AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She started walking. “We’re being called into a meeting.”
I fell into step with her, thinking we were going into DuMoir Castle and probably to Lord Drake’s office with some other supernaturals—Shane, Killian, Lavinia, Almae, maybe some of the princes. The usual.
All of these supernatural were in front of the castle. Lavinia saw me coming and walked toward me, the elixir in hand. Thea must have told her to bring it to me, and I was in desperate need of it.
I took it and drank it in one go, doing my best to ignore its foul taste. “Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it,” she said with a small smile.
“What’s going on?” I asked, stepping up to the group. Shane was here and though he stood by my side, I could feel the tension rolling from him in waves. Was this because we had parted after a disagreement, or did he know something about this meeting that I didn’t?
“He’s on his way,” Lord Drake said, his tone flat. Whatever was going on was affecting him too.
About ten feet from us, a purple portal appeared. The oval was at least eight feet tall and four feet wide, and a man wearing black leather and a black cloak lined with dark red stepped through it—a warlock.
“Lord Drake.” He lowered his head.
“Aspen,” Drake said.
Aspen gestured to the portal. “This way, please.”
Drake was the first to walk through the portal. Next was Thea. Then the rest of us—Prince Cain, Prince Dorian, Prince Ashton, Killian, Lavinia, Almae, Elisa, Zadkiel, and Dom. Shane and I were the last ones. He offered his hand to me.
I could be a little mad at him, but he was still my mate and the man I loved more than anything. I slipped my hand in his, and he held it tight.
Together, we crossed the portal.
I gasped as I found myself in a known place, but also different. The portal opened at one of the gates to the underworld, where Shane and I had been before. There had been a great number of demon hunters here, but now … now there had to be hundreds of demon hunters, vampires, witches, wolf shifters, and other supernaturals.
We were ushered to a big tent set right beside the gate, where a long table took the center. Norah, Ariella, Prince Gray, and others I did know sat around it.
“Lord Drake, Queen Thea,” a young man with brown hair and gray eyes said from the head of the table. He glanced at me. “You must be Raika.”
I startled. What? They knew me.
A young woman with long, dark hair sat to his right. Her eyes shone gold. “Hi, Raika. I wish we had met under better circumstances.” She stood. “I’m Erin Belmont.”
I knew her name. I had heard it before and she had even helped Shane and me before, when we needed to come to the underworld. She had mediated our meeting. She was the famous half-demon hunter and half-demon who took down her father, King Brikan, with her siblings. She was King Tanner’s half sister, and princess of the underworld.
“This is Rey Lowe.” Erin gestured to the young man beside her. Half-demon, half-human, headmaster of the Blackthorn Hunters Academy, and her partner. Next, she pointed to an older man sitting to Rey’s left. “This is Hadrian Walton, the head of the Blackthorn Hunters.” The man nodded his head at me. “Is there anyone here you don’t know?” She gestured to a few other demon hunters. “These are Ava, Harvey, Doreen, Thierry, Andre, Kaitlin, and Max.“
Lord Drake pointed to a few others. “Warlock Lord Keeran, Starlight Alpha Luana, Fae Ambassador Farrah, and Wyatt.”
There were too many new faces, too many names, and I had already forgotten half of them.
“Is King Tanner safe?” Drake asked.
Erin nodded. “He’s in a special place in the underworld with Princess Jasmin. Only a few of us know where exactly, and how to get in and out.”
“Good,” Drake whispered.
Rey opened his arms, indicating the chairs around the long table. “Please, sit down.”
There weren’t enough seats around the table for all of us, but Drake took the other table end with Thea at his right. She patted the spot to her side, and I sat beside her. Shane sat beside me. He and the guy sitting beside him, Wyatt, if I wasn’t mistaken, grasped arms in hello. I frowned, realizing Shane probably knew all of these people.
“What is the latest report?” Drake asked, right to the point.
Rey smacked his lips. “We sent a team to check on the mage, and we’ve confirmed it. Paimon killed him and stole the key to another realm.”
