Page 33 of Hybrid Heroics

“How are you following him?” Briggs asked in confusion.

“I don’t know,” Novak muttered.

“This is a trap,” I finally blurted. “This entire fucking trip is a trap, but we can’t leave until Sloane wakes up.”

“Wait,” the vampire said to the wolf. “He lost me.”

I scrubbed my hand down my face, trying to slow myself down to explain everything properly. “It didn’t shock Alania when we showed up in the fae realm. It was like she knew we were coming.”

“She felt when I crossed through the portal,” Vaughn told me with a shrug.

“Yes, and no,” I responded. “It was more than that. Or less... I don’t know. She knew Sloane was coming, and I’m guessing if she had a reason to arrest her upon entry, then she would have tried.”

He shook his head. “Why—”

“Alania tried to extend our stay,” I reminded them. “She kept us locked up, and then she brought a small army into the palace. Thatcher said it himself. She alerted the summers before we ever got there.”

“So Alania knew?” the fae repeated. “But how?”

“Because Alric knew. I’m assuming he told her.”

“Why?”

I grinned at Vaughn, though it felt more like a baring of teeth… That same grin Sloane used when she was pissed but not ready to make a move.

“He needed to buy as much time as he could. And after everything in Belfast with the mages, he knew there was only one logical next step,” I explained. “So he put his plans into motion. He told Alania we were coming, and that we’d want Nate and Amelia. She saw it as keeping us occupied while she got to finish her business with Vaughn. And after an argument or thirty, Sloane grew impatient. She was only waiting for her parents and Vaughn’s sisters to be out of the way.”

“Right,” Vaughn drawled.

“But Alania waited too long. She didn’t prepare her for your growth or Sloane in general... Because Alric, for all his ploys and research, doesn’t know shit about our mate.”

Novak launched to his feet, shouting at me, “Because you were lying to him!”

“I was. I did. I sent an email right before…” I coughed. “Right before we did that spell a few weeks ago. And I told him I thought she’d caught onto me, that I feared for my life. And then I told him all the powers I’d seen her use—”

“But none of it was true,” the vampire interrupted, excitement in his voice.

“Not a single line,” I assured them.

“That’s why you had to do the spell that night,” he realized. “Why you couldn’t put it off or find another way.”

I nodded. “He would have felt my death. Just like he would have felt Raguel’s. By now, he knows I’m alive and lied to him... But I don’t know if he knows about Rig.”

“Back to Alania for a minute…” Vaughn waved his hands, as if he was still a few minutes behind in processing all this information.

“She thought she could eat her cake and have it too,” I clarified. “She wanted you dead, and Alric needed Sloane weakened so he has a chance in hell at killing her. If Alania could help with that problem, then she had something to hold over his head.”

Vaughn tipped his head. “But she’s dead.”

“Plan B,” I replied. “Alric didn’t have a great relationship with his mate. They were estranged, their bond broken. So he was prepared for her to be collateral damage. He sacrificed her for his greater good. Just like he’s sacrificed his children.”

“We’ve only killed three of them,” Briggs stated, like that knowledge made this any better.

Stone snorted. “We’ve only killed three of his kids and his estranged mate... Yet we don’t know if that makes him weaker or stronger.”

“He also has loads of other documented and undocumented kids,” York reminded us.

“He does,” I confirmed. “And Miller is looking for them. What I do know is that those deaths haven’t made him weaker or stronger. He was indifferent about them, only using them to further his agenda.”