Juniper had crossed her arms, staring unimpressed at Warren and Phoenix bickering.

Her black dress reached her mid thigh, dark glasses similar to the ones Raphael wore hid everything but the raise of her brow.
Raphael was stood close beside her, his side flush against her back. Besides him was Seraphina who was also unamused with her boyfriend.

"But if someone were to get stuck in a portal, they would definitely be cut in half," Warren insisted.

"I'm telling you, I've seen it happen and nobody died."

"But was it a witch that it happened to?" Warren's voice rose as did his passion on the topic.

"What's the fucking difference?"

"Witches can't be killed by portals! Common sense!"

"Are we interrupting?" All of them tensed at the unfamiliar voice. They'd just gotten onto the mainland, having opened the portal to the coordinates both Demetri and Raphael agreed on. It was a small village, close to the Bordoa's land.

All of them turned to see Demi, her mate Onyx stood behind her.

"Hi- uh... no they're just debating... something-" Juniper spoke up quickly while reaching out her hand.

Demi grinned a little, taking the hand while examining the woman. Demi at first glance, honestly seemed like she didn't have much going on upstairs. She appeared lost in her own world but now seeing her in a different setting, Juniper realized how calculating her gaze could become.

Raphael shook her hand as well, Onyx not offering one up as he rest his arm over his mates shoulder.

The berserker gestured to their friends, "This is my second in command Phoenix. His mate Seraphina as well as one of my warriors Warren. Thank you for meeting us here." Raphael's voice was professional and his face emotionless.

"Of course!" Demi chirped, "We want you all to feel comfortable. I heard about your reluctance and all Demon King."

Raphael rubbed the back of his neck while holding Juniper's waist. Demi continued, "I mean my parents gave offer after offer only to be denied. It's a wonder they're so generous."

Demi's words were kind but her face was hard to describe, it wasn't exactly mean per se. But definitely, there was a bite to her voice while sizing up the demons.

Onyx then leaned forward to murmur something in her ear, her demeanor changed immediately, and her shoulders relaxed. Onyx's black eyes cut to the couple after kissing Demi's cheek gently.

"We'll be meeting the others at our pack. It's in the middle from here to the Bordoa's, Demi will be teleporting us all."

Juniper's brows furrowed at the way he worded it. Teleporting? Does he mean just opening a portal?

Raphael rubbed her hip slowly, tucking her into his side protectively as he motioned the others forward. With Seraphina positioned next to her the women were barricaded in by the demon men.

"I need you all to grab hands," Demi silently cringed at the fact that she would be needing to grab another man's hand while Onyx held her other one.

"Think of it as a trust exercise for us," she giggled but definitely cringed very obviously while gingerly linking her finger with Raphael's free hand. Soon enough they were all linked in a circle and the others were visibly confused.

Juniper felt her stomach drop as everything went dark and it felt as if they were jolted forward and then back. Her knees gave out as she let go of both Raphael's and Seraphina's hands. Her mate looped his arm around her stomach to hold her up as his own stomach lurched.

He lifted her up while glancing at the unaffected Demi and Onyx, "A warning next time would be great."

Neither of them said anything as a wolf approached with a baby, Juniper's eyes trained on the infant. She couldn't be older than a few months.

Demi cooed as she was handed over to Onyx, he cradled the child while nodding at the wolf. "Thank you, Levi."

Juniper walked a little closer as Demi motioned for them to follow over to what looked to be a meeting hall. "What's her name?" she asked softly to Demi. Raphael gripped her hand.

"Grayson," Demi smiled while taking their baby slowly. "Would you like to hold her?"

The shadow demon's breath hitched but she nodded quickly, "If that's okay with you."

Demi nodded as well, "Despite the tension, I do still like you Juniper. You seem nice."

Onyx glanced down at his mate with a raised, dark brow. Juniper cradled the young girl with light brown skin and gray eyes, white strands seemed random in her chocolate brown hair.

"Demi doesn't like many people," Onyx spoke to her specifically for the first time as he watched the woman like a hawk with his pup.

The white and brown haired witch smirked, "Her boy is going to be very close to our Gracie, handsome. We have no choice but to get along."

Both Raphael, who had been observing his pretty mate with a baby, and Juniper snapped their gaze up. As well as Onyx who was equally surprised.

"H-How did you-"

Demi cut Juniper off, "The butterflies told me about the prophecy and whatnot. And that your son would be a frequent flyer in our pack to see our daughter."

The witch pointed up around her as if to prove the butterflies were there but everyone around her saw nothing. But Grayson did coo loudly, grabbing at the empty air.

"The... uh- the butterflies?"

Onyx pinched the bridge of his nose, "Ya know I wish you'd tell me when they talk to you and shit."

"Stop being grumpy," Demi pouted at the love of her life.

Juniper pressed her back to Raphael who ducked his head down, "Butterflies?" he questioned lowly.

Juniper quickly shrugged to tell him she was equally confused but the two looked down at baby grabbing at her collar.

"She is gorgeous," the shadow demon whispered to her mate.

Raphael hummed in agreement, "You look good with a baby, baby."

"It definitely makes my hormones go crazy."

"Soon," he kissed her neck as he brushed the hair out of the baby's eyes. Juniper might as well open her legs now because her ovaries were crying for her mate at this point.

When the meeting house came into full view, "Here we are. My parents are right over there, Onyx and I will be sitting in but don't worry we won't bother you."

Demi reached for Grayson and Juniper waved goodbye to the little one just as Raphael lead her over to where they could see Elora and Demetri waiting.

"We're glad you made it in time!" Elora's boisterous voice carried over the grass. Phoenix took the initiative of introducing himself and the others once they got there.

The older couple was friendly, inviting them to all sit inside where a round table was. Rounding up the back of the group, Juniper clutched her mates hand.

"You're sure you're okay?" she asked quietly while standing on her toes to whisper. Raphael's hardened gaze softened before kissing her lightly, Juniper continued before he could respond.

"I don't want you to feel uncomfortable or like you have to do this. I know you don't like help and I trust you enough to take care of me and the baby on your own. I just want you to know that."

Brushing her blue hair behind her ear, he pecked her nose.

"I know, Juniper. I don't care about getting help anymore, with how much shit going on lately it's stupid to go into anything without allies anymore. It'll be good for us and it'll be good for berserkers too, I haven't been a good leader as far as I'm concerned. I'm doing this for our boy," he cupped her face and brushed his thumb under her eye.

They glanced at the door open for them.

"Okay, I love you," she kissed his palm. He repeated the reassurance back to her before leading her in to begin this discussion.

Demetri nodded for Raphael to sit across from him, "Onyx's pack members except for some warriors doing patrol have been moved to my territory for the day. We wanted to make this as even as possible to prove this isn't us trying to fuck with you."
Raphael had already noticed.

Only a dozen warriors were on the premise, he could smell them and hear them from a mile away.

Still, he nodded, "I appreciate that.'
The demon king spoke up again, "I want to know why exactly the Legion is interested in a partnership and why if The Order of Elements has gotten on your radar- they aren't blown off the map already."

The question rang in the air, they'd all been wondering it.

If the Legion was as powerful as they said, why did they need new alliances at all?

Especially to take on someone only considered a mere annoyance like The Order. The only reason Raphael hasn't wiped them out is that he doesn't even consider them a big enough threat to send his warriors out to. A nuisance, like he's said.

"The only demons we currently have an alliance with are the hounds," Elora admitted.

"The Legion is looking to do what the original council did not and that is to unify with a truly democratic process for the supernaturals. It's highly unlikely to ever fully happen but we are always game for trying. We've been at it a few decades now, we're not stopping anytime soon," Elora shrugged.

"We can't do that while big leaders like yourself are estranged. The Order however has become a bigger threat than expected without you keeping them in check while you searched for the coven. The followers that the coven gained were recruited by The Order, they turned their focus on us to gain more followers. Anyone with any semblance of power was coaxed into the group under the guise that The Order would take out the Legion."

Demetri continued seamlessly for his mate, "We figured do two for the price of one while approaching you. We knew we needed your knowledge of the group as well as your support down the line."

Elora hummed with a smirk, "Double whammy." She clapped her hands together loudly for emphasis.

Only Demi in the corner giggled wildly at her mother's joking.

Raphael leaned back in his chair, rubbing his stubbly jaw. He smirked slowly, his other hand rubbing over Juniper's thigh.

"You need my help," Raphael laughed huskily. "I mean I knew you needed insight but you have no fucking clue anything about them huh?"

The Bordoa's both glanced at one another.

"We... have no current leads, yes."

Juniper could feel Raphael getting a kick out of this through their bond. He was a smug bastard.

The demon king leaned forward, resting his forearms on the table. Before doing this, he dragged her legs into his lap. Juniper dragged her nails over his back soothingly as Phoenix shifted besides her.

"The main douchebag we're lookin' for is berserker. That's why he's always trying his luck at the island."

The only one that didn't look surprised was Phoenix, who obviously knew.

"Why the fuck is a Berserker going at you? As far as we've seen while traveling they're all pretty god damn loyal to you."

Raphael shrugged while grunting, "Ah, some new cat on the block. Last year he sprouted up trying to meet me about you assholes actually."

Once again he chuckled, "Somethin' about our species being number one again. Starting a resistance and wreaking havoc. Take all the basic ass, villain monologue phrases you can think of and that's him. Names Sebastian Aldine. I was a dick, of course. Told him he was crazy, wasting his and my time."

Raphael sighed, glancing over at his mate.
"Honestly, if I would've just talked him off the ledge we might not be sitting here right now. But it was before my Juniper," he reached and grazed his fingers over her cheek tenderly. Juniper cradled his hand.

"Some of the things I did before her... they don't make much sense anymore."

"I hear that, brother," Demetrius scratched his chin thoughtfully.

Elora patted his cheek, "What else do you know?" she cut straight to the chase.

Raphael dove deeper into what he knew about the Order.

~

writing this was interesting bc i have three main couples from three different books colliding and i didn't want to take away from Raph and Juni but also like...

i want to convey what they're feeling ya know? like big fish in a big pond if that makes sense lmao the moment itself is bigger than them so i'm not too mad about this chapter

i enjoyed writing for my og couples and Gracie i plan to add a bonus chapter to Onyx once this book is wrapped up for anyone interested:))

hope u enjoyed👀 we'll see how the book concludes hehe also i'll be making an announcement today on my profile look out for it :)