Chapter 124
Heather
The morning came way too soon, and I wanted to spend every possible second with Brent. Rather than going down to the cafeteria, we ate the contents of my mini-fridge for breakfast. Sure, not all of it was exactly breakfast food, but it did the job.
By seven we were both dressed and all my bags waited by the door. "I guess we should go."
"Wouldn’t want you to be late."
His sarcasm annoyed me. "No. I don’t want to be late. We made a deal, and we need to follow through. I’m not going to give them any reason to point fingers at us. I’ll follow the rules, so that when I come back, they’ll have no complaints."
"Do you really think that’s going to happen?"
Honestly, no. "I have to hope that I’m doing this for a reason. That I’m not putting you—us through this for nothing. I’m trying to stop a war and keep people from getting hurt. I don’t want to see anyone spelled like Serena was." I pictured her seizure on the roof of the dorms. "That was a nightmare." I grabbed one of the duffels and started for the door, but Brent grabbed my arm and tugged me to him.
"I’m sorry. I’m trying not to be a spoiled brat. I just...You don’t know how awful I felt when you snuck onto their land with Xander. It was the worst thing I’d ever experienced. Worse than my parents’ deaths."
I dropped the bag. "I won’t be dying. You have to remember that the bond is blocked, not broken. Every time you reach for me and I’m not there, remember that I’m okay and that I love you. All right?" Brent was kind of adorable when he was being pouty.
"I’ll try." He picked up the bag I’d dropped along with my other bag. "Let’s go, before I lock you up in the feral cages and swallow the key."
I threw my messenger bag over my shoulder and took one last look around my room before I closed the door. Be back soon, I thought to myself.
If I’d been wondering where my friends were hiding, I shouldn’t have. They were all sitting around my car. I handed Brent the keys as I walked to them.
"Hey," Adrian said. "You need me to come down to the coven, you let me know. I think they might let me visit." Adrian was the only Were I knew who had brujo blood. If he hadn’t been born a Were, he would’ve ended up with la Aquelarre.
Xander pulled me in for a hug. "If the coven gets to you, try drawing mean pictures of them. Always helps me."
"I can’t draw." My ’art’ made stick figures look like masterpieces.
"Even better."
I laughed.
Serena hugged me hard, nearly suffocating me. "I’m going to miss you, roomie."
"Me, too. Keep an eye on my stuff for me." Both of us were choking back tears, but I wouldn’t let mine fall.
"Will do."
Brent closed the trunk. "Time to go."
I wouldn’t cry. I couldn’t let myself. I was doing the right thing and being an adult. That meant no crying. "See you guys later." I hopped in the passenger side. As much as I liked driving, I was sure that when we left the gates, the waterworks were going to start whether or not I was trying to be brave.
I wasn’t wrong. The first sob slipped through as soon as we were turned on the main road.
"Please don’t." Brent gripped the steering wheel hard. "I’m barely holding it together. I can’t take you there if you’re going to cry like this."
I wiped my tears on my shirt. "I know. It’s dumb. I just don’t like goodbyes."
He squeezed my leg. "This isn’t goodbye. Everyone will be there when you get back."
"I know. I’m being dumb."
"Not dumb at all." He handed me his phone. "Plug her in and hit play. The first song on Matt Lange’s guest mix from ABGT eighty-five is amazing. You’re going to love it."
My grin was a little watery, but I did what he said, and let Matt Lange’s ’We Transcend’ take me away.
"Is that Einaudi that he’s mixing in?"
"Yup."
I turned it up. Amazing, I said through the bond.
I thought you’d like that.
Thanks. For distracting me. For driving me.
Anything. For you, I’d do anything.
I let that soak in as I leaned over the console to rest my head on his shoulder. No, it wasn’t the safest way to drive, but I trusted him and I was a Were. Being near him, with the soft piano and deep rolling bass, took away a measure of nerves and sadness and frustration that burned through my veins.
Luciana was getting a fuckload more than she’d bargained for. If she thought I’d decide to stay forever and suppress my wolf, she was going to be disappointed. I’d only be biding my time, waiting until I could go home to St. Francis’s, where I really belonged. With people who actually cared about me.
Things had a funny way of working out, and I was going to make sure they worked out the way I wanted them to this time.
As we pulled up to the compound, I felt only one thing. Dread. I’d been here twice in the past week. Neither time had gone well. I thought about having Brent drop me outside the gate, but no one had told me he wasn’t allowed to walk me to the door, and I wasn’t about to tell Brent he couldn’t do this last little thing.
We went through the gate and that same icky barrier spell passed over me like a slimy curtain. I was prepared for it, and as long as Brent was on the same side as me, our bond still held.
Beyond the gate was a long, straight dirt road. A line of two-story houses lined the road, with cars parked in front. La Aquelarre’s land felt more rustic than St. Francis’s, mostly because the dirt road was so bumpy and they’d barely managed to cut back enough forest to fit the houses. St. Francis’s had nice landscaping around it.
Even the forest immediately surrounding the campus was a little tame. But the forest here felt like it was about to swallow up the houses any minute.
The last two times I’d been here, the road was empty of people. This time I had a full-on welcoming party.
We got out of the car, and Brent quickly moved to my side. He was tense, but not totally losing it yet. I just hoped he could keep his cool. A confrontation with Luciana on my first day wouldn’t be the best way to start off.
Luciana stood front and center of the gathered crowd, with her son, Daniel, slightly behind her. I scanned the faces and found my cousins. They stood on their porch, away from the crowd. I wasn’t sure if I was glad to see them or pissed.
Right then I was leaning toward pissed.
I had trusted them when I told them what was going on in my life, and they ran home to tell on me?
I knew I needed allies if I was going to make it at the compound, but I wasn’t sure that I could count on them anymore. It was more than a little disappointing.
Luciana stepped forward and Brent’s anger at her rippled through the bond. I gripped his hand to keep him from doing anything stupid. He’d been doing so well this morning, which was exactly what I’d needed, but he couldn’t backslide now.
Luciana wore one of the long, flowing skirts she favored that I found impractical. Especially here with the dirt road. How did she manage to keep the hems clean?
"I’m so glad you’ve decided to join us," she said.
"You didn’t give me much choice. I’m not here of my own volition." I fought to keep my voice calm and even.
"I’m sure once you get settled in, you’ll forget all about the pack."
Brent growled and I squeezed his hand harder. Please, don’t freak out. I have to stay here and I need you to be calm.
I’m trying.
"You really have no concept of reality, do you?" I said to Luciana. "I’ll be going home for the next full moon, and if I ever set foot on this land again, it’ll be to raze it."
A few shocked gasps escaped the crowd and I wondered who here knew what Luciana was up to. The whole coven couldn’t be bad, and by the reactions, not everyone agreed with her methods.
"Starting off with a threat isn’t a good way to win over the coven."
Good thing I wasn’t trying to win anyone over. "Threatening me and the pack with war unless I show up here isn’t a good way to win me over."
More murmurs went through the crowd.
Daniel stepped forward. "Mother, I think it’s best if she gets settled. It’s been a trying few days for her."
"Good idea." Luciana didn’t spare him a glance. "I was hoping you could stay with me and Daniel."
Yeah. There was no way in hell that was going to happen.