by Gwen Rivers
I look around and raise my eyebrow. “Here?”
He shakes his head and snags my hand in his. I feel my body coming apart a bit at a time as he shifts us to sparks. Then we are drifting up and up and up into the air, back to the house and in through the open window to my attic room.
We come together, minus any sort of clothing.
“Do you want to get punched in the nose again?” I hiss. “You are courting Garret’s wrath.”
“I’ll risk it.” He pulls me in tighter. “For you, I’ll risk everything.”
His fingers tunnel into my hair and he cups my head, holding me in place while he slowly explores my mouth.
My skin tingles at every point of contact. I touch his body in a sensual exploration. His hands shift lower. I shiver under his touch, goosebumps rising along my arms and legs.
“Cold?” he murmurs.
“It isn’t that. I’m just so aware. Physically, I mean.”
His eyes are burning green flames as he leads me over to the bed. “You know now that I am going to have to take shameless advantage of that admission.”
“Rogue,” I tease.
He laughs. “I love this.”
“What?” I tilt my head.
“Seeing you happy.” The skin around his eyes crinkle. “Maybe even because of me.”
He’s so strong, almost indestructible. He knows who I am, what I can do and yet he admits that vulnerability to me.
But I’ve changed, too. “You definitely have something to do with it.” I frown, trying to put into words what it was like being separated from him for so long. Somewhere along the way I’ve changed for this man. Maybe because of him. I never used to be a person who teased. Who cared.
“I know, Nic. I felt your absence acutely.” He takes my palm, raises it to his lips then places it over his heart. “Every beat is tainted without you.”
With the worlds coming down around our ears and my life in turmoil, there’s nothing to anchor me.
Except for Aiden.
His touch is soft as he sweeps one fingertip over the column of my neck, down through the hollow of my throat. My head falls back, my eyes sliding shut at the contact. This is what I’ve been craving, been yearning for every night. More of this.
More of him. My Aiden.
He takes his time, tracing my collarbone first with his fingers, then with his tongue. “So beautiful,” he murmurs before delivering another light lick.
My fingers tunnel in his midnight hair to hold him close and keep him exactly where he is. For all time. “Make love to me,” I breathe.
He pulls back. “You’re sure?”
I roll my eyes. “It’s not like you’re going to get me more pregnant.”
“That’s not what I mean.” He threads his fingers through mine. “I wanted to wait until you were really ready.”
“I am really ready,” I tell him. “Give me a night to remember, Aiden.”
“The first of many,” he growls.
And then does.
Through the Man’s Eyes
“Why do you have to go already?” Nic asks as he climbs from the bed.
She is beautiful there in the dawn light, the sun’s early rays bathing her white-blonde hair in their glow. The ends are darker, where the dye has grown out. He can’t help but reach out and run his fingers through the spun silk.
“I didn’t mean to wake you. I just heard someone—”
Three quick knocks on the door and then a tentative voice calls through the door. “Nic?”
“Just a second, Sophie.” His mate struggles out from under the sheets and plucks a t-shirt off the ground.
“Find your pants,” she hisses at him.
Aiden glances around, finding the rumpled denim. Nic makes an impatient gesture with her hand, until he is covered.
“You could open the door, you know. She already saw all there was to see.”
She wrinkles her nose as if the thought of her mother beholding his nude body is unthinkable.
The zipper is stuck and he grates, “Half the pack was naked on her property yesterday.”
“So not the point. She’s my mother.” Nic shakes her head. “We’re going to have to agree to disagree about the nudity thing.”
“Just as long as I get to see you unclothed whenever possible.”
The corner of her mouth curls up as if his honest statement pleases her.
“I can come back,” Sophie’s tone is hesitant.
Nic opens the door. “Hey, Sophie. Sorry, I know I owe you an explanation. Do you want to come in?”
“It’s okay Nic. I think…whatever it is that’s going on is a bit outside my comfort zone. So please don’t try to explain.”
Nic squeezes the doorframe so hard her knuckles turn white. “We’re leaving today. And we’ll get the house fixed.”
“Don’t worry yourself, honey.” Sophie shakes her head and then holds out a stack of men’s clothes that smell of her husband. “Those…men are asking for Aiden. I figured he was with you.”
He nods. “Liam is probably ready to go.”
Nic doesn’t speak, her expression inscrutable. His wolf shifts, sensing his mate’s unhappiness.
“We’ll be down in a few minutes. Thank you for the clothing.” Aiden reaches out and takes the offering from Sophie.
After her footsteps retreat, he drops the pile on a nearby stool then moves to wrap his hand around her nape. “What is it?”
She looks up at him, pure torment in her eyes. “I want to go with you.”
His heart hurts. “Nic, you can’t. You have been banished. She’ll sense if you cross the Veil.”
She waves her arm as if he can erase the logic of his words with that single gesture. “I just got you back and I have been doing nothing for what feels like an eternity.”
“You aren’t doing nothing.” He places his palm over the small swell of her belly. It’s hardly noticeable, even to his keen senses. “You’re protecting our child.”
“You’re the protector, not me,” she grumbles.
He pulls her in close and buries his nose in her hair. “You know if we had any other choice I wouldn’t go. The wolves don’t know the Underground Palace the way I do. We’re more likely to succeed if I lead the charge.”
She presses her face into his bare shoulder and mumbles, “I know that.”
What else can he say to reassure her? “It’ll be a quick operation, with Angrboda spearheading the distraction.” They’d gone over the plan the day before. Everyone has a role to play.
“I know that, too.”
“And you know I’m coming back. That I’ll meet you at the farm?” With Agent Hanson’s team being dropped in Underhill, Nic was eager to return to the place she felt the most secure.
“Yes.” She pulls back until she stares up into his eyes. “But Aiden, I’m scared.”
That admission…. He never would have believed the icy girl she’d been when he first met her, the stone-cold killer, would admit to her feelings of helplessness and terror.
He never would have thought she would accept him. Or that he was eager to meet their child.
But first, they had to secure her a place.
“Tell me what you fear.”
She places her hand over his on her abdomen. “Everything that’s coming.”
Because of the child. The danger on both sides of the Veil. Because no matter how much he wants to reassure her, there are things out of his control.
“So am I,” he breathes, pulling her close again. “But we won’t let her win, Nic. We both have too much to fight for. To look forward to. I have a house to build you.”
For a moment she looks as though she wants to say something. But then her eyes close and she nods once. “Okay. The sooner you go, the sooner you’ll come back.”
And really what more is there to say?
He presses his lips to her forehead. “Time to kidnap a werewolf.”
Parting Ways
Angrboda uses her magic to
slip Aiden and the wolves out of the pocket realm and into an in-between. Since she is planning to appear in a different location to draw Underhill’s attention, they will have to cross back over through the Tear.
It’s a sound plan. Yet I can’t seem to shake the worry knotting my gut.
Someone knocks on my bedroom door and Chloe sticks her head in. “You ready to leave?”
No, but I’d promised Garret and Sophie that we would all be out of their hair as soon as possible. Giant contractors have already been called to repair their house and we need to be gone before they arrive.
I worry my lower lip. “Do you really think it’s safe for us to return to the farm?”
She nods. “The mortals are all under Angrboda’s thrall. They won’t reveal anything.”
It had been the giant’s idea to enthrall Agent Hanson and the rest of the FBI. They would serve the creatures beyond the Veil for a year and a day—Underhill time— and be returned after our fight was over.
I swing my feet down and reach for my borrowed shoes. “I’ll be ready in a minute.”
Chloe wrinkles her nose delicately. “It smells like werewolf and nookie in here.”
“Feel free to show yourself out.”
She sighs and then turns to go.
“Chloe?”
“Yeah, babe?”
I hesitate. “Do you think…that is, should you mindwipe them? Sophie and Garret, I mean.”
They’d witnessed a lot. I didn’t want to leave them as a loose end or have anyone come after them for information on us.
Chloe holds my stare. “Do you want me to mindwipe them?”
“No.” Having been mindwiped myself out of my first six years of life, I knew how upsetting the experience could be. “But maybe that’s why I should. To keep them safe.”
She comes back into the room and shuts the door. “Maybe you need to give them the choice. True, they will be safer if they don’t know who you are and what you can do, but I don’t know if that necessarily means they will be more content. You’re their daughter, Nic.”
I nod. “Okay, I’ll be down in a few.”
“Laufey and I will wait in the car.”
I take one final glance around the room. This could have been mine, if things had been different. Somehow, I doubt my life would be on the same path if I’d been raised by kindhearted Sophie and honorable Garret. I wouldn’t be the same person I am now.
Chloe and Addy had encouraged me to kill, to use my gift to make a difference. Here, I would have maybe hurt an innocent by accident, maybe even Tate.
Everything happens for a reason.
I leave the door open and head downstairs. Sophie is at the stove. She is wearing a cream-colored sweater and black leggings. Her hair is tucked up into a messy ponytail that bobs as she moves. “I’m just making you a fried egg sandwich for the road.”
“Thanks,” I say even as my stomach knots. No way can I eat anything, but I’ve discovered that Sophie cooks to ease her own tension and worry as much as to feed the people around her. She’s been practically chained to the stove since the day before.
She turns to look at me, her expression sad. “You don’t need to leave.”
“I do.” I swallow past the lump in my throat. “You don’t know what it’s meant to me that you took us all in. I can never repay you.”
A clomping of boots on the stairs and Garret appears. His goatee is neatly trimmed and he is tucking his plaid shirt into well-worn jeans.
“Is that boy gone?”
I assume he means Aiden so I nod. “He is. Listen, there’s something I want to ask the two of you.”
Garret pours himself a mug of coffee and settles in across the table. “Go ahead.”
“Chloe has a way to erase your memories.”
“Like what the giant did with the FBI?” Sophie’s eyes are round.
“No, that’s a thrall. The person under it won’t remember what they’re doing after it ends. A mindwipe erases memories that have already formed,” I let out a sigh. “It might be safer for all of you if you don’t remember any of this happened.”
“No,” Sophie is already shaking her head. “Absolutely not. I want these memories.”
“Garret?” I turn and face my sire. “How about you?”
“I’d like to forget a lot of things,” he makes a face at the hole in his wall. “This entire living situation has been strange. But I don’t want to erase knowing you, Nic.” He pats my hand.
A lump forms in my throat and I remember the way Garret had decked Aiden, his misplaced gesture to protect my honor
“What about Tate?”
They share a look and I can see the worry for their youngest child in their eyes.
Garret appears uncomfortable. “It might make it easier for him.”
“Once the memories are gone, can they ever come back?” Sophie asks.
I shake my head. “I still remember nothing before my sixth birthday.”
She swallows. “No, then. He deserves to know. He can keep a secret. Besides, who is he going to tell here?”
“Okay.” With nothing else to do, I stand and pick up the paper sack containing our breakfast sandwiches. “Thank you for everything—”
The words are barely past my lips when both of them pull me into a tight embrace.
“You come back anytime,” Sophie whispers. “Whatever you are, whatever you are running from, know you will always have a place with us.”
Garret grunts in a way that I take as agreement.
Tears track down my face. Stupid hormones.
I sniffle and then pull away. “Take care of each other.”
“And I want pictures when that baby is born,” Sophie scolds.
I smile and nod. “Agreed.” I’m not sure how I’ll send pictures from across the Veil, but wouldn’t that be a nice problem to mull over?
Through the Man’s Eyes
They appear in the collapsing tunnel outside the kitchen of the Underground Palace. Aiden, Liam, Owen, Autumn and Gray. All but Aiden and Liam are in wolf form.
Liam’s multihued eyes dance with excitement in the dim light. Aiden doesn’t speak, just inhales and moves down the hallway to the servant’s stairs that lead to the bedchambers.
It is dark in the catacombs, but that isn’t saying much, since direct daylight never strikes the halls. Aiden moves closer to Liam so he can whisper low. “Royal bedchambers are on the top floor. We need to subdue him and get him back down to this location without alerting anyone else.”
Liam nods and gestures for Aiden to lead the way.
The air is thick as though being bogged down by fear and pain. They pass the empty throne room, and Aiden shivers as the Shadow Throne seems to reach out for him. Fickle damn magic in that chair. He never would have believed Fenrir could have taken it.
He pauses and draws to a halt.
“What is it?” Liam asks.
Aiden strides forward. The magic he’s feeling isn’t coming from the Shadow Throne but from the Fire Throne. He frowns. All the magic is coming from the one seat.
“Aiden,” Liam hisses.
Shaking his head, Aiden follows them through the room and to the secret spiral staircase that leads directly to the queen’s chambers.
There are several sentries on the landing, which the wolves dispatch with ease. He and Liam catch the armor-coated bodies before they can hit the ground.
He sucks in a breath as one helmet clatters down the stairs, raising enough of a racket to wake the entire castle. But after several breaths and no one comes to investigate, he knows Angrboda has done her job well.
Then he is at the door, the familiar chamber he’d shared with Nicneven for centuries. The door is solid oak with intricate patterns of air magicked into the wood. He tries the latch, isn’t surprised to find it locked.
He nods to the others and then shifts to sparks, squeezing his form a bit at a time through the keyhole.
Aiden takes stock of the space before reforming to unbolt t
he heavy door. The fire dances in the grate, the covers on the bed are piled high, and soft snores emanate from within the space.
He comes together and unbolts the door. It’s Liam who carries the potion Angrboda concocted to subdue Fenrir. Aiden gestures the wolf forward and takes the potion from him. Maybe this will go smoothly if they can just—
Fenrir’s eyes flash open.
They stare at each other for an endless moment before his half-brother leaps forward, crashing into him. The bottle goes rolling across the moonstone floor. Thankfully, it doesn’t shatter.
Snarls erupt from the human girl’s mouth as she bares her teeth at him. “I’ll rip your throat out.”
She’s strong, stronger than Aiden. But unlike him, Fenrir can’t transform.
Aiden dissolves into embers until Gretchen’s body is face down on the floor. The wolves charge and Liam vaults over them to pin her flat on the floor. She thrashes, swearing and feral.
Aiden recombines and picks up the bottle. “Flip her over. Hold her mouth open.”
Liam does as instructed and Aiden crouches low and tips the contents to Gretchen’s mouth.
She spits some of it out but he dumps the rest in as she sucks in a breath. Liam pinches her nose until she is forced to swallow the liquid.
“How long until it takes effect?” Liam asks as the girl tries to bite his hand.
“I don’t—”
Gretchen falls limp.
“That long,” Aiden smirks and then helps his nephew up.
Liam stares down at her, shaking his head. “Nice to see you again, da.”
Aiden hoists her over his shoulder. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”
The farm looks different. Like something I’ve seen on television before and is somehow less impressive in person. There is no smoke curling from the chimney, no signs of life at the veterinary clinic.
“How are you holding up?” Chloe asks Jedda who is settled in the back seat with a book.
“Fine, your ladyship.”
“I love his manners.” my aunt winks and then pops the door. “Come on. I’m sure all the food in the fridge is bad by now, but I can probably scare us up some veggie chili.”