Through the Ether (Force of Nature Book 5) - Amber Lynn Natusch Page 0,34

mine. His mini-realm; his power source.

“Yes, this one will do,” Etherian mused, and I saw Grizz flinch, as though an invisible hand stroked his cheek. “Bring me your father and pray that he can do what you promised, bastard princess. And don’t make me wait too long.”

Grizz let loose a howling roar as his arm was ripped free of its socket and dangled down toward us like a limp corpse held in place with only skin. Anguish burned in his warm brown eyes as he stared down at me and silently told me that I should not return under any circumstances. That I should leave and never come back.

Tears streamed down my face as I shook my head. “Never,” I said, my voice cracking with emotion. “I’ll never leave you—”

“Then you’ll stay here forever,” Etherian warned.

“Piper,” Merc whispered low in my ear, “we have to go.”

“Yes, you do,” Etherian said just as the filmy portal back to Earth appeared in the center of the room right below Grizz. “Return as soon as you have all the things necessary to deliver on your promise.”

“But—”

“Go!” he boomed, shaking debris loose from the walls.

Merc took my hand and drew me toward the portal, but I didn’t go willingly. I kicked and fought and screamed for Grizz until I felt the press of the veil against my skin. One second we were in the Ether, and the next, we were on the bridge with everyone else—those that had been left behind.

I grabbed the railing, prepared to throw myself back over to get Grizz, but Merc’s grip was like steel, and Knox’s arms wrapped around my waist for reinforcement.

“Let me go!” I yelled as I raged against them.

“Piper!” Merc shouted back as he thrust his face into mine. “Piper, you have to stop.” Those piercing dark eyes of his homed in on mine, and I felt the fight slowly leave me, giving way to a fear so impaling that I could barely breathe. If Knox hadn’t been holding me, I would have crashed to the dodgy wooden planks beneath us. “Now is not the time for a meltdown. Now is the time for forming a plan to get your guardian back.”

“How?” I asked, defeat and grief thick in my tone. “I was talking out my ass down there so we could get out. I have no idea if Reinhardt can do what I said!”

“Then call your sack of shit father over here so we can find out,” Kat said, her barely withheld emotions clear in her voice.

Merc’s gaze drifted to her, then to the alpha at my back. “And don’t let him leave until he finds the solution.”

Chapter Thirteen

We all filed into the media room to await Reinhardt’s arrival. Silence permeated the room despite the number of wolves and vampires there. Knox, Foust, Brunton, and Jagger huddled together in a corner, discussing something in whispers. Merc, Jase, and Dean did the same, only telepathically. Random pack members and enforcers lined the walls and furniture in the room, waiting to hear from their leaders, while I stood in the center of the vast space feeling totally numb as I watched Kat flop down in the corner of the sectional, expressionless.

The undercurrent of despair from those of us closest to my guardian was infectious, and though I tried to shake it off, I felt its nails dig into my skin and burrow deep. If my father didn’t have a viable solution to our problem, it would surely take hold and never let go.

The clatter of the door crashing open pulled me from my spiraling thoughts, and my attention snapped to the media room entrance as Reinhardt’s heavy footfalls echoed up the foyer steps.

“Piper!” he shouted, a healthy amount of concern in his voice, which made sense given the dire text I’d sent him. The words ‘help me…I’m dying’ tend to get anyone’s attention.

“We’re in here!” I called. Seconds later, he flew through the doorway, eyes wide and wild, the raven on his shoulder.

His expression eased, then soured as he realized what I’d done. “I don’t appreciate being manipulated,” he said. His parental disapproval was duly noted.

“We don’t have time for your fatherly admonishments right now. I’m sorry for scaring you, but I need you to have the same level of urgency as the rest of us.”

“What’s going on?”

“Grizz is gone.”

“Gone?”

“He’s being held prisoner in Faerie—in the Ether.” When it was clear that he, like the rest of us, had no fucking clue what that was, I gave