Maddy gave her brother a hip bump as she settled next to him in the kitchen and leaned against the counter. “Brayden will be fine without sleep. He’s a doctor. He barely sleeps as it is.”
Brayden nodded and then looked at me. “I will be fine. I have you,” he told me, and my breath hitched in my throat. Leah’s entire body tensed, and for a second it was like only Brayden and I existed in the room. Brayden’s cheeks pinked and he cleared his throat. “Your power. Your Greywolf power is what will help me win this fight,” he added, and my jubilation deflated like a balloon.
I sank into my chair and gave a nervous laugh before shoving a chunk of Leah’s famous waffles into my mouth to keep me from saying anything stupid. Leah gave me a pathetic look of pity and I wanted to disappear.
Was it apparent to the entire room that I was into Brayden? Probably. Especially now.
Awesome.
What Artemis had said about my missing memories and Brayden having to choose a wife came back to me. Fate was nice and romantic, but at the end of the day maybe it was better if we chose who we wanted to be with without all the outside circumstances. Would I never like Brayden if I didn’t think I could be his soulmate and wife? Castiel seemed pretty eager for his Wren. Maybe I would just go and be with him versus waiting for eternity for Lena to get her memories. I wanted to be with someone who wanted me for me and how I made them feel, not on some past I didn’t remember.
But even as I said it, my entire body rebelled. Ididremember Brayden, maybe not in flashes of pictures or thoughts, but it felt like my body remembered. Even now I ached to be with him, to hold him, to kiss him. I would kill any woman who touched him. What did that say?
It said a lot to me. It said that IwasLena. I had to be. But until I passed all of his little memory tests, he wouldn’t accept it.
It made me angry in a stupid way.
“Let’s get going. You know how packed the official portals into the Ether get on fight day,” Maddy said, chugging the rest of her coffee.
Leah and I shared a worried look. This stupid fight was barbaric but I was powerless to stop it. I twirled the small gold chain at my neck and swallowed hard. We just had to hope that I had enough power for Brayden to pull from so that he would win his fight. Getting his little sister, Nora, back was of the upmost importance, and the rest of his pack too. People like Mary deserved to be under the rule of a kind and caring alpha like Brayden. Not this douchebag Silas who couldn’t even be killed.
We left the house, tense and cagey, when we stepped outside to see the rocks and broken glass and tire marks from Silas and his goons taunting us the night before. It was a short drive into town and then another five minutes over to Idaho Country Club. I wore an ankle-length red silk dress with a slit up to the thigh. Brayden had said that it was a formal event and we were required by the Fae Lords to dress as such. The sun was high in the sky, but Brayden assured me it would be nighttime when we got to the Ether Realm. Much like Paris and Los Angeles had a time difference, so did the Ether.
“This is where one of the monitored permanent portals are?” It was a fancy golf course and country club, a place where men bragged about their latest hunting trophy, not exactly where you expected to see a bunch of magical creatures.
“Owned by the Fae Lords,” was all Brayden said.
When we pulled up, the parking lot was packed.
Private Event,a sign read, and there was a parking attendant checking people in. When we pulled up, Brayden rolled down his window and the young guy took one look at him and grinned. “Good luck. I’m putting a hundred bucks on you,” he said.
“Appreciate it.” Brayden’s voice was monotone, fake. I knew him well enough to know that he hated that he was about to fight, but had to go through with it anyway. If he didn’t entertain the sadistic Fae Lords they would torture his siblings. They might not be living their dream life chained to the Fae Lords, but his brothers and their wives were comfortable, something the Fae Lords could take away any moment.
Throngs of people were walking along the pathways that led to the double doors. We followed them and my nose was assaulted with scents of supernaturals. Damp earth, freshly cut wood, sage, copper, magic.
“This is all for you? For the fight?” Leah whispered to Brayden, but a few people turned their heads in her direction and I gasped.
Two tall women with paper-white skin and red-tinged lips looked at Leah curiously and I just instinctively knew what they were.
Vampires.
I gulped, locking Leah’s arm with mine as we took in our surroundings.
“Yes,” Brayden said. “Everyone loves to see the fallen king fight for his life.” There was disdain in his tone and it resonated with me. Why was such a spectacle made of this fight? It clearly gave the Fae Lords satisfaction to see Brayden have to physically fight for his life year after year.
When we reached the doors, they opened and two men in black suits stood at either side with fake smiles. The points of their ears told me they were fae, and I could tell by the way they inhaled that they were checking our supernatural status.
Please work, I thought as I fingered the necklace.
Brayden reached up and took my hand in his, pulling it away from the necklace and curling his fingers into mine. For half a second I couldn’t breathe; the mere act of holding my hand had stolen my train of thought. Then I remember the talk we’d had last night. Everyone agreed that I should fully pretend to be Lena so that Silas or the Fae Lords wouldn’t be suspicious.
We stepped into the large country club together and I was shocked at the hundreds of people gathered. Everyone wore their finest clothes and were drinking champagne and eating hors d’oeuvres. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought I was at a wedding.
People started to part the crowd as we were seen. The talking quieted and whispers began.
“It’s Lena,” one said.
“He’ll win the pack back this year,” another said.
