17. Jade

Istare at the big human size dent in the wall.

I feel bad about the damage I just did to someone’s home, but what the hell did I do?

Spirit, or the thing Patten has taken to calling my blue ribbon friend, has vanished, and I know I had nothing to do with that.

But I don’t regret what I did, even if I’m not sure how I did it.

Patten’s dad was leaning toward me, and I had to defend myself and my baby.

So I guess I did.

“We should leave now that Almeth knows where we are,” Shep says. “He tracked us here and the only way he could have done that is that he was following us. There’s no telling what he will do with that information.”

Like tell Atticus.

He said he was here to help, but I didn’t believe him. And he tried to feed on me in my dreams. I saw the hungry way he was eyeing me. He was thinking of doing it again.

Feeling antsy, I get up from the dining table, needing to move. I can’t help but notice the way all their eyes dip to my right wrist.

I glance down too.

No translucent blue ribbon circles my right wrist, an insubstantial looking thing with the power to slam a man into a wall. Patten called it my blue friend, but can it truly be my friend if I can’t control it?

I look at the dent left in the wall and I wonder how Almeth was able to get up and walk out. Just how strong are demons? And would I have killed him if he’d been human?

A churn starts up in my belly and I press my palm over it, trying to stop the sick feeling from getting worse.

Almeth preyed on me in my sleep, not once, but twice.

But the thought of killing someone…

“He deserved much worse than that, beautiful.” Patten must have guessed the direction of my thoughts to be studying me with a look of such concern. “I’d have slammed him into the next century if I had a blue ribbon friend.”

I aim a smile at him. “I know.”

But I don’t know.

Because the Jade I was before was ordinary, and she’d gotten used to living a quiet life.

ThatJade had no desire to hurt anyone. Just to spend more time with her dad, who was always away hunting.

But this Jade…

As Almeth reached toward me, I wouldn’t have minded if I’d killed him.

Now I don’t know which version is me. What will happen to the old ordinary, boring Jade when I emerge? Will I even recognize her?

Let it go, Jade. The longer you think about it, the more you’ll drive yourself crazy.

I refocus on my surroundings.

Patten is talking with Shep about how long of a drive it would be back to Chicago, and what if Atticus attacked en-route? Isaiah is looking thoughtful. Dominik has his arms crossed, and he’s watching me as if he’s been doing it for a while.

Until my dad heals, Dominik is the only one who could tell me more about myself. Maybe he could even teach me how to use this gift.

Then I remember how he bonded us together and locked me in his hoard.

I can’t trust him to tell me the truth because I know what motivates him.

He wants me back in New York. With him. And he wants me to forget all about Shep, Patten, and Isaiah.

Dominik doesn’t know, or he doesn’t care that I need Sep, Patten, and Isaiah as much as I want them. I don’t want to know what my life would be without them in it.

“What do you think, Jade?” Shep asks me.

“About?”

He doesn’t seem the least bit annoyed that I wasn’t paying attention. “Leaving Wilkerson today.”

“Today? But my dad is here,” I remind him.

“Meliah is watching him. I think she has some kind of a guarding spell protecting her house,” he explains.

“A spell?” Patten’s lips flatten. “It’s always a spell with them, isn’t it?”

Shep eyes him for a beat, his expression thoughtful as his brows knit together. Shaking his head, he turns to me. “I think he would be safe.”

“But you don’t know that. What if Atticus sends his guards? Can a spell stop his guards from storming the house?”

No one responds.

I stiffen my spine, my mind made up. “I can’t leave him here, Shep. He’s my dad, and he can’t protect himself.”

“But staying would not be safe.” Dominik speaks for the first time. “We should not have come.”

I’ll bet I can guess exactly where he wants us to go.

“And return to New York?” I ask.

“Yes,” he says simply.

Patten sits up in his seat. Isaiah starts to speak, but I talk over him.

“Then go. I’m not forcing you to stay. If you want to leave, then leave.” I motion toward the door so he knows I’m being serious.

He takes a step toward me. I immediately take one away from him and he stops, his lips pursing. “It is not safe for you. I can?—”

“Run away in the middle of a fight like you did the last time?” I interrupt.

Patten snorts in amusement. “She has you there.”

I don’t look away from Dominik and he doesn’t look away from me.

“That isn’t what I did,” Dominik says calmly despite the tension in his jaw.

“It looks exactly that way to me. Dad saved us—and you—from a trap, and I’m not leaving him behind for Atticus to snatch up and stick in a cell,” I say.

“A trap they led you into.” Dominik stabs a finger toward Shep, Patten, and Isaiah.

I stab my finger at him. “To save you.”

“And put you in danger of falling back into Atticus’s hands. They cannot protect you like I can.” Dominik’s voice is so confident he’s right when he’s wrong.

Stubborn. He said ego was how he wound up as a part of Atticus’s collection. It doesn’t look like that experience taught him a lesson.

I whirl away, biting back my need to scream at him.

My eyes connect with an unfamiliar face reflected at me in the stainless steel refrigerator. I stumble back, a scream lodged in my throat. It’s not my face, and it should have been.

“Jade?” A chair leg scrapes on the hardwood floors. Shep must be standing. “Are you okay?”

I make myself look at the refrigerator again.

It’s just my reflection. I even blink a couple of times to make sure. But it’s just me.

You didn’t see what you thought you saw. Let it go.

“Fine.” I head for the stairs. “I need the bathroom.”

But at the foot of the steps, I stop. “I’m not leaving my dad here. If he’s not well enough to move, I’m staying.”

Before anyone can veto the idea, I rush up the stairs.

I slam the bathroom door shut, lock it, and reluctantly walk to the mirror over the sink, taking a second to prepare myself before I look into it.

And I let out a slow breath of relief.

A young woman with long dark hair, slightly scared dark green eyes and a pale heart-shaped face stares back.

Me.

Just perfectly ordinary me.

Not a gold firedrake with brilliant bright green orbs.