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Now
Light filtered in through Silver’s closed eyelids. As faint as it was, it pierced through like a tiny needle, making her scrunch her eyes and let out a groan.
Her first instinct was to reach up to the window just above her bed. However, instead of the familiar feel of her curtains, her hand was met with a smooth paneled surface that didn’t belong in her hut.
Silver jolted up in the unfamiliar bed and immediately reached for her staff.
Nothing. It wasn’t there.
Frantic, she felt around the sheets, to no avail. Everything she touched was too soft and smooth.
“Morning.”
Startled, Silver whirled around and came face-to-face with Adam, who was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. A small smirk adorned his face as he watched her fumble for the weapon that he was currently holding up at his side. Silver practically threw herself off the bed and stomped over to snatch the staff back. Relief coursed through her when she touched the familiar leather of the handle.
“Don’t ever touch that,” she warned.
“Do you actually sleep with that thing?”
She didn’t deign to answer, too busy examining the condition of her weapon. Oddly enough, the ruined blade wasn’t bent anymore. It was perfectly clean and flat, though whoever had tried to sharpen it didn’t do a very thorough job filing down all the tiny little ridges.
“What happens if you roll over?” Adam asked lightly.
Silver sent the hybrid a death glare, in response to which he smiled, but thankfully dropped the teasing.
“Did you fix this?” she asked, gesturing to the blade.
“I tried to. Not sure about the results.”
“It’ll do.”
She quickly studied the room, noting its small size and sparse furniture. It was illuminated by the dim glow from the sunrise, which was visible from the window on the opposite side from the door. Other than that, there was no sign of Theresa, but Adam’s calm demeanor suggested she was probably nearby.
“Are we in a motel?”
Adam hummed in confirmation. “I didn’t think you’d want to stay in that village when it was compromised.”
Her irritation melted away; that was... nice of him. Weird, but certainly a smart move.
“How long was I out?” she tentatively asked.
“About fifteen hours. I carried you to the car, then you slept through six hours of road trip games and some takeout when we got here in the middle of the night.”
The thought of being carried anywhere didn’t sit well with her, but there was one saving grace, at least.
“Glad I missed bonding time.”
One corner of Adam’s lips pulled up in a half-smile. “She’s not so bad once you give her a chance.”
She scoffed then narrowed her eyes at him. “How much did you tell her, anyway? And how did you pay for everything?”
“I had some cash on me. And don’t worry, we stuck to your ‘no questions’ rule. But I think you should reconsider. She deserves answers.”
Silver reluctantly acknowledged that with a nod. As much as she was dreading it, it seemed like she and Theresa were stuck together for a bit longer. She hadn’t completely ruled out the possibility that the girl was playing the victim, but it was starting to seem less and less plausible. At the very least, Adam would have mentioned it by now.
It was more likely that there was something different about Theresa. No one could put on an act that convincing for long. Silver should know soon enough.
In any case, leaving Theresa completely ignorant of the threats she was facing, free to follow every whim to pause and ask questions, would do more harm than good in the long run. Silver didn’t need to reveal everything, but she had to warn the girl about certain things. Most importantly, she needed to satisfy her curiosity enough to stop the distractions.
Still, she would wait until they were on their own first. Adam’s presence might make her inadvertently reveal more than she needed or wanted to.
Something occurred to her just then, and she looked back at the bed. Only one side appeared slept in, though the second pillow was missing. Frowning, she turned back to where Adam was standing, and sure enough, there it was, at his feet. His expression was unreadable, but he didn’t comment on the fact that he had obviously slept on the floor.
She cleared her throat. “Where is Theresa, by the way?”
He gestured to what Silver had assumed was the entrance but apparently wasn’t. “Passed out on the couch in the other room; I got us a suite. Figured I’d let you sleep in peace.”
“Then why did you stay?”
“So you wouldn’t panic when you woke up and didn’t know where you were.”
Well. That promptly shut her up.
Angry or crying Adam was manageable, but this nice, caring version of him put her on edge. He wasn’t exactly acting out of character; he was plenty nice as a human. But she was sort of hoping for an excuse to get mad at him again.
Now that she was awake and in full control of her behavior, Silver regretted being so vulnerable the day before. As Remi’s betrayal had so painfully reminded her, that kind of weakness usually lead to more pain down the line.
Thinking about the werewolf still stung as deeply as when she found out. He was the first friendly face to welcome her to her new life. The first to go out of his way to make her feel like she belonged at the sanctuary. As a human, he used to be an investigator and then later a detective, and he put his skills to good use at the sanctuary. Everything Silver knew about how to study a crime scene and look for clues, how to understand people’s motives and deduce their next move, she learned it from Remi.
She wished she could have faced him at least once, just to ask how he could do this to her. Part of her was hoping for a reasonable explanation that would prove he wasn’t a traitor—although, realistically, she didn’t think it was likely. She could always look for him once Theresa was safe, though whether that would be to make him pay or confirm his innocence, she wasn’t sure. Either way, for now, she put the matter out of her mind.
Adam thankfully didn’t ask how she was feeling, though the way he scrutinized her suggested he was probably wondering.
“Now that you’re up,” he went on nonchalantly when she didn’t say anything, “I better go ditch the car.”
“The car?” she repeated, confused for a second until she realized what he meant. “Oh, right. It’s okay, I’ll keep it. I can change the license plates so Vince can’t track it; I have a list of plate numbers for emergencies.”
Truthfully, she was in no hurry to be in a moving vehicle again, much less drive one. However, if Master sent another squad after her, he would certainly do everything in his power to catch up. Having a means of transportation could come in handy.
But Adam shook his head. “I don’t think we should risk it. Even without a GPS, Vince knows what the car looks like.”
“That car has a GPS?” she hissed. Finally, some anger. “Is that why you suggested we take it? Trying to lead Master to us?”
“Whoa, hey!” he called out, taken aback by her sudden outburst.
It was only when he put his hands up that Silver realized she was holding the tip of her blade dangerously close to his throat.
She didn’t move it back. “Answer me.”
“Look, there was a plan to lure you back,” he emphasized, “but not with a GPS. Vince’s van had one, but my car was clear—I checked.”
A rational part of her knew she was overreacting. If Adam wanted her to get caught, he’d had ample opportunity to do so during the fifteen hours she was asleep, but instead, he had carried her to safety.
Unfortunately, her magic was bouncing wildly around inside her, fully charged and dying to inflict some pain.
Adam must have sensed that she was fighting some internal struggle, since he added, “I’m not going to turn on you. You can trust me, I promise.”
That struck a chord, but it wasn’t enough to still the onslaught of emotions raging inside her. Without moving away, she took a deep, calming breath and tried to collect her thoughts. She needed to know everything the squad had done when they were looking for her, but she couldn’t allow her magic to control her emotions and impede her judgment.
“What was the actual plan?” she asked.
“Convince you to keep me around. I had creative control to act and say whatever I needed to gain your trust, but he monitored the whole thing. Whatever attempt I thought of to tip you off, he stopped it before I could act on it. I was supposed to stall until he figured out where we were.”
For a moment, all she could do was blink in shock. “He knew I’d spare you.”
“He hoped,” he corrected indifferently. “If it didn’t work, one less liability, even if that cuts off his access to you.”
“Wait... He didn’t do this to anyone else in the squad?”
“Just me. With the others, he thought he was being generous by trusting them to remain loyal, but really, it takes too much energy to put 24/7 surveillance on more than one squad member. Even Vince had to go somewhere to receive his orders.”
“But Vince was the squad leader. Why put the surveillance on you?”
“I was a special case.”
Adam’s eyes darkened for a second, and he spoke with cynical sarcasm that was unusual for him.
Of course, Silver thought. Because of their history, Master must have deduced that Adam had the best chance of getting close to her.
This new information cemented her conviction that she shouldn’t ever let anyone in. Luckily for her, she had caught on just in time and pushed Master out of Adam’s mind before he could do much. Her irrational antagonism deflated, and what remained was redirected at the vamphyr.
“By the way, I didn’t get the chance to thank you properly,” Adam went on, his whole demeanor softening all of a sudden. “You didn’t just pull the plug on his plans when you kicked him out of my head; you set me free. I can’t ever repay you for that.”
Ignoring the gratitude, Silver snatched her weapon back. Adam’s hand instinctively went up to his throat, rubbing the spot where she almost cut him, but she paced away from him, her mind racing. At the base, she hadn’t stopped to think that she might be compromising the sanctuary before rushing back there. Her sole focus had been on her friends’ safety.
“Master knows where the sanctuary is,” she deduced. “He saw you walking there before I pushed him out.”
“Most likely.”
She furiously patted her pockets down. “I have to call Levi.”
“That’s your friend who hides supernaturals?”
She grumbled in confirmation as she turned on the burner phone. “He and his partner are skinwalkers. They’ve been doing this for decades, but they’ve always operated from that sanctuary. I have to warn them.”
“I’m sure they know. The place was deserted.”
“That’s probably about something else. They might not know about Master.”
Levi knew enough to deduce that the treaty wouldn’t mean much to the vamphyr in the face of getting Silver back. If the skinwalkers had abandoned the sanctuary purely because of Remi, they would probably be working to regroup the refugees until it was safe to return. However, as long as Master was alive, none of them could ever go back.
Silver quickly opened a new text and typed Quinn’s personal number. She knew it by heart and only contacted them on it in case of emergencies. After that, she started composing a message using coded language that only Quinn and Levi knew how to read.
“So, I’m guessing we can’t ask for their help anymore?” Adam guessed.
“Not yet, but I—” she cut off mid-sentence and slowly faced him. Again with this we business. “There’s no we here; we’re not a team.”
He opened his mouth to argue but was interrupted by frenetic knocking on the bedroom door.
“Guys? Are you up?”
For once, Theresa’s timing was perfect. Silver had no problem sending the text and then letting her in immediately. The girl’s face all but lit up when she saw Silver, and she held out a takeout bag from what seemed to be a bakery.
“I got breakfast!” she announced with cheer.
And there went Silver’s momentary gratitude.
“Where did you get this?” she demanded.
Theresa obliviously waltzed into the room and started taking out an assortment of muffins, bagels, and croissants and placing them on the nightstand. “This little bakery just around the corner. Herb told me about it. Don’t worry, I paid with cash.”
Silver’s scowl deepened. “Who the hell is Herb?”
“He works at the reception,” Theresa told her. “Very nice man!”
Oh, Silver was going to strangle her!
Too bad Adam stepped in before she could, arms reproachfully crossed over his chest. “Wait, did you walk there? I thought we agreed you’d stay in the suite.”
She shrugged in a half-hearted apology, still busy with the food. “I got hungry. Let me tell you, the croissants are to die for! I tried one on the way and—” That was when she finally got a good look at their faces. “What? Why are you staring at me like that?”
It took all of Silver’s willpower to remain calm. Adam’s disapproval was nowhere near her raging level of frustration—all that bonding time probably gave him a soft spot for the girl—but he was clearly displeased as well.
“I’m only going to say this once, so you better listen,” Silver spoke evenly but firmly. “I am trying to help you. So far, I’m willing to do what I can to protect you until it’s safe to go back to your life, but you are on such thin ice right now. If you put us at risk again, even by accident, I won’t hesitate to leave you behind, consequences be damned.”
“I-I wasn’t—” Theresa mumbled.
“You can’t go around doing whatever you feel like, especially when you were told to stay put.”
“But...” She turned to Adam for help, her eyes practically bulging out of her head, but he didn’t budge in her defense. “I just wanted a bagel.”
“This isn’t a game!” Silver snapped. “You’re not in some comic book or superhero movie. Do you not get how dangerous these people are? They’re not gonna go easy on you just because you’re a gullible brat.”
“Whoa, hey,” Adam reproached. “Theresa knows she messed up. Right?”
She gulped and nodded. “I-I’m sorry.”
Silver took a deep breath to regain her composure. She reminded herself to stop getting angry, that the feeling was only getting aggravated by her powers being overcharged. Once she had time to properly adjust, she would be fine again.
“I saved you last time, but you might not be so lucky next time,” she said almost pleadingly. “Even I have my limits! If they send more people than I can handle...”
Theresa shuffled from one foot to another uncertainly. “Isn’t that the point of Adam joining us?”
“He’s not staying,” she said resolutely before the hybrid could even open his mouth. “No one’s looking for him, so he’s just going to lay low for now. I’ll let him know when we find you a safehouse, and then he can stay there with you.”
“Oh, is that what I’m doing?” he sarcastically asked.
That was the end of Silver’s temporary alliance with him. “That’s what’s going to happen.”
He threw his hands up in frustration. “What’s the point of splitting up if we’re just going to end up in the same place anyway?”
He was right, of course; her plan was nonsensical, but she was going through with it anyway. She would still make good on her vow by introducing him to Levi, but relying on him again would be a mistake.
Keeping Theresa around was one thing. The girl had no one else to protect her, and Silver was in no danger of caring about her anyway; she barely even liked her. Being around Adam, on the other hand, would open up her weak spots. In less than a day, he had managed to disarm most of her defenses, nudging at her heart and coaxing her into opening up.
She couldn’t have that.
“Go ditch the car,” she said with finality.
For a moment, neither of them moved as they stared each other down. It was purely a battle of wills, and Silver wasn’t about to back down. Thankfully, he was smart enough to see that, so he sighed and looked away first.
“I’ll go check us out,” he said. “Unless you still need the room?”
“No.”
She waited until he was gone before letting out the breath she’d been holding.
“So... what now?” Theresa asked timidly.
Silver crossed her arms and explained the situation with Levi’s sanctuary as briefly as possible and how they needed to lay low for a while. “My friends will get back to me when they can, but in the meantime, we can’t stay in motels forever. It’s easier for the others to find us if we stay in one place for too long.”
“You keep talking about them, but I don’t even know who’s after us or why. I have no idea why any of this is happening.”
Now that Silver’s anger had calmed down, Adam’s words of caution came back to her, and she hung her head in resignation.
It was time to open up.
