Swearing, I slowly climbed down from the tree, debating which direction to go in. I finally decided to run parallel to the path of the trucks while maintaining a good distance between us. There was a chance I could warn off investigating werewolves who came that way, and if worse came to worst, I could steal a truck full of intoxicated werewolves and let them sleep off the drug somewhere safe. The pack would be smaller, but at least some wolves would survive.
With that in mind, I sprinted on, veering away from the trucks until I could barely see them. I was on a clear stretch that was regularly frequented by werewolves if the well-worn trails in the grass were any indication. I kept running, despite the painful stitch in my side, until I came to a set of half a dozen massive flat rocks. I wondered if the werewolves sunned themselves on them.
I thought I heard a sound and reached out with my other senses. Just as a vivid red energy showed up, the head of a man popped up from behind one of the rocks.
“What are you doing here?” he asked impatiently. “You can’t be here today. It’s too dangerous.”
“Just going for a jog,” I said innocently, pretending not to notice the tranquiliser rifle in his hands. “What’s going on?”
“We’re just transporting some wild animals,” he said. “You need to get out of here in case one escapes.”
“Escapes?” I wheezed out a fake laugh. “What are you talking about? Oh, my God!” I pointed over his shoulder. “What the hell is that?”
He spun, instantly alert, his tranquiliser gun aimed at nothing. “Where?” he asked, just before I hopped over the rock.
Startled, he tried to elbow me, but I had already wrapped my arm around his neck. Even as he struck, I squeezed. He struggled desperately, but I was desperate, too. I waited until he fell unconscious, then I let him drop to the ground.
Wheezing from exertion, panic, and adrenalin, I bent over and tried to catch my breath. I spotted the rifle and picked it up, and considered shooting the man. But I wasn’t sure if the dosage was deadly for anything smaller than a werewolf or if the sleeping shot was really a killing shot.
Instead, I aimed the gun at the flat rocks and lashed the weapon against stone until it started to break.
“Stupid sodding thing,” I shouted. I hadn’t seen one werewolf yet, and idiots with tranquilisers were hiding all over the place. It made me furious. I was too late, and I had failed.
“Fucking Senate! Bloody paragons! Idiotic rules!” Tears were rolling down my cheeks, and my knuckles were bloody from hitting stone accidentally. I didn’t care anymore. I threw pieces of the gun to the ground and kicked them away, still swearing loudly.
I thought I heard a sound. I wiped my face with my sleeves and looked around. The meadow was clear of people, but there were plenty of woodlands that could conceal people with weapons. I had never had a chance to save the werewolves at all.
A twig cracked, and I spun around, instantly alert. And there, from amongst the dense trees, stood an intimidatingly large werewolf.
Chapter Twelve
The werewolf wasn’t Icarus, and Icarus was the only one I could claim to know. As the werewolf trod softly in a ring around me, I turned, suddenly unsure of myself. If the werewolves really had been killing humans, then they would think little of killing someone like me. They had been bred to kill vampires; the taint of vampire ran through my veins.
“Good werewolf,” I said. “Please don’t eat me. I’m here to help.”
A rustling from behind drew my attention away from the werewolf long enough for him to pounce. I ducked behind the stones and prepared myself to run for my life. But a harsh growl and a snapping sound made me peek over the stones. Two werewolves were grappling on the ground, ferociously biting at each other’s throats. The fight continued, and when they rolled over, splashes of blood stained the grass.
“Please don’t be fighting over who gets to eat me,” I whispered.
Eventually, the larger werewolf pinned the other by the throat. The loser showed his belly willingly, whining as he did so. The winner licked the submissive wolf’s wounds before letting him to his feet. The loser ran into the woods and out of sight.
The remaining werewolf turned to me, his huge golden eyes expressive as they locked on to mine. It had been a while, but I was sure this wolf had to be Icarus.
“Icarus?” I said tentatively.
The werewolf cocked his head to the side and sat down, looking as unassuming as a gigantic wolf could. I slowly came out from behind the rocks. The werewolf sniffed the air and growled.
“Icarus, the werewolves are in danger,” I said hurriedly. “I don’t know if you can understand me like this, so it would be really great if you could look like a man and have a conversation with me for five minutes.”
When nothing happened, I pointed at the man lying prone on the ground. “His people are after you. They’re using tranquiliser guns to knock you all out and take you somewhere to put you down. All of you, even the children.”
He didn’t respond in any way.
“Do you understand?” I picked up the broken gun and waved it around. “This is going to help make the werewolves extinct.”
He growled; the deep, terrifying sound made me sure the earlier fight had been more playful than serious. I thought the growl was directed at me until I heard footsteps behind me. I whirled around to see two men and a woman jogging toward us, carrying tranquiliser guns.
Ah, crap. I dropped the broken one.
“Get out of the way!” the woman screeched at me while aiming her gun at Icarus.
He rose to his feet, his bristling fur making him appear even larger than usual, but she didn’t appear cowed.
“No!” I moved in front of him and stretched out my arms. “I’m not letting you do this.”
“Then I’ll hit you first.” She took aim at me instead.
The male to her left reached out to stop her. “What the hell are you doing? Those tranqs are too powerful for a human!”
“Then it serves her right. And it might teach some soft-hearted do-gooder fools a lesson. You can’t keep wild animals as pets.”
“They aren’t pets,” I snapped. “And there’s no way I’m going to stand here and let you murder them.”
“Oh, I’ll just put my gun down then,” she said snidely. “Shut up.” She cocked the gun and pulled the trigger.
Icarus pounced on me, knocking me down. I fell heavily on my side, momentarily stunned. Icarus took a protective stance over me, his teeth bared. And then I noticed the tranquiliser dart stuck in his chest. For a second, he appeared poised to pounce away from me, but then his eyes rolled, his tongue lolled out of his mouth, and he collapsed heavily, almost suffocating me. I struggled to get out from under him, but he was a dead weight.
“Are you crazy?” the man said. “You could have killed her.”
She lifted the gun again, aiming at me. “She must be the one they warned us about.” She advanced on me.
I was stuck under Icarus. I met the woman’s gaze; she didn’t care. I waited for the shot, but something sharp and bright spun through the air toward her. A glass kylie knocked the gun right out of the woman’s hands.
She squealed and spun to find the source. Her two companions stepped back in alarm as Phoenix strode toward them, a tranquiliser rifle strapped to his shoulder. He spun it around and shot neatly three times, hitting each one of the werewolf attackers.
“That could kill them!” I called out, still inelegantly struggling to free myself.
He didn’t look at me as he inspected their unconscious bodies. “I don’t care.” The man I had first encountered began to stir, and Phoenix shot him, too. He came over and hauled the sleeping werewolf off me. “It’s not strong enough. The werewolves won’t be out for long.” He reached out and helped me to my feet. “Sorry I’m late.”
I was so happy not to be tranquilised that I hugged him. He had the means to fix everything. I almost relaxed—when I remembered that if he hadn’t left in the first
place, none of it would have happened.
Just as he wrapped his arms around me, I pulled away and thumped him in the gut. “Where the hell have you been?”
He held his stomach in confusion. “Why are you striking me?”
I furiously poked him in the chest. “Because you disappeared, and everything fell to shit. The Senate tried to lock me in their cells to stop me from helping the werewolves today, you know!”
He took a step back as I advanced on him. “But I’m here. They didn’t need you after all.”
“Is that supposed to make it okay?” I demanded, poking him again. “Mac is dead, and it turned out he was keeping free shifters captive. His second in command was murdered, too, and everyone I care about is a suspect. The Senate are bribing each other and forgetting to let every member vote on a decision, and the stupid paragon is insisting the werewolves be put to sleep. Permanently! Not to mention the fact the werewolves are running around slaughtering humans. Humans, Phoenix!”
He gripped my wrists and held me still. “I can see you’re under some kind of stress, but—”
“Some kind of…?” I spluttered. “Are you kidding me? Are you actually kidding me? I almost got hit with a freaking tranquiliser!”
He smiled then, softening his sharp features. The fae prince’s long black-and-platinum hair was plaited away from his face, somehow making him look younger, not that the fae ever looked their ages.
I looked around. “Wait, where are the twins?”
His smile disappeared, and he looked uncomfortable. “I believe Lucia is planning on travelling home soon, but Lorcan is… he wants to travel some more.”
My face fell. “He isn’t coming back. Is he okay?”
“He’s fine. He just… needs his space.”
I pulled myself out of his grip and folded my arms across my chest. “What did you do to him?”
He spluttered himself then. “Me? Why would I have done anything?”
“I can see the guilt written across your face. What’s going on?”
“We may have clashed.” He sighed. “It was a misunderstanding.”
“Well, at least you’re back now. If either you or Elathan had been around, then none of this would have happened. The only one capable of leading anyone is Daimhín, and she’s easily bribed with nice, muscular bodyguards.”
“Haven’t you finished berating me yet?”
He sounded so earnest that I laughed. “Yes. When did you get back?”
“Today.” He sounded relieved. “Lucia had a vision that the werewolves needed me, so I came straight here. Speaking of the wolves—” He pulled a whistle out of his shirt. It hung on a chain with a key and a second whistle. He blew hard. I couldn’t hear a thing.
“What’s that for?”
“It’s a warning signal,” he said. “It’s on a frequency that only the wolves should hear. They’ll run to their dens and hide.”
“What about the ones they’ve already taken?”
“I’ve slashed the tires of the trucks. It’ll slow them down long enough for the wolves to start waking. I don’t want to leave Icarus alone, though, and I need to give the Senate a call and force them to call off these idiots.” He sneered at the unconscious humans. “I’ll just be a moment.”
“What if the Senate refuse?”
His smile turned dark. “I know enough secrets to ensure they don’t.”
I shivered as he turned away to find a signal. I sat on the ground next to the sleeping werewolf and scratched behind his ears.
“It’s going to be okay, Icarus,” I said. “The pack is safe now. Phoenix is here, and he’s going to force the Senate to call off the madness. And we’ll figure out a way to deal with the paragon. Trust me.” I continued talking to him in a soothing voice. He looked ill. His eyes kept opening and rolling, and his tongue was hanging out as if it were a dead weight. I found his pulse, and his heart was racing. “You’re going to be fine,” I murmured.
“He can’t hear you,” Phoenix said, approaching us.
I pretended I wasn’t embarrassed. “You never know.”
He sat on the grass on the other side of Icarus and crossed his legs, managing to look completely relaxed. My back was killing me, but that might have been partly because an unconscious werewolf had landed on me.
“I take it things haven’t been good of late,” he said.
“It’s kind of blown up this week,” I admitted. “You’re not going to leave again, are you?”
He shook his head. “My business has been dealt with.”
I was dying to ask him what his business had been, but if he wanted me to know, he would have told me.
“Any ideas on how to deal with this paragon?” I asked. “He seems to have a vendetta or something. I doubt he’s going to leave this be. He caused mayhem, and people are terrified of the werewolves now. There may be attacks on this place from people who don’t know any better. They’re just too scared to let the werewolves be.”
“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about, actually,” he said. “I think you can help me.”
“With what exactly?” I had to admit I was curious.
He blinked a couple of times, apparently surprised that I didn’t already know. “Finding the real murderer, of course.”
Um. “Wait, Mac’s killer?” I asked hopefully. I really did need a powerful fae prince to be the delusional one.
He frowned. “The one who’s been killing humans and making the werewolves get the blame,” he clarified. “Once we can prove the truth, the paragon will have no choice but to quiet his accusations.”
“Phoenix,” I said softly, “these werewolves have been killing humans. They did it weeks ago, and you covered it up. And I saw one of the bodies this time. It was torn apart. Actually, that doesn’t even come close to how badly it was destroyed. No ordinary animal would have done that. I’ve seen the werewolves rip things apart before. This was way too similar.”
“But you’ve been defending the werewolves.” Confusion creased his forehead. “Yet you thought them guilty?”
I held up my hand. “One werewolf might be out of control. One shouldn’t condemn the entire pack. And now that you’re here, you can make them stop.”
“I’m not their god,” he said with a sharp laugh. “I don’t control their minds. I help them. And a werewolf didn’t kill those humans.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time.”
“Yes, actually, it would.”
“What are you talking about?”
He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment before meeting my gaze. “You can’t breathe a word of this to anyone, Ava.”
“What is it?”
“It’s true that there was an incident. And yes, a human was killed, but the werewolves didn’t kill him. They did rip his body apart afterward, but that was simply to cover up what had happened to him.”
My mouth fell open. “What the hell has been going on around here?”
“It’s not my secret to tell,” he said. “The one who killed that man did it to save a werewolf cub, and they have left the country since.”
Then it dawned on me. “They left with you,” I said slowly. “You took them away. Why? Was it Lorcan? Is that why he’s not coming back?”
“It wasn’t Lorcan. Or Lucia.”
That took me aback. Who else did he care about more than the werewolves? “I don’t understand. Why did you let the werewolves take the blame?”
“It wasn’t my choice. I brought this… person to see the werewolves, who agreed to offer their protection. The incident with the human was a surprise. The child was saved only for the quick actions of this creature. The werewolves owed their thanks; it was their idea to cover up the death and take the blame. The creature is at a greater risk of being exterminated than even the werewolves, and I thought it deserved a fair chance at life. It was only in the position of danger in the first place because I brought it to the werewolves, looking for answers to questions I had.” He rubbed his face as though
trying to wipe away his guilt.
“Well? Don’t leave me hanging. Who is it?”
“More like… what.” He avoided my eyes. “We don’t know for sure, but it may have been a demon.” He chanced a glance at me. “From the book.”
I jumped to my feet. “Are you serious? You set a demon free? A human-killing demon from the book that caused the sun to disappear? What the hell is going on, Phoenix?”
He joined me, looking agitated. “It wasn’t… it was a different kind of demon. Not at all what you think.”
“It went on to kill a human. That’s exactly what I would think a demon might do.”
“I’m serious, Ava. Think bigger. Everything was pulled into that book, higher and lesser demons alike, as far as we know. And the problem is that we don’t know enough.”
“The problem is that I know too much! The Eleven claim responsibility for those books. It was supposed to keep balance, and now you’re saving monsters from it?” I curled my fingers into fists. “What if they say I have to kill it, Phoenix?”
“I took the creature away. There’s no need to panic. I’ve brought this demon to an expert who believes she is a protector of sorts.”
“She?”
“Yes, she. She is not humanoid, not like anything else I know, but she helped save more than one life on more than one occasion, and I owed her a chance. I’m confident that she’s not a danger to anyone, but if it makes you feel any better, she’s currently being watched over by the expert who believes this demon either lured the others into the book or was accidentally trapped while helping track them down.”
I didn’t know what to think. “This is just mental. How can you be so sure about any of this?”
“Sure? I can’t. But I have good reason to believe in what I’ve told you. If you had met the creature… but I couldn’t tell you about it. I had to leave so abruptly because of the death. I heard the paragon was returning, and I needed the demon to be out of the country before he did.”
I blew out a whistle. “Does anybody tell me the truth anymore?” For some reason, that question made him more uncomfortable. “Is there anything else I should know?” I demanded.
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