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The moment AB was out of ear range, Cooper inched in closer, his expression deadly, his tone tense. “If you tell me they went through the fae door. That the nectar is gone…” His gaze took in Kat and me, realizing that was exactly what happened.
“Okay, I won’t tell you that is exactly what happened.”
“Trasna ort féin!”Go fuck yourself!Cooper rubbed the back of his neck, anger and frustration strangling his vocals, his Gaelic coming through strong, like he no longer comprehended English.
“It’s not totally hopeless.” Kat touched his arm.
“How?” His head jerked up, his eyes feral, swimming in deep crimson. “Once you go through, you might never come out.” His arms flung around, his pitch high and wild. “And the only two people I know who can work them are on the other side of the world. And if you can’t tell, we have no way of contacting them.” Cooper was losing it, the threads of his sanity starting to unravel, the idea of losing his mate for real chipping away at him. If she died, he would ultimately go all beast—an unstable one at that—if he didn’t kill himself first.
“Cooper.” I peered over at AB, trying to keep my voice low.
“Why would they even do that? They could be lost in there for centuries.”
“Cooper—”
“Fuck!” he bellowed, blackish fur starting to pop out of his skin, his Dark Dweller clawing at the surface, ready to destroy everything, to make the world feel his pain and anger.
“Cooper!” My forearm went into his chest, slamming him up against a tree. Fire flamed in his eyes, his teeth becoming deadly, sharp fangs. “Get your shit together. I know you’re mad, and I know you want to tear this world apart.” My voice was low and threatening. “But losing it won’t help her. She needs us to be strong, not to fall apart on her.” I nodded back at AB. He took a deep breath, tendons in his jaw still twitching, but he didn’t push back. “She’s my family too. And you know I will doanythingfor her.”
Cooper sucked in through his nose, his eyes lowering.
“The boy told us his father knows how to work the doors.”
“What?” Cooper’s head jerked up, hope flooding his eyes back a light brown. “He can work the doors?”
“That’s what the kid told me, and I believe him. I almost made him piss himself.” I eased off Cooper, stepping back. “All we can do is wait for him to return.” I motioned to the magic wrinkling the air. “And make him take usexactlywhere he took them.”
The crickets hummed loudly through the dense forest. The sultry humidity clung to me like another layer of dirt. I heard the owls and bats hunting for their meals, skittering small rodents through the brush.
An abundance of stars peeked through the canopy of trees, bright and twinkling, having no care or thought for those who suffered below. Lucky damn stars.
It was deep into the night, and Annabeth and Sprig were fast asleep, though I knew the rest of us were awake. Cooper couldn’t sit still, his energy needing an outlet. He disappeared into the forest an hour ago, his Dark Dweller hunting the night.
Katrina was curled away from me, but I knew she wasn’t asleep by the way her chest moved up and down, the way her muscles didn’t relax. I seemed to be aware of every single molecule in her, her nearness giving me a strange calmness. Like her being safe and close was all that truly mattered. It fucking unnerved me, had me stirring like I needed to run away from that feeling as well.
And seeing her in my shirt, knowing she was bare underneath…
Running my hand over my face and through my hair, I sighed, wishing for a bottle of alcohol, maybe a case, to drown my thoughts. I preferred dealing with my problems that way. It was easy. Simple. And I longed for easy—because with Kat, everything felt so complicated.
More and more, I was seeing how everything since the day I forced her off my ship led back to her. She was the root cause of my ruin, my slide into darkness. Yes, I made those decisions, but it was Katrina that led me there. And she didn’t even know how she had caused my demise. How she plagued me. I had been destroyed from her departure on.
What’s that stupid superstition? Crossing paths with a black cat is bad luck? Yeah, this time it was true.
Kat huffed, sitting up, irritation curling her spine.
“What?”
She glared over her shoulder at me, standing up, her bare feet padding across the forest bed.
“Where the fuck are you going?” I shot at her. Why was she pissed at me?
She ignored me, slipping quickly into the night, out of sight.
“Katrina?” Annoyed, I stood up, not liking her out of my eyeline, my feet already following her. “You shouldn’t venture off.”
Yes, I sounded like a masochistic prick. She could take care of herself; I knew that. The girl had a reputation for being a ruthless killer in the pirate world.
Yet, she was stillKatzeto me.
