by Elle Lincoln
“The ones I sought out…” Logan licks his lips as he bounces on his toes, unable to sit still. “They had a particular scent.” Repeating his earlier statement.
“Do you think they somehow had Fae heritage?” I muse.
“It makes sense. They were neither human nor Fae. Not completely, and no other species.” Logan is still bouncing and it’s making me anxious. He needs to run.
“This still doesn’t explain the adults they take,” I point out, as I remove the bacon from the oven.
“It does. The children are changelings. They used the adults for sacrifices. They do not find adults. The children are sometimes found. Perhaps those children just don’t have enough of that scent to them.” Mac’s eyes become shifty as his fingers type away on the computer. The tap tap tap somehow soothing in the sense we are making progress from practically nothing.
“Do you think they have known about the Realm dying?” And more importantly how long has this been going on. How long have they known? And are the Fae the villains we pinned them as?
Or... are they just surviving?
“I know what you’re thinking, Bette.” Balor’s voice interrupts my dark thoughts and he shakes his head. “They could have asked for help at any moment. They chose not to. They kidnapped children. Killing humans in sacrifice. That...” He looks away, no doubt remembering his past. “That isn’t necessary, no matter the circumstances. Believe me, I know.”
“When forced into a corner, people do some fucked-up shit. They go against everything they believe in and everything they could have ever fought for. I’m not saying they are innocent. They obviously aren’t. Hell, they tried to kidnap me and for what? The power they can’t harness? To what, use me? For what purpose?” I shake my head. “If it is the power they need then we cut that off at the core. The only problem? It means we will fail.”
“Why?”
“Because what if sacrificing humans to the Realm is keeping it alive. Morally, it goes against everything we are fighting them for. If we stop them, then that means we will fail and the worlds will collide.” Silence lies like a blanket over all of us. The consequences of every action, moral and amoral, leaves us no good fucking choice. I can’t help but realize Morrigan was right. No matter which way we look at this, we will lose.
Chapter 14
Bette
A Walk Down Memory Lane
The world drifts by me in colors of green and grey. My mind swirls with too many thoughts all running wild into the day. I can’t grasp any one thing long enough to rip it apart and understand the meaning behind it. All I know is that the world is changing and we have a front row seat.
Plus, we were heading closer and closer into town. My town. Or what had been my town once upon a time. Now? It was nothing more than a memory with its walking counterparts drifting along sidewalks, going about their day. No one is aware of the threat that lingers in the woods just waiting for one of them to slip up or have the correct scent of a Fae bloodline.
Do we let it happen or do we stop it? This decision haunts me and it’s one I can’t decide on just yet. Nor do I want to. No wonder the old gods walked away, leaving the hard decisions up to the few who couldn’t walk away, no matter the moral obligation.
It didn’t matter right now, because we were getting off the expressway and heading toward downtown.
“What are you doing?” I peer over at Cas, his hair is a mohawk mess, his mustache is curling out of control, and that five o’clock shadow is more of a beard. But the dark shirt he’s wearing and those dark jeans are doing everything for him that his unkempt face isn’t. It’s distracting me, especially the cape that sit beside us. The black fabric appears alive, wisping out like a tongue to taste the air.
“Nothing,” I finally reply, but I know what he’s referring to. Somehow, I keep slinking down to the floorboards so my head can’t be seen. Childish? Yes. But I give no fucks. I mean, what if someone notices me? At least the loaner from Grandma is a roomy SUV that allows me to slink down.
“You’re hiding.” He grabs that damn toothpick from his mouth and points it at me.
Fine, if he wants to play ‘let’s point out the obvious,’ then so shall I. “Casseus,” I say as sweetly and softly as I dare. His eyes turn wild and he glances at me with those soulful, dark orbs. “Tell me, when you felt me last night, did you relieve yourself?”
I’m not done yet, not by a fucking long shot, but he only grunts and ignores me. So I continue on. “With Mac?” I enunciate each word. My voice is a little deeper, a little huskier.
The SUV swerves and I smack my head on the door. “Ow, what the hell?”
“I don’t kiss and tell.” Is that a blush creeping up his alabaster skin? I reset myself in the seat and lean in. It is a blush.
“Do you top or bottom?” I’m staring right at him, waiting. It doesn’t take long and the tires squeal to the side of the road—right into a spot in front of the hardware store. Sneaky.
He shuts off the engine, pocks the keys, and turns to me.
Oh no. That look. I know I’m in complete trouble when his attention turns to me. His hard eyes are hooded and that blush is fading. I lean back a little, knowing I may have made a bit of a mistake. Casseus isn’t one of those guys to just let my word vomit go. No, he takes it as a challenge, and if the look in his eyes is anything to go by, I’m about to be in for it.
“Tell me,” he mocks, in a low whisper that skates over my skin and wakes up every fucking nerve ending. “Did Balor take his time? Did he tease you until you were screaming for more? Or did he thrust inside that sweet pussy, because he just couldn’t fucking wait?”
My heart pounds, my breathing stalls, and I think I hiccup, but I can’t be sure. I hope he isn’t looking for a response, because I can’t give him one. Definite backfire.
He leans in close, his muscles bunching like a panther stalking its prey. “Did you just lay back and spread those creamy thighs? Or did you ride that cock of his?” Oh shit. Oh shit. He leans in closer, his breath warming my face. “I’ll tell you what I did.”
Oh, sweet little baby Jesus, please tell me more. Am I speaking out loud yet?
“I pushed Mac down, and slid into his tight ass after teasing him until he was panting my name and begging me to fuck him. Then when we felt you, I fucked him harder until there was no more me. There was no more him. Just us. And his groans.” He hums, low. “Watching his face contort in bliss.” Another low hum.” His come staining the sheets. Mine shooting deep inside him.”
His hand is on my thigh. This is not a drill, my brain is shutting the fuck down, and my vagina is taking over.
“Want to know what I want?” His hand slips up to the junction of my thighs where he grips my aching clit.
I may have said yes. I may have said something in another language, all I know is he rubs little circles through my pants.
“I want you to ride me, and I want Mac in your ass.” He nips at my lips. “I want you screaming our names until you don’t even know yours. Then, I want to fuck you all over again, but not before you’re begging me. Not until you’re soaking wet and dripping. And certainly not until I’ve had my fill of teasing you.”
He backs away and he’s out of the SUV in a blink. Leaving me sweating and so fucking aroused there is no way I can walk into that fucking store. Holy shit. What was that even? My door opens and I fall out. Cas doesn’t even attempt to catch me, letting me fall onto the hard concrete. Serves me right, I guess.
I stand quickly, staring daggers at him, while yes, my thighs ache with the desperation of his touch and my panties are so wet I guarantee if he looked he’d see the stain on my jeans.
He hums low in his throat. “That look, right there. I love that look.” He steps in close, caging me inside the junction of the SUV door. His arms reach out to either side of me and his lips brush mine, his tongue licking my parched lips. “You’re so turned on right now I can smell you.”
I whimper. How can anyone take this kind of teas
ing? It’s not right. It’s pure fucking torture. He grabs my hand, leading me away. I distantly hear the slamming of the door and the tinkling bells of the hardware store. Cool air rushes over me, calming me just a bit. I struggle to get my body under control of my own volition and not his.
Casseus played me like a fucking fiddle, but I learned a very important lesson here—Cas plays dirty. I’d do well to remember that.
“Hello. We are here to pick up some surveillance equipment.” Cas’ voice draws me into the present.
“Sure! Name?” That voice. It’s familiar.
I peek around Casseus just as he’s giving my grandma’s name. “Willa Morgan.”
“Bette?”
Ice water dashes all of my arousal. My body turns numb and everything inside me morphs into a ball of anxiety. “Kelsie.” My throat is thick and my mind feels like it’s drowning.
Of all the people to run into. Her beautiful, angelic face is still the same, and her curls bounce around her head like a fucking angel, but those blue eyes are different. Harder, as though she has lived through hell and back.
“I heard rumors.” She moves around the counter, her small curvy figure moving slowly as though she may spook me. She stands in front of me just a couple inches shy of my height. “Oh, Bette!”
She throws her body at mine, her arms squeezing as she blubbers and cries all over me. I wrap my own around her, feeling something shift inside of me. I breathe her in, and her coconut ad sun-kissed scent is all too familiar and warm. More than anything I could have ever hoped for.
Her body trembles and I just hold her close as I blink my own tears away.
Guilt. That’s what I’m fucking feeling. I want to confess everything to her, but I know I can’t. I haven’t had the luxury of a friend since that fateful night, and I don’t even know how to react. Is this how Balor feels? I peek at Casseus who is behind the counter ringing us up and paying so we don’t have to break apart. I don’t know if he’s a genius or an idiot.
Kelsie pulls away, looking up at me with mascara bruised eyes. “I can’t believe you’re alive. I thought...” She thought I died. “I thought they got you.”
What? That is so far from what I thought she would say that I jerk back and look at her differently. Casseus is eyeing her with suspicion, his head tilted, and I watch his chest rise and fall, then his eyes widen in disbelief.
“Bette, move away from her, now.” Dead calm laces his voice.
I’m torn. Kelsie was the only true friend I ever had. She looked past all of my insecurities and kept me around, even though I did my fucking best to learn all her secrets. Casseus is new and fun and shiny, but linked to me in a way Kelsie isn’t. I look back and forth between the two. I don’t know what to do and it shows in my indecision.
Casseus moves around the counter and the expression on his face is familiar. Like the one he wore when he first realized he had to share the Sluagh with me. I have a matter of moments before he’s diving into Kelsie’s soul to learn her darkest secrets.
I yank her behind me, unwilling to give up my one friend.
“Bette,” he warns.
Kelsie is blubbering again. “You don’t understand!”
What the hell is happening? I take a deep breath. “Kelsie. What did you mean by that?”
She’s hyperventilating and I know I won’t get any help from Cas.
Then she utters two words that devastate me. “The Fae.”
I take an involuntary step back. “Kelsie?”
Casseus takes that moment to yank me behind him. “She’s one of them.”
“No, there’s no way.” I look at her. She looks nothing like the Fae I’ve met. She looks more like a teenager, a cherub in hiding. She isn’t ruthless or evil. Nothing about her screams Fae. Nothing at all.
Casseus is on the phone and my heart is bottoming out. This isn’t real, is it? “Kelsie?”
Mascara runs down her face, creating inky black lines. Her bottom lip trembles. She tries several times to form words, her mouth moving silently. “My dad.”
“The deadbeat?” Her parents divorced long ago. Her dad left them with nothing. Or so that’s what she told me when she moved here.
She huffs out a breath. “Ryoden.”
I stagger backward as she speaks his name, my body falling into a shelf. Rolls of wallpaper scatter with a crash across the tiled floor and blood rushes to my head. The roaring in my ears means I can no longer hear her. My heart pounds and I can’t see her. Tears blur my vision.
This isn’t real. This is a dream. Not Kelsie. Not her. She reaches for me but Casseus pulls her back, keeping her just out of reach. Bells chime and feet thunder into the store. Mac kneels beside me and Logan is sniffing the area.
With a regretful look, he nods. I don’t know what they plan on doing, but I need to think this through. They will kill her, of that I have no doubt, the intent is in their eyes. But what crime has she committed? I can see the dark power drifting from Casseus as he decides to find out just that.
“Stop.” I can hardly speak beyond the emotion that has dried my mouth. “Stop!” I shout.
“Bette, we need to know.” Casseus looks pained, no doubt feeling the anguish coursing through me.
“Wait. Don’t...” I stand, with Mac helping me to do so. “Don’t invade her. Not her.”
“Bette.” Her wild eyes are panicked. She doesn’t even know what to do, I can see that. Beneath the surface, I can also see that she is just a victim of her parentage. This is so fucked-up.
“Kelsie. Talk. Please.” My own cheeks are wet. The betrayal is deep and a part of me whispers that it isn’t even her fucking betrayal.
“My father is Ryoden.” I nod, and the guys look panicked, glancing at me in indecision. I shake my head no and wave my hands, spurring her on. “He... He raped my mom.”
We all stand still. Frozen in the controversy.
“He was desperate for an heir. I didn’t know until I met him and he explained it to me. You have to believe me.” And I do. Her desperation and complete terror that’s hiding just beneath the surface seals the deal.
“Meeting your step sister?” She was meeting her after midnight. I thought they were fucking lovers. God, I was a damn fool.
She releases a humorless laugh. “A hunter,” she spits.
“I thought she was a cop?”
“She is. But sometimes they come across certain things.” She glances to the guys, her brow raised in challenge. “She came across the Fae. To her, they were just another supernatural. She didn’t know they followed her. She didn’t know.”
Oh god. I can see where this is headed.
“It was him. He found my mom. He found me.” Her voice is harsh, the whisper full of grit and pain.
I knew her mom lived when I disappeared, I hope that’s still the case. “Your mom?”
“Alive. I begged him for her life. He didn’t know about me. My mom. Her grandfather, was Fae.” She wipes her tear from her eyes, and that little tidbit of steel shines through.
“Are you working with him?” Mac’s body tenses, poised to strike, which is so at odds with his usual behavior.
“Never. I had my magic bound so he couldn’t find me.”
Logan leans in, inhaling her. “She speaks the truth.”
“Werewolf?” Kelsie inquires.
“Yes.” He backs up to lean against the counter, but his eyes never once leave her.
“What happened to you?” Her big, blue eyes look at me in trust.
For the first time in our relationship, I give her a real fucking answer. “The guy with the mohawk fed me to the Sluagh.” Her eyes widen and her face flushes with anger. “Don’t worry, it didn’t work, they kept me and then I kept him. Win, win.”
She smiles that beautiful, true smile of hers, and then points to Mac. “God of the Sea?”
“How did you know?” Mac shifts, unease apparent in every movement.
“I can’t suppress everything. That sixth sense always pulls throug
h.” She grumbles a bit at that.
I ask the one question on all of our minds. “Can your dad find you?”
She shakes her head vehemently. “No.” She pulls out a stone, obsidian. “Not with this on and my magic locked away.”
“Do we trust her?” Logan questions Mac and Cas.
“That’s Bette’s call,” Mac answers.
“Kelsie, do you mind?” For once I feel extreme regret for what I’m asking.
“The Sluagh, huh?” Her cheeks puff up with air that she blows out slowly. “Do it.”
I ease my power inside of her, intent to coat her soul and learn her sins, her desires, and every dark thought. But what I find instead is a beautiful, unblemished soul. Nothing to feed my inner demon. I retreat with a smile on my face.
“You are still fucking perfect.” I push past the guys and hug my lifelong best friend.
Chapter 15
Balor
In the Woods
Pine and damp earth calm every aspect of my being. The comforting scents ease away the weeks of unfamiliar surroundings and situations, comforting my muscles and relieving the tension building up inside of me all afternoon. Being away from Bette makes me uneasy. The threat that looms on the horizon just out of reach is more than just a teasing guillotine. There is an actual hangman standing there with a battle-ax just waiting for the call.
A part of me needs her within my sight to know that she’s alive and well. It’s a far cry from the king I was, the leader I was, and to the man I’ve become. These men who surround me, they keep me grounded. Even while my mind swirls with tumultuous thoughts. Like the need to shelter a woman who is far too independent for her own damn good. She may claim to have a dark soul and the Sluagh may see her as such, but to me? To me, she is everything that I’ve ever needed.
Once more, I’m reminded of the woman I pledged my life to all those many, many years ago. Ceth. Her name plagues me like the cancer humans suffer from. The goddess who not only destroyed me, but warned me of that very destruction. All by her own fucking hands.
“Get out of yer head.” Patrick’s voice douses me with that spark of reality I need to keep me in the here and now. Slipping into the past is a dangerous practice I’d do well to steer clear of.