Page 35 of Secrets and Ruin

“He’s already accounted for us,” I said, swallowing. “He knows it’ll be me with you or Landon. Maybe not Landon, since you normally feel comfortable leaving Landon to take on fights yourself. He’s betting on the idea that he can win a fight against me, though. At the very least, he thinks he can beat me.”

And he could. Fenris was stronger than me. He had proven that only last year.

“Either he’s betting on that, or he thinks he can do whatever he needs to do before anyone gets there. Then he gets to find someone to hide behind, somewhere we can’t reach him. We’re already behind.” Heath leaned on the worktable. “He knew his life was forfeit the moment he used fae magic on members of my pack.”

Standing there, I thought that over. It was a brutal thought process, one that left everyone involved soaked in blood, some of it their own but not all of it. It was also a deeply understood piece of being supernatural. Like the traitors against my family and their attempted coup, there were some lines one didn’t cross unless they wanted a fight, and that fight would be to the death.

I saw in Heath’s eyes the fury I couldn’t smell, his rage at the betrayal, but I knew it couldn’t only be that. He wanted to do this himself, but it wasn’t practical. He had to be here for the others—his daughter and the pack. Some of them were in the hands of outsiders, healers but still outsiders.

I had to turn away from Heath, realizing my own fury was matched. I was still doing my best to hold it back so I could think clearly, but it was there, stewing under the surface. I knew Heath could smell it. There was only so much I could do, and it was impossible not to feel it.

“I should get going to pick up Landon—”

Heath pulled me into a long kiss, the scent of his emotions finally unleashed around me as he let go of his Talent’s tight control over them. I smelled desperation, anger, love, and fear. All were just notes around the center of his emotions—pain from a wound deep enough I feared Heath might not recover from it. It was that sort of wound that got infected. It wasn’t real. He was unharmed, but it was there in his scent. I didn’t find it difficult to identify.

It was the pain of betrayal, the pain that made people turn their hearts away from trusting others in the future.

When the kiss ended, I walked away, unable to say anything, that scent haunting my nose. I got into my car and pulled away from my home fast enough to kick up rocks.

15

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Picking up Landon was quick. He always had a bag ready for anything, and when he jumped in, he explained that he’d only made a handful of adjustments to it.

“We need to be prepared for anything, right?”

I knew he didn’t expect an answer, so I only nodded and drove fast. With my foot pressing the gas pedal to the floor, a simple bit of fae magic keeping us from getting pulled over, and a complicated mix of emotions making my chest tight, I got us to the airport in only an hour. It was very fast, faster than was safe for even us immortals, but Landon never raised an objection. While on the drive, Ansel finally reached out, letting me know Niko and Dirk were still unaccounted for. Not yet wanting to give up my plans, I told him he would hear from me as soon as I could tell him anything.

“Why the secrecy?” Landon asked.

“Buying us time. He’s human, so he can’t do anything personally, but he can get the word out in a way I don’t need yet.” I was keeping secrets for a short time, so I could do my own research and work before getting others involved, which meant a slow release of information.

I was learning from my family.

I was focused as I found us a parking spot, Landon now white-knuckling the bar above his window. He didn’t show me any fear, but my driving had been a bit wild through the parking garage.

“We should get set up at a closer runway,” Landon muttered as I cut the engine and started getting out. “Something in your territory.”

“Setting one up would be a nightmare,” I pointed out.

“Clearly. We’re a few decades late on getting away with it easily. Still, it’s not impossible.”

Landon grabbed his backpack while I grabbed mine. We didn’t stop at security, finding a fae man hanging out by a staff door. I had never done this before, but Landon explained what to do on the way here. Supernaturals worked at airports all over the world, helping the powerful get through the mundane without notice. I knew the moment I was within ten feet of the fae that he had made sure no one would look our way. The scent of that magic hung in the air, bringing back memories of several fae encounters.

“Jacky Leon. I need to get to my jet. Has it been readied for takeoff? Can we get in the air immediately?”

“Come with me. You can take off in about an hour minutes at the earliest. It was the best we could do, and we didn’t know how quickly you would arrive. Mr. Everson had called earlier enough that the crew has gotten to the plane and started, but it's the fastest we can do.”

“That will have to work,” I said, following him into the restricted staff area. Not knowing my way around airports without guides, I had no idea what sections of the airport did what or what the other people were working on. Closely following the fae employee through the neutral airport territory, I didn’t really care.

I couldn’t smell any werewolves. I knew they had once worked here, keeping an eye on who entered and left Dallas. Heath and I had been caught by them, and Tywin had been very nosy. He had been equally nosy when I was traveling with my family. It had always been an inappropriate action. I was purposefully not nosy when it came to the airport, one of the reasons I never came to deal with the jet I’d won through conquest from the Dallas pack. I was the de facto leader of the city, the most powerful faction represented because I had chased out the previous. Dallas had always been a werewolf-heavy city compared to many others. I had no real job, but I had sway over what happened in the city, and that I did exercise.

“How have things been since the werewolves left?” I asked benignly as we headed for the hangar where the jet was held.

“It was a struggle in the beginning. We were understaffed for some time, but we fae moved more people into the city and have stabilized. The loss of the witch family last year didn’t hurt us since those witches never tried to work with us. Other witches do, but we decided it was best not to have any of them in your path.”

“I’ve had bad experiences with the fae as well,” I reminded him.

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