CHAPTER 16
Exactly one hour later, a bright yellow taxi pulled up to the curb in front of Izzy’s brownstone uptown, and I leapt out, waving to Right and Left, who had followed in another taxi. Both fairyguards held up a hand, raising their stubby middle fingers. Guess the little guys held a grudge for my ditching them earlier. Not like I cared one way or another. I would do what I pleased, when I pleased. If they couldn’t keep up, that was their problem.
I rapped on the front door, surprised when Izzy opened it immediately. I took a step back, both for balance and to take in the full effect of the stunning vision of half-fairy in front of me. Izzy wore a strapless black dress that fell to her trim ankles, flaring in all the right places. Her hair hung loosely around her shoulders in waves of auburn fire. But it was her full, plump, ruby-colored lips that drew my gaze again and again.
And her wings, of course.
They fluttered lightly in the breeze, sparkling like beacons of light in the night.
Heat filled my lower body, tensing every muscle with electricity and lust. Breathe through it, I ordered my treacherous libido. No matter how delicious Izzy looked, she was off-limits. My partner, I reminded myself. Even if she wasn’t, we could never be together. My curse all but guaranteed it. For the slightest of my touches would cause her pain. And I would never be able to resist touching Izzy if allowed the chance.
“Is it that bad?” she asked, running a nervous hand down her dress. “I should change.” She spun on her ruby-slippered heel and headed back inside. I tried to stop her, but the flash of the pale white skin down her back claimed my ability to speak. I could only stand there waiting for my blood to return to my head. When I was able to form words again, very basic ones at that, I followed her into her brownstone. “Izzy,” I called. “You look amazing. Please don’t change.”
She stepped from her bedroom, her lips puckered as if she didn’t believe me, let alone a word I ever said. “Are you sure? It isn’t too . . .” Too perfect? Too breathtaking? Too bad she was my partner? I shook my head, afraid I just might drop to my knees and start to beg for a crumb of affection.
She pulled at the fabric above her barely contained breasts. “This dress was not made for wings.” I disagreed but thought it best not to voice my opinion.
For a moment she looked vulnerable and much younger than her twenty-seven years. The need to protect her took me by surprise. Izzy didn’t need protection. She could and would take care of any danger that came her way. I stifled the outrageous desire and held out my gloved hand. “Let’s get this shit over with,” I said with a grin. Hesitating for only a second, she took my hand in hers, and together we headed off to the ball. Thankfully not one godmother—fairy or otherwise—screamed out a ridiculous curfew as the taxi shot down the street.
A few minutes into the taxi ride Izzy’s cell phone buzzed. She glanced down at the caller ID, her mouth curving into a frown. “It’s Jonas,” she said to me. “I wonder what he wants.” Instead of waiting for whatever witty commentary I came up with, she answered the call. “Is something wrong?” Silence filled the cab as she listened intently, the fingers of her free hand curling into a fist as her eyes grew violet with rage.
Whatever Jonas was telling her wasn’t good. My heart rate increased as the silence grew.
“How bad is it?’ she asked a few seconds before she hung up. She turned to me, her lips a thin, flat line.
I swallowed. “What happened?”
“A fire.” She paused as if weighing her words. “At the office. Two and a half hours ago.”
The hairs on the back of my neck danced with electrical current. “Was anyone hurt?”
She shook her head. “Thankfully, no. No one was inside. I was the last person to leave after Right and Left came to tell me you’d gone missing.”
“How bad is the damage?”
She frowned, her eyes steady on the traffic outside the window of the cab. “Jonas says it was contained to only one office.”
“That’s gre—”
“Not really. It was your office, Blue.” She turned back to face me, wincing slightly. “Someone set fire to your office.”
CHAPTER 17
The fire put a damper on the evening, but there was nothing either of us could do about it tonight. Tomorrow we’d contact the insurance company and deal with the rest of the fire-related mess. Besides, we had a more pressing problem tonight. Even though most of the fairies adored Izzy, a small faction loyal to the Fairy Council had slightly less admiration. So much so, they’d vowed to destroy her. I wasn’t too worried, but I wasn’t a fool either. Every moment Izzy spent at Clayton’s fund-raiser was a chance for those winged and nonwinged assholes to make good on their threat. I wouldn’t let that happen. Not as long as my heart beat with electrical current. Nobody would hurt a feather on her wings.
Even me.
“Behave tonight. This is a big night and Clayton needs our support,” Izzy said as the cab pulled in front of the hotel. I nodded once, not bothering to voice my concerns again. Izzy had made up her mind to come to the fund-raiser tonight, and nothing I said would make a difference. And I’d said quite a bit when she’d first brought the subject up. Most of what was said was said with words foul enough to make three men in a tub blush. Yet, in the end, I’d reluctantly agreed to attend the fund-raiser, even offering to donate in the form of not frying Clayton on his big night.
The cab stopped outside the infamous Fairyland Hotel, the same place where the Fairy Pack used to do all their hard drinking and even harder hookering. A valet in a tiny tuxedo opened Izzy’s door, helping her from the taxi while doing his best not to drool on the bottom of her gown. I couldn’t fault the little winged devil. Izzy looked that good.
“Madam Tooth Fairy,” the valet gushed, his chubby cheeks growing red as he stammered, “it is an honor. If you need anything—”
“She doesn’t,” I said, hoping to ward off the inevitable awkward fairy-removal process, which included a crowbar and enough electrical current to light half the city. “But if she did”—I paused, waiting for the little guy to tear his gaze off Izzy’s loveliness and redirect it into my warning glare—“I’m the one who will get it. Got it?”
The little guy released Izzy’s kneecap as he snapped to attention. “Yes, sir.”
Izzy raised a flame-colored eyebrow but spoke softly enough that only I could hear her. “She doesn’t need anyone, especially you, to play bodyguard. Do I make myself clear?”
Izzy was kidding herself if, even for a second, she thought I was there for any other reason than to watch her back. I’d rather have my teeth ripped out with a pair of golden pliers than spend two minutes at this fairy circus, let alone with the twins and their cronies. But she needed my protection, whether she knew it or not, if not from the throng of winged dwarfs decked out in their finest duds, at least from her own uncanny ability to land straight into whatever fairy-related craziness was currently plaguing Fairyland. You could take the fairy out of Fairyland . . .
“I mean it, Blue,” she hissed when I didn’t respond. “Don’t push me. Not tonight.”
I winked at her as I reached into my pocket for a few bills. I pressed them into the valet’s tiny palm, hoping it would encourage him to release his death grip on the folds of Izzy’s gown before I had to fry him away. “Thanks.”
The winged valet looked at the money and then at Izzy, as if, to top off all her whispered achievements, including walking on water, she’d single-handedly fed his tiny family for a month. Forget the guy who actually handed over his own hard-earned cash.
Fucking fairies.
“Have a nice evening,” he said, finally letting go of Izzy, though with reluctance. I took the opportunity to sweep her through the hotel doors and into the chaos inside the hotel. The crowd inside the lobby parted like the legs of a princess on prom night, all eyes locked on the beauty on my arm.
Even though I was there only to keep Izzy safe, warmth rushed up my spine, and not the electrical
kind. I felt pride, in myself, and in what Izzy and I had accomplished over the last year. We’d worked hard to make the company a go, learning to work with each other. But also, deep within my primitive and not-so-primitive brain, I felt unfettered possession.
But Izzy wasn’t mine.
Not in that way.
And she never would be.
CHAPTER 18
“Isabella,” Clayton called, holding his fleshy arms wide. “You look absolutely amazing.”
Izzy smiled at the much shorter man, leaning down so he could kiss her cheeks. His lips made smacking noises when he touched her skin. “You look quite handsome too.” She ran a hand down his tiny bright-lime-colored tuxedo, which I had to admit didn’t look nearly as dumb as it should have on a two-foot-tall guy. That probably had something to do with the vibrant color of his wings. I tilted my head, studying the vivid hue.
Clayton had dyed his wings.
I shook my head, embarrassed for him as well as all of fairykind. Fucking fairy politics at work. To become the next Tooth Fairy, Clayton had made many sacrifices, from dying his wings to kissing up to Big Mouthwash. The whole process was out of hand. But Izzy insisted when she’d first stepped down as the Tooth Fairy that the fairies embrace a completely democratic election. No more would the toothy torch/curse be appointed by the council. And then thanks to the ruling on Fairies United, money and big business now ruled all aspects of the Tooth Fairy game.
“Emerson is here. He’s offered a significant contribution.” Clayton’s greedy gaze grew even greedier as his wings flapped with excitement. “I told Richard that you’d stop by his table. He has a check, but he will only give it to you. Then you must meet—”
I grabbed Clayton by the throat, cutting him off with a small squeak. “Izzy is here as a guest. Not for show-and-tell. She’s done enough for you already.”
“Blue,” she said, slapping at my hand on the now chartreuse-colored candidate. “Stop it.” I released him but didn’t like it one bit. Yet Izzy was far from finished berating me. “I offered to fund-raise for the campaign. You know that. Clayton will make a fine Tooth Fairy.”
The winged imp straightened to his full height, which wasn’t that impressive, as Izzy spoke. “Thank you, Isabella. I will make you proud.” He then turned to me, wagging his finger in my face. “And you—the day I’m elected Tooth Fairy, you better watch your bicuspids.”
I grinned at his puny threat.
“Behave,” Izzy said. “Both of you.”
Clayton nodded, kissed her hand, and moved off to butter up another poor winged soul who’d wake up tomorrow regretting giving Clayton his hard-earned dough. Izzy turned to me, a smile hovering on her lips. “Try to be nice. Just for tonight.”
I laughed loud enough to draw the attention of everyone within a ten-foot radius. “I was being nice. I let him go before he passed out.”
She rolled her eyes, lowering her voice to a whisper. “There are a lot of important people here. People it would be good for us to get to know better.”
“Is that so?”
“People with money.”
Thanks to our partnership, we now had plenty of income. So what was Izzy’s point? I waited for her to continue.
“And secrets,” she whispered. “Ones they will pay to keep.”
The corner of my lip lifted. “Are you thinking of a little blackmail?”
She laughed. “Of course not. I’m thinking about our company and its future.” She paused, her eyes locked on mine. “Our future.”
Before I could press her for more information, a crowd of eager groupies surrounded us. My hand hovered on Izzy’s lower back, feeling the heat of her skin through the leather of my gloves, just in case her fan club turned ugly—or uglier than they already were. No matter what the fashion experts said, plunging necklines and cake-thick makeup were not a fairy’s friends. The whole lot of them looked like rejects from a seventies movie.
While Izzy charmed the young and old fairies alike, I watched the crowd. Not hard to do when I towered over most of it by a good three feet. But I wasn’t the only nonwinged species in attendance. The New Never City mayor stood with his entourage in the northwest corner, pressing the flesh like a good slimy politician. My skin crawled just looking at them. Representatives from all the unions were also present, including the newest boss of the Villainous Union. A guy I’d been hearing a lot about over the last month. A guy I vowed to stay far away from. A few celebrities with pinprick pupils and arm candy rounded out the group. Laughter filled the ballroom, mixed with pleas for campaign contributions and vile promises, like any good party.
Everyone seemed to be having a great time, their faces washed in the glow of expensive alcohol and finger foods. Everyone with the exception of the guy standing a few feet away, watching Izzy’s every move, a murderous expression on his grumpy face.
CHAPTER 19
I glanced from Grumpy, the head of the Fairy Council, to Izzy and back again, weighing the anger burning in his eyes against the possibility that he would attack. The odds weren’t in our favor. Even as I wanted nothing more than to snatch him up and toss his ass out of the gala, leaving Izzy alone for even a minute was against my better judgment. Grumpy wasn’t her only enemy. In fact, he was one of six that I knew about, all members of the Fairy Council, who’d nearly lost everything when Izzy had insisted on a new democracy.
My eyes scanned the rest of the crowd for the other council members, not seeing any of them at the moment, but fairies and dwarfs, which were what the council was made up of, all looked alike to me.
Minus the wingspan.
I did, however, spot a familiar face in the crowd and let out a sigh. I supposed it could’ve been worse. I waved at Clark Boyer III, the newest member of team Reynolds, motioning him over. With a dip of his head he acknowledged my wild gesturing. Then he shook hands with each of the well-dressed politicians and celebrities surrounding him and headed our way. Every few feet someone would stop him. He would smile at them, showing off a full set of even, white, and expensive teeth as he listened intently to whatever crap they were saying, before he’d move on. Clark seemed to own the room, as if he’d been born into this world of power, wealth, and privilege. The Boyer name was synonymous with fancy parties and ass-kissing.
Much to my dismay it took Clark a full five minutes to make it to where Izzy and I stood. By that time Grumpy had disappeared.
“Reynolds, good to see—” he began.
“Watch her,” I said, pushing Izzy his way. I didn’t bother to glance back, my focus completely centered on finding and eliminating whatever malicious intent Grumpy and the other dwarfs might possess. I had a bad feeling about this—so bad, in fact, electrical current rose within me like a gathering storm.
I headed out of the ballroom, my gaze bouncing quickly back and forth. As I plunged through the thick crowd, not a single soul tried to stop me. I guess the winged set had learned a thing or two about getting in Blue Reynolds’s way. Of course, I’d also learned a few things about large groups of fairies.
The little fiends liked to bite.
My knees still bore tooth marks from last year’s mêlée.
After about twenty minutes of searching, I finally spotted the grumpy dwarf sitting in the hotel bar, away from the chaos of the crowds. A half-empty drink sat in front of him. My every instinct screamed trap, but I headed toward him without hesitation. These guys would not harm one red hair on Izzy’s head, let alone ruin tonight for her. I would make sure of it.
“Have a seat, Blue Boy.” Grumpy’s stumpy leg kicked out the barstool next to him. I did as he asked, settling in and ordering a club soda with lime, a thirst-quenching but, more important, electrically conductive drink. If it came down to it, I would toss the drink on Grumpy and then apply a few thousand volts, ruining his day at the very least.
When the bartender set my drink down, Grumpy’s lips lifted into a humorless smile. “We should’ve finished the job we started.”
“And what j
ob was that?” I asked, even though I knew he was referring to last year, when they’d tried desperately to have me killed. Good thing neither of us held a grudge.
He snorted. “That bitch ruined everything.”
I pulled off one of my gloves in warning. “You were saying?”
His eyes shot from my bare fingers to my face and back again. “This democracy thing is a big mistake. Fairies aren’t smart enough to elect the right Tooth Fairy. They will vote for whoever makes the most promises, and then what? We end up with a dirtbag like Clayton holding all the dentin. Fairyland can’t survive with a fairy like him at the helm.”
I shrugged. He did have a point. If I relied on a daily dose of dentin, Clayton’s greed would give me pause too. He wasn’t the altruistic type. And that was being generous. On the other hand, Izzy was definitely right about the need for change in fairy politics. The fairies would never truly be free until they made their own decisions, good or bad. I wanted to say as much, but Grumpy was already moving on.
“Isabella is responsible for what comes next,” he said, slamming his highball glass on the bar. Brown liquor splashed up, running over the lacquered wood. Like a pro, the bartender mopped up the spill without interrupting us.
I grabbed the glass from Grumpy’s hand, downing what was left of the forty-year-old scotch in a single gulp. When the burn of the alcohol curled through my bloodstream, I said, “Izzy only has the fairies’ best interest at heart. She wants to help—”
“Ha!” He slapped the bar, rattling my glass as well as the nerves of the overworked bartender. “You know nothing. Your precious Isabella wants to destroy us, to take revenge for the slight she felt after her father Arnold’s death.” He stopped, his eyes searching my face. “She will destroy you too, and soon. From what I understand the wheels are already in motion.”
I frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
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