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Anabel blinked. “And?”
“And that’s it,” replied Hattie. “They have sex.”
“The plot certainly brims with twists and turns,” Xavier deadpanned, his eyes dancing.
Delilah chuckled. “Plotless books are sometimes the most entertaining.” She abruptly stiffened, her grip on the mirror tightening. “Gotcha, motherfucker.”
Wynter straightened. “What?”
“Saul,” said Delilah, dropping her bread on the table. “He’s up on the surface.”
Anticipation reared up inside Wynter, warming her belly. She pushed out of her chair so fast it skidded backwards. “Where?”
“Outside the vehicle storage unit,” replied Delilah, also standing. “Do we alert the Ancients?”
“We’ll have to,” said Wynter, waiting as Anabel switched off the hob. “As much as I’d love for us five to go up there and take him out ourselves”—oh what fun that would be—“I’m not sure we could do it alone. He’s a damn Aeon, and they’re scary powerful. Plus, this isn’t solely our fight.”
“We’ll need to hurry,” said Xavier as they all made a beeline for the front door. “Saul won’t stay in one place too long. He might even decide to head back out of town or something.”
Quite aware of that, Wynter tore out of the cottage and took off at a fast run as she made her way to Cain’s Keep. Reaching the entrance, she looked from one guard to the other. “Saul’s in town near the vehicle storage unit. Alert Cain. Quickly.”
One guard hurried inside the Keep just as Maxim came striding out of the double doors. “Did I just hear you right? Saul’s crawled out of wherever he’s been hiding?”
Wynter gave a hard nod and then gestured at her coven. “We’re going to head up to the manor; we’ll wait for Cain there.”
Maxim hesitated. “He would likely prefer it if you wait for him here.”
Yeah, but she wouldn’t be surprised to learn that Cain had a separate entrance that led to the manor. If so, he’d have no problem with leaving Wynter and her coven waiting outside the Keep twiddling their thumbs while he secretly took care of the Saul situation.
No, thank you.
She wasn’t staying out of the action, especially not when it would merely be to appease Cain’s overprotective streak. “Let him know where I’ll be.” She turned to leave. “If he’s not there in five minutes, my coven and I will pursue Saul without him.”
“He won’t want you throwing yourself into danger, Wynter,” added Maxim.
Glancing at the gargoyle over her shoulder, she shrugged. “Even Ancients don’t always get what they want.”
She and her coven left the bailey and took the elevator up to the manor. They’d no sooner reached the grand foyer than Cain and Azazel came striding into view. Oh yeah, there was likely another entrance to the manor. Either that or the two males had used their Ancient-super-speed to get here.
Cain pinned her with a look that told her he was not happy with her right now. “Stay inside.”
“You know I’m not going to,” said Wynter calmly. “You also know that Kali will free me if you try keeping me somewhere I don’t want to be, so let’s not waste time arguing. Saul could retreat at any moment. None of us want that.”
Cain’s face tightened, his nostrils flaring. He cursed beneath his breath and stalked out of the manor with Azazel hot on his heels.
Wynter followed them . . . and then growled when they blurred out of sight and all but shot through the gap in the opening iron gates. “Assholes,” she said, even though she’d guessed they would rush off. She turned to her coven and looked from Hattie to Delilah. “Go hunt our boy, we need his exact position, it’s possible that he’s moved.”
Both females shifted into their animal forms and melted away, disappearing into the shadows.
“Until we hear back from Delilah and Hattie, we’ll act on the supposition that Saul is still near the storage unit and head in that direction,” Wynter said to Xavier and Anabel as they all jogged down the path and exited the gates. “But we’ll have to use the woods and circle up behind him. Remember to be careful. The guy will have the kind of tricks up his sleeve that we haven’t had to deal with before.”
As they rocketed toward the wooded area, Wynter thought about alerting the townspeople. But the residents could panic or shout an alarm or do something equally unhelpful. She couldn’t afford to clue Saul in to the fact that the Ancients knew his location.
In the woods, Wynter, Xavier, and Anabel moved quickly and silently through the labyrinth of trees. As much as she’d love the opportunity to stab Saul right in the throat, she hoped that Cain had taken care of him by now. The quicker the Aeon was gone from the Earth, the better.
There was a fast flutter of wings, and then a crow squawked above them. Hattie. The crow flew away, staying low enough for Wynter and the others to keep their eyes on her. They followed Hattie, heading deeper and deeper into the woods. So deep they were soon close to the outskirts of the town. Either Saul knew he was being hunted or he’d simply chosen to retreat for some other reason.
Wynter’s step faltered at the loud crackle of power up ahead. There was then a roar of fire followed by a thick grunt. “Shit.” She took off, following the sounds of battle.
