The Rebel Witch

Outlaw, A Thieves Series Book 3

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About the book

From New York Times and USA Today bestseller Lexi Blake comes a new novel in her Thieves world…

Kelsey Owens just wants to settle in with her gorgeous husbands, surrounding herself with her reclaimed family. Preparations should be made for the arrival of their new son. The world has other plans. War is brewing, powerful forces are lining up against everyone she loves, and her latest prisoner also happens to be her best friend in the world. Being the sheriff of the supernatural world really sucks sometimes.

Olivia Carey lost everything. Stripped of the magic that gave her life color and substance, she thought it couldn’t get worse. Then Kelsey was gone. She found a light in the darkness. A path back to her magic, but claiming it somehow put her on the opposite side of a war with everyone she knew and cared for. She knows that her cause was just, but lately things are confusing. Captured by the rebels she tormented and once called friends, she is forced to question everything she knows.

When someone dear to them both is struck down, Kelsey and Liv must join forces again. Only Liv can work the spell to save them, but that spell requires a unique ingredient found only on the Hell plane. Stealing it will mean risking everything—including the growing bond between Liv and her old boyfriend, Casey Lane. Hell has some tricks up its sleeve for both Liv and Kelsey. And in the midst of battle, Liv will be forced to decide between saving their world and burning it all down.

Excerpt

Chapter One

Liv

I hate being in this place, but when I close my eyes it’s where I come back to again and again.

I thought this space in my head—when my subconscious takes over—was my prison, a place to pay for my sins—and there are many. No matter what I do during the waking hours, no matter the power I find and make my own, when my eyes close I am here again.

Blood is everywhere, the coppery scent like a nauseating wave of perfume that rolls over me and won’t quite dissipate. It saturates the ground as they drag me toward the altar. There are three of them. Altars, that is. We came to Wyoming to find a possible rogue wolf, but evil found us instead. Three torture spaces. Trent lies on one. It’s his blood staining the hem of my pants. I don’t know how long he has to live. His body is so wrecked.

The boy Kelsey found is quiet on his table. It was this kid Fenrir we found when we went looking for the wolf. Unfortunately, we weren’t the only ones looking for him. The whole of Lupus Solum wants the abomination dead, and they don’t care that he’s nine and so sweet it hurts my heart to look at him.

He’s still asleep.

I wish I was asleep. I wish I didn’t know what was coming for me.

“Tie her down,” one of the witches says.

I fight, but in this dream, as it was in life, I do not win. They get me on the table, banging my body against the hard rock top so harshly I swear I can feel my bones moving. My head aches from where it slapped against the rock.

Beyond the pain, what I hate is how helpless I am.

I am a witch. I have power in my body. The innate knowledge of how to bend the universe to my will lies in my brain, but I am useless against this coven. They have forced me to do things I couldn’t conceive of doing. Mere hours before I’d pulled my best friend’s soul apart. I’d felt when her she-wolf had scampered up my arms, whispering through my brain. I’d told the wolf to hide in Trent, but now I worry when he dies, she will, too.

They’d held a stake to Casey’s heart. My beautiful vampire. I couldn’t let him suffer a final death. I couldn’t. I’ve loved that idiot almost since I met him. He’s invaded my heart, and I was so afraid of loving him.

It doesn’t matter now.

All is lost.

And then I realize how much more I have to lose as the witch holds up a ceremonial knife and in an instant, drives it through my chest. I feel skin split, bones crack, but beyond that I feel something slipping from inside me. Something essential is leaking out. A trickle at first, and then the chanting begins and the speed builds.

All of my light. All of my magic. I feel it leaving my body. That unique part of me is draining away, and I can do nothing to stop it.

The coven around me hold their hands to my body, groaning in pleasure as they take my power.

They are taking the best part of me and eating it up like it’s a fucking treat.

When they are through and I am nothing more than a hollow vessel, they toss me away like garbage. They don’t even bother to pull the knife out of my chest. They simply pick me up and toss me to the side. They don’t bother tying me up now because they know I have nothing left.

I lay in the bloody grass, staring at the stars as I die. All around they cackle and play with my power. They get ready to do something terrible to Grayson Sloane, and they’ll likely kill my Casey.

Sometimes I wish I had died that night. I wish that had been the end of it and Casey hadn’t fed me his vamp blood and brought me back.

The vampire blood healed my injuries. It did not return what they had taken.

I turned in bed and remembered that now I have an actual physical prison to deal with. My bestie came back after twelve years on the road and she didn’t like my costume change, so she put me in prison.

Okay. I might have been in a place where people who might or might not work with and for me were trying hard to kill her son. But I wasn’t. And he’s like a full-ass grown wolf king now, so I don’t think he needs his mommy, but Kelsey disagrees.

“Rough night?” a familiar voice said.

I gritted my teeth because apparently I didn’t get any privacy in this well-warded room that has become my cage. I tried to shake off the aftereffects of the dream because this one person can’t see how weak I have become. He can’t see that my hands are starting to shake because it’s been days since I last took my medicine.

I don’t like to call it what it is. An addiction. Demon blood. It enhances my magical abilities.

I don’t want him to see I’m starting withdrawal.

Casey.

I can still feel that freak of nature Dean whispering around in my head, looking for anything he could use against me. Dean was a wizard baby Kelsey had brought back from one of the faery planes she’d been on. He had odd powers, though at the time they’d felt like familiar powers.

It all made sense once we figured out Dean is the son of Myrddin Emrys. Myrddin, who saved me. Myrddin, who carved out a piece of my soul in payment.

She still feels for Kelsey and Casey.

Dean had felt my emotions. I didn’t want to feel for anyone. I didn’t want to feel at all.

“Go away, Casey. Can’t I even get some peace in prison?” I turned away from him, not wanting even a glimpse of his face. “If you’re here to tell me you love me again, I get it. You love me. You’ve never gotten over me. You’re still writing songs about me.”

It hurts too much. I’d done everything I could to cut this vampire out of my heart, but he was a virus that still infected my blood. Still made me do stupid shit.

“I’ll stop that since it seems to bother you so much. Kelsey thought I might be able to get through to you, but the truth of the matter is the Liv I loved is gone, and you’re what took her place. I’m sure you would love to be alone. I’m sure at this point you’ve tried to poke through those wards in any way you can.” Casey sounded so different. He’d become an academic over the last twelve years. All vampires belong to a class, and they’re sorted by their powers. Casey’s real power is almost entirely intellectual. Oh, he’s still much stronger than a human, and he can hold his own in many a fight, but the things he can do with his brain…

He liked to call himself a technophage. He can fix anything, build anything. He can speak most languages and has become the group’s historian since Marcus Vorenus never came back.

When the war started, we were on opposite sides. I could not get him to see reason. I could not get him to choose me.

“The wards are great. I love Iceland. Why would I ever try to leave?” I wasn’t going to argue with the man. I sighed and sat up, my stomach starting to rumble.

“You should know I argued with Kelsey about bringing you here.” He stood near the door, which would happily open for him but remained stubbornly shut when I approached. Whoever did the wards was good. She was probably also the reason my team had never been able to find Frelsi, this rebel encampment I was currently housed in.

“What? Kelsey didn’t listen to the world’s smartest vampire? What a surprise. I know that somewhere in that brain of yours you’ve rewritten history and now Kelsey’s some kind of saint, but you forget how often we had to save her ass.”

“Now I have to save her ass from you. I know you’re going to try to play to her best nature. In her head, you changed overnight. She didn’t live these twelve years of watching you slowly turn into a monster.”

“Monster? That’s a bit of an overstatement. I’m a witch. We have a king. The same way you have a king, vampire. You’re going to tell me you don’t do Donovan’s will? He was gone for twelve years and you did everything you thought he would want you to do. You kept his crown polished while the demons bit and clawed at all of our heels. Do you know what would have happened if my king hadn’t taken control? Do you think the wolf council could have kept the demons in their place? How about that ridiculous Faery ambassador? Devinshea’s brother. Do you think he was going to save the Earth plane?”

Casey’s eyes rolled. He wore the academic uniform of slacks and a button down. When had he started to look like his mentors? When we’d been together he’d been a jeans and T-shirt guy, and he’d still been skateboarding. Unlike most vampires I knew, Casey was a baby. He’d died when he was in his early twenties, and in human terms he would roughly be thirty-two. I’m older than he is in so many ways.

And I suppose if I hate his new armor, then he likely loathes mine, too.

“Myrddin isn’t planning on saving the Earth plane. He’s going to hand it over to the demons,” Casey said, parroting what every rebel in the world wants us to believe.

Myrddin is evil. Myrddin hates all non-witches. Myrddin is power hungry.

The last one is probably true, but then the man has been the real authority behind the throne for thousands of years. And for thousands of years the supernatural world has been ruled by vampires. Wasn’t it time my people got a chance to lead?

“Keep it up with the propaganda, but you know the truth,” I replied. “The academics have been weaving a nice fiction in order to keep the other supernaturals from joining with us.”

Casey’s head shook, his arms crossing over what I happened to know was a pretty nice chest.

Sometimes I don’t fall into that terrible dream. Sometimes it’s worse and I dream that he’s still with me. I feel his arms around me and for a moment I am content. I wake up and reach for him.

“I don’t know whether to laugh or cry, Liv. If you really believe that, then there might be hope,” he said, his eyes going grave. “But the more likely scenario is that you know what he’s doing and you simply don’t care.”

“There might be hope if you would pull your head out of your ass and talk to your king,” I explained with a patience I didn’t really feel. I was sick of going over this, sick of being made to feel like I’m the bad guy. “I’m not the person who followed his queen and left his kingdom behind for twelve years. Donovan made the choice to leave us without a leader, and Myrddin picked up the pieces. I’m not the one who had everything working on the knife’s edge. It fell apart without him. So talk to him and let him know that when he’s ready, my king will be happy to talk to him.”

“I bet he would.” Casey stepped back as I moved slightly toward him.

Like I’m something untouchable. “He stands ready. Giving me back would be an excellent move politically.”

His hand went to the door. “That won’t be happening. I came to tell you that Kelsey’s decided we’re going to the Hell plane for a couple of days. They’re setting up a space where you’ll be kept.”

“In Hell?”

“Yes, you should feel at home there,” he replied, opening the door. “It’s where Myrddin wants all of us. And Liv, I know you’re not the one who set up the trap that kept Donovan away all those years. You’re just the woman who sleeps with him.”

The door closed between us, and I felt every word like a knife to my gut.

Because I hadn’t. Never once. I’d allowed Myrddin to carve a piece of my soul out, but I never gave him my body. Nor my heart.

They still fucking belonged to the man who was walking away from me.

But I’d fix that, too.

One day. Maybe I’d find a way in Hell.

* * * *

Kelsey

“Are you sure the wards are working?” Daniel Donovan sat at the head of the large table. Back when the kids were, well, actual kids, he would have had a plate of food in front of him, despite the fact that he didn’t eat and hadn’t for a long time. Donovan liked to feel normal. Nothing was normal here. Now he sat at one end of the table and Sasha Federov sat at the other, two big-ass, no-real-food kind of vamps.

I, on the other hand, was pregnant and something of a werewolf, so I had all the food in front of me.

“Your chicken wings, mistress.”

My butler sat the platter of perfectly cooked Buffalo wings in front of me, not bothering to mention that it was barely ten a.m. and I was downing what seemed like a group sampler platter from Chili’s. Eddie just kept it coming.

Donovan’s brows rose as I dipped one of those suckers in the bleu cheese dressing and pretty much sucked the meat off the bone.

I shrugged. “I’m carrying a future Hell lord. He likes things spicy.” I wasn’t sure I was pregnant enough to have cravings. Although when you really thought about it, I’d been pregnant for twelve years. Huh. That meant I should get all the hot wings I wanted. “As for the wards, pretty sure they’re working since Liv hasn’t busted out yet, and I know she’s tried.”

I’d made the decision to go all in with my bestie. Sure, she’d gone Dark Willow on me and things looked super bad, but I was choosing optimism today. I’d had every chance to kill her when we’d fought in the Under a few days ago, but I knew where she was. I knew how she felt.

I remembered the day when I’d thought all was lost and I’d tried to end it. Liv had been the one to hold me together, to beg me not to let go.

I still loved her. I had to take this chance. But I wasn’t going to make the king take it, too. If he had a better plan, I would listen to it.

“The wards I had our witches place around Ms. Carey’s room will hold her,” Sasha assured him.

“They might not stop me.” The queen sat beside her husband. Zoey Donovan-Quinn was going to be the hardest one to deal with. Sasha seemed like a perfectly logical general in this war we found ourselves in.

Zoey was running on pure rage, and I didn’t blame her.

Liv had tried to kidnap her children more than once. Liv was one of the reasons Rhys, Lee, and Evan had been forced to run.

And I still couldn’t give up on her. Not until I had a chance to break through. “I need a couple of days with her. She still cares about me.”

“Why would you think that?” the queen asked. Though I happened to know she was pregnant, too, she did not have my appetite. She had a cup of tea and the tiniest bit of toast on her plate.

Sometimes I felt like a hulking monster to the queen’s gossamer Fae creature.

Oh, ribs would be nice. See. My brain doesn’t need a reason to think of another meat to eat.

“Because she basically told me she did. In a super creepy, ‘I want to take you home with me and brainwash you’ way,” I admitted. “But I think that was progress. Look, Liv is still in there. I really believe that she wouldn’t have killed me and that she was only going to bring in your daughter because she was ordered to by Myrddin.”

“So that’s fine?” Devinshea Quinn finally spoke up. It’s weird because the man does not have a problem talking. “It’s great that Liv nearly killed our children because she was only following Myrddin’s orders.”

“Says the man who had a thrall stone in his head for years and didn’t even know,” I shot back because glass houses and all.

“I never did anything that went against my moral code,” Dev replied, his emerald green eyes steady on me.

“No, the magic he used on you was softer. He took a piece of her soul, Dev.” This wasn’t a thing I was willing to back down on.

“A piece she gave willingly, according to every report we’ve had.” Donovan sat back, looking every inch the King of all Vampire, even in the early morning light.

“Is anyone in a cult truly willing?” I’d had long discussions with Gray about this very issue. Trent was surprisingly cool with Liv being here given that he was one of the people she’d tried to capture over the years.

My husbands. It was still weird to say since in my head we’d only been married a couple of weeks. They’d had twelve years without me. Twelve years to form a family.

I really hated Myrddin Emrys.

“She saved Sarah, you know.” I had put everything I’d learned from the angel known as Duffy in a report. I’d gotten a magical replay of what happened the day Myrddin took over. It had been my bestie who gave Sarah the chance to get her family out.

Duffy had been trying to show me the way to the portal Sarah had used. It would have been great because then we could have opened that sucker and popped her and Felix and Mia right back onto the Earth plane.

Yeah, that would have been awesome.

Except the queen blew up the building and the freaking portal along with it.

“We don’t know why she did what she did,” the queen replied. “And that was a long time ago. She’s changed. I do understand what she meant to you, but I don’t know if that woman exists anymore.”

I pointed a wing her way. “I’m telling you that she does. She’s in there. She’s angry with me for leaving her.”

“You didn’t leave her,” Dev protested. “Her boss had you sucked into a magical painting. He meant for that to happen.”

“So he could have more influence on the king,” I pointed out. “And that’s not what I’m talking about. After what happened in Wyoming, I kind of sank into my life and forgot about her.”

Another thing I’d thought a lot about lately. I could still remember seeing Liv’s body on the ground, knowing she was dead. Only Casey’s blood had been able to save her, and it had been a close thing. He’d moved her into his place, and I’d told myself he would take care of her, that they needed time.

It was much nicer to concentrate on my wedding and on keeping a pair of pants on Fenrir. When I went to visit Liv, the heavy weight of guilt sat between us. My guilt. She’d lost her magic because I’d taken her into those woods.

“This is not your fault,” Donovan said. “If that is the problem, then I absolve you. You did not push Liv into Myrddin’s arms. Liv had a good life and a ton of people to support her. Any one of us would have helped her if she’d asked.”

“But that’s why it’s hard for her to ask. She’s never been in this position.” I needed to make them understand. The truth of the matter was the queen, for all her troubles, had always had friends around her. She’d had a loving father, and she’d had Daniel almost all of her life. “She had a great childhood. She had a career she loved. She knew exactly who she was. She never questioned it when she was younger, and when she suddenly didn’t, she had no idea how to handle it. Maybe if I’d been here, I would have come back from my honeymoon and seen what was happening and been able to stop it, but I didn’t. So now I have really hard work to do.”

“Olivia still had friends,” Dev insisted. “Until she decided to kill them. Casey would have done anything for her.”

“And I believe she still loves him,” I replied. “She told me flat out she wasn’t trying to kill him. She was trying to catch him. She wanted to do creepy brainwashing stuff to him, too. It’s her love language now.”

“She could have reached out to anyone.” The queen wouldn’t move.

“I don’t know about that.” Sasha had been so quiet I’d almost forgotten he was there. Now there was a look in his eyes that let me know he was thinking about his human life. “I believe I can understand Olivia more than the rest of you since I once lost everything, and though I didn’t mean to, I became something of a villain. I didn’t lose my magic as the witch did. It was my memory they took, but I imagine it’s similar. It was something that grounded her, a piece of her that was necessary for her happiness. When I no longer had my memories, I did almost anything I had to in order to survive. The doctor who experimented on me made me do terrible things. Should I have said no and allowed her to torture me further? My king, there is a point at which people break. I found mine to my shame. Olivia Carey found hers. I was blessed with redemption because my death led me to this new life and I was able to see things in a different way.”

“You were tortured,” Daniel pointed out.

“And we don’t know what she went through.” I would totally share my wings with that Russian if he could eat. “I know you all think she chucked everything for power, but there is more to this story. You know what Myrddin’s capable of, what he’ll do to get what he wants. How he can manipulate a person. Can’t we give her the smallest amount of grace? In a few days we’re leaving for Camp Hell, and I promise I will take her with me. Gray’s got everything ready. Until then, I assure you I’ve got her under control. Lily tells me the wards will work, and she and the other witches bound her magic in a way that lets me move her around more easily.”

She’d been pissed about the large dog crate I’d shoved her in, but beggars can’t be choosers and all that. Lily Tucker promised me the spell she’d fashioned would bind Liv’s magic and allow her to move around. Within reason, of course. I wouldn’t let her roam all over Frelsi, gathering information she could take back to Myrddin, but I absolutely could let her roam around Gray’s cabin in Hell. I’ve been assured no one leaves unless the master wills it, and the master likes to get into my panties as often as he can.

Daniel sighed, a weary sound. “If Sasha is confident in the security protocols, then she can stay, but you have to figure this out, Kelsey. For her sake as much as mine. There are people in this camp who lost friends and family because of things she did. I won’t be able to keep them off her forever. A couple of them are my children.”

And mine, but I knew the one I worried about the most. “I’ll talk to Lee.”

“I’m more worried about Evan,” Dev said, his eyes trailing toward the door as if he expected her to appear. “I wish I knew more about what happened to her in the Under.”

Well, she’d pretty much died when she’d thrown her body on Gladys in order to prime her. My sword—technically it’s called the Sword of Light—was a gift to the Amazons long, long ago. She’s good at killing assholes, but her real talent is sucking in all the power of whoever she kills. Or doesn’t kill. All she really needs is a little blood. At the time we’d been surrounded by witches and things were pretty dire. Apparently at some point Myrddin had bled on her, and she’d been able to infuse me with his power.

It had been a heady experience, and a bloody one since in order for Gladys to work, a royal Amazon—now known as companions—had to sacrifice.

Evan was the one to sacrifice and I was in battle, unable to get her father’s blood to her in time. We had the king’s blood, but it was too far away for Fen to get it. So another vampire stepped in and offered his blood. A primal. Sometimes things go wrong when a primal shares blood.

We’re all still waiting to see what changes it would bring in Evan. I couldn’t deny the darkness that shrouded her now.

At first we thought she was simply getting over the trauma of what we’d gone through, but now I wondered if there wasn’t something more.

My son loves Evangeline Donovan-Quinn. He plans to marry her. I’ve seen how in synch they are, and now she flinches when he touches her. She tries not to, but it’s there, and I know it kills Fen.

“I’ll make sure to keep Liv in her room while she’s here in Frelsi,” I admit. I’d been planning on taking Fenrir with me, and taking Fen meant taking Evan. If I left Evan here, Fen would stay with her. I wished I could put this trip off, but I doubted Liv being here in Frelsi was going to get any easier. “Liv is important to this war we find ourselves in. Duffy made that plain. I need to find that piece of her soul and shove it back in before you find Mia Day. As you intend to leave for Faery soon, I’ve got to get moving. And let’s not forget that Gray was willing to take her with him a few days ago. The king wanted to talk to her.”

“She hasn’t exactly been forthcoming,” Donovan admitted. “The two times I’ve tried to talk to her she’s managed to ignore me.”

“A little torture could fix that,” the queen murmured.

“I told you no.” I had to stand firm. “I don’t care what she’s done. I’m not torturing her.”

Not that she hadn’t accused me of it. I already mentioned the dog crate, right? She hadn’t been the only one in a crate. Puff the Magic Hellhound had been right beside her in his own crate, and sometimes he got gassy.

I turned to the king. “I need to know if you intend to start fighting like Myrddin. He does torture people. He manipulates and uses his skills to get people to give up their souls, so he has an army of soldiers with no real will of their own. That is not Liv, but she is in there somewhere. She was in there when she saved Sarah. She was in there when she didn’t kill me. I’m going to find my friend and then we’ll have taken a massive weapon from Myrddin. She knows everything. Mia might be his intended bride, but Liv has been close this whole time.”

“Yes, which is why I have a hard time believing she doesn’t know what he intends to do,” Devinshea argued.

“Liv was a member of the Profane.” Sasha was our expert when it came to the war we found ourselves in. He’d been the one who’d taken in Trent and the kids when they’d shown up on his doorstep. Well, Marcus’s doorstep, but it didn’t matter. In his human life, Sasha had been both a soldier and a spy. He’d taken those skills and used them to keep the resistance—and our kids—alive. “They were his strongest witches, but I do not know how closely he holds them. I suspect he would trust them with his life since he allows them close physically, but I don’t know if they would fully understand his plans. Much of our knowledge of what he is planning has come from the demon side. I actually think losing Nimue made him pull back significantly. The Profane were weapons. I’m not entirely sure they were confidantes.”

“Do we know if they were his lovers?” the queen asked. “After he beheaded Nimue, did he take the Profane to his bed? Although Nim probably wouldn’t have minded. She’s a sexually liberated woman. Goddess. Whatever she is. All I’m saying is he might be more talkative with his lovers.”

I didn’t like to think about Liv sleeping with Myrddin. It kind of made me want to throw up. It’s not that the dude is unattractive. He’s gorgeous. He’s also evil as fuck, and I know how much it kills Casey to consider the thought.

“I don’t know,” Sasha admitted. “I only know that at some point the Profane lived in the penthouse with Myrddin. I believe they acted as a form of security for him.”

“Do we know where he is now that someone blew up Ether?” I asked, trying to keep the irritation out of my tone.

Dev took a long drink of his orange juice, and I swear the man swiped away a tear. He’d loved that club.

“I’m sorry.” The queen sighed. “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

Donovan turned my way after giving Dev a supportive pat on the shoulder. “To answer your question, we’re not sure. We do have some solid intel, but we can’t pinpoint him. It’s one of the things I’d like to talk over with Olivia, if I could get her to talk at all.”

“I thought I might be able to hear some gossip while we’re on the Hell plane,” I explained. “If I learn anything, I’ll let you know. Are you ready to head out to Faery?”

“Yes,” Donovan replied.

“Absolutely not,” Dev said at the same time.

“It’s important to reestablish relationships with the Seelie and Unseelie.” Donovan was almost always the voice of reason. “Not only to keep them on our side in this war, but to help Rhys get used to his powers. We also think being back on a Faery plane will aid in healing Nimue. We’re picking her up from the lake later today.”

Nimue was used to hanging around in cold-ass lakes. After all, she was once known as the Lady of the Lake. When Myrddin’s thrall stone failed after more than a decade of working on the gorgeous sorceress, she’d been pissed that she’d basically been raped, and that was when her beheading happened. He’d kept her head in a box until the Hidden Ones found her and brought her back, and apparently cold water is great for regrowing a body.

Sometimes I’m happy all I have is a demon hand and some werewolf senses. The whole immortality thing seems super weird to me. If I get beheaded, I want to go straight to the afterlife. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. Do not get shoved into a closet with all of the queen’s shoes.

“Well, I’d love anything you can find out about where Myrddin’s gone off to. He’s been awfully quiet the last couple of days, and I find that alarming,” Donovan admitted.

“Which is precisely why I should stay here.” Sasha’s eyes seemed brighter in the light of morning. Every now and then he would look down at the big gold ring on his left hand, the one that allowed the warrior to daywalk like an academic. Or a king.

“Lily has things under control,” Donovan argued. “I want you with us. No one will guard Rhys and Shy as well as you will. We might have to split up, and I would feel better if I didn’t have to choose between my wife and son. Lily is going to get everyone ready to move to the New Zealand camp. I know the ring solved your problem, but with more vampires coming to the camp now that I’ve returned, we need to stay in winter.”

One of the things the big Russian vamp and my werewolf hubby had done was establish two sanctuaries for the rebel forces. One in Iceland and one in New Zealand. They moved with the sun, always staying where winter kept the nights longer for the vampires. Though Frelsi was basically made of magic, it couldn’t stop the death that came with the daylight hours for normal vampires.

So they moved twice a year, chasing longer nights. That time was coming up. But they were forgetting something. “Trent and I will be back very quickly. You know how time works on the Hell plane. We could be there for weeks and show up a couple of hours later here. Don’t worry. Trent will take care of everything. We might even be back in time to say good-bye to you.”

“And we have to deal with the Fae time changes,” the queen said with a sigh. “It’s longer on this particular Fae plane. We’ll hopefully only be gone for a few days, but a month will pass here. Can’t Evan come with us? I know why it’s important for Lee to go with Kelsey, but I haven’t had time with my daughter.”

I felt for the queen. I had spent time with Fenrir. He’d come with me to the Under. “I can do the job with just Lee. I’m afraid if you take Evan, you’ll have to take Fenrir. He won’t let them be separated, but he’ll have my blessing to go with you.”

“I don’t think Evan wants to go to Faery,” Donovan said quietly. “I think she feels like she might figure some things out on the Hell plane. I’m going to ask you to let her go. She needs time.”

Tears shimmered in the queen’s eyes, and I knew this was killing her. She pushed back her chair and stepped away, Devinshea following her.

“I’m sorry.” I didn’t know what else to say.

“It’s not your fault.” Donovan watched as the door closed. “Evan made the choice she made, and now we have to figure out the consequences. Something has changed in her. I don’t know what it is, but her glow is different now. I can…feel her in a way I didn’t before.”

“Do you think she’s going to become a primal?” It was my worst fear. That the blood that saved her would change her into something else. I liked the primals. They’re the gentlest of vampires, but they were physically different than a normal vampire. They must hide in their nests. I can’t stand the thought of beautiful, smart, loving Evan stuck forever in a cave.

Fenrir was a wolf. He couldn’t live underground.

“From what I understand, if that was going to happen, it would have.” Donovan seemed to think for a moment. “I don’t think she could fight that. It would be too overpowering, but some of the smaller changes, she might be able to fight for a while. I’ve talked to the primals, and they believe there might be changes coming. Physical changes.”

“Can we help her fight it?” I wanted to talk to Liv about it. She’d been excellent at healing.

“I don’t know if we even should,” Donovan replied, pushing back from the table. “Maybe someone in Gray’s house will have some knowledge, or perhaps simply being away from this plane will help. I don’t think she wants to make the transition in front of her mother and her papa. I know she doesn’t want it to happen in Faery where it could have political implications. No one on the Hell plane will care if she grows claws or her eyes change to full black.”

They wouldn’t. Demons were pretty tolerant of physical weirdness. “I’ll take care of her, Dan.”

He gave me a ghost of a smile. “I know you will. I think it’s easier for her to relate to you. I have to hope it gets better with time. Sasha, thanks for your counsel, and I promise you’ll enjoy the Faery plane. It’s not as bad as it sounds, and I will speak with the witches about taking care of your problem. I know why you really don’t want to go, and I’ll fix it for you, my friend.”

Donovan left, likely going to find his wife and partner.

I was out of chicken wings and seriously considering how rude it would be to lick the plate. I was also curious. “What’s your real problem?”

The Russian turned my way, his lips curving up. “Only you would ask, Kelsey.” He stood and walked to the door that led to the kitchen. “Eddie, your mistress is out of food.”

I heard a gasp and knew Eddie was hustling.

“As for my real problem,” Sasha began, “I find it hard enough to avoid sex with a Green Man around. Over the years I’ve gotten used to Rhys’s power. Mostly because he hadn’t truly come into it until recently. Now there are two fully powered sex gods walking about, and I’m struggling.”

My heart hurt for him. Vampires feed on blood and the energy that comes from sex. “You haven’t…?”

I let the question dangle, knowing it wasn’t really my business.

“I have,” he replied. “I’ve been in two relationships over the last twelve years. We were friends, and I cared for them both. But they weren’t my wife.” His hand went to his chest as though there was a knot there he could ease. “Two years ago, I felt her. Maybe I’m fooling myself, but I felt her. Her soul is out there on one of the planes, and that means everything I have belongs to her. I cannot share that part of myself with anyone but my wife. She is coming.”

“Let Devinshea focus some of the energy,” I advised. “Maybe if he hits you with a big bang, you won’t need it so much on a daily basis.”

“I would bet that is quite the experience,” he said, obviously amused. Then he sobered. “There is something we haven’t talked about. Something about Olivia that I don’t believe you’ve factored into the equation.”

“What’s that?” I could hear Eddie banging pans around.

“She’s been on demon blood for years,” Sasha said, a grim look on his face.

“I know. I’m hoping once it clears her system she’ll be more like herself.” I’d noticed her veins were starting to look more normal and not like they were a vessel for evil.

“She’ll be in agony. She’s addicted to it. She can’t be anything else. I believe the demon blood was another way for Myrddin to control his Profane. He got them addicted and then controlled the access to the blood. When you said you wouldn’t torture her… Well, I think she will feel tortured. Good day to you, Hunter.”

My stomach dropped as the kitchen door opened and Eddie ran through. “My poor mistress. What was I thinking? I have made sliders for you, and fried cheese with a lovely spicy marinara sauce.”

“Whoa, something smells delicious.” My son walked in the room, sniffing the air like the wolf he was. He downed two sliders before Eddie could even get them on the table. “I am enjoying your pregnancy, Mom. You go, little demon bro. Keep asking for the apps.”

I’d finally found something that made me stop eating. I sat back as Fenrir started in on the cheese sticks.

My friend was addicted to demon blood, and I had a decision to make.

Copyright 2023 Lexi Blake