The run to the nest took hours out of their day. By the time the vultures started circling a city in the distance, the sun was beginning to set. James came to a stop in a small hamlet outside the city, where they had to kill only a handful of Forsaken before claiming a house that was mostly intact.

"We'll set up here for now," he announced. "Does anyone have any problems with that?"

Luna yawned before quickly covering her mouth. "Sorry…"

Amber snickered before moving the worn and broken couch to the edge of the living room. "Bath time!"

"I can't fit them all in here," he argued.

"Three will do fine," she countered. "One for my tail. One for Luna's tail, and one for Zenaria's."

"What about us?" Jamie asked while gesturing at her brother and Linda.

Amber waved them off. "You can have our dirty water."

James sighed and pulled three of the baths out of his storage. "Jamie, you can go first with Mender and Linda. I'll handle the delinquent afterward."

"Hey!" Amber growled. "I'm not a delinquent!"

Ignoring her, he waved the other three forward. "Hurry up. I'm heading upstairs to check on the rooms. We'll likely have to share beds."

Luna ran up the stairs before him, making him chuckle. Zenaria followed her, yawning while pulling out a blanket. It seemed like she was ready for bed, and he didn't know if she was going to get a bath in.

Joining the two ladies, he found them picking out rooms. There were three bedrooms with worn beds and even more worn blankets. Luna claimed the largest and promptly pulled off the blankets to replace them with her own. Stretching her arms above her head, she winked at him before laying on the bed and propping her head up on her hand. "Come join me, Love."

Smiling, he prepared to do just that when Amber barged into the room and grabbed his arm. "You are not keeping us awake with sex!"

Glowering at the nekorian, Luna huffed. "We can do what we want!"

He didn't know why, but their argument made his head spin. Shrugging Amber off himself, he blinked a few times as the dim light seemed to grow brighter. His eyes started to hurt as he stepped out of the room. The hallway shrank in his view as he ran his hand against the wall. Zenaria peeked out of her room and said something he didn't hear.

With staggering steps, he made his way down the stairs and out into the night. The stars shone bright overhead, making him squint as his vision started to swim. Fragments of images flashed through his mind as nausea made him wander away from the home.

Everywhere he looked, he saw images of a man and woman arguing. At first, he caught a glimpse of him shouting at her, and the woman crying. The next moment, she had slapped him and had her back to him. Another instant and they were sitting on a couch together. Image after image jumbled together as he found shelter inside a collapsed garage. The dark interior helped slow his breathing as he clutched his chest. The images didn't slow and slowly became a scene that he was reliving.

He found himself watching from the side as a man no more than eighteen stood before a woman slightly younger than him. They both held power in their souls and as the memory solidified, he found them nicely dressed, in finery befitting royalty.

"What do you mean your father has fallen?" the man demanded.

The woman faced off against him, tears in her eyes and trailing down her cheeks as she clenched her hands into tight fists. "The war is getting worse. Our people are falling one by one."

"How did the lesser mortals gain their power?" he asked. "It doesn't make sense."

Shaking her head, she closed her eyes and new tears dripped from her eyes. "Mother hasn't come back either…I think…"

"No!" he roared. "I refuse to believe they are both dead!"

Snapping her eyes open, she stood, facing him eye to eye. Slowly, the memory grew again and the two Valiants had gray hair and eyes. Their features sharpened, and that's when James touched his own cheek. "We have to go!"

"Go where?" he snapped. Walking to the balcony, the memory changed to the man looking out over a vast city. They were high in the sky, in the tower of what looked like a castle, overlooking what James assumed was the underworld. A massive crystal was melded with the ceiling of a vast cavern that James couldn't see the other side of. Brilliant yellow light shone down over the city, creating a perpetual daytime.

The woman joined him. "We have to go into hiding. That's the only way to survive until we grow stronger."

"We'll never be strong enough," the man muttered.

Spinning on him, the woman grabbed his shirt before slapping him. "Don't you dare say that! Don't you dare! The Pact will fall by our hands!"

Touching his cheek, the man snarled with anger. "When? When is The Pact supposed to fall? We will never reach the strength needed to fight them off. How are we even supposed to get out of the Underworld?"

Clutching his shirt, she rested her face against his chest. "We have to go, Talos. If we don't leave now, we won't be able to get through the rent before our people are finished holding it off."

Closing his eyes, Talos led, who James now knew was his mother, over to the couch. Sitting down, he held her. "Will we ever stop running?"

"No," she whispered. "We have no choice but to leech off the rents on Earth. We'll have to grow stronger on our own."

"We'll do what we must." Resting his forehead against hers, he took a slow breath. "We should go before the crystal dims. With your mother and father gone, it's only a matter of time before they come for us, just like they have the others."

Kissing his cheek, James's mother stood and pulled her husband to his feet. James wasn't sure if they were married yet, or if they ever were. But he liked to believe that they were. He liked to believe that they lived a good life before having him.

The memory faded and bled away into nothingness, leaving James in a dark garage with rubble strewn around him. Outside he could hear people shouting for him and it was only in that moment that he realized he had hidden his soul from the world. An aspect of Soul Control he didn't know he had. Letting it back out, he found it only took a second before Amber was sprinting toward him with Luna right behind her.

"James! James, where are you?" Amber called out.

"Here," he said loud enough for the garage to echo the sound.

Clambering through the broken entrance, Amber pulled herself across the ground until she was practically in his lap. "What happened?"

"Memory," he whispered. "I…I don't know. I heard you and Luna arguing and the next thing I knew everything was swimming and I had to leave."

Holding his head to her chest, she refused to let him go. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

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Luna crawled through the opening a second later. "How is he?"

James gave her a thumbs up. "Tired. I think I'll skip a bath tonight…"

Amber nodded and started pulling him toward the entrance without letting him more than an inch from her body. "We'll tuck you in."

Luna stopped them and pointed to the entrance. "You both won't fit. Go first, and I'll make sure he follows."

Letting him go, Amber crawled through before Luna pushed him forward. There was no need to argue as he crawled through and only had to wait a moment before everyone was waiting for him.

Jamie had wild hair as the wind blew it dry before she could properly care for it. Mender was the same, but Linda looked fine, as if she hadn't made it into the bath yet.

"Are you okay?" Jamie asked softly.

James gave her a tired smile. "Just need some sleep. That's all."

Amber promptly grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the house. Luna joined them, taking his other hand and holding it to her chest. Once they were back in their room, the two ladies forced him into bed and covered him up with promises that they would be back before long.

He barely had time to nod before his thoughts grew muddled and sleep claimed him.

***

Luna closed the bedroom door before resting her back against it. "I thought he was getting better."

Amber rested against the wall. "I did too."

Rubbing her eyes, Luna kept them closed as she fought against her rising emotions. Her mate was hurting mentally and emotionally and there was nothing she could do. There was no magic cure, or Soul Skill that could help him.

"We'll keep an eye on him," Amber whispered. "One of us will be with him at all times, even when we are supposed to be getting stronger."

"Let's talk to the others." Luna greed whole heartedly with Amber, but wanted to make sure the others knew what was going on and if they were okay with watching him.

Leading the way, Luna descended the steps as quietly as she could. The protest of the worn boards and rotten carpet didn't dampen her the way she wanted, and the others were waiting for her.

"Is he asleep?" Jamie asked.

"Yeah." Luna blew out a slow breath and took a seat on the couch. "He was barely able to make it to bed." Turning to Mender, she asked, "wasn't he supposed to be better?"

"I did what I could." Shaking his head, Mender stepped back to look at everyone. "The mind isn't something you can simply heal with magic. I don't know what happened when he absorbed all of those souls. If he did indeed absorb their emotions, then his mind might have cracked. We can only stay by his side and help him through it. He might never be the same."

Luna wiped the tears from her eyes. "What do we do? He's not going to stop fighting and growing stronger. He's determined to destroy this nest."

"We let him." Mender leaned against the wall. "We do things at his pace and we keep our eyes on him at all times. One of us needs to be available to pull him back, or guide him at all times."

"I'll do it," Zenaria said softly.

Luna quickly shook her head. "No, he would want you to get stronger."

Mender cut back in. "Zenaria is right. We all know you are the strongest, Luna, and will need to be even stronger if James continues this path. You will need to level up at the nest, not Zenaria."

Blowing out a slow breath, Luna gave in. "Very well. But we'll only fight for a few hours each day until we know what we are dealing with. We won't venture far from each other either."

"I agree," Amber voiced. "If we need to pull James out, we might all be needed."

Jamie cleared her throat, pulling their attention. "We are going to have to avoid other bunkers. If he finds more of his people…"

Silence descended on the group as they all turned to the stairs. None of them wanted to imagine what would happen if he freed more of his people, especially if they were conscious like the last ones.

"Lets all bathe before bed," Luna said, breaking the silence. "Amber, why don't you go first and hurry up to James. He needs one of us by his side."

The baths were warmed back up and Luna made sure Amber didn't take too long. With her heading up to James, she slipped out of her clothes and sank into the steaming water.

"Are you doing okay?" Jamie asked softly.

Luna raised a brow. "Is that a real question. My husband is in pain and hurting in a way that I can't help with. He doesn't seem to know if he's with me, or Amber anymore, and I'm pretty sure he's one bad dream away from disappearing."

"I'm sorry…"

Zenaria slipped into the bath next to her. "He'll come back to us. I know he will."

Luna forced a smile. "We're his family. We won't leave him."

"None of us will," Mender stated.

Luna didn't bathe for long, and was soon heading to bed with everyone else. When she slipped into her room, she found Amber still awake, waiting for her. The nekorian was holding James's arm to her chest while tears slowly leaked from her eyes.

"Has he been calm?" Luna whispered.

"Yes, for now."

Climbing into the bed on his other side, she held his other arm. Kissing her husband's cheek, she wished Amber goodnight before laying her head on James's chest. He'd be slightly better in the morning. She had to believe that much.

***

James woke with the rising sun. The distant views of oranges and reds on the horizon brightened his bedroom and the two sleeping ladies on his sides. Luna was slightly drooling on his chest, her ears twitching near his chin as he smiled. He knew Amber had to share the bed with them, just like everyone else was sharing beds. At least she was wearing clothes this time.

A small laugh escaped him as he took a deep breath. The familiar scent of death and rot lingered around them, and it only took a moment to wake up the two ladies.

Luna was the first to meet his gaze, her eyes full of love. "Good morning."

Pulling her in for a kiss, he returned her greeting before patting both of the ladies to let him up. "Are we ready to see what this nest looks like?"

Yawning, Luna did her best to nod. "Sure am!"

Amber grumbled something unintelligible from the bed as she laid back down. Laughing at the nekorian felt right as she gave him the finger and pulled the blanket over her head.

Luna didn't hesitate to pull it away from her and pinch the cat's side, making her hiss and jump up. Rolling her eyes, Luna took James's hand and led him from the room. Slowly, the rest of the house stirred and came out of their rooms before collecting in the living room.

Putting the tubs away, water included, James promised himself that he would dump them later. Once they were all together, he clapped his hands. "Today is our first venture into a nest. None of us know what to expect. We will test the very edge of the territory and see what kind of response we get."

"Wait! You're not throwing us in there like sacrifices?" Linda joked.

Narrowing his gaze at her, he listened to the others laugh. "I think Linda just volunteered to see what the nest truly looks like. We'll let you scout the entire city."

Face falling to horror, Linda quickly shook her head. "No thanks!"

"That's what I thought…" Returning his gaze to the others, he rubbed his hands together. "Let's get going. I'm curious what we are going to run into."

Amber cheered and left the room, only to peek back in a second later. Clearing her throat, she said, "let's go, people!"

Zenaria and Jamie jumped up to join her, only for Mender and Linda to follow afterward. Luna stayed behind with James, taking his hand as the house emptied out.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

James rubbed his head. His thoughts were still muddled after the memory from the night before, but he thought it would go away as the day progressed. "I'm okay. I swear the memory was about my parents running away from the Underworld. They were there for the fall of the Valiants."

Luna's brows rose. "How do you have that memory? Did Amber and I trigger it with our arguing?"

Leading her out of the house, he nodded. "I think so, and I honestly don't know why I have the memory. How was my mother able to leave a message for me? How much of an experiment was I, just to keep me safe?"

The others kept a good distance from him as he talked with Luna. The city in the distance would only take an hour to reach at the pace they were going, giving him plenty of time to talk with Luna.

"What did the Underworld look like?" Luna asked.

"A vast cavern…" explaining the small amount of details he had seen didn't build much of a mental picture, but Luna soaked it up all the same.

With a hum, she asked another question, "what do you think we'll find at the nest?"

Thankful for the change of subject from the night before, he shrugged. "It's hard to say. The nest produces monsters before they spread out and claim more land. The monsters shouldn't be anything we can't handle."

Narrowing her eyes, Luna licked her lips. "I hope there is a minotaur."

Laughing, he squeezed her hand. "The first meal we shared. Raw leg with a hefty amount of blood. Yummy."

Giggling, she rested her head on his shoulder. "We've come a long away since we met."

"We have." His smile grew as he thought back on all of the time they had spent together. In all reality, it had only been about half a year since they met. The memories they had made were both filled with pain, sorrow, and plenty of joy.

"James?" Luna asked softly.

"Hmm?" Looking up, he frowned when he realized that they were already at the city. Nearly a whole hour slipped by him as he thought about Luna.

"I hear monsters," Amber announced. "Should we split up?"

Everyone turned to him. Spreading out his soul, he felt thousands of souls ping against his. The city was just as large as the city he had awakened his soul in. In the very center, a mass of dense energy pressed against him.

"There's plenty to kill," he announced. Checking the souls again, he found them to be rather weak, at least for them. "I won't join you today. I'll be on the roof…" Scanning the nearby apartments that made up the edge of the city, he pointed to the tallest that still looked table. "…of that one. I'll have my eye on each of you."

Luna kissed his cheek before walking toward the city. Dropping onto all fours, she transformed into her wolf form and bounded away.

Amber gave him a smile before walking a different direction. One by one, the others split away from him as well, leaving him with Zenaria, who didn't show any signs of leaving.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"I wanted to spend some time with you, dear brother. I won't take no for an answer."

A blossom of joy bloomed in his heart as he nodded. "Let's go. I'll let you clear our building before we reach the roof."

Taking his hand, she led him away.

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