Seven Wardens: Books 1-4

Chapter 6-1

CHAPTER 6

She tied her hair back in a messy bun as she walked back into the living room they’d been in earlier. It was still soaked through from her time in the pool, and the resulting shower she’d had to rid herself of the awful chemical stench.

Jared reclined on the sofa, looking comfortable despite his equally damp hair, and his white t-shirt sticking to him where he hadn’t dried himself properly. Macey licked her lips, her mind already back on how close she’d been to him in the swimming pool.

“Oh good, you’re here,” Cam said, pulling her attention and thoughts away from Jared and to where the other man was pacing frantically. She squashed the urge to run over to him and rest a comforting hand on his arm. Doing that would probably lead to her becoming even more distracted.

“Yes, Jared said you had news of my brothers.” Maybe she should have started with something a little...softer, but she was desperate for news.

“Yes.” He shared an uneasy look with the other man and Macey’s heart sank.

“You told me they were safe?!” She meant to shout, instead, it came out more like she was a strangled cat struggling to keep a hold of her emotions.

“They are,” Jared said and she glanced his way. The expression on his face did nothing to allay the dread that’d settled in the pit of her stomach.

“Why do I sense there’s a but?” she whispered, not able to make her voice sound any stronger. Damn, she was pathetic.

“Because you’re not going to like what Flint found out.” Cam closed the gap between them and wrapped his arms around her. Despite knowing she probably shouldn’t, Macey leaned into him, inhaling his scent and relaxing ever so slightly.

“But they’re safe? And alive?” Possibilities flew through her head, ranging from the improbable to the absurd. But then again, if she existed, and the men surrounding her, then was anything really impossible?

“Yes, both. But Macey…” He looked away from her as if he was hiding something, though she guessed he was. If her arms hadn’t been twined around his waist, pulling him as close as possible, then she’d be biting her nails in nervousness.

“It was them,” Jared blurted out, receiving a sharp glare from Cam. Macey pulled away, standing between the two men.

“Them, what?”

“Them that caused all this,” Cam said softly.

“All what?” She wouldn’t believe it. It wasn’t possible. It couldn’t be, could it? Macey shook her head.

“They’re the ones that sent the fàth-fiata after you,” Jared said, placing a comforting hand on her arm, but she knocked it away.

“No, no, no, no.” She shook her head violently, the whole world going a little fuzzy. They had to be lying. And yet the serious looks on the two men’s faces was enough to tell her they weren’t.

Which was when it all went black.