“I didn’t mean to!” I cried, shaking with the knowledge that I’d just jeopardized everyone here with my carelessness.
“You never tap a fucking line unless you know where it leads!” he shouted at me furiously, and I deserved it. I was trained better than this.
“I’m fucking sorry!” I cried back through angry tears.
“Ristan,” Ryder growled as his Demon’s eyes flashed red.
“Something’s coming Ryder, something big,” Ristan said with an eerie calmness that didn’t match his words.
“No visual of what it is?” Ryder asked, pulling me up and closer to his body.
“Whatever it is, Ryder, it’s coming for her alone,” Ristan said as his eyes went back to black and silver.
“Savlian, Dristan, get these two inside the house. The rest of you, get ready,” Ryder said as he pushed me away from himself and toward Dristan.
I watched as those who surrounded Ryder shimmered momentarily and then solidified again, only now they were dressed in dark cloaks and tunics, with wicked looking weapons held in their hands. All of them looked like something out of the books I had read back at the Guild, in their Fae battle gear; ready for war or whatever it was that was heading our way.
“Ryder, be safe,” Dristan said.
I didn’t say anything as those golden eyes met and held mine captured. I couldn’t. This was my fault. Savlian pushed Adam toward Dristan and grabbed my hand. “Stupid girl,” he growled.
“Enough, Savlian. Take her to her room and guard the door until I say otherwise,” Ryder snarled, leveling me with a dark stare as his eyes changed, and his cloak materialized around him. It was the same one from the Wild Hunt, and instantly he’d changed from the beautiful man, into the beautiful, dangerous creature I saw in Faery.
“Sure thing,” Savlian, said holding his hand out in front of us to indicate we should precede them. I started forward, but only because I was about to pass out. I needed to feed, and I was being stubborn, but I had never imagined it would lead to anything like this.
Upstairs, I entered my room as Adam, saying nothing, started toward his own. “Adam?” I called out, hoping he'd turn around and say something, but he just shook his dark head and kept walking. I spun on my heels and went after him. “What the hell, Adam?”
“What do you want from me, Syn? Because I'm in the same fucking boat, on the same fucking pond, and right now, we’re both sinking!”
“In the room, you two,” Savlian said as he folded his massive arms across his chest.
“We are not sinking, Adam. It’s called surviving. If you want to go and do whatever, do it. Don't stay because I need you. I'm a big girl and I'll be fine. I need you to be happy. I don’t want you to stay because you feel obligated or anything stupid like that.”
“Syn,” Adam said when I spun around to leave. “Stop dammit. I'm just—shit! How the fuck am I supposed to stay when the only thing I feel right now is the need to be with you?”
“Adam, I need to be with you as well,” I whispered, and reached for his hand, but he jerked it away as if I was diseased.
“No, Syn, I actually want to be with you. Not by you, not around you, I want to be inside of you, and it makes me sick. I loved Larissa, and, yet, I can't even feel her death anymore. The only thing I feel is this need to help you. To take that internal fucking hunger away and make the pain stop, because I feel it every fucking minute out of the day. It's driving me insane!”
I took a step back and shook my head, confused. I wasn't sure what to say other than shit, and a few other choice obscene words. “Adam—”
The house shook as something exploded outside. Adam caught me before I could fall to the floor. I cried out as I realized that whatever I had brought to us had just detonated some sort of explosive outside where Ryder and his men were.
“Downstairs, now!” Savlian shouted, and Adam obeyed by grabbing hold of me. We sifted to the basement where Dristan and Savlian were weaving a spell against the wall.
“Get inside,” Dristan shouted as Savlian pushed us inside a make-shift shelter, and before we could respond or ask what had happened, they'd sealed us inside.
I couldn't speak past the lump that had formed in my throat. Guilt crept up my neck. Something was happening out there because I'd tapped the line and I'd brought whatever it was back to me. I turned and looked at Adam. “This is my fault,” I whispered, and looked around the room. A large bed was positioned in the corner of the room and actual lanterns sat on a dresser, already lit. I scanned for anything, weapon wise, and jumped when Adam spoke.