Pretty Spelled by K.A Knight

Atlas

After a long day of helping my brothers and their mates prepare, I gave them directions and the information they required and saw them off. Remi popped out earlier and got them everything we needed to stay in contact. Then they bid us goodbye. My brothers embraced me, and the feeling was so foreign yet familiar that it made my heart crack. I know they are only doing what they think they have to in order to save the world. They don’t want to hurt Lilith. They love her as much as I do, and this must be hurting them too, but as I watched some of them leave earlier, a part of me hoped they wouldn’t find anything.

Now it is just Remi, Khalid, and me. I go and lie down for a while, closing my eyes to center myself and my magic. I let it cycle through me, warming my body as I give it back to the earth and thank it for its power.

The power is strong, having grown over the centuries. My fuckwad parents said that since I was the first they created, I gained the most of their powers. Yet they were still disappointed I could only master the arcane arts and not anything else. Still, I let those thoughts leave my head, emptying my mind of everything but positivity and relaxation. I cannot allow darkness in here, that is how they turn to the dark arts, after all.

Somewhere during the ritual, I must have drifted, because I find myself following the pull of my mate, and when I’m let inside, what I see sends me into a roaring fit of anger.

I watch my mate ride another, her hands splayed on his chest, head tipped back. She wears nothing but a crown of feathers and skulls, and blood covers her chest and face. We are in a temple of some kind, and there are other naked men asleep around her. I want to rip them all to shreds, and I see red. I am barely able to breathe as I go to the dark side.

I try to tell myself it’s not her, that it’s the one possessing her, but it’s her body winding her hips. Her breasts he reaches up and grabs.

Mine!

Her eyes snap open, those black orbs locking on me as she smirks. “Well, hello there, mate.” She rolls her hips harder, making the man groan beneath her, and I fight to get to her, to grab her, but she isn’t real. Just a vision. She tuts and laughs. “Don’t like the show? Neither does your little human. She threw up the first time she watched…when she felt it. She does feel it, you know? I let her.”

“Stop!” I roar. It’s a sound that has stopped armies in their tracks and sent fear into anyone before me, yet it does nothing but make her laugh.

“Never. This body is mine.” She moans throatily. “You will never stop me, Atlas, first born of the gods. I thought you should see what will happen every time you try.” I am flung backwards, my own mate’s cry filling my ears. One word is filled with such embarrassment, desperation, and pain that when I sit up, tears form in my eyes.

Atlas!

I leap to my feet and tear the room apart, driven by my own heartbreak, jealousy, and anger. When it’s destroyed with magic scratch marks on the wall, I drop to the floor and cover my face. It’s my fault…my fault she is trapped in there while her body is being taken against her will, her mind wilting. If I had been stronger, if I had run when she asked me to. If I hadn’t been so prideful and headstrong thinking I knew best, and I stopped trying to protect her and just loved her instead… If I forsook my family and left with my mate, we would be together and she would be alive and okay. She would be in my arms, and she wouldn’t be in pain.

The door opens, and I hear my brothers and Remi there, but I cannot bear to look at them. How can my brothers not blame me? I was supposed to protect her. Me… Yet I failed her. I hear a sigh.

“We were all supposed to protect her, brother,” Khalid offers sadly, and I realise I said it out loud. A moment later, a soft hand touches me, but I recoil with a snarl.

“Don’t touch me,” I snap at Remi, knowing she is only trying to help, but none other than my mate should. I will not hurt her in that way. Remi holds up her hands, those mismatched eyes showing her sympathy.

“Sorry, you’re right, I won’t.” She sits cross-legged before me. “Are you okay? What happened?”

“I saw her,” I grit out. “She let me see her. She was—” I wipe at my face, trying to banish the tears away. Utter agony roars through me, and the sound of moans fills my head again. The sight of my mate’s body… “She was fucking, doing it to hurt me and Wildf—Lilith. You were right, she’s still in there, she screamed for me.” I lift my head and look to Khalid, seeing so much pain on his face. “We have to save her, we have to, brother.”

He kneels too, taking my hand and pressing his head to mine in a warrior’s embrace. “We will, brother, we are gods. Remember that. Gods. This world is ours, not hers. We will save our sister, and we’ll be together again.”

Remi leans into Khalid, adding her promise to the circle as I close my eyes.

“What if we don’t?”

“Believe, Atlas. You have to believe. You have always been the strongest of us, the smartest, the bravest. Use it now. It hurts, you are angry, you’re scared, I know you are, and we are too. But don’t let her win, it’s a mind game. Do not let her taint the memory of Lil. You owe her more than that, so use it. Use the anger, the pain. Use the centuries’ worth of hard-earned power and magic to save your mate. We failed her once, we won’t again, but for it to work, you need to be strong. We need Atlas, first of his name. The warlock who controls time and space. We need him. You need to be our parents’ son. They might have been evil bastards, but they were stronger than any force on this planet…and so are you.” I open my eyes and meet Khalid’s black ones. My brother endured so much at the hands of our parents, and he should hate us for never saving him, even though we didn’t know, yet he forgave and grew stronger because of it.

“I could learn a lot from you, little brother. You turned your suffering into a strength. I never had to,” I murmur.

“To live is to suffer.” He smiles. “But family makes it worth the fight. We are here, every single one of us, for you and for her. No matter how dark this world can be, I have no doubt that love and light will always win. Darkness is easier, but the light is worth it.”

I nod, trying to fight through these overwhelming emotions. I haven’t felt anything for centuries, not since I lost her. Khalid clasps my shoulder. “Get dressed and meet us outside, we will spar it out.”

“You don’t—”

He snorts as he stands. “Remi and I versus you? I might even stand a chance of winning with my mate here.”

“Never,” I retort, and he laughs as he pulls her from the room.

“Be outside in ten minutes. Don’t make me wait, big brother,” he calls as he shuts the door.

* * *

After using my magic to clean up and fix the room, unable to leave it in such a state when I had carefully decorated it over the years, I get dressed and head outside to the large, open backyard where Remi and Khalid are sparring. His mate is in some leggings and a top while he is shirtless. I watch for a moment, noticing she is holding her own. In fact, he’s on the defensive, trying to get past her guard. She’s good, really fast and strong, a perfect match for him. I see him grinning proudly as they fight.

Sparring is an old habit of ours. It’s the way our parents used to train, and they made us spar each day before sunrise to sunset. We did it until the day we left. It was our way of getting our anger out, of spending time together, improving and learning… I guess old habits die hard.

Pulling off my shirt, I step into their line of sight, and they stop and turn to me. “Ready to get your ass kicked, magic man?” Remi taunts, bouncing on her toes.

“He’s never lost.” Khalid grins. “But there is a first time for everything.”

I crack my knuckles and roll my shoulders before parting my legs. “Begin,” I order.

They come at me first. Khalid, as always, is looking for a weakness. As he searches, it distracts him. Remi is more wild, relying on strength and speed. I duck both of their punches and whirl, kicking out Khalid’s legs and throwing Remi. I won’t go easy on her because she is a female. She is strong, and what’s between her legs doesn’t matter here.

It only matters that she can fight.

The fact that she loves my brother, that she has brought him back to us—not just in this century, but in his heart too—is just a plus. He was never the same after what our parents did, but when she’s around, he is different, and for that, I owe her my life and my loyalty. She is a worthy mate.

Remi recovers quicker and leaps at me, so I move out of the way, and she sails past as I engage Khalid. I smash my fist into his face before sweeping out my leg. He hops over it and slices out with his claws, his black eyes narrowed in concentration. He’s right, they could never beat me. Not because they aren’t strong or intelligent enough, but because I was training with father before they were even born.

My father took his hatred and godly powers out on me until I couldn’t walk, stand, or breathe, and then he would make me do it all over again.

“You are pulling your left side still, I would have thought you had learned since you were a boy,” I start, but he laughs.

“It was a trap,” he mutters, and then strikes out, hitting me in the side. I smirk in response.

“Good.” I kick. “But you missed my leg.”

Just then, Remi kicks out both of my legs. I recover and turn, my fist descending, but she grabs it mid-air and twists. Her strength is astounding, but I am still stronger, so I use my arm, flip her until her back is to my front, and choke her.

“Kinky, I like it.” She grins and flips over my head, trying to bring me to the ground, but I release myself, and then the fight is really on. None of us hold back. I let all those thoughts, memories, and emotions run through me. They fuel me, just as my father instructed, until I am moving faster, and they are both backing across the grass to stay on their feet.

“Fuck.” Remi pants. “He’s strong.”

“Yup.” Khalid groans as he narrowly avoids a chop to the neck.

They do manage to get a few shots in, but after being smashed into the ground for the tenth time, they give up, lying there breathless as their broken bones mend, covered in blood. “Holy fucking shit, you are superhuman,” Remi whines.

“I’m a warlock.” I grin as I lean down and proffer her my hand. She accepts it, and I pull her to her feet before offering the same to my brother, who accepts and claps me on the shoulder as he stands. “We are bred differently.”

“Like fucking animals,” Khalid grumbles. “Feel better?”

“I do.” I nod. “Thank you. I needed that. It has been too long since I’ve gotten my aggression out. Not since Russia over a year ago.”

“Ugh, I love Russia.” Remi groans and cracks her neck. “You owe me snacks now, and then we can decide on where to begin hunting your crazy mate.”

“Remi,” Khalid warns, and I grin.

“She has always been crazy, brother, don’t act like she wasn’t,” I tease, and he smiles, even as he spanks his mate in warning.

“That she was. Come on, I’ll feed you both,” he offers as he throws Remi over his shoulder, and side by side, we head to the cottage together.