“What’s the matter?” Derek asked, hovering behind me. He’d picked up on Dean’s tension back at the bike path and hadn’t left my side since. Annoying.
“Magic,” I hissed. I stood and scanned the cemetery. The gates were locked at night and this street was much more public than the road along Evergreen. This was close to campus and had a 24-hour grocery store across the street. How the hell did they get out without being seen?
Leaving Derek in my wake, I stalked to the edges of the cemetery tree line before the drop running directly behind and into the river. At the northeast corner, there was a gap in the trees. Hidden behind the tree line and stretching along the river’s bank was a damned bike path.
“Here!” I shrieked.
“What?”
“They got out here, now the question is, where did they go?”
“I dunno, Kid. There are a hundred points along this bike path that someone could’ve pulled a van up to.”
“No one would’ve seen them either,” I snapped.
“No, they wouldn’t have seen a damned thing.”
Standing in the center of the bike path, I stared down the length of concrete until it disappeared around the river’s bend as if it would tell me something.
“They took three more last night than the other night,” I whispered almost to myself.
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know.”
Chapter 7
A familiar, bone-chilling fear crept up my spine and the flames flickered in the fire pit in the backyard only a few feet in front of me. My pulse quickened as foreign but familiar magic tingled along my skin.
Everyone, except for Dean at the grill, was in the house getting the food and drinks ready. My breath rasped in my throat and my body froze as the blood in my veins flamed with power. My fingers tingled with the remembered pain of long thorns delving into my flesh and dark fae magic imbedding itself into my being. My heart raced and the purple haze I associated with this magic thrummed. Close, the source was too close.
“Baby? You okay?” Dean held a large spatula in his grip, an old canvas apron tied tight around his slim waist, and a warning curling his full lips. Sniffing the air, he ignored the smell of smoke and burning meat over the heat.
“Baba Yaga,” I whispered, but the words seemed to carry on the breeze making my declaration as loud as any shout. My voice sounded so small, even to my ears. How had she found us? How had she crossed the veil? That’s all I needed, fucking Baba Yaga running loose in my city.
The French doors to the house opened and people filed into the back yard, laughing and talking as if something evil wasn’t lurking in the darkness beyond. But then, they didn’t know just how dangerous Baba Yaga was.
“Make a perimeter sweep,” Dean ordered, snapping his wolves to attention.
Niyati, Ev, and Tag, being the first from the kitchen, rounded the house and were out of sight in an instant. Alex strode out from the house with a wineglass filled with what I assumed was Niyati’s blood in her hands.
“What’s going on?” Alex asked, suddenly suspicious as the werewolves jumped into action at their Gaoh’s command. Always a little nervous when Niyati was involved, Alex’s eyes darted from her lover back to me. She was as happy as I’d ever seen her and Niyati positively glowed when Alex was around. But, Alex had started to let Niyati cloud her judgment and her actions. If anyone outside our little family noticed the way Alex hovered around Niyati, they could use it against her. Use Niyati against her.
“Fae,” Dean growled low in his chest.
“I don’t like Baba Yaga checking up on me or whatever the hell it is she’s doing here,” I snapped.
“She can’t get in here,” Alex said. “Patrick had the whole property warded.”
I doubted anything we put up could keep Baba Yaga out. I hoped Patrick was right, but in the pit of my stomach I knew if she wanted me, there was very little if anything I could do to stop her.
After ten grueling minutes, Ev and Tag came back around the house. Niyati circled and approached from the opposite side.
“There were two of them,” Ev said, his head high and his shoulders back.
In Vegas, Ev had been submissive but he’d also been weak and untrained. Now, as Everett stood next to Tag with his shoulders square and his eyes forward meeting everyone’s gaze, he was confident, happy, and at home. He was still submissive but he wasn’t weak anymore. Tag had been working with him to show him how to fight and protect himself, to protect the Pack.
“One was definitely Baba Yaga,” I said. I’d felt the sneaky slither of her magic up my spine as it pulsed through my blood with a familiar, painful fire.
“How do you know,” Kurt asked, stepping down from the French doors with a couple of beers in his hand. Jade followed behind him with a glass of wine in each hand, one for her and one for me.
“I can feel her in my blood, like a twitch that won’t go away.” I snarled, plopping down in the chair behind me.
“They’re gone now but Everett is right, there were definitely two of them,” Niyati said. She rubbed her long fingers through his hair, mussing it up as she passed like a proud big sister. He almost beamed with pride.
“I don’t like it,” I said.
“Like what?” Patrick’s smooth voice asked from the darkness. Stepping from the garage like sex in motion, his charcoal suit was pressed and pristine, his shirt open at the neck, and his tie was clutched in his hand.
My mouth watered at the sight of him and for a moment I forgot that a very scary bitch was lurking out in the darkness.
“Baba Yaga and an unknown Fae hanging around the house,” Alex answered.
Patrick snarled as he stepped up beside me. He ran his cool hand down the middle of my back, wiping any thought of Baba Yaga from my mind. His hand cupped my ass and squeezed as he brushed a kiss across my cheek in greeting. I couldn’t keep the groan of pleasure from my throat as his fingers slid under my ass and between my legs, brushing against things that shouldn’t be touched in polite company.
“What game is she playing?” Patrick asked. His mind was a constant game of risk, weighing options, moving pieces on the board until they suited his purposes. Sometimes, he scared me.
“How did she get here?” Dean asked.
“Saeran said he banished the Unseelie to the Outer Realm,” I offered.
“If she’s escaped, then I would seriously question Saeran’s power both here and in Faerie.” Patrick’s voice was flat but I knew he was constructing contingency plans for every event. It was what he did.
“I don’t think she escaped,” I said, swirling the wine in my glass.
“I don’t understand,” Kurt said, hoisting Jade onto his lap.
“I don’t think she escaped. She can’t escape what she is,” I said, trying to put into words what I didn’t quite understand myself.
“What?” Dean asked, flipping a few burgers over the open flames.
Patrick watched me for a long moment, his obsidian gaze raking over my face until he found the answer he was searching for. “You’re suggesting that she was not banished there, no matter what Saeran believes, because she belongs there.”
“Belongs? I don’t know. Maybe. But the Outer Realm felt similar to Baba Yaga’s magic. She orchestrated the landscape as if it was a part of her. Belongs? No.”
“Is,” Dean growled.
“That’s probably more likely,” I answered, letting the harsh scorch of his power wash over me, a cleansing force to wipe the dark fae magic away.
“So, again I ask, what game is she playing? Why keep up the appearance of being a hostage in a realm that you clearly control?” Patrick’s fingers skimmed along my spine, a comforting touch in a conversation that left me unnerved.
“Biding her ti
me,” Alex offered. Her brows knit together under the bleached white sheen of her hair, a stark contrast to the deep chestnut brown of her eyes.
“For what?” I almost hissed.
“Hard to say.” Dean turned back toward the grill and the salivating aroma of cooking meat.
“It would be to our benefit to know what’s going on in the Fae Court,” Patrick said matter-of-factly. “We may come to understand what Baba Yaga’s long-term goals are but also why someone was with the witch and what they hope to gain.”
“Suggestions, Machiavelli?” Dean snorted, slapping more burgers on the grill. He handed an already full plate to Kurt and glanced at us across the fire pit.
“Ambassadors, perhaps?” Patrick answered, too quick for real consideration. This was something he’d been contemplating for a while.
“They’ll want one here.” Dean bristled at the idea of outsiders on our turf. I completely understood his apprehension. New people tended to want to kill us. I don’t know why. We were nice people.
“That just means we’ll have a ready-made hostage,” I answered just as quickly, letting the menace fill my tone.
“You two deserve each other.” Alex rolled her eyes.
I glanced up at Patrick and met his gaze with a grin on my face. A flash of sheer contentment burned through my gut and lit his dark eyes. She was right. We did deserve each other.
“Who do we send?” Kurt asked, placing a plate of food on the table in front of Jade. She waved him off but he slid the plate in front of her regardless, doting on her like any good wolf would on his mate. His body was stiff though, his jaw tight, and his posture rigid as stone. A small bead of sweat trickled down his cheek and I wasn’t sure if it was from the summer heat or his concern for Jade. A human in a room full of monsters would make me worry too. They all adored Jade but she was fragile and Kurt knew that.
“Milagra and Konstantin,” Dean said without taking his eyes from the grilling meat. He was very serious when he was cooking for his Pack, or for me.
“That’s ingenious,” Alex chirped. She actually fucking chirped. “Saeran and his Queen will trust her completely but both Konstantin and Milagra are bound to us,” Alex cooed in pleasure.
“Who said you couldn’t be Machiavellian too,” I teased.
“No one sees it coming,” Kurt snorted.
“What do we do about the walking corpses?” I asked, shaking away a shiver. “They give me the heebie-jeebies.”
“I haven’t seen a true necromancer in years,” Patrick said, slinging his jacket over the back of the loveseat. Sitting gracefully, he crossed his legs at the knee and lounged with his long arm draped over the back along the edge of the cushions.
“By your description of the—” Jade paused, glancing up at Patrick. She was careful with her words, wanting to be clear. ”Zombie,” Jade continued. “They couldn’t have been very powerful. My guess is a Voudoun priest or priestess practicing.”
“I still want someone watching the cemeteries tonight.” I sat down next to Patrick still lounging on the loveseat and felt the silence weigh on me. I couldn’t say why.
“We can send scouts out but I don’t know what good it will do,” Patrick whispered to me.
“Maybe we’ll get lucky and he’ll show up. How many cemeteries could there be?”
“More than twenty,” Jade chimed in from across the patio. “And those are just the big ones.”
“Great.” I rolled my eyes and slouched back in the loveseat. Couldn’t just one fucking thing go right this week?
“Let us move on to something we can account for, the Fae perhaps,” Patrick’s smooth voice consoled as his cool fingers trailed a shivering line of desire up my arm.
“We need to contact Saeran and set something up,” Alex said.
“Later. First, we have much to work out,” Patrick whispered in my ear.
I knew exactly what was on his mind as his fingers tickled up the back of my neck, sending shivers of anticipation straight down to my core.
“Tonight, we have more important things to talk about,” I said, catching his attention.
“Oh?”
“Yeah,” I said, “the bonding ceremonies.”
“Have you changed your mind?” Alex snorted, a little snotty.
Patrick sat quietly, his face blank, not giving anything of his thoughts away. Anyone would take his expression as cold and unfeeling. I knew it as the face he hid behind. Resting his own glass of wine delicately on his thigh between slender fingers, he watched me, letting me drive the conversation.
I couldn’t read his mind but I could read his feelings. Most of them he kept guarded. I could, however, make out one in particular that beamed out over the rest . . . hope.
“We’re half in and half out now. If we do this, everyone will leave us alone,” I finished almost angry.
“Not gonna happen,” Dean snarled over his shoulder at us.
“Maybe not,” I replied, softer and more controlled. “But maybe we’ll be strong enough to finish it.”
“Did I mention how glad I am she’s back?” Kurt said.
“We’ll get everything prepared,” Patrick assured me, stroking a long tantalizing finger up and down my arm. But he couldn’t hide the smirk quirking the corner of his mouth as he raised the wine to his lips and sipped.
Chapter 8
“Okay, so how’s this going to work?” I asked, sitting cross-legged on the couch’s center cushion. After everyone had eaten, Dean and Patrick had ordered everyone home so we could be alone.
“Eithina’s easy. Declare it under the full moon Manit; hunt together; share the kill; consummate, and mark each other,” Dean rattled off from the arm of the couch. “That’ll do it.”
I’d noticed he skimmed over the consummate part so maybe Patrick wouldn’t notice. It was pointless, Patrick noticed everything and he tensed, shoulders rigid and jaw tight. They both understood that theoretically each was sleeping with me but understanding it and admitting it were two very different things. Men are so fickle.
“Our bond will be more complicated,” Patrick said, still pacing on the other side of the coffee table. The television flickered behind him on the wall.
“What about a Fertiri bond? Does that need to be solidified too?” I asked, trying to keep everything straight.
Patrick stopped pacing and turned to both of us. “I don’t know.”
“Jade’s checking,” Dean said.
“Why would information about a Fertiri be online?” I snapped, suddenly frustrated.
“Jade’s got friends everywhere,” Dean responded with an entertained twinkle in his eyes.
I didn’t like not knowing something. I’m nosey and I like to be in control. Go figure.
“Yeah? Who’s she talking to?” I asked.
He shrugged. Bastard!
“Kurt’s contacting the German Packs for intel as well,” Dean added.
The three of us were silent for a long moment. Patrick began pacing again, his footsteps falling in a heavy thud on the hardwood floor in time with my heart. The air seemed thick with tension, and I begged silently for something to break it.
“I don’t like that we lack information. It leaves us vulnerable,” Patrick almost hissed.
“You’ve known for how long what she is?” Dean’s tone didn’t hide the accusation in his words.
“I did, however, certain paths of information were closed to me. If. You. Recall.” Patrick turned, his obsidian eyes narrowed on Dean in a way that made my skin crawl.
“What’s going on here,” I asked, watching the two men I loved prepare to tear each other apart.
“Nothin’ we can’t handle.” Dean’s olive-green gaze bled to the bright Caribbean blue of his wolf as he stared his friend down.
“You mean, nothing I can’t handle since I have been the one shouldering the responsibility of keeping her hidden.”
“While I’ve been the one cleanin’ up your messes.” Dean’s lip curled up into a snarl as he rose from the sofa.
Oh shit.
“My messes? There wouldn’t be messes if not for you. She was mine first, remember that.” Patrick’s voice was deep, threatening and filled with a menace I very rarely heard.
“Hey, we’re a little off topic,” I said, getting to my feet and stepping between them. “This is supposed to make us safer, right?”
“Safer? If the bonds mean that bloodsucker has power over me, then forget it!” Dean’s finger was out, pointing across the shrinking space of the living room at his friend.
“Bloodsucker?” I almost whispered. I’d never heard Dean call Patrick or any vampire that. I’d never seen him lose his temper and he was very close to the edge of losing his shit in an epic way.
“Do you believe I relish the idea of you having power over me? Absolutely not, but I’ll sacrifice anything to keep her safe. I’m heartened to know you’ll do the same,” Patrick sneered.
I could almost see the exact instant Dean snapped. Holy shit, what is happening here? I stood between them, a sentinel to keep them from killing each other, keeping my arms up and my palms flat against their chests.
“Sweetheart,” Patrick hissed, his tone low and dangerous, “please get out of the way.”
“Fuck! NO! Are you crazy? I will not let you kill each other over something stupid. Grow the fuck up and act like adults. I’m tired of this shit,” I shouted as the front door behind us opened.
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