Chapter Thirty-Seven
Darkness greeted me first. I fought the urge to dissolve into it, to let it swallow me whole. It couldn’t be worse than the agony of facing what Lach had done. But before I could surrender to the shadows, strips of green neon hummed to life, racing to outline the walls of a garage and illuminating a sleek black SUV, its hood emblazoned with Sentinel. I stared around me, my brain kicking on with the lights.
He had sacrificed himself for me. It felt like my chest was caving in, collapsing on the empty space left behind where he’d been ripped from me. Another bleeding wound I couldn’t staunch.
The pain was too much, too heavy to bear. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t think.
“Focus.” The word echoed back at me, summoning his instructions.
One step. Just one. I took it. Then another until I reached the SUV. I fumbled for the door handle. It unlocked automatically, and I climbed in, gripping the steering wheel. I rested my forehead on it and tried to remember how to breathe. But all I saw when I closed my eyes was the grim determination on his face as he killed MacAlister. As he took the final kill shot, claimed my fate, gave up everything—his family, his court, his life—to save me.
And I would not sit here while he died for me.
I would not just give up.
Sitting up, I dashed my tears with the back of my hand and reached for the glove box. It fell open to reveal a black leather bag. I unzipped it to find rolls of money, a handful of papers, and a few passports, each labeled for different countries—and at the bottom of the bag: an old Nokia phone.
He’d given me instructions. I only had to follow them. I only had to do the next thing he’d put in front of me. But I couldn’t, not with emotions bottlenecking in my throat. So, I screamed.
It tore out of me, clawing and primal and raw. And when I finally pried my white knuckles from the wheel, my throat ravaged, I went back to work. I found the power cable and plugged the phone in, knowing it wouldn’t charge until I opened that garage door and drove out of New Orleans.
Until I left this city.
Until I left him.
Maybe I would always belong to him, but I wanted to be with him more.
But he had freed me in those final moments so the bargain wouldn’t fester between us as he ran from the Wild Hunt, not me. He’d done so instinctively, acting compulsively, as though he had always had this plan in place. Looking around me at the secret, outfitted garage, I realized that he had. That he had known one day he might have to run. But instead of him nipping to this car and his money and passports and that help waiting on the other end of a single call, instead of choosing to flee before the Hunt tracked him down, he’d sent me. Maybe because he knew Bain would come for me when he discovered MacAlister’s failure. Maybe because that’s what he’d promised he would do.
Protect me.
I gripped the wheel, my eyes focusing on my ring. On proof that I had survived again, but only because he would not. On the linchpin of our bargain. This stupid ring that he somehow knew I would never give to him willingly, especially after he’d refused it first. After he’d told me that it was worthless. That its only value lay in what it meant to me, so I would never think of offering it again. Such a simple, clever trick. Something howled inside me to take it off, unable to stomach the sight of it. Because it no longer meant I’d survived.
It carried the weight of loss. It always had, but I’d chosen the easier story to swallow. I didn’t remember my parents, so maybe it had been easier to believe it was so simple. Black or white. The past or the future. But now I knew exactly what I’d forfeited. The loss of the life I’d only tasted, the family I had glimpsed, the man who might have very well always known what I needed—because he needed it, too.
It was all gone, and I’d vowed to wear this ring like a scar for the rest of my life.
I wanted to crumble into my grief, but I didn’t have time to break down. That would come later. And suddenly, I was grateful for all of those double shifts, for the chaotic pace of Gage Memorial. I ignored the twinge of sorrow I felt at leaving it all behind. But my job had taught me to focus and follow instructions, so I knew what I had to do next.
I fumbled in the dark until I found a garage-door remote in a small overhead compartment. My pulse shot up as the door rose, revealing a worn-down New Orleans street. Judging by the plants growing in the cracked brick of nearby buildings, it was a long-abandoned industrial district. I had no idea where I was. I just had to follow the signs out of town, make that call, and convince the person on the other end to point me in the right direction—the only direction I was willing to go.
The one that took me back to Lach, because if he thought I was going to leave him to run, to die…I sensed another argument in our future.
Our future.
A future I was not willing to give up on.
There was just one thing I had to take care of first.
I pulled out of the garage, my eyes squinting in the afternoon light. The sun caught the emerald stone of my ring, twinkling at me like a message. I had no choice but to leave without goodbyes if I had any chance of helping Lach next. I only hoped Ciara and the rest of the Nether Court would understand, that Haley wouldn’t worry, but there was only one other person I couldn’t walk away from, and if I had to ditch my phone on my way out of the city, this might be my last chance to use it.
I took it out and prayed Channing had been paying his bill. Because I couldn’t leave my brother behind. I wouldn’t lose anyone else.
“What?” Not the friendliest greeting, but I nearly sobbed with relief that he’d actually picked up.
“You answered.” The words were as raw as my throat, and I had to swallow before I broke down.
“Cate, what’s wrong?” No longer angry with me after our fight. Just worried. Just family.
I stopped the car and began punching an address into its navigation system. “I don’t have time to explain. I need you to meet me at my house in twenty minutes.”
“Twenty minutes? What the hell is going on?”
“Just do it. Promise me.”
He paused and finally sighed. “I’ll be there.”
…
I drove like the Wild Hunt was chasing me, and when I pulled up in front of my quiet, empty house, I saw Channing sitting on the doorstep. I jumped out of the car, grabbing Lach’s mysterious phone and the leather bag. I swore under my breath when I realized I didn’t have my house keys—and Channing kept losing my spare.
He popped onto his feet, drinking in the expensive car I’d just arrived in. “Is that a Range Rover?”
I ignored the question and grabbed his hand. “I need you to break into my house.”
His eyes bulged. “Cate, what the hell is going on?”
“I’ll explain, but we only have a few minutes.” I had no idea how Lach planned to buy me time or how much of it I had before Bain came after me—and every second I spent before making that call was another second with Lach that I lost.
“I can’t—”
“It’s not illegal if I’m asking,” I cut him off. My landlord might disagree, but what choice did I have?
Channing studied me for a minute, his brows nudging together like he was assessing my state of mind. “I can pick the locks.”
I had never expected such disconcerting information to be so comforting. Channing went to work while I held up my phone’s flashlight. Each lock took two minutes, and then we were inside.
“I just want to grab a few things.” I tossed him the bag and the phone, trying to ignore the now very overdue library books on the coffee table. “Keep an eye on that.”
“Why?” He stared at the Nokia. “This thing is an antique. Does it even work?”
“It’s supposed to.” It had charged long enough to power on. “It’s going to connect us with someone who can help.”
“Help?” he repeated, the color leaching from his face. “Why do we need someone to help us?”
“I’ll explain later,” I promised him. “Just don’t break it.”
I booked it to my room to grab the little clothing I’d left behind when I made my temporary move to the Avalon. I’d never expected that I would be leaving here for the last time then. I shoved the clothes into a backpack and paused to look around the room for anything else I wanted to bring with me. But all I saw was secondhand furniture and little else. Things that meant nothing to me. As if this life was those borrowed library books—always waiting to be returned.
Channing was digging through the leather bag when I returned to the living room. Rolls of cash were strewn on the couch. “You aren’t going to believe this.” He tossed me one of the passports.
I opened it to find a blank page, but as I frowned, my photo appeared, along with a stranger’s name and information. A magical escape ticket.
“Cool, right?”
I forced a smile. I didn’t know if it was a spell or a glamour. I wasn’t going anywhere, but I could get Channing out. I clung to that. “I told you I would explain on the road. Get that back together—we’re going to need it. And don’t forget the phone.”
He reached for the money, nodding. “Look, I’m really sorry, Cate.”
“What do you have to be sorry for?”
“I got you mixed up in this.” He gestured to the leather bag, the money, the magical passports. “But I’m going to get you out of it.”
“Great.” I shouldered my bag higher, tapping my foot. I didn’t need to be reminded that Channing had been the reason I’d tracked down Lach, that I had made that bargain to protect him. I didn’t know if I hated him for introducing me to the world I’d lost or loved him for giving me even a short time with it. And thinking about it now was a waste of time.
“I’m going to fix it,” he swore, rising to his feet.
“Channing, I’m not really worried about that right now. It’s not safe for us here. I’ll tell you in the car.”
He lifted his chin, squaring his shoulders, and pressed on with the apology. “I’m sorry I couldn’t keep you safe.”
“I’m your big sister. It’s my job to protect you, remember?” I hitched my thumb toward the open door behind me.
But he didn’t budge. “Not anymore. He’ll protect you now.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked slowly, dread skittering up my spine at the determination on his stony face.
“You’ll understand.”
I opened my mouth to demand an answer, but before I could speak, a rough hand clamped a rag over it. I jerked as a sweet aroma bloomed in my nostrils, thrashing wildly as darkness blotted the edges of my vision.
The last thing I saw was my brother’s stricken face.