by Holly Ice
Callum led us to the door. He shushed us. We took off our boots and carried them inside.
But as we trooped upstairs, his parents’ door opened and the light switched on.
I jumped, ice crawling over my skin. We’d been louder than we thought.
Shane’s dad leaned against the doorframe in his fluffy blue dressing gown. He was an older, slightly greyer version of his boys. But somehow far more imposing.
‘You’ve never been able to sneak in. Either of you.’ He eyed me, his lip curling. ‘Didn’t think you’d bring her.’
I winced. ‘I’m sorry. I wanted to stay somewhere else, but–’
Shane edged in front of me. ‘Don’t talk to her like that, Dad.’
My chest warmed, but I gripped his shoulder, warning him not to go too far. This was his dad, not some stranger in court.
Shane’s dad glanced over his shoulder. He stepped onto the landing, closing the door behind him. ‘Your mother’s only just got to sleep. Let’s take this downstairs.’
Which is how we all ended up sipping coffee and trying to sober up while Shane’s dad stared at us like we were unruly schoolchildren caught getting drunk on a school night.
I stared into my coffee and wished it’d cool quicker so I could hide my face in it without my eyes watering. Though it was a good excuse for my stinging eyes. This mess was exactly what I’d hoped to avoid.
The silence stretched out, Shane’s dad eying each of us until we squirmed. Then he looked out the dark window at the road.
Inzi’s car was missing, but she’d be around. Somewhere.
Shane sat straight, swaying slightly with all the lager he’d drunk. ‘I need to know what happened, Dad. The truth. Why did you buy the Liels Birži farm?’
I bit my lip. Drunk was not the way to broach that topic.
His dad arched an eyebrow. ‘It was a business acquisition.’ He hesitated. ‘Eugene recommended it.’
That came out far too smooth. I rubbed my arms against a sudden chill. Almost rehearsed. Shouldn’t he have been surprised, or have to think about the place Shane meant?
He turned his coffee mug around. And when he met my eyes, his gaze threw daggers into my chest.
I wasn’t the woman he wanted for his son.
‘Where was the property?’ Shane asked.
His dad put his mug down. ‘About five kilometres from the other farm Bianca mentioned in her supposed vision from a dead girl. Sounds ridiculous put like that, doesn’t it?’
Shane clenched his fists. ‘How do you know what Bianca Saw?’ He turned his spitting-hot glare on to his brother.
Oh no, not more trouble in his family over me.
Callum put up his hands. ‘I wasn’t going to let you come in here, throwing accusations, without giving Dad a heads-up.’
Shane gritted his teeth.
‘I shouldn’t have trusted them for so long…’ his dad said, his gaze softer as he watched his boys.
‘Trusted who? Eugene and Russell?’ Shane asked.
His dad’s lips twitched.
‘Dad, maybe you should just tell us,’ Callum said. ‘You can’t keep on like this. Shane needs answers. Mum and I are tired of being caught in the middle. We don’t want to see you two end up like you and Eugene.’
His dad coughed, then laughed, his smile lines giving me a glimpse into the handsome face Shane would grow into.
‘Oh, it’s nothing like Eugene. Shane did nothing wrong.’ He shook his head. ‘Except sneak a murderer into my house.’
I flinched.
He eyed me again and pushed a hand through his hair, but the tension in his body was almost gone.
‘She didn’t do it, Dad. I was with her.’ Shane gripped the table tight enough to shake his hands.
His dad pinched the bridge of his nose. ‘I know. You told me.’
I felt like he was on the brink. With the right nudge, he might spill his secrets. He didn’t want his boys arguing over him. But Shane was too drunk to ask nicely, especially after that last jibe, and Callum had already tried. That left me.
Gaze firmly on the table, I rubbed my sweaty hands on my jeans. How to phrase this…
‘My visions sound crazy.’ I swallowed against my dry throat. ‘I don’t always believe them at first either. They come without any consistency, as if some things are more important than others. Maybe with all I’ve seen about the McKees…’
Shane’s dad stared at me, the anger leaking from his gaze. ‘You think aether is giving me a hint.’
He finished his coffee and nodded to himself, his gaze slightly defocused.
‘Eugene was bringing people into the company with patchy pasts and CVs that didn’t make sense. When I questioned him, he told me to mind my area of the business and leave his to him.’ Shaking his head, he crossed his arms.
‘So I raised it with Russell. He shot me down. And when I spoke to Grandpa, he told me sometimes people like that were necessary for the business to work. He refused to elaborate, so I stuck my nose in and searched until I found what I was looking for.’
I smiled. Just like Shane. From what I’d seen of his dad, both of them could outlast a mule in an argument.
He scrunched his nose. ‘I found enough to know I wanted us to have nothing to do with the company. It wasn’t worth the trade-off.’
‘And what was that?’ Shane asked, scarily quiet.
Shane’s dad had a temper, but in his fluffy blue dressing gown and slippers, I couldn’t believe he’d sat on trapped and imprisoned women, bred for their bairns. The sons he’d raised didn’t reflect a man like that. But I couldn’t see another way of looking at it.
‘The potions,’ he said, his voice a bitter whisper.
Potions?
‘No one has been able to replicate them because they didn’t know the full ingredient list.’ He clenched his hand and pushed his knuckles into his temple.
What does that have to do with the women? And why was he so torn up about it?
‘It’s always been a trade secret,’ Callum said, eyes narrowing.
‘Because the key ingredient is blood. Specifically, the blood of demi-fae, or full fae, if they can get them.’
I bit my lip. Fae like Avery?
Shane and Callum glanced at each other, their faces pale. I gagged, the night’s beer threatening to spill over the kitchen table. I gulped it back down.
Shane’s dad nodded. ‘When I visited the farm, I found a warehouse filled with non-sentient fae, trapped and bred for a steady blood supply. The smell…’
Oh, I could well imagine it. I rubbed my throat, hoping my trembling stomach would settle soon. But that smell… it couldn’t be a coincidence, could it?
‘You’re sure they only took blood? No one sentient was trapped?’ I asked. I daren’t mention the women.
He shook his head vehemently. ‘No. The workers were free to come and go. But it didn’t feel right. They wouldn’t look at me or talk to me. Some were unusually weak. Dizzy. I suspected they donated blood for the potions, too, willingly or otherwise.’
My stomach swirled. I’d drunk a potion every week since I’d joined the academy – I’d drunk blood. So I could talk to Lyall. Like a damned vampire.
Did you ken about this?
Yes.
I blinked and tried not to choke on my spit. Lyall knew. I’d only asked him on a whim, but he’d known this was in the potions?
How did you ken?
I can’t, Bianca.
Damned aether.
How long have people been drinking these potions?
A few generations now.
My gut twisted. Generations of the McKees using demi-fae… How many people knew their secret?
But if Shane’s dad was telling the truth, this put him in the clear, mostly.
I squeezed Shane’s shoulder.
He held my hand, his thumb stroking my palm, but he stared into his coffee, forehead furrowed. ‘That’s all you saw?’
‘All? Isn’t that bad enough?’ his d
ad asked. ‘If it was humane, I might’ve accepted it, but they were so badly cared for. Russell and Grandpa refused to let me oversee the operation, or clean it up, so I quit and took you away. I knew it’d eventually come to light and everyone would be as sick as I felt to know they’d been part of that, supporting it with all the potions they bought.’
Callum looked green. ‘You didn’t report it?’
‘I did. But it didn’t go anywhere. I suspect they used their contacts to hush it up.’ He rubbed his neck. ‘I even tried to get a few of the workers to report mistreatment, but they point-blank refused. Dealing with that place felt more like dealing with a gang than a family business.’
‘Did you try reporting it to anyone else?’ Shane asked.
Callum nodded. ‘You had years, Dad. There must’ve been someone else to try.’
‘I contacted a friend on the coven a few years ago, quietly. That week I received a flurry of anonymous death threats in the post and gave up.’ His eyes flicked to mine, then dropped to the table.
Well, that explained a lot.
‘You wanted Shane out of my trial because you knew your family could be dangerous.’
He laid his hands flat on the table. ‘You’re a Wildes.’ His nostrils flared with his heavy breath. ‘That was enough for witches to throw stones at my son, to drag his name through the headlines along with you. And with you admitting you’d looked into the McKee business, I didn’t want my son getting death threats from them, too.’ His voice broke.
Eyes glistening, he looked to his boys.
Shane jumped off his stool and wrapped his arms around his dad. ‘You should’ve told me.’
I teared up and blamed it on the booze, wiping the water away before anyone noticed.
‘I can see why Shane likes you,’ Callum whispered. ‘Six years these two have been arguing over this, and you fixed it in one night.’
Take a bow, Bianca.
I sniffed. Shut up.
* * *
Dogs chased me along a never-ending road. My feet were on fire, torn to shreds, but I kept running. My breath wouldn’t come fast enough. My stomach cramped, but I kept going. If I stopped, I was dead. But I was running out of steam.
I passed one farm sign, then another.
Dog claws clicked the tarmac behind me. I focused on my breathing and the road ahead, hoping something would change the odds. If I saw a car, I’d wave it down. Hell, I’d even go back to the compound rather than face off against those dogs. They hadn’t been fed in a week.
The clicking claws paused. Teeth ripped my trouser leg but didn’t catch me.
Sweat trickled into my eyes, stinging. I couldn’t keep running. But something would happen. Someone would save me.
Another break in claw clicks. Another swipe at my leg. This one pinched my calf.
I gritted my teeth, wanting to hold the wound, to roll around and put pressure on it and call for help, but if I stopped, I was dead.
But, damn it, I was slowing. The pain from my feet and my calf was too much. The adrenaline from my escape was long gone. I wasn’t fit enough to keep up this mad dash, not after years in a tiny cell.
The dog jumped again, catching my injured calf fully in its mouth. It shook its head.
I fell, scraping my hands across the tarmac.
Another dog pounced, snarling teeth flying for my neck.
I put my hands in the way, screaming for help.
‘Bee, Bee, it’s okay. You’re safe.’
I blinked. My mind rushed to accept that I wasn’t being chased by dogs. I wasn’t Avery. I was in Shane’s room, in his bed.
Shane pulled my arms away from my face, then kissed each hand.
I expected him to ask what I’d seen, why I was having such bad nightmares, but he tucked me into his arms and pushed the covers down so I could cool off. So calm, and giving. I melted into him.
And in that moment of being the little spoon, his breath tickling my neck, my body hummed with happiness, each muscle relaxing into something like my meditative state, my worries chased away.
It’d be so easy to tell him everything I’d Seen, all the things that haunted me, and let him take those worries off my mind, too. But he’d already gone through a lot tonight.
I wiggled farther back. His hardness pushed against my bum.
‘What time is it?’
He stretched backwards to check his phone. ‘Nearly three. Want to…?’ He ran his hand over my back, kneading my muscles.
I moaned. ‘Yes. Hell yes.’
‘You sure?’ He tickled my side with light brushes of his fingers and reached lower, teasing me through my knickers.
I bit my lip, trying not to call out. His dad had the hearing of a wolf. I shuddered, teeth flashing in front of my eyes. Bad analogy.
Shane stopped his gentle strokes. ‘Did I do something wrong?’
His breath shivered over my neck. ‘No.’ I turned to face him.
His half-lidded gaze ran over every inch of my face. ‘If you’d rather go back to sleep, that’s okay.’
My heart fizzed. How was he so perfect, so gentle? I bit my tongue and pressed my lips to his.
His hand gripped the curve of my arse, pulling me into his hard cock.
Moaning, I tugged at his boxers.
He moved back far enough to lose them and returned, his hand back on my hip.
I put my hands on his chest, waves of heat pulsing through me. I wanted him, but more than that, I wanted to show him how much he meant to me. For a few minutes, I wanted to take every worry and scrap of guilt from his shoulders.
I ducked under the covers and took his cock into my mouth, deeper, and deeper.
His teeth pulled at his lip. He groaned softly, his hips twitching into me.
Smiling around him, I moved up, then down. His brow was smooth, his lips slack.
Shane’s hand curled into my hair. ‘Please, stop. Or I’ll…’
I increased my pace, sucking his head and then taking him deeper, his softness filling my mouth.
He threw the covers off me, peeking through his lashes. ‘Bee…’ His voice was desperate. His eyes pleaded, then darkened, his stare focused on my mouth.
I didn’t stop. I took him deeper, relishing each jump of his cock and thrust of his hips.
Until he pushed deep and came, his cock throbbing in my throat.
And when I climbed back up his chest, the curve of his smile, his teeth peeking out, undid me.
He stroked my cheek.
I nuzzled into his hand, buzzing with feel-good tingles.
But his wicked grin was far from sleepy. He grabbed my hips and rolled so I was beneath him.
He trailed kisses over my neck, curling my toes, then across my chest, suckling on my nipple, and lower.
I bit my lip. ‘Tonight was supposed to be for you,’ I whispered, breathy.
He nipped the skin at the top of my hip. ‘And now it’s your turn.’
He removed my knickers and licked my nub.
I whimpered, my nerves set alight. ‘Shane…’
He smiled against me and took me into his mouth.
My thoughts scattered.
He flicked me with his tongue and pushed his fingers inside, brushing that sweet nest of nerves.
I arched into him. ‘Shane, please.’
He added another finger, stroking that same spot over and over, his tongue massaging my clit until I burst, pleasure shivering through me.
I gasped in air, falling back to the bed, spent.
Shane’s grin made me giggle.
‘What?’ he asked.
‘You look so pleased with yourself.’
He pulled me into his arms and nibbled on my ear. I squeaked.
‘So did you, Bee.’
I snuggled back into him. ‘I like playing with you, taking you over the edge,’ I mumbled.
‘And I like learning all your noises. One day, I’ll find all the places that make you shiver.’
Shane kissed behind my ear to prove
his point. I bit my lip. I used to squirm at talk of the future, but with Shane… it felt right.
‘I’ll let you. But only if I can do the same.’
My eyes shut, and I didn’t fear my dreams. I was safe.
Chapter 14
Shane’s maw treated us to a late morning feast of potato pancakes with sour cream and dill.
The joke I’d heard about potatoes being Latvia’s main food group made sense now. You’d struggle to find a badly cooked potato in this country. Everything was so filling and moreish.
‘Seconds?’
Shane’s maw offered me the serving plate, her voice toothache sweet, no doubt to compensate for her husband’s palpable silence at the head of the table.
I shook my head and patted my stomach, then leaned back into Shane’s arm, hung over the back of my chair.
A flash of light out the kitchen window blinded me. I blinked and squinted outside.
Inziya was catching the sun with her blade to get my attention.
Nerves rolled down my spine.
‘If you’ll excuse me a minute.’ I pushed in my chair.
Shane tugged at my top, but I shook my head. He should stay with his family, or they’d follow us out the door.
I met Inzi on the road, out of view of the house. Her foot tapped the ground at a frantic pace.
‘Everything okay?’ I asked.
‘I’m doing my job and sticking next to you, making sure Shane’s dad doesn’t snap your drunk neck. Which is when I heard he has an excellent location to raid for Avery’s killers. And you didn’t tell me.’
I frowned, heat flashing through my cheeks. ‘You heard all that? How?’
She’d heard something in the pub, too, but I would’ve heard her or seen her in Shane’s kitchen. There was nowhere to hide.
She sheathed her knife. ‘I’m part djinn. We have magic but we’re also made of fire. We can appear or disappear anywhere, like smoke.’ She snapped her fingers.
My heart thundered in my ears. ‘That makes so much sense.’
