Page 28 of Wings and Shadowthief

Immediately, she felt what it needed, and pulsed waves of energy through it until it vibrated contently.

“There.” She stepped back.

“Thank you.” His smile was getting on her nerves. “What do I owe you?”

“Don’t you wish you knew. You promised me whatever I want. I’ll hold you to it.” Therewasmagic to words, especially when spoken to a witch.

This was a game. And she was going to win this time.

New Paths

It felt good to be back. For one, the air was a lot cleaner in Scotland, and even more so in Oldcrest, far from the pollution of the regular human life. There were rarely any cars traveling through the town, except on Friday and Sunday nights, when some students went back to their hometowns for the weekend. As the Institute was an international establishment, the great majority of the students lived too far away to go back to their families.

Jack and the rest of the huntsmen rarely left the Institute unless the mission called them away. He had several subordinates working in London, and they reported back to him on a regular basis. Not being in the field for so long felt odd, but with the recent attacks on Oldcrest, the huntsman certainly didn’t lack action here. Jack had worried that they might grow soft, tucked away in this little paradise, but if anything, at the moment Oldcrest was more dangerous than London had ever been. Patrols and constant vigilance were par for the course in these troubled times.

In the span of one year, the territory had withstood four direct attacks by Aveka, Eirikr’s insane daughter who liked to call herself queen. While the madwoman’s primary goal seemed to be ruling the vampires, and therefore all supernatural creatures, she also had a hard-on against Chloe, seeing her as her rival. That didn’t play well with Jack. He liked Chloe from the beginning, but his likes and dislikes had little to do with the decision to involve the huntsmen. Jack had stood between Oldcrest and danger with the rest of his order for one simple reason: their duty was to stop unhinged paranormal creatures from hurting the innocents.

Some might have argued that a bunch of thousand-year-old vampires, near-feral shifters, and powerful witches didn’t exactly qualify as innocent. They were hardly Bambi. But they’d been attacked thoroughly unprovoked. And Chloe? She’d never even taken a life the first time they came for her. Now she had, but only in self-defense.

Jack believed, with all his might, that if Aveka was allowed to take Night Hill as she wanted to, she would start a rule of terror extending to the rest of the world. Maybe even another age of blood.

Last autumn, Chloe had professed her desire to bring the fight to Aveka, rather than letting her take them by surprise whenever she thought that she had the strategical advantage. Jack agreed. Actually, just about everyone agreed. They were simply dragging their feet because none of them wanted to deal with a battle while Chloe was pregnant. In a few weeks, that wouldn’t be a concern.

“Damn, Cheetah. You’re about ready to pop.” He’d made his way up the hill right after talking to Gwen.

He had to admit, that conversation had been easier than expected. He had thought that it would have taken days of bargaining to come to an agreement. Although, Jack wasn’t sure what he’d agreed to exactly. He grinned, delighted. Gwen was a fucking firecracker.

Chloe opened her arms and wrapped him in what might have been similar to a hug, if not for the huge watermelon under her clothing. She didn’t seem to have put on weight anywhere except for the inflated belly.

Jack had frequented tons of pregnant women, but he was fairly certain that her bump couldn’t get much bigger. Right?

“Please!” She pouted, her big brown eyes boring into his. She’d always been good at the puppy-dog eyes thing. “I’m seriously tired of this. I pee all the time! All the freaking time.” She glared at the tall, dark-haired man standing right behind her. “And he won’t leave me alone. He has me guarded everywhere, at school, at the bar, at—”

“The bar?” Jack echoed with a frown. “You’re not supposed to drink.” He moved his glare to Levi. “Why are you letting her go to the bar?”

A feral growl escaped Chloe’s lips, and she poked his chest with a finger. Hard. “What is it with dominant assholes in this place? He doesn’t get to tell me what to do, nor do you. Of course, I’m not gonna drink alcohol. They serve orange juice at the bar too.”

The Snuggy Snot, serving soft drinks? That was the first Jack heard of it. Maybe they’d stocked up just for her.

Chloe wasn’t done ranting. “Why does everyone assume I’m incapable of taking care of myself, my body, or the child growing inside it? I’m an adult, dammit. I just want to meet my friends, dumbass.”

Okay. Where was the exit?

“No one is trying to tell you what to do, darling. We just want you safe.” She kept glaring at Levi until he kissed the side of her head and started rubbing her shoulders.

Then she finally sighed in defeat and relaxed.

Jack watched them with a mixture of amusement and longing. What they had was special. Not the kind of relationship his mother had with his father, which included a large power imbalance. Becca Hunter hoarded all of the power in the relationship, and Rakiel was happy to let her. He didn't have to make any of the decisions, content to go with the flow. It worked for them, somehow, but Jack had never wanted what they had. He had resigned himself, thinking that someday he would have to choose an equally passive person to stand by his side. There could only be one high guard of the huntsmen, and he was likely to be next in line. As that power couldn't be shared, he'd have to find someone with no interest in it. Or so he believed, before them.

Chloe was one of the two last Eirikrsons. The one who mattered, the head of the family. Before their ultimate betrayal in the decimation of their house, the Eirikrsons had been feared, admired, and, more often than not, followed by the rest of the vampire lines. And yet, though she had a claim to the seat ruling all vampires, though she was at the very least as powerful as her mate despite her young age, Chloe had never made Levi languish in the shadows. They were partners. They listened to each other, just as they listened to the rest of the hill. He wanted that one day. Hell, he might have wanted that now if he wasn't so much of a mess.

Jack found himself thinking about dark, spellbinding eyes, and smooth brown skin. He chased the vision away. He wasn't going there any time soon. For many reasons, one being that the lady was currently more interested in kicking his balls than snuggling him.

"Enough about me. What's going on with you? Do we know how you ended up in Russia?"

Jack had made sure that the huntsmen kept Night Hill informed about his situation, though he hadn’t exchanged many of the details remotely. Never one to trust phonelines or the internet for private matters—even with the huntsmen's network, protected by layers of extra security—he had preferred to wait until a face-to-face to share the entire situation. He did so now, starting with his blackouts, and leading up to his month in New York City.

"I still have no idea why I ended up in Russia,” Jack concluded. “But my father says that the blood on my jacket belonged to an Enlightened. Apparently, the tundra where I woke up was close to an old compound of theirs.”

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