Page 4 of Witch Untold
I tucked the phone into my pocket, making a mental note to deliver Tor’s message to Jasper.
He was grateful I’d been talked out of going after Elijah, because if I’d gone, my mates wouldn’t have been able to come with me, not without leaving their packs vulnerable. They needed to stay close to home, especially now that the Order had taken an interest in the wolves. We still didn’t know where the missing female dire wolves were, or if the Order would attack again, and the varga…That shit was up in the air too. Tor had told me what Dayna, the varga female, had said, insinuating that their actions weren’t in their control.
The information put everything into question. But one thing was certain: the varga would attack again, and the dire wolves needed to be ready to counter.
“Is everything okay?” Conah asked.
I turned to face him with a smile. “Yeah, fine.”
He was crouched on the floor beside Wren, or what was visible of Wren, which wasn’t much.
I joined him, taking in the cocooned figure of my little fae friend. The threads completely encased his body now, leaving not even a paw to hold onto.
“How much longer?”
“A few days.” Conah stood. “I’ll be back before he emerges.”
“You better be.” My stomach trembled. “Fuck…Fee won’t like this, Con.”
He frowned. “Won’t like me helping you?”
“This is dangerous.” I scanned his handsome face for signs of doubt.
“I’ve been in some pretty dicey situations,” Conah said. “This is no different.”
I arched a skeptical brow. “Everything else you went up against could be killed.”
“Agreed, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be hurt or slowed down. They’re not at full strength or they would have come for you by now.”
Yeah, yeah, I knew that, and in honesty this wasn’t about that. It was about him and Fee, and the fact that even though they weren’t together, I still saw him as her guy. I didn’t have the right to ask him to do this for me. I needed to give him an out.
I opened my mouth to do just that, but he cut me off.
“You’re right, Feewouldbe pissed, but only if Ididn’thelp. It’s what we do, Cora. You know this.”
Urgh. Okay, so he had a point. “Still, I’d feel better if she knew what you were about to do.”
He looked down for a beat, shoulders rising and falling. “I’m not one of Fee’s guys, Cora. We’re friends, and that’s all. She doesn’t get to decide what I can and can’t do.”
See, I wasn’t so sure about that. The way those two had felt about each other…that shit didn’t just evaporate.
I studied his aquiline profile. “You were in love with her, Con. That doesn’t just go away.”
He smiled wryly. “You’d be surprised how guilt and grief can change a person. I’m not the same demon I used to be, but you’re right, I do still love Fee. Only now my love is platonic, and she feels the same way. We’re friends, and that works for us.”
She’d said the same thing when I’d brought it up with her almost a year ago, but I found it hard to believe. I’d seen them together. Seen the pain of separation and everything in between.
Maybe I was a closet romantic, but love stories shouldn’t end like this. Still, real life was a bitch, eager to place people onto paths that forced them apart. Maybe the time for romance had passed for Fee and Conah. Maybe they had missed their moment. It didn’t mean she didn’t care about him, or that she wouldn’t be worried if she knew what he was about to do.
“Fee wouldn’t want you rushing off and getting killed.”
He chuckled. “She’d probably insist on coming with me.”
Damn, she totally would. Heck, she could be in danger right now in the Underealm, for all I knew. Cue the panic.
“Don’t,” Conah said softly. “You can’t be there for everyone, Cora.”
“Pfft. I don’t intend to be.”
