“He won’t be mad for long,” Cern said, walking straight to his car. “Hop in. The cove needs you.”
The cove needs us?
Aurin had no clue what that was supposed to mean, and he was in no mental state for cryptic puzzles.
He climbed into Cern’s car, and Salem followed, quickly taking his hand. Aurin let his head fall on Salem’s shoulder, and he closed his eyes.
He woke up in Tenebrae.
Chapter
Five
SALEM
Cern’s carwas always going to attract an audience, and by the time he came to a stop, the entire consortium had come out to greet them.
Salem really wasn’t sure what to expect.
He had some explaining to do—he knew that with certainty. But how his truth would be received could go either way.
Salem wasn’t sure he liked Ciaran, but he respected him. He respected his leadership, and he respected how he put his consortium’s needs above his own.
Well, he had. Until Sawyer arrived.
But the whole bonding thing was a curveball no one could practice for. So Salem certainly didn’t hold Ciaran’s swing and a miss against him in that regard.
How anyone handled the bond process was a journey each their own. There’d been an unprecedented number of bonds in the lead-up to Lusca’s arrival. Salem was curious to see how that had gone in the week of their absence.
He was also curious about the two strange faces that came out to greet them. Men he’d never seen before. Who were they? What were they doing here? What was their intention? The others seemed familiar with them. New residents, perhaps....
Aurin got out of the car, and Salem was quick to stand beside him. Cern gave no more than a wave of his hand and a “See you soon” as he drove away, leaving Salem and Aurin to face everyone on their own.
“Oh, the smell of home,” Aurin said, inhaling deeply with his eyes closed. “And cold air.”
Salem, on the other hand, was looking at everyone who was looking at him. “Hello,” he said. “I am Salem. A proper introduction long overdue. I should expect you have questions, and I’ll be more than happy to answer them, though perhaps Aurin could take a swim first. He’s been too many days without saltwater.”
“Well, about that,” Fray said, the corner of his mouth pulling down. “The water is.... Well, it’s weird.”
That got Aurin’s attention. “Weird? How is it weird? What happened to it?” He then noticed the two strangers and did a double-take. “Oh. Hi. I’m Aurin.”
“Beau,” the taller of them replied.
“Hudson,” the second man said. “We, uh, we left the Bass Strait consortium.”
“Oh,” Aurin said simply. Then he looked across at the water. “Can I not swim? I’d really like to...”
“Aurin, do you feel okay?” Kellan asked.
“I am incredibly hungover,” he replied.
“You weren’t at Cern’s place,” Ciaran said. It wasn’t exactly accusatory but close enough. “Sawyer and I went up to see how you were getting on.”
“We went up into the mountains,” Aurin said. “With Cern and his... family.”
Ciaran didn’t seem to like that much, and no doubt his list of questions just grew longer. His gaze fell to Salem. “You are healed?”
“Yes.”
