Jen sighed. “Why do I have a feeling this is going to change the way I feel about the crazy-ass djinn who betrayed her own people and killed one of her own?”

  Chapter

  Three

  “If I’ve learned anything since discovering the supernatural world, it’s that there is something universal to all beings—the need to protect their young. I would not hold that instinct against anyone, no matter what.” ~Sally

  * * *

  Peri laughed. “Wait for it.” She turned her eyes to Jacque to watch the warlock queen’s daughter's reaction.

  Lilly shifted in her seat and said, “She made a blood oath with me.”

  Jen snorted. “And there it is.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me.” Jacque growled and jumped down from her spot on the desk. Fane snagged a belt loop on her jeans to hold her in place, which earned a death glare from his mate for his efforts. When Jacque looked back at her mom and gasped, Peri’s head shifted back to the queen.

  Lilly held her hand palm up and fingers open, showing the group the pale, crescent moon in the center of her hand. “Myanin has one just like it.”

  “And what exactly does this blood oath entail?” Jacque asked, her voice tense.

  Peri couldn’t help but poke the already-pissed-off she-wolf. “Nothing too serious,” the fae said dryly. “Just death upon betrayal.”

  “You tied yourself to a supernatural being who’s already proven that she’s capable of betrayal?” Jacque asked. Peri noticed a vein pulsing in the side of her neck and saw her eyes were glowing with her wolf.

  “When you put it like that, it just sounds ridiculous.” Lilly gave an absent wave of her hand.

  “If the shoe fits,” Jen muttered.

  “Unflip your bitch switch, blondie,” Peri said before Jen could add more to her statement. “Though I, too, had misgivings at first, Myanin is not the person she was when she betrayed her people. She has changed. People are capable of change whether we want to believe it or not.”

  Jen narrowed her eyes on her. “Oh believe me, I’m well aware that people change.”

  Peri ignored the jab. There was no reason to address it. She could no more explain what was going on inside of her than she could explain how the universe was created. She turned to Lilly and motioned for her to continue.

  * * *

  Sally listened to Lilly explain how Myanin had shown up unexpectedly at the warlock mountain. The djinn had lady balls, no doubt. Tenia and Myanin had given Lilly quite a proposition.

  “Wait,” Jen interrupted the queen, not for the first time.

  “Baby, this would go a lot faster if you’d quit asking questions,” Decebel pointed out.

  “Perhaps, but then I’d just forget my questions and then when I remembered them, I’d have to call Mrs. P in the middle of the night to ask them, which I’m sure would not make her very happy.”

  Lilly’s lips turned up in a smile, and she looked at the blonde. “Jen, you’re a grown woman now. I think it’s okay if you start calling me Lilly.”

  Jen’s lips bunched together, and she shook her head. “I could ... but then the world might implode. Some things should never change. There are certain constants in this world that cannot waiver. You will always be Mrs. P to me. Anything else would throw the earth too far out of kilter.”

  Jacque snorted, though the anger that had taken over her face when her mother admitted to the blood oath was still in her eyes. “Because discovering that werewolves existed, along with an entire secret supernatural world, wasn’t too much change.”

  “Exactly,” Jen agreed, purposely missing her best friend's point. “Now, back to my question. This Myanin-chick, the one who killed her elder and the one you made a blood oath with—”

  “You’ve already pointed that out like fifty times,” Costin grumbled.

  “It bears being readdressed,” Jacque bit out.

  Jen ignored them both. “She and this Tenia-chick attacked you, and you didn’t fry their asses?”

  “Holy troll babies.” Sally sighed. “You do realize that she explained that about twenty minutes ago, right?”

  “But my brain is still stuck on the fact that two females invaded her freaking bedroom and lived to tell about it,” Jen said. Sally wanted to laugh at the disbelief on her blonde friend's face. “And she made a blood oath with said crazy djinn. Not going to lie, Mrs. P, I’m beginning to question your sanity, and coming from me that’s saying something.”

  “I think we need to perform an intervention.” Sally looked over at Jacque. “Her thirst for blood is beginning to get out of hand.”

  Jacque waved her off. “I think my mom needs an intervention. We’ll call it we-don’t-make-blood-oaths-with-batshit-crazy-djinns-who-pop-into-our-bedroom-unannounced.”

  “Your mom is just fine,” Peri said and then looked at Sally. “As for Jen, you probably should have done an intervention before she cut off the vampire head and held it in a room full of supernaturals while yelling a battle cry. Thirst for blood isn’t exactly a psychological condition a person can have ‘in hand,’ as proven by the beheading and carrying of the head.” said Peri. “And is there really anything wrong with a thirst for blood? I can think of worse things to want.”

  The tone of Peri’s voice, flat and emotionless, caused her to look at the high fae. Sally wondered if anyone else was picking up on the cold vibes coming from Peri. She glanced around the room and noticed that Fane was staring at Peri with concern etched on his masculine face. So it’s not just me.

  “A broken heart can tear a person down from the inside out,” Costin said through their bond.

  “Sometimes when something is torn down it can be rebuilt. Do you think Peri can rise from the rubble that seems to be what’s left of her crumbling psyche?”

  “I don’t know, Sally-mine. I want to say yes, but I honestly don’t know.”

  “I prefer to ask questions first and then fry asses,” Lilly answered Jen’s question. “If I hadn’t, then we wouldn’t have two spies in the Order, and Tenia’s son would be without a mother.”

  Jen huffed. “I hate it when there’s a reasonable explanation for not frying asses.”

  “Me, too,” Peri agreed. “Unfortunately, Lilly is correct. Sometimes refraining from killing someone that you feel needs killing can have a positive domino effect. That’s not to say that they might not need killing later.”

  “Or a bad effect,” Jen muttered, and her eyes shot to Costin. “Some people’s days are numbered no matter what.”

  Sally knew Jen well and knew her friend was thinking about the fact that Costin had let Skender live, which had then allowed their children to be taken by Alston. Sally had felt Costin’s regret for that choice, but she’d also sensed his own turmoil over the fact he still felt like he’d made the right choice.

  “So, by leaving the females alive,” Jacque said, keeping the meeting on track, and seeming to have reined in a little of her own anger, “you learned that Myanin was in the midst of a crisis of belief and that Tenia, a powerful fae, was being forced to work for the Order to keep her son safe?”

  “Yes,” Lilly replied. “Myanin stood before the Great Luna, her elders, Thadrick, and his mate, Jezebel. Myanin offered her life for what she’d done. Peri and I, along with Gerick, argued for mercy on her behalf.”

  “Did he offer his life in place of hers?” Decebel asked.

  “Of course,” Peri answered. “You males are always so eager to die for your females. If you’re not careful, we’re going to get the idea that you think you’d rather be dead than mated to us.”

  “Your logic is faulty with respect to the Canis lupus,” Lucian said, his voice soft but deep. “If a mated wolf dies, then his true mate dies with him.”

  “Could be that you want to kill us so bad you’re willing to take yourselves out,” Jen offered. “I’m pretty sure there are times Dec gets so frustrated he would totally jump off a cliff just because he knows it would essentially be like shoving me off the cliff.”

  Sally laughed. It wasn’t true, but it was funny because Jen did not make her mate’s life easy. But even now as she looked at him, Sally could see the adoration Decebel had for his mate.

  Lilly seemed to relax a little as she leaned back into the love seat. “Thankfully, Myanin’s life was not the sacrifice required for her transgressions. Instead, she was stripped of her supernatural powers.”

  Sally winced. “Ouch.”

  “Whoa,” Jen whispered.

  “I still don’t like that you made a blood oath with her,” Jacque muttered.

  Lilly sighed. “I’ve heard you, Jacque. I understand that you’re worried. Let it go.” She looked at her daughter for several heartbeats, her eyes seeming to ask her daughter to trust her decision. Jacque finally gave her a single nod and then Lilly continued. “Myanin will live for however long her mate lives,” Lilly continued. “And she can never return to the djinn realm.”

  “How’d Thadrick take that?” Sally asked.

  “Considering Myanin apologized to both him and his mate, he accepted the will of the Great Luna. But neither he nor Jezebel offered any words of support.”

  “Well, of course not,” Jen scoffed. “There’s no reason to go all crazy on the forgiveness bandwagon. There should be at least a little grudge holding.” Sally wasn’t surprised at Jen’s words. Jen was a once burned “you’re dead to me” kind of girl.

  “But should there really?” Jacque tilted her head to look at Jen. “Cause I thought forgiveness was like, you know, pretty much all important.”

  “Is it though?” Jen challenged. “Because I can think of quite a bit that forgiveness just won’t cover.”

  Lilly didn’t comment on Jen’s statement, though Sally noticed she did give their best friend a concerned look. “Myanin also gave up the power she’d taken from the elder, which as you know entailed the ability to mess with the history keeping ability of the djinn.”

  “Does that mean Thadrick can record history again?” Decebel asked.

  Lilly looked at Fane. “Do you know? Because it wasn’t addressed at Myanin’s judgment.”

  * * *

  “I haven’t spoken with Thadrick yet,” Fane answered. “I will be making a phone call as soon as this meeting is over.”

  “Do you plan to fill us in on this conversation?” Peri asked, her voice terse. Her body was tense as she sat with her shoulders pulled back and her spine ramrod straight. Fane noticed his uncle watching Peri. Lucian’s gaze was shrewd as he took in his mate, and the worried lines on his forehead told Fane that Lucian was not oblivious to Peri’s behavior. Despite some of her remarks being quite normal for her, the tone and way in which she delivered them was uncharacteristically frigid. Whatever was going on with the high fae needed to be dealt with. Peri was too powerful to be running around with unchecked, unstable emotions.

  “As I have always done, I will keep you all in the know. Would I have a reason not to?” he challenged her.

  Peri’s head turned slowly to pierce his gaze with hers. Fane’s wolf rose to the surface sensing the challenge. “I just want to make sure that we are all on the same page. One piece of misinformation could cost lives.”

  Fane’s hackles rose, but he forced his wolf not to take the high fae’s bait. If Peri wanted a fight, then she could take her bloodthirsty self to the front lines. Fane wasn’t going to allow it here in their home—in their safe haven. “Thank you for your insight,” he said simply and then looked around at the rest of the room. “I will check in with Dillon regarding the prisoners that have gone missing and see if the human news is reporting anything on it,” Fane said. “Is there anything else pertinent that we need to know?” His eyes roamed the room, meeting each of their gazes, though they all dropped their eyes after a few seconds.

  “Have we heard anything from the other international packs?” Decebel asked. “Spain or Canada, for example? Considering the period of mourning is over, I wouldn’t put it past the Order to start attacking on those fronts, hoping we will spread ourselves too thin by assisting them.”

  “I spoke with several of the alphas earlier, including Gustavo and Drayden.” Fane shifted on the desk. “So far, things have been quiet with all of them. No attacks from any other supernaturals. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t planning something. Sometimes, the waiting, the anticipation of what might happen, is actually worse than the attack.”

  “Makes me want to just start dropping bombs,” Jen said.

  Jacquelyn chuckled. “You got some bombs hidden away that we don’t know about?”

  Jen shrugged. “Maybe. But I won’t tell you for sure. That way, if I decide to go all air force on their crazy asses, you can’t be considered an accomplice.”

  “Thank you for that,” Jacquelyn muttered with a slight shake of her head.

  “Considering the Order hasn’t made any obvious moves against us, I think it would be a good idea to physically check on our allies,” Fane said. “Decebel and Jen, as my betas, I’m assigning you this task. Costin and Sally are out of commission at this point.”

  “No—” Sally began, but Costin placed a hand on the back of her neck.

  “I won’t risk you, female,” Costin said softly. “I’m asking you not to argue or fight me on this.”

  Fane felt his long-time friend’s pain through the pack bond and understood Costin’s fear. Not only was Sally at constant risk because of what she was, but now she was pregnant. Her value if the Order found out about the pregnancy would only go up.

  “I am not speaking as your friend, Sally.” Fane’s voice deepened as his wolf’s protective instincts rose. “I am speaking as your alpha. Unless you are needed in a healing capacity, you will remain under the protection of the mansion.”

  “And mine,” Peri said, giving the healer a bland look, incongruent with her words. “I’ll be damned if you go down the martyr road again.”

  Sally sighed. “Are you ever going to forgive me for that?”

  “Maybe in a few thousand years.” The high fae shrugged. “I’m tired of people dying on my watch. I’m tired of being responsible for those who will run into death so willingly.”

  Fane’s wolf let out a low growl. He did not like the woman’s dismissive attitude toward her pack mates, because fae or not, she was pack.

  “The Great Luna forbid that you have friends who love you enough to show you how much you mean to them,” Sally snapped.

  Peri’s eyes flared with anger, but it was gone so quickly that Fane would have missed it had he not been watching her closely. “Those hormone changes must already be kicking in. Our gentle little Sally is morphing into a pregnant she-wolf with sharpened claws.”

  “Wait a minute,” Lilly interrupted, holding out a hand. “Hormone changes?” Her eyes turned to Sally, and Fane saw the moment when it dawned on the queen what that meant.

  “You’re pregnant?” Lilly grinned.

  Sally nodded, her smile outshining everyone in the rooms. “We’ve kept it quiet, except for this group.”

  “I can understand why,” Lilly said. “That is information that does not need to be known by the wrong people.” She stood, walked over, and gave Sally a quick hug. “Congratulations.” Her eyes turned to Costin. “I imagine Titus was excited?”

  Costin chuckled. “Just a tad.”

  As Lilly returned to her seat, Fane saw Sally’s smile slip away as she turned back to Peri. “And I’m a sprite,” Sally pointed out, addressing Peri’s earlier statement. “Not a wolf. And I’m not sharpening claws. I’m fine-tuning my magic, and I’m starting to realize I can do more with it than help people.”

  “Hmm.” Peri’s chin rose. “That’s interesting. You should pursue that further while you’re cooking your offspring. Perhaps you won’t need assistance from others in the future and no one will have to worry whether or not you’re going to be a sacrificial lamb.”

  “That’s enough, Perizada.” Fane snarled, then looked at Sally. “You do not need to be exploring your new powers any time soon. Just focus on remaining safe and healthy.” He didn’t need Peri encouraging Sally to become an all-too-happy-to-zap supernatural being. Having one of those was enough. “Peri and Lucian, I need you to make the rounds to the other supernatural leaders and set up the time for the meeting in the sprite realm. Let’s say in a week or two at the latest. Perhaps by then, I’ll have at least gotten a look at the rogues. And maybe our inside contacts”—he glanced at Lilly—“will have some more intel for us. It might be that the other packs need our aid or the help of our allies.”

  Lucian nodded. “We can do that.”

  “I’ll get Nissa, Elle, and Adam to help on that, considering I’ll be carting Decebel and Jen around the globe as well,” Peri told him.

  “That’s all then,” Fane said. “Lucian, if I could speak with you for a moment. Alone.”

  Peri shot him a scowl, but Fane simply stared back at her. Finally she gave him a slight bow of her head and then turned on her heel. “If you’re ready, Lilly, I’ll return you home.” Peri said as she followed the others out of the office. Jacquelyn leaned over and pressed her lips to Fane’s cheek.

  “Please tell me you’re going to tell him he needs to figure out what’s going on with his mate,” Jacquelyn said through their bond.

  Fane nodded his head, and she headed out after the others.

  “Peri is not okay,” Fane said without preamble. He knew he didn’t need to point this out to his uncle. Lucian was her true mate, after all, and had direct access to the high fae’s mind and emotions.

  Lucian rolled his neck looking more weary than Fane had seen him since the Blood Moon ceremony. “She’s keeping things locked down tight.”

  “Your bond?” Fane guessed.

  “Yes. She still struggles to share, though she’s come a long way.” Lucian was quiet for a moment. It looked to Fane as if he was weighing every word carefully before he continued. “Peri was independent for a very, very long time. Not only that, but until the Great Luna revealed her plan to mate fae and Canis lupus, she didn’t have the same … longing for a mate that we wolves do. Throw the loss of our alphas on top of that, and it’s a bit much for anyone to bear. I think these things have hit her all at once. Processing these issues has been overwhelming for her.”