by Linsey Hall
“Ugh, I just want to go home,” I said, glancing around the barren room. “I want a shower at my own place, a couple hours hanging out in my trove, and a PBR and a pasty at P & P’s.”
“No can do, buckaroo,” Nix said. “Not only will that collar lead the bad guys straight to our home, but this is the safest place for you until you get that damned thing off. We gotta play it safe.”
She glared at my collar. I reached up, wincing at the cold bite of the metal beneath my fingers. The cloying, sickly feel of the dark magic hadn’t abated. I was glad I’d gotten it off Amara, but holy crap, it sucked.
And Nix was right. We couldn’t lead them to our home. Not when I thought the Monster was involved.
“Guys?” I really didn’t want to make them worry more than necessary, but this was necessary. “I think the Monster is behind this.”
Their fearful gazes met mine and I explained the shadow demons and the collar. When I was done, Del and Nix both reached out and took my hands. Fear vibrated in the room.
“We’ll take care of it.” Nix’s voice trembled.
“But he’s so damned powerful,” I said. Our odds of winning this—of all of us coming out alive and free—dropped exponentially if the Monster was involved. “And if the Shifter wolves can transfer the ownership of this collar, he’d be my master.” The word made my tongue feel gross.
“We’ll kill him,” Del hissed. “So you won’t have to worry about it.”
I nodded, not convinced, but desperate to believe her.
We sat in silence for a moment, each fighting our own demons. At least I was. I figured they had to be doing the same.
“So, to try to get on a less dire subject,” Nix said. “Why does your guy have such a weird place? These protections are insane, but this place is no Fort Knox. What’s he protecting?”
I was grateful Nix was trying to drag us out of our fear, though not thrilled to talk about Aidan’s place.
“He’s got an interesting past,” I said, not wanting to share more. Sure, these were my deirfiúr, closer than blood. But I was starting to feel loyalty to Aidan too. I didn’t want to be spreading his business around.
“Hmm…” Nix said. “I don’t like the sound of that. You sure about this guy?”
“Hey, you were all smoochy heart eyes about him just a week ago, throwing me at him like I was about to expire. Now you’re getting cautious?”
“Temporary insanity.” Nix side-eyed the room. “And it was before I came here. Normal people don’t put a million dollars’ worth of protective spells on their hillbilly hovels. I’ve literally never felt a place like this before.”
I sighed. “Yeah, it’s weird. But it’s not his doing. It’s his family’s old place. Anyway, like you said, it’s the safest place for me now.”
I touched the collar to remind them, but all it did was send me straight into a mental diorama of all the bad shit we were now facing. Monster on my heels, slave collar around my neck, tracking spell on said slave collar.
My head spun with it all.
“We need a plan,” I said. “Where’s Aidan?”
“Looking for your hottie?”
“Come on, dude. Timing.”
“What? I’m not freaked out by his weird little love shack,” Del said. “Though I’d rather be hanging at any one of his mansions.”
“Dude. Seriously? I kinda want to focus on getting this thing off me”—I pointed to my neck—“And you’re cooing about Aidan?”
“Probably not the time,” Nix said.
Del’s blue eyes darkened and her mouth dipped down at the corners. Her voice was somber. “Yeah, I’m sorry.” She sucked in a shuddery breath. “I guess I’m just not dealing with this well. The idea that you’re in that thing… Of the Monster maybe coming for you. I just wish I were wearing it instead.”
Warmth filled me. Del usually dealt with bad shit with jokes. And I got what she was saying. It was most of the reason I’d taken this thing off Amara. It was too hard to watch someone you loved be in such a shit situation and feel like you couldn’t control it. As quickly as I’d volunteered to take this thing off Amara, I’d have been even quicker to get it off one of my deirfiúr.
“We’ll get this off and be hanging out at P & P in no time,” I said. “For now, I need a freaking shower and then we’ll figure out what we do next.”
“Good.” Del leaned in and hugged me tight, then jerked back. “Wow, dude. You are gross.”
“What? You don’t like me like this?”
Nix eyed me. “I love you, but I’m going to take a rain check on my hug, cool?”
Since even I could smell myself, I had no choice but to say, “Yeah, cool.”
9
After Nix and Del left the room, standing up was a hell of a lot harder than I’d expected. I was doing about a hundred times better that I had been, considering I was now vertical, but the effects of the collar were all too apparent. Felt kinda like I had the flu.
I staggered toward the door, then peered into the little hall. All clear. Since I hadn’t bothered to put on jeans, the last thing I wanted to do was run into Aidan in just my underwear.
I raced into the tiny bathroom situated between the bedrooms and made quick work of my shower. It was as old and crappy as the one in my apartment, so it felt like home. When I got out, I quickly rubbed myself dry and zipped back to my little room, then changed into my last clean set of clothes.
For good measure, I strapped my daggers to my thighs. Though I was using them a lot less and no bad guys could get onto Aidan’s property, they were my security blanket. I wasn’t too proud to admit it. And with this collar around my neck, I’d take whatever security I could get.
I found my cell phone plugged in by the bed—thoughtful of whoever’d done that—and saw that it was late afternoon. Geez, I’d slept almost twenty-four hours.
When I made my way out into the living room, I pulled up short. Though the scene was cozy—friends and family around the kitchen table, sitting under a warm yellow light—the fact that Mathias was there was far from comforting.
I’d thought we’d left the Shifters behind at Glencarrough. Their recent obsession with my weird smell was the last thing I wanted to deal with. I was helping them out, but I couldn’t be sure they wouldn’t still toss me in prison for being a dreaded FireSoul.
I really couldn’t get a freaking break.
“Hey! You’re looking way more human!” Del said.
Aidan surged to his feet and walked toward me. He stopped, dwarfing me even more than usual. The collar’s sickness made me feel puny. Normally, though I was shorter than him, I could still kick ass. But I really didn’t feel like I could kick ass right now. And I freaking hated it.
Aidan cupped my face and tilted my chin so that my gaze was forced to meet his. Concern glinted in his dark eyes. The tender gesture felt weird, but nice. I wasn’t used to dudes touching me like this. I could count the number of guys I’d been interested in on one hand, but I’d never given any of them the opportunity to make me feel like this before.
Like I was cherished.
I liked it.
“You okay?” His voice was rough.
“Uh, yeah.” My gaze darted over his face, taking in his features with a tenderness I hadn’t ever felt before. I wanted to lean in and press my lips to his. Instead, I stepped back and just said, “Thanks.”
“Come on.” Aidan put an arm around my waist and led me to the table. I took the seat next to his, which I noticed had been left open. Del and Nix sat across from me, Mathias and Aidan, at the head of the table, on either side.
There were yellow cans of beer and thick ham sandwiches sitting on a platter in the middle of the scarred wooden table. My stomach grumbled like an angry troll, so I grabbed one.
“Where’s Dr. Garriso?” I asked right before I shoved the sandwich in my mouth.
“Sent him home on the plane,” Aidan said. “He seemed to be getting antsy to return to his books. Said something about
someone needing an answer.”
I nodded as I chewed. Made sense. A lot of people came to Dr. Garriso for answers. There’d likely be notes shoved under his office door when he got back.
“So,” I said as I eyed the beer. “I don’t suppose we’re going after the bad guys tonight?”
“No,” Aidan said. “We need a plan. They can’t get in here, so you have another night to recover while we figure out what to do.”
I didn’t want to tell him that I didn’t think I was going to get any more recovered than this. My recovery time after using my magic had been getting shorter with more practice. A twenty-four hour nap had probably refueled me just fine.
If I looked like I needed some more recovery time, it was probably because this collar was making me feel like shit. And that wasn’t going to get any better until I killed the jerk who’d put it on Amara.
“Okay, then.” I tried to make my voice light. “Then I guess I’ll have a beer. But I don’t suppose a girl could get a can of PBR?”
Aidan grinned, then pushed one of the yellow and silver cans of beer across the table toward me. A bead of condensation rolled right down the middle of the big silver T on the side of the can.
“Try it,” Aidan said. “It’s better than PBR. Also refreshing and delightful.”
I grinned. That’s exactly how I’d described PBR to him before, though I could only remember that because it was how I described it to everyone.
“All right,” I said. “Beggars can’t be choosers.”
And I desperately wanted to do something normal right now, like drink a beer and eat a sandwich. This would be cozy if it weren’t for the fact that I wore this collar and felt like my insides were coated with tar.
I took a sip, then smiled. “Not bad.”
“Refreshing and delightful?” Aidan asked.
“Refreshing and delightful,” I confirmed. My grin faded as I remembered what faced us. I glanced around the table. “So, it seems I passed out and now we’re all here.” I glanced at Mathias. “Including you. Why are you here?”
His eyes widened. “To help, of course.”
I cursed myself for my tone and the question. Obviously he was here to help. And a normal person would be grateful for the help. I, however, being very not normal, decided to verbally bite his face off.
“Thanks,” I said.
“Elenora offered to let you stay at Glencarrough, but your friends refused,” Mathias said. “And I can now see why, given the protections on this place. I came here to help with the planning and to coordinate any help from the Council that you might need. Manpower, assistance, that sort of thing.”
“That’s nice,” I said, trying for normal and falling very short of the mark. That’s nice? Like I’m talking about the weather?
He shrugged.
“So,” I said. “We have an unknown number of enemies who can track and catch me if I leave the protections on Aidan’s property. We also have the five of us and any assistance from the Alpha Council that we might need.”
Which I didn’t want to take.
“We can track them by following the Heartstone, which they have,” Del said.
“It would be better if they came to us,” Aidan said. “We’d have the advantage. You’d be safer.”
“But we need the element of surprise. If they issue orders I can’t obey, this collar will make me feel even worse.” My stomach turned at the thought. I was strong enough to use my magic, but any kind of sustained physical fight would take a toll on me.
“Too bad you aren’t a Shifter,” Mathias said. “In animal form, the Magica spell on that collar wouldn’t affect you as much.”
Aidan’s eyes flared with interest. I’d bet mine did as well. That was one reason to practice shifting again.
“I’m a Mirror Mage,” I said. “So I could try shifting.”
“Takes a strong Mirror Mage to do that, doesn’t it?” Mathias said.
“Yeah. Probably not possible then. I’m fairly weak.”
“I agree with Aidan,” Nix said, clearly trying to change the subject away from risky territory. “We need to play it safe. Under normal circumstances, it’s fine to bust in and crack skulls and see where the chips fall, but that collar changes things. Cass is more vulnerable. We’ll need to limit the likelihood of her capture. Normally you could handle yourself in that situation, but not with that collar. We need to get this right the first time.”
“What we need is reconnaissance,” Del said. “I vote for going and checking them out.”
“You would vote for that,” I said wryly.
“So I like a little adventure. But really, we’ll go check them out. See how much backup they have, what their base looks like.”
“I could go.” Mathias’s yellow gaze moved to Del. “You shouldn’t have to risk yourself.”
Del laughed at him. “You do know I’m a demon hunter, right? I think I can handle a little recon, big man.”
I grinned. Del always wanted to be the first into the fight. “I like that plan.”
“Good. We’ll go tonight.” Nix glanced at Del. “Can you take us?”
“I can, but if we’re planning for the big show to go down tomorrow, I’m hesitant to burn my power right before that. If they’re far away, it’ll take close to two days to refuel enough to use it again.”
“Good point. Being able to bug out is handy in a fight.” I looked at Mathias. “There’s one super helpful thing you could do. Any chance the Alpha Council has some transport charms?”
“Of course. I’m sure I can get a couple from the armory. We have a contact with a wizard who makes them. We’ll go to Glencarrough and then we can leave from there.”
We? As in, he and the rest of us? Nope. I really didn’t want him tagging along. I’d have to think of something to get him to stay behind on the ride to Glencarrough.
Nix, Del, and I waited in the car while Mathias and Aidan went into Glencarrough’s armory. The three of us sat squished in the back, staring warily out the windows at Glencarrough’s main courtyard. We’d told Mathias we had some girl things to chat about while he went into the armory, which sounded like some lame copout from a sitcom, but there was no way in hell the three of us were going to waltz through the halls of Glencarrough any more than necessary.
It was dark out, the sun having set a while ago, but there were still people walking through the courtyard. Made me antsy as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs.
“Do you think the FireSoul prisoner is still in their dungeon?” Nix whispered.
“Maybe.”
“Poor bastard,” Del said.
“No kidding. I can’t freaking believe we’re here,” I said.
“Yeah, this whole deal is more serious than I thought it would be,” Nix said.
Aidan and Mathias stepped out of the big wooden doors and my shoulders relaxed a bit. “Almost out of here.”
They strode down the stairs, their long legs eating up the distance.
“Whew, hotties.” Del fanned herself.
“Aidan is. But Mathias has made it clear he does not like FireSouls. There was one locked up here and he called him a filthy FireSoul.”
“Ugh. Ass.”
They were nearly to the car when Elenora rushed through the doors and down the stairs after them. I stiffened. She called Aidan’s name and he turned, then walked to meet her at the steps. Mathias followed.
They spoke but I couldn’t make out the words. Did Elenora just say FireSoul?
Nix grabbed my arm. “Oh fates, did you see that? She just said FireSoul.”
Sweat rolled down my spine.
“I saw it too,” Del said. “She’s talking about us.”
“Maybe not,” I said.
“I have enough juice to get us out of here,” Del said.
“Just wait.” I watched Aidan nod and turned away. Mathias stayed with Elenora. “Let’s see what he has to say. If it’s us, get us out of here.”
“Done,” Del said.
Aidan strode back to the car and opened the back door. My mouth dried as I watched him.
“Elenora wants me to give my opinion on the FireSoul they have in lockup. To see if I believe his story that he’s never stolen powers.”
My shoulders barely relaxed. So it wasn’t about us?
“Go do it,” I said. “Find out what you can. We’ll go do the recon and meet you back at your place.”
“I’d wanted to go with you. Have your back,” Aidan said.
“We got this. Go see the FireSoul. I can’t hang out here any longer waiting around. It’s killing me.”
“All right. I’ll keep Mathias with me. Elenora wants his opinion too. I’ll see you back at our place.” He reached out, his hand clenched around something. I held my hand under his, and he dropped two transport charms into my palms.
“Thanks. See you back at your place.”
He lifted his hand like he wanted to reach out and touch me, but dropped it. “Hey, stay safe, okay?”
I smiled. “Yeah. I got these two at my back.”
“Good. See you later.” He turned and went back to Elenora.
“Ready for this?” I asked my deirfiúr.
“Like a cat’s ready for tuna,” Del said.
10
I clutched the transport charm as my dragon sense pulled me through the ether. Nix and Del’s hands were warm on my arm. A second later, we appeared in the middle of an ancient, abandoned city. A full moon gleamed down, providing enough light to illuminate the elaborate architecture.
“Whoa,” Del whispered.
“Yep.” I kept my voice low and gazed at the enormous white amphitheater that gleamed in the moonlight. It was shaped like a half circle that rose up the side of a hill, hundreds of rows of seats forming an enormous staircase. “Looks Roman.”
“Yeah.” Nix sniffed the air. “Smells like the sea. I think we’re near the Mediterranean or Aegean.”
A cool night breeze blew my hair away from my face as I turned. A white stone-paved street stretched ahead of us, columns rising on either side. Behind them, fallen stone blocks and tumbled walls littered the hillside. Ruins spread out, ancient and elaborate, stretching far into the distance. Some big, some small, all made of the same white marble.