King Cave (Forever Evermore, #2)(176)
We both stared at the empty plates in our hands.
“Maybe we should have stopped with the apple pies,” Ezra murmured absently before moving into our room.
I licked my lips, following him. “Or maybe just had one of each.”
Ezra hummed. “We’ll try that next time. Show some restraint.”
I thought about how good all the desserts had been going down. “We could try.”
We set our plates down on the coffee table, and sat on the love seat with Jack and Pearl on the couch again, and this time, Ezra didn’t waste a second and plowed into our news, stating bluntly, “Tomorrow morning, Lily and I are leaving King Cave and going into hiding.” When Jack’s and Pearl’s jaws dropped, he held up a hand to stop anything they would have said. “Antonio had a vision. A future he said he can’t stop because he’s not powerful enough. The damn man was crying because he was so upset about…,” Ezra glanced at me, “what did he say exactly?”
Since Pearl and Jack were starting to appear freaked out, I stated it factually, “He said he was so sorry for the agony you two will endure, referring to Ezra and me.”
Ezra nodded, his eyes back to them. “So we’re leaving. Neither one of us wants the other harmed,” he shuddered, “like what happened today, so we’re getting the hell out, and we’ll try to make it on our own in hiding.”
Pearl’s jaw slowly shut, her lips pinching. “If Elder Farrar saw it,” she shook her head, her expression one of worry, “I don’t know if hiding will help.”
Jack lifted his head from where it had fallen in his hands, saying quietly, “But they have to try.”
I pointed at him. “That’s right. We do.” I stood, jumping a little on my feet, anxiety beginning to creep in further. “So we’re leaving before the sun comes up, and tonight, I’d like for all of us to watch a movie together. Do something mundane before we run.”
Pearl instantly stood and embraced me. “I don’t want you to go.”
“I know,” I whispered, hugging her tight. “I know.” Tears slipped down my cheeks at knowing this was probably the last night we had together. “But I want us to all relax before we leave. Enjoy our evening together.”
She nodded quickly, squeezing me, her own tears falling on my head. “Then let’s do it.”
And so we did, after the hugs and tears were through, lying down next to each other in bed and finding a good old-fashioned comedy to watch before we all passed out.
Chapter Thirty
Waking in the dead of night, I instantly knew something was wrong. Immediately, I calmed my heart rate but still took in the scents. I smelled Ezra, his spicy scent strong, just like his arms around me in our spooning position. I also smelled Pearl and Jack, Pearl’s scent the strongest, since she lay on the other side of me. But…I scented something off…something that made my wolf want to growl and that tried to make my body tremble. I had been in this exact situation before, but what I was scenting didn’t bode well. Because it was strong as hell, which meant…many bodies behind a Mage spell.
Eyes still closed, I slipped my hand further under my pillow and grabbed my gun, glad I had been paranoid enough to sleep with it under my pillow instead of under the bed like normal. I swallowed and then pressed down on Ezra’s leg under the covers hard enough to wake him. He grunted quietly and re-positioned his leg…and I almost sighed in frustration before I heard him inhale sharply and feel his hand tighten on me. This time, I was truly happy for his damn Vampire nose, he having smelled my panic, his heart rate fluctuating a moment, then evening out to normal, more than likely just as mine had done.
I coughed loudly as I thumbed the safety off my gun, Ezra’s grip on me tightening. His thumb tapped once on my stomach. Bumped twice. And right when he thumped it a third time, we leapt out of bed. Jack and Pearl both started awake, the blanket flying off them as Ezra and I both growled, our predators taking voice, our eyes glowing fiercely. Keeping the gun behind my back, Ezra at my side, we crept toward where my nose led me even though there appeared to be nothing under the moonlight of the spelled ceiling. Jack and Pearl were instantly behind us with their own eyes glowing, not asking questions, but still with us. I stopped, everyone halting with me. I glanced at Ezra, and we split apart, both of us going wide at the living room, Pearl and Jack staying stationary. And I growled low, “Show yourselves.”
In a whoosh, there was a flare of golden light taking up the entirety of our living room, its boundary an inch from my nose, and then it disappeared.
I was left staring at approximately forty individuals, dressed from head to toe in black and appearing like shadows under the moonlight, only the fact that their eyes glowed at us in blues, greens, browns, and golds proving they were real and not ghouls, even though they might as well have been. My heart stuttered, then pounded furiously as the four of us took a few steps backward, putting more room between us and them. Fear rode me hard at knowing the odds weren’t good, while self-anger hit me for not making Ezra and myself leave this place sooner, but hope entered when I saw Antonio, Cahal, Elder Merrick, and Elder Jacobs rush into the room through gaps in the ghouls’ ranks, all four of them in their pajamas and looking frazzled as they stepped through our broken-in door, the spell taking all but Antonio for a ride.