Page 67 of Killian
“That doesn’t matter,” said Silvana, gesturing to Killian and patting the chair in front of her. “The doors will open where ever you wish to go. They bloom in a rather willy-nilly fashion and getting them to appear where you wish from your side… well, sorry, but that function has been defunct for a while now, and I don’t have the funding or elf-power to fix it. But from this side, you may direct them as you please.”
“Oh,” said Moira. Killian saw that the wordshow convenient for youwere practically written across Moira’s face, and was impressed that she managed to keep them in.
He put his bag down next to Moira’s and sat as indicated. Silvana set about drawing on his forehead with a small paintbrush while murmuring in a language he didn’t recognize. The magic felt strange—tingling and liquid and he shook his head when she was done.
“Just one moment, dear,” said Silvana to Moira. “I just need a moment to reset everything and then we’ll do you.”
“The door will take us wherever we want?” asked Killian doubtfully.
“Yes,” said Ceallach. “You have merely to state where you would like it to open.”
“Greece!” exclaimed Moira, jumping up and down. “I want to go to Greece. I want to see where you lived before me. I wantto meet Pellos, Hudson, and Sebastian.” She said their names confidently, but carefully, as if she had taken care to memorize them.
“I’m sure you’ve met all of them already, but all right,” he said, putting his hand on the doorknob. “Greece, please.”
Killian swung the door open and then held his hand up against the burst of hazy golden light.
“Very well, young lady,” said Silvana, smiling at Moira over her spectacles. “Are you ready to be checked out?”
“Oh!” Moira twitched clearly torn between Greece and getting her memory back. “Yes, all right. Don’t go anywhere cool without me,” she said to Killian as she took her seat.
“I’m just going to see if my phone works,” said Killian. “I won’t go far.”
Killian stepped out cautiously into the late afternoon sunshine of an olive grove. Moira had said she wanted Greece and it certainly looked like Greece. He smiled up at the sky, which was a bowl of blue and a few fluffy white clouds. He looked over his shoulder at where Moira was attempting to be patient and let them do the memory ritual. He laughed because she was working very hard at it. He could tell by the way her nose kept twitching and the way she would turn her head toward the door and the scents drifting by on the breeze that she wanted to be out of her chair and out in the sunshine. She would probably want to smell all the new things. He couldn’t wait to introduce her to the pack.
The thought stopped him cold. Moira hadn’t met any of his pack?
The realization was startling in its obviousness. Of course, she hadn’t. He had just met her. He didn’t know Moira either.
He stood staring through the door at the stranger who was his mate.
They weren’t here together. They weren’t together at all. Moirawas here for the Portland pack.
The Portland pack was rich. They had enough wolves for a baseball team. They had witches, knew how to write a proper letter, and followed all the protocols that made the librarians think they could be trusted. The Portland pack wanted the spell for themselves. All the facts he had learned stacked up like a wall between them and contrasted with the one thing that Killian knew about his own family—no pack had ever recognized his pack, let alone shared resources. Moira was going to hate him. His heart began to pound. He felt lightheaded and hot.
In his pocket, his phone began to playBorn to be Wildby Steppenwolf. It was Sebastian’s ring tone. Sebastian had thrown a fit when he’d discovered that Killian had previously set his ringtone to Rod Stewart’sDo Ya Think I’m Sexyand demanded the switch. Killian tried to breathe. Sebastian would know what to do. Or at least something that would help. He could always be counted on to help.
“Bastian,” said Killian, his voice hoarse as he picked up.
“Fuck! Killian, thank God! Killian, come home.” Killian didn’t think he’d ever heard Sebastian sound panicked.
“Bastian? What is it? What’s going on?”
“I left messages for you and Hudson. I couldn’t get through. It’s gone to fucking hell, Kills. Pellos has been shot. Lia shot him.”
“Lia…” repeated Killian. Who the fuck was Lia?
“I don’t fucking understand it. I thought Alex was going to kill her. I barely got her out of the house. The EMTs wouldn’t even say anything. They just loaded him in the ambulance and put the peddle down.”
“Pellos was shot?”
“I can’t find Luca. I don’t know… Fuck. We’re so fucked. I need you to come home.”
“Is he still alive?” asked Killian, looking at Moira. She gavehim a tiny wave as the door librarian painted her forehead with the sacred code.
“For now. There is so much blood, Kills. Fuck. I don’t know what happened. I don’t understand it. I don’t know how to fix this. I don’t... Why isn’t he like us?” Sebastian’s question was the same one that all the wolves had asked at one time or another. Why wasn’t Pellos like them? Why couldn’t he be with them forever?
Only now, Killian could change that.
