I took Cerri’s hand in mind and gave it a reassuring squeeze—though, perhaps the reassurance was only for myself. I needed to know that she was still there and in one piece. Stealing a sidelong glance in her direction as we walked, I breathed a sigh of relief. I didn’t want to look down and see that there was nothing but a hand and no princess attached to it.
“What’s that for?” Cerri asked, taken aback.
I gave her a wry grin and tugged her through an open doorway. We stepped out into the familiar driveway leading up to the Lakesedge Pack hub. The Alpha’s wife threw her arms wide and bounded down the steps of the front porch so she could throw her arms around Cerri, which forced me aside in the process.
I didn’t want to let go, but the curly haired woman hugged Cerri fiercely.
And for too long.
“All right,” I said, reaching to pry the two of them apart as my heart kicked up nervously.
What if this was a trap? This woman could be a doppelganger. There were fae assassins around every corner. Pretending to be one of Cerri’s closest friends would have been an easy way to get close enough to kill. Though the woman’s aura remained the same, and she still reeked of canine, I couldn’t help but wonder if that was a glamour wrapped around her to further hide the assassin’s identity.
“Leave us alone,” the woman said in a firm tone.
The words slammed into my skull. I spun on my heel and marched away from the two ladies before realizing what I’d even done. My beast snarled and shoved the magical force out of my body, leaving me in control of myself once more.
When I turned, the woman wore a smug smile. Her aura hadn’t changed from the last time I saw her, but this was a power that she’d never exhibited before.
“Ness,” Cerri chided, as if this was an everyday occurrence.
“He was looking at me funny!” Ness exclaimed.
Cerri stepped back and buried her face in her hands, which almost smothered her exhausted sigh. Everyone had heard it, so I wasn’t too sure why she’d bothered to try hiding it.
Meanwhile, I scanned the shifter woman. Her aura rippled with shades of black and white in an odd way. Most auras were colorful. The only time I saw such darkness in an aura was with those like Faust. This was…still somehow different.
The darkness didn’t reek of evil intentions. It simply was, the same way that the light in her aura simply was. This shifter wasn’t just a shifter. That much was clear.
I didn’t know why I was surprised. Of course, Cerri had an odd set of friends. There was a necromancer among them. Another had blood that could burn through anything because of her demonic lineage. They were an odd bunch, much more capable than I’d wanted to admit.
We weren’t alone. We had allies.
But the way Ness stared me down, I could tell that she didn’t trust me. She clung to Cerri’s arm and pulled my princess along like she didn’t want to let Cerri out of sight.
As if danger were lurking out of sight, waiting to strike.
How I wished that weren’t true.
25
CERRI
Iwasn’t sure if I was imagining things, but it seemed that Ness was further along than I remembered. That or she’d put on some weight, which wasn’t easy for a pregnant shifter. I couldn’t even imagine the calories she would have to consume to put on any weight while her beast and child used all that energy.
Had more time passed than I remembered? I hadn’t been put under an enchanted sleep like Hel had done to Addie. If that’d happened, Audra would have noticed my missing hours at work and gone on a man hunt to drag her favorite employee back to work.
“Do you think I could ask Audra for help?” I kept my voice low, barely more than a whisper as I helped Ness prepare meat and cheese trays in the kitchen.
She shook her head and ripped a piece of pumpernickel into rough chunks for the dill dip. “She wouldn’t help me when people were dying. The most I got out of her was when she chased Alvin away from the café. And that was just to save her café.”
Our mysterious boss refused to help out even when the sky was falling on our heads. While she would keep us safe on her territory and find us if we missed too many shifts, she wasn’t going to go head-to-head with any force of power in Lakesedge. It was as if she’d made a deal to stay out of the local politics so she could exist here without trouble.
With Ryder now at the head of the Lakesedge Pack, I wondered if Audra had approached him to keep that deal in place. Would she speak to me the same way if I became the local fae queen?
I glanced to Rhoan, who was keeping a soft distance from us while he scanned our surroundings for danger. Would he uphold a treaty with Audra? She meant a lot to me. The woman provided a safe haven for all of us—for Ness, Vi, Addie, and myself. When we had no community, she brought us together.
Ness bumped me with her hip. The big smile on her face warmed my heart.