Chapter 29 #2
“You alright?” Ryker stepped closer to me. I took a step back. Was he here to bring me back? That had to be it. I’d run, so he’d chased.
My emotions were a whirlwind of frustration, hurt, and anger that made thinking hard. Bastian had been playing me these past couple of months, and both Cade and Ryker had known.
“I’m not going back.” I summoned my axes. “You’re not going to like what happens if you try.”
The pain in my chest sharpened.
Ryker eyed my axes. “Tempting. We’ve never fought with weapons before and I’m curious how good you are with them.”
I tensed. Cali was still leaning against the wall, golden eyes glowing faintly as she watched Ryker. She wouldn’t let him take me.
“So what do we do now?” Ryker asked casually. “I’ve never run away from my pack before, so I’m not sure how this works exactly.”
Confusion cut through the anger. I opened my mouth. Closed it. And then tried again. “What?”
Ryker gave me a lopsided grin. “I’m not here to bring you back, Rynn. I’m here because I’m choosing to be with you.”
“You . . . you can’t do that,” I stammered before giving Cali a bewildered look. “He can’t do that.”
“Rynn. I love you with all of my chaotic soul.” She pushed off the wall. “But you know how I feel about relationship drama. I’m going back for Nyx. If you make a mess hate fucking, make sure to clean it up afterwards.”
Shadows swirled around her, and then she was gone.
Traitorous bitch.
Fingers gripped my chin and turned my face so I was looking at Ryker again. “We can use the mirrors to get back to the room beneath the Alpha stronghold and see if that thing you stole from Fervis fixes it.”
“Barely counts as stealing,” I muttered, dismissing my axes for now.
“Only Cade and Selene are there now, and it’s unlikely they’ll notice us.
” Ryker grabbed my hand and led me out of the room.
He looked around until he spotted the stairs at the end of the hallway and started walking towards them.
“We’ll have to figure out something else when Bastian and Warrick are back though because they will definitely guard that mirror.
If Bastian can find a stryker, he’ll probably send word to Cade tonight, so really, we only have a few hours. ”
“You can’t do this,” I said again weakly. “They’re your pack.”
“You’re my mate,” Ryker said simply. “This is the best way for me to keep you safe. For now.”
I wasn’t a fan of that last part, but the rest of it . . . did Ryker really mean it? Or was this a trick? The bond between us had settled and no longer felt like it was on fire. But it wasn’t exactly happy either. It felt almost fragile.
My emotions were all over the place, and I hated how messy it made my thoughts feel.
Too many things had happened too quickly. I needed time to figure it all out. Preferably several hours alone in a room, where I could write down detailed notes of everything that had happened. Maybe make a pros and cons list.
There would also be lots of pacing. And probably swearing at Bastian for being a fucking asshole. And at myself for falling for his bullshit.
That second bond hummed, almost timidly. Oh, fuck off.
Ryker was right. I needed to see the mirror at the Alpha stronghold tonight before they blocked my access to it. Maybe we could move it here? Would it mess with the magic to move a mirror through a mirror?
That would require dragging it up several flights of stairs. I was confident in Ryker’s and my abilities to sneak through the hallways undetected—as long as Warrick and Cade weren’t there—but there was no way we could move the mirror without Cade hearing us.
I was still contemplating this several minutes later when we stepped out of the mirror at the Alpha stronghold and crept downstairs. A breath of relief flowed from my lips when we reached the room with the broken mirror and I activated the glyph to keep anyone else from entering.
Ryker was a quiet shadow behind me as I strode over to the mirror in the corner and withdrew the crest from my pocket, carefully putting it back into the empty divot at the top of the frame. We both stepped back and watched as the surface of the mirror instantly rippled.
“It worked,” I whispered. “It actually fucking worked!”
I reeled in my excitement. Cade was unlikely to hear us down here, but there was no reason to tempt fate.
“Now what?” Ryker looked at it. “Do we just go through?”
“Let’s at least go see what’s on the other side,” I said. “Then we’ll go back to the temple and figure out what to do from there.”
“Alright.”
I glanced at him. “You don’t have to do this.
We’re in the Alpha stronghold. You can just walk out that door.
We both know Warrick and Bastian will forgive you.
I mean, you didn’t even know exactly what was going to happen, so really, there’s nothing to forgive.
Nobody has traveled the way Cali has before, so it’s not like you could have kno—”
The next second, my back was slammed against a wall and Ryker’s hand was around my throat before his mouth crashed against mine. I barely had time to register what was happening before he bit my bottom lip hard enough to draw blood before whispering. “Tell me to leave again. I dare you.”
“I’ll wait until tomorrow,” I rasped.
“Good Princess.” He brushed a gentle kiss against my lips, which still stung a bit, before releasing me.
We stood there, staring at each other for a long moment. I didn’t even know what to say or what this meant. Ryker couldn’t leave the Alphas.
Could he?
Either because he saw the confusion on my face or felt it through the bond, Ryker took my hand.
“Come on.” He pulled me forward. “Let’s try out your magic mirror and then go back to the temple.
Specifically, that bed in the temple. We’re finally using a bed and I’m going to fuck you so hard that you stop telling me to leave. ”
Parts of my body that were already quite excited after that claiming kiss tightened.
“One quick trip,” I said a little breathlessly as I reached out and touched the surface of the mirror.
Solid.
I pushed a little harder, but my fingers remained firmly on this side. Disappointment rose. I hadn’t fixed it after all. My eyes went to the glyphs carved into the dark wood frame. Maybe some of them needed to be activated somehow?
“What’s wrong?” Ryker asked.
“Not sure,” I murmured. “Either we didn’t fix the mirror or Erendriel was wrong about what it does.”
But he’d said he had been involved in crafting it. And he’d seemed so sure about it leading somewhere . . .
I frowned at the mirror, trying to figure out what I was missing.
“You two care to tell me what you’re doing?”
Ryker and I both froze before turning to look at the doorway.
Cade stared back at us, his hands on either side of the door and an impassive expression on his face. I knew that look. That was the one he had before he started breaking shit. Usually people’s bones.
I wracked my brain, trying to think of an answer that would calm Cade down but was coming up with nothing. Ryker had betrayed his pack. Cade likely didn’t know that yet, but he did know that I was supposed to be hundreds of miles away with Bastian and Warrick.
Cade wasn’t a fool. The only way I could have made it back here this quickly was to use a Fae mirror. And I’d left Bastian and Warrick behind to do so . . . and then proceeded to sneak through the castle and lock myself in a room . . .
Fuck. We were trapped. If I didn’t figure out how to get the Fae mirror working, Ryker and I wouldn’t be able to leave through it. Cade could wait us out.
My heart hammered in my chest. I could feel the tension rolling off Ryker.
“I would appreciate an answer,” Cade said softly.
“So would we, actually.”
Ryker and I whirled around towards the mirror. In an instant, he had a dagger in his hand and I had summoned my axes.
The murky surface of the mirror changed, becoming crystal clear.
Two men gazed at us from the other side.
The one on the right had dark brown hair and pale skin, his eyes a midnight blue.
The one on the left reminded me a bit of Samara with his black hair and light brown skin with golden undertones.
A pair of glasses were perched on the bridge of his nose, sliding down slightly so he could peer over them.
Eyes so dark they were almost black looked at me. “Who are you? And why are you using the Unseelie Princes’ mirror?”
Not a mirror for traveling but for communicating, I thought numbly.
Well. Shit.