Hidden Fate

24

“He was one of the guards assigned to watch over Eva and me while we were there.”

A menacing growl vibrated deep within Thorn’s chest as his anger boiled through our connection.

I placed a hand on his arm, hoping to provide comfort. “He was nice—kind and regretful. Drake made it clear on multiple occasions that if Uther did something he didn’t like, his young daughter would pay the price. Despite that, Uther treated us kindly and looked out for us the best he could. Even when we were at Theron’s thunder and the warriors attacked, he didn't want to hurt us.”

“Which means Drake could be using Uther’s daughter against him now to set us up.” Thorn’s body quivered. “For all we know, Drake told him to be like that to earn some level of trust.”

The urge to pull away from Thorn surged through me, but I remained still. He was upset, and his words held merit. If I were him, I would possibly be thinking the same thing.

I took his hand and squeezed it, pushing down the frustration fluttering inside me. “I get it, but you weren’t there.”

His face twisted in agony. “You don’t have to remind me. I was living each one of those hellacious moments away from you and losing my damn mind the entire time.”

“Thorn,” Vlad warned. “That was hard on her as well. You need to remember that.”

We didn’t need to keep rehashing this. We all knew it had been a horrible time for everyone. But I was surprised when Eva spoke up.

“It was a horrible time for Everly, too. Despite her puking all night and tossing and turning, she protected me every step of the way. And Uther is kind. Whenever Everly was forced to go with Drake, he’d stay behind to make sure another guard wasn’t cruel to me.”

A deep scowl settled over Sol’s face. Though he hadn’t been around when all this had gone down, he obviously didn’t like hearing about the time the woman he had a crush on had been forced into captivity and mistreated.

I was beginning to think my hunch that he and Eva were soulmates, like Thorn and I had been before he’d changed me, wasn’t so far off after all.

Still, I had to focus on what she’d said, and that information was good to hear. I’d suspected that Uther had protected her since Eva had never fallen apart while I’d been gone. But Thorn was still a bundle of nerves beside me.

“Look, I’m not saying we trust him completely.” I couldn’t be blind to Thorn’s point. Drake could have realized that Uther had an amicable relationship with us and be exploiting his daughter. “But I think it’s worth considering.”

“And let me add”—Brenton patted his chest—“when someone threatens your kid, it doesn’t leave you feeling warm and fuzzy toward them. Based on what Everly and Eva are saying, this isn’t something he’d want to do, which could be to our advantage.”

Hydra leaned into her mate. “What did Wyvern think? Did they talk on the phone?”

“No, he showed up at the thunder with a handful of other guards. They said they came back to see if they’d missed any clues, but after they split up to search the area, Uther circled back.” Theron ran a hand through his hair. “He said he didn’t have a lot of time but that Drake was settings things in motion, and if we wanted to stop them, we had to act soon. He also said he needed to get in touch with us and asked if Wyvern knew of a way. Of course, Wyvern said no, but he asked us if we needed him to say something else.”

“Are they still there?” Vlad asked as he and Cassidy met each other’s eyes, using their fated-mate connection to communicate.

I don’t like this, Thorn connected, his grip tightening on me. There are so many ways meeting him could go wrong. It’s not worth the risk.

I inhaled, trying to think clearly. What if he’s sincere? What if we could have someone on the inside? You want to fight Drake, and I agree. We should. We have to. But right now, we’re running and hiding without many allies. This could swing things in our favor.

“They are.” Theron crossed his arms. “But I’m not sure for how long. They came at nightfall so they could fly over the area without worrying about humans seeing them as easily.”

Thorn sighed and leaned his head back on the couch.

We were all tired…so damn tired.

Standing, Vlad paced around the footstool in front of the television. “Everly and Eva know him better than any of us. He wasn’t the king’s hire, so Drake would have something to leverage over Uther to force him to remain loyal. Maybe he wants to be free, and we should meet him.”

Releasing my hand, Thorn straightened. “Dad, you can’t be serious. If it’s a trap, we’ll be handing ourselves over to them!”

Arching a brow, Vlad leveled his gaze on Thorn. “You should know I wouldn’t go in blindly. Nor do I think Everly and Eva would. We’d have to assume it is a trap.”

“That’s good.” Errol bobbed his head. “We’ll need to make sure no one is hiding at the meeting place and that he’s not followed.”

“We need to set up a location where we don’t plan on staying.” Vlad rubbed his hands together. “We’ll be ready at the real location and watch when he arrives. There’ll be no chance for others to get into position ahead of us.”

Thorn rolled his shoulders. “I could get behind that plan.”

“Wait.” They were missing something, or I’d lost my mind and wasn’t following. “We have one problem to figure out before we can get to the meeting logistics.”

Narrowing his eyes, Brenton focused on me. Then he snapped, “How to get the meeting scheduled without putting Wyvern and the thunder at risk.”

Exactly. “Even though I trust Uther, you all are right. Drake could be pulling his strings, so if Wyvern schedules the meeting, it’ll prove that he’s in contact with us, putting them all in danger.”

“s**t,” Thorn growled, and lowered his head. “You’re right. It doesn’t even matter if he’s trustworthy. We can’t risk it, which is more than fine with me. I didn’t like the thought to begin with.”

There had to be a way to fix this. “Errol, Brenton. Do you have any friends you trust at the château?”