Page 38

Lach

My phone rang once, but I’d already tracked his arrival.

“He’s there. Are you sure?” But Willow’s words were like an echo. My decision was made. In life, in death, I would choose her.

I didn’t fear the Wild Hunt. I didn’t think through my options. I didn’t doubt my decision.

I snapped my fingers.

Scenarios flashed through my mind as I hurtled between worlds. Cate bound. Cate bleeding. Cate dead. I shook my head, banishing the gruesome images. We would get to her in time. There was no other option.

The world rushed to meet me, my knees popping as I slammed into the pavement outside The Fontaine. Tires squealed, the acrid scent of burned rubber assaulted me, but my eyes were on the door. A car door slammed behind me as I pulled out my 9-millimeter, and then Roark was at my side, his own weapon drawn.

“No guards.” He didn’t sound surprised.

It was practically an invitation—one Baptiste knew we would accept. No RSVP required.

I met his gaze, jaw clenched. “I don’t have a choice.”

“Neither do I.” He clapped one hand on my shoulder, something in his eyes telling me he understood more deeply than I’d expected. This was more than duty—to both of us. Walking in there probably meant our lives were forfeit. Walking away guaranteed they were.

Because my heart was inside that building.

And maybe his was, too.

Roark gave a sharp nod, grabbed the handle, and yanked the door open. It gave without any resistance. Baptiste might as well have strewn the path with rose petals.

“Careful,” Roark muttered, eyes scanning the dim interior as we stepped over the threshold.

An eerie silence hung over the empty booths. No ambush waited.

Baptiste knew she had already won. The blood was spilled. The end was in motion. She was waiting for her prize.

Waiting for me.

“I don’t like this.” Roark strode to a booth in the corner and picked up an abandoned wineglass. Then he froze.

“What is it?”

He plucked something off the table, pain moving across his face.

The signet ring of the Nether Court.

I swiped the finished bottle of wine from the table and sniffed it, nose wrinkling. “She dosed them.”

“That’d better be all she’s done,” he snarled. And I heard it in his rage—something primal and ancient. Something that clawed inside me, too. Proof of what I’d only guessed. There wasn’t time to be surprised.

A muffled cry echoed from the direction of the kitchen, followed by a chorus of shouts, and we were moving. Each step a stolen heartbeat, my pulse quickening. Roark flanked me as we moved swiftly and silently across the dining room, hugging the shadows, as cold laughter shattered the air.

I pushed through the swinging door, and my heart stopped.

I barely processed the scene before me. My sister clutching her bloody leg, a witch standing over her like she was a trophy. Dante watching me with wary eyes from the floor, Channing laid out before him. Channing, who wasn’t breathing.

Baptiste stood in the center of the kitchen, greeting me with a feral grin, demanding my attention. Blood on the floor. Faces I knew. But the only thing that mattered was the woman at her feet, the woman with a gun pressed to the center of her forehead, the woman who even now wore a look of defiance that devastated me.

Cate.

“It’s about time,” Baptiste drawled. “I thought I was going to have to call you myself.” She jammed the muzzle of her gun hard enough that Cate flinched. Her finger twitched on the trigger. “I can’t decide if I want to give you time to say goodbye or not.”

Silent tears streamed down Cate’s cheeks. Our eyes met, and she mouthed one word: Run.

Like hell I would.

I lifted my hand, my fingers working in a practiced motion.

“What are you doing?” Roark growled behind me as his magazine clattered to the ground. “Lach!”

But I didn’t turn toward Roark. I wouldn’t explain. Not while that gun was pointed between my mate’s eyes.

Baptiste’s eyes lit up, a delighted smile twisting on her cruel face. “I didn’t even have to ask. She has broken you!”

But someone like her could never understand. Love didn’t break a man. It built him. Forged him. Love made a man who he was meant to be. “She saved me.”

“Then the pleasure will still be mine,” she said triumphantly.

“Wait.” A sharp voice stopped her. “Allow me.”

A figure stepped from behind her, and the world tilted sideways.

Shaw. My own brother. On the wrong side of that gun.

He was a hothead like me, but working with her? Working with our enemies? Shaw hated me. I’d groomed him to. But Ciara? Cate? How could he do this to them?

Betrayal unlike anything I’d ever known ripped out my heart.

“What have you done?” I breathed.

This wasn’t my brother. A brother would never betray his court, his friends, his family. The man standing in front of me might as well have been a stranger.

“I did what I had to do,” Shaw said, his voice hollow. “You would never understand.”

Rage boiled and spilled out of me. “You betrayed your family. There’s no coming back from this, Shaw. You’re out.”

His jaw clenched, and he released a frustrated huff. “Face it. I was never in.”

That’s what this was about? He wanted more power, more responsibility, more attention?

I choked back my disgust and turned toward Baptiste. “Let them go. I’m a much bigger prize.”

“Oh, I don’t think so.” Baptiste laughed and tapped Cate’s nose with the pistol. “I could lie and say I waited for you as a courtesy, but the truth is that I wanted you to watch. I want to look in your eyes the moment your world crumbles.”

I had to keep her talking. If letting her toy with us kept Cate alive, then so be it. I tucked the unloaded gun into my holster and forced a smirk. “I had no idea that you were still in love with me.”

“In love with you?” She looked genuinely offended by the idea.

Almost as offended as I was by even putting Baptiste and the idea of love into the same sentence.

Cate’s gaze flickered to me, and she blinked like she was trying to tell me something. I regretted not having those signets made for us, if only so we could communicate with each other when we found ourselves in these life-and-death situations—especially if they were going to keep increasing in frequency. We just had to make it out of here first, avoid the Wild Hunt, and start living happily ever after.

“This isn’t about us, Gage.” Baptiste took her eyes off Cate. “This is much bigger than any of us. The time of the convergence is nearing.”

“Do they know what you’re talking about?” Roark asked, hitching a thumb at the other members of the Cabal. “Or have you just compelled them to go along with your ramblings?”

“Maybe I’ll shoot you,” she said, momentarily flicking her weapon in his direction. “We only need one fae death to bring down your cursed spell. It would be poignant to know the faithful dog’s death would ensure your master died.”

Ciara snarled. “If you lay one finger on him—”

“You’ll what?” Baptiste bent down and aimed at her. “Give me a reason.”

But Ciara clamped her mouth shut.

“Please!” Baptiste threw her other hand in the air. “I’m having such a hard time deciding which one of you to kill.”

“Stop wasting time, Baptiste,” the witch said, rolling his eyes. “Just kill one of them, and let’s be done with it.”

“Me.” I took a step forward, crooking my finger at her. “You know you want to.”

“Tempting.” She pushed out her lower lip before shaking her head. “But let’s let fate decide. Eeny.” She turned the gun on Roark. “Meeny.” It swiveled to Ciara, and this time Roark growled. “Miny.” Baptiste giggled and pointed it at me.

There was no one left, but…

Baptiste squatted and put it back between Cate’s eyes. “Moe,” she breathed. “It’s time to come out and play.”

“What?” Dante called from where he knelt by Channing’s side. “Stop screwing around.”

“Show them, changeling,” Baptiste whispered.

Cate closed her eyes for a heartbeat, and I found myself taking another step. Not like this.

“Anything you want,” I said in a hoarse voice, not bothering to hide my panic. “ Anything . Just let her go.”

Cate opened her eyes and met mine, bright determination sparkling in them. The same determination I’d seen on the night we met. She smiled at me, and I started to shake my head.

“ Anything,” I repeated.

But Baptiste’s cruel laugh shredded what little hope I had. “Or I can kill them, Cate. One by one. And then you’ll still die. Slowly on the floor next to their bodies. What will it be?”

Cate slipped a hand into her pocket and took out a tiny doll bound in thread. She shot me an apologetic look before she lifted her gaze toward Baptiste. “I’ll offer you a bargain.” She tugged a strand loose and let it unravel.

The spell came with it. The human glamour protecting her dissolved like wisps of smoke.

Cate glowed .

There were gold flecks in her eyes, which were now a darker shade than midnight. Umber curls spiraled over her shoulders down to…

Shaw gasped. “It’s not possible. You’re…”

Gossamer wings unfurled from behind her back, shimmering in hues of blue and violet.

“I thought your kind lost their wings,” Baptiste said, raising her brows as she reached out and pinched one of them.

Cate yelped, the wings tucking tightly against her, and curled forward, instinct knowing what she couldn’t—that her wings were delicate and sensitive and that she needed to protect them.

No one moved. No one breathed. Silence stretched through the room like an eternity.

“It’s really a pity.” Baptiste studied the wings like they were a prize, like she might pin them to a wall like a captured butterfly in a box. “But…”

Her index finger curled over the trigger. Roark stiffened, preparing to spring. Shadows ached at my fingertips, ready to lash out. Even Ciara shifted almost imperceptibly on her knees. We could take Baptiste, but not faster than her trigger finger would kill Cate.

“I have wasted my life,” I said softly. Baptiste paused to cast a curious stare in my direction, and I continued desperately. “When my parents died, I vowed I would never allow this court to fall. I armed myself with control. I held power as tightly as I could. I made choices for my family and told myself I didn’t care if they resented me as long as they were alive . And when I hated the man in the mirror, I told myself that was the price I paid to protect them, to protect the Nether Court.”

Tears traced sparkling paths down Cate’s flawless cheeks. She was as lovely as a fae as she was under her human glamour, the beauty both different and somehow perfectly and undeniably belonging only to her.

I kept my eyes on Cate as I nodded. “But you’re right. Love broke me. It shattered my illusions. It ripped apart that armor. It showed me that I was nothing before she walked into my life. Because there was no point to any of it if it came at the cost of laughter and joy and family. Real family. Not edicts and orders and business. So if you let me die in her place, it will have been worth it to save her, to have one last moment, one more breath, to hear one more beat of my heart knowing that I called her mine.”

Baptiste’s gaze traveled from me back to Cate, her eyes softening. “Dante,” she murmured, “I want you to call Oberon. I need to tell him there’s been a…development.”

Hope sparked in my chest as Dante took out his phone and dialed. “She needs to speak with you.” He passed the call to her.

“We’ve had a bit of a hiccup,” she said, and I held my breath. “The entire Nether Court paid me a visit. Don’t worry, though; it won’t be long now. I thought you might like to be here after the ward falls. I’ll be able to wipe out most of them. Bring your sister to collect her toy, and he’ll be ready to make her his queen. The throne will be yours in minutes.”

“Bitch.” Roark sprinted for her, but she caught him in a chokehold. “Dante”—she barked his name—“kill the changeling.”

But the vampire hesitated, his eyes dipping to Channing’s body. Resolve hardened his features. He opened his mouth, pain twisting his face as he managed one word: “No.” And then, “I won’t kill his sister.”

Baptiste stared, unaccustomed to having a vampire disobey a direct order. “She’s not his sister!”

But Dante backed up a step. He shouldn’t have been able to defy his sire, but his decision was clearly made. Not for Baptiste. Not even for Cate. This wasn’t about an agenda. It was the same thing that had stopped me from murdering Channing for his betrayal of Cate. It was what had driven me to welcome her brother into my home. Love changed the math. It changed us . Love made us capable of doing the impossible.

“We need to break the spell,” she hissed, eyes as sharp as broken glass. “Disobedient little switch. Fine, we’ll start with this one. Make your peace with the gods.” She raised the gun to Roark.

Ciara released a shattering scream, lurching forward on hands and knees, dragging her wounded leg behind her. I drew my gun, reaching into my pocket, my eyes locked with my penumbra. He nodded just once, understanding passing between us.

“Stop,” Shaw bellowed, producing his own weapon and pointing it at my heart.

Baptiste grinned, triumph written all over her face.

“Why?” I asked him. “Is it because of Titania?” I should have seen it, but my arrogance had made me blind.

“Titania?” He bit his lip as he waved his gun. “It started that way. She loved me. Or I thought she did. I’ve never had much experience with love, you know? Now? Now, there’s no choice. My bargain with Oberon demands the bona fides be destroyed. The only way to do that is to spill fae blood. Someone has to die. It was easier to agree before…before I met Cate. Before she came into our lives. She changed things.” His voice cracked. “But a bargain is a bargain. It can’t be broken.”

I looked to Cate instinctively, something darker and oilier than betrayal swimming in my veins, and found the same bleakness dimming her eyes. The feeling oozed into the pit forming in my stomach. This was all my fault. Since he’d returned from school, I’d pushed Shaw away in an attempt to keep him from the family business. I’d treated him like a kid, shunted him to guard duty, rolled my eyes at his choice in friends. And it wasn’t just him. There was another reason Fiona preferred New York. Even Ciara, who had stuck around and put up with me, had fallen all over herself to befriend Cate. Because I’d failed all of them, and I knew what this horrible, ugly thing inside me was finally: shame.

“Then let it be me,” I said softly, daring a step in his direction. “But don’t let them hurt our family.”

But Shaw chuckled. “You don’t get to be the hero,” he said, finger curling. “Not this time. Not when I can finally do something right. Good luck.”

The movement was so swift there was no time to react. No time to lunge.

No time to stop him before he pulled the trigger.

Time slowed even as everyone around me moved. Ciara lunged forward, her shadows flying toward Baptiste, piercing her through the heart. Roark spun free, getting off a clean shot at the shocked witch. Dante scooped Channing off the ground and raced toward the door.

And Cate…

Cate didn’t move toward me. She moved with me.

We dove toward the sickening crack of a bullet splintering flesh and bone and brain.

And we were too late.

The building shuddered, dust raining down, the ground below us trembling as the ward started to fall.

But Shaw fell first. The light in his eyes was gone even before I caught him in my arms.

And something in me broke. Something that would never fully heal.

I cradled his head in my lap, hot blood seeping through my pants to the floor below. “I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I’m going to make this right.”

I didn’t know how, but I would, even if it was the last thing I ever did.

“Lach.” Cate said my name softly. Her hand touched my shoulder. “The bona fides…”

The earth shook, rain falling on my brother’s bloody head. I lifted my face to her, tears sliding down my cheeks. Not rain at all.

“I can’t leave him.” I shook my head. I couldn’t run from this.

She grabbed my face with both hands, forcing me to look at her. “They’re coming. Enough blood has been spilled. You don’t owe more.”

But I did.

“If you stay, he wins,” she continued frantically. “And then we’re all dead. There will be no Nether Court. No Terra Court. Oberon will make this a world of monsters. We’re the only thing that can stop him. Only the other courts stand a chance. You have to go.”

“The Nether Court doesn’t need me.”

“I do,” she said fiercely.

And without her…

I nodded once, still numb, and Cate gently lifted Shaw from my hands. Roark and Ciara were already there, kneeling, weeping.

“We will take care of him,” Ciara promised me, her chin quivering. A line of Theban materialized on her blood-spattered hands. She stared for a split second before shaking her attention from the indelible stain on her soul. “Go before they get here. Before he gets here.”

I stumbled to my feet, and Cate grabbed my bloody hands. “You can’t come,” I told her. “If they follow…”

She was everything. Not just to me. To everyone.

She closed her eyes. “I know.”

“Get to the Astral Court. Aurora will—”

She cut me off with a kiss and pulled back. “I can handle myself.” She sobbed. “Now get out of here.”

She always could. I stopped for a moment and allowed myself one final look at my family. At Ciara, and Roark, and Shaw. We had something worth fighting for, and I wouldn’t allow Oberon to take it away.

“I’ll find you,” I promised her. “You are my life now.”

She pressed a kiss to my mouth. “I know.”

“When Oberon comes—” I started.

“He’s going to be in for a surprise,” Cate promised me. She managed a sad smile. “I love you.”

The air around us swirled, golden threads lacing through it. The Wild Hunt was coming. We were out of time.

So I returned that smile one last time as I snapped my fingers. “You better.”

The love doesn’t end here…