Instantly, she felt lighter, as if she’d removed a heavy weight from her soul. But the lightness turned into a spinning, floating feeling. She heard Gerty gasp. And then Selene’s shoulder slapped the wood floor.
“What the fuck?”Jason sat up within a ring of gaping faces. Something dropped from his forehead and he caught it in his hand. A giant fang. What the hell was all over him? He smeared the red symbols painted on his torso.
Laina and Silas were struggling beside the bed to help someone from the floor. Jason couldn’t see who it was behind the full skirt of Laina’s dress. His gaze darted to Gerty whose wrinkled expression gave nothing away but was tight with concern.
“I’m all right,” Selene’s voice came from between them. The elegant blush colored robe drifted into view as Silas and Laina parted. “Water, please.” Gerty nodded and ran for the kitchen.
“What’sshedoing here?” Jason asked. “Why is everyone staring? And why the hell am I in Laina’s bed?”
Silas growled. “Shejust saved your life.” His brother cradled Selene’s elbow as she swayed on her feet.
While Jason tried to wrap his head around that tidbit, Laina stood and retrieved a towel from the bathroom, tossing it to him. “You caught something from the dragon fae you had sex with, Jason, and in this case, you’d be better off with syphilis. She cursed you.”
Gerty returned with the water and Selene took a long drink before speaking.
“She was trying to lure him somewhere,” Selene said. “I saw a road, a river, and two mountains. I saw her beckoning me… I mean, him. When the curse was inside me, I could see what he saw. She was luring him to her.”
“Is this true?” Silas asked Jason.
After a long deep inhale, Jason admitted to himself that he could no longer keep his encounter a secret. “Yes. Nickelova came to me the other night, possessed a woman I was with, and told me she needed me. She placed the vision of that place in my head.”
The others made a series of shocked gasps and grunts. Jason rolled his eyes toward the ceiling. Crap, he’d hoped to avoid this.
“You knew about this? And you didn’t think it was important enough to tell us?” Silas bared his teeth, a dark rumble coming from deep within his chest.
“I had it under control. Besides, I wasn’t positive she was real. It might have been a nightmare.” The lie rolled off his tongue easily. Her lips around his cock had been real enough.
“So where is this place?” Laina quirked a brow. “Maybe we should pay Nickelova a visit.”
“I wouldn’t do that,” Gerty said. “Attacking a dragon fae in her mountain is like attacking a woodland fae in her tree. You’ll never make it out alive.”
“Even if we could, I have no idea where her mountain is. I recognize the road as Route 9, and it’s Stone Eagle River, but there are no mountains in that area,” Selene said.
“No mountains you can see,” said Gerty. “Dragon fae can’t make a mountain but they can use magic to bend space. My guess is that if Jason follows her clues, she’s left him a portal that will take him to her mountain, wherever that may be.”
“I’ll go,” Silas said.
Gerty snorted. “Suicide. Do you think she’d let just anyone reach her? And if she did, do you believe for a second it wouldn’t be a trap?”
“So, Jason has to go,” Laina said. “Or we have to lure her out.”
Selene met the princess’s gaze and wet her lips before speaking. “But… Jason can’t go.”
“What? Why?” Laina asked.
Jason squirmed as Selene’s gaze shifted to him, cutting right through him.
“He won’t be able to say no to her,” Selene said. “You’ll lose him.”
In righteous indignation, Jason bound from the bed, his finger pointing at Selene’s chest. “You don’t even know me. You have no idea what I can and cannot do. I would never put the pack at risk. I’d die first. Who the hell do you think you are?”
Selene’s chin dropped and she took interest in the floor.
Five fingers slapped the center of Jason’s chest, Silas’s hand bringing him to a full stop. “She’s not the problem here.”
Jason looked at his brother. “If you want me to go, Silas, I’ll go. I’m ready.”
Silas’s lips pressed into a flat line. “Why do you feel he can’t do this, Selene?”
