Page 28

Chapter 28

A Force of Reckoning

U sing my abilities to steal my own gear was a new experience. Never thought one day I’d be sneaking around to collect my things, but if Kate had seen it, she’d be so proud. She’d tried and failed so many times to get me to sneak out, but she didn’t have a highly trained Hunter as a grandmother like I did. Unless Grams wanted me to leave, I wasn’t going anywhere.

I took what I needed, but not enough to set off alarms that we were gone—my crossbow, a few of Phillip’s favorite magic-snuffing inventions, and my favorite set of daggers. Not much worked against magic aside from what Phillip made and my own Ancient Fae magic. He’d said witch magic was different, but better to try and fail than not try at all.

Still, when Phillip returned from setting up in his area and Jo from hers, they’d know. Hopefully by then, we’d already be long gone and in the heat of it.

Unfortunately, Cash and I would need to be wary of the devices my impressive mentor set up along the way. The Dark Fae assured me that we’d be going in a completely different direction than where they planned to set up, so we wouldn’t have to worry. I still would—worry, that is—because Phillip was clever, and he’d prepare for everything.

Cash hadn’t explained how he planned to get through Harmony’s blood barriers, but something told me I’d be the bait he’d use for entry. His gift back into her good graces. Whatever story he spun, it’d need to be clever.

“As luck would have it, she can’t sense magic, so there’s no way for her to know mine has returned. Not without help. But she may suspect it because Fredrick and his Blood Mages were killed. She might’ve already tried to retrieve the amulet and found it gone. The only one who stands to gain from collecting it is me.”

I stole a look at him as we closed in on the hideout, careful of our surroundings and speaking no louder than a whisper. “So, how will you handle that little bit? Going to beg her for the amulet and offer something in return so she thinks you haven’t found it?”

Cash’s smile hit his eyes. “Your cleverness always surprises me, even though it really shouldn’t.” He stopped, so I did as well. “She needs to drop her guard for only a moment. I might not like it, but I’m the one who got away. Showing up in front of her after all these years on the run, she won’t be quick to kill me. She’ll want control again. Her obsession for her pets is entrenched in a desire for love, and I’ll exploit that to kill her. With you by my side, we’ll be a force of reckoning she can’t escape.”

Why did Cash always make vengeance sound so pretty? Why couldn’t I say things like a force of reckoning they can’t escape ? I wanted badass lines, too. With as many enemies as I went toe-to-toe with these days, I really needed to work on my come-backs.

“How did you know, by the way? You know, how did you figure out what I can do?” I asked, clinging onto a question I’d been desperate to ask.

His sneaky grin told me everything. “Come now, love. I haven’t evaded a powerful witch, that blasted sadist Eros, and the insufferable Phillip all these years without having some sort of skill to keep me out of their paths. Very little gets past these all-seeing eyes of mine.”

“You really didn’t evade Phillip, though,” I corrected, winking at him.

He’d think it was cute before he realized it was mean. And like clockwork, his little smile swiftly became a huff of indignation. It was a perfect reward for my well-timed sass. I’d almost been worried I’d never see my favorite Fae Karen again, but there he was, hand on the hip and fully transformed.

“That was before I recovered my magic,” he argued.

“Oh, sure thing.”

“That barbarian creates devices with magic and human technology. I hate to give him an iota of credit, but they’re incredibly effective against magical kind. But he’s not as clever as he thinks. His edge was that I didn’t know what most of them did before he used them on me,” Cash went on, determined to convince me Phillip wasn’t smarter than he was. Not that knowing what the inventions were saved him, as confirmed by the first time we met. He knew exactly what was about to be used on him, and he still couldn’t fight it.

“So, what you’re saying is…he outwitted you.”

“I—well—that was…Don’t you dare smile at me like that, love. There were plenty of times where he didn’t succeed and I evaded him,” he struggled to piece together.

“Got it,” I giggled, nodding.

“Truly, darling. He’s only captured me as many times as he has because I was powerless against those blasted contraptions.” Cash went on a long rant about how Phillip created new devices every time, and he couldn’t keep up with their uses, claiming that it was luck that they worked on him but now they wouldn’t.

Perfectly happy with his state of despair and rambling, I started to walk again. “So, I’m guessing you’re going to use me as bait.”

That shut him up. “What?”

“That’s the plan, isn’t it?”

“To what end?”

Confused, I stopped again. “How will you get through her blood barriers if I’m not bait?”

Suddenly, he had me by the face. “I know what I said earlier, but I never intended to use you as bait. I can see how you’d assume as much, but I’d always planned to use my power instead of putting you in danger. If anything, I’m the bait. You’ll be at my side, but not as an offering—as a trusted companion. Even if I tried to pretend otherwise, the slag knows me. She’ll know you’re so much more to me than anyone who’s ever been by my side.”

I ignored my swooning heart and him and all his goddamn sparkles. “Won’t that just piss her off? I mean, if what you say is true, then she’ll be angry you have someone with you.”

I wasn’t following again, but Cash didn’t seem to care.

“I’m counting on it. Just trust me, darling. I always planned to do this alone, but you being there makes the difference. Not your power but your mere presence. Have it my way and you won’t need to lift a bloody finger to help. You will, however, see what I can and will do for you after tonight. You’ll never question what I’ll do to keep you safe, or what I’m willing to sacrifice to stay by your side.”

Confused didn’t cover the feeling. I was completely flabbergasted. Why bring me at all if all he planned to do was let me watch? What did he mean when he said “what I’m willing to sacrifice?” What was he sacrificing tonight? His power? His past? His future?

Cash thought he had to prove something to me tonight, but the fact that he’d made himself vulnerable at all was more than enough to convince me. The fact that he stayed mattered. Maybe to others it wasn’t enough, but to me it was.

“You don’t need to—”

“But I do,” he asserted, chin up and cloak-jacket fluttering out behind him. You couldn’t write comedy this ridiculous.

I just didn’t get it. Why did all the men around me insist on proving themselves? They might not like it, but it was something they all had in common. Maybe because they’d been alone and didn’t trust anyone without proof. Or maybe I wasn’t jaded enough. Maybe I was too quick to trust. You’d think being betrayed by friends would put me more on my guard, but all it’d done was make me hold tighter to the people I still had.

Okay, so Phillip had a lot to prove, but he’d done that to himself. That wasn’t because I hadn’t trusted him at the start; that was because he chose to be a stupid asshole and make decisions without bothering to talk to me first. He’d done a good job of making it up to me, but when it came to Cash and Jo, he was still being a stupid asshole, and that was the entire reason I couldn’t trust him to listen when I tried to explain why we went without them.

Ugh.

“You really don’t expect me to just stand there and watch you two duke it out, do you?” I was a little irritated Cash thought I’d ever hang back and let him do everything. “I know I give you a hard time, but I’d never leave you to fight alone. We’re on the same side here. I get that you have a past, but so does everyone in this group.”

If I was there, I’d be fighting.

“That’s why I have to do this, darling. She might be on your list, but this has always been my fight. Only I can finish this tonight.”

My mouth shut.

Did he really think this was on him, or was he worried that I’d fuck it all up again? Sure, I’d failed to subdue Serine at the club, but I’d gotten myself home. Sort of. Fuck . Did everyone around me see me as someone they needed to save? That’d honestly hurt more than anything else.

The gorgeous menace seemed to gather how I was feeling because he quickly added, “I know how powerful you are, darling. You freed yourself from Serine’s prison. The thing is, I never thought for a second you wouldn’t. Those barbarians might underestimate you, but I never have. I knew I’d only be chasing your shadow if I went after you, but I didn’t want you to be alone, so I followed when you didn’t need me to.”

Surprised to hear it, I let loose a breath. “Is that why I found you in the Fae realm?”

Cash peered around us, then nodded. “I’ll tell you anything you wish after slaying the old hag, but we’re running short on time. I sense far more magic now than I did a few minutes ago. She’s preparing her escape. Probably building some kind of portal.”

I didn’t sense the change. It was shameful how little magic I sensed even being the genetic monster I was. But I agreed with him. Now wasn’t the time.

“She doesn’t stand a chance against you, darling, but she’s crafty. She exploits weakness better than anyone I’ve ever known. She shouldn’t be underestimated. From my history with her, we need to act now or lose her again.”

My throat seized. He’d been enslaved for all that time—her imprisoned toy. How did someone come out of that unscathed? How did he look this cool and pretty when he was so close to the same person who’d hurt him for centuries?

If it were me, I wouldn’t be calm. I’d be unraveling. But then again, maybe he was. The way his eyes skipped back and forth, scanning the trees, watching for enemies, the tension in his body visible in his arms and neck, maybe he wasn’t calm. Maybe this was him unraveling.

I wanted to reach out and touch him, soothe the frantic dance his muscles were doing, but I kept my hands to myself. I couldn’t do that to him, not when I wasn’t sure what I meant by it. Pity? Friendship? Comradery? Lust? More?

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to kiss him again. My lips still burned where his had been. He’d managed to enslave me with one kiss, and it was ridiculous how much I wanted another one. But I shook away the vicious thoughts of yearning.

We had a witch bitch to slay.

“I can end her quickly. Trust me to do this, V.” Cash’s purple eyes seemed to penetrate my very soul.

He was asking, not demanding. I could say no. I could tell him to leave it. I could claim his vengeance, and he would let me. I picked up on how vulnerable he’d made himself tonight just by the words he used to convince me.

“Okay, Cash, she’s yours. But I won’t stand by if she hurts you, so if you don’t manage to do it, I will,” I promised with a tight throat.

His eyes widened for a moment. “Hurts me?”

“Yes, Cash. If she hurts you, I’ll step in,” I reiterated firmly. “I’m done watching people I care about get hurt, and if you’re going to trust me with a part of yourself you’ve never given to anyone else, then I’m going to protect it, okay? I know you think you have something to prove, but you don’t. You have a past, but so does everyone here. What you do now is what matters to me.”

As if he’d been hit with the shock of his life, the Dark Fae stood stock-still, mouth agape. But as if he’d been jolted back into action, he moved closer, and our faces were inches apart again. “Those barbarians don’t deserve you,” he whispered, his hot breath painting my lips. “But neither do I.”

And then he kissed me.

I didn’t push him away. I honestly should have. But I clung to him. I dragged him closer. I wasn’t helping anyone by letting him have his way—certainly not me, the one already mixed up with three other people—but with how urgently his mouth moved over mine, I couldn’t find the strength to say no or stop the kiss.

Worse, I didn’t want him to stop.

His hands were in my hair, then trailing down my body and pulling me impossibly close in a series of frantic movements. He was terrified I’d run. It was clear by the way he grappled my sides and crowded my body against his. So when I wrapped my arms around his neck instead of escaping, the little sound he made was terrifyingly sweet.

Like he’d never been so happy.

Like he’d finally gotten permission for something he’d wanted to do forever.

It hit me right in the hips, and I found myself kissing him back just as desperately. I’d conveniently ignore the uncountable ways I could be punished for doing this with someone no one else trusted. It was a bomb waiting to hit my life if anyone ever found out.

Still, it was as if I couldn’t help myself. The lure was too strong. Cash’s lips were a magnet I couldn’t prize myself away from. His kiss felt like everything I shouldn’t want but needed. So, I did what I always did. I favored pleasure over sense. I left the consequences for future me to figure out. Because, fuck, it was so good.

He kissed like a goddamn madman, and the way he moved his tongue, coaxing mine into a perfect dance while his hands slipped under my shirt and teased my heated skin nearly made me forget where we were and what we were about to do.

Shit.

“We can’t. There’s so many reasons—” I murmured before his lips smothered my next words.

“I know, love,” he breathed roughly before grabbing hold of my jaw with one hand and kissing me again. “…gods, I know.”

Our tongues twined for several intense minutes before he pulled away, breathing heavily. His pupil-blown irises had barely any color in them, just hints of glowing purple. A predatory stare that made my thighs quiver. I’d never seen him look so…hungry. When the gleam in his eyes finally calmed, the color returning, Cash seemed to come to his senses.

As if it hadn’t happened, we broke away and started heading for the largest cave entrance to Harmony’s hideout, and it was the first time I smelled the foul stench of blood magic. It permeated the space with actual weight. I slowed, sensing a dramatic shift in the air. It was an explosive sensation that crawled over my skin and put me on immediate alert.

Cash took my hand, another one of his river rocks already vibrating above his palm. “I thought you would hide behind your wall, but I guess you can still surprise me after all these years, Harmony.”