When Sparks Fly (Netherworld Series Book 3)

by Olivia Hutchinson

  Shit.

  He took another step toward her, his dark eyes nothing but empty pits. Her hand wrapped around a can and she flung it at him, striking him in the chest.

  “You’re going to hurl cans at me?” he asked with another laugh.

  She did it again, this time it struck his thigh. He was still coming toward her. More cans flew out of her hands, this time in rapid succession. Fruit cocktail, baked beans, tuna. Anything she could grab became a weapon.

  “Do you know how annoying that is?” he yelled.

  “You think I give a shit if I’m annoying you?” Screaming, she hulled another. The can smacked his forehead, this time cutting his skin. He lifted his hand to his face. When he saw the blood that coated his fingers, he gnashed his teeth.

  The fae bound toward her, his buzzing black wings pushing him faster than she anticipated. She turned and bolted for the door. The buzzing was deafening and she didn’t spare a second to glance back. Focused on the door, headlights shone in the window and hope ignited in her chest.

  Sharp pain stung her spine and she cried out. Liquid heat rolled down her spine and she realized he’d wounded her. She fell onto the tile, sprawled onto her stomach. The fae was only an arm’s length away and she tried to crawl away from him and get to her feet at the same time.

  She was screaming when the fae grasped a handful of her hair and jerked her back. Struggling to free herself, she pulled against him, hair ripping from her scalp.

  Then his knife was at her throat, biting into her skin.

  “Say goodbye, witch.”

  14

  The windows had been open. That was the only reason why he’d heard her scream.

  Slamming on breaks, Jonah jerked the SUV toward the sound. Travis, holding on the door, yelled something next to him, but he ignored it.

  Maggie.

  They’d circled the perimeter of the town and had seen nothing. Had heard nothing. Everything seemed quiet and peaceful. They’d talked about heading over to the armory, but he’d insisted on picking Maggie up first. He thought she’d be done at the store by now and probably heading back to the police department.

  But then the sound of her screaming had cut into his chest like an ice pick and he’d swung the vehicle around. It was a knee-jerk reaction and one he couldn’t help. One he didn’t want to help if it meant finding his mate.

  The SUV jerked to a stop in front of the store.

  Through the glass in front of him, he saw her. A mixture of relief and fear filled him. She was on her knees, the fae standing behind her. She clawed his arms, struggling to pull away from him as he held her by the hair. A bloody knife pressed to her throat.

  “Fuck!” he heard Travis exclaim.

  Jonah scrambled out of the SUV, ready to fling his body through the glass to get to her. Never had he felt such a murderous rage boil within him.

  A shot blasted. A hole formed in the center of the fae’s forehead and he was knocked back, the knife sliding across Maggie’s throat.

  “Maggie!” Jonah slammed through the door.

  The blast rattled her ears and the fae’s knife bit into her skin. She turned her head and wrenched herself from his grasp as he fell, her hand wrapping around the blade to keep it from sliding into her any more than it already had. She fell back, landing partially on top of the male.

  A second later she was ripped away from the fae, her arms outstretched to steady herself, and finding the strong arms of her mate.

  “Maggie!” Jonah’s voice filled her ears and relief washed over her. She collapsed against his chest.

  “Is she hurt?” she heard Travis ask. When she glanced up, she saw the deputy standing in the doorway. His body was silhouetted against the bright light of the headlights. He held a gun in his hand.

  Am I hurt?

  “Maggie,” Jonah said again, this time grasping her face and forcing her to look at him. “Are you okay?”

  When his fingers slid through the stickiness of her neck, she gasped. He breathed a sigh of relief and she knew she wasn’t dying.

  “He just nicked you, thank God.” Jonah pulled her into his arms, his grip tight.

  She cried out, agony shooting through her back, and he immediately released her.

  “Shit…,” Travis muttered when he came close enough to see the injury on her back.

  Jonah held her upper arms, steadying her, as he stared over her shoulder. The pain was just starting to break through the cobwebs that were clouding her mind. It ached, her skin burned, and it felt hot and wet. Blood.

  “How bad is it?” she asked them, not sure she wanted to know.

  “You’re going to be okay,” Jonah reassured her.

  Travis was heading down one of the aisles. “I’ll get something to put on it.”

  She stared down at the dead fae, unbelieving how close she’d come to joining Mr. Martin on the floor of the store.

  Mr. Martin.

  When she heard Travis curse a second later, she realized he’d found the old man’s body. “Jonah.”

  Jonah looked to where Travis has called for him and then back to Maggie. “I’ll be right back.”

  She nodded her head as the tears started. She’d always loved Mr. Martin. He’d always been kind to her, ever since she was little. It was wrong the way his life had ended. So wrong. She stared down at the dead fae again, rage boiling inside of her.

  She was glad he was dead. The hole in his forehead hadn’t been a slow enough death for him. Maggie’s stomach turned, threatening to spill whatever contents she had left but she managed to control herself. It would do her no good to brew hatred. They had more significant issues to worry about. Had he acted alone? Were more coming?

  Jonah knelt in front of her a second later. He lifted the back of her shirt and she jerked when he pressed something against her back.

  “I need to stop the bleeding,” he told her, his voice soft. “Travis, call Pecora.”

  “On it!” Travis went through the front door to the SUV.

  “What about Mr. Martin?” she asked Jonah as he helped her to her feet.

  He looped his arm around her lower back, steadying her and avoiding the wound. “Don’t worry. We’ll get people in here to get him.”

  She nodded. She didn’t want to leave his body on the floor like that. He deserved better.

  “Dana is calling Mike and Al,” Travis said when they got to the SUV. “She’s also going to call your father, so he can alert the Elders. Pecora is going to meet you at your place.”

  “Thanks, Travis.”

  Travis opened the door to the backseat and Jonah helped Maggie instead. “Lay down on the seat,” he told her. She crawled inside and laid against the cool leather, closing her eyes and wishing the pain away.

  The SUV moved beneath her and she felt pressure against her back. When she opened her eyes, she saw Jonah sitting in the passenger seat, holding something to her wound. Concern marred his handsome face.

  “Maybe one day we’ll be able to go a whole week without one of us being injured,” she said with a sardonic laugh.

  He grimaced. “You’re not mortally injured so I’m saying that’s progress.”

  “You two are the luckiest people I think I’ve ever met,” Travis commented from the driver’s seat.

  Once they were back at the house, Jonah helped her inside. She laid down on the couch and he hovered next to her, keeping pressure and monitoring her bleeding. A knock on the door came a few minutes later and Travis opened it.

  She heard Pecora ask, “What happened?”

  “Fae,” Jonah said from where he sat on the floor next to her. “Gerald’s dead.”

  “What?” Pecora asked in dismay. He was quiet for a second as if struggling to find his voice before clearing his throat and notching his chin just a little bit higher. He stepped forward and said, “Let me see her wound.”

  The pressure let up.

  “Here, Jonah. Cut her shirt away.”

  “Don’t move, Maggie,” Jonah told h
er. Cold metal slid under her shirt at the bottom of her back, cutting through the material. He ripped it the rest of the way and cold air hit her skin.

  Pecora whistled. “She’s going to need stitches.”

  “Do what you have to do.”

  “How bad is it?” she asked. From how it hurt she knew it wasn’t pretty.

  “They flayed you pretty good,” Pecora told her. “Good news is that this flap of skin should be simple to stitch and it doesn’t look like he used a poisoned blade.”

  She hadn’t even considered a poisoned blade up until he said it.

  “Travis, grab some towels. I don’t want to make a mess.”

  She heard Travis’s footsteps go into the bedroom and return a few minutes later. Maggie closed her eyes and listened to the men speak in low voices. After washing his hands, Pecora came back and knelt next to her. Jonah moved toward her head and stroked her hair while Pecora worked.

  “I’m going to numb you up a bit,” Pecora warned her before a needle pierced her skin.

  “Numb away, doc,” she said with a grunt, thankful when it began working almost instantly.

  With the numbing in full effect, he began to sew. The pain was gone, the only thing she could feel was the odd pulling of her skin as he pieced it back together. She tried not to think about it too much or she may vomit again.

  The phone began ringing on the cradle, but Jonah didn’t get up. “Travis, can you get that?”

  Travis picked up the phone and began talking.

  “How long until you have to take the stitches out?” she asked Pecora.

  “I’m not sure, really.”

  “I’m doubting your abilities as a doctor if you don’t even know what.”

  He snorted. “I don’t know because I don’t know how much of a shifter you are or if you heal more like a human. And now that you’re mated, your healing ability may have changed. I’ll check it tomorrow and we’ll just take it day by day.”

  “Okay.”

  “That was your father,” Travis said to Jonah as the beep sounded, signaling that he’d disconnected the call.

  “And?”

  “Mike and Al are at the store now. He’s going to meet with the Elders tonight about taking more advanced measures. Ronnie and Dan are out scouting the area, searching for anymore fae that crossed the perimeter.”

  “Alright.”

  “He said he'd get in touch with you either later tonight or first thing in the morning.”

  Jonah didn’t respond, and she heard Travis go into the kitchen a second later. Advanced measures. What the hell were advanced measures? If they’d taken those advanced measures sooner, Mr. Martin might still be alive. Anger welled in her chest.

  Pecora stood up a few minutes later. “Twenty-seven stitches total,” he said. “You’ll be numb for a little while but after that just put some numbing salve on it when it starts to bother you.”

  “Thanks,” Jonah said as Maggie started to sit up, clutching what was left of her shirt to her breasts for modesty’s sake.

  “How’s the leg?” Pecora asked Jonah.

  “Fine,” he said. “It still aches, but it’s healed over for the most part.”

  “Good. Maggie, you can bathe, just have your mate help you. Otherwise, keep the area clean and dry. I’ll leave the numbing salve and some gauze too in case it oozes a bit.”

  Pecora left not long after, followed shortly by Travis who told them he was going to go check the perimeter himself. She got up not long after he’d gone and headed toward the bathroom.

  “Will you help me wash off?” she asked Jonah. “I want to get all this blood off me.”

  He nodded and followed her into the bathroom, stripping his uniform off as he went. She turned on the water and then he helped her remove her boots and socks before pulling down her jeans to keep her from stretching.

  Standing under the spray, she stared down at the tile as the water ran red.

  “Are you alright?” Jonah asked her, stepping in with her.

  She nodded. “I’m okay. It’s just been…a rough evening.”

  He kissed her forehead. “I know, but you’re in one piece. At least that’s what I have to keep reminding myself.”

  She looked up at him. A frown etched across his face. “You have to keep reminding yourself?”

  “Maggie,” he sighed. “Do you not realize how close I thought I was to losing you? I saw the fae behind you with a knife to your throat and I thought I was about to watch you die. I love you. I can’t exist without you.”

  “I love you, too.”

  He kissed her forehead again before helping her wash. Once she was clean, she stepped out of the spray and waited while he washed quickly before turning off the shower.

  “What about Mr. Martin?” she asked him as he bandaged her wound.

  “Mike and Al will get him and take him to Dr. Pecora and Father Benson.”

  She nodded, tears running quietly down her face. Jonah helped her into a loose-fitting tank top and a pair of boxers before pulling her against his chest. Burying her head in his shoulder, she cried while he stroked her hair.

  “Are you hungry?” he asked her softly when she’d finished. She looked up at him to see his own eyes were red.

  She shook her head. “No. I just want to lay down.”

  Maggie fell asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow, but sleep was more difficult for Jonah. Eventually, he got out of bed and began pacing the living room. Glancing up at the clock, he saw it wasn’t too ungodly late and picked up the phone to call his father.

  “Hello?”

  “It’s me,” he said when his father answered the phone.

  Rick sighed into the phone. “They’ll cremate Gerald tomorrow and I spoke with the Elders.”

  “What did they say?”

  “They want to step up the defense of the town.”

  Jonah rolled his eyes. “Really? And how do they plan to do that?”

  “More patrols.”

  It took everything in him to not scream into the phone. Instead, he took a deep breath and said, “Do you realize how stupid that is?”

  “I know it,” Rick said. “You took over my job, son. You are the lead enforcer now and the security of this town falls on your shoulders. The Elders can say whatever they want to, but ultimately, it’s going to be up to you. Don’t let them tell you otherwise.”

  Jonah was quiet for a long moment. His father was right. He could bang his head on the wall for hours dealing with the Elders, but ultimately the security of New Freedom and its inhabitants would fall on his shoulders. He’d already let one man down tonight and he had no intentions of letting anyone else down.

  “I’m going to call Travis,” he said.

  “I’ll be over tomorrow.” Rick disconnected the call and Jonah immediately dialed Travis’s number.

  “What’s up?” Travis asked when he answered.

  “We need to know the inventory of the armory and I want to call another meeting.”

  “Tonight? It’s almost midnight.”

  Jonah groaned. “No, we’ll do it first thing in the morning then. How many people are patrolling tonight?”

  “Eight men and three women. They have instructions to ring the church bells if anything is spotted.”

  “I suppose that will do for tonight.”

  “Get some rest and stay with your mate, Jonah. I’ll check the patrols tonight and we’ll reconvene in the morning.”

  “Thanks, man.” Jonah hung up the phone feeling slightly better before heading back into the bedroom with Maggie.

  He laid down next to her, gathering her small body in his arms as he tried to quiet his mind so he could fall asleep. There was so much more he needed to do, but he supposed Travis was right. He couldn’t call a town meeting this late without causing chaos. They’d doubled patrols and he felt slightly better with Travis out there as well.

  The only thing that was left for him to do would be to sleep.

  The sound of the doo
rbell startled him awake. He didn’t know how long he slept, but it had to be several hours. The sounds of birds chirping outside told him dawn wasn’t far away.

  Who the hell could be at his door this time of the morning?

  And who used the doorbell?

  Maggie sat up next to him, the doorbell had woken her as well. She glanced at him as he got out of bed and he heard her follow him into the living room.

  “Who is it?” he asked, his hand hovering over the knob.

  “Liam.”

  He glanced at Maggie, whose eyes were wide. If Liam was at his door, it wasn’t good news. He didn’t even know how the dragon knew where he lived…

  He unlocked the door and swung it open. The dragon stood there, naked as the day he was born, his body filling the doorway. The little female standing next to him had to be Heidi. Her eyes were fixed on something behind him.

  “Heidi!” Maggie squealed before charging past him and onto the front porch. She captured Heidi in a hug and he didn’t miss Liam steadying the both of them before she knocked them both to the ground.

  “Hey,” Heidi said weakly, returning the embrace.

  “I’ve been so worried! You have no idea. Are you all right?” Maggie pulled away from her and wrinkled her nose. “You look a mess. What have you gotten into? You smell like…like moose shit.”

  “Thanks.”

  Shrugging, Maggie grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the door. “Come inside. You can have a hot shower and get some rest. What are you doing out this early? And why is he naked?”

  Heidi’s cheeks turned red as Maggie grabbed a small bag sitting on the porch and pulled the girl into the living room.

  Jonah turned his attention back to the very naked dragon standing in the doorway. “I guess you need to borrow some clothes.”

  “That would be nice.”

  He jerked his head, motioning for Liam to come inside before closing the door behind him and locking it back. He was heading toward the bedroom when he saw that’s where Maggie was dragging Heidi.