Chapter 21
twenty-one
GRAYSON
As we reached the car, Merrily threw up on the roots of an apple tree.
I held her hair back with my shadows just in time, and replaced the shadows with my hand as soon as I could. One of my arms went loosely around her middle, holding her upright.
Kat hurried over with a water bottle she'd pulled out of Callum's trunk. Her hair was tangled and she was wearing a wrinkled pair of spare clothes she must've found next to the water bottles, but her eyes were bright.
I accepted the water for Mer, and held it until she finished gagging.
"You okay?" I murmured.
"Yeah. I'm good. Just not used to running or drinking beer." She rinsed her mouth with the water I handed her.
"Revenge is hard on my stomach too," Liv teased, bumping Merrily's hip lightly while Darius and Niall tried to figure out how to get the security camera footage running on their phones.
Mer managed a small smile. "Us and our sensitive souls."
Callum stepped in to help the other guys, and everyone grumbled when they realized Jonah and Gwen had stayed asleep without noticing what had happened to Gwen's hair. Most of it had already fallen out, and was sitting around her head on the pillow.
Kat made a face at us. "Maybe our family will get someone else who's perfectly hinged when Dare meets his mate."
"Seems unlikely. You're the exception to our insanity," Liv pointed out. "Niall and Grayson are as crazy as the rest of us." She glanced at me. "No offense."
"People only say that when they know they've offended someone," Kat put in.
"I'm not offended," I said with a grin, taking Merrily's water bottle and replacing the cap when I noticed her hand shaking a little.
"I am. Terribly offended," Niall drawled, as he tugged Liv to his chest.
She gave him a sugary smile. "I'll kiss you better."
He snorted.
"I'm starving," Darius announced. "Midnight pancakes, anyone?"
Merrily's stomach growled as if on cue. "God, yes. We're always in for pancakes."
The others agreed, and we loaded back into Callum's car, driving to a twenty-four-hour diner nearby.
The place was pretty much empty when we got there, but we all filed into one booth that barely fit us. Merrily was trapped between me and the wall, because of what her magic would do to anyone else in my seat.
"Alright," Liv declared. "Now that we've gotten our revenge, we need a way to find Dare's fated mate. Brainstorming time."
"If there was an easy way to find them, we would've used it long ago," Dare pointed out.
"We know more about fated mates than we used to, though." Liv grabbed a napkin. "Anyone have a pen?" She looked around the table.
No one had a pen.
A waiter came by to take our order, and he handed over an extra pen with a smile. Niall pulled Liv onto his lap, and she seemed unfazed by the possessiveness.
"Alright. What do we know? Go," she ordered.
"A fae’s soulmate will usually be obsessed with them," Kat offered. "They might not act on it, but the obsession is there. Right?" She looked at Niall and me.
We both nodded.
Liv scribbled it down. "That’s true for fae too, even though Mer proved we can ignore it."
Merrily’s face reddened, her fingertips pressing into the table just a little.
I took a page from Niall’s book and pulled her onto my lap. The tops of her thighs held us both in place pretty tightly, but our arms touched enough to keep her magic at bay.
"Don’t be embarrassed," I said into her mind. "I didn’t do anything about the obsession, and you thought the space was necessary until a few months ago. We’re together now. That’s what matters."
"Thanks."
I put my hands over hers, slipping my fingers between hers from above as her palms rested on the table.
"Our magic affects our mates differently," Callum said. "Though not necessarily the way we expect it to. We can’t reliably find them that way."
"Clearly," Niall drawled.
Liv rolled her eyes at him, but wrote it down on the napkin anyway.
"What does Mer’s magic feel like to you?" Kat asked me, her gaze curious.
"I don’t think she’s ever used it on me on purpose," I said.
"I haven’t," she agreed. "It hasn’t ever drained him, though. It leaks out a little all the time, so that’s definite."
"You don’t feel anything when she’s in your arms?" Callum asked.
"Only desire."
"Then maybe her magic is as seductive to you as yours is to her," Liv said, tapping the end of her borrowed pen on the table. I didn't think that was accurate, but I wasn't going to disagree. "What else?"
Everyone considered it, but no one came up with anything.
"Well, there’s got to be something we can do with this." Liv turned the napkin toward us, so we could read what she’d written.
1. Obsession
2. Magic difference
"Have you ever been obsessed with anyone?" Kat asked Darius.
"Nah. My magic makes feeling things toward people pretty rare. I’m usually not interested in people at all."
"Even the ones you’re fucking?" she asked, surprised.
"Even them. Unhinged, right?"
Kat rolled her eyes. “Yes.”
"You’re interested in the Wraith, though," Liv pointed out.
I blinked. He'd mentioned being interested in Rae in one of the texts he'd sent Merrily, but I'd been focused on what he was saying about knotting.
"I was curious," Darius clarified, glancing at me.
"You wanted her," Liv countered.
"Lies," Dare grumbled.
"She’s right," Mer admitted, looking at me over her shoulder apologetically before turning back to Darius. "Rae is the first person you’ve been interested in for a really long time. It could mean something."
"Or it could mean nothing," Dare pointed out. "Unless she’s willing to make a bargain, there’s no point in trying to figure it out. I can’t force her into it. I asked, and she turned me down."
"I’m going to need someone to explain this situation to me like I’m a fucking moron," I said.
"Your Wraith—Rae?" Liv looked at Mer, who nodded. "Rae scheduled a meeting with Mer to warn her that you were going to abduct her. Me and Dare were there when she showed up. Dare was interested as soon as he met her."
"She also helped me plan the fight with Grayson, and they hung out for a while before it happened," Merrily added.
"Is that who he was sitting next to at the fight? Your assassin?" Callum looked at me, his gaze narrowing.
"She’s basically his sister," Mer said sharply. "There’s nothing between them."
"How did you adopt the Wraith as your sister?" Liv asked me.
“It’s a long story that isn’t mine to tell," I said carefully.
"What would she bargain for?" Callum spoke up again. "Money? A house? Power?"
Dare interrupted them. "We don’t have anything Rae wants. Even if we did, no one is meddling for me. The chance that she’s my fated mate is basically zero, and she’s Darke’s sister. We’re friends. If she wants something from me, she’ll ask."
A glance in Callum’s direction told me he wasn’t going to leave it.
"If you push Rae toward him, she’ll run the opposite direction," I warned. "She doesn't talk to anyone. If there’s something between them, it’ll happen because she wants it. Not for any other reason."
"She asked him about sex," Merrily murmured into my mind. "She was interested. At least a little."
"I don’t want to hear about my sister’s interest in sex."
"That’s fair."
"You haven’t been interested in anyone else, though?" Kat checked. "Ever?"
"Not really." Dare didn’t bother dancing around the answer.
"It has to be her," Liv said, tossing a hand in Dare's direction and looking at Merrily. "Right?"
Mer shrugged. "She was at least a little interested in him. If she keeps showing interest, we'll have a better idea."
Reluctant nods went around most of the table.
"I'm sure there's a way we can push her gently," Callum said.
Darius met Callum's gaze with his own, the threat behind it clear. "Rae has been through hell. Stay away from her. If she's mine, I'll be the one who figures something out."
"If she's as obsessed with him as the rest of us are with our fae, I don't think she’ll stay away for long,” Niall said bluntly.
The waiter came back with enough pancakes to feed a small army, temporarily pausing the conversation. He left us with them, saying he'd return with syrup.
"They keep the good syrup in the back for us," Mer murmured into my mind. "Callum invested in this place with that as a requirement."
Of course he had.
My mate cleared her throat. "We're going to give the situation with Darius and Rae a few months, to see if anything develops naturally.
" She looked straight at Callum. "If nothing happens, we can come back to the conversation then.
Anyone who meddles before that spends a week in the holding room beneath my house, without their mate. "
Grimaces went around the booth, but nods did too. Even Callum agreed, albeit stiffly. Kat slipped onto his lap after he did, so he held her the same way Niall held Liv and I held Merrily. He lowered his nose to her hair, and she leaned back against him a little more.
Everyone proceeded to stuff their faces in pancakes before we all climbed out of the booth.
"Thanks," Darius told Mer, on the way out of the diner.
She gave him a small smile. "Of course. If she really is yours..."
"I'm sure she isn't. Fate doesn't like me that much."
She rolled her eyes. "Bullshit."
Dare glanced at me. "I'm surprised you're not pissed by this conversation."
"I'm not the one you would have to convince if they're right. Rae fights her own battles."
We all piled back into Callum's SUV, and went back to Merrily's house as a group. We were still waiting for the werewolves to wake up, so the footage from the camera in their room played continuously on Liv's phone.
Someone dug a deck of cards out of a closet nearby. We all took turns packing Merrily's stuff and playing a four-way game of War, while Liv kept the video feed on full volume so we'd be ready.