Into the Fire (The Unseelie Court Book 4) by Gwen Rivers (latest ebook reader .TXT) 📕

That’s why I had to wait until she was gone to approach you and plant the orders in the guards. I’ve never encountered such a focused human. Any spell I tried to put her under would shatter. Better she finds their remains and fear us.” She meets my gaze in the rearview mirror. “Besides, I was hungry.”

I shudder in revulsion.

The view out the window changes steadily. Instead of frost-covered trees and fields or icy patches of water, scrubby bushes and seagrass abound as we make our way to the coast.

Angrboda swings through a drive-thru. The speaker thingy has an out of order sign on it so she drives up to the window. The bored-looking girl with bad acne at the register slides the glass back and pokes her shaggy brown head out. “What’ll it be?”

“Fries and a chocolate shake for me,” Chloe wrinkles her nose. “Nic?”

Something coming from inside that place smells heavenly. “What is that amazing smell?”

“Um….bacon?” The girl guesses. “It just finished frying up.”

“Nic, no.” Chloe turns in her seat, her horror mimicking my own.

“Oh gods,” I breathe even as my mouth waters. Damn it, my baby is a freaking half-wolf carnivore.

“Ma’am?” The girl is staring at me through the car window, eyeballing my weird terrycloth dress and blanket ensemble. “You okay?”

“She’s on the way to rehab,” the giantess says and then makes the decision for me. “Two double bacon cheeseburgers, three fries, and three chocolate shakes.”

She forks over a wad of cash, ignoring my cry of protest.

“I can’t,” I spit when the girl slides the window shut.

“You might not have a choice,” the giantess says. “Cravings mean the baby needs something. I tucked entire Nordic villages away when I was knocked up with Fenrir.”

The food is passed through the window in a brown sack and a cupholder for the shakes. Chloe passes the bag back to me like grease-stained contraband.

“I’ve never eaten meat.” It’s almost a whimper.

“And I never eat sailors named Sven, but somehow I managed while expecting Jormangonder. It’s not for you, it’s for your child who is destined to save the world. What badass baby wants, badass baby gets.” Angrboda holds out a hand. “Quit being such a flipping princess and pass me a burger.”

I reach into the bag and remove a paper-wrapped sandwich and pass it up to her.

Chloe stares at me as I ignore the burger and start in on the fries. Though they are salty and greasy, the meat smell is stronger and is distracting the hell out of me. I pull the burger out and unwrap it. Hold it up to my mouth.

Chloe’s scent has changed to burnt toast, a sure sign of the Norn’s displeasure.

“Stop staring,” I snap at her. “You’re making me even more uncomfortable.”

“Sorry.” She turns around in her seat, not sounding the least bit contrite.

Again, I bring the thing up into biting position. I think about the fragile little lub dub of my baby’s heartbeat. She needs this, like medicine.

I sink my teeth in and rip off a monstrous bite.

“Good?” The giantess asks me.

I can’t answer. I’m too busy tearing into the thing with all my might. Best. Medicine. Ever.

“Oh, Nic,” Chloe grimaces.

“Don’t judge me!” I shriek around a mouthful.

Angrboda’s shoulders shake with silent mirth.

I lick the last drips of grease off my fingers and let out an indelicate burp. No shame. It’s Aiden’s baby who will be at least part werewolf. I’m almost sorry I didn’t try the FBI’s meatloaf.

The lighthearted bubble bursts. Almost.

The landscape continues to grow wilder with signs of civilization fewer and farther in between. There are warning signs about large distances between gas stops. Angrboda, the evil witch, stops at one and when she goes in to pay she brings back a sack full of beef jerky.

“I hate your face,” I say around a mouthful of the stuff.

“Wait until you get a steak. You’ll want to have my babies.”

We drive on, crossing through salt marshes and then the inland waterway.

“What’s in the Outer Banks?” I ask when I see a sign.

Instead of answering, Chloe turns to look at Angrboda. “Are we through?”

“Through what?” I ask. We’re crossing another massive bridge. “Is there a tunnel or something?”

“Just another minute,” the giantess clenches her hands on the steering wheel.

A ripple of something washes over the car. It feels like transitioning from our world to go beyond the Veil when crossing into Underhill. “Did we just pass beyond the Veil?”

“Not exactly.” Chloe turns around in her seat. “It’s a pocket realm. Not a full world like Underhill. It’s tucked within a fold of the Veil and can’t be breached except with the help of a giant.”

“In the Outer Banks?” I raise a brow. “Pretty sure people know about this place.”

“Think of it as a parallel dimension,” Chloe says. “The laws of physics apply here just as they do in our world. But even if Agent Hanson picks up our trail, she won’t be able to cross. It’s a mirror to our own world. Same landmasses, same rules of nature, no annoying mortals.”

“Pocket realm.” I nod slowly. “So what, we’re just going to camp out on the beach until the heat dies down? Little cold for that, Chloe.”

She turns back around. “We have somewhere to go. Someone we’re staying with.”

My lips part to ask another question, but then I think better of it. She’ll tell me when she wants me to know.

Full of meat and exhausted, I lean back against the headrest. “Wake me when we get…wherever it is we’re going.”

Though I shut my eyes I can’t sleep. Images of Astrid’s lifeless face haunt me. Had Hanson found her body? I hope not. Astrid deserved a little peace. I wondered if she realized that I’d killed the man who’d shot her. If she’d take him back to her lab and cut him open to study how my poison worked.

I slip into a light doze and see…her. My mother.

Underhill strides through the underground palace, her smart heels clicking on the polished moonstone floor. She