Jewel of Darkness (35 page)

“Miss me?” Jen asked with a wink and then pushed past Peri to get to the once again squealing Sally.

Peri watched the girls hug and squeal and hug some more. The best thing out of the whole situation was watching the horrified looks on all the males’ faces as they took in the reality that was girlfriends reuniting after an extended time apart. They were talking so fast it was hard to understand anything they said, and she wondered how they could even understand each other.

She turned to Lucian. “We have a game plan. Once we figure out how to get back into the pixie realm we will bring the females back here. Can you dismiss everyone? Make sure Thadrick has a room if he’s going to stay and Adira as well. I’m going to take the two hyenas up to our room so I can talk with Jen about how she is even here and see if I can guilt trip Sally into staying.” She knew there was probably no reason to even ask Jen about being able to travel through the Farie veil, considering Sally’s phone worked, but she at least wanted to know if Jen had to try more than once to get through.

Lucian’s eyes softened. “She will come back.”

“I know. But Sally, she’s just really good for these girls. I don’t have the calm spirit that they are going to need, especially, as they meet their mates and are faced first hand with how fun you guys are to be stuck with.”

Lucian pressed a kiss to her forehead and turned her in the direction of Jen and Sally. “You, beloved, are a remarkable woman. I have faith that you will be able to help the healers through the coming trials. Sally will return when it is time. I will handle our pack, while you handle your girls.”

“I hate it when you’re reasonable,” she huffed as she headed off. But she loved that he called it their pack because pack meant family, and though she would only ever admit it to Lucian, she’d always wanted to be a part of a family.

“I’m your family, always,”
he told her through their bond.

“Always is a long time, my love.”

“Not long enough to be with you.”
Any other man could have said that and Peri would have laughed at how ridiculous it sounded. But coming from her mate, who chose his words so carefully and only spoke what he truly meant, it was powerful.

S
ally couldn’t believe Jen was here, and seeing her long time best friend was making her incredibly home sick. She loved working with Peri and getting to know the new healers but she missed her friends. She missed working in the bar with Costin. She missed fireside chats with hot chocolate and Oreos. She was snapped from her pity party when Peri came stomping into her room after having told them to meet her up there.

“How did you get here?” Peri asked as she shut the door to her room blocking out the noise from downstairs.

Jen’s brow drew together. “Uh, Cyn brought me.”

“Oh, how is she?” Sally asked at the mention of the fae warrior.

“Well, when she dropped me off she seemed irritated,” Jen’s lips twitched. “Well, as irritated as Cyn can seem. Any who, you know she and Thalion have been trying out the whole elf/fae love connection. I think the honeymoon phase is over.”

“Cyn flashed you here? Did she have to try more than once?” Peri interrupted.

“Yeeess, and nooooo,” Jen drew out. “Is that a problem?”

“Well, other than the obvious, yes it’s a problem. I wasn’t able to flash at all in my realm or out of it about an hour ago.” Peri stopped talking and suddenly disappeared and then reappeared on the other side of the room. Her eyes narrowed. “Why would he only temporarily shut the veil down?” she wondered out loud.

“Still hunting Volcan?” Jen looked at Sally.

She nodded. “He’s powerful, Jen.”

“The exact reason we need her here,” Peri said, apparently done thinking about the implications of why she could flash again.

Sally was surprised to see Jen’s face soften. “Jacque and I of all people know just how needed Sally is. I get it, Peri. She balances out your crazy with her reasonableness. But, as much as you think you need her, Jacque needs her more. She’s going to go into labor any day now.”

“Rachel is there,” Peri interrupted but Jen held up a hand stopping her.

“Rachel did not grow up with Jacque since kindergarten. Rachel hasn’t sat in Jacque’s room listening to Aerosmith songs while lamenting on how crappy the high school male population is. Rachel—”

“I get it,” Peri relented. “And for the record, I don’t want you to miss the birth of Jacque’s baby. Hell, I don’t want to miss it, but there’s no guarantee that I will be in a position to stop in.” Sally saw it then, just as she had earlier during the meeting, the bone weary tiredness that cloaked their fae friend.

Sally reached out her hand and took Peri’s and pushed some of her own power into her.

Peri smiled and pulled Sally into a hug. “You waste your energy on me, healer. Save it for those who deserve it.”

Sally stepped back and looked at the high fae. “There are few as deserving as you, Peri. You and I both know it.” Sally and Peri had their own history, one in which they’d both been willing to sacrifice their life for the other. It had formed a bond between them and Sally was pretty sure Peri didn’t know how to handle having just a normal friendship built from walking through fire with each other.

“Go get your mate,” Peri told her. “I’ll take you all back myself.”

Ten minutes later they were standing in the foyer of the Romanian pack mansion.

“Aren’t you going to say hi to Jacque?” Jen asked Peri as the fae stepped back from the girls.

“Not tonight,” Peri said in an uncharacteristically gentle voice. “This is a joyous time for her. She needs people around her with that kind of energy. I’m just not one of those people right now.”

Sally gave Peri one last hug. “We’re going to defeat him, Peri. Anna and Jewel will be fine. It all feels like the crap has hit the fan, but it’s not over.”

Jen stood staring at the spot where Peri had been moments ago. “Is she okay?”

“You know how she is. Spouts off at the mouth and comes across like she doesn’t care when in reality―”

“She cares so much that it kills her when she feels like she fails someone,” Jen finished for her.

“Exactly. She isn’t fine right now,” Sally admitted. “But she will be. And she doesn’t have to do this on her own. She’s got Lucian. He’s good for her.”

P
eri appeared in the bedroom she and Lucian shared and shook her head at him. He could see the frustration in her light green eyes.

“Pixie realm is still shut down tight. I even tried calling, since Sally’s phone was working here, but nothing happened.”

“Why didn’t he keep Farie closed as well?” Lucian asked more to himself than her.

“Maybe he isn’t powerful enough to keep them both locked,” she offered. “Or he just did it so we would wrack our brains about it until we developed a complex.”

She was tired, his mate ― powerful, beautiful, and strong ― but some days she needed reminding that it was okay not to be the one to have all the answers.

“Come here, Perizada,” he crooned as he held out his hand to her.

She shot him a glare. He knew the command would irritate her. But he also knew that she liked that he was more dominant than her. It gave her the freedom to fall apart and know that he was strong enough to hold her together. He waited patiently, his hand still extended, and finally his headstrong mate placed her much smaller hand in his and let him draw her into the shelter of his arms.

“We’ve been here before,” Lucian told her. “There are many battles, some we will win and some we won’t. What matters is that we keep fighting.”

She pressed her face into his chest and he felt her tears begin to moisten his shirt. It broke his heart to see her cry. But Lucian knew how important it was to let those tears fall. Grieving was part of the process of healing and growing stronger. You didn’t necessarily have to be grieving a death. Grieving could come in many forms and tonight his mate was grieving.

Jewel and Anna had left the safety of the fae realm and she didn’t know if they were safe. They had a group in the pixie realm that they couldn’t communicate with, and they had no idea if the traitor Ciesel had done something to hurt them, after he’d lied to Anna. And Sally, someone that Lucian didn’t think Peri realized how much she’d come to rely on, was going to be away while her best friend had her first baby, which happened to be only the second child born to a mated couple in eighteen years.

All of this weighed heavily on her mind and Lucian could tell that it was wearing her body out as well. She needed to grieve her frustrations and perceived failures. She needed to cry out her frustrations with no other eyes watching or ears hearing.

“I love you, Perizada,” Lucian whispered against her hair as he held her close. Her tears continued to fall and it wasn’t until late in the night that she was collected enough to pull back and look up at him.

“I don’t know how you love me, Lucian. But I am so, so thankful that you do.” Peri pressed a soft kiss to his lips and then looked up at him again.

He ran a thumb across her lips, down her chin and her throat, causing her to tremble slightly. “Loving you is my privilege. There is no
how
to it. It is simply my choice. I choose to love you, Perizada.” Lucian fisted his hand in her long, shimmering white hair and tugged just hard enough that she gasped. He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her lips and then trailed kisses down her jawline
,
and neck until he reached the flesh that bore his bite. Peri shivered when his teeth scraped over the mark.
“And now I’m going to show you that I love you. Pay very close attention. It’s going to be a very thorough lesson,”
Lucian growled as his teeth sunk into her flesh, and once his wolf was satisfied that their mark was deep in her flesh, he reverently stripped the clothes from her body and taught her all about his love.

G
ustavo shook with emotion as he stood with his shoulder pressed against a tree, staring off into the forest in the pixie realm. She’d heard him. When he’d decided to attempt to speak to her through the mate bond, he hadn’t been sure that she would hear him because of the distance growing between their physical bodies. And then, even if she did hear him, Gustavo had no guarantee that Anna would even acknowledge him. But she’d heard him, and she’d responded. Her voice in his mind had been the sweetest symphony. In his long life, the Spanish Alpha had never heard a sweeter sound.

There had been so many things he wanted to ask her, but he’d forced himself to refrain. He was trying very hard to keep from scaring her any more than she already seemed to be. What he found curious, if not a bit frustrating, was that whatever situation she was in, she didn’t seem afraid. Gustavo had no idea why she’d left the pixie realm. He didn’t know if she’d been taken against her will, or tricked, or simply found a way out and decided to go. Whatever the reason, the impression he got from her while talking through their bond was more of confusion and uncertainty than of fear. His wolf had wanted to demand that she tell them where they were, but Gustavo forced the beast to see reason. Anna would not think that they had a right to demand anything. She didn’t know them. She didn’t understand the way true mates worked.
Yet,
his wolf practically purred.