by K. F. Breene
Daisy nearly sat forward, riveted. Mordie never really opened up about this stuff—he was too levelheaded and boring. She could see the drive in him right now. She could see the light bulb clicking on.
“These guys are stronger than that other guy, I’d bet my life on it. I doubt they are as corrupt or brutal, but they are more experienced. I can see their intensity in their movements. I can see how dominant they think they are.”
She lifted her eyebrows, not hiding the grin working up her face. She knew where this was going.
Everything in his posture stayed loose when he said, “I’m half their age, but I could take one and a half of them. Individually, I’m more dominant. I’d have to prove it, but…”
He didn’t finish because he was humble, but he didn’t have to.
Daisy’s grin turned into a full smile. “Damn right you’re more dominant. I don’t hang out with no chump.” She patted the dagger hugging her hip, something she always took with her now. This was Mordie’s chance. He needed to take on a shifter and win. He didn’t just need to prove his dominance to another shifter—he needed to prove it to himself. He’d never fought on his own, and he’d certainly never fought his own kind for dominance. Until he could spend more time with his kind, he wouldn’t, either. Unless she helped.
“I’ll play beta. I’ll distract one of them for a few moments while you get to work. Don’t worry, I’ll let you run the show. I’ll just help out.”
Mordecai glanced back at her, his hazel eyes sparkling with the challenge. In a moment, though, the call of battle dulled. His posture sagged a little, like someone putting away their knives.
He turned back around. “You don’t have blood magic or backup, Daisy. I’m here to protect you, not put you in needless danger. We stand down.”
Her mouth dropped open. “Are you serious? You know I’m good for this, Mordecai. You know I’ll stay out of harm’s way. All I’m going to do is distract the guy, not properly fight him. I could do it in my sleep!”
“All it would take would be one thing to go wrong. One unexpected thing, like stepping wrong and twisting your ankle, or flinching at the wrong time. Without healing magic, you’re too fragile. You should’ve taken Kieran up on his offer for the blood magic, but you didn’t, and now here you are.”
Anger and frustration boiled within her. Kieran had made that offer yesterday evening, approaching her in private so she wouldn’t feel pressured. He’d known what she was going to say, but he’d given her the choice anyway. It was a good move, but in vain. If Kieran one day turned into Valens, Daisy needed to be the levelheaded ejector cord. The healing magic would’ve been nice, and whatever gifts came with it, but the price was too steep.
She hadn’t expected Mordecai to penalize her for it, the douche.
“There is no way I am letting that Demigod have a piece of me, Mordecai, you know that. I don’t need him. I’m good without it.”
“Not right now, you’re not. We stand down.”
The guys approached them, their eyes firmly on Mordecai, as though they were walking by strictly to see if he wanted to come out and play. Daisy wished to hell he would.
“What’s this, Roy?” the guy on the right said, a block of muscle with a square head, a buzzcut, and huge ears. “A little bitty wolf cub without a pack.”
Roy, taller and leaner but with plenty of power in his movements, grinned maliciously. “Heard you got kicked out of your pack. What kind of sad sack gets kicked out of a pack as a kid? You must’ve been utter shit.”
If they’d expected to get a rise out of Mordecai, they were sorely mistaken. He had way too much confidence and pride in his past for that.
Daisy waved her hand a little to grab their attention. Only Big Ears glanced her way. She pointed at herself, then flicked her eyes to Mordecai.
Big Ears scrunched up his face, looking confused.
“Not a thinker, huh?” Daisy murmured, leaning her forearms on her knees and staring him down. Hopefully that would register as a challenge.
Mordecai needed to get his feet wet. She’d be damned if she would hold him back. Or let him hold himself back.
She couldn’t just leave him to it, though. There was that half to think about.
“You’re going to hide behind your age like a little—”
“What are you looking at, Chester?” Big Ears asked, cutting Roy off.
Daisy smirked and straightened, slipping a little arrogant condescension into her gaze. She didn’t respond, though. She didn’t want Mordecai to know she was instigating this.
“Disgusting.” Roy spat, the glob landing dangerously close to Mordecai’s shoe. “A shifter hanging out with a filthy Chester. He’s a disgrace to his kind.”
Daisy flashed a thumbs-up.
Big Ears snarled. “Look down, Chester, or I’ll make you look down. Realize when you’re being approached by your betters.”
“No thanks,” Daisy said flippantly.
“I bet you’re a dirty girl. Do you get on all fours and beg to mate?” Big Ears said, turning slightly so his chest was pointed at her. She couldn’t tell if he was taking the hint and going after her in order to incite Mordie, or if he was just small-minded and super gross.
Mordecai tensed, and so Daisy didn’t respond, though she really wanted to.
“Chester whore,” Roy spat, clearly incapable of any sort of independent or creative thinking.
Daisy leaned back and yawned, feigning boredom. Roy turned a little, his full attention on her now, too. Oops. Maybe she’d been a little too zealous in her dismissal of their presence. She’d read that shifters really hated that, but she’d never actually put it to the test. Verdict: true.
“You stupid little bitch,” Roy said, his face screwed up in anger. “You shouldn’t even be here. We should do everyone a favor and drown you in the ocean.”
Big Ears looked at the invisible but very clear territory line in front of them—one step over it and they could grab Daisy. They could wrestle with Mordecai.
The adult shifters glanced around, looking for witnesses. Their eyes narrowed, each clearly thinking the same thing—they could kill these two teens, stash the bodies, and get out of here. Who would know?
Daisy barely dared to breathe. These guys weren’t too far gone to see reason. Mordecai was the soul of reason. He could remind them it was against the rules to challenge a minor, back them down, and make an exit.
Or they could fight.
Mordecai stood, smooth and graceful. The two guys braced themselves. When Mordecai turned, Daisy nearly sagged with annoyance.
“Take the half.” And then Mordecai was shrugging out of his clothes.
He’d accepted the unspoken challenge!
Daisy was up in a flash. Freeing her dagger, she launched herself at Big Ears before he could even get out of his boots. She was a non-magical Chester; she didn’t have to fight fair.
He startled and clamped his hands around her shoulders. The bastard was strong.
Arching back, she pulled her knees up—her flexibility and wiliness were her biggest strengths. Her weight slammed into him suddenly—unexpectedly—pulling his top half with her as he struggled to hang on. She pushed out with her arms, arching more, and yanked her feet around. The force was finally too much, and he let go. The soles of her feet hit ground instead of her head. Phew. She hadn’t properly accounted for his strength with that maneuver.
No time to stall, she launched forward, dagger up, jabbing. The business end pierced his stomach. He grunted and reached for her, ignoring the painful wound. She was already moving. To stay still in this situation was to be overpowered and die.
Dodging his reaching arms, she took the hilt of the dagger in both hands and slammed the blade into his body. It squelched as it came back out, and then she jammed it in again, aiming for a kidney. Her aim on this part of the body was terrible—she knew she’d miss—but it would hurt like hell, and if he knew what she was going for, it would freak him out. A couple of shots to th
e kidney would kill a shifter, and now he knew that she knew.
Welcome to being mind-fucked, my friend.
A fierce snarl nearly pulled her focus. Mordecai was engaging. She couldn’t watch, though. One slip and she’d be toast, as he’d said. She’d be damned if she’d die and give him a complex.
“Stupid bitch,” Big Ears wheezed.
Big ears…
Maybe she’d cut one of those off, just for shits and giggles.
Ducking behind him, she bent and stuck her knife in his inner thigh, really close to his nut sack. If the kidneys didn’t freak him out, this would.
His high-pitched scream made her smile. She jumped, slammed her blade into the top of his shoulder, and climbed him like a tree. He spun while reaching around, trying to throw her off. But this was why she’d embedded the knife—as a handle.
He spun the other way, slowing a little. It was too good of an opportunity to pass up.
Working faster than she ever had in training, she scrambled up to his shoulders, wrapped her legs around his head, clutched the knife, and spun her upper body down and to the side, ripping her legs with her. Gravity helped her to the ground. Before she hit, she pushed her arms wide so the knife didn’t end up in her middle.
The impact cracked something and knocked the air out of her. Her execution of that move needed a little work, because that had hurt like hell.
Struggling for breath, she scrambled up. To give in to the pain was to give in to death—or so Zorn always said. Right now, she believed it.
A black animal went rolling across the white sands, leaving a trail of bright red in its wake. Was that a panther? Cool. Mordecai was on it a moment later, his fierce snarl sending a jolt of uncontrolled, primal fear through Daisy’s middle. She’d never heard that note in Mordecai’s growl before. She’d never felt this sort of unbridled intensity when they’d trained. It was a little daunting.
Mordecai still busy, she took two side steps, spun, and attacked, dagger ready. The shifter hadn’t gotten up and certainly hadn’t changed, so she pounced on his back and dug the knife between his shoulder blades.
She yanked it free and bounced off, waiting for his movements to determine where she struck next.
But he didn’t so much as twitch.
A howl of pain grabbed her attention. Mordecai ripped across the panther’s belly with his claws before going for the jugular. The panther struggled feebly, beaten.
All Daisy had to do was stall before Mordecai handled the other half of hers. Well…probably more like a quarter at this point. She’d stuck him pretty good. He hadn’t been as quick as the people they’d faced in the halls.
The man still lay prone, unmoving.
Worry crept through her. She really hoped he was playing dead so as to surprise her.
Except…shifters didn’t play dead. They were like Zeus in that way. Their egos couldn’t handle standing down.
“Shit,” she whispered, kicking one of his arms out of the way. It was heavy and lifeless. “Oh shit. Mordie…I think I fucked up.”
Mordecai padded over, leaving the panther on its side, its bloody, glistening body rising and falling as it struggled to breathe, its jugular ripped open and freely bleeding into the sand. Mordecai had taken that fight, hands down.
“Is that one going to live?” she asked, pointing at the panther.
Mordecai sniffed Big Ears’s face before his head came up, his intelligent hazel eyes meeting hers. She knew the situation without having to ask. That crack hadn’t been her back—it had been his neck. She might’ve executed the move poorly, but she’d done it well enough to be effective, something Zorn had said she didn’t have the strength and precision to do yet.
Well, joke was on him, because she had enough precision to crack someone’s neck, she just didn’t have the landing down.
Maybe the joke was also on her and Mordie, because now they had a body on their hands.
“Zorn will help us get rid of it. Should I go get him? This is really his fault, anyway. If he’d had more faith in me, I wouldn’t have tried to practice on this guy.” Only an asshole blamed herself, after all.
Mordecai changed back into himself, breathing quickly from the fight and the change.
“That wasn’t half,” he said, bending to take the man’s pulse.
“Right, yes. I know. Sorry, but honestly, I didn’t mean to kill him. I was just going to stab him a whole bunch until you were ready.”
He grinned, and she paused.
“I knew you weren’t going to settle for half.” He straightened again. “I also knew you weren’t going to settle for standing down.”
“I…would’ve…”
“You were intentionally egging them on, Daisy, I saw you. You can’t tell Lexi about this. She would kill me if she knew I let you fight a shifter twice your age, size, and experience level. Kill me!”
Daisy couldn’t help laughing. “Who’s the good kid now, huh?”
His eyebrows pinched together. “You’re still not the good kid.”
“Yeah, okay, fair enough.” The panther still panted, bleeding heavily, not trying to get up. “I mean…should we just throw them into the ocean, or… Zorn will keep the secret. I still vote we go get him.”
“Yeah, okay,” Mordecai said quietly, heading to his clothes. Though he was clearly ready to take challenges from experienced shifters, he was not ready to hide a body. Nobody was perfect.
A strange feeling rolled over Daisy. They weren’t alone anymore—a…presence had joined them. Beautiful and wicked, like a unicorn had slid down a rainbow, trotted over to her, and then crapped on her shoe. The dichotomy delighted her. Excited her.
Called to her.
This wasn’t the first time she’d sensed this particular…thing watching. She’d felt the same presence yesterday before the courtyard battle. It had stood just off to the side, noticed by absolutely no one, a spectral brilliance that not even Zorn could manifest on his best day. But this being was one of Zorn’s people—she knew that much. Dark fae.
Not many people knew about Zorn’s magic. He didn’t speak of its origins, not ever, and neither did Kieran. There were plenty of Jinns in the magical world, after all, and Zorn was connected to water, so why should anyone question his link to Poseidon? But a little research had revealed the truth: if you went far enough back, all Jinns originated from the land of the dark fae. A twisted place where nothing was as it seemed.
She still didn’t know how Zorn had come to be in Ireland all those years ago, but he or his parents must have made it across the fae borders that had been erected to protect the human world. The fae weren’t supposed to cross those borders unless they had a binding contract that permitted them to carry out their business in the human world. They were incredibly dangerous, she’d heard. Treacherous. One might befriend you, save you, make love to you, only to turn around and stab you in the heart.
Who in their right mind would employ the dark fae?
Lydia had made a pact with them, but that pact had surely been broken, had it not? Lexi had gotten away, and so had Kieran.
The panther lifted its long tail, distracting her, before laying it down again. His paw slid across the sands. The bleeding had slowed.
“He’s going to make it,” Mordecai said, shrugging into his shirt. “I clearly have more control than you.”
“Fine, yeah…” She’d meant to say hurry up so they could get Zorn and deal with her faux pas, but the words wouldn’t come. If anything, she wanted Mordecai to slow down so she could think. So she could continue to observe that transparent rainbow sheen in the air. She was sure someone waited there, watching. Analyzing. Thinking he/she was hidden behind the glamor of their magic.
Would it be bad to bring Zorn out here when one of his kind was hanging around? Probably, since she got the distinct impression the being lurking at the Summit was there for a reason—and that it wouldn’t be pleased if she got in its way. That was the main reason she hadn’t mentioned its presence to any
one else. She wasn’t trying to get on the bad side of the fae.
“Should we cover up the blood in the sand before we get Zorn?” Mordecai asked, slipping into his pants. “In case someone else is going for a stroll? Or…maybe we need to just pull them into the garden to get them out of plain sight?”
The panther’s breathing had slowed to normal. It wouldn’t be long before he could hobble away. His friend wasn’t going anywhere. At least he wouldn’t tattle on them—he wouldn’t want to admit to instigating a fight with two teenagers.
“It doesn’t really ring as accident if we hide the body in the garden,” she said, debating the wisdom of turning away from that shimmer. It wasn’t wise to turn’s one back on the fae, but they needed to get help. This wasn’t something they should probably hide from Kieran, as horrible as that conversation would go.
Daisy glanced at the sparkling shimmer. For just a moment—a brief, mind-confusing moment—a pair of vivid green eyes, with a burnished gold ring around the pupil, flared into existence. She saw a flash of sharp cheekbones but nothing of the body. Even still, something about the presence rang male.
Her world lit up, sparkling with gold and color and light-like confetti. It dazzled and danced in her vision, exploding through her middle. Something deep inside of her sparked and then burned, her breathing fracturing. She couldn’t tear her eyes away, wishing a body would manifest. Wanting him to speak.
The arching black brows pinched together, as though confused. The face tilted, a nod of sorts. A subtle kind of hello.
Her belly danced. Breathing became difficult.
In another moment, everything vanished. The eyes, the presence, everything. Magic too incredible, too potent, to feel or track or maybe even acknowledge blinked out.
“What was—what…” Mordecai took two quick steps forward, shock on his face, and looked at the beach.
The bodies were gone. Both of them. The blood, the messed-with sand—all of it. It was as though the skirmish hadn’t happened and Daisy hadn’t killed someone five feet from where she stood.
