“All bets are off,” Nick said with a smirk. “And I’ll be the one showing her how to get intotrouble.”
Peri loved seeing this lighter side of all of them. She loved seeing how the mate bond changed the males for the better, and as much as she harped on them, she cared deeply for their species. She wanted to sit and shoot the breeze with them, to tease Kara for turning bright red, and threaten the males bodily harm if they hurt her healers. But she couldn’t. She had two others who were in need of the very bond she was now seeing at work. The growling behind her grew more insistent. She held out her arms for them to touch as she spoke. “I’ve got the location in my mind from Ember, so l know where we’re going. When we get there, we don’t act rashly. We assess the situation. We do not run off like feral dogs.” She stared pointedly at Dalton and Gustavo as shesaidthis.
When they arrived in the alley that Peri had seen in Ember’s mind, the high fae nearly gagged at the thick scent of evil mixed with magic. Her eyes were immediately drawn to a woman lying motionless on the ground. Peri walked over, leaned down, and touched the woman’s head. There was nothing. No memories left, no soul to feel. She was an emptyshell.
“I can smell her,” Dalton said, his voice taking on a thick guttural quality as if his wolf was struggling to emerge. “But I smellhimas well, and his scent is gettingstronger.”
Peri could tell it was hard for Dalton to say those words, but she was glad he was accepting the reality of the situation so she wouldn’t have to hit him over the head with itlater.
“Let’s go.” Peri motioned for them to touch her arms. “I can follow themagic.”
They flashed from location to location, finding a lifeless body at each one. She knew that with every single kill, Volcan’s magic grew stronger inside of Jewel. Peri was truly beginning to wonder what they would find when they finally caught up with thehealer.
By the sixth female, Dalton was pacing as Lucian used his dominance over the wolf to keep him from phasing. Things were going from bad to full-blown nightmare very quickly. When they flashed the seventh time, there wasnobody.
“Thank the Great Luna,” she muttered and looked at the building in frontofher.
“Anna,” Gustavo growled at the same time Dalton saidJewel’sname.
Peri should have seen it coming, but both wolves were in a state of shock. So when they went straight through the glass windows of Little Shop of Horrors, rather than taking time to actually open the front door, all Peri could do was shake her head. With a muttered spell, she repaired the glass and then followed her own level-headed mate through thefrontdoor.
“Lucian,” Peri spoke quietly. “Make them phase. Their wolf will be less intimidating for the girls right now. A human male will be too overwhelming, especiallyforAnna.”
“Agreed,” Lucian said as he grabbed both males, who were attempting to smash their way through a locked door. Normally they’d have gone through it like a hot knife through butter, but Peri held it in place with her magic. “Phase,” he said in a command that even Gustavo had to obey. Both males were in their wolf forms from one breath to the next. Clothes were shredded, and Peri made quick work to make themdisappear.
Peri dropped her magic, and the door opened slowly. A woman Peri had not seen in a very long time walkedthroughit.
“Jezebel.” She said the woman’s name with affection. This was a woman that Peri had been friends with when Peri didn’t have many friends. And she respected the hell out of her for the choice she made solongago.
“I figured you wouldn’t be far behind them,” Jezebel said as she hugged Peri. “I’m gladyou’rehere.”
“I’d have been here sooner, but I’ve had other crises to handle. Let me make introductions quickly before the two snarling hair balls explode.” She pointed to Dalton. “The steel grey one is Dalton, Jewel’s mate. And the one with the red tips over the grey undercoat is Gustavo,Anna’smate.”
Jezebel’s eyes widened. She took a step toward Gustavo, and the wolf growledviciously.
“I mean you no ill will,” Jezebel said softly. “I simply want to meet the man who’s destined to keep my Anna safe. I am thankful the Great Luna has given you to her. As her mother, I must insist that you be better than good to her. You need to be remarkable because she is remarkable and deserves nothing less. Not perfection, but the continual pursuit to have a relationship that seeks the need of the partner first. You do that and you will have my sincere gratitude.” She paused and then added. “But if you hurt her, Volcan’s destruction will look like tinker toy blocks compared to what I will bring downonyou.”
“And on that note, why don’t we go up and find their mates before Gustavo decides he doesn’t care that you’re his mate’s mother.” Peri pointed towardthedoor.
The two wolves were moving before any of them could take a step. Peri flashed to the top of the stairs, forcing the pair to come to a quick stop or risk runningoverher.
“Remember, keep your crap together,” sheremindedthem.
When Jezebel met them at the landing, followed by Lucian, she opened the door and stepped aside, allowing them to enter. Both Dalton and Gustavo took off down the hall, and just before they turned the corner, they phased back to their humanforms.
Peri shot her magic at them, clothing their nakedness while cursing them at the same time. “Damn wolves never listen,” she muttered and followed Lucian, who was jogging after them. When she got to the door where Lucian paused, she walked up and stood beside him. Tears filled her eyes, and she felt her heart break. She often forgot how incredibly gentle the males of her mate’s species could be. And it never ceased to take her breath away when shewitnessedit.
* * *
He was everywhere allat once, and she felt as though the weight of the world had been lifted off of her crushed body. Jewel shook violently from head to toe. Her vision was non-existent, and it was hard to breathe as she wept. She’d held it together throughout the night, but during the last two women, she’d turned off her emotions altogether. It made her sick and relieved her at the same time. But as soon as Dalton touched her, it was as if a light was being shone into a dark room in her heart, forcing the shadows to retreat. All the emotions that the darkness had covered came rushing back, flooding her like a hurricane, and she was lostinit.
“I’ve got you.” She heard him speak, and she latched onto those words as if they were the only life raft in an ocean void of any people but her. She’d been treading water, and her legs were so tired. She’d given up. She’d allowed herself to start sinking into the dark sea of Volcan’s magic. And then, suddenly, Dalton was there. He hadn’t walked calmly into the room, or hesitantly. He’d barreled through the doorway, honed in on her, and wrapped her in his arms without any words passingbetweenthem.
“Shh, Little Dove, it’s going to be alright. I’m here. I’m not goinganywhere.”
She hadn’t realized that in the midst of all her weeping she was talking. “Don’t leave me. Please, please, just don’t leave me.” It was her mantra. It was the only prayer she had in that moment. But she knew once Dalton saw how evil she’d become, he would leave her. How could he not? Who could love a person who wantonly murdered innocent women, repeatedly? No one. She answered her own question. No one could love someone who’d done what she had. With her mother gone, the only person who might have loved her completely, flaws and all, had been Dalton. But now she would losehim,too.
“Jewel, hear me, I will never letyougo.”
