He has questions in his eyes, and I hate that I have no answers. I’m starting to wonder if I really know anything at all.
“I have no idea what happened,” I confess aloud, answering the unspokenhowfloating in his gaze. “I was trying to tap into the line when I died,” I go on, as though listing the events out loud might help me hear the answers to all of our questions. “I was desperate to get us out of there and frantic. Maybe when my brain shut down, it tweaked the resonance my magic was focused on, and it just happened to be the pack’s line,” I provide, not knowing what else to say.
It had to be a fluke. Nothing else makes sense, but I can’t shake the feeling that I did something wrong and now everyone is looking at me like I’m not who they thought I was. My heart twinges a little at that thought, and Rogan reaches for me and pulls me into his lap.
He places a tender kiss against my temple and strokes my back. I lean into him, ignoring the upset I feel over the disconnect between us.
“Whatever happened, I’m grateful it did. You saved us. I don’t know where we’d be right now if you hadn’t,” he reassures me.
I sigh warily, suddenly feeling very lost and small and vulnerable. “You still haven’t told me where we even are?” I remind him, wishing his words made me feel better, but there’s a scratching worry settling just under my skin, and I don’t know what to think about anything.
“We’re in Utah,” Rogan tells me, wrapping his arms around me tighter. “Elon and I have a hidden house here in the mountains that no one knows about.”
I pointedly look over to Riggs and Viv.
“We’re safe,” he assures me, clearly picking up what I’m putting down despite his inability tofeelit. “Riggs and Viv have been discreet and loyal since Elon and I moved into the area.”
Riggs chuckles and Viv offers me a friendly smile over her shoulder. “We always knew something was different about the Kendrick boys,” she tells me, wrinkling her nose. “They smell different to us,” she admits. “You smell different now too.”
Surprise flickers through me at that declaration. I never gave much thought to how I smelled before. I fight the urge to lean down and sniff my arm.
“They didn’t seem eager to explain anything to us, so we chalked it up to something that was none of our business. But then one night at an event the brothers both attended, one of our pups very rudely asked them why they smelled different from other witches.”
I smile at that. Nothing worse than getting called out on something by a kid. There’s no getting around the truth they spill no matter how cringy it may be.
“Elon and I knew then that they were aware we were different, but we still didn’t want to bring them into anything that could have put them and their pack in danger. So it just became this unspoken thing between us,” Rogan explains, and I can abruptly sense theuntil nowfloating uncomfortably around the interior of the car.
I can only imagine what they thought when Rogan and I showed up using a line no one is supposed to know about, me with a fatal head wound, and him battle weary and confused as to how we ended up there in the first place.
“Anyway,” Riggs barks jovially, breaking the awkward silence that was just building and making me jump. “My brother’s pack here helped these boys build their house up here. So when Viv and I discovered that’s where you were headed, we thought an escort was in order. I don’t get over to Ronan’s pack nearly enough, so the timing was perfect.”
Riggs’s smile is genuine, his kind eyes twinkling with support and care, but there’s more there, more to all of this, more that he’s not saying. I can feel it, but I’m too overloaded to demand he spit it out. So many questions swirl in my mind, and I feel completely bogged down by them. I’m stuck in a world of magic and chaos that’s so utterly confusing that I don’t even know where to start trying to untangle it all.
There’s this whole supernatural world that even the supernaturals don’t talk about. I’ve never heard my Grammy say much about demons, other than to steer clear or salt them if you had to. But now I’m learning that they’re more wrapped up in the fabric of the mancer world—and now even the lycan world—than I ever thought possible.
I shake away my frustrations and try to pull in some calming breaths. Rogan is still stroking soothing passes down my back, but my ire grows anyway. I thought I was getting past my insecurities of not knowing enough about the world I’m now forever a part of, but now I wonder if I’ll ever truly get the many facets, seen and unseen, of this world.
We round a corner, and the darkness all around us changes. Or maybe it’s just that my eyes are finally adjusting. Either way, I can now make out the thick trees bordering each side of us as well as the driveway in front of us that leads up to a huge log cabin.
Log mansion? Are those even a thing?
“Wow, Rogan, this is stunning!” Viv coos as she leans forward to take it all in.
Two massive stories with wraparound porches on each level loom down over us. The massive windows all over show lights on inside, and I’m instantly eager to see Elon and Prek and check over them to make sure they’re okay.
“Ronan and his crew did a beautiful job,” Riggs observes as they pull into the circular drive in front of the massive house.
“You both are more than welcome to stay,” Rogan offers, but Viv waves him off.
“You get settled in. We’ll come visit and get the grand tour in a couple days,” she states warmly.
“That’ll give us some time to make the arrangements that we discussed. We can go over everything then,” Riggs adds, and Rogan nods in understanding, not bothering to fill me in on the details they’re discussing.
They pull up in front of the house, and Riggs hops out and moves to the back to open the door. Rogan helps me slide out, and as he’s climbing out himself, Riggs wraps me up in a tight hug. A squeak of shock escapes me as he does, but after a second, I can’t help but feel like his hug is all that’s holding me together. My eyes sting, but I blink the emotion from them as Riggs sets me down and offers me a dazzling smile.
“It’s all going to be okay,” he tells me, confidence and wisdom ringing in his tone. “Even when you can’t see how, itwillall be okay.”
I nod, my chest tight with unexpected emotion, and with that, he jumps back into the driver’s seat and pulls away. Viv rolls down her window and waves at us as they leave. I wave back, all at once cold and bereft and wishing I believed the advice Riggs just offered.
