Pearl instantly stood and embraced me. “I don’t want you to go.”
“I know,” I whispered, hugging her tight. “I know.” Tears slipped down my cheeks at knowing this was probably the last night we had together. “But I want us to all relax before we leave. Enjoy our evening together.”
She nodded quickly, squeezing me, her own tears falling on my head. “Then let’s do it.”
And so we did, after the hugs and tears were through, lying down next to each other in bed and finding a good old-fashioned comedy to watch before we all passed out.
Chapter Thirty
Waking in the dead of night, I instantly knew something was wrong. Immediately, I calmed my heart rate but still took in the scents. I smelled Ezra, his spicy scent strong, just like his arms around me in our spooning position. I also smelled Pearl and Jack, Pearl’s scent the strongest, since she lay on the other side of me. But…I scented something off…something that made my wolf want to growl and that tried to make my body tremble. I had been in this exact situation before, but what I was scenting didn’t bode well. Because it was strong as hell, which meant…many bodies behind a Mage spell.
Eyes still closed, I slipped my hand further under my pillow and grabbed my gun, glad I had been paranoid enough to sleep with it under my pillow instead of under the bed like normal. I swallowed and then pressed down on Ezra’s leg under the covers hard enough to wake him. He grunted quietly and re-positioned his leg…and I almost sighed in frustration before I heard him inhale sharply and feel his hand tighten on me. This time, I was truly happy for his damn Vampire nose, he having smelled my panic, his heart rate fluctuating a moment, then evening out to normal, more than likely just as mine had done.
I coughed loudly as I thumbed the safety off my gun, Ezra’s grip on me tightening. His thumb tapped once on my stomach. Bumped twice. And right when he thumped it a third time, we leapt out of bed. Jack and Pearl both started awake, the blanket flying off them as Ezra and I both growled, our predators taking voice, our eyes glowing fiercely. Keeping the gun behind my back, Ezra at my side, we crept toward where my nose led me even though there appeared to be nothing under the moonlight of the spelled ceiling. Jack and Pearl were instantly behind us with their own eyes glowing, not asking questions, but still with us. I stopped, everyone halting with me. I glanced at Ezra, and we split apart, both of us going wide at the living room, Pearl and Jack staying stationary. And I growled low, “Show yourselves.”
In a whoosh, there was a flare of golden light taking up the entirety of our living room, its boundary an inch from my nose, and then it disappeared.
I was left staring at approximately forty individuals, dressed from head to toe in black and appearing like shadows under the moonlight, only the fact that their eyes glowed at us in blues, greens, browns, and golds proving they were real and not ghouls, even though they might as well have been. My heart stuttered, then pounded furiously as the four of us took a few steps backward, putting more room between us and them. Fear rode me hard at knowing the odds weren’t good, while self-anger hit me for not making Ezra and myself leave this place sooner, but hope entered when I saw Antonio, Cahal, Elder Merrick, and Elder Jacobs rush into the room through gaps in the ghouls’ ranks, all four of them in their pajamas and looking frazzled as they stepped through our broken-in door, the spell taking all but Antonio for a ride.
“What’s going on here?” Cahal demanded, his voice shaking in anger, eyes assessing.
Elder Harcourt suddenly blinked into appearance to the left, in front of the ghouls’ frontline, not dressed in black but in a golden ceremonial robe. He was resting back against the wall, his hands clasped before him and his face solemn, and he ordered, “Someone hit the lights, please.” The golden sparks flared to life. Unfortunately, the added light didn’t make the group in front of us appear any less intimidating, every single one of the individuals built like badasses under their tight-fitting black outfits, most definitely all males. When Cahal growled, since his question hadn’t been answered, Elder Harcourt stated, “Today, a Law passed concerning two Mysticals of different factions having sexual relations.”
I stilled but tried my hardest to keep my heartbeat normal. No one had seen anything torrid, only the four of us sleeping in bed together. They had no proof if I could keep it together.
Elder Harcourt’s gaze traveled, meeting not only Ezra’s gaze and mine, but Jack’s and Pearl’s as well. “Once someone brings a charge to me, the senior Elder, I am spellbound to uphold the Law if those charged are found guilty.”