Stay by Alyssa Rose Ivy Page B

Casey is insanely strong.”
    “I know.” Casey never ceased to impress me with her strength.
    Hailey shook her head. “I don’t want any details.”
    “I wasn’t talking in that way, but you need to go anyway.”
    She turned to leave.
    “Hailey?”
    She turned back. “Yeah?”
    “Be careful.”
    “Getting sentimental?”
    “Just learning that nothing is as easy as it sounds.” And you never knew when you’d seen someone again.
    “And this sounds easy?”
    “Not at all, which just makes it that much worse.”
    She laughed. “You be careful too.”
    “I will. I mean sitting on a rock is difficult work.” I laughed. “I just hope she gets back soon.”
    “She will.”
    “Do you really think so?”
    “No, but that seemed like the more socially acceptable answer.”
    I laughed again even though the reality of her words were anything but funny. “See you around.”
    “Around? Sure.” Hailey took off; disappearing into the sky like Casey’s boat had disappeared across the water.

Chapter Twelve
Vera
    “We’re so screwed.” After struggling against the rocks as a bear, I’d changed back into my human form. At least we could talk that way, although I was still deciding whether that was a good thing. The small amount of light spilling in through the ceiling made the confinement a little better, but I was still ready to get out.
    “You think?” He exhaled loudly. “I can’t believe we screwed that up.”
    “We?” I turned to him even though I couldn’t see a thing in the pitch blackness. “You were the one who pushed her too far.”
    “I was trying to distract her.”
    “Distract her? You were destroying her entire self-worth.”
    “Self-worth? Because I said Robert hadn’t wanted her?”
    “Woman work that way. They want every guy to want them, especially the guys we want. By the way, what’s with her wanting Robert? Is she talking about the former king? He’s twice her age.”
    “She’s that age too. She’s taken on the appearance of an innocent human. It’s weird.”
    “Very.” I shifted uncomfortably. Being naked wasn’t feeling very natural at the moment. Despite the darkness, I felt extremely exposed.
    “We have to find a way out. We have no choice.”
    “No kidding. I’d rather not die today.”
    “It’s bigger than us.”
    “Oh? Care to fill me in?” I didn’t like being kept in the dark.
    “Tiffany has plans to kill Allie and Levi and use Casey as a literal puppet to take over The Society.”
    “Uh, what?” Either he’d lost his mind or things were even crazier than I thought.
    “She did something to Casey’s mind. She’s in control, or can be.”
    “And she’s killing Levi and Allie so Casey becomes queen….” The pieces were starting to fall into place. I finally understood why the boss wanted her so badly.
    “That’s pretty much it. We can’t let that happen.”
    “Obviously.”
    “Any brilliant plans? Your idea to move further back into the cave served us well.”
    My mouth fell open. “I was leading us to the back entrance. You think it would have been better to head out the front? We would be worse than stuck—we’d be dead.”
    “We’re only better than dead if we find a way out of here.” Jared was one of the must infuriating people I’d ever met, and considering I’d spent years living with a bunch of jerk bears, that was saying a lot. It’s like he lived to annoy me. To be fair, I probably annoyed him a lot too, but he deserved everything that came his way.
    “There has to be a way out.” I felt around for the wall and started pushing. “There’s always a way.”
    “Generally I’d agree with you except I’ve tried everything.”
    “You have to get your strength back.” Pteron strength was nearly unstoppable. He’d normally be able to break us out in seconds.
    “You make that seem easy.”
    “The magic can’t be that strong. You’re a Pteron. Act like one.” I pushed him hard. I needed to make him angry. My sense was