Chapter 7
An hour after Ruth had given the stronger dose of her healing elixir, Darian finally stopped shifting and was sound asleep in his human form. Peaceful. Smiling and snoring softly. Just like he should be. Like none of this had even happened.
The tiny rise and fall of his chest had become the center of my entire universe.
I’d sat beside him nearly the whole hour, watching, waiting, and quietly panicking like some emotionally unstable gargoyle perched beside the couch.
Every tiny movement had my heart trying to climb directly into my throat.
One stretch. One sleepy sigh. One twitch.
Normal. Normal was good. I’d never appreciated normal this much in my life.
The blanket Ruth had tucked around him sat crooked now after all the shifting earlier. One tiny hand rested near his cheek, curls falling over his forehead exactly the way Marcus’s did when he slept.
That nearly broke me all over again.
This could be growing pains. I didn’t know, and I couldn’t rule it out.
But deep in my gut, I didn’t think it was. It felt wrong. Different. Like something had been done to him.
And as soon as I knew Darian was stable enough that I could breathe without actively feeling like my organs were trying to evacuate my body, I knew it was time to go.
“I’m ready,” I announced, looping my bag over my head and adjusting it over my shoulder.
The words sounded stronger than I felt.
Inside? Absolute chaos.
Because now that the panic had settled enough to let my brain function again, anger had moved in. Cold anger. Sharp anger. The dangerous kind.
“I should come with you,” said my wereape husband, moving to stand next to me in the hallway.
Of course he did.
I looked at his face, the concern reflecting in his eyes. I knew he would come if I asked him to, even though ley line traveling was hard on his body and not something that wereapes were comfortable with. He’d done it before with the help of Ruth’s potions. But not this time.
Because somebody needed to stay and watch Darian. He needed to be here if something happened. And selfishly? I needed Marcus with our son. Because if Darian woke up scared… If the shifting started again… If something happened while I wasn’t here…
Nope.
My brain was officially forbidden from continuing that thought.
“I need you to stay with Darian,” I told him, reaching out and taking his hand. The rough calluses were comforting to me. “Iris will be with me,” I said, looking over at my Dark witch friend, who was smiling and looking way too excited to be traveling via ley line again.
“We’ll be okay,” said Iris, tapping her bag with Doris in it. “We’ll be back before you know it.”
“You better,” said Ronin, reaching out and pulling Iris against him. He leaned down and kissed her. “Because I have plans for us later. I received my batman costume. You know what that means. Time to put your Catwoman outfit.”
“Ronin.” Iris smacked him on his arm, her cheeks reddening.
“Don’t act shocked,” Ronin said. “You own the outfit.”
“I own many things.”
“You specifically bought leather ears.”
“Stop talking.”
“You said…”
“Ronin.”
“And I quote—”
“Ronin.”
“This zipper placement seems practical.”
Iris physically shoved him.
Ronin grinned like a man who enjoyed living dangerously. Under different circumstances, I would’ve laughed. Actually laughed. And teased Iris until she threatened to curse my eyebrows off.
But I couldn’t. Not today. Because every few seconds my brain kept pulling me backward. Toward the living room. Toward Darian. Toward fear.
“What do you think you’ll find?” asked Marcus.
“Anything that’ll explain why Addison is doing this to my kid,” I answered. The words came out harder than I meant them to. I didn’t doubt them. Not anymore. Because Addison had arrived. Then Darian got sick.
I wasn’t buying coincidence.
Not today. Not with my son.
Marcus watched me for a beat. “And if it’s not. If whatever’s happening to Darian… it might not be connected to Addison.”
Irritation flared instantly. Because I knew what he was doing. Grounding me. Making me think. Making me stay rational.
“It is,” I told him. “I know it.”
“But it might not be,” pressed Marcus. “You need to see that.”
I looked away because I hated when he was reasonable, especially when I was trying to emotionally spiral in peace.
I knew he was right. There was a small possibility that what Darian was going through was something else entirely. Something to do with his unusual DNA. And it would be my fault. Mine and Marcus’s.
The truth was, Darian was an anomaly, something so rare that no one really knew what he’d become.
And somehow…
That possibility scared me even more than Addison.
“The guards won’t be forthcoming,” said Marcus. “The wardens either.”
“Yeah, I remember.” Grimway Citadel was a fortress with layer upon layer of magical wards, reinforced stone walls, and restricted access points.
If Grimway was a nightmare to get out of, it was an even bigger nightmare to get into.
Still, we’d broken Marcus out of the prison.
It hadn’t been easy, but we’d managed. This time it was different, though.
This time, we were going in through the main doors.
Marcus sighed. “I called ahead anyway. The guards will be waiting for you. But I can’t tell you what to expect.”
“A lot of angry words,” said Ronin, shoving his hands in his jeans pockets.
“Helpful,” I muttered.
“I’m serious.” Ronin leaned against the wall. “Those Grimway guards hold grudges like old grandmothers. They probably still have your picture hanging in the break room.”
I glared at him. “Ha. Ha.”
“You broke the chief of Hollow Cove out of paranormal prison,” said my half-vampire friend. “Very romantic.”
“It was not romantic.”
The vampire had a point. Breaking Marcus out of Grimway had involved questionable decisions, dangerous magic, emotional trauma, a trip down the crapper, and a near death experience.
“Point is,” Ronin continued, “you walk in there and one of those guards recognizes you? You’re getting about six feet before somebody magically tackles you.”
I crossed my arms. “Let them try.” Yes, the idea of setting foot again in that prison had bile rise up in the back of my throat, but for my kid, I’d do it a thousand times if I had to.
Because fear was one thing. Fear for yourself? You could manage that. Push it down. Ignore it.
Fear for your child? That hit differently.
That sank claws into places inside you that you didn’t even know existed.
I glanced over to him still sleeping on the couch with Ruth sitting at the edge, rubbing his toes. Tiny human toes. Normal toes. Not furry gorilla toes or shifting toes.
Ruth caught me staring and whispered, “Still sleeping. That’s a very good sign.”
I felt a tiny release of tension along my shoulders. “That is good.”
“My elixir is working,” my aunt added in a soft voice. “It’ll keep him sleeping till tomorrow morning.”
Tomorrow morning.
That sounded impossibly far away. Like one of those things people said because it sounded reassuring. Morning. Sleep. Normal. Things I suddenly no longer trusted.
I pulled my lips into a tight smile. “Thank you.”
Ruth beamed. “My pleasure. I love this little monkey.”
My chest tightened because she did. All of my aunts did.
I was lucky enough that it almost hurt sometimes.
I was lucky to have such great aunts. Dolores and Beverly were still at the festival, and that was fine.
If Dolores were here, she would have tried to stop me from going to the prison, and right now, I wasn’t in the mood for any of her bossy comments.
Ruth smiled softly beside Darian and continued rubbing little circles over his feet. “He’ll be all right,” she said gently. “You know,” she said quietly, “this reminds me of my friend Greta Willowpine.”
“Who?” asked Ronin, turning toward her.
“She lived three houses over from us years ago,” Ruth continued. “Lovely witch. Wonderful baker. Terrible with sleeping potions.”
“And?” I couldn’t help myself.
“One winter she drank nearly an entire bottle of moonroot sleeping tonic because she said she hadn’t slept properly in three nights.”
“What happened?” I asked.
“Did she sleep for three days?” asked Ronin.
Ruth smiled. “No. She slipped into a magical coma for fourteen months. She also lost most of her eyebrows,” Ruth added thoughtfully. “But they grew back. Curlier.”
Okay then.
I felt strong hands grab me and pull me into an embrace. The scent of male musk and whatever aftershave Marcus had used filled my nose.
“Be careful,” he said against my hair. “Don’t do anything stupid.”
I snorted. “Me? Stupid? Never.”
“Mm.” His arms tightened around me slightly in that way he had, solid and certain. Like once Marcus held on to something, the universe itself would struggle to pry it away from him. He was crazy strong, a professional protector and occasional caveman.
And I liked it.
I rested my forehead briefly against his chest and closed my eyes. Big mistake. Because now I could hear his heartbeat, suddenly I didn’t want to leave. I didn’t want to walk out that door, didn’t want to step back into Grimway, didn’t want answers if the answers were terrible.
But I was going anyway.
“We’re going to figure this out,” Marcus said. That dangerous confidence of his should’ve been annoying. Instead it made me want to climb him like a tree.
Not now, obviously. My child was sick. But when I got back…
“We better,” I said.
“We will.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I do.”
I pulled back enough to look at him. “You’re doing that wereape alpha thing.”
Marcus frowned at me. “What alpha thing?”
“The very masculine ‘I’ll fix everything with my large shoulders and emotionally repressed confidence’ thing.”
One corner of his mouth pulled slightly. “I have very capable shoulders.”
“He really does,” interjected Ronin. “Like big.”
I pointed at the wereape. “Don’t distract me with your rugged mountain man energy.”
Marcus laughed. “Mountain man?”
“You know what I mean.” I waved my hands in front of him. “All of this.”
Marcus’s hand slid gently along my jaw, rough calluses brushing softly against my skin. His gray eyes held mine and completely locked on to me in that way he had. Like everything else disappeared. Like fear wasn’t clawing at my ribs. Like Darian wasn’t sleeping on the couch next to Ruth.
Like for one tiny impossible second, it was just us.
“You come back to me,” ordered Marcus.
Something inside my chest tightened painfully because there it was—not the chief or the alpha, just Marcus. My husband. The man who carried entire worlds on his shoulders and somehow still worried about me.
“I will,” I whispered.
“No unnecessary heroics.”
I shrugged. “No promises.”
“Tessa.”
“I’m kidding.”
Marcus frowned. “You’re not.”
“Only a little.”
His thumb brushed softly against my cheek. “Hurry back.”
“Yes, boss,” I teased. I stepped away from him because I knew the longer I let him hold me like that, look at me like that, I’d never leave.
And I had to. I had to get answers for my kid.
I turned and looked at Iris. “Ready?”
Iris flashed me a smile. “I was born ready.” She was so excited about riding a ley line that she was practically vibrating.
If spooky goth music had been playing somewhere in the distance, she probably would’ve floated directly off the ground.
The witch looked excited. Actually, no. Excited wasn’t the word.
Emotionally possessed by transportation magic felt closer.
Her black boots practically bounced once against the hardwood floor before she caught herself. “You know,” said Iris carefully, attempting but failing to sound casual, “ley line travel really is the superior mode of magical transportation.”
“Normal people get excited about vacations,” I told her.
Iris’s eyes widened. “This is a vacation.”
“We’re going to a supernatural prison.”
Iris gave a shrug. “Field trip then.”
Normally I would’ve laughed, but I couldn’t. The more I thought about Addison and how she blamed me for her sister’s death, the more I was certain she was behind Darian’s mysterious shifting illness.
That smile at the festival while my world started falling apart around me. No coincidence. My instincts wouldn’t let it go. And witch instincts? They weren’t always right. But when they dug their claws in, you paid attention.
I glanced toward the living room one more time. Darian slept peacefully beneath the blanket, one tiny hand curled beside his cheek. But an hour ago I’d been terrified he’d stay stuck somewhere between forms.
And now? Now I was leaving him.
Logically I knew Marcus was here as well as Ruth and Ronin. The safest place in Hollow Cove for my son was probably inside this cottage, but it didn’t matter. Mom brain wasn’t rational. Mom brain was: What if something happens? What if he wakes up scared and needs his mommy?
Damnit. I couldn’t do this right now.
“See you later,” I said, glancing at them and then at my son. “And take care of Darian.”
“We will,” said Ruth from the living room couch, still sitting next to him.
Ronin gave me a small nod. “We got him. Don’t worry.”
Marcus stood near the hallway, watching me like he was memorizing me before I left.
“You call me if anything changes,” I said.
“I will,” Marcus answered.
I took one slow breath. Then another. Because leaving felt wrong—necessary but wrong.
I spun around, looked at Iris, and said, “Let’s go.”
My heart lurched as I yanked open the front door and grabbed hold of the ley line.
Power roared through me in an instant, cold and sharp as winter wind.
Far below Davenport House, ancient magic awakened—familiar, timeless, and alive.
The surge hit hard enough to make my pulse hammer.
Energy flooded every nerve while the ley line thrummed beneath my feet like a living thing.
Beside me, Iris straightened, her dark eyes lighting up and grinning.
“You’re enjoying this way too much,” I muttered.
“Ley line travel should be enjoyed,” she said calmly.
The ley line pulsed harder. Wind whipped around us. My hair lifted. Magic curled around my arms.
Grimway Citadel was tucked away in Millbrook, Upstate New York—only a twenty-five-minute ley line jump from Hollow Cove.
Ready.
One last thought hit me before we jumped.
Addison.
Grimway. Answers. Proof.
Because if Addison hurt my son. If she touched one single hair on his tiny gorilla head…
Then goddess help her.
Because I wouldn’t.
And then together, we jumped.