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I pressed the buzzer at the door. Resonant doorbells echoed within. When the silence stretched with no answer, I tried the door once more.
“Perhaps there are other ways to enter,” Jalen suggested. He looked at the entryways and scoped the windows.
“Tempting, but I do not want to disturb any wards,” I said.
“This is beyond troubling,” Rothgar growled. He paced the length of the front porch, scanning the streets for any sign of her. “She should be here.”
“Perhaps she is back on campus, and we have just missed her,” Jalen said.
“You should have planted a tracker on her,” Rothgar muttered.
That wasn’t a bad idea, considering.
“Maybe it would be worth going in and doing a welfare check?” Jalen offered. “I could go in and out and make sure her wards are intact.”
Rothgar jumped on that idea. “Yes, do that! What if she’s hurt and immobilized and cannot call out?”
“Because I do not want her first impression of us at her home to be one where we barged in, uninvited.”
“Don’t worry, if you do, we spelled the entryway to knock any intruders back to the street anyway,” a familiar voice called out from behind the door.
“Boudica?” How long had she been standing there? I hadn’t heard her, and from the look on Rothgar and Jalen’s faces, neither did they.
Her sharp-edged voice confirmed her identity. “Feel free to leave anytime you want. You’re not welcome inside.”
“What does Capricorn have to say about that?” I challenged the warrior.
“I wouldn’t know. She’s not here. But if she were, I could guarantee you she would repeat what I said.”
Capricorn wasn’t here. “Wait, if she is not here, where is she? And dammit, Boudica, open the door so I can speak to you properly.”
“Hm, let me think about that. Oh, wait—No! Leave, Tharraka. You are not invited here, and I, for one, cannot be charmed by you. So take you, your friends, and your silver tongue off my property.”
The warrior woman did not want propriety, fine. Bracing my hands on the threshold, I speak slowly so there would be no misunderstanding. “Capricorn was staying at the tavern, but she is no longer there, and that blasted pixie would not speak to me, and neither are you. What has happened?”
Silence. “Are you serious right now?” She threw the door open. Boudica was clothed in her leathers, her hair braided back, a weapon strapped to her back. A sheen of sweat glistened from her skin. If it hadn’t been for the evidence that we had interrupted a training workout, I would have believed that Boudica armed herself before greeting us purposefully.
“You don’t know why she wouldn’t want to see you right now?”
I froze at her words. “I must be misunderstanding you,” I said. “Your words seem to imply that Capricorn hides herself from us purposely.”
“Implying it? I’m damn well saying it.”
Rothgar swallowed down a roar. “I do not believe you. She wants us. All of us. She wanted to celebrate our return.”
“Celebrate what, you disgusting pig? Everyone has seen that video that you and your little friends recorded, guest starring Capri without her knowledge or consent. Ev-ery-one.”
Boudica’s eyes narrowed as she enunciated that last word. The meaning in her gaze was clear. There was only one video that involved all of us, but how in the world did she know about it? When I asked her the question, she replied, “Does it matter?”
“Yes, it matters. It was supposed to just be for family.”
“Family? Are you joking? That is something that you guys celebrate as a family?”
“Yes, because it is a mating bond that was started.”
“Are you joking?” Bo fists her hair. ”You just met her. Why are you starting a mating bond?”
I did not have to explain myself to this one, warrior or no, female or no. She would not understand the mysteries we held, how we knew who was ours.
