Chapter 5
Rykr’s Home, Earth
Rykr reformed on his patio, cursing. His cock was rock hard, and her scent was still in his fucking lungs. Even now, his fingers ached from fighting the need to drag her into his hold and fly away with her. The entire time he’d been with her, he imagined ripping off her tight pants and laying her out on that rock she loved. The clawing in his body wasn’t half as strong as the need to go to the manor and claim what was his.
He growled and ran a shaking hand over his face as he stalked to the door. Within moments, he was on the leather couch in his living room, his jaw clenched while he waited for his email to load. He needed to see exactly what David had done at Slake.
He gritted his teeth, knowing his need for blood was dangerous because it meant he wasn’t thinking clearly.
Either the male had a death wish, or he was trying to screw with Rykr’s head for some other purpose.
He clicked the button to play the video footage. The clip started when Ophelia arrived beside Lucy. He could see them talking, but there wasn’t any sound. His entire focus was drawn to the sadness lingering in Lucy’s pale-green gaze before Ophelia arrived.
He forced his eyes away from her and studied every inch of screen as his female moved up the stairs. Ophelia and Lucy both stilled before the open door. He narrowed his eyes as they turned and scanned their surroundings. A hellhound bounded to her for a second, but his mate kept looking around. The beast hadn’t been what stopped them from entering.
They’d felt the male’s presence. He’d been there somewhere, watching them, before the hound arrived. Why hadn’t the Hell beast alerted her to a threat instead of nudging to be petted?
They were only inside for a moment before the shadowy figure appeared in front of the camera. The dark-haired male was dressed in all black. His suit made him look like a CEO, not an ex-arms dealer. When he turned to the camera, he made sure to move slowly, allowing his neck to show. Rykr could see the demon mark above his collar.
Fury was a living thing inside Rykr, but he leashed it as much as he could. He shifted, moving closer to the screen as his prey faced it fully. After a few keystrokes, the image magnified. Rykr had studied the man for the entire two years since Niall located that first image of him, or more accurately, the first image of the tattoo. He was thankful as hell for his young cousin’s skills in mixing magic and technology, but even that had only gotten him so far. Rykr had spent the last years digging into David’s entire life, relentlessly talking to everyone who’d ever known him, while Niall searched for clues to where the mystery man had gone into hiding.
This David was different. The eyes were darker, like fucking obsidian. The very first image of him had been taken during the end of the world. Video captured him staggering out of a burning building in New York. The tattoo was on his neck then, but not in all the other footage before that moment. David went on with his business dealings for years until the week Rykr had been cursed. Out of nowhere, the male sold all his assets and turned into a damned ghost.
Until now.
What did he hope to achieve by making contact now? Like this? Did the asshole have any idea who he was taunting? There were too many questions. His father might think the male mated a Kairos, a teleporter, but Rykr didn’t share that belief. He was something else. A mortal body wasn’t capable of sustaining a demon entity, so why did he think that was exactly what he was looking at?
Minutes passed before his father and grandfather stalked through the open balcony doors, their power mixing with the tension in the air. He didn’t glance in their direction. Instead, he studied every detail of the video, hoping something would reveal itself to him.
“Where is the note?” he demanded.
His father handed it to him. “We’re going with you.”
Rykr unfolded the sheet. It was photo paper with an image. A location. He could teleport anywhere using an image. He narrowed his eyes at the black writing scrawled on one side:
Eirykr,
I believe it’s time the two of us met.
D
He scanned the image. It was of a cave with very primitive drawings on the stone walls. Native American, maybe something in South America? And how does he know my full name? Only his immediate, or Guardian, family knew him by his given name. It wasn’t something David would have learned even if some old family member or acquaintance made the male aware that Rykr was searching for him.
“Does this place look familiar to either of you?”
“I would say South America, though I have never seen this specific cave,” his grandfather mused. “We are going with you.”
“No. You’re not.” He stood and faced his grandfather. The Deity’s wings flexed in agitation as they came eye to eye. “I will teleport in first.” He glanced at his father. “I’ll keep my location unblocked so you’ll be able to home in on wherever the hell this is.”
His father and grandfather tensed and power lashed out into the room around them.
“If it’s a trap, I need time to figure it out. You go in with me, and he’ll bolt. I want answers, like why he went to Slake and how he knows my fucking name.” He’d never outed his identity to the world at large. It served his purpose as the one who took out the trash.
“I will go with you and your father will track us both.”
A muscle in his jaw ticked as he glared at his grandfather. “No one goes with me. And no one interrupts that meeting unless I give the word. He’s mine. Wait for my call.”
Hades’s power increased as the Deity growled. “Rykr—”
“I’m far from powerless, Grandfather. Do not destroy this meeting.” He infused his words with meaning. No one would jeopardize his chance at finding answers.
His grandfather bristled, his wings flexing as he and Pothos started to argue, but Rykr wouldn’t budge on this.
After long tense moments, both males eyed him closely. He could feel their need to fight him on this, but he’d never given them any reason to believe he was weak, and he would not have them destroy the only chance he had to find this male.
He was having difficulty reining in his temper enough to add, “If I need help, I will call you in.”
Hades had a habit of doing whatever the fuck he wanted and the Deity was protective as hell of those he loved. The look Rykr gave him brooked no argument. He wouldn’t turn away the backup, because he wasn’t stupid, but he’d proven his skill time and again sparring with both males through the years.
The power flooding the room didn’t dissipate, but there were no other arguments. For the moment. He was aware this could be a trap, and there wasn’t any time to do reconnaissance without potentially scaring David off. The location was set with no time. That meant the male was likely waiting for him now.
His father spoke. “Stay unblocked, and share details the second you get in there.”
Anticipation fired every cell in his body as they headed back out the door. He would finally have his prey.