by Erin R Flynn
“You got a little drool there,” Mel muttered.
“Uh-huh.”
Craftsman just chuckled, shaking his head. “Well, I did not think that the result when the heavenly smells won out over finding a shirt. Thanks, Irma, Liluth, as you just gave me a gift.”
“Gift?” I asked, thinking it was more a gift for me.
“Yeah, how to get you to behave,” he muttered as he took the seat on the other side of me. “I just have to take off my shirt.”
I poked his arm with my fork. “That works both ways. You’re not the boss of me.”
He opened my mouth like he might say something but thought better of it. Instead he asked me if I wanted syrup for my pancakes.
Mel snickered and gave me an impressed look like I’d tamed the man.
Sure, I’d take credit for that.
I stuffed my face and hurried to get ready, rushing to throw on whatever after my shower and wishing I’d eaten more.
I jogged towards the barrier with the key I’d been found with and realized I had no idea what I was doing. After going back and forth, I shrugged and used the key like I would if there was a door with a keyhole there.
I gasped as magic rushed the key, able to feel that. I blinked out at the barrier and saw it. I saw it pulling into the key.
I felt it filling the key and realized that was what the key was. It was a magical item meant to put up fairy barriers, not just a fairy could take them down with proof.
It was the magic in the key.
Holy. Fuck. Me.
The key just became the thing I was protecting most from that moment. I’d need to talk to Geiger or maybe Calloway. She’d have to sell some impenetrable something no one else could get into.
Fine, the key needed me but I hadn’t done anything but held it while twisting it in the barrier.
That was something a person could force me to do and it needed to be more protected than that.
“I haven’t seen that for many, many years,” a woman said behind me. “Not since an additional layer of fairy magic and glamour was put around our home.”
I swallowed loudly and turned to see Mrs. Vogel standing there, the portal she’d come through closing. “Um, I can explain.”
She raised a perfect eyebrow at me. “I already knew you were a fairy, Tamsin. I knew when we met. It’s why I’m taking this meeting alone and made sure my mate was busy.”
I couldn’t even get my mouth to work, which she found amusing, laughing gracefully as she came closer and looped her arm with mine.
“I will keep your secret and you will keep mine,” she whispered, her tone amused. “My mate was not my first. When I was young, I fell for an older fairy. And he was a lovely man who—and we both knew this—was fun but I will always have a fondness for him.
“My mate never asked but he is a jealous man so he doesn’t need to know officially. But that was how I knew. I knew your energy.”
I almost opened my mouth to say I was glad Hudson didn’t get that from his dad and almost bit my tongue as I shut my mouth again. Wow, that was not something to tell her or just tell her all my secrets.
“Is it really that easy to figure out what I am?”
“No, not at all. Women tend to be more sensitive to energy and pay attention to details better. If I had never been intimate with a fairy, I would never have known you were one when I touched you as I hugged Melody.
“I thought maybe but then how you were acting, hearing Geiger is a pit bull with you—it all made sense.” She patted my arm in comfort and it worked. “Now, tell me what schemes we are up to.”
“What did Hudson tell you?”
“That you wish to fund a hobgoblin sanctuary with one of the houses of your inheritance. That was all. I didn’t tell him that I suspected it was more. But please tell me it is. I haven’t gotten into some real mischief in a long time.”
“It is,” I promised. Everyone was still finishing breakfast when we walked into the kitchen. “She knows. Apparently everyone is just going to figure it out.”
“Well, no reason to hide you need more breakfast then,” Irma muttered, setting down another loaded plate for me before greeting Mrs. Vogel.
“Calloway brought this over and says she’ll bill your card,” Geiger muttered as he handed over a charm. “It’s an energy charm. It will dampen your natural fairy aura so people who know fairy energy cannot sense it so easily. Instead of a touch or hug, only if they’re intimate with you and they know that type of energy. I apologize for not thinking of it sooner.”
I nodded and took the pretty necklace. It was a slightly glowing blue stone surrounded by an intricate metal casing. I loved it instantly and put it on.
“I was going to talk to you about something better to protect this key. The key is what puts up or takes down barriers, not me.”
“Meaning it can be used against you if someone took control of you,” Craftsman muttered, his tone worried.
“Exactly.”
He held out his hand for it and studied it after I gave it over, completely undistracted by Mrs. Vogel greeting everyone.
“I know what to do. I’ll teach you the spell to put on it that will not only hide the energy but make it so you cannot use it if you’re not of sound mind and body, meaning no other magic influence.”
“I would think that built in as it’s fairy magic,” Claudia muttered. “And the key was left with Tamsin.” She glanced at me. “How does the key work? Before today, I mean.”
I shrugged. “It just always found me again. I don’t know about when I was a baby but I remember going to a group home where they took all my stuff and I didn’t get it back before I was placed at the next home.
“It just appeared on my bed that next morning. I thought it was crazy or maybe the rest of my stuff was returned, but no, the key just always found me if someone took it or I forgot it.”
“So it’s tied to her,” Geiger surmised, taking it from Craftsman. “There is a lot of sentience to this magical item. I believe it might have a list of commands already bespelled on it. I would test if you could even influence her to use it before risking you’re powerful enough to muck up the fairy magic and undo the protections.”
“Smart, thanks, mate,” Craftsman agreed as he took it back. “We have to go to the Townsend estate before campus, right? You sent the hellhounds there?”
“They don’t like that term,” I snapped, doing a double take. “Sorry. I read that they don’t like it and I felt how upset Chief was when someone called them that. They’re fae dogs, not demons or anything else, and the pack is now mine.”
“You have been busy,” Mrs. Vogel purred, thanking Irma when she brought her some coffee. “When did the Alpha offer himself to you?”
“When we arrived. It was a trip and it hurt, but I read in one of Ganter Evans’s ancestors’ journals all about fae dogs that Chief did more than pledge his loyalty to me. He tied our lives together. If I die, he does as well.”
Liluth nodded as she cleaned up some plates. “It’s the ultimate loyalty of a fair folk to lay down their life to keep their fairy alive as the world needs as many fairies as possible. So Chief will give up his power and life force should you ever need it to survive.”
“I didn’t ask for that,” I worried.
She shrugged. “It’s already done. Fae dogs are the ultimate idea of guard dogs, but don’t fret, with a whole pack there isn’t much that could injure you anymore. And you told them to find more.”
“So they were safe and cared for, not so I had an army of them,” I grumbled, glancing at Mel. “And we need to work out a feeding schedule if they’re staying at my place close to school.”
“What do they eat?”
“Raw organic meat and fruits to get the most and potent fae dust,” I answered. “Plus, he swears they like that diet best so it’s not just for the fae dust.” I worried my lower lip. “I get the feeling Chief understood a lot.
“If we get a large chest fridge we kept inside th
e garage, he could handle pulling out what they need daily. Get cases of fresh fruit from Costco and turn the garages into their bunks for now.”
“Of course you’re worried about getting the fae dogs inside,” Claudia muttered, shaking her head in amusement.
“Hey, I’m not saying let the dogs who set themselves on fire inside the house, but we can build them a place to stay out of the snow and freezing rain that’s coming soon,” I defended.
“You are going to put the dust collectors out of business,” Mrs. Vogel said, her voice amused… Again.
“I don’t know what that is,” I sighed. “Can I get a shirt that says that?”
“Yes, but eat and be productive if you’re just going to be cranky,” Mel lectured, smirking at me when I stuck out my tongue at her.
“Dust collectors are like truffle hunters in the human world, except they don’t use pigs but trail packs of fae dogs,” Mrs. Vogel explained. “They can’t get too close but they search where they’ve been for fae dust or what the fae dust has done. It’s how any have fae trees or plants after the portals died. They do get the dust sometimes and it goes for a high, high price.”
“They make their living searching for dog poo and cleaning up after fae dogs so humans don’t suddenly find new trees and such?” I checked, shaking my head when she nodded. “This was a deep rabbit hole I fell down that first wild power clap.”
“Yeah, but we’re having fun with it,” Mel reminded me.
That we were. That was absolutely true and as if to prove my point, we spent the next few hours filling in Mrs. Vogel and getting to work on what came next. Now that I’d taken down the fairy barrier, the faster we put out the rumor that after twenty years Jeremy got the property and whatnot, the better.
Mrs. Vogel loved the idea of trying to trap some from the Underground or even dirty on their side. She was fierce, that was for sure, and a hunter as much as her son.
“I do want to discuss having a permanent emergency portal here linked to our castle,” she offered when it was time for lunch. “One Alpha wolf shifter is not enough depending on who comes knocking at the door, and while there will be fae magic here with hobgoblins, we know magic can fail. I offer sanctuary should the need arise.”
“That’s very generous of you,” Craftsman muttered, shooting me a glance. “If you don’t mind helping me, I can get one set up before we go.” I gave him a worried look. “I can set it up one way so no one’s sneaking in here from the Vogels’ portal room. Well, Mrs. Vogel only.”
“Okay, yeah, I’m on board with that.”
And with that, as soon as we ate lunch, we all got back to it. And “it” was a lot of fucking work that had me crashing hard that night.
I didn’t even get to enjoy Craftsman in my bed.
We did Sunday morning at least as even Mel slept in.
15
Sunday we flew back to Kansas pretty early as we had a lot to do at the Townsend place to get ready for the fae dogs.
They seemed to know I was coming there and showed up right as we were wrapping up. Mel managed to rig the one garage door at the end that could be opened with a paw hitting the remote and we got the food loaded.
We were going to need more and fast, but it was a start. Mel only worked three days for the school so that would help, but I felt bad for all the back and forth. There had to be a better way.
“Not if we want to be on the DL and right now, we need to keep things on the DL,” she said gently.
Fair enough, and I knew Mel well enough that if she was really bothered, she’d tell me.
My run Monday morning started funny when that bear was there again… Except I wasn’t in the bear territory.
I slowed down and went over to Mason. “You’re stalking again. Didn’t I say to back off?” He ducked his head under his arm and fell to the ground, rolling around and then even doing peek-a-boo with me. “You’re saying we’re playing tag and goofing around?” He sat up and nodded before moving in front of me like he was protecting me. “You were just keeping an eye out for me?”
He nodded and went back to playing, letting his tongue hang out and all of it. For the love of… No one could resist that cuteness. He even came over and gave me a bear hug, careful of the claws.
“Fine, you can keep an eye on me when I go for my run but no more going over the line. And if you want to play, you have to keep up.”
To my shock he more than could. Right, bears were faster than humans, but I was faster than a human even if I wasn’t sprinting. He got tired faster so he went both ways in the middle of the run but looked happy with it. Yeah, it was always more fun to exercise with a friend.
Well, unless people were a weirdo like me who wanted the alone time. I didn’t mind bear Mason since he wasn’t talking my ear off. It amused me that a bear was running with me but it was oddly easy to block after a mile.
And he came back all week. I guessed watching my back was his way of apologizing and spending time together. I could live with that as long as he stopped making me feel like I was being watched or eyes were everywhere.
I had enough of that and I was already glad I was cutting back trips to the student union to once or twice a week. It would be too easy to get caught every day.
The week was crazy though—not unlike all the ones I’d had already—but with midterms fast approaching, I wasn’t the only one focused on school.
I had a bit of a break in Runes 101 at least since I’d aced all twelve runes and that was what everyone else was working on.
However, I was given a special assignment on Tuesday. I blinked and a picture of white cotton panties that said “Spank Me Pretty Please” appeared on my book.
I didn’t even need to glance up to see the teacher wasn’t paying attention to the student struggling to do the air rune. I did look though and was rewarded with a sexy wink before the paper changed.
I almost burst out laughing when this time they said, “Bring Me Food and Tell Me I’m Pretty.” Oh, he was just too much.
Then finally it was a lace set of very pretty and small emerald green bra and thong. I didn’t know if he was that spoiled but he got points for style as he even had the Amazon link where I could get them.
It was hot he was naughty shopping for me. I pulled out my phone and found the set, ordering them in my size before a few more emerald green items fell in my cart as well.
Fine, only two did, but I texted the link of one to him and Hudson saying I was ready for my next fantasy night but this time I would be driving… And wearing that.
I wasn’t shocked when they agreed to whatever I wanted. Yeah, it had a lot of straps and even garters, which Craftsman seemed really into.
Good to know.
But the week went pretty well and without any blowups, which I hoped continued until after midterms. I didn’t care if someone screwed with me on breaks or far from testing times but I would be extra violent if they messed with me during tests or projects.
I had planned on sleeping in Saturday morning though, especially since there was the first ice sculpture competition that day and I was judging before dinner. So I wasn’t happy when once again someone came knocking on our door too early.
“It’s always for you,” Izzy grumbled and ducked her head under the covers.
She wasn’t wrong so I got up, making sure I was dressed just in case. I yanked open the door, completely ready to chew on someone.
Except I found Craftsman standing there with an amused smile, meaning he was up to something.
“Get dressed. We’re going to have some fun.” He rolled his eyes when I raised an eyebrow, wondering when we’d started announcing that. “You’re entering the Break the Mountain competition.”
“Again, I need that shirt that says I don’t know what anything is,” I grumbled. “You guys use these words with me like they should make sense but they don’t.”
“Right, I’ll explain on the way but we have to hurry. Quick shower and dry your hair. Dress for cold as we�
��re going to the Canadian mountains.”
“I’ve always wanted to see that,” Izzy said from her bed. “Take pictures. I’m too wittle and tired. I’ll get lost.”
Okay then.
“I’ll be back in ten minutes with breakfast. You’ll need loads of it. I already put the order in with Irma.” And then he was gone.
“What the fuck is this thing that has him so wound up?” I wondered.
“I want to tell you but honestly, you might prefer the coolness of being surprised.”
Fair enough. She was out again by the time I was done with the shower. So I quietly got ready, grabbing my leather jacket and making a mental note to grab some sweaters and winter clothes next time I was at the Townsend estate. I had one thin sweater and that was it.
Which I put on under my leather jacket. There was a rune to stay warm, right?
I packed my bag with what I needed, not a purse but with a few books, as midterms were coming soon and I needed to study. I was ready when he arrived back, giving me a worried look when he saw what I was wearing.
“It’s all I have,” I muttered. “I didn’t grab stuff for winter yet.”
“Take my hat and scarf hanging right in my closet,” Izzy grumbled. “Is Mel going?”
“No, she said there might be peace with her family at the moment but going on their turf was just stupid and her grandmother would chew out Tamsin as if it was all her fault.”
“We’re going to the Rothchilds? I mean, aren’t they all living with the Vogels?” I asked as I grabbed what Izzy said and thanked her.
“Yeah, let’s go,” Craftsman answered, but waved for me to hurry. “You can’t go right in since you’ve never been there before.”
Again, he said words like they made sense to me but they didn’t. I locked up behind me and we jogged towards the admin building.
He brought me to the faculty portal and there was something going on as we weren’t the only ones up and heading out. He handed me the first bag of food and I chowed down on nummy breakfast sandwiches and juice while we waited our turn to go through the portal.
“Holy fucking frozen balls, Batman,” I bitched as we stepped out and a freezing wind about knocked me over.
