by Juniper Hart
“Laurel,” he hissed. “What are you talking about?”
She waved a dainty hand to silence him, as if he was a pesky fly, and Landon sat back in his chair, considering her words.
I’ll have to ask her about it later, he decided.
Wren was waiting for Landon outside in the lobby of the swanky hotel where that night’s meeting was held. Dawn was breaking over the horizon when they finished, and she looked exhausted.
“How did that go?” she asked, yawning sleepily.
“You didn’t have to come,” he told her, touched that she had bothered. Despite her resolve to move slowly, it seemed that they were at each other’s sides more than they weren’t.
“I don’t mind,” she replied, slipping her hand into his and squeezing gently. “Chris is giving me attitude, anyway.”
“Why is she having such a hard time with this?” Landon asked. “She doesn’t even know me.”
“Maybe that’s the problem,” Wren offered, but in an offhanded way. Landon had a feeling that Wren knew exactly what Christiana’s issue was with him but didn’t want to tell him.
“Is this Wren?” Laurel asked, appearing at their side, and Landon groaned silently. Jasmine had looped her arm through her wife’s, and the two stared at Wren with keen interest.
“Yes,” Landon sighed. “Wren, this is—”
“Of course everyone knows the fairy queens,” Wren interjected, bowing quickly at the women. “It’s a pleasure to meet you both.”
The fairies exchanged a bemused look and shot Landon a glance.
“She’s much too polite for you, Lando,” Jasmine taunted. “Are you sure she’s the one?”
Landon scowled. “We’re going home, ladies,” he snapped.
“Wait!” Laurel called out as Landon tried to steer his girlfriend away. Wren paused and looked back at her, even though Landon tugged at her arm.
“Yes?”
“I was just wondering what you thought about Landon’s plan to unify the packs.”
Wren’s full mouth gaped slightly, and she looked nervously at Landon.
“I-I’m afraid I don’t know much about the ways of the Council,” she confessed a little breathlessly. “But it would be nice to see less of a divide between them.”
“Even though your pack is associated with so much criminal activity?” Wren balked, realizing that she’d walked into Laurel’s trap. Landon pulled her away.
“Good night, Laurel,” he spat, yanking Wren toward the Tesla. Wren didn’t say another word until he started the car.
“What are your plans for my pack?” she asked in a small voice. “You’ve never really discussed it with me.”
“We’ve talked about it,” he answered quickly, cursing Laurel for bringing it up. “I want to lessen the divide—”
“No, I’m talking about my pack, my family. What will you do to them now that you’re getting involved?”
Landon stared out the windshield, unspeaking for a long moment as he collected his thoughts. “Your pack has gotten away with a lot over the years, Wren. You know as well as I do that the only way to stop such an intricate organization is to dismantle it.”
“Dismantle it how, Landon?”
“They’ll be brought before the Council, of course, to answer for their crimes, and then a punishment will be set.”
“I see.” Wren turned her head and looked out the window, her face pale in the early morning light.
“I thought you were through with them, Wren,” Landon said quietly. “Isn’t that what you keep telling me?”
“I am!” Her voice was filled with ire and defensiveness.
Laurel was right—she is still connected to them. How could I have been so stupidly thoughtless? “Wren, we don’t have to talk about this right now.”
“If not now, then when? After you’ve brought my brother to the Council and sentenced him to death by a demon? Or after you’ve rounded up my parents and put them on the guillotine? No, I think now is the time to discuss it.” Her tone shocked him slightly.
“I thought you were for this,” Landon said. “You’ve told me how horrible it was growing up in those circumstances. You said you couldn’t wait to get out of there, Wren. Hell, you chose to live on the streets over going home with your family! What is this skewed loyalty to people who never cared for you?”
Wren whipped her head around and glared at him. “It’s hard to explain it to someone who has always had a silver spoon stuck in his mouth, I guess, but they are still my family, and I wouldn’t want to see them dead.”
“Hey!” Landon barked back. “You don’t know what I’ve done to get where I am, Wren. Just because my pack wasn’t a bunch of degenerates doesn’t mean that I didn’t struggle, too.”
“Degenerates?” Wren echoed. “Is that what you think I am?” Suddenly, her eyes widened. “I’m a damned charity case to you, aren’t I? From day one, that’s all I’ve been!”
“Wren, you’re not making any sense,” Landon sighed. “Of course you’re not a charity case.”
“You opened the charity ball to us, you bought me that coat. You keep reminding me that I can move in with you and you’ll take care of me. Am I some guilt project of yours because you let the lower classes get away with so much for so long?”
“You’re acting ridiculous!” Landon snapped. “Stop it!”
“Chris was right about you. You’re just a bored rich kid with too much money and testosterone. I’m not your mate, I’m a degenerate you’re trying to fix.”
“You’re acting insane.”
“Pull over. Pull over and let me out right now.” Landon was about to argue, but Wren continued.
“No way.”
“Do it, Landon, or I’ll shift, I swear to the gods!”
“Why are you acting like this, Wren? You’re just looking for a reason for this not to work!” Landon cried, frustration overwhelming him. “Don’t do this!”
“Stop the car and let me out!”
He slowed and stopped at the curb. “Wren—”
Wren was out the door before he could finish his thought, slamming the door so hard, he was shocked the glass didn’t shatter on the windows. She hurried away, her jaw locked in a fine line.
Nothing about her makes sense. Maybe I’m the crazy one for pursuing this. Maybe we’re mates, but we’re truly not meant to be together, Landon thought, staring after her helplessly.
And like clockwork, his head began to pound with a migraine headache.
15
Wren knew she had behaved like a lunatic, but the reality of what she was doing finally slapped her in the face. One day soon, my entire pack is going to be rounded up and abolished, and I will have been responsible for it.
For weeks, she had waited on word from her brother, though none had come. Wren couldn’t shake the guilt that was plaguing her. She knew that Jordan must have overheard her conversation with Christiana and now saw her as the enemy. If something happened to him, Jordan would undoubtedly blame her—if he even lived that long.
“Oh, look who came home for once,” Christiana greeted her sarcastically when she entered their apartment. “I thought you’d moved in with your sugar daddy.”
Wren bristled. “It’s over between Landon and me, so you can stop with your bullshit now.”
She didn’t wait for Christiana to respond and stormed down the hall to her room before the tears could spill down her cheeks.
You knew this was coming, and you have no one to blame but yourself for it, she thought grimly. You can’t sit around moping about it. It was fun while it lasted, and now you’ve got to separate yourself from Landon before this backfires on you.
Wren knew it was much easier said than done. She couldn’t possibly be expected to walk away from her mate, and she had no doubt that Landon was precisely that, no matter what she had told him. The gods were cruel, matching her with someone like Landon Burke. They could never have made it work, mates or not. They were just too different.
�
��Wren?” Christiana knocked on the door and pushed it open before Wren could order her away.
“I’m not in the mood, Chris,” she muttered. “Go away.”
“No,” Christiana replied. “I won’t. What happened?”
“Seriously, I don’t feel like talking.”
“Seriously, I don’t care. You defied all logic and reason to spend the last few weeks with that arrogant ass, and now it’s over just like that? Something must have happened.”
“Chris! Please!”
“You can fight me or you can talk to me. I’m not going anywhere until you give me an answer,” Christiana said.
Wren sniffled and blinked away her tears, not wanting Christiana to see her cry. “I’m surprised you and Landon don’t get along better. You’re both so stubborn.”
“Do elaborate,” Christiana said. “What happened?”
“He’s going to do it. He’s going after our packs, our families.” Christiana cocked her head to the side and stared at her.
“That’s great news!” she squealed. “I mean, I guess not for Jordan, but think about it, Wren! Our parents will be locked up or—”
“Dead,” Wren intoned flatly. “Is that what you want?”
Christiana shrugged flippantly. “I would have killed my parents myself if I’d had the balls. I’m glad Landon’s putting his foot down.”
“I can’t believe you’re saying that!”
“I can’t believe you’re freaking out about this! He’s doing it for you, after all. He never would have come up with this plan if it wasn’t for you.”
“I know,” Wren breathed miserably.
“Oh,” Christiana muttered, seemingly having understood. “You feel guilty. I get it.”
“I can’t be responsible for this,” Wren sighed. “I mean, if he was doing it on his own…”
“Wren,” Christiana began, plopping onto the bed at her friend’s side and wrapping her arm over her shoulder. “What do you owe your family? Your pack? What have they ever done for you?”
“Jordan may have saved me more than I know.”
“Fine, I’ll concede Jordan for argument’s sake, but the rest of them? Why would you want any of them spared after the damage and destruction they’ve caused the Enchanted?”
“Loyalty,” Wren answered weakly. “There’s a sense of loyalty.”
“To Lycans who would have sold you for their next fix? Are you crazy?” Christiana stared at her, and even though Wren knew that everything her friend said was true, it did little to alleviate her anxiety.
“So you’re going to throw away your mate for doing something valuable,” Christiana continued, “for saving other little girls like you because of some misguided sense of loyalty to the people who made you this way. I don’t think you’re thinking this through properly.”
“I know what you’re saying,” Wren insisted. “And I know how crazy it sounds, but I can’t be responsible for their downfall, Chris, no matter how you spin it.”
Christiana sighed and hung her head. “You were born too good for this world, Wren. I don’t know what foul thing you did in your last life to be dealt this hand, but you’ll get yours the next time around.”
“A lot of good that does me in immortal life,” Wren snorted, but she smiled wanly at her friend. “This isn’t Landon’s fault. He’s trying to do right by me, and I don’t know how to tell him that by going forward, he’s causing me more grief.”
“Well, maybe by actually talking to him,” Christiana suggested, tongue-in-cheekily. “Did you just storm off in a huff with the final word as always?”
“Maybe…” Humiliation colored her face, making Christiana laugh.
“Maybe give it a day and talk to him when you get your own head on right,” she offered. “In the meantime, you have to get ready for work.”
Wren had almost forgotten she had a shift that morning. She rarely opened, especially not when she’d closed the night before. Suddenly, she was cursing herself for having gone to pick Landon up from his Council meeting.
It was stupid on so many levels, she thought with exasperation.
“I don’t know why you don’t just move in with him,” Christiana sighed, looking around their dingy apartment. “Anything has got to be better than this hellhole.”
“Do you really think I’d leave you alone after all we’ve been through together?”
She stared at Wren for a long moment. “Wren, one day you’ll need to just let go of everything in your past to move forward. You understand that, right?”
“Chris, go get ready for work,” Wren said dismissively. “I’ve kept myself alive this long. I’m not going to live off some man.” Christiana howled with laughter.
“You make it sound like he really is your sugar daddy, when you know full well that he’s your mate, no matter how much you fight it.” Wren tipped her head to the side and studied Christiana in amazement.
“Aren’t you just tripping all over yourself with contradictions today,” she snickered. “Are you drunk?”
“I’m just saying that you need to figure out what’s best for you, Wren, and stop worrying about everyone else. If you worry about your brother, your pack, me, you’ll never get ahead.”
“Thank you, oh, wise one. Get out so I can get dressed for work.”
Christiana shrugged again and left without another word, but the sentiment resonated inside Wren’s mind long after she’d left. It was true—Wren had never given herself a chance to look after herself. How could she, though, without turning her back on those who needed her?
She glanced at the alarm clock on her bedside table and saw she had enough time to have a shower.
“Chris, throw on some coffee,” she called to her roommate. “I’m jumping in the shower.”
“Yes, boss!”
Wren made her way into their cramped bathroom and disrobed as the shower ran hot, steaming up the tiny space instantly. She peered at her face in the fogging mirror, her tired eyes staring back at her blankly. Despite the fight that she’d instigated with Landon, there was a glow about her which hadn’t been there before, a light in her face that Wren had never noticed. He was definitely her mate, and he had shown her that in everything he had done.
It was only then that Wren understood the true problem, the real reason she’d resisted him so much, even when she’d accepted him.
You deserve to be happy, too, she told herself. You deserve just as much happiness as the upper classes. Chris is right. You need to let go of everything you’re holding onto and move on with your life… with Landon. Even if that means betraying your family.
She closed her eyes and let the idea sink into her mind, marinate, and spread. She needed to make herself believe it to make it work.
“I hope you’re not just running the hot water in there!” Christiana yelled from the other side of the door. “I want a shower, too, and I’ll murder you if there’s no hot water left.”
“I’d like to see you try,” Wren teased back, but she pulled her eyes away from the mirror and headed into the low-pressure shower, already missing Landon’s half-dozen jets in his steam shower.
As soon as I’m done with work, I’m going over there, no matter how tired I am, and I’m going to tell him that I’m sorry for acting like a maniac. I’ll come clean with him and tell him why I’ve been acting so weird, see if I can’t plead some leniency for my brother.
The chip she’d acquired on her shoulder seemed to be dissipating with the lather of the shampoo in her hair, and by the time Wren had finished her shower, she almost felt sane again. A quick look in her bedroom mirror told her that she looked more alive, and she smiled to herself as Christiana cursed her out for using all the hot water from the bathroom.
Maybe I’ll see if there’s enough room for Chris to move into the condo, too, Wren thought with renewed vigor. For the first time in a long while, she felt guilt-free and ready to conquer the day. I’ve got this, she thought with uncharacteristic confidence. Life is finally going t
o be okay.
The afternoon crowd was, if possible, worse than the evening mob at The Quarry, and Wren was reminded why she loathed working the day shift.
“The businessmen are the biggest douchebags,” Christiana grumbled, pausing at the bar to drop off a trayful of empty glasses. “I thought whistling for attention went out with Al Capone.”
“Two more hours,” Wren told her, determined not to let her mood be ruined by a bunch of pompous asses so close to the end of her shift. “We’ll be out of here soon.”
“Keep saying it,” Christiana grunted. “And I’ll start to believe it eventually.” Her brows raised, and she looked around the bar. “Where is he now?”
“Who?” Wren asked, following Christiana’s gaze.
“Your man. He was here a minute ago.”
“Landon?” Wren asked in shock. “Are you sure?”
Christiana nodded. “He looked surprised to see me here.”
Wren gazed around, her neck craning through the sea of suits for Landon’s dark head of hair, but it was impossible in the wall to wall of elbows. “Did he say anything?”
Christiana shook her head. “No. Not like I’ve had two seconds to speak— Ah, and there’s another prick snapping for my attention. I hope I don’t accidentally trip and fall, spilling every single pint of beer on my tray all over his lap.”
“You know it’ll come out of your pay if you do,” Wren reminded her.
“It’ll be worth it.” She barely noticed as Christiana moved away, her attention all over the place as she sought out her boyfriend.
How did he know I was here today? I forgot about this shift.
Moreover, they had made a pact not to meet at The Quarry, lest they run into Linda. This would be a first for him coming there while Wren was working, after they had gotten together. A sweeping dread filled her stomach as she thought about what it could mean.
Did he come as a way to say that he’s done with me? Wren knew she was being childish. Landon wouldn’t do anything so immature. She was just being irrational because of how terribly she’d acted earlier.