Chapter 581: Restlessness

Mason took Chinua and his people about halfway to the goblin city. But his patience was fraying like old rope.

Walking at the pace of a civilian was like pretending to be in slow motion, and he’d been doing it for two days. Civilians only got slower in a dark tunnel, and his urge to move at full speed was getting impossible to ignore. He just couldn’t stand it another minute.

“My allies will bring you the rest of the way,” he said, putting a hand on Chinua’s shoulder. “I’ll get the goblin king preparing. And I have some things I need to take care of.”

He’d expected some protest, but the man just looked in his eyes and nodded.

“We’ll see you soon. Thank you for bringing us here. For everything.”

Mason nodded and was about to take off, but decided he should at least tell the man his immediate plans. This wasn’t just charity or altruism. Though of course it was a part. He hadn’t actually

explained

his intentions. It wasn’t like they had a lot of time.

“There’s a teleporter in the mountain,” he said. “We’ll send your civilians to Nassau. But I’m here for Jeong, Chinua. Not just you. This has gone on long enough.”

The man’s stone-face didn’t budge. He watched Mason’s eyes for several seconds before he spoke.

“Here for him meaning…what, exactly?”

“I’m going to kill him. Unless he steps down and surrenders.”

Chinua didn’t quite scoff. But it was fair to say he didn’t look enthusiastic.

“He has thousands of players. A city. He’d spill every drop of his people’s blood before he allowed you to take him.”

“Maybe. But it’s not like it was in the old world. They can’t stop me. He’ll have to fight eventually.”

“So you’ll what?” Chinua’s voice was surprisingly emotional. “Kill all his players, one by one until he’s the only one left?”

“I don’t think most’ll fight. They’ll wait and see, figuring I have at least a fifty per cent chance, and if I win…”

“Of course they’ll fight,” Chinua snapped, then lowered his voice and made sure no one was listening before he exhaled. “He has their family. Their friends. From the old world or the new. Anything you have, anything you love, he’ll use against you. Don’t you understand? They’re prisoners. They’re slaves.”

Mason said nothing and tried to think. He knew this, he wasn’t naive. Though maybe he didn’t accept how

bad

it would be. He’d assumed connections were rare from old earth, but of course people had

new

connections to exploit, too.

“It’ll only get worse,” he said eventually. “If I wait. So you tell me how I stop him with less blood if I don’t do this now.”

Chinua shook his head, staring into the gloom of the tunnels as they walked.

“You’re bringing your players. And you want mine, too. In case we’re needed.”

Mason said nothing, and the old soldier sighed.

“I tried to take more people. They wouldn’t come. They were more afraid of the game and whatever was outside the city. They preferred to do nothing, to accept the rule of a tyrant.”

“After what I’ve seen in this game, I don’t blame them,” Mason said. “Back when we started this thing, I might have. But I understand them better now. Not everyone is like you and me, Chinua. That’s why it’s our job to protect them.”

“Not mine,” he snapped, meeting Mason’s eyes again. “I

already

gave them the chance. My people have fought and died every day since we left, while those people cowered behind city walls. And now I should send my brave soldiers to fight and die for them? No. It isn’t justice.”

Mason nodded, finally understanding. The man felt betrayed. He blamed and maybe hated the people in that city for everything his ‘rebels’ had endured.

At the end of the day, he didn’t need the man. Not for this. He’d saved them because he could, and because humanity would need them for the ‘doom’. Not for fighting the emperor.

“Take the night and rest,” he said. “We’ll get your people rooms and hot food and water. We aren’t going instantly.”

Chinua gave him a ‘it won’t matter how much rest’ sort of glare, but he let it go. He dropped back and was about to explain to Demi, but she waved him ahead with a silent grin. He kissed her hand, then bolted, running up the side of the tunnel as he raced by everyone.

He was halfway before he remembered he could message Haley in a ‘safe’ place. The thing looked pretty much like a computer chat screen, so he started mentally texting as he ran, asking her if everything was alright.

[You used the chat! I’m so proud. Everything good. You’re back already?]

He grinned and said yes, and that he was on his way to his special ‘kings only’ room to wash off a few day’s worth of demonic battle. A small delay, and then:

[Should I meet you there?]

It was tempting. Beyond tempting. But he knew Haley didn’t handle his shapeshifting and transformations nearly as well as she pretended. She was afraid of violence, but it wasn’t that. In fact, no matter what she

said

, it usually got her going. It was his changing that bothered her. When he became something…else.

But he knew she needed him. That the past couple days had been extremely hard on her, and what she really wanted was a moment alone in his arms for comfort. He waited until he was nearly at the room, then typed back.

[Meet me in five minutes.]

**

Mason used his Blessing of Gaia and washed away the changes in his body, watching the magic leak down the goblin shower drain. He took deep breaths and breathed in the heat, feeling himself again in a few minutes. Feeling human.

He had plenty of time to finish before Haley arrived, but he took it slow. When the door finally creaked, and he heard the familiar sound of her footsteps, and breathed in her scent, he closed his eyes and grinned.

Her shoes and then clothes started hitting the floor. Then she was scurrying across the room barefoot. He turned and pretended to just notice her, scanning her from head to glorious toe.

Sometimes he could hardly believe this woman was his. Despite all the beautiful girls he’d been with since the start of the great game, Haley still turned him on with just a glance.

It wasn’t just her body—though she looked like a swimsuit model, or maybe a porn star. It was that ever-present mischief in her eyes. That secret look that told him she had dirty little plans for both of them, and all he had to do was wait.

With Haley, sex was always on the table. But with just a brief look in her blue eyes, he knew what she really wanted in that moment was to be close to him, to be held. He put out his arms, and she threw herself into the shower and slapped against his chest.

“We’re fine now,” he said, pulling her body against his. “They’re all gone. We’re safe.”

She wrapped her arms around him and squeezed as he kissed her forehead and stroked her hair. She melted into him, eventually sobbing as the water ran and he just kept holding on. Sometimes a woman just needed a good cry.

When she’d stopped and sighed, she leaned her head back and looked like everything was fine again.

“We buried the civilian girls. Had our own funeral. You didn’t really know them, so I figured you wouldn’t want to speak and pretend. But we thought maybe you and the players would want to do something with Jason. The goblins have actual cold storage. He’s in there.”

Mason nodded, still stroking her hair.

“You’re being awfully sweet,” she said, fighting a crack in her voice as she kept trying to pretend everything was fine. He knew it wasn’t.

“Was it terrible? The attack I mean?”

She nodded and tried to roll her eyes, fighting another sob. He pulled her in again.

“One of the girls was only nineteen,” she said. “I didn’t know her very well. But she seemed sweet and so full of life. And now she’s gone. Just like that.”

Everything he could think to say was for men. For soldiers.

‘People die sometimes’. ‘It’s a dangerous world.’ ‘We move on and keep living.’ Every now and then he was made painfully aware he wasn’t exactly a ladies man, and had almost no experience with women before the great game. But he

did

know Haley.

“There was nothing you could have done. It was my job. And the other players. You did everything right.”

She went back to crying, and he knew he relied on her too much. Asked for too much. She shared all his stress and pressure and had the added weight of having to watch him go out to God knew what, knowing if he failed she’d be left to pick up the pieces.

“I’m so glad I have you,” he said, meaning it more than he could say. “I don’t know how I’d do this. We’re in it together. That’s how I’ve always felt.”

Haley nodded against him, then met his eyes and smiled.

“You make me stronger,” she said, kissing his chin. “I know if it all falls apart, I still have you. You’ll know what to do.”

The way she was looking up into his eyes with such intensity, with such devotion, and love…it was intoxicating. Overwhelming. He kissed her lips and pushed her against the shower wall, the softness of her breasts against his chest suddenly like lightning down his body.

His hard on was pressed up against her stomach like an iron rod, and she grinned against his mouth as she wrapped a hand around his shaft.

“What’s this?” she said, the usual devious sparkle back in her eyes. He cleared his throat.

“Don’t worry about it. Feels wrong. Fucking a woman who was just crying.”

Haley laughed and kissed him again, their tongues locking as she moaned and stroked him. He had little enough willpower around women. But with Haley it was non-existent.

“Even if that’s what she desperately wants?” she said, still staring up at him.

He groaned and kissed her, gripping her amazing ass in both hands, sliding one down between her legs from behind.

“I belong to you,” she whispered against his mouth. He felt her wetness and sucked in a breath, sliding a finger inside her as she moaned. “Take me to the bed and make love to me? Please?”

He lifted her up, helping her wrap her legs around his waist as he carried her towards the bed without a word.