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Daeva’s tone lacked conviction, because she knew. Everyone knew. Jezebeth had created the first Amaroki by stealing Daeva and Horatiu’s demon souls two thousand years ago, all in the hopes of getting laid by some barbarians. It had taken Daeva and Horatiu’s souls two millennia to find their way back to their pack. Then when Phoenix had been just a baby, her fathers had taken her from Jezebeth, believing a demon wasn’t fit to raise a child. Jezebeth had retaliated by cursing Phoenix’s fathers, making them apathetic, cruel drunks. She’d turned her gamma father, Sami, into a voracious werewolf, causing him to kill hundreds of humans over the course of several years. In the end, his only escape from the monster that controlled him had been death.
Sometimes Phoenix thought about what her life would’ve been like if her fathers hadn’t been cursed by her mother. Would she have lived with them? Daeva, too? What would Phoenix’s childhood have been like if she’d lived with her own kind instead of the nuns at the orphanage? She wouldn’t have had to hide her magic or her shifting powers.
Phoenix looked down at her scuffed leather boots, shame flushing her face. “She can try for thousands of years, and it won’t change what she did, the shifters she hurt.”
“No,” Daeva said on a sigh. “It won’t.”
Phoenix turned at a sound of stirring coming from inside their rented house. She cringed when she saw Tor Thunderfoot from beyond the sliding glass window. He was in the kitchen pouring himself a cup of coffee while surreptitiously keeping one eye on her. Though she loved the Alaskan chieftain for being like a father to her these past few years, she felt stifled by his overprotective nature. Despite the fact that she was nineteen, he treated her like a child. He never let her go anywhere on her own, and he was the main reason she hadn’t been allowed to physically visit her sister in hell again.
Daeva looked over her shoulder at Tor as her mate Horatiu fried up eggs and bacon in the kitchen. “I guess I should get ready. Tor will probably want to go soon.”
Phoenix snorted at that. By ‘go’ Daeva meant their meeting with the New Mexico tribal chieftains at their new home near Santa Fe. “I’m afraid this is all a big waste of time.” Boris wasn’t going to let his mate, Eilea, return to hell with them, no matter how much Daeva begged.
Daeva gave her a pointed look. “You’re angry with her for not letting you go.”
By her, Phoenix knew her sister meant the ruler of hell, Hecate, and yes, Phoenix was pissed. They were wasting their time trying to convince Eilea to help them retrieve Phoenix’s mates from the second dimension of hell. Phoenix could’ve gone and brought them back by now, but, no, they’d rather waste time chasing their tails. She jutted a thumb in her chest. “If anyone can save them, I can.”
Daeva grabbed Phoenix’s arm, the look of pity in her eyes making Phoenix want to roar in frustration.
“I know you can,” she said, “but we need time to prepare.”
Phoenix shook off her sister’s grasp. “Meanwhile, we have no idea how much they’re suffering.”
“They’ve been gone for almost three thousand years. What’s a few more months?”
Phoenix gaped at her sister a long moment. “Did you really just say that?” She clenched her hands into fists, fighting the urge to slap that smug look off her face.
Daeva let out a groan, dragging her hands through her hair. “I’m tired of arguing with you about this. I have enough battles to face right now.”
Phoenix swore under her breath. “Battles you don’t need to be fighting if Hecate would just use me.”
Daeva shook her head. “She doesn’t think it’s a good idea.”
“I’m really sick and tired of what she thinks.” Phoenix threw up her hands and then paced the small stucco balcony. “They’re my mates. I should have final say.”
Daeva crossed her arms, averting her gaze. “I made a promise to Tor.”
Grr. Phoenix wanted to rip out her hair. Why were they still treating her like a child? “Then I’ll never go.”
“That’s not true,” Daeva said with a pout, though her voice lacked conviction. She knew they were fighting a losing war, yet she still donned her armor and headed out to battle.
* * *
PHOENIX SAT IN THEfront seat of their rental car, trying not to be bored as the desert landscape gave way to piney woods. She wondered, not for the first time, why they’d spent the night in Albuquerque. Their plane hadn’t arrived that late yesterday. They had plenty of time to drive to the Santa Fe reservation and stay with the chieftains. Unless, they didn’t want them there.
She tossed a look behind her at Daeva and Horatiu in the back seat, a sinking feeling in her gut that the demon emissaries were unwelcome here. She couldn’t deny the stab of jealousy as her sister and her mate were completely oblivious to the shitstorm they were driving into. Their heads were bent together, their hands all over each other, acting as if they were the only two shifters in the world. As if listening to their moans through the thin walls for the past two nights hadn’t been torture enough.
Phoenix wondered why they had a big bouquet of flowers between them. Had Horatiu bought them for Daeva? If so, what use would they be to her in hell? She didn’t know if she was more upset that her sister ignored her or that her sister had the love and protection of her alpha mate while Phoenix’s mates were still trapped in the wilds of hell.
Helius. Drakkon. Cadmus. Damon.
Keeping his gaze glued to the road, Tor clutched the steering wheel with whitened knuckles, his features as hard as iron. Phoenix had a sinking feeling Tor already knew this meeting with the new Romanian chieftains wouldn’t go well. Amaroki males were far too protective. They weren’t about to let their mate go with Daeva to hell.
With nothing better to do, Phoenix nodded off. She woke when the hum of the engine abruptly turned off. Rubbing sleep from her eyes, she sat back, adjusting to her surroundings. The temperature must’ve dropped at least ten degrees. She could feel the cool autumn air seep through the windows.
“We’re here,” Tor said to her as he unbuckled his seatbelt. Daeva and Horatiu were already getting out of the car.
She stood and stretched her legs while zipping up her jacket, her breath fogging the crisp air and a dry chill cracking her already peeling skin. She ignored the rattling and yelling coming from her backpack inside the car. No way was she taking her mother with her to the meeting with the chieftains. Her sister was going to have a hard enough time convincing the Amaroki to help them. They didn’t need Phoenix’s annoying djinn mother making the situation worse.
