Chapter Seventeen
Neith
Plus, I think Doc is secretly pleased that he doesn’t have to transport us after he tried to go back to the house and ended up feeling really unwell.
“Love?” Coen asks with a worried note in his voice when I don’t answer his question right away.
I nod, “I’m good, I promise. I’ll tell you about it later.”
“Nothing I need to worry about?” He asks.
I shake my head, “Nope. Let’s get this fucker first, and then I’ll tell you all about my newest bout of crazy.”
He chuckles and squeezes me once more, “You got it, Love.”
That’s something I adore about Coen: he doesn’t push me or pressure me into telling him something, ever. If I tell him I’m safe, then that’s good enough for him. I could have told him only that and not said that I would fill him inlater, and he would have dropped it until I was ready to talk about it. If I were ever ready to talk about it.
He’s pretty fucking awesome like that.
We both pile into one of the SUVs.
Van is at the wheel of one of them, and Reed is at the wheel of the one that I’m in.
“So, was it just these two and the van in the garage?” Coen asks as we start to pull down the long and winding driveway.
Ransom grins, “Nope, there are a few more things in there, but I don’t want to ruin the surprise.”
Coen grins, “I’m good with that. If we’re not too exhausted when we get back, then we can play.”
“I’m hoping it's going to go reasonably smoothly,” Reed says. “Or at least as smoothly as these things tend to go.”
As predicted, as soon as we’re on the road and traveling away from House, Ethel, and the mysterious Zephyr, Van calls Reed, and we all go through the plan and our roles again.
There’s not a chance to tell them about my dream, and the item of clothing in my dresser, or, I suppose, the floor now. Either way, it definitely shouldn’t be there, and to be honest, I’m okay with that. I need to focus on the here and now, and the awake world. I need to shut the sales down, save these wolves and other supernaturals that have been kidnapped, and make sure that The Owner can never go after Rana.
“Question,” I interrupt Van’s third time going through the plan on this car ride. To be honest, by this point, I could probably recite it in my sleep.
“Yes, Nene?” Van asks.
“If The Owner is proving difficult to take in, which is likely considering his skillset,” I start. I did my research last night. He’s stronger than he should be. He’s a mage like Ransom, although not nearly as powerful, but all of theinformation that we have on him suggests that he shouldn’t be as powerful as he is. My best guess is that he’s using the potions and spells he gets from Casimir and probably the Obsidian Market as well to make it appear as if he has more magic than he does. I continue explaining, “Can we kill him, if it’s looking like he’s going to escape and we get the opportunity to?”
“Yes,” Van replies immediately. “We aren’t taking any chances with him escaping, especially because of what we know about how he feels about Rana, we can’t risk him going after her.”
“She’s probably already gone into hiding,” I reply. “That’s what I would have done. I’m really hoping she has more patience than me though, and that she will at least wait for my update tonight.”
“She trusts you,” River says. “I think she’ll wait.”
“I really hope you’re right,” I reply, and then sit up straighter in my seat. “We’re here.”
Here is a large clearing in the woods that’s a few miles away from where the sales are going to turn up. We’re leaving the vehicles here and meeting up with the rest of the teams, who thankfully seem to already be here. We’ll then walk into the target area and set up from there.
There’s going to be a lot of waiting around today, but we can’t risk setting up closer to the time of the sales and getting seen.
The others all get out of the car, but I pause when Reed doesn’t immediately get out, leaning forward between the seats. I kiss him on the cheek and ask, “Is everything okay?”
He smiles, turning to meet my gaze and kissing me softly, “I’m good, I just really hate having to lock my magic down. I always did, but now it’s free more often than it ever has been before, and because of that, it’s even harder to put it back into its cage.”
“I can understand that,” I reply with a frown. “Are you sure you can’t have it out all of the time?”
