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“Uh-huh. To be honest, that felt anticlimactic.”
Kyla just grinned, although it was strained. “I still have to steal that fucking sword off him or the realms burn,” she murmured. “I’m surethatwill be suitably dramatic.”
I winced. “Any idea how we’re going to achieve that?”
“There’s noweinvolved.”
“Excuse me?” Planting my hands on my hips, I turned to survey her, ignoring the unseelie guy who stalked past us and through the portal.
“I’ve thought about it. Finvarra’s not stupid. We go into his realm together, and he’ll know something’s up. No, I need to convince him to invitemein.”
I thought about it. “Uh, how exactly are you going to do that?”
“You heard the man. ‘We’re not done.’” She cracked her knuckles. “He has no idea just how right he is about that.”
I’d almost feel sorry for Finvarra, if he hadn’t forced her into the deal in the first place. He was going to learn exactly why he shouldn’t have fucked with Kyla. I was looking forward to the fireworks.
* * *
Nathaniel
I openedmy front door and stepped into the noise and chaos of the pack.
Ryker had warned me that a few of them had gathered here to wait for me, needing to know their Alpha had returned from the seelie realm unharmed.
If I were an Alpha like Frederik, I would take offense at the mere suggestion that I wouldn’t return alive. But after so long running this pack, I knew it wasn’t an insult. My pack had been built on mutual respect and loyalty. Beneath the dominance games and power plays, we alsocaredabout one another.
“Nathaniel’s here,” Naomi announced, as if the wolves couldn’t scent me. I smiled at her, and she hugged me.
“Glad you’re okay.”
I nodded, slowly making my way toward the kitchen, greeting wolves as I went.
It wasn’t often that I truly felt tired. But I couldn’t remember the last time I’d looked forward to laying my head on my pillow this much.
If I was tired, Evie must be exhausted. It had been difficult to let her go—knowing she was going to see fucking Finvarra. My wolf paced in my mind at the thought of the unseelie. It was bad enough that Kyla had to deal with him. I didn’t want Evie anywhere near him. But I understood why she needed to go with Kyla.
“Gabriel is in town,” Xander told me, offering me a plate of food.
I took it. Tobias smiled at me, and I gave him a thankful grin. But my mind was on Gabriel. He was the man in charge of the Mage Council. It had been his father who’d first started the council over seventy years ago, and Gabriel was a known recluse. If he’d left Chicago to come to Durham, it was for a good reason. “I’m guessing he’s looking into Albert’s murder.”
“Yeah, and I don’t think it’s going to take him long to turn his attention to you, given the way Albert was ripped apart,” Naomi said.
I glanced at her. She dropped her eyes. I let my gaze rest on her for a long moment before picking up my fork.
“Albert attempted to make the humans turn on us,” I growled. “He sacrificed his own mages and had one of them plant a coin on Evie so Fenrir would target her.”
My jaw ached, and I realized I was gritting my teeth.
“No one blames you for killing him, boss,” Ryker said, taking a seat at the island next to me. “But we’re still going to have to figure out how we’ll deal with Gabriel. It’s rare for him to leave Chicago, and he’s already sent a messagekindly requestingyou meet with him. Alone.”
I smiled at that. Gabriel hadn’t kept his mages in line by acting impulsively. If he wanted to meet with me, it was because he had a plan.
“Tell him we can meet,” I said.
Xander gaped. “Are you…sure?”
“Oh, I’m sure. You and Ryker take care of the security concerns when he gets back to us.”
