Through the Ether (Force of Nature Book 5) - Amber Lynn Natusch Page 0,35
a quick rundown of what had happened. In fairness, it was a lot to take in at once, but I didn’t have the luxury of fleshing out all the details. Time was ticking.
“So you told this ancient, cast-out being of Faerie that I could give him back his physical form?”
“Essentially, yes. I did.”
“To Piper’s credit, he bought her story,” Merc said, crossing the room to join me. “Without her quick thinking, we might not have returned at all.”
“It was Grizz,” I said softly. “He was the one that put it together. And now he’s stuck down there with that fucking disembodied psycho—”
”We’ll get him back,” Knox said from behind me. “I don’t care how, but we will.”
“How?” Reinhardt asked him, no hint of confidence in his tone. “Can you do what he demands?”
“No,” Knox growled, “but I won’t let that stop me. That’s the difference between you and me. I don’t let shitty odds defeat me. I don’t hide behind excuses to shirk my responsibilities. I don’t let fear rule me, and I sure as fuck won’t leave one of mine behind because of it.”
His golden yellow eyes glowed with anger, and soon they weren’t the only pair. One by one, the other wolves of his Alaskan pack joined in shared rage at the loss of their adopted member—the crazy bear that they’d taken in even before we’d returned to New York.
“You are asking me to do something I am not capable of,” Reinhardt fired back. “Giving Grizz a human form was possible because I had a form to work with.”
“And Drake?” I asked, staring at the being in question still perched on his right shoulder. “He died, and somehow you managed to stuff his soul into that bird.”
“That,” my father said, pinning me in place with a furious stare, “was not my doing. Something else was at play there. Something I don’t understand. Something I’m not capable of doing.”
“Try,” I beseeched him. “Do whatever you have to. Sacrifice goats, or lambs, or Kingston if that would help. Sell your soul to the devil—or mine, if necessary—but figure it out, because I cannot lose Grizz…I just can’t.”
His hard gaze softened slightly as he delivered the painful truth. “And I cannot do the impossible.”
As I felt my resolve—my blind hope—begin to unravel, Foust opened his mouth.
“Maybe you don’t have to. Maybe you just need to make Etherian think you can long enough for us to grab Grizz and the witches and get out.” We all stared at him like the wise, dreadlocked voice of reason he was. “We don’t need you to be successful. We just need you to buy us time and distract Etherian long enough for us to escape.”
“I think he’ll notice us all slipping through a portal out of him, which he’ll probably have already closed before we could even try,” Brunton countered.
“Yeah…maybe.”
“Even if we were to fool Etherian, collect the witches and Grizz, and then escape, we will have burned our only advantage against the fey royals,” Merc pointed out. “We have not heard from Liam, and we are no closer to learning their plan. Attacking them without notice is an advantage I’m not certain we can afford to lose.” His grim expression did nothing to inspire those in the room. “We must find a way to give Etherian what he wants.”
“Then you must find someone else to do it,” Reinhardt argued, ”because I cannot. Even if I had a body, I have no idea how to put him in it, or if my magic would be strong enough there. And even if I could do it, how are we to know that he’ll honor his side of the deal?”
“Because he wants me to kill the fey royals—he wants to rule Faerie,” I said. “And he seemed pretty motivated.”
“Regardless, you’re still asking me to do the impossible—”
“Shut. Up.” Kat’s near-whisper somehow cut through the room like a dagger, and we all turned to where she’d been sitting silently the entire time.
“Kat—”
She shot to her feet and glared at Reinhardt, her blue eyes glowing turquoise. “I said shut up!” Reinhardt closed his mouth like a smart little warlock and let her rage wash over him. I’d never, in all my time with Kat, heard her actually yell at anyone. She got loud at times, yes, but in general, her unending, brazen confidence intimidated everyone around her so she never had to shout, and rightfully so.