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He finally passed through the mist and reached the open night air. As he hovered, unwilling to leave right away, he felt like his heart was being torn from its moorings all over again.
The first time had been during the days following his brother’s death. The part Devyn played in not showing up to help Kyle battle an overwhelming number of Invictus had destroyed something within Devyn’s spirit. Now, he’d left Emily for good, believing he could do nothing else. He no longer questioned his feelings for her. He loved her.
But he couldn’t be with Kyle’s woman. She would always belong to his brother. He knew she couldn’t understand and he had to live with that.
As he levitated into the air, he caught a scent on the wind, very faint, but it was there. It smelled like eggs that had gone bad. Really bad. He knew some of the dark fae carried a stench. The infamous Margetta had.
Rising forty feet into the air and well above the treetops, he levitated in place then rotated in a slow circle. He searched the air first then made a second revolution to scan the woodland and the properties below.
He couldn’t see Emily’s house at all. The mist Vojalie had made confused the eye and the mind. If he looked up and down the line of houses that backed up to the streamside park and running path, he could tell he was in her neighborhood. He’d seen these houses from the air dozens of times. But he could no longer visually locate her home.
When the smell dissipated and the air grew quiet around him, his fears eased back. Whatever had been there was gone now.
As he hovered high above the stream, he thought about returning to Boylbury. But he wasn’t ready to go home just yet. He felt uneasy, unsettled.
Maybe he’d have a beer at the Wild Boar before seeking his bed for the day.
Having made the decision, he headed south. The bar wasn’t even a half-mile away. He was there under less than a minute and he’d only been cruising. Being with Emily had definitely cranked up his power level.
At least twenty bikes were parked out front, and a number of shifters and a few trolls were on the sidewalk smoking and flirting.
He landed across the street and jogged through the noisy evening traffic to finally reach the entrance.
The moment he walked through the door, however, something felt different about the place. It was packed, as usual, and there were plenty of women to go round.
But there were definitely more vampires than typically showed up any night of the week. Shifters tended to congregate at the Wild Boar.
He grew very still as several vampires turned to watch him.
What the hell was going on?
Then he got it. He was looking at a profound number of mastyr vampires and his fangs once more thrummed in his gums, ready to descend. A growl even formed in his throat.
The Wild Boar was crawling with mastyrs and not just from Tannisford. He recognized at least two from neighboring Camberlaune. Mastyrs tended to know each other. They were a small club and were ranked according to power levels. The most powerful became ruling mastyrs, like Stone.
Normally, there wasn’t competitiveness among mastyrs. They all suffered in the same way. More often than not, it was about commiseration.
Which meant only one thing could have brought so many under the same roof: Rumors about a blood rose in Millerell.
A whole host of obscenities traveled through his head. He didn’t bother ordering a beer. Something stronger wouldn’t help, either.
Instead, he backed out onto the street.
Holy motherfucker.
Now what was he supposed to do?
For a sudden strange moment, what he’d experienced with Emily earlier flowed through him, the past reaching into the present and descending on him. He turned and leaned against the building, only this time, it wasn’t Emily he saw.
It was Kyle.
Devyn was outside the infamous hotel and yelling at his brother about being unfaithful to Emily. Kyle had been remorseful as anything, tears in his eyes.
As plain as night, Devyn heard his brother’s voice only it was in the present as in right now. What a crock, Devyn. I was so full of shit. Did you really believe me? Did you really think I would change?
Devyn looked left then right, but the street was blurred. What the fuck? Was it possible he’d slid into the time-path? He must have. It felt like a residual energy from having been with Emily.
And had he really heard Kyle’s voice?
