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22
ADDIE
To my surprise, no one burst through the door while we made love on the kitchen floor. I had chalk in my hair and all over my clothes, but I didn’t mind. I walked out the door with the evidence of what we’d done all over my body.
Now that we knew that I shared blood with Fenrir, tracking him was easier than ever. Cerri and I altered a scrying spell from Vi’s book of blood magic so that it wouldn’t pull on my soul. The spell used my blood in a sympathetic manner. The drop of blood I gave sought out those that I shared blood with, like Fenrir.
The spell led us back into Syracuse. The drive was silent. Though Maddox and I had comforted each other in the kitchen, we knew that everything from here was an uphill battle. Hel still wouldn’t contact us. She refused to answer any of my summonings. I knew the old hag could hear me. She just wasn’t picking up.
When the sparkling surface of Lake Onondaga appeared, my stomach flipped nervously. I recalled what happened the last time we’d ventured a little too close to Beryl’s territory. This time, I hoped that Beryl was hiding out in the fae realm. If Fenrir got his gluttonous hands on her, then we would all be in trouble.
I hated to admit it, but the fae community needed her to keep them in order. We could defeat Fenrir, but if he killed Beryl, all of Lakesedge would suffer.
I groaned. There was a lot to balance here. I couldn’t help but roll my shoulders to relieve a bit of the pressure sitting on them. I didn’t want to have to raise my friends from the dead, so I kept moving forward without them.
The only person beside me was Maddox. He reached across the console of my car and took my hand in his. We couldn’t stop touching one another. Was this how mates felt? I wanted to believe that was the kind of all-consuming love that we’d found. I wanted what my friends had.
Only time would tell…but there was no telling how much time we had left. I guessed I should tell Maddox what I’d done. He deserved to know that I’d tampered with fate.
I opened my mouth, confession on the tip of my tongue. I meant to reassure him, to tell him that I’d made it so we could live a long and happy life together so long as Fenrir didn’t end us first.
Someone else spoke before I could.
“Your newwifeis playing god,” Paige said as she appeared over the center console. She put a hand on both seats to pull herself forward between us. “Just thought I’d let you know before you placed your trust in her.”
Like that, Paige vanished.
Maddox’s grip on the steering wheel jerked. The car swerved. We lurched into another lane and nearly sideswiped someone. Half a dozen horns blared at us all at once.
“I can explain!” I gripped the handle above my door for dear life.
Maddox jerked the wheel back so we slid into our own lane once again. His jaw was tight, and he refused to even look in my direction. Anger rolled off him and made his eyes bright with the light of his beast. My stomach churned in response.
“I was going to tell you,” I whispered, dejectedly.
Maddox flicked the turn signal and directed us off the highway, towards the lake. The spell in my lap spun wildly, like a compass introduced to iron. It snapped back into place and directed us closer to the lake.
I sat quietly, an argument brewing in the back of my mind. I had my reasons for what I’d done. In my opinion, I hadn’t committed any crime. Everything I’d done had been for our future. Maddox had to see that. I would make sure of it.
No one was going to stop me from reaching the fate I decided for myself.
Maddox parked the car. I waited for him to say something, anything, because I wasn’t going to be the first one to speak. If he had a problem, he could tell me. And if he couldn’t see it my way, then I would get out and give him time to work through this on his own.
Was I being stubborn? Perhaps, but I deserved more than fate had given me.
“I was worried about this happening,” Maddox said finally.
My jaw dropped. How could he have anticipated this? What was there to worry about, anyway?
He pried his hands off the steering wheel and rubbed his face. “I knew that the moment Paige returned into my life, she would cause problems again.”
“Huh?”
Maddox rolled his shoulders, cracking his neck. When he was done, he exhaled and seemed to deflate. He slid a tired look in my direction, but there was a hint of a smile on his face. He’d slipped into his detective persona, shutting me out completely, for a moment. The man I loved had returned, though. There were emotions on his face again, much to my relief.
“Paige. She’s trying to cause problems. Do you know what that means?” Maddox grinned.
The sight took my breath away. I’d seen his face bathed in ecstasy. I’d witnessed pain and determination. In our time together, Maddox had shown me things that he never let anyone else see. This smile was something completely new. It was wide, revealing his sharpened canines. A fire flickered in his dark eyes.
