by K. N. Banet
“That’s right,” the fae continued. “You don’t want to disappoint your father.”
No. I want to be a good daughter to Hasan. Like Zuri and Mischa. I should listen.
“Exactly. You don’t want to keep being the troublemaker.”
No, I don’t.
A shot rang out, and one of the people in the room screamed. I turned and snarled at whoever this new enemy was, shooting the fae I was speaking with. Then a second shot rang out, and I felt a burning over my shoulder, and the pain made my head clear. I looked up to see Heath on the stairs, glaring behind me.
He just shot me.
“Follow me, Jacky. Now,” he ordered, and I felt the weight of that order in a way I never had before, making my feet move. I broke out into a run, trying to reach him.
Behind me, the fae chased, and silver cut across my back leg as I reached the bottom of the stairs. Heath fired again, and my attacker fell back. The noise made me think a body stopped the others. I was halfway up the stairs before someone jumped on my back. I slammed into the wall, ignoring the fiery pain that shot through me from the gunshot Heath had given me. He and I were going to have a long talk about that. Before I could shake the fae loose, a silver blade found its way into my side. I gave a feline scream and slammed the fae against the wall again as I ran up the stairs. Heath was running to stay ahead of me. I could see a door to a beautiful field, with Fiona standing on the other side. Heath stepped in my way, lifted his rifle, and took another shot, knocking the fae off my back permanently. He jumped through the door, where I saw Rian grab him and throw him out of my sight.
With a snarl, I ran, ignoring when an arrow sank into my back leg.
“Stop them!” someone screamed.
I didn’t stop. I burst through the door, ignoring that I knocked Heath to the ground. When I turned, Rian was pulling the door closed, but not before an arrow slipped through, skimming him, and nearly hitting me again.
Once it was closed, the doorway disappeared entirely.
“Where are we?” Heath asked as he pushed to his feet.
“Somewhere in the fae realms,” Rian answered, looking around as he panted from exhaustion. There was sweat on his forehead, dripping down slowly over his nose and brow. Making the doorway had clearly taken a lot out of him. “But I don’t know where.”
16
Chapter Sixteen
I tried to grab the arrow and pull it from my leg as that news settled over the group. The fae realms—of all the places we could end up. I had never wanted to go anywhere but my own territory, but now I was in a completely different plane of existence.
With a silver arrow in my thigh.
I had to decide what was more important, so I kept trying to get it instead of being angry about where I was or about anything else. I was going to die of silver poisoning if I left it in too long.
“Jacky, what are you…Shit. Let me help you so we can get you back in human form.” Heath clearly hadn’t seen the damage I had taken, but he did now. He showed no fear, pushing my big head out of the way to inspect the damage. I growled as he tested if it would pull out easily.
“Is she going to be okay?” Fiona asked softly, dropping two backpacks as she came closer.
“Stay back,” Heath ordered, his words sharp, leaving no room for argument. “She’s generally well behaved when she’s injured, but this is silver. It can be a little unpredictable.”
“I’m not like that,” I growled into his head. “I can control myself.”
“Most werewolves have a hard time,” he softly said to me. “I just don’t want to take unnecessary risks. Plus, I want Fiona and Rian to watch our backs. This is the fae realms, and from what I know, there’re a lot of dangers here.” He ran a hand over my back. “This is going to hurt, but I’m going to get this arrow out and hope nothing remains inside you.”
While he worked to get the arrow out, I closed my eyes, trying to block out the pain, a burning sensation that made my legs shake enough to send me to the ground. I fell on my side, panting as Heath worked it and wiggled it, pulling slowly. I couldn’t see Fiona and Rian anymore, but I knew they wouldn’t wander off. People had tried to take them. Their self-preservation instincts would force them to stay with Heath and me.
I whined and snarled as Heath pulled it farther out. Finally, the tip was just below the skin, and we knew what had to happen next. Heath saved as much of my muscle as he could, but the skin it had pierced wasn’t salvageable. He gave it one harsh yank, ripping it out the rest of the way with a growl as I instinctively snapped in his direction from the pain. He jumped back, the arrow still in his hand as I struggled to my feet, wobbling. It wasn’t the only injury I had. My other thigh had a long gash.
“Change and see if anything will start healing,” he ordered, still using that tone of voice that told me he was talking as an Alpha and not the lover I had known for three years.
I began the Change without argument. He watched me through the entire thing, which took minutes instead of seconds—agonizing minutes, where I felt every single pain. It was a good and a bad thing. Changing meant there wasn’t enough silver in my system to cause me too many problems, but it was slow, which meant there still had to be some, or maybe it was needed to heal my silver-caused injuries. Either way, I wasn’t coming into the fae realms fresh, and we knew the fae coming after us were willing to fight to the death.
I was gasping for air when the Change was over, and I ached. Heath dropped the arrow and grabbed a bag, quickly pulling out a set of clothes for me. There was even a pair of socks and shoes for me. I dressed, trying to ignore the pain of my injuries, then I finally dared to take stock of the situation.
“The fae realms?” I asked, looking around as Heath tucked the arrow away for later inspection.
“Yes,” Rian answered, his head down. “I can…feel the magic. Can’t you?”
“Smell it,” Heath said softly. “It’s in the air.”
I took a deep breath and focused on the world around me, trying to catch the inherent scents of the land. Yes, there was definitely magic in the air, in every blade of grass and every flower. We were in a beautiful field, and to one side, I could see mountains and on the other side, a forest. There was no civilization from what I could see.
“Damn,” I mumbled. “I don’t know the names of the realms or areas.”
“Neither do we,” Fiona said, coming to stand at my side. “I’m so sorry about the injuries you’ve taken—”
I lifted a hand and cut her off. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve been hit worse and harder. Remind me to tell you about the time a vampire tried to rip my head into two pieces.” I glanced her way to see her pale further and sway. Rian grabbed his mother, glaring at me.
“Really?”
“Sorry. I’m just…used to the violence, at this point,” I said, lowering my head. I had tried to be casual and give Fiona an example of what I was used to at this point. Even when I was dealing with humans, someone had found a reason to shoot at me and put me in the hospital.
“Why don’t we figure out what we’re going to do,” Heath murmured, coming to my other side. “Fiona, please, take a deep breath. Jacky and I are moon cursed. Not only is the supernatural world dangerous, but we’re both violent species, even if we’re not violent people. She didn’t say it for shock factor.”
I kind of had, but I let Heath smooth things over. I was hurting and pissed off. I didn’t care about Fiona’s delicate sensibilities, just as I hadn’t cared too much about Gwen when she was freaking out over the dead. I had been a touch softer for Gwen because she was my sister, my twin. I bit my tongue before I released my anger. Fiona didn’t need me to remind her that she married a fae king and had stood by while he forced Heath and me into their mess. I could see on her face that she was already thinking about it and could smell the regret and fear in her scent. Both of those things tempered me enough to let Heath do the talking.
He gave me a look, and it said too much. While we didn’t
know everything about each other, he could read me better than anyone.
“Well, we should avoid other fae and give me time to rest, so I can make us a portal back to the mortal realm.” Rian wiped the sweat from his forehead. “But we have to be careful. My dad taught us a lot about what’s here in the fae realms. Plants that will ensnare you and slowly feast on you, both physically and mentally. Animals that can body snatch and walk you into their dens to keep. Fae hounds that can run faster than any hunting dog. And there’s the time problem.”
“The time problem being…” I frowned. “The fae realms don’t always match our time. We could be here for a day and lose a hundred years…”
“That,” Rian agreed. “But we won’t feel those years, don’t worry. You won’t go back and suddenly be a hundred years older.”
Heath suddenly snarled, grabbing Rian by the shirt.
“Won’t feel them? I have a human daughter. She could be dead!”
“I’m sorry! I just made a portal so we could escape. I was hoping to find Dad! I asked the portal to lead us to him or my brothers.” Rian didn’t move. He was a scared young man.
“Why don’t you have control over your powers?” I asked, crossing my arms as Fiona tried to step between Heath and her son.
“I’m the youngest, and…they’ve always just been a little wild,” Rian explained, frantically looking between Heath and me.
“Heath, let him go,” I whispered, reaching out to my werewolf. “There’s a lot we need to talk about. Like the magic that one fae had before you shot into the living room.”
Heath snarled one more time and shoved Rian. Rian, for his efforts, was able to stay on his feet, barely. Heath turned to me, his eyes ice blue. He was losing control. There was too much happening, and the idea of missing Carey growing up and growing old was making him dangerous, more dangerous than I had ever seen him. In those ice-blue eyes, I saw my own gold glowing back at me. My control over my eyes was always notoriously bad, and silver injuries didn’t help anything.
“Persuasion,” Heath growled. “She was using your own thoughts to persuade you. She found the right arguments and was slowly bending your will.”
“Brion and his sons don’t have that power,” Fiona said softly.
“Cool,” I snapped. “Heath? I noticed you were able to order me in a way you never could before.”
“That fae power…she made you malleable, and that’s how I was able to get you moving. You’re more inclined to listen to me than you are to listen to a stranger, so I put a bit of Alpha in my voice, and you followed.” He rubbed his face and growled softly. “Just remember, you couldn’t have followed me if you didn’t want to. I didn’t force you to do anything against your will.”
“Okay…” I wasn’t upset with him. I was freaked out by the fae who had been able to slowly persuade me, and I had been falling for it. I didn’t admit to him I had thought he was the enemy when I first heard him fire that rifle. There was no reason to drag that up. “So, we have fae who can make us…listen.”
“Luckier you than me,” Heath mumbled. “You like being defiantly your own person. Imagine if they had tried it with me and told me it was Fiona or Carey.”
“Yeah…” I couldn’t argue with that. The fae had missed that opportunity with me, something I had to be grateful for. “They didn’t know as much as they should have. That’s good. How long do you think it’ll take Landon or Dirk to realize something is wrong?”
“Less than an hour,” Heath answered. “Landon and I were texting every hour. He’ll find my sudden silence a problem and try to call, get no reply, then put everyone on lockdown while he investigates your place.”
I nodded. Landon was a damn good second to his father. Of course they had already made plans.
“What are we going to do?” Rian asked, finally brave enough to enter the conversation again.
“We’re going to start walking,” I said, waving around. “Pick a direction. You don’t like the forest? Then we’ll stay in the fields and head toward the mountains. We can’t stay here, though. We walk, you recharge whatever battery you need to recharge, and you get us back to the right plane of existence. We can’t hang out in the fae realms all day. One, it’s too fucking dangerous, and two, you don’t want to be the person who keeps Heath and me from our families. Your father won’t be able to save you from either of us if we lose time and miss their lives.”
“Don’t threaten my son,” Fiona warned.
I bit back a snarl at her, knowing I would be just as fierce if it was Carey. The human’s protective nature over her boy was charming and lovable, but I couldn’t get over any of the rest to really appreciate it.
Rian narrowed his eyes but nodded at my words, ignoring his mother. Heath and I started walking first, keeping our eyes out for anything out of the ordinary. Rian and Fiona walked quietly behind us.
All in all, it was turning out to be a terrible day. As we walked through the beautiful expansive wildflower fields, I wondered if there was anything living in it since it seemed beautiful and oddly desolate. There was no smell or sign of wildlife I could find, but there was a case to be made that I just didn’t recognize the scents of wildlife in the fae realms.
Then we heard a howl, and I turned, Heath jerking to a stop as well. We stared in the direction of the howl intently as a second rang through the sky.
“That’s coming from…” My pulse started to pick up. My mouth went dry. “Heath, that’s coming from behind us.”
“Where we’ve left a trail,” he agreed, listening to the same things I was. “Those are hunting dogs. Start running. Fiona, Rian. Go. Run!” He grabbed Fiona and pushed her past us. Rian grabbed her elbow before she fell and ran with her. I went next, limping as my thighs reminded me easy walking was fine, but running had not been on the agenda. Heath stayed by my side. We ran until we saw a tree line, but every step grew harder for me and for Fiona, whose human body wasn’t meant for this sort of excitement.
Every step, the hounds’ barks and the growls of hunting dogs seemed to get closer. They didn’t hunt like wolves. Wolves would flank and drive us into a large part of the pack. Wolves were intelligent and didn’t need humans telling them what to hunt and when to hunt it. A pack of hunting dogs was completely driven by scent and the need to chase. They weren’t silent predators. It just all sounded and felt more chaotic.
I looked over my shoulder to see them tearing through the field. They didn’t look like any kind of dogs I had ever seen, but they were dogs. Behind them were four people on horseback with bows in their hands and swords at their hips.
“Halt!” someone roared. “Guards! We have intruders!”
Before Fiona and Rian could get into the trees, it seemed as if a group of warriors manifested in the trees. With spears, they stopped our forward progress, and we found ourselves trapped.
“There’s no time to Change,” Heath said softly, grabbing my elbow. He forced a gun into my hand, a small sidearm I couldn’t identify immediately. “Let’s hope these actually work here.”
He and I turned to face off the riders and their hounds.
We had gotten out of one problem, only to land in another.
17
Chapter Seventeen
At my back, Fiona’s heart was racing. The scent of her fear threatened to cloud my mind, but I kept my eyes on the hounds.
“Call off the dogs!” someone yelled, a clear, feminine voice, one full of power. Authority. “We’ll get to the bottom of this.”
Another fae whistled, and one of the riders veered off, the hounds chasing after him and his horse. I looked for the source of the one giving orders and found her quickly, the only woman in the group. With hair the color of silver and eyes that reminded me of the moon, she rode through the remaining two riders, wearing leathers in different shades of grey with hints of blues intermixed. On her chest was an emblem I couldn’t decipher from a distance. All the riders, including her, were sidhe like Brion and Rian and the ones who had come to m
y home.
She dismounted before us but seemed unafraid. She was tall, probably tipping over six feet and all long, lean legs. Her angular face was haughty, and she had mastered the ability to look down her nose. I felt the weight of it, and it made me wonder if she had ever tangled with Zuri or Hasan. She seemed like the type who knew what power was and how to use it.
“I am the lady of this land,” she said as she approached us. “And you are intruders.”
She lifted a hand, and I looked down to see vines or roots shoot out from the earth and tangle in my legs. I pulled a leg free, snapping them, and Heath was able to do the same, but Rian and Fiona were trapped. Heath had to give in next as I broke my second leg free, but the roots were growing stronger. Eventually, they had me firmly rooted to the ground with everyone else.
“I think you misunderstand,” she said kindly, coming toward me as I continued to struggle. “I’m the lady of this land, and I can make this trick strong enough to crush your bones. Stop struggling, girl.”
I snarled, but I stopped pulling at the roots holding me.
“This is something witches can do,” Heath snapped. “I didn’t know the fae could do witchcraft.”
“It’s something witches copied from us because they were jealous, as they often are,” she replied with a sharp smile. “You aren’t the first person to have assumed this is purely human witchcraft. Don’t make the mistake again. I don’t like to be offended on my own land and my land will do anything for me.”
“Lady, what do you plan with them?” another rider said, the one who had screamed halt. He slid off his horse, his ginger hair also long but pulled back from his face. Between the two of them, I could see the differences in their ears, and it continued to strike me as odd. She had long ears like Brion. He had the shorter, more human ears but still definitely pointed.
“We’re going to take them back to the house and see what the Lord wants to do with them. He needs to see them and make sure they’re not any of his known enemies.” Casually, she shrugged. “What did you think I was going to do with them?”
