Found and Forged Read online

  “Oh yes, I know the one, it’s that look that’s normally only reserved for a delicious cinnamon roll and a cup of creamy chai,” Lila calls her sister out, and I crack up.

  “Like I said, I was simply admiring Vinna’s excellent taste,” Adelaide defends, her giggle ruining the innocent look she’s going for. “And it wasn’t me making goo-goo eyes at that shifter fellow who carried supplies into the kitchen the other day, was it?” Adelaide casually throws out there, knowing I’ll embrace my inner Mave and pounce on it like a piranha.

  “Ooohhh, who was it?” I press, taking the bait with not an ounce of shame.

  “I believe his name is Artemi,” Birdie offers, getting in on the action.

  Lila full on blushes, and I have to fight to keep from cracking up. “Hold on,” I order as I dive onto the bed and get myself situated comfortably. I lean back against the headboard and then adjust the pillow at the small of my back. “Okay, ready,” I announce and fix my excited smile on Lila. “Tell me everything!”

  2

  I knock on the door lightly, a heaviness in my chest doing its best to chase off the light and happy the sisters just deposited there. I know the circumstances suck behind their arrival, but I’m so glad the sisters are here. They ground and lighten everyone in a way that only they are capable of doing. I listen for an answer and then knock harder when one doesn’t come.

  “Come in,” Sorik finally calls from the other side of the closed door.

  I turn the knob and attempt to calm the whirling of my insides as I walk in to find Sorik sitting next to Vaughn.

  “Am I interrupting?” I ask hesitantly, taking in the book Sorik has in his hands and then studying Sorik himself. His long blond hair is pulled back, and he has a hint of stubble on his face. He’s still rocking that Viking vibe, but I can tell things are weighing heavily on him.

  “Not at all,” Sorik reassures me as he closes the novel and offers me a warm smile.

  I give him one back and pull up a seat next to Vaughn.

  “No chaperones today?” Sorik teases, and I chuckle. “I’m aghast that they’ve let you out of their sight.”

  “The sisters chased them all away so we could pack and girl talk,” I offer.

  “Ah yes, the sisters are formidable opponents,” Sorik proclaims, his eyes filled with respect and humor.

  “That they are,” I agree with a laugh. “What are you guys reading today?”

  “We were just diving into Intensity by Dean Koontz,” Sorik tells me as he holds up the book so I can examine the cover.

  “I haven’t read that one yet, is it good?” I ask awkwardly, avoiding the deeper topics that are sitting in my throat as though I’ve taken too big of a bite of them and I now need water to help me swallow everything down.

  “It’s excellent, one of my favorite reads and one I come back to time and time again,” Sorik declares, as he looks down at the book in his lap fondly. “I’ll lend it to you as soon as we’re done with it.”

  I widen my eyes in exaggerated surprise. “I’m honored you would trust me with such a treasure.”

  He grins. “Obviously, if anything happens to it, I’ll come for you.”

  “Obviously,” I agree with an amused smile.

  I wasn’t sure about Sorik before, but in the past week, I’ve gotten the chance to know him better. He’s kind and funny, and he has this way about him that I find soothing. If I’d grown up the way some of the guys have, Sorik would be a father to me. At first I didn’t know how I felt about that, but the more I interact with him and observe him, the more I see how incredible it would have been to have him growing up. We both fall into a comfortable silence as I take in the quiet third party to our banter, Vaughn.

  He sits statue-still in the chair, just waiting to be instructed. He’s frozen, in some state of limbo, action and inaction radiating from every cell. I’ve gotten past my hope that at some point he’ll just turn to me, make eye contact and see the world again...see me. I’m familiar with this version of him now. It’s simultaneously a strange comfort and a fucked up thing that all of this now feels normal.

  I don’t bother asking if anything has changed; it’s clear that it hasn’t, or we wouldn’t be sitting here.

  “The sisters just finished packing, and Torrez is meeting with Brun to get whatever she needs squared away before we leave,” I tell Sorik in an effort to chase my sudden sadness away. I try—and fail—at not sounding like a petulant child.

  Fucking Brun.

  Sorik gives me a knowing smile, and then his eyes move from me to my dad, his amusement evaporating.

  “Have you decided what you think we should do with your father?” Sorik asks me, like somehow I’m the deciding factor in all of this.

  I appreciate his efforts to include me and to help me feel like I have a say, but Sorik knows Vaughn better than I do. He should really just consult himself.

  “I already told you, I don’t think I’m the best person to make decisions for him…”

  “Who better to make decisions than his child?” Sorik once again lovingly argues.

  I release a frustrated huff and run my fingers through my hair. “Sorik, stop doing that...please,” I beg. “It just makes me feel like shit. I know he’s my dad, but I don’t know him. I don’t know how to feel about any of this. One minute I’m happy he’s even here, and the next I feel like I’m in fucking mourning. The only person in this room who knew him well enough to decide what he’d want, is you, and you know it. Stop putting the weight of his future on my shoulders, it’s too much.”

  Sorik’s gaze fills with understanding and sympathy, but it’s also wrapped up in resolve.

  “You will get to know him, Vinna—”

  “You don’t know that,” I sigh. “He might never wake up; this could be all there is for him...for me...despite your hope otherwise.”

  “Even if this is all there is, I will help you get to know him,” he counters, and I push out of my seat and start to pace, my troubles nipping at my heels relentlessly with each step. We’re quiet for a long time as I try to work things out, and Sorik silently lends his support as I move restlessly around the room.

  “It doesn’t feel right to leave him with Aydin and Evrin,” I finally admit after I’ve circulated around the space several times. “I know the sisters said they’d take care of him, but I just don’t like the idea of him…” I trail off, not sure what I’m trying to say.

  “Being so far away?” Sorik provides.

  I shrug.

  “I just don’t know how he’s going to come with us or what we’ll even be walking into,” I confess.

  “But we’d be there to watch his back, to make sure he was okay,” Sorik supplies.

  “We would,” I agree. “But if things go bad?”

  “Vinna, you’re a Sentinel requesting access to a city of Sentinels. What exactly do you think is going to go wrong?”

  I give Sorik my best come the fuck on look and make another rotation around the room. “I honestly have no idea. The Sentinels have stayed in hiding all this time for a reason. Who’s to say how they’ll feel about me knocking on the door and asking what’s for dinner.”

  Sorik gives an amused snort and rubs a hand over his face. He’s been like a rock of positivity and support over the past week, but I don’t miss the exhaustion and worry in that simple gesture.

  “I’m sure it will be fine,” I offer dismissively, beating Sorik to the positive comment I can sense sitting on the tip of his tongue.

  He smiles, but it doesn’t quite meet his eyes.

  “Then it’s settled,” Sorik agrees, thankfully changing the subject. “Vaughn stays with us.” His eyes fill with pride, but I turn away from it, not wanting it to find purchase in me.

  If he only knew how fucking conflicted I am about all of this, he’d probably think I’m the shittiest daughter ever.

  “So, walk me through the plan again,” I ask so I don’t have to look too hard at my feelings of inadequacy or at just how
overwhelmed I am by all of this.

  “We’ll drive as far as we can, which should take a couple of days, and then we have maybe a couple week’s worth of camping and hiking ahead of us. I turned back when I felt the barrier, but it seemed that the heart of the settlement was in a valley surrounded by mountains.”

  I nod and catalogue everything he tells me. I try to picture what he’s describing, but I can’t quite wrap my mind around it. I run my gaze over Vaughn’s face. His eyes are distant and fixed but the same color as mine. Sorik must have trimmed his dark hair, because it’s shoulder-length now and looks healthy and shiny again.

  “What do you think...dad?”

  The word dad still feels foreign in my mouth, but I’m trying to say it more often so it doesn’t sound so stiff and weird. I know he’s not going to answer. I’m not sure why I even ask, but it feels important to me not to treat him like he isn’t here, like he doesn’t have an opinion. I nod my head as if he just voiced his agreement and clap my hands together once.

  “Okay, let’s do this.”

  Evrin pulls me in for a tight hug, and it makes me laugh.

  “You’re getting good at that,” I tease and crack up even more at the blush that sneaks up his neck as I pull away. “Looks like you’re finally ready for that I love hugs t-shirt I’ve been saving for you.”

  Evrin narrows his eyes at me. “Give me that shirt and I’ll burn it,” he threatens, the corners of his lips fighting not to break into a smile.

  “Pshhh,” I say, waving the threat off. “You know you’ll wear it; cuddle it when you miss me and all that shit.”

  Evrin cracks up and shakes his head at me. It’s nice to hear his laugh again. Everyone has been grieving the loss of Keegan and Lachlan, but it’s been especially hard on Aydin and Evrin. It’s nice to see some lightness and cheer in his eyes.

  “See, that wasn’t a denial,” I point out as I move down the line of goodbyes.

  Aydin is standing there waiting his turn as the guys and I all work our way down the line of loved ones, hugging and saying reassuring shit that none of us knows if it’s true.

  “You sure we shouldn’t come with you?” Aydin asks me for the fiftieth time as he pulls me in for a bone crushing hug that lifts me off the ground and helps fortify my soul.

  “Pretty sure you’re going to have your hands full with Silva and the Elders Council,” I remind him, and he cringes at my words.

  Everyone, including the twins, has agreed that Silva needs to be turned in for torturing lamia. No one is really sure what the elders will do, but it’ll be up to them to decide. Silva is notably absent from the hug assembly line. He’s been confined to a room with twenty-four-hour guards. The twins said their goodbyes earlier, but I haven’t had a chance to ask them how it went.

  “We’ll call as soon as we can, let you know what’s going on,” I tell Aydin in an effort to reassure him.

  “You better, Little Badass. We’ll be nervous wrecks until we know all of you are okay,” Aydin warns me as he sets me gently back on my feet.

  “Love you, big guy,” I tell him, and we both get a little choked up.

  I remind myself that this is not goodbye forever, just for now. I shake off the cloak of melancholy that just fitted itself to my shoulders and move down the line to the sisters.

  “You will call us if you need anything,” Birdie orders, and I nod and pull her tightly against me.

  I want to tell her thank you for seeing me and loving me just as I am, but it feels too much like a permanent goodbye, and I don’t want that. I’m passed on to Lila who cups my face and looks into my eyes with such adoration and affection that I start to well up. “We are proud of you, and we can’t wait to have you back home where you will never be allowed out of our sight ever again.”

  I laugh and thank her with my eyes for lightening the heavy emotions floating through me. Adelaide is last in line and pulls me down to her and wraps me up in a fierce hug.

  “You take care of them, okay?” she tells me and nods toward everyone loading up in the SUVs.

  “With my life,” I vow to her, and she squeezes me even tighter.

  “We love you, sweet Vinna. You come home to us, you hear me?”

  I nod and wipe at a tear that’s making a run for it down my cheek. I look back down the line filled with people who mean more to me than I have words for. I never thought that this would be my life, that these people would feel like the lifeline that they are. But as I look at them, lined up, radiating love and support, I can’t comprehend how I got so lucky. I didn’t realize how much I was missing before Lachlan and the paladin threw me into this world. I now know what the word family should look like, and it looks like them.

  Adelaide lets go, and I step back, my heart full to almost bursting. I’ve been nervous about what will happen with the Sentinels, but it suddenly seems like no big deal. Whatever goes down in the next couple of weeks, I have a family to come home to, and love and friendship guarding me every step of the way. In this moment I know, without any shadow of doubt, that it will all be okay.

  Peace sweeps through my body, and I give one last wave before climbing into the back seat of the SUV and closing the door behind me. Ryker looks back at me from the driver’s seat.

  “Ready?” he asks me, his gaze filled with excitement and strength.

  “I am now,” I reassure him, and he turns to start the car.

  Valen snakes an arm around my back and pulls me into his side.

  “Sentinel City, here we come,” Knox shouts out, and the rest of us hoot and holler our agreement as we pull away and our journey begins.

  3

  Sabin turns down the volume to Fivefold’s “Lost Within.” The brakes squeak as we slow down, the sound amplified by the quiet in the car.

  “Looks like this is the end of the road,” he announces, and I open my eyes and sit up from where I was dozing on Siah’s shoulder. Knox sits up from where he was lying in my lap, and I already start to miss the calm that’s been floating around the car until now.

  Dust from the dirt road we’ve been traveling on for most of the day plumes around us as we come to a stop next to the other vehicle. We all sit there for a minute looking around at the short yellowing wild grass and the small hills in the distance that flow into baby mountains.

  “Looks a bit like home, only drier and a little flatter maybe,” Valen offers, and a couple of the guys nod their agreement.

  Knox opens the door, and crisp air sneaks in to chase away the heat. It’s not insanely cold, but I can imagine the temperatures will drop the higher we hike. We climb out of the SUV we’ve been crammed into for the past couple of days. Moans and groans sound off all around as we all stretch out our limbs and revel in the feel of room to move around. Heat sinks into my core as the guys’ groans start sounding way too close to some of the noises they make when they come, and I smile and look up to the sky as I stretch my back.

  I straighten up, and my gaze lands on Torrez and the knowing grin he’s now wearing. I shrug shamelessly, and he chuckles.

  “Dibs,” Sabin shouts out, and we all turn to him.

  “What are you calling dibs on?” Siah asks, voicing the confusion that I’m also feeling.

  Sabin looks around. “Um, shit, I don’t know. Whenever Torrez chuckles like that, I’ve just been calling dibs. It’s his I smell my horny mate laugh.”

  I crack the fuck up. “You’ve been capitalizing on his chuckle,” I ask as I lean over and laugh my ass off.

  Torrez shakes his head, his features filled with surprise. “Sneaky Wizard.”

  Knox turns to Ryker, his gaze almost offended. “Fuck, why didn’t we think of that?”

  The question sends me into a whole new fit of laughter that has me wiping away tears. “You guys are out of control,” I chide with a smile and then squeal when someone slaps my ass.

  I turn to find Valen and the cheeky smile he has plastered onto his face. “We can’t help it if we all just want to spend more time with you
.”

  “Hey, I’m not complaining,” I explain and rub at my stinging ass cheek. “But that doesn’t make any of you less ridiculous,” I finish.

  “Eh, you know you love it,” Knox announces as he approaches me. He pulls lightly on the end of my hair until I tilt my head back far enough that he can lean down and kiss me.

  “True,” I admit happily against his lips and then smile as a groan fills the air.

  “Can you all keep the PDA on lock? Not everyone wants to live that porn life as much as you all seem to want to,” Kallan gripes as he climbs out of the other SUV and stretches.

  Knox’s response is to start making loud obscene noises which makes me laugh more and has Kallan rolling his eyes.

  “I’ll remember you feel that way when you find a girl that you want to be all over all of the time,” Becket taunts his coven mate, and Kallan shakes his head.

  “At this rate, that might never happen,” Kallan confesses on a grumble and then heads to open the back of the car and pull his pack out.

  I leave his words hanging in the air like something fragile I know I shouldn’t touch, at least not yet. I need to talk to him and Enoch, clear things up, but I don’t know how to approach it with them. Hiking to Sentinel City is probably not the best place to do it, especially not with all the other guys around. There’s a lot of unfinished shit just hanging in the air for everyone to try and avoid. We’re all distracted by this new goal, this new mission, but I wonder how long the distraction will last. Reality is bound to come crashing down at any minute, and it’s leaving me antsy and unsure of how things will land and survive the fall.

  I give Knox one last peck and then grab my bag out of the back of the car. We all gear up and wait for Sorik to do the same. Nash moves to stand next to me, and Bastien who’s standing on my other side stiffens. I side eye Nash for a second. I suspect that he does this just to get a rise out of my Chosen. I’ve never quite known where I stand with him, and that’s certainly not changed, but he’s becoming an interesting puzzle to try and piece together.