Chapter 37
EMME
After his assessment, Constantine left us for the library, where he’d set up all his spell equipment. On top of casting protection over the house so we could safely sleep, he was still working on the blood-tracing spell—our plan B if Slade and Talon’s search didn’t pan out.
So far the first site had been a bust, housing a very human protest, which explained away their recent power usage surge.
While they moved on to site two, I dragged myself off to shower and get ready.
“I’m going to assist Constantine,” Hunter said after he helped me into the shower. “Unless you need me?”
I always needed him, but there were far more important priorities today. “Go, I’m totally fine,” I said, waving him off.
After he left, Finley pressed in through the open bathroom door. “I have therapy,” he said, steam wafting around him, “but I can cancel if you need me here.”
“Not a chance,” I told him. “Tell Dr. Karen I said hello.”
He stepped over to the shower door, and I leaned out to brush my hand across his beard, pulling him closer for a kiss.
When we parted, I was rewarded with a hint of my favorite dimples.
“I’m so proud of you for sticking with therapy,” I murmured, keeping it just between us.
“I still see and feel improvements in your energy and aura. You’re doing amazing. ”
Finley shrugged but couldn’t hide his hint of pleasure at my praise.
“Before I decided to heal, I felt like I was living on a boat at sea. One minute it was smooth sailing, and the next huge waves would almost throw me overboard. And while my healing journey won’t ever be linear, it’s in general so much smoother now.
The waves aren’t as severe, and they don’t take me by surprise.
I feel like I might finally be on an even keel. ”
He dropped his forehead against mine. “Still my peace,” he whispered against my skin. “Don’t forget to rub cream on your tattoo when you get out of the shower. I left it by the sink.”
I only had minimal discomfort today and already felt like his mark was settling against my skin. “Thank you, Grouchy.”
“Anytime, darlin’.” Then with one last kiss, he left me with Golden.
Kellan smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Well, Shortcake. It’s just you and me. Whatever should we do with our time?”
Leaning forward, I crooked a finger at him, and he trotted right over. “I have an idea.”
“Care to share with the class?” he asked, a spark finally lighting up his eyes.
“Anticipation is half the fun,” I said with a smirk, “now get your workout gear on and I’ll meet you in the gym.”
“The gym?” he rasped, clearly having had other ideas of what we could do.
I laughed and pressed my hand against his chest, all but walking him out of the bathroom, dripping water as I went. When I closed the door on him, there was a thud on the other side. As if he’d dropped his head against it. “No fair, mate,” he called out, sounding pained.
With a laugh, I returned to the shower, grabbing up my bodywash to quickly clean myself.
There were tons of bathrooms in this house, and somehow all of them ended up stocked with my favorite items, from hair products to period needs.
There were even makeup essentials scattered in their drawers.
I could essentially use any bathroom in the house and find what I needed to start my day.
I had no idea who was responsible, and while my first guess would be Hunter, it could be any of them.
Though I knew for sure Talon was the one who planted hairbrushes in every room of the house.
It had been too long since he’d brushed my hair, and my beast wasn’t the only one uneasy with the twins so far away from us.
After my shower, I smothered cream on my back, using the mirror to make sure I covered it all.
I got dressed in Slade’s wardrobe—my clothes were in every room too—and was soon ready to find Kellan.
Training with our resident weapons expert was exactly what I needed after that unsettling dream.
Preparation was the only way to counter this feeling of vulnerability in the face of magic.
On my way out of the room, I passed Slade’s row of computers, one of which was running his search. Scanning the data, I noted that it hadn’t found anything else of significance, and was about to turn away when a minimized file caught my eye. Fletcher’s research.
Clicking on it, it opened in what was a blur until I forced my eyes to focus. I had to read slowly, since it wasn’t in the font or background color that helped me keep letters straight.
The file appeared to be a summary of Fletcher’s notes, focusing mostly on creating and breaking pack bonds. My breath caught at the thought of ever losing one of my bonds. I’d literally have to be dying before I’d break our quintet, or more accurately, one of them would have to be dying.
In Slade’s concise dot points, the entire process of breaking a bond was surprisingly simple. The difficulty came from needing magic and permission of the center or entitled alpha, since they were the ones who held strong ties to all the other members of the quintet.
I wondered if that was why Jewels and Fletcher hadn’t just broken my bonds to Hunter and Kellan, even when it interfered with their Talon plans. They couldn’t without my permission.
Of course, under the right torturous circumstances, I imagined a shifter would agree to just about anything to make it end.
Not wanting to know more, I shut the folder down, my gut churning in distaste.
Needing to fill my mind with happier thoughts, I backtracked to Slade’s stalker wall and ripped the curtains open.
Googly eyes bounced back at me, and I felt the slightest, unhinged chuckle creep up my throat as I stared at them.
He’d left the eyes, and more than that, he’d added some shelves beside his security monitors, where all the glow-in-the-dark dragons from his room were perched.
Staring down at me.
I loved that he’d kept the items from my pranks. I was still working out plans for prank number three. Most of my ideas would require help from all the pack, but there was no point until we destroyed Jewels. Not a single alpha would mess with the cameras for even a second while we were in danger.
As I turned away, a pinned sheet of paper caught my eye. Mostly as it hadn’t been there the last time I’d stared at the stalker wall. The writing was small and boxy, and I couldn’t read it clearly until I got closer. As soon as the words made sense, I started to curse under my breath.
Slade had pinned a list of names, addresses, and social security numbers.
All of them human men.
This motherfucker had done exactly what he’d promised and tracked down the few guys I’d had sex with. Goddess give me strength. Marching over to his desk, I found a black marker in the drawers, the same shade as what he’d used to ink his murder-list in the first place.
When I returned to the curtain, I unpinned the paper and pressed it against the wall to scribble a huge black line through each name. Underneath I wrote, in my messy, childish scrawl, NO touching! Don’t push me on this one, Slade Riverson.
After I pinned the defaced paper back to his wall, I left the room feeling much more positive.
In the gym, I found Kellan absolutely whaling on the boxing bag. For all of his lightheartedness, there was a coiled lethality around him when he fought. In this state, no one could miss the deadly weapon buried beneath his golden complexion and easy-going smile.
As I closed in on him, it took real effort not to drool over the sweat dripping down his perfect abs, not to mention those delicious veins popping out of his forearms. Kellan shot me a smirk as he grabbed the swinging bag. “See something you like, pretty mate?”
“I see a lot I like actually.”
He growled and released the bag to prowl up to me. His scent was potent, and I almost swooned like a damsel.
“You have no idea how badly I want to fuck you against the wall,” he rumbled, his wolf flashing in his eyes until they blazed violet. “Bury myself in your tight pussy. I dream about it, mate. I dream about you. Every. Damn. Night.”
My thighs clenched against the pulse that thudded like a drumbeat between them, but I refused to be seduced by his dirty mouth and smoldering stare. “Let’s fight first,” I said, struggling to breathe through the intensity oozing between us. “If you beat me, you get to claim me.”
Kellan’s scent deepened, and he palmed his dick with a groan. “Baby, fuck, you’re speaking my love language now. Add in some praise and I’m going to be a puddle at your feet.”
I waved a finger at him. “A puddle won’t win you anything, Golden. You need to bring your A-game.”
I wasn’t good enough for his L-game, let alone his A, but I didn’t want him to baby me. If I was going to improve, I needed to be pushed.
He nodded, his chest heaving with multiple rapid breaths. “I accept. Weapons?”
“Oh yeah.”
After stripping off my top to leave myself clad in a sports bra and workout tights, I grabbed my blades from their case.
Kellan groaned again, his expression pained, as he looked between me and the weapons.
He loved these custom-made beauties, and I was thrilled that Slade had been able to call in another favor and get a set made for his birthday next month.
That we would be celebrating because we would beat that fucking witch.
She’d already taken too much from us.
Kellan lifted two blades from a nearby shelf, a set I’d seen him practice with many times. He had a lot of weapons in his bedroom, but they were mostly shelf trophies. The ones down here were put to use.
“These are Stab and Jab,” he said, lifting the two, long, thick bladed weapons. I’d modeled his birthday ones on this same size. “They’re old friends of mine.”