Artemis nodded. “I’ll give her a necklace to wear which will trick Silas or the Fae Lords if they were to examine her closely at the fight.”
Examineme? None of them better freakingexamineme.
Brayden probably registered the alarm on my face because he placed a hand on my shoulder. “Smell you, try to see if you are Lena or Wren…”
“They’ve already done that,” I told him.
Artemis nodded. “When Brayden starts winning the fight with unprecedented power, they may want to… investigate, is all I’m saying. This necklace will shield the ten percent of power I have unlocked from their view.” He left the room to step into a back bedroom and I shuffled my feet nervously, looking over at Brayden.
“So is this considered cheating? For the fight?” I asked him.
He had said that Silas cheated last year, which was how he’d won. Brayden shook his head. “It’s within the rules for an alpha to be able to draw on the power of his pack using the Ring of Power. I’m allowed to use Greywolf power if there is one in my pack. But all Greywolves with power are supposed to be bound to or sacrificed to the Fae Lords.”
I choked on my spit. “Sacrificed?”
He nodded, a darkness falling over his features. “Greywolf Academy used to be filled with hundreds of fledgling Greywolves. Now its halls are empty. They either fled into hiding or were sacrificed and siphoned.”
“Siphoned?”
Brayden’s jaw clenched. “The Fae Lords are similar to humanity’s story of demons. They can suck the power dry from someone, leaving them empty, but it only lasts for a fleeting power boost.”
“Here we are.” Artemis stepped back into the room carrying a small golden chain, pulling me from my thoughts. There was no stone or locket hanging from it like I expected.
“Looks plain but it carries a lot of power,” he stated as he unclasped it and then fastened it around my neck. The second it settled onto my skin, a buzz vibrated through my body and then it was gone. He inhaled as if smelling me, and then nodded, seemingly pleased with himself.
“Smells like a regular garden variety wolf,” he said.
“Uhh, thank you?” I guess that was a compliment since it was our intended effect.
“My King.” Artemis turned to face Brayden, put his hands at his sides and bowed slightly. “You will not forget our agreement?”
Whoa.Bowing?That was pretty legit. It was weird and sexy to think of Brayden as royalty.
Brayden nodded. “Elder Fae Artemis, I will not. We are well met.”
Brayden and I left the cottage and my mind spun with the entire encounter.
I was a smidge fae, but I was going to shove that knowledge deep down inside of myself and forget about it. Brayden just promised to one day kill Novus in honor of the fallen Elder Fae.
“I can’t believe he just pledged a lifetime of service to you,” I said as we walked away from the cottage.
Brayden nodded. “It pays to be kind to others,” was all he said, and I knew then that not only was he hot as hell, but he was also wise.
FIFTEEN
The next few days passed quickly. We used the same golden egg to travel back to Earth or Idaho or whatever realm they called the place where humans lived, but instead of winding up in the bathroom at the Organic Juicery, we ended up at home in Brayden’s living room. Brayden told me that once you obtained a portal egg, AKA chili lime with mango, you could control where it took you with your mind. Now it was the day of the fight and I for one was not ready. I was hoping Brayden was since he was the one doing the actual fighting.
“That evil bastard!” I growled over my morning breakfast.
Silas and his wolves had hazed us all night long to keep us from getting a good night’s sleep—rocks thrown at windows, cars peeling out on the gravel. I wanted to shoot him again, but Brayden wouldn’t let me.
“Are you sure we can’t kill him?” Leah snarled into her coffee cup. It was seven a.m. and I maybe got a solid two hours of sleep.
Sleep was my weakness. I needed at least nine hours to be mentally stable, and ten hours to be pleasant.
“Not unless you want to die,” Brayden told her, chugging down a cup of black coffee.
“Will you be okay? This big fight on what, two hours of sleep, can’t bode well for you,” I asked, nervousness creeping into my voice.
