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Now I have this burning desire inside of me. I have a strong, concrete goal, and that goal is to take that bastard down. My parents died because of vampires. And now some asshole—not even a vampire, but a mage—wants my blood? Wants to use my inherent magic because I’m fae?
Fuck that.
I’m not some walking power source. No fae is. We’re actual creatures with thoughts and feelings, thanks. We’re not even animals, we’re more than that. We’re people. And it’s about fucking time we were treated like it.
My whole life I’ve lived in fear. I’ve never put down attachments. I’ve always been looking over my shoulder. It’s time I changed that. I don’t want to be running and hiding anymore. I’m going to fight.
I look around me at the men. They’re all still asleep, all still cuddled close to me. That reassures me, to know that even in sleep they wanted to be next to me and touching me. What would I do without them?
I don’t know what I would do, actually. It’s kind of a scary thought. Both the idea that I’m depending on them and that I might have had to do this alone. But luckily, I don’t have to consider the alternative. They’re here, and we can do this together, somehow.
North stirs first, snuggling closer to me for a moment. He’s in human form, but he reminds me strongly of a wolf like this, like he’s a pack animal wanting to cuddle close. It’s adorable, although I don’t tell him that. I just bite my lip and keep it to myself, mirth dancing inside of me.
North opens his eyes and looks at me. “What’s so amusing?” he rumbles. His voice is deep and scratchy from sleep.
I shrug, smiling. “Nothing.”
He reaches up and gently brushes his thumb over my bottom lip. His mouth curls up in the corner just a little, like he’s happy that I’m happy.
Behind me, I feel Cain moving around and stretching. I look over in time to see him yawning. “You ready for this?” he asks.
Raven goes from asleep to awake in a single second. I don’t even realize he’s awake until he’s leaping off the bed as if he’s in shock, dashing into the kitchen to take care of the food he left sitting out last night, freshly cooked.
“It’s okay!” I call, but I’m trying not to laugh. He cares so much, and it’s not what you would expect from someone like Raven when you first see him. Hell when I first saw him I thought he looked like nothing but trouble—in the sexiest kind of way.
But he’s also got this caretaker side, and I really love it.
Raven gives me a look that says hewillbe fixing this mess and making me and the rest of us a proper breakfast whether I like it or not, so I’d better start liking it.
I just grin harder. I wish this domesticity would last. But if I want to keep it, then I have to fight to protect it, and myself.
Cain gets up and heads for the closet. I sigh and follow. We’ve got to get going. I can’t give Roanac time to recover from this setback. We need to strike now, while the iron’s hot. And while he’s not expecting us to. He’ll probably assume we’re going on the run or be defensive. I want to take him by surprise.
“What do you suggest we do to start?” I ask, getting dressed while Raven dresses up the food and the other two get ready for the day. “I’ve never gone after someone like this before and you three seem to have experience with it.”
North pauses. “Usually, when we have to do reconnaissance on someone, we have Cain or Raven use the Sight so that they can take a look at the person or place and see what’s going on. But in this case…” He pauses again and then looks at me. “It might be best if you do it.”
“If I do it? But I’ve only used the Sight once, and that was an accident. I’m not exactly good at it.”
“You were the one who had the most contact with him. He spoke with you and touched you. You can focus on those sense memories to find him more easily than Cain or Raven can.”
That does make logical sense. But what if I fuck it up?
North must see something of what I’m thinking on my face, because he walks over and puts his hands on my shoulders, reassuring me. “You’re going to be fine. It’s okay that you’re new at it. We’ll practice and do it as many times as it takes.”
I nod.
“Breakfast first,” Raven orders.
That makes me laugh, and when I see Raven hiding a smile as he turns away, I suspect that he did that just to make me happy and relax a little.
We eat the food that Raven prepared last night, warmed up, and I do feel better. More alive. Stronger. Ready to try this.
I get dressed and then I lie down on the couch the way I ended up doing last time. The men sit around me and Cain takes my hand, holding it.
“Breathe in time with me,” Cain advises. I do as he says. “Think about everything around you. The way the couch feels, the way your clothes feel. Be in the moment. Notice all that you can.”
I breathe in and out.I’m breathing in, I know I’m breathing in. I’m breathing out, I know I’m breathing out.I pay attention to all the things around me.
