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1
CERRI
Ididn’t know which was worse: the nightmares haunting me, or the cacophony of sound that jolted me awake. I bolted upright. A layer of sweat beaded my skin and sent chills down my spine. The dark of night obscured much of the room, but my supernatural eyes cut through it easily.
There was no one in here with me.
I exhaled, relieved. Then I heard more clattering outside my bedroom. It was coming from the kitchen. The familiar chime of jostled jars told me exactly where the home invader was, though I had no idea what this person thought they were going to find in my jar stash.
With shaking hands, I reached behind my bed and grabbed the metal baseball bat that I kept for situations just like this. I’d been kidnapped one too many times. I wasn’t keen on letting it happen again. The baseball bat would make sure of it.
The bat was heavy and reassuring in my hands as I crept towards my bedroom door in the dark. I cracked the door open and peered out at my living space. The kitchen was at the other end of the apartment. From here, I could see the counters and my brewing station—what I couldn’t see was the person responsible for making all that noise.
I scowled. That meant the home invader was likely invisible. It made sense, especially here in Lakesedge. This part of Syracuse was home to all sorts of supernatural creatures from shifters to the antichrist herself. It wasn’t too far of a stretch to assume my home invader could be invisible.
Now, I wondered how the hell I was going to get this door all the way open without alerting the intruder. I pushed it slowly, but it let out a creak that echoed through the room. The clattering of glass stopped. I froze and waited until it started up again.
If only I had more gumption. I would have run out there, guns ablaze. I would have hoisted up the bat and warned the intruder that they had one chance to get outor else.I just wasn’t that kind of person, though.
Memories of Alvin’s bruising hands returned. The former Pack Alpha had seen weakness in me and used it to his advantage. He’d used me, hurt me, to send a message to the rest of my Pack. I could feel his fingers digging into my arms. My skin burned where he’d dragged a claw over my throat. It made my breath shaky. My knees threatened to give out.
I could do this.
Or, I could go run and hide in my closet. It was a tempting idea.
The smell of death reached my nose even though I knew that Bastien was long gone. The Reaper had been afraid of dying. He’d been after my friend Addie’s power with the hopes that it would help keep him alive. When he’d kidnapped me to use me against Addie, I’d blamed myself for being useless. It wasn’t until we were right over the local fae court that I found a power hidden in myself.
The chime of clinking glass continued. I let out a breath and pushed forward, sliding my body through the crack between the door and the doorframe. Moonlight from the floor to ceiling windows to my left bathed the room in a pale glow. In the living room, I lifted the bat and took the first few steps towards the invisible home invader.
Once I narrowed down where the invader had to be standing in order to make those sounds, I tiptoed up behind them and swung the bat with everything I had…
Only, it whooshed through empty air. I stopped and blinked in surprise.
A little shadow poked it’s head out from between my empty jars and looked up at me. I stared down at it for several heartbeats. I couldn’t quite parse what I was looking at for the longest while. Then, I slowly realized that I was staring down at a rodent.
Not just any rodent. This wasn’t a mouse venturing out of its hiding place. It wasn’t one of Syracuse’s massive squirrels, either. This wasn’t actually a rodent. At least, I didn’t think it was part of the rodent family. The body was much slimmer, creating an almost snake-like body. It was…
“Are you a ferret?” I asked, as if the creature could respond.
To my utter shock, it did.
“Astute observation, Cerridwen,” the creature pipped.
“The fuck?” was all I could manage to say as the bat dropped down to my side.
“A bit vulgar, but it is to be expected when one has been raised by barbarians.” The ferret glided out from between the jars and rose on its hind legs to face me.
I gaped at the little creature. Not only had it just called my parents barbarians, but it did it in a way that was way too eloquent for arodent. Yeah, I knew the creature wasn’tactuallya rodent, but if it continued to give me sass, I would continue to call it a rodent.
“What the fuck are you, little guy?” I asked, because this certainly wasn’t any normal rodent.
It gave me the most unimpressed glare, it’s every feature flat and annoyed. It dragged its little paws over its face in exasperation. “You are not the princess I expected to find. How am I supposed to turnthisinto a queen?”
I recoiled. “Excuse me? Queen?”
There was no way in hell. Queen ofwhat? This backwater city full of assholes? I didn’t even know how that would even work. There was no seat for me to rule fro—My blood ran cold.
I recalled standing at the edge of Lake Onondaga with Addie. Queen Beryl of the Unseelie Court had been furious to find me there, on her territory. The way she’d spoken to me…I’d tried to not think about it. She’d said things that hadn’t made any sense. A door had been kicked open that day, but I’d refused to go through it.
