Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 90897 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 454(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90897 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 454(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
He turned to Echo.
“I trust you!” she yelled.
“I’ll come back for the pilot!” Fionn roared seconds before he disappeared into thin air along with three of their companions.
“Go!” Niamh yelled at Echo and Elijah as Kiyo unclipped his belt.
Seconds later, the mated couple were gone.
Fuck, fuck, fuck!
“You can do this!” Echo yelled. “It’s in your nature! Just think of where you want us to be!”
Shaking, Elijah nodded as he took one of her hands in his. “Unclip in three!”
She jerked her chin in agreement.
“One, two, three!” They unclipped their belts at the same time, and Elijah slammed his eyes closed.
Take us to the nearest shore. Take us to the nearest shore.
Freezing cold enveloped him, and his eyes flew open to a watery darkness.
Instinct had him surging upward, pulling Echo, whom he still held, along with him.
They broke the surface of the water, gasping, wide-eyed as they took in their surroundings.
A mere hundred meters or so from them, their companions waved at them from the shore. Elijah and Echo began to swim, but as the dreadful sound of an engine grew louder, he turned to watch as the plane they’d been in exploded a few seconds before it fell into the water a few miles off the coast.
Hoping Fionn had managed to get to the pilot in time, Elijah turned and began to swim with Echo toward shore.
Everyone was there, including the pilot, who lay unconscious on the rocky beach.
“The pilot is dead,” Fionn relayed with grim bluntness as he helped Elijah from the water. Niamh helped Echo. “Someone killed him. With magic.”
“Astra,” Niamh seethed. “It was Astra. I saw too late. I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault.” Kiyo wrapped his arm around her.
“She knows we’re here.” Fionn cursed and stared out to sea. “She always seems to be one step ahead of us.”
“She has visions too.” Niamh rested her head against Kiyo’s. “We’re matched.”
“No, you’re not.” Thea stepped toward the Irish fae. “You have something she doesn’t have. You have us. Take it from someone who had to fight alone for a long time … you’re stronger when you have someone at your back fighting with you, fighting for you.” The brunette looked them all in the eye. “Astra might know we’re coming, but I’d bet my life she thinks that means we’ll back off and regroup after this. She can’t take us all on. I say change of plan. I say we all head to the house and take this bitch down together.”
“What if she’s given the guards on the compound orders to kill my parents, to kill Odette and Margaret, if we attack?” Elijah asked, his fear scenting the group. Not fear for himself, but for his mother and father.
“I think it’s a risk we might have to take.” Conall stepped up beside his mate.
Elijah opened his mouth to argue, but Niamh cut him off. “They’re right. As much as I wish I were strong enough to deal with Astra alone, I need you.”
Echo slipped her hand into Elijah’s. “Then together, we fight.”
He squeezed her hand and nodded reluctantly. “Together, we fight.”
With his magic, Elijah dried himself and Echo off.
“You traveled,” she murmured to him, pride gleaming in her eyes.
“I dumped us in the sea.”
“You saved us.”
He caressed her cheek, grateful to have her by his side.
Fionn, frustrated rage vibrating from him, put the pilot’s body back in the water to be found by the rescue services that were surely already on their way to the plane wreckage.
The lack of bodies and passenger manifest Bran was already working to delete from existence, along with Fionn’s ownership of the jet, would be another mystery for the humans to ponder. They’d probably make a documentary about it.
Every unexplained disappearance and incident in history could be laid at the feet of supernaturals.
They trudged through the woodland together, Fionn leading the way. It was hard to imagine that thousands of years ago, he’d been a Celtic king. A ruler over where they now walked.
Elijah had been to Ireland, of course. He and the Strix had played at venues in Dublin, and in Belfast in Northern Ireland.
It was the first time in a hot second that he’d had a moment to contemplate his bandmates. The guilt of putting them through his disappearance would never go away, even if he knew it was for the best. Elijah could never return to them now, and the band would have to go on without him. Not many bands at that level survived the replacement of their lead singer.
“I feel your guilt.” Echo brushed her arm against his. “What’s that about?”
“Just thinking about the band. I’ve ruined their lives.”
“No—”
“I know I’ve kept them safe.”
“Well, yeah, but I was about to say if you want to go back to being Elijah Webb, lead singer of the Strix, once this is all over … you can.”