Hours later I paced the floor of the queen’s living room, but this time it wasn’t an anxious thing. I was thinking and found the movement soothing. I usually forced myself to be still. I’d been told so often as a child that I should, I’d developed the habit, though it wasn’t natural. That afternoon, I didn’t even think about it. I let my instincts flow. I paced as Trent sat in the sunshine. He was still in his wolf form. Henri had told me he should stay that way for a few more hours. His wolf body would clear the silver more quickly than his human one. He’d woken up and growled my way when I’d asked him if he needed a walk around the block to clear out the system. Hey, I was sure someone had a pooper-scooper I could borrow.

He was not in the mood for my jokes.

“So you want a witch to come in and find a bunch of memories that Nemcox shoved into Neil’s soul?” The queen sounded like I’d asked her to ride a unicorn or something equally ridiculous.

“It’s not on his soul. It’s in between his soul and the dragon thing that now is attached to his soul.” Totally reasonable. Liv hadn’t blinked when I’d called her. I’d been lying in bed petting my wolf when I’d asked Liv to talk to her coven about the Neil Roberts’s situation. She was my girl. She didn’t call me crazy, merely said she would get on it.

Apparently she and Sarah Day had figured something out. Now it was all about convincing Roberts to stay still long enough for the witches to whammy him.

“So the tattoo is actually on his soul.” Dev Quinn sat beside his wife. The king was out for the day, meeting with someone important about something super world changing, or so I was told. Marcus had gone with him, but he’d left a note explaining that he thought it best that he go back to Venice for a while. He would talk to me about it when he returned this evening.

It hurt my heart, but the ache was somewhat bittersweet. Marcus had a path. He had a dream, maybe one he hadn’t even acknowledged yet. Something about what Gray had said made me think Marcus would find his happiness. I’d written down as much of the prophecy as I could remember and the lines about Marcus had struck me as hopeful.

All the world would crumble, too, but I was focusing on the positive.

So this afternoon it was me, the queen, Devinshea Quinn, my two witches, one super sullen Neil Roberts, and Trent, who did that thing where he walked in circles three times before lying his wolf body down so he could watch the fireworks. His head was on his paws as he looked up at me.

He was awfully cute in his wolf form, even if he was a bit grumpy. If he was going to follow me around in wolf form, I was totally going to start stocking my pockets with treats. Maybe a Snausage or two would get his tail wagging.

I was still processing the fact that I’d kind of had sex with Trent. It had been Trent’s body that had moved over me. And he’d done it all with a sword sticking in him. He was a motherfucking superhero in the bedroom.

It made me wonder what that man could do when he wasn’t impaled.

It had been Trent my wolf responded to. I wasn’t so unaware that I didn’t get that. My wolf was totally into Trent and I couldn’t work up the will to think that was a horrible idea at the moment.

Sarah leaned in, her hand on Neil as though she was worried if she stopped touching him, he would fade away. “Yes, Dev. Believe me, I have some insight into this. My mother sold my sister and I to Brixalnax. That tat was placed on us at birth. It didn’t go away until Felix redeemed me.” She looked back at me. “That was before he fell. He was still an angel. And before you ask, it’s not something we can request from the Heaven plane. Felix was only able to do it because he knew he was going to fall. Angels are given one freebie before they give up the wings.”

So asking for a pass from the angelic trio wouldn’t help. I hadn’t expected it would be that easy.

Roberts sat up, his eyes grim. “It’s on my soul. I can’t quite process that.”

“The dragon itself isn’t bad, you know.” I hated how sad he looked. I was feeling far more magnanimous than I had yesterday and had apologized profusely for the whole “bad cop” play. “It’s a part of you, something they use to control you, but that doesn’t mean you can’t take it back. Gray told me that if you found a way to accept it, you’ll be much more at peace.”

“I want it gone.” Roberts’s hand went to his side as though he could feel it.

“I can’t get rid of it. We can only unbind the dragon from Nemcox. I can’t take it off your soul.” I’d thought a lot about the dragons while I lounged in bed. Gray’s dragon might not work the same, but it was a way for his father to force him home. Still, I didn’t think Gray would want me to take it off him even if I could. That dragon was part of Gray, but Roberts didn’t feel the same way. “The problem is you don’t remember the words of the invocation. I need them. Well, Liv and Sarah need them to perform an unbinding spell. I need some truth from you.”

Zoey started to stand. Quinn put a hand on his wife’s elbow.

“It’s her job, my goddess. Dan wanted her in this position. She can’t merely do her job when it doesn’t touch our family. We need her.” Quinn nodded my way. “Please continue.”

“How did you get the burns on your hands?”

Roberts looked down at his palms. They were perfect now. “I don’t know. I woke up yesterday morning and I was naked in a park and my hands were like that. I tried shifting, but it didn’t work. I found an alley and hid behind a trash compactor until Chad woke up. We tried to use his blood, but it didn’t work either. That’s when we went to the hospital.”

“I convinced him to take the king’s blood last night,” Zoey admitted. “He was already donating, so I took some to Neil and that finally worked. You think Neil used the Sword of Justice to kill the halflings?”

“I think it feels awfully coincidental to me that I’ve got a halfling who could only have been killed by a special sword, the same sword goes missing from the Heaven plane, and Neil here, who has a switch his ex-captor can push at any time, both loses time and shows up with burns on his hand that shouldn’t be there. Well, unless he’s been playing around with…yes, that’s right, a sword from the Heaven plane. Is that a neat triangle bringing us back to the fact that Neil is likely a sleeper agent being activated by Nemcox, who stole the sword we’re looking for? Or is it three completely unconnected dots? Anyone want to argue?”

“I’ve lost time a lot lately,” Neil said quietly. “It wasn’t only yesterday.”

Zoey and Dev turned to him, obviously shocked.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Zoey asked, moving closer to him.

“How long?” Quinn’s voice had gone low, but there was compassion there. “Has he been doing this to you for years?”

Roberts shook his head. “No. Not at all. I thought it was all over. It’s been forever. He hasn’t messed with me since that day I woke up in France and found my way to Zoey. I knew he’d done something to me, but life seemed calm. It’s been good for years, and I was stupid. I thought if I didn’t touch that world again, it would go away. I was wrong. He’s always been out there, waiting for the right time. He’ll never stop. When he’s ready, he’ll take me to Hell again.”

“Not if this works.” I needed him positive for the experience. “If this works, we could break the bond.”

“And I’ll remember what happened to me?” Neil seemed to shrink in on himself.

“I don’t know,” Sarah replied. “I’m going to try to break whatever spell is keeping that memory from you, but I don’t know if you’ll remember everything. Once the spell is done, Felix will try to take you through some sessions to bring out the exact invocation the demon used. Then we’ll break the bond and he won’t be able to come after you again.”

“Especially once I cut his head off his body.” I had plans. I would mount it and hang shit from his horns.

Roberts looked up at me, a fire in his eyes for the first time. “I want in on that.”

All the wolves wanted in on my kill. I supposed he had even more right than I did. “I’ll be happy for the help. But first, I need something else from you. Help me stop this. I know it’s going to suck to remember, but we need you to. I know you didn’t mean to kill those demons.”

“We don’t know that he did,” the queen insisted.

Roberts looked back at her. “I woke up covered in blood. Demon blood, Z.”

There was one problem with my scenario, and I had to admit the facts. “The forensics aren’t consistent with a wolf attack. According to Henri, some sort of lizard thing bit the last victim. I don’t suppose you have any lizard-shifting friends?”

The queen sat up straight, her face flushing. “Shit.”

“Tell them, Z. You know you have to. I don’t remember those times.” Roberts put a hand over hers. “You know I can’t live this way. If you know something, tell her.”

Trent had gotten his furry butt up and he came to sit in front of the queen, his eyes steady on her.

She frowned at him. “Fine. Gosh, you’re a judgmental wolf. I’ll tell her. But don’t expect any treats from me.”

His tail thumped and he moved back to my side. He twirled around a few times before lying back down.

The queen’s lips curled up in a smile. “Well, that didn’t take long. I owe Danny twenty bucks.” Trent growled and the queen moved on. “All right. I’ve only seen Neil change once. Not into a wolf. He does that all the time. I mean I’ve only seen him change into whatever the hell Nemcox forces him to change into once. I think there’s some kind of failsafe involved. We were in grave danger. We were in the old Council’s stronghold. It was me and Trent and Neil. We got caught doing something we shouldn’t.”

“Stealing shit,” Neil allowed.

Zoey shrugged. “As one does. Anyway, we were trapped in a dangerous place. Our only exit was being guarded by a strong shifter. Trent tried to take him on, but it was obvious that wasn’t going well. That was when Neil…he didn’t change forms exactly, but he was changed.”

I was getting a much better picture. “So he didn’t take on some four-legged form. He would be able to hold a sword.”

“Yes,” Zoey replied. “His eyes changed and there was something…reptilian about him.”

“Dragon-like. When he gets activated, his dragon takes over and there are some physiological changes. It’s smart. No one would think a wolf would be able to hold that sword. All the forensics would come back as reptilian. He’s a perfect sleeper agent,” I surmised. I’d heard enough. Zoey could tell me the whole story, but I would rather hear it from the source. Unfortunately, my source had issues. “All right. I think we need to do this. Liv, are you comfortable that this spell is going to help?”

Liv gave me what I like to think of as her reassuring smile. “I’m comfortable with the fact that it won’t kill him or bring about the apocalypse.”

I was taking that as a win.

 

 

Forty minutes later I watched as Neil took a seat in the queen’s dining room. He looked thin and slightly afraid of what was to come. Zoey was kneeling beside him, talking to him, as Liv and Sarah held a deep discussion about exactly how to deal with the spell. There had been a bunch of herb chopping and potion brewing, and they’d been debating over the proper usages of Latin.

I’d been sitting rather peacefully while Trent napped away, though I had one worry running through my mind. More than one, really, but this one stood out.

Dev strode back into the room, coming to stand beside me. “All right, here’s the report on the wards.”

While I was up in the penthouse, Henri and Hugo had been manning command central. Casey said he was close to getting me a name to go with that face we’d pulled off the video from the crazy neighbor. I glanced down and read the report Hugo had typed up for me. God, I loved having a team of academics on my side. The ward blocked the ill intentioned, but there were some symbols on the back that they didn’t recognize. One of the witches did theorize that the language was actually angelic in origin. Angels seemed to be popping up everywhere.

“So the working theory is that ward would have been rendered useless to someone angelic or perhaps someone carrying a powerful angelic object,” I murmured.

“Yes,” Dev replied. “It looks like someone left an angelic back door, and that’s not good for any of us.”

“Would a demon know the angelic languages? I mean, I would suspect they would. After all, they descended from the Heaven plane. When an angel falls it’s not always to earth.” I worked through the possible scenarios in my mind. “I need to find out if anyone’s fallen lately. They could have stolen the sword and gone looking for a little revenge. Nemcox would be happy to oblige. Hell, if he’s working with a recently fallen angel, maybe that’s how he’s ducking my call.”

“I don’t know. We can ask Felix, but he lost his powers shortly after he chose to fall,” Dev explained. “We can certainly ask him if that’s possible.”

One more thing on my to-do list. It was starting to get never ending.

Trent was sleeping roughly ten feet away from me. When the great spell debate had begun, he’d found a sunny spot and gone to sleep. I watched him. He sleep growled and his paws moved like he was running from time to time.

Was he running away from what had happened? From what might happen?

“If he doesn’t know, we might have to ask for another angelic audience. I’d like to have that protective tat before I need to meet up with those three again,” I replied in a soft tone. I didn’t want to wake that wolf. There were ramifications he hadn’t thought of, and I was cool with that. It was going to be damn awkward dealing with him when he was back to his normal, gorgeous man self. I wasn’t sure what protocol was in this instance. He’d saved my life by having sex with me. Did I send a cookie bouquet? Or high-five him for his virility? Did I offer to pay for his therapy? Did I ask him if he wanted to go again? This time, without the sword in his gut? It was all too much. I chose to focus on what was in front of me.

“I’ll bring in our tattoo artist,” Dev assured me. “She’s brilliant. A witch and an artist.”

I was sure she was the best. Quinn always sprung for the best. “Now, I need you to do something else for me.”

“Of course,” Dev replied. “What do you need?”

“I need you to tell me if I’m pregnant.” This was what I’d been sitting here thinking about. It hadn’t occurred to me until everyone else had something to do and I’d gone over the night again in my head.

Dev put a hand on my arm, the touch oddly warming. “You’re not. I did check last night to ensure that you weren’t in a place where it would be a big risk. You weren’t ovulating. And as for anything else, well, Trent mostly lives like a monk. Especially the last two years.”

“I wasn’t worried about catching a disease.” I breathed a sigh of relief. Wolves didn’t get venereal diseases. They could manwhore it up all they liked and never worry about the clap. They could, however, knock a chick up. “I thought I should ask if I was suddenly carrying a litter.”

“You understand why he couldn’t wear a condom, right?”

I could guess. “Because he had to hold that freaking sword in. Because he was a vessel and he had to do everything he could to not lose the connection to Gray.”

How much pain had he been in? While I was lost in passion, Trent had been trying to keep himself impaled on something that could poison him.

I had to ask. “Why would he do that for me?”

Dev shrugged. “Why does any man do heroic things for a woman?”

I would have to think about it. Now that I’d put some distance between myself and what had happened, I was feeling guilty. I hadn’t meant to cheat, but it felt like I had. Oh, I’m sure Marcus had already forgiven me given the circumstances, but sometimes it’s way harder to forgive myself. Was Marcus moving out because our connection was gone or because I’d slept with another man? Two, kind of.

“He knows,” Quinn said, as though he could read my mind. Given the fact that he was a Green Man and something of a sex god, he likely could. Devinshea Quinn was good at reading emotions and guessing what someone would be feeling. It was one of the reasons he was an excellent advisor to the king. “Marcus, I mean. He knows you’re moving past him. I suspect it’s the reason he’s asked the king for permission to go to Venice for a while.”

“I don’t like that phrase. Moving past him. I never wanted to move past Marcus. He’s been so good to me.”

“All right. How about this one? He knows you need more.” He was quiet for a moment, as though trying to come up with a way to explain this to me. “I understand that some Hunters and trainers marry and they’re quite happy. Not a one of them was as strong as you. I’ve studied up since you came to live here. I believe you’re something different. Sometimes events occur and the universe aligns. We think God sits high on the Heaven plane and makes decisions, but I’ve learned over time that it’s more like a game of chess. Whatever being we think of as God, he puts things in motion, lines up the pieces, and then allows us to rise or fall as we may. But always we’re given the tools we need. I believe we are in a dangerous time. It’s why Dan rose when he did and as he did.”

“There hadn’t been another vampire king in a thousand years before Donovan.” If vampires were rare, then kings were practically nonexistent. I did get Quinn’s point. I’d done some studying myself. “The old Council was corrupt. They were planning on enslaving the other supernaturals. Donovan stopped that.”

“The Council wouldn’t have been happy with merely enslaving the other supernaturals. They would have moved on to the humans.” Quinn’s eyes took on a far-off look, as though remembering that time took him there in some way. “Daniel didn’t want to be king. He wanted to live a quiet life with Zoey. Instead he got the crown and the throne, and me along for the ride.”

“Somehow I think he’s cool with that.” Though they weren’t demonstrably affectionate in public, it was easy to see that Donovan and Quinn loved each other.

“Oh, in the beginning he was not, but that brings me back to what I was saying about being given all the tools we need. I am the reason Daniel walks in the light, and that was important. I serve several functions in our triad. If you take any one of the three of us away, I believe Daniel fails to take the crown and the world enters a period of darkness. I also believe we are coming up on another crisis.”

“Because Donovan won’t deal with the demons.” Marcus believed it, too. It might be the first thing Marcus and Quinn ever agreed on.

“He’s being unreasonable. Zoey doesn’t want to face any of it. We’ve been so happy that the idea of dark times ahead is unthinkable in a lot of ways. But I figured something out. We have a secret weapon. We have you.”

I held my hands up because he was wrong about a couple of things. “I’m not anyone’s savior.”

“Tell that to the deer herd. Tell it to my son,” Quinn argued. “What you don’t understand is that Daniel wasn’t the one who won our war. Zoey did. It’s not always the strongest or the one with the most power. It’s the person who will never stop. It’s the stubborn woman who has no skin in the game other than to see justice done, to ensure the safety of those around her. Daniel is caught up in his emotions and playing a dangerous game. I believe you will be the one to change things because unlike the other Hunters, you are stronger. You are more. Marcus understands that, too. And that is what I meant by you will be given what you need. When you fall, someone will be there to act heroically, to defy all the odds in order to ensure that you can do your job. All you have to do is believe and trust in yourself and accept what you need. Accept the gifts that will be given to you.”

Something about the way he was talking got to me. I wasn’t destiny girl. I was just me and yet, I had to ask the question. “What am I going to need? Can the other dude, like, tell me?”

His eyes shifted to a solid emerald green, the color shimmering and pulling me in. Dev Quinn was what is known in the Fae world as “ascendant.” An ancient god lived inside him, the Irish deity, Bris. I’d been told there were others—Arawn, the Welsh death god, Herne the Hunter—but I’d only ever met the gentle Bris. Asking him for guidance was easier than Quinn. There was something about him that warmed me, made me infinitely comfortable.

“You need to bring the two halves of your whole together, child. That’s your true desire. Beyond the sexual and sensual, more than anything, you want peace, and that means a whole and integrated you. You will not find that until the two sides of your being feel valued and needed. You think the wolf is separate, but she’s not. You think she needs something different and she does, in ways, but she loves the dark prophet, too. Don’t try to separate. That’s where you’ll make the mistake.”

“So I should be with Gray.”

“There’s no choice here,” Bris replied. “There is only your heart and what it needs. Don’t try to live by the rules. Make your own. For yourself. For them. Perhaps then you can find what you truly want. What you want even more than the men themselves. What will bring your halves together in a way nothing else can.”

A vision struck me. My children bouncing on the bed, giggling like the little monsters I call them. My demon son and the she-wolf I can’t stop thinking of.

I’d seen them in the vision. It was one of the only things I could remember, perhaps because I clung so stubbornly to it. My children by Gray and Trent.

Sometimes before I go to sleep, I pray that I will dream of them.

“Kelsey, we’re ready.” Liv’s voice broke through my thoughts, bringing me back to the real world.

Bris smiled at me and then he was Quinn again, his eyes changing in a blink.

“I’ll go and check on the kids.” Quinn put a hand on my shoulder. “Don’t be too hard on Trent. He’s finding his way through this, too.”

“Say hi to Lee for me.”

“If I can find him.” Quinn looked around as though expecting something to come at him from any angle. “He’s a slippery one, my human son. I know Rhys is supposed to be the powerful one, but it’s Lee who can truly wreak havoc. I tried to keep him in the dark about what’s happening here today.”

“Oh, I’m sure he knows.” Little Lee knew everything. He’d been trained by his grandfather to be a good thief, but he’d also learned at a young age that information was the most valuable thing he could steal. Hell, I went to Lee when I needed to know what was happening around the building. He knew all the best gossip.

But I wasn’t sure hearing his Uncle Neil discuss what had happened to him in Hell was the best thing for a nine-year-old kid. Some experiences were better off left for adulthood.

Quinn kissed his wife before moving to the children’s wing of the penthouse.

I watched as Neil took his seat. He drank the potion Liv gave him, complained bitterly about how it tasted, and then seemed to try to relax.

“Okay, so what this spell is supposed to do is pull back the curtain,” Sarah explained. “Think of your memory as an actual part of your mind, of your soul in some ways. Everything that you are or have been is locked away in some part of you. Some witches even believe that our past lives are written onto our soul, each evolution of our being marking us in ways and helping to form a new whole.”

“This is some spiritual shit. I get it. So my time on the Hell plane is like a file in the computer of my soul,” Neil quipped. “While you’re screwing around in there, could you pull up my time as a thirties matinee idol? Because I sometimes dream about that.”

Sarah smiled, her nose wrinkling. “I’ll be sure to do that. Anyway, I’ve altered a memory spell in order to find the deeper memories. I’m going to pull some energy from the air around me and send it through you. It won’t hurt, but it should target whatever is veiling your memory. It should work quickly and it could be a bit overwhelming.”

“I can handle it.” Roberts took a deep breath. “It’s always there anyway. It’s a nagging anxiety in the back of my mind, a shadow I can’t quite catch. Maybe it’s better to know.”

I wasn’t sure about that. Sometimes ignorance was bliss, but I couldn’t let him stay that way. I needed to know.

Liv brought Sarah a potion to amplify her powers. She downed it and then the chanting started.

Yep. Always chanting. There was some Latiny things I didn’t understand and then it seemed like energy gathered around Sarah, starting at her feet and rising up through her. The room felt charged and that was when I noticed our intruder.

As Sarah prepped to rip that veil off her friend’s memory, I caught sight of Lee. He was hiding behind one of the big comfy couches, his eyes wide as he watched the scene in front of him.

I was about to walk over and nab his ass when the energy shot right through Roberts. I heard him gasp, but I watched in horror as it didn’t stop. It shot through Roberts’s chest and seemed to turn like a heat-seeking missile, finding the hottest target.

My heart felt like it was going to stop as Lee took the energy bullet Sarah had fired. It sent his body flying across the room and his mother screamed.

My heart was pounding in my chest as I ran for him. “Call Henri.”

I would run his body down to the hospital myself if I had to. I loved Lee.

Quinn came running at the sound of the screams, and everything was chaos as we all tried to huddle around Lee’s body.

His eyes fluttered open and he frowned. “What the hell is wrong with you people? Damn it, Zoey. What’s going on?” He sat up and rubbed his head. “I need a beer.”

He sounded different. His voice was deeper, though still Lee’s somehow.

Sarah’s eyes had gone wide. “Holy shit.”

Quinn started to try to pick him up. If he was upset his nine-year-old was asking for a beer, he didn’t show it. “Come on, son. We need to get you down to the hospital.”

Lee pushed back. “Son? Dear god, Quinn. What’s gotten into you? Why is everybody staring at me like that? Wilcox? Is that you? What the hell are you doing here? And put on some goddamn pants. We’re in mixed company. The faeries might be all right with your junk hanging out, but I’m not.”

“Lee?” Quinn asked.

Of course it was Lee. He was right there.

“Owens?” Trent was standing behind me and he’d changed back to his wholly masculine self.

“Yes?”

That had been said in stereo. Both Lee and I looked up at Trent, who really should have put some pants on.

I would have said something but that was the moment the queen chose to faint.

Lee stood up, looking down on his mom. “Looks like Zoey’s the one who needs the doc, Quinn.” He scratched his belly and then looked at his hand. He frowned and turned to the mirror behind him. “What the hell? Quinn get this damn glamour off me. Why do I always have to be the kid?”

Quinn held his wife, but he was staring at his son. “I always thought she’d dreamed up that story. I didn’t believe her. Uh, that’s not a glamour, Lee. That’s your body now. And I’m your dad. Zoey’s your mom.” He turned to the witch, desperation plain on his face. “Sarah, I’m going to need my son back.”

Lee was staring at himself in the mirror and I was trying to process what the hell had happened.

“Wow.” Roberts had his hands on his hips. “That is Lee. The old Lee. I would know that frown anywhere. Dude, did you know you had a daughter? Owens, meet your dad.”

Lee turned and stared at me, and then the softest look hit his eyes. “Well, hello there, darlin’. It’s coming back to me now. Damn it all, but you look like your momma.”

“Huh. I think he’s right. We need a beer.” It was the only way to handle this whole clusterfuck. I looked back. Trent was way too close. “Dude, clothes. Please.”

“She looks like her momma, but she sounds like her dad. Come on, darlin’. Let’s grab a beer and talk while the crazy people figure a way out of this.” He scratched his belly again. “I remember where the kitchen is.”

I stood and followed…my dad.