Two weeks.
In the two weeks after that dinner I had seen no one, except for the multiple tails I now had, not only Elder Jacob’s men following me, but King White’s as well. Everyone had forsaken me in the light of my lies. I couldn’t say I blamed them, my actions inexcusable to those who trusted me. My nights now empty, only filled with a routine I made myself do to not fall too deep in a slump, but always ending in the bathroom, enjoying the scalding water to wash away every damn tear my body could shed as I sobbed, my neighbors probably worrying it was the return of the old me.
I had finally come to terms no one was coming to see me, and written letters to the Prodigies, placing them in the outgoing mail at work that day, apologizing again and hoping for something more in the future with the subtlest of hints…but Elder Cain Alek Merrick was another story. Our relationship had been different. I wasn’t sure what I would say to him, but I planned to sneak onto his property the next day to apologize—again—in person. If after covertly probing him on what I feared, hoped, wasn’t true, that I could have been that stupid…again…the two weeks being alone without him somewhat clearing my head.
A worry that had begun to creep in on me three days after the dinner.
A weakness he may have played off of, being my inexperience in sex, a gateway to someone’s trust. His subtle questioning. The way he always left to move his car every evening, a chance for the tails to see him enter…then leave…only to sneak back inside unseen. The real probability of why Elder Jacobs and Elder Merrick hadn’t told the Kings they had met me before. Possibly…another beautifully played game at my expense…their own study.
I prayed I hadn’t been played. Not that way again.
So, late that evening, returning from watching a movie all by my lonesome at the local movie theater, I was less than pleased to walk into my apartment to find it somewhat filled with uninvited guests. King White was sitting at my small dinette, reading through a magazine I had purchased. Elder Jacobs was half dozing on my recliner. And Elder Merrick was sitting on my couch, feet propped on the table, the room only dimly lit by the kitchen light I had left on while he studied…my gun…he held in his hands.
“You forgot to lock your door, Ms. Farrow,” King White stated merrily into the quiet as he flipped a sheet of my magazine.
No, I hadn’t. “To what do I owe this pleasure?” As if I didn’t know, my voice void, while I closed and locked the door behind me, moving past all of them into the kitchen to retrieve a Coke from my fridge, dropping my purse on the counter.
“Since you turned down my invitation to a private dinner—”
“Your dinners are so pleasant; after all, I imagine it was shocking I rejected the invite.” Yeah, I had turned down an invite—another formal affair on old stationery—a few days ago, not about to trap myself into being drugged again…to possibly disappear.
His lips curved as I sat across from him at the dinette. “Yes, I can understand your misgivings.” He tilted his head to Elder Jacobs and Elder Merrick. “Especially after it was explained to me what has been going on behind my back.”
I stilled completely, swallowing my drink slowly at the confirmation. Feeling the blood drain from my face, my heart stuttered, then stopped, only to pound rapidly. An eerie ache settling like a rock around my heart. I swallowed again, feeling like I was going to puke, as utter hatred bubbled inside of me from the betrayal of the most intimate kind. Brown eyes scanned over my face, red eyebrows quirking in silent question when I started chuckling, a purely malicious sound. I ran a hand through my hair, setting my Coke down calmly, even if my hand was shaking somewhat. “Yes,” I inhaled shallowly, my tone like a cold chill, even if shaking somewhat, so I cleared my throat, “I had suspected.”
“I thought as much, since I don’t imagine much gets by you with enough consideration,” King White murmured softly, his head cocked as he watched me. He flicked his hand to them. “I thought I would let them explain, so as there would be less bad blood between you and I, seeing as I had—,” he cleared his own throat, his voice clipped, “no fucking clue any of this was occurring.”
Ever so slowly, I turned my frigid gaze to Elder Jacobs and Elder Merrick, staring at them mutely, my thoughts like fiery ice.
Elder Merrick’s own voice void, not peering up at me, eyes trained on the gun as he rotated it in his hands. “I wondered about this.” Another rotation of the gun while he studied every detail. “I even looked it up. We don’t have guns like this right now.”
I didn’t even look at the gun I hadn’t even thought of them not having in this age, staring only at the man on my couch. “When did you really first see me?”
Navy blue eyes peered up to mine, a cold intelligence, a brutal ruthlessness he had hidden to me, watched calmly, black curls dangling about his face. “When you were dancing with the Prodigies.”
I huffed a cold chuckle, even as Elder Jacobs shifted on his seat, a sure sign he hadn’t known this little fact. And…not only that…my lips curved with my simmering hatred for him, utterly loving the fact it must have been a rude awakening the next morning after he had thought to dupe me to realize I wasn’t a Shifter, and then, I thoroughly enjoyed the frigid hatred he didn’t bother to hide entering his own gaze as I laughed in his face.
Elder Jacobs cleared his throat after a moment, sitting forward in the recliner, putting himself into my line of eyesight to catch my gaze. “It wasn’t entirely Elder Merrick’s fault to deceive you as he did.” I quieted some, trying to reign in my anger, raking hair off my face with a damn still slightly shaking hand as I turned my attention toward him while he continued. “When we saw you outside the hotel with the Prodigies, we thought it surprising you recognized us so quickly, thought perhaps we had met before, but since neither of us forgets a face, and we knew we had never met you, we brushed it off as an oddity, our faces recognizable because of our history and position.”
I had recognized Elder Merrick instantly when I had rolled over that morning, right along with recognizing Elder Jacobs instantly outside the hotel.
He waved a hand. “But, after we followed you, ran the background checks, and ran your prints on a glass you’d used from the limo,” he shrugged a shoulder, sitting back on my recliner, “you didn’t exist on any databases, so Elder Merrick and I…did what we do best.”
My mind whirled, realizing they had already done a fingerprint check…and the bit he was blatantly telling me they were damn spies.
Elder Merrick efficiently released the clip on my gun and begun a quiet study of each of the silver bullets without flinching. “Now that we know you’re from the future, Elder Jacobs and I believe you knew us before.” He rubbed on one of the bullets, peering at it more closely. “In the future, I mean.”
I snorted, glaring at him. “Fuck you.” Oops, we had already done that, hadn’t we, which I bet chaffed him like no other.
“Hmm.” He peered more closely, ignoring my anger. “Which means, we knew you, too, since this,” a flicked hand around the room, “is the past for the us of the future, if you are truly meant to be here.” I went quiet, thinking that through slowly, even as he asked, voice still void, “How did we really meet in your eyes?”
“Elder Merrick…” King White murmured a quiet warning.
A cold, direct order. “Answer the question.”
My nostrils flared, but he did have my damn gun in his hands, so I sucked in a breath, keeping it simple. “I met you and Elder Jacobs for the first time in a formal living room after a dinner.” Not to mention, he hadn’t seemed to like me very well, which made sense now, the him of the future with this as his past, and…there had been something in both of their eyes, and even an odd comment by Elder Jacobs…I shook my head. “Yes, I think you both knew me. There was something there you both tried to hide.”
“Hmm.” He started putting the bullets back in the clip. “We only knew each other briefly?”
“Somewhat,” I stated vaguely, not going into details. “I went back in time not too long afterward.”
“But, we didn’t tell you.”
Not a question, but I stated, “You couldn’t alter time.”
He grunted, slamming the clip back into place on the gun, eyeing me coldly with his own simmering hatred.
Elder Jacobs interjected then, taking over, stating calmly, “As I said,” my eyes turned to him, “Elder Merrick is not only at fault for this. Since I was currently busy with another affair, it was decided between us Elder Merrick would take the lead in a private investigation of you. And after learning more about you during the interrogation, it was quickly surmised it would work.” His lips actually quirked. “You should feel somewhat fortunate, Ms. Farrow. You appeared to only need companionship. Had it been me doing the investigation, instead of someone who despises mixed-faction relations with a vengeance, I would have used a more sensual approach.”
My face stayed blank. “Yes, that’s very fortunate, because I probably would have killed you while you slept one night had you deceived me like that.”
Ah…that idea had merit.
Dark eyes stared back at me calmly. “Was that a threat?”
“Did you sleep with me to gain information?”
“No.”
“Then it wasn’t a threat.” I kept my mouth shut after that, seeing as how my gun was in the hands of the man I was threatening.
Elder Jacobs sighed heavily. “I understand you’re upset, Ms. Farrow, and I can’t even say I apologize for our actions because we were moving in the best interests of the Prodigies, but you shouldn’t take out your hurt feelings on King White. He had no indication of what was transpiring while we conducted our private research,”
I waved a hand, jumping from my seat, not able to sit still any longer. Anger burst forth as I had never felt before…because there had been a slim possibility I had actually started to have feelings for Elder Merrick. Real damn feelings for a prick who had fucked me as part of his job.
“Don’t fucking tell me what I’m feeling!” It was even worse than the Walker Leric, because whereas the Walker had spun a twisting loyalty within me, Elder Merrick had started to worm his way into my damn heart. Not a lot, but he had still managed to get there, which burned like acid down my throat.
All three were utterly still, staring at me quietly with varying expressions, I realized there were tiny little stars popping off any of my exposed flesh, like sizzling bursts of anger.
Well, that was a new one.
I swiped a hand over my face, swiftly moving to the patio door, opening the blinds and the door, sucking in oxygen to try to calm down. “Fucking betrayed again.” I shook my head, chest heaving. “Goddammit.”
Elder Jacobs’s voice was extremely slow. “It had to be done.”
Eyes flared, nowhere near calmed, I glared at him over my shoulder where he was still staring at me in shock. “I never would have hurt the Prodigies. I explained that. And all I got in return was your fucking deception.” My furious gaze went to Elder Merrick’s, who was decidedly not shocked, actually resting against the back of my couch calmly while staring at me coldly. “Congratulations, you bastard. You played it perfectly.” My head tilted toward the front door. “Now, since I understand why you did what you did for the Prodigies, I’ll give you ten seconds to get the fuck out my apartment before I really show you what I can do.”
Even from his relaxed state, his wolf growled quietly at the challenge.
King White threw up his hands, his expression still wide-eyed on me, and the tiny, bursting stars. “Both of you, just calm the hell down.” He ran a hand through his red hair. “Christ, this is getting out of hand.” He stood, quickly moving between Elder Merrick and my hate-filled stare down, and actually placed a hand on mine, only to jerk back shouting, “Shit!” He waved his hand as if I had burned him, but he breathed even, stating over Elder Merrick’s low growl, “I had nothing to do with their actions, Ms. Farrow. And the reason,”
I waved a hand, cutting him off, my hair blowing in the night-time breeze from outside, moving to my front door, opening it and holding it there. “I know why you’re here now.” I shook my head, voice void. “I won’t work for you, King White. I have no bad blood for you, as you put it, but I can’t. Every action I make here can have consequences on the future.”
His mouth opened—
A flash of brilliant gold.
Time…stood still.
Utterly and completely.
King White stood frozen, one foot forward on the ground as he had stepped, mouth parted the barest bit, his opened suit jacket stopped in mid-wave. Elder Jacobs quiet and still where he leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. Elder Merrick still resting casually on the couch, one arm over the back of it, feet crossed on my coffee table. Silence rained down around us, the sounds of life outside gone, only our breathing heard as they blinked slowly at me.
Except…I wasn’t frozen.
I twisted about, eyes wide, the furious anger inside me subsiding instantly in the threat of danger, my body no longer zapping with stars as I peered for the source of this potent, prevailing magic. I lunged toward the couch, half falling on top of Elder Merrick’s frozen body, a guttural choked noise coming from him as I grabbed the gun from his hand on his lap. Pushing off him, I swung it toward the kitchen’s entrance where a man stood calmly wearing an enormous golden robe, his features I couldn’t see, but his eyes were glowing golden under his robe. I pivoted, placing my back directly in front of King White’s, protecting him, growling, “Who the fuck are you?”
The robed man chuckled merrily. “You defend him even after what he’s put you through while you’ve been here?”
My finger hovered on squeezing the trigger. “Who are you?”
He shrugged. “I’m Elder Harcourt.” He waved a robed hand. “Now, put the gun down before you get hurt.”
My breath caught in my chest, the gun shaking a bit in my hand, and I quickly lowered it, knowing utterly this Mage—the most powerful Mage in the world—wasn’t lying. The three around me were making choking noises as they tried to get free from this state, but he was too powerful. Oh, God. If he was here to take me back, I sure as hell wanted to be taken, nothing here in this lifetime worth a damn anymore. “Elder Farrar thought I was meant to be here.” I licked my lips. “But…are you here to take me back?” Fear and anguish ripped inside me, heartbeat pounding just as hard as my lungs were, afraid he would say no.
Elder Harcourt’s hooded head nodded a bit as he hobbled closer to me. “Yes, it’s time for you to return to your time, your stretch here done.” I heaved a broken, exultant sigh, feeling faint as he moved, somehow managing to keep that hood so I couldn’t see him. I heard him inhale heavily before he blew hard, a shimmering gold floating from under his hood directly over me, falling down onto me in a floating mist, and suddenly, my clothes felt different, my purse over my arm heavy with the gun no longer in my hand, and my hair I could see was white with pink streaks. The frozen three around me went mute, their gazes stuck on the me of the future, my clothes exactly as I had left the future in, not a big difference than what I had been wearing a moment ago, except for my hair.
“There. Much better,” Elder Harcourt stated cheerfully, and began walking behind me, his hood still low on his face, but he paused. “Any last words for those here, young lady?”
My gaze landed on Elder Merrick’s, and somehow, even frozen, he managed to stare back at me with as much hatred as I felt for him. My lips curved the barest bit, a purely feral gleam, and I flipped him off. “See you in the future, asshole.”
Elder Harcourt chuckled grandly behind me.
Elder Merrick made a loud, deep gurgling noise that sounded remarkably like, “Can’t wait, bitch.”
My lips only stayed curled as I watched him with furious glowing eyes while a remarkably strong arm wrapped around my waist from behind for how slow his steps had been, and his hooded head dipped down toward me, murmuring, “This’ll just take a moment.”
A flash of bright gold erupted around the two of us, and then we were inside a serene golden shimmering escape of nonentity, glittering and majestic, beautiful and powerful, so damn prevailing, it stole my breath. My eyes stayed wide open, and a second later, I was standing on the sidewalk of Choep, New York, gunfire and explosions erupting around me. “There you are. Back home.” A flash of gold behind me, and he was gone.
I was riding in the back of a limo.
With Sin.
In 2035.
The violence on the street had quickly halted as my guards Frost and Farley, the only two left alive, and Sin, had killed the last of the men under Philip Masterson’s payroll. Elder Harcourt had placed me almost exactly where I had been taken from only what appeared to be minutes after I had been assaulted. The MIA arriving on the scene within ten minutes of the fighting started, Sin’s car having been demolished in the explosions, so we were in one of the MIA limos.
I hadn’t spoken yet, chaotic thoughts swirling through my mind, trying to decipher certain issues, and even a bit of confusion at the difference in this 2035 time compared to the past—technology, and the general pace, much different here, that slowly righting itself as I kept a firm grip on my control. Sin sat directly next to me with his arm firmly around me, obviously worried, done trying to get me to speak, his confusion clear from what had happened to me when I had disappeared. My hands were tightly clasped on my lap as we traveled back to the manor, King Collins having been phoning like mad to Sin. My cell phone was in my purse, but it was obviously dead, Sin communicating with him every few minutes that we were alright and on our way home.
Exiting the limo eventually, I stared at the manor for long moments, never believing I would be so damn joyful at seeing it again, before I allowed Sin to usher me inside, both of us hearing the commotion of the Elders and Rulers and spirit Elementals and Prodigies from a formal living room down the hall. Sin tightened his grip on me, his hold already brutal, and marched us straight back to the room, Frost and Farley, following directly behind.
“We obviously can’t find him, so we need to hurt him any way we can! We take down his goddamn businesses. Take away his fucking money supply. Take away his funding.” Elder Jacob’s voice demanded loudly as we neared the open French doors. “We can’t just stand around and let him continue to attack us.”
“I agree we need to do something, but he will absolutely go into hiding if we do such,” Queen Ruckler stated clearly. “I want that bastard dead. Not just his businesses.”
Fergus’s voice sounded, and my shoulders stiffened, my control almost slipping as my heart rate started to speed, his tone loud and gruff. “They should be here by now. Call them again.” A pause. “And why the hell isn’t her cell phone working? Are you sure she wasn’t injured?”
Elder Zellers voice, stating calmly, “They’re coming down the hallway now.”
Sin maneuvered me the last few feet, and we turned into the room. I held perfectly still as King Collins rushed me, enveloping me in a hug around Sin’s embrace since Sin wasn’t releasing me, and my King placed his hands on my shoulders, leaning his head back, eyes darting back and forth between mine. “Are you okay, Caro?”
It was so odd hearing my name. “Yes.” I couldn’t help that my voice was void. “I’m fine.”
Blue eyebrows slammed together, his gaze running over my body in a professional manner before they quickly darted to Sin. “What’s wrong with her?”
Sin’s voice was quiet. “Shock, maybe? She hasn’t spoken, except for what she just said to you.” He licked his lips. “Something happened out there.” A gentle nudge of my foot against his, and he stuttered, amending, “She’s lucky to be alive with the gunfire and explosions.”
King Collins nodded once. “Shock is understandable.”
He started trying to pull me away from Sin, even as Sin quietly muttered, “Not for her, it isn’t.”
But I waved both of them away, twisting from their holds when they damn near started a battle of tug of war with me, letting my gaze wander about the room. My gaze first landed on Elder Jacobs. I eyed him, seeing only slight differences in his appearance these years later, his dark eyes watching me closely. My gaze next landed on the Prodigies. No, I shook my head. The Elders, their change more than Elder Jacobs, but not so much it messed with my mind too much, and I started making my way directly toward them, knowing this was the truth by their initial reactions to me in 2035, but still asking calmly, “You got my letters, didn’t you?”
Instantly, I saw them all jerk, their careful expressions altering to varying degrees as they rushed toward me.
Elder Fergus made it to me first, stopping in front of me, then he was gently lifting my chin, amber eyes filled with regret stared down at me, not hiding his emotions at all. “I’m sorry. I,” he shook his head, “we shouldn’t have abandoned you like that. We were mad, furious…but we should have been bigger than the men we were.” Amber eyes darted between mine in the hushed quiet. “After we got the letters you sent, we put our anger aside and went to your apartment, but it was empty, and you were gone. We thought you had just left.”
“Elder Harcourt arrived and abruptly took me back.” My chin trembled the barest bit, but I nodded jerkily. “I’m not mad at you guys. I understood. I didn’t like it, but I understood.”
Elder Fergus grabbed me into a bear hug, holding me tight, whispering against my head, his own voice choked, “I’m so sorry.”
“We all are,” Elder Venclaire stated directly beside us, having heard him as I hugged Elder Fergus back just as tightly, and I opened my one eye that wasn’t pressed against Elder Fergus’s chest. “We’re sorry, Caro. You were our friend.” He shook his head, placing his hand against my cheek. We shouldn’t have cast you off like that.”
“You were upset. I understood.”
Nelson smiled a bit, his eyes sad. “At least we had the letters.” He chuckled quietly. “Hitting a plant and gossip-gawking-pain-in-her-ass staff cleaning up the mess.”
Elder Venclaire mumbled, “Leaf on my shoulder.”
Elder Kincaid grunted. “Twig in my hair.”
Elder Fergus’s voice was muffled from my hair. “Falling backward over luggage.”
Elder Kincaid’s brows puckered slowly as I smiled sadly. “Caro…how did your apartment get cleaned out if Elder Harcourt just appeared and took you?”
I blinked slowly, rubbing Elder Fergus’s back, pulling away gradually. Shaking my head, stating on a hoarse voice, “Everything was there when I left. It wasn’t empty.” I wasn’t going to say anything about my last night in the past, if no one had told them.
Golden brows snapped together, and Nelson stated, “Well, it was empty of any of your belongings.” He looked thoughtful. “Maybe Elder Harcourt came back and removed everything, leaving no evidence of you?”
I shrugged a shoulder, King Collins having moved up behind me. “Alright, that’s enough,” King Collins muttered, pulling me back under his arm, sounding confused. “I’m not sure what’s going on, but I’d like to find out.”
He ushered me to a green couch, grabbing a blanket and wrapping it around me, acting all kinds of hovering while Sin sat close, but my eyes had turned cold, the change in my emotion now that my quick reunion was done. My gaze slowly moved around the rest of the room, landing briefly on…Elder Merrick. He watched, damn near reminiscent of how he had appeared not only an hour ago to me, but forty years for him. He sat on a red chair almost in a bored manner, his head tilting the barest bit, black curls dangling over the side of his face. But, his eyes…his eyes of navy blue held only a feral intelligence as he gazed back at me unflinchingly, and nothing had changed for him, or for me, our hatred barely masked. Him, from sleeping with someone of another faction, and me, for being betrayed in the most intimate of ways.
I inhaled deeply…and quickly looked away when I wanted to rip his damn head off, placing a gentle kiss on Sin’s cheek, murmuring, “I’ve missed you.” Trying to keep cool, I put my elbows on my knees, and let my head drop into my hands, staring at the floor. One more inhale, and an exhale, then I began coolly, “Only an hour ago, it was night, and I was in 1994.”
I inhaled heavily. “Philip Masterson in the today of 2035 kidnapped me. Sin shot him at the last moment. The bullet traveled through the force he was taking us back in time with. It moved at a snail’s pace, but when the silver bullet touched his flesh, it stopped our progress. We ended up in 1993, which was not his intended destination, I’m assuming. When pedestrians began to attack him, Philip Masterson went back. Without me.”
Another shaky inhale. “I sought out Elder Farrar with the Primal Diamond.” I licked my lips, and stated a lie, which I prayed no Shifters contradicted me on, even the one who hated me. “I found Elder Farrar, but I lost the Primal Diamond in the process, the damn thing as small as it was.” I paused. “I’m sorry, Leric, it’s who knows where back in 1993, but anyway, Elder Farrar could not take me back to 2035. He wasn’t powerful enough, and supposedly, Elder Harcourt would have found me if I wasn’t supposed to be there. During my course of time there, I met the then Prodigies, who were Fergus, Kincaid, Nelson, and Venclaire. I also met Elder Jacobs and Elder Merrick, and the then King Townsend, King Samson, King White, and King Bridges. All of them eventually found out I was from the future when the Kings went and drugged me to find out who I was and what my story was since I had no background.”
Another inhale. “I managed not to spill any world ending secrets for the around five months I was there before one night, which, again, was only an hour ago for me, Elder Harcourt showed up, said my time was up, and brought me back through time.” My voice was a bit harsh. “And now, it’s forty fucking years later, I’m once again the Prodigy in 2035, my brain is still spinning a bit in dimensional warp shit, and I would like to go take a shower and go to bed before any questions are asked of me.”
A long beat of silence, then Queen Ruckler muttered, “She’s not lying.”
“I am going to kill that bastard!” King Collins barked so damn loudly, and furiously, even I jumped a bit, turning to stare at him over the back of the couch. “Do we have any Commoner drugs here?” He waved a hand at the room. Silence only greeted him, and he barked, “I’m serious, people. I know some of you imbibe. Like Valium or even some damn marijuana she can smoke to help her sleep through this reality transition?”
My mouth parted, but I slowly shut it, thinking that might be a decent idea.
King Zeller cleared his throat. “Yeah…um,” he sounded hesitant, “I may have something. I’ll be back in a moment.” He left the room in a blur.
“God, I’m going to kill that bastard,” King Collins muttered again, starting to pace, his eyes never leaving me. “You’re alright? You weren’t harmed?”
My mouth opened again, but I shut it, thinking how to phrase my answer. “It’s nothing I can’t get past.”
He punched the air, spinning a bit with the action, muttering curses under his breath.
And I couldn’t help my gaze wandering back to Elder Merrick. Because, yeah, I could definitely get past it after I kicked his fucking ass. Bloodied him. Stabbed him a few times in specified locations on that body of his. Then, possibly buried him in the back yard with Sin’s help. Hopefully still alive as I spit on his grave.
Frosty, navy blue stared back at me evenly, and the bastard’s lips actually tilted the barest bit, a blatantly cruel challenge.
And Lord, I started glowing dimly, my jaw clenched, nostrils flared, barely able to keep myself from blasting him, my hands shaking with the need as my blood boiled.
His lips only lifted further, the barest bit, baring his teeth, his own eyes starting to glow dimly.
“What…?” King Collins stopped pacing off to my side as everyone in the room froze, and he flicked a finger between the two of us as we stared each other down. “What the hell’s going on?”
“Hatred.” Elder Zeller inhaled heavily. “And I mean a lot of it.”
More flicking of King Collins finger as he instantly took two steps forward. “What’s happened?” A pause, his head cocking. “What happened in the past I need to know about?”
“You are a piece of shit,” I growled low in my chest straight into navy glowing eyes.
“You want to try to take me for doing my damn job?” Elder Merrick leaned forward, his head cocking in a completely animalistic fashion. “Then I fucking dare you.”
“Whoa!” King Collins held his hands up between us even as we both started rising, the blanket falling off my shoulders, stars of fire starting to glow in my palms. “Wait just a second!” Brown eyes were huge on his face. “Explain…now!”
Elder Jacobs also stepped quickly between us, hands out, eyes glowing, stating, “It was our job to protect the Prodigies, Ms. Jules. You were an unknown. We did what we had to.”
What he had to. My chest heaved at that kind little reminder. I inhaled heavily, slamming my hands together, the room literally shaking, rumbling under everyone as I snuffed the fire out in my palms. “You’re right.” I was shaking I was so furious. “It isn’t as if I don’t know what betrayal is. At least it was for a fucking cause I agree with this time.” I rolled my head on my shoulders, trying to calm down before I said too much, did something I would regret, then glared at Elder Merrick. “But I still fucking hate you.”
“Right back at you, spirit bitch,” Elder Merrick purred quietly, his wolf growling low.
“Alright, that’s fucking enough!” King Collins shouted at Elder Merrick, his expression furious.
King Zeller blurred into the room, asking, “What the hell’s going on in here?” He eyed all of us closely, half the room now standing, preparing to stop a fight. “I’ve got Valium.”
“I hope you brought enough for two.” King Collins continued glaring at Elder Merrick, but snapped his fingers at King Zeller. “Bring ‘em over.” More snapping, more hurried. “I know you can move faster than that.”
I took the pill without argument, staring at the ground so I wouldn’t have access to seek out Elder Merrick after seeing him chuck a pill across the room, his wolf growling loud enough King Zeller didn’t try to give him another, almost grateful I would be in a haze soon.
King Collins put a careful arm around my stiff shoulders, tucking me in close, moving me slowly forward. “Sin, why don’t you take—”
“On it,” Sin stated brusquely, a growl in his own tone, pulling me under his arm.
And as we moved forward, my eyes slowly lifted and steadily met Elder Merrick’s where he gazed at me between Queen Ruckler and Elder Kincaid, both of them trying to calm him after I had damn near directly challenged him.
Sin’s tone was a menacing purr against my ear while I held Elder Merrick’s gaze levelly. “What’s your plan for this justified betrayal?”
“Revenge, of course,” I whispered on a mere breath, so no others in the room could hear. “Of the bloody sort.”
“My favorite kind,” Sin murmured steadily, also now staring over my head as we moved, watching Elder Merrick. “Wanna tell me—”
“Nope,” I stated as we exited the room.
“Well, let me know if you need help, love.”
I squeezed him tight, stumbling a bit as the Valium took hold. “God, I’ve missed you.”
Sin caught me, lifting me into his arms in a child’s hold against his chest. I blinked blurrily up at him, watching him waver in and out. King Collins’ words were the last I heard on an echo behind us somewhere as he barked, “Before the damn press gets here, I want to know everything that happened forty years ago.”