He pulled over at the side of the road, stopping only a few feet in front of both Ethan and I.
The Alpha werewolf stopped at the same time I did.
"We need to talk," he said, still not moving toward the car. Nearby, a few other people had started returning to their own vehicles, leaving the business of crime scenes to the police, but I suspected the street was still the busiest it had ever been.
"Don't worry, I don't have any plans to back out of our agreement. You've got me for another half a day, and I'll do whatever I can to help." Being honest with myself, I wasn't even sure there was any point in running anymore. Taya had outed me to one of the factions, and who could say how quickly my little secret would spread. They knew who I was now, and wouldn't have any problem tracking me down right to my parent's doorstep if that's where I decided to run to. And that wasn't going to happen. For my entire life, my parents had been my port in the storm, keeping me safe from all the things they didn't even know were out to get me. And in return, I'd kept them safe by keeping them in the dark about certain truths.
I had only taken two steps toward the truck before Ethan stood in front of me, so fast I hadn't even seen him move. We were almost nose to nose, uncomfortably close and forcing me to take a step back.
"There are officially too many questions for me to be comfortable with. You're not going anywhere near my pack until you tell me exactly what's going on here, and how you were able to glamour that girl. Who are you? What are you? And why would anyone be looking for you?"
My whole body tensed as I resisted the urge to just cut and run. There was nowhere I could go that my past couldn't catch me. And Ethan was pretty damn fast too.
While I wasn't loving continuously being asked who or what I was, it was hard for me to fault anyone for asking. I'd been asking myself the same questions for a lifetime. The only real question left was what was it going to cost me to confess everything to Ethan.
"Can I give you the quick version?"
Ethan surveyed the area. "For now."
"I have no idea if you're old enough to remember this. But twenty-five years ago, in the States, there was this big to-do about someone being born who would have access to powers from each of the factions." I didn't bother letting Ethan interrupt with his own take on what had happened back then, instead, holding my hands up, splaying my fingers. "Surprise."
Right away, Ethan shook his head. "That was just some myth."
"Fine. But, sidenote, I can see magick and use fae glamour ... sort of. Among other things."
"You only claim you can see magick, for all I know you're fae with some ulterior motive that I just haven't figured out yet."
I barely resisted the urge to roll my eyes. He'd wanted answers, the least he could do was believe me when I gave them to him. "Give me your phone."
"What?"
I held out my hand. "Do you want to stand around all day debating exactly what is possible, or do you want to get home to Katie? Give me your phone."
Ethan obliged, handing over a sleek black device with a screen almost the size of my face. As soon as it reached my palm, I could feel the power running through its core. I briefly considered damning Ethan to a ringtone that could never be changed from Jingle Bells or something equally ridiculous, but at the last second, I managed to remind myself that so far, he hadn't done anything to hurt me.
He wasn't the enemy. Yet.
And, if anything, he might have been the only ally I had. Instead, I came up with the tiniest of spells—one that would only last a few minutes and wouldn't drain much of my energy reserves—and handed it back. "Hold it up to your ear."
Ethan did as I asked. I did the same with my own phone, immediately feeling the mental link I'd just created.
Hey, I thought.
Whoa. Telepathy? Ethan's voice filled my mind, along with a gentle buzz somewhere in the background that felt like both him and not him. The sensation wasn't at all what I was expecting, but I'd never technically done anything like this before either, so who was I to judge.
Sort of. I can only work magick using technology, but I can still push some devices way beyond what should be possible for circuits and programing.
Witches can't do that ... Can they?
All of the powers I have are kind of offshoots of the Greater Magicks. Not quite the same, not fully functional. But I promise you, I'm telling the truth. There's a lot going on here, I gestured up and down my body with my free hand, that doesn't technically make sense.
Alright then. I'll take your word on all of this, and figure out what it means later. Ethan put his phone down, breaking the connection. I couldn't tell what the wolf standing across from me was feeling, but that would be what I needed to figure out later. In that moment, I still needed one more thing from him.
I tilted my head, tapping one finger on the phone I still held to my ear until Ethan clued in and reestablished the connection. What are the odds I can convince you to keep this to yourself? I've tried for a long time to stay below the radar, and I'm already failing miserably at that today. If you could maybe not tell your pack ... that would be pretty okay.
My gaze flicked from Ethan to the car. Cooper was watching both of us intently. At least I hadn't had to say any of this to Ethan out loud. One less person in on the thing that absolutely no one was supposed to know.
I'm sorry, but I can’t do that. My eyes snapped back to Ethan. I wish I could, really. But I'm pretty sure you already spilled the secret, at least to the wolves here in Galway with me.
I nearly dropped my phone all together. "What?" I said as quietly as I could manage.
Ethan smiled apologetically. "That link you just created between us. You somehow managed to tap into the pack as well. Anyone that's close enough for me to communicate with directly, they caught the message too”
"Werewolves can read each other's minds?" I asked. It was a theory I'd been playing with forever, but had never had confirmed.
"It's not as simple as that."
"Nothing ever is."
"But your secrets are safe with my pack, Melanie. So long as I'm alive, they won't betray you."
A little taken aback by the intensity of his words, I did my best to scoff and shake off the promise he'd just made me. "It probably doesn't matter anyway. Looks like the cat’s out of the bag."
I swear, I did my very best to look like none of what had happened had touched me at all, but when Ethan's gaze softened, just a little, I felt a crack running through my soul.
I needed a pretty serious nap. And probably a drink.
"I'm sorry about your friend."
"Roommate," I corrected. " And I should have known better. I was cornered and stressed and I ruined everything."
"She had no right," Ethan shook his head as he cut himself off from finishing whatever he'd been about to say. "Get in the car. We can talk more when we're out of earshot of the entire Galway police force," Ethan said, not unkindly, but leaving no room for debate. At least, that's probably what he intended.
The grumble that game out of my throat didn't sound nearly as natural as what I knew Ethan was capable of, but it made my concerns crystal clear. "I'm not one of your pack, Murphy. You don't get to call the shots."
Ethan ran his hand through his hair, studying me. "We can protect you."
Yeah, wouldn't that be nice. "Look, thank you. But I don't know you, and I don't know your pack." I knew exactly how badly this could go for me if I got on the wrong side of werewolves. "Let's get through today, and then you don't have to worry about me.”
"Have it your way," Ethan said before popping open the passenger-side door of the truck for me, giving me just enough space to press past him before hopping into the middle, not quite a seat, beside Cooper.
MY AFTERNOON SPENT at Chateau-de-Werewolf ended up being blissfully uneventful, even with the constant comings and goings of the wolves that had come out to the coast with Ethan.
"Are there no female wolves in your pack?" I asked, moving my gam
e piece around the board that sat between me and Katie. The rental house had come with a stack of decades-old board games, stashed away in one of the upstairs bedrooms. The one we'd chosen was the only one with all the pieces intact. It wasn't exactly challenging, but Katie seemed to find it a pretty marked improvement over John following her around every time she moved between different rooms. As it was, he was currently curled up in his wolf form, lounging on the couch behind our table.
"One. Sophie. But she had to stay back home."
"Had to?"
Katie shrugged. "Most of the pack stayed home, so I didn't really ask. I don't think Dad was really planning based on anything other than who wanted to come."
"Fair enough." I moved my token another several paces and lay down a few of the cards in my hand, still not totally sure if I had the game figured out. Back in our apartment we had three big stacks of board games, all Taya's. There were no classics like Monopoly or Boggle. Taya was all about finding obscure games that forced people to work together, or manipulate one another, or takeover territory. I'd never heard of any of her games, but had loved every single one she'd forced me to play.
I had thought we were friends.
"I win!" Katie declared, throwing her hands up in celebration while I stared down at the board in complete befuddlement. I'd thought I'd been in the lead.
But before I could demand a rematch, a man I didn't recognize strode through the room wearing nothing but a grimace. I only had time to notice the cell phone in his hand before he was gone.
He didn't even look at Katie and I before heading for the kitchen, eliciting only a passing glance from Katie before she looked pointedly down at the table, red rising in her cheeks.
"Does that happen a lot?"
"Not so much. But not never."
"Weird."
"Very weird."
"Will you judge me if I follow the naked man into the kitchen? If something’s going on, I want to know."
"That was Mark. And yes, I'll judge you a little." From behind us, John gave a woof of agreement.
"Helena wasn't happy about having to make the trip." The naked guy stopped talking as soon as I passed the threshold from the hall onto the tiled floor of the kitchen.
In a valiant showing of self-restraint, I looked everywhere but at the naked butt in front of me.
Mostly.
"Go on," Ethan said, likely signaling Mark to ignore me. "They won't be here until about sunrise and will need somewhere to stay."
"Wait," I interrupted. "Are we talking vampires?"
"Unfortunately, yes. Mark has a friend who is one of the, uh ..."
"Feeders," the naked guy said, turning his whole body toward me. My eyes immediately darted for the ceiling. "And she's not ... never mind."
Ethan continued. "The Mistress of Dublin got wind of everything happening here, and now that she's awake for the evening, she's decided to make a trip out this way."
"God damn it!"
"Hey," the naked guy chastised from beside me.
"What?"
"Just ... be careful with the God talk would you. We've got enough problems to deal with already."
"Sorry," I mumbled automatically, only briefly distracted from the conversation. "But you're telling me that a family of vampires is now on their way here. On top of the coven of witches that—damn it!"
Almost against my will, my eyes moved from the ceiling to Mark, managing not to look any lower than his face. His brown eyes tilted upward slightly in a quiet, I'll allow it type expression.
Free of eternal damnation, I continued my rant. "Not even a day ago, I learn that a month from now, my city is going to be home to a summit of all of Europe's supernatural beings."
"Not all of them," Ethan said. "Just the leadership."
"And their entourages," Mark added.
"Fine. But werewolves, witches, vampires, and fae from all over the continent are set to come here in just a few weeks, but now a bunch of them are headed in early."
"Pretty much." Ethan shrugged resting his body against the lip of the counter. "Ireland is a small country, our community is even smaller. There's been an attempted abduction and an attack all in one day. If I was in their positions, I'd want to get up close and personal with whatever is going on here too. If someone is trying to interfere with the summit somehow, we need to know."
"Just to be clear, it wasn't an attempted abduction. I was actually abducted." And still trying not to think about it. "And I'm kind of thinking this would be a good time for me to get the hell out of here."
I was all for sticking to my promise, but so far there hadn't been any movement at all in learning why someone had wanted to take Katie, or who those people were. All I'd really been able to do was confirm that the body we'd seen earlier hadn't been killed by wolves. Useful, but only a little. If they didn't need me, then I needed to be elsewhere.
"You can call me if anything comes up," I added, when Ethan didn't answer, but that still didn't grab his attention. Instead, his attention looked to have been pulled away by something off far in the distance, even though he was only looking out the back door.
"The fae," he said finally. "If everyone else is coming, then it's only fair we fill them in on what we know. And on what we saw."
The dead girl. "Is it possible they know already."
"I have no idea. Probably not." Ethan's expression had gone from thoughtful to somber. "I don't have the same kind of relationship with them as I do Helena or a few of the coven leaders, but if any of the fair folk knew I'd found one of their own, murdered, I likely would have heard about it by now. We still have a few more hours before anyone else is scheduled to arrive. Give me a few minutes to make this call, and then we'll talk." He paused for a moment. "It's not an order, just a request."
I nodded. Ethan was about to have to make the kind of call that every person dreaded getting. Human, lesser magick, or greater magick, no one was ready to hear that someone they love had been murdered. And the conversation likely got even less fun when the death could be linked to a potential conspiracy.
"I'll be in the living room getting my ass kicked by a teenager," I said, forcing myself to offer an encouraging smile.
"Thank you," Ethan said, picking up his phone. "Hopefully this will all be sorted out soon."
Chapter 11
It was almost an hour before John finally gave me the signal I'd requested—a heads up to when he heard Ethan get off the phone. Literally. He lifted his head, waited for me to look at him, then went back to doing his best impression of an incredibly lazy dog.
Despite the size of the house, I managed to draw out the walk between the living room and the kitchen. I wanted to go into this conversation with a clear path forward. To be able to stand across from an Alpha werewolf, the type of being I'd grown up fearing, and lay out exactly what I was going to do next with no input from him whatsoever.
Because no matter what happened, not one of the greater magicks controlled me. Not their factions, not their leaders, not their laws. It didn’t matter if this particular leader had a body that looked like it could shield me from anything, or a fierce love for his teenage daughter. He wasn’t here to protect me, and I couldn’t forget that he had the power to destroy me.
I caught sight of Ethan while I was still in the hall. Even though he must have heard me coming, he was leaning backward in one of the chairs at the small kitchen table, head hanging as he stared up at the ceiling. Even without seeing his eyes, I couldn’t miss the sadness coming off him.
Starting to feel a little uncomfortable with how intently I’d been watching this guy I didn't even know a day ago, I leaned over and tapped my knuckles against a nearby wall. "Mind if I come in?"
Right away, Ethan tipped forward in his chair, until all four legs are on the floor again. "Is it dinnertime already?" He asked, looking slightly bewildered as he studied the room around him.
"No. Well, probably. It’s about time for me to get out of here, but you wanted me to check in b
efore I left."
Ethan rubbed sleepily at the bridge of his nose before his eyes regained their usual focus. "Right, sorry. I'm just tired."
"I get it," I said, taking the seat beside him and leaning my elbows against the table so I could rest my head in my hands. "The last couple of days have been brutal." Ethan only nodded in agreement, leaving me to carry the conversation. "Your phone call went longer than planned. Is everything okay?"
I realized it was a stupid question as soon as the words left my mouth, but Ethan still caught my meaning. "The fae I spoke with earlier is someone I've met a few times now. I have to trust that he knows we weren't involved, and are only trying to help. But he also didn't know who the girl was, so things will probably only get messier by the time they figure it out and decide who to send."
"Send? The fae are on their way too? Has the summit been moved up?" Yes, I was full of questions and had absolutely no answers to offer.
"So far no one outside of Ireland is involved. But I don't think there's anyone left who thinks it's a coincidence that this is all happening just as the country is getting ready to host all of the most powerful beings in Europe. None of Ireland's factions wanted to be the ones to host something this massive, which is exactly why we were chosen. It's not going to look good if people on the mainland find out that things have already started to get messy."
"Would someone here really risk the wrath of the wolves or the fae just to get out of hosting the summit? I would think hosting would be seen as an honor."
"More of a burden. But it does give Ireland more of a voice than we might have otherwise. The problem is that we don't know anything for sure right now. But someone tried to grab my daughter, and then only a few hours later a fae girl is killed, and someone tried to make it look like an act of aggression from the wolves. Whatever is coming next, or whatever these people are trying to accomplish, the factions are stronger together than apart."
"Well, I’m going to feel a hell of a lot stronger if I'm as far away from the factions as I can be."
Magic in my Bones (Lesser Magicks Book 1) Page 8
