Chapter 402

J-jacks? Ariel’s voice whispers, desperate and unbelieving. Are you real? Am I imagining you?

A sob breaks from Jackson’s throat as he falls to his knees. Ari, he says to her, his mental voice shaking, I’m coming –

Baby, she says, the word short and scared. Sweetheart, don’t – they’ll kill you –

I’ll fucking kill them! He shouts back.

Ridiculously – absurdly – wonderfully – she laughs. Jackson groans when he hears it, even just in his mind, his hand shaking as he raises it to cover his eyes.

Don’t, Ari says again. Please – baby, I love you so much – just…stay close, okay? It’s too dangerous right now. I don’t know what’s happening and we need a plan. We need –

But suddenly her words cut off. Jackson groans as he feels the protective magic slamming down over the castle, knowing that it’s gone.

And he – he didn’t even tell her that he loved her – which he does, of course he does, so much –

But she knows, right?

She knows, his wolf murmurs, pressing himself against Jackson’s heart.

Shaking, Jackson raises the binoculars again, looking at the door.

But all the Moon Valley people have disappeared inside the castle.

“So that’s it,” he murmurs, hardly able to think for the emotion pounding through him – the wonder at being able to reach her in his mind, the horror at having her taken away again, the fear of what she’s suffering in there if she’s saying that it’s too dangerous. But he forces himself to focus, to be useful. “So, they have to drop the magical wards to let anyone in or out…”

Jackson hums consideringly at this new knowledge, turning it over in his mind, wondering how he can use it to his advantage.

While in his soul, his wolf raises his snout to the air, letting out a long and desperate howl for his mate.

Calling to Ariel, to her wolf.

Begging her to come home.

“This suuuucks,” Mark murmurs, sprawled out over his father’s favorite arm chair in the living room, idly playing with the gold chain that his mom made him start wearing – forbade him from ever taking off. Necklaces provided by the Goddess’s Priestesses, apparently, to keep them from getting kidnapped away to the Underworld like Juniper was.

All of the Sinclair kids have them now.

Rafe flicks his eyes up at Mark, a frown on his mouth. “Are you seriously complaining about being bored when your sisters have been kidnapped and their lives are at stake?”

Guilt races through Mark even as he lifts his head and frowns back at his brother. “Can’t I be both?”

Rafe bares his teeth at his little brother, not in the mood for jokes.

Mark sighs, letting his head hang back. “Ariel would get it. She would laugh.”

“Because Ariel is overindulgent with you,” Rafe murmurs. “She loves everything her little pet puppy does.”

“Yeah,” Mark sighs, staring at the ceiling. “I miss her.”

And it’s true. Even if he is bored, needing an outlet for his boundless energy even if his parents have put him on house arrest alongside all of his cousins, he does miss Ariel and he is worried for Juniper.

Well, maybe a little less for Juniper. He’s a little more worried for anyone who has to deal with her in the Underworld, if he’s being honest. Junie, when she’s pissed off? Scary.

Mark and Rafe both start and turn to the door when it bangs open, his parents coming through – Dominic with long strides, Ella trotting determinedly to keep up with him.

“Don’t you take that tone with me, Dominic Sinclair,” Ella snaps, frowning up at her gigantic mate. Rafe and Mark both grimace when they realize that it’s a fight – another one. “We’ve been over this. I did what I thought was right.”

“Yes, Ella,” Dominic says, casting a glare down at his little rose-gold mate. “You’ve made it quite clear that you acted with your whole heart when you made one of my most promising soldiers desert his position and go rogue –“

“Oh, you ass,” Ella snaps, shaking her head as they reach the desk positioned before the sunny window. “You’ll change your tune when Jackson brings our daughter home. Then you’ll be ‘oh, Ella, so wise,’ and ‘thank you, Ella!’”

“Thank you, Ella,” Dominic says, dry, turning his shoulder to her a bit as he picks up some documents from the table and pulls his phone from his pocket, beginning to start a call. “Now please go away so I can marshal the rest of my resources. Unless you want to send these to Atalaxia too. What does your heart say?”

Ella just rolls her eyes at Dominic and moves away from her mate, stepping over towards her sons with a scowl on her face.

“Don’t get a divorce,” Mark mumbles, covering his eyes with his hand, miserable. “Dad will want to keep us for Midwinter and he’ll be crap at presents. And the food.”

“Oh, he’s not getting rid of me that easily,” Ella mumbles, bending over to press a kiss to Mark’s head and then moving to sit with Rafe on the couch, ruffling her favorite’s hair as she does. And in her heart Ella knows that it’s true – that she and Dominic are slightly at odds at the moment because she took control out of his hands, and he hates that. But their commitment to each other is far too deep to be truly disturbed by something like a disagreement about the placement of one soldier.

Even if Jackson was probably the most powerful soldier Dominic had.

But some instinct rings true in Ella’s heart – she knows, is absolutely sure, that it was right to send Jackson on a solo mission and that Dominic would have fought her on it. She explained all of this and begged Dominic to trust her demi-goddess intuition, but that had just pissed him off more. So, here they are, a week later, still pissy with each other for the time being.

“Any updates?” Rafe asks, sitting up to look into his mother’s face.

She nods, curling her legs up beneath her and pulling a pillow into her lap to hug to her chest. “We heard from the delegation that they’d arrived at the Atalaxian castle and made a successful plea for entrance. Roger had very cleverly put a few tiny cameras on a couple of the ambassadors so we could see what’s going on within the palace, but as soon as they got in?” She shrugs. “The feeds went dead.”

“Damn Atlaxians,” Rafe growls, shaking his head. “They must have some kind of magic up.”

Ella nods in agreement as Mark comes to sit by her side on the floor, wanting the closeness and affection. Ella gives it immediately, running a hand over his hair, petting her youngest son. “You’re getting to big for this, Markie. Soon I’ll have to stand on a stool to pet you.”

“No,” he murmurs, closing his eyes and leaning wolfishly into her hand. “I’m very tiny. Just small.”

She laughs, continuing to stroke his dark hair, grinning as she runs her eyes over Mark’s handsome face and tall body, which is growing large enough to give Rafe and Dominic and Jackson a run for their money.

“And Ben?” Rafe asks, glaring a little at Mark for continuing to joke around and not take this seriously. God, but he’s been too much indulged, allowed to remain immature while even Juniper grew up. “Any word from him?”

“Nothing in particular,” Ella says, turning her eyes back to Rafe. “He’s just one of the ambassadors, baby. We didn’t send him in with any new technology or orders.”

Rafe nods, looking down, because he knows that’s true. Ben begged to be one of the party going to Atalaxia. Rafe had argued against it, knowing that Ben is still young and inexperienced and that the trip is going to be very dangerous. There was one hell of a chance that all of the ambassadors would be executed on sight. But Dominic had agreed, knowing that Ben knows Ariel better than the other ambassadors, that he might have some particular instinct about where she is or what she needs.

In the end, Rafe had lost the fight. And, potentially, another friend. He presses his eyes shut, worry stacking up in his soul like bricks. One more person to worry about whether or not they’re alive or dead…

Dominic snaps his phone shut and crosses the room to join his family. “It was a miracle they were let in in the first place,” he murmurs, looking distractedly out the window. “I thought it was a longshot.”

Mark opens his eyes and looks up at his dad. “Then why do you think they let them in?”

Dominic shrugs. “Either they’ve got something up their sleeve, or…”

The family waits while Dominic just frowns, trying to find his words.