate and share when a little extra attention might be needed. Otherwise, we do end up spending a large amount of time together as a group.”

“Personally, I think I’m going to stick to only one boyfriend,” Grace said with a nod of her head as she grabbed the platter of food in front of her.

The rest of dinner was pleasant, and once it was finished, we all helped out once again, cleaning up. Ben asked if we could watch a Christmas movie, and everyone thought it was a great idea. Snuggled up between Brayden and Micah with a blanket, I couldn’t help but drift off to the sounds of Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Ben’s movie of choice.

“Well, look at this. Little Synergy has Bonded with another one of her Knights. I hate to tell you this, but you’re going to have to work a lot faster on that if you want to save yourself,” the Dark Lord purred in my ear.

I was back in the void where he liked to taunt me, making me feel abandoned and alone.

I was getting sick of it.

“I know what you’re doing with the serum, the new perfect hosts it creates for your demons,” I shot back.

The Dark Lord chuckled, sending shivers down my spine. “You only know what I want you to know, child. Just because you’ve learned this tidbit doesn’t mean you have a clue as to what I have planned for all of humanity.”

“Why do you keep pulling me here to talk to me? Every time I give you the same answer, and then you threaten me. What’s stopping you from just removing me from the equation?”

I felt the tip of a claw run along my jaw, causing me to hiss as it cut into my skin. “That was very short-sighted of me, wasn’t it? I do have a problem with controlling my temper. You, my Little Synergy, just seem to bring out the worst in me. I’m not used to people telling me no.”

“That didn’t answer my question.”

“Oh, but didn’t it?”

“My answer is never going to change, no matter what you do,” I growled as my frustration grew.

“Tut, tut now. I wouldn’t be making such bold statements; they always have the habit of making me want you to prove it. You say that nothing could ever change your mind. What about these men you hold so dear? No, that’s too direct—their families? Oh, I know! Your family,” the Dark Lord taunted. “Would you really let them be taken and used, left to rot? You see, for them, I wouldn’t use the serum. No, I would want you to watch them decay right before your very eyes. Doesn’t that sound like fun?”

Fury like nothing I have ever known burst forth, my powers reacting to my anger. The darkness was suddenly filled with golden light, creating a protective bubble around me. Tendrils of darkness tried to pierce the barrier, but they sizzled against the light, drawing back.

“I will not let you lay a finger on any of the people I love! One day soon we will find you, and we WILL stop you. I’d stake my life on it,” I screamed, hands fisted at my sides, shaking in anger.

Looming in the darkness, I could now see the Dark Lord’s face, his eyes pools of darkness, teeth razor sharp. He let one claw-tipped hand scrape down along my barrier, testing it. I knew he could break through it if he wanted to, since I wasn’t at my full potential with only two Knights bonded to me.

The Dark Lord tipped back his head and laughed, the sound shaking the ground I was standing on. “You ask why I don’t kill you? Because if I can turn you, oh, how you would be the perfect weapon to have at my side. Never have I seen someone so pure who also harbors the blackest evil in their heart.”

I wanted to argue, to tell him he was wrong, but with a flick of his wrist, I was thrown out of the darkness and back into reality.

“Someone better tell me what the hell is going on!” Chadwick bellowed.

Opening my eyes, I saw that I was now surrounded by a shield I had made in the darkness, Brayden clutching me to him.

“Lailah, you need to wake up. Please, Angel. I need you to come back to us. You are safe. We have you,” Brayden murmured over and over in my ear.

“The Dark Lord must have pulled her into another conversation. It’s the only time it happens these days,” Hudson explained to his father.

“That doesn’t make sense. This place is warded against any demon activity. He shouldn’t have been able to get to her,” Chadwick argued.

Shifting, I slowly sat up, pulling out of Brayden’s arms, and the barrier dissipated as I took a few deep breaths. Everyone in the room had eyes only for me. Ben and Grace were standing huddled by the entrance to the kitchen, fear written on their faces. Hudson was standing next to his father, a hand on his chest as if he was holding him back from coming to me. Micah was sprawled out on the floor with his hair sticking out like he’d been electrocuted, and his clothes even seemed a little singed. Glancing around the room, I found that the shield had left burn marks in the couch and floor where it had been.

“What happened?” I gasped.

“We would all like to know the answer to that question, Lailah.” Chadwick’s voice was hard.

I tried to understand that he was scared and that what happened could have hurt someone, but I couldn’t help but feel hurt by the anger and distrust in his eyes.

“Father, as I tried to explain before, the wards you have set up keep demons from entering, but that’s not what the Dark Lord does to her. Lailah survived an attack from a Greater Demon, and even though she was cleansed, it didn’t remove all the venom from her system. It seems that she can be pulled into some sort of limbo where the Dark Lord talks to her. We have tried many things to keep it from happening, but until we all Bond, we aren’t strong enough,” Hudson explained.

Chadwick looked at me, eyes narrowed. “Are you telling me this is a common thing that happens?”

I shook my head vigorously. “No, the Dark Lord has only started talking to me in the last week. I think he knew Hudson and I bonded and was upset about it, because this time he was much more aggressive in taunting me.”

“I see,” Chadwick said, relaxing slightly. “In light of this information, I am going to take Ben and Grace back to their mother’s. I don’t think it is a good idea for them to be around this. They have not been brought up knowing about the Elementi. Although I have a feeling that will change after this incident.”

My stomach dropped, and guilt started to squeeze my heart at his words. He was right. I was dangerous to people around me who didn’t know the hidden darkness in our world.

“No, please wait. We will go,” I said, standing.

Hudson and the others looked like they wanted to argue with me. “This is Christmas Eve, and you need to spend it with your children. Hudson will stay here, and the rest of us will find a hotel to spend the night in. I’m sure Ben and Grace will have lots of questions, and Hudson knows everything that’s going on. He will be able to help you. None of us have unpacked, and it’s safer to be just us while I’m clearly unable to control what happens with my powers.”

None of my guys seemed happy with my decision, but I wasn’t going to be moved on this. This was the world that we of the Elementi lived in, with our eyes wide open to the dangers. Hudson’s siblings did not, and it wasn’t fair to them—so we would leave.

“Thank you, Mr. Lacy, for an amazing day. I am so utterly sorry that I have caused a disruption to it.” With that I bowed my head, gathered my things, and walked out the door, lugging my suitcase with me.

Moments later, my luggage was taken from me, and I looked up to find Jay. Looking into his wise, gray eyes, I knew he understood what I’d done and that he was supporting my choice. I could only imagine with the missions and other things he has done working for his father, this was a simple call. To me, though, it just showed me that no matter how much I wanted to pretend, I couldn’t live a normal life with these simple, happy moments. Not until the Dark Lord was defeated.

I didn’t need to look behind me to know that the rest of them had followed me, and from the sadness in my heart, I knew Hudson had stayed liked I asked. He had just gotten the chance to have his family back, and I damn well wouldn’t be the reason he lost it again.

With a little bit of research, we found a hotel we could stay at. We got connecting rooms since they didn’t have a room large enough to fit us all. They decided to leave the door open between us, but they all ended up in the room I was staying in. Jay sat in the armchair by the bed, Parker was laid out with my feet on his chest, and Micah and Brayden were on either side of me, leaning against the headboard. The TV was on, but the sound wasn’t turned up since no one was really watching it.

Micah took my hand and lifted it to his lips, pulling my gaze to him. “You okay there, Cookie Monster? I’m sure that was a hard choice to make.”

I closed my eyes and let the tears I’d been holding back trail down my cheeks. “He’s right. Until this is over, I shouldn’t be around people who aren’t prepared to deal with the mess we bring.”

“Trouble, I hate that you think that. Was this a shitty situation—yes. Doesn’t mean it’s your fault,” Parker said, giving my feet a squeeze.

“Do you mind telling us what the Dark Lord wanted this time?” Brayden asked.

I really didn’t want to tell them what happened because I knew how they would take it. The fact they can’t protect me while I’m trapped in that dark world with him ate at them. Why should I add fuel to that fire?

“It was nothing new, he just wanted me to know he knew I’d added Hudson into the mix and that it still wouldn’t be enough. The upside is that because I’m stronger, I was able to put up that shield… not that it helped much, but it didn’t leave me in the dark,” I shared, shrugging my shoulders.

I could feel the doubt coming from Brayden. He knew I was holding something back by the way I was acting. This is when having someone so tuned into your emotions was more of a hindrance.

“Lailah, you know you can tell us anything, right?” Brayden pushed, giving me the chance to come clean.

Resting my head on his shoulder, I nodded. “I do, but sometimes saying more is not always going to be helpful. He wants to show me just how much power he has, and every time I tell him no, it drives him crazy. The Dark Lord is used to getting his way, but I’m the wild card that gets to choose what side I want to fight for. Every time, he tries to pick away at things, trying to see what he can use against me. Unfortunately, this time he hit on something, and it made me lose my temper and show him he had something to work with. So he proceeded to taunt further until he found the perfect place to sink his claws into.”

“What was it?” Jay asked.

I took a deep breath, not wanting to admit it, but I had to. They needed protection. “My family and you guys.”

“I hate to say this, but I’m surprised he didn’t go for that sooner. If he pays attention to you at all, he should know that the people you hold close to your heart are your weakness as much as your strength,” Jay pointed out.

“True. If he hadn’t made me that mad, I wouldn’t have created the shield. I did it once before when the avalanche was happening, but I’d never tried it in that dream world. Nice to know that some tricks can be used in both places,” I mused.

The room fell silent again, as we were all lost deep in thought.

“What do we do now?” Parker finally asked, unable to take the quiet any longer.

“Go back to Ryevick. I need to get working on my training, and it’s safer there for whatever is going to happen with the serum. The one thing I don’t doubt the Dark Lord on is following through on his threats.” I sighed. “Something is going to happen, and we aren’t going to like it.”

FIFTEEN

JAY

Finally, Lailah fell asleep, and the rest of us went into the other room, shutting the connecting door so we could talk. I could see the tension that everyone was carrying after she had told us about her most recent interaction with the Dark Lord. It seemed that I was the only one who wasn’t surprised at this turn of events. Demons never play fair and always go for the soft spot we all have in our lives.

If you had asked me four months ago what my weakness was, I would have said my mother. My father, the bastard that he is, couldn’t give two shits about her, abandoning her to live in Japan with her family. In his eyes, he had fulfilled his duty as man of the house by producing a male heir, and one that turned out to be an Elementi Warrior, at that. Try as he might to keep me under his thumb, I did things the way I wanted, even though on the outside it must look like I catered to him. It was situations like this with the Dark Army, where he kept holding things back from the Elementi organization that got people hurt or killed, that made me buck under his control even more. Especially now that I had a new weakness.

“What the fuck are we going to do? Should we have all our families on high alert?” Parker asked, running his hands through his hair. “We have to tell Beth. God knows if we don’t, she will just suffer in silence. Could you imagine if the Dark Lord or his people got to one of our family members—it would kill her.”

Even though I understood where Parker was coming from, his reaction was completely blown out of proportion. Hudson’s siblings were the only ones that didn’t grow up knowing about the Elementi. Since I was an only child and so was Micah, it brought the pool of people down considerably. Brayden and Parker had the largest families, but after the events with Ms. Tabitha, I can only imagine that they would have already stepped up security. Not to mention the Elementi would put out a bulletin alerting everyone to what we found out about the serum and what dangers it poses to us.

“Lailah is who he is after, so I think it would be best to get some kind of protection for her family. There was a team watching her for weeks before she came to Ryevick, so it shouldn’t be too hard to put them back in place,” Brayden reasoned.

“Any chance I could offer up my aunt as a sacrifice?” Micah mused, tapping his chin.

I couldn’t hold back a smirk at that thought.

“It’s more likely that she’s already possessed—that witch was awful,” Parker said with a shiver.

Micah let out a bark of laughter. “Now I know the world is ending—I agreed with Parker again about something.”

“Try not to make a habit out of it, will you? It’s starting to freak me out.” Parker frowned.

“Bringing us back to the matter at hand, we should get hidden protection for Lailah’s family. Then the second piece to this needs to be her training. We have put it off for far too long,” I interjected. “She is smart and picks things up quickly, but we need to fast track her on demons, self-defense, and figuring out what her powers can do. Everything else needs to be put on pause until we know she can protect herself if one of us isn’t there.”

“It’s times like these that I can’t understand why they don’t think you’re the smart one, Jay,” Parker said with amusement bright in his eyes.

Since the day we all met, Parker had been trying to figure out what makes me tick. He still had yet to figure it out—not from lack of trying, though.

“No, he’s right,” Brayden agreed. “Lailah needs a more in-depth course on demons, and understanding how her powers work will also help us. I’m sure there are things I can do differently now that we are Bonded, but I haven’t really had the chance to work with her on it. The same goes for Hudson. Who knows, there might even be a cool trick he and I can do. Now that we are both Bonded, I feel a new connection to him—nothing like what I have with Lailah, but still, it’s worth figuring out.”

“Then it’s settled. Once Hudson is back, we will fly to Ryevick and start working on understanding our new dynamic,” Micah said, getting to his feet and heading back to Lailah.

The three of us paused and looked at each other.

“Whose night was it supposed to be?” Brayden asked.

Parker raised his hand. “That would be me.”

Brayden let out a heavy sigh and headed in to tell Micah the bad news. A few minutes and a lot of angry whispers later, they both returned. Micah stormed up to Parker and got right up in his face. “You better not lay a finger on her tonight. She needs to sleep. Meetings with the Dark Lord always wear her out, and with the amount of power she’s expended and the emotional drama she’s been through, she needs rest.”

Parker frowned, eyes flashing with anger. “Why the fuck would you think I would take advantage of her?”

“Because you have this compulsion to get your way and pout if you don’t. She can’t take a guilt trip right now,” Micah snapped back.

Parker’s power swirled around him in his anger. The happy-go-lucky man was gone, and a storm cloud of anger stood in its place.

“Lailah means everything to me! I would never do anything to hurt her emotionally or physically—unlike someone else. Since I met her that first week of school, all I’ve ever wanted was to be there for her, whether it was as a friend or something more. Nothing I have done has been to manipulate Lailah in any way, so take your judgment and shove it up your ass,” Parker growled, shoving Micah away from him. “Maybe you should look in the mirror when you say shit like that, because I know damn well if she presents the chance for me to give my Oath, I’ll be man enough to do it.”

The room fell silent as Parker left, closing the door behind him firmly, showing restraint when he would normally have slammed it shut. None of us moved, too shocked at Parker’s outburst to know how to react.

“What the actual fuck just happened? We all know what a player he is and Lailah isn’t like all the other girls he sweet talked into sleeping with him. She needs it to mean something… hell everything,” Micah spluttered as he pulled his hair out of its binding so he could comb his fingers through it.

Crossing my arms, I replayed what just went down. “It seems that we have stumbled onto the one thing that will set him off like a bomb.”

“I didn’t think that was possible,” Brayden said, shaking his head. “Do we think it’s safe to leave him with her while he’s like that?”

“At this moment, I think Lailah is the safest woman in the world with him standing guard, but if we think it’s a good idea, I can stay there with them,” I offered.

They both nodded, looking more relaxed at the thought of me being in there as well. It didn’t cross my mind that Parker would do anything to Lailah, but tensions between Micah and Parker have always been high, and Brayden would always back Micah up. When I entered the room, I found Parker glaring at me from over Lailah’s shoulder like a wolf protecting its prize.

“Why are you here? Did they send you to make sure I didn’t molest her in her sleep?” Parker asked in a harsh whisper.

Lailah’s face scrunched up, and she shifted, turning into Parker as if to soothe him.

“No.”

That was the only answer I was going to give him as I lifted the covers and slid in beside Lailah. Laying on my back, I closed my eyes and refused to give into the argument that Parker wanted to have with me. I had every right, as one of Lailah’s boyfriends, to sleep beside her, and I wasn’t going to let him make me feel bad about it in the slightest.

SIXTEEN

LAILAH

The next morning, I woke up sandwiched between Parker and Jay, an odd but welcome combination. What I found even more strange, though, was how my lighthearted prankster was brooding and silent. A tension hung in the air with the other guys, making my skin prickle with agitation. They all tried to act like nothing was wrong and kept things light as we headed down to eat breakfast, but I knew better.

By the time we had finished, Hudson arrived with the car that was going to take us to the airport. Even without the ability to feel Hudson’s emotions, I could tell that last night had not gone well. He had bags under his eyes, and his shoulders slumped like he was too tired to fight against the world. The need to comfort and fix what was going on among my men made me fidget.

“Beautiful, if you don’t stop squirming on my lap, we are going to end up with a situation that you are not prepared to fix at the moment,” Jay whispered, his lips brushing along the shell of my ear.

Blushing, I forced myself to sit still. The car didn’t have enough room for all of us, so I was seated on Jay with his strong, muscular arms wrapped around my waist. Parker sat in the front seat, unwilling to be near the rest of the group, and would only speak if I talked to him directly.

So much for a merry Christmas. Seemed I needed to figure out what was going on with two of my men.

Boarding the plane, everyone spread out, but Hudson stuck close to my side, his hand firmly holding mine. The moment we were up in the air and the pilot announced that we were at cruising altitude, I unbuckled myself and pulled Hudson with me. I didn’t even look at the other men, knowing I could only fix things one at a time.

Closing the door to the bedroom, hands on my hips, I looked at Hudson sitting on the bed. “What do you need from me?”

Hudson hung his head and shook it slowly, like he didn’t even know what to ask for. Remembering how he craved my direction when we Bonded, I decided to try something I’ve never done before.

I placed my hand on his jaw and made him look at me, his blue eyes raw and lost in emotion that he never showed. “Scooch back on the bed and lay down on your side.”

He looked like he wanted to argue with me, but I raised an eyebrow at him with a slight frown. Sighing, he kicked off his shoes and did as I asked, looking over at me as if to make sure he was doing it right. I crawled up beside him and gently removed his glasses before I made him the little spoon in our cuddling. Knowing how much I loved it, I combed my fingers through his hair and watched his eyes flutter closed.

“Rest. Don’t think, don’t overanalyze. Just listen to the sound of my heartbeat and keep your eyes closed,” I murmured to him.

Within moments, his breathing evened and he fell asleep clutching one of my arms to his chest as I continued to play with his hair. Talking could happen later. At this moment, he just needed rest and to know he was safe and loved. When I was sure that he was soundly sleeping, I gingerly pulled away from him to deal with the other matters in the main cabin. As I walked back out, all eyes were on me as if I had just caught them doing something they shouldn’t have.

“So, who wants to tell me what the hell is going on with all of you?” I asked, crossing my arms.

“Why do you think there’s anything wrong?” Brayden asked, looking slightly guilty.

Shrugging my shoulders, I walked over to the couch. “I didn’t, but now I know there is, and the fact that you have been shielding me from your emotions all day tells me it’s something I’m not gonna like.”

“It’s not something you need to worry about or fix,” Micah grumbled, turning to look out the window.

“Right—like I’m going to believe that,” I commented, managing to stop myself from rolling my eyes. “A fight between you guys is the last thing we need to deal with right now. Or did you all forget that the Dark Lord is building an army of hosts that can get through our wards without detection?”

“No, we didn’t forget, Lailah,” Micah snapped. “Knowing what we are dealing with is part of the problem.”

Jay shot Micah a look, and they seemed to have this odd conversation through their mutual stare-down. Finally, Micah huffed and yanked on his headphones, tuning us all out. Jay got up and sat next to me, waiting a moment to make sure he had my full attention.

“When we get back, things are going to change,” Jay stated. “I know that Beth had a plan for what Elementi education to start with, but the way things are going, we need to fast-track you.”

“I agree. Learning all I can about demons and how we can all work together best is what we need to focus on.”

Jay nodded his head, happy with my answer. Leaning back, he rested his head against my shoulder and shut his eyes, surprising me with his causal approach to physical contact. It seemed that the more that Jay opened up to me, the easier things like this became for him to do. Having had the honor of meeting his father, I knew that outward expressions of love and affection were not something that happened often in his family, if ever. Moments like these showed me just how much we needed each other to get through this, because none of us were strong enough to do it on our own.

Brayden reached out and took my hand in his, rubbing his thumb over the back of my hand. “Angel, I need you to know that I’m not keeping secrets from you. If I felt like you needed to know what was going on, I would tell you. There are some things, as men, that we need to work through ourselves. Sharing a significant other with four other people is bound to result in some disagreements.”

Letting out a sigh, I leaned my head back and turned so I could look at him. “I understand that, I do, but working as a team is the only way that we will survive this. When we have that split second to make a choice, knowing that you guys will trust me to do as I ask is everything. Can you say without a shadow of a doubt that if Parker called to run, or freeze, you would trust that he is making the right call?”

Brayden looked at me, and I could see him truly taking what I was saying to heart. He didn’t answer me, but somehow I knew he wouldn’t, because I already knew the answer—he wouldn’t listen to Parker. While they had been making their plans for when we got back, so had I. They only saw things from the standpoint of protecting me and keeping me out of harm’s way, but they needed to know other people’s lives were at stake too. The Dark Lord had made it clear that he was going to do whatever he could to pull me to his side, even if that meant breaking me in the cruelest way possible. Not to mention, the whole serum and venom issue. I couldn’t even guess how this was going to turn out.

The rest of the flight back to school was quiet, and Hudson slept soundly, to the point that I had to go back and wake him up when it was time to land. He looked much more himself, and the lost look he’d given me had left his eyes.

When we de-boarded the plane, I was almost knocked over by a speeding dart of lime green hair. “Lala,” Cami yelled as she wrapped her arms around me. “You can never leave me that long again. You get into way too much trouble to be trusted with just these idiots to watch out for you.”

Laughing, I hugged her back just as tightly, having missed her just as much. “I think you might be right.”

Giving me a broad smile, Cami linked arms with me and pulled me towards the car that was going to take us back to school. Cami refused to leave my side, so she sat in the very back of the SUV with me and made one of the boys drive.

“I’ve had to go weeks without seeing her, so you all are just going to have to deal,” Cami grumbled.

The boys didn’t really argue and loaded into the vehicle heading back to the Manor. As much fun as it had been to travel, I was so very ready to be back in my own space. Cami chattered as we drove, filling me in on all the happenings of the school and her break thus far.

“So now we need to go shopping,” Cami declared.

“Wait, what?” I blurted.

Rolling her eyes at me, Cami pouted. “I knew you weren’t really listening to me, Lala. I was saying that we need to go and get outfits for the New Year’s party in town. Everyone goes. It’s the highlight of winter break.”

“You can’t take her, you little gremlin. I already asked Trouble to go with me,” Parker announced.

Snapping my gaze to his, I blinked. “You did?”

Parker gasped and clutched his heart. “Trouble, I’m wounded you can’t remember. I asked you before you left for Brayden’s.”

“I’m sorry. With everything that’s happened, it must have slipped my mind, but since no one else has asked me to do anything, then I will happily go with you to the party,” I answered, knowing I couldn’t turn Parker down.

With everything going on, he was the one person I hadn’t spent that much alone time with, and that needed to change. Knowing him and his love for attention and parties, this sounded like something he would really enjoy doing.

“Is this like prom? Do we need to coordinate colors?” I asked, having limited experience and never having gone out on New Year’s Eve.

Cami burst out laughing. “Lala, you kill me, you sweet, innocent thing, you. No, this is a time to knock ’em dead with your killer looks and guarantee you get a kiss once the clock strikes midnight.”

Micah whipped around in his seat, glaring at Cami. “You better not let her buy anything that would make her look like a hooker. I know you, Camilla.”

Cami lunged forward, forgetting that we had a row of people blocking her from getting to Micah. “I dare you to fucking call me that to my face, buttmunch. Do you really think that I would let my darling Lala out of the house like that?”

“Just know that I will hold you personally responsible if it happens, and then we will see just how tough you are,” Micah challenged.

Parker’s mischievous grin was back in full force for the first time today. “I say we have a match between the two of you and finally let you guys at each other, settle this once and for all.”

“I like the sound of this,” Cami said, perking up at the idea. “Remember, no fucking powers allowed with the normal human.”

Micah gave her a smirk before he turned back to the front. “Don’t worry, I won’t need them to beat your ass.”

“Big words, flame boy. Better hope they don’t bite you in the ass when I win,” Cami taunted, winking at me.

Shaking my head, I looked out the window as we pulled back onto the school grounds, letting this happy moment wash over me and knowing it wouldn’t last.

SEVENTEEN

LAILAH

We all agreed to take the next day off since this whole winter break had been a crazy whirlwind of one thing after another. Beth did have us sit down with her and a few others of the Elementi leadership to go over what we learned while we were gone, wanting to hear it firsthand. I was surprised to see how many people were not at all bothered by what was going on in the labs, instead saying it had brought us information we wouldn’t have had otherwise. To me, that was hardly a good enough reason to allow such a thing to continue happening, but to them we were still children who didn’t understand the world and how it was a necessary evil. Thankfully, we didn’t need to work with them on a regular basis, and Beth was our go-between for other matters.

“Lailah, I have to agree with the boys. We need to get you educated on matters we are dealing with at the moment. Once things calm down, we can go back and deal with the history of our people since it is important to know where we came from,” Beth said, sitting across from me in her office, looking up from her tablet.

Beth and I had spent the past hour working on a new schedule for the upcoming semester. It looked like I wouldn’t be doing any classes on the main campus, instead doing all the work here in the Elementi headquarters under the Manor.

“Will it draw attention that I’m here on campus but not taking classes?” I asked, looking up from the list of classes the Elementi offered.

“Hmm, I’m just afraid if we even did one class on campus like Jay, it might make things even more obvious. If we keep you out of sight, then people will talk less, assuming you left the campus,” Beth reasoned.

Something about that didn’t sit well with me. I didn’t want any of those girls who had it out for me to think they won. “Even if I am Synergy, I would still like to graduate with a degree of some kind.”

“Oh, you will. Even if you are taking Elementi classes, you will graduate with a Masters in Mythology and Ancient History,” Beth informed me. “I guess you could also add on something for the amount of martial arts that you will be learning as well, but we don’t typically do that since it’s not on the main catalog of class options,” Beth mused, tapping her chin with a pen.

I shook my head and looked over the list I’d written down for this semester. “Okay, so if we do Intro to Religion and Demonology, Elemental Powers 101, Basic Hand-to-Hand Combat, Weapons Training, along with Wards and Spells Against Demons, that should cover what I need to know right away.”

“Don’t forget the special sessions we are going to do with Nona and Tony to see what we can do with your combined powers,” Beth interjected.

“Tony? You mean the security guard?” I asked, remembering him from my very first day of school.

Beth paused her typing to look up at me. “You’ve met?”

“Yeah, Cami sent him to help me with my boxes when I first got to school. He said they were friends, and now that makes a whole lot more sense, knowing he’s part of the Elementi,” I said with a shrug of my shoulders.

“Cami had the head of security for the whole school come and help you move in? I don’t know why I’m even shocked at this, to be honest. I mean, of course she would do that—she never wanted to keep any of this a secret from you in the first place,” Beth muttered, shaking her head. “Wild child, that one. Let’s hope Maggs can manage to handle her crazy.”

I had my money on Maggs dealing with Cami’s brand of crazy with ease. The more time I spent with those two, the more I couldn’t have picked a better match for my pint-sized best friend.

“Anyways, yes. Tony and Jay will be working with you on all physical aspects of your training. Nona will be in charge of anything to do with your powers, Mr. Creed will be your resource for all things demon, and Mr. Phillips for history and religion. Always feel free to reach out to me as well if you aren’t sure who to ask about something. We have so many available resources that I’m sure I can find someone to help you.” Beth smiled and stood up, letting me know that our meeting was over.

“Thanks Beth.” I nodded, returning her smile as I left her office.

Heading back up to my room, I found Parker sitting on the couch playing some video game that had lots of shooting and explosions.

“Come on! Seriously dude, how could you play dirty like that?!” Parker yelled at the TV, tossing his control up in the air.

It was then I realized he was wearing a headset and actually talking to someone on the other end.

“I told you they would have that part of the warehouse rigged with explosives, but you still pushed me anyway. So not cool, man,” Parker grumbled as the screen showed the countdown before he could log back in.

Smiling to myself, I walked past him and headed for my room, but a hand wrapped around my wrist and I was pulled onto his lap, causing me to let out a yelp.

“Hey man, I’m gonna log off for the day. It seems I’ve found myself some other Trouble to get into,” Parker said with a wide grin and a wink, making me blush. I could hear someone talking on the headset before Parker yanked it off and pulled me more snugly against him. “What do you say you and I go into town and get some sugar cookies?”

“Really?” I asked, turning to see his face better.

“Really, really. You and I haven’t had much time to ourselves, and I’m craving some quality time with my girl,” Parker answered, giving me a squeeze. “It’s too cold to take the bike, but I don’t think you’ve had a ride in my pride and joy yet, have you?”

I frowned up at him. “Since I have no idea what you’re talking about, I would say no. I didn’t even know you had something other than your bike here.”

“Oh, this is gonna be fun. Alright, go get bundled up so we can enjoy the town in all its winter glory,” Parker directed, setting me on my feet and giving me a small shove in the direction of my room.

Glancing over my shoulder, I saw him vault out of the chair and race off to his room. Grinning, I headed to my closet and looked through my hoodies grabbing one that said any time is cookie time, pulling it on before grabbing my lighter winter jacket. Since Cami had made fun of me for my puffy winter coat, I just couldn’t wear it without thinking about looking like the marshmallow creature of the GhostBusters movie. Snagging my floppy beanie from my suitcase that I hadn’t totally unpacked, I raced out the door and down the stairs to pull on my boots, which were by the back door. Parker was there waiting for me, grabbing the keys off the hook and opening the door for me.

Heading to the garage, we stopped in front of a large truck that was cherry-red and lifted so high that I wasn’t sure how I was going to get into the thing. Parker opened the passenger door, picked me up by my hips, and tossed me into the vehicle. I laughed as I grabbed the handle to make sure I didn’t fall back and slid onto the soft cloth seat. This was something I expected to see back home with all the farmers and ranchers around, not here on the other side of the world, but it totally fit Parker. Climbing in, he turned the key, and the whole thing rumbled to life, letting out a puff of black smoke like a dragon waking up from a slumber.

“Trouble, this is Roxy. My dad and I rebuilt her together when I first got my license. I thought it was high time the two of the most important women in my life, besides my mother, should meet,” Parker announced.

After a few moments, we pulled out of the garage and headed into town. I’d always liked Drittilyn and how quaint it was, but add snow and Christmas decorations, and it was straight out of a picture you would find on a Christmas card. The shops looked so cheerful with the ribbons, evergreen, and shimmering ornaments that I couldn’t help but smile. Parker found a spot at the end of town furthest from where we wanted to go, a not-so-subtle plan to keep us out longer. Opening my door, I waited for Parker to round the truck so I could use him to get down. Resting my hands on his shoulders, I felt his hands wrap around my hips, guiding me down as I slid from my seat.

“Did you do that on purpose so you would have to manhandle any girl you let in or out?” I asked with raised brow.

Parker looked back at the truck, then me, with a surprisingly soft expression. “You are the first woman to ever ride in Roxy. I don’t even think all the guys have ridden in her before. When I say that truck is important to me, I mean that. So no, this is not some chick-mobile, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

I was so shocked my mouth fell open, unable to come up with something to say. Taking my hand, Parker threaded his fingers between mine, and we headed off down the street. We had a blast popping in and out of random little shops, and of course Parker needed to stop by his favorite candy place and get a one-pound bag full of sweets.

“I can’t believe you haven’t had a Kinder egg before. They’re the best. You get candy and a prize all in one,” Parker said, walking backwards so he could look me in the face. “If you’re willing to share some of your cookies with me, then I will gladly give you a Kinder egg all of your own—I’ll even let you keep the prize.”

“You drive a hard bargain, Parker. I’ll have to see you eat one to show me that it’s worth giving up one of my treasured sugar cookies,” I teased.

Parker gaped at me, clutching his chest. “You doubt my word? Don’t you know by now that I would never steer you wrong, Lailah?”

“Of course I trust you, silly, but I still don’t know if your taste in sweets is compatible with mine. This could be a make-it-or-break-it moment for us,” I answered sarcastically.

Parker stopped suddenly, and I crashed into him as he quickly wrapped his arms around me, holding me safely against his chest. Peering up at him, I was shocked to see that he had a worried look in his eyes. “Lailah, do you trust me? I’m not talking the way you trust a friend. I mean, do you truly trust me enough to give a piece of your heart to me?”

Taken aback by this dramatic turn of events, I couldn’t seem to answer him right away. Seeing my hesitation, an expression of hurt flickered across his face, and he leaned down, resting his forehead against mine, taking a few deep breaths. After a moment, he released me and took a step back, turning to head down the street.

“Wait, Parker,” I blurted, grabbing his coat to keep him from walking away from me. “I do trust you. I’m sorry I hesitated, but you caught me off guard, so I froze. Ever since the first day I met you, you have been nothing but kind, caring, and understanding. Any time I have been unsure or too scared to try something, you are right there by my side to help me through it, and then the first to celebrate with me when I discover something new. I wouldn’t have been able to get this far without you—so to answer your question, yes, I do trust you.”

Parker turned back to me and brushed his thumb along my cheek. “You don’t trust me the way I want you to—hell, need you to—but maybe someday I’ll prove to you that you can.” Wrapping an arm around my shoulder, he pulled me against his side as he opened the door to Anne’s bakery. “Come on, Trouble. We have some sugar cookies to buy.”

EIGHTEEN

PARKER

Iwatched as Lailah and Anne talked, catching up after being gone for the holidays. The soft smile on Lailah’s face made my heart melt just a little, especially after everything she had gone through the past week or so. I was glad to be home and to get some sense of normalcy back.

I knew that she would be starting classes and training full time soon, so I pounced on the chance to spend time with her alone. Sitting back and watching her bond with the others was a double-edged sword. I knew we had a solid connection, but it wasn’t the kind I wanted. Fear creeped in, telling me that I was nothing more than a friend to her and even if I offered up my Oath, she wouldn’t take it. Sure, we had made out, but giving in to physical urges was easy—I should know.

Before I met Trouble, I’d always searched for the next emotional high. Being the Knight gifted with the power of emotions made it easy to get lost in them when I was at a party. The fun was intoxicating, pushing me to find more places I could get my next hit, so I did. Soon, I had the reputation of being a social whore who was only interested in a good time, not a long time. Which wasn’t always true, I had a long time girlfriend in high school. That is until she walked away from me because she didn’t think her parents would approve. Maybe that’s why I decided it would be easier not to get attached, a heart as big as mine made the pain of rejection ten times worse.

Then, I crashed into the one woman who gave me the biggest jolt of emotion I’d ever experienced. Once I’d met Lailah, I couldn’t seem to stay away from her. She was a light that I was drawn to, and once she came into her power, the pull was even stronger.

When we fought against Ms. Tabitha back in Austria, the rush of having her pull and push power through me was unlike anything I had ever felt before. I couldn’t even imagine what it would look like when we Bonded and she could feel my emotions the same way I felt hers when we touched. Knowing she would have five different people’s emotions rolling around in her brain made me worry. Being a person who could pick up on that with a simple touch if I was trying, I knew how overwhelming it could be not knowing if you’re the one feeling it or not.

“Parker, oh Parker,” Lailah called in a sing-song voice. “Earth to Parker, you still with me?”

Shaking myself out of my thoughts, I slapped my customary grin on my face. “Aw, you can’t get rid of me that easily, Trouble. What’s up?”

“Well, I didn’t know how many cookies you wanted or if you liked them frosted or not,” Lailah said, pointing at the case.

Walking up, I settled my hands on her hips and rested my head on her shoulder, looking at the options. “What are you feeling like today Trouble?”

“Oh, I always want the plain kind. The frosting covers up the taste of the cookie too much,” Lailah answered, turning her head to look at me.

“Then we will take all you have left, Ms. Anne,” I declared, looking up at the older woman who had a knowing smile on her face.

Lailah gasped and turned to face me. “Parker, that is far too many. We can’t eat all of them today.”

“We’ll see about that. I know a few others who might be interested in getting one of your cherished cookies.” I winked.

I smiled even more as her cheeks bloomed with a soft blush and her eyes dropped from mine as she smacked my arm. “Don’t you dare start that again. If you and Cami keep talking about my favorite food like that, I won’t be able to look at it the same.”

“Oh, Trouble, I haven’t been able to think of a sugar cookie the same way since the first time I met you,” I teased as I looked up at Ms. Anne. “I don’t know if you remember me at all, but I was the asshole who smashed her cookie the first time she came here.”

Ms. Anne chuckled. “As it so happens, I do remember you were quite upset that you had ruined your chances with this young lady.”

“Look at us now, only a few months later and we’re dating. Guess you could say your cookies brought us together.” I sighed, hugging Lailah tight against my chest as she muttered something under her breath. “So it’s only right that we need to have all the cookies you have for our date.”

“Very well, I’ll box them up for you.” Ms. Anne smiled, pulling the tray out of the display and carrying it into the back where I guessed there might be more.

Lailah pushed back from my chest so she could look up at me. “What on earth are we going to do with that many cookies? For real,” she demanded, giving me an attempt at a glare.

“I already told you not to worry about it, but we have one more stop to make before we head off to our second location,” I explained, knowing that spontaneity was not her strong suit.

She just rolled her eyes at me and let herself relax against my chest as we waited for Ms. Anne to come back. It didn’t take long, and I was a little surprised at the large pastry box she brought back out with her.

“Now, I do have to admit I would love to know what you’re going to do with thirty cookies, but I’m sure Lailah will fill me in another time,” Ms. Anne said as she rang up the purchase and took my card.

I ignored Lailah’s groan at the price, but she was just going to have to learn that I liked to spoil her, as did a few of the other men in her life. Having seen from past experience what Brayden was like with previous girls he had around him, I couldn’t wait to see Lailah lose her shit when he did something over the top and romantic. Even Micah, for the dick he was, had been known to splurge on a girl or two. He might not have much of a heart left inside his chest, but what he did have was some smooth moves when he wanted to.

Holding the box like it was made of glass, I headed out of the bakery, holding the door open for Lailah. “We need to head down to the shop at the end of the street for the last item before we can head out of town.”

“Did you really have this all planned or are you just pulling this out of your ass?” Lailah questioned as we headed off.

“What answer would give me better chances of making out with you later?” I grinned.

Shaking her head, Lailah laughed, and it was the most soothing sound to my soul.

“Just because you said that, I’m not going to on principle, but I might be willing to let you change my mind.”

“Oh, you’re in trouble. You can’t lay down a challenge like that and not expect me to kick its ass,” I said, bumping into her with my hip and wagging my brows before coming to a stop next to a small chocolate shop. “This is our next stop. Would you mind holding these while I get what we need?”

Gently, I transferred the box to her and pulled the door open for us. This was one of my favorite places. The owner was a grizzled old man who was training his son to take over the business when he died, but that was twenty-five years ago, and he was still here every day making his delicious chocolate with secret recipes.

“Would you look at what the cat dragged in,” Hugo grumbled as he shuffled his way to the counter. “If you’re looking for the raspberry drops, I told you I only make those in season, and now is not when that happens. Don’t even try that smooth talking mumbo jumbo with me. I won’t be swayed to use that greenhouse, chemically treated shit they have in the stores.”

I couldn’t hold back my bark of laughter as I saw Lailah’s shocked face at how this man was talking.

“Calm down, old man, I’m not here to harass you. The smack on the hand with that wooden spoon of yours isn’t quickly forgotten. I am in need of a container of your famous hot chocolate that has the super secret recipe,” I explained.

Hugo narrowed his eyes at me, his bushy eyebrows almost hiding them from view. “You wouldn’t be sassing me now, would you boy? What kind of business owner would I be if I handed every Tom, Dick, and Harry my recipes? This is why I can’t let Lucas take over—too soft, that one, but Anna is off in London running some bigwig’s company when she would have been better off here with her family.”

“You know that if you want to retire, you have to let Lucas take on more responsibility at some point,” I pointed out, knowing what his answer would be.

Hugo slammed his large fist on the wooden counter. “Do I look like I need to retire to you, boy? I’m not going soft any time soon like all those others in their rocking chairs. Bah, when you stop working is when you die.” Shaking his head, he looked up and seemed to notice Lailah for the first time. “Why didn’t you tell me you brought a lady friend with you? Letting me go on rambling like some old dodder.”

Shuffling his way around the counter, he walked up to Lailah, took the box from her hands, and shoved it into mine. “Ladies should never carry things if a man is around, you hear me? Don’t let this runt fool you into taking care of him; I know full well that he is more than capable. You see, his family and mine go way back, been knowing this idiot since he was a baby. If he ever needs some straightening out, you let me know and I’ll take care of it.” He patted Lailah on the cheek, giving her a rare smile.

“Hey now, don’t you be trying to steal my girlfriend like that,” I challenged.

Hugo looked at me, then grunted. “Don’t make it so easy and I won’t. Now, you said you need hot chocolate. I’m guessing you need it to keep her around when she realizes what she agreed to date. I’ll make up for the large thermos, then. It’s gonna take quite a bit.”

Without too much more hassle, hot chocolate in hand, Lailah and I headed back to the truck, where I got to help her once again up into her seat. As we drove, the silence between us was comfortable and easy, something I’ve never really been able to experience with anyone else before. It was more my nature to be on the move, ready for the next thing to happen, but Lailah made me appreciate what was happening now.

Back on the school property, I took her over to the Computer Science building, where I spent most of my time focusing on my major. Waving my key card over the sensor, I opened the door to my space and heard her gasp.

Taking her hand, I carried the cookies and handed her the cocoa as I led her into my sanctuary. My freshman year I’d been able to sweet talk one of the professors into letting me have my own office if I did extra work for the school when they needed it. My first year here, I built my own computer and set it up in this room, turning the whole thing into the perfect nerd den. My black and purple racer chair sat waiting for me to take my place in front of the three large screens and wield the power of the internet at my fingers. The box that held the brains of my computer had glass sides so you could see everything working. LED lights set it aglow, dancing along to whatever music I was playing. Even my keyboard lit up in rainbow colors, adding life to the room. On the walls were posters of my favorite video games and diagrams of the first microprocessor chip and other computer-related technology.

“Parker, where are we?” Lailah asked, taking it all in.

Turning, I splayed my arms out. “This, Trouble, is my nerd-dom on display. Here is where I perform the magic—well, okay, lately I’ve just been sneaking in here to play video games, but don’t tell the staff that or they’ll take away my keycard.”

“This is so cool! Are we going to play something together?” she asked, taking a seat in my chair.

“What a silly question, of course we are. I know how pitiful your video game knowledge is, so we are going to start chipping away at that. Now, have you ever heard of a game called W.O.W.? And how do you feel about being an elf?” I asked as I pulled in another chair from the main room.

“Um…”

I let out a heavy sigh. “We have a lot of work to do. Good thing we have the cookies and hot chocolate to fuel us through this.”

NINETEEN

LAILAH

“Lala, come on. You haven’t been able to spend any time with me since you got back,” Cami whined, sprawled across my bed. “I have this whole day planned out. I just need you to come with us.”

Maggs sat in one of the armchairs in my room, looking at her girlfriend with a raised eyebrow. “If you keep acting like that, no one will want to hang out with you.”

Cami shot up and looked at her, wide-eyed. “Even you?!”

“How ’bout you stop being so needy and we just don’t find out, okay?” Maggs suggested as she turned to me. “We do really have a fun day planned and would love to have you join us.”

“It’s still winter break, and you have been working the WHOLE time,” Cami pointed out, her face so hopeful.

“Fine. I was going to get some reading done, but you’re right. It could wait a little longer,” I sighed, giving in.

Cami shot off my bed, hooting and hollering while doing this odd little dance. “Alright, now you have to dress warm. We’re gonna be outside. I’m gonna get snacks from Sarah and meet you downstairs when you’re ready.”

It didn’t take me long to pull on some extra layers and thick wool socks, beating them to the door. Cami arrived with a basket filled with goodies for us to eat wherever we ended up. Thankfully, Maggs pulled up in her SUV and we piled in, not having to cram into Cami’s little Fiat. Chatting as we drove, the time flew by until we were pulling down a dirt road that was easy to find with all the other vehicles that had made the journey. We ended up in an open field with a large pond with people ice skating on it.

“Guys, are we really going ice skating?” I asked excitedly.

“As long as you promise not to show me up, because something about your reaction tells me you’ve done this before,” Cami laughed, seeing me almost bouncing in my seat.

“I love ice skating, but I haven’t been able to talk anyone into going with me, and it’s not fun when you’re by yourself.” I grinned, clapping my hands. “This was such a great idea, Cami.”

“Now you’re getting in the spirit! And you wanted to stay home and read. This is why you need me in your life, otherwise you would miss out on all the fun stuff ,” Cami announced as she hopped out of the car.

We headed to the little wooden hut where they were renting the skates, and soon we were on the ice. My family wasn’t big into sports, but hockey was one that Kyle played, so I got to take figure skating while he had practice. Once I discovered my love for track, though, that fell by the wayside. After a few steps, the feeling of it came back to me as if I’d never taken time off. Cami was a little more unsteady, but a few laps around the pond and she was skating circles around me. I was glad that there weren’t many people out today, meaning we didn’t have to fight for space on the ice. When we were ready to take a break, Cami slipped off her skates and grabbed the snacks from the car.

“Thank you so much for doing this, Cami. It’s been one of the best days,” I said as she handed me hot chocolate. “Holy shit. This stuff is amazing.”

“Right? There is this old man in town who makes it. It’s ruined all other hot chocolate for me for the rest of my life,” Cami said, hugging her cup.

“I thought it might be from there, Parker took me the other day,” I shared as I savored the chocolaty goodness.

Our peaceful moment was cut short as a woman screamed, drawing our attention back to the lake. There stood a man, his hair wild, clothes torn and disheveled, holding a little boy in his arms with a knife to his throat. It took me a moment to realize he was also on the end of the pond that had thinner ice and had been marked off by cones.

“Oh, Synergy. Come out, come out, wherever you are. I would hate for something awful to happen to this little boy,” the man said as he dissolved into crazed laughter.

I tossed aside my drink and rushed towards the pond without even a second thought. I could hear Cami and Maggs hot on my heels, refusing to let me deal with this on my own.

No, no, no. This couldn’t be happening right now.

The Dark Lord had warned me that something was going to happen and that others would be affected by it, but I didn’t think this was how it was going to happen. What reason would this possessed man have to harm an innocent child?

When I reached the lake, I had to slow down and carefully make my way across the ice now that I was back in my normal shoes.

“What a good little Knight you are, rushing to the rescue of this poor boy,” the man said, his eyes wild and his grin manic. “Oh goody, you have friends with you! This is going to be so much more fun!”

Sliding to a stop a few feet before him, I lifted my hands, motioning him to stop as he took another step backwards. “Wait,” I begged. “Please, just tell me what you want. You have my full attention. There is no reason to do anything to that child.”

Panic pulsed through my veins, unsure of what I could possibly do.

“What I want… hahaha. Synergy, this has nothing to do with me. I am but a humble servant of the Dark Lord,” he said with pride. “Did you know that I responded to the serum so well that I don’t need to be taken over by another? He said that I was dark enough all on my own. Can you imagine that? As a now enhanced human with my inhibitions taken away, I am evil enough to rival a demon.”

It was no secret there were dark and evil people in the world that did horrible things, but to be face to face with one such person was not something I had planned on experiencing. “Who are you? If we are making introductions, it only seems fair I know who you are.”

“Marvin Brown is who I was, but now I was given the name Ubel by the masters I serve, to match the evil that lives inside of me,” he answered, giving a slight bow and causing the little boy to whimper.

“So, Ubel, tell me what happens now?” I questioned.

Ubel gave me a smile that was more teeth than anything as he took another step back and slammed his heel into the ice, shattering a hole. “The Dark Lord wants to remind you that all that is to come is your doing. Their blood will be on your hands as much as mine, Synergy. The only way to make it stop is to kill me or surrender before the body count becomes too high.”

Before I could even react, Ubel dropped the boy into the icy water with a shriek and disappeared in a puff of tell-tale demonic green smoke. Bolting forward, I slipped, slamming my knees against the ice, but I didn’t care as I scrambled as fast as I could to the hole. The surface had already started to freeze again, so I punched it with my fist, pulling the shards of ice out of my way. Cami and Maggs were beside me doing the same, but we all paused as the ice groaned under our combined weight.

“You need to back up. The ice can’t handle the three of us,” I snapped as I thrust my arms into the water, trying to see if I could grab the boy. “How deep is this pond?”

“This is the deepest part. More than six feet, close to ten,” Maggs answered as she scooted back slightly, Cami less willing to listen.

There’s no other option if I’m going to save this boy. I have to go after him; the water is too dark to see anything.

Peering over my shoulder, I saw Cami’s wide eyes lock on the opening. Before she could stop me I dove headfirst into the water. Calling my power to the surface, I threw it out around me, lighting up the murky water with its golden glow. It gave me enough light that I could see the little boy below me. Using all my strength, I swam as fast as I could, even as my skin burned against the frigid water.

Reaching out, I grabbed his little hand and pulled him close to me. I was able to use the bottom of the pond to push off, giving me momentum as I struggled to swim back to the surface. I prayed that I would be able to find the opening as I felt my lungs burning with the need for oxygen. As my limbs grew heavy and it was even more of a struggle to keep moving forward, a hand appeared. Reaching up, I brushed the fingertips of the person, causing them to dart towards me and grasp my wrist. Knowing we were saved, I gave everything I had to kick up the last few inches so other hands could grab hold of us and drag us out of the water. Gasping for air and coughing, I rolled onto my side as the boy was pulled from my arms. People were frantically shouting and moving around me, but I was so cold it was all I could focus on.

Cami’s face loomed over me, her face tight with fear and anger. “What the fuck were you thinking, Lailah?! You could have died pulling a stunt like that! Hell, you still could if we don’t get you warmed up.”

They both grabbed me and hauled me up, moving to the closest bank instead of crossing the pond like we did before. Once we were on solid ground, they moved as quickly as they could, dragging me towards the SUV.

“The boy,” I croaked, fighting against them. “Did he make it?”

Maggs glanced down at me as she threw open the car door and set me in the passenger seat. Ignoring me, she ran around to start the truck, turning the heat up as high as it could go. Cami started pulling off all my clothes, chucking them into the back of the SUV, muttering to herself still.

“Cami,” I pressed as she yanked my sodden shirt over my head. “I need to know—did the boy live? Is he alright?”

Frowning, she glanced over in the direction of the pond but still wouldn’t talk to me. I tried to turn so I could see what was going on since Cami wouldn’t tell me anything, but she stopped me, cupping my face between her hands.

“Please trust me, Lala. Just look at me. We need to get you warm. You are literally turning blue right before my eyes,” she begged, wrapping a blanket around me that Maggs pulled from the back seat. “I can’t answer your questions because I don’t know. They started giving him CPR right away, but other than that, I don’t know. As your guardian, you are my first priority.”

My body started to shake, and not just from the cold, as I processed her words. “What if I didn’t save him in time? It would be my fault he’s dead. I… I could have stopped this from happening, but I refused.”

Cami grasped my shoulders and gave me a rough shake. “You listen to me, Lailah—none of this is your fault. There was a crazy man who admitted he was evil and twisted. You are not responsible for someone else’s actions. He came here knowing he was going to hurt someone to mess with your head. This is exactly what the Dark Lord wants to have happen, and we can’t let him win—do you hear me?”

Numb, I nodded my head, but I didn’t really believe what she was saying to me. I chose to taunt the Dark Lord in our last conversation, and he was making good on his threat in a more twisted way than I could have imagined. Was this just the beginning?

“I need to get you back home so we can warm you up. The last thing we need is for you to be out of commission when you are the key to dealing with all of this crazy shit,” Cami muttered as she tucked me into the seat and buckled me.

Maggs hopped into the driver’s seat as Cami pulled out her cell that had been going off like crazy. “Hudson, we have a situation. Lailah is hypothermic after taking a swim in the ice-skating pond. I have her out of most of her wet clothes and wrapped in a blanket with the heat on. What else should we do while I’m heading back to you?”

I could hear Hudson talking quickly and shouting at someone, but I couldn’t make out his words.

“Fuck, I’m such an idiot… I have hot chocolate I can give her… small amounts at a time… got it.” Cami nodded as she hopped back out of the car and ran to the bench we had been sitting on when this all started.

She was still talking on the phone, but from the anger clouding her face, I didn’t think it was Hudson she was talking to anymore. Shouting into the phone, she hung up and swore before getting back in.

“Alright, Lala. I need you to hold onto this thermos and take small sips of the hot chocolate. Don’t guzzle it down—that could make you throw up,” Cami instructed.

As we pulled out, I turned to get a clear view of the pond and saw the mother of the small boy cradling her son, whose arms were tightly wrapped around her neck. I’d managed to save him in time; now I had to pray they could get him to the hospital in time to keep him that way. He had been in the water longer than I had, and my whole body burned as it started to warm up.

Clasping the thermos as tightly as I could, trying to keep my hands from shaking so badly, I took a sip but spilled half of it down my chin. After the third try, I gave up and clutched the warm container to my chest, leeching any warmth I could from it. My head pounded, and all I wanted to do was close my eyes and go to sleep, but something told me that wasn’t a smart idea. Staying awake until I was back at the Manor with the rest of my guys was a safer option. Between the five of them, they would know what to do once I was allowed to rest.

Maggs pulled up right in front of the house, and seconds later the guys came pouring out. Micah was the first to my door, yanking it open. Then Brayden stepped in, unbuckled me, and pulled me into his arms.

He was so warm I couldn’t help but nuzzle my face against his neck, making him hiss at the contact. “Jesus fucking Christ! You’re colder than an ice cube, Angel.”

“Quick, we need to get her up to the bathroom and put her in the tub. One of us will have to be in there with her. I’m surprised she hasn’t passed out already with the shock her body has been through,” Hudson instructed as we headed up the stairs.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going, Camilla?” Micah snapped.

“Don’t pull this shit on me right now. I need to make sure my best friend is going to be okay,” Cami challenged.

Micah let out a harsh laugh. “Like hell you are. Haven’t you done enough? Let us deal with this and we’ll keep you updated. Now GO.”

The next thing I knew, I was being lowered into a tub full of water, crying out at the fire that surged through my body. Arms wrapped around me from behind, pulling me against a chest.

“Too hot, it hurts,” I whimpered.

A different hand gripped mine and I could feel the pain lessening to be a little more bearable, letting me know that Parker was trying to help. Even then it still burned against my skin like I was set on a bed of hot coals.

“Give it a moment, Angel. The water is warm at best, but you’re so cold it must feel like we’re putting you in an oven. Try to breathe through it. I’ve got you,” Brayden comforted as he placed gentle kisses down my neck and on my shoulder, trying to soothe me.

“Trust us, Sunshine. Close your eyes and rest if you can. Your body has been through a lot, and we just have to give it time to warm up gradually,” Hudson said, taking my hand and stroking it.

With their reassurance, I allowed myself to relax, and as I did, the pain seemed to lessen. The sounds of their voices faded into the background, and I dozed, secure in Brayden’s arms.

“Can someone please explain to me what the fuck happened?” Micah growled, causing me to stir at his anger.

“Keep your voice down if you’re going to stay in here. We need her to rest and recover,” Hudson whispered harshly.

Micah grunted his acknowledgement. “My question still stands.”

“Sounds like we had our first meeting of one of the Dark Lord’s new serum soldiers,” Parker mused.

The sound of something being smashed caused me to open my eyes just as Micah was pulling his fist out of the bathroom wall. I struggled to sit up, but Brayden held me tightly.

“Easy. He’s fine, just upset about what happened,” Brayden reassured. “He’s going to punch a lot more walls if we don’t get you better, so just rest. We will deal with everything later.”

Watching as Hudson kicked out the rest of the guys from the bathroom, I took a deep breath and gave into the demands of my body to sleep.

TWENTY

JAY

Pulling up to the pond in the middle of the night, with only a sliver of the moon out to shed any light, caused an eerie effect. As I got out of my Jeep with three others of my unit, I slipped on my night-vision goggles. Another SUV pulled up with the rest of my men.

I knew the trail would be cold here, but I had to start somewhere. Parker said the man vanished in a puff of demon smoke, a trait only mid- to higher-level demons possessed.

I signaled for my men to search the surrounding woods as I headed for the ice. Skirting around the edge of the pond, I found the section that Lailah and the boy had gone in. Putting a foot on the ice, I tested its strength. With all that had happened here, it groaned under my weight, and I knew it wouldn’t hold me. Taking a deep breath, I pulled my powers forth, letting the wind swirl around me. I used it to solidify the ice by causing a freezing air current to flow over the water, creating a safe path to where I wanted to go. Now it creaked and shifted for another reason as the ice grew thicker and stronger. Finished, I waved the wind off and made my way confidently to the still slushy opening Lailah had dove into.

My mind flashed back to Lailah sitting in the tub, her already naturally pale skin tinged with blue and shaking violently against Brayden. Her whimpers as she was lowered into the tepid water the first time rang in my ears. After that, she’d shifted in and out of awareness every time we drained and added warmer water. I couldn’t stand it any longer. I had to get out and do something, and finding this “Ubel” was at the top of my list.

Crouching down, I pulled out a handheld device that would detect the particles demons left behind when they used their powers. The reading showed high, beeping red and showing other numbers and information on the small screen. Thankfully, this was all being transmitted back to Elementi HQ, where they would analyze it. I was their guy if they needed information collected, but I would never understand things the way that Hudson, and even Brayden, could about this stuff. Sweeping the area, I tried to gauge if he walked out here onto the ice or if he just materialized and then grabbed the boy.

Cami said she hadn’t noticed the man being there at all before as they skated, and from the description of the guy… she would have noticed. Even though I wasn’t happy with how things turned out, I also knew how strong-willed Lailah could be when it came to protecting others. It was as if she magically forgot all her fear and trepidation and charged headfirst into danger. I thought it was an amazing quality, but seeing as she didn’t have any of the proper training to handle things once she got in it… that’s what made me worry.

“Commander Jay, we found something you should see,” one of my heads called from the forest.

Looking up, I saw a light being waved in the air, showing me their location. Retreating from the ice, having gotten everything I needed, I headed over to see what they found. Taking off my night vision, I took in what my men had found as they gathered to shine their flashlights on the ground. Carved into the dirt was the symbol for Dantalion, the seventy-first demon, the Duke of Many Faces, and one of the Greater Demons that King Solomon had summoned to help build the temple. We learned about them in our demonology classes, but they had not been seen or heard from in history for centuries. Dantalion was a Greater Demon who could change its appearance at will, even its gender so that it could infiltrate the world better, spreading its evil through science and education.

“Son of a bitch,” I growled, knowing that this had been left here for us to find.

The Dark Lord was playing a wicked game, and I was starting to realize we were many steps behind. This Ubel, as he was calling himself, must have been who had infiltrated the lab and stolen the serum when the time came. All the work we had been doing looking through employees was now pointless, because if this symbol was telling me what I assumed it was, we would have no idea what Ubel looked like as the newly established conduit for Dantalion. One moment it could be a man, the next a woman. We might have luck finding out who this person really was if the name he gave was true, but that didn’t matter trying to find him now when he could look like a whole different person.

Pulling out my phone, I called the only person I knew who would know more about this.

“Who the hell is this and do you have any clue as to what time it is?” Mr. Creed demanded, his voice thick with sleep.

“Mr. Creed, it’s Jalen Minh. I apologize for the late call, but this is an urgent matter. What do you know about the demon Dantalion?”

The sound of sheets rustling told me I had his attention. “The fact that you are an Elementi Warrior and calling me at one in the morning tells me that you’re not looking for hypothetical information. Let’s cut to the chase and tell me what you found.”

As much as I hated working with this entitled windbag, he was the elite mind when it came to all things demon. “Earlier today, a man using the name ‘Ubel’ made an appearance and caused a scene at the ice-skating pond. I came back to gather more intel since he was able to use demon smoke to vanish and found the symbol of Dantalion etched into the ground, with other minor symbols that would give him a focal point to shift to.”

“Ubel, you said…” Mr. Creed muttered as I heard him typing. “Do we know anything else?”

“He was there to taunt Synergy and tell her that he was one of the first to receive the serum treatment and was given powers without needing to be a host,” I explained.

“Let me guess. You think this is the man who stole the serum from the lab.”

“Yes sir, I do.”

“Gather any and all the data you can from the area. Sweep deeper into the woods. A human can’t travel as far as a demon can, even if it’s a host. There should be another location with more symbols or markings to give us a better picture of what’s going on. I’ll start working on what I can in regards to this name he picked and the correlation to Dantalion,” Mr. Creed instructed. “Oh, and please tell me I’m finally going to get a chance to teach that girl something before she walks into a trap and dies from lack of information.”

I all but growled into the phone at the way he talked about Lailah, but on the other hand, I couldn’t argue with him. “I believe she will be working with you sooner rather than later, sir.”

“Fine, fine. Let’s hope this isn’t going to be as bad as I think it is, or her crash course into this world will be quite the experience,” Mr. Creed said before he hung up, leaving me with dead air.

Shoving the phone back into my pocket, I relayed the information to my men. “We need to form a grid search and sweep the whole area. Keep a lookout for anything that doesn’t look like it belongs. If you find anything, make sure to document and mark the area on our maps so we can go back and look at it again in the daylight.”

With that, they all scattered into the night on silent feet. This was going to take the rest of the night and even the whole rest of the day if we found what we were looking for. Pulling my phone back out, I called Hudson, knowing he would still be up.

“Were you able to find anything useful?” Hudson asked when he answered.

I grunted, knowing if the situation was different they would all be out here with me, but Lailah needed them to be close by. “I wouldn’t say it’s useful.”

“Now is not the time for cryptic conversations, Jay,” Hudson admonished.

“We found some demonic symbols that might mean this whole situation just got a whole lot harder to manage. I have consulted Mr. Creed, and we need to search the woods for any other symbols and hope they tell a different story than the one I’m coming up with at the moment.”

Hudson let out a harsh breath that was almost a laugh. “What is going on, Jay? Things have never been this bad. They’re getting bolder.”

“Synergy is in play now, Hudson. This was always going to happen. How are things with Parker?”

“Not good, even though he tries to keep the pain level down it’s still a lot, but we will manage. You do what needs to be done, and we’ll hold down the fort here.”

I was about to end the conversation but paused, feeling a need I’d never experienced before. “Tell Lailah I’ll be back as soon as I can, and not to be mad. I’m not doing this alone.”

“Let’s hope she doesn’t kill the messenger, but yeah, I’ll make sure she knows.”

“Thanks man,” I said before hanging up.

It was time to go demon hunting.

TWENTY-ONE

LAILAH

Islept the rest of the day and halfway through the next. Whenever I woke up, I was surrounded by my guys, nestled in the middle of them keeping me warm. There was something about this that just seemed to heal more than just my dip in the pond; it was as if this is where I’d belonged my whole life and I was catching up on the years I’d missed. Cami came to check on us from time to time, bringing me piping hot cups of chai tea, but my wakefulness didn’t last long, and soon I was asleep again.

When I finally awoke feeling rested, I was alone in the bed but could feel Brayden and Hudson nearby. My body still ached, but other than that, I was much more myself and ready to get up. I needed to meet with Beth and the other Elementi members to share with them what I learned about Ubel and the danger he presented if there were more like him. Ms. Tabitha was bad enough, having been blessed with demonic power without the serum, but we had no idea what Ubel could do. I’d seen him poof out of existence, and that would definitely make catching him extremely difficult.

Heading to the closet, I pulled on soft yoga pants and a shirt that said Wake me up when winter is over. I added a fluffy sweater, still not able to shake that last bit of chill from my bones. Exiting my room, I found Hudson sitting in his armchair, reading a book. But the moment he saw me, the book was tossed to the side and I was wrapped up in a warm hug.

“Sunshine, you need to stop taking years off my life, pulling stunts like that,” he whispered into my ear as he scattered soft kisses on my face. “Do you know how lucky you are to still be alive?”

Wrapping my arms around him, I hummed at how warm he was. “Not as lucky as that little boy. If I hadn’t done what I did, he for sure would have died, and I couldn’t live with that on my conscience, Hudson.”

“I know. I get it, I do, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. Poor Cami has been beating herself up about the whole thing, not that Micah didn’t help with that,” Hudson grumbled.

Micah must have really said something awful to Cami for Hudson to be so bothered by it, or it was another sign he was embracing his emotions more and not locking them away. Either way, it told me I needed to talk to her to see if I could smooth things out. Before I could pull out of Hudson’s arms to do that, I felt another warm body wrap around my back.

“How are you feeling, Angel?” Brayden asked, placing a kiss on my cheek.

“Better. Still a little chilled, but I’m sure that will go away once I’m more active and moving around,” I answered with a shrug. “Hudson was just telling me I might need to check in on Cami.”

Brayden let out a heavy sigh and stepped away from me, letting me free from their hold. “Let’s get you something to eat before you deal with that situation.”

“Where is Micah?” I asked, knowing he would be upset with me for doing something so rash.

“He’s down in the training center, along with Parker, dealing with his misplaced emotions. But Tony is there keeping an eye on him and refusing to let him spar with anyone,” Hudson informed me as he took my hand and led me down to the dining room.

“I’ll be right back. Just gonna let Sarah know you’re awake and see what we have to feed you. She’s been having Garrett make a bunch of really good soups in preparation,” Brayden said, giving me a wink before he headed off to the kitchen.

I sat down, but I wasn’t able to relax. I hated the fact that Micah was so upset about what I’d done. “Hudson, has something like this happened before with Micah?”

“What do you mean?”

“It seems that something happened between you guys while we were in France and this situation has made it worse. I’m just wondering if he’s gotten this angry before, and how you guys fixed it.”

Hudson looked at me, his face softening as he felt my need to have everyone get along. “Sunshine, before you showed up, this was normal. When I say that Micah has never gotten along well with others like he has recently, I mean it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him spend this much time together with us in the years that I have lived here.” He reached out and took my hand, giving it a squeeze. “Don’t take on this burden too, Lailah.”

I took a moment to think that over. Brayden had told me something similar a while ago. I guess I just hadn’t believed it. The version of Micah I’d been seeing was a far cry from what was happening now, and it was making me feel unsettled.

“Alright, I have Garrett’s famous chicken and rice soup for you, Angel, with some homemade bread to go with it!” Brayden announced as he walked back in with a tray of food. “I brought enough for the three of us—just taking a wild guess you haven’t eaten lunch either, Hudson.”

Hudson smiled at Brayden as he took the bowl of soup. “You are correct. Like yourself, I couldn’t bring myself to go far from her.”

“Where’s Jay?” I asked, breaking off a piece of bread.

Brayden and Hudson looked at each other before they answered me.

“He’s looking for Ubel…” Brayden started.

“WHAT?!” I yelled, slamming my spoon on the table as I stood. “Why would he go looking for him on his own? He should have waited for us so that we could have his back! Do you have any idea how dangerous this guy is?”

Panic clamored in my chest as I imagined all of the horrible things that could happen to him.

“Lailah, breathe,” Brayden said, pulling me back down into my chair. “He isn’t alone; he took a team of his men with him. They are far better trained for a situation like this than we are at the moment. This is his job, and he’s good at it. Trust that he will come back to you.”

Shaking in my seat, I looked between Hudson and Brayden, feeling their total confidence in Jay and trusting that he would be fine.

“Why couldn’t he wait?” I whispered, slumping in my seat.

“Do you really think he would sit around while there a crazy man out there willing to harm people just to torture you? Jay’s feelings for you are just as deep as our own, and this proves it,” Hudson said, his voice tinged with a slightly scolding tone. “He left once you were out of danger. I have a feeling he will be back soon. Now eat your soup while it’s hot, please. We need you to be okay, Lailah, the same way you need us to be safe.”

Nodding my head, I started in on my soup and gave a soft moan at how good it tasted. Before I knew it, I was done and pouting that it was gone. Brayden laughed at me and snagged the bowl. “Let me get you another helping. It has been a day and a half since you’ve eaten anything. Not surprised you’re hungry.”

I finished the second bowl at a slower, more normal pace, and my warm, full tummy made me sleepy once again.

“Why don’t we go up and watch a movie? Or would you rather take a nap?” Hudson suggested, seeing me fighting against my eyes drooping.

“A movie sounds nice. I don’t want to get back in bed, I just left it,” I murmured as Brayden scooped me up and carried me upstairs.

I didn’t even make it fifteen minutes into the movie, snuggled between the two of them and wrapped in a blanket. The sense of warmth and security was just too much to fight against.

“Get the fuck away from me, you slimy rat bastard!” Parker bellowed, followed by the slam of a door.

A scoff sounded close by. “Why would I waste the effort on a whipped bitch like you anyway?” Micah snapped.

Struggling out of the blanket I’d been wrapped in, I got to my feet and marched over to Micah. “What the hell is your problem? I don’t care what is going on with you, that is no way to treat him or anyone else in this group!”

Micah blinked at me, his eyes wide with surprise at my verbal attack. Walking over to Parker’s room, I tossed open his bedroom door, catching him with his shirt off and a snarl on his face before he realized it was me. “Trouble…”

“It would be wise for your health if you didn’t tell me to butt out of this. I left it alone like I was asked, hoping you would all figure it out yourselves, but this is just getting ridiculous,” I grumbled.

Turning, I looked Micah in the eye and pointed at his spot. “Sit down—please.”

He gave me a heavy sigh and an eye roll as he flopped into his chair. Parker came out of his room with a shirt on and took a seat in his normal spot, while Hudson and Brayden didn’t move from the couch.

“I would have liked Jay to be here, but I know he’s not one to be overly sensitive about things. Now, would someone like to tell me what this tension is between you guys since France?” I asked, hands on my hips, looking at the four of them.

“You really want to know what’s going on?” Micah pressed, casting a dismissive gesture towards Parker. “I don’t trust Parker alone with you.”

Before Parker could fly out of his chair to lunge at Micah, I stepped in front of him. “No. We are not going to handle this with violence. That is not how we do things.” Turning back to face Micah, I tilted my head to the side as I contemplated him. “So, tell me. What would you suggest to make you more comfortable?”

“I don’t know how you ever trust a playboy,” Micah stated. “It wouldn’t be the first time he talked a girl into leaving me for him.”

“To me, he isn’t a playboy,” I challenged. “I’ve never seen him act that way or even treat me in any manner other than being sweet and caring. Besides, how can he take me from you when I’m with you both?”

Micah sighed, shaking his head. “His element makes him weak, and he gives into any woman who pays attention to him. Can we really ever trust that he doesn’t use his powers to get what he wants from people?”

Before I could stop myself, I felt my hand connecting against Micah’s cheek, the sound of the slap reverberating through the room. The anger and betrayal I saw in Micah’s eyes cut me to my soul.

“I’m sorry, Micah. I shouldn’t have done that. There is no excuse for lashing out at you like that. But I will not allow any of you to talk or about each other like that. We are only as strong as the weakest link, remember? You taught me that. We are a team of six, and that is how we need to function. It’s not the five of you protecting me from the dangers of this world, it’s all of us having each other’s back and acting as one unit.” I dropped to my knees in front of Micah and rested my head on his legs. “None of us will survive this if we don’t, and I can’t lose any of you. I wouldn’t be able to live through that.”

A hand rested on my head, stroking my hair gently as I started to cry.

“I hear you, Cookie Monster, but this problem is going to take some time for us to work through,” Micah said in a soft voice only I could hear. “He might be the element of heart, but you are the one who holds mine. If I lose you, then there is nothing left for me to live for in this world. I promise to at least try, but that is all I can promise. He needs to do his part as well.” He reached down and pulled me into his lap, wrapping me up in a bone-crushing hug, his face pressed against my neck. “Please try not to be so reckless next time, and that will help too.”

TWENTY-TWO

LAILAH

“Seriously, guys. I think it’s safe for her to leave the house. We’re just going into town. No icy water anywhere close by. We’re just picking out a dress for the New Year’s party,” Cami said, arms crossed as she looked at the boys. “And no, you cannot come with us or it will ruin the surprise. We have one day left before the shops close for New Year’s Eve, and I promise that we will make sure to keep you aware of what’s going on and if there are any changes… sound fair?”

“No,” Micah snapped. “Look, we have no idea when or where this Ubel guy will strike next. If he can change his face and his gender, there’s no telling what could happen.”

I walked up to him and grabbed his hand. “Micah, Ubel doesn’t want to kill me. His goal is to push me to my limit so I give up and turn myself over to the Dark Lord. There is no way I am going back on my word when I’ve stood my ground so far.”

“What I’m worried about, Lailah, is that you’ll pull another crazy stunt and end up killing yourself this time,” Micah countered.

“I promised you that I wouldn’t put myself in danger, and I meant it. Cami will be there with me, along with Maggs. Both of them know twenty different ways to knock me on my ass to keep me from running into danger. So please, let us go have a girls’ afternoon. I will check in with all of you every hour with pictures if that will make you feel better,” I pleaded.

“Every thirty minutes, and pictures every time you change locations. Back in three hours or no deal,” Jay interjected before Micah could answer.

“Deal!” I said, standing on my tiptoes and leaning over to give him a peck on the lips.

Spinning on my heel, I headed for the door before they could come up with some other reason to keep me from going out, when someone caught my wrist.

“Un-uh Trouble, you can’t give one of us a goodbye kiss and not the others,” Parker said, pulling me back to him.

I gave him a raised eyebrow, looking past him at the others, and saw the same expectant look on their faces. Smiling, I quickly went around, giving them all kisses before I was finally allowed to leave with Cami. Hopping into her car, we headed to pick up Maggs for our outing. It was nice to take the day and shut off all other worries and just be a normal girl.

“So, what kind of party is this, anyways?” I asked as we drove.

Cami looked over and grinned at me, far too pleased with herself in this moment. “The theme this year is The Great Gatsby, so it will all be glitz and glam, Lala. The roaring twenties—the golden age of Europe, full of smooth jazz and champagne to celebrate the end of the war.”

Now I understood why she was so excited about this party. Anything that was over the top was right up her alley, and this was going to be something to remember, by the sound of it.

“Here’s the big question… fringe or no fringe?” Cami asked as we pulled up to Maggs’ sorority house.

“What are you wearing?” I deflected.

“Oh, I got myself a glitzed-out tux with short shorts and fishnets, it’s gonna be amazing! Maggs won’t show me her dress, so I’ll just have to wait and find out with the rest of you what it looks like,” Cami whined as the woman in question slipped into the car.

Maggs frowned at Cami before giving her a kiss on her pouted lips. “Babe, if you keep whining about it, I’m going to show Lailah my dress.”

“You wouldn’t,” Cami gasped.

“Without hesitation,” Maggs said, giving me a wink.

Cami started to mutter under her breath as she pulled out of the drive but didn’t say another word about it. We ended up in a part of town I hadn’t seen before, but it looked like it was full of the more normal chain stores. Before we headed inside, I took a selfie with the name of the shop so the guys would know exactly where I was and that I made it there in one piece. Wasting no time, Maggs and Cami filled a dressing room with dress options, and then I was shoved in to try them on.

They had picked a little of everything—long, short, sparkle, plain—it was overwhelming. I decided I didn’t want a long dress, so I bypassed those and started on the others. After ten attempts, I found the perfect dress and came bursting out of the dressing room. It was a knee-length champagne colored dress with silver and gold sequins on it in an elaborate art deco pattern. It had some slight fringe on the bottom, but nothing too overwhelming, and it clung to my body in all the right ways.

“Oh!” Maggs exclaimed, covering her mouth. “Lailah, that is magnificent.”

Cami let out a whistle and wagged her brows. “As I told you from the beginning, if you swung for the right team, I would be all over that.”

Maggs laughed and swatted her arm. “What am I, chopped liver?”

“Are you telling me you wouldn’t want a shot with her?” Cami challenged, waving in my direction.

Tapping an elegantly painted red nail on her chin, Maggs looked me up and down. “No, you’re right. I would have made a pass at her, especially in that dress.”

“Now you can’t be mad at me for saying it, but we all know that us ladies don’t stand a chance against her brooding crew of men.” Cami sighed and flopped back in her chair. “Such a loss.”

“You both are nuts,” I chuckled. “Alright, so this is the winner. That wasn’t so bad—we finished this up in no time.”

Cami popped out of her seat and grinned. “Lala, we are nowhere near done. We need shoes, jewelry, and to figure out what we’re doing with your hair.”

Groaning, I turned back to the dressing room, realizing this was going to be the easiest part of the day. True to her word, Cami dragged me and Maggs all over the place looking for the perfect things to make this outfit pop. Watching Maggs and Cami interact warmed my heart. They were so perfect for each other, and I could easily see the love and affection they had for one another.

It drew me back to the guys and the issues they had brought up about Parker. It had never crossed my mind that they would reject one of their own because they didn’t trust him. Micah might be right that I couldn’t fix this between them, but I did know that I wasn’t going to add to it. I wouldn’t choose and never would. To me, they were each part of a whole that fit perfectly in my life, and I needed all of them.

Once we had purchased everything, we decided we needed to go to lunch at this little hole-in-the-wall Italian pizza place.

“Okay, I can’t do it anymore. You need to tell me what’s going on, Lala. You have been distracted all day, even if you’re trying your best not to be,” Cami blurted once we had gotten our pizzas.

“You’ve known the guys for a long time, right?” I asked Cami.

“They’re practically brothers to me. We grew up together, for the most part. Happens when your family has been part of the Elementi for generations and you’re expected to follow in their footsteps whether you want to or not,” she answered with an eye roll. “What do you want to know? Everything we talk about here is between us. Scout’s honor.”

I fiddled with my silverware before I looked up at her. “What’s the deal with none of them trusting Parker? I know Micah has never kept it a secret that he doesn’t like him, but it seems like the others are starting to push him to the wayside.”

Cami frowned and tilted her head slightly. “What do you mean?”

“Something happened in France, but they won’t tell me what. They say it’s between them to figure it out as men. Okay, well, not Jay, but his issue is he’s never involved with things, so that’s not surprising,” I rambled.

“I know that I don’t know them as well as Cami does, but there is something to be said that they are all sharing one woman. All the boys have such different personalities, they are bound to clash. So I understand them saying you can’t fix the problem.” Maggs held up her hand when Cami started to interject. “That being said, communication needs to be one of the top priorities with all of you. You personally might not be able to fix what is going on, but they should be able to tell you what the problem is instead of keeping you in the dark.”

Cami pointed a finger at Maggs and nodded her head. “What she said.”

Slumping down on the table, I hung my head. “How the hell do I get these guys to talk? When we try, it always breaks out into a fist fight or yelling match.”

“Do it in the training center. That way they can get their aggression out in a controlled environment. I know Tony would be happy to help get them to stop fighting against each other. It’s been his one goal since he started working with them five years ago,” Cami suggested. “I wouldn’t mind getting to deal with my own issues with Micah at the moment. The prick.”

“That’s not a bad idea. I have to start working with Tony soon anyway. I can just tell them I want them all there for my first session and then lock them in the gym until they at least tell each other what’s wrong.”

“Oh Lala, I love the way you think.” Cami winked as she took a bite of her pizza. “Now, no more talk of boys—this is a girls only event!”

Cami made sure to give me Tony’s cell number before she dropped me off back at the Manor with all my bags. I waved goodbye to Cami and headed upstairs as I texted Tony, wanting to try and deal with this sooner rather than later.

Lailah:

Hey Tony, it’s Lailah, Cami’s friend you helped move in. Could I possibly ask for your help with something?

Tony:

Hey Lailah, of course I remember you. Any friend of Cami’s is a friend of mine. You have me curious, what can I do to help?

Lailah:

Cami and Micah agreed to a friendly match to see who is better. Do you think we could make a tournament so that the guys could duke it out and deal with this anger between them?

Tony:

I knew I liked you. Yeah, I think I could come up with a way to manage those two. We can do it on the 2nd when I see you for assessment.

Lailah:

Assessment????

Tony:

Yeah, I like to see what I’m working with before I make up a training regimen. Don’t worry, I promise it’s nothing too crazy.

Lailah:

Sounds good. See you later.

Heading to my room, I saw Micah’s door was open and he was at his computer, headphones on, bobbing to whatever he was listening to. Catching sight of me as I passed, he tore off his headphones and ran to the door.

“Hey, you have a good time?” he asked, leaning against the door jamb.

I held up my multitude of bags and shrugged my shoulders. “Shopping isn’t my favorite pastime, but it’s always great to spend time with Cami and Maggs.”

Micah’s face scrunched up in disgust. “Yeah, I’m glad you talked me out of going with you. That would have been torture. How did you guys go to so many places in such a short amount of time?”

“Cami was on a mission, and I’ve learned it’s better to just roll with it. But I did find the perfect outfit for the party and a few things I needed to pick up in general,” I answered. “I’m gonna go put all this away and relax for a bit. She wore me out.”

Micah stepped up to me and lifted a hand to feel my forehead. “You do feel a little warm. You don’t think you’re coming down with a cold, do you, after what happened the other day?”

Smiling at him, I leaned in and gave him a kiss, letting it linger just a little. “Who knew you could be such a sweet boyfriend.”

Micah grunted as he turned me around by my shoulders and marched me to my room. “Yeah, well don’t go spreading that shit around. Can’t let that reputation stick after all the work I did making everyone think I’m an asshole.”

“Don’t worry, I’m not sure that will ever change,” I teased as he took the bags from me and put them in my closet.

“Oh? And what’s that supposed to mean?” Micah asked, prowling towards me with a glint in his eye.

Backing away from him, I hit the bed and sat on it, looking up at him looming over me. “Oh, just that the sweet moments are few and far between, but I kinda like that since it makes them more special.”

“Not everyone can be a Brayden or a Hudson, showering you with roses and sweet words,” Micah pointed out as he leaned down and nipped at my ear. “Don’t you know that every woman secretly wants a bad boy to call her own? Well, Cookie Monster, here I am, ready to show you all the wicked things you never will get from your two sweet and tender lovers.”

A shiver went down my spine as his words flooded me with need. I knew the moment Micah and I crossed that line I would never get enough of him. Slowly, he kissed along my jaw until he reached my lips and caught my lower lip between his teeth, pulling me to him. As I gave into him, he captured my lips, making me moan without even laying a hand on me.

All too soon, he stood up and smirked at me. “Have a good rest.” And he left me all hot and bothered, not even bothering to glance back at me as I all but growled at him.

“Asshole,” I yelled, throwing one of my decorative pillows in his direction.

“Every day, all day, and proud of it,” he said as he closed my door.

TWENTY-THREE

LAILAH

It was finally New Year’s Eve, and even though the party wasn’t until later, there was a lot to do. Cami and Maggs arrived in the early evening, and we started the long process of getting ready. Mind you, we were very easily distracted, talking about other things, but we managed to get the important things covered. Cami talked me into wearing my hair straight, which I don’t think I’d ever done except for the few times a year I went to get my hair done at the salon. It was always so much work that I didn’t have the energy to do it on my own. So, once I was out of the shower, Maggs blow dried it and started the ordeal of flat ironing it. When she was done a million years later, I was shocked to see what I looked like with my hair done and a full face of makeup.

“Aw, my baby Lala is growing up before my very eyes.” Cami sniffed, wiping fake tears from her eyes.

I glared at her but then turned back to the mirror. “They better not get used to this sort of thing. I’m not cut out to be this high maintenance.”

“I agree. Some things should be kept special or they lose their wow factor,” Maggs said, giving me a wink.

“Okay, so we have an hour before we need to leave for this thing. Can I see your dress now, babe?” Cami begged, pulling out the puppy dog eyes and quivering lower lip.

Maggs just rolled her eyes and shooed us both out of the bathroom so she could get changed. My dress was in the closet, so I decided just to go ahead and put it on since Cami, having no shame, was tossing off her clothes in the middle of my room. I still couldn’t get over how large this dang closet was, and I hardly had clothes to fill one row or more than four drawers out of the eight I had available to me. Do people really need that much stuff?

“Okay, everyone dressed?” Cami called. “On the count of three, we shall reveal ourselves. One… two… three.”

Shaking my head, I walked out of the closet but stopped short as Cami stood there, striking a pose in her outfit for the night. The tux was blinged out to the max, and even the top hat perched on her head sparkled.

I couldn’t hold back my laughter as I took her in. “Girl, you look like a burlesque dancer, or straight from a Broadway show in that getup.”

“Don’t be jealous, Lala. You know this is fabulous and will turn everyone’s heads when we show up,” Cami said, giving me a twirl.

Maggs opened the bathroom door, and Cami gasped. Her retro rockabilly girlfriend was stunning in a black tassel dress that hit mid-thigh, and with her long legs, it made it seem impossibly too short for my taste. She smirked at Cami, and when she did a twirl, all the tassels floated out in a wild dance. “What were you saying, babe, about turning heads?”

“God, I am one fucking lucky woman,” Cami gushed as she pulled Maggs down for a heated kiss.

Feeling like they might need a minute, I slipped out of the bedroom and headed downstairs to find the guys. They were all hanging out in the library, and when I walked in, I thought I was at a photoshoot for GQ magazine or something. Each of them had on a formal tux, and even though I had seen them in one for the Christmas party, it still made my heart flutter.

Parker whistled his appreciation as he walked over. “Damn, Trouble.”

My cheeks heated as I felt my blush bloom across them. He took my hand and spun me around like I was a ballerina or something, embarrassing me even more.

“Damn, I am so glad to be the one who asked you to go and get to have you on my arm all night.” Parker grinned.

“You better let the rest of us have a chance to dance with her, though,” Brayden said as he walked up and gave me a kiss on the forehead. “It would be torture not to be able to hold you in my arms, at least for a little while.”

How could this man make my heart melt so easily?

“Of course I’ll save a dance for all of you. Even if I’m Parker’s date, you’re all still mine,” I answered with a smirk. “I better not catch some other woman getting her hands on you all.”

“There’s other women?” Parker asked, his brows scrunched. He tried to hold the expression as long as he could, but eventually it crumbled into laughter as he slid his arm around my waist. “I don’t think you’ll have to worry about that, Trouble.”

Cami and Maggs finally made it down to join us, and I couldn’t help but notice they both looked a little rumpled after their makeout session. “So I’m driving, right?”

“No,” all the guys said loudly, making me giggle.

“Tough crowd, tough crowd.” Cami frowned, hand on her hips. “Alright, what was your bright idea then, boys?”

There was a knock at the front door, and we all turned to look at it.

“That would be our plan,” Micah drawled. “A limo so none of us have to drive or worry if we drink.”

“Okay, flame boy. That was a good idea, I’ll give you that,” Cami said with an approving nod before clapping her hands together. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

Piling into the limo, we headed off to the event hall where the party was going to take place. Waiting for us was chilled champagne and glasses, which Cami promptly filled and shared with us. Lifting her glass, she shared her toast. “May this night be one to never forget and the year to come be filled with more adventure, love, and overall badassery.”

Laughing, we all clinked glasses and sat back, enjoying the excitement that was filling the space as we geared up to let loose and live a little.

The whole building was lit up, making it seem like it glowed in golden light. Cars of people were being dropped off at the front of the building, so I had a few moments to take it all in. Typically with my family back in Wisconsin, we would be hanging out in the living room, watching movies and eating snack foods until the countdown. Some years, my parents would just stay up to watch the ball drop in New York and go to bed an hour early while the three of us kids stayed up for the real deal. Every once in a while, Kyle would have a girl he was dating and they would be at a friend’s house, but this kind of thing was something I never dreamed of experiencing. Who knew that going to college would show me how much of the world I had been missing out on, trapped away in my own little corner of my small Midwest town?

As I exited the limo, Parker took my hand and tucked it into his elbow, pulling golden tickets out of his jacket pocket.

“Why do I get the feeling these tickets cost far more than I think they should?” I muttered as he smirked down at me.

“Nope, none of that, Trouble. You are well worth any price to spoil.”

I frowned up at him. “You don’t have to spend money on me for me to feel spoiled.”

“Yet another reason why we love to do it. You are so very easy to please. It actually makes it fun to splurge when it’s not demanded,” Parker said with a shrug.

“Don’t ever let me become one of those girls, please.” I grimaced, horrified at the idea.

“I don’t think it’s possible for that to ever happen,” he said as he handed over our tickets. The man at the door scanned them and gestured us through.

The hall was decked out in gold, feathers, and pearls, and in the center of the main room was the largest champagne tower I had ever seen. Buffet tables were lined on both sides with finger foods and other small delights for you to munch on, along with a full-service bar on the back wall. I could hear jazz music coming through the doors on the right and took a wild guess that’s where the dancing was. Parker led me further into the room, and I couldn’t help but gawk at all the women dressed to the nines and the men in their dapper suits. Now I was very glad that Cami and Maggs made me spend so long getting ready—this was not a place you could show up looking half-assed.

“Where to first?” Parker asked, turning to me. “We can eat, drink, or dance our faces off. I hear the band is the bee’s knees.”

I raised a brow at him with a smile tugging at my lips. “Did you look up phrases to use at this party?”

“Maybe… still, it doesn’t change the question,” Parker dismissed, holding out a hand to me. “Shall we? I’m not trying to brag or anything, but I have a certain talent for doing the jitterbug.”

“Oh, is that what the boys are calling it these days?” Cami chirped, her face the picture of innocence.

I burst out laughing at the confused expression on Parker’s face. “Can we please move on from this conversation? I don’t think either one of you will win this particular battle.”

“That is a smart woman you have on your arm tonight, Parker-poo. Don’t fuck it up, okay?” Cami grinned as she took Maggs’ hand and lead the way into the ballroom.

After getting dragged into a dance-off with Parker and Cami, I needed a break. Seeing I needed to be rescued, Brayden stole me away, and we explored what hors d’oeuvres there were and found a cocktail table to eat at.

“Are you having a good time?” Brayden asked, catching my hand and turning it over so he could trace a finger along my palm.

I nodded my head. “Yes, this has been a blast. Parker always seems to make things fun, even when I fail at it completely.”

“Yes, he does have that habit…” he murmured, looking down at the table.

I grasped his hand, and he looked up at me. “I’ve missed you,” I admitted. “I know we see each other every day and we spend time together, but it hasn’t been just the two of us.”

“Yeah, now that the others are stepping up their game, it’s made catching you alone a little more challenging, but we’ll figure it out. I need to be more intentional about asking you to do something with me, because it’s going to be even harder once classes start up again,” Brayden said, brushing his free hand along my cheek. “The only thing that helps is knowing that I’m connected to you and can reach to see how you’re doing, even if I’m not there.”

“That has taken some getting used to, learning whose feelings I’m feeling when, but now it’s like comforting white noise in the background until I need it.” I smiled. “I can’t even imagine what it will be like when all five of you are rattling around in my head.”

“Well, since I still have you to myself, would you care to dance?” Brayden asked. His eyes sparkled with mirth and love as I let myself be led back to the ballroom.

This time the music changed, and it was more jazzy. This is when I’d been worried that they would be expecting us all to know how to jitterbug or foxtrot, but thankfully that wasn’t the case. I spotted some people giving lessons on one part of the dance floor, but it wasn’t what the majority of partygoers were doing. Brayden swept me into the flow of bodies and took over from there, which I was forever grateful for. Soon, I was able to get out of my own head—I’m sure the two glasses of champagne helped—and the next thing I knew, I was twirling into Hudson’s arms. He pulled me close, and we swayed along to a smooth jazz song.

Bending down so his lips brushed my ear, he spoke loud enough so I could hear him. “I didn’t get to tell you earlier, but you look ravishing, Sunshine.”

“You don’t look so bad yourself there, sir. Makes me want to have you leave it on the next time we’re alone,” I told him, nipping his earlobe, causing him to tighten his grip on my hip to drop lower to my ass.

“Whatever would please you, my Sunshine, I would be happy to do for you,” Hudson purred, nuzzling into my neck.

Now that we had both turned each other on, which was very clear though our connection, we just clung to each other as we moved along the dance floor. All too soon, I was handed off to Jay for a much more formal waltz.

“Relax and let me lead,” Jay instructed as I stumbled against his direction.

It was easier said than done, and I kept trying to figure out the steps so I would stop stumbling. Jay swung me wide then pulled me close so my back was to him, giving him the perfect moment to whisper in my ear. “Beautiful, you need to be a good girl and trust me to take the lead. I will not let anything happen to you, but you have to let go.”

That right there, with the slight growl to his voice, made me melt as he pulled me away from him, back into the dance. This time, I closed my eyes and let him control my body, trusting he would keep me from crashing into anyone or doing anything else that might harm me. When I opened my eyes, there was a soft smile on Jay’s lips that transformed his already handsome face into something that would make any woman drop her panties instantly. The hand that was on my shoulder slid around the back of my neck, and he applied pressure so I knew he was there but nothing that would alarm me. It was as if he flipped a switch, and when he pulled us into a dark corner, I was more than willing to meet his kiss as he pulled me up to him.

It wouldn’t take much for someone to stumble upon us, but Jay’s body mostly blocked me from sight. He started nipping down my neck, and I let it fall to the side so he had better access to it. A thumb swept over my nipple, causing me to gasp and clutch his biceps to keep my legs from giving out. This was the first time I could see the appeal of what it was that Jay loved about the possibility of being seen, the danger of getting caught. My whole body shivered, breaths coming out in shallow pants. I thought I might even come on the spot the more he teased me.

“Does my good girl need to come?” Jay asked, his lips whispering against my jaw.

I had to swallow before I could speak, my mouth having gone dry. “Yes…”

Jay placed his leg between mine and shifted my dress so my center was resting on it. “I can’t do all the work, Beautiful. You’re gonna need to help if you want to finish.”

Shocked, I looked up at him, unsure of what he was talking about. Seeing my confusion, he took my hips and pulled them forward so I was rubbing along his thigh. I let out a cry of surprise, which he silenced with a kiss before he slid me back and forth until I got the rhythm and continued it on my own. He shifted his hand to my chest, letting his thumbs circle my hardened nipples, and when he felt me speeding up, on the edge of release, he pinched them both roughly. I collapsed against him, biting his shoulder to keep from crying out. Hugging me close, he ran a soothing hand up and down my back, whispering sweet words to me as I came down from my high. I never thought orgasms could get more intense, but that one was unlike anything else, and he didn’t even have his dick in me.

Once I’d caught my breath, he righted my dress and led me back to the others, who all smirked and gave Jay a knowing look.

TWENTY-FOUR

LAILAH

Dancing, and my intimate moment with Jay, had landed us at thirty minutes till midnight, according to the announcement made through the hall. They asked everyone to come outside into the back courtyard that had champagne stations set up for everyone to get their glasses before the stroke of midnight. The whole courtyard was decorated and had performers wandering around as we waited, helping us to forget about the chilly bite in the night air. Parker took my hand and pulled me off to the side through a gate that led us to a small garden maze. Leading me through, he brought me to the center where there was a stone bench with a bottle of champagne set up and waiting for us.

“Did you plan this?” I asked Parker, clinging to his arm.

Parker grinned down at me and gave a playful wink. “Sure did, Trouble. I plan to keep you to myself just for a little while.”

There were even blankets left so we could put one down on the bench and wrap the other around ourselves. “Parker, this is one of the most romantic things I think anyone has ever done for me.”

“In a way, that makes me sad, but on the other hand, I’m kinda glad that I got to be the first one to do it for you,” Parker murmured as he placed a kiss on my temple.

“How will we know when the countdown happens if we’re not with the rest of the party?” I asked when I noticed we couldn’t really hear what was going on anymore.

Parker reached up and took my chin, turning my head to look at him. “Trust me, nothing else matters right now except for the two of us. Like you keep telling us, as long as we stick together, we’ll be fine.”

His words made me melt into a puddle of emotion. I never would have guessed that Parker had this side to him, knowing he was always drawn to being the comic relief, not taking life too seriously. Then again, he told me that he was going to be working on building the trust we had, and this moment was going a long way to that next level he was talking about.

Leaning into him, I let my head rest on his shoulder, enjoying the quiet moment we had under the stars. There wasn’t even a cloud in the sky to cover them up. It was truly a magical moment, perfect to end one year and start another. All of a sudden, fireworks started shooting off all around us, splashing across the night in bright color, causing me to gasp. Surging to my feet, I slowly turned in a circle, taking it all in. Our party wasn’t the only one shooting them off—there were several others too, making it seem as if the whole of Drittilyn was lit up by them.

When I turned back forward, I found Parker on one knee with his weapon in his hands, holding it up to me. “Lailah Mackenzie, I wish to give you my Oath as an Elementi Warrior.”

My mouth dropped open, completely caught off guard. “What?”

“Lailah, bearer of Synergy, the sixth element, I would offer you my Oath if you will have it,” Parker repeated, only this time I knew that the angelic aura was present to hear his plea.

“Parker, Knight blessed with Spirit’s power, Warrior for the angels. I find you true of heart and mind, upholding the agreement given to your ancestors. Do you accept the eternal bond to protect the people of this world, and vow to cherish the vessel that holds the gift of Synergy, who has been placed in your protection?” I intoned.

“I, Parker Jones, Blessed Elementi Warrior gifted with Spirit’s power, vow to cherish and protect this world, my fellow brothers, and the one bound to us as Synergy; or my life be forfeit,” Parker answered, holding up his bladed staff to me.

“Rise, and seal your Oath,” I said, reaching out my hand for him.

Parker grasped it and stood, pulling me to his chest, but before I could kiss him, he stopped me. “I want you to know that I am giving you my Oath right now but not my Bond. There is still more that I have to prove to you before I can allow you to accept me for the rest of eternity. In giving you my Oath, I have announced to you and the heavens above that I am in this to the bitter end. No matter what happens with the others, or how they might dislike me, or think I’m not good enough to be an Elementi Warrior, I will not give up on you or them.”

I didn’t even realize that I was crying until he wiped away my tears with his thumbs. “Thank you, Parker.”

Leaning down, he kissed me. It wasn’t the normal, heated kiss that led to blind passion right after the Oath was given. This sent a surge through my heart and forged a new and budding connection to him and his powers. I didn’t have the small ball of energy sharing space with the others, but there was a faint purple line showing our blossoming Bond. We indulged in the sweet moment, sitting curled up on the bench, drinking champagne and sharing lingering kisses that warmed my very soul. All too soon it was time for us to head back to the others, but this was one New Year’s Eve I was never going to forget.

When we returned to the party to search for the others, a woman let out a blood-curdling scream. Everyone burst into action, and if Parker hadn’t grabbed me close to his chest, I would have been swept away from the people running out of the wing where the dancing was. Looking up at Parker and catching his gaze, he nodded his head, and taking a firm hold on my hand, we headed against the flow. Having a tall, solid man as a shield while you had hundreds of people running was invaluable. Finally, we made our way into the room and easily found what caused everyone to panic.

On the stage where the band was playing, everything had been shoved off so all that was left was the dead woman bleeding out. The other four guys were by the stage. Micah was on the phone with someone, and Jay was taking pictures of the scene. When Brayden saw us enter the room, he shook his head no, and Parker halted.

“Why are you stopping? We need to see what’s going on,” I demanded.

Parker looked from me back to the stage and shook his head. “If Brayden says not to let you go over there, then I’m gonna do what he says. I trust that he is always thinking of you first, even if you’re not gonna like it.”

He wasn’t wrong about that, but if I was going to be a part of this team, then I needed to know what was going on.

“Look, I’m sorry, but I don’t need to be so protected that I can’t be of help, Parker,” I snapped, jerking my arm out of his hold and taking off towards the stage.

The others were too distracted dealing with the scene, not noticing me until I was right by them and was able to see what they’d been trying to keep from me.

YOU CAN’T SAVE THEM ALL, BUT YOU CAN STOP IT… THEIR BLOOD IS ON YOUR HANDS.

Unable to hold it back, I let out a mournful, wailing sob, crumpling to the ground where I proceeded to retch up everything I’d eaten that night. Brayden swore and grabbed me around the waist, hauling me away from the scene. The woman was sprawled out naked on the stage with a symbol carved into her stomach and her throat slashed. Ubel—because there was no doubt in my mind it was him—had used her blood to write the note, and it made me sick knowing he was just getting started. He didn’t get his first victim since I saved that little boy, so he had to try again.

So much for my magical New Year.

I went back to the house with Brayden and Parker while the others stayed back to work with the Elementi and their police connections. The whole ride back I couldn’t stop shaking, but I’d managed to stop crying. Brayden wouldn’t set me down yet, so I was carried up the stairs to our wing.

“I’m so sorry, Angel,” Brayden whispered in my ear as he set me down. “This man is a sick bastard, but we are going to do everything we can to get his ass.”

Letting out a shaky breath, I looked up at him. “I should have trusted you when you told Parker not to let me see what was going on. I’m sorry I didn’t listen. That poor woman’s family… she’s dead because of me.”

“No, I’m not letting you go down that road, Lailah. What this man chooses to do does not fall on your shoulders. He is fucked up in the head and was already evil enough that the Dark Lord didn’t need to make him a host. That alone should tell you the special kind of crazy he is,” Parker growled, scrunching up in anger. “What we need to be prepared for now is that anything can happen anywhere.”

“There is nothing we can do right now that isn’t already happening. Go get ready for bed and come find one of us. We’ll stay with you,” Brayden reassured.

Still shaking slightly, I decided a shower would be the best thing, needing to wash this night from my body. Once changed into my pajamas, I wandered into Parker’s room where he sat on the bed, shirtless in grey sweatpants. A surge of heat flooded my body at the sight of him, the urge to Bond uncaring that I’d gone through a traumatic event tonight. One look at my face, and Parker swept me up into a tight hug.

“I think it would be best for you not to sleep here tonight, Trouble. The draw to seal the Bond will only grow stronger if we are so close,” Parker said, kissing the top of my head. “I know this is terrible timing to say something, but I was kind of hoping that you might keep what happened between us tonight quiet for now. I didn’t do it for them. I needed to make sure you knew how serious I am about you. I feel like the others won’t get it.”

Looking up at him, I searched his eyes. “Okay, I guess I get that, but I don’t think they’ll react the way you think they will.”

“Trouble, I love that you always see the best in people, but at this moment they don’t trust me with you alone farther than they can throw me. I just don’t want to add more fuel to the flames already nipping at my heels. Once things have mellowed out, then I will happily tell them myself, but let’s deal with one problem at a time.” Parker sighed, running his fingers through my hair as I leaned on his chest.

“Fine, but if they ask me, I’m not going to lie to them,” I countered.

“I would never ask you to lie, Trouble. That would make me the biggest asshole known to man, and Micah has held that role for a long time. I wouldn’t want to knock him down from his throne.”

Smiling, I pulled away and gave him a quick kiss. “Alright, I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Night, Trouble. Sweet dreams,” Parker said with a soft smile.

I let out a harsh laugh as I shut Parker’s door. “Yeah I’m not sure sweet dreams are going to happen, but there’s always hope, I guess.”

I headed over to Brayden’s room, finding him already in bed reading as he waited for me. Seeing me, he didn’t say a word but lifted the comforter for me as I crawled in, wrapping myself around him. I could feel how worried he was about me, even if he didn’t say it. Hell, I was worried about me too, but there was nothing we could do to fix it at the moment.

TWENTY-FIVE

MICAH

The rage that filled my soul at the sight of what this evil son of a bitch had done was like nothing I had ever felt before. Add in the fact that he was doing this to the woman I was pretty sure I was in love with, and it brought this to a whole other level. After ignoring us, Parker, the fuckwit, let her see this horrific sight, and it sent her into shock—crying and shaking, unable to talk. I knew that Lailah asked me to try, but that idiot just kept screwing up time after time, and I couldn’t stand it.

If he wanted to dick around with any other girl, that would be fine, but not this one—never this one. Lailah was everything good and pure, and someone like me had no business even thinking I had a chance with her. It was one reason I fought so hard against her, but now it was becoming clear what an utter ass I’d been about the whole thing.

“What do we know?” Jay asked, pulling me out of my thoughts and back to the matter at hand.

When we discovered what happened, Jay got on the phone with the Elementi right away, trying to make sure we intercepted the police. There was an unwritten rule with law enforcement of all branches that if we claimed something, we would be allowed to handle it first and then pass it off to the appropriate people to deal with once we were done. This murder would have gotten the attention of some of the bigger human intelligence branches, and we didn’t want to go ten rounds with them right now on who would take over.

“The only time he would have had to do this was during the countdown and the fireworks after,” Hudson answered, making notes on his phone. “The display lasted ten minutes, so he roughly had twenty by the time everyone left the room when it all started. That isn’t much time…”

“How could he have done all of this so quickly?” I wondered. “There is too much blood for this to have happened elsewhere.”

Jay started to look around the room, searching for something, then headed off to the left of the space. We followed him as he found a back door that had an alarm that would sound if you opened it without the key. Before we could stop him, he thrust the door open, and nothing happened.

“Son of a bitch must have cut the alarm off,” I snarled. “Hell, he could have changed himself to look like one of the staff.”

Walking out behind the event building, we found dumpsters and an open area for the band to unload their trailer. Using our phones for flashlights, we searched the space for any other clues.

“Guys…” Jay called. “I found who he pretended to be, or else it was someone who got in his way.”

Off in a dark corner, near a brick wall hiding this area from guests’ eyes, was a man crumpled in the corner with his throat slashed. Jay squatted down and took a picture of the man’s face. “Now at least we can figure out who this guy was and if he worked here or not. If he’s just another guest, that doesn’t help us much.”

I watched Hudson flinch at Jay’s unemotional remark, but I understood what he was trying to say. When you’re chasing after a ghost who could be anyone, you needed all the information you could get. Heading back inside, I walked over to the team leader of the Elementi unit that showed up.

Looking at the man’s uniform, I saw the last name “Johansson” written on it. “There’s another dead body out back. Looks like another victim of our friend here,” I said, motioning to the back door.

Johansson nodded his head and grabbed his radio. “Blake, we need another body bag and removal from the back of the building. We’ll need to bring this one back to HQ as well.”

“Roger that.”

“Hey, you’re one of the Knights, right? Can I ask you something?” Johansson asked.

“You can ask, doesn’t mean I’ll answer,” I quipped, shrugging my shoulders.

Johansson blinked at me a moment, probably not expecting that type of answer, but it was one in the morning and I didn’t have a fuck to give.

“Did you know there was a chance someone might be killed tonight?” Johansson questioned. “Is that why you were at this party? Just doesn’t seem like the scene a kid like yourself would want to hang out at.”

“No, one of the others wanted to take our girlfriend, and the rest of us didn’t want to spend the night without her, so we came,” I snarked. “Oh, and just so we’re clear, you have no idea what kind of scene you would find me at, and I’m no kid. The shit I’ve seen would make you piss yourself. It causes you to lose what innocence you have when the demon behind the curtain is a real thing to you,” I answered bluntly.

“Micah,” Hudson called. “Leave the man alone. We’re leaving.”

I turned to walk away, but Johansson grabbed my arm. “Listen here, you little shit, I fought in wars to keep this country safe before you were even born. Don’t look down on others who are able to give you a safe world to live in.”

The small thread holding my anger in check snapped. I grabbed the man’s wrist and squeezed the joint, knowing if I kept going, I could break it easily. “I hate to tell you this, but you’ve got it all wrong. I’m the one who is keeping the world safe from the demons and their master who wants to destroy it just because they can. So, when you lay there in your bed tonight thinking of the woman dead on the stage, just know that the only thing standing between you and the demon who did it is a team of six so-called kids.” Tossing off his hold, I shoved past him, smirking as I heard him swear.

“Was that necessary?” Hudson sighed.

“Nope, but it sure felt good.” I grinned, clapping him on the back as we exited the event hall. “What’d I miss?”

Jay, who was already outside, handed me his phone, showing me a picture of a series of symbols burnt into the asphalt. Since Mr. Creed and I got along so well, he’d decided to teach me far more than any of the others since he could stand to spend time with me. Thanks to that extra education, I could pick out more than half of these and groan at their meaning. “This fucker is good, I’ll give him that. He was able to create an illusion of some kind and a circle of silence, which is why he got away with it in such a public place.”

“So we need to start thinking of this man as more of a demonic warlock instead of a simple-minded demon,” Hudson theorized.

A harsh laugh burst out of me at his thought. “Yeah, this guy is anything but the average demon wanting to cause the usual kind of trouble.”

“I already sent them to Creed. He said he’ll be ready to give us a briefing on what he knows about Ubel and the symbols I sent him from the pond,” Jay interjected.

“Fuck, Lailah is gonna be pissed when she finds out we haven’t told her everything,” I grumbled. None of us wanted to ruin this night for her, but this asshole did it anyway.

“We’ll deal with that once we’ve gotten some sleep and we make sure telling her won’t send her into another spiral,” Hudson said as we got into the car Beth sent over for us.

“No.” Jay stated. “We need to tell her, no matter what. Others might keep secrets from their woman, but we will NOT.”

There was something in his tone that told me this was way more of a personal issue than it was about us not telling Lailah things, but I had to agree with him. Nothing good ever came from keeping secrets, and the Elementi Warriors would always be asked to live up to a higher standard, following the creed the angels gave to the first five men all those centuries ago.

“Jay’s right. We tell her everything we know, then we teach her how to deal with it like they’ve taught all of us. Cookie Monster’s winter vacation is officially over, and Elementi boot camp is now in session.” I heaved a heavy sigh. “Get ready for the backlash, boys. It’s not gonna be pretty.”

TWENTY-SIX

LAILAH

“What do you mean Ubel can change his appearance?!” I blurted, pausing with my tea halfway to my mouth.

It was a fitful night’s sleep for me and the others, so we all ended up coming down for breakfast super early. Thankfully, Sarah and Garrett were already up and working on prepping breakfast, so we all got out of their hair with coffee and tea.

“We will explain that part better once Mr. Creed shows up and fills us in on that and the symbols that Jay found back at the lake and at the event hall,” Micah continued.

Setting my mug down, I glared at all the guys. “Why am I just finding out about this now? This information is kind of a big deal, don’t you think?”

“None of us wanted to stress you out or ruin New Year’s Eve for you when we didn’t have all the information yet. I agree that it wasn’t the best choice for us to make, but we are telling you now. Everything is out on the table, so to speak. No more secrets or held back information from this moment forward,” Hudson said, rubbing his hand soothingly up and down my back.

I knew he could feel how hurt I felt at them once again acting like I wasn’t truly part of this team. Just when I thought we had gotten past that, it seemed their need to be overprotective was stronger than their ability to tell me things that might upset me. Both Hudson and Brayden felt guilty for not telling me, and their regret rippled over my skin. I got the feeling this time they realized what withholding information did to me.

“In the effort of keeping you in the loop, your training starts today,” Jay added as he calmly drank from his cup, watching my reaction with his dark gray eyes.

As if Tony was listening in to our conversation, he texted me to ask if we could move the assessment up to today in light of everything going on.

“You flirting with someone there, Trouble?” Parker asked, trying to peer over my shoulder at my phone as he walked by to get more coffee.

Rolling my eyes, I looked up at him. “You really think I have time for another guy when I have the five of you to deal with? Not a chance. It was just Tony telling me we’re meeting for my assessment later today.”

“That’s right, I forgot you knew Tony. He totally cock-blocked me that first day we met.” Parker frowned as he sat back down.

“So, we have a meeting with Mr. Creed and I’m doing training with Tony—anything else you guys planned that I need to know about?” I inquired.

Brayden just smirked and shook his head with a little chuckle. “Nona wanted to check in on you and go over a few things before starting with her tomorrow. Other than that, I think that’s all. Beth was the one who was heading that up once we updated her on our findings last night.”

“Great. Now I have to have this same conversation with Beth about leaving me in the dark about things that you know involve me. Don’t you think it’s a little odd that you know all this before I do? I mean, Brayden, you were with me all night. How did you find out?” I grumbled.

“Easy there, Angel, put the claws away. Check your email, because that’s where I got my information from this morning,” Brayden said, holding up his hands in defense.

Sure enough, when I looked at my email, she had sent over an updated schedule for me and the guys. Everything was tailored to deal with the issues we were now facing. This is what I needed; I didn’t do well when I felt so uninformed. Having something to focus on when everything else around me was going crazy helped me deal with my stress when I didn’t have the ability to run.

Speaking of stress, I noticed that Micah was hardly able to sit at the table with us, his leg bouncing as he glowered down at his black coffee. He still hadn’t actually spoken yet, but I did notice that when Parker joined us, his frown was even deeper than before. Fingers crossed Tony could come up with a way to help us.

I’d been down to the lower level where the Elementi set up their headquarters under the Manor, but I hadn’t seen all that much of it. I knew that it was quite expansive, having tunnels and other facilities under the whole of Ryevick University. I followed after the boys since they knew where they were going, and I scoped out the place. All the hallways were white tile with soft gray walls and lots of bright lighting overhead. Each of the main sections, I was told, was named after an element so it was easier to learn the layout. We were in the Earth section, so all the pictures depicted that information along with green doors. Everything here had biometric scanners to open doors and access computers and the like. I felt like I was in some James Bond movie rather than an elite underground society.

Finally, we entered what looked like a small library with lots of haunting art hanging from the walls. A large black desk was off to one side, and it dawned on me that this must be Mr. Creed’s workspace. Taking a closer look at the books, I found they were all about the occult and anything else that might tie back to demons and their history.

“Ah, good. Right on time,” Mr. Creed said as he hurried into the room, plopping various books and scrolls on his desk.

The man was portly with greasy, slicked-back hair—or what was left of it—and a piggish face. He seemed to always wear suits that didn’t fit him around the middle, his button holding his jacket closed by sheer willpower alone.

“Don’t just stand there gawking at me, sit down. We have lots to cover, so don’t interrupt me until I’ve finished speaking. Then we can go over whatever questions you might have,” Mr. Creed said, looking right at Parker with a slight frown.

Heading over to the small seating area, we managed to squeeze onto the couch and two armchairs. To make extra room, Micah snaked his arm around my waist and pulled me onto his lap. I looked back at him, opening my mouth to yell, but he just put a finger up to my lips, shushing me.

“Let’s start with what we do know and then deal with the uncertain bits later,” Mr. Creed suggested as he walked over to one of the bookshelves and pulled down a projector screen. Using the clicker he had in his hand, he displayed a picture of a creepy looking man with a wheel of heads, both male and female. “This is Dantalion, the seventy-first of Solomon’s demons. Among the many names he’s been given over the centuries, the Great Duke of Hell, master of a legion of thirty-six demons. He is also referred to as The Man with Many Faces since he has been depicted with different faces or genders throughout history. He is the keeper of the Forbidden Library, where all demonic alliances and secrets are kept.”

Flipping to the next slide, it showed a symbol surrounded by other smaller ones etched into the dirt. “This is his summoning mark, and it was found at the pond where this Ubel surfaced. Scouring through all of my books, I came to find that Ubel is the name of one of the thirty-six demons that Dantalion has command over. Could it be pure coincidence that he picked that name? No, I think not. With the other findings, it seems as if the Duke of Hell has given this man access to his powers on the command of the Dark Lord.”

The next slide pulled up a clearer version of the smaller markings. “These are powerful symbols to invoke; they require skill and raw power. Only a higher-level demon or one of the seventy-two Greater Demons that make up the Dark Lord’s court could pull this off. Which leads me to believe that the Dark Lord has awoken them and is preparing to use those unlocked humans that are given the demonic serum to host their powers to unleash on the world.”

My jaw fell open at this dramatic turn of events and how utterly serious he was in his findings. It wasn’t that I didn’t believe him—I, of all people, knew how the Dark Lord loved to play games—but this version didn’t sit right with me.

Parker raised his hand, causing Mr. Creed to sigh. “Yes, Mr. Jones?”

“I’m just trying to figure out how we went from one of the lowest of the Greater Demons being awoken to having them all awake and terrorizing the world…” Parker asked, scratching his jaw as he squinted at the screen.

Mr. Creed scowled at him. “Did you not hear a word I just said?”

“No, I got all that, but these smaller symbols don’t show any clues to more of the Greater Demons waking up. On that note, what do we know about the Dark Lord? Is he really the ruler of Hell, or is that just another title like the Grand Duke of Hell? He might not be able to wake up the stronger of the greater demons,” Parker asked, starting to ramble as he thought out loud.

“Enough,” Mr. Creed snapped. “We are losing sight of what’s really at stake here.”

Hudson shifted so his elbows rested on his knees, looking at Mr. Creed. “I don’t think so. Parker has made a few good points. From what we know, there are demons of all kinds, ranks, and species, but never once have we been told who the true ruler of Hell is, with seven princes claiming that job.”

“This is what you want to debate now, Mr. Lacy, while there is a serial killer on the loose?”

“Once again, I believe you are taking this in the wrong direction. Yes, we need to understand Ubel and what he’s trying to do, but that doesn’t mean all of Hell is behind this. The Dark Lord could also be part of the Greater Demons of Solomon or one of the Seven Princes of Hell, we just don’t know because he’s using another name. If all the Seven Princes of Hell decided to wipe out the Earth, then I don’t think the Elementi could stop them,” Hudson challenged.

Slowly, I raised my hand, knowing that I might be fanning the flames with this question. “Ah, sorry, new to all this, but how do we know the Greater Demons are all asleep?”

“Many people try to summon them, but you have to have enough power to pull them out of Hell. Those of weaker power are not as affected by leaving Hell, but these are. They need demonic power to live off of, and there isn’t enough here for them. Think of it this way, the higher the rank the more demonic power they need. The Seven Princes of Hell are at the top, then the Greater Demons, higher-level, mid-level, then lower demons. So, to Mr. Creed’s point, by having these people changed by the demonic serum, they will become hosts and provide more demonic energy on Earth for them to live off of,” Micah explained. “So way back in BC times, when Solomon called his legion of seventy-two Greater Demons and enslaved them to build the temple, they became too weak to leave Hell once they returned. As far as we know, they have been in slumber ever since—or at least, that’s what we are led to believe from what we’ve been able to pull out of the lower demons. No one truly knows what goes on in Hell, and we have to go by what the angels have provided for us and knowledge we have gathered over the years.”

Mr. Creed took a book off his desk and brought it over to me, holding it out. “This book contains all the names of those seventy-two Greater Demons and their abilities, along with the other basic types of demons. This is where we will be starting your education that has been ignored for far too long.”

“Would it be worth asking the Dark Lord who he is?” I asked, looking at everyone.

“What?!” Mr. Creed gasped. “Why on earth would you do such a thing? Knowing a demon’s true name is to gain power over them. It is the one thing you need to know in order to summon them here.”

“Even if he doesn’t answer, I’m sure I will get more information out of him. He loves to taunt me with all I don’t know,” I pushed, needing to find something good out of this special attention the Dark Lord kept showering on me.

Mr. Creed harrumphed at my comment. “If you weren’t as ignorant as a baby deer then I might ponder the idea, but there is no way I would let you deal with something so sensitive.”

Micah tensed, hugging me tightly. “Watch it, Creed. I like you, but I won’t let you talk to her that way.”

The two were locked in a battle of wills, eyes narrowed at each other before Mr. Creed turned away first. “Fine. Let her do what she wants, but if she ends up killing herself or getting tied to a Greater Demon, then that is on you lot.”

“Perhaps it would be better if we went back to the symbols? We found more last night. I know Micah figured a good majority of them out, but is there anything we missed?” Hudson redirected.

“Yes, as a matter of fact, there was something on the body you all missed. Carved into her back was another symbol, and this one was to feed the energy of this sacrifice to another. I didn’t recognize the marking, so it could very well be this Dark Lord of ours, but it still lets us know that there is a more powerful demon here that needs the demonic energy to survive. If they can’t get it directly from Hell, then it seems they’re going to make it here with spells until they can distribute the serum,” Mr. Creed announced.

“Fuck—this just got a whole hell of a lot worse,” Parker muttered.

“I couldn’t agree more,” Mr. Creed said with a nod of his head.

TWENTY-SEVEN

LAILAH

Mr. Creed went over a few more things with us and gave me two more books to start looking over before we left his study. Now I needed to go back to my room and change to meet with Tony for my assessment down in the humongous gym. There was a full weight room, a boxing ring, basketball court, and even an indoor track.

“Why didn’t anyone tell me there was an INDOOR TRACK??” I demanded when I caught sight of it, turning to glare at the guys.

“Ah…” Parker said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Yeah, sorry Trouble, I totally forgot we had that down here.”

Jay walked up to me and pulled me against his chest with a little smirk on his lips. “I didn’t tell you because I like having alone time with you. If we run here, they’ll turn up.” He motioned with his head.

“Okay, that’s kind of really sweet, but it’s been two months since I’ve been able to run outside! Why didn’t you tell me then?” I countered, trying to still be irritated with him but failing.

Jay shrugged his shoulders and looked at the track. “I hate running underground.”

“The gang’s all here. Hmm, I don’t remember telling you guys to come for an assessment?” Tony smirked as he entered the gym with Cami right behind him.

Tony was a large, buff black man with warm brown eyes. His thick black hair was cut to the skin on the side and left about an inch on top. Today, he looked much more relaxed in his basketball shorts and t-shirt, versus his security uniform.

“I believe you owe me twenty bucks, big man.” Cami grinned, holding out her hand.

Returning her grin, he slapped her hand and kept walking. “I never said I agreed to the bet, short stop. I try not to lose money to you unnecessarily.”

“What the hell are you doing here, ankle biter?” Micah asked, arms crossed.

“Did you forget so soon, flame boy? We have a match to settle things between us, or are you too scared to lose?” Cami taunted.

“Oh, it’s on, bite-size. Prepare to get your ass burnt,” Micah tossed back.

I couldn’t help it. I burst out laughing as they tossed insults back and forth, standing toe to toe, with Cami’s hands on her hips, glaring up at him. The size difference between them made it that much more funny.

“Easy now, you two. We’re going to deal with that a bit later, when I’m done with Lailah. I’m glad you’re all here—I thought it might be fun to start the new year with a little tournament, test your skills and see what needs work,” Tony interjected, pulling Cami away by the back of her shirt. “Now, you guys entertain yourself until I get this assessment done.”

The group split off to do their own workouts, leaving me with Tony.

“Alright, now Cami tells me you were on the track team. Did they have you working with free weights or just drills on the track field?” Tony asked me, looking over his clipboard.

“Typically, we did a lot of drills on the field, but when it was winter we worked out more in the gym. Hard to run in snow and ice.”

Tony nodded his head and stopped at the edge of the stretching floor. “Let’s warm up and see what your flexibility is like. Kill two birds with one stone. First, I have to ask—are you okay with me assisting you and adjusting your form?”

“Yup, not a problem,” I answered, waving off the question. “I’d rather you help me fix something that I’ve done wrong before I hurt myself than freak out over an assist.”

“I hear ya, but I want to make sure you are totally comfortable, and I don’t need five pissed off dudes with magic powers coming after me.” He laughed. “Alright, follow my lead.”

It was nice to be back in the gym and working out, and I really needed the stretching after all the crazy of the last few days. Then, once I was warmed up, we headed to the weights and worked out my whole body. We didn’t push it too far, just tested to see when I reached my limit. Finally, we got to the best part—Tony wanted to see how fast I could run.

“Look, I know you’ve been off a few months and haven’t really been training, so don’t go crazy. I just want a gauge of where your stamina is. We’re going for distance, not just speed, although I would be lying if I didn’t tell you I was going to time your 200 meter dash,” Tony said as he pulled out his stopwatch.

I lined up and got into position on the starting block, my body all too willing to fall right back into the swing of things. The sound of a buzzer signaled the start of the race, and I took off down the track. I felt myself let everything fade away as I focused on the goal at hand, the sound of my feet on the ground accented by the beating of my heart all I could hear. This was my safe place, the one thing I could do to let the world fall away and just be. I didn’t worry about time or how long I was going to run. I just let my body’s instincts take over, trusting it to know just how far I could push myself. Finally, when my legs started to burn and my breath was sawing out of my lungs, I started to slow down and did another lap at a more leisurely pace so I didn’t cramp up the moment I stopped.

“Holy shit Lala, that was crazy!” Cami exclaimed when I returned to the starting point where everyone was waiting. “What distance was that, even?”

Tony looked down at his clipboard, adding something up before he looked at me wide-eyed. “You just ran a 10k in a little under an hour without any prior training. Woman, what were you like on your track team?”

“Oh, well that time would be a little slow for me when I was competing. I typically could do that in forty-five minutes, sometimes a little less. Before you guys get really impressed, the Olympic level is like thirty minutes, okay,” I said blushing.

“Well, I surely don’t need to worry about you being able to run away fast enough if something bad goes down,” Tony said with a smile. “Now, go stretch out while I get this little tournament figured out with these idiots.”

Nodding, I headed over to the side and flopped to the ground to start my cooldown. When I sat up from a stretch, a water bottle was hanging in the air by my face. Grabbing it, I looked around and saw Jay with a smirk on his face. Had he just used his air powers to send me over a bottle of water? Then he winked. Yup, that confirmed it—Jay was showing off, and I quite enjoyed it. Confident that I wouldn’t cramp up from my workout and the run, I headed back over to the group, heading right to Jay.

I bumped him with my hip, causing him to look at me. “Thanks for the water.”

“I noticed you forgot to bring one, and it isn’t smart to let yourself get dehydrated,” Jay mentioned, cocking a scolding eyebrow at me.

This made me smile even more. “Thankfully, I have a very attentive boyfriend to make sure I’m well looked after.”

A cough sounded, pulling my attention back to the others, who were watching the two of us with amused looks.

“If you two are done flirting, we have a tournament to start,” Tony admonished.

Feeling my cheeks heat with embarrassment, I looked down at my feet. “Sorry.”

Jay slipped his hand into mine and gave it a squeeze but didn’t let go; instead, he threaded his fingers through mine.

“Alright, we’re going to start with Micah and Cami. The rules for you two are simple: no powers and no nut shots. The first one to get their opponent to tap out wins. Oh, and try not to kill each other, alright?” Tony instructed, holding the ropes apart for the two of them to enter into the boxing ring.

Cami and Micah already had their hands wrapped and were wearing knuckle gloves. Micah bounced on the balls of his feet, shaking out his arms as he waited while Cami did some last-minute stretches.

“Fighters meet,” Tony called, and they came to the center. “Fighters ready… and fight!”

Micah started out swinging, but Cami ducked low and elbowed him in the gut.

“Not off to such a good start there,” Cami taunted as they broke apart, beginning to circle each other, watching and waiting for the next move.

Cami charged at Micah and he braced himself for a hit, but she leapt at him like a puma taking down its prey. She wrapped her legs around his waist and took him down to the mats with a resounding THUD. Cami started to wail on Micah, hitting him where she could reach, but Micah was able to shield himself for the most part.

“What the fuck is this?! You’re fighting like some angry drunk chick at a bar,” Micah spat as he tried to hold his own. “This is how you’re going to prove to me that you can keep Lailah safe?”

Having had enough, Micah kicked his legs up and was able to trap her around her neck, pulling his legs down and bending her backwards while he rolled, dislodging her. He swept her away, giving himself time to stand and prepare for the next attack.

They came together in a flurry of kicks, blocks, and punches so fast it was hard to tell what landed and what didn’t. Then Micah took Cami down to the mats, but that didn’t mean the fight was over. Cami refused to allow Micah to take whatever hold he was trying to, squirming around like an eel. Then, somehow, they both ended up in this impossible knot of limbs neither one of them could get out of.

A whistle blast sounded, and both Micah and Cami released each other. “That’s a tie!” Tony called.

Micah helped Cami to stand.

“Guess we’ll have to try again next year,” Micah grumbled.

Frowning, I looked at them both. “Wait, you’ve done this before?”

“Hell yeah girl, we have a rematch every year!” Cami explained as she hopped out of the ring.

“Why do I feel like you guys totally played me on this?” I asked, and I couldn’t help but pout just a little.

Cami hugged me around my waist so her head was resting on my chest. “Don’t be like that, Lala. It helps us get past the shit that builds up between us, otherwise one of us would explode on the other.”

“Cami, get your face out of my girlfriend’s boobs. That’s a low blow, even for you,” Micah growled, stalking over to her.

Cami dropped her arms and backed away slowly before sticking her tongue out at him. “You’re just jealous because I’m the perfect height to use them as pillows when I hug her.”

Micah swept me up, wrapping my legs around his waist with his hand holding my ass and kissed the hell out of me. I let out a little squeak before I melted into him and curled my fingers into his hair that was pulled up.

“Okay, okay, you two, no making out while there’s an instructor present,” Tony grumbled.

“I take it you’re still single, Tony?” Micah asked as he let me down.

Tony gave him a look that would have made a weaker man flinch. “You still a dick?”

Micah chuckled and shrugged his shoulders in answer.

“Now, for the rest of you lot, we’ll need to go into one of the warded training rooms so we don’t have your powers bringing this place down around our ears,” Tony said, waving for us to follow him. “Cami, I think it’s best if we keep this a closed event, hit the showers and I’ll see you tomorrow for training.”

Down another hall in the Water section, there were six steel doors with warning lights on the outside to show if the room was in use or not. Tony took us to the last one and opened the door for us to enter. When I stepped inside, I could feel the hum of an electric current running along my skin, raising the hair on the back of my neck. The room itself was lined with black steel paneling on the walls with different symbols and phrases written on them in white. When I brushed my fingers over one of them, I felt a zap like I’d gotten a static shock.

“This whole room is covered in wards to stop our powers from leaking outside. It takes a little to get used to it, but soon you won’t even notice the energy dampeners,” Hudson shared as he stood next to me. “This is our team training room; the others are for single use and are much smaller.”

Taking in the rest of the room, I noticed a white circle drawn on the floor that a circus could use for its performances. It made sense, though, that this was larger, since the five of them needed to work on things together—well, now six of us. It did make me feel much better knowing that I would be able to safely practice my powers with Nona and not have to worry about things getting crazy.

“In the interest of being fair, I picked the pairings for the first round: Micah and Parker, Jay and Lailah, Hudson and Brayden,” Tony announced.

“What?!” Micah snapped. “Lailah isn’t doing this; she doesn’t even know how to fight!”

Tony just rolled his eyes at Micah. “That is why I have her with Jay. I want to see what her instinctual reactions to things are. Her powers will protect her if she trusts them to do so.”

Micah muttered under his breath, but he let the issue go.

“Lailah, why don’t you and Jay go first so that we can get it over with and everyone can calm down,” Tony suggested, motioning to the ring.

Taking a deep, calming breath, I stepped into the circle, and Jay joined me. When we were both inside, he said some complicated phrase that sounded like Latin, and the hum in the room got louder as the white outline glowed and then settled once more.

“I activated the ring so we can’t harm anyone outside of this circle,” Jay mentioned as he stood in the middle. “The plan is that I will use simple attacks on you to see how your power responds on its own. All you need to do is trust that it will keep you safe and give into what your gut tells you to do.”

Nodding, I took a moment to center myself and let my power flow through my body, ready and waiting for me to use it. Jay took a step back, gathering a swirling ball of wind in his hand, and hurled it at me. Instantly, I had my sai in my hands crossed in front of me, blocking his attack while the wind buffeted against me.

I could feel my feet slipping on the concrete floor as the wind pushed against me. I needed to dispel it before it would dissipate. My power flowed down my arms and seeped into the sai, causing them to glow and pulse a bright shade of gold, causing the attack to poof out of existence. Then Jay was there in my space wrapping me up in a tornado of sorts, but my power wrapped me up in a golden bubble and pushed out against the wind until it once again caused it to dissipate.

Time and time again, Jay attacked, and I muddled my way through getting out of each situation, but the common theme was I could shield against them and my powers could break apart his spell once it touched my shield.

“Okay, Lailah, now try and attack Jay. Even if it’s just to push him away when he gets too close,” Tony called out.

I was panting, and sweat soaked through my shirt with the amount of power I’d been using. I wasn’t even sure I’d be able to put that much strength behind an attack. Jay, true to who he was, didn’t give me a chance to doubt myself and charged at me.

I was terrified to hurt him, and my tank was running on empty.

So what did my power do?

It decided to pull from Jay, causing him to crash into me, knocking us to the floor, when I couldn’t move out of the way fast enough. His energy surged into me, and I could feel him panic ever so slightly, but it was enough that I felt him taking the last of what power I had left, trying to compensate for what I was taking from him. This turned us into an endless cycle of power flowing between the two of us until it seemed that my golden power mixed into his silver, creating this beautiful energy between us.

His lips found mine, and I couldn’t resist him, letting his hand grab onto my hair and pull my head back so he could deepen the kiss. My arms and legs wrapped around him until I was practically fused to him from lips to groin. Power pulsed between us as a pure white light surrounded us and a voice echoed through the air, causing us to break apart.

“Jalen Minh, Knight blessed with Air’s power, Warrior for the angels, we accept your Oath and find you true and worthy.”

TWENTY-EIGHT

LAILAH

When we both came back to our senses and the white light was gone, I was still wrapped around Jay, but this time we were sitting instead of laying down. Looking around, I found the guys yelling at each other and making gestures towards the barrier that was keeping them out. It also dawned on me that I couldn’t hear them. Had something changed? Moments ago, Tony had been able to talk to me, so why couldn’t I hear now? Jay, still holding me, stood and said another intricate phrase, dropping the wards on the circle. They guys rushed in and surrounded us, all speaking at once.

“What the actual fuck just happened?”

“Angel, are you okay?”

“What was that bright light? How did it change the barrier so we couldn’t get to you?”

“God damn it, Trouble, don’t scare us like that! So not cool.”

Still a little shocked and disoriented, I clung to Jay, hiding my face in his neck. The energy between us thrummed through my body, telling me that what just happened wasn’t a dream. Somehow, without having to utter a word, Jay had given me his Oath and the angels had accepted it. Why was I shocked? Honestly, I don’t know, because Jay was always actions over words.

“Guys, enough,” Jay said, silencing them all instantly. “She’s fine. It was my fault. I didn’t think it would happen like this, but it did—Lailah accepted my Oath.”

“Wait, what? You didn’t say anything though?” Parker challenged.

Micah turned on Parker and slammed him into the wall with his hand around Parker’s throat. “How would you know that? You weren’t around when any of the others gave their Oaths.”

“Let me go,” Parker gasped while Tony tried to break them up.

“Not until you give me an answer, you cock sucker,” Micah seethed.

Parker reached up and grabbed Micah’s wrist with both his hands and launched himself at him. They rolled on the ground, swearing, kicking, and punching until they were back in the circle. The rest of us had moved out of it, so when one of them said the incantation, sending the barrier walls back up, it was just the two of them. Micah shoved Parker away as he hopped up to his feet, his dual swords ready in his hands. Parker followed suit with his long-bladed staff, wiping the blood off his face from getting hit in the nose.

“What gives you the right to even ask me that question? You had the chance to be with her and you turned it the fuck down. So what if I gave her my Oath and she accepted it? That is between the two of us, not the rest of you,” Parker growled.

Micah let out a battle cry filled with rage and descended upon Parker, blades and bodies moving so fast I couldn’t keep up with what was going on. Still in Jay’s hold, I turned to him. “Can they truly hurt each other in there?”

Jay looked at me a moment, and I could see him weighing the answer before he spoke. “Yes, they can hurt each other, or even kill one another.”

“Why isn’t anyone stopping them?!” I gasped, trying to wriggle out of Jay’s hold.

Jay leaned down and bit my earlobe. “Be still, Beautiful. This needs to happen if there is any hope of the two of them mending things. There is lots of pent-up anger that goes beyond you.”

As much as I hated it, I knew deep down he was right. After all, this had been my whole plan to get them to work things out. I just didn’t understand how volatile it would be when it happened. All I could do now was wait and watch for two men that I loved and cared deeply about to figure their issues out their own way. Bursts of flame flashed as Micah started to lob them at Parker, who deflected them with his staff, but even I could see that Micah had the upper hand in this battle and Parker was going to lose as soon as he ran out of steam.

Then it happened.

Micah used his flames to distract Parker as he dove in and gut checked Parker to the ground with twin swords at the ready to slice his throat open. When Micah didn’t back off and I watched his hands tighten on the blades, I’d had enough. Breaking out of Jay’s hold, I ran to the circle, and with a flair of power was able to pass right through, stumbling to my knees next to them. The absolute rage that was on Micah’s face scared me, and the resigned look of acceptance from Parker broke my heart. He knew Micah would kill him without a second thought, and he felt like he deserved it for some godforsaken reason.

“Stop, please,” I whispered, placing my hands over Micah’s on the hilts of his swords. “I can’t let you do this, Micah.”

“Is it true?” Micah demanded through gritted teeth. “Did you accept his Oath?”

A tear trailed down my cheek as I looked deep into his sapphire eyes. “Yes, it’s true.”

His swords dissolved as the shutters closed over his emotions, cutting me off from him as if we were back to square one. My heart wrenched, and I didn’t know how to stop him from walking away from me, because I needed to make sure Parker was alright. Loving more than one person was the best thing I’d ever experienced, but as I was learning in this moment, it could also be far more painful.

Before I could do or say anything, the door to the room burst open and a man gasping for air looked at us with wild eyes.

“Ubel has a chapel full of students trapped and is threatening to kill them all if Synergy doesn’t come talk to him.”

“Fuck!” Micah spat as he took off out the door, the rest of us hot on his heels.

Jay grabbed my hand, and we ran. Even though I had been put through the ringer today, the terror of knowing people’s lives were held in the balance of me getting there in time to stop him fueled me. When I checked my power source, I noticed that it was replenished and still had small hints of silver floating through it. Seems that as we sealed the Oath, I’d pulled energy from him, and I couldn’t be more grateful.

When we exited the underground facility, we were in a large hangar with Humvees and other military-grade equipment for missions. Micah was already behind the wheel of a tactical Jeep, and Jay tossed me up into the passenger seat as he hopped in the back. The other four piled into another Jeep since Micah already slammed on the gas, sending us rocketing out of the hangar into open pasture at the back of the property. Hanging on for dear life since there were no doors, seatbelts, or even fabric walls to keep us in, we drove over the rough ground.

When we reached campus, I saw more Elementi herding students away and blocking off the pathways to the quad where the chapel, now used as an auditorium, sat. It wasn’t lost on me that Ubel had picked the chapel for this stunt since it was the beginning of what this university had turned into. The first stand Ryevick made against evil to teach and train others to fight against them. Now, knowing what and who I am, I wasn’t at all surprised that I’d focused on that particular building to study when I first got here. It might have also been why Ubel was using it as his epic taunt towards me, knowing the history it represented.

Micah barely gave the guard time to pull the barrier out of our way as we sped through the walkways of the school, sliding to a stop in the middle of the quad. I stood in my seat, holding onto the roll cage of the Jeep and looking at the chapel in the glow of the setting sun. Tony and the others pulled in beside us moments later without all the screeching and smoking tires.

Up on the bell tower balcony, the doors were pulled open, and Ubel walked out. He didn’t look the same, but I knew it was him. How I didn’t see it before was shocking, but I’d only met the man once since the first time when I’d been delirious with demon venom running through my veins.

“Oh, I see you’ve finally connected the dots there, Synergy.” Ubel grinned, leaning on the railing, looking down at us from Mr. Creed’s face. “I have to admit, I was saddened that it was so easy to fool all of you. These so-called Knights should have known I wasn’t the real Mr. Creed. They’ve spent years taking lessons from him. Especially that brooding Fire Knight of yours… such a pity.”

Swearing and the sound of crumpling metal drew my attention down where Micah was wailing on the dash of the Jeep.

“That one would make an excellent vessel for Aeshma, the Greater Demon of Wrath, should he decide to awaken. Goodness, you might even be like me and just be blessed with one of the Greater Demons’ powers as their conduit,” Ubel chattered on.

“What do you want?” I called, unable to take his ramblings much longer.

Ubel’s face and body started to shift and change until he looked like the man I met at the pond. “The Dark Lord warned me that you were stubborn, but I think it might be because you are just too stupid to understand what’s going on. It’s not about what I want—no, it’s about what the Dark Lord needs. You see, your Spirit Knight was correct when he said that the Greater Demons were still sleeping and needed demonic energy to awaken and fulfill their work here on Earth. So how do we do that? Well, we take large groups of people and give them the serum, letting them welcome lesser demons into a new home. Oh! I almost forgot, I figured out a way to aerosolize it, giving us the ability to administer it to large amounts of people, much like this chapel full of students. For you, though, I think the old-fashioned way would be best—just think what it would be like if we injected you with the serum, being as powerful as you are? Would you be able to host one of our great Princes of Hell?”

All the dots started to connect. Each time the Dark Lord came to taunt me, he pushed me to see how much stronger I’d gotten since the last time we’d talked. When I proved that I could shield myself from him at least slightly, he’d left me alone and sent Ubel instead. The Dark Lord couldn’t test me further as he was; he needed someone in person who could push me to gain strength to be of better use to them. If I gave myself up and let them inject the serum into me, it would bring down the rest of the walls of my own self-doubt and reservations, freeing me to be at my most powerful state.

“By the look of terror on your face, I see you fully understand what I’m talking about. How delightful! So, what’s it going to be, Synergy? Am I going to take these two hundred innocent lives and turn them into the perfect vessels to feed our sleeping lords, or will you surrender to me?” Ubel questioned, giving me a smile that was more teeth than anything. “I’ll give you some time to think it over. If you decide to surrender, all you have to do is call out my name and it will be a done deal. Don’t take too long, though—I do get bored easily these days.”

In a swirl of green smoke he was gone, leaving me with an impossible choice.

Crumpling back into my seat, I curled up into a little ball, trying to find any way out of this other than the obvious one.

TWENTY-NINE

LAILAH

Arms wrapped around me, and I knew it was Brayden who pulled me from the Jeep and carried me. In our hurry to leave, none of us had grabbed our coats, and we certainly were not wearing warm clothes. The blast of heat told me he’d taken me inside somewhere, and lifting my head, I saw we were in the coffee shop. Brayden sat in one of the leather chairs with me on his lap; it was the same chairs that we sat in when we went on our first “date” that got crashed by the others. Now I was surrounded by them all, faced with an impossible choice.

“What are we going to do?” I whispered.

Micah leaned forward and grabbed my chin tightly, making me flinch a little as he forced me to look up at him. “I’ll tell you what we aren’t going to do, Lailah—give you up to them. That isn’t an option, so don’t waste your time thinking about it. There is only one of him and six of us, plus all of the Elementi we can muster. There is something we can do besides that.”

Jay took a tablet from one of the Elementi security guards and started looking something over. “We need to think where the best place to put a device that would disperse the serum would be. If we can remove that part of the equation, it gives us a lot more ground to work with. I finally got word back from the labs and the employee file on the man who is now Ubel. He was indeed part of the team that helped create the serum, and I think he was a plant all along. His resume would be exactly what your father or the company as a whole would be looking for, making it easy for him to get the job.”

“What is the air system like in the chapel?” Parker asked.

Micah glared at him over his shoulder. “This isn’t some action flick where it would be that obvious. This man is clever and deceitful. Who knows if there really is a way to do what he said—demons lie, remember?”

“Okay ass-munch, at least one of us is coming up with ideas,” Parker snapped back.

Nothing that happened in the circle made this any better. In fact, I think it made it worse. Micah was acting fine, but I knew I’d hurt him by not being honest and telling him that I’d taken Parker’s Oath. I’d known in my gut when Parker asked me to keep it quiet that it wasn’t the best choice, but I also understood where Parker was coming from. Shaking my head, I tossed those thoughts to the wayside—there were bigger things to deal with right now.

“Well, if we take that logic, do we think he even plans to do what he says to those students?” Hudson interjected.

“It’s still winter break, so why are there so many people in the chapel?” Brayden asked, making us all pause.

Jay pulled a paper out of his back pocket and handed it over to us. “A guard found this posted around the school.”

As I skimmed over the flier, it showed that there would be a free movie night with popcorn for those who were still on campus.

“That sick motherfucker planned this. Do we have any idea when these went up?” Micah questioned as he looked over the sheet.

“I can check the campus security feeds real quick, but that doesn’t change the fact that it happened,” Jay pointed out.

Sitting up straighter on Brayden’s lap, I cleared my throat, drawing everyone’s attention. “This is all good information, but it still isn’t helping us figure out how to save them and kill Ubel.”

“What if we just went in guns blazing, so to speak?” Parker suggested. “Look, I know most of you don’t want to even look at me right now, but we have a job to do. We can sort out the personal shit later.”

“It isn’t the worst idea,” Jay contemplated. “If we bust through the front doors, we can make sure that everyone has a chance to get out if he really has set the place up to be a dirty bomb. Then we can take the fight directly to him to keep him busy.”

Hudson leaned forward, adjusting his glasses. “You’re forgetting his ability to transport himself out. We need a ward up to perfect that kind of travel.”

“There is one,” Brayden said. “It’s built into the wards surrounding the school that we recharged.”

“We just saw him use it, though,” Micah countered.

“Then it can only go a short distance. It would keep him trapped in the walls of the school property,” Brayden answered.

Micah groaned and leaned back in his chair. “That still does nothing for us. He could just walk out of the barrier and use his transport skills then. All we have set up is for demons, not nut job humans with demonic powers. God, we are so fucked!”

“What we need is for someone to get a ward or shield around him so that we can keep him in one place long enough to stop or trap his powers. If we can disable them, then he is your average human again,” Brayden reasoned.

I held up a hand, stopping the conversation. “Wait, I think we need to make sure we are all on the same page. Are we trapping him and keeping him alive or killing him?”

“The leadership would like to keep him alive to learn more about the effects of the serum, but if we can’t, then we are allowed to take him out,” Jay answered, holding my gaze so I knew that he didn’t like the order any more than I did.

“Was this another thing you guys were waiting to tell me about?” I demanded, irritation hot under my skin.

“No, Beautiful, we got the text on our way over here to the scene. Just didn’t seem like a good time to tell you until now,” Jay chided, causing me to realize I might have reacted a little too strongly.

Micah stood and started to pace. “I say damn what they want and do what needs to be done. None of us will lose any sleep over the fact this guy will be gone. Now, do we have any other bright ideas, or are we kicking down the door?”

“Oh, so you’re saying that you like my idea?” Parker mused.

“Don’t push it, Parker, or we will finish what I started in the ring, no matter what Lailah says,” Micah growled, his dual swords appearing in his hands. “Let’s get this over with. It’s fucking freezing, and I don’t like that Lailah doesn’t have a coat.”

With grim looks on all their faces, they stood and walked out, but Brayden didn’t move, knowing I needed a moment before we did this.

“You okay, Angel?” Brayden asked, running a hand down my back.

“No, but does that really matter? This is what we have to do, and I have to agree with Micah—the world will be a safer place without that man in it.” I sighed and gave him a peck on the lips before I stood, holding out a hand to him. “Come on, let’s go save some lives and kick some demon ass.”

Back out in the quad, that was now deserted for all but the six of us, we marched towards the chapel. Micah, in the lead, hit the chapel doors with two powerful blasts of fire, enough to knock the doors off their hinges, and Hudson followed up, putting the fire out before it could take hold. Jay used his wind to pull what debris he could from the entrance swiftly, leaving a clear path for people to leave by. When we entered the chapel, it was completely silent and far too dark until the overhead light blazed into existence.

“Oh, you dear, sweet, baby-minded Knights. Did you really think it would be that easy to get the drop on me? Now you have to find your precious students before it’s too late. I got tired of waiting and started the clock ages ago,” Ubel’s disembodied voice called out. “Call my name any time, Synergy, and this will all end. Remember, whatever happens is on you.”

Micah punched the stone wall at the same time Jay started to swear silently.

“What? What did we miss?” I pressed.

“The tunnels. They don’t connect to anything anymore, but they are still under the chapel. This used to be where the Elementi would enter and exit the school for missions, but they are no longer needed with the new system,” Jay muttered as he started knocking on the wood-paneled walls. “Come on guys, we need to find the entrance down to the tunnels… and fast.”

We branched out, and I tried to remember what I read in those journals I found in the Elementi section of the school library. Then it hit me, and I raced to the back where the bell tower was. Ubel had picked that spot to meet us for more than one reason. Reaching the door to that section of the chapel, I found the handle was broken off and the lock jammed—this was it! Pulling my power to me, I tried to use my sai to stab around the lock to try and get it to break loose, but even though the wood was old, it was well crafted and maintained.

“Guys, I found it!” I called, hoping they could hear me.

I used my emotional connection to Brayden and Hudson to get them to come find me just in case they couldn’t hear me all the way back here. When I wasn’t getting anywhere fast, I dropped my sai and tried to create a ball of energy like I had when fighting Tabitha to see if that would work. When the blast hit the wood, it didn’t damage the door. It did the opposite, bringing the door back to its original working order. I let out a whoop of excitement and turned the handle that was now unlocked and let me enter into the room with the spiral staircase leading up to the bells. On the floor was a trap door that I guessed led down to the tunnels.

I paused, unsure if I should keep going on my own or if waiting would be better. Then I heard the sound of feet running to me close by, and I knew they were on their way, so I headed for the trap door. Grasping the old steel ring, I pulled with all my might and got the door to budge but little else. I wasn’t going to be able to do this on my own. Moments later, the guys burst in, panting as they paused to catch their breath.

“Look, I found it,” I said with a smile, pointing to the trap door. “Guess being a nerd about the school was helpful this time.”

Hudson walked over to me and kissed my forehead. “Sunshine, you are brilliant. Now, let’s see if we can get this thing open.”

It took three of them lifting and the other two pushing to break the rust on the hinges to get it open.

“Guess he didn’t use this to get them down there,” Brayden said, his chest heaving from the exertion.

“Let’s just make sure we keep it open so we don’t have to fight it getting everyone out,” Hudson reasoned as we all peered down the hole.

There was an old wooden ladder, covered in cobwebs, built down one side of the tunnel. Micah walked over with a piece of wood in his hand that he lit on fire and dropped down into the tunnel. We watched and waited for it to hit the ground, letting us know how far this thing went. It dropped a good ten feet or so, and we could see the flickering of the flame, but it wasn’t enough to give us light on our way down.

“Who gets the honor of going first?” Parker asked, looking between Jay and Micah.

Without a word, Jay climbed into the hole and started down the ladder, then went Brayden and Micah.

I started forward, but Hudson grabbed my arm. “Please, Sunshine, can you do us this one favor and stay up here?”

“Why?” I frowned, not liking this request at all. “We’re a team. We need each other, Hudson.”

He sighed and hung his head. “I know, I know, but would you be willing to compromise and let me go down first just in case? We still don’t know if you have any offensive abilities with your powers. Everything so far has been defensive.”

“Fine, I’ll let you go first, but I’m going no matter what,” I answered begrudgingly.

Hudson went next, and I waited a few moments to give them a little head start so I didn’t crash into them on the way down. Then Parker took up the rear making sure nothing came at us from behind.

“The rest of us made it no problem!” Brayden called from below.

Hearing that set me at ease as my feet hit the first rung of the ladder, descending into the cool darkness of the tunnel. With no way of knowing how far I’d gone or still had to go, the journey took forever as I gingerly took each step down. I was worried if I moved too fast I might slip and fall or step on Hudson’s hands, causing him to fall.

“You’re doing great, Sunshine. Slow and steady,” Hudson’s voice echoed, soothing my fears. “I’m off the ladder, so you have nothing to worry about. Just keep coming.”

When my feet hit the dirt floor, I sagged against the wall, relieved to have that part over with, only to be faced with the next task of where to go from here.

“Alright, we need to pair up. I sent a map of the tunnels that is believed to be the most accurate, but that’s not guaranteed,” Jay instructed as he also handed out flashlights and flares out of a backpack I didn’t notice he had on. “Thank God we took the Jeeps so we had some kind of supplies to work with.”

“Fuck, Jay, you always make the rest of us look like idiots when it comes to shit like this,” Micah muttered as he took the flashlight and stuffed a few flares in his back pockets.

Jay just gave him a blank look and shrugged his shoulders. “Guess it comes with how I was raised.”

Once we had everything we needed and split into two groups of three, we headed out. Jay, Parker, and Brayden went to the left and the rest of us went to the right with Hudson leading the way, the map in hand on his phone. Micah moved me to the middle of the group so he took up the rear, which was smart with my skills of getting lost in a cereal box.

The tunnels reminded me of photos that I’d seen of ancient catacombs chiseled into the earth, mason blocks holding up the walls and ceilings. Some sections had alcoves where old priests had been buried along with some of the early Elementi Knights. It was spooky and fascinating at the same time, but the reality of why we were down here kept things in perspective.

When we came to a domed room that was different from the others, far more lavish with intricate etchings in the stone walls, I couldn’t help myself. I wandered over to see who it was that had been laid to rest here, gently dusting off the nameplate on the sarcophagus. Here lies Aiden Ryevick.

“Holy shit! You guys, this is the founder of Ryevick!” I gasped.

“We can come back to look, Lailah, but we need to stay on track,” Micah whispered, harshly motioning me to follow.

Shaking my head, trying to get it back to the matters at hand, I trailed after them.

“Tick tock goes the clock, Synergy… how much time do they have left?” Ubel’s voice echoed hauntingly down the tunnel behind me.

“It’s this way!” I yelled as I took off, Hudson and Micah yelling at me to wait up.

I didn’t wait, though—how could I when there were people trapped down here like sitting ducks for Ubel to play with? I wouldn’t have any more blood on my hands over this; it was time I took a stand and say enough was enough. Ubel was not getting out of this alive; he posed too high of a risk, no matter what they did to try and keep his powers contained. He was sick and twisted, through and through.

His laughter echoed off the walls, leading me to him, and I ran faster, afraid he would slip through my fingers. Skidding to a halt, I came to the edge of a cliff where it looked like there had once been a stone bridge over an underground river. I looked around furiously, but I couldn’t see any way to get around to the other side. I was at a dead end.

“You want so desperately to be treated like one of them, but look where that has gotten you,” Ubel chided as he walked out of the tunnel behind me. “Foolish, simple minded, and so easily led astray. No wonder they wanted you to stay behind and out of the way, but did you listen? No. No, you did not—you never do.”

Anger roared through me as he poked at all of my insecurities so casually. “Are there even people trapped down here?”

“Oh yes, but they are nowhere near here,” Ubel said as he began to circle around me. “I just needed to get you away from the others so we could have a heart to heart.”

“What could I possibly have to talk to you about?” I snapped.

“Just the lives of the five men you love and two hundred innocents that will all perish once the bombs go off and collapse these shoddy old tunnels. They really should have kept them up or filled them in.”

My hands clenched into fists, nails biting into my palms. “You’re lying.”

Ubel rolled his eyes at me and produced a remote detonator, wagging it in front of me. “See, I’m not the type who bluffs. I enjoy killing far too much for that. Only, I get a win-win out of this situation. Either you give yourself up to me and the Dark Lord, or I blow everyone up and let the blast trigger large containers of the weaponized serum that will spread around the whole school and even the town. Think of all the hundreds and thousands of people I would be able to infect.”

The glee that I saw flashing in his eyes led me to believe every word he said was true. In his mind, he did win either wayn. Now it was left up to me to decide how this would all end.

THIRTY

BRAYDEN

“Idon’t like that we split up from the others,” Parker grumbled as we reached another fork in the path. “What happens when they find everyone? If we are underground, how is that going to work?”

Jay stopped in the middle of the tunnel and turned on Parker, thrusting something into his hands. “They have one of these and will be able to radio us if they find anything, even if we are underground. Now, looking at the map, it would be more likely Ubel is keeping them all in this large open area here. So let’s mark the wall and head to the right.”

“Great. Now even you’re being a dick about things. What did I do wrong this time?” Parker muttered under his breath.

Typically, Parker never pissed me off, but how he was dealing with things, especially telling Lailah to keep things secret, had gone too far. Now I wish I was like Micah and didn’t give a shit if I punched the big baby in his face.

“I think if you were more focused on the mission and not worried about yourself, it might help,” I suggested as I shoved passed him.

Parker tossed his hands in the air. “How is being worried about Lailah not being focused?”

“Because we ALL worry about Lailah!” I yelled, turning to face him again. “Don’t you get it? All of us love that woman, and if anything happened to her, it would kill each and every one of us. But—I know that if we let anything happen to these innocent people, it will break something in her that we may not be able to fix. So, getting these people to safety is my top priority right now because it’s hers—you get it now?”

Parker looked at me, stunned. I don’t think any of them had really seen me lose my temper before, but everyone had a breaking point. I knew that both Micah and Hudson would do whatever it took to keep Lailah safe, and through our bond I also knew she was fine, even if I couldn’t be with her.

Seeing that Parker didn’t have anything else to add, I started after Jay as he led us deeper into the catacombs. Now moving in silence, I was able to pick up on the sound of people whispering and others crying softly. When we emerged into the large open area that looked like it at one point had been a gathering room of sorts, we found the students. All their hands and feet were bound, and many of them were still knocked out, laying on the ground, while a few others had managed to huddle together.

I jogged over to one, pulling the gag from his mouth before I started on his hands. “Are you alright?”

“Fuck if I know, I can’t even remember what happened or how I got down here. Where are we?” he asked, rubbing his wrists once they were free.

“Under the chapel in the catacombs. We’ve come to get you guys out, but sit tight until we’ve checked on the others. You could get lost really easily out there,” I reassured as I moved on to the person next to him.

Quickly, the three of us worked, and a few of the other students helped as well once free. The ones that were still asleep needed Parker’s particular skill to wake them up from the demon magic used on them. Now that everyone was awake, a group off in one corner seemed to start panicking about something.

“There’s a BOMB!” a girl screamed, setting off the whole room.

“Oh my god, there’s another over here! We’re all gonna die down here, aren’t we?!” another voice called.

I looked at Jay, unsure of what to do but hoping he had some experience with what was going on. Nodding to me, he let out a shrill whistle that he amplified with his power so it boomed through the room, causing everyone to stop and look at him.

“If you want to make it out of here alive, then you need to calm down,” Jay instructed. “Give us a moment to see what’s going on before we set something off by accident. The best thing we can do is remain calm.”

This seemed to settle some people, but others were in hysterics and tried to fight to get out of the room. Jay signaled to Parker, who nodded his head and sent out a wave of power, putting everyone back to sleep. It was the safest option we had with only three of us trying to deal with everything.

“Guys, do you read me?” Hudson’s voice sounded over the radio.

Parker pulled the device out of his back pocket and hit the button to talk. “Yeah, we hear you.”

“We lost Lailah…”

“What the fuck did he say?!” I snarled, yanking the radio out of Parker’s hand. “You better be lying to me, Hudson.”

“Trust me, I wish I was too. She said something about hearing Ubel and took off in the opposite direction from us and vanished. We’re still looking for her, but I don’t think we can manage without you guys.”

“How much you wanna bet that bastard planned this? There’s no way we can help them if we have bombs set to go off in this room,” Parker pointed out as he turned to slam his fists into the wall. “Damn it, damn it, damn it all to hell.”

“Did you just say there were bombs?” Micah’s voice asked over the radio. “That evil prick never planned on us getting out of this place alive, did he?! Damn it! I bet he lured Lailah away from us as leverage—FUCK!”

I looked around the room, torn on what to do next. We needed to get these people out of here before something happened… but what about Lailah?

“We need a group decision on how to handle this, guys. On one hand, we have two hundred students trapped underground surrounded by bombs. On the other, Lailah is missing and probably in the clutches of a psycho demonic murderer.” I said, watching Jay and Parker for any sign of what they thought we should do as we waited for Hudson and Micah to weigh in.

Parker’s shoulders sagged as I saw him come to a choice. “We need to do what we can to protect them. It’s what she would want us to do if she was here. Have Micah and Hudson keep looking for her, but we can’t abandon them. I couldn’t look her in the face if we chose her over all of them.”

“He’s right. If you two keep working on your end, we will handle this,” Jay agreed, talking into the radio. “If we get things squared away here, it will give us all the time we need to keep looking for her with you guys, but live bombs in play jeopardizes us all.”

I could hear muttering through the radio as they talked before Hudson gave us their answer. “We are both in agreement with you, Jay. I have a connection with her, so that will help keep us going in the right direction, and you guys are on the opposite end of the catacombs as it is. Deal with the bombs and the students, and we will keep you informed of what’s happening on our end as we can.”

“Check back in fifteen minutes if you don’t hear from us before that,” Jay relayed as he stuffed the radio in his back pocket. “Okay, let’s go take a look at what we’re dealing with.”

Spreading out, we walked along the edge of the room and found a total of five bombs, each of them having an additional canister on them with what we speculated was the demon serum.

“Alright, so I can defuse these bombs, but I don’t have all the tools I need to do it quickly,” Jay started, causing us both to groan. “That means I need you two to help me since I’m working with a multi-tool instead of the specialized bomb kit we have for these circumstances. The other part of this I should be honest about is that I’ve never deactivated a bomb like this on my own. I’ve assisted one of our techs and seen it done, just not on my own.”

“We just aren’t going to catch a break on this, are we?” I asked, looking over the bomb. “There’s no other option. We have to do something, and having some idea how to do this is better than none. What do you need from us?”

Jay took a deep breath and rubbed his face with his hands. This might be the first time I’d ever seen him nervous about anything.

“Let’s see if we can move it away from the wall so I can get a better look at it,” Jay said, grabbing part of the bomb.

Parker’s head snapped in Jay’s direction. “I’m sorry, what? You want us to move this device that could go off at any time? Nope, sorry, I want to live.”

“Then I suggest you help and give us the best chance of keeping your sorry ass alive,” I growled, taking the other side, but the way it was shaped, it kept tilting forward, totally off balance.

Parker stepped up and grabbed the front, steadying it as we shuffled away from the wall and set it back down.

“Okay, now I need all the light I can without any shadow. One wrong cut wire and I’ll blow us all the fuck up,” Jay explained as he handed me his flashlight.

Pulling out his tool, he slowly worked at getting off the top of the bomb, showing all the wires. It was a massive, chaotic ball of wire that you couldn’t tell what was going where. The rat bastard had taken every opportunity to make this as hard as possible. Jay picked through the wires and was able to sort out what was real and what was just jumbled up in there. Finally, he cut a wire and crossed it with another before cutting two more. The small timer showed up, giving us five minutes before it would go off. Not having the right tool, he needed to use the blade to get the small screws out of the plate at the bottom, eating into our time before he revealed a small tube of liquid.

“You have got to be kidding me!” Jay swore, rubbing his forehead as he looked down at the bomb. “It doesn’t make sense why he would have three backup triggers!”

“Talk to us Jay, what’s going on?” I asked, trying to understand what I was looking at.

Jay glanced up at me, worry filling his eyes. “Either this was put here to cause whoever tried to disarm the bomb to panic and let the timer run out, or we have a major problem. This is a liquid trigger. If I mess with it too much, the two fluids will mix and react, causing it to blow up.”

“Wait, but wouldn’t it have done that when we moved it?” Parker questioned, squatting to look down at it closer. “I say it’s a fake out, because at this point there’s no other option. You have to remove that to get to the wire under it that controls the power to the battery.”

“How the fuck do you know that?” Jay demanded, brows furrowed.

“Um…” Parker shrugged his shoulders “You guys keep forgetting I’m a technology guy. I get circuitry, and the way this is set up doesn’t support a liquid trigger.”

“Parker, if I do this, know that I’m trusting you with all our lives here. Do you still want me to break this?” Jay asked, his tone dead serious.

Leaning even closer and looking at a few things, Parker looked back at both of us and nodded his head. “Yes, I’m absolutely positive.”

THIRTY-ONE

LAILAH

Here I was, standing on the edge of a cliff, a plunge into the river below my only choice if I didn’t want to deal with the evil, demonic man in front of me. Would I choose to fight knowing that I would put everyone’s lives in danger, or would I make the hard choice and surrender? No matter what choice I made, I lost, but I couldn’t see any other option.

Okay, there was a third option, but martyrdom was not at the top of the list either.

“I can see how much this choice weighs on you. How about I put a time limit on things?” Ubel offered. “Personally, I find that the threat of death really clears the mind and shows you what your heart truly wants. There is no second-guessing when you just let pure instinct take over. So you have five minutes to make your choice before I push this detonator and trigger the bombs.”

Ubel made a big show of pulling out a phone and setting the timer, placing it on the ground so that I could clearly see the time ticking away. Dropping to my knees on the ground, I covered my face with my hands, wracking my brain to find some way that I could get out of this situation that I just wasn’t seeing.

What would happen if I fought him? All I needed to do was get the trigger away from him, and that would give everyone more time. No, that was stupid. He could just poof away from me and set the bombs off then.

Okay, well, what would giving in do? Oh, sure the Dark Lord said he would save my men, but that didn’t mean he changed his plans for everyone else getting wiped off the face of the planet or turned into demon bodysuits. Think, Lailah, think!

Then the flicker of an idea crossed my brain. It was risky and foolish and probably would get me hurt or killed. What other option did I really have, though?

“Okay, I have an answer for you,” I said, looking up from where I knelt.

Ubel squatted down in front of me with a grin on his face. “Speak quickly. You only have a minute left.”

“I surrender to the Dark Lord,” I whispered, unable to utter the words any louder. My heart twisted and despair rolled over me, knowing that I never had another choice to make than this.

Before I could even react, Ubel slipped a syringe out of his pocket and injected me with the serum. “Welcome to the family, Synergy. I can’t wait to see what happens next!”

Pain burst through my body, much like it had when I was attacked by the demons on our scouting mission months ago. This time, though, I felt it scorching over every nerve, altering my cells, and even slowing my pulse as I was being morphed into a new being. Gasping, I clawed at the dirt floor as my body spasmed, fighting against the toxin, ripping a scream from my lungs. All the while, Ubel watched with excitement, even clapping his hands at one point. Once the serum had done its damage, I lay sprawled out on the ground, coated in sweat and lungs heaving.

What had I done?

“Rest a moment. That first dose really does a number on ya,” Ubel crooned, patting the top of my head. “Close your eyes. I’m sure the Dark Lord will want to talk with you.”

As if he’d used some sort of power on me, I drifted off to sleep, and sure enough, I found myself in that void where the Dark Lord always found me.

“Oh, my Little Synergy, I’m so glad to see that you’ve come to your senses and realized this is for the best. Although I admire how you made me work much harder than I anticipated to get you to see reason. Ubel tried to tell me you were a lost cause and I should just kill you and the others while I could. Now, here you are,” the Dark Lord cheered as he gathered me up in his arms, my body still unable to move. The smell of sulfur and smoke curled around me, almost choking me with the acrid scent. “We have a very special person for you to meet. Unfortunately, she is still asleep, but you are going to fix that, much like Ubel is with Dantalion.”

It felt as though I was being pulled through a thick substance, every sense registering in slow motion. I couldn’t see well, but this time I could see the outline of objects like I was still underground in the dark. This was not the catacombs I’d left behind, though. This was somewhere totally different that set my hairs on end. A soft, light-green light glowed in the distance, growing brighter as we approached, and finally I could see a woman laying on a stone slab much like I’d seen for the preparation of burial. Only this woman looked very much alive, just deep in slumber.

“This is the mother of all, Lady Lilith. She was punished by the Seven Princes of Hell because she wanted to free all her children and let them own the Earth as was their right,” the Dark Lord intoned as he laid me down next to her on the stone slab. “You have been chosen to carry her essence so that you will become her conduit to gain her powers back. Once the All Mother is back with us, then our plan can proceed, even without the support of the Princes and the other Greater Demons.”

I looked up at the Dark Lord, and even with empty voids where his eyes should have been, I could tell he was looking tenderly upon Lilith. Was this whole thing just a way to gain favor with the one woman he couldn’t have? Destroy the Earth so that Lilith and her children could be free from Hell or wherever this was?

The Dark Lord paused and listened. I could hear sounds in the distance, as if someone was heading our direction. Quickly he turned back to me, grabbing Lilith’s arm and holding it over my face. Taking a claw, he cut her wrist, letting her blood splatter all over my face and body as he chanted. The blood started to burn and smoke against my skin, causing me to scream until I felt like my voice was going to be raspy forever.

The Dark Lord didn’t stop. He ignored me and proceeded with whatever ritual he was doing, blending in some of his own blood for good measure, which felt like more acid being dripped onto my skin. Rage contorted his face as he spoke louder, forcing more power into his actions. Then he started to make small cuts into my flesh, drawing jagged symbols just like I’d seen on the poor woman’s body on stage. Just when I didn’t think this could hurt any more than it already did, it ratcheted up to another level of pure agony. All I could do was pray that I would pass out or just be killed so it would stop.

“Why won’t this work,” the Dark Lord bellowed, his anger so strong that his words shook the ground around us. “I don’t have enough time for this not to work. You accepted this fate, been given the serum, you should be mine.”

“No, never yours. I belong to them,” I rasped out, tears streaming from my face as the pain lessened.

The Dark Lord leaned over me, his sharp black teeth gnashing in front of me, his saliva dripping from his chin on to my face. “This cannot be! You are not Bonded to them all, you can still be taken. More serum, that’s what you need. I will send you back to Ubel and he will give you another dose—yes, that’s it. You are just too strong to be defeated by one dose. That has to be it.”

Seconds later, I felt as if the Dark Lord had picked me up like a football and chucked me back into reality, causing my eyes to burst open and my lungs to gasp for breath like I’d been drowning.

“It didn’t work. Why? Why wouldn’t it work? I made the perfect serum, what have you done?” Ubel asked before he froze. “No, Dark One, don’t take me under…”

Ubel’s eyes became vacant, and he crumbled to the ground like he was absent from his body.

Now. It needed to happen now, or none of us were going to live through this.

Rolling over, I dragged myself over to him, knowing this was going to be my only chance to end this particular nightmare for good. Shoving Ubel over onto his back, I straddled his hips, sobbing at the pain of forcing my battered body to move. Reaching inward, I called my powers forward, pulling strength from Hudson and Brayden’s presence, forever a part of me, and the tentative connections I had with Jay and Parker waiting to be completed.

Gathering all the love they’d each given me, the comforting touches and reassurance that I was always stronger than I believed, I plunged that right into Ubel’s heart, guiding it with the razor-sharp tip of my sai. Ubel bucked under me, trying to fight me off, the demonic connection in him screeching at me, attacking every insecurity that I had, ripping my soul apart as he tried to cling to this body in the hope it would still free him.

“You are not welcome here, Dantalion, nor is any other who plans to destroy my home or the people I love. Make sure to tell everyone in the pit of Hell you call home that the Elementi Knights will not fail in their mission and we will take on anyone who gets in our way,” I vowed, sending another surge of power crashing into him. I felt all six of our powers flowing through me, casting Dantalion back to where he came from, severing him from his conduit. Unable to handle the power flowing through me, I released my sai and fell to the side, crying and shaking as I met Marvin’s gaze for the first time.

“You might have killed me, but I’m not the only one…” he gasped as I watched the light go out in his eyes.

Curling up, I took his still warm hand and let my grief take over, knowing I had done the right thing but also knowing that I was responsible for his death.

This was the thing that people who’ve been in war say you never understand until you’ve experienced it. Marvin Brown, evil as he may have been, was still a casualty of war. A man who had done unspeakable things, some I’m sure we still had yet to discover. I’d been charged with keeping this world and the people in it safe from men and demons like him, but his death would always be on my hands. The angels, the Elementi, and even my guys would forgive me and tell me I did nothing wrong—but I would carry it with me forever. That was the cost, and I was willing to pay it, but for the sake of my soul, I prayed I didn’t need to do it often.

“We found her and she’s alive,” Micah shouted, pulling me out of my haze to look up at him. “God, what have they done to you, sweetheart?”

Hudson came rushing out of the tunnel with the radio up to his face, talking quickly to someone on the other end. “Micah found her. We’re by the underground river. Looks like the bridge collapsed. We are gonna need a medical team, though—she’s covered in blood.”

“What do you mean she’s covered in blood?!” Brayden demanded. “I’m going to need a little more information than that after what we’ve been through. God, it wasn’t even happening to me and I thought I was gonna die.”

Micah gently pulled Marvin’s hand out of my grasp and lifted me up, bridal style, close to his chest. “Let’s get you out of here,” he murmured, pressing his lips to the top of my head.

I clutched onto the fabric of his t-shirt as he turned to head back into the tunnels. “Wait! There’s bombs! He had the detonator—we might need that.”

“Shh, it’s fine,” Micah soothed as he kept walking at a fairly quick pace.

“The other three disabled the bombs and have almost gotten everyone out. We were able to make a larger exit from a tunnel closer to the surface with the help of the teams on the outside,” Hudson informed me, freeing me from the last thing I needed to worry about before I passed out again.

I was safe… for now. But the battle was far from over.

To be continued in Taming Fire

ONE

LAILAH

The world was dark and the air smelt of ash, as the heat battered against my skin. I was, once again, back in hell, causing the symbols that had been carved into my skin to ache as they reminded me it was here I got them. There was a lime green glow flickering in the distance that had a scream crawling up my throat, but I couldn't make a sound. I was frozen, unable to move. Materializing in front of me, his fluorescent green flames flickering, gave me enough light to see him. I didn't need it though, the sight of him was burned into my mind, along with these scars on my body.

His razor sharp teeth grinned at me, and I felt his gaze on me even though he had no eyes, just black voids. A clawed hand reached out to me from his black exoskeletal humanoid body, that showed every bone that made up his form. The Dark Lord's face was a hybrid of a bat and human, sharp cheekbones and pointed ears. The top of his skull rose up, shaped like a crown of black bone flaring up with sharp points, making you think he was the ruler of hell—but he wasn't.

"You are mine, Synergy… you will host the Mother of All…"

Just when I thought he was going to reach me and torture me once again, the scene shifted and I was straddling a man. My hand was tightly gripped around the handle of my Sai that was plunged into his chest. He coughed up blood as his all too human eyes looked at me with judgement.

"My death is on your hands, Synergy. You might have killed me… but I'm not the only one…"

When I tried to let go of the Sai, I couldn't. Marvin wrapped his bloody hands around mine and laughed as if he heard the funniest joke in the whole world. No matter what I did, or how hard I tried to get away from him, his grip held me tight, his laughter echoing in my ears tormenting me with his death, until all I could do was sob...

"Angel, wake up. It's just a dream, you're okay we've got you," Brayden soothed as he pulled me into his arms and smoothed a hand over my wild curls. "Come on Angel, come back to me."

Another set of hands stroked softly down my back, placing gentle kisses on the exposed skin of my arms and shoulders. Gasping, I pulled in a deep breath of air, my eyes popping open at the same time to meet a pair of sky blue eyes.

"There you are Sunshine," Hudson murmured with the hint of a smile on his lips. "Take another deep breath for me, counting to five, like we've been practicing."

Hudson took my hand and placed it on his chest so I could breathe along with him. We stayed like that until I could breathe easily and I was no longer shaking. Each of them silently waiting for me to tell them when I was grounded again.

"I'm good now, thank you," I said as I sat up rubbing my face, trying to shake off the last of the nightmare.

That fateful day four months ago, on a day that typically represented starting a fresh new year, wasn't so much the case for me that New Year's Day. The Lailah that went into the catacombs didn’t come out the same. It started in the form of nightmares, panic attacks, and scars littering my body, all in the name of saving mankind. The boys had been amazing, doing anything I needed, to help me deal with the repercussions of that day—but I worried I would never be the same.

The biggest, being that I couldn't sleep alone anymore, otherwise I would be trapped in one hellish nightmare after another with no one to pull me out of them. There was no outward sign that I was trapped spiraling from one terror to another, because nothing about this could be easy. All of them rotated the job, but since I was Bonded to Brayden and Hudson, our connection would wake them up when I fell into a nightmare. Jay was always a light sleeper, so he was quick to respond to my change in breathing, but Micah and Parker were struggling. In an effort to keep them included, we just made sure they were with me along with one of the others.

They had all brought up having me Bond with all of them right away, but I was in no shape to go through that level of emotional connection right now. It was bad enough that Brayden and Hudson had a front row seat to my emotions and nervous breakdowns over the stupidest things. Most of the time, it was someone touching me without realizing they were there, or when we had combat training and I was pinned down. My mind flashed back to the Dark Lord's ritual and him carving symbols into my skin.

The good news though, was that I made it through my first year of college and I was going home for the summer. Even better, was the boys were coming home with me for the whole summer. Cami also demanded to come, but Maggs couldn't leave for that long with the work she does for the Elementi. I didn't blame my best friend for being torn between coming with me and staying here with her girlfriend, who she was madly in love with. I'm not sure I could survive all summer without my boys with me, but thankfully, I didn't have to find out. Right now, the plan is for Cami to come with us, stay for a few weeks and fly back to be with Maggs. If it worked out they could both make a trip out, then we would send the plane for them.

"You managed to sleep longer tonight," Hudson mentioned as he made notes in his journal, ever my sexy scholar.

Seeing him sitting there in the dim light of the setting moon, his normally perfect blond hair tousled with sleep, with his black square framed glasses perched on his nose. He was my sounding board, the one I always wanted to talk to when I had a problem because he could always look at things logically. With everything that happened, it was all so overwhelming, and I was angry at how I was reacting to things. He would stop whatever he was doing, take my hands and walked me through what was overwhelming me, breaking it down to what I had to accomplish in that moment.

Hudson didn't handle the unknown well, so I understood why writing in his notebook had become an obsession. It was a way for him to have some control in a situation where he couldn't do much to help me otherwise. I loved him even more for it, plus it did show me that I was making progress in some areas. Sleep was the hardest. I felt so vulnerable, and with whatever aftereffects the serum and the marks on my skin had on me, I was now connected to Hell whether I liked it or not. That being said, it was harder for me to leave the school grounds, where the wards kept us safe and the demons away. Every time I stepped out of their protective net, I could sense them all around me, lurking in the shadows. This would then trigger a panic attack but I was working on it, because I refused to be trapped here and unable to live my life. The demons would not win, and they certainly wouldn't be controlling my ability to end this war, thereby protecting everyone that's become important to me.

"What time is it?" I asked, half crawling over Brayden to get a look at the clock.

The bright red letters told me it was four in the morning-- it was later than most days, and I knew I couldn't go back to sleep. Groaning, I moved to get out of bed but Brayden had other ideas, wrapping me up tightly in his arms.

"Nope, you can't leave until you pay the toll," he demanded with an exaggerated frown on his handsome face.

I looked into his hazel eyes which shone with his love for me, causing me to smile. Sweeping his rich brown hair out of his face, I cupped his cheek and leaned in for a kiss, which lit up our Bond. The warmth and safety that I felt flowing into me, as our powers swirled around us, made me sigh, relaxing into him. With all the training we do, all my boys had fit bodies and now with the warmer weather, Brayden was not wearing a shirt. The feel of his skin against mine grounded me to this world, casting out all other thoughts of Hell or its inhabitants. This was the gift only my Earth Knight could give me, the peace of knowing I was loved and belonged right here beside him, on this earth.

Breaking the kiss, I leaned back with both my hands on his chest, grinning. "Was that fair payment?"

"I mean, I would have settled for a hug, but that was way better," Brayden teased wagging his brows at me.

Giving him another quick peck on the nose, he let me slide out of bed and I headed off to shower. The few times we'd tried to be intimate, I'd gotten too overwhelmed or accidentally trapped on my back when things got heated. Now, all the guys were too worried to do more than kiss and cuddle until they felt I was ready. Let's just say that I was more than ready to give it another try but convincing them was turning out to be harder than I thought. Especially because we were going to my home, where my parents and little brother were. The thought of being caught might excite Jay, but having it happen by my parents was not on my sexy time bucket that Cami had me making.

I wasn't surprised in the least to have Hudson join me in the shower, it had kind of become his thing in caring for me. With five of them all wanting to spend time with me, I had to find ways to get alone time with them throughout the day. Hudson seemed to love helping wash me in the shower, and being of service any way that he could to make my life easier. He'd become a master at shampooing my hair and I was glad that he was bound to me for life so I didn't ever have to go without that indulgence. I kept telling him he didn't need to be awake just because I was, but he wouldn't have it, ignoring my efforts to get him to sleep in. We'd created a routine so there was a comfortable silence that hung around us as steam filled the air.

"Are you excited to go home?" Hudson asked as he worked on my hair.

"To be honest, I have mixed emotions when it comes to this trip. I'm excited to be home and see my family but that also means I have a lot of explaining to do as well," I sighed, leaning back against Hudson's chest. "The ten hour flight we have to make is not something I'm looking forward to-- something always seems to go wrong."

Hudson didn't answer me right away but I wasn't surprised, he wasn't one to speak just to fill the silence. "What if your parents know about the Elementi?"

Shocked by that idea, I turned to face him. "What makes you think they would have a clue about the Elementi?"

"The Elementi might be founded here in Europe, but they have facilities all over the world. There are two large bases in Washington DC and in Los Angeles, where the most activity happens with the demons. Personally, I think they need a bigger presence with how large America is and the swiftly changing status of power, not only in government but in businesses as well," Hudson informed me. "All that to say, there could be a chance that your family might have, at one point, had a connection to the Elementi and that is how you were able to have the same gene we do as Elemental Warriors."

When he put it that way, it was hard not to see how that made perfect sense. If my family did have a connection, even distantly, it would make it so much easier to explain all of this to them. "Let's hope that's the case because I don't want to hurt my family when they find out who and what we are," I murmured, dropping my head to stare at my feet.

Hudson framed my face with his hands, drawing my head upwards to meet his gaze. "Sunshine, they are your family and they raised you to be the woman you are today, who has more than enough love in her to share it with five men who don't always deserve it. How could they not look past this and see that you are still their daughter, just with a bigger purpose in life than they expected?"

He leaned down to kiss my forehead, then my nose, and finally landed on my lips, causing me to wrap my arms around his neck so he wouldn't stop. I started to push him backwards till he bumped into the tiled wall of the shower. I hitched a leg over his hip, making it clear what my intentions were. Instead, he twirled us around, pushing me to sit on the bench that was built into the shower, and sank to his knees. Giving me a heated look, he spread me wide giving him enough space to work with, as he buried his face in my vagina. Gasping, I tossed my head back, arching into him as he artfully flicked his tongue over my clit and slid two fingers inside me.

The man, whose virginity I took when we Bonded, has now become quite masterful at turning me into a puddle of need. Slow rhythmic thrusts, timed perfectly with his tongue, had me crying out in pleasure as he teased me right to the edge, only to stop. My hand found his hair and I gripped it, urging him to continue and not to leave me hanging. He flicked his gaze up to me and I could see the grin on his face as he watched the need written all over mine.

"If you leave the job unfinished, you are not welcome in my showers for a week," I threatened.

It had been far too long since I'd managed to get one of them to give me an orgasm of any kind and doing it myself was no longer satisfying.

Hudson lifted his face to look at me seriously. "Do you really believe that I would leave you wanting?"

"All of you have been for weeks," I said, trying not to growl with my building frustration. "All of you treat me like I'm glass and if you do the wrong thing, I'll break."

His face turned into a scowl at my words, that not at all what he thought I would be saying. "You weren't ready, Lailah. A man can only watch the woman he loves panic so many times, before something has to change."

Sitting up, I grabbed his shoulders and slid myself onto his lap, his thick cock sandwiched between us. "Things have changed—I've changed. Just don't put me on my back and there shouldn't be a problem."

I could see the conflict in his face as his eyes searched mine. I lifted myself up high enough that I caught the tip of his cock with where I longed for it to be. Giving him a chance to tell me no, I paused, but then he wrapped himself around me and helped to lower me onto his rock hard dick. A whimper of pleasure at finally being filled escaped, causing Hudson to thrust up into me until he was fully seated inside.

"Oh, thank god," I sighed, resting my head on his shoulder as I moved, rolling my hips to take him as deep as I could.

Our breathing picked up and moans of pleasure echoed in the shower as we reconnected with one another on a level we both needed. I sped up and lifted off him higher, so I could grind myself against him harder, using the friction to work my clit. Then, much to my surprise, Hudson reached around back and started to massage my back door. Of course, with five guys in my life, there had been talk about all we could do with so many of us, but I didn't think Hudson would be one to give up his alone time with me. The feeling of him inserting the tip of his finger to the first knuckle was the final piece to throw me over the edge, into an orgasm unlike I'd had in months. My whole body started to shake as Hudson also came, hitting the right spot to send me spiraling once more.

It took us a moment to come back to our bodies after that and even then, all we could manage was to sit on the bench, holding each other up until our legs worked once more.

"Now, that is the type of reaction I can handle seeing you have when I'm making love to you," Hudson announced, making me fall into a fit of laughter.

TWO

LAILAH

"Trouble," Parker scolded when he entered the kitchen.

After Hudson and I finished our shower, he'd gone off to check on his lab before we left, and I retreated to the one place in this house that put me at peace—the kitchen. My parents owned a diner back in Wisconsin and my mother taught me how to cook at a very early age. I was a good cook, but my passion was baking, and being unable to sleep once I'd woken up from nightmares, I found myself down here baking myself a snack. Sarah was the cook, along with her husband Garrett, but she never stood in the way of me baking for the boys so she didn't have to keep up with their bottomless pit of a stomach-- her words not mine. I don't know what it was about the process, but it allowed me to be completely focused on the task at hand, forgetting all about what's happened.

I glanced up from the oven where I'd just pulled out a batch of cinnamon chip scones, to find Parker, arms crossed and scowling at me. "Good morning to you too."

Parker, the light hearted playful one out of the group, fit the jock profile to a T. He was buff and well filled out, like a football player, with a shock of red hair styled in his signature faux-hawk. His warm brown eyes shimmered with mischief, telling me that he wasn't really upset with me, but playing the part.

"It's six-thirty, which means if you are taking something out of the oven you've been awake for some time now," Parker reasoned. "You should be cuddled up in bed even if you can't sleep, why not read one of your sexy harem books. For research of course, didn't Cami help you find a bunch of them to put on the kindle we got you?"

I set aside the oven pads and walked over to him to snuggle in against his broad chest. For the man who was all heart, figuratively and literally, this had been the hardest on him, as much as it was on me. Blessed with the element of spirit, or heart as he liked to call it, he could manipulate emotions but nothing he did could make my situation better. He beat himself up over it and took it personally, as if he'd failed me somehow. So, seeing me up and about early, knowing it was because of my nightmares, made him grumpy, which was far more Micah's thing.

"I thought it would be nice for us to have these on the flight," I muttered into his chest. "Besides, reading is great but baking helps to sooth me."

Pulling me away so he could see my face, he booped me on the nose. "You know I will never turn down anything you make, I already asked you to marry me because of your pie crusts. I just can't help but worry about you not getting enough sleep to deal with everything else going on."

"It's the summer, classes are done, and we get a break from training for me to go spend time with my family," I countered. "What if I promise that I will let you be in charge of making sure I have fun and relax while we are in the States?"

"You drive a hard bargain, Trouble, but I think I can work with those terms," Parker answered, flashing me a bright smile, before pulling me back into a tight hug. "By the way, the walls are not that sound proof."

Blushing, I shoved him away from me. "It was about damn time someone made me scream."

"I didn't realize that was on the table for me." Parker challenged.

Leaning against the island I crossed my arms, staring him down. "You never asked."

"Wait, am I late to the game here?" Parker asked, now looking concerned.

"No," I groaned. "That was the first bit of action I've seen in over a month and a half."

"Good thing we rented a house in town to stay at while we’re visiting, then we don't have to worry about keeping you quiet," Parker said with a smirk.

"What are we keeping her quiet for?" Cami chimed in as she entered the kitchen.

I gaped at her, making a dramatic show of looking at my wrist that had no watch, then back at her. "Is the world coming to an end? Do I see Cami Whittemore in all her neon pink haired glory awake, dressed, and dare I say, perky?"

"Ha, ha, very funny Lala," Cami answered dryly. "You know we have to leave for the airport in like thirty minutes, and a plane waits for no one, even if they are privately owned. Ooo, did you bake?"

Chuckling, I nodded and moved back to the oven to take them off the hot tray and put them on the cool granite counter. "You'll have to wait. They’re for breakfast on the plane."

Both Cami and Parker groaned at that, making me shake my head, grinning. Those two were so much alike it was crazy, it was one of the reasons they got along, but also seemed to get into large amounts of trouble.

"I'm going to check on Micah and make sure he's awake, I know how many are sitting there and when I come back there better be the same number," I glared at them both as I left the kitchen. "Sarah made muffins yesterday. They’re in the Tupperware on the counter."

"Fuck yeah," Parker yelled behind me. He was right, this house wasn't very soundproof and I hadn't been quiet…

Upstairs, I stopped at the first door on the right but didn't bother to knock as I entered, knowing the chances of Micah still being asleep were high—and I was right. Curled up in his bed, with a pillow over his head, was the fire lord himself. In an odd way, he reminded me of the Heatmiser from that old Christmas movie, full of hot air. He had a temper and tended to act before he thought about things, but we were working on it, and he'd come a long way from the boy I sat on sleeping in the library. I tugged the pillow off his head, revealing his long thick brown hair that I gently brushed out of his face.

"Time to wake up grumpy pants," I whispered.

"Fuck off," he grumbled and pulled the blankets over his head.

"Remember I tried to be nice," I warned, standing up and walking to the end of the bed. I gripped the sheets and yanked, letting them fall to the floor, leaving him exposed in only his boxers.

This had him shooting up in bed, his dual swords in hand, ready to fight off whatever evil might be upon him.

"Green Day boxers, those are new," I commented, cocking my head to the side taking in the full picture, grinning.

"What the actual fuck, Lailah?" he muttered, cobalt eyes flashing in anger. "I could have attacked you!"

I raised a brow at that, knowing how much he prided himself at being in control of his powers. Being the bearer of the fire element came with its own set of problems, being one of the most volatile to control. "Micah, I trust you with my life. Do you really think I’m worried about waking you up in the morning? I tried to do it the easy way and you told me to f-off so this was the next option. Although, I could have asked Parker to help…"

Micah all but growled as he got out of bed and charged over to me, boxing me in against the wall. "That would not be a very wise move there, Cookie."

"No? I thought you and Parker were trying to work on mending bridges?" I questioned, knowing I was tiptoeing the line of stirring the pot.

Something about Micah brought out the combative side of my nature, the one that I kept strictly limited to my inner monologue or t-shirts. My collection of sassy shirts was only growing, now that my boys wanted in on the game that my brothers started.

"We are—like you asked us to, but having him in my room is not a bridge I want to fix. A man needs space where he knows that he can be himself, without someone judging him," Micah retorted.

I let out a heavy sigh. Things between them had gotten marginally better since they all worked hard to take care of me, but it didn't stop the snarky comments and cheap shots at each other. They had a long history, with many potholes, but the fact that they were both Elemental Warriors meant they would always be in each other's lives, no matter what. Add on the fact that they would be Bonded to me, and it was just something they were going to have to figure out.

"You packed? We're leaving in a half hour or so, Cami's already here," I asked, reaching up to wrap my hands around his arms still keeping me captive.

Micah grunted his answer as he took another step forward, melding out bodies together. Dipping his head, he captured my lips with his, making me moan as the connection, that was begging us to Bond, hummed between us. Back closer to Christmas, I'd asked for his Oath and he turned me down, saying he wasn't ready, then I wasn't the one who was ready when he brought it up. Now, I couldn't think of the reason why on Earth I didn't want this man to be declared mine for the rest of our lives together.

"Rumor through the walls is someone finally got lucky this morning," Micah whispered, lips brushing along mine. "Does this mean we can talk about making this official?"

"We can talk about it, but I'll tell you right now it's not gonna happen in the next thirty minutes," I chuckled, pressing a kiss to his lips and ducking under his arm. "Don't worry about breakfast, I made scones."

"That is not fucking breakfast, that's what you have for dessert after the real food," Micah yelled when I shut the door behind me as I left.

Smirking to myself, I ran right into a muscular chest covered in a tight black t-shirt that fit snuggly enough for anyone to know he had a six pack. I let out a surprised squeak as arms wrapped around me to keep me from falling back. Jay's handsome face greeted me with a smile tugging at his lips, showing just how much he enjoyed being able to surprise me. It had become a game to him, once he discovered how easily he could do it when we first met. His almond shaped, slate colored eyes gave me a critical look, always searching to make sure that I was safe from harm. Jay was showered, dressed, and alert, probably already having gone on a five mile run. Having grown up in a very strict militant family he couldn't help but act like the soldier he was raised to be, from the buzzed hair to the fatigues he always wore. His father owned the largest private military group in all of the eastern hemisphere based in Dubai. This left his family back in Japan, until he brought Jay to live with him and raised him on base for his teenage years.

"Beautiful, did you eat?" Jay asked.

Even before any of this happened to me, Jay was the overprotective one, always making sure I was looked after. He was always taking me on runs to keep me fit and stable when I came into my power, always having food on hand now that I burned more calories, and making sure I didn't get lost by driving me to and from school, no matter what time it was.

"No," I raised as he scowled at me. "I made a smoothie. It's in the fridge. I just wanted to wait until I had everything packed."

"I'll go get it," Jay announced and headed down the stairs.

Rolling my eyes, I headed into my bedroom where my suitcase was on the bed, open and waiting for any last minute things I needed to pack. Since I was coming back here, and I had plenty of summer clothes back home, I didn't need to bring a whole lot. I had Christmas presents for everyone ,along with other things I picked up along the way. My family was small town living to the max, and I didn't really see them doing much international travel, but if I ended up living out here permanently that might change. Telling my parents that I was going to have five husbands seemed even more daunting than explaining about the Elementi and demons. Like Brayden loved to tell me, I currently had two husbands, was engaged to two, and dating another but hoped to be engaged or married soon to all of them.

"Need any help?" Cami asked as she flopped onto my bed, stuffing the last bite of a muffin into her mouth.

"I'm good, just the last few things from the bathroom and I'm good to go," I said over my shoulder as I grabbed them.

"You know I've been all over the place, but I've never spent much time in America besides the DC office. I'm so excited to see what your life was like before you found out about the Elementi and became Synergy," Cami shared, bouncing on the bed hardly containing her joy.

Cami, my pixie of a best friend, was the definition of small but mighty. She was an Elementi soldier who was assigned to be my bodyguard when I hadn't come into my powers yet. She was my first friend and with her personality, need for adrenalin, and always pushing me out of my comfort zone, the only friend I needed. Between her, the boys, and of course Maggs, I was kept plenty busy. I didn't think I'd have time for anything else.

"Oh, do they have clubs? We have to go dancing, it's not summer break without dancing! What about a beach? Someone said we'd be close to water, is that true?" Cami asked, barraging me with questions.

Zipping up my suitcase, I hopped on the bed next to her. "My hometown is really small but it's not too far for us to go to one of the bigger cities where we can find a club. Yes, there is a beach we can hit up a few hours away, it could be a fun day trip or even a camp out!"

"Fuck yes, we are going to have so much fun!" Cami exclaimed, clapping her hands.

A knock sounded on my door, drawing our attention to Jay and Brayden standing there. "Time to go ladies," Brayden called.

Grabbing my suitcase, I headed for the door, but Jay appeared, thrust the smoothie into my hand and took my bag from me. Kissing the top of my head, he marched out and down the stairs without a word. Cami caught my eye and smiled. We had come a long way, these boys and I, but this was just the start of it.

THREE

LAILAH

"Can we just talk about how crazy it is that we are showing up and starting the same day over again," Cami announced from where she was sprawled out on the plane. "Like, it will be dinner time back home but it will be late morning of the same day."

"Good thing we've been napping the whole flight," I chuckled from where I was curled up between Micah and Brayden.

Cami gave me a disapproving look. "Yeah, everyone but you, missy."

"What can I say, I got sucked into a good series and I just started book two," I answered with a shrug. The boys knew I didn't sleep unless I had to, knowing what awaited me when I did.

Jay caught my eye and motioned for me to join him where he was, tablet in hand. I extracted myself out of the tangle of limbs I was in and slid into the seat next to him.

"What's up?" I asked, peering over at the tablet.

"I thought it was time to show you the house we picked out," Jay explained, offering me the tablet.

My jaw dropped when I saw the house, then he flicked a finger across the screen to show the next image. "Oh my god, it's a lake house!"

Jay chuckled as he continued to scroll through the pictures. It was made to look like a log cabin but massive and modern, giving it a much more expensive look. It had a beautiful stone driveway, with a large garage for at least four cars. Six bedrooms and five baths, giving everyone plenty of space and won’t feel too crammed. The inside was just as stunning as the outside, and oddly enough it reminded me of the house we stayed at in Austria, which I'd loved. This one was obviously bigger with a gourmet kitchen, large dining room, and sprawling living room with a massive fireplace.

"Is that a loft with a pool table and bar set up?" I asked, zooming in on the picture. "Holy shit, look at the windows on that side of the house facing the lake. Whoa, it has a movie room too?!"

"So does that mean you like it?" Hudson asked from his seat across from us.

"Who wouldn't love a house like that? I can't believe it's even in the same town I grew up in. All those lakes are private and the homes are crazy expensive, so I forget they're even there," I answered. "I'm still in awe that you guys could rent something like that for the summer." Micah and Brayden were now awake and even Parker was up from his section of the couch, watching me intently. "What?"

Jay reached out and took my chin in his hand, pulling me back to look at him. "Beautiful, we didn't rent it. We bought it."

"Shut the fuck up!" I gasped. "You did not just buy a house in Wisconsin to spend the summer in!"

"No, we bought the house because that is where your family lives and you'll want to come back and forth to see them. You're a married woman now, Angel, and we need our own space, since there are six of us all together," Brayden clarified. "This isn't going to be the last time we’re here and we all agreed that buying a home was the best option… you're not mad are you?"

Cami burst out in laughter, rolling off the couch. "Lover boy, it's way too late to be asking that question. You done already bought the house."

"Knock it off, pint-size ankle biter, we can just turn around and sell it if she doesn't like it," Micah grumbled, tossing a pillow at Cami.

"That wasn't my point, flame-boy," Cami shot back, using the pillow to prop herself up against the couch. "What I meant is, that if you were worried she would be mad, you should have asked first then bought the house together."

"She does make a valid point," Hudson cut in. "How do you feel about us buying a house, Sunshine?"

His question brought all the attention to me once again. "Ah, well…the house is stunning and I like it very much."

"But…" Parker ventured.

"Why did you feel the need to do this without talking to me about it? I wouldn't have said no—at least I don't think I would. I just would have preferred to be included in the discussion, this was a big decision and if we’re a family, like you all keep saying we are, then we need to make these choices together," I explained meeting each of their gazes, so they knew I wasn't mad, just a little thrown off.

"That is a fair request," Hudson agreed. "In the future, we will do as you've requested, but just know that we bought this house completely with you in mind and if you don't want it, then it defeats the point."

I let out a dramatic sigh. "No, we can keep the house."

Brayden and Micah high-fived, Parker grinned at me, and both Hudson and Jay looked pleased with my choice. Cami jumped to her feet and snatched the tablet from my hands.

"Let's take a gander at this new house of yours, shall we. I have to pick out my bedroom before you guys take all the good ones," Cami declared as she flipped through the images. "Did you guys get it furnished or do you need to buy everything when you get there?"

That thought hadn't even crossed my mind until she said it.

"No, we got it furnished, it was a summer home that the previous owner hardly used, so everything is practically brand new," Micah answered. "That being said, I'm totally redoing my bedroom. The wilderness theme is not gonna stay."

I sat there, leaning my head against Jay's shoulder, lost in thought about the fact that the guys bought a house. Not just that, but it was my house too, for all of us to live in for as long as we wanted. It had taken me months to wrap my head around dating them all, now we were investing in our future. I didn't quite know what to do with that. It did surprise me that they could do all this without me knowing, and Parker was well aware of it, so that meant he'd been involved as well. I still don't understand what happened between all of them in France, but whatever it was seemed to be working itself out slowly but surely.

"Did you see the lake has a private beach for us to use?" Brayden asked, drawing me out of my thoughts.

Flashing him a smile, I nodded. "That will make the summer even more amazing, and I saw a dock for a boat too. That lake isn't very big, but it would be fun to get a kayak or two to paddle around in."

"I have a feeling we’ll come up with lots of ways to make that house just what we need it to be," Brayden assured me. "It's only twenty minutes away from your parents place, so it's close but not too close."

"You guys really tried to think of everything, didn't you?"

Brayden shrugged. "We knew it was a risky move to make, so we tried to think of everything you would want to incorporate. Two cars got delivered yesterday, so we have transportation to use as well."

"Oh, then I’ll give my car to Kyle for when he's ready to drive, just like I got it from Dylan," I shared, warming at that thought.

My family might own the only diner in the town, and be successful leaving us well enough off, but buying a car was a big expense for most people. Besides, it was always better to get a beater car that didn't matter as much if you crashed it. Although Kyle was a freshman in high school, he was only thirteen, having advanced a grade when he was younger. His teachers wanted to do it again with how smart he is, but my mother refused. Kyle might be book smart, but it wasn't fair to put him in a setting with much older kids when he just wasn't there yet. He ended up getting a scholarship to a prestigious private high school, so that was making a world of difference according to mom’s weekly emails.

"I'm excited to meet this savant little brother of yours," Hudson interjected. "I have a feeling he will be a lot like my sister, Grace."

"Hope you brought your A-game for chess, it's his favorite thing to do with every smart person he meets. Says it tells him all about the person with no words needed," I laughed, knowing how terribly I fail at that game.

"Is he into computers?" Parker asked.

The thing I loved about Parker is that he was an undercover nerd. You never would guess that he was at the top of our school for his computer programming and technology skills. I guess it comes from having a father who owns the largest tech company in the world, but Parker was truly gifted. One thing we do to spend time together is play video games of all kinds. I suck at them, but that wasn't the point.

"He does love computer games but since we have to buy all that stuff with our own money, he doesn't have many," I answered.

"Do we get to meet Dylan too?" Brayden inquired.

I knew how much family meant to him and being able to introduce himself to my big brother was something he really wanted. He'd almost called my dad multiple times to tell him we were together and practically married, but I reasoned with him that it was something to do in person, like we had with his family over Christmas.

"Mom did say that he had a summer internship with a law office in Madison, but he was going to take some time off to spend with all of us," I shared.

"This is your captain speaking, we are preparing for our final descent into the airport," the pilot announced over the speaker.

We all started to gather our things that we'd taken out or used during the long flight, and settled into the chairs, buckling in.

"So, the plan is that my parents are picking us all up at the airport and we'll head back to my house. Knowing my mother, she's probably made a huge feast for us to eat once we get there," I said as I peered out the window, looking over the small private airport that we were flying into.

"That will be good, you've only had your smoothie and half a scone the whole trip," Jay scolded.

"Yeah, I'm fucking hungry too," Parker admitted, his stomach growling its agreement.

Cami scoffed at Parker, tossing the Tupperware that had held the scones. "You ate all the damn food before some of us could even have one, you bottomless pit. This spread better be big, because my stomach might be eating itself."

"You act like there wasn't any food on this flight, all you had to do was ask for something and they would have given it to you," Micah snapped.

"Did my beloved Lala make what they have to offer? No, then shut your trap," Cami shot back, crossing her arms in a huff.

I squeezed Jay's hand, drawing him away from the argument happening around us. "It's always been hard for me to eat on travel days. I just get so excited." Jay clearly didn't accept that as a good enough answer, if his frown was anything to go by.

"So, what do your parents know about us?" Micah asked, leaning forward in his seat, watching me intently.

"They know you're all coming, that we are extremely close, and I'm dating Brayden," I answered, getting a look of disapproval from most of them. "Let me be clear— in no way am I ashamed of our relationship. I'd told my mom about Brayden before things progressed as quickly as they have with the rest of you. I felt like it would be easier to explain with all of us together, so we could answer their questions."

This seemed to settle them—for now.

"I'm not going to act any differently around you just because you haven't told them," Micah warned.

I knew he was going to have the hardest time dealing with me wanting to ease my parents into this. He'd lost so many people in his life already and the one blood relative he still had any contact with hated him. I had zero love for her myself after our brief meeting at the Christmas party Brayden's parents hosted. My hope was that Dylan might be able to help us find a way to get his aunt out of his life, and cut off from his money that she was 'guarding' until he was twenty-one. His fear was that she would drain the money out of the trust, or try to take the company before his birthday in September.

"Never expected you to, Micah," I reassured him. "This wasn't some plan to keep all this hidden, it's just hard when they haven't met you to understand how amazing you all are, regardless of our Bond."

With a thump and roar of the engines, we landed, cutting off our conversation as the plane taxied into our designated spot for de-boarding. This was the best part about a private plane, we could land in the smaller airports, making it a much shorter trip for my parents. Thirty minutes versus an hour was a big deal, and an even bigger bonus… no waiting for baggage to arrive. The flight attendant opened the door and latched on the stairs, signaling we could now get off the damn plane. I didn't bother to grab my suitcase, knowing I could come back on and grab it, as I dashed out of the plane and into the sunlight finding my parents and Kyle waving when they saw me. Running down the steps, I threw myself into my dad's arms and my mom quickly got in on the hug, squishing me in-between them. Finally, they let me go and Mom took me by the shoulders, looking me over. I'd made sure to wear a light sweater and leggings, so they didn't see the scars right away.

"Oh Ladybug, how I've missed you," Mom sobbed, as big fat tears rolled down her cheek. "I don't think I like you living so far away."

"Bonnie, we talked about this," Dad warned, putting an arm around Mom's shoulders. "You promised not to make our little girl feel bad for getting an education."

"I know, I know, but look how much she's grown up and we missed it," Mom pointed out, lifting her hands to cup my face. "Our Ladybug's all grown up."

The sound of someone clearing their throat drew our attention to where Kyle was waiting. "Can I say hello to her now?"

I laughed at that and pulled out of Mom's arms to hug my, not so little, brother. Kyle had gone through a growth spurt, and I now had to look up to meet his gaze. Granted, I was only five foot three, but still when I'd last seen him he was a bit shorter than me. It wasn't just his height that had changed either, he was buff and his hair was longer, letting the curl show. Hockey season had just finished so that could account for the new buff bod, but it still caught me off guard, having never gone this long without seeing him or my parents.

"What is Mom feeding you that you turned into a giant?" I teased, punching him gently on the shoulder.

Kyle just shrugged and blushed at my words. "Whatever."

Deciding to free him from more embarrassment, I turned to see the guys and Cami were off the plane giving us some space. "Come on over guys, I want to introduce you!"

FOUR

LAILAH

Cami and the boys joined us gathering around me, Brayden slipping his hand into mine and Micah taking the other.

"This is Brayden Dolton and Micah Lazonick, they are who I stayed with for Christmas," I shared. "Parker Jones, Hudson Lacy, and Jalen Minh—but he goes by Jay. Last, but certainly not least, is my best friend for life Cami Whittemore, she looked after me when I first got to school."

"It is so nice to meet you all, we've heard so much about all the adventures and traveling you've been doing. It's nice to put a face to a name," Mom smiled warmly at everyone. "I have no idea what time it is for you, but since it's ten o'clock here, I made a breakfast feast for you all, hope you're hungry!"

Clapping her hands excitedly, Mom led the way through the small airport building and out to where they had the van waiting.

"Now I didn't know how many bags you'd bring, so I brought my truck as well to save space in the van for you all," Dad informed us as he stopped in front of his old beat up red Ford. "Toss them in the back an’ Kyle and I will meet you at the house."

Jay had, of course, grabbed my suitcase as well as his, so I didn't have to grab it from the plane. I kissed him on the cheek as he set them in the truck. "Thank you for always looking out for me."

He turned his face and kissed me full on the mouth. "Always."

Leaving me there to blush, he headed off to the van where Mom and Cami were chatting. Turning to talk to my dad, I found Kyle leaning against the truck with a raised brow. He didn't say anything, so I didn't answer the assumed question, just flashed him a smile and walked away. This talk needed to happen sooner rather than later, because these boys of mine were not holding back.

The drive was full of easy conversation, and it carried into the house when we arrived.

"Did she tell you that I had to make a map for her with just landmarks she knew so I could trust leaving her on her own?" Cami shared.

Mom laughed covering her mouth, eyes shining with mirth. Out of either of my parents, I look mostly like her, crystal blue eyes and curly hair, although hers was a deep brunette color. The blond came from Dad, and I was the only one to get it. Dylan got Dad’s green eyes and Kyle was split down the middle with hazel.

"Oh, our Ladybug always seemed to end up in the oddest places when she got lost, making it twice as hard to find her. That's one reason she got a cellphone so early, that way she could call for help," Mom teased.

"Please tell me the whole summer isn't going to be telling every embarrassing story you can on me," I groaned.

Parker slung his arm around my shoulder and nuzzled the side of my head. "Oh come on, Trouble, just think, when you spend time with our parents you can do the same thing in return. I know my mother would love to gush about baby Parker."

"Now that you say that, I guess it's not so bad," I sighed.

Mom gave me a lingering look as she waved everyone into the dining room of our simple ranch style house. "Come on, let's eat while it's hot. Ladybug, would you mind helping me bring things in from the kitchen?"

"Sure thing," I answered, following after her.

Not much in our house is current or top of the line but when it came to the kitchen, it was another story. The eating area had been removed to make a prep-station for the elaborate meals Mom and Dad loved to make. I really don't give my Dad as much credit for his skills with the grill and what he could whip up, I guess it's just because I'd always helped mom out with her work. She went right for the double oven and started pulling out casserole dishes full of enough food to feed an army. We had sweets, with chocolate chip pancakes, fluffy French toast, and muffins. Then there was the savory, cheesy eggs, sausage links, ham, and of course, bacon.

"Do you think I made enough? Those are some growing boys out there, if I do say so myself. I can barely keep enough food in the house for Kyle these days," Mom rambled as she pulled off the tinfoil.

"I think it will be fine, we did have snacks and things on the plane. Plus, I made your famous cinnamon scones before we left," I assured her.

Taking a deep breath, she set the dish down and looked at me. "Lailah, you know I don't like to get involved in your personal life, but I thought you were dating Brayden. Is it normal to show that much affection among friends overseas? I didn't want to say anything in front of them, in case I'm just behind the times on things out in the world."

Taking her hands in mind I smiled. "Can I answer that question when Dad and Kyle join us?"

Mom blinked at me a few times, not expecting that request. "I suppose, if you feel it's necessary."

"It is, once I explain it, everything will make sense, I promise."

"Then you might as well wait a little longer. Dylan texted us that he would be here in about a half hour. That way we'll all be here, since I have a feeling this is not something typical."

This is one of the reasons I loved my mom so much, she just seemed to be able to read between the lines to the heart of the matter. I knew she wouldn't get mad at me for asking her to wait, instead it told her how important this was to me.

"Now, let's see if you still have your serving skills and see if you can take the rest of those while I take these," she challenged, leaving me four dishes to bring out.

Chuckling to myself, I rose to the challenge and mastered it, of course bringing the jug of orange juice along with me.

"Mrs. Mackenzie, that was an awesome breakfast, thank you," Parker said as he leaned back in his chair patting his stomach. "Now I can see where Trouble learned her skills."

"Well thank you Parker, and please call me Bonnie, there's no need to be so formal," Mom chided.

The sound of car doors alerted us that someone had arrived, but I thought it was odd I didn't hear them coming up the drive.

"That'll be Dylan, he just got one of those new electric Toyota cars, since he's driving back and forth from Madison," Dad offered, getting up from his seat and walking to the door. "You're in luck son, we left you some food."

"Knowing Mom, there was way too much to begin with," Dylan answered as he walked in the door hugging Dad. "Now where is the world traveler who finally decided to grace us with her presence?"

Winking at Micah who didn't look all too pleased with my brother's sentiment, I got up. Before I could turn around, I was pulled into a bone crushing hug from behind. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem but after the catacombs, situations like this didn't go over so well. I knew that it was Dylan but not being able to see him and prepare for the hug, it triggered the beginnings of a panic attack.

"Let her the fuck go," Micah snarled as he shot to his feet.

I tried to tell Dylan what was going on, but I was frozen as my muscles locked up and my heart started to beat like crazy. My vision started to tunnel and flashes of the Dark Lord sneering down at me as he tried to work the spell clouded my mind. The arms around me were gone and I was swept up into someone else's arms, cradled against their body.

"Lailah, listen to my voice," Hudson's even timber echoed in my ear. "You are safe in your home back in Wisconsin with your mother, father, and brothers. We flew here on a plane not too long ago and finished a meal that your mother made. Can you tell me what you ate?"

With the help of a psychologist, we found that placement therapy worked the best. If I could focus on what I was doing now and who I was with, it pulled me from wherever I was trapped in my head.

"Come on Sunshine, tell me what you just had for breakfast," Hudson pressed, leaning his forehead against mine.

It took me a moment to pull up an image of my plate. "Fruit."

"What kind of fruit was it?" Hudson asked.

"Grapes, blueberries, and strawberries. Strawberries are one of my favorites," I added.

Hudson kissed my nose softly as I stopped shaking. "They’re mine too, Sunshine. Tell me something else on your plate."

"Cheesy eggs and bacon, but Jay put a pancake as well when I passed them along," I said, taking a deep shuddering breath sitting up taller. "Then I saw Mom made strawberry syrup, so I'm glad he made me eat one."

Hudson smiled at me. "Why do you think we put him in charge of making sure you eat?"

Leaning in, I kissed Hudson and wrapped my arms around his neck, burying my face in his neck. "How badly did they take it?" I whispered.

"They’re worried, but they’re your family and that's what families do," Hudson answered. "They’re not going to think less of you for surviving Lailah, none of us do. I'm glad you made it back to us alive, even if we have to adjust to dealing with some minor issues."

Sitting up I frown. "Minor? You call having a panic attack because my brother hugged me from behind, minor?"

"Yes, I do," Hudson stated. "Things could have been so much worse, Lailah. You didn't see what you looked like when we found you, adjusting to new ways of interacting with you is a small price to pay, and one I will happily do for the rest of my life. Now, stop hiding and have a conversation with your family, we'll get through this together."

Nodding, I shifted so I was now sitting beside him on the couch with the other four hovering nearby. My parents and siblings looked shocked from where they stood, still by the dining room table.

"Sorry about that everyone," I announced. "Do you mind having a seat…there’re some things I need to fill you in on."

It was then I saw the strange woman standing just behind Dylan, looking extremely uncomfortable at being here.

"Dylan, did you bring a friend?" I asked, looking at my older brother.

He blushed and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. "Ah yeah, sorry I should have probably said something, but I thought it was the best time, since we could both get time off. This is my girlfriend, Phoebe Turner."

"Hi," she greeted, giving a small wave. "I'm sorry to intrude."

Phoebe was stunning, she looked to have a Latin heritage with her olive skin, bright green eyes, and thick long mahogany hair. Her voice had an accent to it, but it just added to her allure, making me even more impressed that she was dating my brother. Don't get me wrong Dylan was a catch, but he was a solid seven from a small town and old fashioned ideals. Not what I would picture a woman such as her to pick for a serious relationship, and if he was bringing her home, it was definitely serious.

"No, please I'm the one who's sorry," I apologized getting up and walking over to her. "Here you are coming to meet Dylan's family, and his little sister has a mental breakdown the moment he touches her. What a way to introduce myself."

"I told Dylan to tell everyone I was coming, but he needed to make it a surprise," Phoebe tisked, narrowing her eyes at my brother.

"Why don't you check into the hotel, and I'll call you once we've talked things over?" Dylan offered.

Phoebe nodded her agreement and gave him a kiss on the cheek as she took the keys. Reaching out, I grabbed her hand to stop her from leaving. "Let's pretend this never happened, do over later tonight?"

She grinned at me. "I would like that."

Dylan walked her out, giving us all a chance to get comfortable for the uncomfortable conversation I had to have with my family. Where did I even start? Hey Mom, Dad did you know there are demons running around in the world and it's my job to stop them? So, about the panic attack, the thing is, I got dragged to hell and offered up as a sacrifice to Lilith, Mother of All demons. Ugg! Right now, telling her about the boys seemed to be the easiest part of this whole thing.

When Dylan returned and sat down my family turned their eyes to me expectantly. "So, Brayden and I aren't dating—we're married."

FIVE

LAILAH

"Excuse me!" Dad blurted out. "What did you just say?"

"Luke, let her explain. I'm sure there is a wonderful explanation for all this," Mom soothed, resting her hand on his leg. "Go on Lailah, we're all ears."

Taking a moment to look at the boys, and the love and encouragement that shone in their eyes, set me at ease. "I am in a serious and committed relationship with all five of these men. Brayden, Hudson and I are married, while the other three and I are engaged. Trust me when I say that I understand how hard it is to wrap your head around this, but believe me when I say this is the easier part to explain."

"I doubt that," Dad grumbled, crossing his arms glaring at the boys.

"Have any of you heard the term Elementi before?" I asked, hoping and praying that Hudson might be right and they knew something.

Mom froze and gave me a wide eyed look. "What did you just say?"

"Elementi, the warriors fighting against evil since the Knights Templar days," I offered.

"Wait right here and don't say anything important until I come back," Mom instructed as she headed off towards the bedrooms.

Dad also stood and started to pace in front of us. "You mean to tell me that my only daughter is married not once, but twice, and engaged to three other men and NO ONE asked me?"

I felt Brayden flinch beside me as his fear was coming to reality.

"Dad, it's true that I'm bonded for life with these two men and eventually to all of them, but we have not had an actual wedding," I explained, hoping that it might help take the edge off.

Unfortunately, it did not.

"What does that even mean, Lailah? How can you possibly think of being involved with more than one man? It's just not right!" Dad roared.

Micah and Jay stood, blocking me from Dad's view.

"Sir, I understand you are upset, but I'm going to have to ask you not to speak to her in such a way," Jay demanded. "Allow us to explain the whole situation before you cast your judgement on us or your daughter. It is the fair thing to do for your own child."

"What is with all the yelling?" Mom asked as she walked back out.

"Our daughter is sleeping with five different men," Dad stated waving a hand at us. "You telling me you're okay with this?"

Mom gave him a patronizing look, before she walked over to hand me an old tattered book. "This has been in our family for generations, and I was supposed to give it to you when you turned thirteen, but I didn't see the point. When I got it, I read the first chapter and never touched the thing again, it's faded and hard to read."

The worn leather cover had something that was once embossed on it but had since faded. When I opened it, the pages were weathered and stiff as I flipped through them. It was a handwritten book and the ink was faded but still legible, although it was written in old English with thees and thous all over the place. Turning back to the first page, I looked at the name written on the page and almost dropped the book with the shock that I got.

"Mom, why do we have Aiden Ryevick's personal journal and why do we pass it down through the family?" I demanded. "Do you know who he is?!"

"According to your grandmother, he was a very distant relative. He was the brother of one of our ancestors, but we migrated from Europe in the early nineteen hundreds. As far as I understand it, there aren't any more by that name living, Aiden never married and his sister took her husband’s name. Your great aunt was big into family history and did a whole study on our family tree and gave everyone a copy of her findings. I'm sure I can scrounge it up from wherever I put it," Mom said, frowning deep in thought then shook herself out of it. "As for why we hand it down through the family, I don't really know, I'm sure I would if I actually read the thing."

"Sis, you already seem to know who this Ryevick person is," Kyle interjected. "Who is he to you?"

Closing the book, I clutched it to my chest. "For starters he is the founder of my school and a member of the Elementi. As they needed to grow with the times and changes happening in the world, he formed a base of operation for them at the school."

"Hold on, this means that you're related to him—distantly that is," Dylan pointed out. "Doesn't that seem odd to you?"

I shook my head. "No, that actually makes so much more sense when I explain what the Elementi really are."

"Don't tell me there's a cult and you've now gotten sucked into it and that's why you're married to all these men through some hokey mumbo jumbo," Dad grumbled.

"They are not a cult, but it does have something to do with the connection I have with them, yes," I offered. "Like I mentioned, the Elementi started back during the days of the Knights Templar. There was a large battle and after that, this group split off from the main faction before the whole thing was dissolved. These five men were blessed in order to fight a battle that has been waging on right under our noses since the day Adam and Eve were kicked out of the garden. As time went on, the darkness grew and because the angels couldn't fight this darkness, forbidden from interacting, they gifted these brave knights powers to assist them in the battle. The power they were given was in the form of elements, fire, water, earth, air, spirit or heart if you will. They traveled where they were needed, fighting off this evil, growing their forces to help them create the Elementi to what it is today. On that day, the knights were given their blessing and the angels promised that if they stayed true to their mission and pure of heart, a weapon would appear when they needed it most. With this weapon, they would be able to turn the tide of the war and bring it to an end."

My family looked at me stunned, none of them sure what to make of the story that I'd just told them.

"Horse shit!" Dad spat. "You said that this wasn't a cult, well this sure sounds a hell of a lot like something a cult would say. Let me guess you are the hidden weapon they've all been waiting for to save the day? How much money did they want from you? Or was it just enough to sell yourself to five men?"

His words hit right into my heart, making me flinch. I knew this would be hard for them to understand, it took me months to adjust to it and I had powers and seen demons. It was true what they say: people fear what they don't understand, and can't believe what they do not see. I guess I was going to have to give them something to see. Closing my eyes, I drifted inward to where my powers flowed from. There was the ball of golden light, reminding me of the sun, with two small orbs of green and blue power circling around it, showing my Bond with Brayden and Hudson. There were also wisps of silver and purple energy floating around, waiting for me to move past the Oath I'd made with Jay and Parker, sealing it with the Bond. Even though Micah and I hadn't completed either step, I still could easily reach out to him, pulling on his powers that burned bright just under his skin.

Drawing from each of them, I pulled forth our powers and thrust them out into the air around us. From the gasps of my family, I knew my plan worked, so I opened my eyes to see all of us glowing and the shadow of our knighted selves shimmering in the air around us like a hologram. I'd discovered this new level I could unlock on our powers when we battled our first demon conduit Tabitha, the governess for Brayden's siblings. We'd played around with it some in training but without us all being Bonded it put a strain on me, having to force that much power into them for long periods of time.

"Lailah, are you doing that?" Mom whispered.

I dropped the hold on the boy's powers and let mine swirl around me like shimmering fairy dust. "Yeah Mom, I have the power of synergy. I can give or take from these guys and use it to strengthen them or myself, depending on what's needed in the fight."

Dad looked pale as his eyes flicked over all of us, trying to wrap his head around all this.

"That is wicked cool," Kyle grinned. "Dylan, our sister is a total badass."

"Yeah, I guess you could say she is," he answered, nodding his agreement. "I'm glad I sent Phoebe back to the hotel, not sure how this would have gone over."

Pulling my energy back into my center, I took a deep breath shaking out of my connection to the guy's power. "Being Synergy, I'm connected to the guys on a level that surpasses anything we can do in a typical relationship. Our powers are now combined, a piece of them lives in me and vice versa. It's an Oath given in the presence of an angel and then finished off with a Bonding of our powers, which is why we explain it as being married. Hudson and Brayden have done both of those things, while Jay and Parker have given their Oath, but I wanted to wait a bit on the forever part."

"What about him?" Dylan asked, nodding to Micah.

I turned and met Micah's gaze, trying to show him through my eyes how much he meant to me. "We both agreed to take things slow, when you'll end up together forever, there is no rush."

"Do you even like them or did this power you hold pick them out, forcing you into this?" Dad questioned, narrowing his eyes assessing the guys.

"Dad, I couldn't ask for better men in my life," I started. "I'm in love or falling in love with all of them, we each have our own relationship and are taking things that are right for each of us. Trust me when I say, that forcing this is the last thing that any of us want. Yeah, the connection once it's made can't be undone, but who is ever one hundred percent certain about the person they want to marry? Everyone has doubts and issues they need to work through, we’re no different. It just involves a few more people, but the guys have known each other for years and so do their families. I've met them all and they're good people, who raised amazing men who I get to spend my life with."

Mom had tears welling up in her eyes again as she got up and pulled me into a hug. "Oh, my baby girl has grown up so much, and here you are married. It might not be how we pictured things, or would have liked, but what's done is done and clearly there isn't much you can change about it. We just love you so much Ladybug, we want the best for you and your future, so bear with us as we adjust to all this."

"Believe me, Mom, I get that, I do," I sighed hugging her back, thankful that at least she was on my side. I trusted that she would work on my Dad, since he was always the one who was more stubborn about changing his mind on things.

Holding me at arm’s length she gave me a watery smile. "I think you should also tell us what happened to you."

My heart squeezed at the thought of how they would take this news after the reaction about the boys. Nodding, I gestured for her to sit back down and I did as well, taking Hudson and Brayden's hand in each of mine. Parker sat at my feet, leaning into my legs so I knew he was there supporting me.

"Since Christmas, the six of us have been in a few battles against the darkness that is trying to take over. We won some and lost others, which enabled the creation of a serum called Day-Brite. It messes with your brain, making you susceptible to outside influences and manipulation. They are using it to create an army out of normal everyday people so they can infiltrate our world in a covert fashion," I began.

"Why haven't we heard of any of this?" Dad cut in.

Brayden spoke up to answer my Dad's question. "If the world knew of this, it would cause mass hysteria and so far, we have been able to locate processing plants where the serum has been made. The Elementi have a large private military presence and are sending teams out to deal with them. Our labs are also working on finding an antidote, which we didn't think would be possible until Lailah had a dose forced on her. She didn't react to it the way anyone else has, meaning that she's had almost no symptoms."

"You got injected?!" Mom cried out covering her mouth in horror, eyes wide.

"Unfortunately yes, but as Brayden stated, this has given us hope for an antidote," Hudson buffered. "On New Year’s day, we had an incident at the school that we needed to address, which got us separated and left Lailah vulnerable to be caught by the man we were hunting down."

Mom flinched at this, grabbing my Dad's hand. "Oh, this sounds so dangerous, you're all so young."

"It was really my fault Mom. If I had stayed with the group and not wandered off on my own, everything would have been different. By taking matters into my own hands and running off after the madman who wanted to blow up the school, I put everyone at risk," I explained. "The man we were after wanted to get me alone, once he did, he gave me the option of taking the serum or killing innocent people, and I couldn't let him do that. When the serum didn't work how he planned, I had the opportunity to end things and save myself, along with everyone else."

"That doesn't explain the reaction I got from hugging you," Dylan challenged.

Letting go of their hands, Hudson and Brayden helped me remove my sweater, which I was grateful for because I was getting far too warm. The tank top I was wearing showed the red raised scars on my skin, running down the length of my arms and on my chest. Hidden from view were the ones on my stomach and down each leg. I thanked God every day that he didn't put any marks on my face, leaving that free from any damage whatsoever.

Mom gasped and then let out a sob, burying her face into Dad's chest. Kyle looked, stricken eyes unblinking as he took it all in, poor Dylan looked sick to his stomach as he now understood my reaction.

"It wasn't that you hugged me Dylan, I have a hard time when I can't see the person who is touching me. If I can see you and know that it's coming, I'm just fine. My other big trigger is being held down on my back, it's how I was held when this happened to me," I said my voice soft and full of shame, even to my own ears.

Hudson wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me tight to him, so I leaned my head on his shoulder while Brayden took my hand, running his thumb along the back of it.

"What happened to the man who did this to you?" Dad asked through clenched teeth, his body vibrating with anger.

"He's dead," Micah announced, his voice making it clear that was all to be said.

"Lailah, why didn't you tell us any of this? I would have flown out to be with you had I known," Mom sobbed, taking the tissue that Kyle handed to her.

A tear rolled down my own cheek seeing how upset my family was for me. "I didn't know how to ask for help. If I didn't have the guys and Cami around, I don't know where I'd be right now. Right after it happened, I wasn't in a good place at all, thankfully they have a counselor and other amazing people on staff to help me process. Jay and I work on self-defense and training every day, which has helped a lot to make me feel strong. I've come a long way Mom, and I knew coming home for the summer was the best thing for me. Getting out of my normal and someplace that made me feel safe."

Mom sniffled but nodded her understanding. "Well, I'm so glad you're home, thankful that you're safe and well looked after."

"There isn't anything we wouldn't do for her," Jay declared, looking down at me from his seat on the armrest of the couch with a soft smile.

"Whelp, I think that's all the drama I can handle in one day," Cami piped up. "I declare that summer vacation starts now, and no more depressing talk is allowed!"

SIX

MICAH

Watching Lailah put everything out there for her family to know, amazed me. The faith she had in them to still stick by her after everything she told them was so foreign to me. My parents and I had been close like that, but once I lost them there was no one in the world who could or would love me like they had. At least, that's what I believed before I met her. The only reason I hadn't gotten out of my seat and decked her father in the face for the things he accused her of, was simply because I knew she would be upset with me. Family was just as important to her as it was to Brayden—they both had the blessing of a family that gave a shit. I knew Oliver and Adriana cared about me, or they wouldn't have taken me in when I couldn't live with my aunt any longer, but I wasn't their kid.

I watched as everyone seemed to collect themselves after Cami's announcement and I couldn't help agreeing. This trip, getting away from the school where everything happened, was important. Lailah was fighting so hard every day to not let what happened slow her down any more than it already had. Thankfully, she was taking her altered schedule with far more courses with the Elementi instructors in the base under the house, so she didn't have to go on campus for many things. Being home around her parents and siblings might be just the thing she was missing and we couldn't do for her. Something I missed all the time, the hug and affection only a mother could give, and by the looks of Bonnie she had it in spades.

"Now you all tell us how tired you are? Ladybug said something about you boys renting a place while you're out here?" Bonnie asked, once she'd collected herself. "I know it's been a long day of travel and it's night time back at school, isn't it?"

"It's only seven o'clock back home, so I believe staying up for as long as we can, would be best. It will speed up adjusting to the time change," Hudson suggested.

Leave it to the brain to come up with the logical plan for us to follow. Although, I had to admit that since we'd come back from France and he Bonded with Lailah, he's become a better version of himself. He was far more involved with everything we did, instead of hanging back like Jay and working on his studies. He will always suck at video games, but he was becoming a match to be respected in training. Guess that’s what happens when you finally have something you want to protect with your life after almost having it ripped away from you.

"Oh, I've heard people say that, but I wasn't sure if it was true," Bonnie commented. "I feel so bad about what happened with Phoebe earlier, what an awful situation to walk into when you're meeting the family for the first time."

"I'm sure she will understand she’s a sweetheart and I think you'll all really love her," Dylan interjected, a love struck look on his face.

Parker coughed, trying to cover up a scoff and if I hadn't been an expert at the act myself, I wouldn't have noticed. He'd had a funny look on his face when she was first introduced to everyone, almost as if he might recognize her from somewhere. In front of Lailah we'd been putting on the best act we could, trying to get along because none of us wanted to add any more stress to her life. If I'm being honest, I don't know that I'll ever get to the point where I'll be able to trust him. Yeah, he pulled through for us in the catacombs, from what the others told me, but one time out of a hundred doesn't make a case.

"Why don't you tell her to come back over and we'll have a board game day," Bonnie suggested. "That way, we can all chat and get to know one another but it doesn't have to be too involved if you lot get tired. Please feel free to tell us you want to go home and sleep. It won't bother us a bit."

"Where did you say the rental was?" Luke asked.

Everyone paused and seemed unsure of how to answer this question, since we weren't sure if he was on board with us guys yet.

"Funny you should ask that, Dad," Lailah grinned. "One thing you'll learn about my boys is that they don't do anything halfway. It would seem that they bought a house for us to live in for the summer and whenever I would like to come home and spend time with you guys."

I watched her dad specifically to see how he would react to this information, but he seemed too stunned to do anything other than gape at us.

"Oh my good heavens!" Bonnie screeched, clapping a hand over her mouth. "Well, I suppose with all five of you chipping in that you could make that work, but was that really wise while you're still in college?"

Lailah snorted, as we all realized that her mom didn't know that we all were extremely well off financially. Having all of us chip in made the purchase a drop in the bucket cost wise.

"Mom, trust me, it's fine. I'm the pauper in this relationship," Lailah added.

That statement made me frown, not liking how she viewed herself. "Cookie Monster," I growled. "I don't want to hear you say that ever again. You have to put up with all five of us, go to school, and be Synergy—that's more work than any of us have in this relationship. Taking care of your needs is part of being together and how we care for you, so I don't want to hear that bullshit ever again."

Kyle seemed to choke on his drink and almost spit it out as his brother slapped him on the back. "Holy crap, she lets you talk to her like that? Man, if either of us said that, she would read us the riot act."

"Kyle, you'll understand when you get a girlfriend, but everyone has their own way of showing affection. For the record, that was Micah being sweet," Lailah explained, winking at me. "When you put it like that, I can see your point. I do have to put up with all of you, it's only fair."

My girl thought she was slick, trying to brush this conversation under the rug, but clearly we were going to need to have one of her 'family meetings' about this subject. If we needed to make one account for us all to put money in for her to use, then that's what we'd fucking do. Her role in life was ten times harder than ours, and who knows what would happen after all this was over. All that didn't matter though, because she was mine and I was gonna make sure she had everything she ever needed or wanted.

"Where is the house?" her father finally asked, coming out of his stupor.

"It's in the Northwoods gated community, off of Eagle lake," Brayden answered.

“Northwoods! Those are some of the nicest houses in the area,” Dylan exclaimed. “You guys aren’t just well off if you can buy a house there.”

I chuckled at Dylan’s surprise. My boy Brayden had been the one to find it, but once he showed us the pictures and all it had to offer, we knew it was the right choice. A house like that was perfect for having her family over to spend time with us and relax. The other reason we all considered, is it gave her a private place to go swimming without anyone staring at her scars. The next house was a good distance away through the woods, making it completely secluded so she could be at ease. To us, her scars didn't make a difference, but I knew she fought with herself about them and only left them visible around us. If that bastard Ubel wasn't already dead, I would have taken my time skinning him alive so he could feel what she went through, then burn his ass slowly like a spit roasted pig until he died.

"Micah!" Lailah's voice cut through my thoughts. "Your hands are smoking."

Sure as shit, I was burning a hole in my jeans as proof that I wasn't keeping my anger in check. "Fuck!"

Hudson leaned over Lailah and waved a hand where the embers still glowed, dousing them. Now I was wearing singed wet jeans that smelt like burning hair, as it seared my skin underneath. My fire wouldn't hurt me, but it didn't mean my hair would survive like my skin would.

Lailah knelt in front of me, checking my legs. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, just was thinking of Ubel and lost control," I admitted, taking her hands in mine and kissing the back of them. "Looks like I'm gonna need to grab my suitcase and change. While I do that, why don't you and your mom pick out a few games we can all play."

Giving me a look that told me she wasn't convinced I was alright, she gave me a peck on the lips and stood. "Alright, but don't think you can get out of playing with us, I'll just hunt you down."

I grinned at that, loving to see the fire in her eyes when she challenged me. It was our thing, I pissed her off, she fought back by yelling or hitting me in retaliation using her new skills— it was glorious. "Wouldn't dream of it, Cookie."

"Truck’s out in the driveway," Luke yelled as I walked to the front door.

I waved my acknowledgement and stepped out into the cool spring air, with the sky covered in big puffy clouds. Having never been to America before, I didn't really know what to expect but the term house with the white picket fence was incredibly accurate. My phone buzzed in my back pocket and when I pulled it out I saw it was Ned, my financial guy I'd hired privately to keep an eye on things, until I could take it over once I turned twenty-one.

"Hello?"

"Micah, thank god I got a hold of you. It's your aunt, she finally made her move and is trying to put through paperwork to challenge your parents' will, stating that you have not met the requirements that they put in place for you to take over the company," Ned blurted out. “We know that isn’t true, so something else must have changed without us knowing it.”

The anger that I'd been trying to gain control of burst forth again at this, and I slammed a fist into the tree I was standing under. A black charred indent appeared once I pulled my hand out of the trunk, the smell of burning wood sharp in my nose. "Tell me you called the lawyers."

"Of course, but I remembered you telling me you would be out of the country for the summer. Did she know about that?"

Wracking my brain, I tried to figure out how the hell she could have known until it dawned on me. "What account did you use to put money down for the house?"

"Ah…" Ned started, then paused as I heard the rustling of papers. "That would be your personal spending account, you don't use it often, so it had the most funds to easily access."

"Is my aunt a joint holder on it?"

"God damn it, she is," Ned swore. "I removed her from it, I know I did. Let me do some digging and find out how the hell that happened."

"This isn't good, Ned, she’s using the fact that I'm gone to pull this shit because she knows I can't get back to fight it fast enough."

"What do you want me to do?"

"We'll need to call a meeting with all the board members of the company, and then I want a meeting with the ruling parties in our country. Seems I'm going to need to be far more aggressive in this matter sooner than I thought."

"Very good, Sir. I will see that it gets done. Is this still the best number to reach you while you're in the States?" Ned asked.

"Yes, call if you need anything I will answer day or night. This matter needs to be handled swiftly and quietly from our outside sources. Do you hear me?" I growled.

"Understood, I will call the moment I know anything." With that Ned hung up, and I was seriously contemplating whether Lailah would really hunt me down or not if I went for a run to clear my head instead of coming back inside.

SEVEN

LAILAH

The second I saw Micah walk back in, I knew something was wrong. I moved to intercept him, but Brayden grabbed my hand and shook his head no. As much as I wanted to fix what was wrong, I also knew to trust Brayden, who was Micah's best friend and knew him better than anyone else. Chewing on my lip, I watched Micah head down the hall to the bathroom, wishing that we were bonded so that I could feel what was wrong. Each of my bonded partners and I had gotten better at controlling what we let through to the other, but I knew if I wanted to know they would show me. Just like now, Brayden was fully aware how anxious I was about Micah and he sent soothing energy, assuring me that it would be alright. As much progress as Micah and I made in our odd push and pull dance, I feared him sliding back again if things got too much.

"Give him time, Angel, if you try to talk to him now, he will only shut you out," Brayden whispered into my ear, kissing me on the temple. "Let him cool down a bit and give him the chance to bring it up before you corner him."

I gave him side-eye at his words. "I would never corner him."

Brayden just gave me a cheeky smile and pulled me over to the table where Mom had a few games laid out.

"Oh yes, Twenty Second Showdown!" Kyle exclaimed. "I forgot I got this for my birthday. We have to play this game, there's no better way to get to know people than a game like this. Dylan is Phoebe on her way back over?"

"Yeah, she should be pulling up any second," Dylan answered. "I've never heard of this game, what is it?"

"Basically, you have twenty seconds to do whatever's written on the card. It could be something silly like: listing food that start with C, pretend to meditate for three seconds, or get one of your teammates to do something random," Kyle explained.

"Now this is the kind of game I'm talking about!" Cami shouted, bouncing on her toes.

Knowing how competitive my boys and Cami were, this could be a very interesting game. "Sounds great to me."

"You sure about that, Trouble?" Parker challenged, mischief already shining in his eyes.

Setting my hands on my hips and jutting out my chin, I met his gaze head on. "Bring it on, buddy."

"Oh, now he's done it," Dylan laughed. "She's got that look on her face."

Parker's smile widened as he glanced at my brothers. "Yeah, it's my favorite look on her, means she's gonna give it all she's got."

Grabbing the box, Kyle set things up in the living room. "We're gonna need a lot of space for this to happen. Sis, you want to grab a pen and paper for us?"

Nodding, I headed into the kitchen to the famous junk drawer, where you could pretty much find just about anything if you look hard enough. I felt someone moving up behind me, causing me to spin around quickly on the defensive, only to see it was Micah. He didn't say anything, just gave me a moment before he pulled me into his arms and buried his face in my neck, holding me tightly.

Wrapping my arms around him, I stroked up and down his back, whispering into his ear, "you don't have to tell me what's wrong but know I'm here to listen whenever you need me. Whatever it is, we'll figure it out together, I promise."

He seemed to relax the longer I talked him down, until his lips pressed a kiss to my pulse, and he moved up my neck. Then he kissed along my jaw until our lips met in a heated kiss, like he was worried he wouldn't be able to survive without kissing me. My hands curled into his hair as I gave back just as much as I was getting from him. He shifted me so his leg was between mine and pressed it to my apex, making me squirm, as my leggings didn't provide much of a barrier between my clit and his jeans. I humped him like a dog in heat, desperate to feel this closeness between us, even though I knew it was being used as a distraction from whatever was upsetting him. A hand slipped under my tank top and bra to grope my breast, flicking my nipple with his finger, making me groan as I ground on him harder. The need I had for Micah was insane, something about him made me crave his touch and I couldn't get enough of it.

Someone clearing their throat broke us apart rapidly as I tried to readjust my clothes. Then I saw it was Jay and relaxed, giving him a lazy smile as I was drunk off Micah's touch. My silent protector had a penchant for exhibitionism and voyeuristic tendencies, which I was quickly finding out I didn't mind one bit.

"As much as I hate to stop what’s happening, your absence has been noticed," Jay warned with a sly grin.

Plucking the pen and notepad from the counter where I'd set them down, I sauntered up to Jay, fisted his shirt and pulled him down for me to kiss. It was a down and dirty kiss with teeth and tongue, but I knew he loved it from the sounds he was making. What surprised me was Micah coming up from behind, rubbing his dick against my ass as he held my hips.

"Do you see what you do to us Lailah?" Micah whispered against the shell of my ear. "Even your family being just behind this wall can't stop us from wanting you."

Yup, I was about to come just from his words alone, if he kept talking like that to me with Jay rubbing the outside of my leggings.

Just when I thought I was going to hit the finish line, Jay stopped and pulled away. "Not yet beautiful, we have a game to play with your family first."

I all but whimpered as he took my hand from his shirt and led me back into the living room, where I discovered Phoebe had arrived to join us. The looks on the other guys' faces told me, without a doubt, my lips were swollen and cheeks flushed, telling them exactly what had been going on in the kitchen.

Great , just great. Now I'm horny as hell and have to act normal around my family and brother's new girlfriend. I hope those two have the worst blue balls ever for this kind of torture.

"Grab someone from your team and slow dance for ten seconds," Phoebe read the card aloud, popped to her feet and grabbed Parker. She wrapped her arms around him and started to sway like you would as a kid trying to slow dance.

"One, two, three, four," Mom counted aloud for them.

What struck me as odd was the look on Parker's face, it was almost as if being touched by her was causing him pain. When Dylan first introduced her, I'd noticed the weird way he responded to hearing her name and seeing her, his face going pale like he'd seen a ghost. With everything happening and then explaining things to my parents, there wasn't a moment to check in on him. When we divided the teams, they tried to keep it so it wasn't me and the guys against them. Since there were twelve of us it worked out perfectly.

"Okay, time! Flip the timer, flip the timer," Kyle yelled, waving his arms.

Phoebe was slow to let Parker go, not getting to the timer in time to flip it and stop the sand from running out, giving us a point.

"Ha, ha, ha, suckers. That's ten points for us, making us the winners!" Cami crowed, leaping out of her seat and doing a jig. "Oh yeah, who’s the best team? We’re the best team."

"You totally cheated on that round where you had to have a thumb war, there’s no way you could win that fast," Kyle argued. "You only had maybe five seconds of sand to work with."

Cami gave him a sly grin. "What can I say, I’m really good with my fingers."

"Oh eww Cami, don't say things like that to my little brother," I said as I faked a gag at her words.

"I don't get it?" Kyle frowned looking at the two of us.

"It's because I'm a les—" Cami did not get to finish that sentence, as Micah chucked a pillow right into her face.

"Enough, tiny-terror, you'll scar the kid for life," Micah muttered.

Cami spluttered and made to retaliate when she got a look from my Mom and sat back down, blushing in embarrassment. It made me wonder what her relationship was with her parents. I knew her sisters, but I'd never really heard her talk about anyone else in the family.

"Now it's about time I get things started for supper, are you and your boys staying, Lailah?" Mom asked once the room settled down.

Glancing at my watch, which I'd forgotten to change to Wisconsin time, I saw it was a little after midnight back at school. Now that we'd played three rounds of the game and my adrenaline was wearing off, the tiredness was creeping in. Even though I didn't get much sleep and tried to stay awake as long as possible, waking up at four in the morning made for long days. Add on the fact of traveling, the stress of talking to my family, and a panic attack—I was beat.

"I think it's best if we get to the house so we can check things out before it's too late," I suggested.

"That's a good idea," Dad agreed. "Right now, you'll have light to see by for another few hours but out by the lake when it gets dark, it's pitch black."

"Dylan, would you mind driving the van with your father to take them all over?" Mom asked, resting a hand on his shoulder.

He smiled at her and patted her hand. "Sure thing, Mom."

"That's my boy, it will give Phoebe and I a chance to talk without you around, so I can tell her all the embarrassing stories I can think of," Mom teased, giving Phoebe a wink who smiled at her.

"I think I like the sound of that," Phoebe said.

Dylan groaned, rolling his eyes. "I knew this was going to happen, try not to tell her anything that would make her dump me."

"Why on earth would that happen, you’re my precious first born who can do no wrong," Mom gasped in mock horror.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Dylan mumbled, slipping his shoes on.

The lot of us piled into the van as Dad started up the truck, rolling down his window and waving for me to do the same. "You guys lead and I'll follow."

Giving him a thumbs up, we were off. Like they said, it was an easy twenty minute drive leaving the town behind us and entering into more of the wooded lands near the lakes. I left the window down, feeling the wind on my face and breathing in the country air that I grew up with, telling me that I was really home. When we pulled up to the guard shack, a man stepped out wearing a grey and black uniform with a badge from a security company on his chest.

"Name and resident you are coming to see?" the man asked.

Brayden unbuckled and opened the left sliding door getting out to greet the man. "We’re actually new residents here, this is the paperwork we were told to give you so we can receive our car stickers."

"Oh yes, your cars were delivered yesterday, along with the other items I was told about," the guard informed us. "One moment and I'll grab the things you need that your property manager left with me."

Dylan turned to look at me and mouthed—what the fuck—making me snicker.

"Here you are, there are also documents there if you want to add on visitors to the approved list that will get special stickers allowing them access," the guard shared handing Brayden a large envelope and other papers.

"Thank you so much," Brayden said, shaking the man's hand before climbing back into the car. "Oh, and the gentleman in the truck is with us as well."

The guard nodded and waved us along once the gate was open.

"How cool was that?!" Dylan blurted. "You guys had cars delivered?"

The guys all laughed at my brother's amazement. "How else did you think we would get around here?" Parker asked. "We kept it simple and just got two cars, one for everyday use and another for fun."

"Sis, how the hell did you find these guys?"

Turning in my seat to look at them, I smiled. "I didn't, they found me and refused to take no for an answer."

"Now that I think of it, literally half of us found you lost somewhere," Brayden mused.

"Or got sat on while taking a nap," Micah pointed out. "Then I couldn't get rid of her, she kept showing up everywhere I was, so I decided it was easier to just accept it than fight it."

Rolling my eyes I stuck my tongue out at him. "Ever the romantic."

"Whatever, you love it," he shot back.

"You're right, I do," I shared, meeting his gaze so he knew I was talking about something more than his sassy wit.

Understanding flickered in his eyes as he opened his mouth to say something, then didn't. That was alright, I'm not sure this was the right atmosphere to have the conversation we'd both been dancing around for months.

"Ten-thirty circle drive, this is us," Hudson called out.

Dylan pulled onto the brick drive, that seemed to go on for a good mile, until we broke through the trees and there was the house.

"Holy fucking shit," I gasped. "The pictures did not do it justice at all."

EIGHT

LAILAH

The entrance to the house felt whimsical, like I was entering a cottage more than a mansion, with its cobbled pathway and stone arched front. Just like in the pictures, it was fully furnished with a more rustic feel, heavy on the wood and stone, but all high end furniture in leather. You stepped down from the front door into the living room where the massive sectional couch and fireplace was, but it was also where the two story windows looked out to the lake. Cami clung to my arm as she tried to contain her excitement over the house, until she finally gave into it and dragged me towards the back door.

"We have to check out the lake Lala, you know that's where we’re going to be living for the next few weeks!"

Outside was a large stone patio with chairs and a table with, you guessed it, another fireplace to keep warm by in the cooler weather. The back had been cleared of trees, so it had an open grassy area with a lawn swing and other seating at the top of the gently sloping hill down to the water. I knew I would be coming back to see how the sunrise would look while having a piping hot cup of chai. The previous owners had made a literal beach, with sand and all, leading into the water. Cami raced right in, yelping when she realized how cold the water was up on her legs.

"Holy balls, why is it so cold?" she demanded, as she quickly scampered back out of the water.

I laughed at her antics. "Cami it's still spring here, the nights are still cold so the water doesn't have a chance to get warm yet. Give it time and we'll be able to swim to our hearts content, I promise. Until then, I think we should get some kayaks or something to use on the lake."

"Oh, good idea," Cami said, clapping her hands. "They even have a pier and everything."

We walked out on said pier and found a raft for us to swim out to and a slide that was installed as well.

"This place is paradise isn't it," I whispered, wrapping an arm around Cami as she did the same to me.

"Yeah, you're one lucky bitch, I'll tell you that. Now just don't screw it up," she teased, poking me in the rib.

I was tempted to toss her into the lake, but decided to at least wait until we had our clothes unpacked first. "Come on, I saw a fire pit back on the lawn. Ever had s'mores before?"

"No but I've heard of them, marshmallows and chocolate, what's not to like?"

"The things I'm going to introduce you guys to while you're here, it’s gonna be awesome. I've missed having my mac and cheese, ranch, root beer, things that seem so common to have around until they weren't."

"Lala, you're all kinds of special, you know that right?" Cami joked as we headed back to the house. "They better not have taken all the good rooms or I'll punch them right in the dick."

Thankfully, they'd been distracted taking my dad and brother on a tour of the place, so Cami was safe to pick out her room. I trailed after her, taking in the beauty of the place and how the builders managed to make sure every bedroom got as many windows looking out at the lake as they could.

"Found your room, Lala," Cami called.

Walking down the hall I came to the room at the end where she'd called me from. I gaped at the room with a massive bed that had a frame built all the way around it, like it was sunk in the platform. It could easily fit three or four people at a time without being crammed. It also had more windows than any of the other rooms, with vaulted ceilings, making it seem so open and bright even in the evening light. There was a set of leather armchairs placed to look out the window with a coffee table, perfect for me when I woke up from a nightmare but didn't want to leave the room. It also had a balcony with seating. There was an attached bathroom that was also set up to be roomy with two sinks which will be nice.

"How on earth did they find a place that was so set up for our situation?" I mused walking back into the bedroom, where I found Brayden perched on the bed smiling.

"So, do you like it?"

Running, I tackled him to the bed peppering kisses all over his face. "Like it, I fucking love it."

"Uh-oh she's swearing, is this a good sign or bad?" Parker asked as he entered the room. "Well, by the look on her face I'm leaning towards good."

Rolling off Brayden so I was sitting on the bed, I gushed, "you guys have outdone yourselves finding this place. It couldn't be more perfect for this summer and for us to come back to. Could you imagine Christmas here together?"

"Man, I love when you talk about our future together, it's just so damn cute, Trouble," Parker said, grabbing my face between his two hands and forcing it into a fishy face. "Look at you, the cutest thing I've seen all day."

I tried to smile but with my face all smushed up, it didn't really work. Giving me a quick peck, he released me and pulled me into a hug. "Come on, your dad and brother want to head back but wanted to say goodnight first."

Letting him pull me to my feet, I followed him out and back down to the front door where they were waiting.

"Well ladybug, we don't want to intrude longer than we have while you're settling in. Give us a call if you wanna come by, but I'll be back to work at the diner, hard for both of us to be off for too long," Dad shared, hugging me tight and kissing me on the forehead.

Dylan pulled me from Dad and gave me a bone crushing hug, lifting me up off my feet. "So, what's it gonna take to let us hang out here for the week hmm? Phoebe and I don't have to go back until Sunday so we can work Monday."

"If I'm not mistaken, the point of this place was to be able to have my friends and family come hang out here," I pointed out, looking at the guys for confirmation, which they all nodded to. "Just give us a heads up you're coming, so we can tell the guard to expect you."

"That is the bougiest thing I have ever heard out of your mouth sis," Dylan laughed, giving me one more quick hug before they both left for the night.

Now that my family was gone, the events of the day fully caught up to me and I headed over to the couch flopping onto it. "Is it nap time yet?"

Hudson leaned over the back of the couch looking down at me. "I believe now would be a better time to sleep than earlier today. You want something to eat before you head up for the night?"

"Let me guess, the house is already stocked with food, isn't it." He just grinned, giving me my answer. "Did you get the mac and cheese in the blue box?"

"If you mean, did we get a case of it yes, yes we did," Hudson confirmed.

I rolled off the couch and ran to the kitchen, opening all the cabinets and doors scoping out where everything was in the space. The pantry was so large it could be considered a walk in closet, and there sitting on the shelf was my beloved Kraft mac and cheese. I grabbed four boxes, knowing if I made anything all the guys would want some too, I'd learned quickly to make enough or they would be eating off of my plate until Jay caught them doing it. That man's obsession with my food consumption was on another level. Setting the boxes on the counter I went in search of a large enough pot, only to discover the drawers rolled out so I could see all the way in the back.

"Hey Trouble, can I talk to you about something…"

I peered over my shoulder at Parker as I grabbed the milk and butter out of the fridge. "Of course, what's up?"

As if they all had super sonic hearing, the rest of the guys entered the kitchen and took a seat at the counter or leaned elsewhere, in view of what was going on. Suspiciously, Cami was not sticking around for this conversation, telling me that I'd missed something earlier in the day they noticed.

Parker bristled at the others, his face turning into a deep scowl. "I'm sorry, did I say your names when I asked to talk?"

"Dude, everyone saw how weird you were acting around her brother's new girlfriend—so how do you know her?" Micah challenged.

"What are they talking about? You know Phoebe?" I ventured, stepping up so I was standing right in front of him. Parker rubbed the back of his neck and wouldn't look at me. "You're scaring me, Parker."

At my words, he winced which only ratcheted my anxiety up even more. "She was my first love. We dated in high school for two years before she dumped me when she had to move away."

My mind whirled with this information trying to make sense of it in my brain. "Why didn't either of you say anything earlier? You acted as if you didn't know each other at all…why would you do that?"

But no answer came. He just hunched his shoulders at the hurt in my voice, refusing to look me in the eye when I reached out to him.

"Do you still love her?" I whispered. This was the only explanation that made sense for how he was acting.

Micah growled and grabbed him by the back of the shirt, tossing him into the cabinets before he held him with an arm across his throat. "Answer. The. Question."

"No," Parker wheezed. "Well, in a way I guess I do. God this is so messed up, I didn't expect to ever see her again."

Jay stepped up behind Micah and placed a hand on his shoulder, gripping it tightly. Micah brushed him off, but let go of Parker and stormed out of the room. The sound of the back door slamming echoed through the house.

"I believe it might be in your best interest to explain what happened between the two of you. Leaving this to our imaginations can do more damage than being honest," Hudson advised.

Parker sagged to the floor and dropped his head between his knees. "Like I said, she was my first love, Phoebe was everything to me at that point in my life. We were in a strict boarding school, that my parents sent me to in order to help teach me better discipline after I came into my power. The jokester and party boy wasn't what the Elementi had planned on getting, so they suggested this place. During the summers, I was placed with you guys as we attempted to bond and train like every generation had before us.”

“Me being the odd man out in this dysfunctional group has been normal since day one—until you came along, Lailah. But before you, it was Phoebe that kept me going. When her family pulled her from school and moved her back to Spain, she broke it off with me, saying she didn't want to do long distance being so young. It broke me to lose her, which turned me into that desperate sap who drunk called and left messages on her phone, begging her to take me back. I didn't think I would ever get over her and now having seen her, I’m not sure I really am. After she left, I decided not to get too involved with anyone, just keeping things loose and casual. Then no one would get hurt and we all had a good time, which I was able to do until I crashed into you that first day."

With those words, he raised his head and looked at me. "I might be confused and need time to process seeing her again, but I stand by my Oath to you, Lailah. Phoebe is everything I thought I wanted in the past, but you are how I see my future. Yes, I might still love the idea of her, not having truly dealt with things, yet it is nothing on the love I have growing for you, Trouble. The unconditional love you give me is more than anyone has ever shown me in my whole life."

"Why didn't she say anything?" I pressed, my mind cataloging every interaction they had today. It was true, Parker acted appropriately in every situation, but now that I knew the history, I wasn't so sure of that. The way he kept saying he wasn’t sure he was truly over her, and wanting to process things, that was girl lingo for there’s a chance I might still love them, but I don’t want to lose you in case they turn me down.

"I can't speak for her, but I wanted this conversation to be between me and you first. Your parents are already dealing with a lot. Given everything we explained today, there was no way I was gonna give them another strike against us. My hope is that Phoebe is having the same conversation with your brother at some point today," Parker answered, holding out a hand to me. "Please tell me you understand, I can take crap from these guys and have it roll off, just not from you."

Reaching out I took the offered hand and helped pull him to his feet, allowing him to wrap me up in a hug. "I believe you, but I'll be honest and say that I don't like this situation at all. You have to promise me that if having her around is going to be a problem you tell me right away, or you and I will have issues. Don't lie to me or hide things while they’re here. Also, if she so much as touches you, and it makes you feel uncomfortable, tell me."

"I promise, if there was a way I thought I could tell you sooner, I would have," Parker murmured, his lips pressed to the top of my head. "Please don't let this come between us, I don't know that I could survive that."

Pulling back, I took his face in my hands and looked him dead in the eye. "You are the one in control of that Parker, don't let it come between us and it won't."

"God, I don't deserve you," Parker whispered as he placed a hesitant kiss on my lips. I kissed him back deeply, wanting him to have no doubts I was still on his side and appreciated him coming clean to me.

Breaking the kiss I turned, letting him pull me against his chest and resting his chin on the top of my head. "Anyone else have something to say about this matter?" Even an idiot could tell the others weren't as willing to let this slide as I was, but they weren't going to upset the apple cart. "Great, then we’re going to have some mac and cheese and go to bed. I think that's enough drama for one day—don't you?"

NINE

LAILAH

That night, I slept the best I had in months. It would seem a mix of full body exhaustion and jet lag was all I'd needed to get a full eight hours of sound sleep. When I woke up on my own it was still pre-dawn, but having gone to bed at eight last night, I felt completely rested. I crawled out from Micah's arms and discovered that Jay was already up and out of bed. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. He was always the first awake before I started having nightmares. I slipped on a hoodie over my pajamas, the morning air cool as I headed down to the kitchen. To be honest, I was super excited to be up early enough to make a perfect cup of tea and sit outside to watch the sun rise over the lake.

It took me a few minutes to find where whoever got our groceries put the tea. I was gonna need to rearrange things at some point, knowing I'd be spending the most time in the kitchen. There was no electric kettle, but I'd preemptively put the standard kettle on the stove last night to use. As I waited for the water to heat, I meandered over to the windows looking out over the lake, taking a deep calming breath. I'd been worried that coming here would be harder than staying at school with everything that was going on. One thing we had to do today was make sure we put the wards up around the house and property, knowing that I was a beacon to demons. The last thing we needed was for the reality of our work to come crashing into this part of my life. My parents might now know a little of what was going on, but seeing it first hand was another matter entirely.

The whistle of the kettle made me jump, snapping me out of my thoughts to race over to the stove so I didn't wake the others. Opening the cabinet, I pulled out a large mug that almost needed both hands to hold and noticed on the outside it had: tea only up in this bitch. I would put my money down on Parker being the one to make sure this was in the house for me. Tea finally prepared, I carried it outside and headed for the anorak chairs on top of the hill, just as the warm glow of the sun started to appear on the horizon. Curled up and using my mug to warm my hands, I relaxed my head against the wood of the chair and closed my eyes, letting the sounds of nature ease my worries. Birds started to chirp in the trees, the water lapping at the shore, and the leaves were rustling in the soft breeze of the morning. This is how I wanted to wake up every day, knowing that not everything in the world was hiding darkness just behind the corner waiting to take over.

At the sound of footsteps, my eyes flew open, and I found Jay standing in front of me with a blanket in his hands. "It's too cold to be out here with just a hoodie, you're not even wearing pants."

"Good thing I have you to look after me then," I grinned, getting up from my seat to push him to take it.

Giving into my demands, he settled in the wide chair and held his hand out to me, already guessing at what I wanted. Curling up in his lap, he tucked the blanket around my legs before wrapping his arms loosely around me. We both let out a sigh of contentment, it had been too long since I'd had Jay all to myself where he wasn't pushing me to train or eat something. I knew he was doing it because he cared, and from all that I've witnessed and gathered about his life—I don't think he knew how to show his love to anyone differently.

"You seem happy," Jay stated.

I took a sip of my tea giving him an acknowledging hum.

"There were also no nightmares," Jay continued, stroking a hand down my arm. "Is it because you’re away from school or being with your family?"

"Sleep wise, I think it was the travel and time change, as for feeling happy…It's all of this," I answered, gesturing to our surroundings. "I'm not knee deep in everything Elementi, wondering when the next problem will show up, when will we get sent to deal with another demon, what is the Dark Lord preparing for this time. It's been too quiet and I can't tell if losing Ubel and his connection to Dantalion really hurt him, or if it's something else. Being here in the quiet of the morning, as the sun is going to rise, with the sounds of nature, you just can't help but be reminded that this is what we’re fighting for."

Jay didn't say anything to that, he just rested his chin on my head and held me tightly. We sat like that for some time, watching the beautiful array of colors wash the sky, proving that once again the sun will always rise. The sound of someone traipsing through the woods put us both on high alert, causing Jay to slide me off his lap and step in front of me. Most of the time, demons attacked at night using the shadows to hide themselves, but they could just as well act in the sunlight. In Jay's hand, his bow appeared as he pulled on his power, quiver materializing on his back where he took an arrow and nocked it. The sound was getting louder and closer, making my heart beat faster as my own sai appeared in my hands. I was never going to let my fear make me a victim.

"Oh!" a middle aged man gasped when he saw us, eyes wide with surprise.

Both of us let go of our powers, allowing our weapons to dissipate as quickly as we could. The man shook his head and rubbed his eyes like he was seeing things as shook off his fright. He wore an olive green work coverall that had a logo for some landscaping company on it.

"So sorry to startle you, I forgot they said this place finally had people in it," he shared, rubbing his hands on his coveralls nervously. "I'm with the grounds crew, we’re hired by the community and take care of all the yards, mowing, trimming bushes, things like that. We come on Thursdays or Mondays during the summer, depending on what part of the community you're in."

"I see," Jay said, looking the man over carefully. "That doesn't explain why you're coming through the woods when there is a gate to the back yard behind the garage."

"Ah, yeah…well it seems that you had all the locks changed and the guard at the gate didn't have a key for us, so I was coming around to open it on this end," he explained.

Jay seemed unconvinced by his explanation. "Do you always come so early?" I asked, stepping out from behind Jay.

"Since you’re the first house on our route, yes, we try to get started early, so when the summer gets hot we’re working in the cooler part of the day."

Jay took my hand and gathered up the blanket. "We'll leave you to your work, but we will not give you a key. The gate will be unlocked by six am on Mondays for you to do your work. If that plan changes you will need to let us know."

The man gave him an odd look but nodded his head. "Will do, Sir."

I gave the man a friendly smile as Jay led the way back into the house.

"What the hell was that, Jalen?!" I demanded once the back door was shut. "Do you know how rude that was?"

Jay cocked a brow at me, crossing his arms over his muscular chest. His short sleeve shirt showed off his black and gray tattoos on his left arm, that I knew curled on to his pec. "In all the paperwork we got there was no mention of a grounds crew that looked after the homes in the community. Are you saying it was wrong of me to question someone who is trespassing on our lawn at six in the morning?"

"What's going on?" Hudson asked as he stepped out from the kitchen. "Someone is in our yard?"

"A landscaper," I answered off handedly, not taking my attention of Jay. "Why on earth would someone who is looking to cause trouble show up now? Wouldn't that be smarter to do at night when you can easily tell if someone is in the house or not? This is Wisconsin, nothing major happens in rural Wisconsin, unless you're into cow tipping or something like that."

"Sunshine, there's no need to get so upset about this," Hudson soothed. "I will simply call the HOA and ask them about what this man has said, then the matter will be settled."

"That's not the problem," I huffed.

"Do you mind explaining to us what is the problem?"

I knew my irritation over this was out of proportion, but I couldn't quite put my finger on why it had rubbed me the wrong way. Then it struck me, "I don't want to live my life believing that every person is out to get me. It was a perfect morning, everything was peaceful and calm, then in one second we were on high alert, weapons drawn ready for a fight and it was just a man trying to do his job."

My shoulders sagged as my eyes started to burn with held back tears. Since I laid there, holding Ubel's hands mourning the loss of what I'd done, I hadn't cried. In all my panic attacks, therapy sessions, and training, the one thing I couldn't do was cry. Like now my eyes would burn, the pressure would build, but nothing ever happened past that. Hudson stepped forward and took the mug from my hand, setting it down, and wrapped me in his arms with Jay pressing up against my back.

"Beautiful," Jay said into my ear. "It’s my job and part of the oath I swore to you, that I will protect you know matter what. To me, anyone I don't know is a danger to you, but I can also see it from your perspective. I'm not going to change my mind on this, you're just going to need to trust me that everything I do is to keep you safe." I nodded my head against Hudson's chest as Jay kissed the back of my neck and stepped away. "I'll make breakfast today."

Hudson shifted me so he could scoop me up into a bridal hold and carried me back up to my bedroom, where Micah was still passed out. He climbed into bed and set me down, wrapping himself around me as Micah muttered something in his sleep, moving closer to me.

"Never change, Sunshine, we need you to continue to see the good in people. The rest of us have been in this life for too long. We've lost the ability to see the humanity in those around us—even our own families at times," Hudson whispered. "This is what makes you who you are, the pure goodness and light that no demon or Dark Lord can diminish. We, as your knights, are to protect you from the darkness, but also to advise you when the way is not certain. None of us know how prevalent the demons are in this area, we don't have the house warded, and we are in a different country. You'll have to forgive us when we don't have the same sense of calm that you do being back on your home turf."

As always, when Hudson took the time to break things down for me, it made more sense. It made me think back to when I first arrived at Ryevick and how lost I felt, not knowing where anything was or the customs around me. Lifting one of his hands I kissed the back of it, "That makes sense when you put it that way. I forget sometimes that you're just as human as I am about these things."

Hudson chuckled, his body shaking as he tried to keep quiet. "You forget we're human?"

"You know what I mean," I huffed. "Sometimes, I feel like you are all superheroes or something, with how you handle all the crazy stuff we've been through the past eight months of knowing each other."

"I think I like being thought of as a superhero," Hudson teased, kissing the top of my head.

"Would you two shut the fuck up," Micah grumbled. "Some of us are trying to sleep here."

Reaching out, I poked Micah's cheek playfully which made him crack open an eye, teeth snapping at my finger. "So, you don't care that there was a mysterious man that showed up in our backyard at six in the morning while I was sitting out there?"

Just as I guessed, Micah's eyes snapped open and he sat up, giving me his full attention. "What the fuck, Lailah! Are you okay, because if that asshole touched you I'm going to burn his ass until he's ashes and no one will be able to find him."

"It would seem we have a grounds crew to take care of the yard," Hudson shared, a hint of laughter in his voice.

Micah's face changed from concerned to pissed as he looked down at me. "Seems like you forgot to mention that little detail in your story there, Cookie Monster."

"Oh, but you were sleeping. I didn't want to bother you," I taunted.

Micah grabbed my ankle and snatched me away from Hudson slipping his hand under my sweatshirt to tickle me. "You think that's funny, do you? Well, let me show you what you get for pulling dirty tricks like that, Cookie Monster."

Wiggling under his tickle assault, I tried to get free but he was sitting on my legs, making it impossible. I turned my head to Hudson, who was now leaving the room and me to my fate. "Hudson, you get back here and help me!"

He just looked over his shoulder, laughter in his eyes and smiled, shutting the door behind him.

TEN

LAILAH

"Traitor!" I yelled after Hudson.

Micah leaned forward, looming over me and that's when the fun and games ended. I could see in his face when he saw the change, and quickly jumped off of me, pulling me into a sitting position holding my shoulders.

"Are you good?" Micah asked, eyes full of worry. "Please tell me I didn't trigger an attack."

I closed my eyes, placing a hand on his chest so I could feel his heartbeat thundering in his chest, not as helpful as Hudson was in this situation, but it was a connection to the here and now. Taking a few deep breaths in through the nose out through the mouth, I was able to center myself before the panic set in completely.

"I'm good," I sighed, leaning forward to rest my head on his shoulder. "Don't beat yourself up over this, I was fine and then I wasn't."

"Lailah," Micah started, seemed to think better about what he was going to say. Instead, he pulled me up so I was in his lap, legs wrapped around his waist and held me. "Every time I think I have things figured out I fuck it up."

Pushing back on his chest, I sat back looking him in the face. "What does that mean?"

"How the hell can I be a guardian for you when I keep doing things wrong?"

Frowning, I tilted my head as I looked at him. "You're going to need to explain that more?"

"Look at the others, they can hold their temper around others, Hudson pulls you out of panic attacks, Jay makes sure you eat and don't get lost, Brayden is your soul mate and gets you in a way only he can, hell even Parker gets you to try new things. What the fuck do you even need me for?" Micah ranted.

"You done?" I asked, sarcasm heavy in my voice. He opened his mouth to continue but I covered it with my hand. "Would you like to tell me what the hell this is really about? Does it have anything to do with what made you so upset yesterday?"

"Of course you wouldn't forget about that," he muttered. "I found out my aunt is trying to steal the company from me while I'm here and out of the country."

Not having expected that answer, I blinked at him for a moment, trying to remember what company his parents had. "I thought it was a country, not a company?"

"It's both, I guess. My parents own the land and almost all the businesses in that country, thus holding a large sway over everything. They have a leader who is, I guess you could say, a king that makes the laws and such, with a group of advisors, to help in maintaining the country. When my parents died, everything got put in a trust, as well as a parent business, to collect everything my parents own in that country into one place. Once I take hold of everything, I can change how it's done, but it was the best they could come up with on short notice. My aunt wants to make a move to take that business over from me permanently, by showing that I'm unfit to handle the responsibility," Micah explained.

"What a bitch," I muttered. "I should have done more than knock her on her ass at that Christmas Party."

"Once I get her out of the picture, everything will be fine," Micah assured me. "I have no idea why my parents picked her to be my guardian in the first place."

"Are you sure they did? I mean, with all the shit she’s pulling it wouldn't surprise me if everything was manipulated from the start," I asked.

Micah looked at me like I had just told him that the best news he's ever heard, as a smile bloomed on his face. "How could I not have thought of that?!"

He pulled me to him kissing me soundly, sliding one hand into my hair to deepen the kiss as I wrapped my arms around his neck. Falling back on the bed, he slid his free hand up under my sweatshirt, letting it run along my skin, sending shivers up my spine.

"Lailah," Micah said in a breathy voice as he broke the kiss, "I'm ready to be yours wholly and completely. It's time that I stopped running from the best thing that's ever happened to me because I'm an idiot."

Gazing down at his deep blue eyes that were so vulnerable in this moment, I slid my hands up to cup his face. "Micah Knight of the fire element, do you swear to love me, protect me, and always be by my side no matter what happens in our lives? That we will fight for each other every day, even if we argue and butt heads about things?"

"Yes," Micah agreed, his features resolute in his statement. "Everything I have to give I will, until the day my life is taken from me."

Our powers burst forth at our personalized version of the Oath, since he'd experienced it once before. His red energy glowed around us like an ember, while my golden power sparkled like the sun. Not able to hold back any longer, Micah yanked my hoodie over my head, taking my t-shirt with it. Running his hands along my sides, he pulled me up so his mouth could latch onto my breast, groaning like he was eating some magical desert. A moan was pulled out of me as I tried to get his shirt off him, needing to feel his skin against mine. We'd waited for this moment for far too long and it was going to be raw, rough, and needy.

My hand was furiously working at his sleep pants while he dragged my shorts off, tossing them aside. I was going to ask him once more if he had second thoughts, but I stopped breathing when he entered me. The feeling was so addicting that I didn't want him to stop. Micah found his way to my neck, biting down hard enough to leave a mark, but it only fueled our fire. His hips worked hard into me as I ground on him to drive him deeper. My hands found his hair, needing to hold on as he bucked underneath me. He was pounding into me with all his strength, and I could feel it in every part of my body.

Neither one of us could catch our breath, sounds coming out in short pants and moans. His hand moved between our bodies to find my clit and I shattered apart. My walls pulsated around him, and I was sure he was close to his own release. His hand snaked down, grabbing my ass and lifted us both into a sitting position, changing the angle. Thrusting a few more times, I felt him swell inside of me before he growled in my ear and buried his head in my neck.

I felt his body shudder under me, filling me with his power along with other things, making me cry out as another orgasm exploded within me. Running my hands up and down his back as our powers settled within each other, I reveled in the knowledge that Micah was now fully mine, I didn't want to let go.

"I love you," I whispered, feeling it deep in my soul.

"I love you, too," he whispered back before kissing me softly. "Now and always, my beautiful sexy Cookie Monster."

Rolling off of him, I curled up against his side, resting my head on his chest as he lazily stroked a hand over my skin. This was a different side of Micah I'd never seen, but when I pulled on our bright new shiny connection, I found he was at peace. Not just the sated and happy high that came with having sex, no it was deeper than that, almost like I was able to help balance out his power level making it easier to control.

"Are you spying on me?" He asked, frowning at me. "Got to admit, that’s an odd feeling, having someone in my brain. What are you so curious about?"

"Since I've met you, I've wanted to know what is going on in that brain of yours and now I can feel your emotions. You can't blame a girl for peeking when she finally gets the chance," I answered with a smirk.

Micah chuckled, shaking his head. "Guess I have to admit I did the same thing. Do you have any idea how much worse things are going to get for you once Jay can do this?"

The thought hadn't even crossed my mind but now that he said it, I groaned. "Brayden and Hudson do so well respecting my privacy, but I know he won't give a flying fuck about that if it will keep me safe and healthy. We actually argued about that this morning after the whole gardener thing."

Micah shifted so he was now propped up against the headboard with pillows. "As your newest husband, allow me to give you some advice. If Jay doesn't feel right about someone, then I would trust his instincts on it. I don't know if it's part of his elemental power or what, but he is a bloodhound when it comes to sniffing out suspicious people. Ubel impersonating Mr. Creed has been the only person to sneak past him, and even then, he felt like something wasn't quite right."

"I know," I muttered, sitting up. "I'm gonna go take a shower… you wanna join me?"

Micah flashed me a smile, grabbing me around my waist and tossing me over his shoulder as he headed for the bathroom. "Like I would turn down that offer."

When we finally made it downstairs, after testing out a few different options in the new bathroom for later use of course, we found the rest of our group at the table finished with breakfast.

"Your food is in the oven, Beautiful," Jay said the moment he saw me. "Micah's, too."

"Oh, did someone work up an appetite this morning?" Cami asked, wagging her eyebrows. "From the reactions of Hudson and Brayden, I gather we have a new fully bonded member of the family?"

I expected Micah to have some snarky comment in reply to that, but instead he just cupped my cheek and kissed the ever loving shit out of me. Cami hooted and hollered, while the other guys laughed at his display of dominance.

"Yeah, you could say that," he murmured against my lips.

Stunned, I stood there like an idiot as he grabbed out plates and set them down at the large table, putting me next to Brayden and himself on the other side. Shaking off the lust he'd just provoked, I took a moment to give Brayden a quick kiss as I sat down.

"Breakfast looks great Jay, thank you," I shared, giving him a smile, hoping things were okay between us.

Jay gave me a half smile in return and nodded as he turned back to something he was watching on the tablet.

"So, I called the HOA and we do in fact have a grounds crew that comes on Mondays to take care of the yard," Hudson informed me. "They did ask if we had a key that we would be leaving with the guard up front, but I told them what Jay said about unlocking the gate for them." I gave him a thumbs up, since my mouth was full of eggs. "This does, however show how important it is that we get the wards up around the house today so all of us can feel more relaxed and prepared. You feeling up for the task?"

Along with weapon and combat training, we'd also been working on using our powers together. So far, we had been doing everything on instinct, not knowing what I was able to do, but since we'd discovered a few things it gave a direction to follow.

"Absolutely, I'm totally ready to make it happen," I answered. "I'm more rested than I've been in months, add in the power boost from bonding with Micah, and I can't think of a better time to do it."

"Excellent, once you're finished eating, we can all gather in the back yard and get to it. I want to look over the books and other things Nona gave us," Hudson said as he got up from the table.

Nona was Cami's half-sister, and our resident know it all when it came to the 'magic' of the Elementi knights. She'd been working with me since the beginning to channel my powers and test what they could do. It wasn't until I'd fought with Tabitha that I was able to unlock the next level of my powers, but it seemed to grow each time I Bonded with the guys. Now the only two left were Jay and Parker, but I wasn't in a rush; this wasn't Pokémon. I didn't have to catch them all right away.

"Okay, so when you guys are done working your voodoo magic on the house, what are we gonna do next?" Cami asked, resting her chin on her hands.

I perked up thinking of an idea. "We could go to my parents' diner for dinner."

"Oh yes! I like this plan, then we can figure out what to do tomorrow," Cami clapped her hands excitedly. "Should we invite your brothers and Phoebe too?"

Not sure how to answer that, I looked over at Parker for some indication of what he thought. Cami hadn't been there for the whole conversation last night, but really it was a matter for us to deal with anyways.

"Should be fun," Parker agreed, giving me a reassuring smile. "Your brother is only here for the week, so we should make the effort to spend time with him."

Reaching across the table I squeezed his hand in thanks, before getting up and taking my dishes to the sink. Since I was one of the last ones to breakfast, I figured it was only right that I help in cleaning up. Then it was time to ward the house—if everything went like we planned.

ELEVEN

LAILAH

The six of us gathered in the middle of the back yard, looking down at three sheets of paper that had symbols drawn on it. "So, all we need to do is mentally draw these around the property?" I asked.

"Do you think you can remember them all? We need to do this in one go," Brayden questioned.

"Thankfully, most of these I've learned, there are just a few new ones but they’re simple enough. Who knew the language of the angels would be so complex?" I sighed. "Alright, let's do this."

I stood in between Hudson and Brayden, since I've been Bonded to them longer and could easily access their powers, then I would draw on the other three. Things should work easier now that I had a connection to them all, even if it wasn't the full thing. Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes centering myself, and sank into the part of me that held my energy. I couldn't help but smile at the small red orb that had joined the others circling my ball of power. Drawing on my golden energy, I let it fill my whole body until I felt my skin tingle, like I had an electric current running through me. Then I brought Bryden's power into the mix followed by Hudson, Micah, Jay, and Parker. I wondered if this is how a rocket felt right before it was shot off into space, holding that much energy until it was needed.

Letting go of the guys, I brought the first symbol into the front of my mind and drew it out with my Sai. In my mind, it was swirling with all the colors of our individual powers that I'd collected, when I felt like it was at its peak point in power, I stabbed my Sai into the ground. The symbol sank into the earth, and I was able to thrust it towards the front of the property, where we'd marked on the map I looked at before we got started. One down, five more to go to set the foundation. I repeated the process until they were complete, which meant I was now onto the hard part. That just set up the perimeter of the barrier. Now, I had to build the dome to cover the property. These were the symbols that I wasn't as confident in, but I understood their meaning and Nona always said intent is eighty percent of the work. I could feel sweat trickling down my back as this task used all the skill that I'd gained in the past six months, which compared to the others, wasn't long at all.

No, I can't think like that. I need to keep the intent pure and focused in my mind. There is no room for doubt or insecurities, I have to keep us safe.

Pushing through the negativity, I started on the chain of symbols that I needed to draw, infusing each of our powers into them one at a time, layering them with the strongest protections we could. Once I'd done the five elements, it was time for mine to seal the deal and bind them to the ward, creating the dome. For some reason, I was having trouble with a few of the symbols rejecting my energy with Jay and Parker, which in a way made sense, since we weren't Bonded.

"I need you two to put your hands on either shoulder," I instructed through gritted teeth, knowing they would understand who I was talking about.

Sure enough, as soon as I had physical contact with them the symbols stopped rejecting me. Now that I had the chain set up, I had to thrust it into the network of the grounding symbols I'd already done. This is where I would know if I was successful or not, I was hoping so, but we were all prepared for it to fail since it was the first time we'd done this. The wards back at Ryevick just needed to be recharged, not redone completely, so this was new territory. Taking a few deep breaths and focusing my mind on the intent of this ward, I slammed my Sai into the ground once more, shoving every ounce of energy I had into making this work. The ground rumbled and shook under us, as it absorbed the power behind the barrier. Just when I didn't think I had enough strength to hold it together long enough, it snapped into existence, cutting off my connection to it so abruptly that I slumped to the ground.

"Holy shit," Parker cried.

My eyes snapped open expecting something bad to be happening, but instead, above us was a shimmering rainbow bubble of the barrier. We'd done it, the wards were activated and functioning just like they should. I grinned as the shimmering dissipated until it was something that you just caught out of the corner of your eye when you weren't looking at it. As an Elemental Warrior I could see such things, but to the normal human eye they would have no clue it was even there.

Parker reached down and pulled me to my feet, grabbing me around the waist and swinging me about. "You did it, Trouble! You really fucking did it on the first try."

I laughed at his excitement, wrapping my arms around his neck the best I could with how tired I felt. Giving me a toothy grin, he kissed me deeply before putting me down.

"Sunshine, not only did you do this on the first try, but these are even stronger than the ones back at Ryevick," Hudson pointed out as he ran a hand along the barrier. "Just think what you'll be able to do with a little more time and training."

"Of course our girl is a badass," Micah added with a wink. "Never underestimate the quiet ones, they'll get you every time."

Cami came bursting out into the back yard looking around slightly panicked. "They don't have earthquakes here, right?"

"No silly, why do you ask?" I inquired as I headed over to her.

"What do you mean? Did you not feel the ground doing the jitterbug on a Friday night?" Cami demanded hands on her hips.

I stopped in front of her and frowned. "You felt that?"

"Whoa, are you saying you did that?"

"Maybe, when I finished off the last part of the ward the ground shook, but I didn't think that was something other people could feel. I thought it was more of a power energy thing shifting," I explained.

"Yeah, sorry to break it to you, Lala, but you set off car alarms all over the neighborhood. How much juice did you put into that spell?"

"If I had to guess, this is one of the strongest barriers I've ever seen or heard of," Hudson interjected. "It has to be from combining your power as Synergy right from the foundation."

Cami looked at me wide eyed a moment before she beamed at me. "Get it girl, kicking ass, taking names, and shaking the world up—literally."

"Can I take a nap first? Shaking up the world has kind of taken it out of me."

"Sounds like we need to break in the theater room of the house to me," Cami announced. "What do you think— Magic Mike or Princess Bride?"

Parker marched right up to us hearing her suggestions. "What the hell kind of lesbian are you to want to watch Magic Mike? Doesn't that go against all the rules or something?"

"Just because I don't want to fuck a man doesn't mean I can't appreciate their dance moves," Cami challenged, rolling her eyes. "Besides, seeing you get all worked up about it is just part of the fun."

Before either of them could start an even bigger argument, I grabbed her arm and dragged her into the house. "Why do you always have to pick on them?"

"Lala, we were raised together like siblings. I'm only doing my duty as their adopted little sister."

"Sure you are," I drawled heading to the kitchen. "If we’re doing movies then we need snacks."

Cami and I raided the kitchen, making copious amounts of popcorn and grabbing some drinks, before we made it up to the loft where the movie room was set up. After some trial and error, we figured out how everything worked and discovered a giant wall of movies, hidden behind a curtain, to pick from.

"Holy shit! You're never going to run out of things to watch," Cami laughed. "Alright, I say you pick two and I'll pick two then we close our eyes and pick one."

"Works for me."

It took far longer than I expected to pick out two movies with the options that were available. I wasn't in the mood for romance, and scary movies were definitely off the table, so that left action and comedy. Then I spotted one that was a mix of both with awesome actors, Day and Knight. Then I saw a movie that I hadn't watched in years, that was one of my favorites growing up—Hook.

"Alright I got my two, what did you end up with?" I asked, turning back to Cami.

"Well, it doesn't matter because we are sure as hell watching Hook. Who doesn't love Robin Williams?!" she asked, snatching the movie out of my hand. "Go tell your crew and see if they want to join us."

Wandering over to the railing that looked out over the living room, I yelled, "We're watching Hook if anyone wants to join us."

"Oh, fuck yeah!" Parker cheered.

"Wait, that's the one with Robin Williams, right?" Brayden asked, walking into the living room and looking up at me.

Grinning, I nodded. "Sure is—cult classic if you ask me."

"Yeah, I'm totally down for that, I love that movie. Need us to bring anything up?" he inquired.

"We have popcorn to spare so whatever else you need or want is up to you."

Brayden gave me a thumbs up and hustled off to the kitchen.

"I brought you beef jerky to snack on," Jay stated from where he'd snuck up on me.

Whirling around, I clutched my chest. "Seriously, do you think I'll ever be able to keep track of you?"

"I know a way we can find out," Jay said with a wicked glint in his eye, as he drew me closer to him with a hand on my waist.

"You're not mad that I Bonded with Micah before you, are you?" I murmured, as I held his gaze.

He shook his head, leaning forward so our foreheads touched. "No Beautiful, our time will come when it's supposed to. I'm not worried. He needs you more than the rest of us do in some ways, that's why he fought it so long."

Tilting my head back, I kissed him, letting my lips linger against his. "I love you Jaylen Ming, never doubt that for a second."

A look of amazement flickered in Jay's expression before he gave me one of the first full blown real smiles I've seen from him. "I love you too, Lailah Mackenzie."

"Let's go watch a movie hmm," I suggested, grabbing his hand off my waist and interlacing our fingers. "Oh, and hand over the jerky that sounds amazing."

We all ended up watching the movie together chanting, Rufio, along with the lost boys and yelling curses at Hook before Peter learned to fly so he could save his kids. When that one was done, the guys all picked out a movie and we voted, ending up with Brayden's choice of Bourne Identity, which evolved into us wanting to watch the whole series, taking up most of the day. Just as we were talking about whether to count Bourne Legacy as part of the series, my phone rang. Looking down I saw it was Dylan, I'd texted him about dinner earlier in the day and didn't hear back from him, so I assumed he wasn't interested.

"Hey sis, sorry I didn't get back to you sooner, Phoebe and I have been running around helping mom out by taking Kyle to all his things," Dylan explained. "If you still want to do dinner at Percy's we’re starving."

I glanced at the time on my phone real quick, having lost track of time. "Yeah, we can totally meet up, why don't we say six-thirty, that way we have time to get there."

"Awesome, we'll see you there," Dylan said before hanging up.

The guys and Cami watched me questioningly. "Anybody up for dinner at my parents’ place?"

"Ah food is involved, of course your boys are interested," Cami laughed when everyone gave their agreement.

"I can't believe it's already six and we didn't even notice," I mused, grabbing my empty popcorn bowl and tossing in other snack wrappers. "We have a car that can fit all of us, right?"

"Trouble, we got two for a reason just to make sure we could all travel together, but I think we can all fit in the SUV just fine," Parker answered, following me down to the kitchen.

Setting my things on the counter, I turned to face him with a smirk on my face. "Dare I ask what kind of vehicles you guys picked?"

"A little faith in us would be nice," Parker scoffed. "We did pick out this house without your help, but we weren't sure if it should be two cars or three. Guess if it turns out we need a third you get to pick it out, sound fair?"

"I highly doubt we will need three cars for a vacation home," I answered, scrunching up my face in dismay.

Jay walked into the kitchen with a set of keys in his hand twirling them around his finger. "Ready?"

"Just need to get my shoes, Cami's going to be the wild card here," I commented.

"Lala, I know you did not just say that I'm high maintenance!" Cami gasped, clutching her chest. "Clearly you need to spend more time with Maggs, I love that woman to death, but damn."

Laughing, I pulled Cami into a hug. "I didn't mean anything by it, and you know I enjoy Maggs. I hope it works out for the two of you to come back and visit us while we’re here."

"Yeah, she would love that," Cami sighed, then shoved me away. "Go get your shoes, you're holding everyone up."

I flew up the stairs, slipped on my shoes and headed back down, just as everyone was walking out to the garage. When the door lifted there were two brand new cars: a pearl colored Mercedes SUV and a sleek black Audi sedan. My jaw dropped, yet again blown away by the fact that they could spend this much money like it was nothing, hell just one of them could do it alone and not feel bothered by it.

"We're taking the Mercedes," Jay informed me, as he took two fingers to lift my jaw, closing my mouth. "Don't want you catching any bugs now, would we."

TWELVE

PARKER

Seeing how excited Lailah was about the car, we all decided to let her have shotgun so she could scope things out. I decided to sit in the back so I could make sure I had my shit together by the time we got to dinner. Everything I told Lailah was true, I didn't love Phoebe the way I loved Lailah. It showed me how wrong I was to think that was real love, but seeing her out of the blue like this and spending time with her dating someone else wouldn't be easy.

I could still remember the day that she told me her parents were coming to get her in two days. We spent every moment we could together, and the night before she was getting picked up we gave up our virginity to each other. She was the one who wanted to wait, being raised a good Catholic girl and because I loved her I waited, thinking we would be together forever. Oh, how things changed. I begged her to let us try long distance, we managed it for the summer, why not give it a try. It was then I found out that she didn't tell her parents about us, and I was her dirty little secret. They were super strict and wouldn't let her date. She had to fight tooth and nail to get into a co-ed school when they wanted to send her to an all girls one. Me not being available during the summer was the perfect plan for her to have her cake and eat it too.

That hurt more than I thought it would when she told me. Even if we were to keep this thing going, it would have to be a secret and she wasn't willing to put in the work. So, after this beautiful moment that I thought we were fully committing ourselves to each other, she got dressed and left my life forever. I refused to see her off with the rest of her friends, knowing I wouldn't be able to keep the pain and hurt off my face. It was then I learned the hardest lesson of being the bearer of the spirit element—don't fall in love. When you can control other people's emotions, it's so easy to get lost in them yourself, seeing only what you wanted to, pulling forward the best parts when you're with people. It made me wonder if she even felt about me the way I had or if I'd unknowingly created that with my powers.

Fast forward four years, to the moment I ran into the woman I was supposed to love with everything I am. I know the others are still pissed at me for keeping the fact that I gave her my Oath a secret, but there are some things that are just between two people. Yeah, I get that Lailah has five people in her life that she loves equally but for us men, she is our everything. Allowing myself to give my heart to another person is scary, but wonderful at the same time, and I just wanted us to have a moment to always remember that, was the two of us. We both needed time to deepen our relationship and I believe, without a doubt, it was the right move to make.

When we pulled up to the restaurant, I couldn't help but smile as I took in the building. It looked like it came out of a movie from the sixties, with the neon lights and the large glowing sign announcing we were at Percy's Diner. There was also a claim to the best pie in the county, which I had no doubt was true, having had Lailah's pies at Thanksgiving. A bell rang, announcing our arrival and a young woman in jeans with a Percy's t-shirt came right up.

"Lailah! Your mother told me you were back for the summer," she exclaimed, pulling Lailah into a hug. "I'm glad they didn't talk you into working all summer, leaving a job for the rest of us poor college students."

"Oh, it's good to see you Sam, how is UW—Madison treating you?" Lailah asked as Sam led us over to the table where the others were waiting for us.

Sam shrugged. "It's alright, I like my major for the most part, but who can go wrong with business, right? How is life overseas? That has to be amazing, is that how you know these handsome fellas?"

We'd all been settling in around the large corner booth that the others picked out but we paused to see what Lailah would say. None of us would blame her for not owning up to dating all of us. We knew she wasn't ashamed of us, having made that extremely clear multiple times. We hadn't really talked about what to tell people outside of our family or Elementi, who didn't understand how we ended up in this situation.

"Yeah we all met at school, funny enough they’ve all been friends since childhood and I'm lucky enough to be included in the gang," Lailah answered, giving us all an affectionate grin.

Sam leaned in pretending to whisper. "Let me know which one you’re dating, or want to date, so I don't go after the wrong guy."

"Oh, I'm sorry I must have given you the wrong impression," Lailah announced with a frown. "I'm already dating them all quite seriously, so none are available to you."

Dylan seemed to get uncomfortable at this moment and Kyle was just trying to hold himself back from laughing. Phoebe, on the other hand, gawked at me eyes wide with shock.

"Damn, Lailah if you didn't want me to make a move on them you just had to say so, no need to be rude about it," Sam muttered blushing with her embarrassment.

"She wasn't trying to be rude," Bryden interjected, ah the man with the white knight complex coming to save the day. "We are, in fact, all dating Lailah."

Sam blinked at us for a moment, then a grin broke out and she punched Lailah's arm. "Get it, girl!" then her face crumbled into a look of concern. "Do your parents know?"

"Of course," Lailah laughed. "We aren't trying to hide our relationship, some of us have even gotten married in a non-traditional sense."

Letting out an impressed whistle, Sam nodded her head, setting the menus down on the table. "What a world we’re living in today. You, my friend, are going to be the talk of this little town by the time summer’s over. I'll give you guys a sec and come back to get your orders."

That right there was the reason this whole thing worked. Lailah was proud of us and did everything in her power to show everyone just how much we meant to her. I have no doubt that in telling Sam, the whole county would know about us by tomorrow morning. Did Lailah give a flying fuck? Absolutely not.

"You know what you just did, right?" Dylan asked, confirming my guess.

Lailah just smiled as she scooted in next to me. "It saves me time from having to explain it to everyone individually. Like dad always says—work smarter not harder."

"Yeah, I don't think that's what he was talking about…"

"Well, it's already happened so we can't put the cat back in the bag," Lailah stated, ending that topic. "Mom and Dad add anything new? Oh, it's strawberry-rhubarb pie season!"

"You're in luck, Dad started doing Burger Monday," Kyle shared sliding over a sheet of paper. "He comes up with three unique burger flavors that change each week, and says it's been a real hit.”

"Are the burgers good here?" Phoebe asked.

All three of the Mackenzie siblings looked at her in horror for even asking. "One thing I can promise you, is that any burger our dad makes is the best you've had in your life." Dylan declared.

"Sounds like we’re all having burgers tonight," Hudson said, snapping his menu shut. "I say we let the master chef surprise us."

"Oh hell yeah," I cheered. "That is an awesome idea."

Sam came back over and took our drink order and loved our plan for the burgers. "You guys are going to make his night, having new people to test his burgers on. The town is still trying to keep up with his combinations, not too many adventurous people around these parts. Hell, most don't ever leave the state."

"Tell Dad to make sure I don't get anything spicy, he knows I can't handle that," Kyle interjected.

"Yeah, yeah, we know you can't handle anything past pepper in the world of spices," Sam teased as she headed off to the kitchen.

"Hey Trouble, where are the bathrooms?" I asked.

Scooting out, she stood and pointed to the other side of the diner. "Around that glass brick wall, they’re singles, but there are two of them."

"Thanks," I murmured, kissing her on the temple.

"I'll join you, I need to wash my hands," Phoebe said as Kyle and Dylan got up to let her out. "Better to do it now so you don't have to move when the food gets here."

We walked in silence to the bathrooms and once we were around the wall and hidden from view, she grabbed my arm and pulled me to a halt.

"Aren't you going to say anything to me?" Phoebe asked, her voice sounding hurt.

Balling my hands into fists I looked at her over my shoulder. "I could ask you the same thing, Pheebs."

"How would that have looked if I told them we knew each other and dated for two years when your girlfriend just had a panic attack?" Phoebe accused. "When you didn't say anything about it, I decided to let it go, but it seems we're going to have to figure out something since we’ll be spending time together for the next week or so."

Turning to face her, I frowned. "What do you mean, figure something out?"

"Well at some point it's going to be obvious we know each other," she pouted, letting go of my hand to rest it on my chest. “Parker we were madly in love, that teaches you a lot about a person.”

"Lailah already knows about us, I don't keep secrets from her," I explained, removing her hand. "If you give a damn about her brother, then I suggest doing the same thing. Unless leading men on and dropping them high and dry is your thing."

"Is that what you think happened between us?" She demanded, hands on her hips trying to show off her curves. "I told my father about us, even asked him not to take me out of that school so we could be together. He was having none of it and in a last ditch effort I gave you the last piece of my heart when I gave you my virginity. Then you never came to see me off, ending things for good."

My jaw dropped at this information. "Why didn't you tell me? The last thing I remember is you clearly explaining to me that you wouldn't even consider doing long distance when you left."

"If you had come to see me off, I would have told you I changed my mind. I wasn't ready to give up on us. I thought I could talk my dad out of being a dick and let me stay," Phoebe huffed, running her hands through her long wavy hair. "How can this be happening? You're here in the States, dating his younger sister, for crying out loud."

"Guess fate likes to have a laugh every once in a while," I shrugged, and turned to head into the bathroom.

"What, that's it? You're not even going to ask me how I am or what I've been up to?"

Grabbing the handle to the bathroom, I looked back at her once more. "Sure I'd be happy to, at the table holding my fiancé's hand while you sit next to your boyfriend. Phoebe, what we had was amazing, but it's clear that no matter how much we loved each other, we didn’t fight to stay together."

Ignoring her indignant huff as I entered the bathroom, I turned on the sink to splash cold water on my face. It was over, we talked. I told her how things were going to be, and now we can both move on. No need to keep holding on to old wounds when it seems we both fucked up all those years ago. Lailah was perfect and all I would ever need for the rest of my life and I was not going to fuck it up.

Right?

Did seeing Phoebe and finding out she didn’t plan to leave me change anything? No, she was with Dylan and I was with Lailah, I had to get over these lingering feelings before it did cause a problem.

THIRTEEN

LAILAH

As promised, Dad's burgers were out of this world, the guys hardly even talked once the food arrived because they were stuffing their faces.

"Okay, I kind of want to order another one but I don't think I could actually eat it," Parker admitted as he leaned back and rubbed his stomach.

"I can't believe you ate all that," Kyle blurted. "That was two patties, a fried egg, and BBQ pork."

Dad had gone all out, using everything he could find in the kitchen to impress the boys. Each of us had gotten something different but all amazing in their own way. Mine had my favorites on it and was simple compared to everyone else.

"If this isn’t one table of happy customers, I don't know what is," Dad smiled as he walked up to us, drying his hands on a towel as he kissed me on the top of the head. "Hey Ladybug, you settling into the house all right?"

"Yeah, the house is amazing," I answered.

"Sir, that has to be the best burger of my life," Parker announced. "Allow me to shake the hand of a grilling god."

We all laughed when Parker reached across me to actually shake dad's hand.

"Son, you can call me Luke," Dad said, gripping Parker's hand. "The way things sound, the lot of you are already part of the family. I'm sorry my reaction yesterday wasn't all that welcoming, but I only have one little girl and as her father it's my job to look out for her. It will be nice to have you all around for the summer so we can get to know one another better."

"Thank you, Luke, that means a lot," Brayden shared, giving Dad a nod.

Dad stayed to talk for a few minutes but then he had to head back to the kitchen to help out with orders. Seems his burger night might be taking off faster than he thought.

"Hey, what do you say we take a day trip into Chicago?" Dylan asked. "Wisconsin is the mecca of cheese but there isn't all that much to offer in the way of entertainment."

"I have a better idea," Kyle announced. "Do any of you like roller coasters?"

Micah rested his elbow on the table leaning in. "I'm listening."

Kyle grinned at him like the cat who got the canary. "If we're going to drive all that way, I say we hit up Six Flags instead."

"Oh, I knew I liked this kid," Cami exclaimed. "Lala, if you weren't my homegirl for life you might have competition from your little bro."

"Don't let the boyish looks fool you, that little bro is the most down-to-earth person you'll ever meet. He might even give Hudson a run for his money on brains when it comes to math," I pointed out. "Theme parks are his major weakness though, brings the kid out in him like nothing else."

"So that's a yes?" Kyle asked, ignoring everything I just said.

"Let's put it to a vote," Hudson reasoned. "All who are interested in going to Six Flags raise your hand."

Everyone raised their hands but Phoebe, but once she saw that, she smiled and begrudgingly raised a hand.

"It's settled then. We'll have to head out fairly early, since it's a two hour drive and we want to make sure we have plenty of time to spend there," Dylan instructed.

Kyle had his phone out and was looking something up. "Looks like they open at ten thirty, so we need to leave by eight at the latest. Although it will help that it's a Tuesday and all the high schools won't be out yet."

"Wait then how come you're off?" Cami questioned giving him a skeptical look.

"My school runs on a different schedule so we got out last week, but I also go back to school sooner than everyone else," Kyle answered.

Sam came over and started to take plates from us. "Now, I know you aren't going to leave without having pie. Mrs. Mackenzie makes the best pie in the whole county, says so right on our sign."

"I don't know, we've had Lailah's pies and they are damn good," Parker challenged. "Seems like we’re going to need one of each flavor to test out that claim."

Sam laughed and shook her head. "How you have any room to eat another thing I will never know."

The table was soon loaded up with pie and everyone was sampling each flavor, but I took a whole slice of strawberry-rhubarb to myself. It was my favorite next to sugar cookies, but for this it was only good while in season, so I was going to eat my body weight while I could. As we sat talking and laughing, I felt a sharp stab of anxiety coming from Micah and noticed he was looking down at his phone. He typed out a text message and then looked up.

"Hey, I need out," he stated, causing half of us to move out of the booth for him.

Without another word, he headed to the front door, phone already up to his ear. I knew he didn't know that he was broadcasting his emotions to me right now, but it was clear to me that things were not good.

"I'll be right back," I murmured to Brayden, giving his arm a squeeze so he wouldn't follow.

Stepping outside, I didn't see him right away but I felt the pull to the side of the building that was farther away from the main road the diner sat on. Rounding the corner, I saw him pacing as he talked on the phone his anger growing by the second. Taking a deep breath, trying to block out his emotions so they didn't overwhelm me, I sent him soothing energy in exchange. This caused him to snap his head up seeing me standing there, he paused in his conversation as if unsure of what to do now that I'd caught him. He sighed and held out his free hand for me to take as he put the phone on speaker.

"Ned, just so you know Lailah is here with me," Micah informed.

There was a pause on the other end of the phone before he spoke again. "Hello Lailah, I'm Ned, Micah's financial advisor and lawyer he hired to look into things with his aunt. Do you want me to continue, Sir?"

"Go ahead, I'll tell her about it anyways, she's pretty much my wife."

Hearing Micah say that gave me butterflies in my stomach that were not at all appropriate for this current situation.

"Congratulations, Sir,” Ned said without hesitation. “I've contacted the council and King Rupert about the situation to see if there is anything your parents worked out with them. They were all given the same documents that you were at their death, but I did discover that the will was updated weeks before you were to be gone. The trouble is, that I'm just not equipped to deal with this kind of dispute on such a massive level. Your aunt's team is throwing up roadblocks and I don't have the skill to get around them," Ned explained. "I think it's time we pulled in more help on this, she isn't going to back down easily."

Micah hung his head resting it on my shoulder as he gripped my hand. "Thank you, Ned. Do you have any suggestions?"

"If you want someone to fight dirty, then personally, America is the place to do that. I know our laws are different, but if you're not planning on playing fair then it doesn't really matter."

Then an idea struck me. "We can ask Dylan. The firm he works for is a branch of one that's main headquarters in New York, who's to say we can't fly out there if we need to."

"What's the firm's name?" Ned asked.

"Holmes, Cooper, and Lewis," I answered.

Ned let out a harsh laugh. "Oh yeah, they will be the right kind of people. They do tons of work in the business world, trust me you do not want to go against them if they have their eyes set on what you have."

"Alright, can I tell them to reach out to you if they have questions?" Micah inquired.

"Absolutely, it would be best for us to work alongside each other. They'll need someone with the correct law license to file some paperwork," Ned shared.

"Thank you, Ned, you took a risk on me being a kid and all," Micah said, pulling me into a half hug.

"Sir," Ned started and paused as if he was surprised by the kind sentiment. "I just wish I could be more helpful to you. I'll keep an eye on things, the council is trying to stall where they can, to give you time, but there isn't much I'm afraid."

"I'll get the ball rolling as fast as I can," Micah promised then hung up.

Neither one of us said a word as he wrapped me up in a hug and buried his face in my neck, holding on to me for dear life. I could feel his pain and anger rolling through his body, so I tried to counter them as I rubbed his back. It was at this moment I understood what Jay said earlier in the day, about Micah needing me more than the others in some ways. He had Brayden, but with problems like this, he would never turn to his best friend for help. Brayden's mom was now fully recovered but their family had some healing to do from everything that happened over the two years she was under the influence of Tabitha messing with her brain.

"We won't let her win, Micah," I promised. "Even if I have to take her down myself, I won't let her steal the only thing your parents left you."

Micah lifted his head at that and looked down at me with a smirk. "That has to be one of the sexiest things you've ever said, but I won't put that on you after everything you've gone through."

"Oh, know that's not how it works Mr. I heard you call me your wife and that means we do this together, no matter what," I told him with a glare.

His answer to my threat was to kiss me, and not just a peck on the lips. It was all tongue and teeth as he tried to devour my mouth as if he could force me to agree with him that way. Lucky for him, I didn't back down that easy and I gave just as good as I got, which is how I ended up plastered to the brick wall of the diner with my leg tucked up over his hip as he ground into me. If it was Jay, I have no doubt that I would get fucked or at least finger fucked, but Micah wasn't as into the almost getting caught part of things. He just liked to be in charge and decided what was going to happen.

"Ah guys…" Brayden's voice called.

We broke from our kiss to turn to where he stood with a faint blush on his cheeks as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Sorry to interrupt, but everyone's finished and ready to head home."

I couldn't help the snort that came out and quickly devolved into laughter. Here I was, dry humping one husband while the other had to come and tell us it was time to go, something about that just hit my funny bone and I couldn't stop laughing.

"What did you do to her?" Micah asked, giving me a quizzical brow.

"Me? I wasn't the one trying to fuck her with clothes on," Brayden said defensively. "I should be asking you that question, I could feel her lust even with my shield up."

Finally, I was able to pull myself together and wipe my eyes from the tears that slipped out. "Oh god, I needed a good laugh, can never have too many of those. Come on, lover boys, let's head home before the others get suspicious of us back here."

Micah grabbed me around the waist and tossed me over his shoulder, smacking my ass. "What if I want them to think the three of us are up to no good?"

"Well, that's up to Brayden," I answered.

This wasn't the first time that Micah alluded to having a threesome. It made sense that he'd be comfortable with Brayden since they were best friends and all, but I wasn't going to decide that for Brayden.

"What do you say man? You in or out on what's going down when we get home?" Micah challenged. "If I remember correctly, I get you all to myself if I want, seeing as it's our honeymoon, but I'm willing to share if you are, Brayden."

Peeking past Micah's arm, I saw Brayden staring at me and licked his lips. "I say the faster we get home the better."

"That's what I thought," Micah said, handing me off to him. "I'll let you have her for now, since I got her all worked up."

I huffed at that once Brayden set me on my own feet. "I'm sorry, when did I turn into a piece of meat to be handed out?"

Micah stepped up into my space and grabbed my chin. "Oh, you're no piece of meat, you're my delectable Cookie who I plan on eating up tonight. But make no mistake, I'm going to be calling the shots in our little tryst and you're absolutely going to love it."

I leaned in for the kiss I thought I was going to get, but instead he pulled away with a hungry glint in his eyes as he walked back to the front of the building.

"What the fuck was that?" I demanded turning to Brayden, who was also grinning like a fool.

"That Angel, was the real Micah, the man who loves control but rarely ever finds someone who will trust him enough to surrender," he paused and tilted his head to look at me. "Do you trust him enough to submit to him?"

A shiver of delight trailed down my spine. "Absolutely."

FOURTEEN

MICAH

To say that the drive back to the house was the longest of my life wouldn't be too far from the truth. The raging hard on that was trapped pressing against my jeans was killing me, but it was going to be worth the wait. Yeah, we'd already gone at it twice today but what can I say—I'd denied myself for too long, so now we needed to play catch up. I knew that once I gave my heart to Lailah it would be devastating in the best way possible. She now held me by the balls, and I was totally okay with that, hell I would wrap them up in a bow if she asked me to.

I'm sure that others might think it's weird to want to share her even more than we already have to, but this was a desire that I've had for a long time. I trusted Brayden with her completely, as well as trusting he would be able to handle what I was going to ask. Tonight was going to be a production and I was the director dictating what everyone did and when. The thrill of having that power to give or deny pleasure made me want to come in my pants before we even got started. The rest of the guys could feel the tension in the car as awkward conversation floated about, but I didn't give a fuck. Tonight was ours and the rest of them could just deal, it's not like we didn't have the rest of our lives to explore all of our dreams and fantasies. Once back at the house, she hugged and kissed all the other guys good night, before taking my hand.

"You guys better keep it down. I don't want to be listening to you forking all night," Cami yelled.

I laughed. "Do what I've had to do, wear headphones and turn your music up. Better yet, call your girlfriend and get some of your own action."

"What do you know, flame boy’s got a point. Okay new plan, let’s see who can be louder," Cami offered trailing behind us.

Lailah stopped and looked at her best friend. "Goodnight Cami, if you talk to Maggs tell her I say hi."

Biting back a smile, I shook my head, loving how unashamed she was about what was going to happen tonight.

"Lala, you are no fun," Cami pouted.

"Oh, I beg to differ on that," I interjected, wagging my brows. "She's tons of fun."

"Okay, ew. That was too far, asshole. Too far," she muttered with a shiver.

Brayden joined us, ignoring the looks the other guys gave us in mild surprise at the combination of people involved, but they didn't say a word, smart men. I would bet my inheritance that Jay is one kinky fucker and would love to have an audience every so often, once they sealed the deal. It's the silent ones who are always freaks in the sheets, I was just an asshole who liked to boss people around. I led our merry band to Lailah's bedroom and stopped in the middle of the room, waiting for Brayden to close the door. We'd already agreed amongst us men not to ever lock the door, in case something happened, but with that came the rule no one would enter unless it was urgent. Each of us valued our time with Lailah so it was easy to trust the rule would be followed.

Turning Lailah to face me, I ran my hands down her arms and grasped her hands. "Look at me, Lailah," I demanded using her name so she knew I was being serious. "What I would like to try tonight is being in control of everything that goes on, but if at any time you are uncomfortable or you feel it will trigger a panic attack, you say red. The moment that word comes out of your mouth we will immediately stop and check in with you. Are you interested in allowing me to do this with you tonight?"

She gave me a sultry smile and nodded her head.

"I need you to tell me with your words, Lailah," I stated.

"Yes, I am willing to give you control over what goes on tonight."

"What is the word that you say if you want us to stop?"

"Red."

"Do you have any questions or triggers to tell us, besides being laid on your back or grabbed from behind?"

She paused to think about that for a moment. "Not that I am aware of, but I will alert you if that changes."

Ah, my little Cookie Monster was already learning the rules to this game.

"Brayden, are you comfortable and willing to participate in this?" I asked my best friend. "You do not have to join in if you're not ready or interested in following my direction."

He just grinned at me like I was being an idiot. "I am more than willing to be involved in things tonight."

"Same question to you, anything you aren't willing to do?"

"I don't mind sharing or being that close to you naked, but I am not interested in being more involved with you physically," he shared, looking a little uncomfortable saying it.

It's not like I could blame him, most vanilla people thought if two guys were involved in any sexual act it meant they were gay or bisexual. "Totally fine and I'm not interested in you either, other than my best friend."

Brayden seemed to relax completely once we said our peace. I took a few steps away from both of them and crossed my arms, taking in Lailah's simple beauty. She wore a simple ironic shirt that said This is my Tea Shirt with a tea cup on it and a pair of skinny jeans. Her blonde hair was up in a messy bun while curls escaped drifting around her face and neck. Yet the most striking thing about her was those crystal blue eyes that looked at me with such love and trust it blew my mind. This woman had waited for me even after I was an ass to her when we first met, rejected her Oath the first time, and yet somehow here I was Bonded to her for life.

"Brayden, remove her shirt," I instructed.

Instead of going behind her like most people would, he stood in front of her so she could see him as he gripped the bottom of her shirt and lifted it off of her. I stepped to the side so I could still clearly see her body being revealed. Her smooth alabaster skin was bathed in the warm light of the setting sun, making her golden hair shine. Brayden dropped the shirt and raised a hand to touch the swell of her breast, but I didn't tell him he could.

"Stop," I ordered. "You are not allowed to touch her unless I've given you the instruction to."

Brayden's hand was paused, hovering above her skin, but then he pulled it away and dropped it by his side.

"Kiss her, like you can't breathe without her mouth attached to yours."

Brayden didn't hesitate as he leaned over and kissed her as I'd directed. He kissed her as desperately as I had just outside the diner. He kissed her until her arms started to raise, wrapping around his neck, kissing him back just as fiercely.

"No Lailah, that rule wasn't just for Brayden. " I warned her, tapping her arm so she dropped them by her sides again. "You aren't allowed to touch him either until I say so."

This interaction didn't slow down my best friend from kissing her, and I wasn't doing anything to stop it. I was watching, enjoying, getting hard as a fucking rock.

"Now, take off the rest of her clothes."

Brayden broke the kiss to do as I said, peeling her bra off and exposing her breasts then quickly moving on to her jeans and underwear. There she stood absolute perfection, her breath coming faster as her eyes started to shine with lust watching both of us, waiting for the next order I would give.

"Now, take your cock out and let her see how badly you want her."

Brayden didn't hesitate as he unbuttoned his jeans and slid down the zipper. I gave her a few seconds to take in the sight of it, before I did the same so she could see my need too. Shifting so I was standing directly in front of her beside Brayden, I craved the sight of her reaction. I gripped the base of my cock and slowly started to stroke it up and down. Lailah's chest was rising and falling more rapidly as she watched me stroke myself. I was having trouble holding on to my control, but I refused to touch her just yet.

"Brayden, I think it's time you ditched the clothes too."

"Is that permission to take them off?" He asked.

"Yes, it is," I answered, trying not to laugh at how serious he was taking this.

Seconds later, he was also naked and I felt it was only fair to join them. I mean, it's not like I wasn't getting in on this action tonight either, so away the clothes went.

"Lailah, have you given a blow job before?" I asked. We men agreed never to talk about our inmate times with Lailah, unless it was something we all needed to know for her safety.

She gave me a cheeky grin. "A few times, but I can't say I'm a master or anything."

"Well then, get on your knees and show us what you've got," I instructed with a raised brow.

"You or Brayden?"

"Brayden, he's waited a long time to have you."

Dropping to her knees, she reached out to grab Brayden's cock and pumped it a few times before she brought her mouth down on him. I watched in fascination, the way her mouth moved over his dick, but nothing prepared me for what came next. She tilted her head back and opened her mouth wide, taking him in until her lips were touching the base of his cock. She pulled back, letting his dick slide out until her lips were no longer touching it, before taking him back in again.

"Fuck," Brayden gasped.

"Oh you lied, Cookie," I said with a chuckle. "That right there, was impressive as fuck."

She pulled her mouth off of him to look at me. "I wasn't able to have sex with them, but I wasn't going to leave them with nothing. Blowjobs are easy for me to stay on top and have control over the situation."

"Enough of that then, a few more rounds and the fun would be over all too soon. Everyone on the bed," I directed with a wave. "Lailah, if you're on all four can Brayden be behind you?"

"I don't know, but I'm up for giving it a shot," she answered, jumping on the bed.

I positioned myself in front of her as Brayden sat beside her. "Let's try something easy. Brayden you eat her out from behind while I get a sample of what you just had."

Brayden rolled onto his back and pulled Lailah to sit on his face, while I knelt in front of her. Reaching out, she grasped my hard cock and rubbed her thumb over the tip, smearing the pre-cum that was leaking out of it. I knew the moment Brayden's mouth connected with her pussy as her eyes rolled back in her head and she moaned.

I pushed my hips forward, pressing my dick against her lips and she opened for me, letting my cock slip into her mouth. I kept up a constant rhythm as she licked and sucked, swirling her tongue around my cock. Lailah's moans were muffled by my dick, but I could tell Brayden was doing his job to make her feel good.

I reached out and ran my fingers through her hair, gripping the strands tight as I moved her mouth up and down my cock.

"You like that, don't you?" I whispered, "You like the way I take control."

I saw her nodding, but her mouth was full of my dick. I wanted to stay like this, giving her commands, watching her mouth move up and down my cock.

But that wasn't the only thing I wanted.

I pulled out of her mouth and she gasped. Instead of taking a breath, I moved down and pulled her off of Brayden, laying her on her back. It was risky but I hoped not looming over her would do the trick. I was now face to face with her glistening wet pussy, happy as can be. Running my tongue through her folds, I worked it up to her clit and licked the tip. She cried out and Brayden muffled her moans with a kiss. She was so fucking beautiful. The way her body moved as I licked her pussy. How she balled up the sheets in her hands as she was on the verge of coming.

I pulled back from the kiss and looked into her lust filled eyes. I knew what she wanted.

"You want me to let you come, don't you?" I asked as I slid a finger inside of her.

She nodded vigorously. “God yes please let me come!”

I pushed another finger inside. "That's a good girl," I smiled.

I wanted to make her come first like this, on her back like therapy, only good things happened like this now. She exploded seconds later, thrashing and moaning with Brayden now working over her breasts with his hands and mouth. I didn't relent, seeing the pure ecstasy on her face was all I wanted in life, knowing that I did that to her pleased me to no end. When I finally pulled my fingers out of her, giving her a chance to recover, I backed off and sat up, grinning at her.

"Think you can handle some more?" I asked.

She let out a huff trying to catch her breath as she sat up. "I'm no quitter, besides neither of you have gotten to finish."

"Angel, only you would be so concerned about that," Brayden shared with a soft smile on his face. His gaze flicked up to mine as if asking a question.

"I think you've earned it man. Enjoy our wife how you want to," I said, giving up control of the situation… for now.

Brayden reached out a hand to Lailah who crawled over to him. He positioned her so her head was down on the bed, ass up in the air, legs spread wide giving him space to fit. I watched her face carefully to make sure she was okay, along with checking in on her emotions. Everything pointed to her being totally relaxed and comfortable with what was going on, so I leaned back against the headboard and stroked myself. Brayden took his cock and ran it up and down along her pussy lips and clit, then slipped it into her. He pumped in and out, grabbing her hips tightly as they began to fuck. He slapped her ass playfully, causing her to moan and buck against him. Watching my wife getting fucked was surprisingly one of the hottest things I'd ever seen, maybe Jay was onto something. I was so turned on I didn't think I'd last long even by my own hand.

Brayden moved faster and harder with her encouragement and I could tell he was getting close to coming. Lailah was already there as she squeezed him with her pussy making him close his eyes and grunt. "I'm coming, Angel," and he did.

I decided to join them, rubbing my cock over Lailah's back as I exploded all over her, I'd never cum that hard in my life. Brayden flopped down beside Lailah as I did the same, trying to remember how to move again. Even though I didn't fuck Lailah, I was more than happy with how things turned out. Eventually, we all managed to pull ourselves together enough to make it into the bathroom to shower. Lailah, being the woman that she is, felt I needed a little more attention—who was I to argue?

Then we curled up in bed with Lailah in the middle, tired and satisfied.

FIFTEEN

LAILAH

Walking up to the entrance to Six Flags with the sound of screaming people, the clicking of the roller coasters, and the music blaring over the speaker was exhilarating. I tugged on Jay's hand once we made it through the security check towards The Demon. "We have to hit this one up first, it's my favorite," I announced.

Jay had decided that I had to be attached to him at all times, unless on a ride or in the bathroom, because he's convinced I'll get lost in the crowds. Even though it wasn't peak season and people were still in school, all the college kids were taking advantage, making it busier than we expected.

"We can't leave the others behind," Jay answered, pulling me against his chest, trapping me in his arms as he looked down at me. "I wasn't kidding about the rules, Beautiful, know that I will be keeping track if you break them."

"You really should be careful saying shit like that around her brothers, they might not understand how you mean it," Cami pointed out an impish grin on her face.

Jay's steel colored eyes looked down at her and frowned. "They should appreciate that I'm keeping her safe."

"Oh, that I don't think they'll have a problem with, it's the spankings that come later I'm talking about," Cami explained. "Lailah's family is as traditional and vanilla as they come, let's not stress them out too much."

This actually got a bark of laughter to come from Jay, which shocked both me and Cami.

"What's funny enough that you got him to laugh?" Parker asked when he joined us.

"Nothing you need to know," Jay stated.

Soon enough, the rest of our crew gathered with Hudson and Kyle pouring over a map of the park. "I have a foolproof method of making sure we hit every ride at times that are known for being the lowest wait time. The trick is making sure we start with the right ride off the bat, or it will throw the whole process off," Kyle informed Hudson, and proceeded to tell him all about whatever brilliant math thing he used to find the right variables.

"Yo, Kyle," I called out. "What’s the first ride? We need to get this show on the road. It's already fifteen minutes past opening."

Sure enough, that was all I needed to say to get the reaction I wanted, causing Kyle to blurt out the name of the ride. "Raging Bull!"

Jay led the charge after studying the map the whole drive down, saying something about needing to know all the exits and lay of the area. We might be at an amusement park to have fun and relax, but I wasn't sure that relaxing was a concept that Jay or Hudson completely understood. Raging Bull was one ride that took me a few years to actually go on, since it had one of the steepest drops right at the beginning but once I sucked it up and did it, I was hooked.

"Fun fact about Lailah," Dylan piped up as we got in line for the ride. "She is one you literally have to force onto the ride no matter what she says, because in the end she loves it. Just wait, she'll be fine, then as she watches the ride go and the people panic she'll get cold feet and try to bail—don't let her."

I gaped at him. "I do not."

Kyle snorted. "Oh yeah you do, sis."

"Trust me, that won't be a problem if she's attached to Jay all day," Micah said, giving me a wink when I glared at him. "He won't let her back out of anything she's agreed to do or rules to follow. Isn't that right, Cookie Monster?"

"Oh, you are so not getting lucky tonight," Cami snickered.

Micah just shrugged like that fact didn't bother him one bit, he already knew he wasn't going to be sharing the bed with me tonight. That didn't mean I wouldn't come up with some way to retaliate later on, when he'd all but forgotten about his comment. It didn't take us long to get onto the ride, thanks to Kyle's skills and I hopped right on and pulled the bar down around my lap without any hesitation.

"Dude, you really fucked up this time," Parker commented as he got in the car behind me and Jay. "Did you see the look on her face just now?"

"Fuck off, Care Bear, worry about your own issues hanging out with us today," Micah snapped back at him.

I snapped my head around and gave them a dirty look. "You keep that shit to yourselves, no matter what happened in the past she is here as my brother's girlfriend, and she will be respected as such. Do you hear me?"

They both nodded their understanding, so I turned back to the front satisfied, feeling Micah's tinge of guilt. It was sure coming in handy having this connection to my moody man-child. Then we were off and all conversation stopped as we climbed up the massive incline, the rattling of the coaster all I could focus on. Jay reached out and took my hand, unclenching it from the handhold in the harness and interlaced our fingers. There was a slight pause at the top where we seemed to hang in midair before we plunged down, yanking a scream from my throat that didn't last the whole way to the bottom, where we entered into a tunnel and shot back up into the bright late morning sun.

Getting my breath back I grinned, tossing my arm up as we went down the second drop, still holding Jay's hand whooping my excitement. All too soon, the ride was over and we had to get off, my body still vibrating with the adrenaline. Glancing back at the others I caught sight of Phoebe, who was white as a ghost clutching onto my brother as he walked across the platform to the exit.

"Phoebe, are you alright?" I asked, rushing over.

She licked her lips and gulped down a few breaths of air before she could give me an answer. "I'm alive…barely."

"Why didn't you tell us that you were afraid of roller coasters?" I demanded, helping to steady her as we walked back to the front of the ride.

"I didn't want to be the one to ruin your fun together, your brother can't take much time off and I knew how much he missed you," she explained. "I just need some water and I'll be fine."

I looked up at Dylan and saw the guilty look on his face as he helped her to sit on a bench. "I'll go get a water bottle—be right back."

"Don't worry we'll stay with her," I promised, sitting beside her rubbing her back. "Is there anything else we can do to help?"

"If anyone has motion sickness pills or a patch, those always helped her," Parker suggested.

I pulled out my phone and texted Dylan to see if any of the gift shops might have that in the park. It made sense to me that they would, but you never know.

"Wait," Kyle spoke up. "Parker, do you know Phoebe?"

Parker looked over at me then Phoebe before he nodded his head. "Yeah, we were good friends back in high school, we lost touch since then."

"Talk about a small world, they say there is a separation of seven people for you to know someone. Seems that this worked out to be a case of two people," Kyle said, far more interested in the math of the situation than the fact neither of them admitted it before this.

An awkward silence fell as we waited for Dylan to come back, unsure of where to take things from here. So, I did my sisterly duty and came up with random small talk. "How did the two of you meet?"

"Oh, well we both work for the law firm but under different partners," Phoebe answered. "He wants to go into business law to be more helpful to your parents while they still run the diner. I like the more messy dramatic family and estate law, people show their true colors at that point."

"Wait, did you say estate law? Like that has to do with wills and trusts right?" I asked excitedly.

Phoebe nodded, a little surprised at my reaction. "Ah, yes exactly those types of things."

"Did you do school in the States or overseas?" I pressed.

As if Micah caught on to what I was leading up to, he set a hand on my shoulder and gave a gentle but firm squeeze in warning. I could also feel his worry through our connection begging me not to talk about this in front of the others.

"Overseas at Cambridge, why do you ask?"

"Well, I've been going to school overseas now at Ryevick University," I shared now ,trying to come up with a reason I asked that wouldn't make me look stupid. "I was just curious to talk about the differences between types of schools."

Phoebe gave me an odd look when I told her I was at Ryevick, but she schooled her face quickly enough that I assumed it was because I said something dumb.

"I've been to so many different schools all over the world, but none of them have been here in America. That might be why I picked being here to be honest," Phoebe sighed. "My father could not understand why I didn't want to take an internship closer to home, but it was time for me to spread my wings and be on my own. Shortly after I was brought onto the team, I met Dylan and we hit it off right away, so I have to say it was fate."

My heart warmed hearing this, having experienced this myself with the guys. How people like us could travel halfway around the world and find love was amazing.

"Hey sis, good call on the motion sickness pills," Dylan called out when he returned. "They didn't have any in the shops, but I asked security if they had an EMS on staff and he had some in his pack. They must be something special because I've never seen it come in a liquid form like this before. You're just supposed to add it to water and drink it that way."

This seemed to catch Hudson's attention, seeing as his family runs a pharmaceutical company, it didn't shock me he might have some incite. "Do you mind if I look at the packaging?"

"Oh…ah sorry he mixed it up for me, said since it was hospital grade, he needed to prepare it," Dylan explained, handing over the water bottle to Phoebe. "Why would you want to look at it anyways?"

I could feel how uncertain Hudson felt and tugged on our connection getting him to look at me. Giving him a questioning brow I looked from the bottle to him hoping he would guess what I was thinking.

"My family is in the pharmaceutical business and I was just curious what they would use, it helps to have that information in case she had a reaction to something in the medication," Hudson offered.

Dylan bit the edge of his lip as Phoebe raised the water to her lips. "I'm sure it can't be anything too crazy, he's an EMT after all, wouldn't he have warned me if there was a side effect to watch out for?"

"I don't know what training they go through here in America, but I know most are not taught as in-depth about medication as doctors or pharmacists are," Hudson sighed, rubbing his brow as Phoebe gulped down the water and made a face at the taste. "We’ll just keep a close eye on her for the next half hour, if there's no reaction I'm sure things will be fine."

"Does that mean we need to leave?" Kyle asked, sounding a little disheartened.

Dylan tossed his arm around our little brother's shoulders and grinned. "Nah little bro, you go with the others and have fun. Phoebe and I will relax and do some epic people watching while we wait for the meds to kick in. Once everything is fine, we’ll catch up with you, sound like a plan?"

Kyle nodded, smiling from ear to ear as he pulled out the map and looked at his watch. I knew he was doing all the calculations in his head for the best ride to go on next. "Yes, it's the Joker next! It’s new this year and I can't wait to try it out. Come on, we need to get a move on if we want to hit the perfect window."

Standing, I paused as Dylan took my seat on the bench. "Keep us updated okay, if I don't hear from you in thirty minutes, we’re hunting your ass down. Trust me when I say that Jay can find anybody when he wants to."

"Don't worry sis, we'll be fine, you're the one who gets lost all the time," he joked waving me off. "Don't puke. I hear that ride is like the Zipper from the state fair, but worse."

That made me pause, I didn't get sick on rides but the one time I did, it was because I tried to win the eat a whole pie and get another whole pie for free. Going on a ride full of blackberry pie was not the world's smartest idea and Dylan never let me live it down.

"It was the pie," I said defensively.

"Then isn't it a good thing you had another one to eat when we got home," Dylan shot back with a wicked smile.

"Keep sharing dirt like that and who knows what Phoebe might learn, still got that special stuffy you loved so much," I threatened.

Dylan turned bright red and started to stutter. "D…don…don't you dare!"

"You've been warned," I cautioned, giving him the hand gesture that I would be watching him as we walked away.

Jay took up my hand once again with a soft chuckle that was almost lost in the noise around us. "Watching you three makes me wish I had a sibling—then I remember I have these assholes," Jay muttered as he gestured to the four guys walking ahead of us.

"I would say they’re a pretty good glimpse into what it's like," I agreed.

Hudson slowed his walk to join us, taking my free hand in his. "Tell me why I'm so worried about Phoebe taking that medication?"

"Do we have any idea if the Day-Brite serum has crossed into the US?" I asked, looking at Jay.

"There have been no confirmed cases by the Elementi here, but it is one of the hardest things to detect. It doesn't show up on any screening we've tried so far, but there is a spike in missing persons cases across America. Enough that the FBI had been looking into it, even though there is nothing connecting them together," Jay shared.

"They’ve had the drug long enough that they could have found a new subtle way to administer it, versus injecting it like they had been doing," Hudson admitted. "That fact alone makes me worried, it only takes one medical professional like that to start administering it. People come here from all over and then go home, making it virtually impossible to trace where the dose could have happened."

"Has your father's people come up with any other helpful attributes from their studies?" I asked hopefully.

Hudson looked down at me, his eyes sad, and shook his head. Those poor people that had been secret test subjects forever had their lives altered for the sake of others. They were the reason I was pushing so hard to find a cure through my blood, I just hoped we could find it in time.

SIXTEEN

LAILAH

Just as we got off the ride my phone started to buzz. It was a good thing I put it in my bra so I would make sure to notice it, since my body was still recovering from all the chaos of the ride. Seeing it was Dylan, I answered right away waving at the guys to get their attention. "Dylan, thing⁠—"

"She's gone.” Dylan blurted, cutting me off. “I don't know what happened. She went to the bathroom but that was like ten minutes ago. I went in to check on her, since Hudson was worried about a reaction but she wasn't in there. I tried to call her, even wandering around the area to make sure she wasn't waiting for me in a different spot."

"Hold on, back up a little," I said in a soothing voice. "How long ago did she go to the bathroom?"

"It's been like twenty minutes since she went in. Lailah, you have to help me. You said Jay can find people, right?"

"Where are you right now?" I demanded as I grabbed Jay's hand and started to run down the exit path back to the main area of the park.

"Ah...oh, I'm right near that kid’s area. She wanted to walk around a bit once she felt better. Do you think something happened to her? God, why did I let her take that medicine?" Dylan babbled.

"Don't move, we’re coming to you," I snapped hanging up the phone. "Guys we have a problem, Phoebe's gone missing. Dylan is waiting for us over at the entrance to the kid’s section of the park."

Once Jay heard this he charged off, almost dragging me with him, since I wasn't prepared for the sudden change in speed. Thankfully, it seemed that they had been walking closer to us, so it didn't take us long to spot Dylan pacing near a bathroom building. It didn't take him long to see us and the second he did his body seemed to sag in relief.

"This the bathroom she went in?" Jay asked without preamble. Dylan nodded as Jay handed me off to Micah and entered the woman's side of the bathroom.

"Asshole this is the women's," a lady yelled.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"Get the fuck out before we call security and get your ass banned from this park."

I squeezed Micah's hand to get his attention. "I should really go help with that." He nodded and followed me, standing just outside the door as I entered. "Ladies I'm sorry about the intrusion but our friend is missing, and this is the last place she entered. You didn't see anyone sick or passed out in here, did you?'

This caught all the irate ladies' attention and gave Jay a chance to look the place over while they talked to me.

"I just walked in here, how long has she been missing? Did you contact park security?" one asked, clutching her daughter to her tightly.

"We have someone reaching out to them right now, she wasn't feeling good so we wanted to make sure she wasn't still in here," I explained.

Another woman pulled out her phone. "I can post it on my Six Flags season passholders group and see if we can get more people looking for her. The government keeps trying to cover up all these strange disappearances going on right now. If they won't look out for us, then we better do it ourselves."

"I appreciate the offer but I'm not sure right now that's the best plan, she's only been missing for twentyish minutes. She could have gone to the help station for medical help," I suggested.

Jay walked back up to where I was and shook his head before he walked out.

"Thank you ladies for your help, and sorry again about my boyfriend barging in like that. Have a good day."

Ducking out of the bathroom, I was met with the others as they gathered around Jay. "Did you find anything?" Dylan asked.

Jay held out a little wallet that hooked onto your pants that Phoebe had been wearing. "We know she was here, but if something happened, she's now without identification. I suggest contacting security and seeing if they know anything first, if they have nothing for us, I will do what I do best."

Dylan looked absolutely crestfallen at this information, so I wrapped my arm around him so I could lead him to a park bench. "How could this be happening? Things like this don't really happen in real life, this is some Lifetime movie shit or something."

"I promise you, that we will do whatever we have to, to make sure she is safe," I vowed, looking my brother dead in the eye. "On my honor, as an Elementi Warrior, blessed by the angels we will find her."

I could feel the binding promise click into place as I invoked my power into my words. I'd read about giving an Oath to a king or other leader to back up your words, but I didn't understand the gravity of what that meant until now. Even if it took all summer or beyond, our focus would be on finding Phoebe. Dylan pulled me into a tight hug as if he understood the gravity of what I just did on some soul level.

"Thank you, Lailah, I believe you," Dylan whispered as he sat back. "I know Phoebe and I have only been together for less than a year, but I think she's the one, I want to marry her someday."

Jay stepped up and waited for us to give him our attention. "I talked to security, they’re looking into things and asked for us to meet them at their office onsite."

It didn't surprise me one bit that Jay had already scoped out where that office was, since he led us right to it near the entrance to the park. It was awful for me to think of this right now, but there was something so sexy about a man who could take charge and make things happen. Micah wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me into a half hug, kissing the top of my head as we waited for Jay to speak with one of the security people.

"If you could come in with us, there is a camera right by that bathroom for situations just like this. If you can point out what the female in question looks like we can send the photo out to our team," the security guys said, ushering us in. "Do you have an approximate time to have us start looking at the footage?"

Dylan rubbed his forehead as he though. "It's been forty-five minutes or less since she entered that bathroom."

The man nodded, typed something into the keyboard and rolled back the footage. We stepped back letting Dylan and Jay get the better view of the small tv screen of the bathroom.

"There!" Dylan shouted. "She's wearing a green flowy short sleeve shirt with black jeans."

"Let's keep it going and see if she leaves the bathroom," the security man said, slowing down the speed making it easier to spot someone with all the people wandering by.

I held my breath praying that we would see her walk out or something else to give us a clue as to what was going on.

"Wait, when did that attendant enter the bathroom with that cleaning cart?" Jay asked as one left the bathroom.

"We have people check every hour on the hour, and that bathroom is busier than usual with it being near the kid’s area. Sometimes it gets more attention if someone hits the alert button that maintenance is needed," the security guy explained.

Stopping the tape, they rolled it back past when Phoebe entered another ten minutes or so and we saw the person enter. You couldn't tell if it was a man or woman with the coverall uniform and the cap they had on but seeing as the woman didn't cause a fuss it made me think female. Could this be how they stole Phoebe? That medicine had to have been the Day-Brite serum, that's the only reason for this. Just like me, once you took the serum you shone like a beacon to rogue demons looking for a person to take over. If it weren’t for Jay's rule, that could have been me getting stuffed into a garbage cart, but this made things all that much harder.

"Show me where those carts are stored and where the staff keep their things," Jay barked, making us all jump.

The security guard looked at Jay with a frown. "Look kid, I was willing to help you find your friend but at this point, it's time to call in the police and have them handle things. This is now a missing person's case."

"Who is in charge of your security?" Jay demanded. "I will need to speak with him."

"Sure, and it's a woman, but Kendall isn't going to tell you anything differently than I just did. We deal with this stuff all the time," the guy muttered as he wandered off deeper into the office.

Jay turned to face us, his stoic expression hard. "Micah, I need you to call the closest Elementi hub to us and tell them what's going on. I need to contact my father and make sure we own this security company so we can keep the police out of things. Hudson, I need you to call your dad and find out if this serum could actually be consumed this way or if it's just a typical kidnapping. Parker, do you think you can get ahold of her father and find out if he knows of any threats against his family that we should be worried about? Brayden, don't let Lailah out of your sight."

This sent everyone into motion, leaving me and my siblings in limbo watching everyone else be purposeful. I sank into one of the chairs in front of the screens and pushed the button to play the film. It was still stuck at the slow speed so it gave me extra time to watch Phoebe walk in, tucking her phone in her back pocket.

"Jay!" I called swiveling around. "Did you find her phone?"

Jay had his phone up to his ear talking to someone and motioned for me to wait a moment. "Dylan, hand me your phone." With a questioning look he pulled out his phone and handed it to me. "Do you use Snapchat?"

"I mean, I have it on my phone but I don't really use it much. I got it so when Phoebe went on a trip I could see her updates, she uses it a lot."

Now I was grinning, knowing that with the recent update if you didn't turn off your location it would be sending out your location to your friends. I scrolled through his list and found her profile, so I knew what her avatar looked like and flipped to the map and sure enough there was her dot moving away from us on the interstate. Shooting to my feet I let out a shrill whistle that my dad taught me at one of Kyle’s hockey games. Everyone snapped their heads to look and me as I held up the phone.

"They have her phone and are driving away, who's coming with me to chase it down?" I inquired.

Micah promptly hung up his call and shoved his phone in his pocket. "Let's roll."

Dylan tried to come with us, but I stopped him. "No, you need to stay here with Kyle and the others. You are the only one who can answer certain questions about her, they need you more."

He tried to argue but then let out a breath and sagged his shoulders. "Fine, but call Kyle the moment you know anything."

"Take Parker with you," Jay instructed.

I was glad that he didn't try to stop me because it was too dangerous. We were a team and each of us needed to pull our weight. This was my chance to do that. Micah, Brayden, Parker and I jogged out of the security office, got our hands stamped so we could get back in if we needed to, and booked it across the parking lot to the car. Micah hit the button unlocking it and we all piled in, I took shotgun so I could give directions.

"We need to get on I94 south. It looks like they’re getting off on Belvidere Road, heading towards the lake," I shared, as I pulled up the nifty GPS this new SUV had.

Micah tore out of the parking lot, weaving around every car that was in our way like we were in the Indy five-hundred. Blowing through a red light we turned on what felt like two wheels onto the road that would get us to the highway.

"Man, you might want to slow it down just a touch so we don't get pulled over," Parker suggested.

"I don't see you driving, do I?" Micah growled. "You let me worry about shit like that and just hold on tight. We’re not going to lose her because we were too stupid to see if she had her phone on her."

"Enough!" I yelled. "We need to stay focused, this is no time to argue."

At that, everyone shut up.

"Take this to the next exit then get off and head east," I instructed. "They’re still on the same road and the traffic lights are slowing them down. It should help us gain some ground."

I tried not to look at how fast we were going, keeping my eyes locked on the moving dot that was Phoebe. I trusted Micah with my life, so I needed to trust him to get us there alive and well enough to save her. I spotted the exit and before I could say anything he was cutting across five lanes of traffic to get there, making more than one person honk and flip us the finger. We made it just in time for a green light but I doubted that would have slowed Micah down one second. Once more, with the weaving through cars, we were on Belvidere Road taking whatever risks he felt like he could.

"It looks like they’re heading for Sheridan Road and heading north."

I grabbed my phone and pulled up my map so I could look around to see if I could guess where they were heading. "There is a fishing harbor with charter boats, a water treatment plant, generating station, and Illinois Beach State Park. None of these jump out at me as a place demons would want to hold someone captive."

"My money’s on the power plant," Parker spoke up. "Think about it, a huge factory to work out of and limited people working there. No one would go there unless they needed to. If I was going to run a secret demon body snatching ring, I would do it there."

"I agree, out of the choices that sounds as logical as any," Brayden added.

Micah let out a sharp laugh. "So we are just gonna go with that because Parker watches scary movies? I say the pier, if they have a boat there, it gives them the freedom to take her wherever they need to or cross state lines where no one will be looking for her."

"Both are fair suggestions, the docks are first up so we’ll know pretty soon if that's the case," I said, mediating the tension in the car.

Why on earth did Jay send Parker with us? He knows that Micah and him don't work well together. Too late now, I had to deal with things as they are and make the most of it. Although Parker might not be the tactical one out of us, he was a skilled fighter and had a large amount of power backing him up.

"They passed the marina," I shared as we pulled onto the next road heading north. "Looks like the power plant might be the winner, unless they want to ditch her in the forest, making us all wrong."

No one seemed to appreciate my shot at levity and Micah just gave me a look out of the corner of his eye. This road wasn't quite so busy and had less traffic lights as we got into the industrial area, helping us pick up some speed.

"Bray, call Jay, let him know where we are and if he doesn't hear from us in twenty minutes we need help," Micah instructed.

Brayden pulled out his phone and dialed. "Good call. Hey Jay, we’re on…"

"Tell him we're at the Waukegan Generating Station," I interjected, turning in my seat. "That's where the dot stopped."

SEVENTEEN

LAILAH

Jay decided right away that he wanted to meet us there and wanted us to wait for him, but I had other plans. "You cannot tell me we are actually going to sit here while they could be attaching a demon to her, are you?"

The guys all looked at each other, then undid their seatbelts. Having mine already off, I tossed open my door and jumped out of the car, taking a look around the oddly empty parking lot.

"It's a Monday afternoon, there's no holiday, so why aren't there more cars parked out here? There wasn't even someone at the guard shack," I mused.

Parker came to stand next to me. "I told you, no one would check out here if they didn't have to. We ended up taking a service road in, so it's off the beaten path."

"Let's go you two," Micah ordered as he marched off towards the office building.

"Look, if we’re going to do this, we should be smart about it," Brayden cautioned. "Let's take a look around the outside to make sure there isn't another employee parking area. What if this is a whole mix up and the phone got stolen by someone who works here? It could have fallen out of her pocket for all we know."

I understood where Brayden was coming from, but it was a little too late to be getting cold feet about this. "Fine, we'll scope out the outside then we’re going in."

The building was in two sections, the front was a low office building that had the company name on it. My guess is it was used for meetings and the paper-pushers of the production. The real work though, was in a massive brick building four stories high with five giant stacks out front. There wasn't any smoke coming out of them and I wasn't sure if that was good or bad. Once we made it behind the actual station, there was a massive field of electrical towers holding lines going in every direction. You could feel the hum of the energy coming off them and an occasional snap as power leapt across the lines. This told me that even if the stacks weren't smoking, there was still power flowing from the station itself.

"I don't see anything useful out here, let's head inside," Micah decided as he walked up to the closest door.

When he tried to open it, it didn't budge. There were two more doors for us to try but all were locked tight. Micah pressed a hand against the set of double doors and I watched as steam started to rise and the door turned cherry red under his touch. Pulling his hand back, he kicked the same spot and the doors burst inward, giving us our way in.

"Okay that was badass," I said, following Micah into the building.

Now I understood why they based horror movies out of places like this, because they are legit creepy as all hell. The lights were off but for the soft warm glow of security lighting along the concrete corridor, with pipes and wires running all along the ceiling. I could tell we were walking up an incline and the hallway was wide enough that three of us could walk side by side. I could imagine machinery of some kind being driven around moving things or bringing in supplies, it was a long walk to wherever we were going. We reached a point where we could go left or we could keep going straight. Our choice was made for us when the door to the left was locked and the one ahead was not.

Micah went through first, pulling the door open enough to see what was on the other side then looked back at us, motioning us to be quiet. He slipped through, then a moment later waved us to follow him with another warning to be quiet. The room we entered was the main production area if I had to guess. Metal walkways in a gridlock pattern filled the room giving us the opportunity to look down and see the massive coils and mechanical parts that generated the electricity. Turbines churned, pulling water from the lake to help keep them cool as they labored. If I wasn't so worried about getting caught and or killed, this would have been a super cool experience to appreciate. At the moment, I was just praying nothing jumped out at us since there was nowhere to hide. Then I heard what had Micah so cautious— voices.

"What do you mean you only brought one?" a man growled. "You had a whole fucking theme park to pick from!"

"Look, I'm not the only one working that area, alright," this coming from a woman. "I did my part getting the newly dosed person out of the park without getting caught. She was with someone and they called security, I couldn't risk them searching the back where we keep them until the end of the day."

They were talking about Phoebe! This also means that she was given the serum.

"Then you better get back there before they notice you took too long of a lunch break. We were short on our quota for last week. We can't come up short again, do you hear me?" the man growled.

"You know what? Fuck you, old man. The only reason you’re even in charge of this place is because you got picked by a Higher Demon," the woman snapped.

An odd hissing snarl echoed in the room below us as we crept closer. "That's right little human, don't make me rip your pathetic low level demon out of you and send your rotting corpse to your loved ones. I can just as easily replace you with the woman you brought me. She will be used for a higher purpose, I can tell. Her soul is tainted and will draw the darkness to her."

"Go rot in hell, I'm over this shit. I was promised power and a place in the new dark world that would destroy this shit stain of an existence that we live in now. Yet all I've been doing is collecting bodies for other people—like a slave!"

"That's because you are a slave," the man's voice had now completely changed to sound like a snake with the hissing S's. "Or at least you were."

"No."

The sound of a scuffle, followed by a sickening slam of something against the concrete floor made me ill. I could only guess what just happened and was so extremely grateful that I didn't have to witness it.

"At least she brought me you," the slithering voice crooned. "Come, come let's find you a master. This will make them happy, yesss, yesss, indeed."

I gave a pleading look to the guys, this was our chance. We could totally take the one demon. We'd dealt with far worse than a measly Higher Demon before, Ubel was a Greater Demon one of the Dark Lord's court. Brayden gave me a sharp shake of the head no and pointed back the way we came. I knew they would want to talk this to death, and I knew it was the right choice, seeing how things went the last time I went off on my own. Once we made it back to the hallway, we gathered in the corner that would allow us to be hidden if someone opened the locked door on the left.

"Please tell me we’re not going to let them use her as a puppet for a demon," I demanded. "You saw what that can do to a person."

"Angel, we are not going to abandon her if we can do something to help. All I ask is that we go about this with some kind of plan," Brayden explained.

Micah scratched his chin as he thought. "We need to find out how many demons are in here or if that is the only one. From what they were saying, this is a drop off point for people they've given the serum to. Wherever they took Phoebe, there could be others. Wouldn't you rather have the chance to save more if we can?"

"Of course I would," I scowled at Micah. "How exactly do you propose we scope out the area?"

"Two by two," Parker stated. "If we go as a group of four we won’t cover as much ground and be easier to spot. I'll go with Lailah and you go with Brayden."

"I think the fuck not!" Micah snarled.

Parker sighed. "Think about it man. You and I are the strongest fighters out of the four of us. Do you agree?"

"So?"

"Why would it be smart to put two strong people together? You and I don't work well together, but you and Brayden are a dynamic duo, always have been. Lailah only has up close or defensive weapons to fight with, I have long range which means I can keep her protected," Parker argued. "Put aside your personal feelings and think like Jay."

Micah just glared at him for a few seconds before he nodded. "Fine, but know that if anything happens to her, I will kill you with my bare hands."

"I would expect nothing less, and if I let it happen, I would absolutely deserve it," Parker agreed. "Now, do our cells work here?"

We all grabbed ours and looked at the screen but there was no signal. "Has to be all the concrete, it might get better out of this hallway," Brayden reasoned.

"We will search for twenty minutes and if we don't find anything, make your way back here. It's the best we can do unless we have cell service, so try to text before heading back here," Parker suggested, surprising us all with his logic. "If I can find a computer I'm gonna see if they have blueprints of the place I can access to make it easier."

"Seems you aren't a complete idiot after all," Micah muttered, as he headed for the doors back out to the generator room. "We'll go right, you wait a few minutes then you guys go left."

Seeing that Parker wanted to argue, I placed my hand on his arm drawing his attention. "Don't let him get inside your head, this team doesn't work without all of us."

"Thanks, Trouble," Parker said, giving me a tight smile, brushing his knuckles along my cheek. "Come on, let's go find Phoebe."

Back in the generator room, we stayed low as we made our way along the gangplank. It was slotted so I could see the various parts and pieces working as we moved, but I didn't see any signs of workers in the room with us. The noise of the motors working covered our steps, but even still, we moved as silently as we could not taking a chance. We reached the end of our walkway and there was a door with a glass window cut into it, so we could see into the next space. It looked like a control room filled with all kinds of buttons, knobs, dials, and computers—exactly what Parker had been hoping to find.

"The door is unlocked," Parker whispered as he opened it.

The room was far larger than we could see from the narrow window in the door, which is why we missed the man who was working at one of the computers. I'd entered first and when I spotted him, I closed the door behind me, keeping Parker out and hidden.

"What the hell are you doing in here?" an older man with graying hair that stuck out in all directions under his hard hat demanded. "Look, how many times do I have to keep telling you idiots that the control room isn't a place to fuck around in? You hit the wrong button and you'll turn off the power for the next fifty miles in all directions. We can't afford to get noticed like that."

He thinks I'm one of the demon helpers I realized, forcing myself to hold back a grin, thankful for the first time ever for what I went through. I probably gave off the same energy as the other dosed people.

"I'm sorry, I'm new to all this and I can't find anyone," I explained playing dumb. "I had a problem with one of the people that got dosed and I need to inform someone but not sure who or where they are?"

The old guy sighed and picked up a walkie-talkie. "Control room to harvest area one, do you copy? I have a lost puppet that needs to talk to Mozog."

"This is harvest area one, Mozog is busy, send them our way and we'll deal with it."

"Will do," the controller said, turning to us. "Alright you're gonna have to take a left out of here and take the stairs to the lower part of the generator room. There is a set of double doors under this office that leads to a hallway, follow it all the way to the end until you get to the red door. It says, emergency exit only. The alarm will sound but that's just to keep people out, on the other side is harvest room one. That's where all the empty puppets go to get their masters." He paused and looked at me closely for the first time, squinting his eyes at me. "Why don't I feel the presence of your master?"

Quickly, I ran through everything I'd learned from the Elementi on different types of demons and their classifications. "Yeah, well you'd have to have a master that gave off any power, I got picked by a simple low level messenger."

"Ah, explains how simple you are and how you fucked up on your first job," he harrumphed. "Now get out, I've got important work to do."

Backing out of the door, Parker all but grabbed me and dragged me down the walkway before he slammed me up against the concrete wall. "What the actual fuck, Lailah. How could you do something so reckless after everything that's happened to you?! I should have been the one to go in first, I could have taken him out without you having to put yourself in danger!"

"I didn't think the whole thing through alright, but it turned out better than either of us could have planned. He thought I was one of them, the puppets, and he told me where they are keeping the people they take," I reasoned. "You have every right to be upset, but I suggest we go back in there and deal with him. I will back you up and stay out of the way, letting you handle things. He had a walkie-talkie that he used to communicate with the harvest room and I think we're going to need it."

Parker's expression was still full of anger and fear, but he let me go. "Don't think this is the end of this, just wait until Jay and Micah find out about that shit. You'll be handcuffed to one of them at all times for a month." He rubbed his hands over his face and growled. "Let's go get the walkie-talkie."

EIGHTEEN

LAILAH

As promised, I stayed outside while Parker entered the control room to deal with the man inside. I could hear the sound of a scuffle, but the thick metal door kept me from hearing much else, so I sent up a prayer that Parker was as skilled as he thought he was. The room fell silent and then the door swung open to reveal a grim Parker. "All clear, come on in, I want to take a look at the computer systems."

Entering, I found the man knocked out and propped up in the corner, his hard hat laying next to him. I could tell by the slow movement of his chest that he was still alive, which made me let out the breath I'd been holding. Knowing first hand what it was like to have that weight on you, I would never wish that on anyone, let alone someone I loved.

"See if you can find something to tie him up with while I do this," Parker instructed as he typed away at the computer terminal.

I knew he was mad at me about the stunt I pulled, and even agreed it was a stupid move, but it didn't make it sting any less to have him brusque with me. Back in a locker, I found a tool box with zip-ties in it and grabbed a handful to use. Once I bound his hands and feet together, I slipped the radio off his belt then began scrolling through the channels to see if there was anyone else talking.

"This is guard team five, to Mozog do you copy."

"Mozog is unavailable, this is High Demon Brutus."

My eyes shot up to Parker's when the second man spoke, recognizing it from the generator room.

"High Demon Brutus, we found a door on the backside that has been damaged. Please be alert we might have intruders. It seems they torched the lock."

A hissing snarl echoed through the walkie-talkie. "Pull in every guard we have. I want this place searched from top to bottom, Lord Mozog is dealing with a conduit and we can't let them be disturbed."

Gasping at what he said, I dropped the radio and covered my mouth to keep from making any more sound. That's what they'd meant when they said Phoebe's soul was tainted, making her a perfect match to be a conduit for one of the Dark Lord's Greater demons. I'd spent every extra waking hour learning all the names and traits for the seventy-two Greater demons that made up the Dark Lord's court. After almost being one for the Mother of All, I didn't want to ever end up in a situation where I wasn't informed about what was going on. If we'd known more about Dantalion, Ubel wouldn't have gotten the drop on us like he did.

"Lailah," Parker called, pulling me out of my head. "Look at me Trouble, right in the eyes." I did as he asked, reaching out a hand to him. "We won't let her go through what you did, I promise."

"You can't promise that Parker, no one can," I stated bluntly. "I was lucky, being Synergy and bound to you guys. It saved my life, but Phoebe won't have that, none of these poor people do."

Parker cupped my face with his hands. "Lailah, on my Oath I swore to keep you safe, as well as the people on this planet we call Earth. How can I not promise to do right by her? I might not love her the way I love you, but she still holds a special place in my heart. It's a downfall of being the Spirit element, once someone becomes important to me, they always will be. I've watched what you've gone through for months, so I'm telling you right now, we will do whatever it takes to try and prevent her getting taken by some slimy bitch of a demon."

Unable to speak, I nodded my head. I could appreciate what he was saying but the reality of it was, she'd been dosed by the serum and if we didn't find a cure, in many ways it was already late for everyone in this building. Not that, that fact would stop us from saving them all, it just made the outcome more challenging. "What's your plan then?"

"I figured out how to cut the power to just the building but not to the city around it, leaving the backup power working to supply during the shutdown. It will only be out for a half hour before the whole system will do a reboot and fix what I changed. This should unlock every door, making it easier to move around and get people talking on the radio so we can hear where they are better."

"It's as good a plan as any," I sighed, pulling out my cell phone. "I'm gonna send the others a message so they know our plan and where the location of the harvest room is."

"That's good because we're not going there."

"What? Why not?"

Parker spared me a look as he continued to type. "There is another area of the building that I think they have Phoebe in. The power draw in there is too strong for something important not to be happening there."

That sounded logical to me, but I didn't love the idea of us going after a Greater demon with just the two of us. If the Dark Lord hadn't pulled Ubel back to talk to him, I never would have had the upper hand. Mix in the fact a Higher level demon was running around, I'd want all the help we could get. I typed out everything we learned and sent it, having one bar of service, and prayed that it would be enough to get it out into the data stream to alert them if they get a signal.

"Ready, power is going out in three…two…one."

The constant hum that had been vibrating through the building stopped, making it almost too quiet for my liking.

"What the hell just happened," Brutus yelled through the radio. "Control room, do you copy? Control room."

"There is a team close by, we'll check it out."

Parker reached out a hand to me. "Time to go."

Grasping it, I let him pull me to my feet and we bolted out the door, running as fast as we could, no longer caring about keeping silent. I trusted Parker to know where to go so I just kept pace, thankful that running was my favorite hobby. Shoving through a set of double doors, we rounded a corner but Parker screeched to a halt as three men in all black uniforms with flashlights and guns appeared in front of us.

"They went through that door, two of them both dressed all in black with this weird symbol on the shoulder. We tried to get them to stop, but they were too fast and well trained, almost military if you ask me," Parker explained, pretending to huff and puff like he was out of shape.

One guard lowered his gun slightly. "What did the symbol look like?"

"It was some star looking thing, but had symbols on the points that connected to one in the middle. Never seen anything like it before in my life," Parker answered, describing the Elementi symbol to them.

"Fuck," a guard swore. "How the hell did they find us out here? The closest branch is in Chicago."

"Doesn't matter, we need to alert the other teams about this. You two turn around and head back to the harvest room, if they are going to attack, that’s the room they’re aiming for," the lead guard of their group said, raising his walkie-talkie to his mouth.

Quickly, I turned ours down where I clipped it to the back of my jeans, hidden under the sweater I'd worn to hide my scars.

"Guard teams, be advised that the Elementi have been spotted and are gunning for harvest room three on the upper level," he said, then turned to the other two. "Good thing only harvest room one is full since we sent off our shipment two days ago. What are you two still standing there for, GO!"

We turned on our heels and started off back the way we came, until we rounded the corner and Parker pulled me to a stop while we waited for them to leave. Once the hall was quiet again, we booked it down the hall and up three flights of stairs to a steel door.

"This looks like a roof access," I pointed out. "How would the roof be drawing power?"

"It's not, but the room can be accessed through skylights that are on the roof. If we’re going to drop into a party with a Greater demon, and who knows how many Higher or Mid-Level demons, I'd rather have every advantage we can," Parker pointed out. "My hope is that since they are on the hunt, no one will be up here, or only one person. I'll head out first going to the right, you go left, and we'll take anyone down along the way."

"You make that sound so simple," I grumbled.

"None of that now, Trouble," Parker warned. "You've come a long way in your combat training, I know you'll be fine."

Taking a deep breath and shaking out my body, I gave him a nod that I was ready. He pushed open the door, which gave a loud screech from the hinges, making us both pause to wait and listen. After a few moments and nothing happening, we executed our plan. Keeping low, I headed for the closest cover keeping my eyes peeled for any movement or sound that would alert me to someone being up here. The roof was massive and seemed to be in a U shape, with the middle lower where the generator area was. What I wouldn't give for some binoculars right now, to check out the other side of the U. I circled back when not crossing over to the other side, feeling that the chances of someone being up here were slim.

"All clear?" Parker asked as we met in the middle.

"Yeah," I confirmed. "I kept a look out for the other side too but didn't see any kind of movement."

"Then I'd say this is as good a time as any to check out what's going on in the secret room," Parker announced.

I'd seen the Plexiglas bubbles that made up the skylights but avoided going near them so I didn't cast a shadow. The plastic was warped and not very clear due to weathering, but it was better than nothing and kept us from being noticed right away. The first three sky lights we didn't see anything useful, it looked like a large conference room with a table and chairs. When we came to the fourth, I knew right away what I was looking at and it sent chills down my spine. I had to back away from the sight of it, pulling my knees up to my chest so I could rest my head on them, trying to take calming breaths.

"Lailah, what is it?" Parker asked, his voice full of worry.

The only answer I could give him at the moment was to just shake my head. I'd talked to my therapist about everything that had gone on, but the guys didn't know the whole story. It was too hard to talk about still. With the reassurance from my therapist, they let it be and knew I would talk about it with them when I was ready. The problem was, I was nowhere near ready to face what I saw down in that room again, which made me even more upset. It was a stone altar, just like the Dark Lord had placed me on to perform the ritual connecting me to Lilith. That's where he carved up my skin, bled on me, and chanted those dark heinous words, trying to get me to be the perfect puppet for his lover. It was by the grace of God, and the Angels that blessed me with the power of Synergy, that I was saved from that awful fate, along with my bonds to the guys. Phoebe had none of those things to protect her. She wasn't laid out on it yet but I had no doubt that is what they meant to do to her, since she was already tainted by some experience, along with having been dosed with the serum.

Lifting my head, I met Parker's worried gaze and reached out a hand to him. When he grasped mine in both of his, I felt strong enough to explain my reaction. "That's the room we’re looking for and where they plan to make her into a conduit for one of the Greater demons of the Dark Lord’s court. That stone slab with the carvings in an altar and it connects them to Hell and the demon they are going to pair her with. If we can destroy the altar, it will cripple their ability to make more conduits for stronger demons. It won't stop them from being possessed by others but it's better than nothing."

"Do you think you can destroy it if I hold off whoever is in the room?"

My panicked brain screamed out in protest but I pushed it as far down as I could, knowing I needed to stand up to this fear. "I will give it everything I've got, if you give me the time to try."

"We could wait for the others, now that we’re outside I'm sure Jay and the others got your message," Parker offered.

"No," I blurted, shaking my head furiously. "We might be too late at that point. We need to do this now, before they get any further with Phoebe, or we won't be able to save her."

Parker licked his lips and searched my face, as if he wasn't sure I could handle doing this. "Let's check the other skylight and see if it's the same room, so I can pull their attention from you entering right over the altar. If not, then I'll drop in using the conference room, making a racket and see if I can draw them out so you can do your thing. I know you want to destroy that thing, but if it looks like you can't and we have a chance to still save Phoebe, then do that. Phoebe is the reason we’re here, we can come back with more help to deal with everything else going on here, alright."

I knew what he was saying was reasonable, but I knew if we left without obliterating that altar, they would either kill off the other people they had, or let lesser demons possess them. They wouldn't wait around to have the Elementi attack them a second time. This was the only shot we had to ruin this operation and the one reason the Elementi Warriors were created—we‘re their only hope. "Let's do this."

NINETEEN

PARKER

Seeing the look of determination on Lailah's face, fighting against the fear she was feeling, astounded me. The woman I met at the beginning of the school year had turned into a warrior. Like the rest of us, she had scars and wounds that were seen and unseen, but she used them to fuel her as we headed into a situation that we most likely would be outnumbered. I was torn, wanting to hold back until we could meet up with the others, but I knew we didn't have much time before the power turned back on, making it harder to get out. Lailah was trusting me to make the best call, but I agreed with her that Phoebe didn’t have much time left.

The tug on my heart, thinking about her having to go through what Lailah did, worried me a bit. I’d been working hard at figuring out my feelings about this whole matter, and it’s just gotten all muddled in my brain.

Shaking myself out of this funk, I peered into the skylight. I found it was in the same room as the altar, with ten feet between them. It seemed to be a workroom, with tiled floors, and computers set up in units for people to work at. They'd all been shoved up against the wall haphazardly having no use for them apparently, but explained how they could access more power in this room. Feeling along the outside of the frame, I found the seam for where the Plexiglas fit into the window. It was brittle from being exposed to the sun and harsh weather, so I decided the best thing to do was create the biggest distraction I could by kicking it in, sending it crashing to the ground below.

"What the fuck?!" A woman screeched. "We're under attack, call the guards!"

Seems like now is as good a time as any. I dropped in from the roof, landing in a superhero crouch. I took a moment to look around the room, gauging how many people were there, before I made my next move. Like any good demonic ritual, all five of them were in black cloaks looking the part, with Phoebe passed out on the floor.

"You guys know the robes don't actually make a difference in your demon voodoo, right?" I pointed out as I stood, letting my six foot staff, with a two foot blade on the end, materialize.

"Elementi Warrior," a man hissed from under his hood.

I gave them a bright smile, like I wasn't at all bothered by the fact that I was extremely outnumbered. "I'm flattered you've heard of us."

The man tossed back his hood exposing a face that looked like it could be Voldemort's brother, but much more snake-like. He was Brutus, the voice we heard in the generator room when we first got here then again on the radio. He'd admitted that he housed one of the Higher-level demons, which I'd encountered a few times, but had never seen them possess a person before. "You are foolish to come alone but I will end you before you can bother our master."

Brutus lunged forward, his hands growing claws like Higher level demons had, that oozed with what I knew to be poison. Lailah had been scratched by one before and she still carried those scars, along with the others. Swinging my staff out, I blocked his attack, moving back to get a better look at the room trying to find the leader Mozog. Brutus seemed to notice he didn't have my full attention, so he sped up his attack, letting his demon take more control over his body. It was only the years of training I had that kept me from getting sliced by his claws in the gut as I kicked out, hitting him in the leg and dropping him to his knees. Higher demon he might be, but this time he was trapped in a human body and couldn't dematerialize to avoid my counterattack.

Tired of being on the defensive, I struck while he was down, trying to cut off his head. As much as I wanted to save the human he was inhabiting, I knew it was too late for Martin when Lailah killed Ubel. The host, no longer having a demon to keep them alive, would wither and die after having something so evil eating them from the inside out. Brutus might be trapped in the human body but he was still able to move faster and force the body to be bent and break in ways it shouldn't have been able to. Doing a move that could only happen in the Matrix, he avoided my attack and sprang to his feet, flipping backwards.

"You'll have to do better than that, warrior," Brutus said with a hissing laugh. "Don't tell me this is the best the Elementi have to offer."

Catching movement out of the corner of my eye, one of the other robed figures was trying to sneak up behind me with a dagger in his hand. Whirling, I used the butt of my staff to hit him right in the cheek, knocking the wind out of him and sending him sprawling backwards. Brutus used this to his advantage, making his next move, keeping me on my toes slashing and cutting away at me, until all I could do was keep him off me. Two more of the group came at me and I knew I needed to take some of these people out or I was going to lose this battle before Lailah even had the chance to get to the altar. The hasty plan we made was to listen in until I had their attention, and she would make her way through the skylight over the altar. Well, I had their attention alright, but Lailah still hadn't made it down into the room yet. Could she be dealing with another panic attack? I knew it, we should have waited for the others, but the need to get to Phoebe fast was still riding me. Pain burst through my brain as I felt something get jammed into my thigh, looking down it was the dagger that one bastard had been holding.

"Okay, that's fucking it!" I yelled, shoving Brutus away with all my strength and turned to face the other minions. "I didn't want to do this, but you guys left me no choice."

Moving as fast as I could, I whipped my staff around, jabbing it right into the heart of one of the cloaked men then yanking it out and going after the woman who was leaping at me like a pissed off cat. Whatever she was, turning her hands into claws was also one of her tricks but I slashed upwards, slicing open her chest, causing her to drop to the floor in a heap.

"Ah, so the gallant knight has a taste for blood," a voice purred behind me.

The chills that ran down my spine and the demonic energy that came off him told me before I even turned, this was Mozog. Turning on my heel, staff at the ready, I came face to face with a man dressed in a suit but what really threw me off were his eyes. They looked like that of a lizard, bright yellow with a black slit running down the middle that seemed to dilate when he was looking at me. He grinned at me and his teeth were sharp and pointed, like that of a shark, or something equally terrifying.

"I can sense your fear," he said, sniffing the air. "It's delicious."

He slowly walked around me, his hands clasped behind his back. Unwilling to give him my back, I turned with him, knowing the others wouldn't move unless he told them too. I was banking on the fact Mozog would want to get some information out of me before I was killed.

"You've come for this woman, haven't you," Mozog asked as he stopped behind Phoebe caressing her face. "She is very lovely and perfectly suited to being used as a conduit for our plans. You know about those, I assume, from your Lady Synergy." At that, the door to the room burst open and another black robed person walked in, holding Lailah to his chest with a knife to her throat. "It would seem your plan isn't working out as well as you planned, but you see, mine is going perfectly."

I frowned after hearing that. "Wait, you wanted us to come here?"

"But of course, did you really think the Dark Lord would let Synergy out of his grasp once he had a taste of her? She is bound to him by blood and ritual as much as she is to you knights," Mozog explained. "The serum wasn't strong enough to overpower her angelic blessing, but we have been working on that and testing it on many subjects all over the world. Imagine my surprise when it was discovered that you were here in my section. That barrier you put up sent out a signal across quite a distance, alerting us to your presence."

"That means the barrier is too strong for you to get through, so you needed to lure us out of our safety zone," Lailah interjected, once she was set on her feet.

Looking at the pair of them, I knew she put up a good fight, the man had a black eye and a fat lip to show for his efforts. Lailah also had a black eye that bloomed out closer to her temple, making me guess that's how he got her so unbalanced or knocked her out even.

"That, dear lady, was something of dumb luck," Mozog answered. "We were making plans to do that exact thing, but you decided to come to us, allowing me to collect both of you. This is a good day for us indeed. Oh, and as for the others that are lurking around the building, they will be dealt with shortly, can't have more of them for you to feed off of, Lady Synergy."

Lailah's face became a mask of rage at that statement, elbowing the cloaked man in the gut, giving her enough room to spin and knee him in the balls. The man dropped like a rock but then Brutus was on her, wrapping a hand around her neck and picking her up until her feet could just barely touch. "Come on Synergy, show me what you've got, I love a woman who fights back."

Now it was my turn to rage at what was happening to Lailah. "Get your fucking hands off her."

Charging at Brutus, I dropped to my knees, sliding across the tile floor slicing at the back of his legs, while Lailah kicked out at him while clawing at his hold on her throat. My attack hit home, getting him right at the knees chopping them off at the joint, toppling him over and releasing Lailah at the same time. She rolled out of his reach and got to her feet coughing as I swung my staff and chopped off his head, watching as it rolled away from his body. The oddest part of this whole thing was there was no blood at all coming from the body. This just confirmed that the Higher-level demon had rotted the body from the inside out, until it was no longer human.

"No!" Lailah screamed, reaching out to something behind me.

Turning I found Phoebe in Mozog's arms, his hand holding her by the hair, neck exposed, with his mouth open as if he was going to tear out her throat. Terror flooded my body at the thought of seeing Phoebe killed before my very eyes and unable to do anything about it. Mozog met my gaze and slowly closed his mouth, pulling back from her skin. "Oh my, could it be that you have feelings for this woman as well? I suppose it would make sense for the man who is gifted with the element of heart to love more than one person at a time."

"Don't listen to him Lailah, he's a demon he'll say anything to make you doubt me," I growled.

Lailah edged closer to me in a show of solidarity. "You don't have to warn me about that, I can feel his malice filling the room."

"So tell me…would you let this woman die to save your Lady Synergy?" Mozog taunted. "If you have no love for her, then leave her with me and I'll let the two of you leave right now, along with the other two we've captured."

"We are not going to make any deals with you," Lailah snapped. "We are all leaving here alive, including Phoebe."

Mozog gave Lailah a toothy smile that set me on edge, as the two remaining cloaked people stood behind him. "Is that so? What would you do if told you that you were too late and we already performed the ritual on her?"

"There's no way, it hasn't been long enough and I would have felt that much demonic energy going around this place," Lailah countered. "You’re stalling for some reason, which makes me think you don't have the other two of my men and you're trying to find them."

"I can see why the Dark Lord is so focused on you," Mozog commented as he handed Phoebe off to the two minions. "Too bad that I don't agree with him that you'll be the perfect person for the Mother of All to live in. This woman here would be a much better fit, you see, she has a darkness in her heart that the Mother would appreciate and be drawn to. Yes, you are powerful, Lady Synergy, but there isn't an ounce of evil in you that we haven't put there ourselves."

Both of us glanced at each other when we understood that Mozog had decided to use Phoebe for Lilith's host, going against the Dark Lord's plans. Now there was no doubt in my mind that we had to get Phoebe out of here and to safety. "We won't let you do this," I announced.

"Yes, I had a feeling you would feel that way about this. So, it seems that we will have to remove you while this happens.”

With a snap of his fingers, the room was filled with more possessed people with weapons. But not the kind of guards we ran into earlier. That alone made me think that Lailah was right about them not having caught the others and they needed the guards to look for them. It also might be a ploy to keep us from killing them, seeing as they were normal looking people. Seeing the guns in some of their hands, I was very glad that we tested the fact that Lailah's shields could also block bullets. Otherwise, we would have zero chances of making it out of this alive. I felt that warm comforting feeling of Lailah drawing on my power as she placed an individual shield around each of us and she manifested her sword and shield. Grim determination to survive this filled me, along with the small hope that the others would find us in time to help.

Stepping closer to Lailah, I whispered, "let me deal with this, do what you can to stop them from doing the ritual."

"Parker, there is no way that you'll be able to handle all these people by yourself," she argued.

"You know we won't survive this without killing some of them, I can't let you suffer like that."

She looked at me, her crystal blue eyes hard. "How would having you suffer instead be any better? These people are lost and there is nothing we can do for them right now. It's better to let them pass on then to live as a puppet to a demon, causing them to do heinous things to others."

That was the last chance we had to discuss anything because they charged us. The sound of guns going off in the room was deafening, along with the screaming of the woman rushing at us with knives and claws. Lailah body checked a man coming at her with her shield, knocking him back into another, giving her some space as she dealt with another woman and her dagger. The battle was of the likes I've never experienced before, other than in a video game, and that didn't come close to this. The floor was getting slick with blood, making me realize that some of these people might not have been possessed long enough for their body to start deteriorating. A large man tackled me, causing my feet to slide out from under me so I slammed onto the floor with a grunt.

"Parker!" Lailah yelled, seeing me go down.

I slammed my staff into the man's face, breaking his nose and stunning him long enough to roll him off of me. "I'm fine." I called out so she didn't try to help me.

Taking a second, I looked around the room and saw that we were holding our own but the fact that more people poured into the room didn't bode well for us. I was getting tired and I knew Lailah must be as well. She'd come a long way, but four months of training didn't prepare you for something like this. Then I heard it, outside in the hall was the unmistakable roar that Micah used as he fought. We finally had help coming!

"Parker," Phoebe and Lailah both screamed.

Whipping my head around, I tried to see who was where, then I spotted Phoebe thrashing on the stone altar. Mozog was straddling her with a slice in his arm bleeding over her everywhere, as he chanted god knows what. Without hesitation, I used my staff to shove everyone around me out of the way and charged towards the altar, tackling Mozog so we both toppled off the altar and onto the floor. Using my powers now that I had a hold of him, I filled the human brain with the fact that he was in the worst pain of his life, making him scream like he was being murdered which, in a way, he was. The human mind can only handle so much pain before it shuts down and you pass out to protect yourself, which is exactly what happened after a few moments. When I was sure he was out for the count, I crawled back to the altar and pulled Phoebe off it until she was curled up in my arms, sobbing.

"It's alright I've got you," I murmured as I stroked her hair. "I won't let them take you from me, I promise."

Another scream filled the room that I knew was Lailah's and in the next moment I too was in mind numbing pain. It felt like my heart was being ripped out of my chest and then an audible crack, like a lightning bolt hitting the room, sounded. I hadn't realized that I blacked out until I opened my eyes to see Phoebe looming over me grinning and laughing at me. Her eyes were completely black and the blood that covered her face gave her a maniacal look.

"Look who just saved the Mother of All demons over the woman he swore to protect and love above all others. Do you know what you just did, oh gallant knight?" She purred as she stroked my face with a bloody hand, then leaned down so her lips brushed my ear as she spoke.

"You. Broke. Your. Oath."

TWENTY

LAILAH

When the room filled with possessed people, I knew that Mozog was trying to play to my humanity. The problem was, he also put Parker and Phoebe in danger which triggered my protective instincts, which overruled my need to preserve life. These people would never be free of demons, even if you knew how to save them from the demon inhabiting them now, because once it was out another could take it spot. The kindest thing I could do was to let these people be free and to die at peace, knowing they wouldn’t be taken over again. Bullets bounced off our shields and I was even more grateful that we decided to test that theory out during training. Once they realized that it did them no good, they moved on to using other weapons.

Jay had been ruthless in his training with me, which helped as my body automatically did what it needed to. Keeping space clear around myself with my shield, I could then deal with one person at a time. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Parker get taken down by a massive man, making me falter in my own battle as I called out to him. "Parker!"

It took a few moments for him to respond, but when he did I got right back to what I was doing. A gap opened up in the battle and I grinned at the fact we were holding our own, but I couldn't do it for much longer. My arms were getting heavy and sluggish as I blocked, swung, and stabbed those around me. Then I caught sight of Mozog with Phoebe at the altar, and I tried to get to her, knowing that if he performed the ritual to allow Lilith into her, she would never have a chance at coming back, antidote or not. I shoved forward, only to have someone behind me grab onto my ponytail and drag me back, slamming me to the floor. The air whooshed out of my lungs and the world around me went black as I felt hands grabbing at me, claws digging into my flesh so I did the only thing I could think of once I got my breath back.

"Parker."

On instinct, I pulled on my connection to all the men and found that they were all here in the building, much closer than I anticipated. Micah and Brayden were in the hall fighting to get to us, while Hudson and Jay were on the roof making their way to the skylight. I felt them pouring into me, filling me with their strength, reassuring me that they were here for me. Then I felt Parker's connection and as I grasped it, I watched in my mind's eye as it shattered, splintering into a thousand pieces. Pain unlike anything I'd ever encountered before wrecked my body down to a soul level, making me scream as I was unable to hold it all inside. The people around me got blasted across the room and I was in a bubble of protection, sobbing as the realization of what just happened dawned on me.

The Oath—a solemn promise witnessed by the angels of heaven, had been broken.

Devastation filled me, as it felt like someone just cut off my right hand, leaving me crippled and vulnerable. I couldn't move or speak, other than to scream and cry as I curled up into a ball. The building around me started to shake as I continued to pull power from the others, needing to feel them, to know I hadn't been abandoned by them all.

"The building is going to collapse." Someone bellowed.

What did I care—let the building fall. Maybe then I wouldn't have to wake up from this nightmare, knowing that one of my men, who claimed to love me, had turned his back on me. I'd read the journals Aiden left behind, I knew exactly what it would take to break the Oath. To choose evil over good, abandoning your calling, was the only action that could possibly be grounds for the angels to revoke the promise he made to me.

"Lailah, you have to let down the shield so we can get to you," Brayden called out to me. "Please, let us in."

Through our Bond, I could feel his concern and pain, as he didn't understand what was going on. Hudson, as well as Micah, were trying to reach out to me any way that they could, trying desperately not to freak out. I allowed them into my space, along with Jay's steady stalwart presence, and the pain began to ease slightly as they reached out to touch me. Feeling them here with me, as I had this gaping hole in my chest where Parker used to be, gave me enough courage to open my eyes. The room was now in shambles, my powers having blown out the windows, walls, and crushed anything else that got in its way. The ground was littered with people, their bodies broken and dead eyes staring glassy eyed into the void as now all that remained was an empty husk.

Then my eyes landed on Parker.

He stood there staring at me, tears running down his face, making clean streaks where his skin was covered in blood and other debris. That one look told me he knew what happened as well as I did. Anger tore through me as I let the guys help me get to my feet. The building had stopped trembling, but now it started up again as my fury whipped out around me like a snake going for the kill.

"Why the fuck are you crying?" I screamed. "You did this! Get out of my sight. I can't stand to look at filth like you."

Parker flinched, as if my words really did hit him the way I wanted them too.

"I should have known, when you warned me you were processing everything after seeing Phoebe again, that this would happen. I defended you, I made them trust in the fact that you changed. What a fool I am to believe a man whore like you could ever truly love one person for the rest of your life. Thank god you didn't really bond with me or you would’ve been stuck with me your whole goddamn life. Now you can go freely be with Phoebe, or any other slut you want, because you sure as hell won't be mine!" I snarled, fighting against Brayden's hold on me.

Parker took a step closer to me, but a wall of fire shot up halting him in his steps to get to me. "Trouble⁠—"

"Don't you dare," I screamed, collapsing to my knees on the ground. "Leave…just go…I can't, I can’t deal with this."

Sobs wracked my body, as Jay picked me up and cradled me in his arms. He rested his head on mine and spoke into my ear softly. "Beautiful, I need you to pull back on your powers so we can get out of this place safely. Once we get outside, where it's safe, you can burn the whole thing down for all I care, but you need to be safe first."

In my head, I knew he was right, but it took a few tries for me to collect myself enough to stop drawing from them and feeding it into my own power. Once I did that, the oppression in the air seemed to lift, the wind stopped, and the ground stopped shaking. I peeked over his shoulder and found that the altar was indeed shattered into dust, so that no one else could use it. The others remained silent as we picked our way out of the room and down the hall to the stairs. Not wanting to deal with anything right now, I hid my face in Jay's neck as he held me together in his arms. Soon enough, we were outside and the sun was still high in the sky shining brightly, as if my whole world hadn't just come crashing down.

"Lailah," Dylan's voice called out.

Lifting my head, I saw him along with Kyle and Cami, running over to me. When they saw me though, they came to a screeching halt, eyes wide with horror.

"Lala…what happened?" Cami gasped.

"We need to get her to North Western, where the Elementi hub is," Hudson explained. "They will have doctors there that can look over her and assist, without having to deal with awkward questions about how she got hurt."

"Why are you so calm? Where is Phoebe and why is Lailah covered in blood and look like she's been tortured?" Dylan growled. "I'm not letting you take my sister anywhere until you give me some answers."

"Phoebe's gone," Parker stated his voice cold.

Dylan let out a strangled sound as he dropped to the ground. "She's dead?"

"In a manner of speaking. She's the conduit to Lilith, the Mother of All Demons," Parker announced. "She disappeared with another conduit by the name of Mozog when Lailah's power started lashing out."

"Care to share why that was, fuckface?" Micah demanded getting right up in Parker's space.

"I don't have to tell you shit," Parker snarled, grabbing the front of Micah's shirt.

Hudson stepped up and grabbed Parker's hand, stopping him from decking Micah in the face. "You were the only one there, Parker. We need to know what happened before we got there."

Parker shook off Hudson and shoved Micah away from him as hard as he could, almost knocking him to the ground. "I fucked up, alright! Is that what you all want to hear? It finally happened, Parker the idiot, the frat boy man whore, finally lived up to your expectations."

"You're not making any sense," Brayden interjected.

Parker turned to me, holding my gaze as he told them all. "I broke my Oath when I chose to save Phoebe over Lailah."

I thought I'd seen Micah mad before, but the wrath I saw on his face was almost as terrifying as the Dark Lord's expression when the ritual didn't work. "I'll fucking kill you!"

Micah tackled Parker and started to beat the shit out of him, pummeling him in the face while Parker did nothing to stop him—nor did the others. Hudson's face was hard as he watched what was happening and Brayden came to stand in front of me, so my view of what was going on was blocked. Parker had dug his own grave and the others were going to let him lay in it. Brayden reached out and brushed some hair out of my face, tucking it behind my ear, giving me a soft sad smile.

"I'm not going to ask you how you feel, because I know it's not good, but do you have any injuries we need to look after right away?" Brayden asked gently.

Reaching out, I grasped his hand. "I don't know, right now all I feel is numb. The pain of the Oath shattering was the worst thing I've ever experienced, even surpassing what the Dark Lord did to me. Can we just go home? I don't want to go to the Elementi hub, I just want to go back home, crawl into bed and never come out again."

"Okay, we can go home," Brayden answered as he looked up at Jay.

"He's not coming with us," Jay announced. "I don't care where he goes but it won't be back to the house."

Brayden just nodded his head and looked over his shoulder. "Micah, leave him, Lailah wants to go home."

The sound of fist hitting flesh stopped as a pitiful groan came from Parker. "Fucker’s lucky all he gets is a broken face for now, since we need him alive long enough to end this shit with the Dark Lord."

"Wait, you're just going to leave him here?" Kyle called out after us. "Sis, where are you going?"

I couldn't face my little brother right now. I was too hurt to be anything but selfish. Wrapping my arms around Jay's neck, I let the tears fall as he held me tightly, he didn't even try to get me to let go as he climbed into the car with me. He put us in the very back of the SUV and let me cry, stroking my back soothingly as we drove back home. As much as I wished that I could just pass out, with how tired and drained I was, all I kept doing was running through the whole thing in my mind.

When had Phoebe been turned into a conduit? Had we been too late from the very beginning? Was she Lilith the whole time and I just couldn't sense her for some reason? No, there was no way that could be the case. It had to have happened today at some point. When I was in Hell, with the Dark Lord, he'd told me that she was being punished for trying to free all her children. How is it that she is awake already, or is it more of an echo, since Phoebe is connected to her? Fuck, I mean she’s the Mother of All demons, why put it past her to have been storing up energy herself to get free? What if the Dark Lord fell into her trap, but how does Mozog fit into all of this? Who is he a conduit for?

"Lailah, I can feel your mind working like crazy trying to reason out what happened," Jay whispered. "No matter what you think, you have to know it's not your fault. Parker is the one responsible for what happened back there, it was his choices that broke the Oath, not yours."

Oddly enough I didn't feel any of this was my fault. Jay was right, Parker is the one who fucked up, making a blatant choice of Phoebe over me. "I agree."

Even if Phoebe hadn't been connected to Lilith, this still would have been a huge red flag to me that Parker was not ready to commit to me. I never wanted to rush any of them into the Bond, which is why I only accepted his Oath. I believe we both knew he was nervous about being connected to someone forever, and even though I trusted him with many things, I don't know that I really did trust him with my heart yet. If seeing his ex-girlfriend threw him so badly, then I don't really trust that he loved me the way he thought he did.

So where did that leave us now…?

That problem would just have to wait for another day, because I didn't have a flying fuck to care right now.

TWENTY-ONE

LAILAH

The moment we got home, Cami led me right up to my bedroom and started the shower, helping me peel off my stiff blood-soaked clothes. Thankfully, we found that the wounds I did have were nothing too major. A few might need a couple of stitches, but I knew Jay could do them for me. The feeling of the water pelting against my sensitive skin, as I watched the water run red with the blood that covered my body and hair, was a surreal moment. The moment my mind tried to wander to the fact that I'd just killed so many people today, I shut it down and focused on one of the exercises my therapist used with me.

Fact: I did what I had to do to survive, and no one holds that against me but myself.

Fact: Those people were no longer people anymore, but puppets for demons, so what I did was the only way to set them free.

Fact: I did not harm these people in cold blood or enjoyment, which proves that I'm not a murderer.

I'd worked so hard to overcome everything that happened over New Year’s, that I couldn't let myself fall down that rabbit hole again. Lailah Mackenzie was a survivor, and Knight of the Elementi, blessed by the angels with the gift of Synergy. I'd been given the gift of being the secret weapon that can turn the tables on evil to win this war and keep the world safe. Was I hurt, knocked down, and heartbroken? Yes, I absolutely would acknowledge those feelings and accept them to be true for myself right now. Was I broken beyond repair? Not in this fucking lifetime, but I was going to allow myself to feel this pain and not hide it where it could be used against me. The Dark Lord had shown me more than once, anything hidden could be found and turned into a weapon. Lilith already used Parker's feelings for Phoebe to ruin him, but I wasn't going to let that happen to me.

When I finally felt like I was ready to be around the others, I toweled off, carefully dabbing at my skin in areas that were tender, before I slipped on a tank top and undies. Jay would need to take a look at everything before he decided how to deal with things, so no sense in putting on more clothes than I needed to. The room was empty, which surprised me since I expected Jay or Micah to be ready to pounce on me the moment I came out. Panic filled my chest as I worried that they left me too, once they saw what a mess I was. Did they judge me for killing all those people? Could I have been wrong about everything all along?

"Sunshine," Hudson's voice called softly through the bedroom door. "I can feel your panic, can I come in?"

"Yes," I squeaked out, as I fought against the panic that was trying to take over.

Hudson opened the door and headed right for me, pulling me against his warm body. He pressed my head against his chest, where I could hear his heartbeat and took in a deep breath, then let it out nice and slow. We'd done this so many times that words weren't needed, I knew to follow along and lose myself in the steady thump of his heart. People who didn't know this amazing man might call him cold or stiff, but it was only because he felt things so much deeper than anyone else I knew. His love was unconditional, his patience never ending, and his anger for whoever was unfortunate to witness it was swift and absolute. He was a man I completely trusted my heart with, no matter what my fear said, because I knew that I had his as well.

"What I wouldn't give to share this burden with you, my light, my soul, my Sunshine," Hudson murmured, as he placed soft kisses on each of my eyes where my tears leaked out, then finally my lips. There was no pressure for something more, just the simple comfort of touch. "Don't hide from us, let us in, we are strong enough to hold you up through this. Let us prove that we won't leave you, no matter what lies behind that wall you've built to protect yourself right now."

"How can I ask that of you?" I sobbed. "Then you won't want me once you see how truly broken I am. I was just managing to put myself back together, Hudson, and he destroyed it all in the blink of an eye. The ultimate weapon you've been waiting for is nothing more than a shattered girl with a broken heart."

"Lailah," Hudson pulled back from me so he could see my face. "I don't give a shit about saving the world right now, not if it means making you suffer more than you already are. What matters to me right now, in this moment, is that the love of my life is in pain, and I can't do much to help you except to just be there for you, however I can. Broken things can be made into something new, something better, and I'm not afraid of what you're truly feeling, nor will the others. Don't take my word for it, let us show you."

I nodded, tears rolling down my cheeks at his words, but still feeling numb in my heart. One of the strongest muscles in your body and yet so fragile when it gets stomped on. I let Hudson wrap me in a robe and lead me down into the kitchen, where everyone was sitting around the table looking as if someone died. In a way, I suppose they too felt the loss of Parker, having been friends with him for so many years and connected though being one of the knights. After centuries of the Elementi being in existence, something like this happening was unheard of. Even Cami looked as if she'd been crying, and made me wonder if she'd had to report what happened with HQ back at Ryevick. The moment they saw me, the guys all stood and walked over to me, each needing to touch me or hug me. Jay led me over to a stool near the counter, where his medical supplies were all laid out, and helped me out of the robe.

"You're lucky, this could have been much worse," Jay stated as he took in every scratch and bruise on my body.

"Thank God I had good teachers who always pushed me, knowing it would one day save my life," I answered, catching his gaze. "Thank you."

Jay reached out and stroked my cheek with the back of his knuckles. "I shouldn't have let you go there without all of us."

"No," I said, grasping his hand. "We are not going to play that game, Jay. Each of us made choices based on the information we had at the time. Some of them were wrong and others could have been handled better, but no one person is at fault for everything that went down. I shouldn't have jumped into dealing with that situation with only the two of us. I was just so worried about Phoebe going through what I did, and that made me rash, trying to compensate for my own fears."

Jay's stoic mask fell away, showing me just how much he cared for me and how the events of today had hit him deeper than he'd ever let on. "I could have lost you today, Lailah, that's twice now that I haven't been there."

"What do you guys keep telling me? Blaming doesn't change what happened, we need to learn from it instead," I reasoned. "I can't have you guys falling apart too, who will keep us going if we all crumble?"

"Oh, don't you worry about that Lala," Cami announced. "I'm not leaving until you lot convince me that you can be trusted on your own again."

I frowned at that, letting go of Jay's hand so he could start work on my injuries. "Wait, what about Maggs?"

"Trust me, when I explained to her and Beth what was going on, they both agreed that you needed me to stick around," Cami shared, confirming my suspicions. "There needs to be someone with estrogen, and not dating you, to keep a clear head about things—wouldn't you agree?"

"As selfish as it is, I'm glad you're going to stick around longer than two weeks," I answered, giving her a smile that I knew didn't reach my eyes.

"Beautiful, I need to put in a few stitches, but I don't have anything to dull the pain locally. What I can do is give you a pain killer that will make you sleep so I can deal with these," Jay informed me.

Glancing at the clock, I saw it was only four p.m. but I was more than ready to be done with this day. "I'll take the pain killer, might be the only way I get sleep right now."

"You know they make your nightmares worse," Jay cautioned.

"I’ll have them regardless, but there's a chance that I can have a solid few hours before they start this way," I countered.

Jay nodded and pulled out a pill bottle from his pack, handing me the pill along with a can of root beer. The gesture of making even taking a pill less awful, by having my favorite drink ready assured me that even if I couldn't see it now, I might just be able to rebuild my heart with these men. "It takes about thirty minutes to kick in, let's get you to eat something light and watch a show, hmm?"

Nodding, I let him prepare whatever he had in mind for me as I pulled up the robe and headed for the living room. The guys all joined me and carefully maneuvered me so I was touching them all in one way or another as we flipped through the channels. I'd just barely finished my bowl of soup before I started to fade, zoning in and out to the sounds of Bob's Burgers playing on the television, then I was out.

"Little Synergy, how nice of you to come back to see me," the Dark Lord purred. "I was beginning to think you actually believed you could be free of me."

Panic surged through me, as I realized that I wasn't just in the blissful darkness of sleep, no I was in the in between space that was nowhere really at all. The Dark Lord and I have had many encounters here since the time I started school at Ryevick. Of course, back then he didn't have as much of a foothold into my mind as he did now, but he managed to frighten me just fine then as much as now.

"Did you know Mozog's plan?" I asked, deciding to take charge of the conversation instead of him this time.

I could feel the air vibrate with tension at the mention of his name. "That woman isn't strong enough to handle being the conduit to Lilith. There is a reason it had to be you, and not just any pathetic human woman."

"Are you saying the connection will kill her?"

"She won't last more than a week before her body decays and Lilith's connection will be cut off. Mozog will have to do the ritual continuously with a new woman if he plans to revive her that way. My plan was perfect!"

This made me think that is exactly what Mozog has been doing for her behind the Dark Lords back. "Is he one of her children?"

"Her favorite, the first born of the angel Samael." The Dark Lord shared. "Enough about him. He is a fool to think his plan will work better, flooding the world with useless puppets from the work I've done. You need to take him out."

"Excuse me?!" I blurted. "Did you just tell me to kill him? Why the hell would I do you any favors?"

"Haven't you heard the saying, the enemy of my enemy is my friend? Do you want him infecting and killing innocent women every week, just to try and free Lilith?"

"You're trying to do the same thing—with me!" I argued.

"Yes, but I don't want you dead, you serve me no purpose dead. We both need him dead, and I can't do it while he is on Earth, so you have to do it."

I just started to laugh at the whole situation. "I have to be stoned or something because there is no way the Dark Lord is coming to me right now and asking me to kill off one of Lilith's children—her first born I might add. Nope, this has to be the drugs talking, I need to tell Jay I’m never taking that again."

Faster than a blink of an eye, I could no longer breathe. I clawed at my throat, trying to grab hold of whatever was constricting my airflow but there was nothing there. Terror flooded my body, making everything all that much worse as I gasped for air, but none would fill my lungs.

"You dare to laugh at me?!" The Dark Lord raged. "Do not mistake my attempt at reasoning with you to be seen as a weakness. I need you alive Little Synergy, but that doesn't mean anyone else should remain that way. You've had one of your lovers stripped from you in the blink of an eye, what would happen if I took the others? Maybe I've been going about this the wrong way, perhaps I should turn them into puppets?"

Just when I was on the verge of passing out, he released me and I gulped down air, coughing as my throat burned from being constricted. My body shook with terror as I tried to calm myself enough to take even breaths, but my heart was racing too fast to manage.

"Kill Mozog, or I will take them from you one by one until it's done."

With that, he released me and thrust me back into my body, where I felt someone pounding on my chest.

"Is she still not breathing?!" Micah demanded.

Another thump slammed directly over my heart, and I gasped, rolling onto my side curling up into a ball, coughing. My eyes were watering but I was able to blink them clear enough to notice I was in my room in bed.

"What the fuck just happened?" Brayden yelled.

"The Dark Lord doesn't like to be laughed at."

TWENTY-TWO

LAILAH

The guys yelling had the others come running in and flipping on the lights, to reveal a frantic Micah and Brayden on his knees beside me, with his head in his hands.

"What the hell is going on here? We only left ten minutes ago," Hudson exclaimed.

Jay climbed up right on the bed, only dressed in his sleep pants, and pulled my hand away from my throat. A growl slipped out as he took in the sight of what I'm sure was bruised skin. The Dark Lord would want to be sure the others knew what he'd done to me, so I would have to tell them what he threatened.

"What did he want this time?" Jay bit out between clenched teeth.

"He wants us to kill Mozog for him," I rasped.

They all froze, but when I started to cough again, Hudson headed off to the bathroom and came back with a glass of water. "This should help."

"Why the fuck would he want us to kill one of his minions?" Micah demanded as he ran his hands through his hair. "That makes absolutely no fucking sense at all."

Shaking my head, I reached out resting a hand on his knee. "Mozog is Lilith's oldest child. Apparently, the Dark Lord and Mozog aren't on the same page for how to bring Lilith back. According to what he said, Lilith is too powerful for a normal human to serve as her conduit, which is why he needed—needs—me to do the job. Using a human means that the body will decay in a week’s time, or less, depending on the person."

Jay narrowed his eyes as he searched my face. "What aren't you saying?"

"Of course I told him no, the whole thing was too absurd for me to even take seriously, so I laughed at him," I answered, then paused thinking over the whole interaction. "For a moment there, I thought I was just out of my mind off whatever Jay gave me for the pain, but the Dark Lord chose to show me the error of my ways. He reminded me that he needed me alive but that it didn't apply to anyone else in my life. Of course, those that I'm fully bonded with have to stay alive, but technically speaking, a puppet is still alive."

"So, he is now changing tactics after he saw what losing Parker did to you," Brayden mused. "The situation is a no-brainer though. We have to deal with Mozog regardless of what the Dark Lord wants, but then we'll also be giving him an advantage as well."

"Perhaps it's not as cut and dry as you initially thought," Hudson pointed out. "I think this is a cause for some deliberation into this matter. There needs to be another reason we go after Mozog that has nothing to do with the Dark Lord’s agenda."

"Hold up guys," Micah interjected, drawing our attention. "Can we go back to the part where you laughed at the Dark Lord, because that right there needs to be talked about for just a moment."

Seeing him grin at me with pride in his eyes, I couldn't help but reciprocate the action. I'd actually laughed at the boogie man that haunted my dreams for almost a year now. Sure, I'd gotten choked out for it, but still it was empowering to have done it at all.

"I might need to change your nickname to little badass, instead of Cookie Monster," he teased.

The others chuckled at that, chasing away the lingering shadows that had been hanging over me after the whole interaction. Then an idea hit me. "What if we didn't kill Mozog?"

Micah gave me a quizzical brow. "Ah… I'm not following."

"Okay here me out, I might still be delusional from lack of oxygen, or the drug Jay gave me," I reasoned, waving off their doubt. "What if we captured Mozog and convinced him to help us take down the Dark Lord?"

"How would one propose to do that exactly?" Hudson inquired, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"We need to offer him someone who could be a conduit for Lilith that will last longer than a week and isn't me," I reasoned. "It would have to be someone connected to the Elementi in some way but isn't really part of it, so they won't be making us break our oath by getting them involved as bait to a crazed demon."

"I know the perfect person," Micah announced, clapping his hands and grinning like a cat who got the cream. "Think my aunt will do? She’s from a line that has produced Elementi Warriors, plus she technically is filthy rich and rules a country. All things that both Lilith and Mozog would want."

"How exactly would you even get the two of them to agree?" Hudson countered. "Your aunt isn't just going to hop on a plane and come out here because you ask her to. Then how on earth are we going to get ahold of Mozog to share with him that we have this perfect candidate?"

All of Hudson's questions seemed to let all the air out of Micah's balloon, making him deflate.

"Why don't we take some time to think about it and get some sleep. I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted and really don't have the brain power to deal with all of this right now." I said, following it up with a yawn.

The guys all stood and looked at one another, as if unsure what to do with themselves so I decided to put them out of their misery. "Could all of you stay with me tonight? If you guys are comfortable with that?"

"We would be honored to all stay with you tonight," Hudson assured me. "If we're being honest, I think it would help us all get some sleep knowing we are here with you."

"I couldn't agree more," I stated as I snuggled under the covers and patted the bed. "Come on, hop in."

That was all the encouragement they needed to all pile on in and maneuver around to get comfortable. Micah pulled me against his chest, my ass tucked right up against him, with Brayden reclaiming his spot on the other side of me. Hudson opted for sleeping on the other side of Brayden, and Jay was down at my feet, a hand wrapped around my ankle. There was no chance of me feeling alone tonight, with all of them here and so close. It seemed they predicted this might happen since the bed fit all of us fairly comfortably. Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes, praying that the Dark Lord was done with whatever he needed to say to me tonight. If I was going to be dealing with the mess my life was right now, I wasn't sure I could do that without some sort of sleep.

The following morning, I found that I wasn't the first one awake, but the last. The sun was shining in through the windows, filling the room with a soft glow, making Hudson look even more handsome than ever. I laid there, watching him reading in one of the armchairs in my room with his hair still disheveled and wearing his sleep clothes. It was simple moments like this, that I couldn't believe that I had not just one amazing man in my life but five...I mean four. Cami was the one who started the whole, I’m basically married when we completed our Bond, but the guys latched on to that and ran with it. Brayden and Hudson both loved to secretly call me their wife whenever they could, but I'd more so brushed it off as them keeping the joke alive. Yet as I look at Hudson in this intimate moment, I could honestly say that I did view him as my husband, along with Brayden. Micah and I were still learning what our Bond meant to each other, but I knew he definitely saw himself as my husband.

Then a thought struck me...even though I called Parker my fiancé, I don't think I thought of him that way in my heart. Don't get me wrong, I love that man, even after all he's done, which makes it all the more painful, but I don't think I trusted him to put me first like the others have. Even though Jay and I haven't completed our Bond, I already think of him as my husband. Even when the Oath happened between us, it wasn't the same as the others, it was perfect and exactly how it needed to happen. Now, it was high time to lock that man down before he ever had a chance to doubt my love or risk the chance of something happening where I might lose him as well.

"Sunshine…?"

My gaze flicked back to Hudson from where it had drifted to the trees outside. "Hmm?"

"What are you thinking about so hard? I can feel the roller coaster ride from over here," He questioned, closing his book, giving me his full attention.

Grabbing a pillow, I propped myself up a little more so I could see him better. "I was thinking about Parker."

"Ah." With that acknowledgement, he stood up and offered me his hand. Frowning, I grasped it and let him pull me from the bed. "This is a conversation to be had with the others, but first you need some tea."

I couldn't help but smile at him for knowing me as well as he does. Holding up my robe, he helped me slip it on and tied the belt around my waist as he pressed a kiss to my forehead. "Good morning my beautiful wife, did you sleep well?"

"Why yes, surprisingly I was able to sleep without any dreams at all," I answered. "And you, my loving husband, did you manage to sleep well with the others in the bed?"

Hudson didn't answer me right away, his eyes wide in surprise and delight, a grin pulling at his lips. "Husband… I love the sound of that coming off your lips."

"Then I guess I should use it more often," I mused, wrapping my arms around his waist. "I like to see my husbands happy."

"Whoa, how did you get her to say that so casually?" Brayden exclaimed, as he walked into the room.

I let go of Hudson to face my first husband. "You should have told me it meant so much to you for me to call you guys that."

"Angel, that's not how this works," Brayden murmured as he cupped my face and pressed a soft kiss to my lips. "You can't force someone to call you their husband if they aren't ready to. We all knew that it was going to take you just a little longer to be comfortable with our relationship. You show us every day how much we mean to you, in your own way. Never once have you hidden the fact we are together, quite the opposite actually. If I had to wait a while for you to call me your husband because you truly view me that way, I was fine with it."

It was moments like this that made what Parker did even worse, but showed me just how lucky I was to have these four men. "I love you," I blurted. "That’s another thing that I don't say as often as I should either."

"I love you too, Angel," Brayden said, nuzzling his nose with mine. "Now, let's head down. I was just coming to get you, Cami made breakfast for us."

"She did? I don't smell any smoke or hear any screaming," I pointed out as I headed downstairs with them.

Brayden chuckled and glanced at me over his shoulder. "She had Jay watching over her shoulder the whole time to make sure it was safe enough for you to eat."

I could only imagine how this whole thing went down and was even more surprised that I slept through all of it. Did having them all there with me make that big of a difference? Guess I would have to talk them into doing it again to see, oh darn.

When we reached the kitchen, I was amazed to see the table set and the guys gathered around it except for Jay who was removing something from the oven, with Cami right at his elbow.

"Okay, I get that it's been in longer than it should, but does it look right?" Cami asked.

"It's an egg casserole, if it's cooked through then it will be fine," Jay answered, setting it on the counter and pulling out a knife.

"Yeah, but how do we know if it's cooked all the way through?" Cami countered.

Jay looked at her with a scowl and pointed for her to leave the kitchen. She opened her mouth to argue but then she spotted me and her face lit up. "Lala, you're awake!"

Racing over to me, she grabbed my hands and led me over to the table. "Sit, sit, sit, I've got everything covered this morning. What would you like to drink? We have orange, apple, or grapefruit juice, coffee—wait never mind you don't drink that. Oh, I could make you a cup of tea!"

"Tea would be lovely, whatever kind you want to surprise me with," I said, trying to hold back my laughter.

I absolutely appreciated what she was trying to do for me and I couldn't have asked for a better best friend to have right now.

"Got it. Okay, make some tea… you just need hot water and a tea bag, right?" Cami questioned, then held up her hands. "Never mind, I'll figure it out, I got this covered."

Leaning over to Micah who was sitting next to me I whispered. "What's up with her?"

"I think she's trying to coddle you after everything that happened yesterday and last night. The moment one of us was awake and out of the bedroom, she demanded answers about all the yelling and why none of us left," Micah explained. "Just humor her, you’re the only best friend she has ever had and I think she's scared she might lose you." I blinked at him, shocked that he, of all people, would say something so insightful about emotional matters. "Don't look at me like that, Cookie. She's the sister I never wanted but got stuck with anyway, just because I act like a dick doesn't mean I don't care."

That is exactly what people thought of him, but I knew how wrong they were. "That is one thing I would never think about you, Micah. You act all tough but really you're just a burnt marshmallow, hard and crispy on the outside but soft and gooey on the inside."

Micah caught my chin with his hand and pulled me forward to him. "You ever tell anyone else that, and I will deny it till the day I die, but yes I would say that is fairly accurate." Before I could say anything more, he seared his lips to mine, making me hum with contentment.

"Okay, do you think we can keep the PDA to a minimum while we eat, it's unsettling for those of us not in this relationship," Cami interjected.

Micah pulled back and gave her a grin. "Jealous?"

Cami scoffed as she took her seat. "Please, if I wanted to make a move on Lala there's no way she could resist me. I'm just that good, so watch yourself or you might be gaining another member to your harem buddy boy."

"How would Maggs feel about that?" he shot back.

"Really, that's what you're going with? You think Maggs would really care if it was my dear sweet Lala who she is also good friends with? Hell, I'll just tell her we’re in a true polymerous relationship," Cami declared.

"So, you would be fine if Maggs got another girlfriend or boyfriend if she wanted?" Brayden asked, his tone surprised.

Cami frowned at him. "Okay, when did this become about my love life? To answer your question, B-man, no I wouldn't have a problem with it if that is the relationship we both agreed to and we were open and honest about it. I told Lala this way back in the day when I was setting you guys up all sneaky like, but it's not fair to expect one person to fulfill all your needs. If that means adding in another person to the party, why the hell not?"

"That is very astute of you, Cami," Hudson commented. "Looks like everything is ready, shall we eat?"

Bless that man, taking the heat off my bestie. "I'm starving, Jay, load me up."

TWENTY-THREE

LAILAH

Since Jay and Cami made breakfast, the rest of us pitched in to clean up, even though Cami argued the whole time. "Guys, this is not how this is supposed to work, I'm here to help out and take off some of the pressure."

"Cami, you did that when you made breakfast, we have a rule between all of us that whoever cooks doesn't clean," Brayden explained. "There are a lot of us and so it's really not that much of a burden."

"Yeah well, we don't have the idiot helping us this time so that helps," Micah commented, acid in his tone.

At the mention of Parker not being there, I was brought to an abrupt halt as my heart ached with his absence. Even though my brain was pissed at him and knew he didn't deserve to be here with us right now, it didn't do a damn thing for my heart, who missed him terribly. "Has anyone heard from him?" I whispered, half hoping no one would hear me, but I wasn't that lucky.

"Dylan texted me, letting me know they took him to your parents for the night," Jay answered. "Dylan also said that everyone wanted to come over to check on you, but I also think it's because he has questions."

Unable to deal with the simple task of putting the leftovers in a container, I shoved it away and splayed my hands on the counter. "How can I tell him there's no hope for Phoebe? No matter what plan we come up with, it will always end in Phoebe dying."

"Angel," Brayden ventured, reaching out to me.

I didn't want to be comforted. I wanted to be left to feel angry about the situation. "Don't, please." I snapped as I stepped away from him. "I'm going to get some clothes on and call my parents."

"Alright, we'll be around if you need us," Brayden said, assuring me he wasn't upset with me.

I just nodded and headed upstairs, feeling all their eyes on me as I walked away. In the refuge of my own room, I slid down the door and crumpled to the floor as the pain I'd been pushing off gutted me full force.

He left me—no it was worse than that. Parker, my grinning, goofball of a boyfriend, betrayed me and left not even putting up a fight. He just let Micah beat him to a pulp and let me leave, without trying to stop me! So what if I told him to fuck off, if he really wanted me he should have said something… right?

Tears streamed down my face as my body shook with the effort to keep my sobs quiet so the guys wouldn't come up here. They were going through their own emotions over this, but they didn't know what it felt like to have a piece of your soul ripped out of you, while at the same time you weren't sure you were going to live.

Could someone even come back from a fuck up as big as this? Would the angels allow us to form another Bond if he broke his Oath to me and them? Why?! Why the fuck was I the one who had to deal with all of this? Hadn't I suffered enough for this goddamn calling? If I was supposed to be some mythical weapon to end the hold the darkness had on this world, it would mother fucking help if they didn't keep kicking me while I was down. Letting out a growl, I pulled myself to my feet and wiped my sleeve across my face to dry my tears, before tossing it off. Yanking open one of the drawers that held my work out clothes, I pulled out what I needed and slammed it shut. I made quick work getting ready, tossed my hair up and out of the way, snagged my headphones, and jogged down the stairs.

"Lailah," Jay called out to me as I brushed past him out the front door. "Do not ignore me."

The tone he used made me pause long enough to look him in the eyes and toss out what he wanted to know. "I'm going for a run. No, I don't want company."

"We are not the enemy, and I don't appreciate being treated as such," he barked, making me flinch.

Whirling on my heel, I turned to face him. "That's what you think this is?"

"How would I know differently when you won't take the time to speak to me?" Jay reasoned, his arms crossed, face unreadable. "You only run from those you don't want to be around."

Something about the way he said that made me snap. "I can't think with all of you constantly listening in on my emotions and trying to make things alright when it's not, Jay! Nothing is okay right now, I'm broken, pissed, and in pain. A pain that no one understands but me, and everything is so fucked up I can't process anything, so I need to go for a run. That okay with you, or do you plan to stop me because the world is too dangerous out there to be trusted on my own?"

"Don't pick a fight you can't win, Beautiful," Jay warned but he relaxed slightly after my outburst. "Go have your run, all I ask is that you take your phone with you."

I opened my mouth to say something sassy, but he was right. I was trying to pick a fight. So I just nodded my head and showed him my phone attached to my arm. "I will… and thanks."

In true Jay fashion he didn't say anything, just turned and walked back into the house. Guilt compounded on my other mix of emotions, making me need this run all that much more. I walked to the end of the drive and took a moment to stretch against a tree so I didn't do more harm than good. Thankfully, the stitches didn't pull that bad as I started at a light easy jog, following the beat of my running playlist set up just for this purpose. It surprised me that I was in even better shape now than I had been running track all through high school. I was up to my old times and distance, even being able to outdo them with a little effort. That wasn't what today's run was about though, I needed to clear my head and this is how I always did that best. The slap of my feet on the asphalt, the music in my ears, and the breath moving in and out of my lungs was all I focused on, bringing me back to center.

Having no idea where I was running or the layout of the community, I just decided to stay within the gates and GPS my way back if I needed to. Although I had a feeling if I took too long, Jay would be showing up at some point. He would let me have my space but that didn't mean I wasn't being tracked by him, either through my phone or some other way he found to keep an eye on me. Either way, I would take the illusion of being on my own for now and deal with that when it happened. Now that I was good and warmed up, I put some real effort into my run feeling the need to push myself, to feel the burn of my muscles getting used, the stress of things slipping away with each droplet of sweat.

Interestingly enough, my thoughts drifted to Micah's idea about using his aunt as the bait for Mozog. What if I approached the Dark Lord and used him just as he was using me to get the job done? He of course, would expect us to kill Mozog but we would capture him instead, in the hope we could gain some knowledge about the Dark Lord, or even what Mozog's own plans were. The whole situation would be a gray area in following the rules, but I believed that to get this mission done we would need to walk that edge of the knife as best we could without falling.

I was responsible for killing many innocent people, regardless of the fact they had been possessed by demons and infected with the serum. Everything about this whole situation was a blurred line depending on how you looked at it. The only things I refused to do was become callused to the suffering of those being used and their lives lost. If I felt for a second I no longer felt guilt or remorse over the things I'd done, I would end it all in a heartbeat, because that was not who I was. Lost deep in thought, I didn't notice the car until it was moments away from hitting me. Diving out of the way, I landed in the bushes that bordered someone's front yard with the car sounding a long and excessive honk as they kept driving.

"What the hell?" I swore, picking myself up off the ground and pulling the branches out of my hair trying to get my heart rate to calm down.

"This is exactly why I never understood why Synergy was going to be a human, you're just so fragile," a voice said from behind me on the other side of the bushes.

I froze as my brain registered that it was Phoebe's voice who'd spoken. Slowly turning, I came face to face with none other than Lilith, Mother of All, using Phoebe's body.

Lilith pouted when I met her all-black eyes. "You don't look very happy to see me, Synergy… or should I call you Lailah? Just a few months ago, you were destined to be my conduit so I could stop using these filthy human flesh sacks. "

"What are you doing here?" I demanded, finally getting over my shock.

"I would think that would be obvious, I'm here to steal your body of course," Lilith laughed, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "While this one does have a deliciously dark heart, I'm just too powerful for her body to contain. If it makes you feel any better, she absolutely planned on crushing your brother's heart and stealing Parker from you. How could I resist helping her and you for that matter. I exposed the bastard for the man he truly is."

"Don't you dare say his name," I snarled, my power pulsing around me in anger. "You manipulated and used him for your own sick and twisted enjoyment."

Lilith looked down at her nails, feigning boredom as I spoke. "Blah, blah, blah, like I haven't heard it all before. Babe, my own children locked me away, drained all my power, throwing away the key because they feared and hated me… what makes you think you're a threat at all? God, it's like you're a mouse squeaking away at the lion who's playing with you."

"Well, if I'm not a threat to you then I guess I'll just have to kill Mozog instead. Someone told me he was your favorite child, born of an angel, if the rumors are true," I threatened.

A grin spread across Lilith's face at my words. "Would you look at that, an Elementi who knows how to play the game. I warn you though, it's not wise to threaten something that you also could be hurt by in retaliation. See, everyone's got a favorite to lose, but you have far more of them than I do, little warrior. We'll have to do this again another time, seems we are about to be interrupted." Bopping me on the nose, Lilith stepped back and in a cloud of smoke she disappeared.

"Could my day get any worse?" I muttered as I tried to shake off that encounter and picked off the rest of the bush from my clothes. Then I heard footsteps approaching, but didn't bother to look up having a good guess as to who it was. "Jay, I haven't even been gone long enough for you to need to come looking for me."

"Trouble—"

My head snapped up and there was Parker, standing a foot away from me. He looked awful, black eye, split lip, bruise on his chin, and his clothes rumpled like he slept in them. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to talk to you... alone, without the others breathing down my neck. Not that I blame them for wanting to keep you away from me after what I did," Parker answered, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "I don't even know where to begin to tell you how sorry I am, or that I know I fucked up big time."

"You fucked up? That's what you think you did?" I demanded, taking a step towards him. "Are you under the impression that I'm just going to brush this off, forgive you and move on like you didn't shatter my heart into a billion pieces? I fucking loved you, Parker."

His face paled at my words, making his bruising stand out even more. "You said loved… like past tense."

"Well, I'm glad to see your hearing wasn't affected by Micah's pounding," I said, baiting him. "Yes Parker—loved— I don't know how I feel about you right now, but I know it isn't love."

"Lailah, I deserve all your rage and pain for what I did to you. I also know that I have a lot of work ahead of me to prove that I do love you and want to earn your trust back," Parker explained. "The question is, are you going to give me a chance?"

Oh hell no, he is not going to make this my problem I wasn't the one who fucked up!

"Parker, I told you from the moment you told me about Phoebe that you were the one in control about whether things would cause problems or not." Seeing that he still wasn't getting it, I decided to spell it out for him. "I. Did. Nothing. Wrong. You did. And now, it's your problem to figure out how to solve it."

"Are you telling me there is no hope?" Parker pressed.

I covered my face with my hands, unable to deal with this situation, then dropped them to meet his gaze once again. "Before I knew about the Elementi, or the fact that I was Synergy, you were one of my best friends. We've been more than friends for five months and you still can't seem to understand me. How is there any hope for us to be more, when you won't even risk trying? I'm not the person to ask how to fix this, because at the moment I don't want to give you a chance, for fear you'll do it again or something worse. With everything we have been through, I used to think I trusted you with my life, but I don't think that's true anymore since you abandoned me for you ex-girlfriend, who was already a host to the Mother of All demons." Unable to continue this conversation I turned and started walking away.

A hand shot out and grabbed my wrist, pulling me against their chest. I knew it was Parker, the feel of his body against mine was familiar and comforting, no matter how badly he betrayed me. "Please don't walk away from me, Trouble. I can't lose you, it will destroy me if there is no chance to fix things between us."

My heart and mind were at war with each other on how to handle him, but I was saved when Jay rolled up in the Audi. Putting the car in park he got out and walked over to us, his eyes locked on mine, ignoring Parker completely. "Your parents are here, along with your brothers, it seems they decided you were taking too long to talk to them." Reaching out a hand, he gave me an out if I wanted it and I took it.

"Lailah, please," Parker begged. "Tell me there is even the slightest glimmer of hope I can fix this."

Jay wrapped his arm around my waist as I looked at Parker. "It won't be easy, and I have no idea how long it will take, if it ever will, but you can try. All I ask right now is time apart so I can heal from the damage you've done already. If you can't respect that simple request, then I guess I'll have all the information I need to know that we will never work."

"How much time?"

"I don't know," I answered honestly. "Guess you'll have to decide if you're willing to wait."

Parker nodded, his hands balling into fists. "I'll wait for as long as it takes, Lailah, I refuse to lose you forever, if there's a chance."

Jay opened the car door for me and helped me in before shutting it. He said something to Parker who nodded, not taking his gaze off of me until we drove off, leaving him there in the road.

TWENTY-FOUR

JAY

"Your stuff is sitting in the driveway, don't even try to come in the house," I warned Parker in a voice low enough that Lailah wouldn't hear me.

Even though I didn't have the connection yet to feel her emotions, it was written all over her face as I got into the car. This situation had been even more traumatic to her than we had first suspected. Without a doubt, we knew this had broken her heart and set her back from the progress that she’d made getting herself back to some sense of normal, but what I'd just witnessed told me it was more than that. Part of me actually worried for the first time that she might do something she could never come back from if we weren't careful.

The car was silent as she sat next to me, her hands clasped tightly together in her lap, as if she was trying to hold herself together with everything she had. I'd see that same look on my mother’s face when my father came to take me from her when I was old enough to start training with him. Having me with her was the only connection she had to my father, who for some reason I still don't understand, she loved. Reaching over, I covered her hands with mine and squeezed, trying to tell her that I was there for her. When I went to pull my hand away, she clutched it as if it was a lifeline to her, so I let her have it, willing to do whatever it took to help her through this. If picking a fight with me like she did earlier was going to help, then I would go toe to toe, or if it simply was the need to not feel alone, then that's what I would do.

Lailah had no clue what she truly meant to me and that was partially my fault, I wasn't good at sharing emotions after being punished for so long when I did express them. My father saw them as a weakness and used any chance he could to cut them out of me, after he took me from Mother. Since Lailah came into the picture, I've spent less time with my father doing missions for him now that my true team was complete… or had been. I knew the others had seen a difference in me as Lailah worked her spell on me, pulling me out of my emotionless shell. After seeing how fragile this connection I had to her right now is, I needed to find a way to finish this between us because I was never going to take the chance of losing her. She was my life, my soul, my perfect partner to spend the rest of my life watching over and protecting her from everything I could.

"I thought we were going back to the house," Lailah questioned as she seemed to realize where she was.

I didn't answer her right away as I parked on the side of the road that had a gravel pull off. I'd discovered this trail when I'd been running the other day and when I saw where it led to, I knew I needed to bring Lailah here. "I thought you might want a little time to process talking with Parker before you spoke to your parents."

She nodded as her eyes started to shimmer with unshed tears. Gently, I pulled my hand out of hers, turned the car off and got out to open her door. "Can I show you something?"

Blinking, she looked up at me surprised by my question. "Ah…sure."

Holding out a hand to her, I pulled her out of the low car, giving her a tender smile that seemed to catch her off guard. "Follow me."

Without releasing her hand, I intertwined our fingers and led her down the narrow path deeper into the woods. It took us about ten minutes to get there, but the path was easy and our silence was comfortable, as we took in the nature around us. Back at Ryevick, we'd spent much of our alone time on trails like this running or hiking, just enjoying each other's company and I wouldn't trade it for the world. We'd all adjusted to sharing Lailah amongst ourselves for the most part, but we all craved our time alone with her, getting her full attention even for an hour or two. None of us ever felt neglected, but when you loved someone the way I did Lailah, you craved being their entire focus even for a moment.

Lailah paused when she heard the tell-tale sound of running water, which made me smile as a flicker of interest appeared in her eyes. "Where are we going, Jay?"

Turning to face her, I took both hands in mine. "Do you trust me?"

"With my life," she said without hesitation.

"What about your heart?"

That one took her a moment to answer as she searched my face, almost trying to see into my soul. I dropped my guard and let her in completely, no longer wanting to hide anything from her. Lailah's eyes widened in surprise, taking an unconscious step closer, pulling a hand from me to rest it on my cheek. Then the brightest smile I'd ever seen on her face, bloomed into existence as a tear slipped down her cheek.

"There you are, I knew you were lurking under there somewhere," she whispered as she stroked her thumb along my skin. "Jay, I trust you with my everything, without question or reservation. Time and time again you have proven to me your love and loyalty, but just now you showed me you trusted me with your heart. Who could ask for more?"

Using my free hand, I pulled her to me by the back of her neck and kissed her, infusing it with everything I'd been too afraid to show her before. We were both taking the risk to bare our souls to each other and it was the closest thing I could think of souls intertwining. Pulling back, I lifted her hand and kissed the back of it before I took a few more steps backward, not willing to take my eyes off her as she saw what was behind me through the break in the trees. Her soft gasp as she took in everything was just what I'd hoped it would be. Stepping to the side, I pulled her in front of me and held her against my chest as we took in the sight of the river with it's swiftly moving current over the small six foot waterfall and rapids below curling around the boulders and fallen tree below. The trail took you to the base of the waterfall, but you could easily climb up to the top portion as well.

"Jay, how did you find this?" Lailah asked in awe.

"Dumb luck," I answered grinning with how pleased I was.

"This reminds me of that first trail run you and I did together."

I hummed my agreement, having thought the same thing. Even though this was smaller, it had the same magical feeling to it, being secluded deep in the woods with just the sounds of nature around us. I tugged her over to a soft patch of moss that I'd used the last time I was here to enjoy the atmosphere, setting her in between my legs so she leaned against me as I was propped up against a boulder.

"Can we stay here a while?" Lailah murmured.

"We can stay as long as you like, Beautiful, the others know you're with me," I assured her.

When her parents arrived and told us that they brought Parker with them, Micah lost his shit, but Brayden was able to hold him back. Not understanding the reaction, Hudson tried to calm things down with them. I was glad he was someone we could count on to be the rational out of us in that moment while I left to go find Lailah. I knew if Parker found her on her run that she wouldn't be able to make it back to the house on her own after. I made sure to send them all a text letting them know I would be back with her when she was ready and not before. The last thing she needed was high emotions, blunt logic, or pandering, even if it was meant to be supportive.

Having her here in my arms, completely relaxed as she watched the water, was exactly what I'd hoped would happen. Using my power, I picked up the breeze near the waterfall causing the water spray to float through the air into the sunshine where it turned into a shimmering rainbow of colors. Lailah took a sharp intake of breath as she gripped my leg, which brought my dick to full attention as she wiggled between my legs. Trying to keep my mind off her perfect ass rubbing against my dick, I performed a few more tricks, making her giggle with excitement.

"I had no idea you could do things like that."

Leaning down, I kissed the back of her neck before I whispered in her ear. "It's not often I get the chance to show off."

A shiver ran through her body at my words, which led me to kiss her behind her ear. In an act of complete trust, she tilted her head to the side exposing her neck to me more with a sigh of pleasure. Bringing my hands up, I let them skim down her arms as I started to kiss along her neck, nipping every so often, getting a moan of pleasure each time I did. This wasn't what I had in mind at all bringing her out here, but if she asked me to continue, I wasn't a strong enough man to say no when I craved her so completely.

"Jay," she sighed, leaning her head back against my shoulder bringing her hand up to pull me down to her lips.

My hands slipped under her shirt and didn't stop until I had them on her breasts, kneading them over her sports bra. Devouring her moans as she arched into my hands was the sweetest nectar you've ever had, driving me to pull more from her. Breaking our kiss, I pulled her t-shirt up and off, setting it beside me before returning to shove her bra up, freeing her so I could attend to them better. Pinching at her erect nipples, I pulled them slightly making her cry out.

"Oh god, yes Jay."

With a growl, I grabbed her by the hips, lifting and spinning her around so she was facing me as I latched on to one of her breasts. She clutched my head to her as I feasted on her soft flesh, rolling the tight bud with my tongue as I massaged the other. Her hips ground against my pelvis, trying to gain any kind of friction.

"I need to feel you, Jay," Lailah murmured as she started to pull at the back of my shirt. Leaning forward, I held her securely as she yanked it over my head and tossed it behind her, then started to paw at my pants.

I grabbed her hands in one of mine, halting her attack on me with a grin, kissing her softly. "There is no rush, Beautiful, we have all the time we need."

Slowly, I laid her down on her back in the moss before I worked on getting my pants off. In an almost methodical movement, I rested my hands on her hips and slid my fingers in her waistband so she knew what I was going to do. I felt her tense but then relax, giving me a nod to keep going. Peeling off her leggings was like unwrapping the best gift I could have been given in life, she wasn't even wearing any underwear, so the moment I got them over her hips, I was greeted with the sight of her perfect pussy. It was already glistening with her need, making me all but purr with my need to taste it. Somehow, I managed to get her pants off before I spread them wide and kissed up her leg, making it clear what my intentions were.

Her breath came in pants, as she anticipated what was about to happen. I kept a watchful eye in case it ever became too much. Being on her back had been one of her triggers, but from what I gathered that was getting better. When I finally got to my prize, I almost didn't want to cross that line right now with how vulnerable she was, because the moment I started this, it wouldn't end until I was finishing inside her claiming her as mine for the rest of our lives together.

"Please, I need you, Jay. I know you said our time will happen when it's right, but I don't want to wait any longer. I need you to be mine forever," she pleaded, and that was all I needed to make my choice.

My lips skirted her inner thigh before I nipped at it with my teeth. Finally, I made it to her center, it was the most beautiful sight I had ever seen, making me want to lick it until my tongue fell off. Her taste was even better than her smell. I licked up her slit before I buried my tongue inside her, discovering the sweetest most perfect taste in the world. I never wanted to stop but I knew my cock needed to be inside her just as badly.

I used my hands to spread her lower lips so I could lick her more easily. I started to use my fingers inside her as well, the extra stimulation making her writhe beneath me. I knew she was close, but I focused on getting her ready for me. I slid my hand down to her ass and lifted her up so I could get even deeper inside her. I put all my focus on making her cum, on my face making her come for me. I was rewarded with her juices coating my lips as she came, almost causing me to drown in her cum. I kept at it though, sucking her sensitive clit into my mouth and lightly grazing it with my teeth, before I gave it a lick to take the sting away.

"That was amazing, Jay. I can't wait to feel you inside me," she moaned, and I knew I couldn't wait anymore either. My dick was aching for her. I gave her a few last licks before I got up and gave her a bigger kiss. She tasted herself on my lips and tongue and I could see the desire in her eyes.

"Are you okay if I try to do this with you under me?" I asked as I slowly moved, kissing up her body until I reached her mouth. "I need to watch your face as we do this for the first time, I want the image of you becoming mine, forever ingrained in my mind for eternity."

"How could a girl turn down a request like that?" she answered, smiling up at me. "I told you, Jay, I trust you in every way, you'll never hurt me."

Cupping her face with my hands I devoured her, overwhelmed with the trust and love that was shining in her eyes as I slipped into her. She groaned into my mouth as my cock filled her to the point I reached the end of her. She was tight and hot, the most exquisite feeling I'd ever known. We stayed like that for a few moments, not moving, just feeling as we became one.

Pulling out just as slowly as I'd slipped into her, I watched as her eyes opened and her pupils dilated as she looked at me.

"Are you ok?" I asked, pausing before I thrust back into her with a nod of her head. Her breath caught and I felt her muscles contract around me. This was going to be one hell of a ride.

I fucked her like there was no tomorrow, pounding into her over and over again, and she took it and then some. She was tight and wet and her pussy muscles were milking me as I thrust harder and deeper. I felt her body tighten as she came and as I felt her clench down on my cock I came, too. I felt my cum as it pulsed out of my cock into her, then I pulled out, flipping her over so she was on her knees and I could slide back into her.

Power crashed around us as I entered her again, wrapping us in its heady grasp as our Bond snapped into place, but I wasn't done with her yet. I'd waited too long for this moment between us and I was going to enjoy every moment of it.

This new angle was fantastic, allowing me to slide deeper into her than before, as I grabbed her hips and fucked her hard. Wrapping an arm around her waist, my thumb slid across her clit as I rubbed it. I slid in and out of her, watching where we were connected, filling my need to own her body, marking it as mine. The sight of her naked, out in the open air, her firm round ass thrust back, her pussy wet wrapping around my dick, and crying out for me was almost too much to take.

I came again, my balls tightening as I filled her up. Then I collapsed onto her back, my arms still wrapped around her. I could feel her body trembling beneath mine as I kissed her neck, then her back and then her ass as I pulled out.

"I love you." I heard her whisper, as I rolled to the side and curled her into my arms.

"I love you, too." I replied as I stroked her hair. "You, Lailah, are my very soul which I cannot live without. I will always be here to protect you, even if you resent me for it sometimes. Just know I can't bear the thought of losing you, Beautiful."

TWENTY-FIVE

LAILAH

Jay and I stayed at the river for a little longer, just holding each other, taking time to enjoy the feeling of our new Bond. Out of all the Bonds, I was most excited to be able to get a glimpse inside Jay's brain since he was the hardest to read. To say that I was stunned at the intensity of his love for me was an understatement. It was borderline obsessive, but made me understand his need to keep me safe and healthy all the time. This didn't mean that I was going to let him control everything in my life just to make him feel better, but it helped me see his point of view. We walked back to the car hand in hand, not wanting to let anything come between us, even getting into the car with that fleeting moment when he had to get in on the other side was too much. I wasn't sure if it was his need or mine that was driving the clinginess but neither one of us wanted to fight it.

In a way, it was odd that I'd been so comfortable and adamant about him sealing our Bond after what I just went through with Parker, but now I knew he couldn't ever leave me. Knowing that I now had four of them tied to me for the rest of my life curbed some of the fear that I would be abandoned by them all, as irrational as that fear was. This is one of those moments where the heart and the head didn't agree with each other right away—not that it mattered, since the deed was done. We arrived back at the house where I paused at the front door, knowing the moment I walked in there I was going to have to face all the problems I'd left behind.

"Beautiful…" Jay murmured, wrapping his arms around my waist. "You're not alone in this, we will help you figure this out."

"They’re my parents though, how do I tell them that I let my brother's girlfriend get taken and turned into a body for one of the most evil female demons?" I countered leaning into him.

"First of all, you didn't do any of this," Jay stated. "Secondly, they are our family now too, and I know any of us would be happy to explain things if you don't want to."

Taking a deep breath, I let it out slowly before squaring my shoulders and giving Jay a nod to let him know I was ready. Together, we walked in to find everyone seated in the living room with tense, worried expressions on their faces. No one was speaking, just sitting in uncomfortable silence taking coffee from Cami as she handed them out to everyone. Hearing us enter, all their heads snapped in our direction and Mom was half out of her seat before Dad took her hand to stop her. She looked down at him then returned to her spot, clutching the coffee mug in her hand and waiting for me to join them.

"I was just getting everyone something warm to drink, did either of you want coffee or tea?" Cami asked, breaking the tension as she walked up to us.

Without letting go of Jay I hugged Cami with my free arm. "Thank you for looking after them, Cami. What would I do without you?"

Cami gave me a warm smile. "Well, you need someone to keep a level head around here when all your men lose their shit without you around. How you manage them being all moody, I'll never know." With a wink she headed back to the kitchen to do who knows what.

Jay and I took one of the remaining open armchairs, him pulling me onto his lap and resting his head on my shoulder.

"Did we all look that whipped after we Bonded?" Micah asked, grinning at us.

"You have no room to tease, mister. I remember someone being very needy about spending quality time with me after it happened," I shot back.

Brayden snorted at that. "No one was as bad as Hudson though—he was a total goner."

"Says the man who got her all to himself for two months," Hudson countered, looking down his nose at Brayden.

My father cleared his throat, drawing all of us back to the reason that they were even here. "Lailah, I know this is going to be difficult for you with what Parker's told us, but we have so many questions and he felt it was better to talk to you about them."

I tensed hearing this. "What did Parker tell you?"

"Well…he explained how you two are no longer together because of something he did, that also resulted in Phoebe going missing," Dad explained. "It didn't really make sense to us at all, and then Dylan was saying something about demons at the powerplant."

My gaze shifted to Dylan, and he looked just how I felt about the whole situation. Both of us lost someone that we thought we loved, in ways we never expected. My heart ached for both of us, but I knew there was nothing I could do to fix things for him, especially after I talked with Lilith.

"Dylan," I started drawing his attention. "What can I do to help you?"

"You can get her back," he bit out his eyes stormy with anger. "But not until you kill the bastard who did this to her."

Standing up, I walked over to Dylan and knelt down in front of him. "I will bring her back to you just like I promised I would, but you have to understand that she won't be the same. Even if I can bring her back to you alive, which I can't guarantee, the Phoebe you know is gone forever. As for your second request…it would be my honor to avenge her death for you, because I will take them all down—every last one of them. I won't leave here until I destroy whatever hold they have here and then I'll move on to the one who started this war."

"How did this happen Lailah? I just don't understand it, why Phoebe?" Dylan pressed tears welling up in his eyes. "She was a good person."

My thoughts went back to my talk with Lilith and I knew I couldn't trust her to say anything truthful, but I was sure that some of what she said was true. "The demons look for people they can manipulate in some way shape or form. Good or bad, everyone has a weakness, whether it’s money, power, fame, it's the crack they can use to get their foothold in. This demon could grant Phoebe's wish, and manipulation is the strongest weapon they have. I've experienced it myself, the reason that I have these markings is because they tried to do the same thing to me they did to Phoebe. They threatened to kill everyone I cared about, and a group of innocents, if I didn't comply. I decided that it was better to give up my own life than to let you all suffer at their hands."

"Why can't you save Phoebe if you got away?"

"It would seem that being an Elementi Warrior, and blessed with Synergy, made me somewhat resistant to their efforts. If I hadn't been bonded to these men I would have been lost, but since they hold a part of my soul it couldn't be taken from me the same way. I suffered in many other ways, but it gave us hope that my blood might give us a chance to save those who are lost. They just haven't been able to find the right combination yet to make it work," I shared. "Please trust me to do everything I can to save her and if I can't, I won't let them use her for something evil, I'll set her free in another way." Dylan looked at me, numbly nodding his head, turning his gaze away from me. "I need all of you to be careful, they have already started to threaten to hurt you to get to me if I don't fall in line. I would ask that you guys stay here for now, we have a protective barrier around our home they can't get through, so I know you'll be safe. The rest of us need to head into Chicago to meet up with the Elementi team that is there."

"We can't just stop living our lives to hide here!" Kyle blurted. "Doesn't that show them they've won?"

"Kyle these are demons—pure evil. They don't give a damn about playing by the rules; all they care about is how they can get me to do what they want. They can't win this war without me being on their side. The biggest weakness I have is you guys and they know that. If I'm going to be of any use to anyone, I need to know you are here safe so I can do everything in my power to end this while keeping you all alive."

"Why is this all on you? Why don't the others help?" Mom demanded as she frowned at the guys behind me.

Looking over my shoulder at them, I gave them a soft smile. "Don't worry, they will be right by my side the whole time, keeping me safe." Turning back to Mom I took her hand. "The five of us are a team and we are our best when we all work together to get this done."

"What about Parker?"

"That's hard to explain Mom, but Parker made me a promise that was witnessed by the angels, and he broke that promise, along with my heart," I answered, trying my best to keep my voice steady as the words were like a dagger into my heart. "Time will tell what will happen with that, but right now I can't rely on him."

"Alright so we stay here, but for how long?" Dad questioned. "How do we keep in contact with you through this, because I'm not just going to let my baby girl put herself in danger and not be able to reach you."

"I'll stay here to guard you guys and keep in contact with the Elementi base of operations. As Lala's bodyguard, it's my honor to keep her family safe while she can't." Cami announced. "That way, you don't have to worry about a human servant coming to get them or manipulate them into leaving the safe zone."

"Thank you Cami, that will lift a huge burden off my shoulders," I agreed.

Dad snorted as he looked Cami up and down. "I don't mean any offence, but what can a small thing like you do to protect us?"

"I'm so glad you asked," Cami answered with a grin. "I've been trained since I was a small child for this type of job. You could say that I'm the equivalent of a Navy Seal special ops soldier in our organization. I might not be able to kill a demon if one showed up, but other than that, I've got you covered."

My parents looked at her with shock and amazement.

"If you think this is what's best, then we'll trust your judgement in this, Ladybug," Mom said, leaning into Dad as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"What your mother said. We don't want to make this harder for you, but watching one of your children put themselves in harm’s way to keep us safe is just hard to swallow," Dad explained.

Mom patted Dad's leg, giving him an understanding smile before she turned back to me. "When are you heading to Chicago?"

"In the next hour or so, there are too many moving parts and not enough information for us to make the moves we need. Dylan, what is the name of the lawyer that Phoebe was working under?"

"That would be Mr. Lewis, he's one of the founding partners. Why do you need to know that?" Dylan inquired, brows scrunched in a frown.

"Nothing you need to worry about," I assured him, not wanting to even hint at our plan, no matter how rough it was. "If you need anything from the house, two of the guys can go with you while I get cleaned up after my run. I would plan for a few days just to be safe, hopefully we can get this cleared up quickly, but I honestly don't have a clue what we are walking into yet."

"Brayden and I will take them over," Micah volunteered.

I reached out to him to pull me to my feet, then gave him a quick kiss. "Thank you, I'll see you guys when you get back and we'll head out, alright?"

"You’re the boss," Micah teased, trying to get a smile out of me, which worked.

"I'll clear out a few of the bedrooms and move everything into the master so that you guys have rooms," Hudson offered, heading off to do as he said.

This is when Mom started to fret. "Oh, I don't want to put you out or make more work for you to have us here."

"Mom, two or more of them stay in my room most nights as it is. Believe me when I say, this is not an inconvenience to them." The blush that appeared on my mother's cheeks upon hearing that made me realize what she assumed. I mean, she wasn't wrong but shared activities were a new concept in our relationship but I wasn't going to explain that part of our lives now, if ever. Some things a mother just doesn't need to know.

TWENTY-SIX

LAILAH

Jay followed me up to the bathroom, and joined me in the shower, since we both needed to clean up from our adventure in the woods. He kept his hands to himself for the most part, since he could clearly read that I was more focused on our next steps.

"Do you want to tell me why you really wanted the name of the lawyer?" he asked eventually, as we dried off.

Pausing I took a moment to consider whether I should tell him or not since it wasn't my story to tell, I said, "If we want to go with the plan to get Micah's aunt here to the states, I feel that he will be useful to us with other information I know. I'm not purposefully trying to be cryptic, I just don't want to say more than I should without his permission."

"I understand and respect that," Jay said as he headed into the bedroom where his duffle bag now was. "You keep secrets for all of us in one way or another, but I trust you to tell me if it was something I needed to know."

I wrapped my arms around his waist and leaned my head against his still bare chest as he held me tightly to him. "Tell me we can really do this, that we can end this, and I won't have to keep losing parts of myself for nothing."

At the feeling of another person walking up behind me, I tensed but then I felt Hudson reach out to me through our connection, setting me at ease. He kissed the back of my neck as he pressed against me, so I was cocooned between them. "Sunshine, I know that at the end of all of this we will come out on top. Everything we have all suffered through will have been for a reason and we will finish this once and for all."

"How can you be so confident?" I questioned. "I have no idea how we’re going to manage everything I promised to my brother. The more I look at things, the more lost I’m feeling; like my hands are tied behind my back with nowhere to go."

Jay pulled back enough to lift my chin, so I was looking him in the eye. "Fear is nothing more than a weapon to keep us from doing what we must. It blinds us to things that could be staring us right in the face because we are already accepting the fact we'll fail. It takes true courage to throw off that fear and take a step forward, even if you can't see the way out."

"Together, with all our minds and skills, we will find the answer," Hudson agreed.

"Can we do this with one of us missing?" I challenged, knowing that without Parker we were vulnerable.

Hudson rested his head on my shoulder, pressing his lips to my skin in comfort before he spoke. "Even if we had Parker with us right now, he wouldn't be of any use to us. This is something he needs to work through and learn about himself, no matter how we wish we could help him. If he can't trust himself, then how can he expect you to?"

"I know that is super logical and smart Hudson, but it doesn't make it any easier," I huffed as I pulled out of their arms to get dressed.

"Trust me, Sunshine, I know," he sighed. "Because he'll have to prove to us, as well as you, that he won't do something that fucked up again."

That was the part of this that I hadn't really thought through much. Parker broke their trust as much as mine by doing what he did and putting me in danger—the one thing they might not be able to forgive. Pushing aside that problem, I focused on what we needed to do now.

"Jay, do you mind reaching out to the Chicago hub and letting them know we're coming?" I asked. "It might be smart for us to pack a few things to take as well. I won't return back here and look my family in the eye unless we've finished this."

"Of course, Beautiful I can do that," Jay answered.

"Want me to help you pack some things for the other two?" Hudson offered. "It might be just as easy to do it now than wait for when they come back."

"Guys only need a clean pair of boxers and a shirt right?" I teased grinning over at him where he was digging through his own luggage.

"That might work for some, but I prefer to have a whole new set of clean clothes to change into, otherwise I just feel dirty," Hudson shared, setting a few sets of clothes to the side.

Walking over to him I kissed him on the cheek. "Why doesn't that shock me? Did you grab things out of the other two bathrooms?"

Shocking the hell out of me, Hudson smacked me on the ass, making me yelp as I headed to the door. "Not yet, while you're at it you should switch out the towels—wouldn't want to have the in-laws using dirty ones."

"What a considerate husband you are, even if you like to play dangerously at times," I commented, narrowing my gaze at him while rubbing my butt cheek that smarted.

He just smiled and gave me a wink, before turning back to continue what he was doing. Rolling my eyes, I headed to the bathroom in the hall that Parker and Jay had been using, only to find Parker's things had been cleared out. Rationally, I knew the others wouldn't let him back in the house and I told him to give me space, but this was irrefutable evidence that he was well and truly removed from this home. Shaking myself out of the darkness I was spiraling towards, I collected Jay's thing and headed for the other bathroom Micah and Brayden used that was shared between the two rooms they had claimed when we first got here. Cami had the second master bedroom that had its own bathroom, which worked out perfectly.

Tossing everything I gathered into the bag that Hudson was packing, I paused when I caught them both watching me with cautious expressions. "What?"

"We know you noticed Parker's things are gone," Hudson ventured. "More so, that it upset you… should we not have made him leave?"

Shaking my head and letting my shoulders slump, I sat on the bed. "Seeing as I told him to give me time and leave me alone, it was the only option. There is no way that he could have stayed here. It would have hurt too much to see him every day, just seeing him now was almost too much. Especially after talking with Lilith, it caught me off guard."

"What the fuck!" Jay roared, marching over to me. "You’re just telling us this now?"

Flopping back onto the bed I groaned, rubbing my face with my hands. "I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to hide it, I promise. Everything just happened all at once. She showed up to basically threaten me directly about the same thing the Dark Lord wants, then Parker showed up, and we went for our walk in the woods which led to Bonding. Where was I supposed to fit that in?"

Clearly not happy with my answer, Jay decided to straddle me so we were face to face. "Lailah, that is the first thing that should have come out of your mouth when I picked you up," Jay growled. "I took us to a secluded place and made us both vulnerable. What if she had attacked us and stolen you away from me?"

"Obviously, I wasn't thinking," I snapped back at him, pissed that I knew he had every right to be mad. "I just wanted to forget everything that happened and enjoy a moment with you—is that so wrong?"

"Yes, when it puts you in danger," Jay stated. I could feel his panic at the thought of me being taken from him and the turmoil that was churning through his emotions. "Lailah, you can't keep doing this to me. I know you're hurting and avoidance seems the perfect answer, but not at the cost of your own life. It would ruin us, all of us, if we lost you. Don't you get it?"

Hudson walked up behind Jay and placed a hand on his back, causing him to sit up and roll off me, allowing Hudson to sit on the other side of me. "What else happened?"

"That's the odd part, she left when Parker showed up, not willing to be seen by him or anyone else," I answered, sitting up and crossing my legs. "She did say that she thought Phoebe would last less than a week, even if she was perfect in every other way. I took a chance and threatened Mozog, but she just laughed it off telling me that it wasn't wise to threaten something I too could lose."

"It would seem she wasn't supposed to be approaching you on her own, makes me wonder how weak she really is in a normal human," Hudson mused. "Her threat seems to be more of an eye for an eye situation so I can understand why you want them here when both Lilith and the Dark Lord are after them."

The sound of people returning clued us into the fact that everyone was back.

"Can we talk about this more in the car? We do have a two hour drive to get to Chicago," I requested.

They both nodded in agreement and they left the room. Jay grabbed the bag with all our stuff in it, caught my hand, and quickly followed the others. Gathering once more in the living room, I gave each of my family members a hug and held them as tightly as I could.

"This house is yours to use as you like. Food is stocked, there’s a movie room upstairs, bathrooms have been cleared out, oh and all the rooms but mine and Cami's are open to use," I explained. "I don't know how long we’ll be gone but I'll make sure that Cami is kept in the loop if we can't update you ourselves. I love you guys and I'm doing everything I can to end this as quickly as I can."

"We love you too, Ladybug, be safe and come back to us as quickly as you can," Mom said, giving me one more hug and a kiss on the forehead.

Then Dad grabbed my shoulders and looked me right in the eye. "You give 'em hell, you hear me?"

"Oh I will," I assured him. "Be safe Dad, promise me you won't leave here until I tell you it's safe to do so."

"All right baby girl, we'll stay here in your cushy mansion safe and sound," Dad promised.

Brayden came up and took my hand, leading me out of the house, knowing it would be too hard for me to do it on my own. Out of all the men in my life, he understood my connection to my family the best but I was learning that each of them had a special connection to me, in one way or another, that the others didn't. We all piled into the car and headed out for Chicago, where the Elementi hub was waiting for us with all the various reports and things that Jay rattled off to them.

"Do you want to stop for food?" Brayden asked me.

"Am I allowed to say no?" I asked in a teasing tone.

"No," Jay and Micah both said at the same time.

That got a chuckle out of me. "Yeah, I didn't think so, if you guys want to stop along the way I'm fine, otherwise we can eat in Evanston."

"I think it would be better for us to get closer to the hub than to risk stopping out here in the open," Jay reasoned.

"Are we worried about getting caught in the open?" Micah asked, turning to look at me from the front seat.

The bastard set me up with that comment so I would have to tell them about Lilith. "I might have had a visit from the Mother of All."

"What the actual fuck," Micah exclaimed, almost leaping out of his seat to shake me. "How are we just hearing about this now?"

Letting out a heavy sigh, I leaned back in my seat staring up at the roof of the car preparing to repeat myself. "All she wanted was to talk and taunt me in Phoebe's body. She took great delight in telling me that Phoebe was evil and even then, wouldn't last her a week with how weak she was, being a human. She wanted to follow the Dark Lord's plan and use me as her human suit."

"And what, she just let you walk away?" Micah sneered.

Sitting up, I opened my mouth to yell at him, but instead I just screamed at a massive truck that came around a blind corner slamming into the front of the SUV sending us rolling into a corn field. The world was a blur of yelling, crunching metal, glass shattering, and getting slammed into the side of the car so hard I was knocked out cold.

TWENTY-SEVEN

LAILAH

"She better not be fucking damaged, I told you not to hit them going that fast," an angry voice snapped.

"Fuck off, Bill," another grumbled. "We had to make sure the rest of them were taken out so we didn't have to fight them all. It worked and all of them are alive, just like we were ordered to make sure happened. Now, if you're done being a little bitch, could you help me get them in the truck?"

I felt myself being lifted and I groaned at the movement. My head was pounding, and everything felt sore-- almost like I was hit by a truck. As much as I wanted to stay conscious to figure out what was going on or if the others were okay, that was dashed when they chucked me into the back of the truck. I landed with a thud on the hard metal surface, then was shoved deeper until I thudded into something solid and unmoving making me whimper.

"You trying to get yourself killed?"

"Look she made a noise, it's fine, she'll live. Now we need to tie up these assholes so they can't use their magical weapons to get free."

"If we get in trouble just know I am completely fine throwing you under the bus. That Lilith bitch is fucking crazy. I'm not going to be one of her punching bags when things don't go her way."

"Pussy."

"Yeah--but still alive."

The sound of another body getting tossed in and shoved should have warned me what was coming but I didn't have the ability to move, let alone protect myself. When the body slammed into me, I had the glimmer of a thought that it was Brayden and he was alive, before I was lost to the world again.

As my senses started returning, hearing was the first to arrive, having been drawn out by the talking that was happening around me.

"Tell me, when I said that I needed her alive and unharmed was I not clear enough?" a female voice purred dangerously. "Because it seems that she is alive—just barely, which was not the agreement!"

"Listen bitch, I don't know who you think you are, but we did the job for you, now give us the rest of the money you owe us," one of the male voices from before snarled.

A maniacal laugh seemed to burst out from the woman. "You think I'm going to pay you after you failed to do the job? Oh, you poor foolish human, no I have something better in mind for you."

I finally got the energy to attempt to open my eyes, only to be greeted by the sight of Lilith cutting off a man's head with her claws to have it roll over towards me. Lilith turned to face me, but I snapped my eyes closed so she still thought that I was unconscious, trying to figure out what the hell happened to us. It was clear that Lilith was behind this, but it didn't really explain why she attacked us the way she did. How had she known we left the house? Did they have someone watching? Why didn't she take the guys when they left with my parents?

"Come now Lailah, I know you're awake," Lilith chided me as a claw ran along the side of my face. "Thankfully, there is no lasting damage other than a concussion and some bruising. I did tell them to be gentle with you, I promise." Resigning myself to the situation, I opened my eyes to see her face right in front of mine. A smile bloomed across her face. "There you are, it's good to see there wasn't any brain damage."

Gripping my shoulders, she pulled me into a sitting position leaning me against the wall, so I didn't have to hold myself up. I took a moment to look around the space and found that we were in another type of factory, but this one looked like it’s been abandoned for quite some time. Dust and cobwebs covered every flat surface and dust motes floated through the air on a breeze that was flowing through the space from some unknown source.

"The place isn't much to look at but, someone, was responsible for exposing our last base of operations to the Elementi," Lilith sighed, as she stood. "Now we're stuck in this shit hole."

Groaning as I lifted a hand to press to my pounding head, I searched for the guys. Something told me I knew they had been brought with us, but everything was so fuzzy I couldn't remember why I knew that. Nothing about the area I could see told me that I was correct in thinking that, seeing as the only other person around was the dead man whose detached head was staring at me. Why wasn't that bothering me more? It's not normal to have zero reaction to a severed head with blood leaking out of it...right?

"Where are they," I croaked out.

"Hmm?"

"The others. Where are they?"

A look of understanding appeared on her face as if she'd all but forgotten about them. "Oh them, they're alive."

"That's not what I asked. Where are they?"

Letting out a huff, Lilith put her hands on her hips. "Well, if I tell you that, then you'll go find them and I can't have you doing that. You're already fully Bonded to four of them, but thankfully I got the last one to break his Oath so there's still a chance I can make this work."

"You did that on purpose?" I snapped, anger coursing through my body.

Lilith clicked her tongue at me. "If you Bonded with all of them, then I wouldn't be able to use your body. Just because the Dark Lord was leaving you alone for the past few months, doesn't mean he wasn't keeping an eye on you. You hold a part of him inside you. It's like a GPS for him to find you wherever and whenever he wants to. His plan to turn you into my conduit didn't work, so I had to come up with one of my own once I knew who all the players were. The knight who is ruled by his heart was the easiest to go after, since throughout history they are known to be fickle."

"Mozog didn't seem to know who Phoebe was though, I heard him talking to the person who brought her to the power plant," I argued. "How could you have set this all up without his help?"

"God, you're kind of stupid aren't you," Lilith sniffed. "He has been supplying me bodies for months while I set this in motion. Some were more useful than others, but I worked with what I had to get the job done right. Phoebe got the internship and came out here, where she met your brother who was a total sucker for a woman with major daddy issues. It was easy enough to get them to fall for each other, with some influence on our part." Lilith tapped her chin as she thought about something. "Personally, I wanted the jaded fire knight to be the one to break your heart. I set up everything up, but I underestimated how much he really loved you."

"Micah, what does he have to do with this?"

"Did you really think his aunt was smart enough to pull a move like changing the one major thing required for him to take over the trust and other investments?" Lilith shot back.

I frowned at that.

"Oh my, did he not tell you that he had to be married? It used to be that he had to graduate college to get access to the full trust and ownership of the businesses, but someone changed things and got the board to vote. They felt that a wife would be better stability for Micah than an education and working his way up to the position of power. Little did they know, that dear sweet jaded Micah never wanted a wife or to be married, because it was just too painful for him if he ever lost another person he loved. Not to mention, the pain for said wife if he died on her." Now pacing, she chewed on her lip glancing at me and her watch. "I thought for sure it would be enough to send him running for the hills after seeing what a hot mess you were after what happened with the Dark Lord, but nooo, he had to go against the plan. Thank Satan I had backup plans for the other two you hadn't bonded with."

"You have a plan for Jay as well?"

Lilith rolled her eyes. "Come on girl keep up will you, I know you smashed your brain, but really is it that hard to think like a demon?"

Other than myself, there wasn't much that Jay held with enough value to be swayed by... except for one other person. "What have you done with his mother?"

"See, it wasn't that hard to figure out," Lilith praised, clapping her hands. "His mother is lovely by the way, very sweet pure soul that one."

"Again, that doesn't tell me what you did to her."

"Can't you let me have a little fun with you? Once I take over your body, we won't get to talk like this, and for some odd reason I just find you fascinating." Glowering at her, she pouted and sighed. "Fine, be that way. Currently, she is spending some quality time with two of the Dark Lord’s pet demons that he rules over. They can't really be trusted around large groups of humans. They tend to draw attention to themselves with how messy they slaughter them. On the other hand, they are the best at running the training camp preparing our new puppet soldiers to fight your Elementi forces. See once the Dark Lord and I join forces with my new body and powers, you'll give me then the world is ours!"

Over my dead body was that ever going to happen. Now that I knew her full agenda, I needed to come up with a plan to stop it from happening.

"Will you at least let me say goodbye to them?" I asked.

Lilith gave me a scathing look. "Don't try to play me, Lailah, we've already established you're not smart enough for that. Besides, there is no time. Mozog will be back with the last few things we need and then you'll become my personal puppet."

"How do you know this is going to work, when the Dark Lord couldn't do it when we were next to your real body in Hell."

"That was the problem, he shouldn't have taken you to Hell to begin with," she stated. "But the biggest game changer is going to be that you'll invite me in all on your own."

"How do you figure?" I inquired, my heart rate picking up as dread filled my body.

Lilith flashed me a bright smile before squatting down before me. "Well, if you don't, then I'll just kill you all. If I can't get you to accept me, then I'm sure as hell not going to leave you alive to destroy us. This is the closest we’ve gotten to taking over the world and I'm not going to be locked away for another two thousand years."

While the Dark Lord was scary and gave me nightmares, Lilith was another level of unhinged, seeing absolutely no value in keeping things alive that didn't serve a purpose. Being her host was my purpose and if I couldn't do that, then better to be rid of me. The Dark Lord knew that I was worth more than just her puppet, was there a way that I could use that to my advantage? His blind love and obsession for Lilith was what drove this whole plot to take over the world in the first place. Would he listen to me if I told him he needed to lock her up again?

"How much time do I have?" I asked, catching her off guard.

"Oh about fifteen minutes or so... why?"

With a shrug of my shoulders, I leaned back to stare at the ceiling. "Just wrapping my head around not existing anymore."

"Dramatic much? You'll still know everything that's going on, you'll just be unable to do anything about it," Lilith explained. "As my puppet you're still intact, it's just the body that I destroy that kills them. For you though, it will be different since that won't happen, instead you'll just sit in the corner of your own mind and watch while I control everything."

Hearing this made me want to throw up. So not only would I be unable to stop the heinous acts she was going to use my body for, but I would be fully aware of it happening.

"Don't look so glum, once I get enough power, I'll give you back your body. It will be like your reward for helping us win the war."

"What happens to the guys during that time? You know if you kill them, you kill me, so are they going to be puppets as well?" I questioned.

"I'm leaving that up to the Dark Lord, he's in charge of the military, which is where they will be the most useful, of course. Although, I might keep them around to play with. It's been so long since I've had a good fuck and I can already tell your men have some talent."

Yup, I'm going to be ill if she keeps talking about that. Time to change the topic. "So, how is this going to work?"

"It's rather simple really, I just need you to hold Phoebe's hands and allow me to transfer my essence over to you. Since you'll be willing, already have the markings, and been exposed to the serum, it should be easy enough."

"Then what are we waiting on?" I pressed as an idea trickled into my brain.

"How much pain are you in? That can cloud the brain and make this worse for me when I enter your body. One of the downsides to being in a puppet is feeling unnecessary things like pain and other emotions. Mozog went to get drugs that would block those while we complete the process."

"The Mother of All is afraid of a little pain?" I challenged. "That doesn't seem right."

That seemed to do the trick. With strength that I knew Phoebe didn't possess, she picked me up by my throat and slammed me against the concrete wall. "Don't think you can get out of this by trying to make me kill you, Lailah. I might not have the same morals you do but you still serve a greater purpose."

"Well, if I wasn't in pain before, this sure isn't helping," I sassed, now that I'd gotten under her skin. "Seems like you might need to wait for the drugs after all, but I would make sure you give it the full thirty minutes to kick in. Wouldn't want you to be uncomfortable in your new body."

Snarling, she got right up in my face. "Stop talking or I'll rip out your tongue."

"Oh, can you grow it back? Seems like it would be hard to take over the world if you couldn't speak..."

Her hand whipped out and smacked me across the face, making me groan at the pain. "Do you want your life to end so quickly you'll force my hand? Let us not forget I have your lovers here and as long as they don't die, I can do whatever I want."

"So that means they’re in the building then," I commented. "I hope you have some good guards watching them, because when they wake up and I'm not there, they will be out for your blood."

"Not if I control you first, they would never harm their precious Lailah."

"Sounds like maybe you should just get it over with then, the longer you wait the more time it gives them to get to me. With our Bond they can find me wherever I am, guess you could call it a failsafe for situations like this. We've already proved that the puppets you have around you aren't strong enough to handle us-- only Mozog is." I taunted, seeing the furry in her eyes as I kept pushing her.

Then something shifted as she came to her decision, letting me go so I dropped to my feet, only to crumble to the floor. Lilith dropped to her knees in front of me, cupping my face with both her hands before resting her forehead against mine.

"Once I have you under my control, the war is already lost and there's nothing you can do about it."

With that final statement, she thrust her power into me, making me gasp for air as my heart stopped beating and my lungs no longer drew air. This wasn't at all what she’d described, but I should have known better than to believe the devil in female form.

TWENTY-EIGHT

BRAYDEN

"Brayden, come on man you need to wake up," Micah whispered harshly as he moved my arm.

Pain shot through my body at his touch making me sit up, eyes snapping open as I started to scream. Jay, who was behind me, wrapped a hand around my mouth to muffle the sound.

"I'm sorry man but you have to stay quiet," Micah cautioned, from where I could see him kneeling in front of me. "You dislocated your shoulder in the accident and we have to get it back in place. This is gonna hurt like a son of a bitch, but you need to keep it together man."

Accident? What accident is he talking about? Then in a series of flashes, I remembered the massive box truck that came out of nowhere and hit us. The image of Lailah screaming as she saw it coming at us, then everything became fuzzy until I got tossed into the back of the box truck with the others.

"Is everyone else alright? How's Lailah?" I asked as they started to work on getting my arm in the right position to put back in.

Micah looked at Jay over my shoulder and gave a slight shake of his head no. Then Micah made his move and the sickening sound of my bone popping back into my shoulder socket filled the space. Clenching my jaw at the pain, I was thankful that Jay was still behind me, because I wasn't sure if I was going to pass out or not.

"You were the last one to wake up, the rest of us started to get worried," Micah shared.

Glaring at him as he tied a ghetto sling around my wrist and neck to keep my arm somewhat stable, "So your solution was to put me in pain?"

"If we plan to get out of this fucking cell to get to our girl, then yeah—I'll do whatever needs to be done."

My hand shot out, grabbing Micah's shoulder before I truly registered what he said. "What the fuck did you just say?"

"Lilith has Lailah," Jay answered, making me whip my head around, which was not my best move since it made me light headed.

Groaning, I pulled my hand from Micah to try and stop the pounding in my skull. "Fucking hell, why did they have to hit us with a truck?"

Micah, being the asshole that he is, chuckled. "I mean it wasn't all that bad of a plan, seeing that it worked."

Slowly, I dropped my hand and looked around the dimly lit room we were in. Sure enough, it looked like a cell with a steel door, no windows, and only a single light bulb in the ceiling to shed light on us. Carefully, I scooched back to lean against the wall, taking in Jay's appearance with half his face covered in blood from cuts on his face. True to Jay's nature, he didn't even act like it bothered him in the slightest. Micah seemed to be fine, until I noticed that he wasn't bending his left leg at all. Then I spotted Hudson in the corner, shirtless with a nasty gash on his chest that he was trying to staunch with his shirt.

"We're lucky to be alive, you know that right?" I question Micah, not really sure he understood how bad this was.

Parker and Lailah had been able to handle things for a little while when they were attacked, but they were in good shape. Currently, we looked like we already lost the war and we had no idea what was happening to Lailah. When I reached for her, I didn't feel much other than she was in pain but with how I felt I wasn't surprised.

"Trust me when I say that we will continue to stay alive, because they want Lailah. Remember, if one of us dies it could take her down too, let alone all four of us," Micah argued. "I have a feeling someone will come to check on us soon, which is when we make our move."

"Right, solid plan there bro," I sassed. "Hudson's bleeding everywhere, I don't have use of my right arm, and you busted something in your leg. Tell me, how are we going to overpower anyone, let alone a whole demon army?"

Micah rolled his eyes at me as he sighed. "I forgot that pain makes you act like a bastard."

I opened my mouth to share my thoughts on that retort, when Hudson cut me off. "Would you two shut the fuck up? I refuse to sit here and play the victim when we need to get to Lailah." I shut my mouth so hard my teeth clicked, knowing he was right. "I think I have the bleeding stopped enough if you can do the rest Micah."

"You sure? I've never tried to do something like this before," Micah warned as he pulled himself over to Hudson.

"If there is any chance that I'm going to be useful, then you need to do it, or at least try," Hudson pointed out.

The moment Micah put his hand on Hudson's chest, I knew what he was being asked to do. My stomach clenched at the thought of how much pain he was going to be in if this actually worked, and I had to admit he was a bigger man than me. There is no way I would have even thought of the idea of having Micah cauterize my wound for me.

"Wait," Jay called out, getting up and removing his black leather belt. "You might want to bite down on this, the last thing you need is to crack your teeth or hurt your jaw."

I gaped at Jay, envious of how calm he was about this whole situation, as Hudson took the belt and bit down on it and laid down on the floor, nodding for Micah to go ahead. I knew the moment it started to work as he screamed, his whole body going rigid as he did everything in his power to keep still and let Micah work. Now that it wasn't covered by a shirt, I could see how large the gash was, starting from his collarbone arching down to his ribs. Micah moved as quickly as he could, using two fingers to glide over the blood-slicked skin, sealing it up, filling the air with the smell of burning flesh. Not soon enough, Hudson passed out from the pain, as Micah finished up the last part of the wound. When he was done, he looked it over and touched up a few spots that were still bleeding but it had done the job—crude but effective. The room was silent as we listened to Hudson's even breathing, wanting to make sure he wasn't in too much distress. Just as we started to even consider relaxing, my whole body filled with mind numbing pain that I remembered from when Lailah was being tortured by the Dark Lord.

"Holy fuck," Micah roared in pain. "What the fucking hell is happening to us?"

"Lailah," I grunted. "They’re trying to take her again."

"Brayden, what are the chances you can use your powers to knock one of these walls down without crushing the rest of us?" Jay asked through gritted teeth. "I can use my wind to keep some of it at bay but if we can make the walls unstable it might work."

"Hell, I could melt the door," Micah offered.

"That will take too much time, this is faster," Jay countered.

I closed my eyes, trying to focus on my center where my powers slept, but the echo of Lailah's pain was too distracting. I needed to override it somehow. Turning to Jay, I looked him dead in the eye and made my request. "Punch me in the shoulder."

Without hesitation, Jay landed a solid hit right on my busted shoulder, shocking my body with enough pain for me to center myself in my own body. Using that pain, I thrust it into the ground on the side the door was farthest away from us. The ground started to rumble as I gripped it and yanked like I was ripping it from the earth, creating a fissure in the floor that the wall and door fell into. Knowing that we wouldn't be able to jump the gap with Micah's leg, I slammed it back together, causing the whole building to shudder and cracks to appear in the ceiling.

"We've got to move now, I don't know how long the ceiling will hold," I yelled, grabbing Micah's arm and pulling him up so he leaned on my good side and off his bad leg.

Jay grabbed Hudson, tossing him over his shoulder, and we moved as quickly as we could out of the room, moments before the whole thing caved in on itself. The fallen section opened up to the outside, letting me know that we weren't underground, which I was very thankful for, so we weren't buried alive. People came running from both ends of the hallway we were now in, but Micah tossed up a wall of fire, keeping them out of the way. This gave us the chance to climb through the rubble into the outside world, where we discovered we were in a section of a large factory.

"Don't stop, we need to get to Lailah," Jay barked charging forward. "She's in the main part of the building. I can feel it."

"What the hell are we going to do once we get there?" I demanded as I pulled Micah along as fast as we could.

Jay tossed me a look over his shoulder. "Kill the bitch and get our girl back, of course."

"Oh sure, it's that simple," I muttered following him.

"Don't be a little bitch, Brayden, you just busted us out of jail without killing us. I'd say our chances of getting out of this alive are way higher now," Micah pointed out.

Grunting my acknowledgement, I sped up even more to try and keep up with Jay, making Micah swear under his breath. "Don't be so dramatic, Micah."

"Very funny prick, I'll remember this the next time you ask someone to punch you."

"Let's hope we get through this so there is a next time," I grumbled, as Jay kicked in a door, leading us into the main part of the factory. "Into the lion's den we go."

TWENTY-NINE

LAILAH

As the pain became my only existence, I instinctively reached out through my Bonds to the guys. In a small part of my brain, I knew this would hurt them as well, but once I grasped onto them I couldn't let go. Lilith's energy was like claws digging through my brain, trying to climb inside. I was taking the biggest risk of my life, but I knew deep in my soul that it would work not because I was Synergy-- no it had everything to do for the men I knew were trying to do everything within their power to get to me. Without them or my family, then there was nothing left in this world to save, but right now I was the only one who could do this and we wouldn't get another chance.

A gust of calming wind swirled around me like a warm hug and I knew Jay was trying to tell me to hold on. He was going to be so mad when he figured out what I was doing, but the way he felt about me was exactly how I felt about all of them. There was no way I would let them get turned into puppets to be used against this world we’ve been struggling to protect. No, I was going to take Lilith down, but to do it she had to let down her guard and having her within my body was as perfect a moment as I could ask for.

"Stop fighting me, Lailah," Lilith panted. "It's hard enough to get past all the Bonds you already have without you putting up a wall too."

Clinging to that feeling Jay sent me I tried to relax, open up my mind, and draw her in.

"Yes, that's it. Welcome me with open arms, Lailah, we will become one and do great things together," Lilith purred.

In an effort to calm my mind, I let my body sag against hers, wrapping my arms around her waist and letting her hold me up. Doing this, I could feel Phoebe's heart slowing much like my own was ,until they started to beat in sync. Lilith's power flooded me, but this time it felt more like slippery oil trying to sneak in every crack it could, trying to blanket me so nothing remained that she didn't cover. Finally, I was able to take a deep breath and that's when I felt her leave Phoebe completely, but she hadn't fully transferred to me.

Now was my chance.

I delved deeply and grabbed hold of my powers and yanked it free to flood my body, encasing Lilith's power in my own, then layered over it with each of my Bonded lovers. It was just like we'd done with the barrier around the house, only I used my own powers as the foundation instead of all of us, knowing it would be far stronger since it was coming from the source. I could hear her screaming in my head as she fought against my hold, but I held on tightly with an iron fist.

"Mother, I have returned."

Hearing Mozog's voice, Lilith thrashed within me like the snake she was, trying to get even a tendril of power free to contact her first born. It didn't matter, I'd locked the chains in place, keeping her well and truly trapped. Slowly, I opened my eyes and found Phoebe's lifeless body laying in my lap. Everything in me wanted to weep for her, to show how sad I felt about the whole situation, even if she'd meant to hurt my brother and Parker. The poor woman had been a victim as much as any of us, costing her life at the end of it all. Now she was free, never to be used again and I only hoped that she would find peace.

Languidly, I looked up from where I was on the floor to Mozog, once again dressed smartly in a suit. I reached a hand out to him and he dropped the bags he was holding to help me to my feet. "You're late."

"I'm sorry Mother, the knights seem to have caused a disturbance in the other section of the factory. With how wounded they are, it shouldn't be too much trouble to get them back under lock and key," he explained, watching me with a critical eye. "You were supposed to wait for me before you made the switch. It was reckless of you to make such a move without protection."

Even locked away, I could feel Lilith's anger at being scolded in such a way. If I was going to make sure Mozog believed I was being controlled by his Mother I needed to be convincing. Yanking my hand out of his, I slapped him in the face and without meaning to, I drew on her powers turning my nails into claws. Three deep slashes showed up on his cheek, making him hiss jerking back from me.

"You dare to speak to me that way?! I am the one who knows what is best with my own body and the puppet I choose to rule," I snapped. Kicking out at Phoebe's body, I sneered. "She was failing faster and you were late, do not make this my problem, Mozog."

Clutching his cheek, he dropped his head in submission. "I'm sorry, Mother, I didn't mean to question you, but we knew there was a chance she would fight you. It won't happen again."

"See that it doesn't," I commanded, brushing the dirt off my body. "Did you get what I asked for? It seems those idiots that were sent to do the job damaged her more than we originally thought. You know how much I detest feeling things in these meat puppets."

Picking up one of the bags he dropped, he pulled out a pill bottle and a bottle of some sort of coffee drink. As much as I detested coffee, if it was her favorite thing in the world to drink, then I would be more than happy to guzzle it with a smile. Yet like anyone, we can't help but give a reaction to things we don't like.

"That better not be for me," I stated, looking at the bottle with disgust. "Don't you know anything? To think you were my first born."

"No Mother it was for me, I got you your favorite and it should help settle you in this body as well," Mozog said, pulling out a bottle of red wine.

Why couldn't it have been the coffee? Other than the few times I've gone out with Cami, I don't drink or handle my liquor well. "Lucky for me, I won't have to adjust to a new body ever again, soon we'll win the war and I'll have my own back."

"Speaking of which, I need to reach out to the Dark Lord and let him know that we no longer need the knight's mother. The less loose ends we have, the better."

It was an odd feeling to have Lilith's consciousness lurking in the back of my mind feeding me emotions and information. The more my power latched onto her it created a stronger bond with us as well, giving me clues. Then I found the perfect reason to have to drink the wine.

"Indeed," I mused. "I want to clean up and change before the wine, this girl had such a terrible sense of fashion. Before all that, we need to make sure that her boy toys have been dealt with. There's no way I could relax without knowing they are safe in a padded room, I can't lose this body."

The sound of a scuffle was coming from the other side of the large room we were in and when I checked my connection, I knew it was the boys.

"Seems they are coming to you," Mozog pointed out. "Once they see you own this body, I believe they will fall in line easily."

"Don't count on it, I doubt they're very bright… she wasn't."

Mozog let out a huff of laughter at that, as the doors to the room burst open and there stood my four boys. They were bloody, battered, and bruised but they were alive before my eyes. What more could I ask for?

"You're too late knights," Mozog called out to them. "Your Synergy has been taken from you and now serves Lilith as her conduit."

The look of fury on their faces as they hobbled their way over to us made my heart ache.

"Like we would believe a fucking demon," Micah growled. "How do we know you aren't lying to keep us from attacking?"

"Our connection to her is still strong, I can't even feel Lilith in her," Hudson added, talking more to Micah than either of us.

"Foolish knights, she isn't dead. Lilith has just taken over control and we need you alive because of that connection you have with her." Mozog said as he shoved his hand into his pockets, completely relaxed.

My plan had been to hold the ruse up long enough to find them so we could fight Mozog together, but seeing them told me they wouldn't be strong enough. This left the matter to me. Lilith was more than able to take on her son, but I wanted to make sure the bastard couldn't come back in another body. He needed to be dead for good, just like Dantalion was now.

Demon puppets poured into the room ready to capture my men, but I thrust out with Lilith's power and knocked them all away. "Don't touch them!" I snarled. "If you kill one of them you risk my safety, we will deal with this, since you clearly can't handle the simplest of tasks."

Lilith tried to use that moment to wriggle free from my hold, but I drew from the guys slamming another chain around her prison. When this happened, they all snapped their heads to look at me, eyes wide with confusion and fear. They believed that now Lilith could use their powers just like I could, causing Brayden to lose that glimmer of hope he'd had in his gaze. Oh, I was going to be in so much trouble when this was over.

"Mother you need to trust they won't let them get killed or you'll never be able to use them in the war," Mozog cautioned as the lesser demons left the room.

"It hasn't even been a half hour since I took over her body, don't you think you could give me a little time to adjust? I've been waiting for this since you and your brothers locked me away all those years ago. Forgive a mother having some caution," I snapped.

Mozog actually looked pained about the fact he'd locked his mother up. "You know I didn't help them, I tried to warn you, but you didn't listen."

"Enough," I said, tossing up a hand. "Let's not fight in front of the mortals."

Then a thought came to me from Lilith that I wasn't expecting. "Did you find the fifth one?"

"He got away, I don't know how he found us to begin with, but he's proved to be quite irritating," Mozog grumbled.

Turning to him giving the guys my back, I let out a heavy sigh. "Must I do everything myself?" With my back turned I gave them all a thumbs up and the okay hand gesture, hoping they would understand what it meant. "Remind me why I keep you around?"

"I suppose now that you have a permanent body, I will have to find a new purpose along with supplying bodies for the army."

Reaching out I placed my hand on his shoulder and ran my hand along it as I walked around behind him. "Yes… a new purpose."

Grabbing his head, I pulled on Lilith's power and snapped his neck, dropping him to the ground as I manifested my Sai and stabbed him in the heart, pouring my power into him. Now that I was Bonded to four of the five, my level of power had quadrupled so it didn't take as much out of me to send it right into the heart of the demon he was a conduit for. Even though the human part of him was dead, his eyes flew open and he grabbed my wrist, trying to pull the weapon out of his chest.

"How?" he gasped looking at me, realizing that the real me was in charge, not Lilith.

Leaning down, I whispered right in his ear. "I'm mother fucking Synergy and you attacked my family, for that you are not allowed to live in this word or any other."

With a final surge of power, I felt the connection sever as the demon died wherever he was in the depths of Hell. Lilith screamed in my head, fighting with everything she had to get free of my prison and rule over my body. She had every intention of killing my men in revenge, which would in turn kill me ,but her rage was so blinding she didn't care. A strong blow tossed me onto my back, gasping as I desperately kept my hold in her chains but without all five of them it might not be enough.

Then as if I was dreaming, Parker's handsome face appeared over me, fear bright in his eyes. "What do you need? How can I help?"

Unable to speak, I lifted a hand up hoping he would know what to do. Right away, he clasped mine with both of his and bent his head over it as if he was praying. Since we didn't have a connection any longer, touch made it far easier to draw on his power, giving me the upper hand on sealing Lilith away. Calling the guys through our Bonds, I soon felt them all touching me in some way, allowing me the ability to delve inside myself to deal with Lilith once and for all. This time, I was the one who pulled her into the darkness of the in-between, where the Dark Lord and I talked when he needed me.

"So, Lailah's not so dumb after all," Lilith mused from where she stood, bound in chains made from our combined powers. "What do you plan to do now, use me like I planned to use you?"

I can't deny the thought crossed my mind when I felt the connection I had with her in my own mind, but I also knew she would fight me forever. She'd waited thousands of years to get out. Dealing with me would be a piece of cake and I couldn't risk her taking me over.

"No Lil, I plan to end you for good," I announced.

Lilith tossed back her head and cackled like I'd told her the best joke she'd ever heard. "Oh, really now? How do you plan to do that? You aren't strong enough without your bond to Parker to manage killing the Dark Lord, let alone me."

"See I don't plan on killing you," I corrected. Reaching to her powers, I brought us right down into Hell where we stood next to the altar and where her body lay. "Now, the only good part about sharing a brain with you has been the fact that I could pick up on a few things. See, the Dark Lord is actually one of the Princes of hell and you're right, I don't have the power to kill him or you, but you know who does? The other Princes of hell, and they warned you that if you pulled shit like this again you would be killed, as an example of trying to overthrow them."

"You won't survive an encounter with the Princes of Hell," Lilith sneered.

"Which is why I'm going to sever our connection and leave you here with a lovely beacon of the pure power of Synergy. Nothing gets their attention faster than that of an angel, and I'm the closest thing to an angel as you can get in the bowels of Hell," I explained as I drew a ball of my power to place over her.

It was at this moment that Lilith started to panic. "Wait, we can come to some sort of deal, I know we can. See how useful I've been to you? Think of all we could do together."

"If our time together has taught me anything, it's to never trust the word of a demon… they always lie." With that, I tossed my ball of energy right in her face, severing the connection she had with me in my mind.

"This isn't the end, Synergy, I will find a way to take everything you have from you. The Dark Lord won't let this slide, with me gone there is no more use for you to him, I was the reason he kept you alive!" She screamed as I grabbed my Bonds and yanked myself back to the world of the living, leaving her trapped to face the consequences of her choices.

Karma's a bitch, and even the mother of demons has to pay for what she's done in the world.

THIRTY

LAILAH

My eyes blinked open to the sight of all five of my knights leaning over me with worried expressions. Tugging on whoever's hand I was holding, which turned out to be Parker, I sat up with a groan. My body was beat to hell and back—literally. "She's gone."

All of them seemed to release a breath they'd been holding, as their shoulders sagged and they relaxed slightly.

"Now, we just need to find a way to get out of this shit hole," I muttered.

Parker cleared his throat, drawing our attention. "I have a car hidden not too far from here."

"That's great dick-munch, but what are we going to do with all the demons lurking around on the property?" Micah demanded.

As tired as I was from everything that's happened so far, I knew the answer. "We have to send the demons back."

"That will kill everyone." Brayden argued.

"I know…" I whispered, covering my face with my hands.

"She's right though," Jay spoke up. "If we fought our way out of here it would kill them, maybe not all of them, but most. Then what? We just leave them to their own devices until the Elementi comes to kill them?"

Brayden opened his mouth to speak, but then thought about what Jay said and closed his mouth, hanging his head in defeat.

"If I can make a barrier like the one back home, it will force out any demons inside its walls. It will be painless for the human and who knows, they might not die," I hedged.

"We don't really have a choice, they will die one way or another. Better to have us do it and know it was done as humanly as we can," Hudson concluded.

Shifting so I was on my knees, I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. "Alright I'm gonna need all of you to touch me for this to work with how tired I am."

"Even him," Micah growled.

"Yes, it's harder to do this with no connection at all," I sighed.

Once they were all in contact with me again, I started the process, but I did it the same way I did for Lilith and put my power as the foundation. The layers went smoother than it had back home, but it might be because I've now done it and the second time is easier. Only when I got to the last layer using Parker's energy, did I have trouble working with it. Each time I held onto it and tried to pull it over the others it seemed to rip, leaving holes that I needed to go back and patch up, almost as if it was a representation of our personal struggles. Finally, I managed to get it how I needed it before I thrust it into the ground, putting my intention behind it and shaking the whole building around us in a much more visual example of what we did before. Then the air started to fill with screaming, as demons were ejected out of the humans they were living in. It was as if the gates of Hell opened wide, ready to receive them hurtled out of this existence back where they came from. Unlike the barrier at home, I wasn't leaving it permanently, this was only to exist for as long as I held it, which was getting harder and harder with how maxed out I was.

"Lailah, you need to let go," Parker demanded. "Your nose is bleeding and you're pale as a ghost, please Trouble, let the barrier go."

Gritting my teeth, I held on for a few moments longer, until I felt the last demon getting thrown from its host. The second I released it, I collapsed panting and sweating like I'd run a marathon.

"Don't touch her," Hudson snapped as I felt an arm wrap around my shoulders.

"You guys are beat to hell. Would you trust yourself to carry her two miles back to where my car is?" Parker challenged as he slipped another arm under my legs. "Yeah, I didn't think so. Micah needs more than Brayden to help him and Hudson, it's a miracle that you're even conscious right now with how much blood you probably lost with a gash like that."

"Please, can we just get out of here?" I begged, really wanting to take a shower to wash off all the death that I'd just experienced, in an effort to keep from having a mental breakdown about it.

The guys all scowled at me in Parker's arms but didn't say anything more.

The way back to where Parker hid the car was much farther than two miles, but we managed. Thankfully, it was a Suburban and we could all fit in it and by the looks of it he'd been planning to sleep in the back of it. It reminded me of what Mozog said about Parker showing up here and causing trouble for them. Had he been planning on dealing with all this himself? Quickly, I shook myself out of worrying about it, not having the energy to process it all. We did discover that the factory was a food processing plant just outside of Madison, that got shut down when the company went under. The drive took about an hour to get back home but it was over in the blink of an eye, since Hudson and I snuggled up and fell right to sleep.

"Angel, we're home," Brayden called softly, running his hand up and down my arm.

Groaning in irritation for being woken up, I cracked an eye and looked out the windows just to be sure. Seeing that we were indeed home, I let Jay pull me up out of Hudson's arms and out of the SUV. Hudson took his time, but he managed to get out on his own, wearing a purple shirt that Parker had given him. My gaze shifted to where Parker still sat behind the wheel making no move to stay, even going so far as to keep the engine running.

"Thank you for being there," I said when he looked back at me through the rearview mirror.

Turning to face me so I could see his whole face, he responded. "Words are fleeting but actions are permanent. I know I still have a lot of work to do to fix this, but I will do everything in my power to try, until you tell me there is no hope for us."

Unable to say anything, I just nodded and let Jay pull me away from him to head into the house as he pulled out of the drive.

"While you were sleeping, I called the Elementi and they are going to the plant now to retrieve all the bodies so that their families can be notified. They are going to say it was a cult that performed mass suicide to prove some political point," Jay shared. "This way the families will have closure and can bury their loved ones."

Hearing him say that made me realize something. "Jay."

Stopping, he looked at me with a questioning brow. "There is a lot that I learned from sharing a brain with Lilith, things that I will be more than happy to share with you all later. But there's something we have to deal with right away."

"Beautiful, I'm sure it can wait until we get in the house at least."

"No Jay, it can't," I demanded. "The demons have your Mother…"

The end!

Rescuing Air coming 2022

Here is to the beginning that is now coming to an end⁠—

This series has changed my life forever.

ONE

LAILAH

“Say that again,” Jay demanded.

“Lilith sent demons to get your mother to try and keep you from bonding with me. She sent her to wherever they had their base set up in a remote location. This camp is a military base for them to train all the new demons that are using human hosts, those who’ve taken the serum. Lilith said it was in a part of the world that there weren’t many people around because the demons that the Dark Lord rules over are too vicious and kill people,” I shared, trying to remember everything that crazy-ass bitch had said.

Jay’s face turned to stone as he escorted me into the house, where the others, still covered in blood and dirt, were sprawled out on the couch. My mother was in a tizzy, rushing to the kitchen, mumbling the need to grab supplies. Cami was on the phone, with whom I have no idea, but my guess was an Elementi of some sort. We needed to get them to a hospital was what we needed to do, with Micah and his broken leg. Not to mention having someone check on Hudson and his wound that had an extremely angry red welt over it from where Micah said he cauterized it.

Hell, even Jay was battered, with blood all over his face from the cuts and possible scalp wound. None of us were in any shape to deal with what was coming our way, and this battle was reaching the tipping point. What do you do when the people who were supposed to end this war were too beaten up to do the job?

“Alright, guys, the local team is sending over a doctor and a healer. We’re lucky they have one in this state,” Cami said, hanging up the phone. “What the fuck happened?”

All the guys looked at me, then over at my dad, who was pale and hadn’t moved a muscle from the armchair he was sitting in. The TV played in the background. No parent ever wanted to see their kid looking like they were on the losing end of the fight, especially when you didn’t know it could be a possibility. I’d told my parents who and what I was, but even if mentally they knew, it didn’t really mean they accepted what also came with that knowledge. I made them stay in my home while Lilith was on the loose because of the shield. But now that Lilith was back in Hell, I felt better about them going back out into the world. We would leave when we could to deal with Jay’s mom, drawing the attention away from them.

Heading over to my dad, I squatted down beside his chair and grasped his hand. “Dad...”

“What happened to you?” Dad demanded. “You told us it was going to be a fight. I just didn’t think... oh, my baby girl.” He reached out and cupped my face, his eyes filled with sadness.

I gave him a watery smile as my eyes started to tear up, covering his hand with my own. “I know it looks bad, but we did it. We accomplished what we needed to do for you and everyone else around here to be safe. There is still more to be done, but it’s a victory, nonetheless.”

“Like I give a damn about that when my little girl is looking like she survived hell. All of you look like you got put through a meat grinder,” Dad grumbled, looking at the guys. “How do they expect you to keep fighting when you can hardly keep your eyes open?”

Mom came back into the living room with a first aid kit, dishcloths, and a bowl of soapy water. “You didn’t have anything else for me to use, but I figured it would be just as easy to buy new ones.”

“It’s fine, Mom. Use whatever you like.” I sighed, pushing up to find a spot on the end of the couch to sit.

My head still pounded and after using so much power, I was drained, feeling like an empty husk. All I wanted was to take a nap and wake up when this was all over, but that wasn’t an option. Cracking open an eye, I watched Jay as he paced the living room, ignoring everything around him as he processed what I’d told him. Honestly, I was amazed he was still here and not calling his father for a chopper or something to use in a search for his mother.

Brayden tapped me with his toe, grabbing my attention. “What’s up with him?” he whispered.

My answer was to shake my head and flick my gaze over to my mom trying to help clean up Hudson and Micah, who were both trying to tell her they could do it.

“Really, it’s fine,” Hudson assured my mom as he took the wet dishrag from her. “Micah’s the one who can’t really move around, but I can manage this on my own.”

Micah glared at his friend but wiped it from his face as my mom started to cut off his pant leg. “Whoa!”

“We need to get a look at how bad the damage really is. Having two boys, I’ve seen my fair share of broken bones.” Mom tutted as she continued her work.

When I looked back at Brayden, he nodded, understanding that it wasn’t good news and my parents could only handle so much.

“Quit your bitching, flame boy, the doctor will be here in twenty minutes, then you’ll be begging for Bonnie to be the one looking after you,” Cami pointed out with a grin.

Once Mom was done with Micah, she moved on to me, knowing I wouldn’t argue with her. I knew she needed to do what she could to prove she wasn’t a terrible mother by letting me put myself in danger to keep them safe. My mom had a big heart and hated when any of us would hurt ourselves when we were kids. Out of all of us, I might be in the best shape, probably with a concussion, but that was minor and could be dealt with easily enough. Mom wiped my face as silent tears trailed down her cheeks, but she didn’t make a sound or say anything other than to get me to move so she could get a better angle on something.

“Were you in a car accident?” she finally whispered. I tensed, unsure of how honest to be with my parents about what happened. “We saw it on the news and the vehicle looked just like yours. Your dad told me not to worry, that it couldn’t have been you guys, but now I think it really was⁠—”

“Yeah, Mom, it was us,” I told her truthfully. “The people we were after purposely hit us so they could bring us to their base of operations. Thankfully, they didn’t want us dead, but they knew we were too dangerous to face head-on, so they had to resort to dirty tricks.” Not completely true, but it was the best I could come up with for now.

She nodded and kept on cleaning my arm that was covered in minor cuts from the glass and who knows what else. “It’s not over yet, is it?”

“No, it’s not, but I have a feeling we’re getting close to all this being over,” I answered, pulling her into a hug. “I know it’s crazy to say, but this is what I was born to do, Mom. I have to do my best even if it puts me in situations where I might get hurt. Think of it like I’m in the military, special forces. I can’t really tell you what I’m doing or where I’m going but know that it's to save a whole lot of people.”

There was a knock at the door, startling all of us, but Jay was already on the move to find out who it could be. We all heard the door open and then Jay returned with three men I’d never met but who carried bags full of medical supplies. They must be the doctor and the healer. Why we needed both didn’t make any sense to me, but I just didn’t have the energy to argue.

“Hello, I’m Doctor Tager, this is my assistant Nurse Kaden, and this is Professor Zale. We heard you guys got a little banged up in the last encounter you had,” Doctor Tager greeted, setting his bag down. “Thoughts on who I should start with?”

We all pointed to Micah.

“That was easy.” Doctor Tager chuckled as he walked over, then kneeled where Micah was laid out on the couch.

“On our way down to the Chicago Elementi headquarters, we got hit by a truck and I broke my leg,” Micah explained, pointing to his bare leg. “At least, I think it’s broken. I can’t use it and the pain is some of the worst I’ve ever felt.”

Doctor Tager started to feel Micah’s leg, poking and prodding at things, muttering to himself as he worked. “I want to take an x-ray to confirm, but I don’t think you broke your leg. I think it’s just a dislocated patella or kneecap. It absolutely hurts like a bitch, but on the bright side, it means you will heal much faster.”

“So we have to go to the hospital after all?” I asked.

He turned to look at me with a gentle smile on his face. “No, thankfully the Elementi has funded us well and I have a portable machine to use for situations like this. Give me a moment to set it up and we’ll take a look.”

Doctor Tager and Nurse Kaden left the room and the front door opened again. Professor Zale headed over to Hudson, who was trying to scrub the blood off his side but was having trouble twisting the right way.

“Would you mind if I took a look at your wound?” Professor Zale asked.

Hudson looked up at him and shrugged. “I don’t know how I got sliced in the accident, but when I woke up, I’d lost a lot of blood. We didn’t have time or the chance to seek any medical help, so Micah used his fire to seal the wound. I’ve been keeping track of things and making sure I don’t have any internal bleeding, but I feel as though it was just a surface-level injury to the skin and muscle.”

Professor Zale raised a brow. “Medical student?”

“Biomedical, looking to go into research but had to take some pre-med classes.”

Professor Zale nodded as he slipped on a pair of gloves and urged Hudson to sit back so he could get a clear view of the area. He, too, felt and prodded the area, humming as if making mental notes about whatever he was seeing. “I believe I have some remedies that will help soothe the burn, bring down the inflammation, and prevent infection. Would you mind if I applied it to you?”

“Ah, I see, you’re a naturopath, aren’t you?” I blurted out, feeling like an idiot for not figuring it out sooner.

I got a smile from the professor at my outburst. “Yes, but I’m also trained in the best remedies to heal wounds made from demons. Seeing that many of those need to be made from natural and holy items, the two practices often coincide. Speaking of, did any of you acquire a wound from a demon or get possessed?”

Mom let out a gasp at the question, clutching tightly to my dad. We’d talked about how dangerous demons were in the world to get them to agree to stay in this house, but I’d purposefully left out that side of things. “Dad, why don’t you take Mom to lie down? I know this has been a lot the past few days. I’m sure she didn’t sleep well.”

Dad nodded jerkily and led my mother away to the room they were using.

“Forgive me, I assumed, being here, that they were aware of the world we live in and you are a part of,” Professor Zale apologized.

“No, it’s not your fault. I should have expected this, coming back home in the state we’re in. My parents had no idea about any of this or who I even was. Truthfully, I didn’t even know anything about this and got fast tracked when I was discovered to be Synergy,” I shared, rubbing my head as the ache just got worse with all the stress of balancing both parts of my life.

“I didn’t grow up in this world either, but when I married my wife, who was an Elementi soldier, I was read into the hidden side of our world, if you will. When she died of a wound from a greater demon, I knew I had to do something to keep that from happening. Thankfully, the Elementi are always looking for people to train, so it didn’t take me long since I was already a naturopath,” Professor Zale said as he worked on attending to Hudson’s wound. “This world you protect needs you, but it doesn’t make it easier for those of us left behind at home to wait for your return.”

My heart broke for him and his history with demons taking the woman he loved from him. I knew firsthand how painful that type of wound was and not to have the help I’d received was unimaginable. Doctor Tager returned, and between him and his assistant, got it all set up rather quickly. Soon, we were all looking at Micah’s knee on a laptop, showing us clear as day that his knee was indeed dislocated.

“This is good news. It means you won’t be down for the count too long. I’ll get this bone back into place, do another x-ray to make sure there is no other damage, then we can get you taped up and in a brace. It will take six weeks to fully heal, but you’ll be able to walk with crutches and start putting weight on it again in a week or so. Seeing as you’re an Elementi Warrior, I’ve learned you lot heal faster, so it could be less time than that. Trust your body to tell you what’s going to work best.”

A weight I didn’t know I’d been carrying fell away from me, hearing these words. Micah wasn’t broken and he would recover with no problems at all. All I had to do now was make sure he didn’t push himself too hard once I told him about Jay’s mom. The three men worked quickly and efficiently, checking over the rest of us and giving Brayden a sling to let his arm rest for at least a week. They guessed I did have a concussion but only a mild one since I didn’t throw up. Jay also had one and needed a few stitches in his scalp for the head wound. We were all given the okay to take showers as long as we were careful and avoided certain wounds. It was a group effort, but we all managed to get clean and tumbled into bed where we passed out in one big puppy pile on my bed, feeling the need to be close to each other.

TWO

JAY

The sun wasn’t even up when I left the others sleeping surrounding Lailah. I, too, would have stayed to watch over her, worried that her nightmares might be worse after having Lilith invade her mind, but the need to find out what was going on with my mother drove me to start researching. Pulling my cell out of my sweats, I hit the speed dial for my father. He might not love my mother the way that normal people love their spouse, but he wouldn’t want her in the hands of demons either.

Father’s sole focus the past year was finding the location of the demon headquarters, once we figured out they were massing together. Every time we found something, it had been abandoned, having gotten there too late. We suspected they might have someone on the inside and now I knew it had to be true with everything we’ve uncovered so far. Since Lailah came into her power, I haven’t been working with my father at all, seeing as we had our own messes to deal with that were more important and ones only we could deal with.

“Jalen,” Father answered tersely in Japanese.

“Mother has been taken by the demons and brought to their base,” I stated, using the same language, knowing better than to bother with greetings.

The phone was silent for a moment, telling me I’d surprised my father. “Are you sure?”

“The Mother of Demons told us herself. The plan was to use her as leverage to keep me from bonding with Lailah, but it wasn’t needed in the end,” I explained. “Do you have any confirmation of the demons location yet?”

“No, not for lack of trying. Every time we get close, they slip through our fingers. I can tell you that it’s massive, which makes it even more impossible for them to move so fast.”

“Lailah shared with me that Lilith said they have to be in a place with no people around them, since the Dark Lords’ demons are too violent and kill everything on sight that isn’t also a demon,” I shared.

Father let out a huff. “That does nothing to help us narrow down an area.”

“Father, they’re training everyone who has been given the serum, so it would have to be a place they can keep the human host alive,” I pointed out. “That cuts out all places that are too cold to easily keep a human alive. They wouldn’t want to put that much effort into it. My theory is Africa, Greenland, Iceland, or the Amazon. Lots of space and easy enough to keep away from people.”

“You don’t think I haven’t also thought of those places? It’s too much ground for us to cover and with how easily they’ve been avoiding us, I’m not looking to send my people out blind. Besides, who’s to say your mother hasn’t been turned into one of them already, since they don’t need her any longer? This is not a fight we can rush into. We need to be wise in the next moves we make. If they are gearing up for war like you say, then that changes everything,” Father said.

My anger at the fact he was just going to brush Mother off as a lost cause had me clenching my phone so hard it started to creak. “Fine, you do what you think is best and I’ll look for Mother with Lailah and my brothers, who actually give a shit about human life.”

Before Father could give a response, I hung up the phone and chucked it across the room. I watched it shatter on the stone of the living room fireplace. Fucking bastard.

“Jay...”

I stiffened as Lailah ran a hand along my back before wrapping her arms around my waist and resting her head on the middle of my back. “Did I wake you?”

“No, I had a nightmare and knew I wasn’t going to be able to fall asleep again. I noticed you were gone, so I figured you were up,” she answered softly.

Grabbing her arm, I pulled her around so she was hugging my chest and I could hold her close to me, resting my head on hers. Neither of us spoke, just taking comfort in each other before we needed to face the world and all its problems.

“He doesn’t care about her at all,” I whispered. “What kind of man could just let his wife be taken by demons and not feel the need to try and save her?”

Lailah lifted her head to look me in the eye with her crystal-blue gaze. “Your father is an idiot who only thinks of power and personal gain. We don’t need him to do this, Jay. We have you and you know everything he does, if not more. Use the resources we have and take from him what we need to get your mother back. So what if she’s lost to us? Doesn’t she deserve to be returned to her family? Of course I pray we’ll find her alive and well, but demons don’t know what mercy is, and that is a reality we need to face. But I promise you, Jay, we will find her.”

Raising a hand, I smoothed back her wild blond curls from her face, then cupped her cheek. This woman, who had crawled so deep into my heart, knew what I’d needed to hear. It wasn’t false hope, or the assurance that everything would be alright, not that she told me the truth of the situation. Many would be angry with her for such a callous way of saying things, but I would always take the truth over a lie or wishful thinking. Bending down, I pressed a kiss to her lips, trying to convey my feeling for her through it. She was right. My mother deserved to be brought home no matter if she was alive, possessed, or dead. Japanese people had incredibly strong feelings about laying their loved ones to rest, ensuring they were looked after and could join their ancestors. This I would do for my mother, as her son, since her husband wouldn’t.

“Thank you, Beautiful,” I murmured, my lips brushing hers as I spoke. “I love you.”

“I love you too, and we will always take care of each other, no matter what happens,” she answered. The strength behind those words made my heart swell with pride.

It wasn’t all that long ago that the woman I held in my arms was timid and quiet. Now, she was facing down the Queen of Hell and the Dark Lord, who were trying to turn Earth into another version of Hell. Scars littered her body and mind from those encounters, but it only made her stand taller. Yeah, the PTSD and nightmares were still something we were working on, but even those were getting better. What I worried most about was the fact we were down a brother, a fellow knight—Parker, the literal heart of our group. He’d been set up by Lilith to make the wrong choice when it came down to helping his ex-girlfriend or Lailah. Parker had chosen wrong and broke the Oath that he’d given Lailah, along with her heart.

Matters of the heart were much harder to heal than the physical. I was mad at him for hurting her, for letting someone come between them—Lilith especially. He needed to atone for his sin. I knew Lailah was going to make him work for it, but I did hope they could make it through this. Not just because we were going to need him to defeat the Dark Lord, but because I knew they loved each other. They were meant for each other. Each one of the five of us Elementi Knights had pieces of our soul missing, and Lailah filled that hole. A feat I never, in all my life, thought would happen.

“How do we get started? Where do we look first?” Lailah asked, resting her head against me once more.

“We put together all the information that we do know, things we’ve picked up from all the situations we’ve experienced. I think we know more than we think we do and we’ll see it once we put it all together on paper. Micah needs to heal before we can even think of attacking them head on. It kills me to delay, but if we aren’t at our best, we will fail when it comes to taking on a demon army.”

She nodded and pulled out of my arms. “Sounds like you need a coffee and I definitely am going to need some chai if we’re going to do a research project this early in the morning. You get things set up. I’ll bring back caffeine and food.”

With a nod and a smile pulling at my lips, I watched her head into the kitchen, tilting my head just a little to get a better look at her ass in those sleep shorts. God, I wanted to turn it bright red and watch it jiggle as I thrust into her from behind. I’d been holding back my darker desires, knowing it might trigger her, but when the time was right, I’d help her understand the beauty of pain and pleasure.

THREE

LAILAH

Two cups of caffeine and a sunrise later, the rest of the guys started to drift downstairs, helping Micah manage his crutches. Jay was hunched over his computer and I was looking over some information from their previous missions on a tablet, trying to catch up on what he already knew about the Dark Lord’s army. This wasn’t going to be a quick mission, but we needed to sift through things with fresh eyes to make sure nothing was missed or any assumptions were made. Now we had the knowledge of what their plan for the future was, using the serum to make conduits and hosts for the demons. Taking in the information with this in mind made some things make more sense, like how they needed to get someone in at the labs and with Brayden’s family. The person in the labs could be like Tabitha, the nanny, who was a human that was gifted demonic power, or possibly promised to gain some with the creation of the serum. It had been a long con, taking years in the making. The Dark Lord hadn’t planned on me showing up when I did—right at the tipping point of them getting away with it.

Now I was here, bonded to four out of the five Elementi Knights, getting stronger every passing day as we strengthened our connection. Losing Parker was going to be a blow we couldn’t afford, but I refused to let the fate of the world dictate who I gave part of my heart and soul to. There was no way we could do this mission without him, but that didn’t mean he was forgiven or all was forgotten. I had promised Jay we would get his mom back in whatever way possible and I planned on keeping that promise, no matter how uncomfortable it made me though.

“How long have you guys been up?” Brayden asked, getting Micah settled in one of the armchairs. “And what are you working on so intently?”

I glanced at the time, surprised to find it had been three hours. “Ah, since four⁠—”

“Don’t avoid the harder question, Lailah,” Micah muttered, scowling at me. “What are you guys working on?”

Jay closed the lid to his laptop and looked at the others for a moment before answering. “The demons took my mother to their camp. It was a backup plan to stop me from bonding with Lailah, but they broke Parker first.”

“Why didn’t you wake us up to help, damn it? Also, why the fuck would you hold this back from us? We have every right to know, not be left in the dark to think things were fine,” Micah shouted, his body rigid with anger. I could feel it beating against my own shields, letting me know just how pissed my fiery lover was.

“Really?” I shot back, my own irritation flaring up. “I don’t know, maybe because you needed sleep and time to let your bodies heal. You three had it the worst, and there’s nothing more to be done other than let your body do what it needs to. Jay and I couldn’t sleep, so instead of twiddling our thumbs, we decided to be useful and get a head start. There is so much I needed to get caught up on that it made sense. We were going to tell you. It’s not like we planned to hide it, but you needed sleep.”

“Guys, please let’s not argue,” Hudson cut in, handing out coffee to the others. “Lailah is right. We needed sleep before we could handle this news. Nothing has been done without us, so there’s no sense in getting all upset.”

Micah glared at him, letting out a scoff as he took a sip of his coffee. “Of course you would be on her side. Can’t risk losing the only pussy you’ve ever gotten.”

My brows shot up at this. Micah had been a lot of things, but never this kind of cruel. “That was a low blow, Micah, and you know it. I don’t know what crawled up your ass and died, but you better get your shit figured out before I figure it out for you. Apologize.”

“You can’t order me around like I’m a dog, Lailah,” Micah snapped.

This had me out of my seat and up in his face, refusing to let this stand. “What the actual fuck, Micah? Hudson didn’t deserve any of that from you. He simply stated his opinion, and you went right for the kill. Don’t think I won’t lock you in your bedroom and take away your crutches, so you can’t leave, while you think about your life choices. I lost one of you already and I’ll be damned if I let this group shatter when we need each other the most. So, apologize for being a prick—please.”

Micah blinked at me a few times and his anger seemed to dim as a different type of fire started to build. Heat simmered just under the skin as he refused to break from my gaze, letting me know how turned on he was that I’d just verbally spanked him in front of the others. The man might like to be in control, but it was clear he didn’t want a submissive partner all the time.

“You’re right,” he said finally and blinked, ending the standoff. I tried to back away, but he grabbed my arm and pulled me onto his lap, wrapping his arms tightly around me. “Hudson, I’m sorry, man. That was a dick move that you didn’t deserve. I’m angry at this whole thing and at being wounded, knowing I would slow the team down if we needed to move fast with this.”

Hudson nodded and waved off his apology. “I get it. There are times that I feel useless to this team and it can get under my skin rather easily. Thank you for your apology, but I have a feeling each of us will need to apologize to the others by the end of this battle. Demons feed off turmoil of all kinds and are very good at stirring it up.”

Micah kissed my neck and whispered in my ear, “Thank you, Cookie Monster.”

“Did you really think I was just going to let you be an ass?” I murmured back.

He shifted me so my ass was pressed right up against his rock-hard dick. “Promise you won’t hit me for saying this, but you pissed off and getting in my face like that was hot as hell.”

“Seriously, you’re going to pull that right after I scolded you?” I spluttered, trying to get up, but he only held me tighter, moaning as I wriggled in his grasp.

“You keep that up and I’m going to come right here in front of all of them,” he said against my neck, his lips brushing my skin. This got me to sit still instantly, causing him to chuckle as he pulled me against his chest. “That’s better. Now you have to sit here until my boner goes away in case your parents come out.”

“You’re evil, you know that?” I grumbled.

“Yeah, but you love me anyway,” he countered.

The others were trying not to stare at us, but it didn’t really bother me. It was inevitable that they would all catch one of us fooling around together at some point and I didn’t want them to ever feel like they couldn’t be free to act comfortably around me.

“Now that we have that settled,” Hudson spoke, bringing us back to the matter at hand. “What can you tell us about the situation?”

“Unfortunately, there isn’t a lot for us to go on and we’re on our own. My father doesn’t see the need to put in the energy to go after Mother, since he believes she’s most likely dead or possessed and beyond our help,” Jay informed the others.

“I’m sure you’ll all agree with me that I told him no matter what, we will bring her home. We owe her that and it’s what any of us would do for our families in the same predicament,” I added.

They all nodded in agreement with my sentiment.

“Jay and I spent the morning going over everything we learned from all our encounters and the knowledge that we have now to track their past movements. Jay’s father has been searching for this camp for months but is always a few steps behind, missing them. Lilith made it clear that the Dark Lord needs to keep them in places away from people stumbling upon them because his demons tend to kill them and draw attention. There is more that I learned as well from spending time with her in my head...” I ventured, unsure how they would all react to this next bit of information.

Brayden leaned forward and grabbed my hand, giving it a squeeze. “We’ll handle whatever comes our way, Angel.”

“The Dark Lord is a Prince of Hell. Not one of the top four princes, but one of the sub-princes, Beelzebub. He’s just under Lucifer in the ranking of the four main princes, which is why he has so much power and control. This means he’s also a child of Lilith, since she gave birth to all the Princes of Hell. Beelzebub also worked in conjunction with his brother Astaroth, making them two out of the three Evil Trinity,” I explained, pausing as I watched all of them look at me in fear and shock.

“Holy fucking shit, we are so screwed,” Micah swore, dropping his hands from holding me to run through his hair.

I took the moment to stand and face all of them. “This is a gift, guys. If I hadn’t shared her mind, there is no way that we would have understood how bad this is and we would’ve walked into the fight unprepared. Their goal is to make literal hell on earth but their hell, not the one ruled by the four princes, but by the Evil Trinity. Lilith will be their queen and be free to roam the world once again, not to be locked away like she is now. When I returned her to Hell, I drew the attention of the four princes, hoping they would notice she wasn’t in her cell any longer. I have no idea if it worked, since Lucifer is sure to be involved in this as well. Guys, Hell is waking up to a war among the princes, if we let it happen, I don’t know that anyone will survive it.”

“That is a heavy realization for this early in the morning.” Brayden sighed, rubbing his chin, deep in thought. “How did we miss this? Do you think the Elementi knew and didn’t tell us?”

“It does seem odd that they would miss something so massive, doesn’t it?” Hudson mused. “We did lose Mr. Creed. Who knows what information they got out of him or if they have others on the inside, steering us in the wrong direction?”

“I think we need to call Beth,” Cami announced, causing us all to snap our heads up. There she was, sitting on the railing, looking down at us from the second floor like it wasn’t at all odd for her to do so. “There might be double agents in the Elementi, but it won’t be my sisters. They drank all the Kool-Aid and believe in their souls they are doing the right thing.”

“How long have you been listening, midget?” Micah asked, crossing his arms.

She just grinned at him as she jumped down, landing on the couch in a heap. “Let’s see, when did Lala flip you over and beat your ass for being such an ass?”

“Fuck, Cami, why didn’t you just come down and join in the conversation instead of being such a creeper?”

“Are you kidding, flame boy? It was far too much fun watching the five of you interact like no one was watching. Shows me just who wears the pants in this relationship, and that person doesn’t have a dick, in case you were wondering,” Cami stated with a wink at me. “So, am I calling the den mother, or are one of you?”

Hearing her call Beth that made me think of Parker and I knew I was going to need to broach that subject at some point. None of the guys were going to be happy that we needed to include him on this, but I wasn’t going to hunt the Evil Triad without the full team of Elementi Warriors.

“I think it’s better if you call her,” Micah suggested.

Cami just rolled her eyes as she held the phone to her ear. “Chicken shit, that’s what you are. Scared of my big sister when she finds out what all went down yesterday.”

“Not scared, just a healthy respect for her is all,” Micah explained, trying to redeem himself.

When Beth picked up, Cami switched it to speaker phone so we could all hear. “Cami, I thought I would be hearing from you sooner. They never made it to the Chicago HQ and now I’m hearing a doctor along with a healer were needed? What the hell happened?”

“You’re on speaker phone with everyone, Sis,” Cami warned her. “I’ll let them explain what’s going on.”

The five of us all looked at each other, unsure who should take the lead. They all motioned for me to do the honors. “How much time do you have, Beth? This is going to be a long story.”

“You guys are always my priority. I have all the time you need,” Beth assured me.

“So, where did we leave things with you? I know Cami has been keeping you in the loop and helping us with things on your end,” I asked, not wanting to waste time rehashing something that was already known.

“Phoebe had been taken, you managed to find the power plant they were holed up in, events happened between you and Parker, then you were going to Chicago to figure out where the other base of operations was that the demons were using,” Beth rattled off, surprising me how well informed she’d been kept.

“Turns out we didn’t need to go looking for the demons. They found us.”

Micah scoffed. “She means they rammed into us with a truck to incapacitate us and make getting us back to their hideout easier.”

“Oh my God, are you all right?” Beth gasped.

“Beaten and bruised, for the most part. Micah has a dislocated knee that will take some time to heal, but it’s better than being broken. That’s not the worst of it though...” I said, trailing off as I readied myself to go through all this again.

It took about an hour to cover everything with Beth, getting her up to speed and answering her questions along the way.

“Makoto, the old fool,” Beth growled after hearing his feelings on the matter. “Jay, I’m sorry to hear about your mother. You have the full weight of the Elementi at your disposal. Tell me what you need and I will make sure that it happens. You have my word on that.”

“Thanks,” Jay answered in true Jay fashion. I was beginning to think I was the only one he talked to in full, complete sentences.

“That goes for the rest of you as well. In my personal opinion, it seems that we’re coming to a head in this fight and even though you have the power of the angels, having backup isn’t a bad idea either,” Beth pointed out. “Keep me informed and I’ll work on things this side of the world, tracking down any suspicious movement or money being moved around.”

“There’s one more thing,” I said, cutting in. “Keep this to only the people we know we can trust. It doesn’t matter if they’re loyal. The more people who know, the more that can get out.”

“Wise advice, Lailah. I’ll keep it in mind. Until we talk next, stay safe.” Beth hung up, leaving us to figure out the next step.

FOUR

LAILAH

After we hung up with Beth, I didn’t really know what our next move should be. This was out of my depth and I thanked God we had Jay, because he was the only man I would trust to lead us through this. I looked over the possible locations that they could be hiding and my gut told me it had to either be Africa or the Amazon. The other two countries just wouldn’t hide them as easily as a rainforest would.

I didn’t have any time to check in with the guys as my parents joined us, their bags packed. “You guys are leaving already? What about staying for breakfast?”

“Lady Bug, I would love that, but we’ve been away from the restaurant for three days. Your dad is going to have a fit if we miss another day, and it’s shipment day as well,” Mom answered, pulling me into a hug. “If you need us, we’re just a call away. I get the feeling we’ll be more of a hinderance than help with all that you’re dealing with.”

When she explained it, I knew she was right. There was nothing they could do except feel overwhelmed by what we had to do. They had a hard enough time seeing me and the guys yesterday. I could only imagine how they would react to us charging off halfway across the world to take on an entire army of demons.

“I love you guys,” I murmured as I kissed Mom on the cheek and did the same for Dad. “We might need to take off to deal with settling things, but I’ll make sure to let you know before we leave.”

“Sounds good.” Dad nodded, giving me one more hug before they left.

Unable to move, I just stood there, staring at the front door, feeling like it might be the last time I saw them. If we went into battle, there was no telling what could happen. We’d made it out of each of these altercations by the skin of our teeth. This next move was going to be the final battle and with the small amount of information we did have, I knew it was going to be the battle of the ages.

Arms wrapped around me. “Sunshine, talk to me. I can feel your pain, but I don’t understand where it’s coming from.”

I glanced at Hudson over my shoulder, knowing he was right. I needed to voice my thoughts or they would swallow me whole. My therapist kept telling me that talking about my fears kept them from having power and ruling in the dark corners of my brain. Grabbing one of his hands, I pulled out of his hold and led him to the couch to sit next to me, so I was safe between Jay and him. Taking a deep breath, I let it all out, not holding any of my many concerns back.

“This is it. When we hunt them down, we’ll fly out there and confront them. Parker and I are broken, but we need him. There is no other option. It will take the full power of the Elementi Knights to end this war between Heaven and Hell here on earth. I don’t know how I feel about that, knowing how much he hurt me and knowing I have to trust him to keep me alive, along with you guys. What if Parker and I can never mend things between us? Do I want to? Does it even matter if we all might die in this fight? We thought it was one source of evil we were fighting—The Dark Lord. Now we know it’s Lilith and the Evil Trinity that we’re up against, and they don’t give a shit about anything but taking over our world so they can rule it for themselves. Let’s say we live through this. What happens to the people who have been dosed with the serum? Will this ever be over? Is there a chance for us to really build a life together outside of this ordeal or are we just slaves to fighting and surviving for the Elementi?”

The room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop as they absorbed what I’d just dropped on them.

“Lailah, how long have you been holding all this in?” Brayden asked, something in his voice making me look up at him. His face was tight with anger and I didn’t know if it was directed at me or something else, but that wasn’t what I was expecting from him.

Shrugging, I looked down at my hands picking at my t-shirt. “Some things for a while, others after I thought I was going to lose to Lilith. I had no idea if I was going to make it out of that insanity or not. It was a gamble, a stupid risky one, to see if I could trap her in my own body. If that failed, I could have killed us all and ended the world, because that’s what Synergy can do. In the right hands, it can save the world. Otherwise, it can bring the world to ruin. What nobody tells us is if saving it will ruin me... or you guys. I will fight, but I’m not fighting for the world. I’m fighting for us, otherwise it’s not worth it to me.”

“Are you saying you don’t want to do this?” Hudson asked, confused.

“What is this?” I countered.

This made Hudson pause to think as if he wasn’t sure either.

“Just to be clear, you’re not talking about leaving us,” Micah cut in, his voice all but a growl.

My head snapped in his direction at the absurd question. “Absolutely not. The only good thing out of this whole situation is getting you guys. I’m not with any of you because we’re bonded by some magical power or have Heaven’s blessing. I fell in love with each and every one of you without any of that, unable to ever choose between you all. What I’m getting tired of is having to be the people on the front lines sacrificing everything, including our lives, for a fight that might never be over.”

“It’s not just you guys,” Cami whispered. “All of us in the Elementi have given everything to this fight.” She looked up at me, giving me a watery smile as tears fell down her cheeks. “I don’t blame you for questioning their motives though. I do, every goddamn day. It cost me my first love. One of the reasons I didn’t want to come back to Ryevick when they asked. Why would I want to help protect the one person who could put an end to this, when she was already too late to save the woman I loved?”

Over the time that I had been friends with Cami, I knew there was something in her past. Brayden’s parents even hinted at it when we were out there visiting them. The pain I could see in her face told me everything I needed to know—how this story would go and how she still mourned the loss of this person.

“I hope you don’t take what I said as belittling the pain you’ve gone through, or that even you guys have, having lost family and friends. Coming from the outside and looking in, it just seems like no one pushes back or questions things, only pushing forward to keep the promise made to the angels,” I said, feeling the sadness and pain coming from all my men.

“No, Lala, I didn’t think that at all. I’ve been where you are. Hell, who am I kidding? I’m still there if I’m being honest with myself. Of course, my opinion changed when I met you and realized you had no idea that any of this was going on and you just got chucked right into the fire without a chance to question if this is what you should be doing. No one asked any of you if you wanted to be the Elementi Knights and put your life on the line to save the world. It was just assumed and expected, because you’re the only people who can do it.” Cami sighed.

Each of us took a moment to just sit there and think, knowing that I’d called attention to something that seemed taboo to even talk about. For generations, the Elementi had been training the next generation of knights when the others pass away, without question. Now here I was, the element that was supposed to save the world, questioning what we needed to do and the reason I was brought into this world. What I wouldn’t give to have an angel appear and explain to us what the hell was going on.

“Then we change the story,” Jay stated, breaking the silence.

I looked at him, brows creased, not sure where he was going with this.

“A mad man on his deathbed was visited by an angel who told him that Synergy was coming when we needed you the most. I agree that now is that time, but what they said is it was the weapon that would turn the tide for whoever was bonded to them. Lailah, you chose us, and we chose you. So, I say we choose each other again and we don’t fight for the Elementi or the world around us that has no idea the sacrifices that happen every day. This fight—this fight is for us. You want a future where we can settle down and make a life for ourselves, really get married, maybe have kids, watch them grow up ignorant to this darkness. If that is what we want, then we need to make that world for them. Take down the evil once and for all. Let them know if they dare to come back, we will smite them once again, because we have something precious to protect. Fuck the Elementi. Let’s do this for us and the future we deserve,” Jay proclaimed, surprising the shit out of all of us.

Micah shot to his feet, forgetting about his leg and came crashing back down, missing the chair, swearing. “Fucking hell, goddamn leg!” Once back in his chair, he glared at us, daring us to comment on his actions. “Jay’s right. Fuck everyone else. We do this last battle and when we live through it, we’re done. That’s it. No more Elementi, no more fighting or dealing with demons. We will live our own lives.”

“I agree. This last battle will take everything we have and once it’s finished, so are we. They can’t ask us for more than that,” Hudson commented, nodding in agreement.

Cami snorted. “I mean, they can and will, but I think you have the right idea to do what you have to for your future and I’ll do the same. Once this is over, I’m out as well. Maggs has been wanting to branch out and see the world, not be trapped at the school, working underground her whole life. I know she’ll come with me. You guys are my family too, and whatever kids you end up having need a crazy aunt that will help them get into the best kind of trouble.”

“There is one glitch, guys,” Brayden cut in. “What do we do about Parker?”

All eyes turned to me. Rubbing my face with both hands, I buried my fingers in my hair, knowing I had to make a tough call. “We need him for this fight. I don’t know about anything past that, but he needs to be a part of this. I’m sure there will be fights and moments where I’ll need to walk away, but that isn’t an option if we want a future. One thing I don’t question is needing all six of us fighting together to make it through this. They have worked so hard to keep us from completing our bonds, it has to be important. They wouldn’t waste the effort otherwise. Lilith was extremely worried when it looked like I’d bond with all of you before she could get to one of you.”

“Fine, he can come to help with shit but I refuse to let him stay in the house,” Micah bit out. “I also can’t promise I won’t beat the shit out of him again.”

“Works for me, but when we head out to wherever we’re going, we can’t risk him being separated. He’s not bonded to me. They can kill him and then we’re fucked on a whole other level,” I reminded them.

They all grumbled an agreement before I looked at Cami. “Would you mind being our go-between? Personally, I don’t want to talk to him just yet, even though I need to.”

“Of course, Lala. I’m not happy with the bastard either, and I get not wanting to be cornered into talking to him on the phone,” Cami assured me. “I do think it would be better for me to head back, though. I’ll be more help working with Beth since I know everything and I’m not as blinded by the organization as she is about who to trust or. How about I stay for a week, see where we are with things and then I head back and have information to share firsthand instead of over the phone or email?”

She was right, this wasn’t her fight and she couldn’t come with us when we went after the camp. “Sounds like our best option right now. We can always reevaluate later. Nothing is set in stone.”

“Now, can I suggest taking the afternoon off to just relax, watch movies and let your bodies recover? We’ve done a lot today. Jay, I don’t want you to think finding your mom isn’t urgent but things will go better if you’re not burning the candle at both ends,” Cami reasoned, making a good point which I never thought I would see happening.

Jay wilted a little next to me. “No, you’re right, Cami. We’re all stressed, bruised, and tired. We’ll think more clearly after having a day to rest.”

So, that’s what we did. We rested, knowing it might be the last bit of peace we would get for a while once we got into the thick of things. We needed just a moment to heal and remind ourselves even with powers, we were still only human, despite what the world told us.

FIVE

LAILAH

Two days passed in a routine of sleeping late into the day then waking up and getting right into research, tracking down any leads they could think of. I wasn’t that much help but Jay handed out tasks for us which made it easier, but when we hit a wall, we knew we needed to bring Parker into this. For all that he was a big child and didn’t take much in life all that serious, he was one talented computer whiz. We all kept running into roadblocks being unable to get the information we needed. Parker would easily be able to hack into what we needed with the right technology and know-how. Cami made the call and filled him in on what was going on. It appeared that he’d been staying with my parents of all people, but from what Cami gathered, he’d been holed up, working on his own angle dealing with the demon problem.

I was curled up on the couch, leaning on Brayden with Micah sprawled out next to us when the knock came at the door. Immediately, my stomach started to churn with worry, having no idea how this was going to go. It was such an odd place to be, missing him, knowing that even though I wasn’t sure how I felt about him, he still held a part of my heart. My trust in him was shattered, but I missed Parker’s lightheartedness, the pranks he would play on the others. He could always find a way to lighten a tense situation in the right way to make us all laugh, or at least smile. The past few days had been so quiet and brooding as we processed all that we’d been through and survived. Parker completed us and added to the group in a way that only he could, but I didn’t know how to even start to work on things when we had all this other stuff going on. On the other hand, it seemed so stupid to be this upset with him. Lilith set him up to fail, using everything they could to ruin him. But ultimately, he made the choice to abandon me to save Phoebe, and that was what broke us.

“Hey, Cami, thanks for reaching out and giving me a chance.” Parker’s voice echoed down the hall into the living room.

His deep tone rumbled across my skin, bringing tears to my eyes that I brushed away quickly as he entered the room. There he stood, looking as haggard, if not slightly worse, than the rest of us. Dark circles rimmed his eyes, his hair was a mess, and he had the starting of a beard, like he couldn’t be bothered to shave. “How can I help?” was all he asked, taking a moment to look at each of us.

“How much did Cami tell you?” Jay asked, taking point on this.

“That the demons took your mom to use against you if they failed with me, and your father isn’t interested in helping to find her,” Parker answered.

Jay nodded and turned the laptop around so Parker could see the screen. “I need your help hacking into these companies where we traced some money movement. They match to the previous camps but we can’t get to the other end of things. There has to be people helping them in the normal world, funneling funds to keep them hidden. If we can get our hands on one of those people, then we can figure out where they are now. From what we gathered, their camp is too big for them to keep moving it the same way they did before, so it has to be hidden well.”

Parker cracked his knuckles and sat right on the floor, in front of the coffee table the laptop was on and got to work. That was it. There wasn’t any other discussion or pushback like he normally would give if he didn’t feel included in the master plan. The tension in the room, just having him here, was suffocating, so I slipped off the couch and headed into the kitchen to make myself a cup of tea.

“You okay, Lala?” Cami asked as she hopped up on the counter next to where I was working.

“I don’t know,” I answered honestly. “How do you even begin to learn to trust someone again? There isn’t a magic formula to fix something like what we’ve been through. Most people might think I’m silly and not see the big deal, but when that Oath connection between us crumbled away, it was as if a part of me died. These aren’t normal relationships that I have with these men, and I can understand why losing one of them would cripple or even kill me. We are bound to each other through love, magic, and spirit. That isn’t something you can move on from.”

“When I lost Kim, I wasn’t sure that my heart would ever mend,” Cami whispered, her voice tight with emotion. “I know it isn’t the same but I understand that kind of heartbreak. It’s been three years now, and I didn’t truly believe that I would find a love like that again. It took the right person to come alongside me, willing to be patient as I figured things out and let me take my time as I got to know them. Maggs understands that Kim will always have a place in my heart and isn’t threatened by that. She even asked me to tell her stories about Kim, so I can share that part of my life with her, since we were together all through high school.”

“Cami, I’m so happy that you have Maggs and she is everything you need, but I don’t understand what you’re trying to tell me.” I sighed, leaning on the counter and dropping my head into my hands.

She ran a gentle hand over my head in comfort. “I know I give the big idiot a hard time, but give him the chance to prove to you that he can be trusted again. Don’t push him away. I’m not saying forgive him, he hasn’t earned that, but instead, keep an open mind to the possibility that he can be willing to be what you need right now. Parker is part of your soul. Losing the Oath didn’t change that. He got lost and fell off track. Does he deserve to grovel and pay his penance? Absolutely! Just as Maggs kept letting me know she was there for me and cared, waiting for me to be ready. Let Parker have that chance.”

“You make that sound so simple.”

“It’s not. I hated Maggs for a long time because she didn’t take the hint I wasn’t interested in anything other than a fling. Attachments and falling in love again were the furthest thing from my mind but she refused to let me ignore her. Then we became friendly, and I went to her parties, found out she worked for the Elementi and knew our dangers, which Kim never did. When I saw her again after the summer, I decided she’d stuck around after all the shitty things I put her through, so she must really like me. So, I gave her the date she’d been asking for. Now, I couldn’t ever picture my life without her. I’ll always love Kim, but Maggs is my forever person. She took the time to prove to me she wasn’t going to walk away from my woundedness.” Cami paused then shifted. “You hear all that, dipshit? I just laid out everything you needed to do if you really want to make this work.”

My head snapped up as I realized she wasn’t talking to me anymore and found Parker lingering in the doorway of the kitchen. I gulped, wondering how long he’d stood there and what all he heard of our conversation. Not that I said anything I wouldn’t say to his face, but I didn’t know if I was ready for him to know exactly how I was feeling. Cami hopped off the counter, gave me a peck on the cheek, and left the kitchen, knocking Parker with her shoulder as she went.

“I have no right to ask for a second chance, Lailah, but I’m not strong enough to walk away from you,” Parker murmured as he took a few steps closer, still leaving plenty of room between us. “What I did to you, and the pain I’ve caused you, make me worse than the demons we’re fighting. I will be whatever you need me to be, without question. Just say the word and I’ll do it. Just allow me the chance to still be in your life. I’m never going to ask for more than that, since I don’t deserve that kindness from you as it is.”

Hearing his plea and the vulnerability in his voice, my heart ached as it echoed the pain I could sense from him. The kettle whistled on the stove, breaking me out of my paralyzed state and gave me something to do as I figured out how I wanted to respond to his request. Parker didn’t speak, move, or try to push for an answer as I finished making my tea. I turned to face him.

“Help us find Jay’s mom and survive this battle with the Dark Lord, then we can figure out where we stand,” I answered. This wasn’t a yes or a no, but it would give him the chance to be useful and see if there was something left to save between us.

Parker sagged as if relieved, which confused me. “Thank you for letting me stay to help and not tossing me out for good. I know I said this before but I won’t fail you or the others again.”

“There are rules though,” I warned. “I can’t have you move back in or stay here overnight if it’s not necessary. After things happened with Lilith, my nightmares are back and I need to know that everyone in the house is a safe person. The other part is, I’m not the only person you need to repair relationships with. You and the others need to work your shit out on your own time. I’ll give them the same speech but I can’t handle you guys fighting among yourself in front of me.”

“I can deal with all of that,” Parker answered, a determined look on his face.

“Alright then,” I said moving past him with my mug, returning to the others where I paused as they all looked at me. “I just explained my expectations to Parker with him being here and helping but one of those expectations is the same for all of you. All of us have issues to work on if there is any hope to fix things but I won’t tolerate you fighting in front of me. We need to deal with the big picture, so whatever beef you have gets dealt with elsewhere and on your own time.” They all nodded as their eyes shifted from me to Parker who was standing behind me. “Anyone else have concerns they need to voice?”

When no one spoke up I let the issue drop and returned to my spot between Brayden and Micah. I only had so much emotion to give to things and for this matter, I reached my max.

The rest of the day fell into a peaceful atmosphere as we worked on our sections of things, allowing Parker time to look through what we’d found and see what he could come up with. The sun faded and stomachs rumbled, making me smile.

“I’ll get dinner started,” I announced, getting up as Brayden grabbed my hand, making me pause.

“Do you want any help, Angel?” he asked.

Leaning down, I kissed him and shook my head. “No, I need a break from dead ends and cooking helps me think. I’ll call you guys when it’s ready.”

I sent up a prayer as I left them alone for the first time since the whole thing went down that they wouldn’t kill each other.

SIX

PARKER

Watching Brayden kiss her so casually was like a knife in my heart. The man whose whole purpose was to feel feelings and influence them was the one who’d fucked up in the worst way possible. I wasn’t surprised when she kicked me out of the house. I wouldn’t want to share space with someone who shattered my heart and saved an ex-girlfriend who was inhabited by Lilith the Mother of Demons, leaving her to fend for herself. I meant every word I’d said to her in the kitchen. I didn’t deserve the easy way out of this, or to still be part of her life at all. I’d once again been the fuckup and acted without thinking, like I always seem to do.

The moment she left the room, the atmosphere changed as Micah locked his gaze on me from his spot on the couch. I’d noticed the knee brace, and I was genuinely glad to see that he wasn’t in a cast, knowing how much that would piss him off even more.

I knew Lailah was the one person none of us couldn’t live without, and over the past seven months that she’d been in our lives she had brought us all closer. We were far from being perfect and we still got into fights because they didn’t trust me not to hurt her, and what had I done? Just what they expected.

“I don’t know what other rules she gave you in order to feel comfortable letting you be here but know that if you step out of line, I will end you,” Micah growled.

I wasn’t surprised in the least that Micah was reacting this way. Lailah was his everything. They all knew it before Micah admitted it to himself. “If I hurt her again, I’ll let you kill me, Micah.”

This response seemed to surprise him but it really shouldn’t. If I fucked up my second chance, I didn’t deserve another. Putting me out of my misery was a more fitting fate.

“The only reason we called you and allowed you back into this home is because we can’t do this without you. It requires all of the Elementi Knights to defeat the Dark Lord and the Evil Trinity, not to mention the added difficulties if Lilith joins in,” Hudson informed me. His tone was cool and detached like it used to be before he met Lailah, closing himself off from me.

“Look, guys, I’m not going to fight whatever hoops you make me jump through to be here, alright? My only request was to be allowed to be part of her life in some way, and if it’s helping hunt down the bastards that have been haunting her dreams, then I’m all over it. I realize that means we’ll also have to come to some agreement for you to accept me being around her as well, so do what you must. I’ll take my hits,” I shared, laying everything out there so they could decide what to do next.

Micah scoffed. “Don’t act like such a martyr. You deserve all that you’re getting and then some for what you’re putting her through. We’re the ones who’ve had to pick up the pieces after you destroyed her and I’m not letting you do any more damage.”

“I get it. I would do the same thing if the roles were any different, but I’m the asshole that hurt her. I won’t deny it.”

“Good, because there’s no other way to look at it,” Brayden muttered. “I just don’t get how you could have let something like this happen. Phoebe was your ex, and she was dating Lailah’s brother. Why would you ever think to put her before our girl? Is it because you still loved her and thought you could rekindle things with Phoebe?”

The question smacked me right in the face, because this is probably what all of them were thinking. Why else would a man who says he’s in love with someone to the point of giving an Oath turn his back on them? Every time I close my eyes, I think over that moment again and again, trying to understand it myself. It was so simple looking at it now that Phoebe, while an innocent, wasn’t in the same danger that Lailah was. In the end, Phoebe was lost to us, having been a conduit for Lilith. There was no way to remove a demon without killing the host.

“I was blinded by the need to protect someone that I felt wasn’t able to defend themselves. I knew Lailah was strong and could hold on until you guys got there, but Phoebe was an innocent, even if she was trying to make a move on me. I’d shut her down more than once already. She shouldn’t have been my priority because Lailah is everything to me. I just didn’t see it until I lost her,” I answered as honestly as I could. “Nothing I do or say can ever right that wrong but I will grovel and pay my penance to keep even a sliver of hope she won’t cut me out of her life for good.”

This answer seemed to appease Brayden and Hudson, but from the look of doubt on Jay and Micah’s faces, I knew they didn’t believe me. That’s fine, I didn’t need them to, if Lailah did. Her opinion was the only one that mattered. If I could mend things with her, then the guys would fall in line with her decision, but I would always have them watching out for the next time I might fuck up.

They dropped the matter for now as I dove back into the work they’d given me. All the banks were offshore and only used account numbers with no names or locations tied to the transactions. I needed to come at it from a different angle and see if they used the same account for something else that wasn’t as secure. Losing myself to my work, peeling back layer after layer of the web they wove to keep things hidden, I finally got the breadcrumb I needed.

“Dinner’s ready,” Lailah called, snapping me out of my computer-code fog.

Turning, I looked at her standing there wearing an apron that Cami got for her and flour smudging her face. The need to brush it off her cheek and kiss those lips was overpowering, but I knew that wasn’t an option, and I might get stabbed for even thinking I could try. So instead, I cleared my throat and asked a simple request. “Would you mind if I kept working? I just caught on to a lead and I don’t want to lose the momentum I have or risk them figuring out someone is digging for the information.”

“Of course, I’ll bring you a plate to eat in here, unless you want me to set it aside for later?” she inquired, removing her apron.

“I’ll come grab some later if that works,” I hedged, not wanting her to feel like I didn’t want to eat her cooking since everyone knew how much I loved it.

She nodded and turned back to the kitchen as the others followed to eat at the table together. I didn’t really think I would be welcome at the table as it was and it would probably make everything super awkward. Brushing that aside, I dove back into the trail I found, leading me on a merry chase through shell company to shell company until I found the end of the line. Frowning, I started digging into the corporation, trying to figure out just what it was that they did or how they made their money. It didn’t seem like a normal business where it had a corporate office or any kind of brick-and-mortar building. Everything was run on the internet, hidden in the background of all the shell companies that were fronts in all different industries.

Could this even be an actual business or is this just another front that’s better constructed? What really threw me was the fact it had been around for fifty years, doing what I didn’t know. Their taxes were legit, even if it did seem to be too clean, too perfect, for it to be true. Every business had a little dirt, using the write-offs to cover something personal, or even using the company card for dinner out. No one followed all the rules unless they really didn’t want someone to be looking into them. This had to be what I was looking for. I was just missing the obvious part of it.

Now that I had a company name, maybe I could ask Jay to look into it using his contacts and see if the Elementi had any information. They were always good at keeping an eye on businesses and people who seemed to be hiding things. It was always in these situations they found a demon trying to go unnoticed in the background. They knew what would draw out attention, riding the line of doing what they needed and keeping off our radar. Looking up from the computer, I found it was dark outside, and the TV was on with the guys relaxing, watching some show while I worked.

I’d been so absorbed in what I was doing that I didn’t even notice they’d come back to relax. Clearly dinner was over and done with and had been for a while. Lailah was curled up, sleeping with her head on Jay’s lap as he massaged her head, doing his best to keep her asleep. If the nightmares were back, constant contact seemed to be the best thing to remind her that they were there even when she was passed out. Her face was utterly relaxed and peaceful, something I hadn’t seen in days, since every time she looked at me, sadness filled her crystal-blue gaze.

“Jay,” I whispered, drawing his steel gaze. “I have a company name but there’s something really odd about it. There aren’t any records of employees, leases, how they make their money, or even who the founder is. I’m gonna send this off to Beth and see if she can use the Elementi contacts to dive into it. My thought was you might have a different perspective on it from the military side of things. They cover their tracks differently than the standard money laundering types do.”

“Leave up the information you need me to look at and I’ll see what I can find. Wait on sending it to Beth. It would be best to keep things close to the chest while we can, if you think you have them backed into a corner,” Jay directed. “It’s late. If you can’t do any more, then I think it’s best if you head out for the night. We’ll talk tomorrow. Make sure you check in with me before you come over.”

The cool tone Jay was using, as if I was one of his soldiers to order about stung, but I’d promised to do what was needed to help.

“I need some different things if this is the type of work I’m going to be doing so we don’t get caught in a trap. The last thing we need is for them to catch onto us and walk in the backdoor, looking at everything we have on them,” I said, getting up and stretching after being hunched over the coffee table for hours.

“There’s a plate she made for you in the oven,” Brayden commented. “It would upset her if you didn’t eat.”

Nodding, I wandered off to see what she’d made and found personal chicken pot pies along with mashed potatoes. My stomach grumbled, smelling the amazing aroma as I pulled the tray out to one set aside for me. Leaning on the counter, I wolfed the meal down and heard someone enter.

“I’m leaving to head back to Ryevick at the end of the week,” Cami warned. “Until then, I’ll buffer for you where I can with the guys but you have to fix this, Parker. I know how much you love her, even if it took you fucking it up to realize just how much.”

Setting the fork down, I met her fierce gaze. “They all want answers I don’t really have, Cami. This element has been a curse to me my whole life. It puts me into situations that set me up for failure. The first time I felt like I was getting a handle on things was with her around but now I’m just a joke of a knight.”

Cami marched up to me and kneed me right in the dick. The sudden attack and the pain stole the air from my lungs as I crouched over, moaning in pain. “What the actual fuck, Cami?”

“Oh, you just seemed to like punishing yourself so much I thought I would help,” she quipped. “Grow the fuck up, man. We get it. You’re a wounded puppy that’s whining about losing his favorite person, rolling on his back, baring his throat, waiting for the killing blow. Instead of just waiting to be kicked, prove to those assholes you learned your lesson. Show the woman you love just how much she means to you in every way you can, instead of tiptoeing around. Lailah has four other men in her life that remind her every day that she is their world. Fight for her, fight for your place back, or get the fuck out of this house and don’t ever come back. You’ll get them all killed if you keep this up.”

“There wasn’t another way you could have explained that without ruining my chance at having children someday?” I grunted as I finally managed to stand upright. “I’m pretty sure my dick just became an innie in the hope to protect itself from that ever happening again.”

“So did I make my point? I was hoping the extra blood to your thinking brain might be helpful,” Cami commented with a grin. “You’re lucky that’s all I did and that I’m willing to even give you advice on how to fix this.”

“Could your advice come with less pain next time?” I begged. Her glare had me holding up my hands in defense. “Okay, okay, I hear you. No more wounded puppy. I’ll work on it. First, I’m going back to Lailah’s parents and icing my dick, so take comfort in the knowledge I’ll still be in pain you crazy ankle-biter.”

“Good enough for me,” Cami chirped, spinning on her heel and leaving so I could finish my dinner before I left.

SEVEN

LAILAH

“Sunshine, we should get you back up to bed,” Hudson whispered, running a hand down my arm. “You fell asleep at the table again.”

Blinking, I sat up and found he was right. I’d had a nightmare at three and couldn’t fall back asleep, so I came down to go through the records of the mystery company.

“This is the third time this week we’ve found you here,” Hudson chided. “I don’t think it’s healthy to have you so involved in this. Maybe we need to send you back to Ryevick where Cami can keep an eye on you and give you some space from us and all of this.”

My heart slammed in my chest at his words. “Are you trying to get rid of me?”

“What? No, Sunshine, that isn’t what I want at all,” he spluttered, pulling me onto his lap. “I’m just worried about you. Things are regressing, not getting better, the harder we push to find Jay’s mother. My first and only purpose is to make sure you’re healthy and happy, which I should point out, you are neither of those things.”

I looked up at him, seeing the truth in his words as he leaned in and kissed me softly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to freak out. My brain just went into panic mode hearing you say that.”

“Talk to me. Tell me where your head’s at. You always used to come to me when you couldn’t get out of your own thoughts, but this time, you’re just internalizing it,” Hudson pleaded, resting his forehead against mine.

“It’s all the same things.” I sighed. “Will we find his mom in time? Can we really do this? Parker, me, you guys, the Elementi—it might be easier to tell you what I’m not thinking about. The only time my brain turns off is when I’m cooking or working on things like this where I have to pay attention to the details.”

He hummed in understanding as he pulled me close, resting his chin on the top of my head. “I’m going to ask you a question and you need to answer it honestly.”

“What’s the question?” I asked, feeling I knew what it was already.

“Not until you promise to at least think about the answer before you give it,” he challenged.

I wrapped an arm around his neck to have him as close as I could get him. “I promise. Now ask your question.”

“Is Parker being here every day making things worse?”

As I promised, I thought about his question, the one I had a feeling he was going to ask me. It was so hard to answer because it just wasn’t that simple to put into words. Since the first day he came over to help, he’s been invaluable to us, getting information from places none of us could access. Come to find out, no one knew about this mysterious company called Alpite but that was about all we knew about it for sure. Each time we uncovered something, it led to another wild goose chase. It just proved that once we figured it out, we would have exactly what we needed to find the demons’ military base of operations.

Something else had changed in him as well, as if a switch had been flipped and he did everything he could think of to be an active person in this mission. He brought me flowers—my favorite kind, tulips—and I don’t think I’d ever told any of my guys that they were my favorite. Gone was the wounded bleeding man who only wanted to beg for my forgiveness. Now I saw him fighting for me or us. We had a long way to go for me to ever think about opening my heart back up to him but I could see him trying.

“No... in the list of things making this whole situation hard, he isn’t one of them. I think I’m just reaching the breaking point of how many times I can take a hit like I have in the past year. There needs to be an end to all this, Hudson. I might be Synergy, the weapon you’ve all been waiting for, but I’m still Lailah too. Not that any of you have forgotten that or made me feel like I have to keep pushing myself. A year ago, I had no idea what I wanted for myself. The rest of my family had plans, dreams, and aspirations—not me though. I drifted, getting lost at every turn, then I stumbled into this world and found I did have a purpose. It just wasn’t one I chose for myself. God, I feel like a broken record when it comes to this, which might be why I’m not talking about it,” I shared, burying my head into his neck and placing a kiss on his pulse that I could feel beating steadily against my cheek.

“Sounds to me like you need someone to remind you just how strong you are,” Hudson murmured, his voice turning husky with desire. “Will you let me worship you, my sunshine? Help you to forget everything that’s going on in the world around us, force you to just feel what’s happening in this moment, right here, right now.”

What woman in her right mind would say no to that?

“Yes,” I whispered against his skin before I pulled back and stood in front of him. Grabbing his jaw, I tipped his face up to look at me, knowing what he wanted from me. He was the only man out of the four who wanted to be told what to do in the bedroom. “Are the others asleep?”

“No, but they’re all in their rooms tonight,” he answered, telling me what I really wanted to know.

Hudson knew that part of what I was struggling with was having no control over what was happening, so he was giving me this gift. “Get on your knees.”

Confusion flashed over his face as he followed my order.

“Show me just how much you’re willing to do to keep my mind off things,” I directed, taking off his glasses then settling his hands on my hips.

I’d taken to wearing lounge clothes since I seemed to be falling asleep in odd places throughout the day. I was only sleeping three or four hours a night. Realization bloomed in his eyes as he started to smirk. He hooked his thumbs in the elastic band of my shorts and underwear, pulling them both down to my ankles. Lifting one foot then the other as he held me steady, he tossed them somewhere behind me then grabbed my left leg and threw it over his shoulder. I yelped and grabbed onto a handful of blond hair as he wasted no time devouring me, his tongue thrusting into me as if I was the most delicious thing he’d ever tasted.

Hot damn, I need to challenge him more often if this was the result.

“Holy shit, Hudson,” I moaned as his hands slid to cup my ass and gave him the leverage he needed to get deeper.

He started to trace a finger around my back entrance that everyone had been threatening to convince me to try. I wasn’t against it. I just didn’t know if I would like it, and it seemed so dirty, even if they all were excited with the thought. His finger pressed against the opening but didn’t try to go further, almost as if he was just getting me used to the idea. My attention was completely diverted when he pulled back enough to latch onto my clit and sucked on it hard, adding just enough teeth to add friction. I screamed as I came, unable to fight to keep my voice quiet. I shuddered as he lapped at me, keeping the orgasm going as long as he could. Giving one last kiss to my clit, he slowly set my leg back down, making sure I was steady enough for him to stand.

He cupped my cheeks and pulled me into a kiss that he put as much vigor in as he had my lady bits. I could taste myself on him, but I was too preoccupied with his tongue battling with mine to care. Picking me up, I gasped in surprise but he just set me on the table and pressed me back as he worked up my shirt to uncover my bra. He didn’t bother to take it off, instead just shoving it out of his way, exposing me to him. Hudson gazed down at me, his clear blue eyes showing just how hungry he was for me and determined to make sure I couldn’t think of anything but him. Slipping two fingers into me with his thumb rubbing my clit, I arched on the table. “Oh God, Hudson.”

“That’s right, tell the others that I’m the one down here making you moan. They like to tease me about being more submissive in bed, but all I want is to give my sunshine all the pleasure I can,” Hudson whispered as he kissed down my chest before descending upon a nipple.

None of the guys were ever selfish but Hudson had a love for foreplay that none of the others did, taking his time to drive me wild before he ever thought about relieving his own need. His fingers pumped in and out of me while he worked my breasts over with his mouth and his other hand kept my mind overloaded with sensations. Another climax came bursting forward, hitting me so hard I almost sat up from the table. He held me in place as my body shivered under his touch. Finally, he removed his fingers but still strummed my clit as he used one of his lubed fingers to press more urgently at my tight entrance.

“Just relax,” he murmured into my ear. “I’ve been doing some research and there are some neat tricks we can do that are enhanced with anal stimulation. If you hate it, then I won’t ever do it again. This is all about you and getting the last drop of pleasure I can out of you.”

I trusted Hudson to take care of me so as the tip of his finger passed the tight barrier, I forced my body to relax. The sensation was odd but not unpleasant. He didn’t move his finger in deep, just enough to give me a feel for the stimulation. Pairing that with his continued attention on my clit, I came faster than I thought possible, the feeling sparking through my body like a shock of electricity.

“Look how beautiful you are, my sunshine. Your eyes glazed with contentment as I pull yet another orgasm from your stunning body. When you fall apart, it’s heavenly,” Hudson said as he finally slid into me, pulling me up into a sitting position, wrapping me in a tight hug.

Clinging to him, he moved at a slow steady pace, just letting our bodies feel the movement. At this point, I was so sensitive, it wouldn’t take much for me to come again, but he kept me on the edge. Kissing along my neck, he nibbled on my ear, making me lean to the side to give him better access to what he wanted. The feeling of our bodies wrapped up in each other was euphoric in a way I never knew possible. I felt loved, cherished, and the safest I had since we came to Wisconsin. My quiet observant knight knew what I needed, even when I didn’t. Silent tears fell down my cheeks as I clung to him, letting this man I loved with my soul take care of me. Finally, we both reached our limit and came one after the other in a beautiful crescendo.

“I know this is hard, my sunshine, but we’ll do this together and make it out the other side,” Hudson whispered into my ear as he pulled me from his neck to look me in the eye. “Don’t fear what we have to face because you won’t be doing it alone. Each of your knights will be right behind you, ready to defend the future we all deserve.” He kissed away the last of my tears before stripping me the rest of the way out of my clothes. Then he scooped me up and carried me upstairs into my bedroom where we wrapped ourselves in the sheets, and I drifted off in his arms, wrung out in the best way possible.

I didn’t even have to open my eyes to know where I was and who was here with me. The darkness of the void the Dark Lord liked to bring me to was vast and terrifying, and a feeling of utter loneliness sank into my skin. It has been months since the last time we’d interacted this way, but I’d been expecting it ever since I banished Lilith back to Hell and the Princes who wanted to lock her up.

“Little Synergy,” his evil voice purred, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. “Have you missed me? It’s been awhile since our last conversation.”

“Can’t say that I’ve even noticed your absence with the joy of meeting your mother,” I commented.

The funny thing about being tired of dealing with all this is that it made this whole interaction less intimidating. We’d done this song and dance before and I’d always made my way out of it unscathed.

The Dark Lord snarled at me. “Yes, she told me all about what happened between you two and how she succeeded in breaking one of your relationships, leaving you vulnerable to me entering your mind like this. How are you sleeping? Nightmares keeping you awake still? I decided to throw in some new ones to keep you tired, restless, and stupid. The carelessness of this interaction is proving to me that it’s working.”

“What? You’re the one giving me nightmares?” I gasped, my brain finally catching up to the reality of my situation.

I’d thought with four out of the five bound to me that I would be safer from the Dark Lord, but if he’s been in my head this whole time, then I was dead wrong. Could it be that he’d given up on using me to gain what he wanted, seeing as I was too much effort to deal with in the real world?

“Ah, it seems you’re finally catching on. Mother warned me you weren’t as bright as I thought you were and you know mothers, they’re never wrong.” He chuckled, the sound like nails on a chalkboard.

I needed to get out of here, and quickly, but I’d never been able to do this on my own. The guys always came for me when I needed them. Closing my eyes, I focused inward, trying to grasp onto my bonds but there was nothing. It was a hollow space in my chest. How could I be cut off from them? It shouldn’t have been possible for him to do that.

“Now, now, Little Synergy. You’re in my world now and I’ve put a shield up just as you have back home, to keep them out as we had this little chat. No one you are bound to has any idea that something is wrong, and I have you right where I want you,” the Dark Lord sneered, his clawed hand wrapping around my throat. “My brothers know about my plans, which is forcing me to move them to happen faster than I wanted. If I take you out here and now, it might be less fulfilling, but then I’ll have one less pest to deal with as I bring Earth into a new era ruled by me!”

His grip tightened, and I thrashed, trying to pull at his hand, but he was too strong and his fingers were so long they wrapped all the way around my throat, his claws digging into my skin. Without my power to call on the others, I was left helpless and alone in the darkness, with pure evil trying to steal my life from me. In desperation, I called out to whoever might listen with the last ounce of air that I had in my lungs, unwilling to die like this.

“Get your hands off her, you creepy bastard!” Parker’s voice rang out in the darkness.

A flickering purple light was making its way over to us, but with the lack of oxygen, my vision was starting to fade.

“You shouldn’t be able to be here! How did you get through my barrier?” the Dark Lord roared, dropping me to the ground.

My eyes were still blurry, but I caught glimpses of Parker and his long-bladed staff going head-to-head with the Dark Lord. Parker had an evil smile on his face as he attacked, pushing the darkness back with him as his purple light grew, filling the space. “Did you forget I’m not attached to her at all now, or the fact that shattering the Oath left a blight on me much like the mark you left on Lailah? Yeah, asshole, I can enter the void now too, probably even follow you into Hell if I needed to. Sadly, we can’t stay and play. Just know that we’re coming for you and when we do, you’re going to lose.”

Parker released his weapon and scooped me up. “Sorry, Trouble, but this is gonna be a bumpy ride,” he warned as he ran, tucking me in close against his chest.

“How?” I croaked.

“I don’t know, Trouble, but I’m so glad I didn’t ignore the nagging feeling you needed me. Just be ready for them to be pissed and screaming when you wake up,” Parker shared, as I felt myself starting to wake up and the brush of a kiss on my forehead.

EIGHT

LAILAH

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing here?” Micah demanded, his furious voice echoing in my ears, giving me the first sign to tell me that I was back.

Groaning, I shifted onto my back, bringing a hand up to my neck. The moment I touched it, I hissed in pain, making it clear that the Dark Lord had left his mark and proof that everything that just happened was real.

“Parker,” I whispered, barely loud enough to be heard over the yelling.

“Guys, shut the fuck up. She’s trying to say something,” Brayden cut in as the bed dipped beside me. “Angel, what the hell happened to your neck?” He gasped and reached out as if he was going to touch it but stopped himself.

I licked my lips and swallowed but it was so painful. Rolling my head to the side, I found Parker pinned to the bedroom wall by Jay, with a pissed-off Micah standing in front of him as if he was blocking the sight of him from me. I locked eyes with Parker, begging him to answer the question so I didn’t have to.

“The Dark Lord tried to kill her in her sleep,” Parker stated, fury blazing in his eyes. “The fucker put up a barrier to keep you guys out, making sure you didn’t have a clue what was happening.”

Jay dropped Parker and turned to me; his gray eyes wild with fear. “Is he telling the truth?”

I nodded my head before croaking out an answer. “Yes, he saved my life.”

“Care to explain how the hell you knew what was happening? I’m going to need that house key from you before you leave as well if you’re going to pull shit like this,” Micah growled.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I thought saving the life of the woman we all love was a good enough excuse for my actions. Next time, when I can’t get there in time, you’ll be the reason she’s dead in bed next to you. Hope that’s okay with you,” Parker snarled.

The whole situation was devolving, and I needed to put a stop to it. Sitting up, the sheet fell away from me, exposing my naked body, forgetting that Hudson and I didn’t bother to put anything on before getting in bed. Although it wasn’t what I had planned, it did the trick as all my guys froze, laser focused on my bare breasts. Rolling my eyes, I let out a huff, which got Hudson moving, flashing the guys all his goods as he went into the bathroom and appeared wearing a robe and offering me mine. Then he returned to the bathroom, only to return with a glass of water, which helped ever so slightly with speaking.

“Stop, please,” I managed to say clearly enough. “Fighting is what he wants and we can’t let him win.”

“Cookie Monster, I know you believe we can’t do this without this fucknugget but I know we can,” Micah challenged.

Shaking my head, I continued, “What happened tonight proves that’s not true. If he hadn’t come for me, I would have died. I was already on the verge of passing out as it was. No, we can’t do this without him. I’m certain of it now.” Exhausted from the encounter, I sagged against Hudson who was sitting beside me. “The Dark Lord is who’s been sending me the nightmares. He wanted me tired and off my game and it worked.”

“Sunshine, we’re all under a massive amount of stress. Don’t let the Dark Lord fill you with fear,” Hudson cautioned.

Anger spiked through me at his cavalier take on this, causing me to shoot to my feet. “You don’t get it! I almost died next to you in my sleep, with no one around to help me!” The shock and hurt on Hudson’s face told me I’d gone too far but none of them besides Parker was understanding how screwed we were. “Parker has to stay at the house from now on. I don’t give a shit what any of you think about this. It’s my life that hangs in the balance if something goes wrong. He’s the only one who can get to me if I ever need him again.”

Brayden was the first of them to approach me, taking my hands in his and lifting them to his lips. “All we want is for you to be safe, Lailah. If that means Parker stays in the house then that’s what will happen. You come first, no matter what. Seeing the marks on your neck has left us all a little shaken, knowing you got hurt under our watch. I’m sorry that we forgot to consider your feelings in our panic.”

This was the magic of Brayden. He was my rock, the man who kept me grounded in reality. “I’m sorry too.” I turned back to Hudson who was still sitting on the bed, trying to hide his feelings. “Hudson, I shouldn’t have yelled at you like that. You didn’t deserve that from me. Just… when I didn’t think this whole thing could get worse, it did, and I lashed out at all of you.” I pulled away from Brayden and kissed Hudson tenderly, putting all my feelings for him into it. The one thing Hudson always struggled with was arguing. Any kind of yelling from me reminded him of his stepmother.

“Thank you for your apology. I shouldn’t have brushed off your feelings either. None of us responded well in the heat of the moment.” Hudson sighed, resting his head against mine. “But as Brayden said, if Parker needs to be back in the house then he can stay in the guestroom on the first floor.”

“Wasn’t there a loft over the garage?” Micah muttered.

“For tonight, let’s just have him on the first floor. We’ll figure out a more thought-out situation for all of us when we aren’t all on high alert,” Brayden suggested as he climbed into my bed. “Sorry, Angel, I know Hudson wanted a night with just you, but I won’t be able to sleep if I can’t hear you breathing.”

I wasn’t going to argue with him, feeling the need to have them all close. Before getting back into bed, I pulled on sleep shorts and a t-shirt that read Nope. Not today. I felt it was fitting and the need for any and all comforts was welcome right now. Parker left the room and I curled up with my four guys joining me in bed. It made me the center of the puppy pile, giving them a sense of purpose as they protected me from anything else that might show up in the night. The chances of the Dark Lord pulling the same trick twice seemed unlikely, but it took me a long time to fall back asleep.

The rest of the night was uneventful but as we all gathered around the kitchen, it was a tense atmosphere as the guys watched the coffee maker work. When the whistle of the kettle blew, it made everyone jump, and I almost dropped the mug I was holding, waiting for the water. Taking a shaky breath, I set the mug aside and turned off the burner, cutting off the sound and setting us all at ease.

“Looks like my PTSD is rubbing off on all of you,” I muttered.

No one responded to my comment as the coffee maker beeped and they passed it around as if it had some magical power to cure all evil.

“I was thinking,” Hudson said, breaking the silence first. “We should reach out to Nona and see if she has any thoughts on a way to protect you while you’re sleeping. We can make barriers for places. Why can’t we create one for the mind?”

“Man, that’s a smart idea,” Brayden agreed, perking up a bit then just as quickly it faded. “Wouldn’t she have said something before about it?”

“No, we thought the dreams were part of her trauma. But now that we know they’re being sent to her, it changes things,” Hudson countered. “Yes, the Dark Lord has slipped into her mind before. We’ve all seen it, but that was before she was bound to most of us. That has to offer more protection, right?”

I hopped up on the counter, bobbing my tea bag as I thought over the idea. “It’s worth asking. No one has had to deal with this, so it could be as simple as not having thought to look for a solution. I’ll call her later today. Right now, I’m just not up for dealing with her analytical inquisition.”

Jay walked up to me, settling his hands on my thighs and pinning me to the counter. “Tell me the truth. How are you feeling right now?”

Giving Jay a sad smile, I set my mug down and wrapped my arms around his neck, just wanting to be held for a moment. He responded immediately, caging me in with his body as if he could stop the whole world from getting to me. “I’m alive, pissed off, and ready for all this to be over. It needs to stop, Jay. I can’t keep gluing myself back together each time the Dark Lord decides to come and rip me apart. One of these times, I won’t be able to do it and I’ll be left a husk of what I once was.”

“I will never let that happen, Beautiful. Even if I have to put you back together myself. It kills me to see you like this, knowing I can’t find them and bring you their heads on a platter like you deserve. This is the first time I’ve failed everyone I love. It doesn’t sit well with me,” Jay shared, baring his heart to me. “If I can’t fix you at the end of this, then we’ll be broken together.”

Fisting a hand in my hair, he pulled my head up and seared his lips to mine, trapping me in a kiss that was harsh. His emotions bled through to me as we kissed, showing me what he hid from everyone else—he was terrified of losing everything. While I was the one the Dark Lord was targeting, the others were dealing with pain of their own in all this. None of us would leave this battle unscathed by the demons we fought against. We would need each other to pick up the pieces along the way. Breaking the kiss, I gasped for air as we both just clung to each other, sharing the burden we both carried.

“Something needs to change. We’ve been on the defensive, reacting to whatever they throw at us,” I whispered. “I think it’s about time we take the battle to them, don’t you?”

“Couldn’t have said it better, Beautiful,” Jay answered, pressing a kiss to my forehead. “I think it’s time my father and I had another chat as well. He is a member of the Elementi even if he runs his own military. We’re going to need all the help we can get and he owes it to my mother to show up, no matter what we find.”

“Lailah,” Parker called out from somewhere in the house.

Pulling back from Jay, I saw him enter the kitchen with papers in his hands. When he looked up and saw the situation he froze and started to leave. “I’ll come back⁠—”

“What did you need?” I asked as Jay shifted to lean on the counter next to me.

Parker hesitated then decided to take me at my word. “These bank statements you went through last night for Aplite, why did you highlight these five? I can’t see the connection to them or anything else we’ve been looking into.”

“That’s why I highlighted them,” I answered with a shrug. “Everything else made sense, but why in the world would you need to order that much copy paper, or napkins for a business that we aren’t even sure has a building? I ran the program you set up for me to input the account numbers too and they were all supply companies. When I looked up the websites, it was all office goods. When I matched the invoices to the vendor, they came up with, a company in South Africa. Clearly, paper goods weren't what they ordered, but I didn’t know how to dig any deeper than that.”

Parker’s eyes went wide as he rushed forward to hug me, making Jay grunt as he got shoved into the counter. “You did it, Trouble! Holy shit, you found the breadcrumb we needed to bust this wide open!”

I patted him on the back, loving the fact I was getting a hug from him since he gave the best hugs ever, but flinching at the use of his nickname for me. I’d told him he couldn’t use that anymore. It hurt too much to hear, knowing we didn’t have that relationship at the moment.

“Care to share with the rest of the class what’s happening?” Brayden asked, as Parker released me and took a few steps back.

He waved the sheets at them, barely able to keep still. “When I couldn’t figure out the connection I looked up the vendor myself. This company is in South Africa and I would bet my left nut that it supplies their base of operations.”

“I don’t follow,” Jay commented, frowning.

“This company doesn’t ship anything outside the country or outside the southern half of the continent. It gives us a location to start with! Now we can fly to South Africa and get a meeting with someone in the company. We can get them to tell us what they really sent them and where. This is the break we needed, and we almost missed it because we were looking for something more obscure. Since no one has really looked into this company before, they wouldn’t know they don’t have a brick-and-mortar place of business, so even on taxes and things, they would assume to have office supplies accounted for. Lailah is a fucking genius and put it all together even if she didn’t realize it!”

“So we’re going to South Africa?” Micah asked as if he didn’t really believe what Parker was saying.

“Cape Town to be exact,” Parker answered with a grin.

Micah nodded and hobbled his way out of the kitchen. “I’ll get the plane ready for us to leave tomorrow.”

I couldn’t help but smile to myself. Finally, we had enough to make a move. Once we had whatever information we could get from this company, it was time to bring the fight right to the Dark Lord’s doorstep. The Elementi have been waiting for this day for centuries and it was time to see what they were made of.

NINE

LAILAH

Sitting on the plane looking out the window, I didn’t quite believe we were heading off to Cape Town with a meeting scheduled with the head of one of the world’s largest supplier companies, Pride Resources. Yesterday, we did as much research about the company as we could, so we knew what we were getting into and who to talk to. It helped to have the sons of some of the most well-known families in business as my partners, allowing us to get a meeting with whoever we requested. They had items that would be useful to all the different businesses their families owned so it was easy to pretend we were looking for a new supplier.

“How did your parents take the news?” Parker asked, sitting across from me.

I’d decided not to tell them where I was going or what we would be doing when we got there. I made sure that Cami and Beth knew what was going on so they could contact them if it was needed, but my parents needed to stay out of this whole thing. “They didn’t like it but there isn’t much they can do about it when I won’t give them more information.”

“Your mom just worries and your dad only sees you as his little girl. Once this is all over, I’m sure they’ll understand why you chose to keep them out of the loop,” he said, giving me a half-smile.

“How do your parents deal with all this? You all fly around the world, living a completely different life without fear that they’ll get involved,” I questioned, knowing they hadn’t really checked in with their family much since coming out to Wisconsin.

Parker shrugged, looking out the window at the clouds below. “The moment they learned we were Elementi Knights, they no longer controlled our lives—the Elementi did. We went to training all summer long then back to school until we graduated. Instead of the split, it became a full-time gig to train while at school, giving us a slight break for the holidays and the summer. If you hadn’t been struggling the way you were, we wouldn’t have left for the summer. Instead, it would have been intensive training to get you closer to where we are in skills and knowledge. That’s our life, to be the weapons against the demons, always ready to be sent on a mission someplace. Personally, I think they would have pulled us out of school completely if we didn’t need to keep up appearances for the outside world.”

“You know, the more we talk about the Elementi, the more it sounds like they’re just as evil as the demons,” I commented, trying to fight against my anger at the whole thing. “The moment they found out who I was, they started to control my life without my knowledge. How is that not considered something the angels would disapprove of?”

Parker let out a dark chuckle as he met my gaze. “That’s where the whole freewill thing comes into play. The angels can’t control what we do, only judge the intentions of our heart, which is what they care about. To be honest, I’m surprised I wasn’t stripped of my powers once the Oath was broken because now I’m tainted goods.”

“Guess that means your heart is still in the right place,” I whispered, dropping my eyes to the book I’d been staring at but not really reading.

“There is only one person who I want to believe that, but it won’t be easy to convince them of that. In the meantime, I will do my damndest to prove that I’m worth the effort,” Parker stated.

I knew he was talking about me. Even though having him around all the time again the past few days hadn’t been as hard as I thought it would be, I wasn’t willing to accept things could be fixed. We fell into a comfortable silence and soon he fell asleep, his snoring filling the air of the cabin, making the guys glare at him. Choosing not to be bothered by it, I slipped on my headphones and reclined my chair, letting my music pull me into that place between wakefulness and sleeping.

“Synergy...”

My eyes snapped open, terror flooding my body, but the moment I saw I wasn’t in the darkness, I relaxed. Instead, I found myself lost in a vast world of bright white light with a being in front of me, wings unfurled behind them. I’d been here once before when I first accessed my powers and the angel told me who I was and what my mission was.

“Synergy, it is time to complete your mission.”

A sense of bone-deep weariness settled over me at their words, making me snarky. “Really, I wouldn’t have guessed that with how well things are going. You sure it’s time?”

The angel ignored my words and stepped closer to me. “You and your knights must defeat the evil that is flooding the earth before all is lost. This was never what God intended for his people, but they chose to allow the demons to gain a stronghold in their world. You six are the only hope because we of the Heavens can’t intercede. It’s forbidden.”

“So you want us to clean up your mess? The demons should never have been able to make this happen. Aren’t you supposed to keep them banished to Hell? What if we say no?” I challenged.

A glowing hand reached out and pressed on my heart. “You will not say no. The reason you were chosen as Synergy is the love you have for others. Who else could love five men the way you do? Even when one has broken your heart and betrayed your trust, you do not cast him aside as many would. Do not let the demons win by hardening your heart. You are stronger than you or the demons realize. Trust your heart and the men who each hold a piece of it.”

“How can you say that when you voided the Oath between me and Parker?” I snapped, shoving the hand away, but I never made contact. It just went right through the arm like it wasn’t even there.

“We did remove the Oath between you. When he gave the Oath, he thought he understood what he was saying, but he didn’t. We needed him to learn, to lose, to suffer, and to grow. It might seem cruel to you and him, but it is like when you prune a bush to help it grow bigger and stronger. It might hurt initially but the benefit outweighs the harm. All things will work out for the better... have faith in the knowledge that they were created for you and you were created for them. No one but the six of you can bring down this evil. We just needed to wait for the right time before bringing you into the world,” the angel answered.

Everything about this was crazy. None of it made sense. If the angels were able to make this happen then why couldn’t they clean up their own mess? Was God that cold that he would just abandon us to this fate because he wouldn’t step in?

“No!” the angel barked. “Do not let those thoughts dwell in your mind. They are from the devil and his minions. Everything about this is going according to God’s perfect plan. You might not see it but have faith and trust. What else do you have if not faith?”

The force that the angel said this made me take a step back in surprise. Who knew you could piss off an angel?

“When you return to wakefulness, all of you will be rejuvenated and healed. It is all we can do from this point forward. Heed my words, Synergy. Without faith and trust in each other, there is nothing else...”

A flash of white light blinded me and I gasped as I woke up, almost falling out of my seat as I got my bearings.

“Trouble, what’s wrong?” Parker asked as he kneeled in front of me, resting a hand on my knee. “I didn’t feel anything demonic.”

Clutching my heart, I shook my head. “No demons this time. It was an angel.”

Shoving out of my chair, I got up and looked back at the others who were all sprawled out, sleeping peacefully. Would it ever be safe for me to sleep anymore? If it wasn’t demons coming to kill me, it was angels forcing their plans on me.

“Lailah...” Parker spoke tentatively, resting a hand on my shoulder. “Talk to me. What happened?”

“I need to wake the others up. This is something we all need to talk about.” I sighed, letting my shoulder lean into his touch a moment before I stepped away.

I wanted to believe that Parker and I would be able to figure this out, but I just wasn’t willing to allow myself to get hurt by anyone right now. I was too shattered and barely holding myself together as it was. My issues with him would just have to wait on the back burner longer.

“Guys,” I called out as I shook Brayden’s shoulder then Jay’s. “Come on, guys, I need you to wake up. Something’s happened.”

It worried me slightly that it took so much effort to get them awake but once they were, I noticed something different about them. All of us had been working ourselves to the bone and still recovering from the car accident that was almost a week and a half ago. Now, any lingering bruises they had were gone, along with the shadows under their eyes from lack of sleep.

“What happened? Was it the Dark Lord?” Micah asked, getting to his feet without any sign of pain from his knee. He took a step toward me then paused as he seemed to register the change. “What the fuck! My knee doesn’t hurt, like at all. As if it never happened.”

“Ah yeah, that’s what I wanted to talk to you guys about,” I shared, causing all of them to snap to attention.

Hudson frowned at me. “Did you do something to us? I feel the most rested I have since before New Year’s.”

That broke my heart, knowing that was when my nightmares and PTSD started. “So I was just visited by an angel⁠—”

Brayden’s jaw dropped at this. “I’m sorry, what? Did you just say an angel came to you?”

“Unless I’ve completely lost my mind, which could totally be a thing at this point, they came to tell me it was time for us to end this fight with the Dark Lord,” I explained. “At the end, they said something about healing all of us but I didn’t think that was actually going to happen.”

“Holy shit, I got healed by an angel,” Micah muttered to himself as he hopped around, testing out his knee. “The things we experience in this life are just crazy, you know that, right?”

“What else?” Jay asked, crossing his arms as if expecting something bad.

I took a seat on the couch now that Micah didn’t need to keep his leg elevated. “They just kept telling me that I needed to trust that we could do this, that everything was planned. We knew it was time for this fight to come to an end, but now it’s as if that’s the only hope humanity has to survive. If we fail, the rest of the world will go to shit. The demons will run the show and God will let it happen because we did it to ourselves. If I’m understanding the cryptic way the angel kept talking, we are God’s way of saving the world... like, no pressure.”

“Wow, that’s kind of heavy,” Parker grumbled. “Did they have any good news?”

“Not unless you count the fact that they took the Oath from you to teach you and help you grow into a better person. Do you feel better for them doing that to you?” I asked, pissed that they would fuck us both over like that just to prune the dead weight from us.

Parker’s face turned dark as he processed what I said. “They did this to us?”

“Ha! Sorry, douchenozzle, you don’t get to blame the angels for your fuckup. She just said they stripped the Oath from you for the stunt you pulled. That doesn’t fix the fact you did what you did,” Micah cut in, poking Parker in the chest as he spoke.

“I know what I did, Micah!” Parker roared. “The agony of having her look at me with pain and sadness kills me! Nothing I do will ever atone for how I hurt her, but I can learn to be better and never cause her that much pain ever again. Trust me when I tell you that your daily reminders of my fuckups are not needed. I’m very good at reminding myself.”

This seemed to be enough to make Micah back off and take a seat next to me, pulling me to his side with his arm wrapped around my waist. It was like he wanted to prove to Parker that he was on the outside physically. I understood his feelings, but I believed that Parker agonized over his choices all the time. “Enough, please. This isn’t helpful to anyone, especially since the angel made it clear that we need all six of us to pull this off. They said we were made for each other, that they were waiting for the right time for us to be brought into the world so we could end things with the Dark Lord and the demons. Somehow, we need to find a way to at least be able to fight alongside each other.”

“I don’t give a fuck what those angels or God himself says. I don’t trust that fucker to watch my back,” Micah spat.

Parker glared at him. “Then let’s hope I’m a better man than you and I decide to keep you alive through this battle. It would certainly make my life easier to just have a demon kill you off.”

“Stop! Parker, you sit over there and, Micah, shut the hell up,” I growled. “None of this is helping us figure out how to even find the Dark Lord before the world goes to hell—literally.”

TEN

MICAH

If Lailah hadn’t told us we couldn’t win this fight without Parker, I would’ve thrown him out of the plane in a heartbeat. That fucking bastard didn’t deserve to breathe the same air that the woman I loved more than life itself breathed. She’d already endured so much, without Parker having fucked up and broken a piece of her heart. The images of her sobbing in their arms when they got home and refused to let Parker back into the house is burned into my mind. It killed me to know I’d seen the writing on the wall but the others didn’t agree with me about how to deal with the issue. They were at fault as much as I was but that didn’t help things now that the fucker was weaseling his way back into her life. Over my dead body would I let Parker hurt her again, no matter how much Lailah wanted to keep him around.

“What’s the plan for Cape Town?” I asked, turning to Jay. This was his operation. He knew the best way to handle getting the information they wanted.

“It will work best if Brayden or Hudson act as the person looking for a new supply holder since they have the largest companies that have a building. My father’s company could work but I don’t want them to know we have a private military at our beck and call. It’ll put them on edge,” Jay explained. “Micah, I know things are being worked out, now that you and Lailah are bonded, but your family business is more political and own property so it wouldn’t make as much sense.”

“So we’re just going to ignore that my pop owns the largest tech company in the eastern hemisphere?” Parker grumbled, glaring at me like it was my fault.

Jay carried on like Parker hadn’t spoken, making me fight to keep a smirk off my face. The idiot had no idea how pissed the rest of us were at him. Jay didn’t let anyone fuck with people who were his to protect, and he was feeling a little raw right now with his mom missing. “At some point, someone will need to leave the meeting room and find a computer to put in a jump drive that holds a virus to feed us all their information. We use it on many of our jobs dealing with demons. They like to hide things in plain sight.”

“Would it be best to have you do it, Jay, since you’re familiar with it?” Lailah asked, worry written on her face.

All of us knew it should be Parker but not a single one of us trusted him to do the job right. It was too important, and it was too soon to give him a job that crucial.

“I need to be in the room to help direct the conversation to see if we can get them to slip up about Aplite. They’re going to be our referral to this company so they’ll assume we know what they really do,” Jay answered.

I groaned when the others looked lost as to what to do. “I’ll deal with hacking the computer. I’m the only other one who’s comfortable with computers.”

“Hey!” Brayden yelled, knowing that comment was directed at him. “I know what I need to know but technology causes so many other issues in our world that I choose not to interact with it.”

“We know, you never let me forget it,” I muttered.

“Besides, I think it’s better that I act as the client since I’m more of a people person than Hudson,” Brayden pointed out. “No offense, Hudson.”

Hudson just shrugged. “I would have to agree with you. Out of all of us, the one who has the best chance at getting them to spill their secrets would be you. Even Lailah has commented on your silver tongue a time or two.”

“Great, so Brayden will do the talking and Jay will look intimidating, while I deal with the computer part of this,” I confirmed, going over the plan.

Lailah raised her hand like she was in class or something. I just snorted and snatched up her hand to hold, keeping it from doing anything else.

“What about me and Parker?” she asked.

Jay looked a little worried with what he was about to say. “I think it might be best to have you, Hudson, and Parker stay behind at a hotel. It’ll keep you out of sight and throw off the enemy to have us split up since we typically do things together.”

Now I knew why he was nervous. Lailah hated to be left out of the action if there was a chance anyone could get hurt. Too many times things went wrong when we didn’t have everyone together.

“No, absolutely not!” Lailah snapped. “How can you even suggest that? You know what happens when we split up.”

“Beautiful, I understand your worry, but this is going to be the safer option. The Dark Lord doesn’t know we’re on to him so the less we can draw attention, the better. The world is looking for all of us together, but if there are only a few of us with a legitimate reason to be there, it won’t cause waves. No one else knows about what went down in Wisconsin other than the Elementi,” Jay reasoned.

I could tell by the set of her jaw that she didn’t like the idea but finally she nodded. “Fine, but you will keep in touch with us through the whole process. I refuse to let anything happen to you as we get closer to the lion’s den.”

“That’s fair,” Jay agreed, relaxing ever so slightly that she gave in.

Just when we thought we had the matter settled, Parker exploded. “This is a bunch of bullshit and you all know it!”

“Parker,” Lailah chastised, frowning.

“No. I’m sorry, Lailah, but this is absolute utter horseshit. The person who should be doing this is me. I should be going to that meeting, posing as the buyer because I can manipulate his emotions. With a simple suggestion, I can make him more relaxed and at ease with us talking. Getting him to spill his secrets will be as easy as taking candy from a baby. Hell, I might be able to convince him to put the jump drive into his own laptop and give us what we need. You’re all ignoring how right I am because you’re pissed at me. I get it, you don’t trust me to do something this important.”

Anger flashed across Lailah’s face as she looked at the rest of us. Fuck, the bastard was about to get us into trouble with her.

“Is what he’s saying true?” she demanded.

Jay didn’t back down though he met her head-on. “Yes.”

“This isn’t about us or our personal issues, guys. How could you be okay with going ahead with a half-assed plan when you have a better option available?” Lailah challenged.

“It isn’t wise to put an unknown factor into play on a mission like this. Parker has proven he isn’t reliable to watch our backs. To put him in such a position where we need to trust him isn’t something I can do,” Jay stated, ready to go toe-to-toe with our girl.

Lailah got to her feet and stood in front of Jay, hands on her hips. She wasn’t going to back down. “That isn’t going to work for me, Jay. I get what you are saying, but wouldn’t it be better to have him go with you and Micah, who have no problem beating his ass into the ground if he fucks up, than to miss this chance?”

Welp, if I was worried about her getting soft on Parker, I wasn’t now. That shit right there was cold and accurate.

Jay contemplated that a moment. “If we do this, will you stay back at the hotel with Brayden and Hudson without any fuss?”

My brows shot up at this. How could Jay be okay with Parker having such an important role?

“Yes, if you use the best that we have for the mission, I’ll feel more comfortable staying back out of sight,” Lailah answered, reaching out a hand to shake on the agreement.

That woman has learned how to play each and every one of us. She knew it was more important to keep her safe than to deal with Parker, so in an odd way, they both got what they wanted. After they shook on it, Jay grabbed her and pulled her onto his lap where he then bit down on her spot where her shoulder meets her neck, making her moan. “That was a dirty trick, Beautiful. Don’t think I’m not aware of what you just did.”

“Someone has to get you guys to pull your heads out of your asses,” she quipped.

Jay’s response to that was to start tickling her until she was crying and begging for mercy. Then they curled up together and napped the rest of the three hours to Cape Town.

It didn’t take long for us to get settled in at the hotel and pull ourselves together for the meeting. Showered and dressed to impress, needing to act the part of Parker’s assistant, which made me want to punch him all the more while Jay got to be security. The town car came to pick us up, and we hurried to duck inside, trying to stay out of the open as much as we could. If we could do this entire trip without being noticed, it would be the best-case scenario. Thankfully, none of us had many connections with people in Cape Town, making it easier to stay hidden. Parker sat facing us in the car since neither Jay nor I wanted to sit next to him—childish I know, but this wasn’t our first choice to begin with.

“Parker, do you understand what we need to get out of the target?” Jay asked, handing him a tablet that had a picture of the man we were meeting with.

Parker took it and looked over the basics of the man’s life so he knew how to manipulate him best. “Believe it or not, this isn’t the first time I’ve done this. My pop liked to take me to meetings to help me gain control of my powers. I, of course, was a stupid shit, and turned it into a game. This time though, I know what’s at stake and I won’t fuck this up. I’ll prove to all of you that I can add value to this mission.”

I let out a huff of laughter. “Really, you think that if you prove you learned your lesson that we’ll just forget everything else that happened?”

“Fuck you, Micah. You’ve had it out for me since the day we met all those years ago. Now you just have the rest of the group behind you, supporting your hate, giving you free rein to fuck with me. Lailah wanted me to work on fixing things between all of us but I don’t think that will ever happen for you and me. Once you’ve decided to write someone off from your life, there isn’t a thing on this earth to change your mind,” Parker said, his anger edging his words with a bite.

He was right about the fact I never liked him. Something about his attitude always rubbed me the wrong way. I don’t know if there was ever going to be a time that we could say that we actually liked each other. Lately, we’d been tolerating each other just so it didn’t upset Lailah. If she ended up forgiving him, I didn’t know what I would do with that. I didn’t think I’d ever be able to leave her in his care.

“Just a reminder, assistants are seen and not heard,” Parker shot back as he tossed the tablet to me.

“Don’t worry, I can be trusted to play my part. It’s you we’re all worried about,” I rebutted.

Arno Botha, the CFO of the company, was meeting with us, so that proved they weren’t messing around and knew Parker’s family was a big account that they wanted to land. This meant they would do all they could to make us choose them and that played in our favor. The drive to their headquarters didn’t take more than fifteen minutes and after our conversation ended, it was a quiet ride. We had no idea what kind of information we would get from this meeting but I prayed it would be enough to point us toward the next step in this never-ending battle.

We were greeted in the lobby upon our arrival, taken up to the third floor and shown into a conference room. They offered Parker tea or coffee, ignoring us as the help who didn’t deserve the same attention as the man holding the money. I sat next to Parker and set the tablet on the table, pretending to take notes about something as we waited. Jay stood like the military man he was. It didn’t take long before Arno joined us, shaking Parker’s hand then extending it to me as well.

“Thank you for being able to make this meeting on such short notice. We were in the area on other business and it just made sense,” Parker shared as we all got settled.

Arno bobbed his head in understanding as he slid over a folder of information and opened it. “I hope I gathered the information you needed. If not, then it should be easy enough to gather quickly. Now, you said that your company is expanding into the region and you wanted a more local source to stock things for your offices?”

“Exactly. Last year, we opened a branch in Dubai and it’s been wildly successful. We felt it was time to push our reach even further. Our friends over at Aplite said they had a great experience with you and that we should look into your services,” Parker said, slipping that hook into the conversation in a way no one would think twice about.

I watched as a soft glow of purple hung around Parker as he pulled on his power to relax Arno. His shoulders lowered and then his breathing seemed to become deeper, as if he was in a meditative state of mind, completely unconcerned with anything.

“Aplite... yes, they have become one of our biggest clients over the past year. Are you looking to venture into the side of business they are in? Seems odd for a tech company to need those types of supplies, or is tech just the front you use?” Arno asked, his words slurred ever so slightly like he was drunk.

“We partner with many companies, one of them being a large private military group. You know how tech and military always seem to go hand in hand these days. What I want to know is how much can you offer us and if you can get the same things you did for Aplite,” Parker pushed, leaning forward, his gaze never breaking from Arno’s.

Arno frowned as something Parker said didn’t match up with what should have been said. “What exactly did Lord Beelzebub tell you we procured for him?”

“He gave you his true name?” Parker demanded, a worried tone in his voice.

I could see that he was losing Arno with this line of questioning and something needed to be done. “How impressive to be given such a gift in the form of knowing his true name.”

“Yes, after I gave up my first-born son to his army, Lord Beelzebub blessed me with the knowledge that my son would help rebuild this world into something greater,” Arno shared with a smile. “He even said I was supporting them by getting the supplies they needed. Are you starting a second training camp for those injected with the serum? That would be the only reason he would send you to me and give you the proper code word to use.”

All of us froze as Arno told us something more valuable than he could imagine. “Yes, he’s moving the battle up and needs to get more followers prepared. I have a thumb drive here that he asked me to give you so you could put whatever information on there we needed, along with the list of items he’s gotten from you. This way we don’t need to bother our great Lord while he is dealing with the pesky Elementi Knights.”

Arno gave us a lazy drunk smile, holding out his hand. “I am always happy to be of help to our Dark Lord. May his reign over this world be long and prosperous.”

Catching Jay’s eye, he gave a simple nod, telling me he thought this was far too easy. Something else was going on here and I just couldn’t put my finger on it, but it was important to figure it out and fast. Just before Arno was going to connect the jump drive to his computer, he typed in a code and that’s when it hit me.

Grabbing Parker and Jay, I dropped to the ground taking them with me. “Get under the table now!”

They didn’t question me and scrambled to get under the large thick conference table, trying to get to the opposite end from Arno. The world seemed to stop as a small beep sounded and the world exploded around us. I took the flames and wrapped them around us, creating a shield of sorts, burning up anything that tried to land on us. What I couldn’t stop was the floor underneath us from trembling and shattering apart, sending us careening down to the second floor. Dousing my flames since they would do more harm than good, I felt the wind whip around us. Jay used the air to thrust up at us, slowing our fall so when we landed it wasn’t as rough. It also shoved all debris that we could have landed on out of the way, allowing us to survive the bomb with minimal damage.

“We need to get the fuck out of here. I don’t know how it happened but someone leaked that we were coming here,” Jay shouted over the fire alarm as he pulled me to my feet. “If they’ve taken Lailah, there is nothing in this world or the next that will stop me from burning hell to the ground.”

The look of determination and rage on Jay’s face made me thankful that I was on his side, because that man could be one scary motherfucker.

ELEVEN

LAILAH

The guys had been gone all of ten minutes and I was a nervous wreck. “How will we know if something goes wrong? There is no way for us to reach out to them without causing problems.”

“Angel, please come play cards with us. It’ll take your mind off of things and help you settle,” Brayden suggested, waving me over.

“Do you really think I can focus on playing a card game right now?” I grumbled as I sat down with a huff. “It better be something simple like Go Fish or I’m never going to have a chance.”

Hudson chuckled. “If you want to play Go Fish, then we can play Go Fish.”

“How are you both so calm?” I demanded, tossing my hair up in a messy bun, tired of dealing with it. “It’s like you don’t even care that this is crazy dangerous and we are sitting here playing kids games?”

Brayden grabbed my chin and forced me to look him in the face. “I understand you’re worried but don’t take your feelings out on us. Neither of us deserve it.”

He was right. I was anxious and lashing out at them because they were here and safe. I knew they would forgive me if I snapped at them, but Brayden was right, they didn’t deserve that from me. “I’m sorry. I just don’t like us being apart.”

Pulling me with his hold on my chin, Brayden brought me to his lips where he kissed me slowly and deeply. I moaned into his mouth, reaching out to him, needing this contact, to know that they were here with me. When he pulled back, he grinned at me, knowing he’d managed to settle my nerves somewhat. “Angel, trust in your men. We’ve been training for this all our lives and they will come back to you.”

“You really believe that?” I asked, surprised at Brayden’s confidence.

“Without a doubt. Those three will come back to you no matter what,” Hudson assured me as he moved to stand behind me.

“Three of them… so you don’t think all is lost with Parker?” I inquired, pulling out of Brayden’s grip, and looking up at Hudson.

Out of all my men, Hudson had been the one to keep his thoughts on Parker to himself. I knew he had an opinion but Hudson wasn’t one to share his thoughts until he clearly understood all the facts and could make a judgment.

“This is my humble opinion, but yes, I believe that things between you and Parker can be worked out. He did something that hurt you down to your very soul, but I don’t think the connection between you both has been severed completely. The wound will take time to heal but the man I see Parker turning into is willing to wait and work for your forgiveness. The old Parker would do anything and everything to bribe you back to him, using his charms, money, or whatever means he could get ahold of. Now, I’m not you, my sunshine, but I do know how big your heart is,” Hudson explained, kissing my temple. “The choice is yours, whatever you decide to do. We will follow your lead.”

“Yeah, some more willing than others, but if you choose to give Parker another shot, we won’t get in the way,” Brayden agreed. “It’s your relationship and no one else can tell you how it should work, not even the angels. So if you don’t think things can be fixed, don’t feel pressured either.”

Both of them were presenting me with opposing sides of the same argument, but they were trying to support me either way. “I’ll keep what you said in mind. Right now, I just need us to get through this next part so I can have them safe and sound where I can see them.”

With that settled, they talked me into playing a few rounds of Speed with them, the fast-paced nature of the game forcing me to give it my full attention. My focus was so fixed that when a booming knock came at the door, I almost fell out of the chair that I was kneeling on.

“Police! Open the door!” a man shouted.

I gaped at the guys as I felt like my eyes would pop out of my head. I was so shocked. “What is going on?”

“I don’t know but I don’t like it one bit,” Brayden said through clenched teeth. “Stay back. I’m going to take a look.”

The man pounded on the door, repeating the same thing over again, his voice even louder, if that was possible. Brayden peeked through the peephole in the door and swore. “Shit, it is the police. Don’t say anything and let me handle this.”

Hudson wrapped an arm around me, holding me tight to his side as Brayden opened the door. No sooner had he turned the handle then a swarm of men dressed in blue uniforms with police written across their Kevlar vests entered. One grabbed Brayden, slamming him up against the wall, pulling cuffs out and slapping them on his wrists. “You’re under arrest for the bombing of Pride Resourses.”

“What?” I blurted, not understanding. “Was there a bomb there? Do you know if everyone’s alright? Did everyone make it out?” I demanded as I was dragged away from Hudson and had my own hands cuffed behind my back.

“Shut the fuck up. We don’t owe you any answers,” the cop snarled, dragging me out of the room.

None of this made sense. Why would they think we were the ones to set a bomb off there? How did they even know we were here in this hotel? The guys had used fake names for the booking and we’d flown in on a private jet. Nothing we did should have been traced that fast... unless. There had to be someone in the Elementi spilling our secrets, and they had to be extremely high up in the system to do it. Beth and Cami were the only ones we’d talked to, but I refused to believe it was either of them. This had the Dark Lord written all over it. He was pissed that his plan didn’t work to just kill me off. Now he had to get rid of me another way, and it seemed he found it.

“Where are you taking us? I’m an American citizen,” I stated, hoping that would mean something here, but I didn’t put much hope in it.

“I believe I already told you that I wasn’t going to give you any answers. Now move it or be dragged the rest of the way, your choice,” the officer barked, shoving me forward.

Knowing this was a losing battle, with so many of them against the three of us, I complied. They led the three of us out of the hotel and shoved us into the back of a van with police written on the outside. Two officers got in the back with us, making sure we didn’t cause any trouble while two more got into the front seats. They put the sirens on and blasted out onto the streets as if the hounds of hell were coming after them whi,ch made no sense to me. If they were the police, there would be no need for them to make a mad dash from the scene like that... unless.

“Who do you really work for?” I demanded, glaring at one of the men sitting in front of me. “I know it’s not the police, so my guess is the Dark Lord or one of his minions.”

One of them just gave me an evil grin as he chuckled, but didn’t answer. He didn’t need to. That told me everything I needed to know. Instead, I turned to Hudson and Brayden who looked furious to be sitting there unable to do a damn thing. If these people were actual humans, then our spirit weapons wouldn’t do anything to them, but if they were hosts for demons, it might give us the upper hand. First, we needed to create a distraction or throw them off their game.

“I’m really impressed that there aren’t any major potholes in the road. One would think with the ocean so close the salt would eat away at the asphalt,” I mused, looking out the front window, trying my best to catch Brayden’s eye. “Wow, we’re heading for the coastline. It’s so pretty. You know, we didn’t get much time to explore before you came to kidnap us.” If Brayden couldn’t catch on maybe Hudson would.

“Shut the hell up before we make you,” the driver growled.

I just clicked my tongue in irritation. “Sorry, I’m just nervous. An enormous wave or a crack in the ground might open up, killing us all. It’s the PTSD from the fun times I had with the Dark Lord.”

For some reason, I was channeling my inner Cami right now to keep from losing my shit as I tried to get us out of this mess. I’m not sure I could have made my point any clearer but neither of the guys seemed to show any sign of understanding. In fact, Hudson had his eyes closed and was relaxing as we flew down the coastal highway to God knows where.

Just when I thought all hope might be lost, the ground rumbled and rocks from the cliffs we were driving next to pelted the van, making the driver swerve to avoid crashing into a boulder that landed in the road. “Fuck! Someone, knock them out! They’re trying to use their powers on us. The Dark Lord warned us they were tricky,” the driver yelled back. He seemed to be the leader of the bunch.

Before the guards across from us could make their move, I lunged forward, crashing into both of them. It was a mess of limbs as I kicked out, clipping one of them in the jaw as the other tried to shove me off him. I’d managed to hook my hands on his utility belt, clinging on for dear life as the van jerked to the right, slamming me into the bogus cop who got smashed up against the wall of the vehicle.

“No, no, this can’t be happening! There is no way they could do that!” the man in the passenger seat screamed. He tossed his door open and leaped out of the still moving van.

What had gotten him so freaked out? Then I saw it as the road curved—a massive wave was rushing toward us and there was no way to avoid it. Looking around the van, I tried to see something I could grab onto but with my hands behind my back it made it all that more challenging. There was a bar running along the length of the van for them to hook cuffs to. It wasn’t the best idea, but it was the only one as I lay on my side and gripped the bar with both hands. This was going to hurt, but there was no way I was going to let them kill us to make way for the Dark Lord.

Hudson opened his eyes and when he saw what was coming, he gulped. “Brayden, you better hold on to something. It seems my powers are a lot stronger than I anticipated.”

“Fucking hell,” Brayden muttered as he turned to grip the honeycomb metal sheet keeping us separated from the front of the van.

The wave rocked the van to the left before the wave picked it up and slammed it into the cliffs. My arms ached as they got wrenched by the impact as I clung to the bar for dear life. The wave seemed to carry us as it swept back toward the ocean, taking us off the road and tumbling under the water’s surface as we rolled. Unable to hold on any longer, I face-planted on the chest of one of the guards while the other landed on top of me, creating a cushion each time we slammed into the side of the van. Finally it stopped, and before I could even think about how glad I was to survive, water started to fill the van. I was trapped with a body on top of me but using every bit of strength and determination I had, I shoved him off.

My fingers brushed something metal on his belt, and I discovered it was a key for the cuffs secured to his belt by one of those retractable cords. Fumbling for what seemed like an eternity, I got one cuff undone so I could flip around and see what I was doing this time. Now free, I ripped the key off his belt and went for Brayden who was unconscious, blood dripping from a cut on his forehead. Getting his hands free, I shook him. “Brayden, you need to get up. Please, my love, I need you to wake up and save us one more time.”

With a groan, his eyes fluttered open. “What the hell happened?”

“No time to explain. I need you to use your power to lift us out of this water before the ocean becomes our permanent resting grounds. While I love the beach, I’m not planning on dying here,” I said, speaking as fast as I could, feeling the water sloshing around my ankles.

“Is Hudson okay?” Brayden asked as if he didn’t hear what I just said.

Grabbing his face I forced him to look at me. “Brayden, get us out of the water.”

“Right, okay, give me a sec. My brain is pretty rattled,” he muttered, bringing a hand to his forehead and hissed when he touched the wound.

I left him to pull himself together, and I freed Hudson and tried to wake him up. If Brayden couldn’t get us out of this, then I hoped to God Hudson had some power leftover to use. This was the first time either of them had used so much. I didn’t know how I knew but both of them were running low. As I checked over Hudson, I couldn’t see anything wrong with him but he wasn’t waking up no matter what I tried.

“Lailah, I don’t think I’ve got it in me to do this. My head is killing me and I can’t tell up from down, with how dark it is,” Brayden whispered, anger tinging his words.

Reaching out to him, I could feel the self-loathing that he couldn’t do this for me. He couldn’t save us and we were counting on him to do just that. My white knight was convinced that he was going to fail us when we needed him the most.

Crawling over to him, I straddled his legs and pressed my body against his everywhere I could, then I wrapped my arms around his neck before sealing my lips to his. I poured my power into him. This was my purpose. I could give and take energy from any of them, doubling the strength of our combined powers. As I shoved as much power into him as I could, he clung to me, drinking it all in and sending it right back out into the earth below us. The water was around our waists now but it didn’t matter, because together, Brayden and I were going to do this.

The van groaned as it started to be pushed up out of the water. It moved steadily, but I didn’t stop our endless loop of power as I charged us both full of power. This was how we were going to beat the Dark Lord, together as a team supporting each other, making us that much stronger. If I could create this much power with one of my bonded men just thinking of what it would be like with four of them was crazy. The angel had been right. I’d been holding back, not trusting myself or these men of mine to push things to the limit.

When the sun flooded the van once more and the water receded, I opened my eyes and pulled back from Brayden just enough to see us once again above the water. “You can stop now. You saved us,” I murmured against his lips.

“No, we did it. There was no way I could have done that on my own,” Brayden corrected as he rested his forehead against mine. “Holy shit, I can’t believe that just happened. Hudson created a tsunami.”

“Yeah, he sure did, and it was awesome.” I chuckled.

TWELVE

LAILAH

Now wasn’t the time to celebrate things, since we were still trapped in a van with men who wanted to kidnap us or possibly even kill us. Then there was the whole bit about Pride Resources getting blown up. I had to believe that those three were safe. Seeing as I was still alive, it had to be true, since everyone kept telling us if one of them died, I would know or it would kill us all at the same time. The van was lying on its side and the metal grating keeping us from the front was bent and hanging, giving me enough room to squeeze through.

“Brayden, keep an eye on Hudson and see if you can’t handcuff the fake officers to the van. I’m going to see how far out from the shoreline we are,” I said, already wiggling my way up front.

The driver and other guards were in a heap, since neither of them had put their seatbelts on. The windshield was splintered but remained intact. I remembered Jay telling me some special film held it together so it didn’t shatter and hurt the person in the car. I could kick it out and get a clear view of what was going on. It was a lot harder than the movies made it seem but I managed and gasped at the destruction the rockslide and wave had caused to the shoreline.

An entire section of the road was washed away as if there’d never been a way to drive through. There were a few cars stopped with people milling about, looking at the disaster that happened, spanning the width of a mile. One of the guys groaned behind me and before he could even open his eyes, I kicked him right in the head. I’d had enough of playing nice through this whole nightmare. I was over it. It was time to put away Lailah, the lost girl who didn’t know what she wanted for her life, and instead pull from my strength as Synergy to make her mark in the world.

Quickly, I cuffed the two men together and then cuffed one of them to the door they were lying on in case they wanted to come after us. Sending up a prayer, I hit the unlock button and the faint snick told me we were home free. The back of the van had two doors,making it easier for us to get out of this damn vehicle than trying to get the guys to fit past the grate to get up here. Making my way back, I kneeled next to Hudson who still wasn’t waking up even as Brayden tried splashing water on his face.

“I wonder if it’s because his powers are too low,” I mused.

“At this point, anything would be worth a try so we can get out of here and back to shore,” Brayden grumbled, wiping the blood from his face with the shirt he’d removed.

It was then I noticed that the cut was gone, and the swelling had also reduced. Reaching out, I grabbed his chin and moved his head around, looking him over as if I’d been mistaken about where the injury had been. No matter where I looked, he was fine. “How do you feel?”

“Pissed the fuck off, but surprisingly good for all we’ve just been through. My head aches but nothing I can’t handle. I’m more impressed that the bleeding stopped. Scalp wounds are known to be bad bleeders,” Brayden rambled, not realizing just how impressive that really was.

“It’s gone,” I said, pointing to his head. “The gash you had is gone, like it never happened.”

He blinked at me. “What do you mean? How could it just be gone? Did an angel come and heal us again?”

“No, I think I did. When I was giving you power, what if I also healed you?” I whispered.

Quickly, I turned to Hudson and took his face in my hands, leaning down so my forehead touched his. This time I let my power slowly fill Hudson from his big toe all the way up to his head, completely replenishing his energy. When he started to overflow with my power, I pulled it back into myself, only to cycle it back to him, like a current of energy was flowing between us, giving and receiving. As I did this, I felt more of his own power entering the mix, his blue swirling with my gold until the blue overtook it. Then I seemed to have this sense to just filter out my own power, leaving the blue energy behind, refilling him until it was bursting out of him.

“Lailah...” Hudson groaned as his eyes started to blink open.

It was at that point I noticed his glasses were missing. “I’m right here. The world might be a little foggy since your glasses fell off so don’t be surprised.”

“I can see perfectly,” he shared, sitting up slowly, rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands as if he didn’t believe it himself. “What happened to me? I feel like I could swim across the ocean.”

“Funny you should say that because we’re gonna need to swim back to shore. I got us out of the water but I’m not sure I should mess with the earth more than I already have,” Brayden said as he got up and kicked open the back doors, showing our situation. “That wave you created could have taken out a small city but thankfully the cliffs kept it from getting too out of control.”

The men who’d kidnapped us stirred, and I wondered if they might be a little more forthcoming with their information now that they got beat to hell. I turned to the guy closest to me and patted him roughly on the cheek. “Hey, buddy, you in there?”

He moaned but managed to open his eyes. Peering down at him, I waited for the understanding of what happened to register in his brain. “How are we not dead?”

“That would be because I need something from you,” I answered. “Who sent you to kidnap us and where were you going to take us?”

“Why the hell would I tell you anything when you’re just going to kill me?”

“Oh, I’m not going to kill you. In fact, I’m not going to do anything to you at all,” I responded, my eyes wide at his thought process.

He searched my face as if that would tell him if I was lying. Since I’m not very good at lying, it was a safe bet he would be able to spot one if I had. “I don’t know who the guy is, but we were paid to falsely accuse you of the bombing and lock you away in jail. We couldn’t kill you but we had to make sure you couldn’t leave or get word out to anyone that you’d been taken. This was only supposed to be a simple grab-and-go job. We’d been warned about your powers but I didn’t believe it was that big of a threat.”

“Seems that was shortsighted of you,” Hudson commented. “Are you ready, Sunshine? I don’t think they know anything all that helpful to us.”

“Yeah, I think you’re right. We need to find the others and see what they’ve learned.” I sighed and headed for the back door of the van.

“Hey! You can’t leave me here! You said you wouldn’t kill me!” the cop begged.

Glancing over my shoulder, I shrugged. “I said I wasn’t going to do anything to you, including help you get out of here. Let’s hope for your sake that someone decides to check out this random floating van in the ocean in time to save you.”

“I thought the Elementi were supposed to be the good guys who couldn’t sin?” he called after us.

“Yeah, well that all changed once I showed up and the Dark Lord made it personal,” I answered and dove into the ocean.

It didn’t take us long to get to shore and find someone who was willing to take us back to the hotel. Since they were dirty cops, I had to hope that there wouldn’t be any more issues with them showing up. The three of us needed clean clothes and cellphones to try and reach out to the others. Jay made us all switch out our phones for burners that couldn’t be traced. This again made it clear that someone was spilling our secrets, and we needed to get to the bottom of that before we could make our next move.

I dialed Cami’s number, and she picked it up right away. “Lala, tell me you’re okay!”

“What? How did you know we’d been taken by dirty cops?” I asked, confused at how she knew already.

“I’m sorry, what? You got kidnapped?! I was talking about the bomb going off at Pride. How the hell did you manage to get kidnapped on top of that?” she demanded.

Okay, now that made more sense. If they were tracking the news or activity in Cape Town, they would know about the explosion. “We split up. The guys seemed to think it would draw less attention if all of us didn’t go. They knew the Dark Lord was after me so they had Brayden and Hudson stay back with me while the others went to the meeting.”

“They let Parker go on the mission?” Cami questioned, her tone surprised.

“Cami, we all know he was the best person to sweet talk information out of people and is the best at technology and hacking if we needed it. It would have been stupid not to have him go,” I snapped.

There was a pause on the other end of the line telling me that I might have been a little too harsh to Cami. “Well, damn girl. Clearly getting kidnapped is not something that puts you in a chipper mood. For the record, I get why you picked Parker to go and I agree with you he was the best choice. I’m just surprised Super Trooper and Flame Boy went along with it, since they are team ‘kill Parker’ is all. Moving on—what do you need from me?”

“Someone has to be giving out information about us. There is no way that someone could know that we split up, or that we were even in Cape Town but you, Beth, and whoever else you guys told. Something’s not adding up. However they’re getting information is going to get us killed. The people who tried to kidnap us were dirty cops who were going to frame us for the bombing,” I explained. “How can we be missing something that’s right in front of our faces?”

“Fucking cunt-camels,” Cami swore. “Alright, I’ll see what I can do and get Maggs to help me since she can do the tech things I can’t. You guys deal with things on your end and I promise I will figure out what the fuck is going on.”

The simple promise took a weight off my shoulders that I didn’t realize was slowly crushing me with worry. Hanging up with her, I noticed Brayden was on the phone so I turned to Hudson who was on the couch with his eyes closed. “Hey, who’s Brayden talking to?”

“He’s trying to find out where they took the people they rescued from the blast. Figured we could start at the hospitals since none of the guys are answering their phones,” he answered, opening his blue eyes to meet mine.

Even though I’d restored his power, it seemed the energy high was short lived. His body was tired even if he had more than enough power to flood the whole city. “Should we leave someone here just in case they couldn’t call us?”

“That’s a smart thought but do we really want to split up even more than we already have? You were right when you said it was a bad idea,” Hudson pointed out. “Nothing ever good happens when we’re separated.”

I curled up beside him, letting my head rest on his shoulder as my adrenaline came down, leaving me to feel every sore muscle. It would seem while I could heal the guys, I couldn’t do it to myself. That was fine with me. I could deal with the bruises and soreness.

“No, no, I will not call back later. You can put me on hold but I’m not going to be ignored,” Brayden growled into the phone. “Trust me when I tell you it will be safer for everyone if you don’t make me come down there to look through every room myself.” He paused as he listened to whoever was speaking. “Oh really, I see, then since that will be more convenient for you, we’ll be down there ASAP.” When he hung up the phone, he chucked it onto the bed where it harmlessly bounded to a stop. “They don’t have any information to give us and if we want to look over the dead bodies, they’re conducting viewings.”

I could feel the blood run out of my face and my body turned to stone at the idea that they could be dead. “There’s no way they can be dead! I’d know if they were dead. The Bond would tell me if they died.”

Son of a bitch! Why hadn’t I thought of that sooner?

Closing my eyes, I reached out to the glowing balls of silver and red energy that I held within me. Clinging to them, I sent my power down the line, calling out to them, begging for any kind of response to let me know they were alive. Jay’s energy flared to life, and I got a pulse of emotions. It was love mixed with fear and anger. Jay was alive! Then I was hit next with Micah’s fury telling me he was indeed alive but pissed the fuck off. I guess I would be too if I’d almost been blown up. The only other feeling I got from them is that they were not close by. I couldn’t remember where the Pride building was.

Snapping my eyes open, I grabbed one of the tablets and pulled up the maps, trying to get a sense if they were still in the city or if something else happened. “I don’t think they’re in the hospitals. They reached out to me through our bond but they feel farther away than they should.”

“I felt Micah’s answer to your call,” Brayden said as he flopped onto the couch next to me, dropping his head into his hands. “That much anger echoed through you into us.”

“Do you get a lot of echoes?” I asked, curious since they’d never mentioned it.

Hudson blushed, telling me that there might be certain situations where it happened. When neither of them answered, I let it drop.

“Alright, so here is where Pride’s building is. It’s only a short drive away. They felt much further inland but where would they be going?” I questioned as I searched the map, trying to put myself in their shoes.

Brayden’s head popped up. “Can I look at that?”

Handing over the tablet, he typed something into the search bar and an odd-looking website appeared. He typed in a login and password before a list of locations and addresses were revealed.

“What is that?” I inquired, looking over his shoulder.

“These are the locations of different bases that Jay’s father uses for his military. It would seem that there is a site on the outskirts of Paarl near the mountains. That has to be where they’re going. It’s the only thing that makes sense. They wouldn’t trust any other location in the city, knowing they’ve been compromised and their mission was a bust. Jay probably had them ditch their phones, or they lost them. He would never let them use an unsecure line to reach out to us with the base’s location,” Brayden explained as he went back to the map to show me where they were going. “We need to grab our shit and join them. This place clearly isn’t safe for us to stay and there’s nowhere safer than with Makoto.”

“Alright, how do we get there?” Hudson asked. “I’m guessing taking a cab isn’t going to be the best idea.”

“We can take a ride to Paarl and then we’ll have to make our way on foot or see if they reach out to us at that point. According to the news reports, they have about an hour’s head start on us,” Brayden said.

Not needing any more encouragement, I packed everyone’s things. It wasn’t very much since we’d hardly spent any time in the room but I took all the mini soaps and things just in case, unsure of where we were going to end up. Brayden called us a ride and fifteen minutes later, we were on the road to Paarl. Fingers crossed this drive would be uneventful and we wouldn’t have to cause any more natural disasters.

THIRTEEN

JAY

It was pure chaos to get out of the building and there were already cops and firemen at the scene to deal with the aftermath of the bomb. It had been big enough to take an enormous chunk of the building out since it was on the top floor. What was odd though was the cops weren’t really concerned about controlling the area. They were looking for something or someone. I paused, having a gut feeling that we were the ones they were looking for. Clearly, someone had leaked our location, that’s the only reason Arno would have a bomb in his laptop. The Dark Lord knew we were here in Cape Town and he didn’t like that we were getting close to his army. It wouldn’t surprise me if he tried to do whatever he could to get rid of us.

“Over there!” one of the cops shouted, pointing at me.

Fuck! My hunch was right. They were looking for us. There was no way we could go back to the hotel with them searching for us. I had to hope Lailah and the others would be safe there, and the leak came from inside Pride.

“Guys, we gotta go,” I snapped as the other two hadn’t registered the danger yet. “We aren’t out of the trap yet but I know where we can go.”

“What the hell do the cops want with us?” Parker growled as he took off after me.

I glanced at him over my shoulder. “Not sure I want to stay and find out but if you do, by all means, I won’t stop you.”

“Fuck you, Jay,” Parker sneered.

In an effort to stay out of sight, we headed for the thick of the crowd who was rushing into the streets to get away from the burning building. We ducked down a side road and then ran full out until I veered off to a parking lot of cars behind a building. “If they’re looking for us, we can’t go back to the others.”

“No, we can’t leave them behind. What if they’re going after them too?” Micah challenged as he pulled out his cell.

Lunging forward, I grabbed it out of his hand and chucked it to the ground, slamming my heel on it. “All we know right now is that they knew we were coming here to meet with Arno. If there is a chance that the others are safe in the hotel, I don’t want to draw attention to them. There’s a leak but we don’t know where it’s coming from, so it’s better to keep contact to a minimum. I can get us somewhere safe and then send people out to get Lailah and the others,” I explained as I dismantled my phone and Parker did the same.

“How the fuck do you know someone in Cape Town?” Micah demanded.

I glanced up at him knowing his anger wasn’t really meant for me, but if I could hold back the fury that I felt at how things went down, he could too. “My father has a base here. It’s not well known, but we needed a foothold in Africa since there is so much corruption and smuggled goods in and out of the country. South Africa seemed like a safe bet to put a training base that wasn’t really for training but intel gathering. It’s in another town closer to the mountains.”

“Well fuck, haveing that kind of equipment at our use makes things easier. For tracking down who the hell is selling us out I mean,” Parker pointed out. “How do you plan on us getting there?”

Pulling a knife out of my boot, I slammed it into the back passenger window of a car, shattering the glass. Quickly, I unlocked the car and got to hot wiring it as the other two hopped in. The car rumbled to life easily enough, and we were off, heading in the opposite direction of the Pride building. Once there was enough distance, I headed inward toward the mountains. My heart ached knowing that Lailah would hear about the bombing and not know if we were alright or not, but I would do anything to keep her safe and alive. At the moment, whoever was hunting us was on our tail. I would draw them away from her and once it was safe, let her know we were fine.

“Did we get anything from that meeting?” Micah asked, rubbing his head. He’d used a lot of power to keep us safe from the bomb blast. It wouldn’t surprise me if he was feeling drained.

Parker snorted. “Dude, do you really not realize that he told us a shit ton of information?”

Micah twisted in the front seat and glared at him. “Obviously not or I wouldn’t have asked, you fucking moron.”

“Nice to know you aren’t as amazing as you think you are,” Parker taunted with a smirk. “One good thing is that the Dark Lord doesn’t know we caught onto him or that he is the owner of Aplite. It must be his shell company to fund everything he’s doing to take over the world. Even demons need cold hard cash to make things happen. Arno also told us that he’s the Dark Lord’s supplier and sends him all the serum he needs. I thought it was guns, but that’s when I started to lose my hold on Arno. Pride definitely supplies everything that the Dark Lord needs for his training camp, as Arno called it, but it seems they aren’t relying on human weapons. This could be a good thing or a bad thing.”

Glancing back at Parker through the rearview mirror, I frowned. “What do you mean by that?”

“That, I think cock nugget could explain better than I could,” Parker said, nodding to Micah.

Micah slouched down in the seat, crossing his arms like a child pouting after they were told they couldn’t have something. “Sorry, I thought I wasn’t all that amazing. You sure you want to hear this from me?”

“Micah!” I growled. “This is bigger than the two of you and our personal issues—spit it out.”

Letting out a sigh, he sat up straighter but kept his gaze fixed on the surrounding scenery. “If they aren’t going to use human methods to bring us down, it means they’ve found a way to channel their demonic powers. It will be like fighting an army of Tabithas, only some of them will be far stronger than her. That also means we might not be able to bring in any backup to this battle. Humans wouldn’t stand a chance against them and there aren’t enough holy weapons to supply everyone.”

“Fuck,” I swore, slamming my hand onto the steering wheel.

“Yeah, that about sums it up,” Micah muttered.

“How could they have found a way to do that? Everyone we’ve encountered so far has been unable to use their demonic nature, even Lilith. Yeah, she had some powers, but they weren’t anything close to what I’m sure she could really do,” I questioned.

“Those weren’t fully possessed people. They were conduits where the demon was still trapped in Hell,” Micah shared. “I’m thinking they found a way to get demons fully out of Hell and into the person’s body, allowing them to have all their powers. Lilith and the Dark Lord are too powerful, which is why they needed Lailah for it to work, and she banished Lilith back to Hell. The Dark Lord would need to go for one of us if he wanted to really be on Earth. Unless they found a way to create enough dark energy for him to survive off of here on earth without a body.”

“You mean like in spirit form or something?” Parker asked, leaning closer to the front to hear better now that we were on the highway. The wind was loud through the broken window.

“That could be one way, or if they created a sacred circle for him to use, trapping him in one spot. There might be another way but not one that I can think of. If only they hadn’t killed off our demon expert!” Micah grumbled in frustration. “Mr. Creed would know the answers to all this shit.”

“Guess we all should have paid better attention,” Parker mused.

The car fell silent as we all thought over the years of training and how we didn’t really appreciate it the way that we should have. Now, when we really needed it, there were holes in our education. At this point, we didn’t know who to trust and ask. Brayden and Hudson’s parents were working tirelessly to find a way to neutralize the serum, but we didn’t know enough about demon venom to move things along as quickly as we’d like. So far, from what I heard, it was all dead ends with backtracking to learn more about demon venom itself. Was this how Lailah felt all the time? At a loss for what to do and not having the slightest clue where to even start looking for the information?

I knew she had to be worried about us and cursing the fact that we talked her into separating. After this whole ordeal, I knew we wouldn’t hear the end of it, but after this was over, I wouldn’t mind being attached to her hip. Glancing back at Parker, my mind couldn’t seem to wrap itself around the fact he left Lailah to protect someone else when she needed him. I would let the world burn if it meant I could save the woman I loved and who held my heart in her hands. Pulling my thoughts out of that downward spiral that just made me mad, I took in the road signs noting we were over halfway to Paarl. The traffic was light since it was the middle of the day, which I was thankful for.

Reaching over, Micah turned on the radio and flipped through the stations until we found one that was speaking English. “This just in... a rogue tsunami level wave has hit the east side of the peninsula, wiping out a large section of scenic road R44. This wave then resulted in a landslide but thankfully,as far as we know, no one has been injured in this random catastrophe. It will take some time for the road to be repaired so we suggest avoiding that area for the time being. More reports on the bombing that happened at Pride Resources. The police believe they know the people who are behind this and are actively searching for them. No terrorist groups have claimed reasonability for the bombing so we will just have to wait and see what the police have come up with. Now, on to traffic...”

“Did they just say a tsunami type wave happened out of nowhere?” Parker asked.

Micah and I looked at each other, knowing that the only person who could make that happen was Hudson. We’d heard in history books how the past Water Elementi could do such things but Hudson had never been that strong. Although, there hadn’t been much chance for him to try his powers out to that extent since he bonded with Lailah.

“Should we find a way to contact them?” Micah asked.

“If they were taken and needed to fight back, I don’t think they’ll be able to take a call from us,” I responded, sarcasm thick in my voice. “Now it’s even more important to get to the base so we have backup. We don’t need to worry about the police coming after us to pin the bombing on.”

“No need to be an asshole about it, Jay,” Micah muttered.

Opening my mouth to respond to him, I felt my powers explode inside me to the point I couldn’t see; the light was so blinding.

“Pull over, now!” Parker yelled, lunging forward and grabbing the wheel. “Take your foot off the gas, Jay. You’re going to get us killed if you don’t slow down!”

I could feel when we moved off the smooth asphalt of the road and hit the rocky terrain. Using the last part of my willpower, I let off the gas and pressed on the brakes, trying not to bring us to an abrupt halt. When the car finally stopped, Parker shifted it into park and I could lose myself to whatever the hell was going on with my powers. It was like I got pulled under in a sea of white light only to have bursts of green and gold popping off like fireworks around me.

What the fuck was happening?

I caught images of Brayden and Lailah but they happened so fast I couldn’t figure out what was happening. While I might not be able to see with my eyes, I could feel what was happening. Lailah was terrified and feeling trapped. Sensing she needed my help, I sent my power to her, letting her take what she needed. Just when I didn’t think I had more to give, I was slammed with a return of power. It was intermixed with all our powers, as if she’d pulled from all of us and was giving us back the extra. Soon, the moment ended, and I was able to see the world around me once again. My heart was hammering in my chest like I’d been given a shot of adrenaline.

“What in the holy hell just happened?” Micah rasped, looking as bewildered as I did.

“I don’t know, but I’m betting it had something to do with why Hudson needed to create a wave that big,” I answered. “Parker, I think it’s better that you drive since you don’t have to worry about anything happening to you.”

Parker grimaced at the reminder that he wasn’t attached to Lailah in any way. “Yeah, fine, it’s better we live to find out what’s going on than to die a sudden and horrible death, crashing into a mountain.”

“You acted fast and kept us alive,” I pointed out as I slid into the back seat. “Good work.”

“Wow, your gratitude is so touching. What will I ever do with all these warm fuzzy feelings?” Parker muttered as he got the car back on the road. “How much farther do I take this road?”

“Take this all the way until you hit a town. That will be Paarl. Then we’ll have to ditch the car somewhere and make our way to the base on foot. Can’t have the cops finding a stolen car on their property,” I said, resting my head against the window, still feeling unsettled by what just happened.

Lailah, what had happened to you three?

Lost in thought, trying to come up with our next move, I was once again blindsided by my powers rioting in my body. Thankfully, with Parker driving, there was no danger to anyone as Micah and I got lost in a whirlwind of energy. This time, flashes of Hudson and Lailah kept appearing, and I got the sense that Hudson wasn’t doing well. Lailah was worried but this time things seemed slightly more controlled as she took from us, giving me the chance to focus on what she was doing. She was collecting from us and then pouring it into Hudson until he couldn’t hold anymore, which was when she sent the energy back to us. It took a bit for her to pull out her own, giving us back what she took and then some.

“The fuck is going on? Now you guys are glowing,” Parker called out.

Whatever Lailah was doing to us wasn’t over yet, trapping us until she cut the connection, allowing us to return to what was happening around us. Parker was still driving but he looked between Micah and me with wide worried eyes. Lifting my hand, I could see that he was right. I was glowing with a faint silver light, matching my energy. This time, instead of feeling panicked and on the bad side of an adrenaline spike, I felt healed, well rested. Even the old injury in my knee wasn’t aching. What the hell had Lailah done?

“Jay, I get you don’t want to reach out but we need to contact them sooner rather than later. I don’t like that we have no clue what’s going on with them,” Micah stated, turning to look at me. “How much longer until we get to the base?”

“Fuck the plan of leaving the car, we need to get back faster,” I said, rubbing my hands over my shaved head. “Once we hit the town, it’ll be another fifteen or twenty minutes to get where we need to go.”

“Why the hell can’t anything about this go right?” Parker grumbled.

Following my directions, we finally pulled up to the gates of the base. Parker pulled up to the guard stand and one of my father’s men stepped out. “This is a private facility. You’re going to need to turn around and leave.”

Not wanting to slide into the seat with all the glass, I got out of the car and walked up to the guard. “I’m Jalen Minh, Makoto’s son, and team leader of the Alpha-Seven.”

“Sir.” The guard straightened and saluted. “I apologize, I wasn’t informed you would be coming to the base.”

“At ease, this is an unannounced visit,” I assured him. “We were on a different mission in Cape Town and ran into some trouble. I’m in need of the resources at this base as well as needing to get in contact with the rest of my team.”

“Right away, sir.” The guard nodded and stepped back into the shack and opened the gate. “I’ll radio ahead and let your father know you’re here. I’m sure you’ll want to get him up to speed.”

I had to hide my shock at hearing that my father was here. This base wasn’t one that any of us visited often, since it was more intel related. “Thank you and good work.”

None of us said anything as we rolled through the gate. They both knew how tense my relationship with my father was without the added stress of my mother missing. For him to be here wasn’t a good sign and their agreement was deafening even without saying a word.

“Don’t say anything until we know what he knows,” I ordered as we pulled up to the main building. “My father is a master at getting others to spill their secrets but unfortunately for him, I’m better.”

Parker looked at me in the rearview mirror. “You don’t think⁠—”

“Doesn’t matter what I think, but it would be the first thing that makes sense in all this,” I said, cutting him off before he could say it out loud. “Keep those thoughts to yourself for now, only trust each other, and we’ll make it through this like we have everything else.”

14 - Lailah

It was wise for none of us to drive, since ten minutes into the hour drive, we all fell asleep, trusting that the driver would get us to our destination. It was foolish of us after all we’d been through but none of us seemed to be able to fight how tired we were. After I made contact with the guys, I didn’t get any other communication from them. Knowing they were alive and well was enough until we reached them. We’d asked the driver to bring us to another hotel, so it didn’t make us stand out like dropping us on some street corner would, especially with us bringing along all our bags.

“We’ll be arriving in a few moments,” the driver called back to us.

Stretching, I tried to pull myself together enough to get with the program. “Thank you. The jet lag is catching up to all of us it seems. People always talk about it when you travel overseas but man, it’s no joke.”

“Where is home?” he asked with mild interest.

“The States. We all live in Wisconsin. This is our big summer trip for surviving our first year of college,” I answered, trying to make the story simple yet believable. They always said too many details were a dead giveaway.

The driver just grunted as he wove his way through traffic to pull into the hotel parking lot. Hudson and Brayden both seemed tense as we collected our things from the trunk and watched the man drive away. I shouldered my bag and grabbed one of the others as we trudged to the next part of our journey.

“You guys gonna fill me in on why you’re so freaked out?” I asked after a few more minutes of awkward tension.

“Something isn’t right,” Brayden commented. “I can’t figure out what it is, but something in my gut is telling me to be careful.”

“Do you think the dirty cops could have found a way to reach out and tell them we got away?” I questioned.

We walked past a bar with televisions behind the bar and I caught a glimpse of the destruction we’d left behind in Cape Town. It wasn’t in English but I got the feeling that whoever knew about the mission to get rid of us would also know it didn’t work. If it was being blasted all over the news, then we were screwed.

“Well, I guess that answers my question.” I huffed. “At least they don’t have our faces plastered on the news. That would make things even worse.”

No sooner had I said those words, images of Jay, Parker, and Micah appeared with the images of a burning building behind them. It didn’t take a genius to figure out they were blaming them for the bomb, just as they tried to do with us. Then another set of images showed up with our faces looking back. The image they used was from my student ID at Ryevick. The only way they could have gotten that was from someone on the inside.

“Things just got so much worse,” Hudson muttered. “It’s better we keep moving.”

“You know this proves that it’s someone inside the Elementi that has fucked us over, right?” Brayden growled as we hurried along.

It was tricky to move quickly and not draw attention to ourselves as we did so. “Are you sure we can’t take a taxi or something?”

“Not after our faces have been plastered on the news,” Hudson pointed out.

“Guess I’m not good at this whole fugitive thing,” I mumbled as I realized how stupid that question had been.

“The base is outside the town. It would be much easier to get to if we had a vehicle of some kind,” Brayden reasoned. “There has to be something we could try.”

Hudson paused and turned to face us. “If we’re lucky and that’s the first time they’ve showed the images on TV, we might have a chance, but do you really want to risk it if it’s been running for the past hour we’ve been driving here? They want us in jail or otherwise detained. We can’t make it that easy for them.”

Brayden cursed and kicked at a cup someone had missed throwing into the trash can. It skittered out into the street only to get crushed by a car driving by. I couldn’t think of a better representation of how I felt in this moment right now. Every time we got out of one situation, we ended up in another that was even worse than the last. The Dark Lord was doing a bang-up job in keeping us out of his way, even if we weren’t captured. Having a manhunt for us was effective in its own way.

“What if we call Cami and see if she can reach the base and have them send someone to come get us? If the guys are already there, they can make sure it happens,” I suggested. “I feel like us running around the streets is going to get us caught faster... unless one of you can steal a car?”

Hudson and Brayden both looked at each other unsure but I knew it was the best option we had. Ducking into a side street, I huddled behind a dumpster and pulled out my phone to call Cami.

“We just saw the news. Please tell me you’re at the base,” Cami answered.

“Close, but we need an assist. We’re in Paarl but we need someone from the base to pick us up so we don’t get caught by the police, or worse,” I answered.

“I tried calling the guys but knowing Jay, he had them toss their cells.” Cami sighed. “Makoto doesn’t like to play nice with the Elementi, even though he’s one of us, claiming his men are better than ours. Anywho, I will reach out to the base. We might have better luck with the guys there pushing for them to get you three to safety. Hold tight and I’ll call you back as soon as I can.”

Hanging up, I shrugged as they looked at me questioningly. “She’s gonna do what she can. I guess Makoto is a prick to everyone, not just me.”

Hudson snorted, shaking his head and Brayden grinned. “Angel, we could have told you that. The good thing is that Cami doesn’t play fair and won’t give a rat’s ass about being nice when it comes to you being in danger. Once Cami claims you as one of her people, she does whatever it takes to keep you alive,” Brayden added.

This made me think about her telling me about her girlfriend who died. She’d dealt with so much loss and heartache, I totally understood why she was so protective.

Thankfully, it only took ten minutes before my phone rang. I picked it up right away. “Please tell me they’re alright and sending someone to get us?”

“I’m sorry, did you doubt my skills, Lala? I’m offended!” Cami said with a gasp as I switched her to speaker. “Of course someone is coming to get you. It won’t be the boys, because they’re wanted as well, but they are sending a few men after you. Where are you now?”

“We got dropped off at the Horizon Inn and then we headed east a few miles,” Hudson answered since I had no idea how to answer that question.

“Can you tell me some street names so I can send them right to you? They don’t want you wandering about, drawing more attention to yourselves.”

Brayden got up and jogged to the end of the alley and rounded the corner. It didn’t take long for him to reappear with the information we needed.

“Alright, guys, hang tight and I’ll pass this information along. Be safe and text me when you get to the base,” Cami requested before she hung up.

Now that I knew we had a way out of this and to safety, I sagged against the brick wall, letting my head rest on Hudson’s shoulder. “You know, I used to think I was missing out for not traveling the world. Now I would give anything to be back in Wisconsin with you guys, relaxing on the beach. Is this what things have been like for Jay when he goes on missions?”

“I’m not sure what his missions are like but I don’t think he’s normally hunted by the police for blowing up a building,” Brayden pointed out.

I glanced at him surprised. “That was a very Parker thing to say. What’s got you upset, other than the obvious?”

“None of this makes sense,” Brayden started. “How did they know we would be here and meeting with Pride? We made those plans on the plane and contacted the company at the last minute so something like this wouldn’t happen. We didn’t even tell Pride who they were meeting with until they confirmed they could fit us in when we wanted.”

That got me thinking. This time when we flew there was only one staff member on board besides the pilot and he’d been on all the previous trips. I couldn’t say that I kept track of who the steward or stewardess had been for each of the flights to know if this woman was different or not. Micah wasn’t one to leave things to chance though. No one would be on that plane if they weren’t safe.

“Brayden, who does Micah use to charter his plane?” I asked, knowing Micah told him everything.

“It’s the same company that the Elementi uses. Many of them are Elementi who want to help but don’t want to be on the front lines,” Brayden answered.

I felt like I was on the cusp of figuring something out but just couldn’t put my finger on it. “Who does the background checks on all the members? I have to believe that not every person who wants to join the Elementi would be a good fit or might be working for the demons.”

“Well, that is actually a combined effort between Hudson’s father and Jay’s. Makoto deals with the background checks and mental evaluations, while Hudson’s father checks to make sure they don’t show any signs of being controlled by a demon with blood tests. There are markers to find out if they’ve been altered or possessed.”

Frowning, I massaged my temples. “Makoto has some odd feelings towards the Elementi for being so involved. He seems to think we Knights are a joke and his people could do a better job dealing with the Dark Lord, but they keep missing them every time they get a tip. Then he’s asked to make sure people brought into the Elementi are who they say they are along with being mentally fit for the job and not easily swayed by demons... My other assumption is that he clears the pilots and flight staff as well?”

“Yeah, all personnel gets looked over by him or his people,” Brayden confirmed.

My heart clenched as all the pieces finally made sense to me. Shooting to my feet, I looked around wildly, fear coursing through me as the danger we were in hit me in the chest like an arrow. “Guys, we need to leave now!”

They both looked at me confused and didn’t seem to follow the same logic I was.

“No, I’m serious. We need to leave before Makoto’s men come to get us. I will explain, but you need to trust me right now and get the hell out of here,” I begged, my heart thumping in my chest.

Seconds later, an SUV came to a screeching halt at one end of the alley then another on the opposite side, blocking us in. Men leaped out of the first vehicle and waved for us to come to them. “Let’s get a move on, you three. The faster we get you out of sight, the better,” one of them called.

I turned to face Hudson and Brayden. “We can’t go with them. If they take us, we’ll never see the light of day again.”

“Lailah, what are you talking about?” Hudson asked, his voice tired. “The other three are already there. Besides, Makoto might be a jerk but he’s been loyal to the Elementi forever.”

“No, no he hasn’t. He’s one of the Dark Lord’s men and has been working behind the scenes to help make all this happen. Who else could know everything and everyone all the time? Jay’s mom wasn’t kidnapped by chance. Makoto probably gave her up!” I blurted, trying to tell them enough to get them to trust what I was saying.

As I finished talking, I could see them putting it all together, but it was too late. The soldiers could tell something was wrong and advanced. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way, your call.”

Whirling on my heel, I brought my weapons to hand, ready to fight. “Sorry, but I never plan on making things easy for the Dark Lord.”

This got a grin from the man who’d been speaking. “Seems like you finally caught on to the reality of the situation, but it’s too late, Synergy. You’re surrounded and we have the other three of your men. If you want to see them alive, then I suggest you come with us.”

“The Dark Lord wants us dead so why should I trust anything you say?” I growled.

“Oh, he doesn’t want you dead just yet. No, he plans to make you watch him destroy everything and everyone you love. The worst torment for you is to know you failed to save them all,” the soldier announced with a bitter laugh. “If it were up to me, I’d kill you right here, right now, for all you’ve put us through.”

“Let me guess, those cops weren’t really cops but your men and I left them out in the ocean,” I shot back, hoping that as I distracted them Brayden or Hudson would get us out of this mess.

A body crashed into me, knocking me to the ground. As I tried to fight off the person, I discovered it was Hudson with a tranquilizer dark sticking out of the back of his neck.

“If you plan to ever get out of this alive, you’re going to need to think faster on your feet. Us demons are masters at playing dirty. There’s no way a person as pure as you could ever pull one over on us,” the soldier in charge shared as he squatted next to me. “Those darts will make it so they can’t use their powers for a while, but Makoto wanted us to leave you intact. Seems he wants to see what you’re made of.”

Struggling to shove Hudson off me so I could fight, my anger clouding my judgment, but that all ended with the clicking sound of a taser. Pain flooded my body as it went rigid until finally my brain decided it would be safer if we just checked out for a while until this was all over. The Dark Lord won this round, but I refused to believe this was the end of things. I would find my opening and next time I wouldn’t second-guess myself before acting.

FOURTEEN

LAILAH

In the past year, I’ve been through a lot and waking up after being tased was not an experience I ever wanted to do again. Of course, it could be that I was lying on a concrete floor in a cell, but the bone-deep body ache I knew had to come from being electrocuted. Rolling onto my back, I stared up at the ceiling with bright florescent lights shining down on me, illuminating the jail cell that I was in, not that there was much to look at. The bed that was bolted to the ground didn’t even have a cot on it, leaving the springs exposed. Clearly, they didn’t give a shit about my comfort and didn’t expect me to stay in here for that long.

“Ah, you’re awake,” a voice I recognized called out, breaking the silence of the space. “If you had just simply gone with my men, we could have avoided all this. But you had to make it difficult.”

Slowly sitting up, I found Makoto standing in front of my cell in his typical yukata with his hands folded behind his back. The last time I’d seen him was at Christmas and the past five months hadn’t done him any favors. His hair was now silver and there were a few more wrinkles that hadn’t been there before. Everything about him looked tired, as if the life had been sapped out of him—which could totally be a thing if demons were involved.

“I vowed never to make things easy for the Dark Lord,” I answered, giving him the same response I did the soldier.

Makoto grunted in response before pacing in front of my cell. “The Dark Lord doesn’t like to make things easy for those who resist him either. Something you should keep in mind. I’ve been tasked with keeping you out of his way while the final pieces are set in motion. During this time, I fully plan to see what the great promised weapon of Synergy is capable of. Everything has pointed to the fact that you should be able to defeat the Dark Lord, but I don’t see it. You are nothing but a scared little girl who doesn’t know when to quit.”

It’d been no secret that Makoto didn’t like me and thought very little of me. In fact, he felt that way about all the Elementi Knights and tried to do his best to keep Jay away from us, until Jay put his foot down and told his father how things were going to be. Now I was at Makoto’s mercy and I had no idea what to expect, other than he didn’t want to kill me.

“Where are the others?” I demanded. No sense in being nice when he clearly wasn’t going to think well of me.

“They’re sleeping off the drugs they were given. It was infused with demon venom to make sure they couldn’t use their powers and bring this whole building down around our heads like they did at Pride,” he answered.

Did Makoto truly think I would believe that the bombing was their fault?

“Why would you do this to Jay? I know you’ve had your issues with the Elementi but why force your son to go through this?”

Makoto paused in his movements and met my gaze. “My son could have been so much more but you and the other knights held him back. The Dark Lord promised that if I could get him to turn his back on the Elementi and his role, then Jalen would have a place at my side when the demons rule. What I didn’t count on was the strong connection that you and my son would have.”

“You know we’re bonded, right? That if anything happens to me or him, it could kill us both?”

“Yes, the Dark Lord informed me of this information,” Makoto spat, his face twisted into a sneer. “Know that you sealed my son’s fate to your own and that I hold you responsible for killing him.”

The venom in his words hit me as if I’d been slapped across the face. “You’re just going to let him die when the Dark Lord kills me?”

“My son chose you over me so there is nothing left to be done. I shouldn’t be surprised, his mother chose him over me as well, but Jalen believes it was all my fault because of the lies she said about me.”

This conversation was taking a left turn, and I didn’t know how to get it back. There was still information that I needed. “Is that why you didn’t even bother to look for her when she was taken?”

“Why would I look for her when I know right where she is?” Makoto challenged.

That simple statement confirmed everything I’d hoped wasn’t true. Jay’s father sold his own wife out to manipulate his son. “What do you plan on doing now that it didn’t work?”

“She will be injected with the serum and be useful for once,” Makoto stated. “If I could do that to all of your men I would, but the Dark Lord has other plans that he hasn’t shared with me yet.”

How could Makoto believe a word that the Dark Lord says? He was a Prince of Hell and lied to everyone about everything. There was no way that anyone was surviving to see the new world he was creating.

“Cami and the others at headquarters know we’re here. How do you plan to get around that?” I inquired. If he kept telling me things, then I would know for certain that Makoto might not be willing to listen to what the Dark Lord wanted and kill me sooner just to appease his anger.

Makoto gave me a tight smile but didn’t share, making me take a deep breath of relief. “I wouldn’t put your hopes on anyone finding you before things are set in motion and you can’t stop it.”

Well that answer gave me mixed feelings...

“So what now? You have me here, as well as the others, but it seems like you’re waiting on something,” I pressed, feeling like I didn’t have the full picture just yet.

What could have happened to make Makoto turn his back on the Elementi? This was in the works before Jay was born, since Makoto had owned his military company for thirty years or so from what Jay had told me. His mother had trouble getting pregnant with him, so it was a happy moment to have had a son, but Makoto never saw it that way.

“I told you, while I have you here, I intend to see what the angels decided to bless you with, even though you have no connection to the Elementi whatsoever. The honor of having Synergy born into the world should have come from one of the legacy families. We’ve been a part of this war for generations, leading back to the first Elementi Knights. No matter how many times I asked Jalen what your powers were, he never told me. He wouldn’t even tell me what your spirit weapons were.”

My eyes widened at the fact that Jay would hold this information back when so many others at Ryevick knew all about what I could do. Did Jay really not trust his father to such a deep level?

“Maybe Jay knew you couldn’t be trusted but hoped he was wrong about you,” I mused. Makoto had shown he had a temper so maybe he would let something slip if I got him angry at me.

“Jalen is smarter than people ever give him credit for. He’s quiet so people say things around him, but they also assume it means he’s not very bright. Turns out it’s quite the opposite. He uses people’s perceptions against them.”

Okay, well that plan backfired.

“Enough of this. I know you’re trying to do your best to get information out of me, and while I admire the attempt, you’re not skilled at it,” Makoto pointed out as he signaled to a guard. “You seem alert enough to put you through some evaluations. If you choose to fight this, my men won’t have any issues reminding you what a cattle prod can do.”

The guard unlocked the cell and grabbed my arm, yanking me to my feet and dragging me after him as he headed down the hall. We left the jail area, but I didn’t see anyone else in any of the other cells, telling me the guys were in another area. I didn’t have much of a chance to take things in as I was muscled around and shoved into a room that reminded me of the warded training room back at Ryevick. It was the only place we could fight and use our powers without worrying about destroying anything.

“It’s up to you if you live through these evaluations,” Makoto said before he closed the door, leaving me alone in the room.

My gut told me I was not going to like whatever happened next but I didn’t plan on dying anytime soon, so I would do what was needed. Another door opened, and a woman was shoved through before the door was slammed shut. She looked to be around my age. Her clothes looked ragged and dirty like she’d been locked up for quite some time. Her body was thin enough you could see her bones and when she lifted her head to look at me, her eyes were completely black. I gasped and involuntarily took a step back from her, feeling a wave of evil coming off her.

“What happened to you?” I whispered.

At my words, her face split into a smile that was all teeth, and those teeth were pointed like a shark, not human at all. “I was freed from Hell only to be trapped in this useless human body. That’s what happened to me. Why do you smell so delicious? They’ve sent lots of people for me to play with but none as sweet as you. What makes you different?”

“They’ve done this to others?” I gasped. “And you killed them?”

“A demon’s got to eat and the souls of those they leave with me are my favorite food,” she informed me with a chuckle. “Most of them were failed subjects of the serum but you, you are something else entirely.”

She advanced on me, her clawed hand reaching out to me as if she could just pluck my soul right out of my body. Who knows, maybe she could since I couldn’t tell what type of demon she was. Nothing I learned seemed to come close to what she is other than the higher demons like the one who tried to poison me back when I first came into my powers. Stumbling back, I tripped over my own feet and fell to the floor, making the demon laugh.

“Oh, you are going to be so much fun to play with before I kill you and eat your soul for dinner. I can tell it’s a powerful one that will help me level up and give me a chance to get out of this fucking place,” she snarled.

“Wait, you’re trapped here?” I asked. “What if I helped you get out of here?”

“Now what fun would that be? No, I would much rather eat you, then take my chances with the old man,” she said, crouching down as if she was preparing to spring at me.

Since the events at the catacombs, the guys have been adamant about my training and felt it would also help me with my panic attacks. Right now, I was so glad that they had beaten it into my muscles because when she launched herself at me, I reacted before my brain could catch up. Rolling to the left, then popping up to my feet with my sai in my hands, I was ready to deflect the kick she sent my way. Now, in no way was I at the level of the guys but I could hold my own, although no matter what, I was always better at defensive moves than attacking.

“Ho-ho! You’re an Elementi!” she announced excitedly. “That just made this all the more exciting! Now I know if I eat you, I’ll be able to free myself and eat all the souls I desire.”

This time when she attacked, it was faster and harder, forcing me to be on the defensive, not giving me a chance to make a move on her. I’d been trying to keep what skills I had to myself but it seemed that Makoto wasn’t going to let that happen and purposefully put me with a powerful demon. When a kick glanced off my cheek, I knew I needed to get some space between us so I could recenter myself. Throwing up a shield, I shoved her back from me so hard, she slammed into the wall, leaving a dent.

“Would you look at that, the little girl has tricks,” the demon mumbled, getting to her feet. “Seems like I need to stop playing around.”

I gulped. If she’d just been toying with me, I knew defeating her was going to be impossible without using everything I had to my advantage. Taking a deep breath, I pulled on my powers and wrapped them around me like a cloak. I felt my sai shift into my short sword and shield, along with armor settling over my body, offering me protection. Geared up, I settled into a low stance with my shield raised, ready for whatever this demon was going to throw at me.

“Now, if that isn’t a neat trick! I’m not sure all the armor in the world could save you from me,” she taunted as her claws extended, making me think of Wolverine.

She came flying at me, kicking out with both feet but I was able to deflect her and swing with my sword as she fumbled off balance. The tip of my blade sliced into her side, making her scream out an ungodly sound that made my teeth hurt. Infuriated, she rolled away only to use the wall to shove off of to slam into me. My shield smashed into my chest, knocking the wind out of me. I threw up a second shield, blocking her claws from slicing along my neck. Getting a better grip on my shield, I tossed her off, sending her rolling and giving me a chance to get back to my feet.

I knew what needed to be done, but I hated it. The only way that I could end this was to end her just as I had Ubel. It would give me a fresh set of nightmares to live with. Dropping my sword and shield to reclaim my sai, I ran full tilt at the demon, who grinned and charged right at me, meeting my attack. This time, I ducked low and grabbed her around the stomach, taking her down to the ground. Her claws sliced at my arms as she fought to get me off her but I ignored the pain, pushing through it. Taking one of my sai, I drove it point first into her heart and flooded her with my power.

“I will set you free, just not the way you wanted,” I whispered into her ear. “Tell the Dark Lord that I’m coming for him and nothing will stop me from destroying him and removing him from existence. He won’t have a place on earth or in Hell. He will just cease to exist.”

“He won’t let you win, Synergy,” she choked out as my power consumed the demon infesting this woman’s body. “The time of the Elementi has come to an end.”

“On that we agree, but it will be because demons will be too scared to have us hunt them down by the time this is all over. They will know that humanity is protected by me and I won’t stand for anyone else fucking with them,” I growled as I shoved more power into her, shattering the demon who’d been possessing her.

As I watched the woman’s eyes return to normal, a pair of sad hazel eyes looked up at me. “Is it over?” she whispered as blood trickled out of her mouth.

“Yes, it’s over. You can rest now. You’ve been fighting for a long time. I’ll take it from here,” I answered, stroking hair out of her face as she gave me a smile of relief.

I knew she wouldn’t be the last person who lost their life in this battle but it didn’t have to happen like this. Makoto was the reason this woman was dead. He had forced me into killing her, which I would never forgive him for.

FIFTEEN

PARKER

Pacing around the small, warded room with no windows, I racked my brain to figure out how this had all gone so wrong. We arrived at the base and were invited into the war room where Makoto was, along with the men who led this base. They asked us to fill them in on what happened and what we knew about the situation with the tsunami wave. They knew the others had been kidnapped, but it seemed they managed to get away, leaving the people who kidnapped them stranded in the ocean. I was surprised they knew so much already when it had only happened a half hour before. Then again, it was Makoto’s whole purpose to keep up with what was going on in the world around us.

Once they got the information they needed, I noticed Jay and Micah both smiling to themselves as if something was going on that I didn’t know about. Shame burned within me, guessing it had to do with Lailah and their Bond to her. If she figured out we were in trouble, she would absolutely need to make sure they were okay. Since we ditched our phones, there was no other way to contact us except through the one thing that would never be taken from them. Makoto seemed to notice this as well, giving some hidden signal. It was too late by the time I noticed that his men were coming up behind the others. A sharp prick to the neck and seconds later, I was out like a light, only to wake up who knows how much later in this goddamn room, alone.

How could we have walked into a trap like this? Really though, it wasn’t until we started putting all the pieces together that it crossed my mind. When I tried to bring it up, Jay seemed like he’d come to the same conclusion. I had to hope that Lailah and the others were safe and didn’t figure out where we were. If Makoto was double-crossing us, then we were well and truly fucked. There was no way they would guess that we were here though. I never would have even considered that there was a base here in South Africa. Although, she had Hudson and Brayden with her and they were the logical ones in the group. If they were trying to figure out where we would run to after the bombing, they would look to see if one was close by. Every turn we made the Dark Lord was ahead of us. Add in Makoto and it all made sense. That man had his fingers in all the pies and made himself invaluable to the Elementi.

The sound of footsteps outside my door made me freeze. I tried to call on my powers but nothing happened, almost as if I didn’t have any, which made no sense at all. Taking a deep breath, I calmed myself and looked inward but there was nothing but an empty void for me to fall through. This was what it felt like when I went after Lailah when she was trapped in her dream. This darkness was alive, lurking, waiting patiently for me to step foot in its world so it could pull me under. Could this be the darkness that the Dark Lord was talking about? The evil that now blemished my soul? Had the angels changed their mind, choosing to abandon me to my fate since I betrayed them and Lailah?

“Step to the back of the cell and place your hands on the wall above your head where we can see them,” a man ordered.

My first response was to tell him to fuck off, but that wouldn’t do anyone any good. If I wanted to find a way to help the other two and get us the fuck out of this place, I needed to think smart. Not my strongest skill, but everyone has a moment when they need to step up in life, and this was mine. Once I did as they requested, there was a lull before the door opened and two soldiers entered.

“Keep still. If you move then we’ll have no other choice but to use the cattle prod on you,” the soldier warned as he approached.

I didn’t move or say a word as he came up and yanked my hands behind me, putting them in cuffs. “Typically, I only let women cuff me but I guess you’re cute enough,” I commented, unable to keep from saying something.

That got me a kick to the back of my knees, dropping me to the floor and my face hitting the wall as I pitched forward, unable to stop myself. “Damn, you sure know how to show a guy a good time. That’s alright, I’m good with things being rough.”

“Shut your goddamn mouth before I shock you for pissing me off,” the soldier snapped. “Makoto wants to see you. If you have any brain cells in that head of yours, I suggest you listen carefully to what he has to say.”

Things were getting interesting. I let him heave me up and drag me down the hall that had doors on each side of the hall—ten of them if I had a guess. I’d bet everything that the other two were here as well, but the doors were steel and had a keypad entry, which I could bypass, but it wouldn’t be quick. As we walked, I kept an eye on all the security and tried to find ways around it. I had a feeling I was the only one who could pull it off. Jay might know how to deal with his father and the other soldiers but he didn’t know security like I did. As for Micah, he would sooner burn the whole building down than have the patience to organize a plan.

My journey ended in an office, where I was once again brought to my knees in front of a desk that Makoto sat behind, looking over some paperwork. “You may leave. I’m sure he won’t be any trouble since he doesn’t have his powers.”

“Yes, sir,” the soldier responded, giving a slight bow before leaving.

Once he left the room, closing the door, I got to my feet, not really enjoying the feeling of debasing myself in front of a man I’d known for most of my life. “What the hell is going on, Makoto?”

He looked at me over the pair of reading glasses he wore, like I was some bothersome kid even though he had to look up at me. “Is that how you want to start this off, Parker?” He motioned for me to take a seat in a chair that was in front of his desk. “We need to have a chat, you and me. If my information is correct, then you are the only man out of the group who hasn’t tied yourself to a fate ending in death.”

My brows knit together as I sank into the chair, which was extremely uncomfortable with your hands cuffed behind you. “I’m not sure I’m following?”

“Parker, you might play the fool but I know you aren’t quite as dumb as you pretend to be.” Makoto sighed, taking his glasses off to rub the bridge of his nose. “You’ve already figured out that I’m not loyal to the Elementi and even if you’re not sure how or why, you believe that I’m helping the Dark Lord, which is true. I was never convinced that the Elementi were in the right and when I was only able to have one child, the angels decided to take him away from me. Those who are Elemental Warriors give up everything in their pursuit to rid the world of demons. Those idiots don’t realize that there will never be a world without demons in it. Good and evil have existed together since the beginning of time. There can never be a world without evil which means demons will never be gone. The angels are just using us in a battle they’re tired of fighting. They know we can’t truly win, which is why they only created five warriors at a time, with the promise of a secret weapon to end it all. After seeing a sample of her skills, I’m beginning to see that she is something special but there is no way she will ever be able to defeat the Dark Lord. She’s too soft, untrained, and well... female.”

My stomach dropped as he talked about Lailah. Maybe he was talking about the battles we’d already fought. It didn’t have to mean she was here, trapped like the rest of us.

“Lailah is here?” I asked, trying to sound calm.

“Yes, she arrived yesterday along with Hudson and Brayden. It seems that the police are after all of you for the bombing,” Makoto commented, like it wasn’t a big deal. “I tell you this because if you plan to run away, know they will be looking for all of you. Forever you will be fugitives and will have to live a life on the run.”

“You... you set us up?” I demanded.

“Perhaps I was wrong and you are as dumb as you seem. Yes, Parker, I set you up, but I didn’t know who would go to the meeting, so I had a team watching the hotel as well to take action once the bomb went off.”

“All those innocent people you killed!” I yelled, shooting up out of my chair. “Have you always been this coldhearted and fooled all of us for so long? God knows you’ve never shown Jay or his mother any love or kindness, so my money’s on the fact you’ve always been a bastard.”

Makoto slowly stood and met my gaze. “Sit. Down.”

“Really, and what’s going to happen if I say no? Are you going to kill me? Well, if the Dark Lord wins, we’re all going to be dead as it is, so why not speed up the process?” I challenged, feeling reckless.

“Kill you—no, that would be too simple. I would just torture Lailah in front of you so she knew that you were the reason it was happening. How do you think she would feel, knowing you once again betrayed her?”

Holy shit, Makoto wasn’t fucking around. The look in his eye told me he would enjoy every moment of doing it too. Not breaking my gaze with his, I sat back down as I clenched my jaw, hating every second of bending to his will.

“The six of you are too soft.” Makoto huffed. “What does it matter what she thinks of you? Didn’t she kick you out of the house, rejecting you completely? The only reason they have you with them now is to use you. They all know they can’t beat the Dark Lord without you. Why protect them? They’ve always hated you. Help me deal with them and the Dark Lord will find a place for you in the new world. Your gift of emotional and physical manipulation is something he finds valuable.”

“I’m sorry, I think the drugs you gave me have rattled my brain. Did you just ask me to betray Lailah and the others?” I asked, wishing I had my hands free to check to make sure I was really awake right now.

“That is exactly what I said,” Makoto confirmed. “The only reason we’re having this conversation right now is because you are free from her hold. The Dark Lord will win this battle now that I have all six of you secure on base. No one can get out of this place, though many have tried. It was built to be the starting grounds to the Dark Lord’s army.”

There was so much wrong with that statement I didn’t even know where to begin. Makoto was never looking for the Dark Lord’s army because he was one of the people in charge of it. No wonder the Elementi were always two steps behind everything and getting into trouble at every turn. Makoto gave them a direct feed of information about us. Clearly, he didn’t have the same grasp in Wisconsin because we didn’t have any staff and connected with the other headquarters that didn’t use him the same way. Here on the eastern side of the world, he could manipulate everything. Must have been why he dragged us out of the US and onto his turf.

“If I said yes, what would you need from me?” I asked, trying to understand what else Makoto wanted.

Makoto narrowed his eyes at me as if he didn’t really believe that I would help him. I didn’t know what he was looking for in my expression but he grunted and sat back in his chair. “I want to know what makes Synergy so special. What it is that the angels thought to create that would destroy someone like the Dark Lord. From what I’ve seen so far, there’s no way it could happen. The girl only has close-range defensive skills. Sure, she can purge a demon from a human body but it kills the human in the end. None of that could stop the Dark Lord from doing what he wanted, so there must be something else that only activates with the other knights. I can’t trust any of the others to show me her skills. They would use them to try and escape or kill me. You, on the other hand, owe them nothing.”

“So you keep reminding me,” I muttered.

“Only because it seems like you keep holding out hope that she will take you back and forgive you. I wish to keep you from falling into that lie when there is another option that doesn’t end in death. A smart man would look at the big picture and choose the winning team. Are you a smart man, Parker?” Makoto asked, folding his hands in his lap, waiting for an answer.

My mind raced with how I could play this to my advantage and what I kept coming back to was that I had to say yes. Lailah was the only person who could end all this, so if I could get her free, the Dark Lord would know he wasn’t safe. No one knew the truth of what she could do, not even us, if I was being honest. Hell, she didn’t even know, but the angels had come to tell her that she wasn’t scratching the surface of what she could do. If this was the way I could help her and the others, then fuck it, I’d lie the best I knew how. If Makoto found out I was playing him, I’d absolutely die, but that was a risk I was willing to make for the woman I loved and the men who were important to her.

“You’re right,” I stated. “No matter what I do, she won’t ever forgive me. I’ve groveled enough and my knees are getting sore from crawling back into her favor. That’s not even touching how the guys feel about things. Micah would gladly see me dead while the others would just watch, believing I deserved it. I’ll do what you need me to as long as you promise me that I won’t end up on the chopping block next to them.”

Makoto smiled, then stood, walking around to uncuff me. He motioned for my hand, which I held out to him. Before I could even react, he took a small knife out of his sleeve and sliced my palm before chanting a string of words I’d never heard before. The cut burned, and a symbol was branded into my skin from the blood that pooled there. “You’ve just made a pact with the devil. Break it and you will lose your life. This is the only way to make sure you don’t back out of the deal, Parker. Show your loyalty to the cause and you will reap your reward.”

I was so fucked.

SIXTEEN

LAILAH

After the fight with the demon, I was brought back to my cell. This time there was a thin mattress on the bed, along with a tray with a sandwich and a water bottle on it. Seems they didn’t want to kill me right away like I thought. I guess Makoto wasn’t lying about that. Gingerly, I sat on the bed, not feeling confident that it would hold me with how janky the springs looked. With a loud groan of protest at my weight, it held. Looking at the sandwich, I couldn’t remember the last time I ate and my stomach growled in excitement. It was a simple peanut butter and jelly. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised they didn’t want to put in much effort. Wolfing it down, I chugged the water as the peanut butter stuck to the roof of my mouth.

A guard passed by and tossed a thin blanket through the bars before moving on. With no windows in the building, or at least the sections I’d been in, I had no idea what time it was or how long I’d been here. Getting to my feet, I grabbed the blanket and wrapped it around myself, trying to keep from falling apart. Curled up in a ball on the bed, I stared at the small sink’s faucet as it dripped, trying not to fall asleep. I knew the moment I closed my eyes that the nightmares would be waiting for me and this time, I was on my own to deal with them. None of the guys would wrap me up in their arms and tell me it was alright, and that I was safe with them. Worse yet, the Dark Lord could try to kill me again now that I was separated from the only people who could save me.

No matter how hard I tried to fight it, my eyes shut, and I was pulled into the darkness...

“Little Synergy,” the Dark Lord purred. “Did you really think you could win? The angels were foolhardy in thinking a mere human, even with powers, could beat me. Now I have you trapped and alone, waiting for the day of judgment. You picked the wrong side, and that is a choice you’re going to have to live with until your last breath. Those men of yours are being tortured for information about you, the Elementi, and anything else I feel like knowing. You did this to them. If they hadn’t sided with you, binding their lives to yours, I could have found a use for them. Now, it’s just a waste.”

No, it couldn’t be true. I shouldn’t trust anything he had to say. Demons lie and manipulate, that was how they gained power in the world, but something in the pit of my stomach questioned if he might be telling me the truth.

“You have me, why bother with them?” I asked, trying to keep the fear out of my voice.

The Dark Lord laughed. “Because you rejected my offer. I’m one of the Princes of Hell. No one throws my generosity in my face. This is all to teach you a lesson and perhaps give you a glimpse of what your life will be like once the angels forsake you, sending you to Hell for all of eternity. There’s no way they would accept you into Heaven after failing to save mankind, those made in the image of God.”

“Is there anything I can do to save them?” I begged, feeling hot tears trailing down my face.

“You could take the coward’s way out and kill yourself, taking that joy from me I suppose,” the Dark Lord mused. “Truly though, you’ve lost your chance to bargain and now you have to live with that.”

No—killing myself couldn’t be the only way out of this. The angels wouldn’t create something and come to personally tell me I was stronger than I realized without it being true. The beings of Heaven couldn’t lie, even if I was just a human. I was also blessed. I couldn’t let the Dark Lord take more from me. Taking my own life would be the easy way out but I would be failing so many people. Sure, I would be free of this whole mess, but then who would protect the rest of the world?

“You’re right, I do have to live with the choices I’ve made, and that is exactly what I plan on doing. This battle isn’t over until I breathe my last breath and that moment isn’t now,” I snapped, reaching for my power.

Normally in this place, I could never find my own power but something told me that was a lie. Sure enough, there it was, glowing brightly within me. This whole time, I’d been able to use it but up until now, I hadn’t believed in myself or realized the lie that it was trapping me here with the Dark Lord. The master of lies and deception had planted the idea and fear that I couldn’t save myself in this darkness, but the truth was, I was the light. The beacon of truth that would lead others away from the darkness. The true power of Synergy, combining all the elements together to make them stronger, pushing back the darkness in the world. Alone, light could be powerful but when you spread that light, it became unstoppable.

“This will be the last time we’re meeting like this, Dark Lord. The next time will be face-to-face in battle when I wipe you from existence. Darkness can’t thrive where there is light, and I plan to shine brighter than the sun!” With that proclamation, I let my power burst forth from me, purging my body of the darkness I let live within me, and the lies that I believed kept me from my full potential. The Dark Lord roared in anger as I thrust him out of my mind and body, sealing the opening he’d been using to get into my mind so he would never again have access.

Gasping, I sat up on the squeaky cot, feeling like I was burning alive as a sheen of sweat covered my body. The burning became more intense, and it reminded me of having the Dark Lord carve all those symbols into my skin, making me scream as I clutched myself. Just when I thought I couldn’t take it any longer, the pain stopped, and I was left panting and sobbing into the blanket still wrapped around me.

What the hell happened to me?

I slipped an arm out of the blanket to push my hair out of my face when I noticed that it was back to normal. Scrambling out of the bed, I stood and yanked my shirt over my head and looked over my skin to find that all the marks the Dark Lord put on me were gone. My power had burned them away, just as it had the remnants of darkness I’d let live inside me for so long. It was proof that I was no longer demon tainted, but free from his hold in all ways. This time when I dropped to my knees and sobbed into my shirt, it was tears of joy. Finally, I was free! I’d been trapped in that darkness, letting it fester in me, giving him power where he had none.

The sound of running footsteps echoed in the quiet and I quickly tugged my shirt back over my head.

“What the hell is going on in here?” a guard yelled as he approached my cell with his cattle prod out.

How did I even answer that? Oh, sorry, I was just purging the Dark Lord from my body. It was just a nightmare? Did they even know they were working for a Prince of Hell?

“Sorry, it was just a nightmare. It happens after you’ve faced down the devil,” I answered, getting to my feet and wiping off my cheeks with the sleeve of my shirt. “So sorry to have bothered you as you stand guard, keeping me locked away for no good reason.”

I’d reached the point where I would no longer keep silent about what was happening here. Makoto was a traitor and either his men knew it and followed him or they were idiots who believed everything they were told.

“Just keep it down. No one likes to listen to someone screaming like their soul is being ripped out of their body,” the guard muttered as he walked away.

“Oh, do you know what that sounds like from personal experience, or have you been allowed to keep your soul? Has the great Makoto kept some of his men out of the Dark Lord’s clutches? I wonder what system he uses to choose between who he’ll banish to Hell for eternity and who can live as a normal human for just a little longer?”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” the guard said as he stopped and turned to face me. “The world is going to change and I plan to be on the winning side, no matter what it takes.”

“Really? What makes you so sure that this is the winning side? See, if someone told me I was working for a Prince of Hell, I’m not sure I would trust anything that is promised. Demons are known for being the best liars and manipulators, kind of a rule for them, I believe,” I taunted. Clearly, being freed from the Dark Lord had removed all my fears about my imment torture and death with the way I was spouting at this man.

The guard laughed at me. “You think I should put my trust in a group of kids who aren’t even out of college yet? Yeah, that sounds like such a better idea. Makoto has saved my life and never steered me wrong in the ten years I’ve worked for him. Try selling your bullshit to someone who might believe you. Enjoy the time you have left. I hear Makoto has big plans for you and none of them are helping to keep you alive longer.”

Not having a response to that, I let him leave and I returned to the cot, feeling a weariness in my bones. I knew Makoto wouldn’t bother to keep me around much longer and I had a feeling that it would become an even shorter length of time once the Dark Lord had zero control over me. At least when I slept, I wouldn’t have to worry about him visiting my dreams ever again. It would finally be safe for me to rest. I wasn’t delusional enough to think all my nightmares would be gone, but I would be safe. This time when I closed my eyes, I pulled up images of the guys and moments that we’d shared with each other as a group and on our own, hoping to lose myself in happier times.

SEVENTEEN

LAILAH

“Time to get up,” a voice snapped, shattering my sleep.

Cracking open an eye, I found two men standing just inside my cell door, ready and waiting for me to fight back. Too bad for them I wasn’t going to play that game. It was what they expected from me and I wasn’t going to give them what they assumed I would do. Instead, I slowly sat up, yawning and stretching before I got up and walked over to them.

“Are you doing cuffs this morning or is the fact you’re much larger than me effective enough for you?” I asked before I was close enough for them to grab me.

“Do we need to cuff you or are you going to do as you’re told?” one asked, tapping the cattle prod on his hand menacingly.

“Intimidation it is,” I answered before stepping forward. “I assume we’re going back to the same room I fought the demon yesterday? Makoto did say he wanted to do lots of testing and I doubt he got enough information yesterday... was that yesterday? With no windows it’s hard to tell how long I’ve been held against my will.”

“For someone being held captive, you sure are awfully chatty,” the man on my left muttered.

I flashed him a smile. “Funny thing about being caged is it puts things into perspective. I figured out that I refuse to die being scared. Honestly, I’ve gone up against the Dark Lord several times and you’re just not all that scary anymore.”

“You’ve gone head-to-head with the Dark Lord?” The right guard scoffed. “I don’t think so. You wouldn’t be alive if that was the case.”

“Ah, so you’ve met the Prince of Hell?” I inquired, raising a brow at him.

The man opened his mouth to say something but Makoto appeared in the hallway. “What is taking so long? I asked you to bring her to the training room right away and here I find you gossiping in the halls.”

“Sorry, sir,” they both answered in unison.

That was the end of our conversation as they shoved me forward to follow Makoto back to the scary room where they forced me to kill demons. I tried not to think about how today would go and what twisted test they had for me to see what powers I had. I’d failed last time at keeping my second set of spirit weapons hidden, but I needed the armor to keep from getting beaten to a pulp. The door opened and one of the guards shoved me through so hard that I sprawled on the floor like a baby giraffe who couldn’t use their legs yet.

“Lailah!”

My head snapped up, hearing a familiar voice. “Parker!” Pushing myself up, I ran to him and let him envelop me into a hug. “Oh God, I’m so happy to see a friendly face. Do you know anything about the others or where they are?”

Parker buried his face into my hair, holding me tightly. “No, they’ve been keeping us separated and drugged so we can’t use our powers. They had to give me an antidote for whatever the hell is going to happen in here.”

“The last time I was here they released a demon, and I had to kill it, showing them what skills I have. Parker, they don’t plan on letting us live. They want to know all they can about me, then when his curiosity is sated, he’s going to kill me,” I whispered, unsure if they could hear what was going on in the room from wherever they were watching.

His arms tightened around me and his lips brushed my ear. “I will never let them hurt you, Trouble. You might not know how you feel about me but I know how I feel about you. I am not going to let anyone take you from me. Whatever it takes, we will make it through this and we will save the others too. I swear on my life, I will see you through this.”

The sound of a door opening had us pulling apart to be faced with a horde of people running into the room with weapons—no guns but knives, swords, and bow and arrows, nocked and at the ready. Makoto was no longer testing out a theory, he had a hunch and was forcing us to prove his theory or die. Parker took a step in front of me and his spirit weapon appeared, glowing with purple flames on the long five-inch blade. I’d never seen it do that before but I didn’t think I’d ever seen the look of fury on his face quite like that either.

I knew that my sai wouldn’t do a damn thing, so I went right for the sword and shield, knowing it was my best chance. Jay had worked with me to strengthen my body so when I had to use my sword and shield, I could, even if they weighed nothing in the spirit form. Just because they were weightless didn’t mean I didn’t need the body strength to use the moves required for this skill. As the first person attacked me, I slammed my shield into them, tossing the man back into the rush of people. I couldn’t tell if they were demon possessed or not, but I would soon, since our weapons and powers didn’t work on humans. An arrow came flying at me and I was able to duck in time to dodge it but the attack was followed up by a woman with a broad sword swinging double-handed at me. My shield took the brunt of the blow but the impact knocked me to my knees as I held the blade off with both hands supporting the shield.

“Lailah!” Parker yelled. “Hang on, I’ve got you!”

I couldn’t see what was going on around me as the broad sword bore down on me, leaving me to trust Parker was coming. The next second, the weight was gone, and I shoved to my feet and backed up, trying to get some space to gather my bearings. The room was full of angry demon-possessed people, with the one goal of killing me and Parker. I had no chance to catch my breath before the next person was making a move. This person was fighting with a dagger so it made it easier and my body fell into its training. I side-stepped the attack and stabbed them right in the ribs with my sword, taking them down. Not that it mattered with other people filling the spot.

Parker ended up at my back and we fought, falling into sync, moving as a team that we’d always been working toward. This was the revelation that we’d been missing the whole time. On our own, we couldn’t handle it, but together, we were stronger. Now was not the time to wax poetic in my brain though. We had a battle to survive and the others to save. It was clear that Makoto was in charge of the army that the Dark Lord was preparing and was pulling from them to conduct this crazy experiment. The army must be in the mountains near here or else they had them scattered instead of in one large group.

My arms got tired as we fought, sweat dripping into my eyes, but I couldn’t wipe it away. It burned, making them tear up. This wasn’t working. I had to change it up but that meant giving more away to Makoto and ultimately the Dark Lord. Did it really matter though? So what if he knew what he was up against? Just because I used a skill here and now, didn’t mean it would be the same ones that would take him down.

“Parker, we have to use our powers,” I called to him. “We won’t live through this if we don’t.”

“No, Lailah, trust me when I tell you that is the last thing we should be doing,” Parker said, his tone adamant. “I know what he’s trying to do, Trouble, and we can’t give it to him. It’s the only thing keeping us alive right now.”

I didn’t have time to digest all of that statement but what I could tell was he was scared. “Parker, I need you to trust me. There is more going on here than just what Makoto wants us to believe. There are still more people pouring in here. If we can fight to the door, then we might be able to get out of here and save the others.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I could tell he was hesitating but with a frustrated growl, he started moving in that direction. He charged forward as I watched his back but it was a losing battle with people being replaced as soon as we took one out. Trusting my gut, I pulled on my powers and channeled what I had done in the first battle with Tabitha, when I was only bonded to Brayden. It took a lot more concentration and willpower than it did now that I was connected to all of them but Parker, yet somehow I managed. I thrust my power into Parker as I grabbed onto his shirt, needing contact with him to get things to happen more smoothly. He gasped as my power flooded into him, making him freeze for just a second before his second form appeared. His armor was purple and his staff now had a blade on both ends instead of just the one, making it even more deadly as purple flames flickered around the sharp edges.

“Holy shit, Trouble, what are you doing to me?” Parker demanded as he cut down our enemy with more power and speed.

Now that I was fueling him with power, I left myself more vulnerable. I pulled my power around me like a shield and knew it would be strong enough to withstand the blades and arrows. “I’m getting us the fuck out of here is what I’m doing. Now, move it and use your own goddamn powers to make them panic or fall in love with us.”

“Right, okay, let’s see what I can do,” Parker muttered as he took a deep breath.

Some of the people closest to us yawned and rubbed their eyes, letting their weapons fall to their side. Others turned on the person standing next to them in a rage that was more aggressive than what they were giving us. The bad part was when we got too far away and they weren’t near the bubble of emotion Parker was giving out, they returned to normal. Let me tell you, when they figured out what he did, they were not happy. Knowing that I didn’t have a lot of energy to spare for myself, I expanded my shield enough that I didn’t have to worry about an arrow or something taking Parker out from behind, but I couldn’t do more than that as I added to his power bank.

“We’re almost there, just hold on a little longer,” Parker shared. “Let’s just hope they don’t cut off the stampede of people and lock us in here with them.”

“One thing at a time, Parker. Get us out then we’ll figure out the rest,” I directed, shoving him to keep him moving as I felt him hesitate. “Don’t you dare quit on me.”

“I told you that wouldn’t happen this time. I’ll get us out,” Parker snapped.

“Don’t you dare get pissy with me when you have only yourself to blame for me having doubts in the first place. Especially, in a situation like this,” I shot back.

With a roar, Parker shoved back three men who tried to charge him and split us up. “Right now might not be the best time to have this conversation, don’t you think? How about when we make it out of this alive, you can yell at me all you want about how badly I fucked up? Trust me, I will be happy to listen to whatever you want to say.”

He was right. This wasn’t the time or the place for our personal drama when all we had was each other to count on.

“Hold on tight. I’m going to see what this new weapon can do,” Parker warned before he lunged forward, spinning his staff as fast as he could.

The flames on the ends grew with the added wind until it was a giant wheel of fire that turned every person to ash as it touched them. It gave us the last upper hand we needed to spill out into the hallway. Parker twisted and grabbed my hand, running off into the hall, slamming people into the walls as we went. The smaller space made it easier for us to manage, instead of being surrounded. He seemed to know where he was going so I just hung on for the ride as I was dragged away with possessed people hot on my heels. Now that I wasn’t powering Parker the same way, I created a shield and thrust it behind me, creating a barrier that they slammed into, making me smile as we turned a corner at high speeds.

“Where are we going now?” I demanded as I almost slammed into a wall myself.

“As I was being led to that room, I memorized everything so I could get back to the others. They had us in individual rooms like that one, so it’s impossible to use our powers to get out if we managed to bypass the poison they gave us.”

“Wait, so even if we free the others, they might not be able to use their powers? How does that help anything?” I asked, frustrated. Makoto seemed to have covered all his bases.

Parker glanced at me over his shoulder. “As the love of my life told me—one thing at a time. The first step is getting to someplace that I can shut the security system down, or at least the cameras. With them blind, it will help to keep us hidden as we break the others out.”

“And I’m guessing you have a clue to where that would be?”

“Sure do. They brought us to their command center when we first got here, to have us debrief them about the situation with Pride. If we can get into the room, I should be able to do most of the things I need to,” Parker informed me, confidence in his voice.

It seemed that Parker had a solid plan. I just couldn’t help but worry that this was too easy. Makoto ran the top private military in the Eastern Hemisphere. There’s no way they couldn’t just shoot us on site and end this whole thing in a second. Sure, it could be that the Dark Lord wanted us to live but that might have changed since our last encounter in my dreams. I wasn’t his scared little puppet anymore. I’d cast him out and purged his hold on me. I decided to do the scariest thing I could right now and trust that Parker could do all that he said he could.

We reached the end of the hall and Parker kicked open a door leading to stairs going up and down. He pulled me up a flight of stairs to another level but this time he let go of my hand and motioned for me to keep quiet and to wait. I nodded my agreement as he slipped out the door. Standing there holding my breath, I tried to listen for any sound of what might be happening on the other side of the door, but it was too thick for me to hear. Then the door was yanked open and there stood Parker, a little worse for wear with a split lip but otherwise just as he left.

“Come on, it seems they weren’t expecting us to get out of that training room. With the amount of possessed people he has on the base, most of the men must be down there dealing with them. Demons don’t give a shit about who you are or if you work on the same team. If they’re pissed, they’ll kill you,” Parker said, wiping his lip with the back of his hand.

Stepping out into the hall, I saw three men knocked out and their hands cuffed behind them. “You dealt with all of them on your own?” I asked, impressed and equally worried for him. “They could have killed you! What if one of them pulled a gun on you?”

“Easy, Trouble. They apparently are under orders not to kill us unless it’s the only option,” Parker assured me. “Although to be safe, I did take their guns away from them. Here, you keep one so you can watch my back.”

I took the handgun, checking to make sure the safety was on so I didn’t accidentally shoot my foot or something. Jay made sure I knew how to handle a gun since we didn’t always just deal with demons who were trying to kill us.

“Come on, the room is up here and we don’t have much time until they notice the guys in the hall.”

The large double doors in the middle of the hall must be where we were headed and just as we reached them, a man stepped out with his gun at the ready. Parker must have anticipated this possibility and got a shot off first, killing the man.

“Shots fired on the third floor. I repeat, shots fired on the third floor,” a man yelled from inside the room.

Parker wasted no time moving into the room and shooting the two men in there before I even registered there were people. I always saw Jay as the soldier of our group, but the reality was that all five of them had the same training. Yeah, it was meant to deal with demons but right now, these men were our enemy and helping the demons take over the world. With those two dealt with, Parker settled down before a computer and started to type in gibberish.

“That makes sense to you?” I asked, peering over his shoulder.

Parker grinned. “This is my first language, that of computer code. It’s complex but I recognize the style of code so it shouldn’t take me too long to make some tweaks and get us hidden for a while. Who knows, I might be able to have their doors unlocked before we get there. It would certainly save us time.”

“War room, come in.” A walkie-talkie crackled. “War room, come in, report your status.”

Well that wasn’t going to happen, and I doubted they had a woman working for them at all so it wouldn’t help for me to pretend. “How much time did you say you would need?”

“War room, if you do not report then we are sending backup your way.”

“Looks like this will have to be good enough. I just need one more minute to shut down the cameras and the lights....”

As he spoke, the room went dark, the only light coming from the computers and blinking lights of electronics in the room. A hand grasped mine, twining our fingers together, letting me know it was Parker. “Come on, Trouble, let’s go get the others.”

EIGHTEEN

LAILAH

Even with the main lights out, the emergency strobes helped light the way even if I thought I was going to have a seizure. Parker had intentionally set off some sort of alarm so sirens were blaring, making my ears hurt. If his goal was to make it a horribly disorienting atmosphere, then he did the job. If I didn’t have him to anchor me, I don’t know what I would have done or if I’d be able to make sense of anything going on. He pushed forward, leading us back down two flights of stairs, then down a winding hall to a third set of stairs that only went down. Here, the place was pitch black with only the flashing lights from above giving us any light to see. Parker let go of my hand and light bloomed into existence. On the gun he had in his hand was a flashlight which I was extremely thankful for as we moved through the unfamiliar layout.

“I didn’t get the door open like I hoped but I disabled the secondary handprint lock on each of the doors. Shorting out the keypad will be easy enough so we shouldn’t have too much trouble getting them out. The only problem I have is there are ten rooms and only four of them. I have no idea who or what could be behind the other six doors,” Parker informed me as we stopped in front of one of the doors.

“Do you think he would keep a demon down here? This seems rather specific to dealing with the Elementi,” I reasoned. “Either way, it’s worth checking all the rooms. One of them could have Jay’s mom in it.”

Parker’s brows shot up at this idea. “Fuck, you might be right. Alright, as I work on getting the doors open, I need you to use the flashlight on your gun and watch my back. This hall is a dead end that way, so if you stand shining the light on what I’m doing and facing the stairs, we should be good.”

Nodding, I did as he asked, watching for a moment as he pulled out a knife and got to work prying open the keypad. Pulling my attention, I watched the shadows and listened the best I could with the alarms going off. The reality of my life right now made me want to shake my head. No one would have ever pegged me as the warrior princess type. I was more of the goofy sidekick but here I was with a gun in hand ready to break out the men I loved. That was only the beginning. Once that happened, we still had a dark overlord to kill and then had to save the planet. Maybe I should have taken Cami’s advice and read more of those fantasy books she kept pushing on me, then I might have a clue how to end this all.

“Got it!” Parker exclaimed as the door lock clicked. Tucking away the knife, he pulled his gun back out and stood to the side of the door before he pushed it open. Peering around the corner, I let out a sigh of relief that it was just empty and nothing was trying to kill us. “On to the next one. Now that I’ve done one of these, the others should be easier.”

Three more rooms were empty and if our theory was correct, then the next set of doors should hold the people we were looking for. When the lock clicked on the next door, it came bursting open and Jay tackled Parker, slamming him to the floor.

“Jay, wait, it’s us!” I yelled, reaching out to stop Jay from pummeling Parker in the face.

Jay paused hearing my voice and looked up but the flashlight was shining right in his face, making him wince before I lowered it. “Lailah, what are you doing here?” Jay demanded, getting to his feet and stalking over to me. “Why are you and Parker running around while the alarms are going off?”

The angry energy that was coming off him had me backing up until I was pinned against the wall. “Ah, well, that’s a bit of a story that we don’t really have time for.”

“No, I think now is the perfect time for you to fill me in on what’s happening, or are you going to be a bad girl and disobey me?” Jay whispered. He slid a hand up my arm to my neck, gently gripping it. “Good girls get rewarded, bad girls get punished.”

I gulped at the fierceness in Jay’s silver eyes. “Dirty cops came and kidnapped the three of us, claiming we were involved in the bombing at Pride. We got away and Brayden came up with the idea you might be here, so we drove to Paarl. Once we got there, they were blasting our pictures all over the news and we knew we couldn’t get out of the city without someone noticing us. I called Cami, and she reached out to the base and they came to get us. It wasn’t until that moment I figured it all out.”

“What did you figure out?” Jay asked even though I was pretty sure he knew.

“Your father is a traitor working for the Dark Lord, running his army and is trying to kill us,” I blurted, not really sure how to tell a man I loved that his father was an asshole.

Jay narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean he’s trying to kill us?”

“Well...” I started but Parker got another door open and Micah came out swinging.

Parker got socked right in the mouth before Micah took a moment to figure out what was going on. “Lailah, what the fuck are you doing here with him?”

I let out a frustrated growl and attempted to shove Jay away from me. He let me move him, his hand sliding off my neck as I headed for Micah. “Can we cover that in a moment? We need to get the last few rooms open to see if Jay’s mom is in one of them along with Brayden and Hudson. Then we need to get the fuck out of this goddamn nightmare of a prison.” This outburst had both Jay and Micah looking stunned. “It’s been one hell of an experience since you guys went off to your meeting. The next time I tell you guys we don’t split up, you better fucking listen!”

Thankfully, none of them took the risk of arguing with me as I went to help Parker with the next keypad. Clearly, he didn’t need it since he got the previous one open on his own but it gave me a purpose. He’d been right. Now that he got the hang of it, he was opening the doors much faster. Thankfully, this time when the door was opened no one came out swinging. No one came to the door at all. Sneaking a look around the doorframe, I saw a woman on her side, sleeping on a cot. She was stunning, dressed in a simple green dress with her long black hair flowing out behind her. This woman had to be Jay’s mother. There was no other reason she would be here.

“Jay,” I called to him. He was in a heated discussion with Micah. “You’re gonna want to handle this, I think.”

I don’t know if it was the look on my face or the tone I was using but horror crossed his face as he dashed into the room and knelt beside his mother. He started to whisper to her in Japanese as he lifted her out of the bed, her head falling to rest on his shoulder. None of this woke her and I had to wonder what Makoto did to her, and why. There was no reason to keep her locked away like this if the plan was to turn her into one of those mindless demon-possessed people. Unless he was hiding her from the Dark Lord to keep her from that fate—but why?

Parker had moved on to the last two doors, freeing both Hudson and Brayden in quick succession. Now that we were all out, it was time to get moving.

“I don’t have time to explain everything but here’s what you need to know. Makoto is working with the Dark Lord. He’s trying to get me to show off all the powers that I have by having demon-possessed people attack me. Somehow, he figured out that me working alone wasn’t all I could do, so he pulled Parker into the mix. I’m guessing because he isn’t bonded to me. If he died, he wouldn’t take me down with him. Makoto unleashed a massive amount of them on us but we got out of there and did what we needed to set you guys free. Now that we’re all up to speed, can we please leave before something else happens?” I asked, talking as fast as I could.

“Why can’t I feel my powers?” Micah asked, staring at his hand as if he was trying to do something with it.

“Makoto gave us all a drug laced with demon venom, blocking us off from our powers. Before he sent me to fight, he gave me an antidote,” Parker answered.

That did not make Micah’s mood any better as he spluttered at the information. “How the fuck do you expect us to get out of here if we don’t have our powers to use?”

“If you’d given me a moment, I would have told you,” I grumbled as I walked up to him and grabbed his face with my hands to pull him into a kiss.

Clearly, I didn’t need to kiss him for this to work but right now I wasn’t going to take the chance that I might never get to again. Letting my power flow through him, I searched for anything that shouldn’t be inside him. When I came across the demon venom, I was able to burn it away, making him whimper as he held onto me for dear life. I knew this didn’t feel good, but it was what needed to happen if they wanted their powers back. As soon as I felt the last vestiges of the venom were gone, I pulled back my power, giving him one more brush of my lips before looking him in the eyes.

“Holy shit, why did that have to hurt so bad?” he wheezed as he rested his head on my shoulder.

I let my hand comb through his long hair for a moment as he collected himself. “I’m sorry, I know just how awful that is, but it was the fastest way to get your powers back.” Nodding, he let me go, and I faced the others. “Who wants to go next?”

None of them looked thrilled but Hudson stepped up to the plate, resting his forehead against mine. “Let’s save the kiss for a reward after you do whatever it is that made Micah sweat.”

“Fair enough,” I said, letting my hands wrap around his neck so I had more contact with his skin.

Now more comfortable with this new trick, I could manipulate the process faster. But no matter how fast I went, it would still hurt like a bitch. Yeah, it was a cleansing fire, but fires still burn and blister whatever it touched. The moment he was free from the venom, his lips descended upon mine as if it would give him life. “Thank you, Sunshine.”

Hudson moved and let Brayden take his place. He wrapped me up in a hug, tucking my head under his chin as I completed the process. He let out a grunt as I got to the venom and his arms pulled me tighter against him as if he was going to draw me into his body. When the deed was done, he peppered my face with kisses before landing on my lips in a quick but searing kiss. “Go help Jay so we can get out of this hellhole.”

Jay only had eyes for his mother at this moment, worry creasing his brow. “Can you check her too? She shouldn’t be like this. Even if she was drugged with something normal, she’s too quiet.”

“I’ll see what I can do but no promises,” I warned as I clasped one of his mother’s hands in my own.

Closing my eyes, I let my power trickle into her through our physical connection. This was the first time I’d done anything like this to a person who wasn’t possessed or one of my men, and I was scared to hurt her. Instead of filling her with my power, I just let a small wisp float through her body, exploring to see if there was anything there to deal with. When I got to the area around her heart, I knew we were in trouble. It felt like it was enveloped in something dark and oozing, as if it was slowly strangling the life out of her. My eyes snapped open and met Jay’s concerned gaze.

“I can help her but I can’t do it here. The amount of power I’m going to extend will knock me out of commission. We have to hurry though, she doesn’t have a whole lot of time,” I said, keeping my voice soft for only us to hear. “Will you let me heal you so you can protect her?”

Jay nodded his agreement, and I saw him set his jaw, ready for the pain he knew was coming. “Don’t go easy on me. Get it out of me.”

Biting my lip, I let go of his mother and grasped his arm. Doing as he requested, I slammed my power into him, hunting down the venom so I could purge it from him. Jay dropped to his knees, clutching his mother to him as he endured what I was putting him through. Moments later, he was cleansed, and we both gasped as I pulled my power back from him. Tiredness swept through me and I knew healing all of them after the battle Parker and I fought was putting me close to being useless. Taking a deep breath, I reached out to all the men I was bonded to and pulled some of their power to me, giving me temporary strength to make it through this.

“I’ve done the best I can for all of you right now but we need to get out of this place if we plan on seeing tomorrow,” I shared, feeling my body sag even with the pick-me-up I’d given myself.

An arm slid around my shoulders and a kiss was pressed to the side of my head. A sense of peace enveloped me and I knew that Parker was influencing my emotions to help get me through this. “Come on, Trouble, let’s give ’em hell.”

NINETEEN

BRAYDEN

Watching Parker with Lailah told me that something shifted between the two of them while we were locked away. While I was still pissed that he hurt her and created even more wounds on her heart and mind, I knew they wouldn’t be able to walk away from each other. They loved each other even if they needed to work on things. Trust had been broken and it couldn’t be fixed overnight or with a few sweet words. By no means did I think things were fixed, but I could tell that she was willing to accept his affections and allow him to step up. Right now, it was more important for us all to put our personal drama aside and focus on getting the hell out of here alive and in one piece.

“Jay, I know you don’t want to hand off your mother but you’re the only one out of all of us that knows this place,” Hudson pointed out. “Allow me or Brayden to take her for now. Once we’re out of the building, you can take her back.”

I could tell he wanted to argue but then he looked between his mother and Lailah, and begrudgingly handed her over to Hudson. Lailah held something out to me and I was shocked to see it was a gun.

“Not everyone in here is possessed and the guards knowingly work for the Dark Lord, so I consider that making them our enemy,” she explained.

Taking the gun, I let my hand linger against hers. “I agree completely with that logic.”

She nodded absently and turned away from me to follow Jay as he led the way back up the stairs. Someone had turned the alarm off but the strobing lights were still flashing, making everything seem to move in slow motion. The whole place was overrun with people destroying everything around them. It made me think of a zombie apocalypse, if the zombies were intelligent and could fight. Soldiers were fending off swarms of these possessed people and we dove into the thick of it, falling into formation just as we’d been trained. Never in the years we’d been working together had we ever worked this seamlessly but everything flowed like a well-oiled machine.

They kept telling us this was how all the other groups functioned but we’d never figured it out. With Lailah added to the mix, it seemed to connect that missing piece. Seeing as we were surrounded by more of the demon people, I used my spirit weapons, leaving the gun tucked into my pants at the small of my back. The one bonus of being in the basement was that we were already on the floor we needed to be on to get out the front doors—if that’s where Jay was leading us. I caught a glimpse of the door but Jay headed the opposite way.

“Where are you taking us, Jay? The doors are behind us,” I called out.

Jay just gave me a look, telling me I was clearly being an idiot. “Yeah, what are you gonna do once you’re out there? Run all the way to the city or maybe back to Cape Town?”

Fuck! Okay, so clearly he had a plan, and I needed to get with the program and follow wherever he led us and shut the fuck up.

As we fought our way out of this mess, I could feel a tug on my powers as Lailah drew more strength from me and a few of the others. She was bone tired and reaching the end of what she could do without a break. Who knows what she’d been through before she got to the point she and Parker saved us. What I wouldn’t give to just collapse this whole building and crush those within it and end this whole mess. Only right now, I couldn’t, not with us inside. I was saving the idea for the moment we got into a car and out of this hellhole. Then we had to find a place to lie low and let everyone rest for a little while before we went toe-to-toe with the Dark Lord.

It was a good thing that Jay knew where he was going because I was completely lost, unsure of where the hell we were going and where we’d just been. We reached the end of the hall with double doors that Jay kicked open, exposing a back lot full of various vehicles and other equipment. Lights illuminated the parking lot, seeing as it was well into the evening and the moon was only a sliver in the sky. We didn’t head for the first vehicle we spotted. Instead, Jay kept pushing us to the back of the lot where older jeeps and trucks were lining the chain-link fence.

“Everyone, get in the back of the tarp-covered truck. I’ll get it started and bust us out of here,” Jay yelled, motioning us to hop into the back of the green military truck.

Micah all but tossed Lailah into the back of the truck and climbed up behind her, reaching out for Jay’s mom. Hudson joined them as Parker and I stood watch for anyone who might be lurking in the shadows. He must be thinking what I was, that this was going too smoothly. Makoto and his men might be overwhelmed, but this was what they trained to do. If we could make our way out of it then why couldn’t they? He had more people, and they were fresher, not having been battle tired or locked away, drugged with venom. No, there was something else we were missing.

The truck rumbled to life. “Everyone in. We’re getting the hell out of here,” Jay called from the front seat as the door slammed shut.

“Let’s go,” I said to Parker, motioning with my head for him to get into the back of the truck.

He shook his head. “No, Brayden, I’m going to hold them off while you guys make a clean getaway.”

“What are you talking about? There’s no one here to stop us,” I challenged, looking around the space like I was missing something.

Parker grabbed my arm and pulled me to look at him. “I know you don’t have any reason to believe me but I’m not safe to be around you guys. There was only one chance to get Lailah out of here and I took it, knowing it would mean giving her up forever. Please let me do this. Let me love her and protect her the only way that I can since I’m not bound to her.”

“Nothing you’re saying is making any sense,” I argued. “Just get in the damn truck.”

“No,” Parker stated firmly and took a step back. “I told her I would protect her with my life and that is exactly what I’m going to do.”

Realization dawned on my face as the horror of what was about to happen made my stomach twist into knots. “She won’t survive that, Parker. If she loses one of us, she won’t recover from that. It will be the last straw and she will shatter.”

“You don’t know that. She’s stronger than all of us combined and the world needs her to save it. I’m a fuckup, always was, always will be, but this, this I can do for her,” Parker explained through gritted teeth. “Please get in the truck and leave. Don’t let her see me go down. Once I do this, I’ll have broken another oath and it will kill me, dragging me down into hell because I lost all rights to go to Heaven. Don’t make me beg, Brayden. Take care of our girl. Be her rock and hold her together. You’re the only one who can do that.”

My eyes burned as I realized he was right. We couldn’t take him with us and I refused to let Lailah watch as Parker paid the price for setting us free. There were no words that I could say to comfort him. All I could do was what he asked of me. Jay blared the horn and waved at us, leaning out of the driver’s side door. “Get the fuck in. We’ve got to go!”

Parker pulled me in for a hug that I returned, squeezing him tightly. I let go and pulled myself into the truck and pounded on the cab wall so Jay knew we were all clear.

“Wait!” Lailah demanded. “Parker isn’t in yet.”

She rushed to the back of the truck but I snatched her around the waist, pulling her to my chest. “He’s not coming, Angel. He’s keeping his promise and making sure you get out of here alive.”

“No! No, not like this, never like this. I won’t allow him to take the easy way out. He promised that I could yell at him when all this was over and he would listen to every word I said. He can’t stay back because that would be breaking a promise,” Lailah rambled, frantically trying to fight my hold on her. “I won’t forgive him. If he stays there and leaves me again, I won’t ever forgive him.”

I watched as Parker stood there crying, watching Lailah fight to get back to him, but all he did was smile and raise his hands to make the symbol of a heart over his chest before collapsing to the ground.

“What just happened? Why isn’t he getting up? He should be getting up and fighting to get to me. If he lays there much longer, we’ll get too far and he won’t be able to find us,” Lailah babbled, on the verge of hysterics.

Dragging her back from the sight of Parker crumpled on the ground, I pulled her down with me as I sat. She stopped fighting me as she continued to say nonsense, rocking back and forth as tears hit my hands, falling from her cheeks. None of the others said anything, even though questions were written all over their faces, but I didn’t even know what to say to them at this point. When she stopped rocking, I pulled her onto my lap and cradled her. She pressed her face into my neck, like a child, as I held her. Parker had paid the ultimate sacrifice to get us out of there, knowing he wouldn’t be coming with us. Whatever his agreement was with the Dark Lord, he made it with the understanding he would never follow it and instead used it to his advantage.

I lost track of how far we drove or how long we were on the road, but the early morning light shone into the back of the truck, telling me it had been hours. Jay pulled into a motel parking lot and cut the engine, waking Lailah and the others up. There was no way I could fall asleep and not keep an eye on things back here. In truth, I was waiting for the breakdown I knew was going to happen once I explained what happened to Parker. We’d seen Lailah in a lot of situations but I truly meant what I said to Parker. I wasn’t sure she would make it through this and be able to look us in the face. I don’t know that I could look at myself. I hadn’t even tried to find a way to work around the fact that Parker just sacrificed himself for all of us. Instead, I just let him die. What kind of person did that make me?

Jay appeared at the back of the truck with a hotel key in his hand. “I got us connecting rooms. Figured we could all use some sleep before we make our next move. Wait... where’s Parker?”

“I think it’s best if we get to the room before I explain that,” I answered.

Hudson handed off Jay’s mom to him and we made our way to the second floor into room seventeen. Lailah didn’t speak. She just trailed after me listlessly, eyes blank as we entered the room and I sat her on one of the beds.

“Okay, what the hell is going on and why is she like that?” Jay demanded, his voice sharp.

“Parker didn’t get into the truck,” she whispered. “Why didn’t he get into the truck? We were leaving, all of us. He promised me he wouldn’t leave me again and that we would make it through this. That he wouldn’t let anything happen to me.”

The four of us stood around the double bed, looking at her then each other, unsure of how to even react. Jay turned to me, his hands on his hips. “Explain.”

“I don’t know the whole story, only what he told me moments before we left. It appears he made an oath with the Dark Lord. What the oath was, I don’t have a clue, so don’t ask. He told me he never planned to follow the oath, only using it to get Lailah and us out of there alive. If he broke the Oath, it would kill him and send him to hell,” I explained, watching Lailah out of the corner of my eye as I talked.

“Dead... did you just say he’s dead?” she asked, her voice cracking, more tears streaming down her face. “No, you’re lying Brayden. It’s not good for you to lie. Tell me the truth, where is Parker? Is he going to meet us here later?”

Now that Parker was gone, I was the only one who could deal with this. He’d been right that Lailah saw me as her rock but I didn’t think that was what she wanted at the moment. No, the person who was missing was her heart, the man who could always make her smile or laugh with a stupid joke. Even if I wasn’t who she needed right now, I had to make good on my promise to Parker and try to hold her together, even if she didn’t want me to.

“Angel, he isn’t coming,” I told her as I kneeled in front of her. “He kept his promise and made sure you got out of there alive. If he hadn’t done what he did, I don’t think we’d be free right now, and God knows if we’d have ever made it out of there alive. Parker saved all of us because he loved you and would do anything for you.”

That statement finally made her snap.

TWENTY

LAILAH

Dead.

That’s what Brayden just said to me.

Parker was dead. He died to get us out of that prison of hell.

No—I refused to believe that. There was no way he could be dead after all we did to stay alive. Parker wouldn’t betray me again by making a deal with the Dark Lord even if it was to ensure my freedom. Obviously, Brayden was wrong, and we needed to go back and get him or make sure he had a way to find us.

“Angel, he isn’t coming,” Brayden said, kneeling in front of me. “He kept his promise and made sure you got out of there alive. If he hadn’t done what he did, I don’t think we’d be free right now, and God knows if we’d have ever made it out of there alive. Parker saved all of us because he loved you and would do anything for you.”

Fuck that!

“Stop talking about him in the past tense! He isn’t dead and there’s nothing you can say to convince me otherwise. Parker is mine, and I didn’t tell him he could leave me!” I roared, shooting to my feet and knocking Brayden on his ass. “Say he’s dead one more time and we’ll see who’s going to join him in the afterlife!”

The devastated look on Brayden’s face made me even more furious.

“Don’t you fucking look at me like that, Brayden. I am not to be pitied. You want to know why, because that motherfucker isn’t dead. I didn’t tell him he could die and I own his ass right now. He betrayed me and that means I own his life, not the Dark Lord—me!”

“Lailah,” Jay barked, drawing my attention. “Sit. Down.”

The urge to fight him on this was strong, but I knew Jay was being serious and wouldn’t have second thoughts about making sure I followed his order. Rage burned in my veins and I needed an outlet, which right now seemed to be picking a fight with the one man I knew I couldn’t win against. “Make me.”

“Oh fuck,” Micah muttered, running his hands through his hair as he shook his head. “Come on, guys, let’s go find some food.”

Hudson reached down and helped Brayden to his feet, ignoring the standoff that was happening between Jay and me. A few moments later, I heard the door close, but I refused to let my gaze drop from Jay’s, knowing he would see it as weakness.

“What are you hoping to get out of this, Lailah Mackenzie?” Jay asked, using my full name, telling me he wasn’t happy with me. “Do you think you’re the only one who is hurt at the loss of Parker?”

I scoffed at that. “After what he did to me, you all hated him and turned your back on him. Hell, you told him he better not come around again unless I asked for him and made sure all his bags were packed. How upset can you be?”

“I might not express my emotions like you do, but I’m not so cold and unfeeling to be unaffected by the death of a man I knew almost my whole life,” Jay growled back. “Don’t you stand there and act like you aren’t at fault for rejecting him either. You wanted him out of the house and out of your life. He didn’t just betray you that day, he betrayed us all when he chose Lilith over us. We are the five Elemental Warriors and today we lost one of our own, who I stood shoulder-to-shoulder with in more battles than you know of. You’ve been in this world for not even a year and you think you have the right to take your anger out on the rest of us?”

Jay’s words stung as they landed too close to home and the guilt that I was feeling, but they also fueled my anger. “If it wasn’t for me showing up when I did, you would have succumbed to your father’s wishes and ended up one of those mindless people fighting to make the world a living hell for other demons. I might not have the same skin in the game but in my short time, I’ve been asked to give up everything and everyone I know and love for this—even my own life! Fuck you and your superior logic. I’ve been head-to-head with the Dark Lord more than any of you, giving up part of my soul that I wasn’t sure I would ever get back. Tell me, how am I not as invested in this as you. Please, tell me. I would love to know.”

As I spoke, I’d been advancing on him until we were an inch apart from each other. I could feel his breath on my face as he stared me down, unflinching at my words, only crossing his arms as he waited to see if I was finished speaking. When I let the silence stretch, he just continued to study me as if he was waiting for something to happen.

“He can’t be dead,” I rasped. “Parker isn’t gone. He can’t be gone because I didn’t get the chance to tell him that I loved him and that I would forgive him. He needs to know that I wanted to work things out, that he was mine. Jay, he can’t be gone. He.... no.... I didn’t tell him.”

This must have been what Jay was waiting for. His face softened and he caught me as my legs gave out. Lifting me, he climbed onto the bed and sat against the headboard, letting me sob into his chest. I could no longer deny what they were telling me. I thought I knew what it felt like to have my heart break when Parker betrayed me and the Oath broke, but this pain was unlike anything someone could even try to describe to me. It was as if I’d lost something integral to who I was as a person and there was no way to get it back. It was just gone.

When I finally cried myself out, Jay scooped me up and carried me into the bathroom and set me down to turn on the shower. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d taken one and the idea of being able to wash the filth away from this experience was exactly what I needed. Unable to extend the effort to do anything, I just stood there watching the water shoot out of the showerhead. As if sensing that I needed someone to just take charge, Jay had me lift my arms and peeled my shirt off me. Next went the bra and then he kneeled to help me out of my pants and undies as I rested a hand on his shoulder so I didn’t fall over. Naked, I started to shiver in the cool tile bathroom until he steered me into the shower and under the warm water. When he stepped back, I thought he was leaving me and I clutched his arm desperately.

“Don’t leave me,” I whispered. “I can’t handle being alone right now.”

“I’m not going to leave you, Beautiful. I just need to get out of my clothes. Showers aren’t as effective with them still on,” Jay assured me as I released his arm. “I’ll be right here in your sight the entire time. I won’t disappear on you.”

Was it that obvious what I was worried about? Of course it would be. This was Jay, the man who knew everything about me, even things I didn’t know about myself. He would give me what I needed, even if I didn’t yet know what that might be.

Moving quickly, he stripped out of his clothes and stepped in behind me, guiding me to the middle of the shower and turning me so I was facing him. He took the small bottle of shampoo and worked it into my hair, scrubbing my scalp with his strong fingers. When he was done, he tipped my head back so the soap didn’t get into my eyes as it was rinsed out, then he repeated the process with the conditioner. Once done with my hair, he moved onto washing me with a bar of soap and a washcloth. The movements were confident and to the point, not lingering or being suggestive in any way that would make me think he was alluding to more.

When he was done taking care of me, he switched places with me. For himself, he just used the bar of soap to wash from head to toe. I guess with not really having any hair to wash it made sense. Watching the water ripple over his muscles had me rubbing my legs together to gain some kind of friction. Even though he acted like he didn’t notice me watching, he took the time to stroke himself since he was already rock hard. When he moved on, I couldn’t help but reach out and grasp it in my hand, feeling it pulse at my touch. He hesitated but didn’t stop me as I ran my hand up and down slowly, letting my thumb swirl over the tip that was already weeping out precum. Jay and I hadn’t had much of a chance to be together since we bonded and I ached to feel him inside me again. Right now, I think it was the only thing I could feel since I was numb to everything else and too exhausted to cry again.

Jay reached down and gripped my hand, stopping me from moving, drawing my attention to his face. “I’m willing to offer you a distraction but we will do this my way.”

“What does that mean?” I asked, needing him to spell it out for me.

“It means that I will be in charge of what is happening and how. Of course, you will always have the chance to stop things with a simple request but if you will allow me, I will be the master of your body,” Jay explained.

Once again, this man proved to me just how much he loved me by giving me exactly what I needed, even if I didn’t know what that was. “Yes.”

“Then turn around and put your hands above your head as far as you can reach,” Jay ordered.

Without question, I did what he asked, reaching far above my head, grasping the top of the glass shower wall.

“You are not allowed to move unless I tell you to. If you do, there will be consequences. Do you understand?” Jay asked.

“I understand.”

“Sir is how you will respond to me while I’m in control,” Jay corrected as he trailed a finger down my spine.

Licking my lips, I rested my head against the shower wall, feeling weak with the wave of lust rushing through me. “I understand, Sir.”

“Good,” Jay whispered into my ear as he swept my hair to the side and kissed my neck just under my ear. “Shall we see how good of a girl you can be?”

Jay’s fingers caressed my ass before slipping between my legs to skate over my slit that was begging for attention. I let out a moan and pressed back into his touch. Seconds later, a stinging slap descended upon my ass. I let out a yelp as I looked over my shoulder in surprise at Jay.

“I warned you there would be punishment if you didn’t follow the rules, Beautiful,” Jay pointed out. “Now that you understand how this is going to work, I suggest holding still.”

“You’ve been looking for a reason to spank me and now I’ve let you talk me into a situation where it can happen,” I said.

Hearing me, Jay pressed his body to mine and slid a hand to hold my throat in a gentle grip. “Does that mean you don’t want to play my game anymore? Tell me now and this will be over, otherwise as I requested, this will be played by my rules. I can feel how much you don’t want to be in control of your life right now and I’m offering you a reprieve from having to make any choices. Instead, you just have to listen to what I’m telling you to do.”

Silence fell between us as I took a moment to decide whether I was up for this right now. Jay was right. The last thing I wanted to do right now was to deal with anything happening in the real world. If I stayed here, I would be taken care of and given what I needed.

“I will follow your rules, Sir. Please give me what I need,” I said, relaxing completely against him, submitting to his will, knowing I was safe with him.

Jay let his teeth run along the shell of my ear as his free hand slid across my belly down between my legs. “That’s right, Beautiful. I’ll take good care of you as long as you promise to be a good girl.”

A finger swirled around my clit twice before it sank inside of me, making me cry out at how it wasn’t enough. I needed more. “Please, Sir,” I begged.

“Good girls are happy with what they’re given. Are you unhappy with what I’ve chosen to give you?” Jay asked, his voice deep and commanding.

I shook my head as he stopped moving his hand, leaving his one finger still inside me as my body begged for him to do something with it. The hand was removed and another slap on my ass echoed in the small bathroom.

“You will use your words, Beautiful,” Jay commanded.

“No, Sir, I wasn’t complaining about what I was given.” I panted as his fingers returned but they only seemed to glide over the opening.

Jay hummed in my ear at my response, kissing down my neck until he reached where my shoulder joined. He latched on and sucked the skin there as he thrust two fingers into me this time. I gasped but held myself still, even though all I wanted to do was grind on his fingers that he hadn’t moved since entering me. He knew exactly what he was doing with this type of torture, making it impossible to think of anything but what was happening right here in this shower.

When he released my neck, he must have decided that I was being a good enough girl to warrant a good finger fucking because that was what happened next. “Remember to keep those hands on the wall,” Jay instructed.

Without warning he started to work those fingers like it was his sole purpose in life. He told me I couldn’t move, but he never said anything about keeping quiet, which was good. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to do that too. “Fuck yes!” I moaned.

My legs shook, as an orgasm started to build, and he took his fingers out and slapped my clit with his hand, shocking the hell out of me. I yelped, but I didn’t let my hands move from the wall. Another two slaps followed, making me grunt as they sent shock waves of pleasure through my body. He shoved his fingers back inside me, using his other hand to flick my clit as he hooked them, stroking my G-spot. I felt something building, and it was different from all the other orgasms that I’d had before. Granted, before the guys, I was practically a virgin and ignorant to the wonders of sex, so this might be normal, but something told me it might not be.

I could feel myself clenching around his fingers, warning him that I was close to coming. The hand that had been working my clit like a DJ then slapped hard down on it. That was the tipping point. I shattered, screaming out my pleasure as my legs gave out on me, and no manner of willpower would have kept them working. My whole body convulsed and I’m pretty sure I just pissed myself as well with how strong that climax was.

“Oh my God,” I gasped as Jay held me to his chest. “That was amazing.”

He nipped at my ear before using a hand to turn my face so he could capture my lips with his own. The kiss was passionate as he sucked my lower lip into his mouth, nibbling it with his teeth before kissing it better. His tongue claimed mine as he deepened the kiss, taking what little breath I had away.

“We’ve just gotten started, Beautiful,” he shared, nuzzling his nose behind my ear. Pressing on my back, Jay had me bending over until I was folded in half. “Grab onto those ankles, Beautiful. Don’t let go or I’ll stop.”

I peered up at him from between my legs, getting a great view of his cock bobbing with excitement as he grabbed my hips. Getting me into place, he grabbed himself to slick it up before giving it a good solid thrust in until he was balls deep. “Holy shit!” I yelled, not fully prepared for that swift action. Thanks to the prep work he’d done though, I wasn’t uncomfortable. He knew that he was the thickest of all my men.

Jay pulled back and slammed home twice more. I was thankful he had a good hold on my hips or I would have crashed into the glass at the impact. Finally, he fell into a steady rhythm that wasn’t a pace for the faint of heart and I just hung on for dear life as he pistoned in and out of me. As distracted as I was by things, I didn’t miss the fact that he was playing with the second entrance that was in clear view while I was bent over so fully. Using his thumb, he massaged it and pressed the tip in but didn’t push any further, allowing me to relax into the feeling of it. When he did finally slide it into the first knuckle, I was more than ready for the move. He continued to work both entrances until he pulled his thumb out and pressed two fingers in, making me stiffen, unsure that I was ready for that, but he just took his time working them in just as he had his thumb.

The two fingers found their way in and the feeling of being so full of his dick and fingers working me over was overwhelming. It was a whole new level of sensation, even more than when Hudson had introduced it to me. I could feel another orgasm beginning to build and I had to fight the urge to press against him to deepen the movements, knowing he would stop and I would be left wanting. His fingers moved much more freely in my ass and I welcomed the sensation, feeling much more confident about anal play. As if he sensed my change, he removed his fingers and pulled out of me completely.

“Please, Sir, let me come,” I pleaded, an instant reaction to being left empty.

“I would like to try your delicious ass, if I can?” Jay asked as I felt his blunt head pressing into the entrance. “You’re ready but I won’t do it if you aren’t interested. This choice is yours alone.”

Risking that we were taking a break from the rules, I reached back, grabbed his dick, and pushed myself back onto it, letting it slowly enter past the tight ring. Standing up a little straighter, I grabbed his hips and held him still as I worked the rest of his cock into me. Once we were back to chest, I leaned my head back to rest on his shoulder, looking up at him. “My choice is hell yes.”

Jay grinned at me, his eyes shining with heat and love as he dipped his head to kiss me. “You are a naughty girl, aren’t you, breaking the rules like that?”

“Seems like you’re going to have to punish me,” I purred.

He shoved me forward until I was pressed against the glass wall once again, only this time he held the back of my neck as his way of controlling me. His grip was tight but I could still breathe easily enough with the pressure. His other hand spanked me on each cheek until I could feel it throbbing and I whimpered as he rubbed them lovingly.

“I can’t tell you how long I’ve waited to see these cheeks bright red from my hand,” Jay shared as he slid in and out of me. The ache added a whole new level of pleasure to this moment I didn’t think was possible. I was beginning to see why people were so into this type of thing.

Now that he finished my punishment, he turned his attention on bringing me back to the brink of an orgasm. This feeling was so different. I kept wanting to push against him but I just kept telling myself to relax and let the feeling pass. Feeling me struggling, he used a hand to work over my clit, stroking it into a frenzy but not letting the damn break as he worked to catch up. Finally, as I felt him struggle to keep it together, I risked breaking the rules and worked in tandem with him, urging him deeper and faster. He hissed in my ear and as punishment he pinched my clit with his fingers, making me scream once more as I climaxed, using the wall to keep myself steady as he draped over me, grunting and urging short thrusts into me as he spent his load.

TWENTY-ONE

LAILAH

Spent emotionally and physically, I didn’t really remember much after Jay and I dried off and he tucked me into one of the beds, curling up beside me on top of the covers. Neither one of us had extra clothes, but he waved off my arguments of him putting his dirty pants back on. Not having the energy to really argue with him, I let it be and let him hold me as I drifted off to sleep, silent tears rolling down my cheeks. My moment of forgetting about the world around me and that fact that Parker was gone ended the second we left the bathroom. The pain of his loss punched me right in the chest but Jay was kind enough not to comment, only holding me tighter. The guys returned, and I cracked open an eye but I didn’t have the energy to wake up, so I didn’t. It had been one hell of a day and I didn’t want to participate in it anymore. Tomorrow would be another day and I would have to deal with the reality of life soon enough. But for now, I could hide in a dreamless sleep.

Only, it wasn’t a dreamless sleep because as soon as I drifted away into the darkness of my mind, I found myself back in the void where the Dark Lord used to come visit me. This time, my mind decided that it wanted to cause me the worst amount of pain possible and there stood Parker. His hands were tucked into his jean’s pockets, wearing his favorite purple shirt that read—All You Need Is Love. Everything about him was so perfect and lifelike that I almost believed that he was standing here with me and it wasn’t just my mind, desperate to have one more moment with the man I loved and lost.

“What are you doing here, Trouble? You know it’s not safe to do this without someone to protect you,” Parker warned. “None of the others can sense that bastard like I could.”

Clearly my own mind wanted to cause the maximum amount of pain, having him say shit like that to me.

“If you were that worried then you shouldn’t have fucking died on me, Parker. You promised me that you would get us through this and that I could yell at you all I wanted once we got out of that hellhole,” I snapped, hands on my hips. If my brain was going to be an asshole, I wasn’t going to take it lying down.

Parker’s brows raised at the venom in my voice. “Wow, you aren’t going to pull any punches, are you?”

“Why should I? You left me, again! You didn’t even say goodbye or warn me that something was wrong. Instead, you just let me watch you die right there in the dirt as we drove away!” I yelled, throwing my hands up in the air.

Parker rubbed the back of his neck as he looked down at his feet. “Yeah, well, as usual, I didn’t really think through it all. I just focused on the fact that I was keeping you safe and alive.”

“What good is that when I’m left to live this life without one of the people I love? Oh sure, I have the others, but who’s going to have the patience to teach me how to play those video games you all love to play. Or who’s going to eat all the pies I make in the middle of the night when I can’t sleep? No one else is going to understand my love of sugar cookies the way you do or tease me mercilessly about the dirty books that Cami makes me read to get ideas on how to have group play time with you all,” I demanded, my voice getting louder and louder as I spoke. “Parker, you left me before I could tell you that I forgive you and I want to find a way to make things work, that my life isn’t complete without you in it. How could you do that to me?”

Now my shoulders were shaking as I was gasping for breath and the tears I was fighting back won out. “You’re mine, and I didn’t tell you, you could leave.”

Parker just stood there looking at me utterly shocked, but I couldn’t wait for him to figure his shit out. I ran right into him, wrapping my arms around his middle. How could he feel so real when I knew he was gone? If this was my brain’s way of giving me a chance to say goodbye to him it was too real. He even smelled like he always did, with his spicy aftershave and hints of grease from working on that stupid truck of his that was always needing to be tweaked. Thankfully, he returned my embrace and enveloped me in his large body, dropping to his knees, clinging to me.

“I didn’t know, Trouble. I didn’t know how you felt about me. What I did was the worst thing that I could have ever done to hurt you. I don’t deserve to be given a second chance or to be loved by someone like you,” Parker said, his voice cracking. “You are everything to me and saving you so you could save the world was the only way I could think of to show you how much I loved you and atone for my sins. I shouldn’t have left you though, because you’re right. I did promise you I wouldn’t leave you again.”

Pulling back, I lifted my arms to hold his face as I looked into his stunning green eyes. “Parker, you are my heart and I don’t know how I’m going to do this without you. It was never supposed to end like this. We all live together. We all die together.”

“Lailah,” Parker pleaded as if I was causing him physical pain with my words. “I hope you won’t ever doubt how much I love you ever again. That you will forever remember that I would literally give my life for you, even though you didn’t ask me to.”

“Fucking idiot,” I muttered and slammed my lips to his, cutting him off from saying anything else equally stupid.

If I was going to be stuck in this dream, then I was going to make it a happy one that I would be able to think back on as my last moments with him. I shoved him back so I was straddling him as he looked up at me, dazed. My hands fisted in his shirt and I dragged it up and over his head with his help once he figured out what I was trying to do. Now that his chest wasn’t obstructed by clothing, I let my hands wander over his sculpted muscles, tracing all the dips, making him shiver under my touch.

“Trouble, what are you doing?” Parker asked as I reached to undo the button of his pants.

Rolling my eyes, I looked at him. “If you have to ask then clearly I’m not making my intentions known. I plan to make the most of this time we have together regardless of if it’s just in my dreams.”

“Yeah, about that⁠—”

“Parker,” I cut in. “You owe me this after everything you’ve put me through. Let me have this, please. I want a memory of us together more powerful than when my heart shattered watching you crumble to the ground like a puppet with his strings cut.”

“What if we can keep meeting here like this? That it’s not the last time you could see me... do you still want to do this?” Parker pressed.

“Are you telling me you don’t want to have sex with me?” I huffed, sitting back and crossing my arms.

“Fuck no, but I also don’t want you to regret this someday,” he explained.

Leaning forward, I pressed a kiss to his heart. “The only thing I will regret is that we never got to have this moment in real life. Yes, you hurt me, but I would endure that pain again if it meant that I could have you back.”

Apparently, that was all Parker needed to hear before he turned the tables and flipped us over so I was on the bottom. “I refuse to let you experience any more pain at my hands or actions. You, my beautiful bundle of trouble, are only going to lose your mind in the pleasure I plan to give you.”

Parker slowly pushed up my shirt, kissing along my skin as he worked the clothing off. In this dream world, I was wearing a t-shirt and sweatpants and not naked like I was back in the hotel room, small wonders. I lost sight of him as he yanked the shirt over my head, leaving us a matching set of bare chests. His hands skimmed down my shoulders until he reached my hands, which he grabbed and lifted to kiss, holding my gaze as he did.

“Lailah Mackenzie, I broke one oath to you so I won’t even try to give you another. Instead, what I give to you is all of me, mind, body, and soul. You alone hold the essence of what makes me who I am and even though I doubted myself, you never did, always pushing me to be more. I failed because I believed what everyone in the world told me—that I was a fuckup and always would be. Then, you literally crashed into my life and changed it, turning everything upside down, knocking me off my high horse and showing me life could be more than fun games, and goofing off all the time. Forever and always, I will be yours if you still want me.”

“If I had the power to do it, I would make it so you could never leave me again, Parker. I love you, all of you, just as you are - the good, the bad, and the in-between,” I answered, pulling him down to kiss him, adding to my point.

Parker wrapped his arms around me and held me tight, our chests plastered together, our hearts beating in time as we lost ourselves in the feel of each other. At some point, we both shed our pants, and I hiked a leg up over his hip and let him slide into me. It felt like coming home, perfect beyond words, reinforcing that this was just a dream and I needed to make the most of it. There was nothing rushed about this as we stroked each other, absorbing all that we could from this moment. Parker pulled me up to sit in his lap, my legs wrapped around his waist, and he buried his head into my neck as he hugged me to him, holding me as he thrust up into me. I tossed my head back, reveling in the feeling of him inside me, making sure the moment and feeling was seared into my brain.

As I leaned back slightly, he latched onto one of my nipples as he supported my back with his other hand, letting me trust in his ability to keep me from falling. In this moment, there was nothing but trust and love flowing between us, wrapped up in what felt like a magical hug. Why would I ever want to return to the real world when I could have this in my life forever, have him with me forever? Needing more from him, I hooked a hand around his neck and pulled myself to him, kissing him deeply before I pushed on his chest, asking him to lean back. Once I was on top, I moved with a little more purpose. I’d enjoyed the slow sensual moment between us, but now I was craving him. I needed to have him fill me to the brim until I couldn’t take anymore of him in, and he wouldn’t do it for fear of hurting me so I was gonna have to take matters in hand.

Riding him, I rocked my hips in such a way that I didn’t have to lift myself off of him and lose that contact. My hand spread out wide on his chest, feeling his heart thundering as he panted, telling me he was getting close. I cupped the side of his face and leaned down to rest my forehead on his, speeding up, knowing we both wouldn’t last much longer. With one final thrust, we both fell over the cliff and exploded with pleasure, moaning and clinging to each other.

As we caught our breaths, a tear trailed down my cheek, knowing that this dream was going to end soon. It broke my heart that when I woke up, he wouldn’t be there with me.

“Don’t leave me, Parker,” I whispered, my lips brushing his. “I can’t do this without you. I don’t want to do this without you.”

Parker opened his eyes and I could see the sadness and fear in them. “What I wouldn’t give to do this all over so I never had to leave you.”

He tilted his chin up so our lips met and I could feel him pouring every ounce of love that he could into me, and I did the same, needing to believe this was real. There was no way a dream could be this real, and if it was real, then I wasn’t going to let him go. Watching him walk away from me twice in a lifetime was enough for me. I didn’t plan on letting it happen ever again. The world around us started to glow so bright it drew my attention, breaking our kiss. The air around us was alight with gold and purple energy, wrapping us up in a cocoon until it seemed to hum and vibrate as if it was alive. As the power level continued to grow, I noticed there was a haze of dark energy floating between our powers. It looked the same as when I purged the others from the demon venom. There was something clinging to Parker’s powers.

Sitting up, I looked at the man below me. “This is real...” He looked hesitant to answer me but he nodded that I was correct. “Is it true you made an oath with the Dark Lord?”

“Well, it was with Makoto but it was on behalf of the Dark Lord. He even made me spill blood over it to ensure that if I betrayed them, I would die for that betrayal.”

Hope bloomed in my chest at his answer. “I think I can save you.”

“Lailah, I’m dead. I felt my heart stop the moment I helped you all get in that truck and leave the base. Trust me when I say that I am definitely no longer a part of the world of the living.”

Rolling off him, I grabbed my shirt and pants, pulling them on, needing to think clearly, and I couldn’t do that naked. “I don’t think you’re dead-dead. I think you’re in purgatory or something because that’s what this place is, the thin veil between our world and Hell. That’s why the Dark Lord could pull me here to talk to him when he can’t enter the real world. What if the Dark Lord has to come here to get you before you’re totally dead, unable to come back? Will you let me try to save you?”

Parker sat there looking all mussed from sex and incredibly distracting so I tossed him his clothes. “Trouble, you know I can’t say no to you but I don’t want you to be hurt worse if it doesn’t work. That is the last thing I want.”

“I’ll take that under advisement. Now, put your clothes on so I can do this and not want to jump your bones again. Knowing that you’re not my imagination changes things and I want nothing more than to try out all the crazy things I’m sure you have saved up in that brain of yours.”

He just grinned as he got dressed and came to stand before me. “Alright, now what?”

“I have a theory and it has to do with how I was purged of the Dark Lord’s hold on me and how I got the venom out of the others.”

“So what you’re telling me is this is going to hurt—a lot.” Parker grimaced but took a deep breath. “If this is the price I have to pay to get my life back then fuck it, the pain will mean I’m alive, right?”

“That’s the spirit,” I answered, popping up on my toes to kiss him. “Ready?”

“As ready as you can be to hopefully return from the dead.”

Nodding, I took both of his hands and closed my eyes, centering myself and reaching for my powers. When I went slower, it hurt less, but I used more power in the long run. On the other hand, when I blasted Jay, he was in a world of hurt but I could burn out the venom faster. Maybe I could try what I did with Jay’s mother and seek out the poison and then destroy it. Sending out a whip of my golden power, I let it flow through Parker’s body until I found what I was looking for. It seemed that his whole right arm was full of the dark energy and it was growing the longer it was left to its own devices. This must be the hand that he’d bled from. Could this be why he was still here? Was the Dark Lord waiting for the curse to take over his whole body, turning him evil?

“So this is a good news, bad news moment,” I stated, opening my eyes to look at Parker. “I’ve found what I need to get rid of but it’s more than I’ve ever managed before. This is going to hurt like a bitch for me to burn out of you.”

“Where was the good news in that, Trouble?”

“That I’m going to get rid of every last drop of it and set you free to bring you back with me,” I answered with a bright smile. “I’ll just pull from your powers when I feel like I’m reaching a point I can’t manage on my own.”

He looked skeptical but a resigned look settled onto his face. “Can I at least sit down for this? I’m afraid if I’m standing, I won’t be able to endure it as well.”

“Smart call,” I agreed.

Sitting cross-legged in front of each other, I took his right hand in both of mine, knowing this was where I had to concentrate my powers. “I love you, Parker Jones. No matter how this goes, I need you to know that.”

“I love you too, Trouble, and I’ll see you on the other side. I have no doubt.”

TWENTY-TWO

JAY

By the time the guys came back from getting us supplies and reaching out to the Elementi, Lailah was in a deep sleep. I felt like I could move now without fear of her waking up and feeling alone without one of us in bed with her. Shushing them, I waved them over to the room my mother was sleeping in, knowing we wouldn’t wake her if what Lailah said about her was true, which I didn’t have any reason not to believe.

“How’s she doing?” Brayden asked.

“Well, she cried herself to sleep, but it looks like she’ll sleep soundly, which is all I can ask for right now,” I answered with a shrug. “I got her cleaned up and showered, so that seemed to settle her some. You didn’t grab any clothes by chance, did you?”

“Yeah, we found a little shopping area to get food and grabbed some basics. Hope she doesn’t mind wearing a dress. It was easier to grab that than pick out a whole bunch of clothes,” Hudson explained as he unpacked some of the bags, tossing me a pair of pants and a simple t-shirt.

I quickly changed before we got further into our conversation, then snagged a water bottle. “I know we all need sleep but we need to make a plan first. Rest will come easier if I know what the hell we’re gonna do when we wake up.”

“I was able to get in touch with Beth and filled her in on what happened. Let’s just say the news about Makoto didn’t go over well. But now that we know his role in things, it helps her to keep information to herself. There are networks he doesn’t have access to so that will help as long as there aren’t any of his people in the mix. Beth said she is going to keep it to just Cami, Maggs, and herself for now, while we try and figure out who else is trustworthy,” Micah shared.

Nodding, I chugged down the bottle of water as I tried to determine what my father’s next steps would be. He lost all of us and that would not make the Dark Lord happy. I also didn’t think he learned what he wanted to from Lailah. He could deduce some things from how we all got out of there, but that was still limited information. The Dark Lord wanted to move up his plans, but it still seemed like he was missing something vital to making that happen and we were part of it. Something to do with Lailah was keeping him from ruling the world, but he was being cautious on how he went after her, not knowing what powers she truly had. I’d noticed that all the marks from her skin that the Dark Lord put there were gone, while still leaving all the other scars she got. Could it be that her powers removed them like she did the venom in us? If she could do that and heal my mother, was it possible that she was the antidote to the serum as well?

There were too many questions and not enough answers.

“Do we think it’s safe to say that the Dark Lord’s army is here?” Hudson inquired as he opened a bag of beef jerky to gnaw on.

“If there is one thing I don’t have doubt about, it’s that,” I stated, crushing the empty water bottle in my hand. “My father has been protecting it from the Elementi for at least two years, leading us on a wild goose chase all over the fucking world. It makes me sick to think he’s been helping that bastard of a demon for who knows how long.”

Hudson reached out and gripped my shoulders. “Jay, there is no sense in beating yourself up when he had us all fooled. No one blames you for wanting to think the best of your father. I don’t think any of us would have done things differently. What is important is that we know now and we’ll deal with the fallout. It doesn’t change the mission.”

He had a point, but it wasn’t their father who would have to be killed or arrested for their crimes against humanity. All I could do at this point was keep moving forward and make sure we didn’t lose anyone else to this battle. “We need to call Parker’s family. They deserve to know he’s gone.”

“Should we try and go back to find his body?” Brayden asked. “Seems like we owe it to him to at least try. He saved us all at the cost of his own life.”

“That fucking idiot shouldn’t have ever made a deal like that,” Micah snapped. “Who the hell would make such a stupid choice?”

Brayden shot to his feet and got up into his best friend’s face. “You cut that shit out right now and be grateful for what he’s done for us. If Lailah hears you talking like that, she’s going to lose her mind, asshole. All of us know you hated the guy, but she loved him, even after all he put her through. So take a moment to think before you say something that will hurt her.”

My brows climbed in surprise at how aggressive Brayden was being about this. He wasn’t wrong and Micah should take a moment to deal with the fact that Lailah would mourn Parker for quite some time. This wasn’t something he could ignore.

“Fuck you, Brayden. You think I’m not pissed that he killed himself for me? I don’t deserve a sacrifice like that from someone I was never even nice to,” Micah snarled, shoving Brayden back. “I would never say shit like that in front of her. She’s been through enough. It doesn’t change that Parker was selfish and in his last moments hurt her again. Only this time, there’s no chance for him to make it up to her.”

Ah, now I understood where this was coming from. Micah was feeling like shit because Parker did the one thing no one else could to protect the woman we all loved. If one of us died, we would kill her and take her down with us. Parker wasn’t bonded to her, freeing him to make such a choice. It could also be that Micah had a heart and was actually feeling bad about treating Parker the way he had the whole time we’d known him. Not that Micah would ever admit that to a single soul, because heaven forbid the man was wrong about something.

“Fine, then get out whatever snarky bullshit things you need to before she wakes up,” Brayden shot back, not letting Micah get out of this easily. “Parker was a brother to us and we need to honor him. I think we should try to find his body before we tell his parents. It will help if we can tell them the truth and have all the answers before we destroy their world.”

“That is a fair point,” I answered in agreement. “It’s best we have everything we can give them and not show up empty-handed.”

“You want to leave and head back to Ryevick?” Micah asked, a challenge clear in his voice. “We’re right where we need to be to end this. Why would we leave?”

I stabbed a finger in the direction of the other room. “You’re telling me if she wakes up unable to do anything but put one foot in front of the other, you’re going to make her fight a battle she doesn’t even want to be a part of? God, just when I didn’t think you could be a bigger jackass.”

“Fuck!” Micah swore, getting to his feet and pacing. “When did I become the punching bag?”

“Do you really need an answer to that?” Hudson asked, getting up from the bed. “I know we didn’t figure anything out yet but I need some sleep, so you’ll just have to fill me in on things later.”

“Truthfully, I think we all need sleep before we can be of any use. I’ll stay in here with my mother. You guys can have the room with Lailah,” I offered, wanting to keep an eye on mother as it was.

The guys all mumbled their agreement and headed back into the second room, leaving me alone to my thoughts. I brushed a hand over my mother’s forehead, brushing the hair out of her face, making sure she wasn’t too warm or cold. Her skin felt clammy and her breath was shallower than it was before, making me uneasy. Lailah said that whatever was done to her was constricting her heart and we were short on time, but I didn’t know how to ask the woman I loved to burn herself out to save Mother. Two women that I promised to protect and both of them were hurting in their own way and I couldn’t do a damn thing to fix it. I was the person who protected others, now I was helpless, and I didn’t like that feeling one bit.

“Jay!” Micah yelled. “Get the fuck in here, now!”

I flung the door open and found the entire room glowing with a golden light that was emanating from Lailah. Her body was pulsing with so much power it was blinding. It was almost like you could feel it vibrating through the air. The hair on my arms stood up on end and the air was thick, making it hard to breathe as I got closer to her. I fought through the urge to back away from her and grabbed her hand, making me crumble to my knees, grunting at the feel of my power being ripped out of me. Whatever she was going through, she needed lots of power and I’d just given her access to mine.

“Touch her,” I bit out. “She needs us.”

Even though I couldn’t see the others and if they were doing what I told them to, the moment they made contact with her, the wave of power fluctuated. This was just like the feeling of when Lailah pulled our power during the drive to Paarl. Only this time, it was all four of us giving her power and creating a perfect circuit, connecting all of us making a pass-through for the power to grow stronger and stronger. In my mind’s eye, I could see the red, blue, green, and silver energy intermixing with her golden aura. What surprised me was the fact a purple energy was appearing and growing as the power pulsed.

Why would Parker’s power be showing up in this? It’s never shown up before. Even when we created the barrier to protect the property, it didn’t flow with ours. I assumed it was because he wasn’t bonded with Lailah like we were, but now I wasn’t sure of anything. Just when I didn’t think the power could grow even more, it pressed against my skin as if it was just to the point of bursting out of my very skin, and it popped. If it had been a bomb, it would have leveled the whole town, if not the next one over. As the power shook the ground under us, I clung to her, trying to keep from breaking the connection we still held, feeling like the process wasn’t over yet. There was still more to be done and I couldn’t break the circuit.

Just when I didn’t think I could hold on for a moment longer, my fingers convulsing around her wrist, I was pulled into a blinding white light. I remember Lailah telling us what it was like when the angel came to talk to her and it made me curious if that was what was happening now. Why else would there need to be so much power gathered? Was it to combat the darkness that was around us, being so close to the Dark Lord’s army? As my vision normalized and adjusted to the brightness, I found Lailah standing with someone, holding their arm and leaning into their body as if they were a part of her. I noticed this person’s hair was ginger, glistening in the bright light like a beacon.

“Parker?” I asked, taking a step forward. “How...?”

Lailah’s face shone with pure joy and excitement. “We saved him, all of us together. We brought him back.”

“Are we dead?” Micah asked from beside me.

I snapped my head in his direction, not having noticed he was even there. To my left were Hudson and Brayden, meaning all six of us were back together in this strange place.

“No, you’re not dead,” Parker answered. “Trust me, I know what that looks like and it’s not this.”

“We’re in Heaven’s limbo, just like the darkness is Hell’s,” Lailah explained. “This is where the angel brought me in my dream to tell me what was going on.”

As if talking about them caused one to appear, a flash of white light faded for us to see a being with large white wings and a white shapeless dress. I couldn’t tell their features or anything else about them as they stood there, but I could feel their eyes on us.

“Knights, I have brought you here because it is finally time for Synergy’s true powers to be unlocked. Each of you have shown great sacrifice and stayed true to your Oath and nourished your Bond with Synergy to the point that you can now defeat the Dark Lord. Trust in each other, for Synergy’s purpose is to take that which is singular and combine it to make it all that much stronger. You have done well, our brave knights. You’ve survived more than any before you have had to withstand. God smiles on you, extends his favor. Be blessed and remember my words when the outcome looks bleak.”

Finished with what they had to say, we were sent back to our bodies with a flick of a wing, causing me to gasp as I landed on my back, looking up at the ceiling of the hotel room. “Holy shit,” I wheezed.

Slowly, I sat up and found the others in the same state of shock as myself but when I glanced at the bed, I froze. There, holding Lailah to his chest was Parker, in the flesh, looking just as he had when we last saw him. I knew without question that the two of them were bonded.

“Jalen?”

Spinning on my heel, thinking I must be crazy to hear what I just heard, I decided not to question it as I rushed forward and pulled my mother into a tight hug. “Oh thank God, she did it. She saved you, too.”

TWENTY-THREE

LAILAH

When I opened my eyes, I found myself back in the real world—at least I hoped it was. Parker was wrapped around me as if he was scared to let me go, my face smothered in his chest. The sound of his beating heart made me tear up, and I came to terms with the fact he was alive. I’d managed to do the impossible and with the others’ help, we brought him back! Another thing I noticed was the hum of a Bond between us, telling me that all five of the men I loved with all my heart were connected and whole. I’d been crying so much the past several hours, but I couldn’t hold back the happy tears that were soaking his shirt.

“Jalen?” a woman’s voice called out, pulling me from my own revelations to turn my head.

Standing in the doorway between the hotel rooms was Jay’s mother. She was awake and looked perfectly healthy, which made my already happy heart overflow with joy. Whatever I’d done to help Parker must have been enough to purge her of the curse that had been put on her as well. There had been so many losses in this journey, it was healing to have won a few battles today. Jay rushed to his mother and wrapped her up in a hug, surprising her since he wasn’t normally a man to show such strong outward emotions.

I started to sit up but found that even the effort of trying was too much. My whole body hurt like I’d run farther than my body could handle and passed out for the effort. Groaning, I just rolled onto my back, my breath coming in shallow pants as nothing about my body wanted to listen to me.

“Trouble, you okay?” Parker asked, leaning over me, his face scrunched with concern.

“I think bringing you back from the dead took a little more out of me than I expected,” I joked and attempted to laugh but it hurt too much to do that. “Do you think it would be okay if I take a nap?”

Parker reached out and brushed my hair out of my face. “Yeah, I don’t think anyone will be upset if you close your eyes and rest. We’ll all be here when you wake up.”

Only having the effort to hum my response, I let my eyes closed and fell into a deep sleep.

“Guys, it’s been two days,” Micah’s voice rang out, harsh with anger. “Are you telling me we shouldn’t take her to a hospital or get her help?”

“Look, I know you’re upset but think of the power she used to heal Jay’s mother and bring Parker back. It makes sense that she would need time to rest and restore her powers,” Hudson reasoned.

I could hear them moving about the space. I was thinking we were still in the same hotel room but anything could have happened while I was out. Taking a deep breath, I was pleased to notice that my body wasn’t in pain and as I stretched my muscles, rejoiced at being able to move, giving that euphoric feeling. With a large yawn, I opened my eyes and found the guys all hovering around my bed, looking at me with varying degrees of excitement and concern.

“Good morning?” I asked, unsure of what to say.

Parker flashed me his signature grin followed by a wink. “Afternoon, if you want to get technical.”

Slowly, I sat up and rested against the headboard, taking in the room around me. “Jay, was I hallucinating or was your mother awake?”

“No, Beautiful, you’re right about that. She’s in the other room napping. Whatever they did to her sapped a lot of her energy. You healed her from the curse but she still has some recovering to do,” Jay answered.

That made sense. Her body had gone through a lot and I remembered how bad the curse was strangling her heart. “I’m glad she’s safe.” Pausing, I took a moment to look at all of them together and my heart burst with happiness. “So, what have I missed?”

“You’ve been asleep for two, almost three, days without moving a muscle, scaring the shit out of us,” Micah grumbled.

Brayden glared at him as he climbed up on the bed to sit next to me, taking my hand and setting it in his lap. “Do you remember everything that happened?”

“I think so... I found Parker in limbo and then saved him with all your help. Then an angel came to meet with us. The details are a little fuzzy on that but pretty sure it was something about my true power being unlocked?” I answered, ending it with more of a questioning lilt.

“That would be the basics of it, yes,” Hudson assured me. “While you were sleeping, we worked with Beth and Cami, trying to figure out just what information Makoto has access to and how to get around it. Unfortunately, he has inserted himself in almost all areas of the Elementi, making him the perfect mole to funnel information in and out.”

“In?” I questioned.

Jay’s jaw clenched at my question. “It would seem that he used his access to cover the Dark Lord’s tracks, which is why we didn’t know anything about him until he came after you directly. This whole thing has been years in the making and we are so far behind. I’m disgusted to even call that man my father after all he’s done.”

My heart ached for Jay, knowing how he’d spent most of his life working to gain his father’s approval. “Okay, so we’re playing catch-up. What about the fact that we’re fugitives?”

“Thankfully, Beth and the power of the Elementi were able to make those accusations go away since we were able to tell them what really happened. All our names have been cleared and charges dropped so that isn’t anything to worry about,” Hudson explained. “Actually, the local government was pleased since we helped them root out a section of dirty cops that had been doing all kinds of messed-up shit.”

I let out a sigh, my shoulders relaxing, glad to know that one thing was going well for us. “So, now what? All of us are back together, bonded, and my powers have been unlocked...”

Jay turned to face me, a stern look on his face. “It’s time to end this. We take out the Dark Lord’s army and seal off any chance of him coming back.”

“Great, I’m all for it. How exactly do we do that?” I pressed, knowing he had an idea but was hesitant to share it.

I could feel him fighting against himself, so I crawled to the foot of the bed and settled my hands on his hips, looking up into his eyes. “There is no one that I trust more than you to make this call. You know your father. You know war, and I have all the faith in the world you know the right move to make. So what’s it gonna be, Jay? How do we bring down the Dark Lord?”

Wrapping his arms around me, he pulled me close, resting his head on mine as if he was going to fall apart if I didn’t hold him together. I felt him come to terms with what he needed to do. “We go after my father. If we have him in custody, we will have all the information we need, and with Parker’s help, he will tell us everything.”

“Crazy idea here—but what if Makoto is the Dark Lord’s conduit?” Parker asked. “How else could he have made an oath like that with me, if he didn’t have some connection to the Dark Lord? We know from Ubel and Tabitha that willing people can become conduits without the serum.”

This thought had me pulling back to gape at Parker for the sheer brilliance of the idea. “Holy shit, you could be right!”

Parker just grinned and dusted his knuckles off on his shirt. “Yeah, well maybe coming back from the dead changes a man. Who knows, I might be the smart one in the group someday.”

Micah scoffed at this but didn’t voice his thoughts, which was oddly mature of him.

“Okay, so let’s pay with that idea. If that’s true, then if I can purge him out of Makoto, it would limit his ability to interact with the world. Then, all we would need to do is find a way to seal Hell to prevent this from happening again,” I reasoned. “What if once we sort things out here, the angels can finally act?”

“They seem really hung up on that whole freewill thing,” Micah muttered. “Seems all we’ve been going through since you arrived has been one big test to see if we could handle this battle. Makes me wonder how many Synergy’s have come before you and failed, so they all died.”

My jaw dropped at that idea and the horror of it. “You don’t think they would really do that, do you? Angels are supposed to be good and pure, doing the work of God.”

They all looked at me like I was missing a screw to believe that.

“Whatever helps you sleep at night, Cookie Monster, but I’m gonna live in the real world about this. They’ve done nothing but put us through hell and back. Fuck, they were even holding back your powers when they let the Oath break between you and Parker. They most definitely don’t have our backs about shit. We need to do this on our own with whatever they gave us. That’s the real purpose of that meeting in magic land. Wish us good luck and cross their fingers we stop the world from being turned into a second hell.”

The anger and venom in Micah’s words had me blinking at him for a few moments in surprise. Clearly, he’d not been taking this well and the fact that in his eyes I almost died again might have pushed him to the edge. Reaching out for him, I wiggled my fingers to get him to come closer, he finally gave in with a dramatic sigh and sat on the bed next to where I was kneeling. Without hesitation, I curled up on his lap and rested my head on his shoulder, wrapping my arms around his chest.

“None of us want to do this, but we don’t have a choice. We can’t run and hide, sticking our heads in the sand. All we can do is push forward. There is no guarantee that we’ll make it out of this but I have to believe that they aren’t going to send us into this battle without some way to win. Call it blind optimism, or naivety, but I won’t lose without giving it all I’ve got. No holding back. We either live through this or die trying and that’s a lot to accept,” I whispered, my lips brushing against the skin of his neck. “All I know is that as long as the six of us do it together, then there has to be hope.”

Micah groaned, hiding his face in my mess of curls. “How the hell did I fall in love with a woman who is all sunshine and rainbows?”

“How did I fall in love with a man who is all doom and gloom, believing that all hope is lost?” I chuckled, pressing a kiss to his neck. “As the angels said, we need to trust each other and give it all we’ve got.”

“Can we start with you taking a shower? Two days in bed makes you smell a little stale,” Micah teased, causing me to pull back and punch him in the arm.

“Rude!” I laughed. “Do we have some clothes for me to change into? Not that I’m ungrateful for the oversized t-shirt but I can’t really go out in public like this.”

“Yeah, we got you clothes. I suggested we forget about the underwear since some of us like to rip it off you anyway, but I got outvoted,” Micah grumbled, setting me on my feet.

Hudson grabbed a few shopping bags and handed over basic hygiene supplies and fresh clothes. “We’ll get some food. I’m sure you’re hungry after not eating for two days.”

As if on cue, my stomach rumbled at the idea, making us all laugh. “I’ll be out in a flash then we can get down to business.”

“Take your time. Cami is supposed to be meeting us in an hour,” Hudson shared. “She’s going to take us to the Elementi branch out here. Surprise, it’s located at another university in Stellenbosch.”

“Guess if the system works, then why change it. Do we think Makoto will try to hit them there?” I asked, a little hesitant with the idea.

The guys all frowned at the question but Jay was the one to share his thoughts. “What we have going for us is that he might not know Parker is alive, and we didn’t head there right away. We have to assume he has people watching the place but we need the resources there. My mother has also said she has things to share with me as well once you were awake again. Beth is doing all she can to change codes and access to something only we can get to but it’s a risk we’re gonna have to manage.”

None of this was going to be easy since we were so far behind on things. Better to cut our losses and deal with what we could while trying to put an end to this battle. “Okay, I’ll be ready to head out and face whatever happens in about fifteen minutes.”

Micah kissed me on the cheek and Jay swatted my ass as I passed by, making me glare at him over my shoulder.

“Don’t make us wait. Get a move on it, Beautiful,” Jay ordered.

Rolling my eyes, I fought to keep a grin off my face as I headed to the bathroom. He did that on purpose so I would remember what happened the last time I was in here, the bastard.

TWENTY-FOUR

LAILAH

“I’m beginning to think that I shouldn’t ever let you leave my sight,” Cami grumbled as she waited for us to pile into the minivan she was driving. “I’ve been gone for what, a week, and you guys end up on the most wanted list, get kidnapped, and bring back someone from the dead. What the fuck is wrong with you people?”

I was unable to hold back my laughter at hearing just how absurd our lives really were compared to the rest of the world.

“Careful there, short stack, you’re the one driving the mom mobile,” Parker teased. “Did you need to put down a few dictionaries to sit on so you can see over the wheel?”

Cami flipped Parker off and stuck out her tongue. “If you hadn’t just died and come back to life, I would kill you myself.”

My anger flared at her comment. I knew she wasn’t being serious, but it was too soon for that kind of crap. “Cami,” I warned.

Catching the look on my face, she tossed up both hands as if I was going to attack her. “My bad, I shouldn’t have gone that route. There are plenty of other ways to insult that idiot that don’t involve killing him or him being dead.”

“That is the world’s worst apology,” I pointed out.

“Oh well, that’s because it wasn’t an apology. More of a recognition that some jokes aren’t welcome at this time,” Cami reasoned, giving me a smile and a wink. “Everybody in and buckled up?”

“Yes, Mom,” Parker teased, kicking the back of her seat.

“Don’t make me come back there,” Cami growled. “Fuck, I’m glad you’re not really dead.”

Parker chuckled and reached around to slap her shoulder. “Me too, tiny-tot, me too.”

Rolling my eyes, I let them bond over their strange way of showing love as we pulled away from the motel we’d been staying in. The drive was only a half hour but I couldn’t help but feel tense, ready for something else to happen to us now that we’d left the safety of our little hideout. It was irrational, and I knew it. Besides, we needed to get Jay’s mother somewhere safe and get the chance to find out what really happened. Other than having a few conversations with Jay, she refused to share anything until she felt she was safe from her husband. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that I didn’t know if that was really possible, with how deep his ties to the world around us were. Of course, I had no doubt that Jay would do whatever it took to make his mother safe. This had been too close of a call for him on top of thinking we had lost Parker.

No one really spoke as we drove. Instead, we all looked out the window lost in our own thoughts. When we finally arrived, it felt reminiscent of when I first showed up to Ryevick, only it was summer and there were no students on campus. Cami drove us to the back of the school property to a rundown warehouse that looked like it was for groundskeeping. It would just be like the Elementi to make a blind cover just as the Manor was for them back at Ryevick. Before we got out, Cami made a call, letting them know we were here. Apparently, they were sending someone out to meet us.

“Just be prepared, you guys. This facility isn’t one of our top priorities so it isn’t as fancy and updated with tech as Ryevick is as our HQ. They will be able to help us with what we need but just lower your expectations,” Cami shared, looking mostly at Jay and Parker with a cocked brow.

Before either of them could say anything, a door on the side of the building opened, and a woman dressed in jeans and a t-shirt came out to greet us. “Hello, I’m Blessing and I run this facility. It’s a pleasure to meet you all even if it is under unfortunate circumstances. Please follow me. I’ll show you where you can set up and get you situated with all you need. We might not have the fanciest of things but we still know how to get the job done.”

Grinning, I knew I was going to like Blessing with her no-nonsense attitude. She guided us into the building, which indeed was for maintaining the grounds, but led us to another door that opened to a flight of stairs leading down under the building. In true Elementi fashion, they preferred the whole underground facility vibe. The actual Elementi part of the building made me feel like I was in a normal office with offices, drab carpet, and an open space with cubicles. Blessing led us past all that into a large conference room that had long vertical blinds that could be closed if we didn’t want people to look in at us. A large whiteboard and corkboard were set up like we were in some cop shop and needed a murder board or something.

“How many computers will you need?” Blessing asked. “I didn’t want to pull from our resources until I knew who could go without for now.”

My jaw dropped at that statement and turned on Cami. “They don’t even have enough equipment for themselves, let alone us? What the hell is with that? How can they do their jobs monitoring what’s going on when they don’t have the things they need? No wonder the Dark Lord picked to have his army here with Makoto so close by.”

“Lala, I get why you’re upset but, girl, you’re yelling at the wrong person. Take it up with Beth and others on the council. They decide who gets funding and how much,” Cami said defensively.

Letting out a calming breath, I relaxed. “I’m sorry, Cami, that was unfair. With all that’s been going on, I’m just finding that I have extremely low patience with things like this.”

“You’re preaching to the choir, babe,” Blessing commented. “I’ve been trying to tell them that we’re missing things but they don’t want to hear it. Kept saying that the feedback from other sources told them this area was a dead zone for demon activity.”

My teeth ground as I clenched my jaw. “Let me guess, Makoto made that judgment call.”

“Funny how he seems to keep coming up and fucking us over, isn’t it?” Cami muttered.

Jay stepped forward and extended his hand to Blessing. “Thank you for being here and not giving up, even if they didn’t listen.” She took his hand, shaking it. “If you could do without two computers, we’ll manage just fine. If there is a printer available as well, then we don’t have to worry about using a tablet or anything to share information.”

“I can work with that,” Blessing answered, giving him a slight grin in response. “You are nothing like your father, you know that.”

Jay bowed his head to her. “I take that as the highest compliment.”

“You should. He’s a prick.” Blessing huffed as she turned to leave the room. “I’ll send someone by with drinks and snacks for you. Brain's gotta have food to work their best.”

Now that we had the room to ourselves, none of us seemed to know where to start. So in true Jay fashion, he took the lead and gestured for us all to sit down as he guided his mother to sit beside him.

“Okasan, will you please share with us what you know?” Jay asked in English.

Up until this moment, he had only ever spoken to her in Japanese, so I assumed that was all she spoke. I shouldn’t have been so simpleminded. I’d also found out that her name was Hina, not that I ever planned on calling her that. It seemed so informal even if she was practically my mother-in-law. Hina gently placed her hands in her lap and looked over the rest of us before she settled on me. Her eyes, so much like her son’s, seemed to be able to see into my soul but I wasn’t scared, just unsettled to be so vulnerable. Thankfully after a moment or two, she broke her hold on me and turned to face Jay before she spoke.

“It all started before I was pregnant with you,” she started, her voice soft as if it was floating on a breeze. “Your father woke up one night, claiming that he had been visited by an angel who promised him that his child would save the world. Now, all of us knew the rumors that Synergy could possibly be a person and that’s what your father believed that angel meant. From the moment you were born, he pushed you to be the best on the promise that you would fulfill this great destiny. When you came into your power and we discovered you were not Synergy but the element of air, he was crushed. He disappeared for a month, claiming it was for work and I believed him since he hardly ever spoke to me about such things. It was always made clear to me that I was his wife, but that didn’t mean I deserved more from him than a life where I was looked after.”

My heart clenched, knowing it must have hurt so much to be brushed off like that when it was clear she loved Makoto in her own way. Jay had told me he never planned on being married or loving anyone so he didn’t end up like his father, but the Heavens decided otherwise.

“When he returned one day out of the blue, he told me that he secured our son’s fate and would give him the power he was promised. That’s when he took you from me,” Hina said as her voice cracked. “The only part of Makoto that ever loved me was what he gave me through you, my son. I knew if I tried to stop him it would only make things harder on you, so I let you go, hoping one day he would give you back to me.”

Jay took his mother’s hand and pressed it to his cheek before kissing the back of it in the largest show of affection I’d ever seen him give to someone other than me. “There was no way I was going to abandon you, Okasan. I will see that you are forever free from him and able to live your life once this is all over.”

Hina gave Jay a sad smile but didn’t say anything before returning to her story. “It was just after Christmas that I heard about you, Lailah. Jalen told me he wasn’t going to make it home because you needed him.” The guilt I felt hearing that made me frown. When she saw my expression she reached a hand out to me, clasping my hand in hers, giving it a squeeze before pulling back. “No, please, don’t feel bad. I was so happy he found someone to love enough to drop everything to save her. It’s something I’ve never gotten the chance to have. Word spread through the family of what happened at the Christmas Eve party and the whole mess of the serum getting taken from the labs. I was surprised that Makoto hadn’t come back to question what I knew or what my family might know.”

“Forgive me, but why would he come to you about that?” I asked, not understanding the connection.

Her eyes flicked to Jay, a little surprised. “That would be because my family runs the largest port in Japan, controlling all the import and export of goods. If anyone was smuggling things, we would hear about it through our connections. It’s one of the reasons I was selected to be Makoto’s bride, along with the money I inherited when my father passed away twenty years ago.”

“So why did Makoto work with Pride, instead of with your family, since you own it?” Hudson asked. “Wouldn’t it make more sense to have things like the serum smuggled with a company you have control over?”

“I suppose it would if he had any control over it,” Hina answered. “My father made sure in his will that it was left to me and me alone. He hated how Makoto treated me after we were married, completely changing into a different person. My father would have supported me in leaving Makoto, and by leaving the company to me, he insured I could do so whenever I wanted and be fully supported. You see, I’d just graduated from college with an MBA in the hopes of working alongside my father. Once I was married, Makoto forbade me from doing so, which led my father to blackball him from many companies he partnered with. This forced Makoto to find suppliers elsewhere in the world, and most of them were not reputable.”

Parker leaned back in his seat and let out a whistle, expressing how we were all feeling.

“Okay, so that clears up that question, but why did he kidnap you?” Brayden pressed. “If he couldn’t use the ports and Jay was already bonded, then why curse you?”

“He wanted me to sign over the company to him. The longer I refused, the stronger the curse would be and eventually kill me. But I knew what he was up to so I refused to help in any way,” Hina explained. “While he had been gone for that month, he’d made a deal with the devil and they promised that Jay would have an important part in their new world, along with him. All the power the angels led him to believe he would have could be his if he was their man on the ground helping them. If he was going to get the serum distributed how they needed it to be, having access to my company would change everything.”

“What a bastard!” Cami fumed, kicking at one of the empty chairs next to her, sending it shooting across the room to bounce off the glass window.

“Easy on the furniture, it’s hell to get replacements,” Blessing remarked as she entered the room with two laptops in her arms. “I’ve got computers for you. I made sure they were our most updated and secure but you might want to do a check on it before doing anything too illegal.”

Another man followed on her heels with a box that he set on the table. It contained a printer and other supplies we would need. He glanced around the room at us but when he saw me, he paused and broke into a wide smile.

“Well, they didn’t tell me there was a babe who came in with the Elemental Warriors. Are you their mascot or something, because you’re all I would need to be cheered on,” he said, making me almost want to gag at how cheesy that line was.

All the guys tensed and I could feel the murderous thoughts they had toward this man. Cami, on the other hand, burst into a fit of laughter, almost sliding out of her chair onto the floor. “Bro, you better run before you have five men with magical powers coming after you for hitting on their wife.”

The man looked from me to the guys and back again, his face losing all its color. “Their wife... she’s married to all of them?”

“Yeah, took me a minute to wrap my head around it too,” I teased. “Guess it’s a perk of being Synergy. I get all the sexy magic men to myself.”

Apparently, I’d pushed the man too far, and he fainted upon hearing I was Synergy. Blessing let out an irritated groan and grabbed the guy by his shirt, tossed him in the chair Cami kicked, and rolled him out of the room. She returned quickly with another box. This one was full of water bottles and snacks.

“I’m sorry about Chad. Clearly, he didn’t get the memo on who was going to be here today,” Beth apologized. “I’ll make sure he steers clear, although I don’t think that will be a problem after that interaction—idiot. Anything else you guys need, just send me an IM. The program is on both computers and it’s secure.”

“Thank you, Blessing,” I said with a smile.

TWENTY-FIVE

LAILAH

Jay and Parker made quick work of setting up our information center and getting down to business. Rolling my chair over to Cami, I leaned in and whispered, “What are the rest of us supposed to do who can’t find all the things on the internet?”

“Did you practice your cheer routine?” Cami asked, resulting in getting a smack from me. “What? I think you would look super cute in one of those mascot costumes. What would you be? A teddy bear, bunny, oh I know! An elephant since they’re your favorite animal!”

“Really, this is how you want to act when the end of the world could be right around the corner?” I teased.

“Fine, what do you think would be more productive, Miss Synergy?” Cami shot back.

Before I could answer her, Micah walked up to us and reached out a hand to me. “Come on, Cookie Monster, we’re going to find out if they have a sparring area. I want to make sure your skills aren’t rusty if we’re going into battle.”

Instantly, my memory flashed back to the battle where Parker and I managed to survive before we freed the others. I hadn’t spoken about it with all that had happened between now and then, but I knew for a fact I wasn’t rusty. When I reached out to our Bond though, I could feel that what Micah really needed was some time with me and this was his solution. “Sure, and if they don’t, we can explore the place so I can make sure the council of whoever gets these people what they need.”

“Won’t all this be over once the Dark Lord is defeated, though?” Cami interjected. “I mean, that’s what they said, right? Synergy will appear when needed most to banish evil from the world.”

“I would really love to believe that but I’m not feeling particularly trusting of angels or demons at this point. Better to be safe than sorry, I think,” I responded as Micah pulled me out of my chair and we left the room.

“Do you really think it’s possible that this could all be over when we kill him?” Micah mused. “If we can take out a Prince of Hell, I feel like that would be a pretty big warning to others who might try.”

“Yeah, but what happens when we die? I don’t think we’ll suddenly live forever and protect the world from disaster just because we’re the six people who saved it once,” I said with a snort.

Micah glanced down at me with an odd look on his face. “Lailah, you brought back Parker from the dead⁠—”

“Only because he was cursed! It had nothing to do with him getting stabbed or his head chopped off. If you die in a normal way, I wouldn’t put any hope in the fact I can bring you back.”

He grunted in response, intertwining our fingers together. “I put all my hope in you, Lailah. Hell, I put the fate of the world in your hands because I know it will be safe.”

It was moments like this that reminded me why I loved this cranky asshole so much. They didn’t happen often, but in these rare moments, he could be so utterly vulnerable and sweet.

As we searched the place, we didn’t find anything that looked like a sparring area or even a workout room. Just when we gave up hope, my good buddy, Chad, stepped out of an office and stopped us. He froze like a deer in the headlights, eyes wide and worried.

“Chad, what do you know, we were just looking for someone who might be able to help us,” Micah called out, a wide grin plastered on his face. “This place doesn’t happen to have a workout room or training area does it?”

Chad opened and closed his mouth like a fish a few times before he managed to get words out. “Lower level.”

“Great... how do we get there?” I encouraged when he didn’t expand on that information.

He turned and started to walk away from us then paused and looked over his shoulder, waving for us to follow him. I leaned into Micah and whispered. “You scared that guy into being mute.”

“If only it was that easy with everyone,” Micah muttered. “The world would be a better place if people knew when to keep their mouths shut.”

Chad led us to an elevator, and we discovered that we were on the top floor out of three subterranean floors. It seemed that the second level was the facilities for the staff like a cafeteria, workout space, and other utilities, while the third and lowest level were the apartments. The elevator door opened on the second level. Chad led us out and pointed down the hall to the left. “Take it until it ends and the gym will be past the double doors.”

Micah patted Chad on the back, making him flinch as if he’d been shocked. “Thanks, man, we’ll take it from here.”

“That was mean,” I whispered harshly.

“Asshole, remember,” Micah answered with a wink. “Seems I’ve gone soft if you’ve forgotten that little detail.”

Rolling my eyes, we entered the gym to find Brayden and Hudson already there, dressed in matching gym shorts and white t-shirts. “What are you guys doing here?”

“What took you guys so long?” Brayden asked, his brows scrunched. “We’ve been waiting for almost fifteen minutes.”

“How did you know how to get here?” Micah challenged.

“We asked Blessing when we saw her in the office,” Hudson said, cocking his head to the side confused by our question. “Have you guys been wandering around this whole time?”

“Whatever, we’re here now so it’s best if we just get down to business. The other reason I wanted to spar was to see what happens now that Lailah’s powers are unlocked. It’s smart for us to know what we’re dealing with before we end up face-to-face with the Dark Lord,” Micah shared.

“Yeah, that’s great and all, but I don’t think they have warded rooms like they do back at Ryevick,” I countered.

Brayden walked up to me and grabbed me by the hips so I was facing him. “Why don’t you put up a shield for us to work in? You’re bonded to us all now so it should be way easier to do.”

Pausing at that thought, I realized he had a point. “Guess there’s only one way to find out.”

Closing my eyes, I gathered all six balls of power and pulled strings of energy from them, weaving them into a net. I’d never done anything like this before but it just seemed to be instinct and flowed easily between my fingers. When I felt like I’d woven it tight enough, I tossed it out around us and made sure to cover the floor since there was another level to this place. Then I sealed up the last bits of it, creating a perfect containment for the space.

“I think that should work,” I commented, looking around as if I could actually see what I just did. “I don’t think anyone else can come in or out of the space I just blocked off though.”

“That was fucking amazing, Cookie. You did that so fast and I can feel how powerful it is,” Micah said with a grin. “Let’s see what other things you can do.”

Without missing a beat, he materialized his swords, and they burst into flames. “Holy fuck!”

Next Brayden and Hudson produced their weapons as well, each of them glowing with a fire that matched their powers. It seemed that they all had a power upgrade, and it made me curious as to why Parker’s staff had done that. But then I remembered how much power I was pouring into him when it happened. Now, I didn’t have to do anything but be connected to them to give them a solid boost. Skipping my sai, I went straight for the sword and shield but instead, I got two small crossbows with golden tipped arrows that glowed with my power.

“So, is this an upgrade?” I asked, waving them at the guys.

“Whoa, don’t wave those around like that until you know what they can do!” Micah barked, ducking out of the way. “Didn’t Jay teach you anything with those gun lessons?”

Seeing as they all had a slightly panicked look, I dropped the crossbows to my side. “Better?”

They all gathered around and examined them, taking my hand, turning it this way and that to get a better look. “I have to admit, Sunshine, those look far more impressive than my guns. Try one out and see what happens.” With a wave of his hand, Hudson made a water target that floated in the air opposite of us.

With a shrug, I lifted one arm, aimed down the sights and pulled the trigger. The short arrow flew from the crossbow faster than my eyes could track and when it hit the water, it exploded like a bomb of golden light, knocking us back on our asses.

“Yup, that is definitely an upgrade, Angel,” Brayden groaned as he sat up. “Look at that. It reloads itself. Just like Hudson’s guns, they never run out of ammo.”

“Oh, those are going to fuck some demon asses up!” Micah crowed, smiling like a fool as he helped me to my feet. “If all of us have gotten upgrades like that, then I’m not so worried about this fight.”

We all laughed at feeling the same sense of relief, knowing we had a fighting chance for this battle. It all came to a halt when the gym door was thrown open and Blessing stood there her face filled with panic. “You need to get back upstairs now!”

“What happened?” I demanded as I pulled a string in the net, unraveling the whole thing in a second, allowing Blessing to enter.

Her eyes were wide, and I didn’t have to be bonded to her to sense the fear that she was feeling right now. “They’re almost here. Makoto and the Dark Lord’s army. They’re attacking the school. The wards are keeping them at bay but they haven’t been renewed in a long time. I’m not sure how long they’ll last.”

That was all we needed to hear before we bolted out of the gym and headed for the stairs next to the elevator. None of us wanted to risk the chance we got stuck in it. How the fuck did Makoto know we were here? We’d been right under his nose for three days, why wait to hit us here? Could it be that he finally figured out that Parker wasn’t dead? None of it really mattered, the fight was upon us and we had a date with the devil.

TWENTY-SIX

LAILAH

Just like how things were at the base, it was pure chaos as everyone ran around the facility, trying to get prepared for battle. While all Elementi members were trained in self-defense, there were not many who were actual fighters. All of them knew how to handle a gun but that didn’t mean they could hit the broad side of a barn. Each of us were given tactical gear to change into—thick black cargo pants with black t-shirts and bulletproof vests. It made me feel like I was supposed to be SWAT instead of an Elemental Warrior, but I was thankful for the added protection. I knew Makoto had normal humans working and fighting alongside him, as well as the demon possessed. This could mean guns along with traditional weapons, making this getup a safe bet.

Blessing was in full control even if the rest ran around in a panic. She directed everyone into the areas they needed to be, including making sure the women and children got the hell out of here. The guys and I did a sweep of the third level, making sure it was clear before we locked it up, ensuring no one got crushed if something happened to the facility. Jay, as always, fell into being the leader of our group when it came to battle and we listened to whatever he told us. Blessing also was wise enough to listen to his advice as he suggested the better fighters be out front and the rest remain as backup while the six of us went right up to meet the jaws of evil.

I couldn’t imagine what it must be like to know your father was leading the enemy army and the chances of having to face off with him were high. Although, if he was the conduit for the Dark Lord, then I had a feeling the real fight would be between the two of us. Somehow, I’d found a moment to pull Jay and Parker aside to tell them what we discovered as we were sparring. Of course the others followed, refusing to let me out of their sight with the impending attack.

“Wait, you mean I get the double-ended staff back? That’s awesome. It was so much easier to fight off the swarm,” Parker said, clapping his hands together and rubbing them in excitement.

Jay didn’t really comment, just nodded his head. “Thank you for the warning, now I’ll be prepared for any changes that might happen.”

“Another thing we found, is that I can work with all of your energies together seamlessly. There is no more struggle or fear of passing out, trying to force them together. I don’t know what all I can do though. Most of it feels like instinct,” I shared.

Jay reached out and cupped my face in his hands, pinning me with his gaze. “Trust yourself. If you feel the need to make a move, don’t second-guess it. We’ll follow your lead without question. You are Synergy and this fight will be won or lost by your choices or actions.”

“Fuck, man,” Parker snapped. “Way to freak her the fuck out.”

Jay glanced at Parker for a moment then returned to me. “I will never lie to you or put you in danger. You understanding the truth of this battle is the best thing I can give you. Lailah, you were born for this and so were we. Together, we will get through this or die with the knowledge we did all we could.”

Fear sat in the pit of my stomach like a stone at his words but I also understood where he was coming from. There was no sense in pretending like this wasn’t a fight for our lives and the rest of the world as we knew it. Giving false hope or platitudes wouldn’t do us any good. Honesty and trust would be far more powerful. “Anything else I should know before we go face the devil himself?”

“Only that I love you with all my heart, mind, body, and soul. I am and will forever be thankful that you showed up in my life and changed everything,” Jay murmured before capturing my mouth in a searing kiss that set my body on fire. I could feel through our connection how his words didn’t even begin to describe how much he loved me.

He pulled back first and stepped to the side as Micah moved to stand in front of me. “No matter what, there’s nothing left unsaid between us, right?”

“Nothing. We’ve never been good at holding back from each other,” I answered, giving him a smile. “Only know that if we live through this, you and Parker have to figure your shit out because I won’t have you guys hating each other for the rest of our lives together.”

“I can deal with that,” Micah agreed, tipping my head back and biting my lower lip before he soothed it with a flick of his tongue. It made me gasp, and he used that opportunity to deepen our kiss, leaving me breathless. He handed me over to Brayden.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and nuzzled into his neck, letting him ground me the way only he could. “Thank you for always being here right beside me since the very beginning.”

“There isn’t any other place I’d want to be, Angel. You have been such a gift to me and my family, it will take a lifetime to repay you,” he whispered into my ear.

“That’s funny, because I don’t ever remember there being a debt between us that needs to be repaid. We are family, Brayden, and I know you would do the same thing for me in a heartbeat, so I call us even,” I countered.

Brayden chuckled as he pulled back enough to see my face, running his fingers down my cheek. “You drive a hard bargain but I’ll allow it.” The kiss between us was tender and full of love, making me feel like the most treasured woman in the world.

Someone coughed and nudged Brayden, making him laugh as he pulled away from me. “I’m sorry, was I taking too long for your liking to express my undying love to our girl?”

Parker scowled at him. “You’ve been able to express your feelings far longer than any of us and I want to get my moment in before something crazy happens. I refuse to go last anymore. It got me killed the last time.”

His logic was hard to argue with and Hudson didn’t seem bothered about having to wait, so I stepped up to Parker taking his hand and drawing his attention. “Alright, I won’t make you go last.”

“Don’t get me wrong, Trouble. You are absolutely worth waiting for, but I’ve got shit to make up for still,” he explained.

“So dying wasn’t enough?” I asked, tilting my head, slightly frowning. “I’m not sure I want to know what else you have in mind.”

“What I did wasn’t nearly enough to make up for things. Trouble, any one of us would give up our life for you, if it meant you would be safe and alive. No, I plan to spend the rest of my life for however long that may be, making sure you never doubt me or my love for you again,” Parker shared, kissing me on the forehead. “Besides, I haven’t gotten a chance to spoil you rotten or make some grand gesture like the old eighties’ movies. What do you think about me hiring a full-time baker so you can have sugar cookies on demand at any moment?”

I snorted at that idea. “Parker, I can make my own cookies.”

“So I shouldn’t tell you that I might be the owner of Ann’s bakery...”

“You did not!” I gasped.

“Look, you love her cookies and she loves you. Besides, she didn’t have anyone to take over once she decided to retire,” Parker defended. “How about we save this argument for later and you can scold me all you want while I try to convince you how this is a brilliant idea.” I pouted at him but he just grinned, scooped me up into a bear hug and peppered my face with kisses before landing on my lips, sending shivers of delight down my spine. All too soon, he set me down and nudged me over to Hudson, who reached out a hand to me.

“Sunshine.” Hudson sighed as he pulled me to his chest, resting his head on top of mine. “No matter how this battle goes, I will forever be thankful for the time I was given with you. Should the heavens bless us with more time, then I don’t ever want us to miss a moment of life together. We will leave the Elementi and start our own adventure. The six of us, just like you wanted. Like you said at the start, we are no longer fighting for anyone but us and the future we want to have.”

“How do you always know what I need to hear?” I asked, sinking into his hold.

“Because you are the other half of my soul, the sunshine that lights up my world,” he answered. “Now it’s time to shine that light over the world and banish the darkness that is trying to take it from us.” Hudson pressed a firm kiss to my lips but didn’t linger like the others had. This was more of a normal everyday kiss for us, and when he saw my expression, he smiled. “I’m not going to say goodbye. I have faith in us that we will all make it out of this.”

My heart melted at his words. Knowing that he had that much trust in us as a team gave me the fortitude I needed to turn and face the others. “Alright, let’s go say hello to the Dark Lord and his army.”

Jay led the way, while Brayden took one of my hands and Hudson took the other, with Parker and Micah flanking us in the rear. We headed to the main room where all the cubicles were and found this is where everyone had gathered to listen to Blessing address the whole group. It seemed that we missed most of it but then again, it wasn’t really for us.

“Know that no matter what happens at the end of this, I am proud to have served with all of you. No matter what, we all persevered and did everything we could to keep the world we live in safe. The heavens have shined down upon us in the gift of having the six Elemental Warriors here with us in our hour of need. Listen to what they tell you. This isn’t their first battle with the Dark Lord, therefore making them experts on the matter.” Turning her gaze to us, she asked, “Do you have anything you wish to share before we all head above ground?”

I squeezed both Brayden and Hudson’s hands before I released them and stepped forward. “Hello, all of you, my name is Lailah and I’m the element known as Synergy.” I paused, letting everyone get out their reactions to that statement. “You are all well aware of the serum and what it does, along with how the demons are using it. I want to put your minds at ease about something though. Even if we could find a way to banish the demon possessing them, they will forever be vulnerable to another taking its place. There are people working tirelessly to find a solution but right now, their best fate is to be put out of their misery. They are aware of what is happening even when controlled by a demon so all the atrocious acts that the demon has done, they have witnessed. All that to say, death isn’t the worst thing that can happen to them. It will set them free.”

The room filled with murmurs as they decided how they felt about what I’d said. Jay came to stand beside me, placing a hand on my lower back for support as he addressed them. “You all have weapons that have been blessed and ammo that has been christened with holy water, allowing you to fight both human and demon possessed. This battle isn’t just about our survival or stopping evil for now, this is the final battle to determine who will rule mankind. Fight for yourself, your family, friends, and other loved ones, because we’re all that stands in Hell’s way.”

Alarms began to blare and lights flashed all around us, causing people to scream. A few bolted from the room toward the exit, knowing this meant that Makoto had finally broken the wards around the school. They were here and there was no more time to prepare. Jay clasped my hand tightly as we headed to the surface, knowing we needed to be the first ones to greet the army. They were here for us after all.

Back in the warehouse, Jay dropped my hand and yelled for Micah. “Help me get these doors open so that people can get out easier.”

Soon, the large rolling doors were open, illuminating what was in the space and revealing an ATV we could all fit in, with the open space in the back for hauling things. The keys were in it and Parker started it up with ease. “Everyone, get in!”

I spotted Cami standing alongside Blessing and motioned for her to join us. “No, Lala, my place is here. Go be the badass I know you are and save the world, alright? I’ll find you after all this is over.”

Seeing that she wasn’t going to budge, I let Micah pull me up into the ATV and hung on as Parker slammed on the gas, sending us rocketing out of the building. Clearly, he’d gotten his driving skills from the same person who taught Cami. I thought we were going to die before we even made it to the front of the campus.

“Lailah, can you send your power out and tell us if they’re just coming in through the front or if they’re attacking on all sides?” Hudson yelled over his shoulder.

Upon his request, I took my power and tossed it out around me, sending it far and wide, coating the whole campus as I looked for demon signatures. The hard part would be if they had two groups since I wouldn’t be able to track the humans this way, but it was better to try than not try at all. My power shone brightly as it hit the army that was in front of us, but I could also feel smaller groups coming from the left and the right sides of campus as well. “Looks like they have teams on either side but they aren’t moving. They must be waiting for a signal.”

Parker slammed on the brakes almost tossing me from the vehicle if Micah hadn’t caught me. “What the fuck, man?” Micah yelled.

“Look, I know you might cut off my balls for this idea, but I think we should split up and hit the groups that are waiting. If three of you go and distract the main group while Micah and I lead teams to the right and left, they won’t expect it,” Parker pointed out. “Jay, you know I’m right. They don’t know that she can find them, and if we keep them from flanking us, it could make all the difference.”

Jay sat there silently for a moment processing before he spoke. “Lailah and I will meet the front lines while Parker and Hudson go to the left and Brayden and Micah go to the right. I know how to stall my father and if he is the conduit for the Dark Lord, then his real target will be Lailah. The faster you can defeat the smaller groups, the better. Go back and get Blessing and Cami to help you with their people. Play their game against them.”

I hopped out of the ATV and Jay followed. “Be safe and come back to me or I’ll bring you back and kill you myself. I’m pretty sure I can do it, too.”

They all nodded and Parker whipped the ATV around, heading back to the warehouse. I looked up at Jay, squared my shoulders, and pulled my new crossbows into existence. “Let’s go play chicken with the Dark Lord and see who blinks first.”

TWENTY-SEVEN

LAILAH

As Jay and I made our way to the front lines, I couldn’t allow myself to worry about the others. They were trained to fight, and they now had stronger powers than ever before. The Dark Lord knew none of this. Taking Jay’s lead, I stood tall when we reached the front entrance to the school. I could hear the sound of many feet thundering through the air as they approached. We stopped and let them come to us. What I found interesting was that they were on foot. If it was me, I would have used large vehicles to bust in and drop a large amount of people off, flooding the space. Instead, they walked in like they owned the place or they’d already won the battle.

The first wave of the enemy came to a halt and parted, revealing Makoto dressed in all black with a hood pulled up, shadowing his face. I could feel the darkness in him for the first time. He was, without a doubt, the conduit for the Dark Lord and had been for quite some time. The energy that pulsed out of him smacked into me but I lifted my hand, allowing a shimmering wall of my power to block it from pressing on me further. I didn’t put too much strength into it, not wanting him to know how strong I was just yet. We needed to give the others time.

“We finally get to meet in person, Little Synergy,” the Dark Lord’s voice boomed, filling the space. “My servant has told me much of your visit with him and how you let one of your own men die so you could save yourself.”

“Parker died trying to save me, the way no one else could since he wasn’t bonded to me,” I responded, playing along. Did he really not know that Parker was alive?

“I suppose it wasn’t a hardship to let him die after he betrayed you like that,” the Dark Lord mused, as he turned his head to face Jay. “Yet you still keep this one with you, even though his father had been betraying the Elementi for decades. Makoto is a man after my own heart, a lover of power, willing to do whatever it takes to have it and keep it. They say children don’t stray far from their parents. Is that really someone you want to have fighting alongside you?”

A smile tugged at my lips. “Then it’s a wonderful thing that he takes after his mother, isn’t it? She refused to bow to Makoto’s wishes even if she wouldn’t abandon him. Jay has proven to me time and time again who he is and trust me, he’s exactly who I want at my side right now.”

Snarling came from the shadowed hood as twin green flames glowed but still revealed nothing of his features. “Then I will cherish the tears you spill as I take the soul from his body and eat his heart so that he will never return to this world.”

“Only God can wield that kind of power,” Jay snapped. “All demons are created from angels that have been cast out of Heaven. They were all of a lower status, unable to act without his permission. Even when demons attack now, they must bow to his rules. I don’t think trapping a soul in Hell for eternity is a power you have.”

“It seems that you have paid attention in school, but who’s to say what you learned is the truth?”

I scoffed. “Why would we ever believe a word that comes out of your mouth? Demons thrive off lies and half-truths. They are master manipulators, getting humans to do what they need by making it their choice. I don’t doubt that you’ve managed to change things in the history books but the Elementi have followed the truth for generations, ensuring that things won’t be tainted by the likes of you.”

“Such courage and passion,” the Dark Lord sneered. “It’s no wonder why the angels chose you to be Synergy, with all that hope and promise flowing through you. Do you think Makoto is the first person of the Elementi that I’ve turned? A mission like this isn’t one that you win by moving fast. It’s the long slow game, moving the right pieces in the right places. No one will ever know who is truly loyal and who isn’t. People will do just about anything when they are given the right motivation.”

His words made my mind race, trying to figure out what he was telling me. He had a hidden weapon, I knew it. He was alluding to it, but I couldn’t figure out what the hell it was.

“Why would the angels have sent me if the Elementi didn’t follow the rules they set for them?” I demanded, trying to get more information.

Makoto advanced, his hands clasped behind his back as he moved slowly. “Because they believed they were doing it for the right reasons. As you said, Little Synergy, we are the masters of deceit. Makoto believes an angel came to him in a dream, telling him his son would be the savior of the world. When it didn’t happen, he turned to me. There was no angel. It had been me all along, driving his need to gain power and prestige. Before your dear Air Knight came into his power, Makoto believed in the Elementi, and did all he could to make it protected against the likes of me. Only when the heavens let him down did it create the perfect opportunity for me to provide my help. Now I had a man who had more control over the Elementi than the Elementi did.”

“Who else have you manipulated?” I gasped, realizing that it wasn’t just one person he was talking about, it was many.

“Ah, now she understands.” The Dark Lord chuckled. “You know about Tabitha already, then there is your Water Knight’s stepmother, the Fire Knight’s aunt, and as for the lost Heart Knight, I had a few people step into his life. Phoebe was only one of them, but I made sure each one made him believe that he was nothing, would always be nothing, now he is nothing. Even you tossed him away in the end, leaving him to die alone and painfully.”

I knew the Dark Lord was trying to hit me where I was most vulnerable and if I didn’t know that half of what he said was a lie, it would have destroyed me. Parker was alive, I’d saved him, and he had never been nothing to me. “So, what now? Here we are, laying all the cards on the table, spilling all the secrets, knowing that one of us won’t make it out alive.”

“Do you really think you can defeat me when I’ve been the master of this game the whole time? You’re crippled without all five of your knights. Look, you only have one standing beside you. There is no question how this is going to end but I wanted to take the time to introduce you to someone that you got to know extremely well.” The Dark Lord waved a hand and someone else stepped forward cloaked in darkness, but I could see strands of neon pink hair peeking out.

No, no, no, no, no—this could not be happening. There was no way she would turn against me in this. She couldn’t be one of his pawns. There just wasn’t any way that could be true.

“Allow me to introduce to you the person who kept you right where I wanted you to be,” the Dark Lord boasted, yanking back the hood to reveal Cami.

I dropped to my knees, unable to hold myself up a moment longer. She stood there still and stiff as a statue. Her normally vibrant eyes were black pools of nothing. Everything that made Cami, Cami, was missing, leaving only this shell of a person cloaked in darkness and evil. Just when I thought I was safe from whatever the Dark Lord could throw at me, I was so incredibly wrong.

“Your beloved best friend has been mine since the day I killed her first love. I, of course, promised that they would be reunited when I brought Hell to Earth, but that would only happen if I was able to bring you to my side or destroy you. As I said, everyone can turn their backs on the world if given the right motivation.”

“No,” I whispered, dropping my head into my hands, unable to wrap my mind around this. “It doesn’t make sense. She wouldn’t.”

Jay’s hand rested on my shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “Trust your instincts, Lailah.” He said it in a low, quiet voice, ensuring that I was the only one who heard him.

Closing my eyes, I sent a strand of my power out toward Cami, letting it wrap itself around her. I knew my best friend. She had been right beside me through all the ups and downs, helping me when the guys couldn’t. She had always been in my corner. If she had been an agent to the Dark Lord, I would have known. There had to be something I was missing because none of this made any sense. Pressing my power into her deeper, I discovered a barrier sitting over her, blocking me from being able to touch her. It hovered close to her skin, so it felt like it wasn’t really there. But as I probed at it, it pushed back. My eyes snapped open, and I shot to my feet, arm raised with my crossbow in hand once again, and I fired a shot.

The arrow hit home, dead center in her forehead and whatever had been wrapped around her splintered, revealing a woman who was the same size and stature but absolutely wasn’t my best friend. “Lies! Everything you say is lies!”

Anger flooded me and all the fear and worry I had vanished, leaving me filled with a righteous anger. No more talking, it was time to fucking end this.

TWENTY-EIGHT

BRAYDEN

It didn’t sit right with me to leave Lailah behind with only Jay to face down a Prince of Hell but Parker was right, we needed to take advantage of the element of surprise. When we arrived back at the warehouse, Parker skidded to a halt with Micah leaping out of the ATV before it was fully stopped.

“Cami, Blessing!” he bellowed. “Fuck, tell me you’re here.”

People were still pouring out of the facility downstairs, so I think it was a safe bet they were still here. They wouldn’t have taken off and left them on their own.

“What the hell are you doing back here? Is Lala okay? You didn’t just abandon her to face that fucker all by herself, did you?” Cami demanded as she stomped up to us.

I couldn’t help but grin at how she looked all pissed off, glaring at a man who was almost twice as tall as her. “No, we’ve come to help you out. There are secondary groups waiting off to the left and right of the campus and we need your help,” I explained.

Hearing all the commotion, Blessing joined us, a scowl on her face that could rival Micah’s. “What do you mean, how could we be any help? I’m willing to do what we can but I’m not sending my people on a death mission unless you tell me there is no other option.”

“That’s not what we want. Lailah and Jay are holding off the Dark Lord and his army while we deal with these smaller groups so we don’t get boxed in. They don’t know that Lailah sensed them so they wouldn’t be prepared for us to hit them first,” I expounded.

Blessing and Cami looked at each other and seemed to come to an agreement as Blessing gave us her answer. “Alright, but I’m only having my advanced fighters come on this mission and leaving the others here to protect the base.”

“Why not send them with the women and children?” Hudson asked.

“Because this is their home and they want it to stay that way. None of these people, fighters or not, want to give up anything more than we have to, to those fucking demons.”

Parker nodded. “Hard to argue with that. We’ll take what we can get and make it work. Blessing, you’re with me and Hudson. Cami, you’ll go with Micah and Brayden. You guys know how to work together as a team the best.”

The change that had come over Parker since he came back from the dead was astounding. Yeah, it had only been three days but never would the old Parker have said something like that, or even considered it. Hearing what he told Lailah before we left to face off with the Dark Lord told me that he truly understood what he’d done was wrong. Not that I ever doubted he thought otherwise, but this time it showed in every action that he made. He didn’t goad Micah and actively tried to be of value before being asked. The man that Parker was finally turning into was who Lailah had seen all along, while the rest of us just expected him to live up to the standard we’d set for him. If we made it through this, I knew without a doubt, we could find happiness and the friendship we’d always strived for.

“What’s with the dopey smile? We have a war to win,” Cami teased, punching me in the arm. “Come on, let’s do this.”

Blessing was working quickly to divide her people into groups of who would be going and staying, then splitting them again to give us about fifty people each. Our best guess was the demons were hiding in the hilly groves on either side of the campus. We didn’t want to use the ATV or other vehicles that might give away our location, so we were hoofing it and moving as quickly as we could in smaller groups so we didn’t draw attention to what we were doing. I pulled on my powers and my Elemental Warrior armor appeared, along with my upgraded daggers that were more like short swords, flickering with a green flame. Micah did the same, his curved blades glinting deadly in the fading sunlight.

Could it be that they were just waiting for darkness to fall before they struck us and boxed us in? I didn’t have time to worry about motivation as we darted from tree to tree, trying to keep hidden as we got closer. I could hear the sound of people rustling in the woods and low talking voices. Without bothering to listen to what they were saying, I saw a large group of them arguing and opened the ground under them. Shrieks filled the air as they were swallowed up by my power. As our people converged on them, I knew I couldn’t use that trick again or I would risk killing them as well. Now it was time to fight head-on.

Micah dove into the thick of it, his blade moving incredibly fast along with sending out fire balls. I scanned the area, knowing he would be fine for the moment, and saw a group of our people getting overwhelmed by a swarm of demons. These weren’t demon-possessed people, these were straight-up lower-class demons with wings, dive bombing and trying to blind people. With a flick of my wrist, I grabbed a bunch of pebbles and hurled them at the demons, scattering them. Jay always had better luck with this type of demon since he could shoot them in the air but I switched to my smaller dagger, knowing they wouldn’t hurt the non-possessed people. Then I heard the snarl of a higher demon as they skulked in the shadows, the sunlight too much for them to attack us just yet.

“Micah, we got trouble!” I yelled, knowing his fire was the best solution to deal with things quickly. He whipped his head around as I boxed the demons in with rock walls, which was our typical method.

Understanding lit up Micah’s face as he caught on to what I meant. I was trying not to freak out our people since the horror stories of the venomous higher demons were well known in the Elementi. “On it!” Micah answered and charged the rock prison I made, leaping up as I created an opening for him.

Leaving that to him, I returned to dealing with the lesser demons who were wreaking havoc and making it harder for our people to fight those they could win against. Fuck, this was worse than we thought. I hope Parker and Hudson are faring better than we are.

TWENTY-NINE

HUDSON

Demons, there had to be actual demons in the mix, didn’t there? The Dark Lord was making use of all that he controlled in this world, not just on those injected with the serum. It made sense that the Elementi helping us couldn’t kill demons the same way we could with just blessed weapons. They needed holy weapons, and they didn’t have those. In reality, there were only a few hundred of them to go around so it wasn’t surprising. The sound of gunfire filled the air as we fought.

We hadn’t been able to catch them off guard, having an open field in between us and them, so they came out charging, ready for a fight. The only good thing about that was I could hear the roars of higher-level demons trapped in the forest, unable to come into the light. It gave the Elementi a fighting chance, while Parker and I went to deal with them. My newly improved weapons shot faster and with the flaming bullets, they were one-hit kills if I hit a vital spot. Winged demons darted around us but I used water to swallow them up into a whirlpool where I could shoot them easier.

Parker moved lightning fast with his double-bladed staff, cutting down our enemy as if they were nothing. It gave me peace of mind that we were paired together since our weapons and fighting style meshed well. The problem we were running into was there were far more to fight against than we anticipated. Were the others dealing with this as well? These groups were not meant as backup. They were equipped to make sure that everyone was dead and stayed that way. The higher demons alone made that clear since they leach the soul right out of you. Memories of when Lailah was attacked by one flashed through my mind, marking the beginning of our journey to this point. That was when the Dark Lord marked her and started to torture her mind with nightmares.

“It’s been awhile since we’ve faced one of these, you ready?” Parker asked as he gripped his staff tighter.

Taking a steadying breath, I nodded. “Let’s do this. The sooner we kill them, the faster we get back to Lailah.”

“Yeah, this was far more intense than I thought we would be dealing with.”

As we entered the forest, we found three higher-level demons prowling about. I created a water whip and sent it slamming into two of them, tossing them back and allowing us space to deal with one at a time. Parker charged forward and dropped to his knees at the last moment, dodging the long-clawed arms of the demon. He sliced up and across, effectively gutting the demon while I sent off as many shots as I could into its skeletal face. To our shock and amazement, the demon burst into smoke and evaporated, returning to Hell.

What once used to take all our power and strength, now was something we could defeat rather efficiently. Never would I say it was easy, but this was a far better outcome than we were used to. The other two recovered from my attack and boxed us in. The most dangerous part of the higher-level demons were the claws. They were attached to long spindly arms that could reach while leaving their bodies a safe distance away. I fired off two shots, watching it stumble back then I pulled on my power, wrapping it up and freezing the water so its arms were trapped at its sides. Never before had I been able to freeze without Jay’s help, but clearly our powers were changing now that the bonding was complete and Lailah had her powers.

Just as I was going to get off another few shots, a body slammed into me, knocking me to the ground. Shoving back with my elbow, it slammed into something hard and a person cried out. There was a shattering sound as the demon broke out of my ice bindings.

Fuck, I need to get this man off me.

Using my power, I tried to shove him off me but it didn’t work, which meant it was a pure human. This also meant my spirit weapon guns wouldn’t work either, and my real gun was trapped on my hip against the ground. Thrashing about, I nailed him again with my elbow but he wouldn’t let up. It was as if he was trying to hold me down long enough for the demon to get me. But that would mean he would steal the soul from this person too. “It’ll kill us both!”

“Hail the Dark Lord. May he reign the world forever,” the man answered.

“Sorry, asshole, that’s just not going to work for me and I’m gonna need you to get off my friend here,” Parker commented from somewhere above me. “Hudson, would you mind shooting that demon while I deal with this prick?”

There was a grunt and the weight of the man on me was gone. Glancing over my shoulder as I got to my feet, I found Parker wrestling the man to the ground in a choke hold. Not wasting any more time, I called on my weapons but instead of my handguns, a large crossbow appeared. If this was anything like Lailah’s, then this was going to be a one-hit-and-done moment for the demon. Sure enough, as the bolt shot out of the crossbow and struck the demon, it exploded. The force of it shook the ground, bringing along with it shrieks of lesser demons as they got swept up in the aftershock.

“Holy shit, dude, why didn’t you use that to begin with?” Parker demanded as he stepped up next to me.

Glancing down at the crossbow and then back up at him, I blinked a few times. “I didn’t even know I could call on it.”

“Well, now that we know you can, let’s skip the pew-pew guns and go for the big boom, alright?” He patted me on the back and started to jog back to the main fight, a reminder to me that this was far from over. We’d just begun.

THIRTY

MICAH

Five, there had to be five fucking higher demons running around in this goddamn forest, trying to kill us. For once, I was thankful that Parker pushed us to do this, because if they had run free once the sun went down then way too many people would have died. Higher demons didn’t give a fuck who your allegiance was to, if you were in their reach, they would kill you. I saw it right before my very eyes moments ago. Brayden had trapped two of them for me to deal with but when I was done with the second, I almost impaled myself on one of their clawed hands, jumping down from the stone jail.

Blasting it in the face with fire, I blinded it long enough to get the fuck out of its way and slice its head off. With our power levels where they were at now, it was so much easier to kill the motherfuckers, but getting close enough still took skill. Brayden wasn’t that person, which is why we came up with the method that we were using now years ago. Three down, two more to go, but I couldn’t spot them anywhere, and the sky was getting darker every minute that passed.

“Where the fuck are you ugly bastards?” I grumbled as I pulled up a fireball, trying to get more light into the area.

I heard someone scream from deeper in the woods so I took off running. I found a woman with the claws of the demon piercing her chest as she thrashed, trying to free herself. It was too late to save her but I could stop the demon from taking any more souls tonight. Charging forward at its back, I released my weapons so I could move silently without drawing attention to myself. Leaping, I kicked off the demon’s back as I materialized my blades, removing its head in one swift motion. The demon disintegrated as I dropped back to the ground and made my way over to the woman who was gasping for breath, blood trickling out of her mouth.

“Where... am I?” she managed to get out, her voice garbled with blood.

It struck me that when the higher demon went after her, it removed the demon that had possessed the woman, leaving her back to her normal self. Kneeling beside her, I took her hand, squeezing it gently, trying to comfort her which was not a skill I had. “You’re safe.”

“I...” Tears started to stream out of her eyes. “I hurt people.... why? Why would I do that?”

Each breath sounded worse than the next as she muscled her way through, asking that one question I couldn’t answer for her. “You didn’t do those things. The demon who took over your body did. Don’t worry about that, everything’s going to be fine now, No need to worry.”

God, where was Brayden when I needed him? He did so much better at this emotional shit.

Straightening up, I looked around the area, trying to find anyone else who wasn’t me to help this woman in the last moments of her life. “Don’t leave me,” she begged. “I don’t want to die alone.”

Dropping my gaze back down to her, I sighed and got more comfortable next to her, even though there was a battle raging on. If this was my mother, I wouldn’t want her to be alone no matter what was going on. “I’m not gonna leave you, I promise.”

“Thank you...” she whispered as her breathing became erratic and she grimaced in pain.

Soon those halting, stuttering breaths came to a stop and her body let go of one last breath as life left her. A mix of anger and pain sparked through my body as I relived the moment they told me my parents were dead. The demons kept taking from us and all anyone could offer was their stupid fucking sympathy—well, this time was different. We were going to end this. This woman and the others like her wouldn’t die in vain. They would be avenged no matter what it took.

“Micah, look out!” Cami yelled, her voice filled with panic, yanking me back to my surroundings.

Without questioning the warning, I rolled to the right seconds before the last higher-level demon struck out its claws, impaling the earth where I once was. Shooting to my feet, I created a massive fireball and slammed it into the demon, causing it to scream in pain. Our elements might not kill it but I hope it fucking hurt. This one I took head-on, dodging its arms, using my swords to fend them off as I got inside its reach. I stabbed my swords into its chest and thrust them upward until it split the damn thing in two. Panting, I wiped the sweat off my brow, finding Cami heading toward me with worry written all over her face.

“What’s wrong? What happened?” I demanded.

“We’re too late. They already started fighting at the front lines. It’s just Jay and Lailah out there,” Cami said, her voice cracking, telling me how worried she was.

I looked around the woods and didn’t see anything the Elementi couldn’t handle. We’d taken care of all the demons who were the biggest threat. “Then let’s get the fuck out of here and help them. Where’s Brayden?”

“I was looking for both of you and found you first.”

Nodding, I charged forward back in the direction of the school. I’d noticed that now we were all bonded to Lailah. I could feel that connection. Taking a chance, I reached out, thinking of Brayden, trying to see if I could track him down that way. A zing went through my body and I felt an answering tug as if Brayden knew I was looking for him and was answering. The feeling came from the right so I changed course and went after my best friend with Cami hot on my heels.

Bursting through a group of thick bushes, I found Brayden facing off with two demon-possessed people trying to manage how inhumanly fast they were. Weapons in hand, I blocked the attack of the second opponent trying to hit Brayden in the back. The impact of our blades hitting each other sent a shock wave up my arms. Gritting my teeth, I shoved the man back, kicking out to hit him right in the gut to get some breathing room. Shaking out my arms, I squared off with him. “Why don’t you play with me instead of my friend? I’ll make it interesting for you.”

The demon sneered, baring its razor-sharp teeth at me, ready to tear my flesh off my bones. “This one is cocky. I bet it will make you taste even better.”

“Sorry, bro, I’m not into dudes like that. Guess you’re gonna have to taste someone else,” I taunted while whirling my blades, keeping my muscles loose but ready to jump into action.

He charged me with his blades, moving so fast it took all my concentration to keep up with him, but there was no chance he would win against me. The thing he seemed to forget was that I was an Elemental Warrior. We locked blades, and he snapped at me, trying to freak me out but I just laughed as I let my fire burst from me, covering my whole body. “Did you want your meat well done or extra crispy?”

Letting my weapons disappear, I grabbed the demon in a bear hug and let my fire engulf him until he turned to ash moments later. Brushing myself off, I looked over at Brayden to see he’d finally taken care of his guy as well. “You good?” I asked when Cami entered the open space, knowing better than to get in our way.

“Yeah, what took you so long?” Brayden asked, breathing heavily as he wiped his brow with his shirt.

“Just taking care of five higher-level demons is all. No big deal,” I answered, shrugging my shoulders. “Come on, Cami said the real fight’s started and we need to provide backup.”

“Guys, I won’t be any help. You go to the front lines and I’ll make sure things get handled here,” Cami instructed, waving us off.

“Shit! Why did we think separating was a good idea?” Brayden growled as we started to run back to the school.

“Don’t say that around Lailah, she’ll never let us do anything on our own ever again,” I joked, needing to be able to laugh at something.

Brayden just gave me a look, telling me he didn’t think it was all that funny. When we made it back to the main school ground, I waved for Brayden to follow me back to the warehouse, no way were we going to make it on foot fast enough to be of help. There sat the ATV, waiting for us just as we left it, with the keys still in it. Cranking the engine, it rumbled to life, and I flipped it into gear.

“Wait!”

Snapping my head in the direction of the call, I found Parker and Hudson running up to us, waving their arms to make sure we saw them.

“Get in, fuckers,” I called, revving the engine to prove my point.

As soon as I felt like they were in far enough, I slammed on the gas pedal and we rocketed off to the front line to save our girl and the world.

THIRTY-ONE

LAILAH

Once that first arrow hit, the world exploded as the demons surged forward, swarming us while others blew past us, going deeper into the school property. They must be going after the Elementi that stayed to fight. I hoped they would be alright, but I didn’t have the luxury of worrying about them at the moment. Taking aim, I shot anyone that wasn’t Jay, and the explosions that came with it took out at least three or four more at a time. In the madness, Makoto seemed to have slipped away but this day wouldn’t end without seeing his life snuffed out. Even if I didn’t believe the entire story as true, I knew Makoto chose power over his son and the oath the Elementi made to the angels. That was enough to warrant his death.

Jay and I fought back-to-back, shooting anything and everything we could that moved. I sent out a shield blocking the demons from getting too close to us, but the pressure of their attacks on it while I was focusing made it hard to keep it up. As I took in the people around me, I noticed that it wasn’t just humans. The Dark Lord had brought his brethren with him to this fight. I wouldn’t put it past him to have Lilith show up. What I’d done to her would slow her down but if she had a few Princes of Hell backing her up, it wouldn’t be too far of a stretch to believe she would grace us with an appearance.

“Lailah, we have to move to. Staying here is going to get us killed,” Jay called over his shoulder. “You can’t keep that shield up forever.”

“I know, but how do we even begin to move in all this?” I asked, stumbling as someone hurled demon fire at my shield. “Goddammit, what the hell can do that?”

Jay didn’t answer, and I didn’t blame him. Talking took effort that we didn’t have. What we needed was a break in the horde of bodies to make a run for it, and I thought I could make that happen. Pooling my power together without drawing on the others, not knowing what they were dealing with, I thrust it out around us, blasting demons back and giving us a ten-foot circle. Jay grabbed my hand, and we ran full out toward the nearest building. It had a solid canopy over the door and I caught on to what Jay was gonna have me do. When we got close enough, he dropped to one knee, hunching his back, ready for what I was about to do next.

Taking a running leap, I shoved off his back and caught onto the edge of the awning and pulled myself up. Jay took a few steps back to give him a running start as he vaulted himself up next to me. He landed with a grunt, as I grabbed his arm when I saw him starting to pitch backward, preventing him from falling off back into the hungry arms of the demons. Once I felt he was safe, I let go and quickly fired off a few shots at demons who tried to follow after us. No matter how many I put down, three more seemed to fill the space, making me wonder how the hell we were going to make it out of this.

The wind around us started to pick up, whipping around, pulling at my clothes and hair. A gust almost shoved me off my feet but I dropped to my knees to create less wind resistance. Looking behind me, Jay stood tall and proud, his eyes closed and his hands out as if he was calling all the wind to him... which I guess he was. Trees started to wave in the wind, some bowing to the pressure as I saw the beginnings of a tornado starting in the middle of the quad. It made me think back on the research I’d done when I first came to Ryevick about how the Elementi would show up and natural disasters would happen shortly thereafter. At least we were keeping to tradition. When the tornado touched down, it scooped up a large amount of the enemy as it swept through the space, carrying them out into the open area behind the school where a large vineyard was. I felt bad for the crops getting destroyed but it was a casualty of war and fewer people to fight, the better it was for everyone.

Jay pushed the tornado out as far as he could while trying to avoid any home or more damage to innocents, then he released it, scattering the enemy to the four winds. Once it was released, he crumbled to the ground, making me scream out his name. I pulled on our Bond and I sensed that he’d overused his power and hadn’t drawn from any of us, draining his own storage.

“Idiot,” I muttered. “We will talk about this when all this is over.”

Tossing up a shield, I had it surround the whole building; that way I could focus on Jay. Placing a hand over his heart, I opened myself up to all my bonds and gave them a warning tug before I started to draw from them. I didn’t have time to waste, so I slammed the power into Jay’s body, filling it to bursting, faster than I ever have before. I cycled it through all of us, recharging everyone all at once, adding to the improved power they now had with us all being bonded. As we had learned before, this only supercharged them for a short amount of time but since it recharges me as well, I could do it an unlimited number of times. Jay gasped like I’d just shot him through with adrenaline, which I guess I did in a way.

“What the hell, Jay?” I snapped. “Why didn’t you tell me you were running out of energy?”

“You were dealing with the shield earlier,” he answered with a groan as he slowly got to his feet.

Standing, I steadied him as he got his center of gravity back. “Did you forget that I’m the never-ending battery? All I need to do is cycle through our power and it fixes everything.”

“Sorry, I guess I haven’t wrapped my head around the changes yet,” Jay muttered as he looked at the path of destruction his tornado made.

“Don’t you dare feel bad about that. We needed to even the playing field,” I pointed out. “Besides, if we lose, I don’t think the world as we know it will exist. Better to leave behind some damage than the alternative.”

We were both taking in the amount of demons we still had to deal with when a shrill whistle sounded in the air. We both turned to find the guys in the ATV come tearing in with Hudson pushing a wave before them, knocking people out of the way. Seeing them had something in my soul relaxing just a bit, knowing they were okay. Brayden used the cobblestones from the quad to pelt at people while Micah let a stream of fire out, hitting the flying demons that seemed to be chasing after them. Now we could end this. Jay and I had held them off long enough to take out their backup so we just had to deal with this swarm of people.

Dropping down off the awning, I used my crossbows to blaze a trail to the rest of my men. When we converged, all the energy we held within us sparked to life, arcing between us in an endless loop of power. This was what it meant to be Synergy, combining all the elements to make something stronger. I looked them all over making sure they were all in one piece. “Everyone good?”

“You know it, Trouble. Thanks for the pick-me-up. That shit is crazy!” Parker commented as he took down two women charging at him. “So, do we have a plan here?”

“We need to find Makoto. He’s the Dark Lord’s conduit. If we can take care of him, then I think the demons will follow,” Jay informed them. “I don’t know that it will help those who have been given the serum but Lailah can do that trick she did back at the warehouse.”

“Any reason she can’t do that now?” Micah asked, looking over at me.

I thought about it, but the moment I considered it, I knew it would be too much even for me. “Too many to deal with. If we can get the numbers smaller, then I can make it happen.”

“Great. Now, how do we find the demon bastard?” Parker asked. “I’d really love to have a chat with him.”

Trying to strategize as you fight for your life was a lot harder than you thought. There was no time to just let your mind process things as it was reacting to what was happening around you. I couldn’t keep the shield up since we had more of us with close-range weapons, so we had to face what was right in front of us. Then a thought struck me. “Parker, can you manipulate any of these people into being pissed enough at the Dark Lord to bring him to us?”

“Guess we’re gonna find out!” Parker said with a wicked grin on his face as he shifted to the center of our circle. “Put a shield around me. I need to focus on this. Give me as long as you can.”

I did as he requested, enveloping him into a bubble of safety as we handled things.

Time passed slowly as we fought. The only thing that caught my attention was the fact the streetlights came on flooding the area with their light. Sweat coated my body, making my shirt stick to me and the bulletproof vest chafed my neck. The sting of it rolling into my eyes didn’t help, but I couldn’t afford to stop and wipe it off. We used a combination of elements and weapons, but it was clear that any information we had about this army of the Dark Lord was wrong. It seemed like we were fighting half the world. I knew true demons intermixed, but I couldn’t distinguish them as I kept moving and fighting.

Just when I didn’t think I could keep pushing my body, the crowd parted and men dressed in the uniform marking them as Makoto’s arrived, guns at the ready but they weren’t here for us. All fighting around us stopped as if they were frozen. Makoto was chucked out of the mass and stumbled to his knees. The hood he was wearing was now tossed back, showing his normal features. I reached out to sense him with my powers but he was empty and the Dark Lord had left him.

Without thought, I stepped up and decked the man right in the face, shattering his nose and causing blood to splatter on his face. “You motherfucking monster! How could you sell your soul to the devil? All for what, this?” I asked, spreading my arms out. “Is this the world you wanted? The deaths of innocent people littering the ground?”

“In all times of change, there is a culling of the herd. These people were weak. They deserved to be possessed. If the demon within them couldn’t protect them, they don’t deserve to have a host,” Makoto spat.

Jay walked past me until he was standing in front of his father. “Is the Dark Lord gone?”

“Yes, he is free from any demonic influence,” I answered.

He nodded, walking behind his father. In a move so fast I didn’t truly believe it happened, he snapped his father’s neck. I tried to smother my gasp at the shock of the action but Jay held my gaze as if challenging me to be horrified at him. Letting go, his father’s body crumpled to the ground, lifeless and unmoving.

“Great, now he has no conduit to use and we can’t get rid of him,” Micah grumbled under his breath.

“Now, the Dark Lord will have to show himself in his true form. No more hiding in a human shell,” Jay countered. “If he’s strong enough to be here with us, then he can manifest some type of form.”

There was a glint in Jay’s eye that told me he had an idea. Cocking an eyebrow, I waited to see what he would say next.

“What the hell, Jay? Are you trying to bring him down on our heads?” Micah snarled.

Jay scoffed. “As Lailah told him earlier, everything about him is just a lie so why should we believe he is a Prince of Hell?”

The guys looked at him like he’d lost his mind but I figured out what he was going to do. “Really. Look at this army of his. They’re frozen without a leader. Maybe I should just expel them all. I think we’ve killed enough people that I can purge them, setting them free from his hold. Once I do that, then poof goes his army. Then what does he have?” I taunted.

Wrapping us all in a shield, I closed my eyes and reached out with my powers, mapping just how far I could stretch the barrier I would need to remove all the demons. It was at the edge of my ability but I could do it. I wasn’t alone in this. Reaching my hands out to either side, they were immediately grasped, and I felt them all connect with each other, making a perfect circle. Taking a deep inhale, I readied everything and breathed out, pushing our combined power over the whole campus and out into the forest, where I still felt the Elementi fighting. Some of the stronger demons fought my power, but I didn’t buckle. Instead, I sent out a tendril of power to grip them around the throat and yanked them out of the person. When the whole area was free of demon-possessed people, I felt a pang in my heart and the mass casualty that I’d just caused.

If I was able to bring back Parker from the dead and heal Jay’s mother, why couldn’t I cleanse them too?

This time, instead of pushing out a shield, I sent my powers out, flooding the land. I pulled from Micah, using his fire to add to the cleansing while soothing with Hudson’s water. To renew them, I blended Jay’s air and Parker’s heart to create a new beginning, breathing new life into them and removing all memory of the horrors they had experienced at the hands of the Dark Lord. As I added to the mixture, the combined powers continued to extend past what I’d intended. In my mind’s eye, our woven powers stretched far and wide, gaining strength the further it went, gaining momentum.

“Lailah, what are you doing?” Hudson asked, his voice full of awe.

Without opening my eyes, I answered, knowing the truth of it. “I’m saving the world—correction—we are saving the world.”

My head hummed with the power that I was wielding right now but I trusted in the fact that the six of us were doing exactly what we were created to do.

“Stop!” a voice thundered, shaking the ground under our feet. “You shouldn’t be able to do that without all your knights!”

Ah, it would seem that the Dark Lord had finally made his appearance.

Ignoring everything that was going on around me, I focused on the most important thing I would ever do in this lifetime. The ripple of my powers could be felt around the world as I destroyed everything that the Dark Lord had spent centuries creating. He would no longer hold any power in this world when I was done. Now, that didn’t mean there wouldn’t be any evil, but the serum and the havoc it caused, along with his minions blessed with his power, would be cleansed. The Dark Lord would be a blip in our history books of the Elementi when I was finished. The sound of attacks on my shield, that I shrunk down to just shelter us, echoed in my ears. I knew it would hold. The strength we had in each other, along with the love we shared, would keep us safe until I was done. As the angels said, trust and love had the power that could change the world. When this was finished, I would be completely depleted of power, but I trusted there was a way to end the Dark Lord without it.

Finally, I’d rid the world of the Dark Lord’s mark. I felt my power fizzle out, and the shield dissolved, leaving us vulnerable to his attack. Opening my eyes, I came face-to-face with the being of my nightmares, and his mother at his side.

“What now, Little Synergy? You have nothing to defend yourself with, making everything you just did pointless. I will live forever. All I have to do is start again, only this time I won’t have to worry about Synergy coming after me because you’ll be dead,” the Dark Lord taunted.

Slipping my hands out of the guys’ hands, I took a step forward. “Do you really believe that Heaven will allow you to go unpunished for this act? They couldn’t stop you once you involved humankind into the equation, but now that factor has been removed. I wiped you from the face of this planet, healing everything you touched, now you’re their problem.”

“No! No, there is no way you could have removed every trace, that’s not possible!” Lilith screeched, knowing that if what I said was true, they were both in trouble. “I won’t go back there. I’m the Mother of All Demons. I deserve to rule what I created!”

The Dark Lord looked down at his mother who was so much smaller than himself. “You rule? This was my kingdom!”

I glanced over my shoulder at the guys and gave them a wink and a smile which did nothing to remove the pissed-off worried look from their faces. “This will all be over soon.”

Brayden opened his mouth to say something, but I was engulfed in a pure white light as Heaven’s light filled me. A sword materialized in my hand, casting off that pure light that I saw each time an angel came to speak with me. Just like when I went through the bonding process, I was but a vessel for the angel.

“You have broken the laws of Heaven and in doing so, you will be brought before God in judgment. If you refuse, then all things will end here,” the angel said, using my voice.

Lilith burst into hellfire, producing a sword, and attacked me. My skill combined with the knowledge the angel provided for me made it possible to hold my own against Lilith. Our swords clashed, sending sparks flying as light and darkness fought.

“Watch out!” Jay bellowed, but his worry wasn’t necessary.

I flicked out a hand, sending a ball of light to hit the Dark Lord right in the chest. He had his massive sword in hand and tried to block the holy light but it cut right through the weapon, ripping out the other side of his chest. Locking swords with Lilith, I pulled her close, dropped the sword, and clamped my hand around her head, holding her still as I flooded her with holy light. She screamed and thrashed, trying to shake me off her, but I knew there was no way she could defeat me. I was filled with an avenging angel and it had been sent on a mission which only God could remove it from.

“You have chosen against judgment, therefore, you shall be cleansed in atonement for your sins,” I informed Lilith as tears of blood poured down her face. “May the blood of Heaven free your soul.”

With one final scream, Lilith shattered into a million pieces of sparkling light that was carried away on the breeze. Turning on my heel, I faced the Dark Lord and approached him, sword in hand.

“One day, there will be hell on earth and you won’t be able to stop it,” the Dark Lord said, spitting at me.

“That will never happen. We will always make sure the children of God are protected by any means necessary,” I intoned moments before I sliced his head off, watching as he dissolved just like his mother.

With the threat gone, my guys watched me with a wary eye. “Can we have Lailah back now?” Brayden asked hesitantly.

“First, you have a choice. Remain the Elemental Warriors blessed with elemental powers or give it all up and be removed from that world entirely. If you choose to give up being our warriors they will not be reborn, leaving the world vulnerable to attack as it just was. On the other hand, if you continue, then you will have our blessing and support to ensure this world is safe.”

The guys all looked at each other, then at me and I could see the choice wasn’t as hard as one would think. Even though I couldn’t share my thoughts, the guys knew me well enough. I trusted them to make the right call.

“We want to give it all up and move on from this life, to have a chance to create our own future,” Hudson answered with complete confidence.

“We honor your choice and the service you have done for this world. Go with Heaven’s blessing and live long happy lives together.”

The angel left my body and took my powers along with it, leaving me once more a normal human. I couldn’t hold back the grin at the giddy feeling bubbling up inside me, knowing that we were free. After everything we’d been through, we could finally start our lives and live it the way we wanted to.

Now that was an adventure I was more than happy to experience!

EPILOGUE

LAILAH

Three years later...

“Trouble, we’re gonna miss it if you don’t hurry!” Parker said, tossing me over his shoulder and giving my ass a slap.

“Parker Jones, you put me down right now! What will people think if they see someone carrying me around like a caveman?” I laughed, pushing myself up so I didn’t get a face full of his ass, even if it was a nice ass.

A snicker had me glaring at Micah who was watching all this and doing nothing about it. “Sorry, Cookie Monster, I’m not going to be any help. You know how he gets about things like this.”

“He knows we aren’t going to miss it, right?” Hudson asked, frowning. “The whole event is ten days long, and we arrived only two days into Carnival.”

“Just be thankful he isn’t making us wear the costumes until later,” Jay muttered. “We need to put limits on what you can choose to do for your birthday.”

“Bro, you made us all go skydiving for yours last year.” Brayden laughed. “Since we know how short life can be, the agreement was all of us live life to the fullest, and this was part of celebrating life and all.”

Upon hearing Brayden’s words, Parker set me down so I could go to him, wrapping my arm around his waist in a half hug. He kissed the top of my head, returning my hug and letting out a contented sigh. Even though it’d been three years since we faced down the Dark Lord, all of us carried scars from it that would take a lifetime to heal. The first thing we did after that fight was to fly back to Wisconsin, where we spent the whole summer playing and enjoying our new lease on life. No longer tied to the Elementi in the same way, we needed time to decide what we wanted to do with our lives.

Jay inherited his father’s military company, and he decided that instead of keeping it what it was, he was going to join forces with Parker and create an international security company. They downsized the operation, and no longer worked alongside the Elementi, setting out on their own path. The surprise was Hina was their biggest customer, helping her beef up the security for her shipping company. With Makoto gone, Jay finally had the relationship with his mother he always wanted and she was a delight to have as a mother-in-law.

Hudson was now working on his medical projects, trying to find new inventive ways to save people’s lives through research. Things with his father were still rocky, but he kept trying. Somehow, we managed to convince his father and ex stepmother to let us spend time with the twins. This past Christmas they came to spend a week with us in our Wisconsin home. We also had Brayden’s family there too with all his siblings, enjoying time together. It was a blast having everyone from our families at our lake house, playing in the snow and warming up with hot chocolate.

Brayden was our ecowarrior, working tirelessly to find ways to protect our earth and make it accessible to everyone. It’d been fun to see him blossom into his own person, free from the expectations of being an Elemental Warrior. His parents were even collaborating on some things with him.

Micah’s transformation was the most surprising, now that his aunt was no longer connected to his life in any way. His mind for business was astonishing, and he took a real hands-on approach to helping this small country he basically owned. While Hudson, Parker, and Jay finished up school at Ryevick, Micah and I spent some time exploring his kingdom, as I affectionately like to call it. Micah didn’t really want to go back to school, and I decided that I didn’t either, feeling that what I wanted in life couldn’t be found in a degree from a fancy school like I once thought.

Parker did in fact buy the bakery from Ann, but after he explained his reasoning behind it, I couldn’t have been more thrilled with the idea. So now I was learning everything I could from her since I would be taking over the company when she retired. Getting lost in the kitchen covered in flour, trying out new recipes, was exactly what made me the happiest woman in the world. Of course, Parker loved that he could be the taste tester on all my new ideas. Unfortunately, he loved everything that I made so he was no help.

“Guys, I realize you want to enjoy the sights and all but we really will miss something important if we don’t hurry,” Parker begged, giving me puppy dog eyes.

Accepting defeat, I tossed my hands up in the air. “Fine, lead the way. We’ll keep up.”

Parker led us to where the stadium-sized bleachers were erected so we could watch the parade. Around us people were shouting, dancing, drinking, and living life like they might die tomorrow. Parker had gotten us a reserved space with prime viewing of the parade. When I wasn’t moving fast enough, Parker dragged me to the front of our little seating area, settling his hands on my hips as he kissed my neck. I could feel the excitement oozing out of him and I just couldn’t figure out what it was stemming from.

We’d promised each other that even if life got busy, no matter what, we would all be together for whatever the birthday boy or girl wanted to do. Sometimes, it was trips like these or doing an activity like skydiving with Jay. None of us could back out of it. We all had to experience it together, building forever memories before something came up in life that would prevent us from going on adventures.

The floats for the parade were out-of-this-world insane and the most amazing thing I’d ever seen. Anything and everything might appear on a float but when the next one rounded the corner, I gasped. The float had five people standing in a circle holding hands with another person in the middle of it. Each of the figures was covered in flowers that matched the five elements, while the middle figure was covered in gold glitters and sparkled like the sun. On the side of the float was written, Synergy, the power to change the world as we know it.

Gaping up at Parker, I felt tears flood my eyes. “It’s amazing, but I don’t understand?”

Parker just grinned and used a hand on my jaw to turn my attention back to the float. There was an explosion of light as sparklers burst into flames, etching out the words, Three Years into Forever.

“I told you I would never stop repaying you for saving my life, or have you doubt how much I love and treasure you,” Parker reminded before capturing my lips in a searing kiss. “Happy anniversary, Trouble. I’m beyond blessed to have you as my wife.”

“I love you so much,” I said with a sniffle, trying to hold back my tears.

“Alright, we let you have the big reveal for your birthday. Now hand over our wife so we don’t look like assholes who didn’t do anything,” Micah grumbled.

Laughing, I was swept up in the rest of them, getting showered in love and kisses. When we gave up being Elemental Warriors, it meant we gave up everything connected to it, along with our Bond. So we decided that the first order of business was to have a wedding. Legally, I was married to Micah, helping to ensure we both held the majority of his business to prevent anyone from messing with it. On that magical day though, I’d married them all, each of us giving our vows to each other, regardless of what the marriage license said. It had been a small affair with our close friends and family in Bali so we could all enjoy the trip together and relax.

“This is amazing, you guys. I don’t think it could be more perfect.” I sighed contentedly, wrapped up between Jay and Brayden as we toasted our anniversary.

“Bitch, you better not say that when I flew all the way out here to spend time with you!” Cami’s voice cut through the noise.

Whirling on my heel, I spotted my best friend and her wife, Maggs, grinning at me. I let out a squeal of delight as I rushed to hug them. “What are you doing here? Didn’t you tell me you wouldn’t be able to make it?”

Cami also left everything to do with the Elementi, and her sisters gave her their blessing. Maggs worked with Parker on his side of the company, while Cami worked with Jay training all of our security. It was amazing to have her always around and part of our lives, adding to our family.

“Seriously, that’s a stupid question. I’m always around for big moments.” Cami scoffed. Maggs elbowed her with a glare that had me raising a brow.

Maggs was normally the laid-back one out of the two. “Am I missing something?”

“Sorry, it’s the hormone treatments. They’re making me crazy,” Maggs apologized.

They’d been trying for a baby the past year and so far hadn’t had any luck, but they were far from giving up hope. “I’m sorry, girl, a normal cycle is rough. I can’t imagine getting injected with more. Do they think it will work though?”

Maggs and Cami looked at each other with an odd expression before Cami seemed to burst with excitement. “Oh hell, I was gonna wait because I didn’t want to steal your big moment, but I can’t do it. We’re having a baby!”

“Wait, seriously?” I cried, tugging Cami into a bear hug before doing the same to Maggs. “I’m so excited for you both. This is going to be so amazing. You guys will be the best moms!”

Maggs placed a hand on her belly and looked at me with tears in her eyes. “I can’t believe it’s really happening.” I gave her another tight hug and stepped back, clapping my hands.

“So, Lala, when are the boys putting a bun in your oven?” Cami asked, wagging her brows. “You know it has to be soon. Our kids need to be best friends.”

Glancing over my shoulder, I looked at the guys. The excitement and heat in their eyes told me it was time to open it up for discussion. “We’ll see. I’m not making any promises. It would be a huge life change for us and it’s only been three years of freedom. Kids will happen eventually and I know no matter what, they will become the best of friends like their mothers did.”

“Fine, be that way, but don’t think this is the end of this discussion,” Cami grumbled.

The rest of the night was filled with so much love and fun I thought my heart would burst. If I’d known what awaited me when I received that acceptance letter from Ryevick, I don’t think I’d change a thing. We went through hell and back. Literally. But the outcome was more than I could have ever dreamed of. My life now was well and truly blessed with people I loved and who loved me in return… What more could you ask for in life?

* The End *

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Elizabeth is an International Best Seller, originally from Illinois but now living in sunny Phoenix, AZ. Elizabeth has been writing for nine years and started out in YA Fiction but recently found herself loving the Reverse Harem genre. Like her favorite books, Elizabeth loves to write about strong women of all varieties. Not all strength is flashy or apparent at first glance—some lies just under the surface.

Don’t Miss Out!

Be the first to know what is coming next by following Elizabeth’s social media! You never know when or what will be coming next!

Newsletter: https://geni.us/EKtextsignup

ALSO BY ELIZABETH KNIGHT

Omegaverse

Knot All Is

Knot All Is Lost Duet - Complete

Knot All Is Ruined Duet - Complete

Sunshine & Rainbows Omegaverse

Bailey-Rose duet:

Clouds & Daydreams + Petals & Promises

Lyra/Eli duet:

Knot Now Knot Ever + Yes Now Yes Forever

Mafia Royalty Shared World

Caprioni Queen

Glitter & Guns

Blood & Heartache

Revenge & Truth

Love & Power

Gun Runner Princess

One For The Money

Two For The Show

Complete Series

Hidden Empire Series

Two Tricks

Three Tricks

Four Tricks

More Tricks

Our Tricks

Hidden Empire Novel

Harper’s Renegades

[Read after Four Tricks for best series context]

Omega Assassin

Dual Nature

Hidden Nature

Perfect Nature

Hope Series

Hidden Hope

Claiming Hope

Defending Hope

Obtaining Hope

Standalones

Nicolette - MC Feline Shifter Story

Lying Lainey - Dark Omegaverse

Books Not in Kindle Unlimited

Elementi Series

Discovering Synergy

Refining Earth

Liberating Water

Taming Fire

Rescuing Air

Mercenary Queen Series

Birthright

Dragon Queen

Forgotten Throne

The Final Battle