“Sounds good,” she said as she rolled up her pants.
They set off at a jog down the beach, running through the surf to hide their scent. In the park, they continued off-road through the pine-covered dunes until they reached the Point, a sandy spit of land that hooked into the bay, dividing it from the Atlantic. There, they made camp in a hollow beneath a loblolly pine, zipping up their jackets and pulling on socks.
Leaning back on his forearms, Adric stared grim-faced into the pine trees. Whatever he was thinking, it wasn’t pleasant.
She sifted a handful of sand and pine needles through her fingers. “You went back without me, didn’t you?”
“Yeah. So?”
She rolled her eyes. Typical alpha. Send the female to safety so he could investigate alone. “So it was three against one. I could’ve helped you.”
“Rosana.” His voice was so reasonable, she ground her teeth. “It wasn’t your problem. They were after me.”
“What makes you so sure? Maybe it was me they were after. I am the Rock Run alpha’s sister, you know.”
He turned his head to look at her. His eyes had gone night-glow, the irises the same brilliant blue at the heart of a flame. “Oh, I know. I don’t ever forget it. Not for a single second.”
She swallowed. “But something made you go back.”
He heaved a breath. “You’re not going to let this rest, are you?”
“Nope.”
He shook his head, but said, “The other man, the one we didn’t see? He was an earth fada.”
Oh. “He’s working for the fae?”
“Yeah.”
“From your clan?”
His mouth set. “Not exactly.”
She rolled a loblolly needle between her fingers, releasing its sharp, piney scent. “This has to do with what happened last summer, doesn’t it? When Lord Tyrus died.”
He lifted a shoulder, dropped it. Not confirming, but not denying either—which told her she was right.
“His father wants revenge.” She was careful not to say Prince Langdon’s name. Speak a fae’s name, and you risked drawing his attention. “But Tyrus attacked you, didn’t he? Merry said he almost killed her uncle Jace.”
Adric snorted. “He’s a fae. He doesn’t need a reason. No, I was supposed to lie down, belly up, while Tyrus picked off my lieutenants one by one.”
“What about that blonde we saw? She’s not a pureblood, is she?”
A pause. “That’s what I can’t figure out. She’s not a member of the New Moon Court. She’s an ice fae/night fae mix. So is she working for the prince—or on her own?”
Rosana frowned. “In my vision, three night fae warriors captured you. One of them could have been a woman, but none of them had blond hair.”
A noncommittal grunt.
To the east, the surf boomed. Above, the wind growled and snapped at the treetops. Rosana shivered and hugged her knees. She’d known Adric was in danger, but seeing those fae at the B&B had rammed it home.
He was in a fight for his life.
The Darktime isn’t over. The prince will destroy your clan from the inside out.
She gripped her knees harder.
“That earth fada,” she said. “He’s someone important to you, isn’t he? A good friend.”
Adric stiffened. “How the fuck do you know that?”
“I don’t read minds, if that’s what you’re thinking, but I can tell he upset you.”
Her Gift made her more sensitive to emotions than most people, although Adric had always been hard to read. But since they’d had sex, it was as if they’d connected on some deeper level. Right now, she felt the anger and hurt radiating from him.
She furrowed her brow. Was it always like that?
“You’re right,” Adric admitted. “He’s not a clan member—not anymore—but the two of us go way back.”
“He’s hunting you for them?”
A curt nod. “He’s under a geas to the fae lady. I know he doesn’t have a choice, that he has to obey, but he is—was—one of my best friends, a lieutenant. It—” He shook his head. “He must’ve tracked me to Lewes for her. I had to expel him from the clan—I had no choice. The way our quartzes work, everyone in the clan is connected to me.”
Her heart ached for Adric. She touched his leg. “He understands.”
“Maybe.” Adric’s mouth twisted. “When I went back, he saw me. But he kept quiet. Just got in the car and drove off.”
“So he does understand.”
“I suppose so. I know he has to obey her, but—”
“I’m sorry.”
He moved a shoulder. “Not your problem.”
“But I’m the only one here.” She lay down, gave him a tug. “C’mere. Keep me warm.”
He let her pull him down so his head was cradled against her breasts. He set an arm on her waist and moved his head, finding a comfortable spot.
She stroked his nape, excruciatingly aware she was almost out of time. In a few hours, they’d be returning to Maryland. Who knew when she’d have him alone again?
But Deus, this was fucked up—the fae at the B&B, the earth fada tracking them. And she sensed there was more to the story, that Adric hadn’t told her everything.
But then, she hadn’t told him everything, either. Because that vision she’d had in December? A few days later, she’d taken out her scrying bowl, hoping to See a different fate for him. But she’d Seen the exact same thing—and this time, the scene had played out to its conclusion.
She swallowed sickly. Because she knew she was right.
Adric intended to assassinate Prince Langdon. And if he went alone, he’d die.
“What’s wrong?” He lifted his head to scrutinize her.
She took a deep breath and blurted, “You need me. When you go after the prince, you have to take me, too.”
He pulled away from her. “Rosana. Please.”
She swallowed. “I know it sounds crazy. But I have this feeling.”
“A feeling,” he repeated flatly.
“That I can help.”
“How? I’m not saying you’re right, but what help could you be against the night fae? Or any fae, for that matter?”
She shut her eyes. Goddess, it did sound crazy. The fada might be physically equal to the fae, but the fae had magic to call on. They even healed more quickly.
She might be a warrior, but she’d never seen actual combat. What help could she give a man who’d spent half his life fighting a vicious civil war?
“You know I’m a Gifted Seer. The fae who’s training me believes that someday I’ll be one of the most powerful Seers in the world. And he says sometimes you don’t See something, you feel it—a gut instinct. And my gut tells me I should go, too.”
“Yeah?” he said in that same flat voice. “Well, my gut says you should stay home.”
“Listen to me!” She gave him a shake. “There’s more. After I left you that night, I Saw it in my scrying bowl. You—”
“Forget it.” He rolled onto his back and dropped an arm over his eyes. “I don’t care what you Saw, I’m not taking you with me.”
She let out a breath through her teeth. “You know, Dion says you’re smart. A bastard, yeah, but a smart bastard.”
“I love him right back.”
“Well, a smart man would listen to a Seer’s warning.”
A charged pause. Then he lifted his arm. “Okay, then. Talk.”
She hesitated. How do you tell a man you foresaw his death?
That night in December, she’d Seen him going after Langdon. But later, there’d been more. Something so raw that just recalling it made her lungs lock.
The night fae capture Adric, drag him to a clearing in a dark woods. Stake him, spread-eagled, to the ground.
A black-haired priestess in a silver dress steps forward, a gleaming knife in her hand. She raises the knife above her head, brings it slashing down...
Rosana squeezed her eyes shut, but that just made it worse. The ima
ge was burned on her retinas. She opened them and stared fiercely up at the trees.
“Hey.” He rolled over, touched her arm. “Take it easy. I did think about what you said, okay? But a vision is just one possible future.”
She started, focused on him.
He was still free. There was still time to change his fate.
“I—I Saw your death. You go after the night fae, and you die. I Saw you on the ground. I smelled the freaking blood.”
His swallow was loud in the clearing. When he spoke again, his voice was gentle. “I’m sorry, but my mind is made up. I’m going. Alone.”
Her heart sank. “But why?”
He shook his head. “It’s the only way.”
“Adric. You have to listen. If you won’t take me, take someone else—one of your men, or Marjani. Yeah, a vision is only one possible future, but it can only be the changed if you change the path you’re on.”
His face shuttered. “Enough, already. You had your say. Consider me warned.”
She growled. “Deus, you’re pigheaded—even more than Dion. And that’s saying something.”
Colm had warned her in his sardonic way that being a Seer was a thankless task, saying you might as well piss into the wind for all the notice most people will take of you.
But Deus, she hadn’t realized how hard it was to have your warnings ignored.
Adric scrubbed a hand over his face, and then with a sigh, rolled over to face her. “Thank you, love.” He took her hand, pressed a kiss to her knuckles.
“For what?” she snapped.
“For caring.”
She looked down at the calloused fingers wrapped around hers. Sadness washed over her. “Oh, Adric. You don’t have to thank someone for caring.”
His mouth contorted. “Maybe not in your world.” He reached for her. “Let me hold you. Okay?”
She shook her head but allowed him to pull her into his arms. Above, the wind whistled over the dunes, but here in the cozy hollow, they were snug and warm.
He nuzzled her hair. “It wouldn’t work anyway. You know that, don’t you?”
“Don’t,” she whispered, tears burning her throat. “Just don’t. Please?”
He nodded and nudged her chin up so he could rub his lips over hers. They fell asleep like that, mouths still touching.
The first rays of dawn had pushed through the trees when Adric brushed Rosana’s hair back from her face. “Time to go.”
The two of them crept back to the B&B and peered through the fence. The parking lot was empty except for two cars—theirs, and a white truck that she assumed belonged to Mark. The human couple must’ve checked out.
Adric motioned for her to remain hidden behind the fence. “Wait here until I pull out of the parking lot. Just in case.”
When she nodded, he slipped into the parking lot and strolled up to the Mazda. A press of the keyless remote, and the doors unlocked. He drove it a few yards up the street and then waited as she slid into the passenger seat.
The streets of Lewes were nearly empty, the houses still dark. Streetlights glowed against the slowly brightening sky as they pulled onto the highway.
Adric slanted her a look. “You hungry? We could stop somewhere.”
She shook her head. “I’ll eat when I get home.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah.”
They drove back to Maryland in silence. Rosana stared out the window, dully aware she’d failed.
So this was how it ended. One night was all they’d ever have.
In a few weeks—or maybe even a few days—Adric would leave for Virginia and the New Moon Court, and be captured by the night fae. Maybe he wouldn’t die—maybe he’d somehow avoid that slashing knife. Like he’d said, that was just one possible future.
But even if he survived, what would become of the two of them?
It wouldn’t work anyway. You know that, don’t you?
They were almost at the rest area where she’d left the car when something in her snapped.
No.
She was not going to lose Adric because she was too afraid to speak up. If he didn’t want her, he could tell her straight out.
She turned in the seat to face him. “Why wouldn’t it work?”
“Rosana,” he said in a hard, don’t-question-me voice. “Don’t do this.”
“But it meant something. You felt it. I know you did.” He’d touched her with such tenderness. Held her all night in the park. “You…thanked me for caring.”
“And I meant it. But you and me?” He shook his head.
Her breath felt heavy in her lungs, as if she were trying to breathe underwater. Adric started to say something else and she threw up a staying hand.
“It’s all right. Really. I get it. You don’t want me that bad.”
“Fuck.” He swerved to the side of the highway and stomped on the brakes, throwing them both forward against their seatbelts.
A car zoomed past, horn blaring.
Rosana looked at the arm Adric had flung across her chest. “What the—?”
He unbuckled his seatbelt and hers with shifter-fast speed and dragged her toward him so that she lay half over the console.
“The hell I don’t want you.” His fingers dug into her shoulders. “If it was up to me, we’d be halfway across the country, looking for a place to make our own den away from both our clans. But I’m the alpha. The clan needs me. Before I took over, we almost lost everything. You know how many elders we have?”
She shook her head mutely. Hurting for him. Hurting for herself.
“Five—three women and two men. Other than them, no one older than forty survived the Darktime. I lost my mom and dad. Jace lost both his parents and his only sister. And the list goes on and on. That man I saw last night?” His throat worked. “He was captured and tortured for close to a year just for being my friend. So don’t tell me I don’t want you. It’s not a question of what I fucking want.”
He kissed her. A hard, fierce kiss, his arms clamped around her.
She brought her hands up, instinctively stroking, soothing.
He groaned and tore his mouth from hers. His grip on her loosened. He brought his forehead to hers.
“I can’t turn my back on them,” he rasped. “And they’d never accept you.”
“It’s okay,” she managed to say, even though her heart had fractured into jagged shards. “I understand.”
“The only way we can be together is if we keep sneaking around like this. Just say the word, and I’m there. But do you want a man who can never claim you? And what about your family, your clan? Do you really think Dion would accept me as your mate?” His laugh held zero humor. “God’s cat. The man would probably try to carve off my balls if he found out we spent even one night together.”
She shook her head, but in her heart, she knew he was right. A truck rumbled past, rattling their windows, but inside the car, the only sound was the harsh scrape of their breathing.
She pushed away from him. His hands tightened for a second as if he wanted to keep holding her, but then they opened, and she knew it really was over.
Adric regarded her moodily. “I’m not going to say I’m sorry. Last night was…special. I’ll be damned if I regret it.”
She pressed her lips together so he wouldn’t see them trembling. Lifted her chin. “I didn’t ask you for an apology.” Returning to her seat, she fumbled blindly for the seat belt.
“I’ll take you back.”
She latched the belt and sat back. “Thank you.”
Back at the rest stop, Adric turned off the engine. “One thing you can count on. I’m not going to die. He is. So stop worrying.”
She just shook her head.
“So.” He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. “Take care of yourself—okay?”
“Yeah. Sure.”
She reached for her canvas bag. Got out of the car. Shut the door.
Moving on automatic, because if she let herself think, the sobs loc
ked in her chest might spill out.
Adric accompanied her to her car. After she unlocked the door, he reached around her and opened it. He didn’t say goodbye, just touched her cheek and then closed the door for her. But he tailed her out of the rest area and up I-95. Making sure she got safely back to Grace Harbor, because that’s who he was.
She watched through her rearview mirror as he followed her off the exit and then turned south toward Baltimore.
Her stomach was a hard, hurting knot. She pressed a fist to it and aimed the car for home.
Adric drove the thirty-five miles to Baltimore, foot heavy on the gas pedal, radio blasting. Just let the cops pull him over. Right now, he’d welcome the chance to pound on someone.
With every additional mile he traveled from Rosana, something inside him unraveled. Like his heart was attached to hers by some invisible thread, and with each mile, that wanting, needy organ was being shredded and left behind.
Mine.
His fingers tightened around the steering wheel. Her scent was still in the car, on him. Driving him insane.
He’d meant every word he’d said to her. The two of them together just wouldn’t work.
Yeah, the clan had accepted Evie, Jace’s mate, but everybody liked Evie. And she’d turned out to have a Gift that helped the healers, so she was an asset to the clan.
Marjani’s mate, Fane, had been a harder sell, but Adric had made it clear the clan had better accept him or else. After what his sister had been through, she deserved to be happy.
But Adric was alpha. The clan needed him, and after the Darktime, they didn’t trust easily. He’d worked his ass off to win over the doubters, convincing them that the only way forward was to work together. But choose a river fada as a mate—and worse, a Rock Run river fada—and that fragile accord could be blown sky-high.
Still, none of that mattered anyway. Because despite what he’d told Rosana, he didn’t expect to get out of Virginia alive.
Inside his cougar lashed its tail, furious that he’d let Rosana just drive off. The cat was a simple beast. To it, Rosana was theirs and Adric was a fool for letting her go.
But he was a highly disciplined man, so he ruthlessly wrestled the cat under control, and then slowed enough to blend in with the human traffic.
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