Into the Fire (The Unseelie Court Book 4) Read online

  Aiden studies the massive pack that seethes with untapped potential.

  Her eyes glow brighter. “Do you know what this could mean?”

  Aiden does. Draugar had to be burned or they would reanimate. And there aren’t enough fire fey to make a proper army. But if the wolves could be taught to wield their inborn flames as magic, they could fight the dead the same way he can.

  “We might have enough firepower to stop Underhill.”

  Dinner is even more uncomfortable than I could have imagined. Sophie loans me some of her clothes. I arrive at the table sporting a daisy yellow peasant blouse and a denim skirt. Still barefoot. Still pregnant.

  All that’s missing is a gods damned minivan.

  “Don’t you look nice,” Sophie chirps when I poke my head into the kitchen.

  “Nice,” Chloe repeats. “Pastels suit you.”

  I give her the hairy eyeball and she covers her face with her fist.

  Chloe, Angrboda, and Jedda are squeezed around a round wooden table with Tate. The boys, one fey the other mortal, are playing with Avengers action figures. Iron Man and Thor, if I’m not mistaken.

  I wonder if the actual Thor has seen the movies. Dude looks nothing like Chris Hemsworth.

  “Need any help?” I ask Sophie who is stirring a big pot of tomato sauce on the stovetop.

  “Aren’t you sweet?” She flashes me yet another sunny smile from her seemingly endless supply of them. “You can set the table. Dishes are in the cabinet to the left of the fridge. The silverware is in the drawer under the coffee pot.”

  Chloe lifts Tate off her lap and sets him on the floor. “Better go clean-up, Champ.”

  “Do you know him?” I murmur to my aunt as I set a plate down in front of her.

  She shrugs. “Remember that veterinarian conference Addy and I attend every year?”

  When I nod she adds, “Funny thing about that, there is no conference.”

  I roll my eyes and turn to face the giantess. “Any news from Aiden?”

  Angrboda shakes her head.

  Sophie lays a hand on my arm, making me jump. “I’m sure he’ll reach out to you real soon, Nic.”

  “Who’ll reach out?” Garret booms from the doorway.

  “Nic’s boyfriend,” Sophie squeezes my hand once. I get the vague feeling that she’s reassuring me that she will keep my secret from her husband.

  He grunts and moves toward the fridge. “Aren’t you a little young for boys?”

  “Nic used to be asexual,” Chloe blurts.

  I kick her under the table hard enough that she jumps.

  She scowls at me. “What? You told me you thought you were before Aiden.”

  “What’s asexual?” Tate asks.

  Garret chokes on the soda he’d just tilted to his mouth.

  “It’s somebody who doesn’t get married,” Sophie puts in swiftly and sets a giant bowl of pasta and tomato sauce on the tiny table.

  Tate looks from his mother to me. “You’re not going to get married?”

  “I…don’t know.” Weeks, I’d withstood Agent Hanson’s interrogation and I’m crumbling like parmesan cheese in front of a six-year-old.

  Tate thinks about that a second then beams at me. “Then, I’m asexual, too!”

  More choking from Garret. Sophie pounds him helpfully on the back before taking her own seat next to me.

  It’s a tight fit, the table clearly meant to hold four, not seven. Garret takes up a massive amount of space. In addition to the pasta, there’s a pitcher of water, a bottle of wine and garlic bread in a basket. Total carb-fest and nary a green thing in sight. I reach for the basket when Sophie snags Tate’s hand and then takes mine. “We always start off dinner by saying grace. Would you like to say grace, Nic?”

  “Ummm,” I shoot a panicked glance with Chloe and Angrboda. Grace? So not in my wheelhouse. “That is…?”

  “Don’t put her on the spot, Soph.” My rescue comes unexpectedly from Garret. “It’s Tate’s turn anyhow.”

  Tate bows his head. “Thank you for this food we are about to eat, for our family and for our new friends.” He speaks solemnly, as only a small child taking his task seriously, could.

  “Very good.” Sophie beams at her son and I feel my throat close up. I pull my hand out of hers and reach for the water pitcher.

  “This smells amazing,” Angrboda pours herself a glass of wine and then passes it to Chloe.

  “I’m surprised you have any room,” Chloe shoots the giantess a sidelong glance. “What with all the snacking you did on the way here.”

  Angrboda shrugs. “I have a wicked appetite.”

  “So Nic,” Sophie passes me the bread. “Your aunt says you have a lot of hobbies.”

  I take a huge bite and then point to my full mouth, stalling for time. Hobbies? Since when is vigilante justice and wielding fey magic a hobby?

  “Nic was in a rigorous physical training program,” Chloe says. “And she knows all about ancient weapons.”

  “You do?” This comes from Jedda. I’m not sure how much the miniature Seelie king knows about me or our situation, but his default setting appears to be interested observer. Smart.

  I nod, unwilling to give the fey royal any further insight. He may only be a child, but Wardon was a boy once, too.

  “She also reads the classics,” Chloe says. “Especially mythologies.”

  “Like Greek? Roman?” Garret asks, again surprising me. “That was my major in college.”

  “Really?”

  He nods. “I always thought I’d be a professor in some dusty ivy-covered school. Instead, I wound up caretaking a campground in the OBX. I can show you my collections after dinner if you would like.”

  “Sure.” I push some pasta around on my plate. “I’m mostly interested in Norse mythology. Know anything about that?”

  Garret strokes his goatee. “Not as much as some of the others. The Nordic names always put me off, extra j’s all over the place. I always did find that Loki character fascinating though.”

  “Funny, me too,” says Angrboda, who’d born Loki three illegitimate children.

  Chloe raises an eyebrow and the giantess shrugs. “You live, you learn, am I right?”

  The rest of the meal is just as stilted. A good Christian family breaking bread with a heathen giantess, a Norn and a teenage serial killer.

  Stranger things have happened.

  As soon as the last plate has been scraped clean, Chloe jumps up. “Nic, you look a little flushed. How about a walk?” I can tell by the light in her eyes that she’s discovered something.

  I look to Garret, who shrugs. “The library will still be here in the morning.”

  “Bring a coat. It’s cold out.” Sophie calls from her stooped position over the dishwasher. It’s such a mom thing to say.

  “I don’t have one.” Only the one Chloe had lent me in the car.

  Sophie waves to the nook by the door. “My heaviest is in the hall closet.”

  Angrboda follows us out onto the deck and down the steps that lead to the secluded beach. The sand is wet from the snow which melted on contact but the wind is icy.

  When we are a good distance from the house, I turn to face them. “What did you find out?”

  Chloe gestures to Angrboda. “You better tell her.”

  “Tell me what?” I wrap my arms around myself as a sudden gust makes me shiver.

  “I found out something, something about Agent Hanson.” Angrboda looks at me thoughtfully. “She’s gone rogue.”

  I frown. “Why would she do that?”

  Chloe shakes her head. “No, you don’t understand, Nic. She’s been rogue ever since she took you. It wasn’t just a job to her.”

  I frown. “What do you mean?”

  Angrboda shakes her head. “You killed her husband.”

  Guilt is the New Black

  Sleep eludes me.

  I’m not sure if it’s because of my earlier nap, the nightmare about Underhill, Astrid’s death or what Chloe
and Angrboda had discovered about Agent Hanson.

  Tim Hanson. I remember him. He was one of my early victims, before I’d refined my process. A good-looking man, dirty blond hair neatly combed with a trim physique. Nice clothes, reflective sunglasses. Not your stereotypical pedophile.

  He’d come after me when I was ten.

  Or rather, I’d gone after him.

  Children had disappeared from a park in Tennessee. The aunts had positioned me there, to see if anyone approached. I’d been wearing a little cotton sundress and Mary Janes, the picture of innocence.

  At first, he’d looked like just another dad sitting on one of the benches around the play area. But unlike the other parents who’d been on their phones or chatting, he just sat and watched.

  It had taken three trips to the park before he approached me. He was careful, probably trying to assess who’d dropped me off. I sat on a swing, idly twirling.

  “You here all alone, angel?”

  His voice made all the small hairs rise up on the back of my neck. Some instinct long-dormant deep inside me whispered one of mine.

  When I nodded, he held out a hand. As instructed, I took it. To anyone else watching, we would look like a father and daughter heading home for dinner. Chloe and Addy had been parked in Addy’s Subaru across the street. I knew they would follow.

  He’d driven me to a foreclosed house. Perfect for his purposes. When the door shut, my heart raced. Remembered flashes of the man who’d accosted me in the Black Forest surfaced.

  I had a script I was supposed to follow. I was supposed to wait for proof of his intentions.

  “If he drives you to the police station, don’t attack him.” Addy had reminded me. “And don’t strike in public. Wait until he takes you somewhere secluded and makes a move.”

  I didn’t want him to make a move. My stomach was filled with knots of anxiety and I thought I might throw up.

  “Come here, angel.” He removed his sunglasses and I saw the intention in his eyes.

  I struck. My lips to the exposed skin of his hand.

  He hadn’t attacked me, not like some of the others. But I’d known he was evil. And I hadn’t wanted more memories to haunt me. The ghosts of his hands on my body, like I could sometimes feel that other man’s.

  But I’d miscalculated. The memories that haunted me were of the light leaving his eyes, his body tumbling forward, crashing to the ground.

  Of my stomach emptying itself while Chloe and Addy rushed through the door.

  Of the house burning down around him.

  The sound of raised voices pulls me from my reverie.

  “Garret, please. She just got here,” It’s Sophie’s voice.

  I get out of bed and press my ear to the vent by the floor. Their bedroom must be right below mine.

  “What if she’s on drugs?” It’s Garret, obviously talking about me. “What if she’s some sort of criminal?”

  I stuff a hand in my mouth so I don’t laugh aloud. If only you knew, Garret.

  “Keep your voice down,” Sophie hisses.

  “I’m telling you something isn’t right with her.”

  No, it isn’t. I finally see what I inherited from Garret—instincts.

  “Her eyes are so cold. And at dinner? She barely held my gaze. And the others…. Soph, I don’t want them here around you and our son.”

  “She’s my daughter,” Sophie snaps. “Our daughter. I won’t turn her away when she’s in need. If you’re so worried, take Tate and go to your mama’s house.”

  “I’m not leaving you here.” It’s a growl of protectiveness, one I am all too familiar with.

  I wonder if Garret would like Aiden. If they will ever get the chance to meet.

  Sophie’s tone changes and I hear the steel as her words continue. “Nic is my daughter. If things had been different, we would have kept her. I know Chloe. She’s a good woman.”

  No, but she just plays one really well. Better than I do.

  “You’ve seen her a handful of times for a day. Exchanged a few letters. That doesn’t mean you know her.”

  “I do. She didn’t have to keep in touch. The adoption rules were absolute. Yet she sent me a letter and a photo every year. When I was attacked, she helped us hide. She was here when Tate was born.” I can hear the tears in her voice. “If you’re so worried Garret, take our son and leave. I will never leave a child of mine at risk. But I am staying here with my daughter.”

  Tears slide down my face. The only person who’s ever been so vehement in looking out for me is Aiden.

  I have a mother. A mother other than Underhill.

  Addy and Chloe raised me, loved me. Did what they needed to in order to keep my secret. But for the first time, I understand the concept of unconditional love.

  Would Sophie fight so hard with her husband if she knew what I’ve done?

  “Don’t cry,” Garret soothes. “Everything will be fine.”

  “Please don’t push her away.” Sophie words are so muffled I can barely make them out. “Not now that I finally have a chance to get to know her.”

  I move away from the wall and curl back up in bed. Good people. These are good people. And as much as I know Chloe and Addy love me, it’s somehow different to know that somewhere along the line, I come from good people.

  Perhaps deep down, in some shadowy corner, I have the capacity of being good, too.

  My body shakes as I recall Astrid’s acceptance of what I could do. I told her I was a vigilante, like her friend, Declan. Is that the truth though?

  Agent Hanson had been married to one of my victims. Had she known he was a pedophile? A murderer? The authorities had found the bodies of the missing children in the basement of that same house where he’d taken me. She must have known what he’d done. Known, yet still blamed me. She wouldn’t just shrug and move on to the next task. Finding me was personal for her.

  Tomorrow I would rally my ragtag forces and come up with a plan.

  Because what Garret—my father—says is true. I am a magnet for trouble.

  We can’t endanger these decent people any longer than necessary.

  Aiden studies his sister’s sleeping face in the firelight. Harmony is my sister. He still can’t get his head around that.

  Or that their mother had abandoned her to Freya’s tender mercies.

  Then there’s the existence of other wolves.

  Pack, his own beast insists. It is more content than it has been since the last night he’d been with Nic.

  He glances around the cave. It’s deep, with ventilation in the ceiling to let the smoke escape. The fire burns low. He gets the impression that if not for Harmony, they would have doused it completely.

  The rest of the pack had bedded down for the night, all in wolf form. All save for Liam, who’d gone for a run.

  Aiden stands and heads out into the night. The moon is out, full and fat above the trees. An owl hoots and there is a rustle of something small in the underbrush.

  Nic had come here as a child. He’d hated that she’d been alone. The pack had protected her for him. Fenrir might be an evil vindictive monster, but his sons and daughters are a decent sort. He owes them.

  So how can you consider bringing them through the Veil? What waits for them there but death?

  “Aiden?” It’s Liam, naked in the moonlight. “Is everything all right?”

  Much like the fey, the wolves don’t seem to concern themselves with nudity. “Fine. Just wanted to see if I could catch her scent.”

  Liam nods. “She’s important to you?”

  “More important than I ever thought possible.” He shakes his head. “She’s saved me so many times. Even from myself.”

  Liam looks out into the darkened trees, his expression is troubled. “Do you really think we will have a place in this magic land?”

  “If the right side wins? Yes.”

  The dark brow above his green eye tilts up. “And if the other side wins?”

  He holds the young wolf’s mu
ltihued gaze. “There won’t be any land left. For any of us.”

  Liam nods. “I appreciate the direness of your situation. But I’m Alpha here. I need to do what’s best for my people.”

  Aiden gestures to the cave. “They don’t live like people.”

  Liam bristles. “No, they don’t. The old ones have a hard time acclimating. It’s simpler if we stay to ourselves and live like the animals we are.”

  He’d once thought the same way. “And does that fulfill them?”

  Liam stares at him, a dominance challenge. Aiden doesn’t twitch.

  It is the Alpha who looks away first. Voice tight he says, “You could challenge me for leadership. Your wolf is more dominant than mine.”

  Aiden’s inner beast snarls in satisfaction that the other would admit it so freely. They are ripe for takeover. Be their leader and dispatch them as you will.

  Aiden ignores the beast. “Why would I want to do that?”

  Liam’s green eye seems to glow. “To get your way. Train the pack to fight and wield magic. Might makes right, doesn’t it?”

  Though his beast is still willing to fight, Aiden knows he is a lone wolf. “I don’t want to be Alpha, Liam. From what I can tell, you’ve done the best that you could for your people with the few resources you had.”

  Liam turns away and Aiden spies the series of scars down the wolf’s left flank. “Are those from the accident?”

  Liam stiffens. “I don’t talk about my scars, not even if you were a beautiful woman. And let’s face it, uncle. You aren’t.”

  Aiden doesn’t bother to suppress a grin. “Fair enough. I’ve done nothing to earn your trust and you’ve done everything to earn mine because you looked out for Nic when she needed it. I’m asking you to help her again. And let your wolves help themselves. The pack is strong. They can fight for a better life. You know there is more now, Liam. Can you really justify keeping them in fur and sleeping in a cave?”

  Liam growls low, but it breaks into a smile. “Fine. I will consider it. Good enough?”

  At Aiden’s nod, he stretches. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I want to get a little sleep.”

  Liam shifts in that slow, painful way of his and pads inside the cave.