He never thought he’d have this conversation again. Tenn had only had a few friends at the Academy, but he and one girl—Amanda—would go out for lunch every once in a while and chat about their dream houses. He’d always had this beautiful log cabin in mind.
This was the first time he’d let himself dare believe that he could one day occupy it along with someone else.
“I’d love a wolfhound myself,” Jarrett mused. “Don’t know where you’d get one anymore, though.”
Tenn didn’t want to wonder if there were any more wolfhounds left in the world, so he pushed the conversation down a different path.
“What about you? City or country?”
“Oh, I’d be okay with the country. So long as it was near enough to a city. Culture and all.”
Tenn laughed.
“Yeah,” he said, “can’t miss out on all those concerts and museums.”
“Hey, art’s important,” Jarrett said. “Art and love are what we fight for.”
Tenn sealed his lips. Fight for was just a reminder that this little fantasy was just that—a fantasy. There’d never be a cabin in the woods or an apartment in the city, no black-tie affairs at the symphony or fancy dinner parties.
It made him sink a little lower.
“Hey,” Jarrett said, noticing the swift decline. He shifted a bit. “Don’t go down there.”
“Sorry,” Tenn replied. “It’s just...”
Jarrett nodded, their foreheads pressing together. “I know,” he said. “But no matter what the future looks like, I’m still going to fight for it. So long as it includes you.”
Then he leaned in a bit farther and kissed Tenn on the lips.
Tenn was still swirling down in the cesspool of his thoughts, but that kiss was a buoy, a tie to dry land. It filled him with hope, with light, and it made the world golden again, gilded in a way that lasted longer than his intoxication. And he knew, so long as he had Jarrett, that thread would always be there. There’d always be a way out. A way forward.
The war would always be worth winning.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
TENN WOKE WELL before dawn, when the sky outside was just starting to turn blue with light. His heart raced, but he couldn’t remember his dreams or why he’d woken up with sweat drenching his skin. Jarrett sprawled out beside him, his breath deep and regular. Despite the fear racing in his chest, the last few hours bled through his memory in a golden hum. There had never been any question about Jarrett sharing his bed. Just as there had never been a question as to what would happen.
He lay there for a few seconds, watching Jarrett breathe, watching his bare chest rise and fall, letting his own nightmarish heart settle. Tenn reached over, gently traced a scar on Jarrett’s pec, let his fingers memorize the guy’s smooth skin, his heat. Jarrett mumbled something and curled over, toward Tenn. Tenn let himself be swept up, encircled. Jarrett even smelled like home, in a way he couldn’t quite place. He kissed Jarrett’s muscled forearm. Somehow, that brought to mind Tomás.
He knew the Kin would be back. He knew he was still a target. But he wasn’t as afraid, not anymore. He wasn’t alone. And, frankly, he had someone that put even the incubus to shame.
Someday, though, he would have to tell Jarrett about Tomás. He would have to. He just wanted to ensure he was ready—he had to be able to kill the incubus before Tomás could kill anyone else. It made him burn inside, this secret, but at least he knew it was keeping the others safe.
Still, something tugged at the edge of his consciousness. Something that sounded like fading screams.
He uncurled himself from Jarrett’s arms, then pushed himself out of bed and wrapped a fallen quilt around his shoulders before padding over to the window as silently as possible. Moonlight peeked out from the clouds. Everything glowed silver in those patches of moonlight, gently covered with snow—the farmhouses, the gas station, the trees. Straight out of a painting.
He readjusted the quilt and began to turn from the window when something shifted in the corner of his vision.
A shadow darted between the trees.
Tenn opened to Earth. Blood thundered in his ears as he searched...and found it. He’d hoped it was an animal—maybe a deer or a raccoon.
It wasn’t.
It was humanoid. Broken and bent.
“Kravens!” he yelled.
Jarrett woke in an instant. Tenn leaped over to the bed and threw on his clothes. Jarrett was right behind him.
Tenn wanted to scream as they thundered through the house, rousing the twins and trying to get their hazy brains into action. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Not like this. Not this soon. He just wanted one night with Jarrett. One goddamned night of calm and warmth before the blood had to fall again. Tenn grabbed his staff from the hall and raced up the stairs to the roof. Blood pounded in his ears. He wanted to scream. He wanted to make the Howls pay for ruining the last few hours of perfection. Outside, the screams of the Dark Lady’s horde pierced the pastoral night.
“How many?” Dreya asked.
They stood on a rooftop balcony, one of those stargazing platforms no one ever really used. The frozen air made their breath come out in tiny clouds. All four of them were open to their Spheres. Tenn knew perfectly well that she could sense that they were surrounded. She was just trying to make conversation while they waited for the enemy to attack. The fact that the beasts were just out there biding their time made Tenn’s hair stand on end. The Howls were waiting, moonlight making their gray, twisted bodies even more ghastly. Howls didn’t wait. Not unless they were under strict order.
“Hundreds,” Jarrett said. “We’re surrounded.”
Tenn’s dream filtered into his thoughts, a terrible déjà vu. “It’s almost like you want to be found...” Matthias’s warning chilled its way up Tenn’s already frozen spine, sending a new wave of shivers across his skin.
He’ll never give up, Tenn thought. He looked to his companions. He’ll never give up, and you’ll all suffer for it.
“Why aren’t they attacking?” Jarrett asked.
“Because it’s not an attack,” Tenn said. “It’s a safeguard.”
The Howls stared up at the rooftop like grotesque marble statues. He could smell the rot of their flesh even from here.
“He doesn’t want us to flee,” Tenn continued. The others didn’t ask who he was talking about. They knew. “He’s coming back for me.”
As if to accentuate the point, the kravens below them began to part. Someone else moved out there, a darker shadow in the silvered landscape coming steadily toward them.
“And so we meet again,” Matthias called. It echoed through the air, amplified by magic. Tenn could see the Spheres burning in Matthias’s body, glowing brighter the closer he got. Other flickers of power manifested around them. Each one sent another wave of dread through him. The Spheres of the encroaching necromancers burned like gas lamps in the shadows. Dozens of them.
“As you can see,” Matthias said, “we have you completely surrounded. There will be no easy escape like last time.”