Brenon's fingers gently turned my chin, so I was looking at him. He wiped away the tears from my cheek. The familiar surge of electricity that came from his touch shot through me and my breath caught as I stared into his eyes. My breathing grew shallow, and I took a step closer to him, closing the gap between us.
Without a word, he lowered his face to mine, our lips met, and it was as if I lost all control. Suddenly, it no longer mattered if he was leaving. All that mattered was making the most of the time we would have together. I pressed my body into him, feeling safe, feeling home.
Chapter 17
Brenon eased up on the kiss, pulling away from me. I ran my hands through his hair and pulled his head back to me, prolonging the kiss. I wasn't ready to let him go now that I decided to fall. His hands moved up my sides, sending a tingle up my spine. Finally, I released him and took a step back. For a moment I stared into his eyes, working to catch my breath. My whole body felt like it was on fire and I was sure my cheeks had flushed. I felt like I'd just run a mile as fast as I could, yet all I had done was stand here and kiss him.
"About damn time," Joe said.
I covered my face with my hands. How much had Joe seen?
"It's fine, Ara. I was starting to worry about you." Joe's keys jingled as he walked toward the car.
Brenon took my hand in his, and we walked behind Joe. What did this mean? What was going to happen between the two of us now?
Joe unlocked the passenger door and held it open for me. "Now I can tell you about Cheryl."
"Cheryl?" I asked as I dropped into the seat and Joe closed the door before I got an answer.
I heard Brenon slide into the back seat and shut his door.
Joe was in his seat now and started the car. "We've been dating a few months already, but you had been having such a rough go of it in the romance department I was afraid it would bother you to hear about her."
"You don't have to keep anything from me, I could have handled it," I said.
"Maybe," Joe shrugged, "or you might have tried to convince me that she was just going to break my heart like you do for any new person you meet."
I slumped down in the seat. He was probably right. For the last few years, I struggled to see the good in people and didn't think that possible successful relationship was worth the chance of going through the pain I had been through in the past.
"Now, where's the market in this sorry excuse for a town?" Joe asked.
We drove around in circles for a while before finding a place we could buy provisions for dinner. After we finally secured our contribution to Aunt Kay's household, thanks to Joe since I didn't have a dollar to my name, we headed back. There was nothing to do in this town even if we had wanted to linger.
"What do you think the Elders will say tomorrow?" Joe asked.
"Don't know," I said. "But I sure hope they agree."
"What will you do if they don't?" Joe asked.
I turned around in my seat and looked at Brenon. "What will we do?"
"If they won't help us, we'll still need to fight her. The longer she lives, the more at risk you are," Brenon said.
"But how?" I asked.
"We'll cut off the blue pills," he said.
The words hit me like a sack of bricks landing on top of my lap. I was so torn about those pills. In the wrong hands, they caused harm, even death. To the supernaturals who came here from Faerie, they hid their magic, helping them to blend in. "Won't that bring all the magic back?"
"Exactly. It might be enough to take on Terra if we can unify everyone. With the pills gone, they'd have no choice but to fight her."
"Why didn't you do that ages ago?" Joe asked.
"It's risky," I said, cutting off Brenon. "If they let their magic out, Terra can steal it. If the others decide to stay in hiding, rather than fight, she could pick them off one at a time for years, getting stronger with each stolen magic."
"That sounds bad," Joe said.
"That's why this has to work," I said.
When we pulled up to Aunt Kay's house, we weren't the only car. A sleek, black Jaguar was parked where Joe's car had been. He pulled up next to it and parked. "Expecting company?"
My insides bristled at the nice car parked in front of my aunt's house. The last time I'd seen an unexpected fancy black car, Terra had taken me to her pool hall. "Not that I know of."
I opened the door and stepped out of the car.
"You two wait here," Brenon said. "I'll check on it."
"No way," I said. "I'm going with you."
Brenon looked like he wanted to argue with me, but he didn't.
"I'll stay here. I'm just in the way if there's magic involved," Joe said.
"Good idea," I said, without even looking back at him. I was already a step behind Brenon on the way to the front porch.
We hesitated at the door, listening for any sounds that would suggest a struggle. Hearing nothing unusual, I nodded at Brenon. He threw open the door and rushed inside. I came in right behind him, prepared to have to fight.
Instead, we crashed right into the Elders sitting on the couch once again.
Mercy stood, then swept her arm to the empty love seat. "Please, sit."
"Uh, just a sec," I said, stepping back outside to signal to Joe to come in. Once he was inside the house, I popped back inside and settled on the love seat as directed. Joe sat down on an empty chair, grocery bags and bottle of tequila in hand.
"What's going on?" I asked. "I thought we wouldn't see you until morning." They'd only been away a few hours.
"Something has happened," Mercy said.
The sound of sniffing pulled my attention to my Aunt Kay. She was dabbing a tissue under her red eyes. She'd been crying. I looked over at Maggie and Adam. All sign of defiance was missing from both of them. They looked beaten down. Gia wasn't even in the room. "Is Gia okay?"
"She's fine, she's upstairs," Aunt Kay said.
"What happened?" I asked Mercy.
"There's a small Sayge village in East Texas. It's very isolated, few even know it's there." She took a deep breath.
I squeezed my hands into fists, my whole body tensing as I prepared to hear the terrible news, hoping she wasn't going where I thought she was going with this.
"It's a town of magic. They didn't hide it or keep it secret." Mercy swallowed. She was struggling to get the words out.
"Late last night, Terra and her wolves attacked. She took the magic from every citizen there. Young and old alike. There were no survivors."
I gasped, covering my mouth with my hand as tears blurred my vision. A whole town wiped out, and Terra more powerful as a result.
"She's never done this before," the male elder said. "She's kept her attacks random, and mostly focused on the Fae. This is the first time she's targeted us that we know of."
"There were 300 people who called that village home," the other woman said quietly.
My heart felt like it was shattering. This was all my fault. She was sending me a message. I wanted to say something, but my voice was missing. How do you react to that? How could she be so evil? I looked at Brenon. How was he related to that crazy Fae? They were so different. He'd been working to hide his kind, protect them from her. She would do anything for power.