I’d obtained the horrific truth after touching the platinum-haired Angel, who had a direct link to his master. I wondered if Atlas—the Dark Lord of All Angels—had felt his vessel’s agonizing death through the connection.

Atlas’ legion had one urgent mission: hunt me down and ship me to him, so he could harvest my power to resurrect himself.

In the Angel war two decades ago, even after the High Prince’s Sky Power and his Fey mate’s Earth Magic had shattered Atlas’ essence and ripped his immense power off him, the ex-ruler of the universe had survived, though not in one piece. A fragment of his power had wandered above Earth’s atmosphere and found the Dark Lord’s new bloodline. That power had targeted me, embedding itself into the fetus growing in my mother’s belly before Atlas had vanished.

And now he wanted it back. He wanted the entity of darkness I’d caged at the bottom of an ice lake deep within me. Though it was locked away, it had become part of me.

If Atlas took it back, I would die.

He wouldn’t give a damn about that. His army was more than desperate to help restore him. They wanted to reclaim the universe. They wanted to be the conquerors every species feared and worshipped. Their High Prince, who was now the most powerful Angel, didn’t have the ambition to rule the cosmos. All he wanted was to be with his Fey mate in her Twilight Realm on Earth.

I was supposed to be the first lamb on the altar; my blood and magic would return my grandfather to his lost glory.

He discreetly dispatched his scouts to hunt me down, for fear of alarming the High Prince. But now that he’d seen me through the link, he wouldn’t hesitate to send a legion after me.

They would come through the portal, endless streams of them. How soon would the first fleet reach Earth?

If High Prince Seth learned about this, he’d come out of the Twilight Realm to kill me before his father could harvest my dark soul to fuel his power. It was better to die at my uncle’s hands than be drained by my grandfather.

I would strike a deal with the High Prince before I went down. His mate owed my mother a life debt, and I knew she would pay it back.

Hadn’t I said if I had to go down, I would go down in style?

I could leave behind a legacy as the girl who prevented the ultimate evil from returning—not that I cared much about my legacy, but this planet also belonged to my pack.

So I’d stick to my decision to go to Mysth, where I had a better chance to fend off Atlas. I needed to hurry before the legion managed to get to me first.

I’d seen the Dark Lord as he’d seen me. If he became complete and gathered all of his essence, he would be as powerful as before, if not more. He would blanket the universe with his foul darkness.

Cold washed over me, and it wasn’t because I was naked.

My teeth clattered violently as I went to fetch my clothing. 

Ares reached me while I trembled so hard I couldn’t get a foot into my panties. He went down on one knee, placed me on his lap, and helped me pull up my undergarment.

Lucas leapt from Ignis and landed near me. Rage and worry distorted his boyishly handsome face. He rushed toward me. Ares could touch me, but the shifter would end up dead.

Lucas fetched my cloak.

“Don’t touch me!” I cried, a bit harsher than I intended.

He froze, hurt flashing through his warm, brown eyes.

“I won’t touch you,” he said. “I’ll only cover you.”

Ares cut Lucas a glare and yanked my cloak from his hand.

“My skin is bad for you,” I told the shifter in a shivering voice, but he didn’t buy it as he looked at me then at Ares.

“The prince will have to wash the toxins off his hands,” I said. “I don’t want you or anyone else to be contaminated.”

“I wouldn’t mind,” Lucas said softly.

“I don’t want to harm you,” I said.

“Return to Ignis and stay on guard, Lucas,” Ares ordered in a hard tone as he moved my hand into my cloak’s sleeves and tied it around me. “The Angels might return with greater numbers.”

Looking dejected, Lucas mounted Ignis.

As soon as I was fully dressed, Ares rose, pulled me up, and crashed me against his chest so tightly I could barely breathe. Somehow, his solid warmth and scent solaced me. I grabbed the front of his coat and clung to him, afraid darkness would suck me into its hole and transport me to the most evil being if I let go of the Dragonian warrior.

Ares had been in the grip of rage, but now he trembled in fear. “I almost lost you, Freyja,” he said in a ragged breath. I’d never seen him so vulnerable.

If he’d been two seconds late, the Angels would have gotten me. They’d have carried my corpse to Atlas.

I sniffed against his shoulder, grateful at my narrow escape. “Thank you.”

“I won’t let them have you,” he said fiercely, his hand in my tangled flaming hair, trying to smoothen it. “I won’t let them near you again. I won’t let anyone harm you.”

He’d heard Eye-patch’s threat.

My immortal enemies would hunt me to the end of the universe, and no mortal army on Earth could fight off the Angel horde. 

But Ares’ vow stopped me from shivering.

“The horde will come for me,” I said.

“I’ll cut all of them down!” Ares snarled. 

“You’re better off leaving me here,” I said. “I won’t blame you.”

“Never,” he said. “Never leave you.”

“What about your witch?” I asked, suddenly remembering the noblewoman. “Where is she?”

Ares gave me a withering look, despite that a moment ago he’d been fiercely protective and almost tender toward me.

“Look at this Angel, Ares,” Einarr called from a few yards away.

Oh, crap!

In my distraught, I’d totally forgotten about the Angel that I’d burned to death. I should have turned him around and laid him face down before I’d left his corpse. It was too late now to cover the Angel’s gray, cracked skin.

Ares turned his head and fixed his eyes on the Angel’s body. Two trails of smoke wafted from the Angel’s blackened eye. It was creepy.

I untangled myself from Ares’ hold and followed him to the Angel’s side, staring down at the corpse and trying to think of a good explanation for the phenomenon.

“He died just like—” Ares stopped and looked at me, his puzzled expression turning grim, then unreadable.

He’d seen the same features on the Dragonian and the human raiders whom I’d killed in the forest on our first day together. He hadn’t registered how strange it was that I’d perched atop an Angel, completely naked and clutching the alien’s face in my hands when he’d rushed to my rescue. He hadn’t cared about the Angel’s screams of agony until now.

The prince’s eyes drifted to my gloved hands.

He was piecing everything together. And this time, I couldn’t credit the kill to Goddess Rhea.

“Freyja,” he started.

I stared back at him blankly, holding an angelblade.

Before I could back myself to the stone wall, Ventus, Glacies, and Mettalum returned with roars, wind, and flapping wings.

“We lost the Angel,” Ventus cursed.

“Let’s move out before he brings more of his kind,” Ares ordered.

Strangely, no one in the market place seemed to realize there had been a raging battle around. It was as if the alley was a dead zone.