Page 57 of Ashes

“Have you figured it out yet?” she asks, staring at me.

“Huh?” I need to get my head back in the game.

“How we’ll get him out? You said you’d come up with a plan.”

I swing my legs up and slide under the covers. Nova lies down on her side, facing me. Her hair fans out on the pillow beneath her. Once again, the knowledge I’m in bed with my brothers’ girl makes me shift uncomfortably.

“I think so.” I’m on my back but look at her sideways. “Sam said they won’tlethim leave—if he’s indentured to the club, it means whoever owns the place bought him. They paid for him. He’s their property. So, there’s pretty much only one thing that could secure his release.”

Nova sits up on her elbow.

“Money,” I tell her. “If we offer the owner enough money, hemightlet Sam go.”

“You’re saying we have to buy him? We buy my brother?”

I lace my fingers together behind my head, jutting out my elbows. “Yes, Nova. We buy your brother.” I look at her and add, “It actually kind of works. After what happened… we tell them you saw Sam up on stage and just couldn’t stand seeing him hurt like that. Now you want to take him home and make him all better. I’m your husband. I’ll do anything to make you happy. We ask how much they want for him—”

“And that’ll work?” she asks, frowning.

I breathe in slowly. “If it doesn’t, we can get Snow and Kole to tear the place apart. But, given the circumstances, it’s best if we avoid causing a scene.” I pause, then add, “Anymoreof a scene, that is.”

“Do we have that kind of money? How much does a human being cost?”

“First of all, Sam’s a werewolf, not a human,” I correct her, a little snappily. “Second of all,a lotI’d imagine.”

Nova repeats her question. “How will we pay them?”

“Daddy Mack will sort it.” I give her a knowing glance. For a moment, she tries to look annoyed, then laughs instead. After the heaviness of the last few hours, it’s nice to see her smile. And it’s nice to think Mack has that effect on her. After all he’s been through, it’s time he found some happiness.

Lying back on the pillows, Nova reaches for the light switch. The room plunges into darkness.

I hear her wriggling down into the sheets. I swallow hard, wondering if she’s thinking about Mack and the things he does to her. She’s probably not. She’s probably thinking about her brother and all the awful things she just witnessed. But clearly, that club has put my mind in the gutter.

“Luther?”

“Mmm?” My voice comes out croaky. I try again. “Yeah?”

“Why do you hate humans so much?”

I blink up at the pitch-dark ceiling. “I don’t hate humans.”

“That’s not what I’ve heard.”

I sigh, frustrated, and swipe my hand over my face. “Well, you heard wrong. I don’t trust humans, but that’s not the same as hating them.”

“Why?” Her question hangs in the air between us.

“Why?”

“Why don’t you trust them?”

I shake my head and laugh a deep laugh. This isn’t a conversation I intended to have tonight. In fact, it’s a conversation I rarely intend to have. With anyone. “It’s a long story.”

Nova doesn’t speak. I can hear her breath moving up and down in her chest.

I close my eyes. “Okay, I’ll give you the short version… I grew up in a town on the cusp of the anti-magick belt. Pretty much all pure-blood supers. A place called Solleville. We kept ourselves to ourselves and didn’t have too many problems. Until the A.M.A started up in a village nearby.” I grip the bedsheet and twist it between my fingers. “I was sixteen. They invaded in the middle of the night.”

Nova holds her breath.