Page 82 of Faerie Trials

“Are you decent?” Mike asked.

I was too exhausted even to attempt humor so I just nodded.

He closed the door behind him before fixing me with a serious look. Then he dropped my backpack to the floor and stood in front of me. “You’re home.”

“I am,” I said with a small smile.

“What happened to you?”

“My mentor found a private healer for me. My wounds were…extensive,” I told him, parroting the statement Selene had given to me. Short, believable. Private healers for hire were legal in Faerie, allowed to work outside the confines of the healing center for more extensive needs. Specialized needs, like mine. “I needed more than the healing center could provide.”

Mike nodded. Did he accept the explanation?

“You should have let me know where you were. I was worried about you. I heard the half-shifter attacked you trying to get to Coral. What were the two of you even doing together out there?”

I wanted to throw myself at him for a big hug and a good long cry—the cry because I knew I would never be able to tell him the truth. And that sucked.

“We randomly crossed paths out there during the Trial. Then the beast had us cornered. I’m sorry I didn’t let you know we were okay. Did you have to hear about it from the news?”

Mike nodded again. “I didn’t know what was going on. I went to visit Coral at the healing center. She didn’t know where you were, either.”

“I’m sorry,” I repeated. “I hate that I made you worry. It took all of my magic to get through the attack and call for help once I had him down.”

“You’re going to have to tell me the story sometime.”

I could tell there was more he wanted to say. “Of course. You know I will. Maybe after I get a little sleep.”

“At least you won’t have to go through the rest of the Trials.” Mike fidgeted but he didn’t come any closer. “I know you really wanted to sit them out altogether.”

“Look where it got me.” I offered him a grim smile.

“I brought this.” He indicated the backpack on the floor. The bag was covered in blood. Probably a mixture of mine and Onyx’s and Coral’s. A melting pot of blood. “After the Trial ended, I went to look for you. I found your bag instead.”

“Thank you.”

Mike reached into his pocket and pulled something out. Keeping eye contact, he laid it gently on the nightstand beside me. “I found this, too.”

My skin turned to ice. It was my wolf amulet.

The red-hot shaft of fear tearing through me made the rest of my wounds seem like nothing. I went hot and cold at the same time, clenching the bed covering beneath me. “Where did you get that?”

Mike leveled a serious gaze on me. “This is your necklace, isn’t it?” he said softly. “I recognize the chain. I’ve seen you wearing it a few times and didn’t think anything of it until I found it with the rest of your things last night.”

Did I bother denying what he already apparently knew? Was it worth a try?

Before I could say anything, he said, “And I know it’s the symbol of the Claw & Fang, a secret society made up of shifters that isn’t supposed to exist but does.”

I couldn’t breathe.

Mike knew.

“Is there something you want to tell me, Tavi?” he went on. “About why you have this? What…what you are?”

But I didn’t have the answers he clearly wanted. I shivered, the cold seeping through my skin all the way down to the bone. I thought I’d known fear before? Nothing compared to seeing the betrayal on Mike’s face. The betrayal, and worse—the sheer fear of what answer I’d give him.

“What are you?” he repeated.

I swallowed and felt sick. My secret was out.

The End