Chapter 1 #2
Silas glanced at me out of the corner of his eye, reluctant to take his gaze off Madame Ove.
I nodded at him. It was true. Uriel was back.
Uriel had been reborn and he remembered who he was.
What had gone wrong in the Other World? Had my mother done this?
Had one of his ancestors done this ever dangerous thing to teach him a lesson?
“I have to go,” I stood up and Silas reached for my hand.
I didn’t mean to move out of his reach, but I had to leave the tent.
I had to flee the festival! I had to leave the territory.
Where would I even go? Barry! I had to go to Barry!
He was the only person alive who might understand the twist in my stomach and the ache in my chest where Uriel was concerned.
“Creon!” Silas called after me.
Heads turned. All eyes on me! No! No! I didn’t want to be looked at.
I looked like a crazy elf, didn’t I? I put my head down and charged forward, straight into Kodiak’s chest. It was only instinct that made me wrap myself around him and squeeze my eyes shut.
Everything inside me screamed at me to run.
To run and keep running because anyone who would do what my Uriel did…
I didn’t even want to think about it. I had to go.
I had to stop him from doing it all over again!
“Who?” Kodiak asked, picking up the pieces of my broken thoughts over the group link.
“That fucking fortune teller has him convinced that –” Silas started, but I turned and put my hand over his mouth.
I didn’t want the whole pack to know. Silas pulled free of me and pulled me into his arms. As an elf, I was taller than him, but I crumpled into his arms anyway.
A second later, Kodiak scooped me up. Silas followed on his heels as I was carried up the winding, dusty path to the house and laid on the sofa.
Panic beat through my veins and every pulse whispered Uriel’s name. Ur-i-el. Over and over until I couldn’t hear my mates speaking to me.
“Should we call the healer for a sedative?” Kodiak asked Silas but I shook my head.
“No, I just have to go.”
“Go where?” Kodiak asked, squatting down in front of the sofa so that he could look me in the eyes.
“To Barry. I have to tell him!” I said, trying to sit up but the room spun.
“I’ll call him,” Kodiak offered, but I shook my head.
“This isn’t phone news,” I said. “I have to go.”
“Give me a bit and I’ll go with you. Let me wrap up a few things…” Kodiak tried but I shook my head again.
“You need to stay here with Silas just in case! Someone has to keep him safe!”
“Uh… I can keep myself safe, thank you very much,” Silas said, sitting down on the sofa in front of me before stretching out and pressing his forehead against mine.
My breathing calmed as I sucked his scent into my lungs.
I still had to go to Barry. We had to figure out how to find Uriel and stop him from hurting someone else.
Would he come for me since he remembered?
Would he want to hurt Silas and Kodiak because they were my mates now?
Would he want to harm my children because he wasn’t their sire?
“I have to go,” I said. “I have to go. I’ll take the Other World gateways.”
“Can you rest first?” Silas asked, stroking my hair and tucking it behind my ear. “Can you rest just a little first? I won’t stop you. We always knew this could happen. Even if—Even if it’s him you want to go to.”
“No,” I shook my head. “I—I’m not leaving you guys.
Going to see Barry isn’t leaving you.” I held his handsome face in my hands.
“Oh, Silas. Don’t think that. This is my home.
You are my family. You and Kodiak are the only place I’ve ever felt loved.
Maybe the only place I’ve ever known how it is to love someone and to be loved back.
I have to stop Uriel from hurting anyone else.
I don’t know what I’ll have to do. Maybe this time I’ll have to kill him because I won’t let him hurt anyone again.
Not if I can stop it. What if he goes after Zeke again?
What if he finds out where Hans was reincarnated? What if Brone sent him on a mission?”
“We can figure it out together,” Kodiak said, leaning his elbows on the sofa arm above our heads. “You’re not in this alone.”
“I can’t take you away from the kids. I—I won’t be alone. Barry won’t want Uriel to do any of that stuff either,” I said.
“At least let one of us walk with you,” Silas said. “You’re scaring us. You hauled ass like he was in the room with us. I don’t know if it’s trauma talking or if you’re flight or fight is up or---”
“Both but also, I know what he can do! I know---” I scrambled over the back of the sofa and climbed to my feet. “Things can have more than one cause.”
“You don’t have to flee,” Kodiak said, standing back up again. “We’re not going to tie you up to stop you from going, mate. We just want to help you.”
“What if we call Barry to come here or even just to meet you at the Other World gateway?” Silas offered.
“He’ll ask why,” I shook my head. “It’s better in person. I love you both and I will be back. I just--- I chose him before I was born even if I don’t have a clue why! This is on me!”
“Creon,” Silas said softly, rounding the sofa and coming to hold my face in his hands.
I wanted to give in and go lay down. I wanted to be squashed between both of them until all the nervous energy that exploded in my body could no longer find the leverage to vibrate every atom inside my body.
Only, honor demanded more than that. I’d been given decade upon decade of peace and love and I’d fight to keep it, but I’d also fight to keep Uriel from taking peace from anyone else too.
“I love you,” I whispered.
Kodiak rounded the sofa and leaned back against it. We were all quiet for a long second before he spoke.
“What are you going to do when you get to Barry’s?” Kodiak asked.
“Talk to him. Make a plan. I don’t know where he is. I don’t know what he’s up to. I—” I said. “I’m not going to chase Uriel down today. I don’t think that even Xenos is that good at scrying people once they’re reborn.”
“Running to get the energy out. Running to do something even if it’s not going to change the circumstance?” Kodiak asked.
“I have to tell Barry,” I said.
I opened my mouth to say something about Finn, Kodiak’s deceased brother.
Only Finn wasn’t Uriel level sinister. Finn was a combination of a bad upbringing, fear, and something I never figured out.
Only Finn hadn’t killed his mate or kids.
Finn had come back recently to help someone out.
He said he was moving on now. At least, that’s the story we all heard.
“I’d want to know if Finn was reborn,” Kodiak nodded.
“Same with Brone,” Silas said about his father.