“You don’t feed. It’s the Breath of Life and it’s mine to give. There has to be some advantage to being a prince,” I said.
“This is madness,” he muttered. “Helping humans, not hunting them.”
“I need the facilities,” Bethan said, sliding out the back. She had obviously missed the last remark, for which I was grateful.
I waited for her to close the door, the smell wonderfully fresh after the constant blast of hot air combating the broken window. “Marcus, you can’t do this. You either accept my help and in doing so help me protect Bethan or...”
“Or what? Bored already? Going to send me back to your sister?” His bitterness shocked me and the anger in his green eyes confused me.
“No,” I said, exasperated and more than slightly pissed off. “No. That’s not what I’ll do. But I will have to leave you somewhere safe while I deal with the thing hunting us. I can’t carry you if you aren’t going to help.”
“So there are conditions.”
I sighed, definitely cross now. “No, Marcus, but I don’t need you behaving like a brat. Accept my help and we can rebuild your world. That means you being the man I remember, the one that would support me in this.” But was I the man he remembered?
He flung open the door to the Jeep and left. I followed suit and sank in dirty snow. I stomped around the front of truck. He turned to look at me and stole my breath. He was angry and that anger made his eyes bright and his body seemed to vibrate with power.
“Do you know what it was like for me when you left?” he almost screamed in my face.
Oh, so this was the problem. “No,” I said and shook my head. “I have no idea.”
“I went from your cohort and shield brother to nothing, worse than nothing. Everyone we’d ever crossed – and the list is a long one, Falcon – made me a victim. Me!” His hands punched his own chest. “You made me a victim.”
“You could have come with me,” I said.
“How? This isn’t my world. I am sworn to the throne of the Seelie. This world will never understand us, no matter what you think. Humans are not Seelie. You are the throne of the Seelie.” He pointed an angry finger at my chest.
“No, Marcus, I’m not. I am just one version and a flawed one. If I take the throne it will sever us forever. It would be worse than living here, in this world. I am not going to let that happen. I want my brother to take the throne and we can continue to be Hunters. I can come home.” I spread my hands in an open gesture of peace.
“You are such a selfish idealist and that makes you a fool,” he shouted. “Do you really think that they will allow this vision of yours to happen? They want you on the throne or your sister. They have no interest in some child no one knows. You are our king.”
“Do you want us to part forever?” I asked him.
“It’s better than what I’m suffering now,” he yelled.
“God, I love you,” I whispered.
He blinked, clearly confused. “Highness, I’m trying –”
“I don’t care what you are trying to do. I don’t care about anything but you. I’ve lived only for you since we were children. I didn’t care about my father’s approval, the Court’s approval or that of these mortals, only yours. Being away from you has been so hard, but I’ve been able to endure it because I know we will never be parted once I place the crown of the Seelie on my brother’s head,” I said. I stepped toward him. “Hate me, hurt me, whatever it takes, Marcus. But I will force you to stay at my side until you surrender to me.”
“I thought I was the Dominus,” he said quietly.
I smiled. “You are, but you seem to have forgotten you are my Dominus, not anyone else’s.”
He reached for my jaw and caressed me. His hands were cold. “Why can’t I ever have an argument with you?” he asked.
“I’m far too lovely to be cross with for long,” I said.
He chuckled and he drew me into his arms. I held him in return and he nodded. “I think we need new rules, Little Bird. I need your softness and gentle caress.”
I rubbed my hands up his arms, remembering the scars I’d seen. “Whatever it takes, Dominus.”
“I want to make love to you,” he said quietly.
I gazed into those amazing eyes, the green a sign he belonged to the royal household and no one else could claim him as a slave, and smiled. “You will. When we are both ready.”
He placed his lips on mine and we kissed, uncaring of staring eyes which must see us from the restaurant. The kiss built into something living and all encompassing. I melted and became hard all at once, almost swooning in his arms. He devoured me, possessed me and I remained gentle. His Little Bird, not the other half of the greatest team of Hunters the Seelie had ever known, or the Crown Prince, or even DI Grey. I surrendered and became his Little Bird.
When he released me, I stumbled, the world disorientating for a moment. I felt elated but Marcus had tears on his cheeks. I frowned and he answered my silent question. “I’m not hard,” he whispered. “I should be after that. You gave me everything.”
I remembered Bethan’s words. “Give it time, love. You aren’t whole for a start. We’ll find your pelt and it will get better. I don’t need anything from you but your help.”
He nodded and drew in a deep breath. He frowned and sniffed, an expression on his face I knew all too well. We were in trouble. We stepped away from each other and I sniffed the air.
“Hunters,” we said together.
“Bethan,” Marcus said. I was already moving toward the restaurant. I ran with mortal speed and burst into the building, scattering people. I fumbled for my leather wallet.
“Police, a young woman just walked in,” I said quickly.
A rotund woman pointed to the gift shop. I walked through the nonsense and grabbed Bethan, who held a box of fudge. “What?”
“Leaving, now,” I said.
“The thing?” she asked, her eyes wide.
“Worse,” I said, dragging her out of the shop, still clutching the fudge.
“It gets worse?” she squeaked. She’d been at the crime scenes.
“Hunters. We need to find a new vehicle and fast.”
She stared around her, looking for bogey monsters in the car park. “I don’t think –”
“Here,” Marcus called to my left. He carried the bags we’d been keeping in the truck. “Make him give me the keys.”
Adjacent to the car park we’d stopped in was a second hand car dealership and Marcus stood next to a man who had a glazed expression on his face. Marcus had enough power in this world to force a human’s mind to grow quiet but he couldn’t control them the way I could and as Marcus currently stood next to a huge white Land Rover with snow tires, I guessed what he wanted from me.
I laughed. “I can’t steal it, I’m a policeman.”
“Yes you bloody can,” he said. “And I want to drive.”
“Marcus,” I warned.
“Now, Falcon, before they narrow down exactly where we are.”
“Just get the keys,” Bethan said. “We’ll sort the paperwork later.”
I placed a hand on the man’s head and forced an image into his mind of him parting with the keys. He grunted, the image clearly painful for the poor bloke. I pushed harder and he relented. He handed over the keys with a totally vacant expression on his face. Marcus smiled.
He pinged the alarm and we bundled the stuff in the back. I gently moved the man out of our way and Marcus took possession of the driver’s seat.
“Um, you know how to do this right?” I asked.
He laughed with an evil glint in his eyes. The engine woke from its sleep and we roared out of the dealership’s yard. Marcus controlled the huge vehicle with ease. “I haven’t just been tied to a cross while your sister tries to destroy my will and desire for you.”
I glanced over my shoulder at Bethan and she looked back as if to say, “Oh, shit.” We both did up our seatbelts.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“They are close,” I said. That feeling of ants racing over my skin let me know other Seelie were gaining ground. Powerful Seelie.
“Do we stand and fight?” Marcus asked.
“Are you nuts?” I shot back.
“Probably,” he replied.
“What are we facing?” asked a small voice from the back.
“An unknown number of Hunters, people like myself and Marcus,” I said.
“I think running would be good,” she said.
“Where’s that gun?” I asked. She rummaged in her bag and held up the small pistol. “Keep it close,” I said.
“Can’t you do it?” she asked, holding it out to me.
“No,” I said. “You need it. If the worst does happen, start shooting and continue to run.”
She clutched the gun and I reached back to squeeze her knee. In the process I glanced through the back window. A large black Land Rover followed our white one. “How fitting,” I mumbled.
Marcus glanced at me. “It’s them, isn’t it?”
“I think that’s a safe possibility.”
“I’m weak,” he said.
I held his upper arm and the muscle jumped, huge under my large palm. “You will never be weak.”
He smiled at me. “I won’t let them take me in.”
I nodded. “I won’t let them take you either.”
“We understand each other?” he asked.
I nodded slowly. “We understand each other,” I said.
“Then we are going to face them down. We can’t outrun them and there can’t be that many of them in there,” he said.
“Alright, but I take the lead.”
“Done.” He slew the wheel and the large vehicle slid into the lay-by overlooking the loch above Fort William. We shuddered to a halt, the traction control fighting against the slippery surface. The moment we stopped Marcus and I stepped out of the truck and into the snow. The black Land Rover slowed and stopped twenty metres away.
I watched two figures leave the vehicle. One was small and dark, his skin a rich brown and his hair the same colour. He moved with the unearthly grace of our kind. The other was taller even than me and with long hair down his back that was white, making Bethan gasp. I appeared plain in comparison.
He smiled when he saw me but his white eyes were colder than the north wind whistling through the valley. “Well, it’s true, the slave found his master.” His voice instantly grated on my nerves.
“Swane, what an unfortunate surprise,” I said. I nodded toward his companion. “Sayta.” The dark haired man nodded in return and remained behind Swane, a worried look on his face.
“Our noble Queen said we should track the traitor. She said you wouldn’t have the strength to kill him to protect yourself and your cover.” He sneered and I wondered what colour his skin looked like on the inside.
“She isn’t queen, Swane, and she never will be,” I said quietly.
He chuckled and I watched Sayta back off a step, giving us room. The history between the four of us filled the silences with memories from our lives together as Hunters. We’d been forced to endure each other for decades, the home for the Hunters a large fortress north of the traditional home for the Seelie Court in Gimlé, the capital of Elfhame.
“She is Queen of my heart,” Swane said. His focus shifted to Marcus who stood on my left side. “How are the brands healing from our last glorious adventure?”
Marcus grunted, as if struck hard.
“What are you talking about?” I asked. I dare not glance at my friend, but his distress rippled outward.
“Hasn’t he told you? I’m surprised. I seem to have made quite an impression on him the last time we were together. When was that, Marcus? Two or three nights ago? One loses one’s sense of time when having such fun. Leo rode him like a champ once I’d forced him hard. I must say, Falcon, I never understood your desire for pain until I began to watch Marcus learn to enjoy it for our pleasure.” The words were small sips of poison. Swane thought to hurt me with something dark and perverted but the words were his poison, not mine.
I stepped forward and to the side, protecting Marcus from the white eyes leering at him. “It’s time, Swane,” I said quietly.
His eyes switched back to me. “Time, traitor?”
“For you to die,” I said.
“I am a Hunter, you cannot take my life, it is against our code of honour,” he said. “However, I can take your life as you are the traitor.”
“God, I’m fucking bored with this shit,” Bethan announced loudly and a shot rang out.
For a moment no one moved. A red stain began to appear on Swane’s chest. He stared down at it in shock.
“Head, Dar. Go for his head, he’ll heal!” I shouted.
Another shot ran out, loud and twisting in the peaceful mountain air. Swane’s head exploded, his face vanishing in a mist of blood and gore. Sayta yelped in shock, the mess hitting him, covering his body in disgusting fluids. The tall and graceful body of my arch nemesis from the Hunters tumbled to the snowy ground and began to dissolve before our eyes.
I swallowed hard, the thrill of the fight we’d been posturing for stolen from me and leaving me feeling shaken. However, Sayta still lived and I jerked into action, moving into the attack, stepping over the bloodstained snow. Sayta stumbled back with his arms out in supplication and tripped, landing in the dirty snow.
“Wait, Falcon, please, I want no part of this insanity,” he said hurriedly.
“What do you mean? I have a price on my head, right?” I asked.
He glanced behind me at Marcus and I assumed DC Dar. “Yes, but no bounty is worth bringing you in, Highness. You have many supporters among the Seelie who are just waiting for you to return before we rise up and destroy those who corrupt our kind.”
“Excuse me?”
He scrambled to his feet, then knelt as a sign of supplication. “Highness, you have an army at your back the moment you ask us to fight. We will rise from all parts of our society and we will give our lives to see you take the throne.” His brown eyes were very serious and, I realised, totally sincere.
I glanced at Marcus over my shoulder. “What’s he talking about?”
Marcus licked his lips nervously. “I didn’t think you’d want to know so didn’t see the point in telling you.”
I closed my eyes and begged for patience. “Get up, Sayta,” I said. He rose but didn’t come close. I turned my back and moved toward Bethan, who stood on the other side of the truck in a stance that would have made her an easy target if Hunters carried guns, which they didn’t – fortunately for me. The gun trembled and still pointed at the spot Swane had stood. I held my hand out, she finally looked at me and handed me the small pistol. I tucked it into my belt.
“Get in the back of the truck, Detective,” I said quietly. “It’ll be warmer in there.”
With very large brown eyes she nodded her consent and climbed into the Land Rover. I returned to Marcus. “You alright?” I asked him.
He stared at the remains of the blood in the snow. “I never wanted you to know,” he said.
I stroked his head. “I am glad I do, it makes me love you even more.”
He finally looked at me and frowned. “More? How can it make you love me more?”
“You have endured all that for my sake and you are still here at my side, Marcus. Your endless sacrifice leaves me in awe,” I whispered.
Tears filled his eyes. “You don’t know how I learned to love what they did,” he whispered in return. The words were so soft the wind threatened to tear them from me.
“And I will teach you to love something better,” I assured him. I leaned toward him and kissed his mouth. I heard Sayta gasp but Marcus groaned softly. I pulled back and turned my attention back to Sayta.
I walked to the smaller man and placed my hands on his shoulders. “I want you to be a messenger for me,” I said. “Others will be here soon and they will want to know what happened to Swane. You tell them I shot him. Shot hi
m,” I emphasised. “He is no more, he can never return and I will see my sister come to the same end. I will destroy her soul.”
He nodded. “I understand.”
I considered my options and chose to stick to my course of action despite the shifting loyalties around me. “When you find your people, the ones who will fight for me, tell them no. That’s not what I want. I want them to fight for themselves, for the rights of Seelie against their corrupt leaders. I cannot fix our people, they have to fix themselves and the only person who can lead that change is someone uncorrupted by our past. My brother is their rightful leader, not me. I will return and I will fight by your sides but I will not be your king.”
Sayta frowned. “But, Falcon –”
“No,” I said. “This is how it must be, the only way it can be.”
He dropped his eyes in quiet acquiescence. “As you please, Highness.”
“Good, now we need to leave.” I released his shoulders and walked back to Marcus.
“Hey,” Sayta called out. We stopped and turned. He looked at Marcus. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?” Marcus rumbled.
“For what they did to you. For letting them take you from the Hunters. We should have done more to protect you. We all bear the blame for your treatment. You are our brother and we allowed Swane to take you to her. I am sorry.”
I watched the muscles in Marcus’ jaw flex and his hands balled into fists. I placed a restraining grip on his forearm.
“Thank you, Sayta. If the Hunters are truly sorry then they can find his pelt and return it to me,” I said.
Sayta paled. “They didn’t...”
“They did and we need it back,” I said.
He nodded, his dusky skin a good few shades paler. Before starting life as a Hunter, Sayta was barely higher in our society than a slave himself. He’d always been vulnerable and more than once either myself or Marcus had stepped in to save his skin – literally, on one occasion.
“I’ll see it done, I swear,” he said. “Now go, they are coming, I can feel them.”
Seelie (The Falcon Grey Files Book 1) Page 9
