“Okay.” I tugged my tunic back on before wiggling my fingers. “How do I get the axes back?”
“Good question.” Roth frowned. “I’m not sure. Maybe just think about them?”
“Are you serious?” I stared at them.
Kieran and Draven chuckled, earning a glare from Roth.
“Again,” Roth said evenly, “you’re the first person I’ve tried this on. Just think about the damn axes!”
“I’ll think about throwing one at your hea—oh.” My fingers instinctively coiled around the wood handles of the axes as they reappeared in my hands. “Huh. That is handy.”
I concentrated on the axes disappearing, and they obediently did after a few seconds. Then I recalled them back. Every time I did it, they reacted faster until it was practically instantaneous.
“Where do we think they go?” Kieran peered at them.
“No idea.” Roth shrugged.
“You know you say that a lot, right?” Draven said.
“Keep it up and I’ll make you disappear next,” Roth replied curtly.
“Nah, you’d miss me too much, Rothie Bear.” Draven gave them a wide smile.
The corners of Roth’s mouth curved up slightly before they looked at me. “You two should get going so Rynn can return before they realize she’s missing.”
My brother would absolutely know I’d been up to something, but him I could deal with. It was Bastian I was worried about.
“Huh.” I glanced back and forth between my palms. “They’re gone.”
Roth yanked down my tunic. “That one’s still there.”
“Shit.” I jumped to my feet, knocking Roth’s hand away, and stalked over to a mirror to look at the mark on my chest. Two dual axes were tattooed just above my heart. “If I shift in front of the Alphas, they’re going to see that, Roth!” I spun back around to face them. “Make it disappear like the other ones!”
“I have no idea why the ones on your hand disappeared and that one didn’t.” Roth rubbed the back of their neck. “I can do some more research and see if I can figure something out . . .”
Yeah. That sounded all kinds of promising.
“I find people ask a lot less questions if they’re getting a solid fuck,” Kieran suggested. “So maybe just . . . keep their attention occupied elsewhere?”
Draven gave his mate an exasperated look. “Remember how she’s trying to leave them?”
“It’s a goodbye fuck. A long, drawn out, hate-filled goodbye fuck.”
Talis gleefully laughed in my mind.
“Not. Helpful,” I bit out before sighing. I’d just have to be careful about how I shifted around the Alphas. Put my back to them or something.
“What did you tell Bastian you were doing today?” Draven asked.
“Research.” I chewed on my bottom lip and buttoned up my shirt a little more. “Maybe I can claim I was handling a Fae artifact and it left these markings behind.”
They’d be suspicious, but as long as I made it back without Bastian knowing I’d been missing, he wouldn’t be able to prove anything, and it wasn’t entirely unheard of for weird things to happen with the relics the Fae left behind. A few months ago, someone had partially burned down a wing at Drudonia because a stone box they’d been inspecting had erupted into flames that no amount of water had been able to put out.
So my excuse wouldn’t be that outlandish. Aside from not wanting Bastian to know I’d been here, I liked the idea of having some weapons the Alphas didn’t know about. In case I needed them one day.
My stomach soured at the thought of fighting them. Well, not Warrick. I’d happily bury my axe in his gut, but despite my differences with Cade, I did believe he wanted to make things better for all Velesians. Ryker and Bastian were . . . complicated.
I’d have a few hours to think of a convincing story to tell Bastian about the tattoos, and that was assuming he didn’t track down Trina or some other pretty bedmate after getting out of the meeting with my uncle and father. Maybe I was worrying for nothing and Bastian wouldn’t even come looking for me until tomorrow morning when we were supposed to head back.
