Erik paled even further and struggled a little. “Lannan Altos is a freak. You’re going to hand me over to him? Why don’t you just kill me now and get it over with?”

Curious and about out of patience, I tapped him on the shoulder. “Tell me something, Erik. Haven’t you ever wanted to be a vampire? Why did you become a day-runner in the first place?”

His answer took me by surprise. “My mother was sick, and we couldn’t afford her medicine. I couldn’t work three jobs to pay the rent, keep her in the drugs that made her last year bearable, and be there for her in the evenings. So I asked Geoffrey if he’d take me on as a day-runner. I worked damned hard and soon he was paying me really well. By the time my mother died, I realized there was no getting out, so I stayed.”

“Do you have a girlfriend, Erik?”

Rhiannon shook her head. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him with the same girl twice, have I?”

“Nah. I knew better than to get involved. You get entangled, fall in love, and Geoffrey and his cronies have something to hold over your head. I decided it was better to stay single. Live for the day and enjoy what I could. That way, if he got pissed at me, I would be the only one to pay for it.”

Angry, because I was beginning to like him despite what had happened, I motioned to Kaylin. “Take him in a different room and make sure he’s covered up from the cold. Get him something to eat.”

As Kaylin and Chatter lifted the chair and carried Erik out of the room, I glanced at the clock. It was nearly one thirty. “Kaylin and Rhiannon and I had better get a move on if we expect to drive up to Monroe to meet Ysandra. Rhia, get your coat. We’ll take Kaylin’s car.” I’d rather take Favonis but it was too recognizable. And after our little tiff with the day-runners, I had no desire to be a speeding target.

While waiting for Kaylin to return, Grieve and I slipped off in one of the side rooms. He took me in his arms and I slid my hands along his skin. We’d had very little privacy since coming here and I wanted him—here, now, inside me.

He pressed his lips to my forehead as I listened to the beating of his heart. “Cicely—be cautious. Please. I can’t lose you.”

“You won’t. No matter what, you’ll never lose me.” My emotions threatening to break through, a tear slid down my face as I gazed into his eyes. His long platinum hair coiled down to his shoulders and for a moment, I could almost see the cornflower blue his eyes had been before Myst sunk her teeth into him.

“You’re my world.” His lips sought mine and I lost myself in their soft touch as his tongue gently explored my mouth. And then the passion rose and we were clutching one another, his hands slipping beneath my shirt as my breath came in ragged pants.

“I want you. Now…I need you.” My heart was beating a million miles a second as his hands stoked the fire that raged between my legs, in my breasts, throughout my body.

He slid one knee between my thighs and I rubbed against it, my clit aching for his touch, my pussy wet and hungry for his girth.

“How long do we have?”

“Five minutes, if that.” But even as I spoke, I unzipped my jeans and shoved them down, turning to lean against the wall. Grieve slid one hand around to stroke my clit and the ache rumbled through my belly as he drove his cock inside of me, from behind, plunging between the slick folds of my cunt. I tried to keep quiet but couldn’t help let out a soft moan as he began to thrust—at first slow but then driving himself into me again and again, as he pounded deeper and deeper into my depths.

“You are mine, Cicely Waters. You’re mine, and no one will ever take you away from me. I’ll kill any man who touches you. And I’ll rip out Altos’s heart if he dares to hurt you.”

And right then, I knew he would. Grieve would let the dark side of the Indigo Court out to wreak havoc if Lannan tried to fuck me again.

But thoughts of Lannan and retribution vanished as Grieve stroked me into a frenzy. I bit down on the strap of my purse, longing to scream, longing to let loose and echo my hunger from the ceilings. But before I found my voice, before it became impossible to keep silent, I suddenly felt myself at the precipice, and as Grieve let out a long, slow groan—coming deep within me—I tumbled over the edge, my body jolting with the force of our orgasm.

Chapter 6

Rhiannon and Kaylin just grinned when we came out from the broom closet, and I realized everyone had heard us. There was no way to prevent our voices from echoing in such a large space. My father diplomatically avoided me, while the others immediately scrounged for something with which to busy themselves.

Kaylin motioned to the door. “We’d better get a move on.”

I nodded. “Yeah, let’s go.”

Grabbing my coat and my weapons, I followed him and Rhia outside, where Rex and Chatter were burying the bodies of the other day-runners under the snow and ice. There wasn’t much else they could do with them for now. Rex was holding an arm from the guy who’d managed to go boom, and Chatter was staring at the scattered remains, a quiet, pensive look on his face. He’d told me that he didn’t like to use his natural form—a pillar of fire—because of the fury that possessed him. Now I understood his reluctance. He’d been terrifying in his destruction.

“We’re taking my car, right?” Kaylin headed for the black Mercedes that he’d tricked out. I nodded, following, with Rhiannon behind me. I called shotgun while Rhiannon slid into the back behind me. As we edged out of the warehouse’s parking lot, I realized that even though we’d just been here a few days, this place had become a safe haven. I dreaded leaving it, because I had no clue what might be out there waiting for us.

As we turned onto the highway—the warehouse was right on the outskirts of New Forest—a fear flickered in my heart. What if we didn’t make it back? What if, when we returned, we found the town had vanished, like some magical Brigadoon, along with Grieve and my father and Luna and Peyton? They were my family, my clan, my tribe.

I turned around in my seat. Rhiannon stared at me with haunted eyes. Without a word, she reached forward and we clasped hands.

“I love you, Rhia.”

She bit her lip. “I love you, too, Cicely. In all of this…the one good thing is that you’ve come home. I missed you so much.”

I squeezed my eyes tightly shut, wishing away the darkness and the eternal winter we’d been plunged into. What if we don’t make it back…

You will drive yourself mad if you think too much. Do not worry—you will return to New Forest, and the town will be here, Cicely. And so will Myst. She’s waiting. This is a pivotal time in the history of the vampires and the Fae. And you are right at the helm in this uneasy little war. Ulean brushed my cheek, her slight breeze comforting.

Highway 2 wound through wooded land, a valley that acted as a vast ravine between the jagged foothills of the Cascade Mountains and, to the west, beyond a series of rolling hills and a swath of land, the I-5 freeway with the bustle of big-city life. Seattle was a vastly different city than Los Angeles had been…or San Francisco or any other number of cities my mother and I’d drifted through. I could live in Seattle and be happy.

The snow grew heavier the farther we got from New Forest. We were headed east, toward the mountains, but Myst’s reach was extending. The entire western half of the state was feeling her chill.

Trying to push thoughts of the Winter Queen out of my mind, I turned my attention to the upcoming meeting with Ysandra. Would she be pissed that we had lied to her? Or would she understand once I told her what had really happened to Heather and explained why we’d scrambled for a cover story? Would she be able to help us? Would she be willing?

No sense borrowing trouble before it lands on your doorstep, Cicely.

Once again, Ulean soothed my ruffled feathers. We didn’t even know if the Consortium’s help would be worth anything. They might turn out to be so much hot air. Or a bureaucratic nightmare. But we had to try.

Kaylin cleared his throat. “Rhiannon, are you okay? Now that you know about Leo?”

Rhia rested her elbows on the back of my seat, her chin on her hands. After a moment, she let out a long breath. “Honestly? I don’t know. My heart is breaking. It’s hard to accept that I’ve been living a lie without knowing it. But I wonder, if all along, I sensed it would never work out. If I really search my heart, maybe I knew we’d never get married. That could be why I kept putting off choosing a wedding date. Leo was always pissed by my hesitation but something held me back. Some aspect of self-preservation… some inner light within me…saw through his illusions.”

“I am so glad you found out before it was too late.” I turned again, struggling against my seat belt, to try to kiss her forehead, then returned to solemnly watching the road ahead.

Rhiannon wasn’t done, though. Apparently Kaylin’s question had offered her permission to talk about the situation. “But did I really find out in time? From what Erik said, Leo is out to kidnap me. I have to stake him if I’m ever to be free. Once he gets an idea in his head, he won’t let go. Frankly, the thought of him out there, wanting me, scares me to death now that I know he’s a vampire.”

She said it so casually I almost missed the gist of her meaning. When her words registered, I sucked in a deep breath.

“You really plan on staking Leo?”

Solemnly, she nodded. “Yes. I don’t think there’s any other way to be free from him. It’s almost as bad as my mother, except my mother didn’t ask for it—she did it to save Peyton. Leo—he wanted to become one of those monsters. He chose the path. And he did it for glory and money and power. He’s going to be far more dangerous than Lannan, mark my words. Lannan likes to humiliate, but he’s behaving himself around your father and Grieve. Leo doesn’t have that much restraint.”

“Lannan’s been alive for thousands of years. He has more control over his actions, though he’s far more powerful than Leo can possibly be at this point.”

“True, but Geoffrey is Leo’s sire and mentor. That makes him dangerous. Geoffrey is as powerful as Lannan, isn’t he?” Rhiannon frowned. “When you get past one or two thousand years…can another thousand make any difference?”

“I don’t know, to be honest. Lannan’s older than Geoffrey, and chances are he could be the Regent if he wanted to be. But Lannan doesn’t want the responsibility.”

Kaylin flipped the windshield wipers to high speed as the snow began to fall thicker and faster. “Not to change the subject, but I don’t like this. This storm is setting in to be a bad one. We can’t spend a lot of time talking to the Petros woman—I want to get home before too late, and the roads are going to be bad. They’re already icing up even though it looks like they were plowed this morning.”

Even as he spoke, the car swerved and he eased into the skid, avoiding a fishtail as he lowered the speed and leaned forward to look out the window, keeping his eyes firmly on the road. The windshield wipers were going full speed but could barely keep up with the snowfall.

“As I said, it’s going to get worse before it gets better.”

“That seems to be the general theme of our life lately, doesn’t it?” I glanced at the map on my phone. “Penny’s Pit Stop is near the entrance to the town. Take the exit leading to North Kelsey Street, then turn onto West Elizabeth. The restaurant should be a block or two down from there.”

Kaylin glanced over his shoulder briefly at Rhiannon. “Fasten your seat belt again, please. We’re in dangerous territory. Ice and sleet on the road, snow coming down. I really don’t want to worry that if we have an accident, you’ll go sailing through the back window or something.”

Rhiannon settled back in her seat and fastened the belt. Another two slip-and-slide moments, and another fifteen minutes put us on the streets of Monroe. It felt odd to enter a town that wasn’t under siege, at least not yet. But if Myst wasn’t stopped, she would spread the cancer of the Indigo Court in this direction, and eventually, everywhere. Thanks to Myst’s long winter, it seemed like we were headed toward another “Little Ice Age.”

But as we entered Monroe, the constriction in my chest loosened and for the first time in days, I felt like I could breathe as I looked out the windows. No vampires were out and about yet—but vampires weren’t the danger here. No, the holiday shoppers went about their lives, blissfully unaware of the war going on just a stretch down the highway.

A glowing neon sign in the parking lot of Penny’s Pit Stop cut through the gloom. The brilliant blue and yellow lights led us into the lot, which had been plowed earlier, but the empty parking spaces were beginning to cover over again. Kaylin gingerly parked in a spot that seemed the least likely to keep us prisoner.

Breathing a deep sigh of relief—we’d actually made it here in one piece—I slipped out of the car. Almost immediately, I was hit by the cold, my breath sucked out of me in one quick rush. I snuggled my jacket tighter around me, and covered my nose with my hand, trying to warm the air before it hit my lungs. Rhiannon and Kaylin joined me, and we hurried across the compacted snow toward the entrance and pushed through the door.

The blast of heat was like honey on warm bread. It oozed over me and I let out a long sigh, breathing deeply. The ache in my side eased as I was able to take a full breath without the slashing cold driving deep into my side.

“Welcome to Penny’s Pit Stop. I’m Rae-Ann. May I help you?” The hostess hurried over, though one glance around the place told me that Penny was going to be taking it easy tonight. Only three tables held patrons, and one booth had a woman sitting in it—Ysandra.