Jonah
His aura is magnificent, and it ripples with energy not from this realm but from the underworld in which he has spent most of his time caged in Hades’s prison world along with the rest of the Octavian bloodline. I learned over the years the Moon Goddess realm is for the Lycans, but then it got me thinking if one realm existed, how many more do?
Then I discovered Hades and his part in all this, about the Octavian curse, Lycan’s go to the Moon Goddess realm. The vessels appear in some fountains for Lycan pairing and their bonds in the Moon Goddess realm, too. However, the Octavian bloodline goes to Hades’s world and only he can control the Octavian descendant’s destiny, twisting and bending the rules of the fates.
Still, the vessel counterpart of the Octavian bloodline is to spend eternity trapped by the curse in the underworld, something that makes little sense to me. It is one thing to punish Kaif, but every living member of the Octavian bloodline is also held prisoner after death. Hades’s own relation. In a sense, you might as well say Hades is punishing himself.
Kyan hates the idea of his father being trapped in the land of Hades never to find peace; he struggles with that most.
And then there is Kaif. Only let out every twelve generations to remind him what it is like to love and lose that love on repeat for his crimes.
I have visited that realm once, and I have never felt colder. That is the day Kaif killed me, and by some miracle, Kyan was able to return me to the world of the living. All I remember of it is that it is dark and cold. That was when we formed the blood bond. It was the only way to ensure Kaif wouldn’t kill me again. That was how I became his guardian.
“Oh, I just came here to warn him,” I tell Kaif.
“Warn him of what?” Kaif asks curiously.
Kyan’s chest is torn open, slashes so deep and bleeding. His skin is deathly pale as Kaif keeps him from the brink of death, healing him just enough to keep them alive, while also blocking the pain from me. I know because I can feel the pull, the one urging me to intervene, but I ignored it all night, and I plan to continue to ignore it.
“You’re not the only monster to rule this earth, Kaif. There are more,” I tell him, and his eyes glint at the challenge, but it isn’t for him. No, this challenge belongs to Kyan. He messed with our girl, and now he will pay the consequences.
“I am listening, but you and I both know there is no one stronger on this earth than this dweeb,” he says, motioning to his own body, talking of Kyan. “Only me, of course, but I am enticed by who you think would dare challenge a demi-god of death?”
“Not about winning, but he will realize sometimes blood is thicker than water and Marabella has a lot of blood willing to fight for her,” I tell him.
“You know why I had to do it, Jonah,” Kyan shoves forward to say.
“Nope, nothing justifies what you did, and you will learn from that mistake, Kyan. Assuming Kaif can keep his head and also keep his hands to himself to make sure you receive the punishment you deserve,” I tell them both. Kyan’s eyes flicker, and Kyan smiles sadistically, but I know it is Kaif.
“I had no choice. She can’t be with us,” Kyan urges.
“No, she can’t be with you,” Kaif snarls back at his words. What a head fuck it is watching them talk to each other through one body. He looks insane and to an outsider, he definitely would be classed as clinically insane, but I know two beasts live in that one vessel.
“I won’t intervene. Is that all you came here for?” Kaif asks me as I smile and walk toward him when suddenly Kaif lets go of control.
Kyan gasps, doubling over and clutching his knees, trying to catch his breath. He stands up, panting, and I can see he is in terrible pain, but so be it.
“Jonah,” Kyan chokes out as he stands upright to face me, his words cut off when my fist connects with his face, and I clutch his throat; he grips my wrist but tries nothing.
“One and only chance, Kyan. You won’t be fighting back tomorrow,” I warn him, then punch him again. As Kaif refuses to heal him, his eye instantly swells shut, and I see black. I punch him repeatedly until his face is swollen. My anger swells when he doesn’t fight back.
I want him to. I want him to give me more reasons to keep hitting him but he just takes it, and I know it is because he feels guilty. He knows he deserves it and is sickened by his own actions even though he knows he never would have gone through with it. He would have pulled the shadows back at the last second.
“Fight back, Kyan,” I growl through gritted teeth, but he just puts his hands up, taking it before eventually collapsing on the ground with me on top of him. He gasps, spitting blood onto the floor.
“Are you done?” he coughs. And I nod before his fist connects with my jaw.
“That’s for kissing my mate in front of me!” he snarls when suddenly, Kaif forces control.
“Our mate, you can’t be trusted no more,” Kaif tells him, gripping my face.
I struggle against him, but his grip is too firm when he sinks his teeth into my neck. Kyan yells through the blood bond when he lets me go, and I stagger backward, stunned, and trip over my own feet. “Bro, I love you and all, but I ain’t in love with you, that was fucked,” I spit at Kaif, and he laughs, stepping closer, and I swat his hand away.
“You try to kiss or mate me fucker, and I will break your face,” Kaif laughs, and I can feel Kyan’s fury through both bonds, yet it doesn’t feel like a normal mate bond, more one of acceptance not sexual like I worried about.
“Not all mate bonds are sexual. You are both straight and neither like the dick, no mating happening and no love other than brotherly, un-donutted love,” Kaif explains.
“Undonutted?” I ask. Kaif brings his pointer and thumb together, making a circle and pushing his pointer finger on the other hand through the hole, and I scrunch up my face.
“No, donutting,” Kaif says. Yeesh, thank god because if it swings that way… Sorry, Kyan, but you definitely have to take one for the team and be the bottom.
“You fucking idiot, what have you done?” Kyan roars.
“What I had to, now let’s see you resist her when he can’t,” Kaif snarls at him.