Page 33 of Taken

Mercy’s body seemed to scoot further from me as if she were avoiding our touch, knowing I would say something to piss her off.

“Two weeks ago, I realized that, though Joel is a gifted witch, he isn’t as strong as us. If a mind-reading witch were to get to him, they’d be able to read his mind to find the dagger, which would put us in danger.”

She squeezed her eyes shut, as if annoyed by my words. “You moved it because you thought my father would use his power on Joel and go after the dagger,” she said. “What the fuck, Caleb?”

Mercy quickly stood and paced back and forth. I didn’t try to calm her down. She deserved to be upset with me, so I let her be angry. I betrayed her and the rest of the coven by moving the dagger without talking about it first and not telling them after I did.

“How many times do I have to tell you that my father isn’t trying to kill me? Do you really think I’d be standing if he were? I just spent three weeks alone with him, and all he wanted to do was get to know me and what my reborn life had been like these last twenty-two years. Remember, the former version of myself has been dead for over three hundred years. I’m a little different now.”

I now stood and hoped my words would help her relax. “It has nothing to do with your father and everything to do with Joel. We are the only ones who should know the location of the dagger. I didn’t even tell Simon where I was going to put it after he helped me get it back.”

Mercy held a hand up as if she were about to push me back. “Simon helped you?”

I let out a low grunt of frustration. Fighting with Mercy again wasn’t on my agenda tonight.

“Look, Mercy,” I said, keeping my voice as calm as I could manage it. “I was a fool to have Joel be the one to hide it in the first place. Once I realized it would be too dangerous, I had Joel teleport Simon and me to the Santa Barbara Mission. It was in a secure safe inside the walls.”

Her body tensed. “And that is exactly where it needs to return.”

“No, Mercy. Everyone, by now, knows about the fucking dagger. We need to protect it. They can’t read our minds without us fighting back with our powers. They’d be damn fools to try.”

She stopped pacing and looked back at me. It was as if the wheels were turning, but she couldn’t find the words. My eyes darted to her hands, which were balled into fists.

“Well, where the hell did you hide it?” Her hand came up again. “And don’t lie to me. You’re telling me where it is.”

“Upstairs,” I answered honestly.

“Justupstairs?” Both hands flew up that time. “That sounds safe.”

I frowned. “It’s in a secured safe in my bedroom, under the floorboards,” I told her.

“You think that’s safe enough? Here? Of all places? That sounds incredibly stupid, Caleb.”

I shrugged. “I’m the only one who knows the code,” I said but was met with Mercy averting her eyes from me, as if she was holding back her rage and irritation.

Yeah, I knew it wasn’t the wisest place to hide the only magical weapon that could kill us, but protected spells don’t last. Using a coded safe was the best thing we could do now.

“Fine, whatever. I should get to bed,” Mercy said. “I’m meeting Lily in the morning, then I need to check on Laurie and take care of a few things in their home. I should probably stop by Raven’s, too. I haven’t been to visit Cami since Leah admitted her.”

I flashed her a warm smile and told her I needed to get to bed myself, but when I turned toward the stairs, Mercy grabbed my hand.

“Wait,” she called out. “The other day at the club, when you said what you said, did you mean it?”

I nodded.

“Then ... thank you, Caleb.”

“You’re welcome,” I said, pausing for a moment before adding, “Happy belated birthday.”

She released my hand and headed upstairs without discussing more about what had happened.

I crawled into my bed and tried to shut my mind off to get the first good night’s sleep in the past three weeks.

I can do this. I can let Mercy go.

CHAPTER 14

Mercy

---