“Do you like it?” Anna asked.
“The place is awesome,” Fen answered. “But I’m not sure I should take it.”
She tilted her head. “Why?”
How did he answer that without sounding like a hopeful fool? They’d all agreed to explore a possible relationship, but that was a long way away from a commitment. Besides, if they did end up together, he might move into their condo. “Ahh… I was thinking the proximity to the water might be a problem. If you and Maddy come visit me. Or stay the night. Not that I’m expecting that anytime soon, so no pressure.”
Fuck. He totally sounded like a hopeful fool.
Her smile widened. “It’s sweet of you to consider me. I think it’s okay, though. I still feel the draw, but the view is also comforting. With you and Maddy here to keep an eye on me, I don’t believe I’m at risk of disappearing beneath the waves.”
“I suppose I could dive in for you again,” Fen said, finally returning her smile. “At least this place is a rental. If it is a problem, then I’m not stuck here.”
“I bet you’ll end up buying it.” Anna gestured at the broad space. “This room is perfect. You could fit a huge bed in here and still have room for a dresser and side tables. And it has a great private bathroom with a massive tub and walk-in closet. Who wouldn’t love that?”
Fen couldn’t tell from her expression if she was intending to be suggestive, but his mind followed the possibilities she’d mentioned to their most pleasurable conclusion anyway. Ungh. He closed his eyes and fought his body’s reaction to the mental image of that large bed. He and Anna and Maddy curled together in the center, exhausted from—
Not helping, brain.
Also not helping? Anna’s hand caressing the line of his jaw.
“Fen.”
He dared to open his eyes at her whispered call. Anna had shifted closer while he wasn’t looking, so near he could lean down and kiss her. Hell. He was supposed to be picking a house, not seducing one of his mates. Not that he was trying, but still.
Anna’s smile widened, and she eased up to brush her lips softly against his. “I can’t tell if you’re controlled or uncertain.”
“Both, if you want to know the truth.” His cheeks heated. “I’ve…only slept with a couple of people, and it was years ago. Before I joined Kien’s group and saw how he used romantic partners against each other.”
“You must have been young.”
Fen shrugged. “Fourteen or fifteen, I guess. No one cares how early you have sex when you’re living on the streets. I’m clean, though. Fae blood usually ensures that, but I had myself checked later just in case.”
He didn’t tell her that he’d only slept with each partner once, and both times had been quick and meaningless. He’d wanted to know about sex, but he’d never trusted anyone enough for intimacy. For the first time in his life, he wanted to see what that was like. Provided he didn’t flub the whole possible relationship. His fear of that stopped him as much as anything.
Anna brushed her mouth against his again. “Well, I’ve never had sex with a man, though Maddy has. Then again, she hasn’t been with more than one partner at a time, and I have. When she gets back, we’ll all get to try something new.”
Fen groaned. Gods above and below, she was going to kill him. But for once, it was a death he would meet with eager appreciation. Very, very eager.
Chapter 17
After the moment they’d shared at Fen’s new house, Anna had half-expected the rest of the evening to be awkward, but so far, that hadn’t been the case. They’d grabbed burgers from a drive thru and brought them back to Anna’s and Maddy’s house to eat them. Avoiding heavier topics, they’d spoken of their interests and goals—which had led to Fen insisting she return to her writing while he worked on extra magical shielding against Meren. Not that she could have helped in any case. She could detect the tingle of increased energy, but she didn’t know how to interpret it.
“Crap,” Fen muttered as he reentered the room, his phone in hand. “I forgot to see if this thing still turns on after you pulled the water from it.”
Anna spun in her seat. “Which might not have worked.”
“Worked well enough on our clothes.” Fen held down the button on the device and let out a relieved breath when it lit up. “See? I knew you did a good job. Okay, now that I’ve reinforced Maddy’s shields with my own, I’m going to look online for furniture places. You should have plenty of time to work.”
“Sounds good.”
As if she could concentrate on her story after the events of the day. She’d pushed around water molecules with her mind, for fuck’s sake. After breathing liquid like oxygen, no less. Add to that her growing interest in Fen and her longing for Maddy to return, and her mind was a muddled mess. But she might as well try to get something done.
Only fifteen minutes—and two sentences—had passed before Fen let out another oath. Sighing, Anna hit the save button and turned in her seat again. “What is it?”
“I missed a text from Vek,” Fen said, glancing her way from where he sprawled on the couch. “He’s going to think I’m still pissed.”
Anna snorted. “Aren’t you? I mean, you just rented your own place after a pretty big argument.”
“Yes. No.” Fen waved his phone in a frustrated gesture. “I’m upset at how he treats me sometimes, but I’m not as angry now that I’ve had time to cool down. That doesn’t mean I’ve changed my mind, though. I do need to stand on my own.”
“Then text him and tell him that?” Anna suggested, her thoughts being pulled back to the heroine’s next move in her story. How could she—
“Yeah, I will.”
Anna tried to ignore the rapid clicking coming from Fen’s phone as he typed and instead forced her mind to the problem. So. Her main character couldn’t get away from the murderer with a ballet flat, obviously. What else might be around her? Maybe if she ducked behind that Dumpster, there could be something unexpectedly useful next to the trash. Hmm. Pointy things that people might throw away…
“Hey, Anna?” Fen asked.
She stifled a groan. Didn’t he know that a writer needed unbroken concentration to work? “What is it now, Fen?” she asked tightly.
“I know, I know,” he said, regret lacing his tone. “I told you to work, and now I’m bothering you. But…could you see if you have a text from Anthony?”
Anna spun her seat around at that. “I didn’t give him my number. Why?”
Fen frowned down at his phone and swiped a few times across the screen. “Vek hasn’t heard back from him, and it’s been hours now. I don’t have any missed texts, either.”
“That doesn’t sound good.” Despite the unlikelihood of a text, Anna checked her phone, but there was nothing new. “Maybe try calling?”
Fen nodded and did just that. Uneasiness built, making Anna’s hands tremble as she saved her file and backed it up online. When Fen lowered his phone and shook his head, she started shutting down the computer. She didn’t even have to ask what they needed to do next—drive over to Anthony’s place.
“Come on.” Anna grabbed the keys from the table and stepped into her shoes. “I remember where he lives. Let’s go see if he needs help.”
“We don’t have Maddy to do any healing,” Fen said, though he put on his shoes and followed her as he spoke.
Her heart twisted at the reminder, but she stifled her longing for her girlfriend the way she had all day. “Yeah. But if we can find them, you can call your uncle. Maddy said the life magic would work better, anyway.”
“Good point.”
They were on the road before Anna had time to consider what they would do if Anthony wasn’t at his house. Search the hospitals in case Sparrow had gotten worse? Camp out on his doorstep? Really, they didn’t have the right to do the latter, and the former might be a little stalkerish. They weren’t family, and if Sparrow had decided to find treatment on her own, there wasn’t a great deal they could do about it.
By the time they parked beneath a glowing streetlight by Anthony’s apartment complex, it was after nine p.m. Anna covered a yawn as they headed up the sidewalk, despite the adrenaline coursing through her from their mad dash. It had been a long day, and her favorite thing to do when she was this exhausted was to curl up on the couch with a book and some mint tea before going to bed early. Instead, she was climbing the stairs to a pagan, part-fae man’s apartment in search of a part-fae woman afflicted with poisoned energy and a wretched cold.
As one did.
Anna didn’t dare ponder if life could get any stranger. Without a doubt, it absolutely could. So she knocked on said part-fae man’s door and waited impatiently for him to answer. God help them if he didn’t. Sparrow had seemed like a nice woman, and Anna worried about her.
The door opened just enough for Anthony to lean out and study the hallway behind them. Then without a word, he gestured almost frantically for them to enter. Anna exchanged a worried glance with Fen, who shrugged and hurried into the apartment. Well, she wasn’t hanging around out here alone, waiting to see if there was some kind of problem.
As soon as Anna followed Fen into the room, Anthony shut the door behind them and turned the deadbolt. Alarm pounded in Anna’s chest, and she sidled closer to Fen. She’d never been in a situation that required her to fight, but he had. Could she use her magic combatively? She would rather not get her ass kicked trying to find out.
“I’m not the kind of guy you want to trap,” Fen said, menace clear in his voice.
“I have no intention of keeping you in here.” Anthony tipped his head toward the door. “But I don’t know what the hell has been going on out there.”
Anna’s forehead furrowed. “It’s a peaceful night.”
“You’d think.”
For the first time, Anna noticed how tired the guy seemed. He slumped where he stood, and his eyes held the heavy-lidded look of someone ready to fall asleep at any moment. Even as she watched, he did a slow blink and then shook his head.
Fen must have thought the same. “You look terrible. Did Sparrow get worse?”
“Sort of.” Anthony rubbed the heel of his palms against his eyebrows and released a long sigh. “Here’s the situation. On the way to my car after work, that guy I mentioned approached me again. Weird shit has been happening ever since.”
Anna scoured her memory but still couldn’t figure out who he was talking about. “Which guy?”
“Hell, maybe I told your friend. I don’t know. A few days before Sparrow got sick, this condescending white guy kept talking to us at lunch. I thought he was creeping on Sparrow since he kept touching her arm, so I told him to leave us alone. I think he was some kind of European fae. Norse elf or Seelie, maybe. I can’t keep them all straight.”
Beside her, Fen cursed, and Anna silently agreed with the sentiment. “Did he have long, blond hair?” she asked.
Anthony frowned. “The first time, yeah. Guess he got it cut before I saw him today. You think you know him?”
“Maybe,” Anna answered. “But he had long hair when we saw him earlier.”
Fen settled his arm around her waist, though his eyes were on Anthony. “What kind of weird shit has been happening? That might help us figure it out.”
“First, the man came up to me in the parking lot and started insisting I take him to Sparrow. He seemed to know she was sick. Said only he could help her.” Anthony shifted on his feet. “I told him hell no and got out of there. I drove every back road I could think of in case he was following me. Then not long after I walked in the door, something started slamming against the shielding I put up around the apartment.”
He swayed slightly, and worry filled Anna, not just at the man’s words but at his obvious exhaustion. “Why don’t you sit down to tell us the rest? I can go make you tea or something if you have the stuff for it.”
Anthony’s eyebrows rose, and Fen let out a little chuckle-huff beside her. “You don’t have to make me anything,” Anthony said. “But I appreciate it. I’ll take the seat, though.”
She gave Fen a questioning look as they followed the other man to the living room, and Fen bent low until his mouth nearly touched her ear. “I didn’t think Maddy was serious when she said you solve most things with a cozy blanket and a warm drink, but I guess that holds even when you’re in someone else’s house.”
Anna poked her elbow into his side. “No teasing.”
“No promises,” Fen answered with a grin.
The hint of humor faded as she sat beside Fen on the couch. Poor Anthony. He lifted a laptop from the loveseat and set it gently on the coffee table before slumping against the cushions with a groan. Her fingers practically itched to toss a blanket over him so that he could take a nap.
“Sorry,” Anthony said. “I only got a couple of hours sleep before I had to get up for work. At least there haven’t been any more attacks since you got here.”
“What kind of attacks?” Fen asked.
Anthony tapped his fingers against the arm of the loveseat. “The first ones tried to break my shields full-on, but Dad taught me too well for that. Then they shifted to…seeping through, I guess. That took a lot more effort than expected to fight, which is part of why I’m wiped. Oh, and Sparrow started feeling worse in the middle.”
While Fen and Anthony delved into shielding comparisons, Anna considered connections. What linked all of the seemingly separate events? If Meren had encountered Anthony and Sparrow before their first meeting with Maddy, then the current situation wasn’t as likely to be directed at Fen. But to attack Anthony today after the confrontation with her and Fen… Either Meren had discovered that their group had started talking to Anthony’s, or Meren was trying to find more half-bloods to influence.
Unless there was something even more sinister going on? Maybe the guy was going around town hurting anyone who had a hint of fae blood. He’d attempted to take over the Moranaian outpost a couple of weeks ago, and part of the effort had included recruiting people like Tamara. This time instead of looking for allies, he could be trying to take out any who didn’t fit his goal. That shifted from subtle influence to open action.
“Anna didn’t have your number,” Fen said, grabbing Anna’s attention. “But why didn’t you answer Vek?”
Anthony directed a pointed, incredulous look at Fen. “You think I’m going to give someone with an unknown number an invite while I’m under attack?”
Fen winced. “Sorry. I’m an idiot.”
“It’s been crazy.” Anna rested a comforting hand on Fen’s thigh. “And we’re all tired. Why don’t you two work on shielding while I check on Sparrow? We’ll see about bringing Vek here tomorrow after we’ve slept.”
Fen frowned. “Even though you made the suggestion, I still feel like I just asked you to make me a sandwich.”
Chuckling, Anna stood. “I haven’t learned to shield yet, so I can’t help with that. And if anyone gets a sandwich, it’ll be Sparrow. I might make a pot of tea if there are supplies, but for anything else, you’re on your own.”
She ignored Fen’s lingering doubt and followed Anthony from the room. She half-listened as he pointed out where everything was in the kitchen before leading her to Sparrow. So Anna liked to nurture. Providing comfort wasn’t a weakness, and she wasn’t going to let anyone suggest otherwise.
Maddy scooted into the center of her bed and crossed her legs until she could cradle the mirror in her lap. This mirror was larger than the one Cora had given her to keep on Earth, but the beautifully engraved wooden frame was light and easy to grip as she leaned over and tilted the glass until she could see her pale face gleaming in the room’s light. Damn, she looked as unsettled as she felt. She pinched her cheeks to force a little color to bloom beneath her freckles and curled the corners of her lips into a smile.
Not the most convincing display, but it would have to do.
She trickled a little power into the frame to activate it and waited. Then waited some more. Was something wrong at ho
me? She didn’t want to think about that possibility. Maybe the two mirrors were improperly linked? Maddy wasn’t a mage, so she couldn’t begin to understand how the spell worked. All she could do was trust that Cora’s instructions were correct. Ugh.
Just as Maddy was about to disconnect the possibly broken link, light flared and the image in the glass shifted. The sight of Fen’s furrowed brow and tilted head made her smile as he held his smaller mirror away from his body and moved it back and forth. Anna leaned in until the side of her head settled against Fen’s shoulder, bringing her into view, too.
Maddy’s fake smile widened into a real one despite her worry. “Oh, good! I was about to go track down Cora to see if this mirror was broken.”
“Nah,” Fen said. “Anna had to grab this one from the other room, and then I had to figure out how to activate it. Me and Anna both need lessons on this kind of magic, I guess.”
Maddy took in the sight of Anna’s pajama top, Fen’s battered t-shirt, and the dim light that surrounded the pair. “Sorry to call so late, but I guess I wasn’t thinking about the time difference. I just wanted to see you.”
“Oh, I should hand this over to Anna,” Fen said.
“No, I meant both of you,” Maddy said quickly, surprised to find it was true even though she had known Fen for far less time. “There’s so much going on over there, and it makes me nervous. What are you guys doing, anyway? Did you get help for Sparrow?”
Fen frowned. “Not so much on the last one. Took us all day to track down Anthony. Apparently, someone was sending magic attacks at his apartment, but none happened while we were there. He wouldn’t answer Vek’s text under the circumstances, so we’ll have to see about healing tomorrow. I helped him reinforce his shielding.”
“How’s Sparrow?”
Anna’s image grew closer. “Her cold is a little worse, but I don’t think the energy poisoning has changed. I set her up with some hot soup and peppermint tea.”
Ascent Page 17
