“I’m tired of being the one on the run.” I step forward, past the protective wall Killian and Villeneuve have formed in front of me. “I’d rather face the bitch head on. And I’ve got a few questions myself.”
Killian groans, but it’s the sound of an alpha who’s already resigned. He might complain about my decisions, but he’s always respected them.
“Regina.” His voice is rough, but there’s an undercurrent of pride in it. “If anything happens to you…”
“Nothing’s going to happen to me.” I reach out and take his hand. His fingers are cold, and I feel a slight tremor in them from the effort of controlling whatever is happening inside him. “I’m not the scared girl who ran away from her coven anymore. I have a pack now. I haveyou.”
His jaw works. For a moment, I think he’s going to argue and pull the pack alpha card after all.
Instead, he pulls me against his chest. His arms wrap around me, tight and desperate, and I feel his heart beating against my cheek.
“Why do you have to be so fucking brave?” he mutters.
I laugh, close my eyes and breathe him in. Earth and bourbon, even now with dark magic polluting his veins. “More pissed than brave.”
“Same difference,” he says, kissing my forehead. It’s the first time in weeks he’s been this close without his guard being down in his sleep.
He acts like I’m made of glass these days.
Like he’ll shatter me if he breathes wrong.
When I pull back, Vyse is watching us. Something suspiciously close to envy crosses his features before he seals it away.
“Well then,” he says, standing. “It seems we have a plan.”
Chapter
Seventeen
REGINA
The Council facility looks exactly like any other bureaucratic hellhole, with the exception of the imp guarding the front desk and the occasional hum of magic from the various corridors of the building.
We’re flanked by guards in matching uniforms who look deeply uncomfortable with our presence as they escort us to the interrogation room.
Rowan’s on my left, Sean on my right. Villeneuve and Vyse lead the way, which is somehow both reassuring and terrifying at the same time.
Micah and Sadie stayed behind on campus with Killian, much to both alphas’ chagrin.
We can’t risk bringing Killian anywhere near a Council facility. They have people like Vyse here, who can sense magic in ways most practitioners can’t. One look at the dark veins spreading under Killian’s skin, one whiff of whatever supernatural wrongness is coursing through his blood, and the Council would know.
And then they’d kill him.
Orquarantine him for study.
Same result, just slower.
So he’s at Villeneuve’s mansion, probably climbing the walls. Micah promised to keep him distracted with video games. Sadie promised me to put a benign hex on anyone who tried to leave.
We’ll see which strategy works better.
The interrogation room is at the end of the hall, behind a door that looks like every other door we’ve passed, which is to say utterly unremarkable. Designed that way, probably. If you didn’t know better, this place could pass for the back rooms of any mundane DMV.
Which is probably why Sean looks like he’s already bored out of his mind.
“You okay?” I whisper to him as we walk.
“Yeah, I’m just allergic to fluorescent lights,” he says, scratching his arm.
