He’d become a real member of their group.
The aftermath of the prison incident had been interesting. It hadn’t taken long for them to fix the various safeguards and the damage to the structure. They had used the opportunity to fix several long-overdue issues and also installed the new security system designed by Devon.
Most of the items in the library hadn’t been damaged because of the protection runes carved into the bookcases, but the same couldn’t be said for the other people who had been in there that day. Lana had been a little disturbed to discover all the other inmates who had been in the library when the wall of windows had broken hadn’t made it out of the lake alive.
For Mordecai, it had been expected.
The countless safeguards woven throughout the prison and the magical runes branded onto every inmate did far more than simply prevent the prisoners from accessing their abilities. Those runes continuously siphoned the magic from them before channeling it back into the Sea of Glass.
The prison itself was sustained by the lake’s ancient magic, drawing upon its immense power to maintain the barriers, wards, and enchantments that made escape impossible. But the endless stream of magic being returned to the water had consequences. The Sea of Glass wasn’t designed to contain such an overwhelming influx of power. Century after century, the excess energy accumulated beneath its shimmering surface, making it grow more volatile with every supernatural imprisoned within the fortress.
That instability was why the lake had become so deadly. No ordinary creature could survive in its depths for long. The raw, conflicting currents of magic would overwhelm and eventually destroy anything caught within them. Only those whom the magical source deemed worthy were spared. If chosen, the person would be spared and shielded from the chaos, allowing them to survive while everything else inevitably perished.
Mordecai and Lana had experienced that violent clash themselves. If they hadn’t been found worthy, they would have died in the Sea of Glass’s dark depths. Instead, they had been reborn as the Goddess and God of Justice. Those specific titles weren’t something either of them took lightly.
Justice was important to both of them. It was more than just a foundation for trust, fairness, and accountability. It was the only way to truly protect people. It ensured that harmful actions had consequences, while protecting the rights of those who have been wronged. Without it, power and privilege would always outweigh truth and fairness.
And that couldn’t be permitted.
The injustice done to Mordecai and his family had destroyed his faith in the system, but his new status meant he could help ensure that a similar situation didn’t happen to someone else. He and his mate could help restore the balance and protect the innocent.
It hadn’t taken them long to figure out how their specific abilities could work together. With her magical upgrade, Lana’s secret-extracting ability had become even stronger. She didn’t even have to touch someone to read them anymore. And if a particularly cruel injustice had occurred, the information would come to her unsolicited.
Mordecai’s ability to astral project and dreamwalk allowed him to use the visions Lana saw and project them to a room full of people. Working together, they were able to show people the unvarnished truth. Not only had they been able to clear his name in front of the Supernatural Council, they had also helped ten other prisoners so far. Half of those prisoners had been innocent, while the other half had been victims of unclear testimony and skewed evidence.
But that wasn’t the only way they had helped people with their new abilities.
They had also been able to act on some of the secrets that came to Lana in real time. Like clearing the name of a student who had been accused of cheating, and preventing a potential murder when someone’s brakes had been tampered with.
Thankfully, her ability wasn’t triggered often enough to completely derail her life, allowing her to maintain something that almost resembled normalcy. She had originally planned to continue attending school as usual, but that hadn’t been possible for long.
It quickly became obvious that there was very little her professors could teach her. She had surpassed every one of them in knowledge and raw magical talent. Attending classes with other students only drew unwanted attention to just how extraordinary she had become. She could conceal her physical differences, but there was nothing she could do to hide her new god powers.
Despite all of that, she had decided to remain at the school, switching her classes to independent studies. That way, her professors could still help her fill in the gaps of some of her basic knowledge while also helping Mordecai learn what he needed to know about the modern world. He knew she was doing it more for his sake, but he appreciated all of her efforts.
After everything they’d been through, Mordecai struggled to be apart from her for any length of time. It wasn’t possessiveness so much as an instinctive need to know she was safe. Every time she left the room, his anxiety grew. And the farther away she was from him, the worse it became.
Being in her mind was a comfort to him. He knew how much she valued her privacy, but she never protested their constant shared connection. He learned a lot about the modern world through her thoughts and memories. At times, he wished he could give her more space to breathe without him, but even as a god, his sanity remained dependent on her.
Since that seemed to be a common theme amongst the mated pairs in their group of friends, no one found it odd that Mordecai and Lana were always together. She had been worried her friends would be a little intimidated by their new magical upgrades, but no one had been bothered by that either.
Lana had been worried that Claudia would be pissed at her since they had been separated at the prison, but she had just considered the entire thing some grand adventure. The snow leopard shifter had been safe with a bunch of the guards, and she had been more concerned about Lana after discovering she had fallen through the hole in the floor than anything else.
Claudia had jokingly used the incident to guilt-trip her way into living with them. It wasn’t an imposition, though. Having Claudia and Jessica live in the house they bought in Mystic helped them keep up appearances since they spent most of their time in their home back in the Hell Realm.
Reclaiming his family’s property hadn’t been difficult at all. The current owner had practically shit himself with fear when they had shown up. And with word of his innocence spreading, it was clear to everyone that the domain belonged to him. Using their magic to restore the palace to its former glory had been a breeze, but it felt strange not seeing his family there with him. He still felt closer to them there, so living in his old home again was a comfort to him.
And having Lana by his side was even better.
They had created a portal connecting their house in Mystic with their palace in the Hell Realm. That way, they had a constant flow of friends coming and going between the properties. Mordecai didn’t mind. In fact, after living a solitary life in prison for so many years, he liked the happy chaos of having a house filled with voices and laughter.
Castiel and Ava spent a lot of time with them in the Hell Realm, and Damien Carver was also a frequent visitor. Mordecaihad been touched that his old friends hadn’t forgotten him. They went out of their way to help him acclimate to the new world, and often brought him new things they thought he would like.
As word spread of his return, more and more people had started reaching out to him to reconnect. He was still taking things slow, but it felt good to be able to reclaim his life piece by piece.
But the very best thing about being free was being with Lana.
She was the love of his life. His heart. His home. Without her, nothing would matter. The freedom he had would have been meaningless. A world without his princess wasn’t a world he wanted to live in. She was the light that cut through his darkest moments. The only person who had ever made him believe he was worthy of love.
