The Darkest Surrender

He was king of the freaking world, man.

Defeat got his moan on.

Strider forced himself to end the kiss and rolled to his side. Kaia tried to crawl up his body, tried to finish what they’d started, but a tight grip on her waist locked her at his side. Sex, yeah, they’d go again, but apparently they had to get a few things straight first.

“You are not Kaia the Disappointment. Do you hear me? That’s what I was trying to tell you earlier. You are Kaia the Mighty. How many Harpies out there do you think could have brought down the most badass Lord of the Underworld? The same Lord who also happens to be the strongest, sexiest and smartest. And by the way, in case there’s any doubt, I’m describing me.”

“I know.” Tears leaked from her eyes and onto his chest, so hot they left little welts on his skin. “Only me?”

“That’s right. Only you. Now, challenge me to stay with you.”

She arched like a bow against him, taut fury making her stiff. “No!”

“Kaia—”

“No. I won’t do it. I don’t care what you say. You have to stay of your own free will. Not because you don’t want to be struck with that god-awful pain from your demon.”

He didn’t want her afraid he’d leave her at any moment, though. “Do it and I’ll give you another orgasm.”

Slowly she relaxed. “Well…”

Her cell phone beeped, startling them both. Then his cell phone beeped. One they could have ignored. But both? Something had happened. They jolted up in unison.

“I bet the competition is over. My gods, my sisters. How could I have forgotten about them?” She scrambled to her discarded clothing and rifled through her shorts pockets.

He found his cell and they popped the screens at the same time. She gasped. He grunted. Then they peered over at each other, silent.

“Tell me your news first,” he said.

“They won.” She sounded dazed and unsure. “They won first place this round. They’re injured, but alive and healing. They also managed to disqualify the Skyhawks. Meaning we’re now on equal footing with my mother.”

“That’s great.” He frowned when he saw the new flood of tears tracking down her cheeks. “Right?”

“Right.” A firm nod. “My family is alive and they brought home the victory we needed. I’m so happy I could burst.”

“But?”

Her shoulders sagged. “But they did it without me,” she whispered, clearly agonized. “I didn’t help. They don’t need me. I’m a hindrance. They lose when I help, but win when I don’t.”

His chest constricted. “Baby doll, just because they won without you doesn’t mean you’re a hindrance. That just means they were better prepared this go-round.”

Silent, she dressed. He sighed and joined her, tugging on his own clothing.

“Sabin and the angels found Rhea,” he said, even though she hadn’t asked. “Or rather, they found where the goddess was supposed to be. She left in a hurry, they think, and she left days, maybe even weeks ago. Her clothes were thrown all over the place, there were white feathers on the floor and dust on everything.”

“Feathers. Galen?”

He nodded. “Sabin said there are no tracks, so it’ll be impossible to hunt either one of them from here. They must have flashed somewhere.”

“But…why host one of the competitions here if she couldn’t watch?”

“Maybe her absence was unexpected. Maybe she’d planned to be here, but something stopped her.”

“And the Hunters?”

“Maybe she issued orders to kill you before she took off, or maybe someone else was leading them.”

Kaia straightened, peered at him, head tilting to the side as she pondered. “There’s only one person I know who hates me enough to—” She frowned. She’d taken two steps toward him but now stopped abruptly and looked down at her feet. “I’m stuck. Strider, I’m stuck!”

He tried to move toward her—but couldn’t. Just like hers, his feet were glued in place. He, too, looked down and frowned. The cave floor was…thinning? Yes, that’s exactly what it was doing. Thinning, losing its rigidity, turning to…mist.

In a desperate bid to hold on to his woman, he reached out. Just before contact, they fell in unison, whooshing down…down…

Down.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

KANE AWOKE SLOWLY, THOUGH he gave no indication the synapses in his brain were kinda, maybe firing again. He’d gone to sleep in pain, drugged, and sadly, that had happened many times before in the past few…days? Weeks? He’d trained himself to come out of a stupor and take stock before moving a muscle or uttering a word.

He ached like a boxer who’d just lost the big match after going eighteen rounds. Though many of his injuries had already begun to heal, the deepest of them still etched his name in the May Not Recover book of regrets. And wouldn’t you know? His demon loved it, every bit of it, giggling inside his head, soaking up the effects of the catastrophe—then and now.

Kane had a beefy guard on each arm, holding him up, dragging him down a long, winding cave that smelled of sulfur and decay, human feces and acrid fear. He tried not to gag. He knew the scents well, his demon having cohabited with them for centuries.

There was also a guard in front of him and five behind him. None of them gave any sign they knew he’d awoken.

As he planned an escape—picturing angels swooping in (not gonna happen), his friends busting through caves walls (again, a no-go) and him turning green and hulking (only in his dreams)—fury flash flooded him. He wouldn’t have to do anything. In the end, his demon would destroy these humans. Disaster lived for moments such as this. And if Kane died in the process, so what?

He remembered the explosion, remembered William being wheeled away from him and tossed into a different vehicle. William. Was the immortal alive? Being tortured? Probably. The fury intensified. These men would pay. No matter what.

You hear me, Disaster? They need to pay.

The giggling became a gleeful laugh that razed the entire circumference of his skull.

Wait for my signal. None of the guards had any idea about the devastation they were soon to face. And they wouldn’t. Until it was too late.

When his leader, Sabin, took off to battle Hunters, Kane was often left behind. Too many little disasters ruined their efforts, even sabotaged them. But sometimes…sometimes Kane was sent in alone. When that happened, no one walked away.

“—too heavy,” one of the guards was panting. “Let’s just leave him here.”

“Can’t. Doctor’s orders. We transport him to the gate, or we don’t come back.”

“I’m sweating like a pig.”

“You are a pig. BBQ much, you fat bastard? The walk is doing your tub of lard body some good.”

“Eat shit and die, asshole. I have a glandular condition.”

“I’m with Duane. He sweats any more,” someone else said, “and he’s liable to burst a vessel or something. He won’t make it back, gate or not.”

The temperature was a bit uncomfortable, the humidity so thick you practically needed a knife to cut through it. They were clearly hauling him deeper into the earth, closing in on the gate to… hell? But how would Hunters know how to do that? Why would they do that? That wasn’t