“Tell her to keep cloaked until I figure this out.” I pointed to the direction that I knew Pearl was, but instead of a dragon there was just a shimmering bubble not noticeable to the untrained eye.
Marmal nodded. “She will.”
“Okay…” I said, not slowing my pacing. “What time is it here?”
Sage pulled a cellphone out of her pocket and turned it on. Holy crap, I hadn’t seen one of those in over a year. My fingers itched to check my Instagram account as silly as that sounded.
“Eugene gave it to me,” Sage offered. “It’s two p.m. Light Fey time.”
Two hours. I had two hours to get Sage inside for a four p.m. jailbreak during Sawyer’s workout time, or I’d have to wait another day. I was not waiting another day to see my man.
“Okay. I have a plan.” I set down my pack and pulled out all the maps.
The workout room on the eightieth floor was directly across from the mess hall and next to the showers on the west side of the building.
“Sage, if you can merge with my wolf and get her inside, she can get up to the eightieth floor to save Sawyer and then come back for you,” I told my bestie, knowing it was such a huge ask. She’d be putting her life in danger. If I knew they wouldn’t recognize me right away, I’d do it myself. She had already agreed, but I wanted to give her one last chance to back out.
“You know I’m down, but how can I get arrested and sent to prison in two hours?” she asked.
I chewed my lip, an idea forming in my mind. “We’re going to test your acting skills.”
She frowned and I pointed to Marmal. “You’re my getaway car. We will keep Pearl hidden, and then when I direct you, I need you to drop me off at the top floor while we grab the guys, and then we’ll go pick up Sage before they transfer her to a psych ward.”
Sage sputtered, choking on her spit. “Psych ward!”
I nodded. “I need you to act batshit conspiracy theory crazy. Swim across the river, walk right in the front door and spout ridiculous things. Just enough to get my wolf inside.”
Sage shook her head, half smirking. “You and Sawyer owe me the nicest possible vacation ever after all this.”
I grinned. “Done.”
“Okay, I can do this.” A shadow crossed her face and she pulled her lower lip into her mouth to chew on it nervously.
“What?” I asked, stepping forward. It was normal to be nervous before something like this. “If I could go myself, I would. I—”
She shook her head. “I wonder what Walsh is like now…?”
Oh.
I’d been able to talk to Sawyer mentally. The last time she had spoken to Walsh, they had ended on a bad note, with him rejecting her for his duty.
“I’m sure they’re both different. Sawyer has befriended a vampire,” I growled.
Sage scrunched up her face like she smelled something awful. “Really? Gross.”
I nodded. “But he’ll still be Walsh. Our Walsh. Don’t worry.” I gave her a side hug and she bobbed her head in agreement.
“Question…” Marmal held up a hand. “There are magical wards all over that place.” She pointed to the building. “We won’t be able to fly close enough unless we bring it down. And didn’t you say the boys are wearing cuffs that electrocute them if they step foot off the premises? How are you going to deal with all that? We don’t have a witch and I can’t bring them down.”
Fuck. She was right, and she’d also given me another clue into her magic. She could see wards. I should have brought Raven or Star, but maybe Marmal was good enough. I hadn’t known then all that would be involved, and I had wanted to protect them by leaving them behind.
I planned on stealing a key to get the boys’ cuffs off, but the other magical wards … I had no plan for. Were they like the cuffs? Because I’d gotten my cuffs off once … it took a fey blade and some blood but—
“Do light fey carry fey blades? Or is that only a dark fey thing?” I asked.
Marmal’s eyes widened a little. “All fey carry their birth blade. It’s a big deal to their culture.”
Okay … okay…
I paced harder. I had two hours. I would need my attention to be with my wolf and Sage, but maybe I could sneak away and steal a fey blade before—
“I’ll do it.” Marmal stepped forward and pulled a small dagger from behind her back. She gripped it in a tight fist and looked at me with determination.
“Do what?” I hadn’t said anything yet.
“You want a fey blade, right? But you need to stick with Sage since your wolf will be with her? I’ll get it and meet you back here before four p.m.” Marmal crossed a fist over her chest.
Wow, how had I lucked out with such supportive women by my side?
“Thank you,” I croaked.
She nodded and looked back in the direction of Pearl, probably communicating mentally.
‘I’ll keep in touch.’ She tapped her head and pushed the words into my mind. I gave her a halfcocked grin.
Marmal was pack, and I felt so right with that decision. After our troll pack member slunk away into the hiking trail to rob some unsuspecting fey of their blade, I turned to Sage.
Placing one hand on either of her shoulders, I looked her right in the eyes and took a deep breath.
“Are you ready for my wolf to … join you?”
She swallowed hard. “Nope. Totally freaked out, have already imagined the worst, like she gets stuck, or I throw up, or go insane … but let’s do this.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Oh, girl, I love you.”
She grinned. “Just don’t get stuck. I like having only one soul in my body.”
I gave her a curt nod, as if I knew what I was doing when in fact I was scared myself. I didn’t want half of my soul stuck in another person’s body either! My wolf was ready, perched just at the edge of my skin, blocked only by the magic of the cuffs Sawyer had custom-made for me.
Reaching out, I pulled them off but kept them in my hands, ready to put them back on the second my wolf came out. Sending my scent, or whatever, out into Light Fey City, was not something I wanted to do right now.
The moment my wolf leapt from my body and onto the grass before me, I snapped the cuffs back on. My wolf was still spectral, not yet solidifying her body as she looked from Sage to me.
‘It’s going to be weird, I know,’ I told her. ‘But we gotta do it to get Sawyer.’
Sage made fists and braced herself like she was preparing to be hit, then her eyes flashed yellow.
‘Her wolf doesn’t like it,’ my wolf said.
I shrugged. ‘Tough shit. She’ll get over it.’ I was in alpha mode now and I was bringing my baby daddy home today no matter what.
My wolf nodded, and then leapt.
It was like time stopped. My wolf arced through the air as Sage flinched, closing her eyes and holding her breath. I held mine too, and so did my wolf. No one breathed, the wind didn’t blow, it was like the world stopped for a moment just to witness half of my soul merging with another person. Then she disappeared. She leapt right into Sage’s chest and … she was gone. A shock ripped through me, like electricity zapping up my spine. I cried out at the same time Sage did, our tandem screams ripping through the forest.