Dyna shook her head. “She is planning to return tomorrow.”
Elle reached out and took Dyna’s wrists. She held them in her hands and used her power to remove the evil that Ludcarab and Alston had tainted her with. Then she repeated the process on Coya and Reena.
All three of the women rubbed at their wrists as the marks faded. Then Reena looked at Peri. “Ember left the markings, though void of power, on Kara’s wrists because Ludcarab would have noticed them missing.”
“I cleansed Kara before she left this hellhole,” Peri said, looking around the room in disgust. “The markings will no longer be present.”
“Good,” Dyna said. Her eyes conveyed a wealth of relief.
Power suddenly filled the room, and even Peri stumbled under the weight of it. She turned to see Fane’s eyes glowing as he glanced at the bed. “Let’s get this done and then get our people back to the sprite realm. Though this is a victory in one form, it is also a great tragedy. We need rest, time with our loved ones and pack. And then we need to prepare for the retaliation that will come.” He looked at Drayden. “What do you think is best for your beta and his mate? To remain at your pack headquarters or to come to the sprite realm?”
Drayden ran a hand down his face. Peri could practically feel the weariness weighing down the Canadian alpha. “For now, Nick will definitely need what’s familiar and to remain in his own territory. We will just have to wait and see.”
Fane nodded. “We will strengthen the wards around your compound, as well as the other packs.”
“I will speak with Disir,” Peri offered.
“And I will speak with our council as well,” Jareth said from where he stood by the bed, his back to the room. Peri noticed he was using some sort of magic to blur the space around him so that nothing could be seen of what he was doing.Smart djinn.
“Let me take Drayden, Anna, and Gustavo to their respective places, Peri,” Elle said. “Disir will have made sure the group on the cliff has been taken back to the sprite realm. But I’ll double check just in case. Then I will return to help clean up.”
Peri nodded. “Fane?”
“I will stay until it is done.”
“Very well,” Peri said. “Let’s burn this bitch to the ground.”
Adam rubbed his hands together, his bloodthirsty side in full view as he smiled. “Best pep talk ever.”
ChapterSeventeen
“Where you lead, I will follow. Where you stand, I will remain. Where you rest, I will stay. When you cry, I will weep. When you smile, I will capture it and hold the memory of it in my mind. You are mine, and I am yours. It’s as simple as that.”
~Nick
Kara closed her eyes as Nick traced the contours of her face with the pad of his finger. She’d lost track of time since he’d brought her home. She’d woken up laying in his bed, and he’d only left her side long enough to retrieve food that had been delivered to them on a regular schedule, tend to his bathroom needs, and give her the privacy to tend to her own. The rest of the time, they simply laid in his bed, both on their sides, facing one another. Sometimes they slept. Sometimes he slept, and she watched him. But her favorite times were when they were both awake and simply staring into each other’s eyes.
Any time her thoughts started to veer toward the past couple of months, Nick would kiss her until all she could think about was him. Though, the first time, he’d asked her permission. “You never have to ask to kiss me, Nick,” she told him. That had been all the words he’d needed to hear because she knew he felt the truth in them through their bond. And kiss her, he did, often.
“I love you, yeah?” he said. He always finished the words with a question, as if to ask if she understood. She couldn’t decide if it was a Canadian thing or a Nick thing.
Kara nodded. “Yeah, you do.”
He chuckled. She opened her eyes because she loved to watch him laugh. It wasn’t something he did easily, especially lately. Then his face grew serious as his fingers threaded through her hair. Nick leaned closer and touched his forehead to hers. He took deep breaths, and she knew he took in her scent.
“It calms my wolf,” he said.
Kara lifted her hand and wrapped it around the back of his neck, letting the warmth of her skin seep into his. “I don’t have a wolf, but your scent calms me, too.” She could feel his need through their bond. Nick wanted to talk. He was desperate for her to open up to him. She felt his fear, his worry, and even the residual pain from their separation.
“I don’t know if I can say any of it out loud, Nick,” she told him honestly. “I’m not trying to keep anything from you. I never want there to be any secrets between us.”
“I will give you whatever you need, sweetheart,” he said, his warm breath brushing her skin. “If you never want to speak of it, then we won’t.”
She shook her head. “No. That’s not what I want. I literally mean, I don’t think my mouth can form the words to describe what happened. But”—she moved her hand from his neck until it rested against his cheek and her fingers on his temple—“I can show you. But only if that’s what you really need. I don’t want to make this any harder on you than it has already been.”
He leaned back enough that he could look into her eyes. “Harder on me?” he asked. “Kara, I wasn’t the one at the mercy of a sociopath. You don’t need to worry about me.”
“We belong to one another, yeah?” she said, ending her sentence just as he always did, which drew a small smile from him.
