“What are you doing?” Kael asked. He sat beside me as we waited to board our flight. His foot was propped on his knee and he was leaning back, though his eyes were zeroed in on the phone in my hands.
I pulled it back so he couldn’t see what I was doing. “Nosy much?”
The shifter huffed and shook his head, instead turning his attention to the large windows on the right.
“I’m texting Ren.” Not that it was any of his business, really, but Kael seemed annoyed and taking a long flight with a cantankerous shifter was not something I wanted to endure.
Kael scowled. “This is classified business.” His voice was low so the others in the airport couldn’t hear, but his tone was hard.
I rolled my eyes. “I didn’t tell him where we were going, just that I was going to be traveling and he may not be able to get a hold of me.”
My partner went back to the window, muttering something about “ridiculous fae.” Perhaps Ren was a bit ridiculous, but I enjoyed our chats. He was witty and mysterious, the total opposite of the blunt and emotional man beside me.
On the other hand, Ren never failed to remind me that I still owed him a date, a debt on my part for his help. I didn’t mind, but as I glanced at Kael, I couldn’t help but wonder if he were jealous.
Surely not. I was under no illusion that Kael felt anything toward me other than a need to protect me. Friendship, at best.
I quickly tapped out a goodbye to Ren, more out of the desire to soothe whatever was riling up Kael, and stuck my phone in my bag. I stretched out my legs in front of me and turned my attention to a T.V. ahead. I was only watching it for a few seconds when I straightened, catching sight of someone familiar.
It was Sarah. She was a member of my team. According to the anchor speaking on the news, there was some high-profile dig going on in India.
I’d always wanted to go to India and now there was a dig there, with my team, that I was missing.
That should have been my dig. My story. Now that opportunity had been stolen from me, and I’d likely never see an opportunity like that again in this lifetime
My employer hadn’t been very happy when I’d told her I had to go on an extended leave. Aside from a couple of reports, I hadn’t had any new material to send in. But the PITO. wouldn’t allow me to go on digs, especially with who knew what after me and the keys.
Still, for her to send my team to a place I’d always wanted to go, and for no one to tell me about it, well, I was surprised and hurt. I couldn’t blame them for taking the opportunity, but it still made me yearn to be there with them.
Before I could fully process the unexpected news, it was time for us to board. I was thankful Kael let me have a window seat, and for a long while, I stared out of it silently.
Eventually, Kael put his arm across my shoulders, and his warm hand cupped the side of my neck. The gesture was so surprising, it briefly took my breath away.
“Livvie…”
“What?” It took everything in me not to lean farther into his touch. What the hell was wrong with me?
“Is something bothering you?”
Other than your uncharacteristic touching? “No. Why do you say that?”
Kael’s mouth lifted in a slight grin. “Liar. You’ve been so quiet. You’re never this quiet.”
He took his hand from me, and I found myself regretting his withdrawal. Kael still held me with his expectant gaze.
I crossed my arms. “I saw a news report of a dig in India. My team was there. It’s a high-profile dig, meaning they will likely find something priceless and spectacular, and I’m not there with them.” I looked down at my knees. “I guess I didn’t realize how much I missed it.”
It seemed childish, perhaps, but I couldn’t help it. Until I had unearthed a cursed key, woken some ancient part of my past life, and found myself tangled in a battle with a dark mage, archaeology had been everything to me. The discovery, the risk, and the adventure of it all was what drove me. Now, it was scarcely a part of me.
“It’s okay for you to miss it,” Kael said.
I nodded, but kept my face tilted down because, to my horror, my eyes were starting to sting. I would not cry about this, especially not in front of Kael.
The shifter wouldn’t leave it alone, though, and he took my chin and pulled it toward him. His eyes widened, but thankfully he didn’t say anything about my watery gaze.
“You will get back to what you love, Olivia. It may take time, but you will get there.”
I gave him a smile. “Thanks, Kael.”
It was a small pep talk, but it did make me feel a bit better.
The rest of our flight was filled with chit chat and sleep. By the time we got off the plane at the airport in Denver, thoughts of the India dig were pushed back.
For now, it was time to find the mage.
“So, what now?” I asked, hefting my bag farther up onto my shoulder.
Kael pulled out his cell and opened up a map on a locked file. He squinted at it and zoomed in on the image. He was blocking the exit and didn’t notice a few people waiting to get out. I grabbed his arm and shuffled him to the side. He scarcely looked up.
I leaned against the wall and waited. “How were you guys even able to pinpoint the mage? Last time we had to use the key to find him.”
It was a shame it wasn’t working this time. I had tried. The second key had been more of a way to find the first key, not specifically the mage.
Kael put the phone back in his pocket. “Beings such as Vehrin give off a certain kind of dark energy. It’s faint, and often hard to pinpoint, but as he grows stronger, his trail is easier to track.”
I was almost afraid to ask, but… “Do I give off a dark energy?”
The pair of us hadn’t talked about the brutal way I had killed the demon attacker in the hotel room. I had been grateful, too afraid to learn I may have something twisted and evil living inside of me, but curiosity finally got the better of me.
At that moment, our rental car pulled up to the curb out front, and Kael brushed off my question to usher me outside. My breath hissed in at the sharp, biting wind I hadn’t been expecting. Colorado was definitely colder than South Carolina. I glanced at Kael as I hugged my jacket closer. He was completely at ease in his hoodie.
Well, colder for some people.
The vehicle Kael had rented for us turned out to be a black Jeep with big, knobby tires that looked like they could climb straight up a cliff.
I slid into the passenger seat, though I was itching to drive this beast. “Where exactly are we going?”
“The mountains,” he replied. He pointed to the chain of mountains rising up against the western sky. We were off to seek out the mage in the cold mountains underneath dark gray clouds that looked ready to dump a load of snow on us any moment.
Just perfect.
I twisted the knobs between us, cranking the heat. Kael complained, swerving slightly on the highway leading out of the city as he pulled off his hoodie.
“Well, I’m sorry, but not everyone is blessed with perpetual warmth, you know.”
Kael shoved his hoodie at me. “Here, take this, just quit trying to roast me.” He turned the heat back down to what was probably a more reasonable degree.
I didn’t complain and instead pulled my arms in and folded the hoodie over me like a blanket. It was still warm and Kael’s scent of rain and citrus clung to it.
“You don’t give off a dark energy.”
“Huh?” It took me a moment to recall the question I had asked Kael before our rental arrived. I blinked. “Oh.”
He didn’t take his eyes from the road. “I know you’ve been worried about what happened in the hotel. You aren’t dark, Livvie, just…powerful.”
And dangerous. I could almost hear him bite back the words.
“I don’t want to be powerful.”
“That’s good,” Kael said. He turned off the main highway and onto what seemed to be some sort of county road. “That means you won’t abuse it. Power doesn’t make you evil, and it doesn’t make you good. It gives you strength, certainly, but how you exercise that strength is what really matters.”
I smiled at him. “You know, you’re pretty wise when you want to be.”
The man actually cracked a big grin, and it warmed me more than the borrowed hoodie.
Steadily, the landscape rose. I wasn’t certain exactly how long we traveled, but we had left the county road and took twists and turns down roads that often were little more than a single lane. Kael glanced at the map on his phone once again and pulled over to the side of the road.
“Won’t be able to get the car up through there.” He jerked his head toward my window, and I followed his line of sight.
It was mostly evergreens, still green even in the colder months, with a few bare trees here and there. All of them were too close to allow for a vehicle.
“Walking it is,” I agreed.
I peered down at my boots. Thankfully, they were perfect for all types of conditions, and were well broken in without the sacrifice of worn tread.
A lot of women spent money on high-dollar heels. I spent mine on boots that would survive an apocalypse.
I handed Kael his hoodie, and he tried to refuse it. I shoved it onto his lap.
“I can’t wear it. It’ll swallow me. I need to be able to move if there’s a fight.”
He hesitated, but took the hoodie and put it back on before leaving the car. The cold was more intense up in the mountains, and true to my thoughts, it had been snowing. It continued to snow as we headed up into the forest, the icy wind sending the snow in from the side so it hit against our cheeks.
I squinted against the onslaught. “Won’t Vehrin sense me coming?”
Kael managed to walk through the snow silently and with envy-worthy grace. I had to pick up my feet high with every step in the deep snow. “Most likely, but we have to hope he will want you enough to confront us.”
“Wonderful. I love being bait,” I muttered, more to myself. “Old habits die hard.”
Huffing out a sharp sigh, Kael grabbed my shoulder and pulled me to a stop. His face was creased with anger, but I could also see the worry in his frown. Was he remembering that I had attempted to sacrifice myself to the mage in an attempt to bind him? Admittedly, the thought had occurred to me, as well. This situation was just too familiar to keep those thoughts from resurfacing.
A crow cawed somewhere above us, but I was too trapped in Kael’s intense gaze to let it draw my attention.
“You aren’t bait. You’re not here to sacrifice yourself.” Another crow cawed, quickly followed by a third. Kael shook his head. “Don’t do anything stupid.”
I put my hand on a cocked hip, and opened my mouth to protest, but the sound of the crows had grown much louder. I glanced up, and my eyes grew round.
There had to be dozens of the birds. They were sitting on the branches above and around us, with more flying in every second.
“That’s…” I glanced at Kael, who was watching the birds with suspicion. “That’s weird, right?”
The trees were growing so heavy with crows, it was a wonder the branches weren’t breaking under the weight.
I shuffled through the snow and closer to Kael, and as I did, the crows fell silent. Every single one peered at us with eyes white and glittering as the snow at our feet.
Then, the branches rattled as they began to fly.
Straight at us.