Chapter 22
I barely slept. Last night’s fight with Tris had sucked the life energy out of my soul.
I’d felt drained and defeated by the time I got home.
Mostly because of how hurt I was. Tris and I had just taken everything in our relationship to the next level, and before we could even enjoy that emotional high, we’d had a fight.
A real fight, too. One that hurt my bones and had me wondering if I was really ready to be in a relationship with him.
We each had a lot going on in our lives right now…
maybe it wasn’t the best time to try and sort through our feelings for each other.
Thoughts like these and images of Tris’s beaten body had me tossing and turning all evening long.
I barely remembered falling asleep, and I would have stayed in bed all day if it weren’t for the pounding on my front door.
“I’m coming!” I shouted from the bedroom. Quickly pulling on a pair of running shorts and a tank, I hesitated a moment to gather my thoughts. What if it was Tris? What did I want to say to him? Did I even want to see him?
Yes. Yes, I wanted to see him. I didn’t like the way we left things, and he was the last person on this planet I wanted to fight with right now. There was just too damn much going on.
Another round of knocking pulled me from my thoughts, and I threw open my bedroom door to cross the room. Dragging my feet in exhaustion, I quickly tidied up the coffee table before taking care of the noise.
“What?” I asked when I finally reached the front door. My heart sank when I saw the sight in front of me. “Wylen?”
The fae was leaning against the threshold, both arms out to the side and hands gripping the wooden trim like it was the only structure holding him upright.
“Shit,” I breathed, tucking an arm around his waist and wedging my shoulder under his. “You’re wet. And you stink like you’ve been crawling around in the dirt.”
I helped him inside, kicking the door closed behind me. We made it to the couch, and Wylen melted out of my arms and onto the cushions. He sat, but it wasn’t his usual perfect posture, and I definitely couldn’t help but notice the way he could barely hold his eyes open.
“Where have you been?” I asked, pulling my blanket free and setting it over him.
“Trying to get back,” he whispered.
I grabbed him a glass of water (no ice) from the kitchen and placed it in his hands for him. He smiled and drank the entire thing in one move. “More?” I asked.
Shaking his head, he pulled the blanket up tighter around his shoulders and sank into the couch some more. It was obvious he wasn’t planning on saying anything else, so I cleared a little space on my coffee table and plopped right down in front of him.
“What happened, Wylen? Why are you so dirty?”
As though just realizing that he wasn’t as put together as usual, he pulled the ball cap off his head and smoothed out his fine blond hair. I let him have his moment, but I never stopped tapping my foot in anticipation. “I was having trouble getting here,” he finally said.
“You meant the teleporting?” And when he nodded, I added, “It’s not working anymore?”
“Not like it should.” He shifted to the side, wincing when he tucked his legs underneath him. “I couldn’t control where I was going.”
“Well, how does it normally work?”
He gave me a small smile. “I just think of a place and I’m there. Even if I’ve never seen it before.”
That must be awesome, but also a little scary. “How can you know where to go if you’ve never been there before?”
He shrugged, and I didn’t miss the way he clenched his jaw when he moved. “It’s kind of hard to explain. It’s more like a feeling , I guess.”
“Okay, I’ll take your word for it. So, what happened last night?”
“I just kept showing up in strange places and couldn’t seem to make my will work the way it should.
” He nestled into the couch again before continuing.
“I mean, in one jump, I landed at the bottom of a freshly dug grave.” Shivering with the memory, he focused on me again.
“And then there was the jump that put me right on the edge of the seawall. I took one step and I was in the water.”
“You fell into the harbour water?” I asked, completely disgusted and knowing now why he smelled so bad.
“Yes. It was really quite…gross.”
“And dangerous. You didn’t swallow any, did you?”
“I don’t know.” He licked his lips several times like he was trying to remember. “Is it bad if I did?”
“Well, I don’t know about people like you. But for people like me…we can get really sick with some nasty little bugs.”
“Bugs?”
“Bacteria.” When Wylen looked at me in confusion, I tried to think of a better way to describe it. “Tiny little organisms that get inside and make us throw up.”
“Ah, yes. I understand.”
“Where did you end up?”
“Inside the dumpster in your parking lot. ”
I jumped to my feet and held out my hands to help him up. “Okay, buddy. Time for a long shower.”
Wylen groaned as he moved, and I began to wonder if it wasn’t just his teleporting abilities that were being hindered.
Would he even be able to go back to Ashtabulah?
Could that part of his magic be hindered, too?
He hadn’t shown a single ounce of weakness since he’d arrived.
And now, not only was he teleporting into gravesites, but he was also tired and in pain.
“How about I make us some pancakes?”
“That sounds really nice,” he said with a grateful smile.
“Oh, and I can throw your clothes in the wash when you’re done and…what are you doing?” Wylen had dropped the blanket and was stripping in the middle of my living room. He’d already lost the shirt and shoes, and now he was wiggling out of his wet jeans.
“I’m giving you my clothes.” He didn’t stop, and I couldn’t make him.
I stood there and waited for him to finish, averting my eyes toward the kitchen so I wasn’t staring at his naked body. He chuckled a little when I heard his jeans fall to the floor. “You don’t have to be so bashful, Sosie. The fae celebrate everything that is natural.”
“I’m trying to respect your privacy. It’s a human thing.
” I spared a quick glance to the side to see if he was covered up with the blanket again.
But he wasn’t. He was getting there, yet was still bent over, showing me just how little fat was on his body and how defined his legs were.
Oh, good god. Quickly snapping my head back toward the kitchen, I cleared my throat.
“There are clean towels below the sink in the bathroom.”
“Thank you,” he murmured, and I didn’t miss the hint of mischief in his voice. But I stayed in my spot until I heard my bathroom door close and the shower turn on.
By the time I’d gathered up his dirty clothes along with my dress from last night, which had a few splatters of Tris’s blood on it, and got them in the wash, Wylen had finished his shower.
But it wasn’t until I was pouring the first spoonful of batter into the pan that he came out of the room and sat at my dining table.
He was wearing one of his new shirts with just a pair of clean briefs, highlighting his perfect…
everything. He’d pulled his damp hair back into a low ponytail, the length just long enough to stay tied up and showcasing his pointed ears.
I quickly tore my eyes away before any kind of devious thoughts could sneak in.
“Where is Tris?”
His voice was stronger and cleaner. I guess a good shower can even make the fae feel better. “Tris is at his house.”
“Why?”
“Because that’s where he lives.” I flipped the first pancake a little too hard, splattering batter up the sides of the pan and making me feel annoyed.
“You should have him come here.”
I didn’t like the way Wylen’s tone had immediately changed. Something was wrong, and despite not seeing any obvious injuries to him, I just knew my instincts were right. “What’s going on, Wylen?”
“Tris should be here.” Like a petulant two-year-old, he crossed his arms and took his stance.
“Wylen,” I groaned. “You need to tell me what happened. Did you find the car and the body?”
“Tris, too.”
I slammed the finished pancake on a plate and not-so-gently set it on the table in front of him. “No, Tris is not welcome here at the moment.”
Wylen shoved a giant bite into his mouth. “Why not?”
I could barely understand him. “First of all, don’t talk with your mouth full. Second, it’s none of your business why Tris isn’t allowed to come here right now.”
“But I have things to discuss.” His mouth was so full, his cheeks were sticking out as he chewed.
Taking advantage of his inability to speak, I poured two more pancakes and grabbed the syrup out of the fridge.
By the time I was ready to listen to him again, we both had plates full of carbohydrates, which I had a feeling we were going to need today.
“How about I call him?” I suggested as a compromise.
Wylen nodded, so I slid my comm phone closer to me and dialed Tris’s number. It was almost ten. He should be awake, but he’d had a pretty rough night in the ring. I thought about asking Wylen if he knew about Razi’s fighters, but then Tris’s raspy voice broke my concentration.
“Hi, Sosie.”
I could hear him stretching and knew that he’d still been in bed. “How are you feeling this morning?” The snark in my voice quickly found its way to the surface.
“Not so great, if you really want to know. I can’t see out of my right eye, and my knee is swollen.”
I nodded to myself with the I-told-you-so eye roll Tris wouldn’t see. Wylen watched me with brows raised and a question written all over his face. I’d fill him in later. Maybe.
“Look, Wylen is here, and he has something to tell us both.” Just like I’d let Wylen know that Tris had been fighting Razi last night in the name of self-discovery, I’d also tell Tris about Wylen’s rapidly waning fae abilities and how I was really starting to worry about his safety in our world.
“What’s going on, Wylen?” Tris asked, sounding a little more awake.
“Well, after Sosie and I saw the body in the car?—”
“Wait! What?” Tris shouted into the phone. “What body?”
With full-on snark, I said, “I told you I wanted to talk to you last night.”
“Fuck, Sosie. You should have started with the body thing!”
Wylen once again raised his brows at me, but I shook my head. I had no intention of explaining anything to either guy right now. “Go on, Wylen.”
“Sosie?” Tris questioned.
“Wylen, please continue.” Maybe now Tris would consider listening to me when I said there was something I needed to talk to him about. Tris didn’t even try to hide his sigh.
“Before my transportation abilities started acting up, I was able to locate the vehicle we saw behind Divine Pathways.”
I knew Tris would ask about Wylen’s issues as well, but that could also wait. “Where was it?”
“At a residence. I believe it’s the driver’s house. He parked the car in the garage and then took the bus somewhere. Maybe to his work? But that’s not the important part.”
Tris and I were silent as we waited for Wylen to continue.
“I got into the garage.” Wylen held up his hand when I opened my mouth. “There were no cameras on the inside.”
“Okay, good.”
“Anyway, I got into the garage and opened the trunk. You were right, Sosie, the man in the car was dead. Murdered.”
I covered my mouth as the reality of this whole thing started to sink in. There were a bunch of scuffling sounds on Tris’s line.
“How do you know he was murdered?” Tris asked, his voice a little muffled.
“All of his blood had been drained.”
“Shit,” Tris breathed.
But I saw the fear on Wylen’s face and knew there was more to the story. “What else?”
“The murdered man? He was fae. Pure-blooded.”
“Son of a bitch. Sosie, I’m coming right over. Don’t go anywhere.” Tris hung up the phone before I could protest, but I really had no intention of doing so. I wanted Tris here. Me and Tris and Wylen…we needed to stick together from now on.