The succubus turned her head. "Wake up, Aife." She opened her eyes and looked to the foot of her bed. "Isabeau?."
The young succubus stood. "You remember my name, that's good. I came here to make sure the blood king did as he was told. You fucked up. I hope you know that." Bo's eyes looked like clear blue water.
"No, you fucked up by coming here." Aife shook her chains.
"See, it's an attitude like that, that's keeping you chained up. You should have called me. Come home. Done something other than what you did. I am not scared of you. I never have been, never will be. But you came after Lauren. That will never be tolerated. Now, since you are chained up, you can't do anything. But the one thing your lips will do is apologize to Lauren. She's a human and she means a lot to me. But you already knew that. He never would have known where she was had you not set this plan in motion. A dumb plan at that. Bo has a little patience for you, I don't have any. Don't make me come back out or see you again. It will be the last time you breathe." Blue eyes turned brown as Bo turned and walked out of the room. She smiled when she heard a baby crying. She knows it is Tamsin. If she grows as quickly as quickly as Bo hopes, she will be fully grown soon. She walked out to the bar area and eyed Trick. He didn't say or do anything but pass her a shot. She slammed it and pushed the glass down towards the other end of the counter. "You have a diaper to change." She said and made her exit. She turned her head up and sighed. She needed to do this. To make sure two enemies are still where they need to be. Where they should be. While her succubus is ready and able to kill Aife, she needs to recover and live long enough to apologize to Lauren.
Apologize. Bo needs to apologize too. Apologize for making Lauren feel so low in priority that she up and left without an official goodbye. She had been up most of the night thinking about the blonde. That's all she can do right now. It is all that she wants to do. She wants to fix everything that's wrong between them. But Lauren has to want that too. She has to want at least a friendship again. Right now, they are borderline strangers. Strangers. She has never felt like a stranger with Lauren.
Aife and Trick.
"Release me!." Aife screamed.
"I can't do that. You need to sleep it off. I can't have Bo knowing I haven't written in my blood to help you, yet. Like I didn't write in my blood in time enough to keep you from avenging Isabeau's death." Trick sat in a chair close enough but not far from the bed.
"One of us had to. Mother died and you fled to your precious lair. I'm out busting balls and ass and my coward ass father went into hiding. Scared of the Dark Fae. The mighty Blood King, scared." Aife gritted her teeth and yanked at her restraints again.
"I told you that I would handle it!." Trick snapped.
"You're a pussy, Trick. You wait until the very last minute to do shit. Just like Bo's request that you write in your blood to help me, you won't do it. Get out of here. I will figure out a way out of these and out of this musty bar." Aife shook her head and planted it on her pillow.
Trick walked out of the room and shook his head. He took a large breath and let it go. Their lives are a mess. Aife is caged. Bo is, well, Bo. Lauren is free and the old Ash is out there. Everything is in chaos and he can't fix it. None of it. The Elders have closed ranks too. Either they are scared of Bo or Aife. Probably both.
Kenzi and Dyson.
"What the shit did you make of last night?." Kenzi shook her head.
"I don't know. Tamsin and Aife are still locked up and neither of us has seen Bo. We know for sure that she's probably with Lauren. Noah is out there. It's a mess, Kenzi. I could go to Trick but he is right in the middle of everything. He won't write in his blood so he's as stuck as we are." Dyson rubbed his chin and looked around the clubhouse.
"I'm a good talker and Bo listens to me. She may listen to me now, if she'd answer my calls." Kenzi frowned at her phone.
"You'd have better luck trying to reach Lauren first but from what I heard and saw, I wouldn't recommend that either. The best we can do is sit and wait." Dyson put his feet up and leaned back on the couch.
"You're a wolf. Go find Bo. We need her to call off the dogs, so to speak. If this Noah guy can kick your ass, we are going to need the Dark Valkyrie." Kenzi walked across the room.
"I have been trying to pick up on Bo's scent. She's changed it. We both know they know how to do that. It's how I lost my chance with her. I didn't get to her in time. Lauren did. But the best thing is, I will always have another chance because Bo and I will live forever. I will just wait." Dyson smiled.
"Don't give me that human-fae shit. It is not the time for that. Our family is being decimated. As long as Lauren is out there, Bo will stay out there. We need to get to her to save Tamsin. Then Noah can be dealt with and everything can go back to normal." Kenzi replied.
"He has people, Kenz. We wouldn't be just fighting him." Dyson leaned forward.
"How many people can the ex-Ash have? The Light are probably pissed that he survived and they didn't know. His people can't be as loyal to him as you think. I just want Bo back. She's my best friend and at this rate, she may never return without us going to get her." Kenzi sighed into a chair.
"She will come back, Kenz. Relax." Dyson looked up at the woman. He'd been in this situation for hundreds of years. He had always been protected because he was always close with Trick. Random Fae would die and he would escape the massacres. "Why do you care about getting Tamsin, anyway?."
"I don't but we need all the Fae we can get to fight this guy. I don't trust him around or with Bo." Kenzi looked towards the windows.
"Lauren must trust him. If she trusts him, Bo will trust her. She will stay around Lauren as long as she wants to. Whether Lauren wants her there or not." Dyson went to grab another beer. Kenzi had run out, so he popped for a case.
"What happened in her Dawning? Kenzi asked.
"I told her I love her and would wait for her." Dyson sighed as the beer went down his throat.
"And?." Kenzi asked.
"And nothing. She punched me when I touched her. I eventually kissed her and we were separated." Dyson explained. It was embarrassing but this is Kenzi he is talking to. She will never shame him or kick his dreams down a flight of stairs.
"She didn't ask you to wait? She didn't say she loves you too?." Kenzi rubbed her head.
"No. She's never said that actually." Dyson cringed at his own answer. He wishes Bo would say it. But she hasn't yet. He is not sure she ever will.
"Well, she's not coming back anytime soon." Kenzi laughed. She has nothing to do with Bo gone besides drink, hang at the Dal or with Dyson, Hale or Trick.
Noah.
"Find more men. There must always be people surrounding Lauren, wherever she goes." Noah spoke into his phone and hung up.
"I love the Black Panther movie." The Morrigan slinked up beside him.
"What do you want, Evony? I'm a Jaguar." Noah turned towards her.
"I just got word that you were still alive with no serious ties to the Light Fae. That makes you ripe to join the Dark Fae. My name is the Morrigan." She straightened her shoulders.
"I don't need the Light or the Dark and I don't need your presence darkening my day." Noah half smiled. The Morrigan could find an old rat by following its piss.
"Every Fae must choose besides that succubus. You know that." The Morrigan turned serious.
"As I said, I don't need the Light or the Dark. The succubus is another matter. Unless you're talking about Aife, she's your problem. The Dark Succubus." Noah raised his hand for one of his men to stand down.
"I meant Bo. She gets to stay unaligned while the rest of us have to choose. That must crawl up your ass and stay there like stuck shit." The Morrigan folded her arms.
"Bo's important to Lauren. She is not important to me. You are wasting my time, Evony." Noah put some stank on her name.
"So, that's it, I can't change your mind. You know more shit will be coming when the Fae gets wind of your whereabouts. You can't fight both sides, alone." The Morrigan dropped her arms.
"Be on your way, Evony." Noah's hand pulled one of his men forward to escort the Morrigan away.
"You will need me. You know that!." The Morrigan screamed over her shoulder.
"Keep twenty on Lauren but get everyone else here. Right here." Noah spoke softly as he watched the Morrigan disappear through some doors.
Lauren.
The doctor sat eating breakfast and nursing a glass of orange juice. The current threat is under control. There is nothing for her to do but be Lauren. Lauren Lewis, she corrected herself. Really, she doesn't need to be anyone right now. There is no need to pretend she cares what the Fae thinks. There is no need to put on a fake smile for Lachlan. Noah does make her smile though. He turned out to be a good guy after she saved his life. She suspects he had been freed of faking his smiles for the fae too.
She stood and took her plate to the kitchen. She loaded the dishwasher and grabbed a bottle of water. What are you going to do, Lauren? What are you going to do with the rest of your life, played over and over again in her head. Bo. Bo is out there somewhere doing who knows what. Lauren nearly lost her life when the succubus took over. If she can't trust that succubus, how can she trust Bo? They share everything.
The succubus. She showed up when the Lich had a knife at Lauren's throat. She showed up when Lauren had been grabbed in that sex club. She showed up for Dyson. No threat to Lauren but the wolf was dead. Bo screamed not like this and not again. Could she have surfaced to prevent Bo from thinking she was the monster Lauren said she wasn't? Bo had taken her to dinner because she hadn't been eating like she should. Which prompted Lauren to get up, shower and actually make some breakfast. In her old loft she'd barely make toast before she had been summoned for her duties of the day. Well, stop hiding and get it all out there. She reached for her phone and called the young succubus. Bo sounded tired for a fae and a little excited. Half an hour later, the succubus was knocking at her door. She knew that knock without ever having to check a peephole.
"Hi." Bo spoke softly as she slowly walked in.
"Hi and I will get right to it, Bo. My life is my life. I won't alter it in any way for you or your friends, again." Lauren spoke as softly as she could. She felt like she had shown her whole ass by leaving and not telling Bo goodbye and the rest to fuck off.
"Wow. Okay. I guess my time is done here." Bo bowed her head and turned back to the door.
"I didn't say you had to leave. I will listen to you." Lauren took a seat and watched the woman struggle with her decision. Stay or go.
"I thought you wanted to talk. I just wasn't expecting that." Bo turned and took a seat in the nearest chair.
"I'm done, Bo." Lauren sighed.
"With me?." Bo's heart dropped.
"I'm done kneeling, bowing and being pissed on. Whatever degrading thing the Fae made me do or did to me themselves." Lauren settled back into her seat. Bo looked at the blonde. There was a new look in her eyes. A new resolve. She wondered if she was even in Lauren's sights anymore. "You are comfortable there. As Trick's granddaughter, as Dyson's mate and as Kenzi's best friend. None of which entertains or is comfortable for me." She pulled Bo from her confusion.
"You're right. All of that is true. Trick is my grandfather. Kenzi is my best friend. I am Dyson's mate. A mate that I have never returned feelings for. A mate that I have never said I love. I love you, Lauren. I didn't know all of this hung over you." Bo licked her lips.
"It doesn't, anymore. I just wanted you to know where my head is. I won't back down from any of it. Now that I no longer wear the Ash emblem, I am not bound to the Dal or any other Fae hotspot." Lauren stood to pour drinks.
"Lauren." Bo shook her head.
"You broke me, Bo. I have to put myself back together. You wanted to save his life with a doctor's chi. You didn't care about my life. Only his. Kenzi probably patted you on the back with endless smiles when you saved her boy. But he's not my boy. He's not even my friend. He's your placeholder until I return. If I ever do." Lauren handed Bo a drink. When their fingers touched they looked at each other until Lauren pulled back.
"You don't trust me, do you Lauren?." Bo finally stood.
"I can't answer that with complete certainty. You took my chi, I was forced to treat him as ward of the Fae and didn't have time to treat myself. Had I not found Noah, I would probably be in a hospital with tubes in my arms and recuperating." Lauren took a drink and looked out the window.
"I killed him in there, Lauren. I had to bring him back. He was my responsibility. I had to try and bring him back. You can understand that right? You're a doctor." Bo spoke softly.
"My patients have never tried to kill me to save themselves or someone else. Not even in the fields. So, no, I can't understand that." Lauren cleared her throat.
Bo rubbed her head violently. There is nothing she can say. Not even to a brilliant doctor that will make her understand. "It is like when I killed Kyle. I didn't know how to bring him back. Bringing Dyson back was like I came full circle in saving someone else. That's all I did, Lauren. I saved him. I never returned his love in my Dawning. I never told him I loved him. He told me." She was nearly in tears. She loves this woman so much and Lauren still doesn't believe her. She doesn't trust her. They are new to each other again. Lauren is distant and Bo is new to her demeanor and aloofness. There they stood, in silence. Bo heard a clock ticking in the backroom but other than that, there wasn't a sound to be heard. Lauren spotted Noah's men moving around the house. They were walking like robots. So precise with every step. "I don't know what to say, Lauren. I don't know what to do. Yes, I flirted with him a little but that was the gist of it. I thought you were still at the Dal and when that tape came, I knew you weren't. Dyson and I have a strange relationship but it hasn't been more than friends in a long time. I'm here because you called me. I'm here because I want to be. I have taken care of my mother. She's not a threat to you or me anymore. Nobody is if we don't let them be." She set her empty glass down.
"When Kenzi was taken you blamed me for not being able to trick Trick into getting you out of that cage. It was your mouth that all but said you would never forgive me and threatened me should anything had happened to her. She's that important to you. Dyson is important enough that he got what he wanted, you alone in your Dawning. You probably slept with him too. You're right. I don't trust you but you deserved to know how I'm feeling so you are not sitting around like a lovesick wolf waiting for the human to die." Lauren kept her eyes out the window.
"We wouldn't be here like this if it weren't for that damn thing. And why did I need to go in when nothing dangerous happened? I was probably tricked into going in there too early. They wanted me to kill as one of my tests. They wanted me to make amends with Mary. How was any of that related to going in and coming back out? I saw my crib. I saw the back of my father but never his face. None of that was necessary. I lost my relationship the minute we went into that portal. Well, I'm out now. Trying to get my relationship back. There's no going back for me. I'm here. Right here. In love with you." Bo moved closer to Lauren but stood far enough away that if the doctor turned around, they would have plenty of space between them. "It is okay if you don't like my friends. They are just that, my friends. It is okay if you don't like Toronto. That is their town. You are my world. My life. If you weren't, I would be back there, miserable and deep in a bottle or chocolate candy. Not in his bed or their ears." Lauren's silence triggered Bo's patience. "Is this about him? Is he taking you from me?."
"Yes! Bo! That's it. Noah is so attractive to me that I can't stay off of him!." Lauren finally turned around.
"Dr. Lewis!? Is something wrong?!." A big man burst through the door.
"The succubus is leaving and I need a car. Have one pulled around." Lauren put her back against the wall. Bo never took her eyes off of the woman as she was roughly but gently pulled from the house and the door was closed in front of her.
"Dr. Lewis wants a car, bring one around." The man turned around.
Bo slammed her head on her steering wheel. When she felt bruised, she raised her head. "Mine." Blue eyes lit up the rear view mirror and she waited for Lauren's car to pull off first. Then she followed. "If you don't believe, I will make you believe." The succubus growled.