Page 90 of The Aether

Damian did the unthinkable. He broke their ceremonial circle by jumping up and rushing toward the trapdoor. A second explosion knocked him off his feet, followed immediately by two more.

The whole goddamned building was going to collapse!

Scrambling for purchase, he dropped through the floor opening and ran for the underground passages his team had created, praying to the Goddess they were still there. The entire time, he shouted Sabrina’s name.

A hand reached out of the smoke cloud and dragged him against the wall. The action triggered his fight mode, and he raised his arms to strike.

“Dethridge! It’s me. Calm the fuck down.”

“Creed? Where are the others? My daughter?”

“On the other side of the wall.”

As Damian prepared to run, Creed stepped in his path. “You’re not going anywhere near there until you chill out. I’m not an empath, andIcan feel your worry.” Dark brows clashing together, he voiced his concern. “You can’t make him any stronger than he is, Aether. We both know that. No matter what is going on with your family on the other side, you need to rein it in, man.”

Creed was right. Damian knew that, but still, the struggle was real. Any parent would lose their fucking mind if they thought their daughter was at the bottom of a cave-in, and he was no different.

“How bad is the collapse? Has the building come down?” he demanded.

“That’s just the thing. Other than the wall closing off and the ground shaking, everything seems to be intact. Think about it. You and I wouldn’t be standing here if the building had fallen.”

As the significance of Creed’s words sank in, Damian allowed the truth to override his pressing need to get to Sabrina.“She prevented the cave-in!”

“I think so.” Creed nodded, and his shoulders dropped marginally, as if he no longer needed to be on the defensive. “You good, Aether?”

“Yes. I’m good. Let’s get on the other side of that bloody wall.” Once again, he turned to go, but his clearer head prevailed. “Find whoever is left on this side and shore up the building, Caldwell. If Sabrina is holding all this at bay, everyone still faces danger until we can put magical supports in place.”

“How do I do that?”

“Test the structure as if you were building a home from scratch.” He sighed, seeing the confusion written on Creed’s visage. “I can see you’ve never done that. Where the hell do you live?”

“I can hide better in a crowded city.”

“I see.” And Damian did. As a loner shunned by the witch community for a perceived injustice, Creed would avoid them in return, choosing to spend his life either among mortals or on the outskirts of the world, where no one else existed. Perhaps both. He’d have had no need to build a home like Damian’s estate. “Fintan and Mack are in the maintenance flat. They’ll know what is needed.”

“I’m on it.”

“I’ve no doubt.” As Creed shifted to leave, Damian called his name. “Thank you for what you just did for me. I won’t forget it.”

With a nod, he left.

Inhaling and exhaling a deep, cleansing breath, Damian charged for the tunnel. There, he discovered Narissa and Jordan discussing their options.

“Give me your power, Siren,” he told her.

The couple’s brows shot comically high.

“Pardon the phrasing of that particular request. Please, Ms. Sullivan, will you loan your power to mine to get through the collapsed wall?”

“You can’t do it yourself?”

“Yes and no. I could, but it would require all my concentration. This way, you’re doing the concentrating, and I’m immediately prepared for what happens on the other side.”

“So the correct way to phrase that would be, ‘Narissa, I’m going to merge my magic with yours so you can create an opening. Be prepared when it snaps back and you’re once again a weak woman as I step over the stones to get to my daughter.’”

With a wry smile, he nodded at her. “Something like that.”

“Let’s get to work, sugar.”

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