Chapter Twenty-Seven #2
Ophelia merely shrugs. As though Kieran will deny her anything right now, though I believe he would agree with her and Dante on this matter regardless. Oisin needs refuge. We have broken our bond and hidden the crowns. The Otherworld depends on our desire to find its crownbearers.
“We should—” Vladimir begins, but something rings upstairs. His phone. He glances at Jeremiah, who does not hesitate. He runs from the room and returns with the phone a few seconds later.
Grant makes a sound as though he wants to let go and allow Vladimir to rise, but Vladimir tightens his hand in the back of Grant’s shirt and Grant sags against him again.
“You stay here,” Vladimir murmurs and sighs at the name he sees on the screen. He answers the call. “Cassian.”
“What the fuck just happened? Did a fucking gate open in the middle of your living room? What the—”
“Hey,” Grant says. He sounds tired now. “We got a bit stuck. Had to improvise.”
Dante huffs. Grant’s eyes slide to him, and his smile feels less brittle.
“Grant, you—I told you that it was dangerous.”
“We did not have a choice,” I say shortly, and Vladimir proffers the phone in my direction. I take it. “Things are complicated in the Otherworld right now. What is most important is that we all returned.”
“All of you?” Sam. Ophelia sits forward when she hears his voice. “I swear to the gods, Lark—”
“All of us,” Ophelia says. She nudges Dante in the side.
“Yeah, we’re all good. Brought a bonus fae back for you as well.”
“I wasn’t expecting Lark to stay there,” Sam replies.
“No…” Dante eyes Oisin. He appears overwhelmed, and realisation strikes me.
He has likely never been to this realm before.
I squeeze Dante’s arm and hand him the phone before I make my way over to Oisin’s side.
“We brought someone else. Look, can we explain this to all of you at once? I don’t want to have to go through it over and over. ”
Silence, for a moment. Oisin frowns when I rest against the wall next to him, then jolts when my magic brushes against his.
“They will ensure your safety,” I murmur.
He bares his teeth, just for a moment. “They are human.” At my incredulous look, he amends, “Not fae.”
“This is their world. I do not think it would be wise for you to return right now.”
He nods once. He will see what I do when he meets the rest of the pack. Being fae or not is irrelevant. They will take care of him—even in spite of his best efforts, truly.
“It’s going to take me fucking hours to get back.” Sam sighs, and Cassian interrupts.
“Excuse me, we need to know what the fuck happened as well. You can’t just—”
“We’ll ring you,” Dante says, just a little bite in his voice. “Obviously. Just… we’re going home, okay? We’ll ring you before we tell them anything.”
I bristle when Cassian begins to argue, but there is a brief scuffle down the line and someone else shouts—I suspect the vampire we met before we crossed through the veil.
“No, you’re right,” Sam says, breathing a little harder. “I’ll drive me and Paxton back after that. Should make it before tomorrow easy.”
Paxton’s voice rises in the background. Sam lets out a dark chuckle. “Provided no one here kills me, I guess.”
“Is that not how you make friends?” Ophelia asks.
Sam laughs again. “Yeah, sure. Give us a ring when you get in, okay? We’ll wait here until then.”
He hangs up before Dante can, which makes Dante roll his eyes.
Grant squirms until he’s sitting with his back to Vladimir’s chest and can survey the rest of us in the room. “Want me to come with you?” He pats the back of one of Vladimir’s hands when he growls. “No, I know it’s light out, but I’ll be with the pack and—”
“No, that’s fine,” Dante says gently. “I think we can explain the gist of it. Everyone knows where to find you if they need to know any specifics, okay?”
Grant leans back against Vladimir properly, letting out a sigh of relief. “Yeah, okay.” I do not miss the almost-grateful look Vladimir shoots Dante. He would let Grant go if they all insisted, of course. What might happen in the Otherworld is more pressing than Grant’s rest, at least for now.
“Who’s going to pick you all up then?” Jeremiah says. “What? You can’t expect we’ll just send you off on the tube. Has he even worn a glamour before?” He eyes Oisin with no little suspicion.
“I… have,” Oisin replies. “But I am not used to all of this.”
“The tube might be dangerous anyway,” Dante replies almost absently. “Too much metal. Can I use your phone?”
He is still holding Vladimir’s phone, and Vladimir nods. Dante thinks for a moment, then scrolls through a list, smiling when he finds what he’s looking for.
Quinn answers on the first ring. “Vlad? What is it? Are they—”
“We’re back,” Dante says. “I’d ring Kieran, but my phone is very dead and I don’t remember his number. And, anyway. Whatever. Can you come pick us up, please? We need four spaces in the car.”
“Yeah, fuck—I-I’m coming, okay. Fuck. You’re all—Everyone’s okay? You’re all there?”
“We’re all good,” Ophelia says, and Quinn lets out a heavy sigh. “Let Kieran know before you leave.”
“Yeah, I will. Asher, can you—Yeah, just wait with them.” He is moving, and I hear the jingle of keys and a door opening and closing. “Asher’s here. He’ll let them know. Your parents have been here every day from like eight in the morning, so…”
“And Felix?” Dante asks dryly.
Quinn huffs at that. “Don’t ask,” he mutters. “But yeah, he’s here. He’ll be there, too. I’ll see you soon.”
He hangs up and Dante passes Vladimir his phone back before he sags into the sofa. He seeks me out and gives me a small smile.
It is not over. It will not be over until we can bring the oak its crownbearers. But we have a reprieve for now, and I am not about to let him go.
Quinn arrives around forty minutes later, bounding through the door as though he lives here, too. He looks astonished to see us. Ophelia hugs him first, and Oisin’s eyes narrow on his arms around her waist, but Quinn shoots him a glare as though he knows exactly what is going on.
It is likely he has already figured it out. I have never met a wolf so instinctively in tune with the fae, so tied to his base nature. He hugs Dante, too, but does not give me the same warning glare he gave Oisin. Likely because I do not mind; they are pack, and I know what that means.
Vladimir lets go of Grant reluctantly, but then uses the chance to lever himself up into one of the chairs. Grant and Quinn hold on to each other for a long time, and when they part, Quinn curls his hands over Grant’s shoulders, keeping him in place.
“No one else would have looked after them as well as you did. You know that, right?”
Grant sniffles. Quinn hugs him again, then pushes him gently in Vladimir’s direction, where Grant collapses onto his lap.
“We’ll come by at some point,” Dante says. “Might need your help with the rest of it.”
“After tomorrow,” Vladimir growls when Grant opens his mouth—clearly to agree. “You are not leaving this house until at least tomorrow night.”
“Yeah, it’ll be after that, for sure.”
Quinn says goodbye to Jeremiah, too, and leads us all out to the car.
Ophelia takes the seat up front, next to him, and Oisin sits on the left behind her.
Dante leans against me and I wrap an arm around his shoulders, pulling him close.
There is much still for us to talk about, but that will not happen right now.
He will want to see his family and reassure them that he is safe.
There is a chance, however small, that his alpha will not allow me near the pack at all.
I kiss his purple curls and he lets out a sigh, one hand gripping my leg tightly. None of that matters. Not so long as he is safe.