Page 72 of Witchbane

“Always,” I growled at him. “Stop being so…” I waved at him.

“All of me.”

“Yes. Stop being hot Liam, my mate, and alpha werewolf.”

“Who now turns into a kitsune too,” Liam reminded me.

“Right. Forgot about that. How clear are your thoughts as kitsune? Are you battling it like the wolf?”

“I don’t battle my wolf,” he said. “We coexist. The kitsune is actually less of a separate entity and more me? Not sure how to describe it. The wolf… I think we have to be partners because we weren’t originally meant to share a soul. The kitsune is part of you, who is part of my soul.” He kissed me.

“You’re distracting me with your sexiness. What about the fae? What about Kiran and Nick?”

“Remember stories of winter and summer courts?”

“Philosophy,” I said. “The old good and evil bullshit. Light and dark, life and death. Blah blah. Few things are truly evil. Everyone thinks they are the hero of their own story.”

“Right? Things probably weren’t as black and white as the stories. Growing things are a sign of the summer courts. Ice and death, a sign of the winter courts.”

“You’re saying Kiran is from the winter court? And I’m summer? Or the vine is summer?”

“Maybe. But kitsunes weren’t even a part of their mythology. That came from the Asian countries. Kiran said the kitsunes disrupt magic, a type of trickster.”

“Plenty of tricksters among the fae,” I said, thinking of Robin.

“Yes. But I can think of a dozen different religions, philosophies, whatever, all that had tricksters of a sort.”

“Which means don’t trust Kiran. But we need to get Nick home.”

“I have no intention of leaving anyone behind if possible,” Liam said. He rolled out of the bed and I immediately missed his warmth and heat. “I think if we can figure out that portal, we can create a way out for the last remaining survivors of Underhill before it collapses around us.” He looked me over. “Maybe you should stay here while I go look.”

“Not a chance in hell.”

“What if the vine comes back?”

“I thought we were only looking at a portal?”

Liam stared at me with worry plain on his face.

“What aren’t you telling me?”

“I think the closer to that door we get, the more Underhill will try to take you over.”

I got to my feet and crossed the few feet to stand in front of him. “You’ve met my mother, right?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m a tough son of a bitch. How do we get there? To this last portal thing? Open a door?”

“I think we need Nick to guide us.”

“You said not to trust Kiran. Nick is tied to Kiran.” I hadn’t really trusted him in the beginning anyway. Locked in ice, trying to use me to break a spell against my will, had sort of cemented that for me. I got wanting to be free. But he’d never stopped to even ask, until he figured out he couldn’t control me.

“And I don’t. But I think their goal is the same as ours. At least the immediate goal. Which is to get out of Underhill alive. I’m not sure I’d leave an enemy here to suffer. Kiran is not a friend, but I’m not sure he’s an enemy either.”

I couldn’t argue with that logic. “Fine. Let’s go see if we can at least get a map. I’d like to get the hell out of Dodge.”

Nothing is that easy. We ended up in an argument with Kiran, who really was looking terrible, and Nick. However, Nick agreed to take us to the edge of the city where the portal was centered.