Chapter 5 Zera #2
“Yes,” Maverick said nonchalantly. “But so is everything else we’ve witnessed tonight.”
Jade rolled her eyes, and Zera had to mimic her actions, feeling the tension in the room ease slightly.
“Okay, say you somehow get your hands on these illegal, untraceable faestones,” Jade said, “though I wouldn’t even know where to look in the first place for them. What happens if we get caught?”
Zera’s stomach clenched. It was a fair question.
Could she really leave with some faeboy wolf she hated and barely trusted for several days or, maybe, weeks and risk losing her freedom?
What if the Fae Police or, even worse, the Faen Bureau of Investigation caught them using untraceable faestones and forced them to answer to the Fae Tribunal?
Panic settled in, making her cold straight down to her bones. She wasn’t a spy. She didn’t have the kind of skills Maverick must’ve had to slip by undetected. She was just a single mom. A pixie with pixie dust, sure, but still a mom working to make ends meet.
Maverick must’ve sensed her unease and pushed off the refrigerator he leaned on, coming to stand next to her, his calming scent filling her nose— a mix of warm caramel and citrus.
“You won’t,” Maverick answered, his confidence unwavering. “I’m a trained spy. I know how to cover our tracks and make sure we remain undetected. The only thing you need to worry about is staying safe until we can take care of this problem and reunite Zera with her son.”
Jade looked to Zera. The wary look in her eyes made it clear she didn’t like the idea, but what other choice did they have? If they stayed, they’d be dead. If they followed Maverick’s plan, then at least they’d have a fighting chance.
She looked back into the nursery at Cole, who was still playing with his spoon, sending food flying everywhere. Her chest ached at the thought of not being with him every day but better that than dead. Besides, he’d be safe with his pixie and witch aunties.
“All right, Maverick,” she said with a decisive nod as she turned back to face the group. “I’ll go with you. But only if Cole goes to Pixie Hollow.”
Her words fell like stones into the silence that ensued.
“Zera—” Sloane began, but Zera raised a hand to stop her.
“Jade, I need you to both promise me you’ll keep him safe.” Her gaze flickered to her half sister, seeking the unspoken vow only siblings could understand.
“Of course,” Jade said, her usual whimsy subdued by the gravity of the request. “You know I’d fight off an entire legion of trolls for him.”
“Good,” Zera exhaled, allowing herself a momentary smile. “Because you might have to.”
“Are you sure about this?” Maverick’s voice held an unexpected gentleness, throwing her for a second. “I don’t know about whoever he’s working for, but I know Gareth won’t hold back.”
“Neither will I,” she replied, her voice laced with steel and something else—a fiery determination that even she hadn’t known simmered within her.
“Then we’ll leave at dawn,” Maverick stated, his glance briefly softening as he looked toward the nursery. “We’ll need to get moving. Coyotes will be sent to sniff everything out. If they get a single whiff that Cole ever existed here, then we’ve already failed, and that’s not an option.”
“Agreed,” Zera replied.
“How are we supposed to do that?” Jade asked with a baffled expression.
“Just pack up your things, only the necessities,” Maverick said, moving toward the nursery. “Leave the rest to me.”
Zera shared a glance with her half sister and Sloane before rushing after Maverick.
Cole should’ve been asleep, but instead he was cooing to his spoon, fully awake and not showing any signs of tiredness. Her baby stopped when Maverick walked into the room, his eyes locked on the giant werewolf and his brows quirked before he burst into a huge smile.
“Looks like someone’s made a new friend,” Maverick said with a grin as Cole giggled and reached out for him.
“Seems so,” Zera said, her smile soft but her emotions raging with a strength she couldn’t quite understand.
It filled her heart to see her son express his happiness and delight at meeting new people. It also made her heart ache that there really was something Cole needed that she could never be. A father figure. But those weren’t important, right?
She swallowed the lump in her throat and pushed the emotions aside. Of course she was everything he needed and more. She was a boss.
“I can hold him while you pack. If you want,” Maverick offered.
Zera had to hide her surprise at the unexpected offer, giving him a curt nod. A spy deliberately volunteering to hold a baby?
“Thank you, that would help,” she said, turning her attention to the task at hand, packing up Cole’s things.
They had to leave it as if he never existed. Moisture stung her eyes at the unbearable thought. This would prove harder than she anticipated.
“Okay, little man, let’s give your mom some space to work,” Maverick cooed, his voice an odd mix of gruff and gentle as he scooped up Cole with surprising ease.
She watched in awe as Cole instantly relaxed in Maverick’s arms. Cole began to coo when Maverick made faces at him and rocked from one foot to the other, as if he’d done this a thousand times before.
Zera shook the foolish thoughts that were rolling into her head. Like wondering if he would make a good partner, that perhaps there was something more to him than just a faeboy spy who used her as cover then caused her whole world to come crumbling down. Again.
She huffed. He didn’t deserve the headspace.
Instead, she focused on packing up Cole’s things, knowing that whatever she didn’t take would wind up destroyed. She attempted to ignore the pain in her heart as memories overwhelmed her of each stained onesie, every chewed toy, and all the mismatched socks.
As much as she tried to avoid it, her attention shifted between packing and Cole, who giggled when Maverick tossed him into the air or flew him around the room like an airplane.
She watched them from the corner of her eye, momentarily captivated by the unexpected tenderness that radiated from this rough-edged man.
It was as if he’d had years of experience caring for babies.
She quickly reminded herself that it was more likely due to his supernatural instincts as a werewolf than any past with children.
Werewolves were notorious for breeding large families.
The larger the family, the more powerful the pack.
She wasn’t about to inflate his ego by acknowledging his innate wolf abilities.
She gritted her teeth, hating that she actually loved it. That it made him all the more attractive. And very much unattractive, both at the same time.
“You’re staring,” Maverick said, sparing a quick glance at her. He flashed a smile that sent heat rushing to her cheeks.
She rolled her eyes and zipped up the diaper bag. “Don’t flatter yourself. You’re holding my child. Of course I’m going to keep an eye out.”
Maverick chuckled. He lowered Cole into his little seat on the floor and proceeded to play peekaboo, eliciting even more laughter from her little one.
She was going to miss those sounds. They were music to her ears. She would do anything for her son—swim across the Death Channel, scale the Spire Alps, even brave the flames of the Fire Cliffs. She’d sacrificed so much for him, and she would do it all over again and then some.
Yet somehow the thought of being away from him was nearly unbearable. Zera let out a heavy sigh, and she zipped up the diaper bag. She had to muster up the courage, suck it up, and be brave because if she didn’t, the alternative was unthinkable.
Jade and Sloane entered the nursery, their suitcases rolling themselves and following behind Sloane with her witchy powers, the tension in the room palpable.
“We can take it from here,” Sloane said, her voice steady and reassuring.
Zera nodded and swatted away a sudden tear. She wasn’t ready to leave the room, to face the emptiness of her own, but she knew she had to if she was going to be ready. “Make sure to get Cole’s green blanket. He won’t sleep without it.”
“We know,” Jade chimed in, her chaotic energy somehow soothing in that moment. “Green blankie, extra cuddles, and maybe a new adventure. Cole’s going to love Pixie Hollow.”
Sloane reached for the bag Zera was packing. It easily slipped away as she let go. The same thing she would have to do with Cole in a few hours.
“We’ll pack his things and put him to bed,” Sloane promised.
With a heavy heart, Zera retreated to her modest bedroom, where her belongings lay scattered. She moved quickly, her mind racing through a mental checklist of necessities to keep from focusing on the inevitable goodbye that lay ahead.
A few changes of clothes—practical, not flashy—were folded neatly into her bag.
Her bartending aprons and uniform, usually vital, were left untouched; they’d serve no purpose on this mission.
But her home lab kit with the new seedlings from the rare blue everfrost blossom that Quinn brought for her experiment to find something, anything that had similar properties to pixie dust?
Perhaps she’d have more time for this while she was playing spy.
She packed up the home lab into another bag, promising herself she wouldn’t give up on her project no matter how crazy things got, and then continued with the rest of her things.
Each item she chose was a silent testament to her resolve—a sturdy pair of boots for the journey ahead, a small collection of healing herbs, and a locket given to her by her mother the day her pixie dust had emerged, a reminder of her dwindling powers.
She never wore it, but she was never without it and always kept it in a place of importance in her room.