Chapter 17 #2
I looked behind him at two women and three men decked out in shiny materials that set off their various shades of metallic hair. They didn’t stand with Jamie exactly, but they didn’t keep their distance either.
Xan warned that showing interest in me would complicate things. I guess he hadn’t realized saving my life already damned him. Now we stood in the nightmare he’d tried to avoid.
“And you think bringing in a second mentalist will prove something?” Xan asked. “If you don’t trust me, why trust any one of us?”
“Because mine’s potty trained,” Teivel said, flicking the ash off his cigarette onto the floor. “Fifty years of conditioning. He has no stake in anything. He exists to create with no thought of the use of his creations.”
Alex came unbidden into my mind.
Teivel cackled. “His toys, Burt and Ernie, are his sole company. You will not find a less partial judge.”
I sucked in a sharp breath. Burt and Ernie. Alex had said something about Burt and Ernie. Teivel was talking about Alex—the man who trapped me in a loop and still lived in my head.
I let go of Cayden and Rowan's hands and stepped forward. “No. Alex is not impartial.”
Teivel chuckled. “Well, now, darling. How would you know my mentalist?”
The room went deathly silent. This was a trap—a setup from the start. My chest tightened. The collars around my neck dug into my skin. Xan told me to try to keep them a secret, and now I understand why.
Technically, Xan collared me. He keyed the ring around my neck. Even though I’d been the one to suggest it, this would be the nail in his coffin concerning my free will.
“Alex tried to take over my mind after Horax put a collar on me.” I stepped forward, willing everyone here to understand that none of this was Xan’s fault.
“I was there,” Brit added. “I watched Horax do it.”
“And that’s why the Architect put a second collar on your neck?” Teivel asked too easily.
Gasps and curse words fell out of mouths. Teivel felt everything. He knew. I couldn’t stop touching the two collars under all my sweaters.
Xan stepped forward. “Yes. It is. Quinn’s powerful.
She blew out the first collar, which gave Alex unrestricted access to her mind.
He was using that connection to force her into his reality.
The new collar keeps him out.” Xan scowled darkly at Teivel.
“It keeps all of us out, Teivel, especially men who forced their tethers on her before she even got to my family.”
“He what?” The only woman standing among the sea of studded leather snapped.
Teivel put his hands up. “I found her wandering in the forest and protected her. Like the Architect said, she was dying. It was my only option.”
Xan clenched his fist and started shaking.
A few people nodded while others grimaced.
My heart thumped in my chest. Cayden pulled me close and kissed the side of my head. “It’s going to be okay.”
“Is that a Lawson holding her close?” The tall-willowy Grierson demanded.
Cayden didn’t let go of me.
Rage flashed in the tall-willowy Grierson’s eyes. “I do not believe you would turn down an invitation to join my family, of which your best friend is a part, for this.” She gestured to the men around me. “I call foul play. All of it. If she’s of sound mind, she will pass our tests.”
“Tests administered by a man loyal to the same body snatcher who tethered her against her will?” Xan pressed.
The tall-willowy Grierson held her head up high and refused to back down.
“Who are your suitors, sweet-cakes?” The woman who’d snapped, “He what?” pushed out of the sea of tan hair and studded leather.
Age carved her face, but nothing dulled the edge of her stance.
Tight pants hugged still-powerful legs, vanishing into chunky leather high-tops bristling with rings and metal.
Knives climbed her thighs in a neat row, and her wool sweater bulged with enough hidden steel to match any of the men.
I shuffled uncomfortably. “I, um, technically don’t have any?”
I didn’t mean for it to come out as a question, but it was too late now.
A few jaws dropped. Two women among the Abernathys I hadn’t noticed peeked out from behind the men and furrowed their eyebrows.
“I’ll not stand for this.” The only female Westwater took two more steps forward. “Brit, is that you I see in the back?”
“Aye, Ravana,” Brit stepped to Rowan’s side. “I’m here.”
“I don’t know right from wrong in this mess, but your friend’s being pushed around in a man’s game.
” Ravana took another step toward the Architect.
“This is why contracts exist. To prevent men from take’n and take’n.
How much have you taken from Quinn already?
” Ravana’s lips flattened into a line. “I’m putting Quinn under my protection, not the Westwaters, but mine. ”
“She should come with us,” the McDonalds immediately stated.
“Fat fucking chance,” the willowy Grierson countered.
“And she will not disappear behind Abernathy walls either.” She put a hand on her hip.
“I actually cannot fault your claim, Ravana.” The woman’s sharp features almost took on a hawk-like quality as she studied Teivel.
“Your sudden interest in the families is not altruistic, Teivel. The McDonalds are morons for letting you use them.”
Several McDonalds grunted. One spat. “Watch your tongue, Witch.”
The tension in the room doubled. Hands moved to weapons, and magic crackled.
“Or what?” The tall-willowy Grierson looked at her nails.
This had to be Everly’s mom; Deirdre, I think, was her name. I could suddenly see where Everly’s spirit and poise came from. The McDonalds took one step forward. A few men grunted, and balls of blood-red magic flared to life in Deirdre’s hands.
Ravana’s pissed-off yelp cut through all of it. She shook her head, and her eyes glowed a rich oat. Suddenly, she stood directly in front of me, with Ezra stumbling forward as if she’d pushed him from behind. I hadn’t seen her take a single step.
“Do you want to come with me, kid?” she asked.
The men around me went from surprised to moving. Swords rang as they came out of sheaths, and the air lit up with colorful energy. Cayden started drawing a rune.
Brit brushed my elbow. “Trust her.”
“I won’t force you.” Ravana reached forward and took my hand. “But you need to know you’re yourself. If you choose the Architect, the choice must be yours. Your heart, not his mind.”
Like Brit, little scars nicked Ravan’s face. Her skin was surprisingly tan for the gray climate, and soft wrinkles pinched her edges. Ezra turned with his sword drawn. Ravana’s eyes glowed once more, and she took a deep breath and held it. The world slowed until everyone except the two of us froze.
Ravana could stop time.
Despite the sudden realization, her words echoed in my mind.
I wanted the same thing. Cayden and I had clung to one another since day one.
Rowan caught my eye immediately, but like Xan, he’d tethered me.
And Ezra? The mage melted my insides with just a glance, but everything else was a tangled mess of emotions and bad decisions.
I was stuck in my own loop. Swore I wouldn’t sleep with XanRa, then did. Swore I wanted all four, then let them pass me around like a toy. Did I want that? With Ravana, I’d get space. Alone, I might stop feeling like the ball I accused Xan of kicking.
I glanced at my guys, moments away from attacking Ravana and seemingly unaware of the weapons now being drawn and aimed at them. It wasn’t just me needing space to figure out what I wanted.
Nerves prickled my skin as an uneasy confidence fell over my shoulders.
We needed this.
“Let’s go.” Two simple words to drown the storm inside me.
Ravana nodded, though she still held her breath, and tugged me forward.
We wove around Rowan, inches from pulling me into his chest. I stopped to run my hand through Cayden’s rune so he couldn’t hurt anyone with it.
To my surprise, Brit had an arm out, keeping Joe back and creating a path for us to the door as if she already knew my answer.
“Don’t do anything stupid,” I told my guys, and then Ravana was tugging me out the door. The moment we crossed into the outside, Ravana let out a puff of air. The sound of clattering swords and surprised shouts hit my ears.
“Be ready to run again; I can only stop time as long as I can hold my breath,” Ravana said before taking another deep breath and holding it.
Sounds cut off. The world around me went unnaturally still.
With my hand still in hers, we bolted. After slipping through the narrow walls, a sharp right took us past a few run-down buildings. We cut left down a small alley, and I was instantly lost. Ravana let out her breath, and we slowed to an easy walk.
“You’re going to want to lose the white cloak, kid. You stick out like a sore thumb,” Ravana said.
I wasn’t a big fan of ‘kid.’ I hadn’t been a kid in a while, but at the same time I knew so little. Following her directions, I shoved the white cloak into my pocket-void and pulled out a leather jacket.
“They’ll target you for the leather. A wool layer?” Ravana asked.
I narrowed my eyes, uncertain who “they” were. I wasn’t behind the Architect’s walls anymore. Out here, leather wasn’t fashion—it was a target. Violence was real, and I had to be ready.
“No, in my time,” I explained. “Wool was super expensive, while you could get a fake leather jacket for like twenty bucks.”
Ravana whistled. “My time. So, you really are a time traveler. Fuck me.” She laughed. “No wonder the families are losing their minds.” She pursed her lips. “So, you only have what you brought with you? You have four men surrounding you, yet not a single wool layer… Did they give you anything?”
I jerked back, feeling simultaneously offended for them and hurt that they hadn’t given me anything, which was stupid. “Rowan gave me a book and Xan the cloak… and a necklace, though I lost that. It’s really complicated.”