The twins exchanged seriously unsubtle glances with one another before Caleb nodded and led the way upstairs, carrying my suitcase. He took me to a set of doubles doors at the end of the hall, which he opened for me, revealing a huge bedroom. The bed was enormous and tastefully decorated in soft purples and blues, as was the rest of the room.
“This is your room,” he told me, placing my suitcase down near the bed. “There’s an ensuite bathroom through that door”—he pointed to one of the doors leading off the bedroom—“and it’s all stocked up with towels and products and stuff. I’ll let the guys know you’ll be down when you’re ready, okay?” I nodded and resisted the urge to lean into him as he hugged me tight, kissing the top of my hair. “I love you, Kitty Kat. I’m glad you’re home.”
I didn’t reply, but he didn’t seem to need one. Instead he placed a soft kiss on my cheek, then left the room, closing the door behind him.
Wandering through to the bathroom, I stripped off my clothes and placed my new phone on the vanity. Maybe after my shower I could try Lucy again. It had been way too long since we’d spoken, and I was way overdue for some girl time.
In the meantime, I needed to get a fucking grip on myself. The pain of Wesley’s death was too raw to deal with, and if what Jonathan had told me was true, then I needed all my wits about me. Crying, moping, grieving... these things weren’t going to help me save the freaking world. If, in fact, that was the task I had been born to do. I was still having a hard time wrapping my head around that idea, but considering everything else that had happened lately, it really wasn’t that much of a stretch.
“Compartmentalize,” I muttered to myself as I turned on the water and stepped under the spray. “There will be a time and a place for grief, but not until we are all safe.”
It was hard, but I also needed to remember the guys who were waiting downstairs for me. I’d dragged them into this mess. I couldn’t just abandon them now to wallow in self-pity.
No, I needed a plan. Jonathan thought I needed an army, which meant that whoever was on the other side already had one of their own. Clearly someone was working with the few supernaturals who had survived the plague four hundred years ago, and then there was that crazy fucking doctor working on enhancing humans. What a shit show.
First thing, I needed my damn magic back!
Resolute, I turned off the shower and stepped out to dry off. Emotions were a burden I couldn’t afford to carry, so they could take a backseat for now. I had a Ban Dia to hunt down, and a bracelet to get removed.
“Kitten,” River’s voice made me pause in the doorway as I toweled my hair dry. He was sitting on the end of my bed and looking rough.
“River,” I replied in a voice that almost startled even myself. It was cold... detached. But exactly what I needed it to be. “I have some information regarding those shifter fights Cole and Vali were checking out. I’ll just get dressed, and we can discuss it with everyone.”
His dark blond brows rose in surprise, and he stared at me for a long time before speaking. “Kit... that’s the first bloody thing you say to me? We thought you were, well maybe not dead because it’s you, but...” He trailed off and scrubbed his hands over his face. “We were worried as shit, and then we find out that Wes—”
“Sorry,” I quickly cut him off before he could say any more. “I apologize that you were worried, but I’m here now and we have a lot more to deal with.”
Meeting his golden eyes with a direct gaze, I tried to convey that the conversation was over. Rehashing the details of Wesley’s death wouldn’t help any of us now, so why bother?
“I will be down in a few minutes. You can go.” Clutching my towel tight around my body, I looked pointedly to the door.
River, usually so stoic and expressionless, looked almost shocked, but it was for the best. The fate of the freaking world was at stake, and so fucking help me, I would do everything within my power to help.
He gave me a tight nod and left the room with a crispness to his walk, radiating how pissed off he was. Dimly I wondered when I had started being able to read his body language so clearly. It hadn’t been all that long ago that he’d been a total closed book to me. So what had changed? Him or me?
“Irrelevant train of thought, Kit,” I muttered to myself as I checked the closet. Someone had already stocked it up on clothes for me, so it didn’t take long to find some jeans and a plain black tank top.
I dressed quickly, then threw Wesley’s hoody back over the top before wandering downstairs in the direction I could hear voices coming from. Normally, I’d have paused in the hall and listened to what they were saying before entering, but I didn’t care.
“Good, you’re all here, then,” I said by way of announcing my presence in the room. “That makes things easier.”
“Vixen,” Cole greeted me, pushing back from the table they’d been sitting at and stalking toward me like a hungry dragon spotting a chest of gold. When he reached me, he swept me up in a crushing hug that took my feet clean off the ground. A hug I didn’t reciprocate.
“Let her down,” Vali told his brother from close behind him. “Can’t you see she doesn’t want to be touched right now?”
“That’s fucking stupid,” Cole growled, but did set me back down on my feet to peer into my face. “Are you okay, Vixen?”
“Fine, Cole,” I replied with a tight smile. Whatever he saw in my face had him backing off reluctantly, and I accepted the cup of coffee Vali held out to me. “So, I wanted to fill you in on what I learned from Jonathan.”
“Straight into it then, huh?” Caleb muttered, stirring his own coffee. “Fair enough. Have a seat and tell us what you know.”
Sucking in a deep breath, I did as he suggested and perched on the edge of a vacant seat at the huge circular table. Whoever had decorated the house had a real eye for details; a round table ensured everyone could easily see one another. Sort of perfect when a girl was dating six—five—guys at the same time.
Coffee helped, and soon I was laying down the facts of our situation as I now knew them.
It was important they knew. Important they understood what was at stake, and what we needed to do about it all... starting with getting my magic back. Without that, I was worse than useless. I was a liability.
14
My teeth ground together so hard I could hear them, and I resisted the urge to strangle someone. I wasn’t totally sure who might be my victim, but someone was going to wind up with my hands around his neck if the guys didn’t stop giving me excuses.
“What do you mean, you can’t find her?” I demanded, “You’re supposed to be the strongest Mages in the entire freaking world, yet you can’t find one woman?”
“If it were just a woman, we wouldn’t be having these issues,” Austin replied with a snap in his tone, suggesting he, too, was thinking about strangling someone. Probably me. “But she’s not. She’s a Ban Dia who has had several centuries of perfecting her magic. So it’s really not all that surprising she’s managing to hide from us.”
“Tell me what the message said again,” I ordered. Not that I didn’t already have it memorized, since we’d received it several days ago.
“Why?” Sam hissed, slithering into the room. “Did you lose your memory as well as your magic? Sounds like something a moron would manage to do.”
“Sam, I swear to magic, if you call me a moron one more time, I will take up taxidermy and mount your scaly ass on the wall. Is that what you want?” I glared at him, and the fucker held my gaze without blinking. Not that snakes really needed to...
“Sam, quit it,” Caleb snapped. “Go hunting for mice in the forest or something.”
Sam hissed a fuck you in my direction but did as Caleb told him, slithering his way out the back door and into the grass. Our “backyard” was massive; he was probably going to end up in a food coma from all the wildlife he’d find out there.