“This isn’t a movie,” Alec said.
Brit shook her head rapidly. “It’s Redgrave.”
“Perhaps this will influence your decision,” Kate said. “The night mare will be able to assume corporeal form on Samhain, otherwise known as Halloween. It will be the best time for us to attack. We need Paige out of harm’s way until then, or the night mare might use her against us.”
Sending Paige off to la-la land was a convenient way to keep her out of trouble. Who knew when the last bit of Kate’s spell would fail, and Paige would come back to her full Medusa glory? Paige, with her full memory back, knowing what we’d done.
Hell hath no fury…
A lump of dread settled in my stomach. When this was over, I’d make it up to her. I’d make it right again.
But first I had to keep her alive.
All I had to do was hang her Death to Those Who Enter sign on her bedroom door, and neither Sammi nor Marcus would even think to question if she was inside.
“Okay, knock her out.”
We gathered a few supplies, more ironclad charms, and candles with protection sigils carved into the wax to purify our dreams and repel the night mare.
One more sleep, and then we’d take the demon on. I was going to face the night mare and stop it from harming another innocent Redgrave resident, with or without Wade to guide me through the dream realm.
Kate handed me a few wedges of sweetgrass that I respectfully placed in the plastic container she’d given me for the rest of the supplies. “You know Wade would be here if he could,” she said. “I didn’t believe it when Marie told me you two shared thoughts. You know what that means, Eryn, don’t you?”
I shrugged. “It doesn’t mean much to him, obviously. He hasn’t tried to contact me for days.”
Kate scattered herbs into a small canvas mixing bag. “He’s protecting you from Logan.” She paused, her gaze searching my face. “A sire and his progeny share a telepathic link. If Logan discovered that you and Wade also have that level of connection, he’d exploit it to the fullest.”
“Yeah, that’s what Wade told me.” Just before I’d blacked out, my shoulder ripped to shreds by a werewolf.
“You’re half wolven. You’ve bonded with Wade in the way of your kind.” Kate leaned her hip against the counter. “Pack members use telepathy to keep track of each other over long distances, to focus an attack. Have you never shared thoughts with your mother?”
I frowned. How did Kate know so much about wolven? Had she ever had a wolven familiar? The thought of Kate owning one of my kind was…unsettling. Memories surfaced, just out of reach. My mother’s voice echoing in my head. A scream. A command to run. I shook my head. “I don’t think so.” Just what was Kate getting at?
“That’s unfortunate. Maybe your mother restricted her use of that particular skill. Perhaps to further create a normal human experience for you growing up. Either way, the ability is yours.” Kate took a breath. “Wolven mates also share a mental bond, one that can’t be severed.”
I blinked.
“If your link with Wade is that of a potential mate, then no one, not even Wade himself, can block you from reaching his mind. Just how hard have you tried to contact him?”
I blinked again. Mates? Was she freaking serious? Why had my mother never told me about that part of wolven life? I had a flash of all the long looks my parents exchanged, ones where they seemed to say so much to each other without saying anything at all. I’d always felt like I was missing something.
Guess I was.
“Eryn, you ready?” Alec paused, observing Kate and me with a question in his dark eyes. His jaw clenched as if our conversation had been spelled out in the air for him to read.
I flushed.
“Frankly, no, but I’ll be right there,” I said, snatching the other items Kate offered. I paused at the entrance to the hall, doling out a bit of sage advice myself. “You should call Whip, you know, and tell him the truth. He’s tougher than you think.”
On the drive home I let my mind wander, ignoring the glances Alec shot me in the rearview mirror. I’d climbed into the back seat to avoid Alec’s proximity, but the tension between us was still there whether we were sitting side-by-side or not.
My parents had neglected to tell me about myself, the ways of wolven. I was floundering, taking on battles I wasn’t sure I could win. Putting my friends at risk.
Maybe it was time to go to the source. Time to face my past and take up Logan’s challenge. I couldn’t put it off forever. If I figured out what he wanted with my father’s work, then maybe I’d discover what really happened to them and put my mind at rest. I drifted back to day of my parents’ funeral.
The beginning of my journey.
Burying people you loved, even if the coffins were empty, could change a person. But sinking my teeth into the soft flesh of the restraining hand of a Hunter Council representative seemed a little harsh, even for me.
I was barely aware of the man’s scream of agony as the tang of his blood rushed down my throat, awakening my wolven instincts, bringing me back to reality. I released him and rounded on his boss, Sebastian Rhys, who appeared far too young to hold a position of such power, though he did have that hungry-law- student look down. Only in Sebastian’s case he was hungry for blood. He was one of the few vampires the council had let into their little secret club. Bully for him.
“Eryn, sweetie, was that really necessary?” he asked, folding his arms across his chest. The material of his black suit coat strained at the shoulders as his muscles flexed. Obviously the aging hunter hadn’t slacked off when it came to his training.
“Sebastian, you and your goon here snatched me away from my parents’ funeral. I haven’t seen you in years and then you show up with the we must speak in private, or it’s your life drama.” I glared at the man who had run my father out of the Council. “What did you expect? A hug?”
The Council rep I’d bitten snorted, pulled a black satin handkerchief from his suit pocket, and wrapped his bleeding hand. For a second too long, I stared at the blood on his skin, gnashing my teeth to control the urge to bite him again. After my parents disappeared, I’d been left with only a few days’ supply of the drug that stifled my wolven side. I’d been taking half doses, and was already feeling odd.
I sliced my gaze around the narrow room. Who would have thought there would be the perfect locale for an interrogation tucked away in the basement of the funeral home? It was weird how the Hunter Council always managed to find creepy little nooks like this when they wanted to lay down the law.
A chemical smell lingered, infused into the walls, burning my nose hairs. Preservative. At least they hadn’t dragged me into the freezer where they stored the bodies.
I shuddered.
“I wanted to tell you how sorry I am about your parents, how devastated the Council was when we heard about their disappearance.” Sebastian’s hazel eyes were watchful.
“And you couldn’t do that upstairs?” I let the rage build. Anger was so much better than tears.
“That part, yes,” Sebastian said. “But there’s more.”
I rolled my eyes. With the Council, there was always more. I blinked at the dull ache in my eye sockets. I’d been crying, of course, but in the privacy of my bedroom where no one could see.
Sebastian gestured to his goon, who then reached into his coat and withdrew a large envelope. “Open it,” Sebastian ordered.
My pulse throbbed in my thumbs as I held the paper. I had a really bad feeling about this.
I turned the envelope, opened the clasp, and reached in, pulling out an eight-by-ten glossy photograph of a cute, new- but-made-to-look-old, two-story home set on a neatly manicured lawn. I gave a shocked laugh. “Are you into real estate now?” I offered the photo and envelope back to him. “I gotta tell ya, strong-arm tactics aren’t the best way to make a sale. Plus. Hello. I already have a house.”
Sebastian and his goon exchanged a look.
“You do
n’t recognize it?” Sebastian held up the photo. I looked again. “No. Why? Should I?”
“It’s your uncle’s home.”
“Uncle Marcus?” I squinted at the photo, my eyes throbbing in the low lighting. “Oh, yeah, right.” I barely remembered our one and only family visit to my father’s younger brother. I glanced up at Sebastian, that bad feeling sinking into something near dread.
“You’re moving there. Tomorrow. It’s all arranged.”
“Are you out of your mind?” I yelled, and just as I did, the door behind us was savagely ripped from the doorframe.
“Eryn, why do you hide in such a place?” Nikko, my father’s second-in-command, asked, holding the door in his meaty hands, his stocky, broad form filling the doorframe. “People are asking for you.” He tilted his head, assessing me, his full lips pursed. “You must come.” His Slovakian accent was thicker than usual.
Minutes ago, as I accepted the condolences of a sea of people, I’d wondered why my parents had gone missing and not my father’s beta.
The Slovak set the door down. His face hardened when he spotted Sebastian. Nikko pointed an angry finger as he spoke. “I should have known. We had a deal. You were to stay away until after the funeral.”
“Wait a minute.” I held up a hand, shooting Nikko a killing glance. “You knew about this?” I stalked toward my father’s best friend and confidant. “About them wanting to relocate me?”
“It was their idea to have this fake funeral.” He looked at me with pleading eyes. “Little One,” he said, resorting to the pet name he’d given me years ago, a sure sign his emotions were high. “Sebastian will find the truth. Isn’t that what you want?” He crossed the distance to place his strong hands on my shoulders. I swatted them away, then missed the reassurance they’d brought.
“He’s right, Eryn,” Sebastian said. “We have unlimited resources. We can discover exactly what occurred, why your parents were never found.” His expression darkened. “But to do that, we need you safely out of the way. Your uncle is the perfect choice. He lives in a remote area with zero paranorm activity. Until we figure things out, you’re vulnerable, you could be a target.” Harsh lines formed at the corners of his mouth. “You have to admit, your father made many enemies—both human and paranorm.”
I glared at him. “And you were one of them.”
Sebastian slowly shook his head. “That’s not true. I mentored
Liam. He was my prize hunter—”
“Until he met my mother.” I said. “Until they had me.” Didn’t this whole mess come down to my existence? The blending of wolven and human, or human with any paranorm, broke sacred laws. My life had likely caused my parents’ deaths. Small slashes of guilt and pain were cutting into the I’m-fine-leave-me-alone façade I’d worked so hard to maintain.
As if sensing my sudden weakness, Nikko placed a heavy arm around my shoulder. This time I leaned into his solid strength.
“Sadly, that’s correct,” Sebastian said. “My hands were tied after your parents married and you were born. I had to let Liam go.” He gave a tight smile. “But I helped when I could. The Council wanted you all dead. I fought for you then, as I fight for you now. I swear to you, Eryn”—his eyes bored into mine—“I will uncover the truth. If you let me.” “What do I have to do?”
“Nothing. Not a thing. Just lay low and avoid drawing attention to yourself. If you do that, I can begin my investigation.” Sebastian strode to the gaping exit. His goon followed. “Think about it, Eryn, but decide soon. We’ve booked your flight. We’ll wait in our car.” Sebastian glanced around. “Funeral homes depress me.”
Then he was gone.
I pulled away from the big Slovak. “Oh my God, Nikko.” The stinking walls, the pounding in my head had me pacing the small room like a caged beast. “What do I do?”
“The Council has disbanded your father’s crew,” Nikko’s jaw hardened. “I can do nothing without them. Sebastian has the power. He can help.”
“I’ve been trained to hunt. I could track down whoever did this.” I clung to the idea I could avenge my parents myself.
“No.” Nikko’s voice was firm. “You’ve trained, yes. You’ve been on hunts. But never alone, never without the expertise of the crew.” Nikko tugged at his tie impatiently, looking uncomfortable in his suit.
I stared down at the floor, whispering, “What about my drugs? There’s nothing left.”
Nikko wagged a finger. “Don’t despair. The drugs will take time to leave your system. It may be months before you notice anything…if at all.”
“I wish,” I said with a sigh. “There’ve been changes already.” I dragged my gaze up to meet his serious, sad face. Horror flooded into my system. If my father was right, quitting the drugs cold turkey could prove disastrous. They might have caused mutations and that, combined with my mother’s wolven genes, could be lethal—for anyone who stood in my way. “What if I turn and I can’t control it?”
“You will,” Nikko said. “You will have to.”
I came back to reality with a thud when Alec hit a pothole in the road, causing some airtime between our butts and the seat. Memories swirled in my head. My parents’ funeral had been the beginning of the end, the last of my pathetic attempts at a normal life. Since then I’d tried so hard to deny my true nature. Maybe that was the problem.
“We’re here.” Alec’s voice broke through my thoughts.
We’d parked outside my uncle’s house. Though now, in the dark of the night, it looked far from Mister Rogers’ welcoming.
Alec guided me from the van, my hand in his. “Want me to walk you in?”
“No, I’ll be fine,” I said. I had to be.
Out for dinner, back late said the note scrawled in Marcus’s handwriting and propped up on the kitchen counter. Relieved there’d be no why-weren’t-you-home-earlier drama, I spun the small rectangular paper in a circle, ignoring Sammi’s precise printing at the bottom—a list of contact numbers in case of an emergency.
I picked up the cordless phone. The number I dialed was not on Sammi’s list, but etched into my mind.
A few rings, and then straight to voice mail. No personal recording or bubbly greeting, just the phone company’s generic recording prompting me to leave a message
“Nikko, it’s time. I need you,” I said and hung up. I could only hope that what I’d set into motion with that one message wasn’t playing exactly into Sebastian’s master plan.
If and when Nikko showed, he’d be hungry for battle. To exact revenge. All things I desperately wanted to accomplish. Before loading me on the plane, Nikko had vowed he’d do everything in his power to re-band my father’s old crew, that they’d help me when I came seeking justice.
Now I’d set the wheels in motion, but was I really ready for the consequences?
With a leaden stomach and heavy heart, I prepared Paige’s room, posted the sign, and molded a few pillows under the covers to look like her sleeping form. Thoughts of my parents, Sebastian, and Nikko swirled in my mind. I fell into my own bed and slept.
The nightmare began as always. Beauty first, and then the beasts.
I walked through long-stemmed wild flowers in brilliant shades—fuchsia, violet, and amber, their sweet scents blending— nature’s perfume. The drone of honeybees and other insects harmonized with the gentle swoosh of the breeze bending the tall grass.
I was safe. And then I wasn’t. Clouds, brooding and dark, gathered over the mountains. Thunder rumbled in the distance. A fat drop of rain struck my face and ran down my cheek, like a single, devastating tear. I ducked into the dense shrubs edging the clearing, scanning the grass.
They were here.
Charging from the shrubs across the field, a large gray wolf bolted through the grass. He howled to his mate. A jet-black wolf, her coat in stark relief against the fading sun, stepped gracefully into the clearing, howled in answer, and rushed to him. When she was midway through the clearing, the first shot rang out.
I c
upped my mouth, screaming into my shaking hands, terrified to leave the safety of the shrubs. I should help them. Why did I never try to help them? Why was I frozen here, unable to move?
This isn’t real. This is a dream.
The world paused. Wind ceased. The wolves stood stiff like stuffed animals in a museum display. I lifted my hand, pulling it through air thick as mud. I labored to my feet, grass blades solid as steel, cutting into my flesh.
You can control the dream. Look around. See what’s hidden.
A presence beside me made me turn. Two men, camouflaged, and armed with tranquilizer guns crouched in the grass, behind them…Sebastian, a fierce grin of triumph frozen on his face.
Shock had the world tumbling forward once more.
The female wolf advanced, her wound forcing her into an awkward lope. She fell. Heedless of the danger, the male wolf raced to her side. He stood above her, keening low in his throat. The second round took him down. He staggered and fell to the earth. Nose to nose with his lifeless mate.
A gentle mist descended from the heavens.
I stood there, stunned, as Sebastian gave me an approving nod.
“Thank you, Eryn,” he said. “We never could have bagged
them without you.” He reached out and touched my shoulder.
I flinched. Awoke.
And finally, I cried.
A Round of Homework for the Lot of Us
Morning arrived like a smack upside the head, sudden, yet oddly enlightening. I was clearheaded and seeing a pattern in the seemingly random sequence of events that had led me to Redgrave. I’d been a pawn for the Hunter Council. Now I needed to figure out their end game. I was emboldened, eager to face the upcoming challenges, in part by the fact that Paige was AWOL and I didn’t have to wait for her to vacate our shared bathroom.
Ah, the power of little things.
For the first time since I came to live with the McCains, I lingered in the shower, eyes closed, letting the steaming hot water beat against my back, washing away the deception. I couldn’t lie to myself any longer. Someone had tampered with my memories. After witnessing Paige’s rapid decline and struggling with the dreams that had haunted me since my parents disappeared, I could only assume I’d been a victim of a similar spell. Sebastian had used me to betray my parents, to reveal their location and trap them in an ambush, and then he’d wiped my mind clean. If Kate had the power to repress memories, other witches did as well. No doubt Sebastian had one on his payroll.
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