Half-breed’s Bargain by Samantha Wolfe
18
HARLOW
Van is quiet as he leads us back into the house. He hasn’t said a word since Ameera left, lost in thought with a grim expression on his face. I don’t think he knows what to do in this situation anymore than I do. I don’t want this war that Ameera seems convinced will happen anymore than I’m sure Van does, but I don’t want him to lose his life in the process. He’s become too important to me in a short amount of time, even if we can’t be mates. When we reach the kitchen, Van turns to give me a blank expression that I don’t like at all and can’t mean anything good.
“I think it’s best if Mercer and Ethan take you home now,” he announces with a stubborn set to his jaw.
Is he fucking kidding me? After all the shit we’ve been through tonight, he’s dismissing me like this. I don’t think so. I open my mouth to argue, but Mercer touches my back and captures my attention before I can lay into Van.
“That’s probably a good idea,” Mercer says.
I shoot a wide-eyed look at him. Has he lost his damn mind? He meets my gaze pointedly, as if he’s trying to tell me something.
“We can all get a good night’s sleep and regroup tomorrow with fresh minds,” Ethan adds, and I turn to gape at him, too. Okay then, the two of them want to take me home, and I won’t lie. It kind of hurts to be so clearly dismissed.
Van nods absently, his eyes distant and distracted. “I’m too exhausted to think about this anymore tonight.”
He looks tired, and I think it’s more mental than physical. If he needs some time alone to mull over everything Ameera told us tonight, I’ll give it to him. Even if my aura urges otherwise, but I know that horny bitch can’t be trusted.
“I’ll be back tomorrow and we’ll figure something out,” I tell Van in a firm tone that brooks no argument.
He steps closer and gives me a wan smile, then reaches up to glide his knuckles down my left cheek. A shiver travels the length of my body. I long to stay and go to his room with him, to do anything but sleep all night long with our naked bodies writhing together between the sheets. Maybe it is for the best that I go home tonight after all, especially if I’m this horny from just a mere caress.
He leans in and brushes his lips across mine before stepping away again. “Get some rest, querida,” he says, his eyes sad and lost despite the desire burning in them. It’s impossible now for us to get close without lusting after each other. “I’ll see you soon.” Then he turns and walks out of the room, leaving me trembling with the effort it takes not to follow him.
“Let’s go,” I tell the two werewolves. I need to get out of here before I lose the will to leave.
We walk out of the house to the driveway without a word, and I climb into the back seat of a massive dark gray Ram pickup truck. Ethan drives us in silence down the long winding driveway until we pull out onto the road and head toward Unity. Then Mercer turns in the front passenger seat to face me.
“We need to get that ring from Móira without Van’s knowledge,” he says with a grave expression. “Are you in?”
“Absolutely,” I say, thrilled with Mercer’s suggestion. I’d been thinking along those lines myself, but knew it wasn’t something I could accomplish alone. I wasn’t sure how open to it the two werewolves would be, and I feared they would refuse to help me out of loyalty to Van.
“Good,” he says, his demeanor relaxing in obvious relief.
“Now we just need to find a mage willing to go on this crazy ass mission with us,” Ethan adds as he glances at me through the rear-view mirror.
“I think I know the right one for the job,” I say, a slight smirk playing at the corner of my mouth.
“Who?” the two of them ask in eerie unison.
“Anson Hale.”
Mercer’s brows rise and his eyes widen. “You’re going to ask the head of the mage council to join us in this insanity?” He shakes his head. “You do realize you’ll be asking him to violate the treaty himself if he does.”
“Lynch and Móira have already violated it,” I say with a shrug. “What’s one more violation? Besides, Anson owes me. I’ll talk him into it.”
“Well, it needs to be sooner rather than later,” Ethan says. “Lynch is going to get suspicious if we don’t turn up with that ring soon, and Móira could do god-knows what with it at any time.”
I glance at the clock on the truck’s dash. It’s not quite one o’clock in the morning and not too late to go see Anson tonight. “Are you guys up for a quick side trip?”
“Where to?” Ethan asks as his mate nods in agreement.
“Take us to Haven Hall.”
Anson’s club is packed when we arrive a short while later, as per usual on a Saturday night. Luckily, as an employee, I get to skip the long line and the bouncer lets us right in past the scowling patrons waiting outside the front door. Usually, I’d use the back entrance, but Ethan and Mercer can’t cross the door’s warding at will like I can. Anson is powerful and talented enough that his ward allows the rest of the employees to come and go without triggering it, but anyone else, including the two werewolves, will be on their knees barfing their guts out if they try to walk through it. I could escort them through the warding one at a time, but using the front entrance is quicker and easier.
We fight our way through the crowd toward the bar where Anson is most likely to be, and sure enough, I spot him there. He notices me as I approach and smiles in greeting, but it falters when he sees Ethan and Mercer behind me. No doubt he can tell they’re werewolves on sight. I throw a pointed glance toward the door to the back rooms, and he nods in agreement as his mouth turns down into a deep frown.
Ethan and Mercer follow me away from the bar to the door I indicated, and I open it and lead them through it. We head down the hall to Anson’s office and enter the empty room. I head straight to the sitting area and plop down on one of the two black leather sofas with a glass coffee table between them as the two men gawk around the room with a nervous air about them. I don’t blame them. There’s a good chance Van will view what they’re doing behind his back tonight as a betrayal. I know it’s one of my concerns. The thought of upsetting him or hurting him in any way doesn’t sit right with me, even if I don’t see any other way out of this situation that doesn’t involve him dying or a supernatural war erupting.
A few moments later, Anson storms into the room with his power humming around him and points at Ethan and Mercer. “What are they doing here?” he snaps out with a deep scowl and his blue eyes flashing. “I thought we were keeping the werewolves out of this.”
“We have no affiliation with the Unity Pack,” Mercer tells Anson as the two werewolves just sit there calm and unbothered by the mage’s anger. “We work with Van Cabrera. Our loyalty is only to him.”
Anson turns a wide-eyed glance at me. “It’s true,” I say with a nod, feeling oddly hurt that their loyalty doesn’t extend to me, even though they barely know me.
“Then where’s Cabrera?” Anson asks with an arched brow, his suspicion obvious.
“Have a seat,” I tell him as I motion to the other sofa, then huff out a breath. “A lot has happened since Thursday night.”
Anson’s brows furrow. “Like what?” he asks, his angry expression slipping away into a worried frown as he moves toward the sofa and sits across from me.
Ethan and Mercer move to sit on either side of me, and I briefly introduce them before getting into the reason I’m here tonight. I tell Anson everything as he listens in attentive silence, even about my instant attraction to Van and anam amháin. His eyes widen at that, but he doesn’t look surprised, and given his extensive knowledge of the magical world, it stands to reason he’s heard of it before. His face darkens when I explain Van’s relationship to Móira and how she used his grief and innocence to get him to agree to her bargain all those years ago. When I reach the part where we visited Lynch, his anger returns, but it turns to actual fear when I tell him about the ring, what Lynch plans to do with it, and that Móira already has the thing in her possession.
“Are you sure the ring is legit?” he asks me.
“Van is,” I answer.
Ethan and Mercer nod in agreement. “We helped Van steal it for Móira,” Mercer says. “Neither of us touched it, but Van did. He said he could feel its power.”
Anson huffs out a breath and stares off into space for a long moment, his eyes far away as he gathers his thoughts. Finally, he meets my gaze with a grave expression. “I’ve never heard of this ring, but I have heard of the Morrígan. She was a powerful and terrifying fae goddess who wrought death in her wake. That kind of power can’t be allowed to be unleashed on this world by Lynch or Móira, or anyone else. The results would be devastating. It needs to be destroyed.”
“That’s why we’re here,” I say as I lean forward. “We need your help to do that.”
He narrows his eyes. “And you’re here without Cabrera because…” he trails off as he tilts his head expectantly.
“Because if he acts against his mother, he’ll break the bargain he made with her.”
“Ah,” Anson says. “They say if a fae breaks a bargain, they lose their magic and their life along with it.”
I nod. “That’s why he can’t know anything about what we’re planning to do.”
“You realize you’re asking me to break the Unity Treaty by helping you,” he continues, his calm demeanor telling me he’s in, even if his words suggest otherwise.
“It’s not much of a treaty if two others have already violated it,” Ethan says with a hard edge, his eyes glittering emerald green with his wolf. He shoots a look at his mate. “This was a mistake coming here. We can’t count on anyone else to help us but ourselves.” He looks at me. “We should go. Van needs us, and we’re just wasting our time here.” Ethan tries to rise, but Mercer grabs his arm to stop him.
“Patience, mon chéri,” Mercer says. “Let’s hear what Hale has to say before we do anything rash.”
Ethan flings a hand toward Anson. “What’s the point? He’s basically said he won’t help us. He’s too worried about his own sorry ass.”
Anson’s face hardens, his power once again rising around him. “I never said I wouldn’t help you,” he says in a tight voice. “And I don’t appreciate having words put in my mouth that I never said.”
This time when Ethan rises, Mercer does nothing to stop him as he shoots baleful glowing eyes at Anson right along with his mate. Anson meets Ethan’s gaze, confident and unafraid with his magic crackling in the surrounding air.
“Alright,” I say in exasperation. “That’s enough dick measuring for one night.” I cast an annoyed look at all of them, then settled a glare on Anson. “Are you going to help us or not?”
“Of course,” he says with furrowed brows, looking offended. “Even if I didn’t owe you, I would. That ring can’t be allowed to be used by anyone.”
Ethan sits and throws up his tattooed hands. “Then why didn’t you just say that in the first place?”
Anson gives me a small grin. “I didn’t want to seem too easy.”
I roll my eyes. “Damn it, Anson. One of these days your penchant for fucking with people is going to get you killed.”
“Maybe,” he says with a nonchalant shrug, “but it’s too ingrained in me to stop now.” His smile widens. “Besides, you’re one to talk. You do it as much as I do.”
I shake my head, having nothing else to say about it since he’s not lying. I guess it makes me a hypocrite to be annoyed when someone does it to me, but so be it. “So now all we need is a plan,” I say.
“We’re familiar with Móira’s house,” Mercer says.
“And I can cross any of her wards without detection,” I add, the two werewolves looking surprised. It’s a hell of a talent to have, and I’ve used it to my advantage many times in the past.
“And though I can’t enter the fae’s house without tipping her off that I’m there, I should be able to locate the ring without getting close enough to violate the wards,” Anson adds. “Something with that kind of powerful energy signature will be almost impossible to mask, even if she tries.”
“Okay,” I say with a nod, then glance at Ethan and Mercer. “You two give me a layout of the house, and I’ll go in alone to retrieve the ring.” I look at Anson next. “Then you destroy the damn thing once we’re clear of the place. Easy-peasy.”
Anson snorts out a laugh. “I see your affinity for understatements is still unmatched.”
I grin. “There’s no reason to make things more difficult than they have to be.”
Anson shakes his head. “So when are we doing this?”
“Tomorrow night,” I reply. “The sooner we destroy that damn thing, the better.” And the sooner Van won’t have to worry about this whole ring situation anymore.
“Good,” Anson says. “I need some time to research the ring and how to destroy it, so why don’t we meet back here tomorrow afternoon since the club is closed. Then we can hash out our plans a little more thoroughly.”
“Sounds good to me,” I say, then glance at Ethan and Mercer. “Does that sound alright with you boys?”
“Definitely,” Mercer answers with a relieved expression that matches Ethan’s.
“Alright,” I say as I stand. “Let’s go. You two need to get back to Van before he wonders what the hell is taking you so long and gets suspicious.”
The two werewolves stand and head for the door. I try to follow them, but Anson stops me with a touch to my upper arm.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” he asks as Ethan and Mercer walk out into the hall.
I look at him like he’s nuts. “What choice do I have?”
“There’s always a choice, Harlow,” he says in a grave voice.
I snort out a bitter laugh, thinking that a choice was the very last thing I had when I was under Viktor Bravas’ magical control. “That’s a bullshit statement, and you know it.”
Anson sighs, his expression a bit chagrined. “Okay fine, but it is true in this instance.”
“No,” I insist. “It isn’t.”
“You just met this man two days ago,” he says in a low voice as he shoots a furtive glance toward the doorway. “Is he worth losing your life?”
Not that long ago, I would’ve said no man was worth that price. But with Van? It’s not even a question. I think about how it feels when our auras touch, how right it feels. I think about how good it feels when we touch physically, too. We may not be able to be together as mates like anam amháin wants us to be, but I’ll be damned if I don’t do anything in my power to ease his burden, even die if it comes to that.
“Absolutely,” I tell him with stark conviction.
His answering smile is warm and approving. “That’s exactly what I wanted to hear.”
I narrow my eyes at him as I realize he was just fucking with me again. “Fucker,” I say under my breath.
Anson’s eyes glitter with amusement. “He’s lucky to have a mate as loyal as you.”
I don’t have the heart to tell him that Van and I won’t ever be mates. Anson has always been a bit of a romantic, despite his continuous bachelorhood, and I don’t have the heart to ruin this for him just yet.
“Damn straight,” I tell him instead, then walk out the door, firm in my resolution to see this through all the way to the end, no matter the cost to myself.