Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 125077 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 625(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125077 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 625(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Because they had formed a tight unit. They’d been forced to rely on each other.
In the hours since he’d brought me inside the cabin, I’d told him everything that had happened on the outer planes, but we hadn’t gotten to the heart of what I wanted to know.
Now that it was here, I was scared of the answers.
Although I wasn’t sure where here was. “Where are we? Eddie didn’t tell me where we were going. Just said you would be here.”
“We’re in Southern Louisiana. This is a cabin Gray bought a long time ago. Don’t worry. It’s a safe house. We’re absolutely secure here.” Trent’s hand brushed over my thigh as he shifted so he was on his side, his head held up on his other hand like he was a deliciously hot centerfold. “We’re in an unincorporated part of Papillon Parish. There’s a small town not far from here with a truly excellent restaurant. I go there and I sit out on this big porch they have, and I think of you while I eat gumbo and jambalaya and drink a beer. Though I haven’t been here in a while because a few years ago Fenrir scared the crap out of some locals, and now they think there’s this weird Cajun werewolf thing running around. I couldn’t exactly tell them that he was a regular old normal werewolf.”
“He’s not.” I smiled because I could see Fen running around the bayou in that massive body of his and not knowing how to properly hide from the humans. He’d been that way when he was a little boy, a tiny human body that contained a massive wolf.
“No, he’s not,” Trent conceded with a sigh. “None of them are normal, so I’m not surprised it turns out Lee is a latent vampire. Honestly, it explains a lot. He’s the single most reckless kid I’ve ever met. Keeping him alive has been the hardest thing I’ve ever done.” Trent went quiet for a moment. “That’s a lie. Being without you was the hardest thing. Damn, you’re gorgeous, baby. You have no idea how hard it was to not get on a plane last night. Only logic saved me. Rufus pointed out that it would take longer to fly than it would to simply wait for Eddie to bring you to me.”
Rufus was the leader of the Atlanta primal nest and apparently a fan of logic.
“I know. I sat up most of last night wishing I could be with you. And then I finally managed to sleep and when I woke up, I yakked for a long time.” I’d talked to Quinn a bit before we’d left. He’d explained that because my pregnancy was facilitated with a pretty heavy fertility ritual, I should look forward to rapid onset of all the fun, you’re-carrying-another-life-inside-you symptoms.
Trent’s hand went to my belly. “How are you feeling right now?”
It was time to get to the rough part of this reunion. I’d been told the good stuff. My mom was okay. She was still in Dallas with my brothers. Jamie still worked for the Rangers and Nate had joined him. Jamie had married his forensic expert and they had two young children who were also protected by his status with the Rangers. Nate had married a shifter named Jeanie and he was about to become a dad.
I had a niece and a nephew I’d never met and one more on the way. My brothers were moving through their lives without me.
“Lost. A little broken.” I took a long breath and got to what I’d needed to ask since the moment Fen had called his papa Gray. “What happened to Gray?”
Trent’s eyes closed and he laid back. “Nothing at first. He was our best shield. He ran a lot of interference for us those first few years. Gray dealt with Myrddin. He played the game well.”
“He should have been with you. He shouldn’t have been playing the game at all.”
“No, baby. We needed him. Gray saved our asses many times. His position was important. As the dark prophet, Myrddin can’t touch him.”
“Then he should have walked in and cut the fucker’s head off.”
“Yeah, I don’t think it works that way. Gray has some very specific rules surrounding him now. The same as Jacob, the Heaven plane’s prophet. He isn’t allowed to use his knowledge to specifically change things. All he can do is move pieces into place, and he’s done that for us. He’s the one who negotiated to get your brothers and mom protected status.”
“But not the children. Not you.”
“I wouldn’t have taken it,” Trent admitted. “Not that it would have been offered. No one would believe for a second that I would accept Myrddin taking the crown. You know that.”
Like my father. Lee Owens had been the queen’s guard when he’d been alive. When the old Council had taken the queen and Quinn into custody, they’d killed my father because he wouldn’t stop attempting to protect her. They’d known Lee Owens wouldn’t make the practical choice to allow their atrocities. He would fight and fight and fight.