by Zoe Chant
From Ivy’s pale face, she hadn’t thought of this either. “Is there any way to convince him not to talk? Make a deal?”
“There’s an idea,” Chase said, straightening. “I know where he’s being held—the police brought him back to a secret shifter detention center not too far from here. We could go pay him a visit. Persuade him to hold his tongue.”
John Doe drew back as if Chase had wafted garbage under his nose. “One does not negotiate with honorless pondscum.”
Chase cracked his knuckles meaningfully. “I was thinking of a different sort of persuasion.”
“Leaving aside the legality of such action,” Ash said, looking rather pained, “I fear that it would be futile. We have no leverage. Apart from a certain amount of short-term discomfort, we have no way to threaten Gaze. He is already facing life imprisonment for his crimes. We have no power to either increase or reduce that sentence.”
“And he has every reason to want to reveal Hugh’s nature,” Griff said grimly. “Once Hugh’s secret is out, he’ll be a tempting target for other criminals. Not everyone is going to believe that he’s truly lost his animal. Someone might decide to see if he can be ‘persuaded’ to rediscover his unicorn. If Gaze goes down for life, that’ll be the only way he can get revenge on Hugh.”
“Damn it.” Hugh glared around at them all, his anger at his own helplessness spilling over. “Why couldn’t one of you have just killed the bastard when you had the chance?”
He regretted his outburst instantly as Ivy winced, looking stricken. Reflexively, he reached out to her, but she recoiled.
It made his heart hurt worse than his head ever had. She was in pain, and he couldn’t do anything about it.
She hadn’t let him near her since last night. She wouldn’t let him touch her, not even fully clothed. She’d insisted that they had to wait until she’d done…whatever it was she was planning. He still didn’t know how she intended to get around the problem of her venom.
He let his hand drop again, though it went against every instinct not to touch her. “Sorry,” he muttered, looking round at the rest of Alpha Team. “That was unfair.”
“But not wrong,” Chase said, his own fists clenching. The pegasus shifter looked as frustrated and helpless as he himself felt. “Damn it, there has to be something we can do.”
“There is,” John Doe said. He drew himself up to his full seven-foot height, chin lifting. “We can let it be known far and wide that any miscreant who thinks to threaten our shield-brother will very quickly regret it.”
“Right. If anyone comes after you, they’ll have to get through us,” Dai said, to general murmurs of agreement.
The unanimous show of support brought an unaccustomed tightness to his throat. He’d lied to them all for so long, about so much, and yet they still had his back. They’d forgiven him so easily, it was like they didn’t even think there was anything to forgive.
He was lost for words…but he had more than words available to him now. Reaching out, he clasped John’s forearm, in the sea dragon gesture of one warrior thanking another.
John gripped his arm in return, his indigo eyes softening. It was strange, so strange, to feel nothing but warmth and comradeship in his touch.
Releasing the sea dragon, Hugh turned to Chase next. He’d intended to just shake his hand, but the pegasus shifter sprang up, instead pulling him into a bone-crushing hug. And then they were all around him, clapping him on the back or clasping his shoulder. Their friendship and support surrounded him.
And for the first time, he could accept it without flinching.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Ivy circling the room, being careful to stay as far away from everyone as possible. She sidled over to Ash, who also still stood a little apart from the group.
“Can I talk to you for a sec?” Ivy muttered to Ash. “Privately?”
“Ivy,” Hugh said, concerned by the way her gloved hands were twisting together. He broke away from his friends, stepping toward her. “What’s the matter?”
“Nothing.” Ivy looked up at Ash, her face set and pale. Hugh couldn’t interpret her expression. “But I need to talk to the Phoenix.”
Chapter 25
Ivy made herself wait until they’d walked a little way up the street, away from prying ears. Hugh didn’t have shifter hearing any more, but his friends’ senses were as acute as ever. She didn’t want any of them overhearing this conversation. They might tell Hugh…and then he would do everything in his power to convince her not to go through with this.
But she had to. It was their only remaining option.
Steeling her nerve, she turned to Ash.
“You have to burn away my wyvern,” she said.
The Phoenix looked at her with those dark, ageless eyes. His face was never exactly expressive, but now it turned as blank and forbidding as a fortress. Her wyvern cringed at the sense of a much greater power looming over them.
“You have asked this of me before,” he said. “The answer is still the same. No.”
“Things are different now.” It took all of Ivy’s strength to stand her ground. “You have to. For Hugh’s sake. I have to be able to touch him.”
“I sympathize with your predicament,” Ash said. Despite his expressionless face, Ivy had an odd certainty that he genuinely did. “I understand all too well what it is to be so close and yet so far from one’s mate. But destroying your wyvern would not help Hugh.”
“You don’t understand. He needs me—“
“Precisely,” Ash interrupted. “He needs you. Not a burned-out husk that looks like you. Ivy, our animals are intertwined through our souls. If I burned away your beast, you would no longer be Hugh’s mate.”
“But Hugh lost his unicorn, and he’s still my mate.”
“Yes.” Ash’s eyebrows drew down a little, his tone turning thoughtful. “That surprises me. When I take a shifter’s animal, the destruction is total, like burning a tree to the ground. Hugh…is more like a tree that has been split by lightning. The trunk may be shattered and hollow, but the roots are still strong. The leaves will grow again.”
Ivy’s breath caught. “Are you saying his unicorn is still there?”
Ash shook his head, killing her tiny seed of hope. “No. I have no sense of his animal. But Hugh is still there. He is still the same person. Ivy, if I took your wyvern, you would not be the same person as you are now. You might be content, because you would not know that you had ever been otherwise, but Hugh would know. It would be the worst thing either of us could do to him.”
“Don’t be so sure,” Ivy said bleakly. “I met Hugh’s father. He lost his unicorn too. He told me that ex-unicorns need sex to stay sane. But Hugh can’t touch me. And if, if he has to get what he needs elsewhere, I’ll go mad. I can’t bear to think of him with someone else.”
The Phoenix’s controlled expression cracked at last, revealing a hint of true, human pity. “It is bad enough to be unable to be with one’s mate. If someone else was with her…well. I am grateful beyond words that the situation has never arisen for me. But in any case, you do not need to fear that Hugh will be unfaithful. You are his true mate, as much as he is yours.”
“Then he’ll go mad. Hugh’s father tried to be abstinent, and he said it nearly killed him. He’s forced to do things he doesn’t want at all, just to cling onto sanity.”
Ash’s mouth tightened. “Hugh has one of the strongest wills I’ve ever encountered. He will not be forced into anything. Not even out of self-preservation.”
“Exactly! I’m so scared that he’ll destroy himself. Please, Ash. You have to take my wyvern. No matter what it does to me. Can’t you see that it’s better for Hugh to at least have some version of his mate rather than nothing at all?”
Ash drew in a deep breath through his nose, and let it out again, slowly. “No. It is not. I will not burn your wyvern.”
“I’ll make you do it,” Ivy vowed, meaning it with all her heart. “I know you sometimes punish crim
inals by taking their animals. I’ll, I’ll burn down a house. I’ll burn down your house.”
“I do not have a house,” Ash murmured. “And please refrain from burning down my fire station. It would be immensely embarrassing if you succeeded.”
Ash rubbed his forehead, suddenly looking old and tired. He usually projected such an aura of calm that he seemed as eternal as a mountain, but for the first time Ivy noticed the silver streaked through his brown hair and the weathered lines around his eyes. She wondered just how old the Phoenix actually was.
“You are a very determined young woman,” he said, dropping his hand again. “As strong-willed as Hugh, in fact. If I do not assist you, then I have no doubt you will devise some even worse solution.”
Ivy’s heart thumped against your ribs. “So you’ll do it?”
“I will not burn your wyvern. I cannot do that to either Hugh or yourself. But there is another way I could free you both from this trap. I swore I would never do it again, but…I can see no other way out.” His jaw clenched for a moment. “Though I will only do it if Hugh agrees to it as well. If I do this, it must be completely, not just to one of you. That mistake, I will not repeat.”
“I’ll persuade him,” Ivy said, though she had no idea how. “If it’s the only way for us to be together, I’ll have to persuade him.”
“It is not a way for you to be together.” Ash’s fathomless eyes were strangely human for once, the fiery power in them overshadowed by some old, deep pain. “It is a way for you to be able to be apart. Ivy, if you both wish it…I can burn the connection between you, your love, your very memories of each other. You would no longer be each other's true mate.”
Chapter 26
Betty shook her head, her jaw set in the stubborn expression that Hope found both exasperating and ridiculously adorable. “I still don’t like it. He’s not right.”
“Hugh’s been through a lot,” Hope argued. “You can’t expect him to be all sunshine and smiles straight away. He’s still a good guy.”
They were sitting at Hugh’s kitchen table, ostensibly catching up on the homework that they’d both missed over the past few days. In reality, Hope hadn’t actually read so much as a word of the biology textbook spread open between them. She kept getting distracted by the sweep of Betty’s long eyelashes, the taut line of her neck, the full curves of her—
“What?” Betty said.
Hope jerked her eyes back to the textbook. “Nothing. Just—nothing.”
Mitochondria. Cell wall. Hope tried to concentrate on the words, instead of the thought of Betty’s soft, full lips. So kissable. No, bad brain! Mustn’t think of that sort of thing!
If Betty had had those sort of feelings for her, surely the ideal moment to have confessed them would have been just after the hellhound had so dramatically—not to mention romantically—saved Hope’s life. But she hadn’t. So Hope couldn’t say anything either.
After all, Betty was a shifter. Surely she could sense how Hope’s pulse raced whenever they were together, how her fingers shook whenever they accidentally bumped hands reaching for the same pen. And if they were meant for each other, Betty would have known. The fact that she hadn’t said anything…meant that they weren’t.
Sometimes, Hope really wished that she was a shifter. It must be nice, never falling for the wrong person.
“Anyway, I still don’t like you staying here, in his house,” Betty said, continuing the argument. “Especially with your sister. It’s not safe. What if there was an accident?”
“I’ve lived with Ivy my whole life, and her venom hasn’t killed me yet,” Hope said, both annoyed and touched by Betty’s concern. “There’s nothing different there.”
Betty pursed her lips in a way that made Hope earnestly stare at her cell diagram again. “Yeah, but…there is. She’s not all there either. I mean, I don’t blame her from being preoccupied. If my m-mate—” she stumbled a little on the word, “was hurt like Hugh, I wouldn’t be able to think of anything else either. But I worry that means Ivy might get careless when it comes to keeping you safe.”
“Ivy will never hurt me,” Hope said, with complete certainty. “She’s never careless. So stop worrying.”
Betty blew out her breath, looking frustrated. “I can’t. I can’t help it. I think about what could happen, and—if there was an accident, it’s not like Hugh could heal you any more.”
Hope couldn’t help flinching a little at the brutal statement, even though it was only the truth. She’d been very carefully trying not to think about Hugh’s healing powers…or, more specifically, his half-complete cure.
She had no way of knowing how much of the venom in her body he’d managed to neutralize before he lost his powers. She still felt better than she had in years, but was this just a temporary reprieve? Would she wake up tomorrow or next week or next year with the familiar pain biting at her, paralysis slowly creeping further up her body?
It had almost been better when she’d known that she wouldn’t live to see her thirtieth birthday.
Betty must have caught her reaction, because she flinched as well, looking stricken. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to remind you of—you know.”
Hope pasted a smile onto her face, the familiar one that she usually deployed to reassure Ivy. “It’s okay. Don’t worry about me. If nothing else, I’m still pain-free. I’m grateful just for that.”
Betty eyed her sidelong without speaking for a moment. There was something unusually hesitant about her manner. She was usually so bold and direct, it unnerved Hope to see the shifter clearly searching for words.
“You know,” the hellhound said tentatively, “it’s okay to be upset, or mad, or whatever you feel. You lost your chance of a cure for your illness. That’s a big thing too.”
Hope could feel the corners of her mouth wanting to wobble. She smiled harder, forcing brightness into her tone. “Oh, I never expected to live a normal lifespan anyway. I haven’t lost anything really. Not compared to poor Hugh.”
Betty put her hand on top of Hope’s, resting on the table. The hellhound’s skin was hot, so hot. Hope burned at the touch, a strange wave of heat prickling over her entire body.
“You have,” Betty said, very quietly. “And you don’t have to pretend you haven’t. Not with me.”
They sprang apart guiltily as Ivy came into the kitchen. Hope was certain that her shifter sister would instantly pick up on the electric tension in the air, but Ivy didn’t make any comment. She just gave them a preoccupied nod on her way to the sink.
Betty’s right, Hope realized with a twinge of concern as she watched Ivy take one of her special, red-banded cups out of the Box o’ Death. She’s not herself.
Her sister might not be going literally catatonic, but her eyes held a hint of the same haunted, thousand-yard stare as Hugh’s did whenever he blanked out. She’d been distant ever since she’d talked to Fire Commander Ash a few days ago. Hope didn’t know what they’d discussed, but it was clearly still preying on Ivy’s mind.
“Hey, where were you last night?” Hope asked, hoping to fish for clues as to what was going on inside her sister’s head. “I didn’t hear you come in.”
“Went back to our apartment,” Ivy muttered as she filled her glass at the sink. “I’m sleeping there at the moment.”
Hope exchanged a startled look with Betty. “Really? Why?”
“Just…keeping an eye on it. Don’t want anyone breaking in and trashing the place.”
“I could house-sit for you,” Betty volunteered, to Hope’s surprise. “I could look after Hope there too. So you and your mate could be alone together here.”
Ivy choked on her water. “No! Uh, that is, thanks. But no.”
“Why not?” Hope demanded.
Inwardly, her mind was doing backflips. And her stomach. Had Betty actually just proposed that they move in together? Even if it was just as roommates…
“It’s a brilliant idea! You could concentrate on Hugh, and we wouldn’t have to worry ab
out keeping all our dishes and laundry and stuff separate, and it would solve so many problems.” Words tumbled uncontrollably out of her mouth, as if she could change Ivy’s mind if she just talked fast enough. “We’re paid up until the end of the month, so it’s just sitting empty. And Betty needs a place to stay, and—”
“You do?” Ivy interrupted, turning to Betty. “Why? I thought you had a place, at that special home for orphaned shifters.”
The hellhound squirmed in her seat, shooting Hope an accusing glare. “I thought we weren’t going to tell her about this. You said she had enough to deal with already.”
Hope dismissed this with an airy wave. “That was when it was a problem without a solution. Go on, tell her.”
“The home might not be open for much longer,” Betty said reluctantly. “It was almost entirely funded through Gaze’s charity. He genuinely did put a lot of money into it—he grew up on the streets himself. With him out of the picture, well…” She shrugged. “There aren’t a lot of shifter foster families to start with. Let alone ones eager to take in hellhounds and other monsters.”
“You’re not a monster,” Hope and Ivy said together.
Betty flashed a grin. “Thanks, but you guys are biased. Anyway, if you aren’t going to be using your old place, I could sublet it from you. I can pay,” she added quickly, as Ivy opened her mouth. “I’ve got an evening job, and I’m gonna look for another. And as soon as I finish school, I can work more.”
“No, then you’ll be going to university on full scholarship, like me,” Hope said firmly, ignoring Betty’s expressive eye-roll. “I have it all planned out. So you just need a place to stay for a year. Come on, Ivy. Say yes. It’s perfect.”
“I’ll…think about it.” Ivy’s head suddenly jerked up, and an alarmed expression flashed across her face.
“What is it?” Hope asked, and then heard the footsteps moving around upstairs herself. “Oh, Hugh's up. Do you think that means he’s—”
