“Bacon,” Blaine said, pretty much drooling.
“So much bacon,” Victor agreed, sounding much more like my old friend. The one he had been before he lost both of his brothers to Tuatha attacks. I knew Victor was irreparably damaged from these losses, that I’d never have the same fun loving, part-time chef, part-time jokester back. But I had some hope that we would all make it through this and come out the other side with some semblance of happiness.
I reached across and found his hand in the darkness, a memory springing to life in my mind. I let out a chuckle as I said, “Do you remember that night after we got drunk playing poker, and you decided to cook dinner for us.” A grin was already across his face, he knew exactly what night I was talking about.
“Ben thought he’d lost one of his new little fire-cracker weapons inside my quiche.”
Blaine let out a snort of laughter. “And he only bothered to remember after we all ate dinner.”
There were a few more chuckles. We had all wondered for a few hours if one of us was about to blow up, but thankfully it had fallen into Ben’s shoe when he took them off at the door.
There were so many memories like that for all of us. So many times together as a pack and family. In a blink of an eye everything had changed, making us all realize how fragile life really was.
“I miss cooking,” Victor finally said, the crackling flames lighting up his handsome face. He was a bit more roughhewn than the other guys, but this gave him a rakish sort of look. “I just can’t find the joy in it without Ben and Derek. I can’t find the joy in anything.”
He was an amazing cook, but it had been a long time since I tasted one of his crazy dishes. He liked to experiment with flavors. Sometimes it worked, other times it was a hilarious and messy disaster.
I squeezed his hand hard before crawling over my mate to fully wrap my arms around Victor. Outside of Blaine I had not hugged my dominants much, protocol and all that rubbish, but I was totally done with that now. Even if I were to be queen again, I would not want to hold myself back from them ever again.
“I wish they were here with us,” I whispered, breathing in deeply as I fought tears. More arms were around us then and I could feel the energy of Monica and Blaine. My body was still across Kade’s so his comforting presence was there also. His large hand splayed on my lower spine.
After many moments of comfort we pulled away. There were cleared throats and shiny eyes all round, but in some ways I felt a little lighter. And I thought my friends did also.
The silence was relaxing then as everyone ate their meagre rations. I sank into Kade, listening to the fire crackling and the frigid wind blowing through the trees. I was almost dozing off when a weird feeling came over me, a tingling of mecca, which had not happened much so far in the Otherworld.
Wide awake now, I looked around. I could swear there was a tiny voice coming from somewhere close to me.
I sat straighter. “Did you hear that?” I asked, trying to figure out what was going on. Was this another fae creature? I really wasn’t up to battle number two today.
Something dawned on Nikoli’s face then. “The flower!” he whisper yelled.
Oh! I scrambled to get my frozen hands out of my furs so I could search my inner breast pocket for the flower that linked me to Baladar. As I pulled it out, I was still astounded that it wasn’t crushed, not even a single bruise on all the beautiful petals. Gotta love mecca energy.
I placed the flower to my ear, and even though I was expecting it, still jumped when I heard Baladar’s voice. “My Queen? Are you there?” He sounded urgent. I pulled the flower from my ear and brought it to my lips.
“I’m here!” I said, and then brought it back to my ear as Kade leaned in closely.
“Oh, thank the gods. I don’t have long to speak right now, there is much I’m doing here to keep war from erupting. I just wanted to let you know that help is arriving shortly.”
My head whipped back so fast that I almost cracked Kade in the face.
“Help? Who? And what do you mean war?” I asked the flower.
Had he sent more people through to the Otherworld? How? Only Kade and I could open the portal.
Baladar said in a rush, “Selene has declared war on the bears. Provided false evidence that they were in cahoots with the fae. She wants all five boroughs, all that mecca power.”
Kade’s bear rumbled beside me as he gently pulled the flower in my hand to his lips. “My mother and Gerald … are they aware? Are my people okay?”
Baladar snorted. “Your mother is preparing for battle. She tried to stop it, asking for a private meeting on neutral ground with Selene. Calista was there.”
Oh no. That had to have been a disaster.
“Twenty seconds with that disgrace of a wolf queen and your mother slapped her across the face and then agreed to her terms of war. Each side has two days to remove children and pregnant women to the Island, which will remain neutral territory for the duration of the battle.”
My stomach dropped. “Winnie…”
Baladar’s reply was instant: “Already safe at Kade’s Island home under fierce guard. I must go now. I just wanted you to know that help is coming.”
The tingles of mecca disappeared in an instant and I knew he was gone.
What. The. Heck?
I sat back, my head buzzing. How could she? How could Selene break a peace that had held over a hundred years?
“I’ll kill her,” Kade said beside me.
I shook my head. “No. She’s mine.” My words were barely distinguishable from the growls ripping through my chest. My wolf was ready for blood.
Selene was already on my list of people to wipe from the Earth. Now she had just reached the top spot.
Despite my hunger, the cold, and a million other worries, I slept soundly that night, wrapped in Kade’s arms – except when it was our turn to keep watch for attacks. His presence kept the horrible stuff at bay. Unfortunately, there was no way to hide in our tent forever, and all too soon morning dawned on the icy land.
As the first dull rays of light broke through to illuminate the tent, my eyes fluttered open and immediately my stomach started to rumble. One thing I was not great at was going without food. As a royal member of the packs, we always had the best of everything to eat. Still, this was not a huge sacrifice to make for Kade and Violet. I could go hungry for a few days. Surely.