“Fuck,” I hissed, jumping a mile.
Dathal grinned, teeth white in the dim light of the hallway. “You think I let Nick give you one of those stones without making him give me one too?” He leant against the wall, arms crossed. “So, why, when you obviously know someone’s out there, are you creeping downstairs on your own instead of coming to wake us up?”
I narrowed my eyes at him. If he thought I was in any danger, he’d have had his daggers out and would be outside killing whoever it was by now. The fact that he was still standing in front of me, not looking the least bit concerned, told me his gut feeling was the same as mine.
And Dathal’s was about a hundred times more reliable.
“You know as well as I do who’s out there.”
He gave me a flat look. “I have a strong feeling. Which isnotthe same as being absolutely certain.”
“When are you ever wrong?”
“I’d rather not test that theory at your expense.”
While he made infuriating sense, I was still going out there. “I’m going downstairs. Are you going to try and stop me?”
“Try?” He scoffed, and I rolled my eyes. “But no, I won’t stop you.”
“Good—”
“But I am coming with you.”
Fuck, no. I didn’t know why Talis was lurking outside my house. Well, not specifically, but I didn’t want an audience while I went down there to ask him.
“And that’s non-negotiable,” he added when I opened my mouth to speak.
“Fine,” I hissed. “But when we get down there and see that it’s Talis, you need to come back up here.”
He studied me for a long, drawn-out moment. What a shame my magic didn’t choose then to kick in. I would never read his mind without permission, but since I couldn’t control it over here, I wouldn’t say no to a look at what he was thinking.
“Are you sure you want to go out there?” he asked, violet eyes fixed on mine.
“At this rate, he’ll be gone by the time I get downstairs.” I could tell from Dathal’s expression he thought that would be for the best, butchlah ferath,I just needed to get out there and see him. And I was too fucking tired to examine why that was.
And too scared.
But I ignored that too.
“I hope you know what you’re doing.” His mouth curved into a smirk as he repeated words I’d said to him not all that long ago.
“Nope.” My honesty surprising the both of us. “But since when has that ever stopped me?”
His only reply was a grunt, then he pushed off the wall and led the way downstairs.
As I followed him into the living room, I wondered how close Talis actually was to my house. Would I even be able to see him? He could’ve left as soon as he heard us coming downstairs.
I stood beside Dathal at the French doors, the hazy early morning light making it easy to see all the way to the trees beyond my garden. The magic of the gateway hummed and shimmered over to the right, but I ignored it, like I had for the past two months. If I didn’t, I’d spend every waking hour expecting Zh’alek to waltz through any second. I had to trust the fae guard were doing their job on the other side.
“See anything?” I asked, scanning the treeline for any sign of him. Talis was a big guy, but I doubted I’d be able to spot him if he didn’t want me to.
“Yes.” Dathal pointed to a spot at the far edge of the tree line. I squinted, not seeing anyone at first, and then my gaze dropped lower, and I huffed.
Of fucking course.
The silvery-grey wolf stood half-hidden behind a huge oak tree, staring our way.
Without waiting to see what Dathal did next, I reached for the handle on the French doors.
