Beneath the Dust (Force of Nature Book 4)

by Amber Lynn Natusch

Silence.

  “Alaska…”

  “Why?”

  “We had to go back to Knox’s place for something.”

  “Again, why are you being evasive?” he asked, grey eyes narrowed. “What is this ‘something’ you had to retrieve?”

  “Honestly, that’s not really your business.”

  His brow quirked. I put my hands on my hips. It was family standoff time.

  “I don’t like secrets,” he said.

  I laughed out loud. “Okay…Uncle.”

  “That was different.”

  “Maybe it’s not. You don’t know what I’m withholding—”

  “I know that your mates returned to the mansion with a prisoner of sorts.”

  Oh shit. “Really? How do you—”

  “Is that what you went to retrieve?” he continued, ignoring me. “A prisoner?”

  “Maybe.”

  “And who exactly is this captive?”

  “How do you know that they returned with someone, anyway? Are you spying on us?”

  “Me? Not at all…”

  The way he emphasized the word ‘me’ made me anxious.

  “Well someone is.”

  He smiled a wicked smile. “Maybe.”

  I let out a sigh of exasperation. “Will you promise not to freak out if I tell you?”

  “No—”

  “Because you’re going to want to freak out—and possibly disown me. Maybe punch me—”

  “I will not punch you, Piper—“

  “You’ll want to—”

  “Just tell me who it is!”

  His anger was bleeding through. So not a great mental space for him to be in when I dropped the Kingston bomb.

  Grizz appeared out of nowhere in bear form to put himself between the warlock and me. The low rumble escaping him helped calm Drake to an acceptable level of irritation.

  “Remember who gave you your human form, Guardian. I can easily take it away…”

  Grizz didn’t falter under Drake’s threat.

  “I’ll make you a deal. You tell me how you knew, and I’ll tell you who the prisoner is.”

  Right on cue, a raven flew overhead, his caw cutting through the air. Drake’s gaze drifted to the bird and then back to me, a smug smile on his face.

  “I probably should have guessed that,” I muttered to myself. Grizz let out a condescending snort in reply. I turned to glare at him. “Where were you on that one, huh?”

  “Your turn,” Drake said, ignoring our little argument.

  “Remember the whole not-freaking-out thing?”

  “Piper!”

  “Okay, okay! It’s Kingston, all right? We had to get him because the queen came calling with a choice between killing the fey king and bringing her something she wanted, and I chose the unknown, which, as it turns out, was Kingston. And now we’re trying to figure out who the lock to his key is before she comes to claim him—again. I might have refused to turn him over the first time…”

  Drake couldn’t have looked more shell-shocked. Whether it was the information I’d just dropped on him in the longest run-on sentence ever, the delivery of it, or both, I didn’t know. What I did know was that horror, then anger, then cold, calculated indifference flashed through his expression like a montage of pictures, each lasting just long enough to take in before it disappeared, leaving a blank canvas behind.

  “Reckless girl,” he seethed.

  “It was that or go back to Faerie, and we barely got out alive last time. It seemed a lot like certain death. We weighed the options as a group, then decided to choose door number two.”

  “And your mates agreed to this fool’s errand?”

  “They did.”

  “And what of this lock and key business?”

  “Kingston is part of the process that can reverse the magic keeping me from killing the fey queen—and keeping her from killing me.”

  “Lie.”

  “Uh, not according to Knox, it isn’t.”

  He cursed under his breath. “He cannot be trusted.”

  “Knox?”

  “No! Kingston.” The way he said his name looked painful—like he was chewing on glass.

  “Oh. Well be that as it may, we need him and so does the fey queen, so we’re keeping him, plain and simple.”

  Drake seethed for a moment before he turned and stormed off into the woods. The raven swooped down to land on his shoulder.

  “Drake! Wait!” I shouted after him. “We have to talk about the lock!”

  “Do not say my name again, do you understand? Not here. Not anywhere…” he said, whirling around to face me. Grizz roared at Drake’s aggression and lunged for the warlock, but he sent the bear flying with a flick of his wrist. I barely had a second to summon the air to break his fall. By the time I turned around to yell at Drake, he was in my face. “What you have done…it endangers everything!”

  “My inability to kill the fey queen endangers everything, so what would you have me do? Balk at the chance to possibly change that?”

  “He’s lying—”

  “And if he isn’t? Wouldn’t it be better to risk that than squander this opportunity?” He stood silent, as if actually contemplating my words. “Liam supports Kingston’s claim, too. If we can somehow use him to find the other person needed to break the spell, then we can end her, Uncle. Would you really throw that away because you don’t trust Kingston? Because you hate him for killing your brother—my father?” I dared a step closer. “I put him in the ground because of all the pain and anguish he caused me for years, Drake. Don’t think I’ve forgotten who he is. What he’s done. But would you really have me pass up a chance to remove the magic that keeps me from killing the fey queen? Allow her to torment and threaten everyone I love for eternity because Kingston might be lying?”

  A mix of emotions flashed in his eyes before he let out a harsh breath. The raven cawed in agreement.

  “No, I wouldn’t,” he said under his breath.

  “Then help me. Help me find the lock. Surely one of the warlocks can help…or the witches…”

  “It is possible.” He turned from me to pace the grounds, his mind working through the problem I’d passed to him. “I will need the others.”

  “Then find them—”

  “But they will want to meet you—and I cannot, under any circumstances, mention Kingston, or they will scatter.”

  “Okay. No talk of he-who-shall-no-longer-be-mentioned. Got it.”

  He shook his head in frustration. “I hope to God you know what you’re doing, Piper.”

  “I don’t. But I need you behind me, for better or worse—because it might be for worse.”

  “Indeed.”

  “Does that mean you’re in?”

  The raven cawed again, wings flapping in agitation.

  “Of course I’m in,” he said, tone still sharp and filled with anger. “You are my family.”

  I smiled. “And I’ll try not to make you regret that.”

  He headed for the trees again, raven perched on his shoulder. “I will be in touch shortly. The others will want to meet you. They do not know you as I do. They will not help until they trust you.”

  “How long will it take you to hunt them down?” I asked, knowing we were running out of time.

  He stopped and looked back at me. “I don’t need to hunt them down. I already did.”

  “You sneaky bastard,” I muttered as he disappeared into the shade of the forest.

  The laughter that filled the air in his wake was his only reply.

  Fucking warlocks.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “I’ve gotta go back to Sherry’s,” Knox said, heading for the door. “The talisman is ready.”

  “Do you need me to come with you?” I asked. He looked over his shoulder at me with a mix of expressions ranging from incredulous to amused. I squirmed under its weight. “Not for that! For backup…in case, you know, she gets uppity or whatever.”

  “I think I’ll be all right, Piper,
” he replied with a smile. “Foust agreed to take Jase’s place so he and Dean could go with you today. But I appreciate the thought.” He looked past me to Jase and Dean. “Besides, these two need your backup more than I do.”

  “Arrogant motherfucker,” Dean grumbled.

  “Arrogance works for him,” I said, letting the tension in my shoulders release. “Adds to his sex appeal.”

  “Damn right it does,” Knox said with a wink. Then the amusement fell from his face. “If anything happens to her while she’s with you, you’re dead. Got it?”

  “Halfway there already,” Jase replied, the menace in his voice plain.

  I choked on a nervous laugh. “Okay, well, the warlocks won’t wait forever—and neither will Sherry.” I gave Knox a kiss and blushed at Foust as he approached the group. “I’d say have fun and be safe, but they feel like really loaded comments under the current circumstances.”

  Foust cracked a smile that reminded me of the day we met. “It’ll be fun for sure.”

  “Kill anyone who dares to look at you sideways,” Knox said, his urge to keep me safe at all costs shining through.

  “Deal.”

  Jase and Dean hooked their arms in mine and led the way outside. Knox and Foust climbed into one of the cars in the fleet and sped off, both waving through the windows.

  “Well this should be fun,” Dean said. I let out a breath and opened the SUV’s door.

  “Just like old times!” I ribbed him with my elbow, and he pulled me closer to him.

  “Except you can kick a ton of ass now. It’s going to be even better than old times.”

  “Before you two sign the death warrants of the warlock clan, can we at least find them and talk to them first?” Jase said with an irritated sigh. “Drake was the one to set this up. I don’t think ass-kicking will be required.”

  Dean let out a disgruntled sound. “Boring…”

  I couldn’t help but laugh. “Merc wouldn’t have agreed to meet with the coven queen at the same time we met the warlocks if he thought our interaction with them would be anything but boring.”

  “True,” Jase agreed. “Now let’s go.”

  We climbed into the SUV, taking our standard seats, just like old times. And like old times, I reached into my bag and pulled out a six-pack.

  “Guess who brought road sodas?” I said, waving the beers between them.

  “Atta girl!” Dean replied, snatching one from the packaging. He tossed it to Jase, then took another for himself. I cracked one open and chugged half of it down, wincing at the bitter taste, but I needed to calm my nerves. Meeting the warlocks was triggering me pretty hard. Alcohol seemed a solid way to take the edge off, though therapists far and wide would probably have argued otherwise.

  Silence hung heavy in the SUV, which was so not like old times, and the sudden lack of normalcy tugged at my heart. My relationship with Jase and Dean had gotten lost in the chaos surrounding our return to NYC. I hadn’t had a lot of time to think about it, but there, inside the dimly-lit ride we’d always taken to go party, I had to face the harsh truth. The two beings who’d had my back long before Kat or Merc or Grizz or Knox and the boys had been thrust aside.

  They didn’t deserve that.

  They were like brothers to me.

  With tears stinging the backs of my eyes, I leaned forward in my seat and awkwardly wrapped my arms around their massive frames, squeezing them tight. Unable to say anything without my voice giving me away, I just quietly held them, thinking back to all the amazing memories we’d shared as our little trio.

  “Aw shit, P,” Dean said, trying to turn and look at me, “did you pre-party without us? You can’t be drunk off half a beer—”

  “She’s not drunk,” Jase said, looking at me in the rearview. “She’s sad.”

  At Jase’s words, Dean flipped around in his seat. One look at the unshed tears in my eyes and his shoulders slumped. He reached back and pulled me into his lap. I ducked to keep my head from smashing into the roof with every bump we hit.

  “Maybe you should have just ghosted us there,” I said, laughing through my sadness. “I might not survive the ride. And then you’d have to deal with Knox—”

  “Why are you crying?” Dean asked, staring at me with a tenderness I’d almost forgotten he possessed. The same tenderness I’d seen in his eyes in Alaska when he’d sacrificed himself to Kingston so I wouldn’t have to choose between him and his brother.

  “Because I miss this,” I said with a sniffle. “I miss you guys. I miss how things used to be.” He brushed a stray tear from my face as I struggled to explain. “Don’t get me wrong—I don’t want to go back to being a victim and needing your protection—I like being able to kick ass now. And I love Merc and Knox and the boys…”

  “But?” Jase said softly, stealing a glance from the corner of his eye.

  “But I feel like I’ve lost you two in the process and I hate it.”

  Dean pulled me into his body and hugged me tight. “You’ll never lose us, P. We wouldn’t let you even if you tried.”

  “You didn’t cause the changes,” Jase said. “You’re not to blame for how things are now, so why feel guilty?”

  I shook my head. “I don’t know…I just do. There’s a distance between us now—”

  “Not between us,” Dean said and waggled his brows. I smacked him, and he laughed. “How about this: we say everything’s fine, and you just believe us. Problem solved.”

  “I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but Dean’s right,” Jase said with no shortage of surprise in his tone.

  “You’re killing our alone time with all this moping,” Dean added. “More drinking, less feelings.”

  “Fewer,” his brother corrected.

  At that, I had to laugh.

  “Fuck you, bro!”

  “I’ll pass, thanks.”

  Dean placed me back in my seat and started whaling on his brother’s arm while he drove. Juvenile? Yes. A strange new behavior for them? No. Not even a little. They’d been known to throw down over less when they weren’t in business mode. And it seemed that, until we arrived, they wouldn’t be.

  I sat back with my beer and laughed at their antics until my stomach hurt and my eyes watered for a whole different reason. Our little trio was back. And maybe better than ever.

  ***

  By the time we rolled up to our destination outside the city, I couldn’t ignore the gnawing sensation in my gut any longer. The word ‘trap’ played over and over again in my mind, especially given how Drake had left things when I’d last seen him. But he’d never let me down when I’d needed him, and Knox had been there when Drake called to tell me about the meet-up. He hadn’t detected any lies.

  A man I didn’t recognize awaited us just outside the chain-link fence. It swung open without him touching it, allowing us through. The large building in the distance looked like an old plant or factory of some kind, one that hadn’t been used in so long that nature had tried to reclaim it as its own. Vines crept along the walls, and the high grass nearly hid it from view entirely. If I wanted to hide out from a war in the city (or maybe from the fey king), it seemed like a damn good place to do it.

  “I love what they’ve done with the place,” Dean said as the SUV crept along the crumbled driveway.

  “It could be glamour,” Jase added. “I can feel the magic.”

  “Me too,” I said, taking in all that I could as we approached the building. “Show me what is real.” The moment I spoke the words, the greenery shrunk back to reveal a bunker of sorts. Jase and Dean turned to me and grinned. “Might as well know what we’re walking into, right?”

  “Indeed,” they said in unison.

  When the SUV came to a stop, men started to file out of the grey concrete fortress. They looked a little worse for the wear, dark circles under their eyes and shabby clothes that had seen better days, but they were very much alive. I searched the growing crowd for my uncle but couldn’t find him.

  “Drake’s n
ot here,” I said before we climbed out. “Should we wait? Do you think something’s wrong?”

  The brothers shared a look (and a silent conversation, no doubt) before turning to face me.

  “Any sign of trouble and we ghost out of here, got it?” Dean asked.

  “You need to stay close, Piper. At least until we know what their intentions are.”

  I nodded in agreement.

  They swung their doors open, and I followed suit. The cluster of warlocks kept their distance, the wary look in their eyes making my heart race. The last time we’d faced a group of their kind, everyone I loved had nearly died. Maybe it wasn’t fair to hold them accountable for what Kingston and his followers had done, but my nervous system didn’t care. It was amped up, full of adrenaline, and twitchy as fuck.

  “We were told to come,” Jase said, taking slow, methodical steps toward the warlocks. “We think you’re in danger.”

  “That’s what Drake said.” A man around my uncle’s age near the front of the group spoke, but it wasn’t clear if he was in charge in Drake’s stead. It didn’t really look like anyone was. The death of Reinhardt and the rise of Kingston had really done a number on their kind. I wondered if my uncle could salvage what had once been a strong magical faction; if he could rally them against the fey. “Why do you believe this?”

  Jase and Dean shared another look.

  “The fey king is kidnapping witches to fuel the magic in his lands.”

  “And since your magic comes from the same line, it seems like he just might start coming for you, too,” Dean added.

  “We are safe here,” the man replied.

  The three of us looked at the concrete fortress, then back at the warlocks.

  “I revealed your location with little to no effort,” I said. Jase and Dean leaned in closer, sandwiching me between them. “You think the fey king can’t do the same? That he can’t track you down and send his minions for you like he has the witches?”

  The warlocks’ collective stare narrowed on me.

  “So you’re the one he spoke of,” the man said, stepping forward. “Reinhardt’s bastard child. The fey queen’s discarded offspring.”

  The boys went rigid, and I prayed that Dean could keep his cool long enough for us to do what we’d come to do.