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It became a whirlwind as the days passed. Two weeks. Two weeks of nonstop searching. Nonstop digging. Nonstop questions. Last week, Judah’s contact gave us an analysis and that really nailed in the importance of hunting down Laikynn.
The silvery substance was basically congealed Faerie magic. Pure Faerie magic. Somehow, Laikynn found a way to tap into the magic and he was collecting it. He was creating storage. There was some kind of process he created to get through the weakened barrier and tap into Faerie’s magic. If that was the only issue we had, then it’d have been manageable.
But the fae community was in complete disarray. They were growing irritated. It was almost impossible to visit the weak spots without running into fae demanding a taste of the magic. Berry refused to give me space, even when I was in the hotel room. The guys supported his habits because the idea of a fae getting the jump on me freaked them out. At least it did to Foster and Jason. They had said as much.
Waylon had been quiet about it. He’d frown or nod, but for the most part, he was still keeping himself distant from me. I knew it had to be because of his Sofia. I had overheard a conversation or two between them on the phone, and they weren’t good. He was spending too much time with me, and she was noticing the change. She probably didn’t even realize I was the one keeping him away from her.
I didn’t blame her. Even as my heart ached at knowing he was dating her, that she carried the label girlfriend, I only felt sad.
I was coming out of the bathroom after a shower when I spotted Waylon. He stood in the corner, the phone to his ear, scowling hard. Tuning into his conversation was the biggest temptation of my life. I wanted to know what was being said. He fought to keep his voice low, though hers was a little higher as she yelled.
“He’s at it again,” Jason said, frowning as he glanced in their direction.
“It’s a weird situation,” I said.
“Weird doesn’t even begin to cover it.” Jason handed me a cup. “Here, drink up, relax.”
I sniffed the tea and smiled. Tea was big with me since going to Faerie. It hadn’t been important to me beforehand, but now it felt like a connection to the wildlife, to earth. A lot of fae had a strong love of tea.
Waylon scowled as he shoved his phone into his pocket and stalked over.
“If you have to go, you should,” I said.
Waylon shook his head. “Not anymore. She doesn’t want me with her.”
“What was the plan?” Jason asked.
Waylon grimaced. “Her friend’s birthday.”
Jason snickered.
“What am I missing?” I asked. I rested my hand on Jason’s knee, and he wrapped his around mine, giving it a squeeze. It was impossible to not touch Jason or Foster. My body practically craved for their human warmth. Especially with Foster. There was a desperate need for contact with them, and if I went hours without it, my skin itched. I was too scared to look too closely into that feeling. I wanted the contact anyway. Thirsted for it. I wasn’t going to poke at what was going on between me and them. There were enough problems as it was.
Foster sat across from us, his eyes landing on our hands. The frown he already held deepened before he blinked and smiled. His eyes didn’t match though. I pulled away from Jason and pretended to fix my dress, smoothing it over my knees.
Jason didn’t seem to notice as he answered me. “They’ll start tame. Start at whichever house for the pregame. By the end of the night, they’ll be trashed, and any male in their vicinity isn’t safe.”
Foster smirked, but there was a cruelty to it that I wasn’t used to seeing aimed at his friend. “And Jason has been a victim once or twice. Though, he’s always willing.”
“Dude? What the fuck?” Jason’s expression darkened.
It didn’t take long for me to read between the lines. I wasn’t an idiot. But I didn’t appreciate Foster’s remark or outing his friend like that. “Foster, that was a cruel thing to say to your best friend. I thought we had gotten past this a long time ago.”
Foster flinched and looked away.
I stood up and stretched. “I’m not going to play games, so don’t bother. I’m going to go do some research.” Berry got up and stretched too before moving to my side.
“I’m sorry, Josie,” Foster mumbled.
I raised an eyebrow. “Is it me you should be apologizing to?”
I walked out after that. There was enough tension and drama going around that I refused to be a part of. I dealt with it enough in Faerie. It shouldn’t be too much to wish that I didn’t need to deal with it here.
The bed in the extra room had been cleared off for the guys to share so that they didn’t keep sleeping on my couch or floor. But that only meant more of the walls were covered and the guys had borrowed an extra table from the hotel. That was pushed against a wall with stacks of papers all over it.
I went over to the massive city map we put on the wall. It marked all known weak spots in the city. String was wrapped around each pin going to the next location. There were more ways to look at the data, but having the visual helped. We had also taken the time to trace in the ley lines.
Foster worked on breaking that data down into other things. He kept saying if they did it right, they could predict the next place. It was a lot of things I didn’t really understand.
I was naive in doing this job. I thought it’d be easy to find Laikynn in this city. He was a pompous bastard, but somehow he was hiding himself. I bit at my fingernail, glaring at the map.
“Enough.” Jason grabbed my hand and lowered it. He stared at the damage with a frown. “You haven’t done this since coming here. I thought your bad habit went away.”
I pulled away and looked at my finger. I had bit it down to the skin and it was bleeding. It’d be fine in a moment.
“How is everything?”
Jason’s tone was dismissive as he said, “We talked it out. It’s fine now.”
I hummed, going back to the map. There had to be a reason he was choosing the locations he did.
“Okay, enough. We are going out.”
“We are?”
He pulled me out of the room and toward the stairs. “Yes. All of us are. It’s been days of hunting and working. We can all enjoy a break right now. I’m in a dancing mood, so wear something good so I can show off your legs on the dance floor.”
I giggled and headed back to my room. By the time I finished getting ready, I was wearing a V-neck tank top with an intricate lace center front. I pulled on faux leather pants that actually had pockets and as a bonus, they zipped up too. I wouldn’t need to worry about holding on to a purse or losing anything.
Practical, but I’d fit in with the others at the club. I kept my hair down, using a little magic to make the black strands wavy. After applying makeup, darkening my eyes, I walked down the stairs knowing I looked like a badass bitch ready to have a good time.
The way the guys looked at me with hunger in their eyes only affirmed that I was successful. If Jason wanted a fun night of dancing, I was going to give it to him.
