King Cave (71 page)

I sighed myself. “Guess so.”

We re-positioned so we were lying on our sides, staring at each other.

I touched his nose mildly, running my finger up and down it. “Are you really prepared to run?”

He bit my finger lightly, growling softly as he moved closer, and placed a heated palm possessively on my hip. “If it means you won’t be hurt and we’re together, then yes.”

I nodded slowly, staring him in the eyes, seeing his resolve. “Same for me.” My gaze darted between his eyes. “I couldn’t take you being hurt again,” my chin trembled from my near loss, “and if Antonio says he can’t stop what’s coming because he’s not powerful enough…well, I say we go into hiding.”

Ezra smiled gently, running his thumb back and forth over my hip, his wedding ring cool against my skin. “And you’ve definitely got enough places for us to hide.”

I nodded. “Antonio doesn’t even know about one of them, so we should go there.”

Ezra stared. “Jack and Pearl?”

I bit my lip. “They deserve to know we’re leaving.”

“Agreed,” Ezra murmured, and tilted his head forward, biting my bottom lip and tugging. “But I don’t want to tell them about our marriage. I want to keep something just between you and me. Plus, for their own safety, they probably shouldn’t know.”

“Agreed.” I rubbed my nose against his. “We should probably start packing so we can leave before the sun comes up, when there aren’t so many awake yet.”

Ezra’s eyes roamed my face, his expression quickly setting with determination. “Then let’s get it done.” He helped me up, tossing me a t-shirt from his dresser. “That’s my favorite old shirt, so don’t forget it tomorrow.”

I put it on and stared down at the worn grey t-shirt, which read:
Live Hard Or Die Bored
.

I snickered. It was perfect. “Can I also borrow a duffle? Mine’s lost somewhere.”

He entered his closet and brought me an empty duplicate of his full one. “You’re already stealing my shit.” A cocky eyebrow rose as he pulled on a pair of pajama pants.

My eyebrows rose. “Need I remind you about my Hummer?”

He snorted. “Our Hummer.” Grinning at my cross expression, he grabbed his full duffle off the floor. “And besides, you may be rich…but I’m filthy rich. So quit complaining.”

I blinked as I watched him saunter into his closet. “What are you talking about?” I hadn’t thought he was poor, most Mysticals weren’t — even I had a decent amount for someone my age.

His laughter boomed from his closet. “Let’s just say, when I turned twenty-two I came into enough money to buy a small country.” A pause. “A few of them.”

My jaw dropped in shock. “You’re a trust fund baby?” I just couldn’t see it.

“Yes,” he stated factually. “And none of those forms you signed when we got married were a prenup, even though Judge waved it at me and told me I was nuts when I tore it up while you were talking to Jury about our wedding DVD. So when I said before what’s yours is mine, and what’s mine is yours, I meant it.”

My heart kinda melted. I peeked around his door, grinning like a fool. “I love you.” He gave me a crooked grin over his shoulder before digging through his massive amount of clothes again. My lips twitched. “But the Hummer’s still mine.” I barely dodged the shoe that was thrown at me.

The sheets were changed, our bags were in our closets behind their respective closed golden doors, and Ezra and I were now stuffed on a portion of the enormous amount of grub Pearl and Jack had brought back with them. We sat on the love seat together while Pearl and Jack sat warily on the couch next to each other, staring at us after we had asked them to have a seat so we could talk. It was remarkable the shift that had occurred in them since we had first arrived here, when the news of their mates had literally crushed them, but together they had found an aspect of peace, even if it was new, telling by the way Pearl tentatively scooted closer to Jack, and by the way he carefully placed his arm over her shoulders, bringing her closer.

I watched how Pearl physically relaxed inside Jack’s gentle embrace, and I smiled softly. “I almost don’t want to tell them now.”

Ezra nodded, eyes just as quick as mine. “They’re damn sweet together.”

Jack scowled. “Quit analyzing us.” He pointed between Ezra and me. “You two don’t know how alike you are. You sit the same way,”
huh, guess we were
, “You watch people the same way,”
I already knew that
, “Hell, you even tilt your heads the same way,”
I had noticed that a few times
, “and it’s like you two have telepathy the way your brains work the same way, finishing each other’s sentences and automatically knowing what the other’s going to do.”

Ezra and I both grinned.

Pearl snorted. “It’s kind of disgusting, really. If any couple in this room gets the sugary sweet award, it’s definitely you two.”

Ezra’s lips twitched — same as mine — as we watched Jack become still, before his head swung to her.

His eyes danced all over her face, asking, “You want to be a couple-couple?”

Her cheeks flushed, and she bit her lip, her English accent becoming heavy as she stuttered, “Well…maybe…if you…you know…would like to?” And damn, if her eyes weren’t earnest.

Jack’s lips didn’t slowly lift. He damn near blinded us all as he flashed his teeth, grinning from ear to ear. “Yes, I’d like that very much.” And I blinked when he decided to attack her mouth with his and play tonsil hockey with her right in front of us.

Ezra’s chest was shaking as he rested an elbow against the arm of the love seat, covering his mouth when Jack started maneuvering her down on the couch…which Pearl didn’t seem opposed to as she gripped his shirt, yanking him closer, not at all shy with what she physically wanted. I, on the other hand, really didn’t want a repeat performance, live and in person, of the freaky shit, so when Pearl started glowing a little, and I could have sworn I heard the sound of waves, I clapped my hands loudly while Ezra dropped his forehead on his hand, barely keeping his laugh silent.

“Hey!” I clapped again when they didn’t break it up. “If you guys start…
hovering
…again I’m going to shift and bite your asses.” Ezra lost it, his laughter booming throughout the room. I glared at him, pointing across from us where they were still going at it. “I’m glad you think this shit is funny, but I’m,” I rubbed at my ear, “starting to hear shit.” My head cocked. “It sounds like waves, but as if they’re rolling faster and faster.” I blinked. “I think I’m traumatized by what I saw earlier.”

Ezra doubled over, slapping my leg, apparently finding what I said hilarious.

I scowled and let a little of my power ripple out, kind of like a gentle shove in their direction to remind them we were here. I screamed as a blast of Mage and Elemental magic flew back at me so hard it tipped the love seat Ezra and I were on backward, both of us toppling with it because of the mini-explosion. Ezra stared down at me wide-eyed, having landed on me, and he whispered studiously, “Sweetheart, I’m thinking they didn’t appreciate the interruption.” He lowered his face, snickering at my ear. “And now that I’ve seen it begin, I’m pretty sure the wave sounds are a reflection of how turned on Jack’s becoming, same with how Pearl’s glowing.”

I blinked, staring at my feet, which were straight up in the air behind Ezra’s head, against the cushion. “Oh.” I blinked again, my eyes widening. “Oh, now I get the water and the sparkles.”

Jack opened his door to our bedroom forty minutes later, peeking his head out to where Ezra and I were sitting outside in the hallway. Empty dessert dishes surrounded us, which we had consumed after deciding to take them out with us while we waited, because Jack and Pearl sure as hell hadn’t broken apart even after we had righted the love seat. His smile was lazy and sated as he jerked his head, stating, “It’s safe to come in.”

“Wonderful,” I grumbled as Ezra helped me to my feet, grabbing off the ground the few empty plates Ezra hadn’t. “Maybe we can talk now before we pass out from a sugar overdose.”

Ezra groaned, rubbing his flat belly. “We probably shouldn’t have eaten that second piece of pumpkin pie.” A pause. “Or was that the third?”

“Fourth,” I muttered, burping quietly. “There were only two apple pies and three blackberry cobblers, but there were definitely four pieces of pumpkin pie.”

We both stared at the empty plates in our hands.

“Maybe we should have stopped with the apple pies,” Ezra murmured absently before moving into our room.

I licked my lips, following him. “Or maybe just had one of each.”

Ezra hummed. “We’ll try that next time. Show some restraint.”

I thought about how good all the desserts had been going down. “We could try.”

We set our plates down on the coffee table, and sat on the love seat with Jack and Pearl on the couch again, and this time, Ezra didn’t waste a second and plowed into our news, stating bluntly, “Tomorrow morning, Lily and I are leaving King Cave and going into hiding.” When Jack’s and Pearl’s jaws dropped, he held up a hand to stop anything they would have said. “Antonio had a vision. A future he said he can’t stop because he’s not powerful enough. The damn man was crying because he was so upset about…,” Ezra glanced at me, “what did he say exactly?”

Since Pearl and Jack were starting to appear freaked out, I stated it factually, “He said he was so sorry for the agony you two will endure, referring to Ezra and me.”

Ezra nodded, his eyes back to them. “So we’re leaving. Neither one of us wants the other harmed,” he shuddered, “like what happened today, so we’re getting the hell out, and we’ll try to make it on our own in hiding.”

Pearl’s jaw slowly shut, her lips pinching. “If Elder Farrar saw it,” she shook her head, her expression one of worry, “I don’t know if hiding will help.”

Jack lifted his head from where it had fallen in his hands, saying quietly, “But they have to try.”

I pointed at him. “That’s right. We do.” I stood, jumping a little on my feet, anxiety beginning to creep in further. “So we’re leaving before the sun comes up, and tonight, I’d like for all of us to watch a movie together. Do something mundane before we run.”

Pearl instantly stood and embraced me. “I don’t want you to go.”

“I know,” I whispered, hugging her tight. “I know.” Tears slipped down my cheeks at knowing this was probably the last night we had together. “But I want us to all relax before we leave. Enjoy our evening together.”

She nodded quickly, squeezing me, her own tears falling on my head. “Then let’s do it.”

And so we did, after the hugs and tears were through, lying down next to each other in bed and finding a good old-fashioned comedy to watch before we all passed out.

Waking in the dead of night, I instantly knew something was wrong. Immediately, I calmed my heart rate but still took in the scents. I smelled Ezra, his spicy scent strong, just like his arms around me in our spooning position. I also smelled Pearl and Jack, Pearl’s scent the strongest, since she lay on the other side of me. But…I scented something off…something that made my wolf want to growl and that tried to make my body tremble. I had been in this exact situation before, but what I was scenting didn’t bode well. Because it was strong as hell, which meant…many bodies behind a Mage spell.

Eyes still closed, I slipped my hand further under my pillow and grabbed my gun, glad I had been paranoid enough to sleep with it under my pillow instead of under the bed like normal. I swallowed and then pressed down on Ezra’s leg under the covers hard enough to wake him. He grunted quietly and re-positioned his leg…and I almost sighed in frustration before I heard him inhale sharply and feel his hand tighten on me. This time, I was truly happy for his damn Vampire nose, he having smelled my panic, his heart rate fluctuating a moment, then evening out to normal, more than likely just as mine had done.

I coughed loudly as I thumbed the safety off my gun, Ezra’s grip on me tightening. His thumb tapped once on my stomach. Bumped twice. And right when he thumped it a third time, we leapt out of bed. Jack and Pearl both started awake, the blanket flying off them as Ezra and I both growled, our predators taking voice, our eyes glowing fiercely. Keeping the gun behind my back, Ezra at my side, we crept toward where my nose led me even though there appeared to be nothing under the moonlight of the spelled ceiling. Jack and Pearl were instantly behind us with their own eyes glowing, not asking questions, but still with us. I stopped, everyone halting with me. I glanced at Ezra, and we split apart, both of us going wide at the living room, Pearl and Jack staying stationary. And I growled low, “Show yourselves.”

In a whoosh, there was a flare of golden light taking up the entirety of our living room, its boundary an inch from my nose, and then it disappeared.

I was left staring at approximately forty individuals, dressed from head to toe in black and appearing like shadows under the moonlight, only the fact that their eyes glowed at us in blues, greens, browns, and golds proving they were real and not ghouls, even though they might as well have been. My heart stuttered, then pounded furiously as the four of us took a few steps backward, putting more room between us and them. Fear rode me hard at knowing the odds weren’t good, while self-anger hit me for not making Ezra and myself leave this place sooner, but hope entered when I saw Antonio, Cahal, Elder Merrick, and Elder Jacobs rush into the room through gaps in the ghouls’ ranks, all four of them in their pajamas and looking frazzled as they stepped through our broken-in door, the spell taking all but Antonio for a ride.