Page 83 of Detonation
He holds his hands up placatingly, "I'm a mage. Lana and I got the prisoners out of the dungeon together. I managed to escape and hide, knowing I'd need to help her after she was knocked out by the guards who overwhelmed her."
My aggression settles momentarily as his story checks out with what the prisoners told us.
"We’re heading to her now. Lead the way."
The mage takes points and sets a brisk pace, us following close on his heels.
When we get to the second platform, no one greets us so we climb the staircase to the third level, halting at the top of the stairs as the mage puts his hand out. "There are higher ranking officers up here guarding the door. Six of them. Get ready to fight."
A sucking noise comes from behind me as a portal opens. We turn around as Serenity steps through with a pout. "All the fun is happening without me. No need to fear, I’m here now though."
The mage sucks in a breath and I turn to look at him, and as white as a sheet as he stares unblinkingly at Serenity.
She stares back at him, just as shocked. "Reese? No. That’s not possible."
Awed, he breathes out, "Serenity."
She falls to the ground to her knees. “No, no. My mind is playing tricks on me. What dark magic is this?”
He rushes to her, pulling her to him and running his hand down the back of her head, whispering to her, “It’s me. Serenity, it’s me.”
She pushes him away for a moment as her eyes run over the planes of his face, lingering on his eyes. Her voice cracks with her desperate question, “Is it really?”
He grabs her face, kissing her as her tears fall and then breaks away to answer. “I’ve pictured your face every day for forty years, dreamed of holding you one more time. It’s all that got me through it all, knowing I’d find you and my brothers again.”
My brothers and I exchange looks of shock as the pieces fall into place.
That's Serenity's fourth mate.
"Holy shit," I breathe.
A scream comes from the third level, my powers going haywire at my mate’s desperate scream. "Someone help me, please!"
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Lana
"Your daughter? Oh, sister. How could you hide such a delight from your family?" Erebus practically purrs.
"She will not be owned by you or anyone else,” Gaia says, her voice unwavering. “Her destiny is her own."
Yells and a fight sound outside my door.
Gaia’s powers waft off her waves and my own surge in response to hers. The golden light that pours from her skin soothe me. She remains in the form similar to my own and I choose to trust my mother to protect us.
I look back towards Ash and grip his face in my hands, pleading with him. “Please, Ash. Open your eyes please. Stay with me."
I gasp as his eyes open but they don’t hold the same love that I see in Ash’s gaze. I spit at the monster, "Give me my mate back, you fucking bastard."
His hand rises and rests on my forearm as he wheezes through the agony he must be feeling. "I wrestled the control from your mate so I could say my final words to you before giving control back to him. I need to say this before the end comes for us."
“There is nothing that you can say that I want to hear.”
"Listen to me, Lannie, please," he pleads.
I still at the use of my nickname on his lips. He hasn't spoken that name since I rejected his proposal.
"Erebus just took all of his power from this body. My thoughts are now my own without his dark influence, for the first time in so long," he admits as a tear rolls from the corner of his eye
