Page 123 of His Atonement
"Thank you, my brother." I look at my mate, take in her unmatched beauty for what could be my last time then turn to the wolf with a grin. "Now, in the words of the great Sam Jackson in the film my darling girl made me watch more times than I care to admit,hold onto your butt."
A smile tugs at Colt’s lips as he shakes his head. "You're an idiot."
"And yet you love me still."
He shrugs. "Maybe, but guys like us have to stick together, so your bastard ass better make this happen the way it's supposed to so I don't lose you too."
"Why Colt, I do believe you've moved me.” I may have said that with as much sarcasm as I can muster but it is in fact truth, and proves that he is a brother of my useless heart, my BFF indeed.
He rolls his eyes then takes a position of guard over my mate. "Let’s get this show on the road, demon. We've got several episodes of Archer waiting for us when this shit is done."
Here's hoping I actually get to watch them.
I take a deep breath, several steps back and close my eyes. My power surges through me, fills every bit of my body and as I tap into it for the first time in almost a year, I speak my words in the Old Language, the one spoken by very few and understood by even less.
"I, Ueltorrhzan the Harvester, Collector of Blackened Souls, Bringer of Mayhem and Destruction, call upon he who has sired me." My entire body begins to burn, my markings vibrating, each one as well as my eyes turning silver as my power grows. "I, Ueltorrhzan the Harvester, call upon Thologar the Insidious One, Right Hand of The Caster of Shadows, Bringer of Great Plagues, Horseman of Disease and Death. I, Ueltorrhzan, summon Thologar the Insidious One to this place so that I may look upon him now!"
A burst of purple and red flame explodes in the center of the cave, flames that shoot to the ceiling and curl back toward the floor but are thankfully contained because of the sanctity held here.
"You rang?" Thologar grins, his multiple rows of fangs gleaming in the torch light, his massive and grotesque body now standing where his flames snuff out. "It is good to hear my name from your insolent lips once again, my son."
My skin crawls at his words.
I am no son to him.
Son only to Tolan and Ellida, never to this bastard that stands before me now.
He looks around in disgust, cloudy silver eyes narrowed to slits. "Why have you called me to this place?"
"It was time to cash in on our deal,” I growl. "Time to sever our connection once and for all."
Thologar continues his scan of the cave and when his eyes land on Colt standing protectively in front of my mate, that sick fuck smiles wide. "And what do we have here?" He takes a few steps on his twisted legs toward them but stops when the wolf growls, a growl I have never heard from him before. "Ueltorrhzan, you have sweetened the pot. Not only can I sense the purest of souls within you but you have offered one touched by evil as well as…" Thologar looks at Frankie. "By the gods, you offer your deceased mate to The Destroyer?"
Before I can respond, before any more words can be spoken, dozens of Reapers—demons designated to collect physical bodies for The Caster of Shadows—appear, their sickly bodies crouched, little cretins hissing as they inch toward my darling girl.
"No!" My voice booms throughout the cave. "They are not to be touched! They do not fall under your jurisdiction but mine, and they will not be touched!"
Thologar and the Reapers advance further only to be stopped dead in their tracks as several things happen at once.
Colt, my brother wolf, immediately shifts but he is not the wolf I have seen countless times, not the enormous reddish brown beast I've run with through the woods.
No, Colt is something else entirely.
A wolf, yes, but one I have never seen, one larger than his already abnormal size. A wolf that looks feral, rabid, a touch mad, with fangs longer than any I've seen before, claws that appear to be more like daggers, eyes that swirl silver in place of his amber, no pupil evident. And his coat, fuck he is not the dark mahogany he normally is, no the wolf's fur is in fact pure silver, silver and iridescent as it shimmers in the torch light despite how mangy it is.
My brother has definitely been touched by evil, cursed by one of my kind indeed.
And though I have many questions and am barely able to look away, my attention is shifted elsewhere as two separate mini bombs go off in front of us.
One gold, one silver, both exuding so much power the Reapers immediately cower and scurry back against the walls of the cave to take cover.
"Leave them!" The Maker bellows from beneath her golden robes, the black light that shines from the hood and sleeves intensifying briefly before they return to their normal blinding. "The wolf and the human are mine!"
"You speak lies, sister." The Caster of Shadows hisses through his red light that matches her black, the robes of silver barely able to contain it. "The wolf has been cursed, therefore is mine, and as for the human…" He chuckles, the sound comparable to nails on a chalkboard. "She is mine as well, thanks to Ueltorrhzan."
The Maker, though her face is completely hidden, stares directly at me and despite my curiosity to see what I never have before, I avert my eyes.
"Is this true, demon? You offer the body of your mate to my brother, offer her soul and what remains to him?"
