Page 122 of His Atonement
"Zan, look."
I frown at her. "Look at what?"
Cora points toward the altar, so I follow with my eyes, then about shit at what I see.
Frankie, my beautiful mate, my darling girl that has started her journey to the next life, is laying on the ground exactly as I positioned her except now, now she is… fuck, my mate is practicallyglowingthe same way I am and the brightest shimmer of her skin is coming from her left palm where her mate mark sits.
"What in the…" I have never seen such a thing before. Which makes sense since I've never known a demon who has found their mate, let alone lost them, and I've definitely never heard of something like this taking place. "I do not understand."
"You don't know what that means?" Colt asks as he steps beside me. "Don't know why that's happening?"
"I have no clue. I am probably one of a rare few demons to ever experience the privilege of finding their mate and since we do not keep records, I have no previous knowledge of something like this."
We all stare at Frankie a little longer before Cora speaks up.
"This isn't goodbye, Zan. I can feel it. Whatever is happening with Frankie, whatever is about to happen with you, this isn't goodbye, and something is telling me this is only the beginning of something else entirely."
"Then you must go and do it now. I intend to move forward with my plan and if this is in some way related to my mate’s soul, then we will soon find ourselves in some divine fucking company and I want you nowhere near that."
Cora nods as Havok wraps an arm protectively around her.
"I'm staying,” Colt grunts. "I doubt I'll be able to help in any way, but I'm staying. You don't need to go through this alone."
Since arguing with any male member of the clan is futile, I nod. "Stay in the shadows for now. Once I summonhe who shall not be namedthings could get messy and when they do, I want you to guard my mate."
"He is so cruel he would think to desecrate her body after the ritual has been initiated?" Havok asks with a look of disgust.
"It is not beyond his depravity, yes. He does not have the capacity to care for such things and would definitely try to use my darling girl to get under my skin, to torture me further than he has these eleven hundred and seventeen years."
"He really fucking sucks.” Cora scowls. "Let's go, lovey. If we're here when that asshole shows up, there's no telling what I'll do."
I grin at her ferocity, my sister, a creature after my own heart indeed.
"I can't take his name the way I did yours, can I?"
I shake my head. "Unfortunately, no. His power is too great and the only ones that would have been able to do something like that would have been Tolan or Ellida themselves. Their age being the deciding factor in that."
She nods and looks at me with tears in her eyes. "Not goodbye, ok? Just I love you, be safe, and I'll see you soon."
"I do love you, my gem. I will be as safe as I can be and wish for you to do the same.” Then I let my trademark grin slip into place. "And as my mate so often said,catch ya on the flip."
Then it is simply myself and the wolf.
"I originally did not intend to summon him here, did not plan to call upon that bastard this close to the clan, but being that this is holy ground, it should level the playing field."
"How do you mean?" Colt asks as he takes a step toward Frankie, who looks even more like the disco ball I jested she would always look like than before.
"The sanctity of this place means his power will automatically be dimmed. He will be unable to be at full strength because demons such as he have a serious aversion to holy ground in any form. Summoning him here will give me enough time to draw the attention of The Maker and before anything else can happen, we will have to move to a more neutral territory."
Colt nods. "What do you think is going to happen?"
I scrub a hand over my face and sigh as I tighten the linens of mourning on my wrists and biceps. "I honestly do not know. If The Caster of Shadows gets involved, this could play out on His turf or take place in the backyard of the compound. If The Maker graces us with Her presence She could decide on somewhere else completely, but despite the location there is a good chance I may be required to fight for my mate in what the Ancients refer to as The Promise of Imminent Death.” I smirk. "Loosely translated, of course."
"Sounds like a good time."
I snort. "It will definitely result in what it states, but I'm hoping that things lean in my favor. And no matter what, I need you to stay with Frankie. There is also the possibility that The Destroyer will try to remove her body from this place to irritate His sister further by taking Her physical form to The End in order to prevent the burial ritual and make it that much harder to send her to The After. He has demons specifically in charge of that but they will be no match for your wolf. They are weak and disgusting creatures with but one purpose, so they have little power, they just travel in herds, so there will be many of them."
"No problem. I'll keep your mate safe, keep her right here so that however this plays out, nothing happens to her or her final wishes. You have my word."
