Page 31 of The Enemy to the Living (The Wild Hunt #2)

Between us, we get Quinn out of the car, though Kieran glares at me and all but shoves me aside to take Quinn’s weight along with Paxton.

I hesitate only for a second before I follow them, passing through the wards with a shiver.

Sam must be allowing us all through. I trail them into the building and up the stairs.

A tensed, charged silence exists between us all, spinning out and out until it’s so thin I fear it might snap.

Kieran opens the door to a flat at the end of the hall. Drew is waiting just inside, and the pain on his face when he sees Quinn guts me. His eyes are already red, but his expression crumples. Sam pulls Drew back against him, into his arms.

“Give him space, sweetheart.”

I wait impotently in the living room, watching as Paxton and Kieran take Quinn into what must be his bedroom. The entire flat is bleak, devoid of anything that might pass for a material possession. Drew sobs quietly in one corner. Sam watches me the entire time, expression unreadable.

Kieran comes out of the room like a whirlwind, though he doesn’t speak until Paxton shuts the door quietly behind them both. I jolt. The visual connection to Quinn is all that I had, and now that it’s gone, it’s like I can’t be sure he’s alive at all.

“What the fuck happened?” Kieran snaps. He’s holding himself in check, I know that, but I bristle all the same. Doesn’t matter that Kieran’s his alpha. Doesn’t matter they’re Quinn’s pack. Where the fuck have they been these past few weeks?

Paxton reads it all on my face. “Asher.”

“He made a deal with the fae. Payment was due.” My sentences are terse, sharp, and Kieran doesn’t like them—he takes a step toward me, but Paxton walks around him and shakes his head.

“What do you mean?” Drew asks. Fuck, it hurts to look at him. His lips wobble, but he sucks in a breath and tries again. “Why would he do that?”

Paxton grabs my arm when my hands curl into fists. I don’t want to yell at any of them. I don’t .

But did they even try with him? Did they?

“The twins run fights in a pub in London,” I say instead because that’s not really worth it at all. “Quinn’s been going. To get in, I think he had to make a deal. I don’t know what it was, only that he did. They—Last night, he—”

He knew, didn’t he? That was why he wanted to come back. He figured it would all be over.

They tricked him. I shouldn’t be surprised, but I am. Paxton squeezes my arm again.

“Last night, he left to go there. He said he’d be back. Whatever happened, he failed to follow through on his part of the bargain. They took his wolf.”

Kieran moves to speak, but Sam gets there first. “Is that what they did to the other one?”

“Yes.”

“Quinn won’t—He won’t—” Drew breaks off with a sob.

“He won’t die,” I say.

“Asher.” Paxton’s tone is a warning, and for the first time, I swing my gaze to him.

“He won’t .”

The twins are taking the wolves. Bryn didn’t die for a few days afterwards, lingering, sure, but what if the twins haven’t had a chance to do whatever it is they’re planning with Quinn’s wolf yet?

But that means I don’t have much time. I start to pace, and Kieran tenses, but Paxton shakes his head and he lets me.

“What can we do?” Sam asks. He seems surprisingly focused, even with Drew sobbing into his shoulder.

“Call Spectra,” Kieran says immediately. He doesn’t look away from me. “I don’t know if Deacon let her in to look at Bryn, but maybe she can help us here.”

“I have to go there today,” I say to Paxton.

“No! No, the Huntsman said—”

“Fuck the Huntsman!”

The room goes silent after my outburst. I cock my head, listening, but there’s nothing I can hear beyond the door that leads to Quinn’s bedroom. Is he still breathing in there?

“Asher, you need to think about this.”

“No, I’m done. I need to help him. Please, I have to—”

Paxton grabs me by the shoulders and it’s only then I realise how quickly I’m breathing. “Okay,” he says. “Okay. I’ll help. Just take—Breathe for a minute, okay? I need to call Jeremiah, let him know.”

“The rest of them?”

Paxton sucks his lower lip between his teeth, then shakes his head. “I’ll call Jeremiah.”

“Yeah, let me call Spectra, too,” Sam says. He follows Paxton out of the flat, leaving me alone with Kieran and Drew.

I look at them both. It seems such a short time ago that I was spending time with Jeremiah or Paxton, keeping an eye on them both, and they’ve grown into strong men despite all the ways their father almost prevented that.

Kieran stares straight back, then sighs, pushing his hands through his hair. “Sit down. Please.”

I drop onto the sofa next to Drew. It’s not comfortable. I think Quinn’s flat is bigger than mine but only a little. I swallow hard. I want to spend time with him here. I want to help him make it look like a home.

“Is he—Are you—” Drew starts and stops, and I sigh, taking pity on him.

“Yes.” Doesn’t matter the question, not really.

Drew stares at me, then looks away. He picks at the stitching on his jeans. “Are you going to take him away from us?”

“What?”

He sets his jaw. “When you get his wolf back, are you going to take him away from our pack?”

“I—” Our pack of two. If he wants it. I don’t want to pretend I know what he truly wants, but I don’t think it’s that.

Oh, he wants me. But he wasn’t lying when he said Drew was his brother. He won’t survive away from this pack, not for long.

“No,” I say.

“And your Huntsman will just let you two be together?” Kieran’s question is much more challenging, as is his gaze. “We all saw Njáll and Maurice. What if he says no?”

“Then he says no.”

Kieran frowns—it’s not a good enough answer for him—but before he can ask me anything else, Sam comes back inside. He makes a beeline for Drew and, seeing I’ve taken his spot on the sofa, he drops straight into Drew’s lap. “They’re on their way.”

“They?” Kieran asks.

“Spectra and Sparrow.”

I frown. Sparrow. Sparrow told Quinn about that place. Sparrow knew there’d be a deal. Sparrow—

“When will they arrive?” I ask.

Sam shrugs. “Half an hour or so.”

Paxton comes back inside. “Good.” He looks at me. “We’ve got time to plan.”

Spectra and Sparrow arrive exactly thirty minutes later. Sparrow doesn’t look at all surprised to see me, but then I don’t expect them to. They’re dressed down today, long hair tied into a messy bun on the top of their head.

“How can we help?” Spectra asks. She takes me in with a glance; she knows Vlad and Grant far better than she knows me, but I’m sure she can see the state I’m in.

“We’re planning to go into Mischief & Mayhem today,” Paxton says.

We’ve been over the plan. The twins don’t seem to go anywhere else, and even if they do, they likely teleport in and out of that building.

“We’ll see if we can find Quinn’s wolf. With our blessings”—he darts a significant look at me, and I try not to let my nerves show on my face—“we should escape detection. Maurice is on standby for when we find it.”

“Ophelia will be here,” Sam says. “And me.”

“I can help, too,” Spectra replies. “If they have his wolf, they’ll have contained it in a vial or a similar receptacle.

It’ll be hard to find—they have to make sure the wolf’s magic can’t get out and interfere with their own, especially if they’re using their magic to alter the space inside the pub. ”

“They are,” Sparrow confirms.

Sam’s gaze swings immediately to them, and to my surprise, he looks angry. His voice is cold when he asks, “And how would you know that?”

To their credit, Sparrow doesn’t squirm, though they have to be able to feel what I do—Sam’s magic is beginning to flare.

“I’ve been there before.”

“And what else?” Kieran demands.

Sparrow lowers their gaze at that. “I told Quinn how to find the place.”

Sam leaps to his feet. Spectra pushes Sparrow back behind her, but Kieran doesn’t move to stop his second at all. “You told him? Why the fuck would you do that?”

“He needed an outlet. I thought it would help. I’ve only spoken to fae who go there. I didn’t know—”

“Didn’t know what ?”

“I didn’t know they made deals with the wolves. I thought they let them fight like everyone else.”

Sam throws his hands up in frustration. “What about when you did? Why didn’t you tell us?”

“It was Quinn’s business, not yours.”

“We’re his pack,” Kieran growls. “You were supposed to be, too.”

Sparrow blanches. They look past the others and at me. “I want to help you.”

Paxton shakes his head. “It’s dangerous enough, and we’re already—Fuck, if we take a fae in there—”

“Sparrow will be better at finding the wolf than either of you,” Spectra says. “Their magic will react to it. Yours may not.”

My blessing will, I’m sure of it, but we can’t take any chances. I look at Sparrow. “Swear that you’ll help us. Make a deal with me.”

“Asher,” Paxton mutters.

“Do it.”

“Fine. I’ll do whatever I can to help you find Quinn’s wolf.” Sparrow sticks out their hand. “No matter the cost to my magic or my life. I swear it.”

“What do you want in exchange?”

“In exchange…” Sparrow’s eyes glitter. “You tell me what you were before you joined the Hunt.”

Paxton grumbles, though he of course knows now, and I suspect he’s figured out what I do—Sparrow does, too. They can already tell. Spectra swallows a smile when I shake Sparrow’s hand.

“Deal,” I say.

“Deal.”

“We’re ready, then?” Paxton asks.

I nod, and so does Sparrow.

“All right. Let’s go get our wolf back.”