“I didn’t trust Neal, but I didn’t think he would be stupid enough to work with Aric.”
I somehow resisted the urge to point out that I had thought the name Rica was suspicious as hell from the moment I saw it as we hurried down Decatur Street.
Caden’s hand was wrapped firmly around mine as we cut around groups of people strolling on the street. When we’d left Thieves, I expected everyone to be running screaming from the building since the fight had not been quiet, but when we slipped out the back door, I could hear the conversation from the bar area. Those people had no idea that a fight to the death had just taken place with a freaking flaming sword.
Caden stopped suddenly, beside a sleek black SUV parked a block from Thieves, and opened the passenger door. “Get in.”
I looked at the SUV and then at him. “You have a car.”
One eyebrow rose. “Is that so surprising?”
“Not as surprising as the flaming sword,” I muttered.
He shot me a bland look, and I climbed in and buckled up. I watched him jog around the front of the SUV. He was behind the wheel in seconds, glancing over at me as he hit the ignition button. The moment our gazes connected, they held and I let myself just for a couple of seconds really think about what had just happened.
Who I’d just seen.
“It’s him,” I whispered as the engine rumbled. “Aric was the Ancient who attacked me and my mother.”
Caden reached over and cupped my cheek. He didn’t say anything as he drew his thumb along my jaw.
“I can’t believe it.” A messy, raw knot of emotion formed in my chest. “It was him.”
“I’m sorry. I really am,” he said quietly. “And I know how badly you want to hunt him down, but you need to stay away from him. I don’t say that because I doubt your skill or determination, but he is deadly and he is dangerous. He is as old as me, Brighton, and I’m positive he hasn’t spent a day fasting.”
A horrible thought occurred to me as his words sunk in. I pulled back. “Did you… did you know it was him?”
“No.” He looked away, his gaze flicking to the rear view mirror as he pushed the SUV into reverse. “I’m not surprised. The bastard is sick and cruel, but I did not know.”
I wasn’t sure if I believed him and I didn’t know how to process that right then. I didn’t even know how to deal with coming face to face with the Ancient who’d ripped into my mother’s throat and torn through my skin while laughing.
“We’re going to have to involve the Order in this.” He eased away from the curb. “With Aric behind the missing younglings and using whatever the hell mortuus is, we’re going to need all hands on deck.”
Hell. I knew what that meant as I shifted my gaze to the window. “I can’t promise you that Miles will listen to me. They don’t think I’m very… useful.”
Caden was quiet for a moment. “What if the information came from Ivy?”
“They would listen. I can call her. Tonight.”
“We also need to go to Tanner.”
“Now?”
Caden clutched the steering wheel as he focused on the narrow street congested with cars and people. “Now. Call Tink. We’ll pick him up.”
I glanced down at myself as I pulled my cellphone out of my clutch. “Do we have, um, time for me to get changed?”
“Yeah, we’ve got time for that.”
Calling Tink and getting off the phone quickly wasn’t exactly an easy endeavor since he had a million and one questions, but I managed to get off and then I called Ivy.
She answered on the second ring. “Hey, Bri, what’s up?”
“Um, a lot. Like a lot.” I started quickly telling her about what had just gone down. “We’re heading over to Hotel Good Fae now to talk to Tanner and Faye.”
“We’re actually a couple of miles outside the city now,” Ivy replied. “We’ll be there shortly after you.” There was a pause. “And I hope we find some time to talk later.”
“About…?”
“You’re going to play coy with me, Bri?” Ivy snorted. “You and I need to talk about how you’ve been working with the Prince.”
“Uh.” I looked over at Caden. He didn’t seem to be paying attention. “Okay?”
“Yeah. Okay. See you in a bit.”
I slipped my phone back into the clutch, unsure of what I was going to tell Ivy when I wasn’t even sure I knew what I was doing—what we were doing.
“Is everything all right?”
I nodded. “Yeah, Ivy and Ren are almost back in the city. They’ll be there. I guess your brother is with them.”
“Perfect.”
And after that, Caden didn’t really speak and even though there was a ton of stuff I wanted to talk about, like everything, right now didn’t seem like the… appropriate time. The curious thing about this trip was the fact that Caden didn’t need to ask directions to my house.
“Do I want to know how you know where I live?” I asked as we pulled up to the curb outside my house.
He slid me a long look as he turned off the ignition.
“All right,” I sighed, opening the door. “Probably don’t want to know.”
Stepping out of the SUV, I crossed the sidewalk and opened the gate. I took one step and Caden was suddenly in front of me. Cursing under my breath, I shook my head. “You’re going to give me a heart attack if you keep doing that.”
Caden didn’t respond to that as he took my face in his hands, cupping my cheeks. He stepped into me as he tilted my head back. My gaze flew to his. “Is… is everything okay?”
Instead of answering, he lowered his mouth to mine, stopping a fraction of an inch from making contact. Was he going to kiss me? My breath caught. His forehead brushed mine and then his lips touched mine.
The kiss….
There was nothing sweet or soft about it, not like most first kisses were. Oh no, this was fierce and powerful, consuming in the intensity. My lips parted as the tip of his tongue touched mine, and the entire world seemed to slip away. When he finally lifted his mouth from mine, there was a swelling motion in my chest, like I had just taken my first real breath of air.
Caden had kissed me like it was our first and our last.
His fingertips slipped off my cheeks as he stepped back and to the side, and as my gaze focused, I saw that my front door was open. Tink stood there—full-sized Tink. It was always jarring to see him at his full height and wing-less, which was almost the size of Caden.
“Let’s head inside.” Caden touched the small of my back.
More than just a little out of it, I nodded and walked forward. The closer I got, I could see how wide Tink’s blue eyes were. I expected him to say something funny. Call me a hussy or point out that I was just making out with Caden in the front yard, but he didn’t say anything. He was staring at Caden like he’d never seen him before.
Tink stepped back into the foyer as we climbed the steps and he didn’t speak until we were inside my house, the door closed behind us.
Tink looked like he was about to faint as he stared at Caden. “Should I… should I bow?”
I frowned at him.
Caden shook his head. “No.”
I had no idea what any of that was about. “I’m just going to get changed real quick. Make yourself comfortable.”
Caden nodded as I hurried to the stairs and when Tink started to follow, he stopped him. “Can we talk for a moment?”
Figuring it was about what happened, I raced up the steps, nearly tripping to my death over Dixon, who sprawled out on the top step. “God,” I gasped. “Really?”
Dixon lifted his furry head and meowed loudly as he stretched out his legs lazily. Rolling my eyes, I stepped over the cat and hurried to my bedroom, prepared to strip and scrub my face so fast I’d break records, but as I soon as I stepped into my bedroom, I came to a complete stop. Raising my hand, I pressed my fingers to lips that felt swollen.
I… I was feeling some pretty silly stuff. Perhaps it was everything that had happened in the last week causing me to think and feel like I…. Goodness, I didn’t even know.
But instead of obsessing over Aric, over what he’d taken part in, I was wondering if… you could fall in love with just one kiss?