Archaic (Reverse Harem 2)

“Or it could be because I love her, and she loves me back,” Toshi says.

“She just lost her mate,” I say. “She loves no one.”

“Yet you still slept with her. So who’s t

aking advantage of who?”

Sebastian asks.

Toshi’s claws are sharpened, and Sebastian’s growling at me. I roll my shoulders back and raise myself high, dwarfing the two of them in height. But the wind is kicking up, and the voices are coming back, and I can feel an unfamiliar presence washing over my body.

“We have to go find her,” I say. “Clarissa needs us.”

“I agree. Because if spirits guided you here, that means Penny lied,” Toshi says.

“What?” Sebastian asks. “What the fuck does that mean?”

“Penny mentioned in the room that she would call Theo to update him and possibly get him here. But if he didn’t receive a call, that means she didn’t do it,” Toshi says.

“I got a call from no one,” I say.

“I knew there was something off about that opossum. She stunk,”

Sebastian says.

“They all stink,” I say. “They’re scavengers.”

“We have to get to the Council,” Sebastian says. “With Hiro and his uninterpreted message Toshi experienced along with the blatant lie from Penny? She isn’t in a good situation.”

“How far away is the Council from here?” I ask.

“By car? Five hours. But we could hop a train and be there in half the time,” Toshi says.

I’m trying to keep my temper under control, but it’s hard. I cannot believe the two of them allowed their petty rival over a woman who isn’t ready to move on and claim another mate get in

the way of things. They wounded one another, that much is obvious. Toshi is hunched, and Sebastian is limping. And their anger and hatred toward each other’s species blinded them to how much Clarissa needed us. How she needed us to be strong for her during this journey she’s on. I clench my teeth and close my eyes, trying to pull myself away from the voices shouting in my head.

“We have to go,” I say. “We’re wasting time. We have to find Clarissa. Toshi, have you come across any idea as to what Hiro’s words in Thailand meant?”

I see realization wash over his face, and it takes all I have to not throw him against a wall.

“Hiro’s really taken a backseat during all of this, hasn’t he?”

Toshi asks.

“Did you forget?” Sebastian growls.

“Sebastian, stop it. The two of you just healed from whatever fight you thought was appropriate. We have to go,” I say.

“Cats never forget. But part of me did write it off as the ramblings of an old, rickety Cat,” Toshi says.

“Does that seem wise to you? Honorable? Since you speak of it so much,” I say.

“Now look who’s getting testy,” Sebastian says. “Come on. We can talk about this on the train. But we have to go.”

And the spirits were in agreement.

Never had I been guided so much by them before. Never had they infiltrated my mind in so many numbers. Armies of voices chattering about, speaking of the prophecy and the connection to Clarissa and how she was in danger. The train ride was agonizingly slow, and with every stop we made I could feel the heaviness of the spirits weighing on my mind. Whispers of danger and deceit and shouts of death and destruction. We are on the right path, I can feel it. When the wind whips against my skin and when Sebastian and Toshi rattle on about Thailand and Penny and Clarissa facing the Council.