Between Shadow & Ruin (Fangs & Fae Saga Book 2)

twenty-nine.

We returned to see Zane and Val sitting next to each other – Val had her sleeve rolled up and Zane was doing some magic on it. We put the wood on the ground and Chris started to build a fire. I squatted down next to the two of them and watched. Val's scar was disappearing.

"Is that what happened to yours?" I asked Zane.

"If no one was going to believe it happened... I wasn't going to walk around with it as a reminder to myself how much of a shitty childhood I had."

"And I don't want the kids to see it," Val said. I nodded. As the fire got going, I pulled the two of them closer to it. Val pulled some food for her and Zane out of her bag. As they sat and ate, I stood over them, watching in the distance. It was quiet around us. I could hear some animals and birds, but I had no reason to feel as anxious as I did. Chris came over to me and put his around me.

"Why don't you relax for a little? We still have some time before the two of them can get us back home," he said to me.

"I know. I'm just a little high-strung right now."

"I am too. I still can't get over seeing you three –" he shook his head.

"I saw Odette."

"That doesn't sound too bad."

"It wasn't. At first. Then I had to watch her die all over again." He was silent. "There are some days I don't want to pull my head out of the sand... It's been a long time, but that Ripper instinct is always there in the back of my mind telling me to just abandon restraint. Then I see the kids or one of you and that goes away." Chris started to rub the back of my shoulders. My shirt was ripped somewhere from something as I felt his finger poking through it to my skin. I turned around and just buried my face into his chest as he wrapped his arms around me. We held the embrace for a few minutes before walking back to Val and Zane and sat down next to them. Chris sat next to Zane and nudged him in the side.

"You alright?" Chris asked.

"No, but I will be," Zane said.

"Why didn't you ever tell me? Or anyone else besides Elijah?"

"I don't know. I figured if he didn't believe it... no one would. Boys in the fae realm don't get to cry wolf. We're supposed to be strong and take on a bunch of lovers and make a thousand kids... I couldn't do that. After Adriel forced me to kill Sariah I left the fae realm. I couldn't do it anymore." Chris put his arm around Zane.

"I love all of you, and I'm happy we made it out of there alive, but can we just stop talking about this fucked up shit for like ten minutes? I need some time to just cope with everything..." We all laughed and nodded. Chris laid back on the ground and the rest of us followed, not speaking.

*****

The sunlight was hitting us hard. The fire had long since died out. I sat up and noticed that Chris and Zane were already up, Val was still asleep. I stood up, trying to dust off my jeans and walked over to them. They were looking at the book we found in Adriel's house.

"Please tell me that's useful and that we didn't almost die over Adriel's diary?" I asked.

"There's – there's some stuff in here that will help. Val and I are going to need to go to the fae realm though," Zane said. "There's some language and spells in here I don't understand."

"I'll wake her so we can go," I said. Zane and Chris put the book away and I walked over to Val to wake her up. I knelt over her body seeing her glow fade. I shook her lightly. She started to blink her eyes and gasped loudly. "Hey, hey. I'm right here. It's okay, Val..."

"We got the book, right? We all made it out?" I smiled.

"Yes. We did. We need to get to the fae realm." She nodded and stretched her arms out before standing. I helped her off the floor as she dusted her pants. Zane opened a portal to the fae realm, and we stepped through. It had been a while since I'd been in the fae realm, but time moved so differently, that for a lot of fae, it had only been a few months since they'd last seen me.