We were there just over a month ago. That’s where Naito’s father set up his compound inside a closed-down ski resort. Naito and I and a few rebels went there to destroy the Sight serum. Normally, fae go out of their way to avoid human deaths, but the vigilantes are ruthless and cruel, and they’re a threat to the fae. We left the compound in ashes, and more than a dozen humans died. The Boulder police are calling it a cult suicide. The first part isn’t far from the truth, but the second? Aren and the rebels—and probably the remnants who eventually showed up, too—killed the vigilantes, who were waiting to spring a trap on us. Most of them were slain with swords, but Nakano wasn’t. Naito shot him twice before Trev used his magic to burn down the compound. Since it’s obvious the fae learned where the vigilantes’ base of operations was, I’m surprised any of them decided to remain in the city.
I start typing a reply.
“What are you writing?” Aren asks.
“I’m telling him I live only a few hours away and can meet him at six tonight. You can fissure me there?”
He doesn’t respond immediately. I click SEND, then look at him.
“Yeah,” he says, a warm smile on his lips.
“What?” I ask.
“You didn’t think twice about being the person who meets with them.”
I set the laptop aside. “Who else would do it? They would recognize Naito and Lee, and you can’t do it. They’d kill any fae who showed up.”
“They’d try to kill any fae who showed up,” he says. “My point is, you get hurt so often—”
“That’s not my fault. People keep trying to kill me.”
“I know,” he says with a laugh. “I know, but any normal human would say they’re done with this. They’d leave us to fight our own war. You don’t. You always pick yourself up and put your life at risk again and again.”
I tilt my head. “Are you calling me an adrenaline junky?”
His arms tighten around me. “I’m calling you brave.”
I return his smile, shifting a little in his arms. Then I rest my cheek on his chest.
“McKenzie?”
“Hmm?” I respond. His heartbeat is comforting. It could lull me to sleep.
His hand moves along my inner thigh again. “I think my headache is coming back.”
I open my eyes, grin up at him. “Is it?”
His chaos lusters, which have been on a pleasant, simmering after-buzz from our previous lovemaking, suddenly strike hotly across my skin.
“Oh, yes,” he says, pulling me higher on top of him. “It’s definitely back.”
• • •
SEVERAL hours after the sun rises, Aren and I finally tear ourselves away from each other. We need to get to Boulder, so we make plans to meet at the Vegas gate. Naito and Lee will be coming with us as well. They’ll recognize the vigilantes, and it doesn’t hurt to have a little human backup.
The wind whistles through my broken window as I pull to a stop in front of a hotel on the outskirts of town. I vacuumed out the broken glass at a gas station, but I think I might have missed a few shards in the back. Lee curses as he climbs into the car.
“Sorry,” I mutter when I look into the rearview mirror and see his reflection staring down at his palm. He plucks the glass from his hand without another word.
Naito doesn’t say anything either. Not even a hello to his brother. He hasn’t said much since we left Nick’s, and as soon as I hit the road again, the silence stretches between us. He’s not the same person he was before Kelia’s death, and even though I know it’s unreasonable, I can’t help feeling a little guilty after last night. Aren and I had what he lost, and our human-fae relationship is a reminder of what he’ll never have again. I don’t know if he’ll ever love someone like he loved Kelia.
Naito’s the one who told me that once I’d been with a fae, I’d never want to be with a human again. After last night, I believe him. I don’t have anything to compare it to, but being in Aren’s arms, feeling him move against me, then feeling the lightning strike between us . . .
The memory brings a rush of heat to my cheeks. That was definitely worth waiting for. It felt earth-shattering. Literally. I’m surprised there weren’t burn marks on the walls from the explosion of the edarratae. We reached the point where they coalesced into a disc of light four times during the night—a feat Aren insisted wouldn’t have been possible if it weren’t for me and my humanness—and I thought I saw a black scorch line on the walls long after the light disappeared.
I shake the images from my head, not just because Naito’s sitting next to me, but because Kyol’s picking up on my emotions. He’s training with his swordsmen right now, trying to reinforce his mental walls. Problem is, those walls keep his feelings from me more than they keep mine from him, and last night, I was incapable of building a barrier between us.
I feel like I’ve stabbed Kyol in the back. But I wasn’t naïve. I knew Kyol would know when Aren and I were together. I knew I’d have to deal with the pain of hurting him. I guess I just hoped I wouldn’t hurt him so much.
I tighten my grip on the steering wheel. I need to focus on something besides Kyol and Aren.
“You going to tell him the plan?” I ask Naito.
He doesn’t respond immediately, but after I turn onto the rural road that’ll take us to the gate, he gives Lee a quick rundown of what we’re going to do in Boulder. The vigilante who responded to my e-mails didn’t give a name. I think whoever it is has watched a few too many espionage movies because he wants me to wear a red scarf and meet him at a bar.
As I pull to the side of the road, Lee says, “It’s gotta be Harper. The guy’s paranoid.”
“You’re all paranoid,” Naito tells him as he gets out of the car.
I toss my keys into the glove box—they’re useless in the Realm—and climb out just as Lee slams his door.
“They’re all paranoid,” he says.
Naito studies his brother over the hood of my car. After a handful of seconds, he nods once, then heads for the gate. Aren, Trev, and Nalst are there waiting for us.
“Lena wants to know if you’ve talked to Paige,” Trev says when we reach them.
My jaw clenches, and I shake my head. I tried to get in touch with Paige before we left Nick’s. Sure, my “noon” phone call might have been half an hour later than I said it would be, but it wouldn’t have killed Paige to keep her phone on and in her hand for a little while longer.
Unless, of course, Paige is already dead. If Caelar and the false-blood are working together, the false-blood may have insisted upon it. He might have . . .
I bite my lip, forcing the image of the skinned humans in London and at the tjandel out of my head. I’m almost certain Caelar and Tylan wouldn’t let that happen to her.
“I’ll try to call her again when we’re finished in Boulder,” I say.
Trev doesn’t look like he believes I tried at all. Whatever. He can get over it.
“Let’s go,” Aren says.
Trev and Nalst fissure out with Naito and Lee, leaving me alone with Aren. He gives me one of his sexy half grins as he reaches for me.
He leans me against a tree, kisses my neck, then says, “Naito and Lee can probably take care of the vigilante.”