Alpha Erased (Alpha Girl 9)

He was quiet, but he didn’t need to say the words.

If they didn’t sort it out, we’d have to sort it out for them.

“There are others who will need to pay for the part they played in this,” Dastien said, and he was right.

But not tonight. Nothing else was that urgent.

Yes, Imogene was a problem. I wanted to find out what had happened to her. And the New York coven had to be dealt with before they did any more damage, but I couldn’t deal with that now. From the way Claudia was leaning agai

nst Lucas, I couldn’t send her to deal with it either.

I could’ve asked Beth or River—because it needed to be another witch that took care of it—but we could figure it out later.

Next week. Next month. When I wasn’t so tired that I couldn’t plan that far ahead, but we’d figure it out. Together.

“I’m going to take everyone back where they belong,” Van said. “You two need privacy.”

“Hey! You’re back.” A voice called from behind me.

I turned to see Samantha and Axel striding from the house.

“Been waiting over a day,” Samantha said. “I want to catch up, but it’ll have to be later. My mom is flipping out, but dang, Dastien. The house is really amazing.”

“A day? I thought it felt like minutes, and I guessed we’d been gone hours, but a day?” I looked at Cosette.

She gave me a small shrug. “It’s normal. The time varies widely at court.”

I guessed it must. I walked to Samantha and my brother, stopping just in front of them. “Thank you for your help,” I said to Samantha.

“I’d say it was my pleasure, but it kind of wasn’t. I really hate getting mixed up in this fey, werewolf stuff. I’ve got enough on my plate without adding that in.”

I wasn’t sure what else she was dealing with, but I totally understood wanting to stay away from all this drama. “You need anything—”

“I’ll let you know. Promise.” Her gaze darted beyond me to Dastien. She gave him a little two-finger salute. “You’re going to regret owing me a favor.”

“No,” Dastien said. “I don’t think I will.”

“If you say so. I’ll let you know.” She sighed. “And thanks for the money. My mother immediately put most of it into savings for college. She wants me to write you a thank you note.”

“Money?” I asked. What were they talking about?

I’ll fill you in later. “No need for a thank you. You found her. You earned it.”

Samantha started to say something, but then stopped. Instead, she pulled out her silver skull earbuds, shoved them in, and turned on some music. “Can I get one of those nauseating trips home?”

I looked at her for a second. “Why do you need the earbuds?”

“Helps drown out all the screaming when the fey dude drags you between realms. I mean, I did not need to see that much of purgatory. Definitely closing my eyes this time.”

It was so quiet for a second that all I could hear were the cicadas.

And then Van laughed, and it was a sound I wasn’t sure I’d heard from him before. Maybe I would’ve liked the sound, but I was still getting over the purgatory thing.

“Sure.” Van reached out for her hand, like they both hadn’t just blown our minds. “I might need a second before I can come back for the rest. All the back and forth with multiple passengers is exhausting, but I’ll be back.”

“Did you know that?” Chris yelled at Cosette as soon as Van and Samantha were gone.

“Well, I mean…” Cosette winced. “How did you think you were getting from place to place?”