Jocelynn Drake - Dayhunter

“I should let you go,” Tristan murmured.

“Wait! I…If you don’t hear from me within the next week, I…I want to you seek out a nightwalker called Knox. He…sort of helps me out and…” I stumbled awkwardly. It was like telling my next of kin where to find my will. I had no provisions set aside, no preparations made for Tristan should something happen to me. He would be on his own in a foreign country. But at least for now he’d be away from Sadira and the Coven.

“I understand. I’ll be fine. Take care of Rowe,” he said, then hung up before I could say anything truly idiotic.

After returning the phone to its place on my leg, I turned back around to find everyone staring at me. Hugo looked a little stunned, while Penelope was outright smug. On the other hand, Danaus’s expression was blank. But then, he knew who had called. He knew why Tristan was half a world away.

“As I was saying,” I stated, trying to ignore the blush that I was sure stained my cheekbones, “we don’t need anyone else. The naturi numbers are fewer. We’re chipping away at their ranks and we’ll continue to do so until we finally get to Rowe.”

“But—”

“We’ll plan a series of incursions for tomorrow night based on their location,” I pressed on, cutting off Hugo before he could argue. “We can try to wipe them out before the new moon.”

“I can do some scouting during the day,” Danaus offered. I opened my mouth to argue when my phone rang again.

“By the gods, Mira,” sneered Penelope. “Hire a babysitter.”

I turned my back to her, refusing to comment as I grabbed my phone. However, the number was different this time, not one I remembered seeing before. Few had my number, and those who did knew to only call in an emergency.

“Who is this?” I demanded.

“Mira?” answered a startled voice. “This is James. James Parker. We met a few days…er…nights ago. I’m with Themis.”

“Yes, I remember you, James,” I said as I turned to look at the only other Themis member in the room. I didn’t have to ask how James had gotten my number. Danaus had used my phone to call him days ago. “I’m a little busy right now.”

“Actually, I’m looking for Danaus. You see, we’re here and we need to know where—”

“What?” I exclaimed, my thoughts coming to a screeching halt. “What do you mean ‘here’? Where’s ‘here’? And who’s this ‘we’?” That’s when I felt it. The first tear in the night. We had less than an hour before sunrise and I still needed a safe place against the daylight and the humans. “Never mind.” Stalking across the room, I slapped the phone into Danaus’s open hand.

Leaning against the wall with my arms crossed over my chest, I watched as he slowly paced away from us. The hunter quickly gave his assistant instructions to get settled in a hotel and told him he would go there after sunrise. We were all eavesdropping on the conversation. There was no such thing as privacy when a nightwalker was in the room.

I was shocked to hear that James had traveled to Heraklion with the intention of helping Danaus. We had contacted him before leaving Venice, wanting Themis to confirm that Crete would be the next location of the sacrifice, since I didn’t trust the Coven to tell the truth. It was part of the reason we had delayed our flight, waiting for the little research society to hear from all its field operatives at the twelve locations.

But I was speechless when James revealed that Ryan had come to Crete as well. The gold-eyed warlock was trouble. I might have temporarily escaped the scheming and torture of the Coven, but I was now faced with an extremely powerful human with an agenda I had yet to understand.

“What’s this Themis?” Penelope asked softly, taking a couple steps closer to me.

“The help you were looking for.” My gaze returned to Danaus as he ended the call. I’d been with the hunter every moment since we had spoken with Macaire, heard both of his conversations with James. He had not yet spoken of the Coven’s pact with the naturi. But he was now planning to meet with Ryan without me.

Will you tell him? I asked when his fingers brushed against my hand as he returned my phone.

I have to.

Don’t. Not yet. Telling him will only start a war.

And if I don’t, we could all be in danger, he argued, frowning at me. However, the look in his eyes told me a different story. He was worried and unsure. I could see it, and feel the emotions beating between us.

Just give me one more night.

Why?

I need more time to think. There has to be a better way. Please.

Postponing won’t help us.

It buys us one more night without war among all the races. Isn’t it enough that we’re fighting the naturi?

After a moment, Danaus softly grunted and walked away from me. I had bought one more night. I trusted him to keep his word, even though he had not actually spoken at all. Chaos was swirling around us and we needed to tread carefully if we had any hope of protecting what we had all come to value in this world. And I had a dark suspicion that I would get only one shot at this.

No one was happy the next night when we finally left Ryan’s hotel. Danaus didn’t want me alone with Ryan; Ryan didn’t want Danaus paired with Penelope; Penelope didn’t want to be left alone with the hunter; and James didn’t want to be left behind at the hotel. Only Hugo wasn’t verbally complaining, but by his expression, I could tell he didn’t want to go at all. By the time the bickering stopped, I was ready to leave them all behind. However, I wasn’t that insane just yet.

After waiting for Ryan to change from his dress slacks into a pair of worn blue jeans, the warlock and I set out in a tiny taxi to the Palace of Knossos. Danaus had already confirmed that the naturi left the mountains and were approaching the city. However, due to his lack of familiarity with the area, he couldn’t tell whether they had arrived yet at the Minoan ruins.

I rubbed my eyes, trying to push aside some of the tension humming through me. I didn’t feel rested. Crete was eating away at my peace of mind. My sleep had been filled with nightmares of running from an angry mob, my father fighting to save me, only to be killed himself. To add to it, I knew very little about the warlock who sat beside me. We had met only a few nights earlier at the Themis Compound back in England. Sure, we were technically on the same side now, but he’d ordered Danaus to kill me some time ago. I wasn’t completely confident that the order had merely been put on hold until this little naturi mess was cleaned up.

I was more than a little curious to discover why Ryan had come to Heraklion himself. Of course, from what I’d gathered during my brief visit to the Compound, Themis wasn’t exactly crawling with magic users. He might have been the only one with enough power and skill to be of real aid—not that this made me feel any better. But for now I had a more pressing questions beating against the back of my brain.

“What possessed you to bring James along?” I asked him, trying not to sound too snide.

“Whatever do you mean?” Ryan asked, positively oozing faux innocence. His perpetual smile grew on his lips, mocking me.

“He’s not like us. You’re putting his life in danger,” I bit out in a low voice. There was no doubt that the taxi driver could hear us; I was just hoping his English wasn’t that good. Or at the very least, that he thought we were a pair of crazy tourists. “He doesn’t need to be here.”

“That’s surprisingly sweet of you, Mira,” Ryan said, his facade of innocence never wavering. “I wouldn’t have expected that.”