Chapter 3 Zera #3
The screen blurred before her eyes, but she found his number and hit Dial, praying that he would answer.
“Maverick,” she said as soon as he picked up, not giving him a chance to say hello. “It’s Zera.”
“Oh, I know.” Maverick’s voice was bored, and was that a hint of… annoyance?
Zera’s grip on the faestone tightened, frustration and desperation intertwining within her.
“I need your help.”
“I thought you never wanted to see me again?” he teased, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “And that I’m a… how did you put it? ‘A lying piece of werewolf shit’?”
Zera gritted her teeth. She didn’t have time to deal with Maverick’s games or his wounded pride.
“Look, Maverick,” she snapped, her voice laced with urgency. “I don’t have time for this. Right now, I need you—”
“I guess I am rather irresistible,” Maverick’s deep voice interrupted her, sending a shiver of desire down her spine. She shoved her feelings down and replaced them with rage.
“Listen to me!” Zera hissed into her faestone, her heart pounding in her chest. “I’m not calling you because I want to see your smug face again. You owe me for saving your life, and right now, I need your help.”
Maverick sighed. “Fine. What’s going on?”
“That druid who tried to kill you is after me,” she explained, her voice shaking with fear. “He followed me to Havenwood and nearly set me on fire at the bar. He’s still chasing me, and I don’t know how to lose him.”
“Whoa, whoa, calm down,” Maverick said, his tone shifting from playful to serious and focused. “Tell me what happened.”
“Does it matter? He’s chasing me right now, and he’s trying to kill me!” Zera shouted, frustration evident in her voice. “I’ve shared my location with you. Now, help me.”
“All right, listen carefully.” Maverick’s tone took on a commanding tone. “First, we need to make sure he can’t track your car. Take a sharp turn and drive in the opposite direction from where you were heading.”
Zera obeyed, her tires squealing as she whipped around a corner. She glanced in her rearview mirror, but the druid was still hot on her trail.
“Okay, now what?” she demanded.
“Take the next left, and then get off the main road,” Maverick instructed.
“Got it.” She took the turn so quickly, she was sure the druid hadn’t seen her.
“Drive for two miles until you reach a bridge. Cross it. There’s an abandoned cabin out there on the right side. Park behind it, and kill the engine.”
“And then what?” she cried, the blood draining from her face. “Wait for the druid to slit my throat and eat it for dinner?”
“Just trust me. I know what I’m doing,” Maverick reassured her, his voice laced with a confidence she didn’t feel. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
As she imagined him rushing to her aid, a swarm of anxious butterflies fluttered in her stomach. She took a deep breath and forced herself to push away those feelings.
“You’re almost there, Zera,” Maverick murmured into the phone. “You’re doing great.”
She crossed the bridge, and her eyes darted around, searching for this abandoned cabin that felt like a really bad idea. She’d be a sitting duck out there with no one to hear her scream.
“I think I lost him.” She checked the mirror again. The pitch black that surrounded her was a surprising comfort.
“Good. Stay on the course for now until I get there.”
She checked the time on the dashboard. Cole would be up in a few hours, and she had to be there.
To make sure he was okay. Her chest tightened at the thought of her son being home unprotected, her maternal instincts kicking into high gear.
Jade might be home, but it wasn’t the same.
Zera couldn’t be out all night. She needed to be with Cole.
She let out a frustrated sigh. “I need to get home. I have to be there for my son.”
“I know, Zera. I promise we’ll get you home, but for now, I need you to get to the cabin.”
“And do what? Wait for the druid to catch up with me and set me on fire or conjure up another ivy to wrap around my neck this time?”
“Trust me, it’s not safe to go home right now. Just follow my directions to the cabin, and we’ll figure this out together,” Maverick urged, concern lacing his words.
Zera gritted her teeth, anger flaring up inside her. “I don’t have to take orders from you, Maverick. You got me into this mess, and I’ll decide how I’m getting out of it.”
“Please, listen to me,” Maverick pleaded, his usual arrogance momentarily absent.
“Sorry, but Cole is my first and only priority right now, and I can handle myself.” With that, Zera hung up the call, her resolve hardening.
Bloody arrogant wolf. She’d gotten herself out of plenty of dangerous situations before without Maverick’s help.
Granted, they were less life-or-death and more dealing with unruly customers at the tavern, but still.
She could handle herself. Besides, the goal was to lose the druid, and he’d helped with that, hadn’t he?
She was safe now, and it was time to get home.
Despite the reassurance that the druid was no longer following her, a wave of nervous energy still washed through her veins as a sudden thought occurred to her. If the druid was able to find her here, how many others from Maverick’s world could get to her?
Damn it, Maverick, she thought, gripping the steering wheel. Why did you have to involve me in all of this?
She glanced in the rearview mirror, paranoia creeping in. As she drove back into town and pulled onto her street, every passing car seemed like a potential threat, every pedestrian a potential enemy.
Zera’s heart raced, the weight of her responsibility as a mother pressing down on her.
She needed to protect Cole from the druid and from anyone else involved in Maverick’s undercover work.
She cursed him for not only bringing danger to her doorstep but for also making her question everything she thought she knew.
That after one night, one unfortunate fake date, this damned werewolf spy had turned her world upside down with his lies, his arrogance, and those infuriatingly captivating eyes.
But now was not the time to dwell on Maverick.
Zera needed to focus on getting home and ensuring that her son was safe.
She would deal with the fallout from tonight’s disaster at the tavern later—after she’d put some distance between herself and the chaos that seemed to follow Maverick wherever he went.
As Zera pulled onto her street, Zera’s heart lodged in her throat.
The familiar sight of her modest home lay ahead, but instead of the comforting glow of the porch light, everything was dark.
A shiver ran down her spine. They never left that light off.
Jade would never turn that off. Something was wrong.
“Stay focused, Zera,” she whispered, steeling herself for whatever might be waiting for her at home. “You can handle this.”
With a determined nod, Zera parked the car and raced for the front door. If anyone was inside—if the druid had somehow found her home and was there to hurt her baby—she was prepared to fight with all her might.
Her adrenaline pumping, she reached for her keys to the front door but stopped in her tracks. It had been left ajar. That was when fear dug its claws into her chest and squeezed. Someone was in her house.
Panic seized her, and she stormed inside, welcomed by the messy living room.
“Hello?” she called out, her voice a hoarse whisper. “Jade? Sloane? Is anyone here?”
No answer. Zera held her breath and crept down the hallway toward the makeshift nursery. She grabbed a lamp from a nearby end table and inched her way to the kitchen that led to the dining-room-turned-nursery where her son slept.
Movement in the darkness made her stop dead in her tracks. She wielded her lamp as a weapon. Whoever it was in her house did not know the force they were about to reckon with.
“Got it!” a voice from somewhere outside shouted.
Just as she was about to strike, all the lights flickered on, and she stood face-to-face with Sloane, her eyes wide and a bat raised above her head.
“Oh, thank the bloody fae it’s you.” Zera let out a deep sigh, relief flooding her bloodstream. “The front door was left open. I thought you were an intruder.”
“Well, I thought you were one too! I didn’t think you’d be home tonight,” Sloane said, lowering her bat. “And of course it’s me. Who else would be here?”
“You’ve no idea.” Zera sighed with relief.
Sloane frowned. “Weren’t you on a date?”
“I—” Zera began but was quickly cut off by Jade’s voice from the front porch.
“It was only a tripped breaker and—uh… What’s going on here?”
Zera whirled around to meet Jade’s curious stare, her brows furrowing as she glanced between the bat in her wife’s grip and the lamp in Zera’s.
“Nothing. Just a misunderstanding.” Zera waved it off, setting the lamp down. “How’s Cole doing?”
“Still sleeping soundly, last I checked.” Jade shrugged. “The power went out and set off the alarm. Luckily, the little one’s sound machine drowned it out.”
“Good.” Zera ran a hand over her hair, undoing the bun at the nape of her neck that was starting to unravel.
Her faestone buzzed, but she didn’t bother picking it up. She already knew who it was. But she didn’t want to talk to Maverick, and what would be the point? He’d helped her lose the druid, and that was all she’d needed. Now she was going to forget about him, and things could return to normal.
“Anything we should be worried about?” Jade asked, glancing at the phone as it rang again.
“Nope. A wrong number,” she lied, not wanting to get into the fact that her date was a liar who’d put her in danger just by having dinner with her, and, oh yeah, she’d nearly gotten killed by a flame-throwing druid. “I think I’ll check on Cole before calling it a night. Good night.”
She gave them both a reassuring smile as she passed them on her way to the kitchen.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Jade asked.
“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” Zera called over her shoulder. “I’ll see you all in the morning.”
It’d been the longest night of her life, and she was hoping to put all of this fear behind her. The sight of the front door ajar, the thought of someone breaking in here, it was all too much.
She had to keep reminding herself that it was all a false alarm. The breaker had a glitch. No one who shouldn’t be in the house was here.
With a wave of her hand, she activated the monitor that hovered over the kitchen counter next to the door they’d installed to close off the nursery-slash-dining room.
Cole’s crib flickered on the screen, and his little form was bundled in a sleep sack.
Zera smiled, her heart melting at the sight of him sleeping safe and sound.
She reached to turn off the monitor but stopped. A dark form reflected off the kettle on the counter next to her. From his sheer size, she knew it wasn’t Jade or Sloane. She knew, from the sound of the TV in the living room, they were both on the couch, watching their favorite reality dating show.
A second later, thunder cracked, and all the lights went out. Again. Lightning flashed, casting an eerie glow that illuminated a man with a rune-covered forehead. Recognition washed over her like a tidal wave. The druid had found her, and she was dead meat.