Peri patted the warlock queen on the shoulder. “Don’t let anyone tell you that you’re not sharp as a tack. Now”—she turned to face Dalton— “we need to have a chat.”
“While you guys chat, I’m just gonna…” Anna pointed to the couch and then plopped down onto it. Elle sat beside her while Gustavo and Sorin took up stances on either end. Both males watched Dalton closely.
“What do you want to talk about?” Dalton’s eyes glowed slightly with his wolf as he glanced at Peri and then at Lucian.
“I was thinking about perhaps the outrageous price of tea in restaurants these days.” Peri lifted her shoulders dramatically and dropped them.
“Why tea? I’m thinking it’s meat prices that are really the issue.”
Peri held her hand up at Elle, never taking her eyes off Dalton. “You know damn well I don’t give a fairy’s ass about the price of tea. I want to talk about the fact that you’ve”—she pointed at the wolf in question—“fought tooth and nail for you and Jewel to have a life and future together. And now, when the going gets tough, you leave her.”
Dalton bared his teeth at her. “I didn’t leave her. I’m trying to figure out what the hell is going on since my own mate won’t tell me anything. I can’t just walk behind her like a damn sad puppy sitting when she tells me to and hoping she will give me a scrap of attention. And who the hell are you to lecture me”—he slammed a fist into his chest—“about my mate?”
“He’s sort of got a point,” Anna muttered.
Peri shot her a look, but the healer just gave her a small smile.
Anna laid her head back on the couch. “Sorry, Peri. I’m too tired and full of dark energy to be scared of you.”
Peri rolled her eyes and then focused back on Dalton. “What’s your plan?”
Dalton stared at her blankly, then dropped his eyes as he shook his head. “I don’t have a plan. I’m just trying to get from one moment to the next.”
Peri heard the pain in his voice, and suddenly the angry man who’d stood before her looked broken. This was the man she remembered when he thought Jewel had been lost to him. She could see the lines on his face, the dark circles under his eyes, and the weight of the world that seemed to have settled on his shoulders.
“Okay.” Lucian spoke up when Peri struggled to find words. “We’re not going to solve anything right now. Let’s just go back to your pack and check on Jewel, as well as everyone else.”
Dalton gave a sharp nod.
Peri said nothing. What could she say? The wolf was hurting, and though she didn’t agree with how he’d handled things, who was she to judge him and their relationship?“Damn, I think I’m growing emotionally,”she told her mate.
Lucian snorted a laugh through their bond.“Only took you a few thousand years.”
“Shut up.”She held out her arms for everyone. Then she flashed them to the living room of Dalton’s pack.
As soon as they reappeared, she grabbed Dalton’s arm. “Just give me a few minutes with her, okay?”
Dalton nodded as his eyes went to the stairs that would lead to the room he and his mate shared. His jaw clenched and his eyes glowed slightly. “I’ll wait,” he said through a tight throat, as if it took a ton of effort to even keep his words under control.
She looked at her mate. “I’ll be back in a few.”
“Don’t take too long. I need to feed you and take you to bed.”
“Is that all?” Her lips turned up slightly.
“Behave.”
She chuckled through their bond so that only he could hear as she flashed, but she abruptly stopped when she appeared in Jewel’s room. The healer wasn’t in the bed, and there wasn’t any rustling, footsteps, or breathing coming from the bathroom or closet.“Keep Dalton occupied, please,”Peri told her mate. “Damn wheelers are going to be the death of me,” she muttered as she took up a spot against the wall by the window and decided to wait for at least a little while to see if the idiot-genius showed back up.
Eleven
“Have I mentioned that living on the streets was actually safer than this new life I have found myself in? Not that I’m complaining. I mean, there was zero chance of me meeting a man like Finn in my previous life. Not to mention all these other people who have quickly become friends I care about. But now, there’s a real chance it could all be taken away. This fight could be the one that ends my life. I’ve decided that I won’t leave this compound until Cain is dead. Even if I have to die trying.” ~Lizzy
The air crackledwith raw power as Disir and Dain weaved a protection spell around the group, shielding them from the possibility of Cain’s supernatural beings overhearing their plans. Lizzy and the rest of the group remained completely still and silent, not daring to disrupt the spell.
Lizzy’s eyes wandered to the compound. The minimal lighting made sense, considering everyone working with Cain could see perfectly in the dark. Her heart thudded painfully asmemories of her time as a foolish, willing test subject flooded back. How gullible she had been.
“Cut yourself some slack, love.”Finn’s voice came through their bond. She felt his hand on the back of her neck, and even though it wasn’t physically there, it seemed so real. “Anyone would have jumped at the opportunity to get off the streets. Especially a female. You were vulnerable, and he preyed on that.”
