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Chapter Three
“So how bad is this place?” I stood on the yard of the cabin Gray had bought years before and settled my pack on my back. My jeans had survived the werewolf lovefest, but I wore what I’d been told had been Fen’s T-shirt when he was thirteen. It was way too big on me.
“Bad? It’s not at all. I mean, we’re pretty far out of town, but there’s a Jeep in the garage over there.” Trent looked deliciously rumpled. No matter how he tried to comb that hair of his it managed to look like he’d just rolled out of bed, and not alone, if you know what I mean. It was likely why he’d kept it so high and tight all those years.
We’d called Eddie half an hour before and told him we would be ready to go soon. Then we’d gotten dressed and I’d kind of made the bed up. After we’d cried some more, we’d made love again, slower this time and without all that tension between us. For me it had been proof that he’d survived. For him it seemed like a long, luxurious reacquaintance with my body. My wolf was humming with satisfaction. The human part of me was a little worried about the next couple of days we would spend in a cave. “I wasn’t talking about here. I meant where we’re going. I’ve never been in a primal nest before. I’ve only met the one, and he lived in that creepy cave. Christopher was not concerned with comfort.”
“Well, he’d died and hadn’t been through a proper turn at that point. He was more concerned with blood at the time,” Trent explained.
He was right about that. I’d met Fenrir’s biological father before the king had been brought in to take him through his turn. Vampires don’t do well when they first rise. It tends to be all fangs and blood and murder until an older vamp feeds the young dude some blood and gives him the whole orientation meeting. Lucky for Lee, his father would likely be standing right there for his turn. He wouldn’t have more than a few moments of confusion and uncontrolled blood lust. Christopher hadn’t been so lucky. “I know, but I also know that the primals have a lot in common with bats, hence the caves. Casey said something about a library. How do they keep the books dry?”
Trent’s eyes rolled. “Yeah, just wai…”
The world seemed to stop on a dime. Like someone had pressed the pause button. Everything went completely silent, and the wind that had been brushing over my skin went still. There had been crickets chirping seconds before and the sound of water moving in the distance.
And then there was a horrible nothingness.
“Trent?”
He stood there, his expression frozen in what I like to think of as his dumbass face. Someone else was the dumbass. Not Trent. Usually me.
Everything was still, and yet I knew I wasn’t alone.
“He can’t hear you.”
I turned because I knew that voice, and the woman attached to it had tried to capture me twenty-four hours before. “Olivia. What have you done to him?”
Olivia Carey had been my best friend since we were in high school. I never thought that would change. Liv was a constant in my life, one of the only constants I could absolutely count on. I knew she’d gone through a lot lately. Well, back then. Liv was a witch. She’d come into her powers as an adolescent and quickly found her place in the supernatural world. She’d been dedicated to her coven and to the light magic they’d used to help others.
Then we’d gotten into some trouble and a group of dark magic witches had stripped her of her power and she’d changed. She’d turned in on herself in a way Liv never had before. Liv was thoughtful. She was the friend who remembered birthdays and always asked how you were.
Then she’d cared about one thing and one thing only—getting her power back.
“He’s fine. He’ll barely notice what’s happened.”
I seriously doubted that. Trent’s instincts are good. “I take it this is a new power.”
Her lips curled up, but the smile wasn’t Liv’s. I didn’t know this person. “I have many new powers since Myrddin blessed me.”
My stomach turned at the satisfaction in her tone. “What happened to you, Liv?”
“I woke up and realized I’d been a stupid sheep for years,” Liv replied, flipping back her long dark hair. It used to be a warm brown, like she carried all the best things of autumn around with her. Now it was a pitch black without a hint of warmth or anything else. I’ve seen some gorgeous raven-haired women, the color so dark there were hints of blue and purple.
This was black with nothing to lighten it. Liv’s hair was like an abyss no color could counter.
And that didn’t even begin to touch the darkness I saw in her eyes.
“Why are you here? If you try to hurt him, we’re going to have a problem.” I needed to see how changed she was. She was the first person we’d met when we’d gotten back from the outer planes yesterday, and she’d promptly announced she was hauling us all in so Myrddin could pronounce sentence on us. We were enemies of the state, it seemed.
Liv glanced to where Trent stood. “I wouldn’t bother with him. He’s fairly useless. Now if you’d like to tell me where that big vampire spy is, I’d love a crack at him.”
I was sure she would love to get inside Sasha’s head and uncover what I believed would be a vast network of spies who helped the resistance. Apparently she didn’t know Trent was the only other person in all the planes who knew exactly what Sasha was doing. I was cool with that. “Don’t know who you’re talking about, friend. I just got here yesterday. Still getting settled in.”
She snorted. “Sure you don’t. I suspect the king and queen and Quinn are already nestled into wherever little rebels go to hide. I hope it’s shitty. They’re used to opulence, that trio. I should know. I live in their penthouse. It’s too bad the queen’s feet are so small. I would have loved taking over her wardrobe. I would bet they’re having a blast roughing it in…” She stared at me for a moment, and I could feel the fine tendrils of her magic trying to reach deep inside my mind. “Europe?”
I’d shoved far better mind readers out of my head. I didn’t this time, though, merely sent her a vision of a place she could go looking for the rebels in.
She frowned. “Is that seriously the Small World ride at Disney World? Fuck you, Kelsey. Now that song is in my head.”
