Brayden turned to face me. “There is an old fae I know of who can help hide your powers so that you don’t accidently use them in anger and hurt someone you love, and so that you won’t be tracked down by the Fae Lords. It would mean you could remain in school and working at that damn bar.”
Hide this freaky power of moving chandeliers and freezing time? “Hell yeah, I’m in.”
* * *
“You didn’t cancellife-saving heart surgery, right?” I asked Brayden as we took the steps up to the porch of a cabin that was nestled deep into the woods. We were so far north in Idaho that my phone was going in and out of roaming and sayingWelcome to Canada. We’d driven Maddie’s little black RAV-4 and were bouncing all over the uneven backroads to this remote place.
Brayden chuckled. “Life-saving heart surgery is not something I do on animals or humans. I’m a trauma surgeon. This was a neuter procedure on a six-month-old puppy.”
Whew, no animals were going to be harmed in this little adventure. “Is that hard to neuter a dog while you are also a wolf?” I couldn’t imagine cutting the balls off of a little helpless puppy, especially if I had balls myself.
He shrugged. “Gotta pay the bills.”
True that. Which was why I wasn’t quitting the bartending job. Well, that and I didn’t want Maddy and Brayden making choices for my life. I peered over my shoulder and waved at Maddy, who was leaning against the hood of her car. She said that if meeting the Amarok made her want to pee her pants, then the Elder Fae was a crap-your-pants kind of situation and she was going to stay outside. I was not looking forward to this.
We’d reached the rickety porch of the broken-down cabin, and when Brayden reached for the knob of the door without knocking I yanked his arm back and looked at him with wide eyes.
“Don’t you knock first?” I asked.
“Trust me,” he said, and the effect those two words had on me was mildly embarrassing. I flushed and nodded my head, pulling back my arm.
He turned the knob and threw the door open wide. A plume of dust greeted us as the door banged against the interior wall of the small… home. It was hard to call it that as it looked more like an abandoned crack den, and that was putting it nicely.
“Oh look, no one lives here anymore. Time to go.” I spun but Brayden caught me by the arm and pulled me inside.
The stench of damp mildew hit my nostrils and I put my hand over my mouth and nose. We walked into the living room and Brayden sidestepped a sagging old orange sofa and went right for the lamp that sat on the side table.
“You are crazy if you think this place has electricity,” I told him as he reached for the cord to turn it on. This place was abandoned so long that rats had moved in. I could tell from the droppings on the carpet.
He reached out to me. “Hold my hand.”
Damn, this guy was crazy, but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that him demanding I hold his hand in this hellhole was still sexy.
Trust.Okay, trusting… here we go. I let him take my fingers in his, threading mine instantly with his as you would a lover. Our eyes locked, and something quivered in my chest.
I stepped closer to him, bringing my body in line with his as his eyes went yellow. I could get lost in this moment forever. Holding his hand, staring into his wolf eyes, it was like there was something inside of me that was trying to remember him.
Or maybe it was just my wishful thinking.
“I want to be Lena,” I confessed, and then swallowed hard.
His gaze fell to my lips as his thumb stroked the inside of my palm. Was there something familiar about the gesture?
“I want it to be you too.” He pulled on my hand, causing me to stumble forward until my body was flush up against his. My breasts smashed against his rock-hard chest and my hips dug into him. His eyes flashed blue to yellow and back again before he closed them and took in a steadying breath. “Hold on to me,” was all he said.
He didn’t need to tell me twice. Hell, at this point I’d have his babies if he commanded it. Just call me Lena for the rest of my life, I wouldn’t care—whatever it took to get his tongue in my mouth.
I wrapped my free arm around his waist, then he yanked the chain on the lampstand. A shriek tore from my lips as everything went black and we were falling. Brayden’s hand clamped down on mine like a vise, and the other went around my waist, digging into my lower back and pressing me harder against him.
We stopped suddenly, my feet slamming onto hard-packed earth; my teeth clamped together. The darkness fled and suddenly I was looking up at the moonlight. I peered around and yelped when I realized we were no longer in the cabin and it was no longer daytime.
Thick trees that looked blackened and half melted surrounded a creepy home. There were flickering lights on in the windows and the entire thing looked to be carved of black stone. To Brayden’s right sat a lampstand with the same lamp on it from the cabin, this one lit and the cord still dancing from his touch.
“Brayden.” I clung to him and he looked down at me.
“It’s okay. This is where the Elder Fae lives.” He moved to walk towards the cabin door, still holding my hand, and I yanked him backward, forcing him to face me.
“Where.Are. We?” I demanded. I could only have one nervous breakdown a day and I’d already reached my quota.
