“Both.” Liam’s gaze darted to the door and back to me. “He paid in advance.”
“For?”
“The girl’s protection.”
I scowled at him. “That makes no sense. He warned me off her.”
“He changed his mind.”
I sighed and shook my head. I’d have to watch them, too. “Make a perimeter, and don’t get seen. If you can, one follower for each of us. Understand?”
He nodded and stepped backwards. He walked away as I stood there, racking my brain.
Eventually, I headed back inside.
“Who was it?” Lexie asked as I closed the door.
“No one.” I left the doorway and took a seat in an empty armchair. What was the game?
Lexie
Ethan picked up my last box of books and headed out of my bedroom. Now the extra room at Rory’s house. I looked around the small, bare room and smiled. Something about leaving made my heart heavy. It wasn’t forever, just until this was over. I’d be back, but why did it still make me sad?
Zeke came through the door. “Is that everything?”
I nodded as I turned to him.
He held my gaze.
“Why am I sad that I’m leaving?” I asked, tired of trying to think of everything myself.
His lips quirked. “Why do you think it makes you sad?”
“Because it was the first real home I’ve had, and I’m scared I’ll never find it again.” That felt right.
“I felt the same way when I packed up my stuff for Miles’ house.” His voice grew quieter. “Took a bit to figure it out.”
I smiled up at him. “You’re pretty smart, Tough Guy.”
He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and kissed the top of my head. “I try, Baby.”
“Can’t we just load up Zeke? I mean, his shoulders alone…” Isaac grumbled as he came up the stairs.
“No, he’s not a pack mule,” Rory chuckled.
“He is a jackass though,” Ethan chimed.
I snorted.
Zeke dropped his arm and muttered under his breath.
Rory and the twins stepped in and filled the rest of my bedroom.
“Is that everything?” Rory asked.
I nodded.
“Good.” He turned enough so he could see everyone. “Where’s Miles?”
Isaac shrugged. “He said something came up.”
Rory frowned. “Something came up? That’s what he said?”
Dread filled my gut. “Yeah, why?”
Rory sighed and shook his head before looking at each of us. “Miles’ father was found dead yesterday morning.”
Everyone shared looks.
“Does he know?” I asked.
Rory nodded. “I told him this morning. He didn’t say anything?”
Everyone shook their heads.
I was spinning. “Where is he?”
“He’s probably meeting with lawyers at the house.” Zeke started for the door. Everyone followed.
Jadis
This couldn’t be happening. I slammed the old book closed and threw it across the room. It hit the wall and dropped with a heavy thud. It was impossible!
I shot to my feet and began to pace across the study. Well, what was left of it.
I clenched my fist. Huntington and his supernaturals had taken out the old house, burning most of my books along with a lot of my herbal stockpile.
Humans weren’t supposed to have access to the energy that formed the universe! We worked with the magnetic energy created naturally!
I scrubbed my hand over my face and picked up my pacing. And that energy certainly didn’t belong in the hands of an eighteen-year-old girl! The damage she could do… She could kill millions, wipe out the world! I stopped and took deep, gasping breaths as panic coursed through me. This was a disaster!
All I wanted to do was make the supernatural world make sense. It was my life’s work. I wrapped my arms around my myself. Something had to have gone wrong if she could control the energy from the Veil. Something, somewhere. The energy that flew through the basement and knocked everyone back… While everyone else was fighting, protecting our new partner, I was on my stomach watching grass spring up from the stagnant puddle in front of me. The energy of creation itself, and it’s in the hands of a teenage girl.
And she’d only get stronger as time went on. The damage she could do… it would be cataclysmic. Screw controlling the supernatural world, we had to take her out now before she became even stronger. I needed the templars.
Evelyn
Zahur hung up the office line. “It’s coming to a head. We need people on the ground in Spring Mountain.”
Minerva finally stopped suckling, though with her fingers tangled in my hair I couldn’t hand her to Atty yet. I winced and tried to untangle her fingers. “Can I please blast them into oblivion now?”
Astrid snorted as she rocked Alice while she waited her turn.
Atticus was there in a heartbeat, taking over. Warmth filled my heart as he carefully untangled our daughter’s fingers from my hair. Holding back a grin, I watched as his warm smile crossed his face.
“Come on, Mini. It’s your sister’s turn to eat,” he said in a soft voice, carefully lifting her from my arms.
“I still don’t like Mini,” Astrid announced as she passed me Alice. “I like Nerva better.”
“She’s a lady, not a nerve ending,” Atticus shot back as he began to pat our daughter’s back.
Astrid narrowed her eyes at him. “Just wait, those white curls are going to destroy your orderly world and I’m going to watch with popcorn.”
I rolled my eyes and settled back in the chair with Alice. Her gold eyes smiled up at me as she latched on. I sighed. This kid was always easy. Thank God.
“She already has,” Ranulf chimed in, laughing deeply. “I mean, look at him.”
Atticus ignored them as he absently rocked back and forth, burping one of our daughters. “Go to…” He glanced down at the baby’s head and sent Ranulf a one fingered salute.
Ran and Astrid chuckled again.
I turned back to Zahur, who was waiting patiently. These exchanges had become our norm since the babies were born. “Why not? It’d be a lot simpler.”
He sighed wearily. “You never used to be this bloodthirsty.”
“My tolerance for BS has dropped drastically,” I admitted as I looked down at Alice’s sweet little face.
“If the Witch’s Council is behind it, then the treaty would have taken care of it already.” Astrid jumped back on topic.
“That’s true,” Atticus muttered as he wiped Minerva’s mouth with the burp rag. “There’s no proof.”
“It’s the Witch’s Council,” Jade announced as she strolled into the office. The small beauty’s lithe figure was swathed in a modified kimono. Silk, and split up the sides to show the leather britches she wore, it gave her the movement that she enjoyed while working. Zahur had had the local tailor design it for her comfort specifically. That and he almost killed a gargoyle for looking at her legs.
“Then how are they getting around the treaty?” Astrid asked.
“They’re sub-contracting a third party and not being told about events or their plans. They don’t care how they get what they want, just the results,” she stated simply as she came toward me and bent way too close to look at Alice feeding. She really had no sense of personal space. “Hello, little one.”
Alice grinned around my nipple and reached up to touch Jade’s chin.
Zahur sighed as he shook his head. “Jade, personal space.”
She lifted her head and met my eyes unperturbed. Her nose brushed mine before she stepped back. “Personal space; such an odd thing,” she muttered as she moved to Zahur’s side.
Zahur had been making strides with Jade and how to act with people, but personal space was a concept the dragon seemed to not be able to grasp.
“We could end this all if you just let Evie destroy the contract and blast them back to be
drock,” Astrid reminded them for me.
I sent her a wink. She grinned back.
“No,” Zahur stated again. His gaze turned thoughtful. “Though, we could have our own third party on the ground.”
Everyone turned to Jade.
She smiled a sharp, dangerous, bloodthirsty smile. “This should be amusing.”
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When the Dead Come Home Page 29
