My imagination was having a bit of a field day, but the idea of standing in some damp room, a single light bulb swinging overhead while Sebastian sat, strapped to a chair... being the one in control, the one who had the power, or even standing with the people in power. It was a strange feeling, and not one I was remotely comfortable with.
I tried to explain as much to Ethan, but every word was a struggle. "Sebastian is one of us," I finished rather lamely. "The idea of working with the factions to... I honestly don't even know what I'm saying."
"Why did you tell Otto and the others who he was?" Ethan asked plainly. He gestured for me to make a right turn, taking us back toward the main pedestrian area of town.
"Because we needed to know what he knows. And they already had him. They were going to get information from him one way or another, and I thought admitting who he was would help us all skip ahead a little. Besides, it's not that I want to protect him. I'm just worried about becoming all the things he and Aoife and the others are fighting against."
"And do you regret what you did?"
"No. It helped. I hope it helped."
"That's all you can do. Take what you know, remember the people who are at your back and the ones you're fighting for. And hope that the decisions you make will help someone." Ethan's voice lowered slightly. "We're not all terrible, you know?"
I bit my lip, ready to apologize, but when I looked over at Ethan, he was smiling down at me. Almost at once, we both stopped in our tracks, turning to face one another.
"Power isn't inherently bad. It's what you do with it that matters."
"I know that." I shook my head, trying to dislodge all the thoughts I couldn't make sense of. I didn't know how to explain any of what I was feeling, not without making Ethan and his peers sound like the enemy. I knew most of them weren't.
Some of them.
Or maybe I didn't know anything at all, not any more.
"Melanie."
I looked up, eager to meet Ethan's gaze with my own.
"Don't react, but I think we're being followed."
If not reacting meant freezing up completely, every muscle in my body going rigid at once, I was doing great.
When Ethan started walking again, it took me a second to start moving. Once I remembered how to move my legs, I followed his lead. Ethan's pace quickened, and I did my best to match it. We'd traveled a whole block before he started talking again. "I caught the scent of someone I didn't recognize back when we split off from the others, someone touched by magick. At first I didn't think anything of it; this town is teeming with magick this week. But the scent is lingering, no matter how far we go, and when we were standing still, I heard another set of footsteps stop around the same time."
"Any idea who it could be?" I asked, not sure how far his wolf instincts would get him.
"I know it's not a wolf or one of the fae, that's about it. Vampires and witches mostly smell like humans tainted by magick, same with any of your Undefined. And I know it's not anyone I've met before. That's all I can tell you. Let's keep moving, maybe we can find a route that will get us behind them, give us an edge. Do you know this area well?"
I looked around, searching the dimly lit street for familiar landmarks. Almost right away I recognized the green door that led to a plant shop from which I'd bought a few houseplants, before promptly killing them, and a post office I'd used a few times. "I used to live right around the corner from here. My old flat is right down that street." I pointed with my head, trying not to be obvious. "Taya still lives there."
"Is she home now?"
I shook my head. "Probably back at the castle by now. Why, what are you thinking?"
"I need you to start thinking of the most convoluted route to Taya's apartment you can manage. Nothing that will add too much time, but make it harder for anyone to follow us. As far as I can tell, they're still with us so they probably don't know we're on to them yet."
"Maybe trying to track us to the rabbit hole?" I wondered.
"Very possible. I'm going to follow your lead from here. As soon as we make the next turn and are out of sight on this street, start running. Get us to Taya's place as fast as you can manage."
"What if we don't lose them?"
"Worst case, they realize we're onto them and back off." I would not have called that the worst-case scenario, but sure. "If it comes to a fight, then at least we'll be somewhere familiar. It'll give us our best chance of finding out what they want. Or it's possible we'll lose them all together, in which case we're no worse off, except now we know that someone was following you."
"It could be you," I pointed out.
There was no time for Ethan to point out the obvious: that whoever this was would have had to have been supremely comfortable in their fighting ability to try to trail Ethan. Instead, we continued, passing in front of a small alleyway that would eventually lead us back to my last home. I made the turn, waited one second to give Ethan a chance to follow and then sprinted for my life.
Turn after turn, I ran as fast as my legs would carry me. I was sure I was slowing Ethan down, but he managed to stay right behind me every step of the way.
Before long, we made it back to an alleyway that was far more familiar to me. Everything looked the same as it did on the day I'd moved out. And identical to the very first time I'd ever been attacked in or around my own home. Or at all.
"Do we wait?" I asked Ethan, not entirely sure if I was even supposed to be talking.
Ethan waited a moment, listening to something I couldn't hear. He turned his head one way, then the other. By Galway's standards, it was a long alleyway, accessible from both ends. "Let's go up. I think we've lost them, but if we stay hidden they may keep looking for us. I'm going to get some people out on the streets, see if we can find them before they find us."
I was already entering in the code to get into the building, for once grateful that our landlord had never been overly concerned with updating security.
I no longer had a key to Taya's apartment, but Ethan broke the lock easily enough, twisting it into submission.
"Wait a second," I whispered before he could go inside.
Melanie: Hiding out at your place. All good, will explain later. Any magickal security I should know about?
If Taya hadn't answered right away, I'd have gone inside anyway and hoped for the best. The most impressive damage spell I'd ever seen Taya work hadn't given anyone anything more to worry about than a few zits.
But these days, Taya was nothing if not reliable.
"All good," I reported back to Ethan after getting the all clear.
Quiet as a ghost, the two of us stepped inside my old apartment. Very much together, and very much alone.
Chapter 16
Ethan flipped on the light as soon as the door shut behind us. “Well this is... something.”
Looking around the living room, it was easy to see what Ethan was getting at. The place looked more or less like I’d left it, minus a couple pieces of furniture that I’d taken to my new place. Except now there was a whole lot of extra, well, everything. Not garbage, but enough stuff to make the room look like ground zero of a yard sale explosion.
Three different stacks of magazines sat on the coffee table, which would have been fine if it weren’t for the fact that there were also three different lamps on that same table. A whole new set of pictures hung on the walls, each of them paintings that weren’t at all Taya’s style. Two more sat propped up against the largest wall.
“In Taya’s defense, she hasn’t been here much since I moved out. But I’m honestly not sure where all this came from. Maybe her mom? She did used to send Taya all these random thrift shop finds, although it was never anything like this.” At least the couch was clear, other than the three different throw blankets stacked on the back. I plopped myself down on one side of it, feeling both at home and very much not, all at the same time.
I was definitely over thinking it, having trouble getting myself to fully relax, even o
n a familiar couch. Having Ethan sit down on my other side didn’t exactly work wonders for putting me at ease either.
I’d spent more time than I cared to admit wondering what it would be like if Ethan and I ever managed to find a quiet moment alone together. And now, there we were. And I had no idea what to do with myself. “How long do you think we should stay put?” I asked as Ethan pulled a remote out from somewhere under his seat.
He looked down at his phone. “Not sure. No sign of anyone suspicious yet. If we don’t hear something soon, we’ll head out. I’m sure you’re dying to get some sleep.”
I was. I had been. And yet, in that moment, I found myself incredibly awake.
“Do you think Taya would mind if we got some water or something?” Ethan asked, looking only mildly awkward.
“I can get you something.”
Neither of us moved. And after a long while and a few steadying breaths, I finally started to relax. To feel like myself.
“Have you gotten in touch with the others about me talking to Sebastian?” I asked.
Ethan turned toward me, angling himself on the couch until he was slumped rather comfortably. “I’ve floated the idea with Otto. Haven’t heard back yet. But if they haven’t made any progress by morning, I’m sure he’ll consider it.”
“He’s a good guy, Otto?” On the surface, most of the werewolves were fairly easy to understand. Power structures, dominance, animal instinct. But the man that remained beneath each wolf could sometimes be hard to get a read on.
And then there was Ethan.
The werewolf in front of me considered the question before answering it. “Yes. I don’t know him that well, but his reputation is hard to miss. He’s a few hundred years old now, and easily one of the most dominant wolves in Europe. He’s built up a lot of clout with the other major packs, and he’s used that to work through some interesting reforms. He’s managed to put a stop to some of the more aggressive power plays for dominance. It hasn’t all gone over smoothly, but he’s the right person to have at the helm for big changes like what we’re trying to do here.”
“Do you think he’ll be on board with letting some of the humans in on our secrets?” Embracing my new spot on the couch, I hoisted my legs up onto the middle cushion before spreading out. When my feet settled on top of Ethan’s thigh, we both tensed for an instant. At the same time that my own muscles eased into their new position, one of Ethan’s hands settled on top of my foot.
“That much I know he’s on board with.” Touching his tongue to the top of his mouth with a guilty grimace, Ethan seemed to be looking everywhere but directly at me. “I may have told him what you had in mind. Before the summit.”
My legs jerked backward as I curled myself away from Ethan and back into myself. “You what?”
“I couldn’t let you walk in there, completely unannounced. But I wasn’t going to stop you either.”
“Well this all sounds pretty big of you...” My eyes narrowed, not sure what to think. “I’m not sure I’m following here. This sounds a lot like you making a lot of big decisions on my behalf, all while keeping me entirely out of the loop.”
Ethan’s head tilted backward as he let out a soft groan. “I’m explaining this all wrong. The moderators had all suspected that you were going to make an appearance, and they’d been curious about you. Otto knew we’d been spending some time together and had some questions. I didn’t tell him what you were planning, but I did share that you’d had some good ideas about how the factions could start to move forward. I encouraged him to listen if he ever got the chance, that’s all.”
Easing up slightly, my feet inched back toward Ethan. I wasn’t entirely sure what I was supposed to be making of all of this. “And?”
“And we talked a bit about the idea of letting more humans into the loop. There isn’t one overarching law among the werewolves, beyond the implicit understanding that we needed to keep things under wraps. Each alpha has generally handled things in their own ways. Until recently, it wasn’t even something many of us talked about. I told Otto about how I’d been raising Katie and explained how difficult the secrecy had hurt Cooper’s relationship with his family.
He’d had a few stories of his own, and mostly seemed to find the idea interesting. If he’d seemed aggressively opposed, I would have given you a heads up. Or if I’d sensed that there would have been a violent reaction to your appearing at the summit uninvited. Maybe advised a different strategy. I never intended to stand in your way, simply to give you all the available information.”
“But you didn’t actually give me any of that information,” I pointed out.
“You didn’t need anything I could have added. You had things more than covered. I thought you’d be better off, acting on your own instincts, not over thinking how you and your ideas might be taken. And that’s exactly what happens. You have a way of seeing things, and so far I’ve never seen you fail at bringing people over to your way of thinking. If you’d known how things might have gone down, maybe you’d have done something differently. But if I made the wrong call, I’m sorry.”
“Hmm.” I poked Ethan in the ribs with my toe. “I guess I’m not sure. Maybe if we’d had a chance to see how things were going to play out, I’d have more of an opinion.”
I’d wanted to jump to anger, but that may have been the exhaustion speaking. Though it wouldn’t have been all that unreasonable to have been annoyed even if I understood where he’d been coming from.
“I’m reserving the right to form my opinion after we see how this all works out. Honestly, I was a little surprised that my showing up at the summit went as smoothly as it did. I guess this explains some of that.”
“You’re giving me too much credit. That was all you. Yes, they let you speak. But despite a lot of bad behaviour, there are a lot of people looking to figure out what our future looked like. You offered a new perspective, so they listened. If they hadn’t liked what you’d had to say, they would have made their opinions known fairly quickly. There were a lot of less than friendly faces in that audience, and things could have turned sour pretty quickly. But you held your own, and you made your point.”
“And then everything blew up.”
“Yes, well, that. But that wasn’t on you. And now you’re clearly trying to help, that’s not going unnoticed. That’s doing more for your cause than anything else you could have brought to the table.”
“Toward finding a way to letting the humans in on all things supernatural?” I asked, not sure I was following.
“Toward ending the oppression of those not well represented by the factions. Not just the people with undefinable magick, who don’t fit into nice little boxes, but those who belong to the factions and don’t have the kind of power needed to be treated with respect.”
Right. That cause. Right from the beginning, the idea behind the summit had become undeniably intertwined with the plight of the lesser magicks. More than once, I’d wondered if I’d been able to make more of a difference in one area if I hadn’t always had to be focusing on both, but it was getting harder and harder to remove one from the other.
We were fighting two battles, but both fronts were facing the same direction, pointed straight toward the future, every foggy corner of it. Things had been done in certain ways for so long, and a lot of that had involved those in charge stomping on anyone and everyone they could. There were vampires, werewolves, witches, and fae. And then there was everyone else. Things had worked that way for so long that we’d all stopped thinking about it.
But one way or another, the “us versus them” would soon involve humans and the supernatural. We were all about to be on the same side, whether everyone was on board, and it was time to find a way to make that work.
It was a lot to think about. In the morning.
For now, my body was loving every second of being sprawled out on the couch, a gentle hum taking hold in my chest with Ethan so close by. With the gentlest touch, his fingers had found their way back to m
y feet.
I sighed and eased into his touch. One hand started absentmindedly moving up my leg. Slowly, gently. As soon as I looked down at his wandering fingers, Ethan jerked his hand backward. “Sorry.”
“I didn’t mind.” My voice came out quiet and rough, already missing the feeling of having him so close to me. I didn’t remember the last time I’d just sat like this with anyone. And this was Ethan.
Ethan. Here, with me. Alone. We’d had a few short moments before, ones where I let myself think of all things the two of us might be. And I’d hoped that Ethan had been feeling much of the same. But there had never been a chance to find out for sure.
Until now.
Taking a chance, I reached out my hand toward his, asking him to touch me again.
Ethan didn’t hesitate, taking my hand in his. “Melanie...”
I could have let it stop there. I could have just enjoyed whatever time the two of us had, letting my mind and body rest. Simply enjoying Ethan’s company.
Ethan ran his thumb over the back of my hand, sending electricity through my entire body.
And the very last thing I wanted to do was sleep.
Chapter 17
My body was still humming by the time Ethan and I left Taya’s flat, no sign of whoever had been following us. I made it back to the castle. I thought I’d be awake for days, but I was out like a light as soon as my head hit my pillow.
Which ended in a full four hours of sleep before duty called.
“Mel?” I heard Taya’s voice a few seconds before I felt her fingers nudge my shoulder. “Time to wake up.”
“No.”
Still not quite thinking, I rolled over, and I’m pretty sure I was asleep again with seconds.
Until Taya poked me again.
“Sorry, you’ve got to get up. Something’s happened.”
I’d liked to have been able to say that as soon as I heard there was news, my body flew into a superhuman state of alertness, and I was ready to take on the world. Instead, I’m pretty sure it took me a good five minutes to even open my eyes.
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