In life and death.
And in her mind, she remembered when Max had first asked her to. It'd been right after they'd been mated. After she'd tossed the knife away and accepted him.
His unexpected request had shocked her.
Now ...
"Would you bond with me, Maxis?"
He went completely still and turned rigid around her. "Pardon?"
Lifting herself up, she looked down at him. "Can we bond?"
A light scowl drew his brows together as he brushed the hair back from her face. "There is nothing on this earth I'd like more...."
"Then why do I sense a but in your tone of voice?"
"You know the but. I'm under a death warrant, with pretty much every Were-Hunter in existence gunning for me. And we have two dragonets who need their mother to watch over them. I can't risk the chance that I fall and take you with me to the grave."
"I won't let them have you."
He tightened his arms around her. "And that is the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me. Thank you. But I can't accept a bond with you right now."
Wishing for things to be different, Seraphina laid her head on his chest and touched the mark on his leg. "How do we stop the demons who want you?"
"That is the question, my lady, that I wish desperately I had an answer for."
Suddenly, a fierce screeching cry sounded from the forest around them.
Sera pulled back. "What is that?"
Max sat up immediately. "It's a Bane-Cry. Illarion's under attack."
12
Max returned to Sanctuary to find all manner of hell breaking loose. Remi was holed up in Peltier House with his brother Cherif, Carson, and the children and pregnant females, along with the Howlers and a contingency of Arcadians and Katagaria ready to lay down their lives for Aimee and the others.
As he came down the stairs from his attic with Sera behind him, he met Remi in the hallway outside Aimee's bedroom. No doubt Remi had taken that post to make sure no one came near his sister and threatened her while she rested.
Max paused in front of him. "What's going on? I heard my brother call."
With his familiar sneer in place, Remi jerked his chin toward the stairs that led down to the main part of the house. "Illarion's with the others in the bar. We're holding the fort here. The Amazons returned with the Kattalakis Arcadian wolves who want your ass on a platter. You should probably stay here while Dev and the others deal. Personally wish they'd have let me get an ounce of wolf flesh. Since I can't have Fang for taking my sister, I'd settle for his cousins."
In spite of the fact that most shifters and people didn't like Remi due to his acerbic personality, Max strangely did. They'd always seen eye to eye with their basic philosophy. When in doubt, kill them all and let the gods sort it out.
Remi glanced past Max's shoulder to Sera. "You want me to guard your dragonswan while you see to them?"
Max turned slightly to smile at the perturbed expression on her beautiful face. "Um ... no." He draped an arm around her shoulders. "I think I'll unleash her on them. She's far more fierce than I am."
Remi came as close to a smile as the bear could. At least until his nephew Jake came out of the nursery with a small, sleepy toddler in his arms.
"Hey Uncle Remi, you think it's safe to grab some milk from the kitchen? I don't want to wake my mom and we're out. I tried to get Aubie to go back to sleep without it, but he's not listening to me."
Max didn't miss the familiar deep pain that flashed across Remi's blue eyes at the sight of Jake and Aubert. They were the sons of his identical twin Quinn and his mate Becca--the bearswan Remi was still desperately in love with and had wanted to be mated to. But the Fates had been even more unkind to him than they'd been to Max and Sera.
Masking the pain, Remi brushed his hand over Aubert's dark hair to soothe the fussing boy who wanted his milk. "I'll get it. You two stay here where it's safest."
"Okay. I'll go change him." Jake headed back to the nursery while his little brother whined in protest.
"Aubie want milk!"
As they walked down the stairs and into the kitchen, toward the bar, they could hear the angry shouts that strangely reminded him of Aubert's childish cries.
Remi bit his lip as he mumbled under his breath at how much he wanted to fight. "Bust some ass for me, Max," he said in a louder tone, before grabbing the milk and heading back toward his nephews.
As Max started for the swinging doors, Sera took his arm. "Run with me?"
He smiled at her unexpected offer. "Now you see my way of thinking?"
"I do."
"My lady's timing stinks." Max took a moment to pull her into his arms and kiss her forehead. "Nothing would mean more to me. But I can't do that to the Peltiers and my brother. Not after everything they've done for me over the years."
"And that's why I love and hate you."
Snorting at her strange sense of humor, he released her and slid through the swinging door to see what was happening out in the bar.
Fang, Vane, Dev, Illarion, and the wolves and bears were in the bar, ready to war against every member of Seraphina's tribe. Thankfully, the bar was still closed to humans or this would have been an even worse situation.
"I demand you hand over the Dragonbane! He attacked our patria, killed our members, and--"
"Cry to your mama, bitch, I don't care." Fang flipped the Arcadian wolf off.
"Fang!" Vane put himself between his brother and the other wolf. "Not helping!"
Dev laughed. "Maybe not, but he's highly entertaining and helping lift my mood immensely."
Samia smacked her husband in the stomach. "Stay out of this. If we wanted to blow the bar up, again, we'd have brought Remi out here."
Sera brushed past Max to address the group. "This isn't about the Dragonbane. It's about Nala's pact with a demon."
"Hold your tongue." Nala glared at her.
"No. Not in this. I won't watch you destroy my mate again."
"Seraphina..."
But Sera wasn't having any part of this. "I will renounce my allegiance to the tribe before I allow you to take him." She pulled her sword from its sheath. "You want Maxis ... you have to come through me."
Illarion moved to stand at her back.
Completely stunned, Max was frozen to the spot. He honestly couldn't believe what he was seeing. Was it even real?
Sera was defending him?
Fang took up the position on the left-hand side of Sera's body. "As you can see, we like our Dragonbane. He goes really well with the furniture."
Sarcastic applause sounded, breaking the tension. "Nice." From the rear of the Arcadians, a demon stepped forward. He wasn't Kessar, but there was something remotely familiar about him. Max tried to remember where he'd seen him before.
Definitely gallu. The stench was unmistakable.
The demon stopped in front of Fang and raked him with a sneer. "However, you're all forgetting something. While you are bound by the laws of your Omegrion, we are not. Do you really want me to unleash my warriors here? How long do you think you and your animals will stand?"
Fang didn't miss a beat. "Long enough to mount your head to my wall."
The demon opened his mouth to speak, then began a strange gurgling noise.
Sera and Illarion stepped back. As did Nala. Max closed the distance between them to protect his family.
Quicker than he could blink, Dev grabbed a mop bucket and had it in front of the demon in time to catch him as he unloaded the contents of his stomach. Grimacing and cursing, he glanced over to Sam. "Yeah, you raise as many nieces and nephews as I have and run a bar, you learn that attractive I-ate-too-much sound, so-grab-a-bucket-uncle-I-gotta-hurl." Making an even worse face, he turned back toward the demon. "You through? 'Cause dude, this is some nasty stuff you got going on. And I really hope this shit ain't contagious."
Instead, the demon fell to his knees in agony. He was in so much pain, he couldn't talk.
Dev set the bucket asi
de as they all stared at the demon in stunned silence. "Anyone know a demon doctor?"
"What's wrong with him?" Nala asked.
Fury shrugged. "I'm thinking his last victim didn't go down right. Who'd you eat?"
Dev snorted sarcastically. "Judging by the contents of the bucket, I'd say a Muppet. Looks like Kermit."
Sam let out a sound of extreme pain. "Y'all are all so gross."
With an exaggerated gesture, Lia nodded her complete agreement.
And still the demon convulsed and gagged. Wheezed and sputtered.
Then burst apart.
In unison, everyone stepped back from the spot where he'd been as if afraid that, too, was contagious.
"Holy shit," Dev breathed.
Fury took Lia's hand. "My freakin' giddy aunt."
Fang and Vane toed the smoking remains of the demon before they swept their gaze around the room.
"Savitar?" Vane called.
Fang scowled. "Thorn?"
No one answered. His features pale, Fang met Max's gaze. "Have you ever seen or heard of anything like this?"
Before he could answer, Nala gasped in alarm. Then she cried out in pain.
Sera stepped toward her. "Basilinna?"
She held her hand up to show that it was slowly turning gray. "I think I'm returning to stone ... you?"
Horrified, Seraphina examined her own body. "I don't think so."
Her breathing ragged, Nala shook her head. "What is this?" Shrieking, she vanished, and took her Amazons with her.
Fang and Vane turned to the Arcadians, but without their demon and Amazon warriors, their bluster faded.
"This isn't over," their leader promised. "I, too, am a Kattalakis Lykos and I demand the satisfaction of seeing the one who cursed our race pay for his crimes. I'll be back!"
And with that, they were gone.
Max noticed that Sera was paler than she'd been. "Seramia?"
"I don't feel right, either." She pressed her hand to her forehead. "It's so strange." Her legs buckled.
Max swept her up in his arms and teleported her from the bar, back to Peltier House and into the infirmary. "Carson!"
The Gerakian appeared instantly. "What's wrong?"
"I don't know. She's sick or something."
Max stepped back so that Carson could examine her. Time dragged as he worried his lip and waited anxiously for the doctor to tell them both that she was fine. That it was just exhaustion from the unbelievably long day they'd had.
That was what he expected.
Unfortunately, it wasn't what Carson did.
"This is weird. It's like the spell that Kessar unlocked is reversing itself."
Max's breath caught in his throat as fear went through him. No ... Carson was wrong. He had to be. "What?"
"She's slowly turning back into stone."
In that moment, he felt as if all the wind had been violently knocked out of his body. "Bullshit! Don't fuck with me, Carson."
He pulled the stethoscope from his neck. "I'm not." Patting Sera gently on the shoulder, he offered her a sad, sympathetic smile. "I'm sorry. I have no idea how to reverse this."
Her eyes glistened as she met Max's gaze, but she managed to blink her tears back. "I should have known the gods wouldn't allow us to go free. We were meant to be punished for riding against them. Let's face it, they're not exactly known for their mercy."
Max sank down on his knees in front of her as a thousand emotions ransacked him at once. But the one that hit him the hardest was fear and anguish. The love that didn't want to lose her again.
"I can't let you go. Not again."
She brushed her hand through his hair. "I'm sorry. I should never have followed Nala in her war against the gods. She was so sure the Sumerians would take over Greece." Laughing bitterly, she winced. "Stupid bitch never backed a winning side in any conflict."
"Why did you ride against them?"
"I don't know. I was angry at the gods for what they'd done to us. What they'd done to our children. I wanted the blood of Apollo and Artemis for creating our races. The heads of the Fates for condemning us. It was a suicide run. Yet it made me feel powerful, as if I had some control over my destiny. How stupid is that?"
"It wasn't stupid. Little arrogant and a lot short-sighted. But not stupid." He laid his head in her lap and held her tight. "I can't go back." He pierced her with a furious glower. "I won't."
"There's nothing we can do."
"Yes, there is."
Seraphina went cold at the tone he used. Foreboding sent chills over her entire body. "What are you thinking?"
Biting his lower lip, he swallowed hard. "Stay here with Carson. I'll be right back."
"Maxis!"
He didn't listen.
As he vanished, she tried to stop him. She jumped off the bed and grabbed for his arm.
It was too late. He was gone without a single trace. Only a slight stir in the air gave any hint that he'd been there at all. Terrified, she met Carson's gaze that mirrored her own concerns. "What is he doing?"
The doctor shook his head. "I have no idea. But I'm thinking it can't be good."
"Yeah. I second that."
*
Max hesitated as he did something he knew was all kinds of stupid. The kind of stupid that if one of his brothers had done it, he'd have beaten them senseless. Thrown water on them to revive them.
Then beaten them more.
But he couldn't think of any other way to spare his dragonswan from her fate. And if he didn't move fast, it would be too late.
With a deep breath, he closed his eyes and ignored the pain of his wounds. He summoned every ounce of dragon's breath inside him and teleported from Sanctuary to the Gates of Samothraki. While the humans in this time and place saw nothing but the jagged remains of a bygone era, he knew where the opening to a most sacred place lay. Much like the gateways to Avalon and Kalosis, it shimmered only in the faintest heartbeats right at dusk and dawn. So quickly that it was easily missed or dismissed as a trick of the eye.
But this was one of the last places where his brethren slept in the modern world.
And this was one of his last remaining siblings.
"Falcyn?"
Nothing but the evening sea breeze answered him. Max picked his way through the ruins of the ancient temple complex where mankind had once paid tribute to the gods of old. Where they'd once made offerings to his kind, hoping to win their cooperation and affection.
Things today were so different.
"Damn it, Falcyn! If you can hear me, answer!"
"I don't answer to humans. If you want to speak to me, pick the right language."
Max laughed bitterly as he switched over to drakyn. "I don't have time for you to be an asshole. I need you, brother."
Something struck him hard across his chest and knocked him flying. By the pain of it, and the distance he flew before he slammed into the ground, he'd say it must have been Falcyn's barbed tail.
With a pain-filled groan, he pushed himself up. "Feel better?"
"Not really. When I slit you from asshole to appetite, then I should rally emotionally."
This time when he attacked, Max caught the blow. Using his force field, he blocked and sent it back at his older brother. "Please, Falcyn ... please."
The pressure against him lessened.
Then it vanished. Max relaxed, only to realize too late that it was a trick. Falcyn materialized at his back and caught him in a vicious headlock. He choked him hard as he held Max against his body.
"Behold what is left of my island because of you, brother. You brought those Greek bastards here and I hate you for it!"
Yeah, okay, this might have been a massive mistake. He'd hoped a few thousand years would have mellowed his brother's wrath.
Apparently, Falcyn needed a few thousand more.
"I'm sorry. I had nowhere else to go."
"And I have nothing more to say to you."
With no choice, Max turned on him and flipped him.
"Listen to me! I don't want to fight you."
But a fight it was. Falcyn came after him like a starving dog in a buffet line that was after the last pork chop. Damn, he'd forgotten how hard his brother could hit. With no choice, he transformed to a dragon. It was the only way to survive and he didn't really want to kill his brother.
Well ...
Theoretically. However, if Falcyn didn't come to his senses soon, Max might change his mind. He didn't need his brother alive to claim what he was after. Only his conscience required a breathing Falcyn.
Oh dear gods, really? Suddenly, Illarion was between them in his dragon body, pushing them apart. Stop it! Both of you!
Falcyn spun around, trying to sting him one more time with his tail.
Max caught it with his talons and bit it so hard, Falcyn yelped.
Illarion glared at him. Was that necessary?
Max released his tail. "Little bit."
With an irritable growl, Falcyn shot fire at him.
Illarion froze it with his powers. He glared at Falcyn. We are down to the last four of our house. Can you please not cull our lineage any more?
"Then you'd best get him out of my sight."
Falcyn ...
"I mean it, Illy. I'm not in the mood." He lumbered off toward his gate.
"I need a dragonstone, Falcyn. My children and swan will die without it."
Falcyn froze. "You dare to ask me for that?"
"You're the only one left who has one."
Falcyn turned to pin each of them with a fierce, stern glower. "And I really don't give a fuck. Go home. Both of you. I never want to see you again."
With those cold words spoken, he vanished between the gates.
Stunned, Max stared after him. "Are you serious?"
I'm sorry, Max.
Unable to believe this, he laughed bitterly. "I knew you were selfish and cold, Fal, but this ... Mom would be proud to know how much you take after her. I wish I'd killed you when I had the chance, you bastard!"
Stop, Max. You know why he feels this way.
Yeah, sure. Like everyone else, he blamed Max for things Max hadn't wanted. For things he couldn't help. That he'd done everything to avoid.
Now Sera and his children would pay for it.
Max ached with the weight of his guilt and pain. It wasn't right. He didn't mind carrying the burden of his punishment. He was used to it. But he couldn't stand for the blowback to hit his family.
Not even Falcyn.
But there was nothing he could do. His heart broken that he'd failed, he led Illarion back to Sanctuary so that he could spend whatever time he had left with his wife before the gods returned her to a cold, dead statue.