CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
“Maybe you’re really not up for this,” Emma said, catching Elena staring off into space for the third time in a few minutes.
“I’m good.” She forced a smile that might have fooled most people.
Emma wasn’t most people, but she also let the lie go this time, focusing on running the brush through Elena’s hair.
Elena had briefly contemplated going to the ballroom in search of her grandmother dressed in her own clothes. Her tracings were going to spark quite the reaction on their own, but wearing the stunning silver dress with her tracings on full display would spark a bigger one. She had a feeling her grandmother was counting on that.
She just couldn’t piece together why. No matter how many times she ran through the last few days, she couldn’t figure out Titania’s motivations and whether or not they had anything to do with the Iron Queen.
Was it possible Rutger—Titania—had wanted her and the crown to cross path’s from the start?
If that was the case, she could have sent Elena after it on her own without ever involving Piper or Vaughn.
She hadn’t. A miscalculation on Titania’s part? Or was there another piece of the puzzle Elena needed in order to see the full picture?
“I’m making a list,” Emma said, finishing running the brush through Elena’s hair. “It’s an All The Things Aunt Elena Is Not Allowed To Do list.”
“Harsh,” Elena teased, doing her best to ignore the growing sense of dread that twisted her stomach. “I can’t wait to meet him or her.” She turned and placed her hand on Emma’s stomach, still not even sure how she’d known her twin was pregnant. “I get your clothes when you blow up like a house, right?”
Emma swatted her hand. “I’m not blowing up like a house.” She walked around in front of Elena, surveying her quick work. “You can talk to me, you know.”
It was the perfect opening to tell her twin about her cloak and dagger lifestyle, but no way would Emma settle for half an explanation, and there was no time for more than that right now. “I know.”
“Do you?” Emma smoothed out a few strands of Elena’s hair. “I’ve got your back. Every time.”
“Right now you need to worry about having the little one’s back.” And staying far away from Elena’s mess. There was no way of knowing how the rest of the evening would play out.
It was on the tip of her tongue to tell Emma to skip the party altogether, but it would only make her sister more suspicious and give her a reason to stick even closer to Elena.
As if sensing Elena wasn’t going to say anything more, Emma nodded in approval. “I’d say you’re as ready as you’re going to be. We should go.”
Elena rose, and they made it as far as the door before she turned back to face her sister. “I’m sorry.”
Confusion drew Emma’s brows together. “Elena?”
“I’m sorry for all the times I dragged you into trouble. I never meant for you to get hurt. I thought I was doing the right thing. Maybe some of those times I wasn’t—hell maybe most of them. But I did it because I love you.”
Emma clutched her hand. “You’re scaring me.”
“What? A sister can’t apologize for years of putting her twin through hell.”
“It wasn’t hell, it was eye-opening,” Emma settled on, her smile not quite reaching her eyes. “And I look forward to being able to tell this little one all about it.”
Emotion tightened Elena’s throat. This was not going to be the last time she saw her sister. She wouldn’t let herself believe that, but she couldn’t shake the feeling everything was about to change.
Emma didn’t let go of her hand.
She gave it a reassuring squeeze. “I’ve got this.”
“I’m not sure if I’d feel better or worse if I knew what you meant by this.”
Elena shrugged. “Oh, the usual.”
To the power of a hundred maybe. Gods, what if she was wrong? What if she didn’t have this at all?
She needed to see Vaughn. Needed that moment of absolute rightness she found only in his arms. It should have been ridiculous that it was his face she ached to see, his touch she craved, especially after everything they’d been through.
She’d executed dozens of missions before he came come along, never needing anything from anyone else at all. But this time…
It was almost like she’d just been going through the motions, seemingly content with her life, and never realized it until their paths crossed in Vegas and something inside her woke up. Something she hadn’t even realized was asleep.
How had she ever believed her feelings for Vaughn made her weak? Loving him gave her strength, made her believe in something she couldn’t see or touch, a connection that burned inside her so hot and fierce it could light the world on fire.
She knew she could walk into the lion’s den without seeing the playfulness in his eyes, without feeling her heart race with no more than a graze of his fingers.
But she didn’t want to. Not anymore.
She wanted her mate.
Stepping into the hall, Elena ran through a mental list of excuses she could use to slip away from Emma, and they all came to a grinding halt when she spotted Oren waiting for them.
No doubt he’d been there the whole time, determined to keep track of her.
He offered an arm to each of them. “Shall we?”
Emma waited until Elena moved forward to tuck her arm around Oren’s arm, then followed suit, not nearly as good at hiding her hesitation.
It was on the tip of her tongue to suggest Emma find their parents in case Oren intended to prevent Elena from finding Titania. However, her parents rained on that particular suggestion parade by stepping into the hall moments later.
She hadn’t expected her father to attend the ball at all. No doubt he wanted to keep an eye on her. At least their presence lowered the odds of Oren pulling anything here.
She still didn’t sense the crown and the dead immortal’s voice had grown suspiciously quiet. At any other time she’d take that as a good sign. Now it merely felt like the calm before the storm.
They reached the ballroom without incident, Oren being his usual charming self, keeping the conversation going smoothly.
Had she gotten it wrong? Was it just a coincidence that his dagger was marked with symbols similar to the Iron Brotherhood? Perhaps it only an old family heirloom?
“I’ll be right back,” her sister promised as their parents led her away to meet someone.
“You do look amazing,” Oren said, escorting her past the numerous Fae who turned to stare.
“I see your ability to lie hasn’t improved since we last saw each other in Vegas.” Elena scanned the room for her grandmother.
Oren laughed. “Honestly, I don’t think you’ve ever looked more stunning. But after what you’ve been through, no one would have faulted you for not making an appearance.”
“Which is exactly why I need to be here.” It was the one answer that he would expect from her, whether he was part of the Iron Brotherhood or not.
“I don’t see your grandmother, “ he said.
Or Rutger. For all Elena knew, her grandmother roamed amongst the Fae in the gargoyle’s form, delighting in fooling everyone.
Rutger sure as hell would have enjoyed that kind of deception.
Her brain still struggled to equate the two beings as one, but it would certainly explain a hell of a lot, even as it led to a thousand questions.
The kind of questions that both Rutger and Titania were pros at deflecting when it suited them.
The brand on her chest heated her skin, and she fought the urge to glance down and bring attention to it. The silver gown left the Fae glyph on full display as well, and more than a few murmurs about it had swept through the room.
“One dance?” Oren asked. “And then I’ll leave you to it.”
She studied his face. If she’d gotten it wrong and Oren wasn’t involved, she’d made a mistake letting her father lock Vaughn up, even if it was only temporary. “Of course.”
Oren drew her closer.
“Just promise you’ll catch me if I faint,” she teased.
“Not sure how your wolf would feel about that.”
“Still jealous of the gargoyle? He’s secured in the dungeon.”
Oren nodded. “I suspected as much.” He led them around the dance floor with ease, and there wasn’t an immortal in the immediate vicinity who dared take their eyes off her.
She spotted Emma next to her parents, tucked in close to a group of Fae. Too close.
She turned her head to follow the group as Oren kept them moving.
“Nothing needs to happen to them,” Oren said quietly against her ear. “Keep dancing,” he purred, his face as casually elegant as ever despite his tightening grip on her.
Big mistake asshole.
Someone handed him something, and a pulse of awareness shot through her.
“Open it, Elena.” He thrust the box at her.
A charge of magic punched into her bloodstream.
Finally, the voice in her head whispered.
“Open it and no one has to die.”
Her fingers moved to comply before she caught herself.
“Do it, Elena. Do it or not only does Vaughn’s sister die, but your sister as well, along with your parents. I have men everywhere and they have the means to end their very existence.”
Where the hell was Titania?
“Your grandmother can’t save you,” Oren said, guessing what she was thinking. “Everything is already in motion. Has been since the moment the gargoyle triggered the brand on your chest.”
She shook her head.
“The Iron Queen will rise. She’ll take back the Fae kingdom that she was always meant to rule.”
Elena’s fingers trembled on the box, the Fae magic within reaching for her.
A man stood behind Emma, a blade at his side.
“It’s enchanted iron and I promise you that she’s not strong enough to survive it. I don’t even think you are.”
She felt the press of a blade against her side. No doubt the one she’d seen on him earlier.
“You want Titania dead.” This wasn’t just about resurrecting a dead queen. “Why not use your enchanted daggers on Titania yourself or don’t you have the balls?”
A cold smile touched his lips. “I’m afraid I’m not powerful enough to make it a killing blow.”
But Elena, under the Iron Queen’s influence, would be.
“Now, Elena.”
Even if she fought this, if she refused and put her family at risk, someone else would put the crown on before this was over. Oren would make sure of it. He might even risk putting it on himself.
He was crazy enough, the disturbed light in his eyes making that painfully obvious. How had she missed seeing that in him before?
Any Fae who put on that crown risked absolute corruption and eventual death, and there was no telling how many would die before that happened.
Maybe everyone in the room.
Once glance at the twisted smile on Oren’s face confirmed he was counting on that.
But he wasn’t counting on her being able to harness the magic.
She opened the box. Ancient magic rolled across her feverish skin, drawing her own to the surface. Power skated along her nerve endings, the sensation intoxicating.
She could do this. She could save them all.
Movement and shouting erupted from somewhere behind her, but she didn’t take her eyes off the plain iron crown with three prongs studded with dark stones.
“Ivy!”
She heard Vaughn’s voice, but she was already reaching into the box. It would make her strong enough.
A growl ripped the air.
Her hand closed over the cool metal at the same moment the wolf’s jaws closed over her arm.
Lightning burst across the night sky.
All around Elena a battle raged, bodies colliding in torchlight, shadows lunging and twisting across the landscape. Cries rent the air. Screams of pain, of heartbreaking loss, of utter defeat.
A wolf snarled, and she followed the sound, finding the familiar beast amidst the slaughter that would ultimately destroy every soul on the battlefield.
“Vaughn!”
“You don’t need him,” a voice said from behind her.
Elena whirled to face the Iron Queen.
“You don’t need any of them. You must know that.”
Magic coursed through Elena, the waves of it steady on the surface. Below that, they raged.
“You’ve always been stronger on your own.”
Yes, she had. Hadn’t she?
“Even when you played your games, you did it on your own,” the Fae continued.
The wolf snarled, and Elena turned to see him tearing through the masses to get to her. And he would reach her. He wouldn’t stop fighting to get to her, not even if it meant crossing a hundred battlefields to do it.
She knew that. Just as she knew she would do the same to get to him.
The Fae magic wrenched at her hard but she didn’t take her eyes off the landscape.
Why the battlefield? Why had the Iron Queen kept bringing her to this place? From the beginning she’d boasted that she needed no one, that she could save everyone.
So why the army? If she could save them all, why would she have sacrificed her people?
Because the magic had corrupted her?
“You told no one of your games, Elena, because they didn’t need to know. Because they need you more than you will ever need them.”
No….yes?
“They tell you only what they must to keep you close. You own mother left you and then pretended to be someone else. And she wasn’t the first, was she?”
“Elena!”
She could hear how close Vaughn was, but she couldn’t look away from the Iron Queen.
“My sister deceived you, too. Because they know if they tell you the truth, you won’t be there when they need you. My sister knows how powerful you are. She kept the truth about who she really was because she fears you.”
No. Her grandmother didn’t fear her. Did she?
Fae magic licked at her, making it hard to think clearly.
Yes, her mother and grandmother had lied, about quite a few things. But so had Elena. What if they’d done it for the same reason she’d lied to Emma and her parents? To protect them?
Even though Titania had hidden her true identity, she’d kept Elena close. Rutger had always treated her like family.
She glanced back at the battlefield again, the scene pulling at her. The first time she’d been here it had been after the battle, the sheer devastation crushing.
And now the battle raged anew. She stumbled forward, scanning the faces.
“What are you looking for?” The queen asked, sounding nervous.
There, in the heart of the battle, a lone figure fought with the speed and strength of ten warriors, her lethal form slicing through the enemy.
But there were so many. Too many.
“It wasn’t enough, was it?” She glanced over her shoulder. “Magic doesn’t make a hero. You always believed that. Until it wasn’t enough.”
She and her people had lost the battle, and it pushed her to embrace magic in all its forms. So no one would have to sacrifice their lives again. And it had destroyed her.
The sadness in the other woman’s eyes faded, power simmering in the swirling red depths. “Take my hand.” She held it out, waiting.
“Elena don’t!” Covered in dirt and blood Vaughn reached for her.
And hit an invisible barrier.
“Elena!” Snarling, he lunged for the Iron Queen and hit the same wall. He struck his hands unable to reach either of them. “Come on, Ivy. Don’t do this.”
“Take my hand,” the Fae pressed. “I can give you everything.”
“I believe you.” She reached for the Iron Queen’s hand. “But I’m not doing this alone anymore.” She thrust a hand toward Vaughn, and the moment he clamped down, she grabbed the Fae’s wrist. “Neither of us is doing this alone anymore.”
Magic exploded inside Elena, and right before everything vanished, she thought she saw the Iron Queen smile.
Elena landed on her knees in the same grassy meadow as before.
Her world tilted for a few seconds, and then she jerked her head up. Vaughn?” She rocketed to her feet. “Vaughn!”
“You will see him soon enough.”
“Where is he?” This time when she faced the Iron Queen, magic rolled up from the balls of Elena’s feet, more intense than ever before.
“Magic doesn’t make a hero, remember?” Where the hardened warrior once stood with red eyes roiling with power, Elena found a woman dressed in a simple green gown.
No suffocating waves of magic or darkness. Only warmth and light. But still very much a warrior, judging by the sword strapped to the Fae’s back.
Elena’s hand itched for a weapon of her own. “What’s happening?”
“You made your choice.”
“Was this all…a test?”
The Fae shrugged. “Perhaps it was for both of us.”
“And if we hadn’t passed?”
A coy smile curved her lips. “There are some things we are better off not contemplating.” She turned and walked away.
Wait a second. “So what now?”
“Now I sleep.” She turned, walking backward. “But I’m there if you ever need me.”
Elena glanced down. The Fae glyph had been replaced by a much smaller version, but instead of a blue gem at the heart of the curling ivy, a gray one winked in the sunlight as if real.
“Tell my sister I’ll be waiting for her.”
“Wait!” She had more questions. There was so much she still didn’t understand. “Stay.”
She shook her head. “Keeping up with you is exhausting, fledgling. I’m going to…what do they say now? Crash?” She grinned and vanished.
***
“Elena!”
His mate didn’t move, her chest barely rising.
Vaughn dropped to his knees and hauled her into his arms.
The wolf snarled as if he was still on the battlefield fighting to reach her. His chest burned from the sword tip that sliced him from shoulder to midsection, but there was no wound. There wasn’t a mark on him despite the blood and dirt he’d clawed through to get to his mate.
Instead he’d woken to the sounds of shouting as Nessa and Mac and some of the Fae contained the Iron Brotherhood forces.
Elena had been next to him and lying so still…
“Come on, Ivy. I know you hate missing out on a party.” He brushed the hair back from her cheek.
Gods, he couldn’t lose her. He never should have let it get to this point, never should have fought his instincts.
She was his. He should have protected her from the start, not sacrificed her. He might as well have put that crown on her head himself. Every step he’d taken had led her here, and there hadn’t been time to tell her how sorry he was for that. How sorry he was for turning his back on their bond for so long.
He’d spend an eternity making up for that, starting as soon as she opened those stunning eyes of hers and threatened to blast him across the room if he didn’t stop squeezing her so hard.
Someone yelled behind him, and he turned, finding the source. One of the Brotherhood was on his knees, Nessa’s sword at his throat.
“Who invited the huntress?” Someone whispered close to him.
Movement from the corner of his eye spurred Vaughn into action.
But he wasn’t fast enough to prevent the Fae bastard from snatching the crown off of Elena’s head and bolting.
Son of a bitch.
“Go.” Titania crouched next to him. “I’ll stay with her.”
“This is your fault. If she doesn’t wake up—”
She cut him off. “Now, Vaughn! There isn’t time.”
He let the wolf loose, the need for blood and vengeance pulsing through every cell in his body until he knew nothing but the scent of his enemy.
Nessa followed on his heels, another wolf close behind her. Mac.
Steps echoed in the distance. He tore down one corridor after another, the halls and doorways becoming a maze. He skidded to a stop where the hallway separated.
He took the left one, leaving the right to Mac and Nessa. Either direction could lead nowhere, merely part of an elaborate glamour manufactured by the Fae with the crown. He didn’t let that stop him.
In less than a minute he caught up with the bastard.
Vaughn launched himself forward, knocking into the Fae and sending them both crashing the floor.
His claws dug into the stone as he fought to get back on his feet. The Fae he recognized from Mac’s party rolled to his back as Vaughn gave up trying to hold back the wolf that wanted to sink its jaws into the Fae’s throat.
A guttural roar echoed from somewhere deep in the castle.
The sound leached the color from the Fae’s face. He fumbled, hands smacking the floor in an attempt to get out from beneath the wolf. When that didn’t work, he delivered a sharp jab, but it still wasn’t enough to shake Vaughn off.
The floor vibrated with the weight of something heavy running toward them.
The Fae slid a hand between their bodies, sinking a blade into the wolf’s side.
Snarling through the pain, he refused to let go. The Fae drew back his arm to deliver another blow. He froze as a giant burst through the doorway ahead, barreling straight toward them.
What the fuck?
They scrambled apart, the Fae diving for the crown he’d dropped, the wolf facing the giant, hackles raised.
“No more,” the Fae said, plunking the crown on his head.
Both wolf and Giant collectively tensed, bracing themselves.
Nothing happened.
“Performance anxiety, Oren?”
Elena?
She walked toward the Fae, her hand stroking the wolf’s flank as she paused next to him. “Someone should have told you that I bled that sucker dry.”
He yanked the crown off his head, staring at it.
“You could have just used it yourself from the start and avoided a lot of headaches. Of course,” she continued, “the Iron Queen would have eaten you up.”
“You couldn’t have… She should have taken control,” he stammered.
“We came to an agreement,” she said, sounding a little bored.
“You’re lying. Where is she?”
Elena cocked her head, the gesture eerily similar to the Fae who’d tried corrupting his mate on the battlefield.
“Oh she’s still here. I’m pretty sure you don’t want to meet her, though.”
The Fae snarled and dove for Elena.
The giant was faster than Vaughn and snatched the Fae off the floor, using the blade Oren had dropped and burying the dagger in the Fae’s side.
Oren twitched as the giant released him.
“No!” As fast as he embraced his animal half, Vaughn shifted to human, grabbing the Fae and lifting him off the floor. “Where the fuck is my sister?”
“No…idea,” the Fae slurred, his eyes going dull. His body went slack.
The giant took Oren’s body from him, tucking it under his arm like a prize.
“Elden?” Titania pushed her way to the giant’s side. “You’re alive?”
The giant nodded.
“I’ve seen you before,” Elena said. “In Vegas. We had a little run-in.”
The scrape on Elena’s face from the night of Mac’s party had come from him. The wolf pressed against Vaughn’s mind, liking the giant even less.
“Elden was my sister’s friend.”
The giant bobbed his head. He pointed at Elena. “She wouldn’t listen. Needed my protection.”
“You were there to protect me?” Elena didn’t even try to mask her skepticism.
Titania reached for the giant’s hand. “Who told you to do that?”
“Lacie.”
“My sister,” Titania said, her eyes misting over. She turned then, noticed the new Fae glyph on Elena’s chest. She raised her hand, then paused, waiting.
Elena nodded for her to continue.
The Fae queen ran her fingers gently across the mark.
“She says she’s waiting for you.”
Titania nodded, a tear slipping down her cheek. She brushed it away, pride beaming from her face as she looked at Elena. “I suppose we should talk.”
Elena’s father, who was the last to join them, took in the giant and then glanced at Vaughn. “Are you always naked?”
***
“You know, my father was right,” Elena said to Vaughn a few days later. “You are always naked.”
“Not sure this is the best time to bring up your dad, Ivy.”
“Don’t.” Elena warned, backtracking away from him. “I know that look.”
“And what look is that?” Vaughn asked innocently, tracking her movements.
They’d been in his home for two days and already she’d figured out the fastest exit path from just about every room.
Except this one.
“Your sneaky wolf look.” Her eyes darted around the room, returning to him. More precisely the door directly behind him. It was the only way out of the small room that was empty except for the two of them.
There wasn’t even a window for her to make use of, and he’d discovered his mate was damn good at slipping out windows.
“There are things we still need to talk about,” she said, trying to reason with him.
There hadn’t been any reasoning with him since they got home, and he didn’t see that changing anytime soon.
Once Titania had finally set his mind at rest about Piper, promising she’d be home soon, he’d allowed himself to focus entirely on his mate.
Soon enough they would have to deal with the fallout of all the secrets everyone had been keeping and try to find some kind of new normal.
But today was not that today. It wasn’t yesterday either. And probably not tomorrow.
He had a lot to make up for, and without the threat of losing the people closest to him hanging over his head, he intended to make every second count. Even the seconds when his mate playfully bolted away from him. Especially those ones. She knew exactly how much the wolf liked to chase, how much the man like to catch her.
And he knew how much she loved being caught.
“Your mouth is saying you want to talk, but your body is saying something entirely different.”
“Okay Barkley, I’ll bite. What is my body saying?”
He took another step into the room, felt the shiver of anticipation that went through his mate.
He’d felt their bond strongly before, but whatever the hell happened when she’d touched him and the Iron Queen at the same time had magnified everything. Their physical connection, their emotional one, and every sensation in between had become heightened.
“Your pulse is picking up speed.” He advanced.
“Maybe I don’t like to be hunted.”
“I know. You love it.”
A tiny smile that she tried to hide ghosted across her lips. She came up against the wall. “That all you got?”
“Your eyes never leave mine.”
“It’s not a good idea to take your eyes off your opponent.”
He caught her hand, drawing her palm to his mouth. “Your fingers keep tightening and relaxing as if they’re already wrapped around me.”
Her lips parted.
“And you’re already wet for me, aren’t you?” He slipped his hands under the shirt of his she’d dragged on earlier, and cupped her ass.
He knew she hadn’t gotten around to putting on panties, but finding her bare under the material fired his own pulse.
Hell, watching her smile from across the room fired his pulse. Along with the sound of her laughter, the line that appeared between her brows when she was thinking hard, and the wild rain drenched blueberries and vanilla scent that drove him crazy.
She parted her legs, and he dragged his hand up the inside of her thigh.
Every time he thought he got the worst of his need for her out of his system, it blindsided him all over again.
Elena came up on her toes, twining her arms around his neck. He pressed her hard into the wall, but she didn’t seem to mind. Probably because she was too busy destroying his mouth with one agonizingly slow stroke of her tongue after another.
She nipped his jaw, then pushed her mouth harder against his, lingered longer, and he suddenly wasn’t sure if he was even in control anymore.
He knew he should try to get her back to his room where there was a real bed, but there wasn’t a force on earth that would make him let go of her enough to make that happen.
And then Elena slipped a hand between them and it was a done deal. He tucked his face against her throat, his breath hissing out as he rocked against her, soft and slow.
Fuck.
He scooped her up, pinning her to the wall as she wrapped her legs around him, drawing him right where he wanted to be.
Holding her gaze, watching every flicker of blue lightning that flashed in her eyes, he pushed up inside her.
They both moaned, the sound lost between their lips. He opened his mouth again and again, tasting his mate, catching every breathless sigh as he sank into her over and over.
The heat of her taking him deeper, the soft, wet walls clenching him tighter, drove him to the edge.
It had only been hours since the last time he’d been inside her, and he couldn’t get enough. Would never get enough. Each time he pushed up inside her was like coming home. Home to the smartest, sexiest, bravest female he’d ever met.
And she was his.
“Vaughn,” she murmured, catching his face in her hands, pleasure pinkening her cheeks, her lips parting as she cried out.
Sweet Avalon he was so insanely in love with her. Had been long before he even realized it.
And knowing that, feeling it wrench him all the way down to his soul, sent his own release curling up his backbone.
He lifted her higher, sank deeper, thrust harder, riding the pleasure until deep, satisfying shudders wracked his body.
He planted a hand against the wall to keep from crushing her.
“Bed. Now,” she demanded, tucking her face against his neck, her body softening in his arms.
“Now who’s giving the orders?” Laughing, he carried her down the hall.
“Don’t—”
She was two seconds too late.
He tossed her on the bed, and followed her down, landing hard enough on the mattress to make her bounce. He roped an arm around her waist, drawing her against his chest before she could squirm away to punish him for throwing her.
“Not cool.” She sighed dramatically and snuggled closer.
They lay together staring into the darkness until he caught her rubbing her chest.
She’d promised him she was fine, and the wolf certainly didn’t perceive any threats, but Vaughn hadn’t made up his mind.
He rose up on one elbow, hovering over her. She’d gone back to masking her tracings, but didn’t hide the new Fae glyph, although she told him she could.
“So she’s really in there?” Vaughn circled the gray heart of the glyph. “Can she hear us?”
“I don’t think so. She said she was going to sleep. She’s…” she trailed off, that sexy line appearing between her brows.
Sweet Avalon, she needed to stop doing that if she wanted him to ever let her out of bed.
“Trust and slumber,” she said, adorably oblivious to the direction his thoughts were taking. Again. She glanced at him, but he still wasn’t following.
“That’s what the blonde—Kel’s mate—said in Alrick’s dungeon.”
The mere mention of the other immortal made the wolf bristle. Elena had left the other sorcerer’s fate to her father with the stipulation that he not suffer and have time to grieve fully for his daughter’s loss.
While Elena said she knew that Morgana had ultimately caused the young sorceress’ death, she would carry it with her always.
Vaughn understood that all too well. There were some moments, some choices, that could never be undone.
“That’s what she said,” Elena continued. “Trust and slumber. Maybe that’s what I was supposed to do all along, trust that Lacie’s magic wouldn’t corrupt me, and she would sleep.” She peered up at him. “Do you think Kel’s mate is an Oracle?”
“I hope for Kel’s sake that she’s not.” Clairvoyant immortals were rare and usually went mad from their visions.
Elena rolled to her side and faced him. “We still have to talk about Rutger. Or Titania. Or whatever we’re supposed to call her now. Do we keep her secret? Let the rest of the world believe Rutger is no more than a gargoyle—”
“No more than a gargoyle?” he echoed, dragging her beneath him. It was easier to give his mate a hard time than it was to decide something that could impact more than just the rebellion.
Titania had her secrets, and ultimately her own agenda, but everything she’d done so far had been to protect all of Avalon from those who coveted power at the cost of others.
“Oh no!” Elena shoved at his shoulders without any real effort. “We have to go—”
“You’re right. We should go.” He vaulted off the bed.
“What?” She sat up looking as wrecked as he felt. Damn it was a good feeling. “Go where?”
“Vegas.”
“Now?”
“What? Have you decided to keep a schedule now that you have a dead queen in residence?”
She threw a pillow at him. “She’s not dead exactly.”
Titania hadn’t been all that clear on that detail either, but that was a conversation for another day, too. Because they needed to get packed.
The more he thought about it, the better it sounded. “Haul ass, Ivy. We’ve got a date with a Blackjack table. Mac will have lifted my ban on entering his casino by now.”
“He banned you? And you want to go back?” She groaned and flopped back on the bed. “Glutton for punishment.”
He opened his mouth to reply, stopped short by banging on his front door.
Although muffled, the visitor’s voice reached them. “Vaughn?”
Piper?
He tore out of the room and down the stairs, jumping down the last few steps to reach the landing. He ripped the front door open, fear, love and bone-deep relief constricting his lungs. “You’re here.”
Piper took one look at him and fell apart. She threw herself into his arms. “He left me.” Sobs wracked her body.
He glanced helplessly at Elena, who’d followed him down the stairs.
Piper hugged him tighter. “That bastard left without even saying goodbye.”
Well shit.
***
“Is this really necessary?”
Elena adjusted the buckle between them, trying not to grin at the waver in Vaughn’s voice. “Absolutely.”
“I’m not sure we should have left Piper.”
“Nessa is keeping an eye on her.”
“Again, I’m not sure we should have left Piper.”
A smile curved her lips, the kind that started out as a sizzling warmth in her chest and burst across her face.
She’d been smiling like that a lot in the last few days and looked forward to a lifetime of them. Once they got a few kinks worked out.
She yanked on the strap.
“Is it supposed to be that tight?”
“I don’t know about you, but I think it’s better if we don’t land head-first in the ravine.”
He leaned to the right and gazed past the edge of the bridge where she’d already secured their bungee cord.
He visibly paled, and it only made her grin wider.
“This is not funny. I feel light-headed.” He grabbed her hand and put it on his forehead. “Do I feel clammy to you?”
“You feel like a Shadow who’s about to conquer his fear of heights.”
“I’m not…afraid. Just taking a little time to figure out who will look after my sister if I do land head-first in the ravine.”
“Dare has it under control.” At least he did as long as he bought the right ice cream for a broken-hearted female and stopped asking Nessa if he could play with her sword.
Piper hadn’t said much about her abduction and even less about whatever went on between her and the wraith.
Erec had given up on targeting Elena without them knowing why he’d gone after her in the first place. Titania hadn’t known either, or so she claimed. The one and only time Elena had asked Vaughn’s sister about it, the younger gargoyle had shut down.
“I still think—”
She grabbed a fistful of Vaughn’s shirt and yanked him forward until their mouths met. He wrapped his arms around her, dragging her all the way against his body.
It would be so easy to let the charge of heat that raced across her skin sweep her away. She could have him back in the car in less than a minute, have half their clothes off in two.
But as much as she loved climbing into the backseat with him and steaming up every freaking window, she wasn’t letting anything postpone their mission.
“You sure you’re not under the Iron Queen’s influence because this feels—”
She bit his bottom lip. “The wolf is on board. I can see it in your eyes.”
“He’s a traitor,” Vaughn growled, pulling her back for another scorching kiss. “It’s a damn good thing I love you.”
She melted against him, letting the light inside burn so hot she felt both man and wolf grip her tighter.
“Ivy,” he murmured, sounding like he was moments from dragging her to the car.
She forced herself to let go. “You’re going to thank me when it’s over. And then beg me to do it again.”
“Are you sure we’re not talking about this morning? Because you were amazing.”
She punched him in the arm, and he laughed.
She backed him into position, and he exhaled nervously.
“Okay, Superman. Time to fly.” She grabbed her mate and stepped off the edge.
THE END