Page 94 of Commanding Blood And Bonds

“You know.” A clever smirk curled his lips like smoke as the accusation flew from his mouth. Ally grinned, biting her lip as her eyes flashed to mine, and I suddenly felt like the only one out on a very important secret. “How, dammit?” he demanded before spluttering, “When?”

Ally’s smile broadened. “I’ll give it to you, you guys did really good the whole time you were in Westerlund. I almost dismissed it in the dreams.”

“But we decided to come to see you,” he said as a knowing gleam settled over his expression, eyes rolling sardonically.

“But you decided to come to see me,” she confirmed, smiling sweetly and tucking a strand of hair behind Fae’s ear with so much care, she could have been a⁠—

Knowing slammed through me, leaving me feeling rather daft, and about a million other unfortunate combinations of self deprecating emotions. “No!” I looked between the two of my friends, whose lips were twisted with cocky smiles. “No way!” I said again, eyes locking on Alec’s as his face split in an ear-to-ear grin. He gave me a nod, right as Kingsley picked up on what our mates had noticed immediately.

“Yeah, soooo, if we don’t stop Adrastos and The Horsemen in the next seven months, things are going to be infinitely more complicated.” Fae said cheerily, wrapping her arms around the women to her sides. The most sincere smile I’d seen on his face softened the permanent furrow between Kingsley’s brows as he stepped forward to clasp Alec’s forearm in a brotherly handshake.

“Congratulations, Mr. Carter.”

The moment his arm had been released, Alec flung himself towards me, and I crushed him in a bear hug. He set his head on my shoulder and a wave of uncharacteristically candid emotions slammed through me in a suffocating rollercoaster—hope, joy, fear, grief, love—as he tried to process what in the hell this would look like.

Would he live to meet his son, or daughter? To support Fae through childbirth?

Fear wrapped around my windpipe, overwhelm crashing in a relentless cascade. I just gave him a pat on the back, trying to be reassuring. I’d never been great with kids, never really thought much about them, at least, not with Layla. And I certainly hadn’t thought about what all of this madness would mean for bringing one into the chaos.

Something was underlying Alvara’s apparent calm. Like a serpent, it slithered along the edge of her mind, leaving an oily feeling between us. Dread coiled in my gut as I found her eyes, and I pressed against her shields, which remained obstinately in place. She’d gotten better—infinitely better—since we’d been cradled in these mountains. But it was there, in the set of her jaw below the false smile, the way she lifted her chin, like Freya defying the giants.

She didn’t like the thread ahead of us, had just decided to fuck the odds, and change it herself.

I could feel it in her aura, as much as she tried to hide it for Fae. But Alec wasn’t stupid—was nearly as attuned to her as I was—and his expression fell as he noticed her stance, head bowing for a heartbeat before he slapped that cocky grin back on his face to protect his mate.

“So, where are we headed?” he asked, a touch too cheerily as he returned to Fae, slipping his arms around her waist. It was then that I saw it, wondering how I had missed the color in her cheeks, the faint glow to her skin, the usual flicker of hope in her eyes stoked like a flame.

“Field trip to SoCal, I’m afraid. But we’re not to intrude on Aren’s thread. Not yet. We’ll let him and Nathara’s allies handle them until we’re absolutely crucial. We just need to get close enough to capture one of these things.”

“I think the word you’re searching for is kill,” Alec snarked, raising a brow.

“No,” Alvara said on a sigh, “I mean capture. We need to figure out how to turn them back before we kill them.”

“The…demons?” Rosaleigh didn’t bother to hide her horror, her eyes wide.

Alvara chuckled. “According to the lore, these monsters are a result of a curse upon susceptible mortals. If we can reunite them with their mortal souls before we send the demons to the after, they might actually find rest.”

“You realize you sound insane, right?” Alec blinked pointedly twice, earning a sly grin from Alvara as she turned the full weight of her attention on him.

Blinking in bewilderment, she said, “Is that new?”

I snorted, reaching forward to snatch her hand, and dragging her over so I could wrap her up, needing to touch her. Long since realizing there was no changing this woman, or talking her out of something she’d made her mind up about, I just resigned to feel her, to know she was with me here and now. Safe. As safe as one could be when they were about to go hunting enormous, man-eating demon beasts.

“Welp. If we’re Nóchtaithe hunting, we’re going to need imbued steel. Ally, do you still have that collection of Solskari blades?” Kingsley asked as he turned for the back hallway. She grimaced as he vanished down the passage. Actually grimaced.

On the tale of his boisterous laughter, Alec mumbled, “Oh boy.” I was about to ask what I was missing, but saw the answer in their minds.

“What’s the shop?” I looked between my companions as Ally palmed her face.

“One of my safe houses,” she muttered, eyes going fuzzy as she thumbed through the threads.

“Welp,” Alec clapped his hands before bending to hike up their bags in the same motion. “Have fun with that. We’ll settle in.”

“What’s the shop?” I repeated, confusion and irritation flaming in my chest as he marched inside, his eyes locked on our remaining host.

Ignoring me entirely, Alec asked, “Got room for two more, Rose, darling?”

“Kindly fuck off,” Kingsley’s voice trailed from the back room, earning an eye roll so big it must have hurt from his mate.