Page 4 of Eternal Light (Fated in the Stars #5)

There were fifty-three administrative employees at the Guild and even more at the teaching facility.

It would take them a few days to determine who it might be, but Grayson’s training would not wait.

Not if Withers was on the active hunt for Grayson’s magic.

They also didn’t need reminders of what Grayson had been willing to do to protect his mates in the library’s Archive.

There’s a sizzle of that remembered power in his hands as he stuffs two pillows into a large garbage bag, and he absently wonders where the overabundance of nesting materials had come from. Surely not everything had come from home on the plane?

“Why are we running? Why not let him come here?” Nix mutters, his eyes flashing blue for a moment before he stuffs some of their nesting materials into a large garbage bag.

It’s taking him longer than Grayson, who has stuffed two bags full already, because the omega is picking a blanket up, folding it, smelling it, rubbing it on his belly, and smelling it again, before repeating the process if it doesn’t meet his standard. “I’d like to show him a thing or two…”

“That’s a bad idea—a bad, bad idea,” Luca whisper-squeaks from the space behind the bedroom door.

He is trying to stay out of sight of Gideon’s eagle eye because he’s supposed to be packing suitcases full of clean clothes in the laundry room.

Grayson’s sweet beta hasn’t left his side since the Traveling episode, not even in the shower.

How Luca thinks Gideon isn’t going to notice the clothes aren’t getting packed is beyond Grayson, but he appreciates the love.

“Baby, he has a trained magic user! And Carnell probably knows big dudes with guns. We aren’t ready, right, Gray?”

“Not at all,” Grayson agrees. They aren’t ready in the slightest.

There’d been a discussion about a plan, and in Grayson’s amateur opinion, it sucked.

“Jay and Gideon’s plan might work, though.

Right?” Luca asks, voice full of doubt, his mocha scent more bitter coffee than sweet chocolate.

He’s crouched behind the door, making himself as small as possible—naked except for a beanie he found in Grayson’s suitcase, his headphones, and his lilac Uggs.

He’s as cute as his instincts are dead-on.

Gideon wanted to take the fight to Carnell on his home turf—walk right into the lion’s den. Which is better than having his troops show up at our den while we’re sleeping, Jay had added.

That was something Grayson could agree on.

He’d seen the light of insanity in Carnell’s eyes and the decaying madness in Withers’.

They believed it would be too much of a temptation for Carnell to resist. If all went to plan, it would be the perfect time to grab the two key players—Jay and Gideon—in Carnell’s delusion.

And given that he preferred to play with his food before eating it, he’d bring them back to his fortress.

Then—boom—Gideon would do what he came to do, and they’d be home in no time.

But to Grayson, it sounded like they were sacrificing themselves just to force Carnell’s hand, keeping the pack out of the line of fire. It was insane. Then again, when they’d presented the other options… he hadn’t felt any better about those, either.

Still, putting themselves directly in the line of fire? No, that sucked hard. And he wasn’t the only one who had drawn that conclusion.

Cinnamon scent blazing, Leo slams the door to a room down the hall, followed by the cacophony of clanging pots and pans in the kitchen.

Leo is livid. Probably because the best plan involves Jay appearing publicly around his home city, with Gideon as his handler, creating opportunity after opportunity for Carnell to swoop in and scoop them up.

Currently, they have Margot on a social media blitz, scheduling a Make-a-Wish fan interaction with a radio appearance at a popular radio station.

It’s all in the hopes that Carnell will make a play for Jay. It’s fucking dangerous, and the image of that sniper in the mountains flashes through Grayson’s mind—this time from the top of a downtown high-rise.

Jay had never looked more like a traditional Pack Alpha than when he had brooked no argument and forbade Leo, Rowan, and Luca from being at his side for their safety.

Only Gideon will accompany him because his son was safe from Carnell’s machinations, and it has pushed Leo into a rare display of extreme anger for the second time since they’ve landed in Clearwater.

Grayson can only remember one other time in their pack history when there had been no democratic vote on an idea, and that had been Nix’s choice, not Jay’s.

It doesn’t feel any better now than it did then.

His wolf is angry—not just at Jay, but at Gideon, too—for putting themselves in danger and doing it unilaterally.

But Jay’s expression had brooked no argument.

It would’ve come down to a direct challenge, and Grayson isn’t willing to destabilize the pack further.

At the loud noise, Luca and Nix both freeze, eyes wide.

He can’t blame them, as an angry Leo is a sight to behold: attractive and forceful.

If Grayson were a betting man, he’d bet Gideon and Rowan are sitting on the couch with proverbial popcorn in hand (the former) and a hand inside his sweats (the latter).

Grayson prefers to be out of the way until the initial burn has simmered into a stony silence.

“What’s Leo doing in the kitchen?” Nix asks incredulously. “He’s not going to actually cook anything, right?”

He runs protective hands over his belly as if to shield their babies from the idea of Leo’s unskilled culinary assault.

Grayson has to agree—that’s probably the scariest thing he’s heard all day.