Page 10 of Secret Origins
“Leo will pick them up in an hour,” Fenrir said from across the room.
“Good.” Placing the mug on the counter, I turned to face him finally. “After they are gone, you have exactly ten minutes to tell me what you need from me. I’ll help you, but I’ll work alone.”
His stiff nod did not convince me that he agreed with the terms.
I should’ve known better than to trust the Fae.
6
“They’ll be safe in Sienna.”
I had a lot of things to say to Fenrir about that, but I kept my mouth shut because my throat was tight, though the little girl turned and waved happily at me before all of them disappeared through the portal. Leo, true to his word, came within the hour and whisked them out of my house and my life. I should be happy. Damn it. I was happy the brats were out of my hands. The back of my throat tickled. I must have a dog hair stuck in there or something. Maybe I was even allergic to the hound. I tugged on my sleeve in frustration, pulling it down enough to cover my leather bracelet.
“Yeah. Whatever.” With the portal closing, darkness ascended around us. It took effort not to shuffle my feet when I folded my arms and turned to face Fenrir. “Out with it. Let’s hear what you want.”
“You never said where you found the woman and her—” Fenrir started, and as usual, he was off topic.
“That’s her story to tell if she feels inclined to share, not mine.” When his lips formed a thin white line, I almost smiled. “What do you want Fenrir?”
“If I ask you to hear me out about what happened …” he trailed off and searched my face. My stomach did gymnastics, flopping around before dropping to my feet. “Would you?”
“No.”
“Very well.” With a sigh, he yanked on the elastic holding his hair at the back of his head, retying it. The muscles of his arms bulged through the tight shirt he was wearing so much that I had to shake my head to clear it. I wanted to slap him. “A lot of things happened in Sienna. The Order has new members, the old ones took a vacation … of the permanent kind.”
I stayed silent, waiting, but this information gave me a whole bunch of new shit to consider. Could this be connected to my nightmares getting worse? Or the urgency thrumming through my veins warning me that some bad crap was about to go down? He waited as well, expecting me to ask questions, but after a while he cleared his throat and continued.
“There are still moles between us. Roberti knows by now everything that changed, and it’s not in anyone’s best interest to wait for him to make his move. While they are figuring out how to get the Academy, and Soren, under control, I need to find Andrius. Many will die if we are not one step ahead of him at this point.”
“Soren is awake?” Despite my desire to appear uninterested, the rise in my voice and my eyebrows climbing to my forehead gave away my excitement.
“Unfortunately.” Fenrir’s face twisted in a grimace. “However, he is the least of my worries right now. Zoltan has that under control … as much as he possibly can. I need to know Roberti’s whereabouts.”
“Look at the two of you tangoing like lovers.” At his scowl, I grinned in his face. “A perfect tag-team if I’ve ever seen one.”
“Can you cut the snark for a moment?”
“Why would I when it’s so much fun to antagonize you?”
“Myst …”
“Okay, fine. What do you need me to do? Just find which hole Roberti is hiding in? And we are done?”
“Yes.” It took him too long to answer, but my feet were moving before his voice faded.
“Consider it done.” When the crunch of gravel behind me announced that he’d followed at my heels, I stopped and whirled around. “Get off my ass, Fenrir. I’ll find the information and you’ll be the first to know as soon as I sniff him out. Until then, I don’t want you anywhere near me.”
“He is preparing for war, female, so don’t be stupid. You can’t prance in there alone. You’ll need back up.”
“Did you just call me stupid after coming to me for help?”
“I need your help, Myst. I don’t want you dead.”
“Aww …”
His entire body stiffened when I stepped close enough to him that my chest brushed his. Well it brushed just above his abs since my head only reached his shoulder. When I looked up, the intensity of his gaze nearly buckled my knees, but just as I knew he would, his shoulders hunched and he bent down to come face to face with me. My fingers trailed across his jaw as they used to, eliciting a low growl from his throat. Goosebumps popped out on the skin of his neck when I lifted on my toes, my lips brushing the shell of his ear.
“You worry about me, Fenrir. That’s so sweet.” A thick arm wrapped around my waist and lifted me slightly off the ground. I could feel his heart beating like a drum in his chest. “But you forget that I cannot die.” His arm tightened around me in a painful grip. “Or you would’ve killed me a long time ago. Now, get the fuck out of my face.”
