Saving Jace

by Rebecca Rivard

  “Here, let me.” Kyler gripped the shifter’s shoulders, taking more of the weight.

  Together the two of them maneuvered the limp body up the stairs and into the kitchen. Her brother raised a dark brow. “Where should we put him?”

  “The floor, I guess.”

  They set him down on their sad excuse of a vinyl floor. Evie swiped the raindrops from her face and peered down at the unconscious man. His face and shoulders were wet, but the dark stain spreading across his T-shirt wasn’t from the rain. While Kyler locked the door, Evie scrubbed her hands in the kitchen sink and squatted down for a closer look.

  The shifter had the lean, powerful build of a big cat. She couldn’t help noticing how good-looking he was—warm brown skin; high, broad cheekbones and thick black lashes spiked with water drops. But then, the fada had a few drops of fae blood, and with it a touch of the fae’s beauty.

  She eased up his T-shirt and sucked in a breath. He had a deep slash across half his lower abdomen, and there was another small but even deeper wound right above it.

  “Damn,” said Kyler. “Somebody cut him good.”

  “No shit. Get me something to clean it with. Hot water, but not too hot.”

  Kyler nodded and filled a bowl with warm water. Meanwhile, Evie found a couple of clean kitchen towels, and then knelt next to the fada and dabbed at the blood. From what she knew about first-aid, the wounds weren’t life-threatening. Neither was spurting blood, which meant the knife or whatever had cut him hadn’t hit an artery. And the blood seemed to be clotting.

  The biggest danger was probably infection, and hopefully he’d be out of here before she had to worry about that.

  She wrung out the cloth and dabbed at the gashes again. She’d heard somewhere that whiskey disinfected a wound, but only thing she had in the house was a six-pack of beer.

  “Do you think we should pour some beer on it?” she asked Kyler. “You know, to kill the germs?”

  “No.” The earth fada’s eyes opened. The intense green had faded to hazel. “Use…my quartz.”

  Evie didn’t know much about shifters, but everyone knew earth fada had a special connection with their quartz. This man’s looked like a run-of-the-mill rock to her, but what did she know? She reached for the pendant.

  “No.” He flinched and grabbed it himself. “Don’t touch. Only…me.”

  “Okay.” She jerked her hand away. “Take it easy—I’m just trying to help.”

  The fada’s fingers toyed with the quartz, and it started to glow the same green as his eyes had. His lips moved, and the blood stopped seeping. His wounds seemed to close a bit, too.

  “Wow,” said Kyler.

  The fada’s head dropped back onto the vinyl. “Can’t.” He released the pendant. The quartz lost its glow and turned back into a plain, smoky gray with a touch of purple. Pretty, but nothing out of the ordinary.

  She swallowed. “So what can I do?”

  His eyes shut. “Nothing.”

  She sat back on her haunches. “Look, you are not going to die in my kitchen. You got that?”

  He just grunted.

  Kyler dropped onto the floor on the other side of the shifter. They met each other’s eyes over his body.

  “Maybe I should call an ambulance,” she said.

  “What good would that do? Fada use their own healers, and I’m not sure a human doctor could help anyway.”

  “They could clean it out and stitch him up.”

  Outside the storm boomed. The wind whipped through the trees and rain drummed against the kitchen windows. A crash of thunder shook the house. She and Kyler stared at each other but neither moved to take out their phones.

  Her shoulders slumped. It had been a long day. First, she’d gone to her biology class at the community college and then she’d rushed home to work her shift at the restaurant. Now she was exhausted and out of ideas.

  Hopelessness rolled over her. “He’s going to die,” she said dully. “And take us along with him.”

  Kyler’s throat worked. “There’s nothing we can do.”

  The earth fada roused himself to growl, “Fucking fae. He’s messing with your minds—you have to fight it.”

  “What do you mean?” Evie asked.

  The fada’s hand was on his quartz again. The muscles of his neck strained with effort. The glow infused it again. “Touch me,” he gritted.

  “Touch you?” she repeated. What was the point?

  “Now. Anywhere.”

  She and Kyler glanced at each other and then Evie shrugged. “All right.”

  She took the earth fada’s hand while Kyler touched him on the shoulder. Nothing happened. Evie blew out a breath. Why bother? She was so tired, and soaked from the rain. She was considering lying down next to the shifter when something odd happened. The hand touching the shifter warmed. She frowned down at it. The heat moved up her arm to her shoulder, and then she and Kyler were enfolded in its warmth.

  Her brother stared down at their unwanted guest, his mouth ajar. “What the fuck?”

  “Night fae,” the fada rasped. “Don’t…talk. He—hear you.”

  Evie’s stomach did a complete flip. “A night fae? That’s who’s after you?”

  She’d only seen one night fae in her entire twenty-six years, but one had been enough. He’d been coming out of an after-hours club in downtown Baltimore, tall and loose-limbed with black hair and pale skin. She’d stopped and stared. He was gorgeous in his tight black shirt and leather pants, like a sexy rock star.

  Then he’d turned and caught her looking—and smiled, a cold show of teeth. Darkness washed over her, black and seductive. When she’d shuddered, his smile had only increased. Evie had sprinted out of the alley, his mocking laugh following her.

  The earth fada gave a terse nod. “Afraid so.”

  Evie shut her eyes. What had she done? For the most part, the fae ignored humans or treated them like half-witted pets, which was fine with her.

  You did not want to attract the attention of a fae. You especially didn’t want to attract the attention of a night fae.

  The rain eased. They all heard the crunch of gravel.

  The fae was right outside.

  Evie grabbed the earth fada’s hand with both of hers and prayed. Hard.

  3

  Jace cursed the bad luck that had made him stop for a drink at a Grace Harbor bar. Grace Harbor wasn’t his town. It was right on the edge of Rock Run river fada territory, and normally a Baltimore earth fada wouldn’t be welcome this close. But he’d been visiting the quartz mine his clan was excavating just north of Grace Harbor.

  When a couple of Rock Run men had invited Jace and the regular miners out for a beer, he’d figured why not? It wasn’t like he had anyone to go home to.

  It was Thursday night and a popular local band was playing, so the bar was crowded with humans. Some of the fada males had hit on the women, but Jace made it a practice to stay far away from humans—especially females. He’d drunk a couple of beers, watched a few innings of the baseball game playing soundlessly on the TV behind the bar, and then called it a night.

  Outside, night had fallen, but the air was still warm from the June sun. Jace headed out the back door toward where he’d left his motorcycle in the parking lot.

  The night fae had been waiting in the narrow opening between the bar and the building next door: tall and pale and humming with a dark excitement. Night fae liked to toy with their victims—a scared, panicky victim was catnip to a creature who fed on negative energy. First, he’d attacked Jace energy-wise with invisible tentacles that slid over his skin, seeking to entwine him in a net made of all his darkest moments: fear…death…loss…betrayal…

  To fight back, Jace had been forced to draw on his quartz’s energy. For a good ten minutes, they’d been locked in a silent battle in the shadows.

  Sweat had broken out on Jace’s forehead. His quartz’s song was faint, and fading fast. The night fae had smiled, sensing that Jace was almost out of energy.
He darted forward and slashed a knife across Jace’s belly.

  It was like taking a red-hot poker in the gut. Jace grunted and doubled over. The night fae came at him again with the knife, going for a deep, killing blow. The knife slid into Jace’s stomach below his navel. But his attacker had made one mistake—he’d let himself get within reach of a man whose animal was a jaguar.

  Jace twisted away. His claws shot out. He whirled around and struck at the night fae, ripping out his throat. The man gurgled and staggered back until he hit the side of the bar. He slid down the wall and slumped to the ground, dead.

  Jace crouched on the asphalt, breathing hard. The pain was excruciating. He drew in a breath, and the blade’s scent confirmed it. The bastard had stabbed him with an iron knife.

  Iron was poison for a fae. The only way the night fae had been able to handle the knife was to wear leather gloves, and even then, he would’ve only been able to wield it for a short time.

  Iron didn’t affect the fada like it did a pureblood fae, but the blade had nicked a small artery, sending the poison directly into his bloodstream. Already his vision was hazing over.

  Jace had dragged himself to his feet.

  Take it…out.

  He’d grabbed the hilt with both hands, set his teeth, and jerked the knife out.

  From far away, he’d heard himself groan. The fucking thing hurt even worse coming out than it had going in. He let it fall to the ground and used the last bit of energy in his quartz to heal the nicked artery. The spurting blood slowed to a trickle.

  He looked around with blurred vision.

  Must…get out of here.

  He shook his head and forced himself to focus. The night fae was sprawled at his feet. He could still see his mocking smile as he thrust the knife into Jace’s belly.

  The man wasn’t smiling now.

  Thunder grumbled in the distance. Jace’s skin prickled. He glanced around but the parking lot appeared empty. That didn’t mean another night fae wasn’t nearby—or about to teleport in.

  There was no way he could ride a motorcycle right now. He grabbed a bandana from his pocket, pressed it to his abdomen and hurried around the corner of the nearest building. The movement sent a dizzying jolt of pain through him.

  He leaned against a loading dock, his breath sawing in and out. He grasped his quartz, drawing what energy he could from the vibrating crystals. The quartz warmed in his hand. Given time, it would refill with energy, but time was something he didn’t have.

  From the parking lot came the sound of two men speaking in low tones. He stilled, his heart rate ratcheting up. He couldn’t tell if they were night fae, but his skin was still tingling, so he forced himself to move.

  He limped around a chain-link fence and zigzagged through a couple more blocks, trying to throw off any trackers. He was fading fast when he slipped between two buildings and ended up on a dark, quiet street. At some point, he’d lost the blood-soaked bandana, but maybe that was a good thing—if he was being tracked, it would draw the tracker’s attention, give Jace time to escape.

  He’d left Grace Harbor’s small business district. To his left was a hair salon and across the street there was a post office, but on his side, there was a long row of attached Formstone houses.

  Two doors down, a plump gray-haired human sat on a concrete stoop, cigarette in hand. She glanced at him and did a double take.

  His lips peeled back to show his canines, and he snarled lowly, his animal rising at the sign of a threat.

  “Easy now.” The woman came to her feet and backed up. “Tim?” she called through the screen door. “You there?”

  Jace didn’t wait to meet Tim. He hurried at an awkward, lurching pace down the sidewalk. Thunder crashed and he scented the rain close behind. That was good—it would wash away the blood, hide his scent.

  There was a break about halfway down the row of houses. He darted into it and found himself on a narrow asphalt path that led to an alley behind the houses.

  Fuck. He was almost back where he’d started, the bar just a hundred yards to the left. He cursed under his breath and headed the opposite way. He was staggering now, the sole streetlight hurting his eyes. A few doors from the end of the alley, his legs gave out.

  Hide. Dark. Den.

  But his den was thirty-some miles south in Baltimore. He crawled into the nearest backyard, instinctively seeking a shadowed corner, and collapsed against the concrete steps.

  He was lightheaded from the iron burning in his blood. He took a few short, ragged breaths and then tested his quartz. The tiny crystals were nearly depleted. Instead of humming their customary song, they were barely vibrating. Too weak for him to draw on its energy to heal himself. Too weak even to signal for help.

  Jace leaned his forehead against the side of the steps and waited to die. If the iron didn’t kill him outright, the night fae would find him.

  A woman appeared out of the dark. Dreamlike, he wondered if an angel had descended to save him from the night fae. An edgy blond angel in jeans and a black muscle tee.

  Then she threatened him with a rock and he jolted awake. Fucking wonderful. She was going to bash his head in. A female, and human at that.

  His mouth twisted wryly—and then he passed out. The next thing he knew, he was on the kitchen floor blinking up at a fluorescent light.

  He tensed. There were two humans now—the pretty blonde and a lanky teenager with short brown hair and suspicious eyes.

  He had to get out of here. He tried to roll over, but the blonde was doing something to his stomach. He got ready to fight before he realized she was cleaning his wounds. But that wouldn’t be enough, not against iron. He tried to use his quartz, but he was too weak, the crystals still barely vibrating.

  He let his head drop back to the floor. An earth fada’s quartz was almost a living thing. With rare exceptions, his crystals’ song had always been with him ever since he’d bonded with his own personal quartz as a cub. To have the song fail now was hard, like watching a family member do a slow fade into death.

  And there was nothing to stop the iron burning a path through his veins, poisoning him slowly and inexorably.

  His gaze fixed on the woman. She was striking, a study in contrasts—warm brown eyes topped by dark, definite eyebrows; high cheekbones in a narrow, intelligent face. Her mouth moved. She was scolding Jace, telling him he’d better not die in her kitchen.

  Inside he chuckled—if he were himself, he could take her out with a single swipe of his claws. But she had spirit. He liked that—it reminded him of Takira.

  He inhaled, testing the humans’ scents. They were tense and afraid, but they seemed to want to help. And his cat liked the blonde’s smell. It relaxed a bit, easing them both. When the female touched Jace’s stomach, the cat damn near purred.

  That was strange.

  Then every fine hair on his body stood on end. All the sass went out of the blonde. Even her hard-eyed brother drooped.

  Night fae. Hell. Jace had brought trouble straight to these people’s door.

  “Think,” he managed to say. The woman leaned closer to hear. “Happy thoughts.”

  He used the last ounce of energy in the crystal to protect them and then passed out again.

  “Happy thoughts?” Evie repeated. “Yeah right.” She met Kyler’s eyes and said, “Better do what he says.”

  The door knob rattled and she froze. She darted a glance at the deadbolt. But somehow either she or Kyler had remembered to lock it in the rush to get the injured man inside. Fortunately, the door was solid wood and the shade was down on the back window so he couldn’t see into the kitchen.

  Because she knew it was a man. She could almost picture him on the top step—tall, dark and coldly determined, sending feelers out.

  A night fae.

  She stilled, her breath shallow—as if she could fool the fae when she knew he could sense them somehow. But the earth fada was helping to shield them. The sense of dread lessened, but her mind was a complete
blank.

  Across the unconscious man’s body, Kyler had his eyes screwed shut. Her wannabe badass looked scared to death, his face pale, his lips pressed tight.

  Her heart clenched. That frightened, vulnerable expression took her back seven years to when Kyler’s dad had died and all they’d had left was their mother.

  Their mom had tried her best, but those first few months, she walked around like a zombie. Evie’s dad had left before Evie was two, but Kyler’s dad had been an anchor for all of them. His sudden heart attack was just too unfair. Meanwhile, the money was slowly running out. Her mom’s part-time job and food stamps only stretched so far.

  Kyler had tried to act tough, but one night their mom had snapped and thrown them outside, telling them not to come back until bedtime.

  Kyler had slipped his hand into Evie’s. “What are we going to do?” he’d asked in a small voice.

  Evie had taken a deep breath. “Why don’t we walk to the playground?” Fortunately, it was summer, and there was another hour of light. She and Kyler rode every piece of equipment on the playground at least three times, and by the time they went home, their mother had calmed down and let them back in without any fuss.

  The rattling stilled. But the fae was right outside. Evie didn’t know how she knew, but she would’ve bet her pitifully small bank balance on it.

  Happy thoughts, Evie. Happy thoughts.

  Kyler’s tenth birthday. Yeah, that had been a good day. Things were better by then. Their mom had a job as a server at an upscale restaurant and Evie was working at a pizza place after school and on weekends. They were living paycheck to paycheck, but at least they had food in the house.

  She and her mom had pooled their money to buy Kyler the latest video game console and a couple of games. Evie had baked Kyler’s favorite cake—chocolate banana, but hey, he’d asked. Now she tried to visualize his expression as he blew out the candles and then tore open his packages.

  He’d learned not to expect much. That made his grin when he’d seen the console all the more special. His face lit up brighter than the ten candles on his cake. “This is the best birthday ever!”