Tell Me
Cayden
“Cayden?” Mom was standing in her bedroom, holding Izzy, who was shaking in her arms. Lilith was bouncing on her shoulder, screeching about earthquacks. I was still disoriented and barely registered the room’s mild shaking. Once the portal behind me vanished, the shaking slowed, but something in this realm shifted when Lex sent everyone home.
“Mom,” I found her eyes in the otherwise blurry room. No other words came to me, but I didn’t need to speak for her to know something horrible had happened. This was not a message I knew how to give. Anthony or Tobias delivered bad news. She is the one who calmed me down when things got hard. This role reversal was daunting.
“Tell me.” I couldn’t wrap my head around what went so wrong so quickly to come up with an explanation. We had everything in our corner. Disarmed their guards before they knew what happened. Had them surrounded from every angle. People on the inside. More power, more strength. With everything we had faced before, this should have been an easy win. “W-what happened? W-w-here is everyone?”
“They used everything we threw at them against us.” AJ stumbled into the room with Derick a few feet behind him. Mom placed Izzy and Lilith in the crib and ran over to hug them. “It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
“What do you mean?”
“He means we got our asses handed to us.” That was a slight embellishment, but not as much as I would have liked.
“Derick,” AJ hissed, giving him a dirty look. “We were doing fine. Or seemed like it until they suddenly were stronger and faster. The army grew instead of shrinking.”
“I think they took our power to use against us.” The words that came to mind finally formed a full sentence.
“Where’s Tobias? Oriana? Ivan? Steven? Richard? Lex? Did you find Kassie?” she rambled off all the names, counting on her fingers. When she got to Anthony’s, she couldn’t bring herself to ask, or she was happy enough knowing he was alive. If he weren’t, she wouldn’t be standing, and her mark would dull to the tattooed outlines.
“We found her, but lost her again.” I should have jumped on her when she took off to help the dragons.
“I think Lex was looking for her. Tobias told him to get everyone out that he could. There were some protests, but Lex opened the portals for everyone and didn’t give people a choice. I’m assuming they got back.” AJ rubbed his face, trying to get rid of his headache. “Aren’t they here?”
“Dad and Cayden here threw us through a portal.” Derick looked at a loss, terrified of what that meant. “So I didn’t really see much.”
“Then Richard threw me through another one Lex opened. It was meant for both of us, but he refused to leave without Anthony.” I pulled myself together and got up to hug her. Every part of her was shaking with her power. We needed to make sure she held onto that as much as she could. To untangle this, we needed that firepower intact.
“What does that mean?” I didn’t have the answer she needed to feel better. Her knees buckled under her, assuming the worst. Even if it sent her spiraling, I needed to tell her the truth. It was the only way we could come up with a plan.
“Mom, the last time I saw Anthony, he jumped through one of King Caelum’s portals to save Tobias from getting pulled into it. Right after, the kingdom began to freeze, and we had no choice but to retreat. I saw Ivan, Oriana, and the other dragons get out. The warriors, too.” I couldn’t shake what Richard said. About how he wasn’t needed, but I was. If he only knew how much he taught me over the years. How I thought of him as my best friend these days. Should he be gone, I would never get to tell him that.
"Everyone else retreated? They are all out of that realm?”
“No,” I brushed her tears away from her cheeks, back into her hair. “I don’t think so.”
“Just tell me, Cayden!” She grabbed my forearms and shook me, panting. I pulled her against me, hoping it would center her.
“Tobias and Steven kept fighting and got caught up in the enchantment.” I felt her tears against my chest as she processed the unimaginable. “But frozen doesn’t mean dead. You know that. Gideon and Rysan’s kingdoms both came back.”
“It is what started this bullshit.” AJ kicked at a pillow on the floor. “We should have thrown the kings back into Tartarus and left the rest of them frozen. Let Kassie choose her mate.”
“I’m sure she will anyhow. It’s Kassie.” Derick didn’t look nearly as upset as everyone else. He was pushing down the feeling so far that he forgot he was supposed to feel anything. Wonder where he learned that?
“Where is Anthony?” She forced me to look at her. “Why won’t you tell me where he is!?”
“After he went through the portal, I didn’t see him again.”
“Neither did we.” AJ’s eyes started to tear up, and he ripped at his hair. The same method his father used to force himself to focus.
“And that’s why the freezing enchantment started. If it is triggered by the king leaving, the portal might have led somewhere outside the realm.” Putting that together made me feel even worse. That meant it was likely Anthony was in another realm. One we might know nothing about.
“But that doesn’t mean Dad left. We don’t know how these portals work, Mom.” I’m unsure whether AJ’s words made everything better or worse.
“Watch them for me.” She looked back at the crib, moving away from me. “I-I need to go.”
“Wait, we need to talk about this. Get some information about everything.”
“Anthony is missing. My pup and my beta froze. Richard’s status is unknown, and Kassie is in some unknown location!” I felt her power filling the room, and there was no one here who had any chance of helping her contain it. “And where the fuck is everyone else that left!?”
“I assumed Lex sent everyone here. Maybe some to Gideon’s realm? I don’t know how much control he has over it.” Derick scratched the back of his neck.
“Where did you two end up?” Both of them looked at their feet to avoid answering my question. When Mom pressed them, AJ caved. “The locker room shower.”
“At least you didn’t land practically in the toilet.” I bit the inside of my cheek to stop from laughing. By accident or not, Lex would love that story.
“I mind-linked Roman and Nova. They are starting a palace search.” I forgot that the two of them were running things around here.
“I-I’m going to go help.” AJ would have some explaining to do to his mate, so I told Derick to help with the search and decided it would be best for me to go with Mom to talk to Penny and Ivy.
Ivy
“Issac, you don’t need gloves. Just wash your hands.” It was round two of diaper changes for the evening, and I was surprised he didn’t pull out a hazmat suit.
“I would rather have the gloves and wash my hands.”
“Then at least you don’t need to change gloves between each of them. One set is fine.” The pup was trying so hard to do everything right while pup-sitting the male portion of the terror triplets. His care was charming, but it slowed everything down. No matter what Violet or I said, we couldn’t convince him that there was no chance of poop cross-contamination. In fact, I don’t even know what that means, and I have changed a lot of diapers, including his and Violet’s at the same time.
‘Maybe poop cross-contamination solidified their mate-bond.’ If shit carried a piece of my soul, it would explain how I got Richard.
‘That is the least romantic mate theory I have ever heard.’ I gave my wolf a horrified look.
‘One, my mate is perfect. Two, I think they are adorable together.’ She was right. They truly were. Violet was busy reading the journal out loud while Issac was formulating the perfect way to change a diaper. Match made in heaven. ‘I think you mean the Underworld.’
‘Whatever.’
“Can’t be too careful with the future alpha-king.” He paused, looking between them. “Which one will it be?”
“Not sure if they’ve figured that out yet or what the protocol is.”
“Technically, it is whoever is born first.”
“I think that was Izzy.” Violet closed the journal and rubbed her face.
“Then we have a future luna-queen, and her brothers can be part of her inner circle.” Based on their personalities, it made much more sense for her to take the lead.
“That will be interesting.” Issac lifted Asher, who had fully changed and was in fresh pajamas. “Would you like to inspect my work? I’m open to feedback.”
“As long as shit doesn’t leak out the edges, you did it perfectly.” I ruffled his hair, and Val walked into the room with Cayden. Penny was close behind them, looking panicked. They had not updated her yet on whatever they had to say.
“Aunt Val?” Violet dropped the journal, and tears ran down her cheeks. No one needed words when Val had that look on her face. “W-where is Dad? Derick?”
“Val?” Penny walked around and held my hand, and I wanted to pull it away. This had to be her telling me my son was dead, because I would have died right along with Richard from the vampire mark he left on me once Violet got into the double digits. “Please tell me he’s okay.”
“Derick is okay. He is helping Roman and Nova search the palace.” I started breathing again.
“Searching the palace?” Penny squeezed my hand tighter. “For what?”
“We lost the fight. Lex portalled everyone home, and it seems they materialized in random locations across the palace. Maybe even across the realm. We still don’t know where Oriana and Ivan are, but I know they got out,” Cayden used Val as a shield, looking like a pup coming home after he made a horrible mistake.
“Alright. We can help.” Issac had put Asher and Garret in the crib, closing the top. “Where do we start?”
“Maybe help make the calls, Issac? To the different kingdoms to keep an eye out? The search is already on here. A few warriors were found around the training grounds.” Cayden was an expert at keeping his son busy.
“Sure. Can do.” He pulled out his phone and dialed a number, but paused when Penny asked, “What else, Cayden?”
“The enchantment that froze the kingdoms went into effect. Steven and Tobias didn’t get out. When I last saw Richard, he had not yet succumbed to the spell, but he likely has by now.” My daughter rushed over, clinging to me like she did when she was a shy little pup.
“We will break it, and they will be fine. If anything, they are safer there than anywhere else.” Penny kissed my cheek after hugging me with one arm. “The enchantment not only freezes them but protects them from harm.”
“Why didn’t Richard come back with you, Cayden? What kept him there?” Val’s stoic face broke when I asked, and tears poured down her face.
“He refused to leave without Anthony.” I accepted a long time ago that if Anthony and Richard walked into a situation, they either walked out together or not at all. Their loyalty would be the death of them both.
“Was he not frozen with everyone else?” It was one of those questions I knew was stupid, but hoped I was wrong about the answer.
“Anthony fell through one of King Caelum’s portals, and didn’t come out anywhere nearby.” Cayden wrapped his arms around Val while she suppressed her anguish.
“Then we’d all better stop standing around.” Penny clapped her hands and swallowed her tears. “Because if these assholes think taking the guys out of this fight changes anything, they do not know the ladies they are fucking with.”
“Damn right they don’t.” With my encouragement, Val pulled herself together and turned the pain into anger.
“It’s time we showed them.” Val slammed her hand into the nearby wall. “Cause I’m done being fucked with.”
“Should I still make the calls?” Issac held up his phone.
“Please. Let everyone know we have a meeting in an hour. Penny, we should talk to Kayla. Let everyone there know what happened.” I hadn’t visited the fae realm yet, and it was long overdue.
We all pretended to understand what was in front of us. Actioned on practiced plans that didn’t apply to this situation, all while I could only think of one thing. The fae had a habit of kidnapping, but if King Caelum had Anthony somewhere, he would regret it for a hundred reasons before he could process what they were.
