“He’s known since last summer.” Jono leaned his head back against the headrest and grimaced. “Ethan knows because he saw what was in my soul in preparation for his sacrifice. Lucien and Carmen found out when I left to get Patrick after he’d stayed at the Crimson Diamond to save Kennedy in August. Gerard and Keith know because they were there with us in the Spring Queen’s Court when I reinforced our bargain with the fae. Now you and Leon know.”
“Ethan knows?” Emma asked after half a minute of silence.
Jono closed his eyes and tried not to think about that time spent in Ethan’s hands. “He knew, somehow, about Fenrir, or that the gods were going to give me to Patrick. Either way, it made me a target at the time.”
Emma didn’t speak again until they were driving north on the FDR, heading for Queensboro Bridge. “It kind of feels like you don’t want us to know anything.”
“I…” Jono’s voice trailed off, and he opened his eyes, staring blankly at the red taillights stretched out before them. Evening rush-hour traffic was fucking terrible no matter the city. “Fenrir didn’t speak to me until after I got infected with the werevirus. I was making a right mess of things in London at the time. Then I woke up one day with his voice in my head and his claws in my soul and he wouldn’t leave.”
“Did Marek know? When he went to London to bring you here?”
Jono turned his head, staring at Emma’s profile limned in the faint shine of headlights and taillights. “No. He never mentioned Fenrir when he made his offer.”
“Maybe he knew and just never said anything. Like you.”
“Em.” Jono rubbed tiredly at his face. “Is this going to be a problem?”
“You lying?”
“Me obeying the gods because I had no bloody choice.”
Some of the anger seemed to dissipate in her scent, her slim shoulders slumping. “I just don’t know why you couldn’t trust us.”
Jono reached over and slid his hand beneath the thick fall of her hair to curl his fingers around the back of her neck. “I’ve trusted you since the day you picked me up from the airport when I first arrived. That’s never going to change. This wasn’t about trusting you, but about keeping you and the rest of your pack safe.”
He took a breath, catching when the rest of her anger drained away into frustrated sadness, the sting of it making Jono swallow. Emma took her eyes off the road for a split second to glance his way, huffing out a sigh.
“We told you for years we’d follow you.”
Jono tapped his fingers against her spine before pulling back. “I know, but Patrick wasn’t here yet.”
“Have you told him about what’s happened this week?”
“No.”
Emma rolled her eyes and focused on the road. “You’re in for a world of hurt with that one when you finally do. My couch is ready for your dumb ass.”
“Ta,” Jono said wryly.
The tension that had been between them since leaving Ginnungagap finally disappeared on the drive to Queens. Jono was grateful for the respite. He knew he’d been a shit friend over that decision, but he also knew he’d been in the right. He hadn’t been in any position to challenge anyone before Patrick showed up in New York City last year.
Their lives had become a right mess since then, but Jono didn’t regret the path they were walking. He had a home and a pack now, just like Marek had promised. Jono wasn’t giving those up without a fight.
Emma switched on the satellite radio and picked a music station at random. They didn’t talk much on the drive into Queens, but Jono didn’t mind. Traffic meant their progress was slow, but Emma eventually pulled off onto NY-25A, following it to Jackson Heights. The Queens neighborhood was blocks of residential buildings and a destination for middle-class families looking to escape the high costs of Manhattan.
Several packs called Jackson Heights home, two of whom had asked Jono for protection. After the mess the other night, Jono had pushed back this meeting until he’d fully healed from being poisoned. Victoria’s potions had done their job, and while Jono felt better, he wasn’t keen on a repeat of the other night.
Which was why he and Emma weren’t immediately heading for the packs, but to negotiate borders with Rajesh, the master vampire of the Queens Night Court.
Lucien owned the Manhattan Night Court and held brutal influence over the rest of the Night Courts in the five boroughs. He wasn’t one to be crossed without consequences. Jono knew the master vampires outside Manhattan worked cautiously with Lucien when they had to, and tried to steer clear of him when they didn’t.
An alliance with Lucien wasn’t a guarantee of compliance from the other Night Courts though, but Jono would be damned if he didn’t leverage Lucien’s reputation to get what he wanted. Namely, some bloody fucking reprieve for the packs under his protection when it came to borders brushing up against vampire-held territory and interference from Estelle and Youssef’s god pack.
“Huh,” Emma said, breaking through his thoughts.
Jono blinked, recognizing that furious tone in her voice. “What is it?”
“Pretty sure we have a tail. That black Honda Civic has been following us since we got on the FDR.”
Jono looked at the rearview mirror and the side mirror, picking out the car in question—two vehicles back, in the next lane over. He squinted, vision sharpening as he tried to make out who the driver was.
“You think it’s a hunter?” Emma asked.
“No,” Jono said slowly, catching the faintest gleam of amber in the driver’s eyes. “God pack.”
“They could have hunters in the back seat or following us in another car.”
Jono knew that was a possibility they couldn’t ignore. “Let’s get to our destination.”
Jackson Heights was a sea of red-bricked apartment buildings and the occasional storefront. Most of it could have doubled for suburbia in a midsized town if one squinted. People lived out here to escape
