I kept my mouth shut. Deep down, I knew she ratted me out but I wasn’t going to breathe a word of it. She did it for her people. That I understood.
“Yer to minimize any public activity. Do nae make yerself a target, Princess,” Ranulf grunted.
“You got it,” I saluted him. “Come on, Cas,” I grabbed my partner. “Let’s order a pizza and watch some Netflix.”
Cassidy raised a brow, but I didn’t give him time to protest. We sprinted to the elevators and when we were a few blocks away from the station, I brought us to a halt.
“Where are we going?” Cas whispered as if we were being followed.
“I’m too weak, Cas. I’m weak and vulnerable. It’s time,” I said and started walking in the opposite direction of my apartment. “It’s time I unbound myself from the moon.”
18
Inwood Hill Park was the perfect alternative to Central Park—if anything, it was better. We stayed away from the playgrounds and sports fields for privacy. Further up the hills were more secluded—our safest bet. Once we were in the clear, I stripped and tucked my folded clothes in an alcove beneath a tree.
“Are you sure you want to do this—now?” Cas asked.
“Positive.”
“Alright,” he murmured.
I shook my limbs and controlled my breathing before I dropped to all fours. Cassidy dropped with me, his face in line with mine.
“I’m here with you, Kenz. Every step of the way.”
I dug deep within me and searched for the wolf. She was sleeping. I pulled her out of slumber and forced her out. The pain was excruciating. The ripple of my spine made me nauseous, and the crack of bones brought me closer to the ground.
“Keep going, push through!” Cas hollered. “Take deep breaths, c’mon.”
My claws extended and they nailed the soil beneath me. My hands tightened and my toes curled with each snap and crack. My shoulders hunched over, and my face morphed to make way for my muzzle.
“Aghhhh,” I screamed into the forest. “I can’t, I can’t,” I rasped.
“You’re almost there, Mackenzie. Don’t quit now!”
I yelled before I took one last breath, and like a woman in labor, I pushed the wolf out. I shook out my black fur and sniffed my surroundings.
“You did great, Kenz,” Cas said as he scratched behind my ear and brushed my coat. “Now shift again,” he grinned.
The pain had just begun.
We raced up the stairs to my apartment and Cas grabbed the doorknob first.
“Damn it, Cas!” I gasped as I stumbled on the last step. “Totally unfair.”
“Nothing in life is fair, Kenz. Hand me the keys,” he said and I tossed them so he could unlock the door.
We burst into my small apartment and collapsed on the ground. For the last five hours, we’d been at Inwood Hill Park shifting and sparring. Even my hair hurt. I lost count of how many times I’d shifted after the eleventh go around.
“Good training session,” Cas said as he tossed me a bottle of water. “You’re getting better.”
“If only I felt better,” I groaned. I dragged myself onto the sofa. My whole body ached, but my injuries began to heal themselves—slowly.
“It’ll get easier, you know that,” he said and kicked my feet off the sofa. He sat beside me and I plopped my legs on his lap.
“I know. Just let me complain for a while, my soul needs this.”
Cas chuckled. “Fine. Complain away.” He picked up the remote control and turned on the TV.
It had been a while since I lounged around the apartment watching Netflix—it was Amy and I’s thing. Luckily, the SIU kept me busy that I didn’t have the time, so catching up on some of my favorite shows was nice.
Cassidy was still my babysitter so he was staying in my apartment until further notice, but he no longer accepted any food or drinks from me after the last incident.
It was easy with Cas. It was like hanging out with my brother Ollie.
“Another episode?” I asked and paused the show.
He shook his head. “Nah I have to hop in the shower. I smell like your feet,” he lifted his armpit and tried to make me smell it.
“Gross! Get away,” I laughed as I kicked him off the sofa. “Go wash your balls so we can finish watching Stranger Things.”
Cas laughed all the way to the bathroom. I got up in the meantime and began to clean up after ourselves—we’d ordered take-out. I went into the linen closet and took out some bedding for him as well. He’d be couch-surfing until Alexander thought I wouldn’t be a flight risk. I set his things on my sofa and sniffed myself. I’d need a shower after him because I smelled like a sweat shop.
We were supposed to keep a low profile after the attack from the witches. If I was going to stay alive, I needed to protect myself. I couldn’t count on anyone else, especially not the Fae. I no longer had my tattoo to keep me safe from dark magic, but it didn’t mean there weren’t other ways. I needed my strength. I needed my wolf.
After fifteen minutes Cassidy came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist and a q-tip in his ear.
“Dude,” I threw my hands in the air. “That’s my towel!”
He shrugged. “You didn’t give me one.”
I pushed past him and shut the door to the bathroom. Undressing, I put on my bathrobe and started to run the water. It always took a few moments before the hot water came through.
“Mackenzie!” I heard someone yell outside. A distant pounding made me realize someone was knocking at my apartment door. “Mackenzie, open up!”
“What the hell…” I murmured as I tightened my robe and headed out to the living room.
Cassidy had opened the door, and our unexpected guest was none other than the Alpha of the Brooklyn Pack—Sebastian Steel.
Blazing sapphire eyes looked past Cassidy—who was still in a towel—to me. His jaw pulsed with restrained fury that was ready to explode at any moment.
“Bash—”
“Save it,” he growled and stormed off. His loud boots boomed down the stairwell. My bare feet were rooted to the floor and I was trying to find my voice, anything, to run after him.
“Kenz!” Cas snapped his fingers in my face. “Go!”
“Huh?”
“Go after him! He probably thinks…you know.” Cassidy waved a hand over his bare chest and towel.
I gulped and attempted to move my feet. “I can’t. Maybe it’s best that he think the worst.”
Cas sighed, tightening his towel. “It’s your call, Kenz, but if you want my two cents—”
“I don’t.”
“I’m going to give it to you anyway. You should talk to him and clear things up. It’s obvious how much you mean to him and vice versa. Don’t let your pride stand in the way.”
I scoffed. “It’s not pride, Cas. I’m doing this for him. I ruin everything I touch, and I refuse to damage anyone else—especially Bash—he’s better off without me.”
Cassidy threw his hand in the air. “For someone who is so hell bent on giving others and herself freedom to make decisions, you sure like to make choices for other people.” He pushed past me into my make-shift bedroom and it felt like the air had whooshed out of me. Cas had no clue how accurate he was—I was a hypocrite.
The next morning the team showed up at my apartment. Since it was getting too tricky working out of the SIU office—especially after Alexander’s episode—they decided to make my place our temporary headquarters. I didn’t mind having everyone over, it was comforting to see my dreary apartment full of life.
“You got any snacks?” Finn asked as he opened up my refrigerator.
“Top cabinet,” I directed. “Where’s Briggs?”
“He can’t make it,” Michaels said. “It’d be too conspicuous if he were missing from the office with everything that’s going on.”
Everyone made themselves comfortable in my living room while Finn made popcorn.
“We may have a lead,” Amara said
as she sat beside Ranulf who looked like a statue. “There might be a way to close the gates, but there’s a catch.”
“Whatever it is, we’ll do it,” Alexander said. “We cannae keep the realm open, it’s a danger for all.”
The witch nodded. “I understand, but the object we need won’t be easy to retrieve,” she paused and looked directly at me. “We need the Key of Janus.”
“The key of what now?”
“The Key of Janus is said to open and close any gate in the world—particularly, the Gates of Horn and Ivory.”
“Of course it’s supernatural stuff…” Michaels groaned.
Alexander nodded. “Aye. I’ve heard the stories. How do ye know it’s true?”
“The witches know things, your highness,” Amara said. “The elders are following this matter closely and are using all of their resources to put an end to the Fae. They have made enemies of many clans for their reach at power. No one wants to see them in our realm.”
“What’s the Gates of Horn and Ivory?” I asked.
Amara smiled. “I’d been doing some research on your tattoo. With your link to the Fae realm, we can’t redo it, but if you enter through the Gates of Horn and Ivory, you’ll be able to purify yourself. In essence, it’ll unlink you to the Fae realm.”
“Aye,” Ranulf agreed. “Where might we find the Key of Janus?”
The witch’s face paled as her eyes fell on me. “The Fae realm.”
I imagined everyone screaming in an uproar over the news, but it was the complete opposite. A silence fell over us as we pondered that little tidbit. I knew the answer that everyone was trying to avoid. It was obvious what had to be done.
“You guys can fix your constipated faces, I’ll go,” I shrugged. “I’m the only one who can survive a trip into the realm safely. If I die, they get shut down. I have the ultimate insurance.”
Alexander shook his head. “Absolutely nae. Yer suicidal and I will nae risk ye getting captured by the Fae. I let ye do many things, Mackenzie, but this one I will nae.”
“You don’t let me do anything, Alex. I make my own decisions, and my decision is final.”
“No. Yer my only heir, I will nae lose you.”
“Who says you will?” I scoffed. “Have a little faith in me; I’ll make it back in one piece.”
No one beside Alexander argued with me because it was common sense. The worst the Fae could do was capture me and even that felt like a stretch. I might not have been up to code with my wolf, but I was confident enough to do what needed to be done.
“I will go with Mackenzie,” Ranulf volunteered. “I’ll keep her safe.”
Alexander’s face turned beet red, and I held in a laugh. He was about to blow a gasket; I could see the fumes steaming out of his ears.
“This is ridiculous!” he exclaimed. “Am I the only one who disagrees with this plan?”
The room quieted. Yes, Alex. Yes you are.
“If we don’ send her, we lose our only chance of closing the gates,” Ranulf said. “Ye cannae be selfish, my King.”
There was an audible intake of breath from the outsiders looking in to the conversation being had with the King and his right hand. I was the only one at ease; I was the only one with the knowledge of their friendship. Ranulf was the only guard at the royal court who could speak to Alexander in that manner without taking offense. They’ve been best friends since youth and Ranulf would give his life in a split second for Alexander.
“Ye must understand—”
“Aye,” Ranulf nodded, “but ye must understand yer people as well.”
The King huffed. “Mackenzie, yer going to give me a bloody heart attack one day.”
I stood, grabbing everyone’s attention. “At the end of the day, it’s my decision, and I’ve decided,” I said and turned to Ranulf. “We leave first thing in the morning.”
19
Call me melodramatic, but if I didn’t make it out of the Fae realm tomorrow, I wanted to at least spend my last night with someone I cared about. Thing was, who would I spend it with? There was Bash, the man who seemed to be a lot more than a late night booty call, or Amy, my best friend—my sister from another mister.
I stepped inside the cathedral, whistling as I strolled down the aisle of pews.
“Again?” Amy announced. “That must be some sort of record.”
I shrugged. “What can I say, I like a good fight.”
“Well you won’t get one here.”
“Good. Because I’d like a friend instead.”
Amy appeared from behind the altar, her flaming red hair let loose over her tattooed arms. She bit her lip ring and I wanted to smile. Old habits die hard.
“You’re pushing it, Mackenzie. We’re not—”
“I know, I know, but humor me, yeah?”
“What do you want?”
“A confidant.”
“Loose lips sink ships and all that,” she said, pointing to the ceiling.
I’d forgotten that the vampires had eyes and ears everywhere.
“Gray’s Papaya?” She suggested and my heart did a double take.
“Perfect.”
All night.
That was how long we stayed at Gray’s Papaya as I spilled the beans on everything that happened since I’d come back from Scotland, up to now. Minus the Oracle visions, I told her about the link, the murders, my therapy, even what happened with Bash the other night. Everything. Verbal diarrhea at its finest.
Amy slurped the last bit of her virgin piña colada, the straw at the corner of her mouth as she tilted her head.
“Well?” I said once I finished my long sordid tale.
“For one thing, you need to pull your head out your ass, Mackenzie. You’re a mess.”
“Not like I don’t already know, Aims.”
“Obviously you don’t if you haven’t gotten it together by now. I mean you let me kick your ass knowing damn well you’re moon-bound. Then again, it explains why you want to kick the bucket.”
“That was before I decided to be the sacrificial lamb—”
She waved me off. “Whatever. The point is you’re on the train to pityville, population: Mackenzie Grey. Choo-choo, bitch.”
My forehead fell onto the counter top and I sighed. “I’m pathetic.”
“Yup.”
“You’re not supposed to agree with me, Amy.”
“Look, this night out doesn’t fix anything between us, but since you asked, then I’m not sugar-coating. You’re about to go into the Fae realm, don’t second guess yourself. Go be the wolf who brought a kingdom to its knees. That’s who you need to find again.”
“I don’t know where she is,” I muttered. “I’m so tired, Amy. I’m exhausted.”
She bit her pierced lip, contemplating. “All I’ve heard tonight is how you’ve lost everything, you’ve given up, wah wah wah. Duh, Mackenzie, life sucks. I never pegged you as a quitter. Do what you’re good at, and go bust some kneecaps.”
I grinned. “For someone who isn’t my friend, you sure are saying some nice things to me.”
Amy scoffed. “Don’t get it twisted. I still hate you.”
“Love you too, Aims.”
“Don’t get your hopes up. Are we done here?”
“Yeah…unless you want to share what you’ve been up to this last year?”
“No,” she deadpanned.
I didn’t push her any further. This was the first step in getting us back to where we were. Even if I didn’t make it out of the Fae realm, at least I could rest easy knowing the last time I saw Amy, wasn’t with her fist connecting with my jaw.
With a hefty amount of hotdogs in our bellies, we walked out of Gray’s Papaya and I could barely move with how full I was.
I rubbed my stomach in admiration. “This food baby was so worth it.”
Amy snorted. “You sure its not a real baby?”
I stopped in my tracks. “Shut your mouth. Thats blasphemous.”
“According to your retelling of
events, you guys weren’t as careful as you should have been. Just saying…”
“I’m on the pill, thank you very much. You know I don’t want any little people.”
She pulled me to a stop. “Eventually you’ll have to. The King will request it—there has to be an heir.”
I didn’t comment. I knew someday I would. If not, the MacCoinnich line would end with me.
We made it back to the cathedral and I still had a few hours before I was to meet Ranulf at Central Park. Enough time for me to get some shut eye.
“You didn’t have to walk me home. I’m a vampire.”
“I know.”
She sighed. “I know what you’re trying to do. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t working, but this time it’s different. This…I can’t forgive and forget that easily. Give me time.”
“Whatever you need, Amy. You got it. Just curb the urge to kill me…please,” I flinched at the gleam of her fangs.
“I’ll try,” she smirked as she went up the stairs of the church. “And whatever you do, Mackenzie,” she said over her shoulder. “Make it out of there alive.”
That was all I needed to hear.
We were going to be alright.
Sleep eluded me. My mind ran a mile a minute preparing for what was to come. I’d never been to the Fae realm, not even close, but I’d heard stories. Horrible, horrible stories of the monsters that hid behind illusions and glamour; the tricks they played and people they enslaved. It hadn’t been absurd for Alexander to react the way he did when I volunteered to go. Knowing the danger that awaited me would put anyone on edge, but no matter how much my nerves ate up my insides, and how my mind doubted my strength, I had to go. Not because I felt guilty or responsible—no, I was done blaming everything on myself—but because it was the right thing to do.
“Cassidy?” I called out from my bed. “You awake?”
Nothing.
“CASSIDY!”
“Huh?!” He jolted up from the couch—half asleep, half awake.
“Were you sleeping?” I asked sweetly.
“Not anymore,” he rumbled.
OMEGA: A New Adult Urban Fantasy (Mackenzie Grey Book 4) Page 13