by Nadine Mutas
Elaine, who stood next to Hazel in the hall, sighed. “We wouldn’t have to if you were reasonable enough to just stay home.”
“I’m not going to twiddle my thumbs while you free Rhun!”
“You can’t use your magic.” Elaine’s eyes were hard. “We’ve been over this. If you come with us, you’ll be a liability, since you can’t actually fight at our side and we’ll have to protect you.”
Gods. She’d heard those words before, or at least similar enough. Rhun once said much the same to her when he was about to rescue Maeve while Merle was without her powers. And the command, the fucking reasonability of it chafed at her now as it had then.
Of course she understood the risk of going along, and the logic of staying out of the way when she was at human strength—or rather, weakness—and she could see where they were coming from. The problem was, the knowledge didn’t soothe the burning need to be there when the person who held her heart was freed.
What if something went wrong, and her presence could make a difference after all? What if, by staying behind, she would never see Rhun again?
Her breath got stuck in her lungs, and she choked, couldn’t breathe. “Please,” she whispered.
“Merle.” Hazel’s eyes shimmered. “Just…trust us. We’ll bring him home for you.”
“But only if we move now,” Elaine said. “If it’s true the hæmingr killed Estelle, then Juneau will have felt the link to her sever, and she’ll be alarmed something’s happening. She may move Rhun to another location.”
Lily and Alek, who’d been out for a feeding, were already on their way to join the other Elders, having been called by Hazel. Basil had gone with Tallak when the demon went his on mission earlier, to linger in the area and provide backup—and pickup—after Tallak was done. Isa, who was currently taking a shower in her and Basil’s room, was to remain here with Rose…and Merle, according to the stupidly overprotective plan of Elaine and Hazel.
The head of the Murray family sent one last sympathetic look at Merle and followed Elaine down the hall, while Merle grabbed the doorjamb and stared after them.
The wards singed her skin, and she let go, jumped back with a curse. Dammit. She kicked at the doorjamb and yelled her anger out into the quiet house, stalked over to the window—sealed with wards just like the door—and looked out. The horizon toward the east seemed…lit up somehow. An unusual orange glow. Weird, like that booming sound followed by a strange magic wave just minutes earlier. Her stomach curled with an uneasy lurch of foreboding.
The sound of a door opening. Merle turned, saw Rose peeking out of the room opposite Merle’s.
“Oh, hey,” Merle said. “Sorry if my yelling scared you. I’m having kind of a bad night…”
Rose opened the door wider, her dark brows drawing together over eyes identical to Lily’s—something that still baffled Merle for a second every time she saw them—as she studied the entrance to the bedroom where Merle was trapped.
She asked something in Fae, but Merle shook her head.
“I don’t know what you’re saying, sorry.”
Rose stepped out into the hall, crossed the space and raised a hand to the invisible wall of the wards. She gasped when she apparently felt the magic.
Forehead scrunched in lines, she enunciated the word carefully. “Locked?”
Merle nodded. “Yes. I can’t get out.” She heaved a sigh. “I know it’s for the best to stay here, but—dammit—I need to go and find Rhun.”
Rose hadn’t withdrawn her hand from the wards, her eyes darkening. White lines formed around her mouth, and her aura pulsed. Her hand began to glow.
“Whoa.” Merle backed up several steps. “Are you—”
The entire wall exploded. Merle jumped behind the bed for cover just as splintered wood flew toward her and embedded in the opposite wall. Coughing from the dust, Merle lowered her arms from over her head and peered out from behind the bed.
Rose stood in the hall, eyes wide, mouth open and half covered by her hand. The wards were gone.
“Well,” Merle said, scrambling to her feet and walking over to her. “You didn’t know you could do that either, huh?”
“Did I just hear an explosion?” Basil came running down the hall.
Apparently he and Tallak had just made it back home. His father trailed behind him.
Tallak didn’t look any the worse for wear, and Merle exhaled a sigh of relief.
At least Basil’s dad made it out okay. If something had happened to him because she asked him to walk into the lion’s den—or snake pit, more like—she would have never forgiven herself. Yes, in that moment in the basement she basically demanded he help them, but in the time he was gone, nausea boiled in her gut every time she worried he might not come back.
Basil had only just found him. To lose him now…
“I’m glad you’re okay,” she said to Tallak.
He gave her a hard look. “You owe me.”
“I know.” She nodded, swallowed.
At that moment, the door to Basil and Isa’s room farther down the hall opened, and the female fae darted out, fully dressed, knives strapped to her body, her dark hair wet from her shower. She brandished a dagger in one hand, a short sword in another. Scanning the hall with her slate-gray eyes, she relaxed when she assessed the scene.
“What was that noise?” she demanded. “Is everyone all right?”
“Yes,” both Basil and Merle replied at the same time
Baz walked over to his mate and drew her close for a quick kiss.
“Then why,” Isa said with raised brows, leaning around Baz, “is that wall gone?”
Merle rubbed a hand over her face and filled them in. When she finished, Basil’s mouth was a flat line, his expression grim.
He, too, knew what it was like to be excluded from action because he wasn’t strong enough, knew how much it chafed to be regarded as a liability. Before he found out he was half fae, half demon and claimed his powers, he had to fight not to be coddled. When Lily was kidnapped, and Merle, Hazel, and Rhun went to get her back, Hazel only allowed Basil to come along after Merle put her foot down and vouched for him.
“So your sister took down the wards,” Merle said with a nod of thanks to Rose, who was glancing back and forth among them.
Isa said several sentences in Fae, apparently explaining the situation, and Rose raised her brows, her mouth forming an O.
“Right. Okay.” Merle blew out a breath, put her hands on her hips. “I’ll make a call and then I’ll go over there. You in, Baz?”
“Sure.” He flexed his fingers with a grin. “I’ve been meaning to get out my bow and do some shooting again.” Turning to Isa, he raised his brows in question.
“I promised Hazel I’d stay and look after Rose,” Isa said grudgingly. “I don’t like the idea of not going with you, but—”
“I’ll have his back.”
They all turned to Tallak, who stood with his arms crossed, leaning against the wall.
“Dad, you don’t have to. You’ve already risked enough.”
“You’re going,” Tallak said.
“Yeah.”
“So I’m coming, too.” His tone brooked no argument.
Basil nodded, his throat muscles working as he swallowed. “Thanks.”
“I’ll be right back,” Merle said and walked into one of the other bedrooms, pulling her cell phone out and dialing.
“Hello, gorgeous.” Bahram’s voice, rich and seductive as dark chocolate, stroked her senses over the phone line. It wasn’t even anything he did—just the general effect of his incubus nature.
“Hey,” Merle said. “Remember when I recently told you I might ask you for help in getting Rhun out?”
“That was yesterday, darling. Of course I remember.”
“Right. Anyway. It’s time. Can you bring your irresistible incubusness over to the Baldwins’ house? That’s where they’re keeping him.”
“And you would like me to…charm them, is that ri
ght?”
“Well, yeah.” She waved her free hand, even though he couldn’t see it. “You know, just target Juneau’s witches with your powers and make them all hot’n’bothered for you until they forget their own names.”
“Hm,” he purred. “You’re giving me free rein to seduce some witches? It will be my pleasure.”
“Hey—knock them out, not up. Got it?”
His laugh was like an acoustic manifestation of bliss between the sheets. “I’ll do my very best.”
Chapter 36
The glow of fire in the night, the thick smoke suffusing the air, the taste of ash on his tongue. The sight that greeted Arawn when he banked over Mount Hood was one of a natural disaster of primeval magnitude.
The top of the mountain was blown off, collapsed much like the peak of Mount St. Helens decades earlier. Lava had shot up in the explosion and now rained down the slopes, still glowing orange-red and working its way toward the base of the mountain. A massive plume of dark smoke rose up from a gaping hole revealing the fiery depths of the volcano.
And out of those fiery depths…crawled a beast of such ferocity and sheer destructiveness, the magic of the world hushed at its approach. It had been eons since Arawn last saw one of its kind, and now even his power stilled in admiration when he beheld the dragon.
Dark red scales covered its giant body as it crept over the ash-covered mountainside, its folded wings attached to the front legs, which ended in mighty talons. A long tail whipped behind it, and along its back rose a row of spikes. Smaller spikes studded its head above its yellow-glowing eyes and massive jaw, and two large horns protruded from the top of its head.
It was magnificent.
And it would be his.
He veered toward the beast, landed on the mountain slope between the lava flows in a safe distance from the dragon, and changed to his human form. The beast’s attention snagged on him, and it let out a mighty roar that shook the ground.
Arawn sent out his power, to whisper and to snare. The dragon flared its wings, bared its huge teeth.
Obey my command, his magic sang, twining around the beast. Follow my lead.
The beast roared again, clawed at the ground with sharp-gleaming talons.
His power cajoled and seduced—and bounced off a barrier of age-old magic. Another god’s claim, blocking Arawn’s attempts to snare the dragon. Someone had beaten him to it.
“Velez,” Arawn ground out, balling his hands to fists.
“The very one.”
Whirling around, Arawn met the storm-gray eyes of his brother. Standing on the other side of a river of lava, Velez took a bow and made a courtly gesture.
“Quite curious,” Velez said, “that you did not sense the dragon rousing in the mountain when we spoke here.” He shrugged and clucked his tongue. “Of course, that might have been because I concealed it.” A cold smile.
“You roused it?”
Velez tilted his head. “I helped its awakening along just a tad.”
Arawn’s mind whirred in high gear, going through the catastrophic implications of this new development. Velez in control of a dragon…would cause death and destruction of genocidal dimensions.
“You should have taken me up on my offer,” Velez said, his eyes flashing. “Now I am afraid I need to take what is yours.”
His smile razor-sharp, Velez vanished on a bolt of lightning.
Arawn’s heart stopped cold. The slithering suspicion of what—who—Velez was talking about froze his soul. No.
He turned into his eagle again, shot up and headed for his dominion.
Or rather, that was what he wanted to do—before the giant dragon slammed into him, clawed him from the sky.
Lucía lasted all of one minute after Arawn strolled into the woods before she pounced on Maeve.
“Ohmygods,” the demon-shifter breathed, her pale green eyes sparkling. “Are you really with him now? How did that happen—no details, please! Did he actually take you to his super-secret hidey-hole? Are you aware that by putting you in his clothes he’s basically tacked a giant ‘property of Arawn’ sign on you? And that I’ve never seen the look on his face I saw just now when he looked at you?”
“Um.” Which was about all Maeve could say in response. Her face burned up to her ears, and she resisted the urge to hide behind her hair again. “I’m really hungry,” she said after a moment, rubbing her nose. “Let’s go eat.”
Lucía’s chuckle was downright dirty. “Burned a lot of calories, hm?”
Maeve pressed her lips together to keep from grinning. “Quit it.”
“All that bed sport…gotta keep up your strength.” She waggled her brows.
“Lucía.”
“Did you catch any sleep at all?”
Maeve made as if to give her a smack on the back of her head, but Lucía flowed out of the way with feline grace.
Laughing, she bumped Maeve’s shoulder. “Messing with you is so much fun. But seriously, I’m happy for you. Both of you.”
“Kelior,” Maeve said after accepting Lucía’s hug, “would you like something to eat, too?”
The fae shifted his weight, his face pale and glistening with perspiration. “No thank you.”
Maeve frowned. “Are you all right? You look a little sick.”
Kelior opened his mouth, but before he could reply, a boom shook the earth.
“Get down!” Lucía shouted.
Maeve went into a crouch, Lucía at her side, sniffing the air. Kelior was on his knees, too, glancing around.
A surge of ancient magic hit them like the shock wave of a bomb, and Maeve stumbled over, into Lucía. The woods hushed, the night eerily quiet.
“What was that?” Maeve whispered—though a niggling feeling deep inside her knew.
Lucía scanned the sky with narrowed eyes, scented the air. “I have no idea. Gut feeling? This is something super nasty. It feels a bit like…”
“When the griffin found me,” Maeve concluded.
Lucía whipped her head to her. “Don’t tell me there’s another one coming.”
Maeve bit her lip. “Well…”
“Shit.” She exhaled through her nose. “Okay. Let’s get you underground. It’ll be safer.” Snapping her fingers at Kelior, she added, “You, too.”
Kelior threw a nervous glance at the sky again, a bead of sweat now trickling down his right temple. “Sure.”
They ran through the woods toward the nearest entrance to the subterranean lair, the entire forest around them unnaturally silent. No fireflies left, as if they all fled, not even will-o’-the-wisps floating between the trees. Only looming shadows…and the distant roll of thunder.
Up ahead, an old oak tree with access to the underground system beckoned. Almost…there.
The sky lit up, lightning striking down, splitting the tree. Part of the charge hit Lucía, who ran in front of Maeve. The demon-shifter flew back against a tree, and the sickening sound of snapped bones turned Maeve’s stomach.
“Lucía!”
She wanted to make a dash for her friend when someone grabbed her from behind. Her mind blanked, horror icing her muscles.
His hands on her body, holding her down, squeezing so hard it hurt…
“I’m sorry,” Kelior rasped in her ear.
She barely registered those sensations, her thoughts hijacked by the terror of her memories.
Another strike of lightning jolted her halfway back into the present, and she blinked at the silhouette of a man emerging from the shadows. Tall, dark-haired, elegantly dressed despite the distinct vibe of a being from the time before fashion was even a thought, he looked nothing like Arawn…and yet she knew.
“Velez,” she whispered. The sheer volume of power pouring off him with an electric buzz was unmistakable.
His smile chilled her blood. Angling his head at Kelior, he said, “Thank you for holding her for me. I will take her now.”
Power grabbed her, immobilizing her limbs and pressing down on her lungs. With a flic
k of his hand, Velez pulled her to him as easily as a magnet attracts a piece of scrap metal.
Or a prized coin, judging by the gleam in his eyes.
“W-what about me?” Kelior asked. “You promised you’d break the deal for me and send me back to Faerie.”
“Oh.” A sigh. “You must have heard wrong. I said I was going to send you back home.”
Velez winked, and a lightning bolt shot down on Kelior, incinerating him on the spot. Maeve jerked—or would have, had her limbs not been paralyzed.
“And now,” Velez purred, “let’s play.”
He grasped her arm, and she was sucked into whipping wind and lightning as the world around her vanished.
Chapter 37
When Merle arrived at the Baldwins’ house with Tallak and Basil, Bahram was already waiting in the driveway, leaning against a car. Clad in casually formal clothes probably costing thousands of dollars, he could have easily jumped out of an ad for a high-class Italian fashion label.
Bahram was all but oozing sensuality, his body a woman’s wet dream, from tanned skin and dark hair to eyes of crushed gold and features hinting at Persian royalty.
Merle could appreciate his appearance and recognize the effect he had on the female population, but unless Bahram directed his incubus powers at her, he didn’t do anything for her—unlike a certain bluotezzer demon, who was the reason she was here.
Writhing and moaning at the feet of the incubus were about half a dozen witches in various stages of undress. The heavy pulse of Bahram’s demon power filled the air, and Merle had to stop and catch her breath for a moment when they came closer. And to think, Bahram wasn’t even targeting her directly.
“Great job,” she told the incubus.
He smiled and shrugged with sinuous grace, and the witches on the ground swooned in unison.
“Impressive,” Tallak said, raising a brow.
Bahram gave him a slow grin. “It does come in handy.”
“Okay,” Merle said to the incubus. “You hold the position out here and charm any other of Juneau’s witches who come outside.”
