Could it be true?
I relaxed and did some deep breathing until I felt like I was floating. The laughter became a beacon, pulling me out of myself and through the night sky. The blue moon radiated blessed rays across my spectral form as the forest whizzed by beneath me. I zoomed down and came to stand on the forest floor surrounded by blackened trees. They arched over me, creating a roof of branches and vines.
Laughter vibrated in my throat as my gaze swept over my minions, my touched standing around me, watchful and eager. Waiting.
Oh crap. I was inside the taint’s head. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Stay calm. Stay fucking calm.
Soon.
The thought passed through my mind. Her mind.
Confinement comes to an end. Freedom will be mine. We’ll be together. Finally together.
A strange sensation filled my chest, warm and…frightening. No. I couldn’t have this. I strode up to a touched and grabbed it by the neck. Its eyes bugged as I squeezed and its head came off with a pop. The warm feeling in my chest abated. Better.
Together but not like that.
Can’t allow that.
Never allow it…
“Quinn? Quinn, wake up.”
I was yanked into the sky.
The world rushed by, and when I snapped my eyes open it was to Nyx’s horrified face hovering over me. My chest ached and I took a sharp, painful breath.
“Fucking hell, you bitch.” Nyx sat back and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “I thought you’d drowned.”
“She’s a bloody siren,” Orina said from her position leaning up against the bathroom door jamb.
“Yeah, which you could have reminded me of before I tried to give her the kiss of life,” Nyx drawled.
“It was fun watching you freak out.”
“I hate you.”
“No, you don’t.” Orina fixed her annoyed gaze on me. “Did you decide to fall asleep in the bath?”
I sat up. “I was in the taint’s head.”
“What?” She stepped forward. “What do you mean you were in her head?”
“Exactly that. I can do that now.”
“And what did you see?” Nyx asked.
I used the lip of the bath to haul myself off the ground. “She was…happy. Excited about being free.” I grabbed the towel Orina handed to me and wrapped it around myself. “She honestly believes she’s going to be free. Soon.”
“Then we need to be vigilant,” Nyx said. “The Wardens may be on our side now, but—”
“Wait, what? What did I miss?”
“Lorenzo was right. The shackles have broken the Inceptum’s hold on the Wardens. It disrupted the mystical frequency that was keeping the Wardens in check.”
“They don’t plan on going back,” Orina said. “Lorenzo’s offered to help them disappear.”
This was great news, but it put Lorenzo in danger. “What if the Mageri find out what Lorenzo’s done?”
“They won’t,” Nyx said. “At least Lorenzo is confident they won’t.”
“He vanished at the same time the Wardens were dispatched.”
“Don’t worry.” Orina smirked. “He has an alibi.”
I stared at her, unblinking. “You?”
“Yep. We were making sweet, sweaty love like bunnies for two days and nights.” She pressed the back of her wrist to her forehead. “The man is insatiable.”
“She’ll testify if it comes to that,” Nyx said. “We need to focus on figuring out why the taint is so excited.”
“Bryce and Jax went to check the relic.” I looked from Orina to Nyx. “Are they back yet?”
“No.” Nyx shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
“No phone call?”
“They were in beast form,” Orina said. “Unless they carry phones up their assess…”
Nyx pressed her fingers to her forehead. “Bad visual, bad visual.”
I would have laughed if not for the urgency gripping me. “They have phones at Haven. They would have called.” I hurried into my bedroom and started to get dressed as foreboding erupted in my belly. “Something’s wrong.”
21
I rushed down the stairs with Nyx and Orina in tow, not entirely sure what I was about to do, and barreled into the kitchen to find Tate supervising a sizzling skillet of steaks.
Emmit stood chopping veggies for a salad and Dillon was slicing bread. It was like a culinary wet dream. All they needed to do was whip off their shirts.
No. Focus.
Danger.
“Where are Bryce and Jax?”
Emmit turned to me with a frown. “Checking relic.”
“It’s been over an hour.”
“Maybe they went back to Haven for something,” Tate suggested.
“Something feels off, Emmit, can’t you feel it.”
He stopped chopping. “Have shield up. Wait.” He looked at the ground for several long beats, and when he raised his head to meet my eyes there was concern in them. “Something wrong.”
“Right?” I wasn’t imagining it.
Emmit headed for the patio. “I go and find—”
His exit was blocked by Selene.
“They’re in here,” she said to the figure behind her.
It took a moment for my brain to register who that was.
Emmit beat me to it. “Cat, what you do here?”
“It’s Aengus now,” Cat said. “And we have a problem. You have less than an hour before the Faelad attack.”
“What?” Tate dropped his spatula. “The relic—”
“Will be weakened by the blue moon. Enough to let the Faelad and the touched through.”
Was that what the taint had been gloating over?
“Emmit, Bryce needs you to round up the Faoladh and get to town,” Aengus continued. “We need to get the humans to safety. Bring as many as you can here. This house and the grounds are protected from the Faelad and the touched.”
I had questions, so many questions, but there was no time for them. People were in trouble, and we had some round-up to do.
JAX
My contact on the force has issued an emergency news report to be transmitted in the next ten minutes. Will it be enough? I don’t know, all I know is that we have to get these people to safety, whether it’s inside their homes or at the clifftop house.
The pier is filled with humans who scream and back away when they see us.
“Go home,” Bryce orders. “Go home where it’s safe. Something dangerous is coming.”
Several people gather their young and rush back to their vehicles, but the majority stare at us dumbfounded.
Humans are renowned for their survival instinct, but this town has become complacent. This town has lived in relative safety for so long that it’s forgotten real danger. Even the vampire attack of a few days ago seems to have been wiped from their minds.
I wonder, not for the first time, if the relic is responsible for this fugue state that seems to cloud these humans’ minds, that makes them so accepting of us, the strange shifters who live on the edge of their town.
“Go home!” Bryce yells again, causing a few more humans to scatter.