“True,” Luc growled. “He is an idiot, but he’s the idiot who has my heartmate.”
Corinne cursed as she stumbled on another root. The sun had well and truly set, making the going over the rocky, uphill terrain slow and treacherous. She’d already skinned both her knees and lost the rest of her aspirin in one big pile a few stumbles ago. Still, maybe there was enough of a trail for Luc to find her.
She never doubted for a minute that he was on his way. She just hoped he managed to get to her before Fergus succeeded in opening the Faerie door. She was still struggling to get accustomed to the fact that she was sleeping with a Fae; she definitely didn’t want to see what would come traipsing through into Ithirif Fergus got his way.
“You know, I don’t want to make you play out the villain cliché,” she said as she scrambled over a fallen tree trunk, “’cause mainly I just want you to drop dead, but I’m having trouble with the why of this whole scenario. Why the hell would you want to open the door? You’ve got as much to lose as any Fae if humans start pouring into Faerie, right?”
“Humans are so simple-minded,” he scoffed. “I couldn’t care less if Faerie teems with your detestable little species, so long as that faithless bitch is dethroned and I rise in her place.”
Corinne paused to look back at him. “Oh, shit,” she breathed. “You’re not just an asshole, you’re a megalomaniacal lunatic, too. Oh, man, this so sucks.”
He drew back his hand and hit her so casually, she never saw it coming. One minute he was looking at her with his characteristic sneer, the next she was picking herself up out of the dirt, wiping the trickle of blood away from her mouth. “Watch what you say, human. I still have the option of killing you slowly if you piss me off.”
“Is there really any way I can notpiss you off?”
He paused for a moment. “No, I don’t think so.”
She wiped her bloody fingers on her shorts and watched him consult his glow-rock. “How much farther?”
He ignored her.
“I can change that to Are we there yet?but I was trying to be nice.”
“We’re nearly on top of it.” He didn’t even bother to look at her. “Now shut up and keep moving.”
She moved, but she also plotted. They were making too much noise for her to hear if anyone was following them yet. Well, to be honest, she was making too much noise. Fergus seemed to move silently, though how anyone could walk over dead leaves and twigs and loose rocks without making a sound was beyond her, even if he wasn’t human. Since she couldn’t tell if Luc had caught up to them, she tried to slow him down.
“Okay, fine,” she huffed, “I get the power goal. That’s understandable, but if you’re the one who’s been causing all this trouble, where has Seoc really gone? Was he the one who sent Hibbish to limbo and killed the rabbi, or was that you?”
He laughed coldly. “The only one in limbo is Seoc himself. All the humans are dead. I didn’t want them telling the story of two Fae wandering through their city. Having spotted Seoc was a convenient cover, but spotting me was too much to let go.” His mouth twisted in a sneer. “No one was supposed to find the rabbi, but I didn’t have time to dispose of him like the others. He cried out when I struck him, and I could hear someone running toward the sound. I had to leave him out in the open. It was my one mistake.”
Corinne felt her stomach turn at the callous way he related the news, as if their deaths meant nothing to him. Clearly they did mean nothing.
“Oh, I think you’ve made more than one,” she growled, “but that’s the one I’ll see you pay for, you miserable little prick.”
“They were human and, therefore, expendable.”
“Who isn’t expendable in your fucked-up universe?”
His grin flashed, unrepentant and soulless. “Just me. I’ll even see Mab dead eventually. After I’m done with her.”
The tone he used to speak of the Queen dripped with bile and a sick kind of desire. It made Corinne’s stomach heave, but the longer she kept him talking, the longer she gave Luc to find them.
“What, you think you’re going to screw the Queen of the Faeries?” she scoffed, deliberately taunting him. “I doubt she gets off on insanity ordisloyalty. I imagine she’d rather spread her legs for that barghestyou sent after us.”
“An impulse, one that almost worked out better than I had anticipated. But it wouldn’t be the first time the Queen spread whatever I asked her to. I’ve had that bitch in ways you can’t even imagine. She took me as her favorite more than a century ago, and she made promises to me that I’m going to see she fulfills.”
He must have seen the shock on her face, because he chuckled deeply. “Oh, I’m sure she made quite an impression on you earlier, human. Wearing her crown and her all-knowing, all-loving expression. She likes to make people fear her almost as much as she likes to make people love her. It’s just too bad she’s not capable of returning the emotion.”
“Oh, my God,” she said, shaking her head and staring at him in disbelief. “You’re about to destroy all of Faerie because you’re pissed off that the woman you were seeing dumped your psycho ass. And you have the nerve to look down on humans as if we’re less evolved!”
He struck her again and this time she saw stars for a minute before the world righted itself. She knew she was right, though, and she wondered what Luc would say when he learned he’d been betrayed by his friend over a bruised ego.
“I’ve heard enough from you,” he snarled. “From now on, you can keep your mouth shut. We’re so close, I could probably kill you and still get the door open before anyone found us, so don’t push me.”
Fergus grabbed her by the arm and shoved her forward, ignoring her pained hiss. When she stumbled yet again, he hauled her to her feet and pushed her faster. He had her nearly running up to the crest of the hill, struggling frantically to keep her balance. Her breath came in shallow pants by the time he dragged her to a halt and shoved her down against the base of a tree trunk.
“Stay there.”
He wasn’t stupid enough to turn his back on her—sadly enough—but he had clearly tuned her out before she even hit the ground. Corinne propped herself up against the tree and eyed him warily. His glow-rock had turned a bright blue-green color, the same shade as in all the ads for the Caribbean. That seemed to be the cue he was looking for, because he pocketed it and began to examine the rock formations and almost-caves that covered the rocky hilltop.
He was muttering something under his breath, and she really hoped it wasn’t the spell that would open the door. “Now would be a really good time for the cavalry,” she mumbled.
“Shut up!” he snarled. “Keep quiet, or I’ll knock you out again.”
She didn’t doubt it, and since she really needed to be conscious in case the cavalry didn’t arrive, she fell silent and watched him search. She thought about trying to distract him by talking or running, but refrained. Better to gather her energy and wait for an opportunity to tackle him to keep him from magicking the door open.
She watched as Fergus began to run his hands along a crevice in the rock and stiffened when he crowed in triumph.
“Finally!” He stepped back and turned his head to send Corinne a particularly nasty smile. “Just a few more minutes, and then I can take care of you as well.”
He faced the rock, spread his arms, and began to chant in the same language she’d heard Luc swear in after she’d pissed him off particularly badly. She swore herself. This was it. There was no sign of Luc or the others, yet, and their time had just run out. Even as she struggled to her feet, she saw something begin to happen.
The crevice Fergus had explored began to glow, the same sort of turquoise color as the rock the Fae had used to lead them there. It began as a fine line of light and slowly expanded until it was as tall as the Fae and nearly an inch wide. Corinne knew that in a moment it would be big enough for someone or something to pass through.
When that happened, it would be too late for Luc and the others to rescue her. It w
ould be too late for everyone.
“Oh, well,” she muttered under her breath, gathering herself for a leap. “If you want something done right…”
She pushed off, but she never landed. At least, not on Fergus.
She heard a growl and almost simultaneously saw a blurry figure launch itself from the trees. She grunted as it hurtled past her, shouldering her roughly to the side before it continued forward and slammed full-length into Fergus. Both figures toppled to the earth and rolled around. For several seconds they struggled, the air thick with rage and curses, before a hoarse shout dragged their attention to the woods.
Luc and Dmitri emerged, running full-tilt toward Fergus, with Reggie and Missy hurrying along behind, held in check only by one of Rafe’s hands on each of their shoulders. In one fist, Luc carried an enormous sword that gleamed dully in the dim light that bled into the park from the city below. The other was clenched and looked positively eager to pound something.
Corinne’s eyes flew over her heartmate, but she couldn’t even see an injury. Even though Fergus’s knife had been covered in blood, he must not have done any permanent damage. Relief threatened to bring her to her knees. Except she was already there, where she’d landed after the impact of her savior’s weight against her shoulder had sent her sprawling. She hadn’t landed very far from the pair, though. In fact, she barely realized just how close she was in time to scramble out of the way before the combatants rolled right into her.
The figure wrestling with Fergus spun away, and now Corinne could see that the one who had originally attacked Fergus had dark fur tipped with silver along the spine, and was definitely not human. It was a wolf.
Graham.
The werewolf pulled away from Fergus to let Luc get a chance at him. Even Dmitri seemed to know to hang back; this battle belonged to the Fae warrior and not to his friends, no matter how well meaning. Instead, Graham placed himself between Fergus and Corinne and growled at her when she tried to go to Luc.
“Fergus.” Luc’s voice was a low, feral snarl that sounded almost like it was coming from Graham’s throat. He halted a few feet from the other Fae and watched as the traitor climbed slowly to his feet. “You should have forgotten about the door and kept running, because the moment you touched my heartmate, you sealed your own fate.”
“So dramatic,” Fergus sneered, “but tell me, Captain, how are you feeling? I hope you didn’t mind the inconvenience of my knife sliding between your ribs, because I have the urge to repeat the experience.”
“Too bad you won’t get to fulfill it. I’ll give you a choice, Fergus of Eithdne. You can surrender to me and consent to be taken in irons back to our Queen, or you can die, here and now, for crimes against Queen Mab and all of Faerie. You choose.”
Corinne stood so close, she could hear the sound of Fergus’s sword hissing as he pulled it from its scabbard. Even if she had been farther away, though, she doubted she would have been able to avoid what happened next.
He moved so fast, she almost didn’t see him strike, feinting toward Luc and then spinning around Graham’s unsuspecting form to grab Corinne by the hair. He pulled her across the ground until she knelt in front of him. His hand gripped her hair tightly, bracing her against his thigh while he held his sword in his other hand.
“I think you should choose.” Fergus raised his blade and pointed the tip at her throat. “Either you finish opening that door and let me pass through, or I slit your heartmate’s throat and see if she bleeds any faster than you do.”
Luc gave a roar of rage and threw himself forward, only to catch himself in mid-stride as Fergus’s sword nicked Corinne’s skin, sending a tiny trickle of blood to slide down her throat.
“Be very careful, my friend,” Fergus sneered. “I’m not feeling charitable toward the human to begin with, so it would be no hardship for me to watch her die. In fact, I might just enjoy it.”
Luc growled impotently, but he stilled and met Fergus’s gaze with rage burning in his own.
“Very good. Now open the door.”
Corinne met Luc’s gaze and saw the frustration there. His concern touched her, but it also pissed her off, because she knew right then that he was going to give in to Fergus’s demands and open the Faerie door himself. To save her.
She wanted to scream in frustration. Among Graham, Dmitri, and Luc, they had enough power to mash Fergus into tiny bits, but because he had a sword to her throat, all three stood there paralyzed. Even Reggie and Missy looked too intimidated to move. Damn it, they had to get over this little phobia of seeing her die.
“Don’t do it, Luc,” she said, her voice trembling. Not with fear but with anger.
Her heartmate spoke in an unsteady voice himself. “I can’t let him hurt you.”
“This is touching,” Fergus interrupted. “Repulsive, but touching. However, it’s also quite futile. I don’t know how I can simplify this for you any more. Either open the door, or the human dies. Choose.”
Luc swore and turned toward the glowing sliver of doorway. Corinne screamed.
“Don’t you dare!” She didn’t care about the fist in her hair or the blade at her throat or anything else. What mattered was that Luc couldn’t throw away everything he stood for because some lunatic with a superiority complex was holding a knife on her.
“Shut up!” Fergus shouted, loosening his grip in her hair so he could cuff her against the side of the head.
Idiot. That was all she needed.
She threw herself backward, screaming as she felt a large clump of her hair stay behind in Fergus’s hand. The force of her movement sent her slamming into the ground harder than when she’d been dropped earlier, knocking some of the wind out of her. Her head landed a glancing blow against a rock, making her vision fuzz and blur.
She couldn’t see what happened next, but she sure as hell heard it. Roaring echoed in her ears, and she couldn’t tell if it came from Luc or Fergus, or the Others, or even all of them at once.
She knew the cheering she heard definitely came from Reggie and Missy.
She heard the sounds of a brawl, but her eyes had closed against the blinding pain in her head, and she couldn’t pry them open. Nausea roiled in her stomach and she curled instinctively into a fetal position, gagging helplessly. She couldn’t work up the strength to protest when she felt two pairs of small hands hook under her arms and drag her out of the way of the struggle.
They needn’t have bothered. With odds of four against one, Fergus didn’t last long. Before they had even stopped moving, silence descended on the hilltop.
Well, silence punctuated by the sickening sound of a fist thumping violently against flesh and bone.
“Luc. Luc, stop!” she heard. “He’s unconscious. Stop before you kill him.”
Rafe. The voice of reason.
“Why should I? He touched my mate.”
“But she’s safe now. And do you want to have to explain his death to the Queen?”
A brief silence. Corinne struggled to breathe through her mouth and ride out the pain. At least the nausea seemed to be fading.
“Trust me,” she gritted out, “we’ll have plenty to tell Mab without adding that to the list.”
The effort of the short speech exhausted her. She felt as if she’d been trampled by a herd of elephants. And she suspected they’d been wearing high heels.
She heard a vague grumbling, then more silence until she was lifted and settled in a hard lap, cuddled close in muscular arms.
“I’m so sorry, baby.” She felt his lips moving against her forehead as he pressed his cheek to her hair. “I love you so much. I’m so sorry he touched you. I should have been quicker.”
“Fine.” Her voice cracked and squeaked this time, but she figured she’d managed enough to get her point across. She was fine. Or she would be. Eventually.
She needed to say something else, though. She parted her lips and gathered her strength. “Love, too.”
Not real clear, but he was a bright guy. Sometimes. H
e’d figure it out.
His arms tightened convulsively around her and she knew he had.
She pressed her face against his chest and whimpered one, critically important word. “Aspirin?”
Then she blacked out, safe in her heartmate’s arms.
EPILOGUE
She got Tylenol with codeine.
After the doctors checked to make sure she didn’t have a concussion, they prescribed the good stuff and released her to Luc’s tender loving care. He had to fight Reggie and Missy for the privilege.
“Are you okay? Does your head hurt?”
Corinne sighed. “No more than it did the last time you asked. Five seconds ago.”
She cracked an eye open to see Luc’s beloved face hovering just inches above hers. Instead of bringing her back to her apartment, he had taken her to Vircolac, to a room Graham provided and stocked more completely than your average private hospital suite. She thought there might even be a bedpan under the night table.
She would be more comfortable, the Alpha had informed them, with twenty-four-hour room service.
“Isn’t that what Luc is for?” she had asked.
Her heartmate had been incredibly solicitous, so much so that it was beginning to drive her the littlest bit crazy. She was all for being adored, but not when the man seemed afraid to handle her like anything other than spun glass.
“Do you want a glass of water? You can’t have another pill for an hour, but I could do a charm if your head hurts too much to wait.”
“I’m fine. Stop hovering.” She glared at him. With love, of course. “Either go away or get into bed with me, because I’m about one second away from forgetting about the doctor’s orders and taking my own damned self home.”
He got into bed with her.
“Sorry,” he said, sounding sheepish and adorable. “You just scared the hell out of me when you passed out.”
“I scared myself a little,” she muttered, snuggling against his chest and feeling his arms close very gently around her. That made her feel more at home than returning to her apartment possibly could have. “But I’m fine now. The doctor even said, no permanent damage. I’ll be good as new in a couple of weeks. I just have to take it easy and reduce the number of times I get attacked to less than three in a forty-eight-hour period.”
Not Your Ordinary Faerie Tale Page 21
