Kane's Mate (Armageddon Mates) (5 page)

Faith pulled away at the clearing of throats. “So, there is one brother missing. Is Arden hiding somewhere?”

Kane chuckled. “I’m sure he would have been here too, but someone has to work. Although I’m betting he and the rest of them are close by.” He frowned. “Faith, what the hell were you thinking? You know demons focus on the paranormal.”

* * * *

Faith groaned and tried not to get angry. Especially after the vision she had today, she knew that he was just protecting her. She took a deep, calming breath and started to answer him when another vision came at her.

Two young girls in scraggly, ripped clothing. One was about four or five, the other seven or eight. They sat hiding, covering each other’s mouths, tears streaming down their dirty faces. They looked to be in some abandoned warehouse. Faith felt it wasn’t far from where she and her werewolves were. She tried to look around for anything that could give away where they were. The place was filled with boxes, crates, and equipment that Faith didn’t recognize. Then she saw a storage container with
Black’s Boating
written on the side. Faith felt a direction of where they were toward the wharf.

The younger of the two started whimpering. Faith got a strong whiff of sulphur smoke as two demons and some minions came in.

“Come out, come out, wherever you are. We won’t hurt you. Your daddy was a bad boy hiding you two from us because you’re special.”

Faith snapped out of the vision with a feeling of urgency. She was in Kane’s arms, and Rane, Griffen, Devlin, and Jamie surrounded them.

She pushed against Kane’s chest. “We need to go now.” Kane let her go, instantly alert, scanning the area, but as soon as he let her go she started running in the direction she had a feeling the children were. “We need to get there now. Hurry.”

The five werewolves followed. Kane picked her up and ran to where she pointed as he could run faster thanks to being a werewolf.

“I saw a storage container that said Black’s Boating, but they’re too far from the water to be safe.” She couldn’t stop shaking. She was terrified for the little girls, tears streaming down her face.

“Princess, you have to tell us what you saw.”

“Two demons, minions, up ahead. Quick, we have to save the little girls,” she called out.

Kane stopped and put her down, his face grim. “Are you sure it was two demons together? Demons always work alone.”

She nodded. “No mistaking. You need to hurry.”

“Point us in the direction. You go with Jamie.”

“No, no, I can’t. Two little girls need me, I must go. They’re special, like me, and you need Jamie, there’re two demons.”

Kane seemed to silently debate for a second. “You can be two warehouses away, but you will stay back and with Jamie, only come over when he gives the all clear.” He turned to Jamie. “Keep her away from the action, no matter what she says or does. I mean it, Jamie. Now that we’re this close, I really don’t have a good feeling, so stick to her like glue.”

Jamie nodded. They continued on until they reached a section of run-down warehouses. Faith closed her eyes and pointed. All the werewolves took a deep breath.

“Fuck, I think she’s right about there being two demons.”

They ran in the direction she had pointed. Kane stopped and turned back, looking her straight in the eyes. “I mean it, Faith, no rushing in to save the day. Wait ’til Jamie gives the okay.”

She nodded and tucked her arms around herself.

Kane was just out of sight when Jamie said, “You know you don’t have to be with him, Faith.”

She raised her eyebrow at Jamie.

“Just because you’re his true mate doesn’t mean you have to be with him. You’re human.”

Faith winced. She hated it when they said human like it was a dirty word.

“Don’t do that, you know I didn’t mean it that way.”

She looked up into his bright green eyes. “This really isn’t the time to discuss this, but for what it’s worth, Jamie…” She looked up to see about fifteen minions coming toward them. “Fuck. Minions.”

* * * *

Kane and his brothers ran in the direction of the sulphur smoke smell. He tried his best to keep his thoughts off Faith. He knew she was safe with Jamie, he was one of their best fighters, even at his young age. Not only that, she had trained with them since she was six through to her teen years. He had taught her some moves himself, and she even had specially made knives with iced tips. It also helped, he told himself, that he didn’t smell sulphur smoke in her direction.

As they got closer, the brothers spread out to all sides of the building. Kane found the ball lighting rip that was a portal to the demon realm. It looked no bigger than a grapefruit, but Kane knew better as most demons were about ten to sixteen feet with massive muscles. He chanted the closing spell, and Rane came up beside him and put his blade through it to make sure they got all of it.

“My bad feeling is getting worse,” Kane said. “It’s too quiet, and where are the minions?”

Just as he said that, six minions flew from the roof to attack them. The gray pig-like creatures with sharp claws and even sharper teeth, which they used to eat flesh, were only about four and a half feet tall. They were easy to dispose of by ripping or cutting their wings off, chopping their heads off, then pulling out their hearts.

Kane and Rane disposed of the minions easily, too easily, without even half-changing, something didn’t feel right. They rushed inside to see a huge fifteen foot demon and a smaller one, about eleven feet tall. They both had gigantic black horns and huge thorns sticking out of their solid muscle with big, black eyes and bright red skin. The smaller demon had Griffen with both hands while Devlin dealt with his thick, long tail with the arrow-pointed end.

Rane and Kane half-changed which made them grow an extra three feet and bulk up. They became covered in protective fur over their extra-large human bodies.

The larger demon laughed as Rane and Kane showed up, the sound like nails scratching a chalkboard.

“Look who’s come to join us, the great and powerful alpha here to save the day. I have to say I’m surprised you left your pretty little mate unprotected. Ah, Lucifer will be so happy. He has wanted to get his hands on one of the most powerful soothsayers in this century.”

Kane tried not to react or show his surprise at the demon knowing so much, but he must have failed because the demon laughed again and then kicked Griffen out of the other demon’s hands. Griffen flew across the room and hit the wall.

“We have our own soothsayer. She’s not even a tenth of what your little mate is, but it doesn’t matter, after tonight we will have her.”

The demons attacked. As Griffen came up beside Rane, the demons used their horns to ram into them. Kane dodged but still got one in the shoulder. He used his extended claws to rip out the horn and grabbed his knife. It was a lot smaller than what he usually used, but in his rush to find Faith he only had the knife that he’d strapped in his boot. No werewolf went anywhere without an ice knife.

All four werewolves circled the demons. They needed to cut the tail first, as it did the most damage with its easy movement. They attacked together, Devlin and Griffen attacking the tails while Rane climbed on the big one’s back. Kane distracted the demons from the front, focusing on the biggest one so Rane could get the head off. Griffen chopped the tail off and came to help Kane as he was caught in the demon’s muscular, thorn-covered arms. Kane yelled to Griffen to help Devlin, who was struggling by himself with the smaller demon. His howl of pain as the demon cracked all his ribs was cut off as Rane chopped one of the demon’s arms off. Kane fell to the floor. He got up, wincing, going straight for the heart of the demon who was bucking, trying to get Rane off, his remaining hand clawing at him.

Kane growled as he stuck his knife into the demon’s black heart. He pulled it out then used the iced tip of his blade to shatter the heart as it tuned to ice. Kane moved out of the way quickly as the demon’s body fell to the ground. The head rolled past him. Demons could live without a heart for a couple of hours but not their heads.

Kane turned to check on Devlin and Griffen’s progress. He nodded to Rane to help, knowing he needed to get to Faith and Jamie. As he ran in the direction of his princess, he yelled, “I need to get to Faith and Jamie. Rane, you stay and find the girls Faith was talking about, and call for a cleanup crew. Tell Devlin and Griffen to join me.”

Rane nodded and Kane changed into wolf form as it was faster to get to Faith. He prayed to all the gods that he would get there in time.

Chapter 4

Thank God she had been brought up with wolves, because she’d had it drilled into her since she started training with the boys to never leave home without one of your ice knives or blades. Faith reached down to her boot and pulled out her ice knife just as the first minion attacked, biting her arm, its thorny wings cutting her up. She cut the ugly creature’s bat-like wings off and kicked another that was coming at her. She cut heads off and wings. Each time more came at her they bit and scratched her with their wings.

Jamie was surrounded by the rest of them. She screamed as a zombie came out of nowhere and grabbed her hair. She cut off its hand as another grabbed her around the waist. She hated zombies, because they used to be humans, but a demon had sucked the life and soul out of them. She kicked and stabbed its arms. Using its chest, she flipped out of its arms and landed not so well in front of it. Faith cut off its head. Shit, she was out of practice.

Grabbing a minion by the wings, she sliced them off as another bit her legs. Then she smelled sulphur smoke, and she turned in the smell’s direction. Jamie had just killed the last minion and zombie, and his face paled at the sight of the thirteen foot hulking demon charging toward them. Faith felt Kane and knew he wasn’t far.

“I feel Kane, he’s not far, so we have to distract him. Come on, Jamie, snap out of it.”

He growled and nodded, changing to his half-change form that made all werewolves an extra three feet taller. The demon reached them and Jamie pushed her behind him as the horn went through his chest. She heard the rib bones cracking, and without thinking, she ran around and climbed up the demon’s back. She chopped the arrowhead tail off as it embedded in her arm. She screamed when more minions attacked her, trying to pull her off the demon’s back.

Faith climbed further up the demon’s back, using the thorns. She had to concentrate on holding on because her blood was everywhere, making it slippery. She heard the growl just as she reached the thick neck. The demon was bucking, and one of his clawed hands came around to help the minions pull her off. Faith slashed and kicked while trying to hold on for dear life.

She saw Kane pull up to a stop, change to half-change, do a quick assessment of the situation, and go to the front to help Jamie.

The demon yelled, “You will never be safe. I will not die, we want her. She will be ours.”

He tried to fall to the ground to squash Jamie and Kane. She knew Devlin had joined the fight, helping Jamie cut chunks in the demon’s side and killing the minions, which helped Faith concentrate on cutting the head off, but her knife wasn’t big enough. Devlin passed up his long blades. She reached, grabbing them and slicing her hands as she moved them up. The knives weighed a lot more than hers, so she focused all her strength on cutting the demon’s head off. She knew his heart had been ice and it shattered when, using the last of her strength, she hugged his neck, pushing the blade toward herself. The demon tried bucking her off one last time, but it was too late. His head fell to the concrete. As she backflipped to the ground, the demon’s body fell next to her landing spot.

She turned as strong, familiar arms picked her up. Boy, did he look pissed.

“What the fuck were you thinking, Faith, jumping up on a demon’s back? You’re covered in burns from his acid blood, and you’re losing a lot of blood from the deep gashes you have. You’re human.”

She turned her face away from him as tears ran down her cheeks. God, how she hated that word.

“You will heal quickly, but not as fast as us. Shit, the only reason that you survived at all was because when you mated with me you gained healing and strength. I could have lost you. You stupid girl, I can’t ever lose you again.”

She cried, her shoulders shaking as he started to walk with her.

“I love you, princess, and you said you wouldn’t play hero.”

Faith froze in his arms, looked into his eyes. “What did you just say? Do you really mean it? I know you said it earlier but...”

Kane stopped walking and looked at her face. He frowned. “I’m sorry, princess, I’m an arse, but you scared me to death when I saw you on the back of that demon.” He shook his head. “Let’s just say if werewolves could have a heart attack I would have had one. I can’t live without you anymore, I love you.”

Faith didn’t care about the cuts, blood, and bruises. She reached up and pulled his mouth down to hers and kissed him. “I love you too. I will move in and give you a chance.”

He smiled. “Let’s get you cleaned up so I can see if we’ll need to stitch you. The cleanup crew should be at the warehouse.” He took off her bloody and holey singlet top. “Your jeans probably saved your legs from a lot of the burns.”

Faith shut her eyes and leaned into him, breathing in his familiar sent. She snapped her eyes open and yelled, “The little girls!” She looked at Kane. “Who’s looking for the girls?”

“Rane is looking for them.”

She punched him, grimacing as the cuts bled again. “You idiot. I love Rane, but he’s huge and scary as hell.”

Faith jumped out of his arms, wincing as every bruise and cut made themself known, and started jogging in the direction of the warehouse she knew the girls were in. Once there she began to sing
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
out loud, and repeated it.