Chapter 24 #2
“Impossible to say,” Stefanos said. “But we don’t want her as an enemy.”
Emile shifted in his chair and muttered in French. But I understood the word “cigarette.”
Stefanos focused on me. “There is something else, Caleb, and it’s the most important part of this tangled equation.”
My gut tightened. “What?”
“The Council has never been able to understand how Ulfrik turned you without also turning you rogue. You should never have been stable. You shouldn’t have a gift. But you do, and now I think we know why.”
An axe formed above my head. The other shoe dangled in the air, waiting to drop. Any number of expressions I’d never mastered in my English composition class hovered.
“Donn?” I asked. The mystery Fae was the only thing I could think of.
Stefanos nodded. “Alessia said Donn gave Carlo blood. But Carlo was already harvesting werewolf blood to sell. The Council believes Donn gave Carlo Fae blood and ordered him to inject it into Ulfrik. Perhaps others. We don’t know for sure.”
Jesse reached his good hand over and clasped my fingers. “You think Ulfrik had Fae blood and passed it on to Caleb?”
I waited for Stefanos to laugh and wave him off. Instead, he nodded. “It sounds like an enormous leap in logic until you remember that Caleb shouldn’t have mastered his shift. But he did. He doesn’t smell like a rogue. He has a powerful, unprecedented gift that continues to grow.”
My heart pounded. My fingers were all sweaty in Jesse’s, but he didn’t move his hand. Just hung onto me, keeping me steady.
Stefanos’s dark eyes held mine. “Some part of you is Fae, Caleb. Created, not born. It’s the only explanation that makes sense. You are an accident that was never supposed to happen.”
The kitchen was silent. Behind me, the refrigerator hummed quietly, oblivious to the bomb Stefanos had just dropped in the middle of the kitchen table.
“Whose blood is it?” I asked. “Donn’s?” Absurd, wild laughter tried to rise in my throat. Was Donn my new dad? How did that work? Would I spend Wednesdays and every other weekend in Undersomm?
“We don’t know,” Stefanos said. “Fae blood of any lineage would be potent beyond measure. Whether Donn gave Carlo his own, or…” He shrugged.
Cool. Cool, cool, cool. Totally shrug-worthy.
Emile drummed his fingers on the table. “How did Ulfrik get to New York? The rogues I’ve killed have all been”—he made the most stereotypical French gesture ever—“ravenous zombies.”
Zombeez. My inappropriate laughter bubbled higher. I was absolutely going to lose my shit in front of Stefanos and the sandwiches.
“Fae blood,” Jesse said. “According to Alessia, the blood Donn provided made Ulfrik stronger. She said he was still there underneath.”
Stefanos made a sound of assent. “If the Fae blood gave him windows of lucidity, he could have managed it. His mate was a member of a tribe that lived in upstate New York centuries before Europeans arrived in what became the United States. After she and Ulfrik mated, they split their time between New York and Scandinavia. It’s very possible Ulfrik was drawn to the place where she died. ”
A different kind of tightness took over my chest. Ulfrik had always been a monster in my mind. He’d attacked me on a jogging trail. He’d tried to kill Jesse in front of me.
In my head, the big Viking charged across the opera house’s foyer with his blond hair streaming behind him. He’d been in mourning, and Carlo had tortured him.
It was almost like he wanted to be taken, Carlo said in my memory.
No. He’d been a widower walking to his dead wife’s home with the last fragments of his mind.
I looked at Jesse and found him already looking at me.
“I didn’t know,” he said, squeezing my fingers. “I knew he’d lost her, but she died before my time.”
He thought I was angry at him for keeping information from me. I squeezed him back. “I know. It’s okay.”
But something else stirred in my chest. Something that had been sitting under my sternum since the embankment.
“I killed that guy,” I said, turning to Stefanos. “Pyotr Zarins. He was a rich idiot who bought something he didn’t understand. He was probably a murderer, but he had a heartbeat. I broke his neck.”
I wasn’t sure why I told Stefanos. Maybe because he was the closest thing to a judge in my new, fucked-up world.
His dark gaze didn’t waver. “Your action ended something that needed ending. That is not the same as saying it costs nothing. Carry it. Deal with it. But know when it’s time to set it down.”
I nodded.
“So what does this mean?” Jesse asked, a hint of tension in his tone. “You want Caleb to help the Council figure out what’s happening with the Fae?”
“No,” Stefanos said. “You’ve done enough, and you’re both too young to take on a civil war among the Umbrals.”
The ghost of a smile touched Jesse’s lips. “It’s been a while since anyone called me young.”
“When you’re my age, everyone is young.” Stefanos picked up his sandwich and stood. “I’m putting you both on a private plane to London. When you arrive, I want you to see Ertem.”
Jesse looked at his bandaged hand. “Gladly.”
“The Council will arrange a safe house. You and Caleb need to lie low until we figure out what’s going on with the Fae and how Caleb fits into it.”
Stefanos turned to me. “I know we’ve had our differences, Caleb. But you’re part of a unique sort of family now. Families are often messy.” He walked to the door and paused. “But the core of any good, decent family is love.”
I opened my mouth. Snapped it shut.
Stefanos picked up Abigail Skinner’s card and slipped it into his breast pocket. Then he looked at Emile. “Our flight leaves in two hours.”
“D’accord.” Emile stood and gathered his sandwich. He winked at Jesse. “Speedy recovery, van der Meer.”
“Merci.”
Emile spoke in quiet, rapid French. When he finished, Jesse smiled.
“Next street over. Green awning.”
Emile returned the smile, then looked at me and gave the sandwich a little wave. “It was a pleasure meeting you, Caleb. Until we meet again, continue keeping Jesse on his toes, oui?”
“Oui,” I said. “I mean, yes.” Heat crawled up my neck, the memory of Jesse keeping me on my toes making an inconvenient appearance.
Stefanos and Emile left. When the front door clicked shut, I looked at Jesse. “What did Emile say?”
Jesse’s eyes went that soft velvet brown. “He told me he’s happy I found love. And he asked where he can find cigarettes.”
I grinned.
“Still hate Stefanos?” Jesse asked.
“You were ready to hate him, too.”
“Yes, but you made it an art form.”
“He’s growing on me,” I said. “It doesn’t hurt that he basically just told us to take a vacation.”
“You latched onto that, huh?”
“Of course I did.” His hair had fallen over his forehead, and I brushed it back. “We’ve never really had one. I’d like to try it.”
“Me too.”
“Watch movies. Order takeout. Use your credit card to buy myself a new phone. Let you kick my ass at Madden. Eat your ass again.”
Jesse laughed and batted my hand away. “Brat.”
“Nerd.”
He sobered. “Are you worried about this Fae stuff?”
I wanted to say no. I wanted to tell him I’d already processed the whole “you’re part Fae now” thing and moved on with my life. But that would’ve been a lie, and Jesse could hear my heartbeat.
He was my heartbeat. I wouldn’t lie to him.
“Yeah,” I admitted. “I mean, I’ve spent the last few months getting used to being a werewolf. Now I’m also…what? Part fairy? Do I sparkle now?”
Jesse’s mouth twitched. He leaned and rested his forehead against mine. “You’re thinking Tinkerbell.”
I raised my eyebrows against his. “Could be hot.”
“You’re not serious.”
“You have a puppy tail in your luggage. Don’t pretend to be scandalized by the thought of me in a pair of wings.”
“Caleb.”
“I’m just saying we could have fun with it. You’re already rocking one hand, Captain Hook.”
He snorted. Then we both laughed, foreheads pressed together, mouths flirting with the idea of a kiss.
He held up his bandaged arm. “I don’t know how much fun I’ll be in bed until this heals.”
I gave him my most wicked smile. “I’m sure I can rise to the challenge.”