SPENCER
The moment we walked into Finn’s and Alister’s room, Liam glared at Mom.
“Look at her like that again and I’ll punch a hole through those tightly clenched teeth,” I said in an icy voice.
“She lied to us.” He turned his dark eyes at me.
“I didn’t lie,” Mom said calmly. “I just didn’t tell you the truth. I knew how it would make you feel, and in my defense, when I met first Marcus, I had no idea who he was. We discovered the truth about each other later.” She turned to Finn. “His father killed your parents, and I understand how you feel. But look at this from a different perspective. Now that you know Spencer is his daughter, do you hate her? Are you going to turn your back on her?”
“Never. And that’s why I’m not angry with you, Clare.”
“I thought I could trust him,” Mom interlocked her fingers and nervously squeezed her hands. “But the more I got to know him, the more I realized how wrong I was. When I saw how devoted he was to his pack and his father, I realized he would never break the rules and stay with me. Daryl was about to retire. It was only a matter of a few years as Marcus told me, and I knew that the moment Marcus became the alpha, he would be as cruel as his father. So I ran. It was the only way to protect my future child.”
“And that only proves that you’re a strong woman,” said Alister. “It’s not easy to leave the one you love. You could’ve chosen not to have the baby, stay with him as long as you could, and then go back to your coven and stay with your kind. Sometimes it takes courage to do the right thing.”
Liam gazed at me. “I know this was a hell of a day. You just met your father and . . .” His jaw tightened again. “But I need you to know, the moment I get a chance, I’ll kill him.”
I scoffed. “Get in line.” I ran my eyes from one to another. “I know who I am now, and I’m ready to embrace my destiny and fight for my powers. Liam, if you have anything else to say, say it. We won’t be able to trust each other if you let your anger cloud your mind. You’re with me or against me. Make your choice now.”
I wasn’t going to let him screw everything up because of his hatred and hunger for vengeance.
“That was never a question,” barked Liam. “Of course I’m with you.”
“Then let’s stop wasting time and think of the best way to get what we need. Believe me, what we all learned today . . . it hurts me more than it hurts any of you. But we don’t have time to vent our emotions. If we want to fix this, to undo all those curses our ancestors created to take away our right to a normal life, we need to put aside our differences and act now.”
“Right,” James shifted in his seat. “So what’s next? What do we do?”
“We’ll need a detailed map of Aaron’s pack area, check out all the ways in and out.” I glanced at Alister. “The kind you made for Tallahassee's pack.”
Alister nodded. “I’ll make one.”
“Also, we need to figure out how to open a safe.”
“That would be a problem,” said Liam, “which could only be solved with magic.”
“You mean compulsion,” Mom nodded. “To do that, we would need to catch Aaron alone.”
“That’s too risky. And who knows, maybe Aaron wouldn’t keep it in a safe,” suggested Finn. “It could be some secret drawer that would open with a key or some hidden button.”
“I hope so. That’ll make things a bit easier. I suppose we wouldn’t know until we get inside his house.” I sighed, realizing that this task was more complicated than we thought. “Do any of you have other suggestions?”
“Spencer, I still don’t think it’s a good idea for you to get close to that pack yourself,” said Finn. “Cloak or no cloak—Eric knows your scent.”
“We don’t have a choice. We’ll disguise the scent. We’ll do the best we can.” I said, faking my confidence. “How about we get some rest and take off early in the morning?”
“There’s a printer downstairs.” Alister headed to the door. “First, I need to prepare that map.”
Finn put his arm around my waist and pulled me toward the door too. “We’re going for a run.”
Liam, James, and Mom followed us into the hallway.
“Don’t go too far.” Mom gave the two of us a flitting glance before walking into our room.
James watched Mom close the door behind her, then chuckled. “For a run, huh?”
“Mind your own business.” Liam unlocked their door and pushed James inside.
Alister was downstairs, printing the map, and Finn and I lingered in the hallway waiting for him to come back so he wouldn’t see us getting another room. The moment we heard his footsteps, we headed to the first floor.
“Have fun,” Alister said without looking at us as he passed by.
Finn and I exchanged an annoyed glance.
Everybody knows, I said to Finn through our mind connection.
And they’re all jealous, Finn chuckled.
He got us a room on the first floor on the other end of the building, and the moment we walked inside, I didn’t care about who knew what.
We were finally alone. He closed the door, and before I could turn to him, he pulled me to his chest. His hands snuck under my arms and made their way down my belly. Every inch of my body reacted to his presence, felt a hunger for his touch.
I turned around and pulled off his shirt. His hands sat tight around my thighs, and as he pushed me up, I locked my legs around him.
Kissing me, he took me to the bed and laid me down. He unzipped my pants and pulled them off, and as I watched him take off his, I could see that he wanted me just as badly as I wanted him.
The second our naked bodies collided, I left everything that had happened and was going to happen outside this door.
I couldn’t get enough of those lips wandering all over my body. My breathing got deeper from every touch of his strong hands and his warm fingers finding their way to all the right places. And when his body crashed against mine in mutual satisfaction, I smiled at the sound of his deep moan.
“And just like that,” I said, my heart still pounding, “the bomb is defused.”
He glanced at me, grinning. “Already? I thought it would take at least a couple of attempts.”
Lying on his back, he pushed his hand behind his neck.
“Oh, I’m not going anywhere.” I drew closer and rested my head on his chest. “I said the bomb; I didn’t say my thirst for you.” I caught his hand gliding up my hip and pressed it to my lips. “I will always want you, and I will always need you in my life.”
“Well, I’m not going anywhere either.” He turned me on my back and bowed his head. “Not now, not ever.”
“I love you,” I whispered, running my thumb over his lips.
He kissed it. “And that’s all I need to know.”
* * *
The next morning, our three cars drove out from the motel’s parking lot one after another, with Finn and me in the lead.
With my eyes fixed on the road, I sat wondering if going with the same plan Mom and I came up with to get the relics from my father’s house was the right thing to do. Even if we manage to get into Aaron’s office safely and detect the relics, there was no guarantee that we would be able to get them. Who the hell knew how they would be protected? It may take hours, or god knows how long, to get our hands on the scroll and the compass.
I felt Finn’s eyes on me just as I bit my lip.
“What is it?” he asked, looking back at the road.
“Nothing.” He didn’t want me close to Eric’s pack at all, and it was better not to share my doubts with him. Not until I had a better solution to this dilemma. “We haven’t decided where we’re going to stay tonight.” I grabbed his phone from the dashboard. “Let’s see what we got here.” I opened the internet. “Have you stayed anywhere in Tennessee before?”
“Not close to the pack, no.” He glanced at me again, then pulled the phone out of my hands and put it back on the dashboard. “It’s still 9 am., Spencer. We’ll do it as we did before. We’ll pick one when we get there.” He glanced at me again. “Just tell me what it is. What’s really bothering you?”
I still didn’t want to talk about it, and I changed the subject, turning the conversation into a completely different route.
“I was just thinking that there are still so many things I don’t know about werewolves. Say this mind connection. Back at home, when you told me who I was, I tried to learn about our kind as much as I could, and I remember reading somewhere that mind connection is a pack thing. That only the wolves of the same pack can link to each other, and that connection breaks if they leave their pack. We are not a pack. How come we can still hear each other’s thoughts?”
“Years ago, I asked Alister the same question. He thinks it’s because we’re different. Magic is deeply rooted in our kind, and somehow it makes it much easier for us to break through the barrier. But only with permission. We let someone into our mind if we want to, and if we don’t, we can just as easily block that person. In a pack, it’s different. They’re all connected to each other through their alpha. It happens after they submit to him.”
“Okay, then, how do I ask for permission? With you, it just happened. If I want to talk to someone else, how do I do it?”
“You call their name.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it. They’ll feel the tug. But as I said, it only works among our kind.”
I glanced into the side mirror. Alister and Mom were right behind us. I decided to give it a shot and concentrated on Alister.
Alister? I glanced back at him through the rear window. Alister, can you hear me?
Spencer?
I beamed at Finn, and he chuckled. I could tell by the look on his face he knew what I was so excited about.
What is it, Spencer? Alister asked. Is everything okay?
Everything is fine. It’s shifter 101. Still learning, you know? Say hi to Mom for me.
As I glanced back again, I saw him say something to Mom, and they both smiled.