Beneath the Dust (Force of Nature Book 4)

by Amber Lynn Natusch

  The chill in the room remained until Brunton let out a small laugh and shook his head. He grabbed his bowl off the counter and resumed eating as if nothing had happened. As if he hadn’t nearly died hours earlier. As if he and Kat hadn’t just had whatever the fuck that was in front of the rest of us. The others, likely afraid to bring up the subject of returning to Faerie again despite the truth in Kat’s words, went about like everything was normal. Only a sharp look from Foust when Knox wasn’t looking reminded me that we were running out of time. That something really needed to be done about the fey king.

  Then Dean walked in and reminded us all.

  “Hey, meeting upstairs in the media room in five.”

  He disappeared back through the door without another word.

  A low grumbling resounded from the boys as they finished up and filed out of the kitchen. Kat held back, a subtle attempt to wait to talk to me. Knox started to ask if I was coming, then put two and two together. He gave me a quick kiss before leaving Kat and me behind.

  Once we were alone, I turned to face her.

  “Soooo…Brunton…” I said, unsure of how to word what I wanted to say. How to call out her behavior.

  “Is alive and well,” she deadpanned. “Yay for us.”

  “What? You’d rather he’d died?” I asked.

  Her eyes narrowed as she closed the distance between us. “He put himself in danger to indirectly aid a king that isn’t even his own, Piper. One he hates, in fact, but one you love. I’ve never met anyone more reckless and ridiculous in my life…someone so blinded by loyalty—”

  “That they’d do anything for someone they cared for?” I said, cutting her off. I quirked my brow at her, and she scowled. “Nooooo…I don’t know anyone like that.” I cocked my head to drive home my sarcasm. “Maybe you and Brunton are a little too similar for your liking. Maybe that’s why you act the way you do around him.”

  At that, she scoffed. “I act the way I do around him because it’s fun, and I’m hard up for that around here as of late.”

  “Suuuure,” I said, making my way to the door.

  She followed me out. “What is it you’re getting at, Piper? You think I like him? That I want to fuck his brains out—mate with him and live happily ever after?” Her sharp tone stopped me in the hall. “Let me make something very clear so that we never have to have this conversation again, okay? That part of me—the part that dared to bond with another—died with Jensen. I lived that life once; I can’t afford to live it again. I won’t.”

  I turned to her and found her blue eyes full of anger—anger that belied the pain.

  “Kat, I didn’t—”

  “I know you didn’t mean it, Piper, but whatever you think I feel for Brunton, I don’t, plain and simple. Love isn’t easy for me like it is for you. It’s a weapon—one I don’t want turned on me. So just leave it be, okay? I’m a lone wolf for a reason,” she said, heading toward the basement door. “The sooner I make that point clear to you and the boys, the better. It’s safer that way...”

  She disappeared through the door without so much as a look back.

  I stood rooted in her wake, wondering if my broken friend would ever heal.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  I walked into a familiar scene: enforcers and pack lining every vertical and horizontal surface in the room, Knox and Merc in the center of it all. The last time we’d met, we’d chosen door number two with the fey queen and ended up dredging Kingston up from his earthen tomb. I shuddered to think what the outcome of this meeting would be.

  Like it or not, Kat’s observation regarding the fey king was valid.

  Maybe a trip back to Faerie really would be our next move.

  The discussion had already begun, and I maneuvered through the crowd until I ran into Jase and Dean. I wedged myself between them out of habit and listened to Merc relay the vampire death toll to his enforcers, many of whom were missing from the room—but not that list.

  “Were any wolves lost?” Merc asked Knox. He shook his head, his face tight with understanding. He might not have lost any of his boys this time, but he had several times before. Merc gave a curt nod and continued. “I have called you all here to discuss our next plan of action—against the fey king.”

  In uncharacteristic fashion, wolves and enforcers alike began shouting out ideas. The vampire king and alpha wolf stood silent and listened. When the voices began to quiet, I took a step forward, my eyes pinned on Foust, who hadn’t said a word.

  “Kat made a point downstairs that I don’t think we can overlook,” I said, shifting my gaze to Merc. I couldn’t bear to look at Knox as I spoke out in favor of a matter he’d already put to rest.

  “Piper—"

  “She made a strong argument regarding the fey king’s power expenditure. He hasn’t had any witches for days to refuel his lands. His presence at the coronation had to have taken much power. He could be weakened—vulnerable. It would be the perfect time to attack.”

  Merc took one look at Knox, then mirrored his expression. Of course they chose that moment to get on the same fucking page.

  “I find it interesting that Kat is not here to share this idea herself,” Merc replied, scouring the room for the wolf in question.

  “You can’t fault her logic. And with Liam’s ability to open portals and navigate Faerie—”

  “Which could be precisely what the fey king wishes him to think—”

  “—it’s possible that we could ambush him—”

  “Or be ambushed ourselves,” Merc countered.

  And he wasn’t wrong. Once again, we found ourselves making an impossible decision where one of the fey royals was concerned; one that pitted the devil we knew against the one we didn’t.

  I really hated the fucking fey.

  “We need to speak with Liam,” Merc said.

  “He’s going to say what she wants to hear,” Knox argued, shooting me a look that could have set me ablaze.

  “He used his ability to save my ass from the golems. I mean, I know the fey are tricky bastards, but do you think the king sent his minions to get me—and almost succeed—and then allowed Liam to ‘save’ me at the last second, all in the hope that it would lure us to show up in his lands?”

  Merc and Knox shared a look before replying in unison.

  “Possibly.”

  “Yes.”

  I let out a breath. “Then by that logic, any plan we make could be the one he wants us to make.”

  Again with the look and perfectly timed responses.

  “Yes.”

  “Exactly!”

  Knox’s composure was eroding quickly while Merc managed to maintain his, though barely. I could see it etching into the creases of his eyes as he stared at me as if I’d lost my fucking mind.

  “Then why bother calling this meeting?” I asked, throwing my arms in the air in frustration. Neither had a response for that. “We need to talk to Liam—Drake, too. There has to be a way to do this that can work.”

  “Provided what Liam says can be of use,” Merc replied.

  “And that your uncle knows fuck all about the fey king’s land,” Knox added. “Reinhardt might have known something because of his relationship with the queen, but his brother? Who knows…”

  “Jase,” Merc called, “bring Liam up.”

  Jase headed for the door, only to find his errand unnecessary.

  Kat strolled through the doorway with the fey king’s former pet not far behind. Kat’s reason for going to the basement made far more sense in that moment. The only thing that didn’t was why it had taken her so long to return.

  But that, too, soon became clear.

  As Kat walked deeper into the room, the wolves scented the air one by one, their eyes widening seconds later. While my mind struggled to sort it all out, Kat passed Brunton and stared him down. The rage in his eyes grew with every step she took.

  Then Liam stopped to assess something in his brother—one of the four Original wolves—and whatever he s
aw gave him pause. He flinched away from Brunton.

  “So what did we miss?” Kat asked, flopping down on the couch.

  “What did we miss?” Jagger countered, looking from her to Liam, then Brunton.

  She shrugged elegantly. “Isn’t it almost the full moon?” The shake of the entire pack’s heads was a powerful response indeed. “Ah. Then let’s blame stress—it makes a girl do unexpected things.”

  Reality smacked me like a concrete slab to the face. Her cheeks were flushed and her lips were swollen. Thank God my sense of smell wasn’t keen like the wolves’. Their reaction to her entrance made so much more sense now.

  “Kat…?”

  “We’ve talked about this, Piper,” she said, nailing me with a sharp look. “Lone wolf. I do what I want.”

  “Yeah.” I couldn’t keep the disappointment from my tone. “I guess you do.”

  My eyes fell to where Liam and Brunton stood, the tension between them so thick it might as well have been a brick wall. There was already enough of a rift in the pack due to Liam’s presence. Brunton had seemed to have accepted it, but given his reaction, he didn’t anymore.

  At least it was clear where he stood on the love/hate dynamic of his relationship with Kat.

  And now her position was clear, too.

  “We were discussing your proposal to attack the fey king on the theory that his lands are vulnerable,” Merc said, strategically ignoring what he had obviously deduced. Why shine more light on the elephant in the middle of the room?

  “It’s a solid fucking plan,” she said, kicking her feet up on the table. “Anyone with balls big enough to join me is welcome.”

  “You’re forgetting the small matter of the fey king’s ability to control all wolves,” Knox said, staring her down.

  “Am I?” she asked, sitting up straighter. “Or do I have a little plan for that too, I wonder?”

  “Which is?”

  “You gave the amulet to the bear last time to use, didn’t you, Piper?”

  “Um, yeah, but—”

  “The way I see it, I’ve been your guardian longer than he has—we’re connected, too—so maybe if that sketchy uncle of yours can do some sort of voodoo on it magically tying us together, it’ll shield me from the fey king’s thrall.”

  “I can’t fully insulate myself from his thrall, Kat, so that’s a big fucking ‘if—”

  “I wasn’t directly created by the fey king like the others,” she argued, “and I’m female, something he never created at all. So I’m willing to bet my life on the fact that he and I are nowhere near as connected as you and I, Piper.”

  “Her theory has merit,” Liam said, turning to Knox.

  “I’d stay really quiet if I were you right now,” Knox said to Liam. “Really. Fucking. Quiet.”

  “Her theory could get her killed in a flash,” I said, shooting Liam a ‘shut the fuck up’ look. “There’s no way to test it—no way to know until it’s too late.”

  “That’s my risk to take, if you remember our talk from the kitchen,” Kat said, standing up from the couch. “And if it’s all the same to the swinging dicks in this room, I’ll take it because I fucking feel like it.” She looked back to me. “Sorry, swinging tits, too. Don’t want to gender-discriminate at a time like this.”

  “Until we talk to Drake, nothing will happen regarding a return to Faerie,” Merc said, voice full of authority. He pinned narrowed eyes on Kat. “Nothing, is that clear?”

  Kat didn’t flinch. “As clear as orders ever are to me, yeah.”

  “Call Drake,” Merc said to me, his voice far gentler. “Have him meet us here as soon as he can.” He looked to the others in the room. “Until we know more, you’re dismissed.”

  The enforcers filed out while the pack stood silent.

  “Yeah, head out guys. Get some rest. We may need it soon…”

  With less efficiency than the vampires, the wolves made their collective exit. Kat hung back until they were gone. Then she, too, disappeared, leaving Knox, Merc, Liam, and me behind.

  “Knox,” Merc said, “I think you and I should return Liam to the basement.” There was a knowing tone to his voice that I didn’t like, and an understanding in Knox’s expression that made me even more uneasy. “Piper, find me when you hear from your uncle.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  I went back to an empty room; there was no sign of Grizz at all. I hadn’t seen him for hours, which was unlike him, but maybe he needed a break from guard duty, and the mansion was about the safest place I could be. He deserved a break from the shitshow. It was easy to forget how diligent he’d been since our arrival. He was so often overshadowed by the others.

  I sent a quick text to Drake, politely demanding his presence at the mansion, and waited for him to respond. If he was at the warlock bunker, I didn’t think I’d hear back soon. Somehow I doubted they had reception in there.

  After twenty minutes of solitude in my room awaiting a reply, I started to get twitchy. It was too quiet. Too serene. Too unfamiliar. I got up and headed for the door. I opened it just as Kat walked by.

  “Hey, you got a second?” I asked. Before she could say no, I grabbed her arm and hauled her in. Then I kicked the door shut and locked it, as if that could hold her.

  “This can’t be good,” she said, eyeing the door.

  “It isn’t.”

  “Listen, if you’re planning to slut-shame me, don’t waste your breath. You made your point in the media room.”

  She tried to leave, but I blocked the door. If she wanted to go, she’d have to go through me. Our friendship was about to be put to the test.

  “This has nothing to do with slut-shaming, Kat. I hardly think I have the higher moral ground on that subject since I’m screwing two guys.” She quirked her brow at me, but I didn’t take the bait. “This has everything to do with why you did what you did, and don’t give me that ‘lone wolf’ shit. I know you do what you want—you always have, even when Jensen was alive—but you never set out to intentionally hurt others. Not like this. It’s not who you are.”

  “Isn’t it?” she countered, stepping closer. Her eyes were wild and full of anger, but I knew it wasn’t for me. “Isn’t that exactly who I am? Kat the crazy bitch with her middle finger in the air? Kat who doesn’t give a fuck what anyone thinks about what—or who—she does?”

  “No. That’s the Kat you are when you’re hurting—”

  “Hurting? Who says I’m hurting?”

  “Your actions do.”

  She leaned in closer, her eyes glowing from within. “You think I fucked Liam because I’m hurting? Wrong. I fucked Liam to make a point.”

  “What point?"

  “Brunton needed to see—”

  “See what? That you don’t like him? Don’t have feelings for him?”

  “That I don’t care—”

  “Then why bother with the theatrics at all, Kat? Just tell him to fuck off.”

  “That wasn’t working—”

  “Because you did a shit job of selling it! And do you know why? Because it’s not how you feel, and we both know it!”

  “I don’t want Brunton,” she growled.

  “Clearly,” I replied, irritation leaking into my tone. “Should I go get Knox and have you say that in front of him? See how quickly his bullshit meter goes off?”

  She slammed her fist into the wall beside me, then stormed back toward the center of my room. She tugged her short hair as she paced from the bed to the bathroom, wearing a path in my wool rug. Whatever had driven her to do what she’d done was bubbling to the surface, and she was fighting tooth and nail to stuff it back down again.

  “Kat,” I said, my voice softer than before, “is this about feeling like you’re betraying Jensen—”

  “Don’t bring him into this!” she said, snapping her wide eyes to meet mine. “Jensen is dead.”

  I dared a step closer. “I know he is. I miss him. We all do. But he’s gone and you’re not and running away from that fa
ct will never change it.”

  “I’m not running from shit!” she yelled. “I’m here, aren’t I? In the house he brought me into? In the life I adopted because of him?”

  “You are—that’s not what I meant—”

  “Do you have any idea what my life was like before I met him?” she asked, tears welling in her eyes before she swiped them away with angry hands. “It was hell, Piper. Hell. You of all people should be able to understand that.” She paused for a minute to calm her ragged breathing. “I was young when I came to the city—when I met Jensen. He gave me a safe space to grow into the wolf I am today—to evolve past the broken, beaten creature he’d discovered on the streets of SoHo. I am who I am because of him…”

  I walked until I stood only inches away from her and took her hands in mine.

  “You are who you are because of you, Kat. Not Jensen. He may have given you an environment to grow in, but he didn’t change what was growing.”

  “He gave me stability, Piper, and that fact scares the shit out of me. I didn’t realize it until he was gone. Without it, I’m reckless and wild.”

  “You’re reckless and wild when you refuse to deal with your feelings—”

  “I don’t have—”

  “You do have feelings, Kat. We all do. And running from them only makes things worse.”

  She turned away from me and let out a scream of frustration that shook the mirror on the wall. I heard footsteps down the hall, so I ran to push a dresser in front of the door. I was finally getting somewhere; I didn’t need someone barging in and ruining it.

  “I can’t depend on anyone again,” she muttered to herself. “I can’t…I just can’t…”

  “And you don’t have to, Kat. But it’s okay to want someone. To want to share a life with them. It doesn’t mean you loved Jensen any less. It doesn’t mean you’ll regress to the person you were before him.”

  Pounding on my door reverberated through the room, and I yelled at whoever was on the other side to go away. After a moment’s hesitation, I heard the footsteps retreat.

  Kat fell onto the bed, shoulders slumped to rest her elbows on her knees.