She narrowed her eyes at him. “Don’t test me. I will send you into the weird plants to get some weird rash and laugh while you roll around because it itches so bad.”
Torion’s eyes widened, and he looked at Lucian. “Maybe you should be in charge.”
“I am in charge. I just let her think she is.” Lucian winked at him, and Torion nodded, as if absorbing that information for later in life.
“I can still turn you into a rug,” Peri warned her mate. “It would give Hope something soft to crawl on.”
“Wug, wug, wug.” Thia patted her legs. “Uncle Lutchon be a bootaful wug.”
“Does she have an off switch?” Torion’s brow raised in concern.
“I’ll let you know if I find one,” Peri told him.
“What do we do now, Aunt Peri and Uncle Lucian?” Concern filled Titus’s voice.
Peri looked at each child, then to her mate. She raised her brow in question.
Lucian’s eyes glowed with his wolf. “We survive. Just like we’ve done over and over in the face of our enemies. I know Gavril has been teaching you about our past. What have you learned?”
Titus thought about it, and Peri admired the boy for how seriously he took his studies. Then he looked at Lucian and sat a little taller. “We fight. As long as we draw breath, we fight for the pack and for those who cannot.”
Peri swallowed down the tears at hearing Vasile’s words come from the mouth of the next generation. His wisdom and love would continue to be shared through Titus, Torion, Thia, Slate, Hope, and those yet to come. “We fight.”
“For the pack,” Lucian added.
“For the pack,” Titus echoed.
Torion pushed to his feet. His eyes dropped to Thia and then up to Peri. “For the pack.”
Eighteen
“Cain is dead. That was supposed to be something we could celebrate.
But now I’m holding a bag that contains his soggy head, wondering what the hell just happened.” ~Lizzy
“It’s been three hours.”Lizzy walked past Finn, who was sitting on one of the long benches in the great hall. Other sprites and supernaturals were scattered around the room, most of them looking as if they were awaiting instructions. They stood in groups, speaking in low voices and glancing around nervously. Lizzy had asked about Maxim’s pack as soon as the others had left, and he said they’d chosen to stay where they were to keep fighting hybrids. Adam would send another fae to them. So here they were—Lizzy, Finn, Maxim, and Alice—still standing where they’d been left when Fane and all his allies, including Lizzy’s best friend Kara, had disappeared with the fae who flashed them away. They didn’t know where they’d gone or what they might face, other than a sprite with a vendetta who had Jewel, one of the gypsy healers.
“They should be back by now, right?” Lizzy continued. “I mean, at least one of them should have made it out of a battle, if that’s what happened. I saw them fight against Cain’s people. They aren’t just your everyday, run-of-the-mill supernaturals. These are some serious kick-ass people.”
Finn didn’t respond, though Lizzy could feel his concern through the bond.
Lizzy turned to Alice, who was watching her pace with arms folded. Alice nodded in agreement. Maxim, her mate, sat across from Finn, looking just as calm as he did.
“What is with you two?” Lizzy waved her hand at the two males. “Why are you sitting there like you’re waiting for a meal, all calm and whatever?”
“As opposed to pacing around and speaking really fast about what you think should be happening, even though it isn’t?” Maxim asked, his thick accent rough.
Lizzy nodded. “Exactly. Yes. That.” She pointed at him. “Why aren’t you doing that? I feel like neither of you is as worried as you should be.”
“Hello.” A female voice interrupted Lizzy’s mini tirade as a woman swept into the room with a handsome man beside her. He looked very human. Lizzy guessed this because he wasn’t built like a linebacker like most of the wolves, nor was he pretty enough to be a fae or elf. Maybe he was a warlock? “My name is Cindy. I’m Sally’s mom, and this is my husband, Chris. We haven’t formally met. I’m a seer sprite, and Chris is human.”
“Called it,” Lizzy couldn’t help but mutter. Finn reached out and placed a hand on the back of her leg, just at the bend of the knee. She wasn’t sure, but she thought that might have been his way of telling her to chill without actually saying it.
“I’ve been trying to keep an eye out—no pun intended”—Cindy’s voice wavered as she bounced on the balls of her feet and wrung her hands nervously—“on the situation with my daughterand the others, and, well…” She cleared her throat. “I’ve got nothing.”
Lizzy and the others stared at her silently. Then Lizzy asked slowly, “What do you mean, you’ve got nothing?”
“I mean, I can’t see anything. Their futures—all of them—are gone.”
