Page 75 of Secrets and Ruin

“The Black Forest is fae territory…,” he whispered, his microphone, wherever it was, almost not picking him up. He looked over, his eyes liquid gold, that shade only Jacky shared with him. Heath liked them more in her. “Zuri, you hate me right now. You have your reasons. We don’t see eye to eye on many things right now, and you are by far one of my most opinionated children.” Hasan closed his eyes for a moment, taking a long breath like he was counting to three, then he exhaled slowly. When his eyes were open again, they were brown.

“But I love every single one of you more than my own life, and the only thing I’ve ever wanted is for all of you to besafe. You have actively been keeping their situation a secret from me and requested I leave before I learned what was happening. That’s crossing the line. When Jacky and Niko are safe, this family is going to have a long discussion about things while we’re together in Germany. Theentirefamily.” Hasan walked up to his desk and reached out. “And if you’re thinking about it, Everson. No, my family doesn’t need your assistance nor the assistance of anyone from your pack. You stay right where you are. Your safety isnotguaranteed otherwise.”

He disconnected.

“We’ll bring all of them back, Heath,” Zuri promised softly.

“You have our word,” Jabari agreed. “He won’t hurt Landon. I will stop him myself if I must.”

“Thank you,” Heath said, knowing he had to accept that. “We should have been more careful.”

“Should have been but weren’t. He’s normally not glued to his desk. It was bad timing. I normally feel very safe on here. Let’s just say that I won’t anymore,” Zuri said, leaning back in her chair. “It is what it is.”

“Does he really want theentirefamily?” Jabari asked, crossing his arms. “Children, mates… Mother?”

“I don’t know, but we’re going to assume yes and follow his orders,” Zuri said, looking at her twin. “I want Mother with us for this. I want Kushim at my back and Aisha at yours. This will hurt no matter which way you look at it.”

Heath sank back in Jacky’s chair, smelling her in the fabric when he turned his head. He wished he could go, but that was only putting his few allies in Jacky’s family in a worse position.

“Thank you again,” he said. “I’ve never felt this useless before.”

“Every time you and Jacky went on some adventure, we were all stuck feeling the same,” Zuri said, giving a weak but real smile. “We’ve got her this time. Promise.”

31

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

There was little conversation on the walk. Niko and I looked over our shoulders at every sound, knowing Rainer could be catching up to us.

“Three in the afternoon,” Niko said as he checked the time.

I looked up, seeing only trees that nearly blocked my view of the night sky.

“Will we eventually see the sun again before this is over or…”

“I hope so. I think it’s because we’re still in more fae areas of the forest, but I could be wrong. It could be a spell cast on those involved in the hunt.”

“I don’t think it’s the latter. It seems other fae recognize the long night, as the riders have been calling it.”

“Then it’s something to do with the fae realms, I guess.”

“Is it possible to lose yourself in the fae realm here? Like enter it and not come back?”

“Yes.”

“Thought so,” I said. “Let me guess. Stay on the paths, and that won’t happen.”

“Exactly.” Niko nodded, putting his pocket watch away. “Have you enjoyed your visit to Germany?”

“Don’t…be funny right now,” I said, giving him a look. “No. Not at all. This is awful. I thought I didn’t like fae stuff before, but now….” I hissed at nothing, unable to stop my lip from curling in a snarl.

“Yeah…” Niko sighed. “I understand that.”

“Do you? You’ve lived here for eight hundred years. There must be something you like here.”

“Only because I think it’s necessary to protect the world from what this place is.”

“Bullshit. I know you said earlier you would love for it to be destroyed, but that’s your only way out. Hasan used to be good friends with King Brion before he disappeared. You could have told Hasan to talk to the King to let him know about this place and make a deal to protect the surrounding area. You had options, and you chose to take none of them.” I shoved my hands into my pockets. “I’ve been thinking about it for a good portion of this walk. Our family is a lot of things, and one of those is politically powerful. You had choices, Niko. Why did you never take them?”

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