Chapter 9

MAEVE

The family stay the night. Many childless people secretly cheer after a visit from friends with toddlers, but an immense weight lifts from me after this family and their child depart this morning. I whisper to Tobias that I half-expected Mia to use that knife on somebody in the middle of the night.

Our visiting family brought chaos but also what we needed. The vampire that Dorian captured revealed Gabriella"s whereabouts, and her plans, in return for his life. Tobias and Dorian never kept their end of the bargain. We now have our way forward thanks to the permanently deceased vampire, now resting in a bonfire towards the rear of the property.

Is this how the endgame will be?

Following our discovery, we held a meeting. Eight of us wouldn"t fit into Andrei"s room and so we gathered in the hallway, door open, as if Andrei were part of the meeting. I insisted because maybe Andrei can hear us. At one point, Mia drifted into the room and Eloise snatched her back. Good. If the child touched Andrei, I might"ve caused a huge incident between us all.

Did Mia think Andrei was dead and needed her "special help'?

Midway through the conversation, the child fell asleep on Ethan"s lap—thank whatever god might exist in this unexplained universe.

Not surprisingly, Gabriella plans to leave the country. The woman"s delusional to think she"ll escape the First, but hopefully that desperation will see Gabriella slip up. Or at least enough that we get a hold of her before the First does.

If the vamp told the truth, Gabriella"s in London. This makes sense since there"re more places to hide than the smaller port towns and she"s likely to have allies. Dorian, Ethan, and Zeke already pre-empted this by following information found on Declan"s laptop, the day he and Ash confronted the dragon alpha. They're investigating every port town in the country, and located the unlucky vamp in London.

The hybrids intended to search airports next, but I doubt Gabriella would travel lightly or use any of the supes private jets. No. A port makes sense, especially London, where everything is privately owned, and the port boasts the largest variety amongst cargo. Besides, this wouldn"t be the first time a vamp used the port. According to Dorian, the Tepes original arrived in London years ago, but history twisted the tale several times over. That"s why the book tells of his arrival in Whitby.

His. Dracula. The humans got one part correct—the name: Vlad Tepes. Ironically, I"ve no interest in horror movies or stories, partly due to the frightening visions, so I never knew Vlad Tepes was Vlad the freaking Impaler.

The Tepes" history explains a lot, especially about Gabriella"s personality and ambitions but also the power in Andrei that frightens people. Now Andrei"s working with a Winterfall and Blackwood, I'm unsurprised both sides fear our combined powers. All of us.

Dorian never spoke about Andrei again or his own plans, but he"s clear—locate Gabriella before she skips the country. But what would we face if we find Gabriella? She"ll surround herself with a lot of protection; Dorian temporarily killed her once already, and she knows we all intend that to become permanent.

Tobias suggests Gabriella"s counting on the First killing us before the creature moves on to her, thus buying time for the Dominion leader to leave. One thing I don"t understand is that Gabriella helped free the First. Did she not pay attention to the rare cooperation between Blackwood and Winterfall to secure the creature from the world? The families never worked together as far as anybody knows, even when both were loyal to Confederacy, which suggests the magnitude of the threat that forced them to. Gabriella couldn't see that reversing the witches" magic would be a bad idea?

But then how many others have believed they could leash and use the creature"s powers? Plenty. Gabriella wanted to use the First like so many before her and tricked the Blackwoods into helping once they finally located the last Winterfall. Me.

I"m unsure who"s stupider—Anastasia Blackwood for helping and trusting Gabriella to share that power, or Gabriella expecting gratitude from the creature she intended to exploit.

The sun"s mockingly bright today, and I take my breakfast coffee outside with a second mugful for Ash, who I spotted sitting on the stone steps at the front of the house wearing his running gear.

"Good workout this morning?" I tease. "Are your times improving?"

He pokes his tongue out and takes the mug. "I left the estate. I"m sick of running in circles around the grounds."

"Oh. Is that a good idea?" I perch beside him on the cool stone and cradle the mug between my palms.

"Declan"s off my back for now." Ash gulps the coffee. "I"ve left the estate a few times recently with no issues. I have to get away from the place sometimes, y'know?"

"I understand." I place my mug on the stone and take Ash"s to place beside mine. "Are you okay, Ash?"

"Yeah."

I chuckle at his lie. "You haven"t spoken much about what happened with Declan. Are you hiding behind the Andrei situation to stay quiet?"

"His situation is a bigger deal." Ash stares up at the window and then looks at me in surprise as I place myself on his lap.

"You"re as big a deal as Andrei," I whisper and place my forehead against his.

Ash"s arms wrap around me, pulling me closer to his body. Despite his exercise, there"s no perspiration; he isn"t the sweaty, mud-covered guy I watched play rugby at the academy. "Yeah, but I get why you"re focused on what"s happening with Andrei, Maeve."

Toofocused? Or are we all swept under by the fear for and need to watch Andrei? A family unable to function when one"s gravely ill and the doctors can"t give answers. Shut down. Lost in their own responses. Missing each other as much as the patient.

I place a hand on Ash"s chest, over the branded mark that I seethe about each time I see or remember why. "The dragons won"t win, Ash."

He places a hand over mine. "I"m a dragon. Whether they win or not, brand or no brand, I"m tied into the society."

"But not to the bullying arseholes. You"re stronger, Ash."

"Isn"t that the whole problem?" I look up at him, frowning. "They can"t force me to bow at their feet because I equal the current alpha"s power. I"m on their level."

"But you"re not them." I press a kiss to his lips, and he brushes hair from my face, spreading fingers across my cheeks. "You could never be cruel and selfish. You"ve no interest in power. The first time I met the academy"s most popular shifter, he wasn"t head boy, and that confused me. But then I realised you"d never suit the role because the respect people had for you came naturally."

"Apart from rugby captain," he says with a wry smile. "Nobody could take that role from me."

I smile. "Yes, but you weren"t interested in being above others. Everybody was equal in your eyes and that"s how you treated them."

"What if I change?" Ash's voice is barely a whisper, his heart pulsing harder against my palm.

"Is that why you"re resisting the dragon inside?" I ask.

He shrugs. "I haven"t met a single dragon who isn"t selfish and power hungry. Even Ethan wants power by taking away from the dragons."

"Dragon shifters hold on to their human sides more than other shifters," I remind him. "Yes, you"ve killed, and that"s not an Ash-like behaviour, but you rationalised what you did at the time, right?"

"To an extent." He sighs and shakes his head. "I can"t hide from my dragon any more than you can from your Blackwood."

"I never considered that, but yes." I hold the back of his head and kiss him. "And we"ll help each other. As always. I"d do anything you needed, any time, Ash, because I love you. Always remember that."

"I never doubt you do." He smiles and pulls my bottom lip down with his thumb. "The focus on Andrei right now makes sense, but you give more of yourself to us all than you realise."

"What do you mean?"

"You don"t sit by his bed in vigil 24/7. You"ve spent time with us all." He nudges my nose with his. "I enjoy that I can give you comfort."

"Oh. You mean like in bed the other night?" I arch a brow.

"Hey, I was just being supportive and taking your mind off things." He grins at the memory, then smiles as he sees the same in my eyes. "Super kind of me, right?"

Suddenly, the sunshine feels right, that the day can fill with what"s always been natural, this Ash who"d never change, however much this scares him.

Turning his face gently to mine, I press my mouth to his. Ash seems to sense I need tenderness not passion, his lips gentle as he draws me to him. My fingers rest on his cheeks as we kiss. Ash. My rock, almost literally, his body hard and muscles unyielding, and where I'll always find safety and reassurance in his arms.

"I feel shit about our London plans, Maeve. We agreed to always work together and now two of us will be missing," he says, running a finger along my lips as he pulls away.

Andrei and Ash. We can"t leave Andrei here alone and when I point blank refused to stay, eager for my vengeance against Andrei"s mother, we jointly decided that Jamie needs to be with me. We"re planning to meet up with Dorian and at least one of the others in the city, but not all together. Even in a place like London, where multiple supes walk amongst humans, Gabriella"s people will search for us as we look for them. We can"t allow the Dominion any advantage.

"If Gabriella"s planning to leave the UK, we can"t wait," I say, the words filling me with guilt again. We should wait for Andrei, but if we do and miss our only chance to end Gabriella before she disappears, he"d hate that more. "We"re not leaving until tomorrow. Maybe today will be the day Andrei comes back?"

Ash stares into his mug, thoughts matching mine. A week and Andrei still hasn"t moved. There"d surely be a sign if something"s changing. "Yeah." He looks up again. "You told Lex about London?"

"No. Not yet. I will if we find something concrete."

"Did you tell him about Andrei yet?" he asks cautiously.

"Yes." I"ve a clearer idea how Lex must feel about Astrid now. But at least she"s walking around, oblivious yet happy.

Linking my arm through Ash"s, I rest my head on his shoulder, and he turns to plant a kiss on the top of my hair. "I"m taking time out in the summerhouse this morning. Tell Tobias and Jamie in case they panic."

"Your bolthole?" he asks and chuckles. "Sure."

"And that I don"t want disturbing for a couple of hours unless something changes with Andrei. I"ll come straight into the house if it does."

"Understood." Ash pulls away and pokes my nose. "Maeve needs her "me" time."

"Because I won"t have any once we"re in London." I stand and hand Ash the mug before leaning down to kiss him softly, Ash tipping his head upwards and cupping the back of my head.

"But after that? All the time in the world," he replies and touches my lips.

"I hope so."