Refuge(14)

Mark took Michael’s vacated chair and stared at me in disbelief, making me want to scowl at him. Olivia was a little more hesitant. “Do you mind if we join you?” she asked.

I shrugged. “The more the merrier, I guess.”

“So, let me get this straight,” Mark began. “You expect us to believe that you did all that with no training whatsoever? I hate to point out the obvious, but from what I’ve seen, you can’t fight . . . at all.”

I flushed at the reminder of my training. “You can believe what you want.”

“Don’t mind him. Tell us about the suckers,” Terrence urged.

Josh leaned closer. “Forget the suckers. I want to hear about the trolls.”

I told them about how the young trolls were kidnapped and we had to find them before they were taken overseas. “They were holding them at this huge house in Portland. Nikolas and Chris went in first to take out the security, and we went in after. We had no idea those guys were crazy enough to work with vampires, and we had to kill a few of them to get to the house. Nikolas, Chris, and my friends took out most of them. I did one, but I had help.”

“So, you found the baby trolls?” Olivia asked breathlessly.

“Yes, they were in the wine cellar.”

Her eyes were like saucers. “What happened next?”

“A bunch of Mohiri warriors showed up and took over and we left.” It was only half the story, but there was so much I couldn’t tell them without revealing things I couldn’t share.

Terrence whistled. “How did you guys know about the trolls in the first place?”

People did not understand my relationship with Remy and I was not in the mood to answer the questions that would arise if I mentioned him. “The werewolves know everything that goes on in their territory.”

“That is too frigging cool,” Josh said, his blue eyes wide.

Mark frowned. “Wait. What did you use to kill the sucker if you didn’t have any weapons?”

“I did have a weapon. I had a knife Nikolas gave me when we met.”

“You have one of Nikolas’s knives?” Olivia asked, and I almost shook my head at the worship on her face.

“Not anymore.” It was either at the bottom of the ocean or somewhere in Faerie, and I wasn’t going to explain either of those possibilities.

“Convenient.”

A girl with a cute blond pixie cut walked up to our group. Jordan was eighteen and, from what I’d seen and heard, the best trainee here. According to Michael, she was the oldest orphan ever reclaimed at ten years old – before I came along.

“What do you mean?” Olivia asked.

“It’s a great story, but I’ve seen your girl here in training.” Jordan scoffed. “If she killed a sucker, it’s probably because it tripped and fell on the knife.”

Terrence smiled at me. “Don’t mind Jordan. She’s actually a nice person when she’s not being herself.”

Jordan scowled, and I couldn’t help but think she would be prettier if she stopped glaring at everyone. She walked away, calling over her shoulder, “Whatever. Make sure you get plenty of sleep tonight, Terrence. You wouldn’t want to lose your grip on your sword again tomorrow.”

Terrence muttered under his breath, and Josh said, “Don’t let her get to you. She got lucky today.”

I didn’t say anything. I’d seen Jordan handling the long thin sword favored by the Mohiri, and I didn’t think luck had anything to do with her skills. That girl was scary good. Not as good as Nikolas, of course, but she might be someday.

My stomach rumbled, reminding me I hadn’t eaten lunch. I grabbed my laptop and stood.

“Hey, don’t go,” Terrence protested. “I want to hear about the crocotta.”

“The crocotta will have to wait. It’s dinnertime, and I’m starving.”

He and Josh stood at the same time. Terrence gave me a wide smile, showing off his dimples. “Perfect. You can tell us all about them over dinner.”





Chapter 3





I TOSSED MY sketchpad and pencil down on the bed after staring at the blank page for the last ten minutes. I was trying to draw the hellhounds, but even though I could see them exactly as I wanted to sketch them, my fingers didn’t seem to know where to start.

Rolling off the bed, I went to open the window and listened to the heavy silence of the valley. It was too quiet here at night. I’d give anything to hear the familiar sounds of the waterfront or open my door and hear Nate clicking on his keyboard. I missed Daisy’s three-legged gait and Oscar’s motorboat purr. Hell, I even missed the imps scratching and chattering behind the walls. I missed everything.