Page 5 of Fractured Souls
“You seem cool.” Red shrugged with a flash of a smile. “Plus, on the off chance that Desmond dies in this affair, I can get your soul.”
Desmond’s throat produced a savage noise as I flashed across the space to intertwine my arm with his, trying to keep him from getting all ‘demon-ish.’ I offered her a pointed look. “I completely believe that’s your reasoning even if it’ll never fucking happen. I won’t let Desmond die.”
“Which is good, because he is far too entertaining,” Hellsen mused. “And honestly, Lorcan, if these nasty cosmic beings destroy our realm, it means that I either die, which I’m not a fan of, obviously—I mean, no one wants me to die, I’m fantastic—but on the off chance I did live, I would be left to a wasteland of space, which sounds extremely dull.”
“Yeah, both of those reasons check out,” I said dryly, looking around and noticing that all of my men had gravitated closer. “Fuck it—”
Everything went dark.
Apparently they took my ‘fuck it’ as permission to leave, as in before I could even finish my damn sentence. I groaned as the mixture of Hellsen’s and Red’s magic slid over my skin, and my siren tried to push forward. She wanted to take over the dark void we were traveling in, her instant reaction to the demanding magic interacting with us to be possessive over it touching our men.
Closing my eyes, squeezing them as tight as possible, I gritted my teeth, refusing to give into her. If I let her out, she would seriously fuck both of them up. When warm air smacked into my face and I fell face first onto hard ground, I inhaled sharply, unable to stop my magic from flooding out.
Which was how I immediately recognized that we were alone.
Well, alone as in it was just the eight of us—Hellsen and Red weren’t here. They were back in the Kingdom of Pain, and we were…
Dean lifted me up off the ground as I looked around, breathing out a small sigh of relief as I noticed the familiar ivy-covered brown sandstone walls.Desmond’s kingdom.
“I don’t want your parents, sister, or kingdom put in danger because of me,” I managed to get out, pretty damn exhausted from the exertion of trying to control my magic while portaling. “Is there any way we can send word to them before we leave? I don’t want them to think we just decided to not come back.”
“Already handled,” Desmond said as he approached and pressed a soft kiss to my forehead. Dean’s chest rumbled, his lion reacting naturally to another man by me. It didn’t matter if it was one of his own brothers—literally—he would always act like that. I think the others managed to not take it personally.
“Okay.” I breathed out in relief. “I am absolutely not looking forward to portaling again, to be honest.”
Desmond’s gaze darkened as he looked at the others. “Normally I wouldn’t suggest this, but considering we are actively avoiding other rulers, I think we should take a private portal. I know it may be hard on the Reid brothers’ magic, but the normal portal can be tracked and I would like to avoid that.”
“I told you before, we should fucking do it,” Cash rumbled.
“Is it going to kill us? If not, let’s get moving,” Rhett agreed, Dean kissing the top of my head before nodding along.
I knew Desmond wanted my opinion as well, his gaze still trained on my face. I drew in my bottom lip and examined his concern-shaded eyes. “Is it going to hurt them? Make them sick?”
“Portal sickness is what I’m worried about,” he admitted.
Looking towards the Reid brothers and their determined expressions, I inhaled sharply. “I hate the idea of any of you getting sick, but the idea of the other rulers wanting to question us feels worse.”
“It is,” Dean agreed, his voice nearly a growl.
Without another word, taking my response as answer enough, Desmond’s magic vibrated through the air, opening a beautiful portal of swirling neon green and blue. I felt momentarily mesmerized by it as we stepped closer, Dean catching my hand and Rhett holding onto the other. I didn’t hesitate to step through the portal, knowing instinctively that because Desmond controlled it, it would be a far more pleasant experience.
And damn was I right. Almost immediately I was transported into…well, I wasn’t sure what exactly. Almost a dream.
“Wake, Lorcan,” a familiar voice called out to me, but when my eyes opened, I wasn’t faced with a person—there was just an open expanse of nothingness. It wasn’t the same eerie sensation I had looking into the void of the dark ones, though. Instead, I felt a warm sensation in my chest, and when I looked down at my hands, I noticed that they were star-like.
In fact…I was in my star form.
“Hello?”
“I’m here,” the voice said. “No need to panic; I’m just here to give you a message. A warning.”
“Wonderful,” I mumbled under my breath. Something tugged on my brain, and I got the feeling we knew exactly who we were talking to. Although when I tried to focus on it, my head began to pound.
The chuckle that filled the space had me relaxing slightly, glad that whoever it was hadn’t taken offense. While I didn’t think the individual was a threat, I could feel how much power they had. I mean, clearly enough to pull me here—whereverherewas.
“Unfortunately,” the individual said after a long moment, “what I have to tell you isn’t nearly as amusing.”
“Yeah?” I asked, my brow dipped. “I’m guessing this has to do with—”
