Page 193 of Primal Bonds

“But it was his writing. The motherfucker tried to sell me out to save himself.”

“Yeah. Or she ordered him to send the message.” She rubbed a thumb over the quartz’s chunky crystals. “He’s sick, Ric. Iron poisoning. It’s bad—he’s almost gone.”

“Saves you the trouble of offing him.”

She huffed a laugh with zero humor. “There is that.”

“Where are you now?”

“Safe in a cavern about three miles from the court. The court itself is in a castle carved out of a dead volcano.” She gave him the castle’s precise coordinates, knowing he’d file the information for future use. “You can’t see it in the human world. It’s completely hidden behind look-away spells and warded to keep out intruders. The only way in is through portals that the ice fae have to open.”

“So how did you get inside?”

She glanced at Fane, curled into a ball and shivering helplessly. Somehow, she couldn’t bring herself to tell Adric that the SOB had played her. Her brother didn’t need another reason to question her judgment—and besides, Fane was Evie’s father, and she liked Evie. Jace’s mate might be mostly human, but she was good people.

“Evie’s father helped me.” It was the truth—just not the whole truth.

“He knew who you were?”

“Yeah. Turns out he’s a wayfarer. He was at Jace and Evie’s mating.”

Adric didn’t like that. “And none of us scented him?”

“He says the king gave him a charm that disguises his scent.”

“Huh.” She could almost hear her alpha brother filing that away for future investigation. “You need to come home, Jani.”

“What about Luc? I can’t leave without him.”

“He’s a big boy.”

Marjani gave the quartz a look of disbelief. Sometimes her brother could be so damn cold.

“I am not leaving him to that night fae bitch. She puts fada in those cages so she can feed on their fear and anger. You should see Corban. He’s—broken, just this side of feral. I only saw him as his wolf.”

Silence. Then a careful question. “And you? You’re…all right?”

Her jaw clenched. She knew he meant well, but it hurt, to have her own brother doubting her control. “What d’you think?”

“You sound good,” he said immediately. “I’m sorry.”

She unclenched her jaw. After all, Adric had a right to doubt her. She had almost lost it last winter. And she was still having trouble with control. “Okay. Okay.”

“But I still want you home,” he added, and made her angry all over again, especially when he added, “I could make it an order.”

“Try it,” she snarled.

Another taut silence. Then Adric expelled a breath. “Damn it, I’m your alpha. When I give you an order, you obey it.”

“I’m your second for a reason,” she shot back. “You trust me to tell you when you have your head up your ass.”

A low growl—and then she heard him swallow. “I can’t lose you, Jani.”

Her heart constricted. Because she felt the same way—if she lost her only brother, she really would go feral.

She softened her tone. “We can’t leave Luc here to die in a fucking cage. You know if the shoe were on the other foot, he’d do anything he could to rescue me—or you, for that matter.”

“Then I’ll send someone else. Please, Jani. I’d come myself, but I can’t.”

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