Page 2 of Unforeseen Mate

Hayden shook his head. “What about them? Do we even know what they are?”

“Expulsion from the Hollow?”

“Fine; we find a remote place to live on Earth. The big question then becomes, who the hell is going to guard the In-Between? And why the hell were we ever ‘forbidden’ mates in the first place?”

Oslo nodded. “I know the tenor of our men. If you want to go raiding and risk the wrath of the god, then we’re right behind you.”

Hayden placed his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “I know, old friend. And there might come a day I will choose to lead that charge, but for now things are unsettled topside.”

“You have friends there. Will they not help?”

“They would. But for now, I think it best we help the Resistance—those who oppose the Shadow League—restore order, and then choose our next battle.”

“You’re thinking if we help them, they might be more inclined to help us.”

“That is indeed what I am thinking.”

“You think we’d do better with humans or shifters?” asked Oslo.

“Don’t you? Don’t get me wrong; if one of our men felt called to a demon, we’d take them on, but for the most part, don’t you find them tiresome? They’re always whining and complaining about something. Besides, I can’t see a female demon embracing the idea of becoming a hellhound.”

“You have a point. How long will you be gone?”

“For a short while. Deke and Colby have asked for my help.”

“Then I will wish you a safe journey and will ensure all is well here in the Hollow.”

“Of that, I have no doubt.”

Lately, Hayden had been leaving Oslo with the burden of acting as alpha while Hayden spent more and more time topside in the Earth realm. As he’d said to Oslo, there was a growing group of shifters who were looking to oust the humans from the top spot. Hayden was the last one to dispute that humans had made a mess of things, but all the scrolls of ancient knowledge showed the shifters had done far more damage.

Luckily the group wanting to grab all the power was the Shadow League. They weren’t all that big, although Hayden wasn’t convinced that their numbers weren’t far greater than the Resistance believed.

Unlike many hellhounds, Hayden didn’t mind humans. In fact, he liked them as well as he liked shifters. The problem with letting the shifters gain the upper hand was that their villains made human villains look like cherubs.

The advantage hellhounds had over most shifters was that their existence was veiled in secrecy and only whispered about amongst other shifters, and most humans were completely oblivious to the existence of shifters, let alone hellhounds.

Hayden was roused from his musing when he felt a vibration in the barrier that led into the Underworld. From the side ofthe living, where beings could enter, the wall appeared either as a mirror—to reflect back the weight of one’s soul, or it could appear to be transparent, as if to lure the one who wanted to violate it with a sense that all was well. Hayden stalked to where the would-be intruder stood, looking for a way to move through the barrier without being killed.

The man was trembling. Fear rolled off of him like ice melting in the sun. Hayden sniffed—the man wasn’t dead, and it didn’t appear as though his sins had condemned him to the Underworld. Best to scare him off before he hurt himself.

“Why are you here?” demanded Hayden in his best hellhound voice.

The man jumped back, the fear and shaking becoming more visible. Hellhounds were never supposed to interfere in the weighing or judgment of someone’s soul. They were just supposed to let them enter—those who belonged were whisked away to one of the four dimensions. Those who didn’t were burned to a crisp—their soul torn apart and lost forever for trying to usurp the power of life and death given only to the gods.

“I asked you your purpose,” roared Hayden, watching with satisfaction as the man staggered backwards. The man had the look and smell of one already half-dead. He had to be, as that was the only way a human or shifter could have come this far.

“My mate. I want her back. She was taken from me. It was not her time,” the man replied in a feeble voice.

“It is not you who makes that determination.”

“But I don’t want to live without her. She was not supposed to leave me.”

“How do you know she is here?”

“She took her own life.”

“Not all those who do so are condemned to the Underworld. If she had good reason…”

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