CARLYLE

I spoke up to head off whatever shenanigans Dair might be planning. “So, what are we doing about Toro?” He was the only missing team member, not counting Jack.

Jai rubbed his temples. I could see the stress tightening his mouth, and my heart went out to our leader. Maybe I shouldn’t have brought up Toro, either.

Jai had so much resting on his shoulders, and I had no idea how to help him. Bringing his sister back from the dead with Jack’s dragon scale had been my shining moment, but ever since I’d met the guys, I’d often felt more like a burden. None of us really knew how to use my power to get them home to Haret.

Jai straightened and looked back at us. “Dair, resume working the leads you had before we paused to rescue Jack.”

“Now that we’re at the beach, he should be even easier to track,” Sol added.

“We need to work fast, though,” Killian warned, glancing at Kana, then me. “Las’ time the fish turned rogue, we found him in fuckin’ Sea World laughin’ it up as a goddamn trick dolphin.”

I snorted a nervous laugh, but apparently this wasn’t a funny memory for the guys. They all wore grave expressions, and I bit my lip, feeling my cheeks flush.

“Oh, relax your nuts. It’s not like he’s dead,” Kana griped at the guys. She grinned at me, her black eyes sparking. “I thought it was funny.”

We shared a smile, and I decided I was going to like Jai’s little sister. Especially now that I knew she didn’t have any interest in my guys.

“Sorry,” I murmured to the others, not actually wanting to piss them off. Plus, I got it - I’d be mad as a hornet if I saw Sol in something like the Ringmaster’s lion tamer act. “So, you called Toro the sea prince. He’s a shifter, too?”

“Basically,” Sol replied. “But he’s not like me, or most shifters for that matter. As an heir to the mer-king, he even has a lot more power than your average mer. He can take the form of dozens of different sea creatures to blend in. He can survive longer out of the water, too, but he can’t go forever here on Earth.”

“It also makes him fucking hard to find,” Dair added, his fingers drifting higher on my thigh.

There was so much detail in Sol’s explanation that it took a moment for my tired mind to process it all. As much as he’d just told me, he’d left out so much more. His comment about Toro being royalty reminded me of something the Ringmaster had said - that each of these guys was someone very important back home in Haret.

Before I could ask, though, Jai stood, his face set like stone.

“Dair, rest until you can safely get the van,” Jai instructed, his voice steady and authoritative again. “Then take another twenty-four hours solid before even thinking about Toro. No one is to bother Dair.” He gave me a pointed look, and I heard Kana snicker as my cheeks heated.

She wiggled her fingers in the air, gaining her brother’s attention. “Once we find a few weapons, I can take up some of the training with Carlyle. I need to brush up anyway.”

Jai nodded. “Kana is a blade master,” he told me, his face softening the tiniest bit.

“Ah, really? I thought that was Killian.” I raised an eyebrow at the redhead, and he scowled back.

“Please,” Kana scoffed. Her ex-fiancé flipped her a lazy middle finger, and she made a jack-off motion with her fist. He broke into a wicked grin and licked his lips, reminding me again why it was a bad idea to lust after the fae.

He was a tangled mess of sexy, snarling heartbreak.

“I can hitchhike up to a store today and get some supplies,” Sol volunteered, interrupting them. “Maybe even find a car.”

“Stay low,” Jai warned. “Take Killian and glamor yourselves to blend in. I’d like to stay in this house a little longer than the last two. I don’t have much lined up after this yet, and our resources haven’t been this low in a long time. Plus, we can’t forget that as long as Jack is with Underbelly, he’s a threat. Having him mated to Carlyle amplifies that to top level.”

“Why?” I asked, my voice sharper than I’d meant it to be. I hadn’t even had a chance to figure out how the mating thing had happened, much less its repercussions.

“You might be able to sense each other through the bond now,” Dair explained, his fingers now trailing up and down my spine. “Jack should be able to find you even easier than before, and if the Ringmaster figures out the advantage, he’ll crack Jack’s mind right open to exploit it.”

Fear flared in my gut at the thought of the Ringmaster using my connection with Jack against us.

“What exactly did he do to you guys last night?” I asked to distract myself. Shuddering, I remembered them all prone on the hard circus ground, their minds locked in a vise of pain. Was that really only a few hours ago?

“The Ringmaster is a mind mage,” Kana murmured, and I caught Sol and Killian exchanging a heavy glance. Dair’s jaw tightened, and Jai’s gaze grew downright murderous.

“It’s as we thought, then,” Jai said, his voice barely above a whisper.

Kana nodded and flicked her eyes to mine. I saw the fear swirling in them, and it sickened my stomach. “He can hear thoughts, control them, and make your brain seize up with pain. It’s how he controls his people. How he breaks them,” she added, fury in her sharp words.

I wondered how much of the circus she’d seen - the cages, the cruel Life or Liberty choice?

My mind snagged on something else from that night, though. Something that made more sense now, within this context. “He told me I was a cipher. Empty. He can’t do any of that stuff to my mind,” I said, and surprise washed the room, each of them sitting up straighter.

“That’s fucking fantastic news,” Sol gloated. Even Killian seemed mildly impressed, and Dair squeezed my waist possessively.

“That’s very good,” he murmured.

Kana fixed Jai in a curious stare. “Could she maybe-”

“No.” Jai cut her off with a rough command. I swiveled my head between them, but neither spoke or looked at me again. I tucked it away for another time - Jai wasn’t going to say anything now, but if there was another way I could help the team, I’d get it out of them eventually.

“Let’s get on it,” Killian said, pushing himself off the couch and holding a hand out to Sol. “I’m sure sugar-girl over there is more than ready for coffee and donuts.”

I frowned at how fucking right he was, but I wasn’t quite ready for the conversation to be over.

I cleared my throat, and the guys turned back to me. “What’s our goal, long-term? I mean, yeah, Jack and Toro. But what about finding the actual Path?”

Everyone seemed to look at Jai at once. He sighed, and again I felt guilty for pushing him. I needed more information, though. I needed to understand what our future plans were, as much as our current struggles.

“From what we’ve seen and heard, our headquarters here on Earth have been compromised. We’ve seen too many teams go down,” Jai reminded me. “Someone is picking us off. It could be the Ringmaster, but it’s not really his style. Either he wants complete control of the Path, or someone wants the Path to stay closed forever.”

“If it stays closed, won’t Haret die somehow?” I asked, thinking of everything they’d told me before.

He nodded, and I felt Dair tense beneath me. The thought of an entire world dying settled heavily on my heart.

“Our last intel from Haret wasn’t good, either,” Killian added. “Someone on that side is pulling strings, too, trying to control the Path.”

“So possibly three parties? Ringmaster, someone here, and someone there?” I tried to sum it up.

Jai nodded. “That would be worst-case scenario.”

I was starting to feel overwhelmed and helpless. When I ran my fingers through my long hair, I could feel my hands shaking. Dair stroked his hand up and down my spine, but it just wasn’t enough.

Struggling to my feet, I began to pace. How were we ever going to solve such a huge, complex puzzle?

“Hey, I can see you freaking out,” Sol said, striding over to me. “We’ll do it together. It’s not all on you. Hell, it took us forever just to find you.”

“We have to find Jack,” I whispered, certain of that one thing in this whole mess. “If something happens to him...” Panic twisted inside my chest, squeezing against my heart and making it flutter wildly. Sol rested a hand on my neck, rubbing at the tension there.

“We will find him, Cariño,” Dair soothed, but none of it really helped.

Finally, Kana intercepted. “You need a break from all of this. Let the guys do their thing. It may have taken them a while to find you, but they’re fucking ace at finding each other and fighting assholes.”

Her words broke a shaky laugh from my throat, and I was thankful she’d picked up a thread of humor to shake away my seriousness. I allowed her to take my hands and pull me from Sol.

She slung an arm around my shoulder, her slight frame stronger than it should be. “Come on, let’s go pick our rooms. Ladies first,” she threatened back at the guys, and I smiled, letting her lead me out of the living room.

“Jack can take whatever that asshole dishes out,” she whispered in my ear. “Now that you’re mated, he has everything to live for.”

A shiver rippled up and down my spine - I knew instinctively that she was right. Still, my heart ached for the simple fact that Jack had been so close to freedom, only to be sucked right back into the Ringmaster’s vortex.