Stay

“Right, because you feel right at home around different groups of Pterons.” She raised an eyebrow.

I laughed. “Ok, good point, but I bet he’s fine.” I did want to talk to him, but he’d made himself scarce. He’d find me if he really needed to talk.

She practically skipped as we moved down the dark path away from the buildings. She was lighter and freer than she’d been in ages, and I never wanted it to end. She needed to look and feel that way every day.

“Toby!” Eric’s loud voice had us both stopping in our tracks.

I turned around. “Yeah?”

“We need to talk.”

“You better not mean without me.” Casey put a hand on her hip.

“I want you to be here too.”

Casey relaxed. “Okay, say it.”

“We need to get Casey out of here.” He shifted his weight from foot to foot.

“Why?” I asked immediately. “Have you heard something?”

He leaned in close to us. “Yes. There are Ursus and wolves on the way.”

“On their way here?” Casey’s voice went up real high the way it always did when she was nervous.

Eric nodded. “Like I said, we have to get you out of here. It makes sense that it’s Tiffany behind it. She has to know she’s not in control, right? I mean wouldn’t she sense it or something?”

“I was thinking the same thing, but I didn’t want to worry about it yet. Obviously I was wrong.” I figured it was time to come clean.

“Me too.” Casey looked down at the ground. “I just didn’t…” she trailed off as we noticed Gareth walking toward us on the path.

“I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation.”

Couldn’t help it? He’d followed us into the woods.

“What do you think?” Casey was much more polite than I would have been. It was pretty creepy that he had followed us.

He seemed to think it over for a minute. “If Eric’s intel is to be trusted, and I assume it is.” He stared long and hard at Eric. “Then the only choice is to prepare a strong defense. This island is a fortress if it needs to be.”

“We can’t wait it out. We need to get Casey out of here.”

“Why?” Gareth set his gaze on me. “She’ll be as safe here as she’d be anywhere else.”

I shook my head. “There’s no place safer than The Society base in New Orleans. We need to get her there.”

“I don’t disagree that the base is safe, but what about on the way there? I know you are strong.” He looked between Eric and I. “Both of you, but that witch is strong too. We need to get this over with. We need to get rid of her. She’s angry. She’s going to be like a cornered animal, and there’s no way to predict her movements. She may be staging this attack just to lure Casey out.”

“I still don’t want to risk staying. We need to leave before Tiffany gets here.”

“You think she wants to get into my head again?” Casey asked nervously.

“Maybe, or maybe she’d kill you this time. Either way I can’t imagine she’d drop everything. Whatever her reasons are for this, she’s not going to go down without a fight.”

“Do you think she’s the same witch that hurt Mom?” Casey asked softly. “That she’s older than she looks?”

Gareth shrugged. “I do not know, but I do believe they are connected. Whoever used magic on your mom wanted you to be conceived. It is not surprising that she wants to use you now.”

“I don’t want anyone else to get hurt protecting me.”

Gareth closed the distance between us. “They will not only be protecting you, they will be protecting The Society. There is much at stake.”

“So what about the petitioning?” Eric asked.

I wanted to punch him.

Gareth smiled. “I think the men can wait. Besides, if she chooses her own mate before that, it might save us all time.”

“I’ll choose my own mate, but you made it sound pretty much required.” Casey looked anywhere but at Gareth.

“I can see how uncomfortable it made you. Your comfort and security come first.”

Casey glanced up at him. “Thanks. For once it’s nice to hear about the importance of my security.”

“It will always be important to me.”

Chapter Twenty-One

Jared

The silence didn’t mean anything. If Levi and Allie were safe the island would be just as silent as it would be if they were hurt. Still, the silence that met us when we landed had me panicked. I’d been ready for battle; I wasn’t sure how to deal with the empty, quiet beach.

“Do we want to split up and search the island, or go right over to where they’re staying?” Vera was being practical. That was a nice change to her taunting. She was taking the situation seriously which I appreciated.

I did a brief survey of the beach. “We stay together. We have no idea who’s here, and if things are fine, Levi is going to freak if he sees someone he doesn’t know.”

“He’s also going to freak if he sees someone he does know.” Owen laughed.

“Get serious.”

He scowled. “I am serious.”

“Okay, pissing contest over.” Vera stood up from where she’d been crouching. “Let’s get this mission over with.”

“Mission?” I raised an eyebrow. “Is that what you’re calling this?”

“What else would you call it?” She tightened the tie of her ponytail. “An outing?”

There was something so no nonsense about Vera that I liked. She didn’t beat around the bush, and at least most of the time she was a straight shooter. Those traits were rarer than you’d think.

“We need to stay low and quiet.”

“Are we doing those things in case of enemies or because you’re afraid of Levi catching you snooping?” Vera grinned.

Without thinking I returned her smile. “Both.”

We moved across the beach quickly without meeting anyone. I really hoped my biggest problem would be dealing with a pissed off Levi. He’d forgive me eventually. I could always blame it on Hailey, push it off on her bad feeling. I smiled to myself picturing her response when she found out I blamed her. She’d yell and scream until she realized it was really a joke. I didn’t make my decisions based on someone else, and certainly not based on their ‘feelings’. Just thinking about it made me feel dumb for confessing my fears to Vera.