Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 75457 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75457 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Glancing around, I notice a female ravager a few seats down. She’s hot in a “I’ll cut your balls off if you offend me” kind of way. Her hair is in war braids, but she’s got a great pair of tits plumped up in a tight leather vest.
She appraises me, her teeth sunk into her lower lip, before nodding at the empty stool beside her. I’m ready for that type of invitation. I grab the newly poured beer and turn to move but come to a dead stop when I see Carrick standing there.
His gaze moves over me, his lip curling in disgust. “What in the fuck have you been doing?”
“Fighting,” I reply, and then nod over his shoulder. He turns to see the ravager watching us both. “Going to be fucking soon.”
Carrick glances at the fae and then back to me. “I think Zora might be in trouble.”
My stomach tightens upon hearing her name, but I ignore it. Pushing past my brother, I say, “Don’t give two fucks.”
His hand latches onto my arm—the one with the cut—and I wince against the pain. But I don’t pull loose because something in his eyes causes me to go still.
“Her dogs appeared in our house,” he says, his hand falling away.
I frown. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, they just appeared. One minute, not there, the next, there.”
“Are they okay?” It’s not that my concern is only for the dogs, but their condition will determine my next questions.
“They seem fine. Freaked out, but fine. I immediately went to Zora’s house, and she’s not there.”
Unease prickles my skin, but there could be an easy explanation. “She probably had to do something and merely wanted you to watch them.”
Carrick cocks an eyebrow at me, and yeah… that’s stupid. Zora would never do that without explanation.
“I thought she might be with you,” Carrick says, watching me carefully for my reaction.
“I can assure you she’s not, nor will she ever be, so don’t make me the first one you come to when you’re worried about Zora.”
He blinks in surprise at my bitterness before his face hardens. “Seriously?”
I stare back at him resolutely.
“Fine,” Carrick snarls. “Finley and I will find her ourselves.”
My brother vanishes and I’m left with a blessed moment of no hard feelings. He’s gone. Zora’s gone. I vanquished my opponent and I’m going to get laid very soon.
But then fear creeps in that something bad has happened to Zora. She’d have never dumped her dogs with someone if it weren’t dire.
And if Zora dies, so goes the god who governs life and death. It could throw the universe into chaos. I should probably help Carrick and Finley… for the safety of the world.
“Fuck,” I mutter, my eyes cutting only briefly to the ravager who licks her lips. I don’t even offer her an apologetic look, sliding my beer onto the bar top and bending distance to the California cliff-side house.
When I arrive, I find Carrick and Finley, their heads bent toward each other in serious discussion. They turn my way, but I’m knocked aside as Uorsin and Mattia charge at me. Their nails clack on the hardwood floors and their barks sound relieved. Next to Zora, I’m their favorite, and it’s clear they’re distressed.
I squat, bringing both of the mutts into me.
“Eww.” Finley grimaces in disdain. “You’re getting blood all over my floor and the dogs, Maddox.”
My arm is still freely bleeding, and sure enough, the white patches on the dogs are smeared with red. While I prefer hot showers to clean up, I pull on my magic instead, knitting wounds closed, cleaning up my blood from me, the dogs, and the floor, and changing clothes.
“When did they arrive?” I ask as I resume stroking them.
Carrick looks to Finley for clarification. “Fifteen, twenty minutes ago?”
“About that,” she replies, pacing back and forth with a fretful expression.
“Nothing amiss at her house?”
Carrick shakes his head. “I went to see the Council after. They didn’t appear.”
Dread fills me. “What?”
“They weren’t there.”
“But… they’re always there.” I rise from my squat position and stare blankly out the window. The gods always appear at the gazebo when a demigod approaches. Scrubbing at the back of my neck, I turn to Carrick. “I’m going to see Amell. Maybe he knows something.”
“We’re going with you,” Finley says, and I don’t bother arguing with her. It’s faster if we just go.
We appear on the Bridge of Judgment but thankfully don’t have to search long for Amell. We’re led by a Dark Fae straight to his room where he’s in a meeting with the leaders of the Underworld cities.
He stands from his chair, his posture bracing for potential bad news, likely based on the expression on my face.
“Zora’s missing,” I say.
Amell curses and sweeps a hand to the table where the other fae sit. “Ariman’s gone. We were just discussing it.”