STRAYED

by Amber Lynn Natusch

  I watched while Janner climbed out the living room window to the fire escape, closing the sash behind him. He gave a nod and proceeded to climb down until his head finally disappeared from sight. Alistair and Beckett left through the apartment door, Ali giving a tiny wave before he shut it, leaving me in the lonely silence of my home. It was the quietest my apartment had been in as long as I could remember.

  I found no peace in it.

  Not knowing exactly what to do with myself, I grabbed some chips from the pantry and headed to my room, locking myself in as though a door lock would keep Captain Terrifying from coming in. Couldn't hurt, though, right?

  With snacks and cell phone in hand, I crouched down beside my bed, facing the door, and sat back. It was going to be a long day—maybe days. In some strange way, it almost made me wish Deimos would just come for me and be done with it. The anticipation was always worse than the actual attack. Or at least that observation had historically proven true.

  But there was a first time for everything.

  And that first time was now.

  * * *

  I startled myself awake when the bag of chips on my lap fell to the floor, scattering crumbs across the hardwood. I'd fallen asleep, the lack of it over the past few days having taken its toll on me. To my credit, I didn't scream, a small victory in its own right. Raising an alarm needlessly wouldn't have gone over very well with the boys.

  With a heavy sigh, I straightened myself up and started plucking the greasy chips, chastising myself under my breath.

  Ruby.

  Scarlet's tone raised my hackles only seconds before the intruder's presence did. My eyes shot up to the closed door while I strained to hear any sounds in the apartment. There were none to be heard.

  “What do we do?” I whispered, unable to quash the growing panic in my voice.

  The only thing we can. We fight.

  Like a mother protecting her young, Scarlet brushed me aside, taking over seamlessly and without permission. I wouldn't have denied her request if she had sought my permission. I knew I didn't stand a chance against Deimos.

  I could only hope that she would.

  Chapter 36

  “There will be no running for you this time.”

  His words echoed eerily down the hallway beyond my closed bedroom door. He sounded farther away than I would have imagined, given my body's response, but I was thankful for that tiny blessing. Then I realized that if he was in the apartment, one of the boys must have fallen to allow him entrance.

  My blood ran cold at the thought.

  Scarlet stood motionless, staring at the bedroom door. Though I knew she felt the fear his proximity evoked, I also knew there was a rage brewing, coursing through her with every beat of our heart.

  “I have no intention of running,” Scarlet informed him. “If we are to do this, then let us be done with it.”

  “Now, now,” he chided, his voice nearing the door to my room. “So quick to get this over with? I'm afraid that's not how I operate, Scarlet.”

  He knows your fucking name?

  “We were formally introduced when he escorted me to the Underworld.” There was a sourness to her tone. It smacked of regret. “It was an interesting journey.”

  Great. I'll let you know what I think after I get there.

  A sudden scratching sound at the door snapped me from my rising panic. Deimos was taunting us, running something sharp repeatedly down the door to my room. With every pass, the wood groaned and the casing creaked under the pressure he applied. It would not be long before the whole thing broke open, leaving Scarlet and me to our fate. The fate she had engineered weeks ago.

  “Are the complexities of the common doorknob too much for you?” she asked. “Or do you just prefer to make a grand entrance?”

  The scratching ceased only seconds before the door flew off the hinges, knocking Scarlet to the floor. She was on her feet in a second, but that second was one too many. Deimos was already upon her.

  “So eager to die, are we?” he asked as his hand coiled tightly around her neck.

  “I am not the one slated to die, or do you not remember the deal?” Her voice was strained while she fought against his hold. Gavin was wrong about her. She was far from all brawn and no brains. She was sharp and manipulative when it suited her. And in that moment, it most certainly did.

  He released her with a shove, putting space between the two of them.

  “You think your deal still stands?” he asked, incredulity lacing his tone.

  “I think that I have not delivered on my end and she has not delivered on hers, so yes, by definition it does.”

  He laughed. The sound was low, harsh, and terrifying.

  “You are a fool.”

  “Or perhaps you are,” she countered, holding her ground. “You are a glorified delivery man, Deimos. You forget your place. If she wants retribution, I hardly think she would allow you to exact it.” She studied him, cocking her head while she did. “No. No, I don't think she would do that at all. Persephone and I have some things in common, you see. And I know for fact that, if I was slighted, I would not be satisfied until I got my sweet revenge. So I don't think you'll be ending anyone tonight.”

  He leaned forward slowly, a cruel smile spreading across his face.

  “Not yet.”

  “Not ever,” a voice shouted from down the hall. It came from a most unexpected person.

  Deimos wheeled around and stared down the hallway at the unwelcome party that had dared to interrupt him. Scarlet, too, looked out my bedroom door to find Gavin at the far end. Had I been in control, I know my jaw would have dropped wide open. Gavin, the king of evasion, the master deceiver, had not only pulled himself from the safety of the shadows, but had also put himself directly in harm's way on my behalf. His days of hiding behind the scenes appeared to be over.

  He'd officially outed himself.

  “We'll continue our discussion momentarily,” Deimos said over his shoulder to Scarlet; his eyes never left Gavin's unwavering form. He then started toward my uncle, the intensity of his terror-inducing aura growing while he approached him, as though he were calling fear to himself, preparing to wield it as a weapon.

  Gavin's stance never faltered.

  Instead, he began to speak in a beautiful language, one that I had never heard before. While he spoke, Deimos' steps appeared to become increasingly labored, each slowing and shortening until he was rendered utterly still. Scarlet crept down the hall toward our would-be attacker, stalking him like the ensnared prey he was—or at least seemed to be.

  Stopping only feet from Deimos, I felt her body tense when she crouched slightly, still keeping close to the wall. While she paused, I heard Gavin's words more clearly, his voice cutting through the pounding of Scarlet's heart.

  “You cannot have her,” he sneered, his sharp, narrowed gaze fixed on Deimos. Then, just as Scarlet leapt into the air to attack Deimos, Gavin flicked his wrist and shouted a final command in his entrancing language. Scarlet came crashing to the ground where Deimos had been standing.

  Just like he had in Boston, he disappeared. One second he was there; the next, he was gone.

  I felt an immense sense of relief, but Scarlet shot to her feet, growling. Her anger was directed at the one who had just saved us from an uncertain fate. Those two clearly had some unresolved issues that wouldn't be put to rest until they hashed them out. At any other time, I would have been tempted to let them do so, but the imminent danger that accompanied Deimos' likely return had my mind reeling and my priorities in check.

  Let it go for now, Scarlet. He just saved our ass.

  “Perhaps,” she said sharply.

  Though he looked rather spent after getting rid of our unwanted visitor, Gavin rushed over to Scarlet. She then allowed me to take over.

  “We need to go now,” he ordered, rushing me down the hallway to my bedroom. “Pack whatever you can into this.” He threw a gym duffel bag at me before pacing the room.

  “G
o? Go where?” I asked, confused by his demand. “You said he wouldn't be able to get me here, and that didn't exactly go according to plan. Where can we go now that he won't be able to get to me?”

  “Let me worry about that. Now pack.”

  “Gavin. No. Just no. I'm not running. He knows where I live. Where my pack lives.” The words had no sooner left my mouth than my attention was drawn back to the status of the three pack members who had been protecting the building. If Deimos got in, then someone was hurt.

  And I was about to find out who.

  I threw the bag down and fled through the door only to be intercepted by my uncle. Stepping directly in my path, he stopped me short.

  “Where do you think you're going?” he asked, wheeling me around and marching me right back to the discarded duffel.

  “The boys. I need to know they're okay,” I explained before I pulled away again, screaming their names repeatedly.

  None of them answered.

  “Ruby. They are fine.” He grabbed me by the shoulder and shook me lightly, jarring me from my growing hysteria.

  “But they're―”

  “They are asleep.” I looked at him with eyes wild, beseeching him for an explanation while my heart raced with fear. Fear that I had once again put those I cared about in the path of a metaphorical bullet meant for me and me alone. “Deimos may have been able to get past my wards and enter without using a physical entrance, but I do not possess his gifts and require an actual doorway to enter a building. Your brothers posed a problem in that endeavor, so I eliminated that obstacle using a spell. As for the one at the back, I did the same to him so he would not interfere. You have seen enough bloodshed in your time, especially that of the ones you love. I knew I could avoid further, so I did.”

  I stared up at him, blinking back the tears that were welling in my eyes. He had not only saved me, but he had kept the U.K. trio safe. Gavin may have been a real dick at times, but his actions that day spoke volumes about his character and how well he knew me. He personally couldn't have cared less about my pack, but he knew they were important to me and that I would have never forgiven myself if they'd died that day. I likely wouldn't have forgiven him either, a fact that I was pretty certain he was aware of.

  “Thank you.”

  Those two simple words were all I could muster.

  “If you want to thank me, then do as I ask and pack that bag. Now. Time is of the essence,” he said, moving to snatch the bag at my feet from the floor before thrusting it into my hands again. “The banishment spell will not last forever. We need to be long gone by the time he returns.” When I made no effort to begin packing, he herded me toward the closet while I tried to maneuver away from him. “I should have done this a long time ago,” he muttered under his breath.

  “Done what?” I asked.

  “Taken you away from here. From this.”

  “It's a little late for that now, don't you think?”

  “It isn't if we leave immediately. We don't have time to discuss this.”

  “He'll come back for me,” I argued, staring back at Gavin while I pushed my hands against the doorjamb of the closet to make my stand. “And you won't be here to protect my family when he does. What you did today will have all been for naught.”

  “That is a chance I am willing to take.”

  “But I'm not!” I shouted at him. “I will not leave bodies in my wake this time. I swear on all that is holy that I will deliver myself to Persephone first if that will protect them.”

  “You don't know what is at stake here, Ruby.”

  “Don't I?”

  “No. You don't.”

  “Then tell me.”

  “I will tell you on the way, but we must go now. The others will be waking soon.”

  “Tell. Me,” I demanded.

  With a great sigh, Gavin's exhausted eyes fell on mine. They reflected his plea unmistakably while desperation rolled off him.

  “Deimos is not the only one who has found you,” he said plainly, leaving me to sort out what he was so clearly leaving unspoken.

  “Who else? Who is coming?”

  “Others.”

  “Who, Gavin? This is not the time to pull your bullshit on me. This is serious!”

  “I know it is!” he yelled, shoving his face in mine. “And I am trying to keep you from those who pursue you, but you won't let me. All I have ever tried to do is let you live your life while steering you away from the danger lurking all around, but you never let me. Once—just once―will you please let me keep you from death's grasp?” His harsh expression softened and he pulled away from me enough to allow me to see the sadness in his eyes. “I have failed you, Ruby. Failed you on more occasions than I care to recount. That is my burden to bear; I know that. But you are all I have left. All the family I have, and I cannot let them—any of them―have you.”

  “Who, Gavin?” I asked, my tone far more gentle this time.

  “Others that seek to pick up where Tobias left off.”

  “But...isn't that what you wanted? To lure them so we could find out who they are and work our way to the top of the food chain, so to speak?”

  “That was before.”

  It didn't take long for me to figure out what would have comprised the rest of his sentence. Ginger's death had changed things for me as well.

  “I know you want to run―you think that will solve all of this―but it won't help. I know that better than anyone. There has to be another way.”

  “And yet, there is not, Ruby.”

  We stared at each other for a moment, neither wanting to concede the point. Surprisingly it was Gavin who caved first, storming toward my dresser and throwing open the drawers without care. He threw random articles of clothing into the bag without speaking to me. He was done trying to get me on board.

  This was no longer him trying to save me.

  It was an abduction.

  Just as I made a move to bolt from the room, I stopped dead in my tracks. Gavin stood utterly still, his hands in my sock drawer. The feeling that had niggled at me the previous night was amplified at least tenfold, and it was plain that Gavin felt it too. Slowly, as though he was scared to move any faster, he turned to face me. In his hands was a small, distressed wooden box. It was plain―nondescript―but, judging by the look on Gavin's face, it meant the world.

  Maybe more.

  Afraid to move, I whispered to him, trying to get his attention. My call fell on deaf ears. His eyes remained fixed on the object before him.

  “I have to go,” he said softly, still not looking at me. Without any explanation at all, he walked out of my room.

  “What are you talking about?” I asked, chasing after him. Again, he did not answer my question.

  “I will be back.”

  Then he disappeared through my apartment doorway, shutting the door behind him.

  After a second, I threw it open, remembering that the boys were still out there. I had expected to find Alistair in a heap on the landing, and my heart skipped a beat when I didn't. Then I heard a shuffling sound from downstairs, followed by a thud that sent me running. When I got to the bottom step, I found Beckett lying on the floor, struggling to stand. Alistair was limp at his feet.

  “Beckett!” I yelled, catching him just before he fell to the ground. He fought me when I hoisted his arm over my shoulder, so I did all I could to exude my calming energy. Only seconds later, Alistair stirred, shot to his feet, staggered forward a step, then fell. Both of the boys appeared drunk but angry—combative. Their speech was severely slurred when they tried to explain what had happened, but one thing was clear. They were pissed at whoever they thought had done this to them.

  Janner eventually stumbled onto the landing. He was a bit more composed, as though the effects had worn off of him more than they had for the others by that point, but he was still in rough shape. Fortunately for me, he was far more intelligible when he spoke.

  “You are okay.”

  “Yes.” I wasn't su
re if he was asking or telling so I answered him. “I'm totally fine, which is more than I can say for you three. Janner, do you think you can help me with Ali?”

  He nodded weakly before he started down the stairs. Two steps in, he lost his footing and nearly fell the rest of the way down.

  Let me do this.

  Scarlet took over, easily carrying Beckett and Alistair up the stairs and into the living room of my apartment, where she set them down on the couch before returning for Janner. It wasn't long before the U.K. trio was splayed out all over my sofa, looking painfully hung over.

  “Was that him?” Beckett asked pointedly, his words far more articulate that time.

  “Who?”

  “Deimos,” he clarified.

  “Ummm...no. But he did make an appearance.” I hesitated for a moment. “That was Gavin, my uncle.”

  It was as if the mere mention of his name sobered them all up, if only for a moment. I guess Cooper had decided to tell them all more about Gavin than I'd bargained for. After a long and somewhat painful pause, Alistair finally spoke.

  “Well, he sounds like a real prick.”

  My laughter started slowly, but eventually became a loud, roaring, hysterical outburst. Boy had Alistair hit that nail on the head.

  “He might be that, but he did just save my ass. And yours, though his methods might have been a little misguided.”

  Before any of them could chime in, my cell phone started ringing.

  The ring tone indicated Cooper was calling.

  I ran to my room to fetch my phone, hoping that everything was okay. I wasn't sure I could handle much more that night.

  “Cooper!” I shouted into the phone, doing nothing to lessen the anxiety that was expressed in my tone. “Tell me everything is okay there.”

  “Whoa! Calm down. Everything here is fine. I couldn't reach Janner. I wanted to make sure everything was good on your end, which it apparently isn't. What the fuck is going on?”