Page 67 of A Court of Bones & Sorrow

“I’m coming with you.”

Chapter Twenty-One

Samara

In what feltlike the first time in ages, the moon smiled upon us. We’d gotten lucky. I slipped the three pieces of smooth, black stone into my pack before securing it on my back.

“Let’s find the others and get out of here.”

Emil nodded while Ary just scrutinized me from where he waited a few feet away.

The Tepes Heir had found us less than a mile from the remains of the human settlement. He’d claimed to be checking to see if the wraiths had returned while his rangers investigated a nearby monster nest, but I had little doubt he’d been waiting for us.

If he’d truly thought the wraiths would have made an appearance again, he would have kept his rangers with him. Ary was a cocky bastard, but even he wasn’t crazy enough to tackle wraiths on his own. No. Ary suspected something was going on and that I was involved somehow. He could have easily sent that letter to House Salvatore or Laurent, both of whom were just as close as House Harker.

He’d sent it to me as a test. I needed to figure out what totell him, and I needed to do it soon. We needed more allies, but I couldn’t afford to trust the wrong person.

Ary wasn’t the only addition to our search party. Nyx had found us while we’d been saddling our horses at House Harker and had insisted on coming. Vail had grumbled something about having to inform Adrienne, and then we’d set off.

Currently, Nyx and Vail were keeping an eye on the area around the old settlement in case the wraiths or some other beasts came prowling. I’d told Draven to stay with the horses because they were a tasty snack to most things that went bump in the night. To my surprise—and suspicion—he’d agreed. Unfortunately, none of us could tell the Tepes Heir what to do, so when our group had split up, he’d trailed after me and Emil.

“Shiny,” a deep voice purred. “I like shiny things.”

A golden-haired man nimbly leapt down from a tree that had grown out of the wreckage of collapsed building. He rose to his full height—which was easily over six feet—and cocked his head, his cat-like green eyes catching the moonlight, which caused a sheen to roll across them.

Emil had his swords free in a moment and pointed at the newcomer. His jaw hardened, probably in annoyance at not detecting the Velesian but it’s not like I could blame him. Velesians had an uncanny knack at being undetectable in the woods. They were even more adept at sneaking up on others than Vail or Draven.

While Emil and I might have been caught off guard, it did not escape my attention that Ary didn’t appear to be least bit surprised to see the handsome Velesian, who was currently smirking at all of us.

“Bastian,” I said evenly. “What brings a member of the Alpha Pack to Moroi territory?”

“Just helping out our neighbors on a little friendly hunt” He grinned and two dimples formed in his cheeks, escalating him from handsome to charming… and a little wicked. “After all, the monsters don’t really care about the borders between Moroi and Velesian lands.”

My gaze cut to Ary. “Funny how you never mentioned the Alpha Pack being here in your letter.”

He shrugged. “Like Bastian said—just a spur-of-the-moment hunt is all.”

Spur-of-the-moment hunt my ass. The Alpha Pack usually stayed in the far north of the Velesian realm. While Ary was definitely on more friendly terms with the Velesians than many of the Moroi—thanks to his lands bordering theirs and the fact that he did love to go hunting with them—it wasn’t like Bastian would have just happened to be in the area.

According to Rynn, the big meeting being hosted by her pack in Fervis territory near Lake Malov wasn’t happening for another week. She would have mentioned if she’d heard of any of the Alpha Pack members coming sooner than that. Which meant they hadn’t told her . . .

Bastian let out a low, raspy laugh. “So suspicious, Samara. I can practically hear you sussing out all the reasons for me being here in that pretty head of yours.”

“Really?” I drawled. “Then you know the loudest thought in my head right now is me lamenting over the fact that I have to deal with you instead of Cade.”

Cade was the leader of the Alpha Pack and the one I preferred to deal with. He was direct and to the point. It was refreshing, albeit a little frustrating at times because once he set his mind on something, it was difficult to steer him away from it.

Bastian was his second-in-command . I didn’t know if it was his feline nature—he was an ailuranthrope, a panther shifter—that made him so aggravating to deal with or just his own personal nature.

But the fact that Bastian was here meant two things: therewas something going on in the Velesian realm to draw the Alpha Pack south, and Ary was suspicious enough about other Moroi and what was going on in our own realm that he’d chosen to bring the Velesians in on it.

He must have had a better relationship with the Alpha Pack than I’d been aware of for Bastian to join him on this adventure. None of that mattered for the problem at hand though, and I could have punched Ary for complicating things so much.

The amused grin on the other Moroi’s face told me he knew exactly how I was feeling and found my pain entertaining.

I couldn’t tell Bastian—and therefore the Alpha Pack—about the stones or what was going on. Not yet at least. The Moroi Houses were all about keeping their secrets. Half of our trade deals were sweetened by offering an exchange of information. But the Velesians prided themselves on being more open about things.

If I brought the Alpha Pack in on this, they would feel compelled to tell the rest of Velesian packs. We already knew there were Moroi working with Erendriel, so there was no reason not to suspect some of the Velesians were as well.

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