“The fuck?!” he barks, glaring at me while cupping his nose. Thad grabs me and jerks me back before I can charge the stupid fucking dark user.
“You fucking locked us in the house, but forgot to lock her in, you stupid son of a bitch,” I growl, still glaring at him.
The only thing that stops me from losing it is the genuine confusion on his face.
“Leah got free,” Thad tells him. “She didn’t even get slowed down at the doorway, and Zee had to break out.”
Gage’s eyes widen in disbelief. “That spell won’t work unless I lock everyone in. There’s no way she got out.”
“You did something wrong, because she got out just damn fine.”
He still looks befuddled and lost for words, and I shrug Thad off while running a hand through my hair, messing it up worse than it already is. I feel the color shift against my hand, but I can’t seem to control it anymore.
“Is this the time to be changing the color of your tips?” Thad muses, trying to defuse the intensity with humor. “I mean, I love a good hairstyle, but the timing is odd.”
I growl, Gage looks at him like he’s stupid, and Thad shrugs. “You two don’t look ready to kill each other anymore. My job is done. See you back at the house.”
He wraps his arms around Roslyn, and they dematerialize together as she takes them home. Blowing out a breath, I look back to see Kane studying me.
“You’re crazy. That means—”
“That means siring her is all that is on his mind,” Gage supplies, spitting out blood.
It’s just the three of us now, so I don’t bother trying to play it off.
“I’m having to drink Ella’s blood.”
Kane’s eyes go silver in a flash as anger and rage fills him.
“From a glass,” I add, swatting off his death-glare. He immediately relaxes. “It’s strong enough to keep me sated for a while, but I’m still hungry. Gavin fucked me up. I need to talk to him and see what I can do. Morgana invaded my dreams twice last week, calling to me, offering blood. She didn’t count on Ella helping me out. She thinks I’m too prideful to admit my weakness. All you old fuckers keep thinking I’m stupid as shit.”
Gage’s lips twitch, and Kane cocks an eyebrow. “I don’t think you’re stupid. I do think you’re right about talking to Gavin, but Morgana is probably hoping for that. She’s more than likely watching you and us at every moment of the day. They need him back. He’s brilliant, strong, and he’s under their control. So talking to him is out of the question, because it could lead her right to him.”
“She wouldn’t be able to get him out,” Gage says dismissively.
“We don’t know what they’re capable of,” Kane points out. “But I’ve changed my mind about Zee getting close to her. I don’t want him around her at all.”
“Standing right here,” I remind him dryly.
He looks back at me. “Stay away from her. And stay away from Leah. If you’re craving to sire someone, it’ll consume you and you’ll only grow hungrier. With the added power, it could end up controlling you instead of you controlling it. I know. I once wanted to sire Alyssa.”
That has Gage and me looking at him with bemused expressions. “You felt the calling?” I ask skeptically.
“Yeah. Why do you think I went crazy every time I couldn’t find her?”
It’s like a punch to the gut. “I thought the calling could only come from humans,” Gage says, sounding as confused as I feel.
He shakes his head. “No. It can come from anyone who can be sired. Alyssa was creature goddess. She was also mortal when I found her, and we’ve learned we can be sired as creature gods until immortality. Unless a hexer places a curse on you to keep you in night stalker form.”
I scrub my face, relaxing a little. “So only creatures who can be sired. It’s doubtful Leah is a creature goddess, considering she wasn’t able to use power against us.”
“But she did break out of my spell,” Gage points out. “Things aren’t adding up.”
“We’ll deal with this later,” Kane says, letting the veil down. “Let’s get back to the house.”
He walks over to a corner out of sight. He’s gone when I reach it, and I follow suit. I feel Gage close to me, and I resist the urge to reach through the planes and punch him in the face again.
My body rematerializes as soon as I feel the house, and I walk out of the woods with Gage on my heels.