“Well.” She tried to lean back. “There’s no call to get fresh.”
Had she said fresh? Cute. Very cute. He tightened his hold, keeping her exactly where she’d put herself. “All right. Now you can tell me again. Go over every word, every movement, everything you thought or felt.”
She rolled her eyes, along with her hips. “Fine.”
Was she flirting with him? He narrowed his gaze. An impish smile played on her mouth. For the first time since discovering a Kurjan had talked with her, his muscles loosened from rock hard to just tense. “Missy,” he murmured.
Pretty color flowed into her face. “All right.” She went over the entire encounter again, stressing Dayne’s insistence that he wouldn’t hurt her and just wanted peace. And that she thought his child appeared precocious.
Ivar listened intently, trying to figure out Dayne’s plan. There was something missing, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. Even so, he ran through the entire episode in his head. The Kurjan wouldn’t have been able to get her out of the building, not if he’d tried to drag her up into the ducts. So what? He’d tried to sow discontent? Set it up so she felt safe speaking to him again if there was an opportunity? Wait a minute. “If he didn’t hurt you, and you weren’t scared, why did you call for help? For me?” Ivar asked.
She slid her hands over his shoulders. “Well, you said he’s a bad guy, and I decided to trust you. Not him.” Her eyes were clear and her expression earnest.
His mouth opened and then shut. Warmth infused him, all through his bonded torso, sliding around what should be his heart. She’d trusted him. Even when not in danger, talking to a guy who’d tried to charm her with a picture of his child, she’d yelled for Ivar.
Loudly.
“I like her,” Benny whispered to Ronan. “A whole shitload of a lot.”
Ivar grinned. Yeah. He liked her too.
They reached the campground, relatively sure they hadn’t been followed. He helped her out of the vehicle so Ronan could camouflage it beneath the trees and then took her hand and led her to a cabin closer to the river than theirs.
“Where are we going?” she asked, stepping gingerly over upturned roots and still damp weeds.
He’d thought to get her flowers or something after their night together, but then he’d had another idea. One he’d had Grace and Faith work out for him. He led her to the cabin and opened the door, flicking on the light. “Benny will bring in all of your file boxes and notebooks from your office.”
She walked inside, her gasp one of pure delight. Five whiteboards were stacked against the side wall, in front of a wide table. New markers and thick erasers were lined up neatly on the table next to pens, yellow legal pads, and a stapler. “Oh, Ivar,” she murmured.
Most women made that sound at being given diamonds. Or property. Not her. No. Markers and whiteboards made joy roll off her like heat.
She turned and jumped for him, her lips smashing against his. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.” She held him tight. “I love it. This is the best.” She dropped back to the floor and turned to grab a marker, running to the nearest board and quickly drafting a problem that held a hint of Einstein in it. “I’ve been thinking.” She kept scribbling. “We need to get Adare and then Mercy in here as soon as possible. I want to teleport—and I need to interview them. As much as I can.”
He wanted to start slow, to keep her from experiencing any pain. “All right, but first, let’s eat something and get some sleep. We can work tomorrow.” And maybe he wanted to protect himself. To let himself live for a short period with her, enjoying everything about her. But that wouldn’t do.
There wasn’t time.
He cleared his throat. “Promise? Did Dayne say where his kid was?” He wasn’t sure why he asked the question.
“No.” She kept her gaze on the board. “Just said he was visiting family. Does that mean something?”
Ivar rubbed a bruise across his wrist. “I’m not sure.” Probably not. So why was his neck tight?
Chapter Twenty-Three
Hope Kayrs-Kyllwood finished tucking her dress in the backpack along with Libby’s. They’d changed into jeans and sweaters after telling their parents they were going to walk around the subdivision in their party dresses like princesses. Nobody would suspect a princess of riding her bike to town.
Paxton shook his head, leaning back against the pine tree. “We can’t do this. Your parents will kill us. Or at least, my dad will kill me.” He didn’t sound like he was kidding. Not even a little.
They were beside the shoreline of the lake, and Hope tugged her bike away from the stairs. “All we hafta do is walk the bikes to the boat launch, and we can ride to town from there.” The small town was only a couple of miles away, and she knew the patrol schedules, so it should be easy to avoid the guards.
Pax grabbed his bigger bike, already following her with Libby next to him. “We have missiles, land mines, and a bunch of other stuff that protect headquarters. You’re gonna get us blown up.”
She snorted. “We’re gonna stay right off the road on the trail, Pax. Geez.” Yeah, there were probably land mines there too, but they weren’t armed. It was too dangerous. Somebody had to flip a switch in the main control room, and nobody was gonna flip a switch without lots of warning or an attack. Why did Pax worry so much?
Vampire and demon headquarters were located about a mile apart on a very cool lake in Idaho, and she went in the opposite direction from both. If any patrolling soldiers saw them, they’d be stopped.
Good thing no one expected them to ride to town by themselves. She was almost eight years old, and everyone still thought she was a baby. For today, that was a good thing.
So long as they didn’t get caught.
They kept their heads down and slid between trees until they hit the trail alongside the road. She felt tough as she jumped on her bike and started riding, letting the fall breeze behind her push her along. Libby scouted up ahead, as usual, unable to ride slowly. Pax stayed right behind Hope, his worry smelling like lemons in the fall.
Why didn’t he understand?
Hope’s mama and daddy had met in a dreamworld, and one day they’d saved everybody. Then they got mated and had Hope. While she never wanted to mate anybody—like, gross—she wanted to be Drake’s friend, and they met often in a dreamworld. The dreamworld was there for a reason, and not just to hold a special green book that she knew was hers, somehow. It was her job and Drake’s job to find peace for the Realm and the Kurjans. That mattered. It was why she was a prophet. Well, probably. Maybe it was just one of the reasons.
The trail slanted down, and she could ride faster. The wind burst through her hair, and she laughed, having fun. It felt good to sneak to town. That was probably bad.
They entered town along the lakeside, away from traffic, and rode to the park in the middle. It had swing sets, teeter-totters, and a whole wooden jungle gym. She ditched her bike and climbed the stairs, using the rope. This was where she had told Drake to meet her.
She got to the top, which was covered by a thatched roof and should be safe for her friend. A building with an overhang for bathrooms and picnic stuff bridged the space to the parking lot, so she knew he’d be safe from the sun if he came that way. She gulped in air and looked around. Tunnels, yellow and big, spread out in both directions, going to slides and other climbing areas. Had he gotten confused?
Libby leaped on top of the nearest one and perched there just like a cat. How did she do that? Paxton, his bluish silver eyes dark, leaned against a railing and glared. When he got cranky, there was no talking him out of it. “We should go,” he muttered, the wind lifting his black hair.
“Hi.” Drake pushed himself out of the nearest yellow tube and stood. He dusted off his jeans. His black hair was long and straight, and his eyes were even greener than in the dreamworld. His face was paler too. He stayed safely out of the sun.
He took her hand, shaking gently with his much larger one. His skin was cool but not cold like she’d expected. “Are you going to get in trouble for being here?” he asked, his eyes almost a human green except for the thick gold band around the green part.
“Only if we get caught.” She tried to sound brave. In the dreamworlds, she hadn’t noticed the gold band or the light strands of red through his black hair. Barely there, but they were super neat. “What about you?”
He nodded, his eyes widening. “Yeah. I was with family on a farm, an actual farm, and I borrowed a truck.”
She gasped. “You drove?”
He shrugged. “I just moved the seat closer to the steering wheel. I’m eight now, you know. And I’m tall.”
Way tall. Even taller than Libby. Hope looked at Pax. “That’s Pax—he’s gonna be nine—and that’s Libby. She just turned eight.” She pointed to the feline shifter.
Libby waved, her eyes wide, her face so pale her freckles stood out. Pax just lifted his head and didn’t change his face. He sure didn’t smile. Instead, he kind of looked like every mad vampire Hope had ever seen. “They’re not sure about this,” Hope said.
“Me either,” Drake said. “We could get in so much trouble.”
Pax edged closer. “This much sun doesn’t bother you?”
Drake stayed beneath the awning. “No. In fact, I can step in the sun for a few seconds without getting hurt. Some other kids my age can also. It’s called velution.”
“Evolution,” Libby whispered from her perch.
Drake shrugged. “That does sound better.”
Hope smiled. He was just as nice in real life as she’d hoped he would be. “It’s awesome we could meet.” What else should she say? “I want us all to find a way for the grown-ups to stop fighting.”
Pax moved closer until his elbow touched hers.
Drake watched him, and a small smile curved his red lips. A look passed between the boys, a weird one that didn’t make any sense. Hope wasn’t even sure they knew what they were fighting about. Or why they didn’t like each other. If they got to know each other, they’d probably be friends. In fact, they all had to be friends for her peace plan to work.
Pax jerked his head toward a black watch on Drake’s wrist. “Is that a fitness tracker?”
“No. Just a watch.” Drake leaned to look at Pax’s wrist. “Do you have one of those?”
“Yeah,” Pax said. “I took it off before we left the compound so nobody would follow us. How did you know where we were, Drake?”
Hope gave him a look. He sounded grouchy.
Drake laughed, and the sound was nice. “The world isn’t that big, demon. Or vampire. Whichever you want to be called.”
“Hybrid works for me,” Pax muttered.
Drake nodded. “Okay. Everyone knows where Realm vampire and demon headquarters are now. Just like the witches are in Ireland and Seattle, and the feline shifters in Montana. We all have defenses.”
“Wow. You know a lot, Drake,” Libby said.
“We have to study geography,” he groaned. “It’s so boring. I like art class better.”
Drake could draw? Hope smiled. Maybe he’d give her a picture someday. “I like art too.”
Pax snorted. Okay. She couldn’t draw good at all. But it was still fun.
Drake’s chest puffed out. “Lately I’ve studied your Seven. The guys who want to blow up the world?”
Pax gave Hope a look. The Seven were a secret, and she only knew about them ’cause Fate told her in dreams. She’d told Pax and Libby. “Nuh-uh,” Hope said, her face getting hot. Two of her uncles were on the Seven, Garrett and Logan. “They’re good. They want to keep a bad guy away.”
“Ulric is not bad,” Drake said, his fingers curling into a fist. “He was good, and they were wrong years ago. Don’t you see that?”
“My uncles are good,” she snapped. Pax slid kinda in front of her, and she shoved him to the side. Nobody ever needed to step in front of her.
Drake took a deep breath. “They might be good. But what they’re doing is wrong.”
Hope wanted to convince him, but what were the right words? She started to tell him, and then the whole world exploded.
Helicopters rushed above them, and black SUVs screeched to a halt outside the park.
“Shit,” Pax said.
Hope gaped. Pax never said naughty words. Ever.
Drake’s eyes widened, and he looked panicked, running to the yellow slide.
Soldiers dressed in full black gear dropped from the copters, their big boots slamming into the wood of the jungle gym. Hope’s daddy was the first to reach her, and he scooped her up, climbing back into the helicopter so fast that she had to shut her eyes to keep from puking.
Seconds later, Libby and Pax were right next to her, and Drake was across from her. Vampire and demon soldiers crowded in, and they zoomed off.
Drake had gone stark pale, and he looked around.
“It’s okay, Drake,” Hope said, her voice shaking. Her entire body shivered.
Her daddy’s green eyes had turned nearly black, and he looked super dangerous with his gun strapped to his thigh and his black hair tied back. He looked at the Kurjan boy. “Who are you?”
Drake’s voice came out all funny. “Drake, son of Dayne, leaders of the Kurjans.” His chin went up, and even though he seemed scared, he looked her daddy right in the eye.
“Ah, shit,” Uncle Max said from the other side of Hope. He was her main bodyguard and the bestest Gold Fish player in the universe. He looked kinda mean, but he was always nice to Hope. “Just holy fuck.”
Her daddy cut him a look and then stared back at Drake. “We won’t hurt you. I want you to know that.” Then he looked at Hope, Pax, and Libby. “We had no clue you could get to town like that. Not one clue. You three might’ve just started a new war. Welcome to your first international incident.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Ivar kept the scratch marks from a wild night with Promise on his shoulders all the next day, not wanting to use healing cells on them. He’d bitten her again, his fangs going deep. Her blood tasted like the finest of wines, and he found himself wanting to bite her throughout the day.
He’d never felt like that before. Sex with her was unique, and he was starting to crave more.
After suppertime, he leaned back at the fire, sitting next to Adare, who stared broodily at the flames. Mercy sat on his other side, all but bouncing next to him.
Promise had spent all day with her equations, and by dinnertime, every board was covered with them. Watching her work was the most fun Ivar had had in years. She’d asked them more questions than he could count about the Seven ritual and the other ritual that had bound Ulric, Ronan, and Quade in different worlds.
He’d interrupted her every hour so he and Benny could take turns messing with her brain, and she’d quickly learned how to block out the pain. Benny could teleport, but he sucked at it, so it had been easy for her to learn to block him. She needed to try with Adare and then finally with Mercy.
Ivar finished warning both of them not to hurt her. “You’re up, Adare.”
Adare remained sprawled in his chair. “If she can block Benny, she can block me. It’s time to hit the ground running with Mercy.”
What the hell? Ivar partially turned to look at his old friend. He’d gotten the Scottish bastard out of more scrapes than he could count. Now Adare was refusing to help? “What is going on with you?” Ivar asked.
Adare yanked his black hair back into a ponytail at the neck. “You don’t need me.” The bottom of his boots started smoking again. Instead of pulling them back, he watched the melting rubber with a dispassionate glare, his eyes somehow blacker than usual.
Ivar studied him. “What’s going on?”
Adare hunched his shoulders. “Don’t want to talk about it.”
“That’s unfortunate,” Ivar said. “Explain now, or I’m tossing your ass in the fire.”
Adare sighed. His chin went down. He turned toward Ivar, his expression tortured. “I’m drawn to her.”
Ivar lifted his head. Now Adare wanted to take about his mate? Talk about crappy timing. “Well, all right. You’re mated to the woman, so is it so bad to be drawn to her?” The guy was nuts.
Adare dropped his gaze. “Not Grace. I mean, I am drawn to Grace, but not like this.”
Not his mate? Ivar took a second to comprehend. Wait a minute. “What? You’re fucking kidding.”
Mercy tensed next to him, looking past Ivar to Adare. “You’re drawn to Promise?”
Adare nodded, looking more miserable than Ivar had ever seen him. “Yes. I’m sorry.”
Mercy hopped in her chair. “I’m drawn to her too. Big-time.”
Adare straightened. “What?”
Ivar pivoted toward her. “What?”
Mercy shrugged, her one blue eye bluer than usual. “Can’t explain it. Whenever she’s close by, I want to be there. At first, I figured I just wanted another friend or felt left out that I couldn’t be in the room with her like Faith and Grace can. But it’s more. I need to be close to her.” She rubbed her nose. “Not in a stalkerish way or anything. It’s like, I don’t know. When you’re thirsty and there’s water nearby. Promise is the water.”
Adare’s face cleared. “Yeah. That’s it. Exactly.”
Ivar looked from one to the other. Then he spotted Benny loping their way after having gone for a run. Sweat ran down the huge vampire’s face, pooling on his bare chest. “Hey. Do you feel drawn to Promise?”
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