by L. C. Davis
“Your town?” Locke echoed.
“Locke.” Holden shot the demon a sharp look and Locke rolled his eyes, but he relented. The power dynamic between them really had shifted.
I looked to Nick, struggling to figure out what was going through his head. We all ended up back in Lucas’ study, which was fast becoming my least favorite place in the world. Lucas wanted the details, and as Holden recounted every one, I could see Nick cycling through anger, hurt and confusion. I couldn’t bring myself to look at him as Holden explained what had happened with Lilith and how we’d come to be there in the first place.
“Before I go on, how long has it been?”
“Six months,” muttered Nick.
“Oh, good! We’re ahead of schedule, then,” said Locke.
“What do you mean, ‘ahead of schedule?’” I asked warily.
“He means the first seal has been broken,” Holden said in a sullen tone. “The apocalypse is already in motion. We just have a say in how it happens now.”
Nick’s eyes narrowed. “So you fast-tracked the ritual. Who?”
Holden held his gaze. I could tell he was thinking about whether he was going to tell the truth. Locke cleared his throat pointedly and raised his hand so Holden didn’t have to. “Yoohoo.”
“You’re fucking kidding me,” Nick snarled. A growl built in his chest and he flew out of his chair. I couldn’t be sure if he was really going to attack Locke, but Holden put himself between them before he had the chance. Nick looked him over, his face a mask of confusion that settled into rage. “So that’s how it is. You’re all-in for being his Whore?”
“I don’t belong to anyone,” Holden said through gritted teeth. “Not to Locke. Not to you. You, on the other hand.” He looked pointedly at the gold band on Nick’s finger.
Nick’s ring hand clenched into a fist. “A lot can change in six months, Holden. I don’t know what happened down there, but you’re making a mistake if you think you can trust Locke.”
“You’re right. You don’t know what happened,” Holden snapped. They stood face-to-face for what felt like an eternity, and all I could do was sit there, wondering if they were closer to killing each other than kissing.
“So how did this become a thing, anyway?” Locke asked, wiggling his finger between me and Nick.
Nick clenched his jaw and kept his gaze on Holden but he finally stepped back. “When you left, I almost lost it,” he said, his tone softening. “Daniel pulled me back.”
“Pulled you back?” Holden asked. “From what?”
“From going feral,” said Lucas.
“What? You didn’t say anything about that when I left!”
“Your presence here was and is more of a threat to him than the risk of going feral,” the Alpha said firmly. “Besides, there are ways of mitigating the effects of loss. Even the loss of an imprinted mate.”
I touched the mark on my neck. Despite Nick’s words, the ring that had been placed so recently on my finger didn’t feel like much of a tether to the man I was more afraid of losing than ever. I couldn’t escape the fear that the mark had shifted from being his salvation to a burden the moment Holden showed up.
“So Daniel is your mate now,” Holden said softly. He smiled a little. “I’m happy for you. Both of you.”
“How sweet,” Locke purred, leaning over the mayor’s desk. “Since I’m back, I think there are a few points of the contract your dear old granddaddy Herschel signed that you and I should look over.”
Lucas frowned, standing from behind his desk. “As a matter of fact, there are a few things I’d like to discuss.”
“Let’s make a date of it,” the demon said in a syrupy tone, snatching Lucas’ hand. They were both gone.
“I take it he’s back at full power,” Nick said unhappily.
“A lot has happened, like you said,” Holden sighed. “Locke isn’t the enemy.”
“The hell he isn’t. You ran away because you didn’t want to be part of his plan, now you’re telling me you’re fine being his bitch?”
“It’s more complicated than that, Nick. It goes further back than you know.”
“You met him the same day you met me!”
Holden shook his head. “To you, I’ve only been gone for six months, but for me? It’s been an eternity and it’s been two seconds. Things like time don’t matter in the place I’ve been to. I understood and felt things that made more sense of all of this, of the chaos and the part I have to play in it, than all my searching on Earth ever has. I knew Locke before I came here, before I was ever Holden, but it doesn’t matter,” he murmured. “What matters is that I know what I have to do now.”
“You knew what you had to do before, Holden. Nothing has changed.”
“It has,” he said firmly. “The mission is the same. Stop Lucifer, stop the apocalypse. I lost sight of it for a while. I thought I could change it by sacrificing myself, but I can’t. This is bigger than me, than my choices. Heaven doesn’t have the answers. Even the angels don’t know where God is. There is no Divine Plan, no higher purpose that’s going to save us all if we do the right thing. I’ve seen an ocean full of souls just decaying and waiting to be judged, and there’s no justice to any of it. The right thing--the only thing--is for me to do this the way it was always planned.”
“The way Locke planned,” he shot back.
“The way Adam planned,” Holden corrected. “I am Adam, Nick. I don’t know if I’m his reincarnation or something else, but my soul isn’t human.”
That seemed to take Nick off-guard as much as it did me. “Sorry--what?” I asked, still stuck on the ocean of souls part. “How do you know?”
“When Remiel took me to Heaven, Michael was gone searching for Lilith. An angel named Hanael helped me escape. She takes care of Ezekiel,” he said softly. “She said she was helping me because she owed it to Adam, and I didn’t understand then, but when Michael found me in Hell, he couldn’t destroy my soul. It exploded when he tried, and Locke found me as a result of the blast. I think it was the same explosion that caused the fire.” His voice filled with pain before he extinguished it. “I was always afraid the fire in Arkansas was my fault, and now I know it was. I’m not human. I’m not even a normal witch. I can’t live a normal life, and if I let myself get captured by Lucifer or Michael, they’re just going to use my power to hurt more people. The only way I can justify my existence is to fulfill the role I was always meant to.”
“Holden, you were a kid when the fire happened,” I said slowly. “Even if your soul did explode or whatever, you didn’t have control over it.”
“It doesn’t matter. I chose to come into this life being what I am, and I knew what the consequences would be,” he said, strangely determined. “This is the only way I can make peace with it.”
“So it’s already started,” said Nick. “You slept with Locke, and the first seal is broken. What does that mean now?”
“It means there are six more to go,” Holden said with a shrug. “It means I’ll find another werewolf. You and Daniel don’t need to be involved in this anymore.”
“Bullshit,” Nick growled. “For one thing, you still can’t leave Stillwater and I still imprinted on you. There’s a reason this place is crawling with everything but werewolves. We’re territorial.”
Holden frowned. “Then you’ll just have to get over it. Technically, it’s my land anyway.”
I could feel Nick’s anger rising and knew I had to intervene. “Doesn’t matter,” I said, clearing my throat. “The plan’s the same as always. You need a werewolf for the ritual, and you’re still bonded to Nick, so if you want my blessing or whatever, you have it. The wedding’s just a formality anyway.”
Nick flinched. “Daniel --”
“You two should talk, I’m gonna grab some fresh air,” I said, leaving the study before either of them could stop me. Part of me was relieved when Nick didn’t follow me.
I kept walking until I reached the edge of the woods and went on
a little further before I stopped to lean against an old maple tree. I let out a trembling breath and realized I was still shaking from the blast--comet, whatever the hell it was. Holden knew how to make an appearance, I’d give him that.
“Poor Daniel.” Locke’s voice came from somewhere deeper in the forest, but no matter which way I turned, I couldn’t see him. “Always a bridesmaid, even on his own wedding day.”
“Your timing has always been off.” I kept walking, deciding it was best to at least try and ignore him. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him fall into step beside me.
“Must be hard, knowing that no matter how long you’re with him, all it takes is for Holden to show up and it’s all a wash.”
“It does suck,” I admitted. “Probably not as much as watching the angel you fell for fuck seven other guys, though.”
He stopped walking and when I finally turned to look at him, those green eyes were glazed with ice. “You never should have released Lilith.”
“And here I thought I was the one with mommy issues,” I scoffed. “As much as I fought with mine, can’t say I ever bound her to a book and kept her locked in a trunk.”
“We have our petty little squabbles,” he purred. “Lucky for you, she proved a useful distraction for Michael or I’d be tempted to revoke the gift of second life she gave you.”
“We both know you’re not gonna touch me, Locke. You need Nick, and you’re afraid of him. Holden aside, he still marked me and I know you don’t want to end up on his bad side.”
Any trace of humor left his face. “Enjoy it now. There’s a price for everything, Daniel. No one comes back from the dead for free.” He turned and kept walking in the direction of town.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I shouldn’t have taken the bait. I knew it was a trap, but…
The demon glanced back over his shoulder with a pleasant smile. “Probably nothing,” he said with a dismissive wave as he kept on. “Enjoy your wedding night!”
Twenty-Eight
HOLDEN
The moment Daniel left, I waited for Nick to follow him. “Aren’t you going after him?”
“Not until we settle this shit. Not until I know what happened before you came here. Both of you.”
“It’s Daniel,” I said flatly. “He’s the same as he’s always been.”
“You’re not.” He looked me over like I was a puzzle he had no hope of solving and shook his head. “I don’t even recognize you.”
“That’s because I’m not the same person.”
“No,” he murmured. “No, I don’t think you are. But that doesn’t change what happened. It doesn’t make the bond between us disappear.”
“No,” I agreed softly. “It doesn’t.”
“So what now?”
I hesitated. “If you and Daniel talk about it and he really is okay with it, then I guess it would be easiest for everyone if you played your part in the ritual like we planned. It doesn’t have to be anything more than that.”
“It’s not going to be anything more than that,” he said flatly. “I’m married, but I still imprinted on you and there are varying accounts of how that happened. I think you owe me the truth, since I’m stuck dealing with the fallout.”
“What I said to your uncle, I said because I thought it was what I needed to say at the time. After learning about my past--who I was and who I am now--I realized there was more truth to it than I thought. I might not have cast a spell to make you imprint like I told your family, but Adam is the one who set this all into motion. He’s the one who made the deal with your ancestors. Locke is just doing what he--what I told him,” I corrected, feeling a migraine coming on. “It’s better for you to know that now than to go on thinking we’re actually soulmates.”
He listened in silence as he paced the room, finally giving a curt laugh once I was finished. “That’s great. That’s just fucking great. So what, everything was manufactured? You’re just Adam’s sock puppet?”
I flinched, but I couldn’t fault him for his anger. Imprinting was a sacred institution among wolves, and Adam had twisted it to suit his own agenda. “What we had was real, or at least as real as it was capable of being, but it’s not what you have with Daniel. Don’t get me wrong, we had our good moments, but the whole time, it felt forced. Like that wasn’t the way things were meant to go, and every day we tried, it was pushing us further apart. Your secrets, my...everything.”
“Sounds believably dysfunctional,” he muttered.
“We’re better as friends than lovers, Nick. As cliche as it sounds, I hope we can still be that.”
“Which one?” he teased. “The line is a bit blurred with all this ritual bullshit.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Tell me about it.”
Nick blew a puff of air through his lips and tossed his hair out of his eyes. “We’ve been through too much shit not to stay friends, Holden. Contrived or not, destiny or not...I’m here. And I can’t say I’m not pissed you both lied to me, but if there’s a world where I end up with Daniel and one where I didn’t, I’m good being in this one. I just hope you know what you’re doing with Locke.”
“Thanks. So do I.”
“I should go find Daniel,” he said suddenly.
“Probably a good idea.” I paused. “I’m sorry I ruined your wedding.”
“It’s okay. At least you did it before my mom got the chance,” he said with a glimmer in his eyes. “Nick,” I called as he opened the door. He glanced back at me expectantly. “Whatever reason you had for this whole wedding, whether it really is just because you marked him or something else...be careful. Daniel is... “ I trailed off, warring with myself over whether it was wrong to tell Nick everything that had happened. Namely Daniel’s death and the distance it had put between them.
Before I had the chance, he finished that thought for me. “Daniel is the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” he said quietly.
I smiled. “Yeah, he is. Don’t fuck it up, okay? Especially not over me.”
He snorted. “You’ve been hanging around Locke too long.”
“Congratulations, by the way,” I said, leaning in to kiss his cheek. “I know what I said earlier, about Locke not being the enemy, but try to keep them apart.”
“Already planning on it,” he sighed, watching me for a long while and looking like he was about to say something else before he turned away. “Welcome back, Holden.”
“Thanks,” I said, watching as he disappeared. I lingered in the office for a few seconds before I decided to head back to the Victorian. There was no sign of Locke when I arrived and turned on the lights, but there was plenty of dust covering every surface in the room. I grabbed a cloth and started cleaning up, relieved to have a relatively normal distraction to pass the time. Now that I was back, I was hoping I could just pretend like everything was fine until it was.
The door swung open. I looked up, expecting to find Locke standing there. Instead, it was Daniel, and he looked at least as surprised by his own presence in my store as I was. He wasn’t exactly a regular customer and I knew he had more of a disdain for the witch and kitsch items we sold now than ever.
“Hey,” he said, eyeing the shelves like they were about to attack him. “Sorry, I saw the lights on so I thought you might be here.”
“Don’t be sorry, please, come on in,” I said earnestly. “But shouldn’t you be, you know, on your honeymoon?”
He hesitated. “We’re not supposed to leave until tomorrow, but I’m not sure it’s such a good idea anymore.”
I swallowed hard, setting aside the box of orders that were about half a year late for shipment. “Daniel, what there was between me and Nick, it’s over.”
He laughed. “Come on, Holden. Even when I was technically braindead, I wasn’t dumb enough to believe that.”
“Okay, so Nick and I are still connected, but it’s not the same as what you have,” I said, leaning against the counter. “Adam practically hand-picked him for the ritual hundreds of
years ago.”
“In other words, it’s destiny.”
I couldn’t help but smile. “Take it from the expert on destiny, it’s a hell of a lot more romantic from an earthly perspective than from where the deals are made. Destiny is just a fancy word for a contract made by forces that don’t give a shit about any of us,” I muttered. “I’d know, because I’m one of them. You and Nick? That’s better than destiny, it’s...it’s a choice.”
“He marked me, Holden, and it wasn’t on purpose.”
“If that were true, he could have marked anyone. He didn’t. He chose you, just like I knew he would. He just needed me out of the picture to see it clearly.”
Daniel sighed. “Sorry. I didn’t come here to fight over Nick or whatever, I actually came to warn you.”
“Warn me? About what?”
“Last night, Lilian Mills came to see me,” he said in a sullen tone.
“Isn’t that Dennis’ mom?”
“Yeah. She showed up last night at my clinic. She brought her dog, but I could tell it was just an excuse. She said your dad came looking for you.”
I froze. “My father? But he’s in prison.”
“You were gone a long time, Holden.”
“The hearing,” I murmured. Well, there was one of those consequences of changing the past if ever there was one. “Where is he now?”
“Lilian said he disappeared as soon as he got out on parole. I’m sure they’re looking for him, and we could talk to Brent --”
“No. No, it’ll just draw attention,” I muttered. “I don’t want the Whitakers involved in this anymore than they already are. Lucas is probably pissed enough that I’m back.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Thanks, Daniel. And thanks for warning me. You haven’t told Nick yet, have you?”
“I uh, haven’t exactly talked to him since I left,” he said, glancing down at his phone. “Just needed some space, I guess.”
“I really, really hate to ask this, but could you...maybe not say anything to him about my dad coming here?”