“Welcome back, Ronan Vacarro,” I whispered, and he ran his hand down my bare back and sighed, content and happy.
I wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of the night in his arms, but the truth was, the world reallywasin danger of burning down, and we reallydidhave a responsibility to try to prevent it. So, after another slow, lingering session, we reluctantly showered and headed back downstairs to see what else needed to be done, who else needed help, what other potions could be mixed, which weapons could be sharpened, what intel could be pieced together.
But as we descended the stairs, our fingers interlaced, our smiles still firmly in place, the sight in the common room stopped me dead in my tracks.
“Jael!” I bolted down the remaining stairs and basically launched myself at him, yanking him into an impossibly tight hug. I hadn’t seen him since the night I’d been turned, and seeing him here tonight, safe, knowing he’d risked so much to protect my soul… I didn’t have the words for the emotion suddenly swirling inside.
“It’s so good to see you,” I said, pulling back to meet his cat-like yellow eyes.
Jael offered a thin but genuine smile, the skin around his eyes crinkling, those fine lines a bit deeper than I’d remembered. “You as well, Gray.” Then, glancing at Ronan, he gave a brief nod. “Both of you.”
“Thank you for… With the moonglass,” I said, not sure what exactly to say. He’d saved my soul, risking his own life in the process.
“Seeing you healthy and well is all the thanks I need,” he said. “Vampire looks good on you.”
“Thanks. I’m still getting used to it.” I watched him a moment longer before I finally realized Ronan and I had interrupted a meeting already in progress. Verona, McKenna, and several of the other witches had gathered around the couches, with Elena and Emilio standing beside the fire.
No one was smiling.
“What’s going on?” I asked. “What did we miss?”
Jael clasped his hands in front of his body, the last vestiges of his smile finally fading. “My sister was able to get a message to me last night,” he said. “I’m here with news from home.”
“Good news?” I asked, but deep down, I already knew the answer. I could see it in the way the witches sat hunched, knees drawn to chests. I could read it in the bend of Emilio’s shoulders, in the heavy sadness on Elena’s sigh.
Jael shook his head, looking at me with the pale, haunted eyes of a man who’d seen the future and witnessed the very end of our days. “Blackmoon Bay is burning, Gray.”
Twenty-Five
EMILIO
Blackmoon Bay had been many things to me. An escape when I had nowhere else to go. A refuge and a haven. The home I’d made, the community I’d served and protected.
Then, later, it became the place where I’d connected with the guys. Through Ronan, I’d met Asher and Darius, and finally, Gray. Years later, I’d come back into her life there following the murder of her best friend.
Blackmoon Bay was the place where I’d fallen in love. Where I’d begun my family.
And now, our home was nearly in ruins.
Luna’s Café. Illuminae. The historic buildings that housed the police precinct and other government offices. The harbor. Johnny’s Seaside Pizza. Bloodstone Park. Every neighborhood and every location, every home, every street corner bore the mark of Orendiel’s dark army.
According to Kallayna, it wasn’t the result of the coordinated, full-scale attack we’d been expecting—the one Gray and her sisters had learned about during their blood spell.
No, this destruction was born of the resistance.
Somehow, the witches remaining in the Bay had hooked up with the few remaining supernaturals who hadn’t fallen prey to Darkwinter’s mind games, and together they’d executed one hell of a sneak attack, stealthily killing several hunters and a handful of fae knights, saving a few additional witches who’d been captured and imprisoned by Phillip Reese.
But Phillip did not take the attack lightly. He retaliated immediately, sending in his armies, decimating anyone who evenlookedlike he or she may be sympathetic to the witches’ cause.
Jael told us that the hunters and fae had swept through the city like wildfire, slashing and burning, putting down the resistance with a show of force like nothing we’d seen before. Like nothing we’d predicted.
Jael had no idea how many survivors were left in the city overall, and whose side those survivors might be fighting on now—his sister’s message was cut short before any additional details could be shared. At this point, he wasn’t even sure Kallayna had survived the night.
But as far as I was concerned, even if there was just one soul, one heartbeat, one being still clinging to life and hope in our city, we would find them. We would protect them. We would help them rebuild.
Gray wouldn’t have it any other way. None of us would.
Not long after Jael’s visit, I found her on the upper balcony of the lodge, looking out across the winter-ravaged sea. The twisted fae magic had altered the climate conditions again, and waves of solid ice rose high above the shore, only to shatter and crash back down in a rain of glass.
