The Hunt Begins: Book 16 of the Grey Wolves Series

Chapter 2-1

Chapter Two

“I knew there was a reason I never wanted close friends. Not only do they take up too much time, energy, and emotion, it also sucks big draheim balls when they suddenly up and die.” ~Myanin

“Who the hell does she think she is?” Myanin stomped back and forth across the floor of the training room within the warlock mountain. The Romanian pack had delivered the news to Queen Lilly that the Order compound had been reduced to ash. The announcement should have been good news. But not for Myanin. Not when she knew her friend was trapped inside when the buildings were obliterated. And the djinn knew of only one way to handle loss—to fight. She’d beaten the crap out of anyone willing to spar with her. Even without her power, she had no problem putting the warlock warriors on their asses. “I mean, did she think I let her become my friend because I wanted to worry about her?” Myanin let her hand fly at her current opponent, catching the female warlock in the solar plexus, knocking her back several feet. “Where the hell am I supposed to get cotton candy now? Did she even consider that before she went and let herself get blown up?”

“Uhh,” Lilly began, but it was clear she didn’t know how to respond. Myanin’s mind raced as fast as her fists and feet. And her mouth followed suit.

“We bonded, dammit.” Myanin dropped her body, sweeping out a leg. The warlock female she faced hit the ground on her backside with a hard thud. “I don’t go around bonding with just any rando that happens to walk by.” Myanin flung her hands in the air. “There is only a certain kind of rando that I will even consider as worthy of becoming my friend. And I haven’t had a friend in a very long time because there are some seriously weird-ass supernaturals out there but very few that are the right kind of weird.”

“You don’t say?” The warlock female climbed to her feet. Myanin took a step toward her, but the woman held up her hand. “I’m done.”

Gerick stepped into the sparring circle and held up his own hands, which were attached to punching pads. Myanin took the invitation, happily letting out her anger and frustration on them. Her mate didn’t even budge as she punched and kicked the pads with enough force to drop a water buffalo. Sweat dripped down her forehead and into her eyes, blurring her vision, but the djinn just kept going.

“She should have called.” Myanin grunted with another punch. “If she’d told us what was happening, we could have helped. What the hell was she thinking?”

“She didn’t know what was coming, love.” Gerick shifted so Myanin had to move with him in order to continue to hit her targets.

She narrowed her eyes. “Tenia knew how twisted and insane Alston is. I should have suspected something when that bastard said he wanted to see her. I should have gone back with her.” Myanin’s punches increased in speed, and she felt her knuckles split beneath the protective tape wrappings. With every punch, she growled in frustration. “Did she even consider what I wanted?” It was a completely irrational question, but that didn’t keep Myanin from asking it.

“I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess”—Lilly stood off to the side, watching the djinn’s tirade—“that perhaps she had no idea she was about to die? And, therefore, it didn’t even cross her mind to call and tell you of her imminent demise.”

Myanin whipped around and pointed her finger at the warlock queen. “She’s not dead.”

“Myanin.” Gerick sounded stern and gentle all at once. “Lilly is not the enemy.”

“I know that,” she growled. She closed her eyes and then looked back at the queen. “I apologize, Lilly. I shouldn’t take my frustrations out on you.”

“But you’re right,” Lilly said. “We don’t know for certain that she is dead. I will be more considerate with my words.”

Myanin’s eyes focused on the floor. She knew there was no way in hell Tenia could have survived the cold fire of a high fae. No one could. But her mind refused to accept the fact that Tenia was gone. She isn’t. She just can't be, dammit! The djinn appeared to deflate like a balloon. “But how could she have survived?” Myanin almost whispered. "How?”

Lilly sighed, drawing Myanin’s attention. The djinn folded her arms in front of her and turned to look at the warlock queen. “Is it possible? Do you think she could have somehow lived through it?” Myanin asked. “Because I’m a hell of a lot older than you, and I’ve never heard of anyone surviving cold fire.”

Lilly frowned, and then her eyes widened. “Thadrick.”

“Dillon,” Myanin shot back.

Lilly rolled her eyes.

“What?” Myanin asked. “I thought we were just shouting out past unrequited loves.” She glanced at Gerick. “You got one you want to add?” She paused and then shook her head. “Never mind. You better not say anyone’s name lest I decide to hunt her down and act like a jealous girlfriend. I’ve never wanted to be that girl. But I've done a lot of things lately I thought I'd never do. Becoming a clingy, psycho girlfriend might be next on the list.”

Lilly coughed, and Myanin narrowed her eyes at the warlock queen’s hand, which was trying to cover a smile.

“Again,” Myanin amended. "I never want to be that girl again.” She waved her hand at Lilly. “Now, go on. Why did you mention Thadrick?”

“He’s the history keeper,” Lilly said, her excitement returning. “I’m sure he probably has a record of all prior uses of cold fire stored away in that supernatural, cavernous brain. Wouldn’t he be able to tell us if anyone has ever survived?”

Myanin considered patting the female on the head to ease the crushing blow she was about to deliver. “You forget, Queen, that Thadrick’s history keeping is a tad jacked up because of yours truly.” If there was ever a time in her life when Myanin wished she could go back and make different choices, it was right then. Because of Myanin’s choices, she had completely messed up Thadrick’s mind. She didn’t know if it would ever return to normal, but she was sure of one thing: he wouldn’t be able to tell them about cold fire.

“Are all the historical records in his head messed up?” Lilly asked. “Or just the stuff since you had your little tantrum with it?”

Myanin might have laughed if her soul didn’t feel like it was withering away inside of her. “Little tantrum” was a kind way to describe the ridiculous stunt she’d pulled.

“Perhaps,” Gerick spoke up, “instead of speculating, we should simply call the djinn.”

Myanin met his eyes and tried to see if she could detect any anger there. They’d not known each other long enough for her to be able to discern his expressions with any accuracy, but that didn’t stop her from trying to read something into every wrinkle on his face. Regardless of all the kind things he’d said to her, she still had moments of insecurity. Myanin wasn’t sure she’d ever truly believe herself deserving of love after what she’d done.

Lilly nodded. “I think that’s a good idea.”

“Wait. What?” Myanin sputtered, realizing they were both serious. She didn’t have feelings for Thadrick, not anymore. And yes, the Great Luna had shown a massive amount of grace in how she’d dealt with Myanin’s transgressions. But that didn’t mean she wanted to talk to her prior flame, especially while she was in such a vulnerable place. Her emotions were volatile, to put it mildly. If he wasn’t able to help them, there was a high probability she might stab him out of simple frustration.

“Everything will be okay with Thadrick,” Gerick said as if he could see into her mind. She'd found that he tended to do that a lot. Even though she had difficulty reading him, Gerick seemed to know what she was thinking without her even saying a single word. To say it made Myanin unsettled was an understatement. In her mind, it was the equivalent of being naked with nothing, not even a conveniently placed houseplant, to hide behind. Maybe it was an intimacy she should welcome. Perhaps she could find peace in someone who seemed to know her, and accept her, so completely. But after all the sins she'd committed, Myanin didn’t know if she could ever open her heart to such exposure.

She took several deep breaths and reminded herself that she wasn’t the person she’d once been. Despite the stain she still felt on her soul, the Great Luna had wiped the slate clean. She was a new person. Even though she must deal with the consequences of her actions, Myanin was no longer a slave to the sins she had committed. She could stand before anyone and know that, in truth, they were no better than her. Everyone had skeletons in their closets. Some were simply more visible than others.

“Fine,” she conceded. Myanin shifted on her feet and slipped her hands into her pockets. “When are we doing this?” At the same time the words left her mouth, Lilly’s phone rang.

The warlock queen pulled the phone from her back pocket and glanced at her screen. Her brow rose as she looked to Myanin and then Gerick.

“Speak of the devil,” Lilly said as she answered the phone.

Myanin turned her back away from the queen. She walked toward the workout equipment, heading for the punching bag that had endured so much of her abuse the past couple of weeks. But before she could reach it, Gerick wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her back to his chest.

She was tall, but he was even taller, which she loved. Myanin rarely felt feminine, but the few times he’d held her, he'd always managed to make her feel like a lady.

“Talk to me,” he said gently, his warm breath ghosting across her ear. She forced herself not to shiver or to turn in his arms and bury her face in his chest the way she wanted to. What was the point? No amount of comfort he could offer would bring back her friend.

Myanin’s shoulders fell as the air whooshed out of her. For the most part, as long as she was sparring with someone, she could keep her feelings locked away. But when everything was still, when there was nothing to distract her, then the lock would break and all the pain would come surging out. This was one of those moments, but she wasn’t about to let that happen.

Myanin bit her lips so hard that she tasted the sharp metallic tang of blood.

“Hey,” Gerick said more sharply. He released her waist and took her arms in his hands, turning her until she faced him. Then he reached up with one hand and raised her chin until she was forced to either stare at his neck or grow a pair and look into his eyes.

Myanin knew what he would see because she’d seen it many times in the mirror.

“There is nothing set in stone yet,” he said, his hand still under her chin. “Until we know for sure that Tenia is no longer with us, then we will continue to have hope.”

“What if that's a waste of time? A waste of my emotions?” Myanin asked, unable to quell her natural instinct to be a pessimist. Tenia would have pointed it out to her and probably made fun of her. Bloody hell, she missed that. “What if there is no point in any of this? Talking to Thadrick is probably a waste of time, too. What if I just need to accept Tenia’s gone and move on?”

“Is that what you want to do?” He took a step back as if he understood that she needed some breathing room.

“Yes,” she blurted out and then pinched the bridge of her nose. “No. Seven hells, Gerick, I don’t know what I want. I mean, I want her to have kept her ass out of the damn compound. I want to have gotten Torion out sooner. We shouldn’t have waited. We bargained her child’s life, and for what?”

“There was no way for you to know that,” he pointed out. “The leaders of the Order are ruthless and unpredictable.”

“Apparently it wasn’t them we needed to be worried about,” Myanin said. She could hear the bitterness in her voice. “We should have paid more attention to a certain unhinged high fae with a vigilante issue.”