by J. L. Madore
“The question was, how did the Prima know where you were? And if she knew, where’d she find out?”
“And you think it was through her dealings with the council.”
I nod. “She and the Prime are opposed to Calli opening the portal gate and uniting the realms. Think about it. If they don’t want to lose their standing in our hierarchy, why should we think the Fae Council is thinking any differently?”
Lukas taps his stylus on his iPad and turns it for Hawk. “Who has the potential to lose the most if the realms unite? It’s not the people. It’s not even the money runners or the rebels here or the Darkside players. It’s the Fae Council.”
“But there are procedures in place,” Hawk says. “The FCO has the power to temporarily freeze the authority of the Fae Council and the Fae Prime should something like that happen. When I set up the Fae Council, I ensured I could shut down and veto them if ever I proved they weren’t acting in the best interests of the people.”
I shift my empty plate to the side and lean back in my chair with my wine. “You could or the CEO of the Fae Concealment Office?”
Hawk shrugs. “One and the same. I am the CEO and I could veto them.”
Lukas points at the screen. “But what if they prove that you aren’t acting in the best interest of the fae community. What if you’re discovered to be kidnapping children, wiping families, earning money through illegal arms deals and human trafficking. What if the Fae Council levels a non-confidence vote against you and freezes your authority in the FCO?”
Hawk’s fork clanks on his plate as he collects the iPad. “You think they’re the ones fucking with my reputation and framing me? You think it’s a preemptive strike to get me out of the way so they can reign supreme?”
Lukas nods. “That’s what it’s looking like, yeah.”
“Those dirty motherfuckers. I’m going to kill them.” Rigid with fury, he sets the iPad down and leaves the room.
I glance to Lukas and he shakes his head. “Wait for it.”
“Back-stabbing mother-fuckers!” The crash of wood and glass down the hall makes me wince.
“Bookshelf?”
Lukas nods. “Sounds like it.” Another round of cursing precedes another crash. Lukas raises his finger and says, “The desk skidded across the floor and through the window wall.”
Yikes. There’s a third round of expletives and I grimace.
“It sounds like he’s ripping the drywall from the studs and the pictures are smashing to the floor.”
Lukas shakes his head. “No. I’ve heard that one before. That’s the fan and light fixture being ripped out of the ceiling and smashed on the ground.”
I pour myself more wine. “You’re going to need to call a carpenter.”
Lukas grins. “I have one on speed dial for just such occasions. He gives us a good rate because we keep him busy.”
A moment later, Hawk strides back in and reclaims his spot at the kitchen island. “Don’t go into the office. We need a bit of work done.”
I chuckle. “Feel better?”
“Not really, no.”
“You ready for the rest of it?”
He pegs me with a heated glare and arches a brow. “There’s more?”
“Maybe, maybe not. You’ve been patched up by Fae Council doctors more than once, yeah?”
He dips his chin. “And?”
Lukas pulls a small, handheld scanning device from his bag, laying on its side on the counter. “I want to check all of you to see if you’ve been tagged. It’s been twisting my nuts that we keep getting ambushed in remote, undisclosed locations. I want to know why.”
The muscles in Hawk’s jaw twitch like mad. “Do it.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Brant
“She’s breathtaking.” I stare at my mate, fully transformed, and soaring twenty feet above our heads. She’s managed to get air three times over the past hour and though she can’t stay up there long, I couldn’t be prouder.
“You’re spectacular, Chigua,” Kotah shouts. “Try to land on your feet this time. Maybe run a bit when you touch down to absorb the momentum.”
She lets off a shriek, her fiery form banking left as she circles back in a wide arc before dropping lower and lower in incremental stages.
“Don’t be afraid, beautiful,” I say, smiling up at her. “That’s what happened last time. You were too stiff when you landed. Try to relax and absorb the landing.”
“Three weeks?” Margo says, staring up in awe. “Less than a month since she transitioned from a Nary human, and she can hold her form and fly?”
I nod at my den mother. “She amazes us every day. By the time we have the last two soul shards and our alignment is complete, she’ll have her flight and her fire and be ready to open the portal gate to StoneHaven.”
Margo curls into my side and kisses my cheek. “I’m proud of you, cub.”
“Thanks, Mama.”
“Here she comes.” Kotah starts running as she nears the ground, falling behind but tracking her as she gets to—
“Ow,” I wince as her feet touch down and she face-plants and flips end over end like she did the last time. “’Scuse me, Mama.”
“Yeah, of course, baby. You go. I’ll put these groceries by the skid in the shed.”
“’Kay, thanks.” I run to join Kotah in checking on my mate and drop to the ground beside her. “That was good, beautiful.”
Kotah drops the fire blanket over her and brushes the dirt off her face and out of her hair. “Don’t be discouraged, Calli. You’re doing so well.”
Calli sits up and huffs. “I would rather not eat dirt every time I try to land.”
“Hawk will be able to help you,” the wolf says. “I’m sure there are a few avian tricks he can help you with. Once he’s back, I’m sure it’ll be just a case of ironing out the kinks.”
Calli flops onto her back and lets out a long exhale. “I have more than a few kinks I want to iron out with him.”
I chuckle. “It was too bad his last playdate ended up in vibrator interruptus.”
She accepts Kotah’s hand and he helps her to her feet. “Yeah, too bad I transitioned into a firebird and fried the little guy and too bad Hawk ended up with two bullets in him. Are you sure he’s all right? You’re not keeping out of my sight because somethings not right, are you?”
“Why would you think that?” I say. “We’ve always been straight with you, haven’t we?”
She sighs. “Yeah, sorry. I’m just cranky. I want to see him with my own eyes and reassure myself he’s okay.”
“He and Jaxx were having a private fuck-fest into the wee hours. They wouldn’t have been up to the hot and heavy if Hawk wasn’t recovered.”
She looks up at me and smiles. “Great point, Bear.”
I pull her against my chest and kiss the top of her head. After picking the dirt out of my mouth, I adjust the blanket around her and smile. “Are you quitting, or do you want to go again?”
The sound of a helicopter has the three of us looking north. “Can either of you see what that bird looks like,” I say, backing toward the golf cart. My last run-in with a helicopter didn’t go my way. I’d rather not repeat.”
Kotah’s phone rings and he answers it. “Hey, where… okay, yeah, we see you. We’re in a field just east of your current heading… Okay. We’ll be here.”
When he hangs up, Calli’s all smiles. “I take it that’s our helicopter?”
“Yep.”
I stretch my neck from side to side but the niggling tension in my shoulders doesn’t ease. “I thought they were coming tonight once nightfall could cover their travel?”
Kotah shrugs. “I don’t know. Hawk just asked that we get out somewhere open so we can meet the helicopter and that all three of us be here.”
“Why?” Calli asks. “That’s weird.”
Kotah shields his eyes and watches as the helicopter transforms from a silver speck in the distant sky to yet another sleek and expensive example o
f Hawk’s overcompensation for being a corporate douche.
The twin-engine Eurocopter AS365 Dauphin touches down in the fallow field where we’re training and Jaxx and Hawk jump out as if their asses are on fire.
My bear’s growl is lost in the high-pitch whine of the beast as we run to join them. Calli throws off the blanket and leaps at Hawk, mid-run. Catching her against his chest, he secures her in his arms. Her bare legs wrap around his hips and she’s sucking his face.
Jaxx grabs the discarded blanket off the ground to cover her back up and chuckles at the PDA.
“What’s wrong,” I shout, over the engines when we’re all huddled together.
“Most urgently,” Hawk says, grimacing. “Spitfire, you’re burning off my clothes.”
“Oops, sorry.” Calli releases him from her naked koala hold and takes a step back, accepting the fire blanket. “I missed you guys.”
Jaxx brushes at the dirt covering the left side of her face and the patch of her forehead that got scraped during the last landing. “Kitten, what have you been doing to yourself.”
“In a minute,” Hawk says, interrupting Calli’s news. “I’m sorry, but this can’t wait.” He takes something out of the pocket of his slacks and starts passing it over Calli’s head and down her neck and over her shoulders. He scans her top to bottom, front to back.
Jaxx moves in behind Calli and wraps his arms around her when Hawk moves to Kotah. “We figured out the Fae Council chipped Hawk and think that’s how they’ve been tracking us for the attacks.”
Kotah frowns, just as the device starts beeping and its green light flips red. “What does that mean?”
“It means they’ve tagged you too, Wolf,” Hawk says, finishing his sweep of the kid. “Jaxx, would you mind doing the honors. Kotah, take off your shirt so he can cut the chip out of you. If it’s like mine, it’s just below the surface.”
Jaxx shifts behind Kotah and waits until his shirt is over his head. “Why have I been chipped?”
“To always know where you are, I’d guess.”
Jaxx angles himself with his hands poised and releases his wicked-sharp claws to extend beyond the nailbed of his fingers. With the razor edge and his paramedic experience, the cut and removal of the little tracking device are finished with surgical precision.
Hawk moves to me next and I hold my arms out to the side and let him do his thing. “And you think it’s the Fae Council behind this?”
Hawk finishes checking me over and nods. “We do. Jaxx, get rid of that.”
Jaxx jogs back over to the helicopter and leans in to hand off the tracking chip. When he comes back, he’s all smiles. “Lukas is going to fly back to Oregon, check Doc and Keyla, and then mail the tracking chips to the North Pole post office in Alaska. That should keep them off our backs for a bit.”
Kotah stiffens. “You think they’ve chipped Keyla too? Then I want to go. If she’s in danger…”
“I don’t think she is,” Hawk says. “They’re keeping tabs on key players they’ve had access to. We don’t even know that your sister is chipped. Lukas will get to her within the hour and he’ll report back. Don’t panic.”
The helicopter takes off again and the world grows silent once more. The five of us are standing in a field and my skin is crawling. “If they know Kotah’s here, they know it’s probable that we’re all here.”
Hawk nods. “Agreed, but it’s late and you vouch for the security of this bunker, so we’re going to stay put for now and run through our options until we hear back from Lukas. We’ll need supplies.”
“That’s covered,” I say. “Groceries are waiting at the hatch for us to take down when we finish training.”
Calli frowns. “Well, I guess that’s now. I’ll have to learn to land another day.”
“Aw… kitten,” Jaxx says, checking out her injury again. “Is that what this is?”
She sighs. “I face-plant every time, puss. I’m hoping Hawk has a few insider bird tips for me. I’m no longer breaking my bones, but I’m a hot mess on the landing.”
Hawk gestures for us to get moving and wraps an arm around her. “I’ve got you, Spitfire. Consider yourself safe from further face-planting. I’ll get you sorted and soaring as soon as it’s safe.”
Calli
Jaxx and Hawk give us the low-down on everything they think and know. I should be more upset. I’m not. I can’t help it. Yes, it sucks that Hawk and Kotah were chipped. That’s a violation. And yes, I think it’s awful that whoever is behind it is trying to smear Hawk out of the company he built so they can keep the status quo.
“Yes, it’s awful, but we shouldn’t let it freak us out,” I say to four disbelieving mates. “Big picture here, boys. We’re on to them. Our quint is fully mated. And if I continue getting stronger, I’m going to open that portal gate whether they like it or not.”
“Hells yeah, you are, beautiful,” Brant says. “In the meantime, we’re safe, we know what we’re looking for now, and we’re off their radar.”
Hawk nods. “I give it two or three days before they figure out that the chips are in a post office earmarked for Santa. In that time, we’ve got to figure out who we can trust at FCO, find the rest of the teens, figure out if it’s the whole Fae Council that’s rotten or just some, and plan our counter-attack.”
Jaxx is pulling out liquor bottles and lining them up on the kitchen counter next to the blender. “It’s to our advantage that Calli is burning through the stages of her transition so freakin’ fast. There’s no way they can be expecting her to be able to call her phoenix forth and flying yet.”
Hawk frowns. “Well, that’s not exactly true. I’ve been giving the council regular status reports.”
Brant curses and throws him a dirty look. “Of course, you have. Did you think that maybe it was none of their business and you should keep Calli’s personal deets private?”
“No,” I say, getting snippy. “It’s Hawk’s job to be on top of things that affect the realm. We all thought the council was on our side. They’ve been encouraging our alignment since the beginning. Don’t peg their betrayal on him.”
“She’s right, Bear,” Jaxx says, setting up the blender. “We’re looking at high-level corruption tainting people we all know personally. My feline Prime, Dane, is a god to our species. Kotah’s parents… yeah, they are asshole parents, but they’re respected as treasured leaders… Hawk is friends with every person on that council and they chose to discredit him.”
Jaxx tips a bottle of tequila for a long pour over a couple of cups of ice and cuts a few limes. “Tonight, we devolve into Margarita madness. Tomorrow we formulate a plan.”
Brant frowns. “Really? You think Margarita madness is a good idea?”
He splashes in some orange liqueur and smiles. “No. It’s a great idea. Hawk missed out on the last one and we’re all talked out for one day. When life screws you, you drink and regroup.”
“That’s poetic,” I say.
“Thank you, kitten. Now, explain the rules to the noob while I set us up. Kotah, get the table ready, if you will. Brant, clear the deck.”
Brant shakes his head but gets up, grabs the red solo cups, and sets his chair and Jaxx’s over by the door. Kotah puts his chair away too, and when Hawk and I stand, Brant takes those too.
I crack my knuckles and giggle at the look on Hawk’s face. “Okay, so, we all stand around the table. Jaxx pours each of us four cups of margaritas. A four-ounce cup, a three-ounce cup, a two-ounce cup, and one with one ounce. The game is to drink them and then flip the empty cup from sitting on it’s base at the edge of the table upside down, like this.” I take an empty cup and demonstrate.
Kotah chuckles. “You’re supposed to do one at a time but Calli likes to drink all of hers first and then flip them all.”
“It’s a strategy, Wolf. And might I say, I kicked your sweet and sexy ass.”
Hawk chuckles. “And this is the occasion when I found you in your underwear vomiting into a kitchen sink and the me
n all naked?”
I smile. “Yeah, because we raised the stakes and I won. The first person to drink and flip gets to call the game for that round as well as his or her opponent. At the palace, we had a ping-pong table and played quarters on the other table. Here, we have an entire game room, so there’s no end to choices.”
“And the naked part?”
“The loser of the chosen game has to take a layer off before the next round.”
“It’s hardly high-concept. You’ll catch on,” Jaxx says, coming over with the booze. He pours out our starter rounds and takes one cup from my pile. “Tonight, you get one cup less, kitten. I don’t want you sick like that again.”
I laugh and rub my hands together. “My evil plan is working. Give the female an advantage.”
He chuckles and adds my cup to Brant’s row. “And you get an extra cup. We should’ve taken body mass into account last time.”
Brant chuckles and cracks his knuckles. “Whatever, Jaguar. It’s not going to help you.”
When we’re all set, Jaxx sets the egg timer on the stove and we all stand ready. “When the timer buzzes, we go.”
The five of us stand hands at the ready and knees bent like we were awaiting the starter’s gun for an Olympic event.
Bzzzzz
“Go!”
We’re hours into the madness when my world starts to get spinny and I think about tapping out. Jaxx must sense my state because he wraps an arm around my hip and has me say goodnight to Hawk and Kotah facing off at the air hockey table. I look around for Brant, but I think he went to pee.
It’s the first alone time with Jaxx I’ve had and my curiosity is burning hot in my core. “Okay, I’m dying,” I say, snuggling into him. My footwork is sloppy, but the world is still floating in a fun whirl around me, so I’m good. “I tried to play it all cool because obvi that’s the way you two are playing it but spill. You and Hawk. What happened?”
Jaxx flashes me that crooked smile of his and I’m horny just imagining it. “I told you before, kitten, a southern gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell.”
I roll my eyes and shake my head. Woops, too much…
