by Karen Lynch
He pushed off from the wall and walked toward the training room. “Come with me.”
I followed him on rubbery legs, wondering what fresh hell he had in store for me. If he planned to start me on staff training now, it wasn’t going to be pretty.
We entered the room, and he pointed to my shoes and socks in the corner. “We’re done for today.”
“I didn’t quit.”
“I know.” He folded his muscled arms across his chest. “Today was not only about conditioning. It was to see how far you would push yourself and to determine if you are worthy of training.”
I pushed away the sweaty hair that had come loose from my ponytail. “It was all a test?”
“Yes. Congratulations. You passed.”
“Why don’t I feel like celebrating?” I grumbled, walking over to gather my stuff.
He didn’t answer me, not that I expected him to. Neither of us spoke as we descended the stairs to the first floor.
“You may shower in the bathroom next to the library,” he said when I sat on the bottom step to stuff my aching feet into my socks.
“Thanks.” I’d planned to change into fresh clothes and then shower when I got home, but my hair was dripping with sweat that ran into my eyes. The thought of driving home like that was less appealing than lingering here long enough to shower.
When I emerged from the bathroom twenty minutes later, with my damp hair pulled into a ponytail, Faolin was nowhere to be seen. It was just as well. Two hours alone in his company was more than enough for one day.
I picked up my coat and heard the clink of my keys hitting the tile floor. Bending to retrieve them, I let out a small shriek when I came face-to-face with Kaia. Where had she come from?
“Hi, Kaia,” I said slowly as I carefully reached for my keys.
My fingertips had barely grazed them when they were snatched away from me. Kaia stared at me for several seconds with my keys dangling from her mouth, and then she bounded away like an exuberant puppy.
“Hey!” I ran after her.
She skidded to a stop in the living room and spun to face me. If I didn’t know better, I’d think she was grinning.
I approached her slowly. “Nice kitty. Can I have my keys back?”
She didn’t move as I reached out for the keys, but as soon as I touched them, she shook her head playfully and took off again.
I groaned and turned to the stairs. “Faolin, I could use your help.”
Kaia jingled the keys, and I whirled to find her a foot away from me. She crouched like she was about to pounce on me, but all she did was wriggle her behind as if she was daring me to try to take the keys. I was exhausted, and the last thing I wanted to do was play, but she didn’t seem to care about that.
I grabbed for the keys, and she let me get my fingers around them this time before she yanked them from my grasp. I went after her again and again, and every time I thought I had them, she’d take off, leaving me empty-handed.
Eventually, my tired legs failed me, and I tripped, falling across the couch. Kaia must have thought it was intentional because she jumped up on the couch beside me. I made one last desperate grab for the keys and closed my hand around them. She tried to yank them from my grasp, and we began a game of tug of war that ended in the two of us rolling off the couch into a heap on the floor. I let out a loud “oof” when the heavy lamal landed on top of me and one of her paws jabbed me in the stomach.
“You don’t see that every day.”
I spat out a mouthful of lamal fur and looked at Conlan standing in the doorway. He wore a shocked expression I might have found funny under different circumstances. He moved aside as Lukas, Iian, and Kerr entered the room, and the four of them stared at me as if I’d suddenly sprouted pixie wings.
“Little help here,” I wheezed when none of them came to my aid.
Lukas was the first to react. “Kaia, come,” he said as he strode toward us.
She rose up over me and gave me a dejected look before she dropped the keys on my chest and went to him.
“Stay,” he ordered her. He came to sit on his haunches beside me. “Are you okay? Did she hurt you?”
“Only my pride.” I pushed up to a sitting position and grimaced at the curtain of damp hair that fell across my face. Gathering it back with both hands, I looked around for my missing hair tie. When I couldn’t find it, I sighed and did my best to work the tangle of hair in to a knot.
“What happened?” Lukas asked gruffly, making me very aware of how close he was.
I scooted away from him. “Kaia wanted to play.”
“Play?” he echoed as if he’d never heard the word before.
“She took my keys so I would chase her. You should get her some toys.” I stood, unable to suppress a small groan when I put my weight on my abused feet.
Lukas was beside me in an instant. “I thought you said Kaia didn’t hurt you.”
I skewered him with a glare. “She didn’t. This is from that sadist you left me to train with.”
“Faolin did this? Where is he?”
“Upstairs.”
Snickers came from the other side of the room, and Kerr said, “She killed him. Pay up, Conlan.”
“Not until I see the body,” Conlan joked. “She might have only left him for dead.”
“Glad I amuse you.” I limped past them to get my stuff. Pulling on my coat, I zipped it all the way to my chin. “Always nice to see you guys.”
I made it to the door when Conlan called, “Same time tomorrow?”
Raising one hand, I flipped them the bird and left without looking back.
Outside, I put my head down against the wind and hurried to the Jeep. I didn’t see the person who stepped into my path until I was nearly on top of them.
“Sorry.” I lifted my head to meet the unfriendly, green eyes of a female faerie with long, glossy, black hair. I recognized her immediately. She was the faerie I’d seen talking to Lukas at Va’sha.
Her eyes raked over me. “Who are you?”
Her haughty tone made my hackles rise, and I instantly disliked her. “No one.”
She put up an arm to block me when I would have gone around her. “I saw you leave Vaerik’s. What is your business with him?”
It suddenly felt like someone was applying pressure to my chest. Were they involved? I couldn’t picture him with someone so cold, but what did I really know about him or his tastes in women? And why should I even care?
“Well?” she snapped.
I shoved her arm away from me. “Not that it’s any of your business, but I was here to see Faolin.”
“Faolin?” Her eyebrows shot up, but she looked slightly appeased by my answer. “You and Faolin?”
I ignored her question. “Go on in. I’m sure Vaerik will be so happy to see you.”
As if he’d heard us, the door opened behind me, and Lukas said, “Dariyah?”
“Vaerik.” Her face lit up with a beautiful smile that wiped away all traces of the ugliness I’d seen.
“What brings you here?” he asked.
If he sounded surprised and not exactly thrilled about his visitor, it meant nothing to me. And that wasn’t a smile on my face as I walked to the Jeep. Not at all.
Chapter 14
MY JAW CRACKED from a yawn as I glanced at the clock on the dash. It was almost ten, and I’d spend the last six hours staking out a bodega that was having trouble with a troll thug. This would be the one night he’d decided to go somewhere else for a change, and I was headed home empty-handed.
I stopped at a traffic light, barely taking notice of the people in the crosswalk as I made a mental list of what I had to do tomorrow. My days were so full now the only way I could get everything done was to plan ahead. Even then, I was usually busy late into the night.
The last two weeks had been a blur of hunting and training, with weekly visits to my parents to break up the long hours. Some of the other hunters, including Bruce and Trey, had abandoned the ke’tain search and h
ad gone back to taking the regular jobs. But there was no shortage of jobs to be had.
I hadn’t given up on the ke’tain, but I’d found no leads since that night at Davian Woods’s party. I didn’t have the resources to investigate or follow the billionaire, and I wasn’t stupid enough to go near the Seelie guard, even if I had a clue where to find them. As much as I hated letting Lukas handle it, I’d made the right decision to share what I knew with him.
Not that I’d seen much of Lukas. I’d rarely laid eyes on him since my first day of training, and according to Faris, Lukas was occupied with the ke’tain search and other business. I couldn’t help but wonder if some of his other business was with his friend Dariyah. I was only curious. He was the one who had insisted on me training with them, after all, and he was the only one I hadn’t worked with yet.
As for my training, the first three days had consisted of Faolin pushing me to the brink of exhaustion, but then the others had started working with me. We’d progressed to hand-to-hand fighting techniques, and they said once I learned those, we would move on to weapons.
My phone vibrated, and I looked down at a text from Violet. It was a selfie of her with the Hollywood sign in the background. Wish u were here!
I smiled wistfully at her beaming face. She had gotten the part in the big sci-fi film she’d auditioned for, and now she was in LA, meeting with her agent, signing contracts, and having a blast. I’d always known she would leave New York someday to follow her dream, but I missed her something fierce, and she hadn’t been gone a week yet.
I looked up to check the light, and my gaze fell on a man crossing in front of me, his head bent against the wind. I shivered despite the fact that it was toasty warm inside the Jeep. We were having a brutally cold winter, and I was grateful for my vehicle, even if it took longer to get around.
The man raised his head and glanced in my direction, and I was struck by the feeling I’d seen him before. He had to be in his early thirties, average height with a round face and brown hair. I was certain I didn’t know him, so why did he seem familiar?
He continued on his way, and it wasn’t until he disappeared from view that it hit me where I’d seen him before. He was Lewis Tate.
The Agency had been looking for the dealer ever since the raid on his house, and there was a ten-thousand-dollar bounty on his head. He was great at hiding, and not even Faolin had been able to track him down. Everyone assumed he’d fled the state, but there he was, walking along a street in the Bronx as if there wasn’t a statewide hunt for him.
The light turned green, and I made a right turn to follow Tate. I had to drive past him to find a parking spot, and then I set off on foot after him.
We’d been walking for five minutes when a familiar graffitied, brick building came into view. Tate cut across the street, and I waited until he opened the door of the bar before I followed. Why would he come to Teg’s of all places? He’d evaded law enforcement since the raid, but he was asking to be caught by showing his face here. I’d heard it was not uncommon for bounty hunters to come here when they were off the clock. Tate must not know that, or he’d give this place a wide berth.
I opened the door, but when I tried to step inside, some invisible force prevented me from getting past the door jamb. What the hell?
“Crap.” I let the door close and shook my head at my own stupidity. Teg’s was protected by a ward that would not allow entry to anyone carrying drugs or weapons. I wasn’t happy about going after Tate unarmed, but it was either that or wait out here until he left.
I pulled my stun gun from my pocket and looked around for somewhere to hide it. There was a small indent in the side of the steps where a piece of the concrete had fallen off, and it was big enough for the stun gun. It wasn’t ideal, and anyone who looked too closely would see it, but it would have to do.
Opening the door again, I entered the noisy bar. I braced myself for the heady Fae scent that had assailed me on my first visit, but it was gone. Or maybe it was still there, and it no longer affected me after having spent so much time with Lukas and his men.
Unzipping my jacket, I walked over to the crowded bar area to scan the room. It was virtually impossible for a redhead to blend in at a Fae bar, and I expected to have to fend off advances like my first time here. I got more than one interested look sent my way, but the faeries glanced away as soon as I met their eyes. It was strange but nice. Maybe the redhead fascination was finally going away.
I spotted Tate and another man sitting at a corner table, surrounded by elves, trolls, ogres, and a few other humans. The two men had their heads bent, deep in conversation, and every now and then, Tate would lift his head to scan the room.
I watched him covertly for a few minutes while I opened the bulletin the Agency had sent out the day after the raid. It had a photo of Lewis Tate, and I wanted to confirm his identity before I made a move. I pulled up the photo and studied his face until I was positive it was Tate I’d followed in here.
I didn’t have a weapon on me, but Tate couldn’t have one either. I did have my shackles, and I knew how to fight, if necessary. Unless he turned out to be a black belt, I could hold my own.
After ordering a soda from the bar, I casually walked toward Tate’s table. Unlike Court faeries, lower Fae races were not attracted to red hair, so the faeries in this section only cast disinterested looks in my direction.
A few feet from Tate’s table, I spoke just loud enough for him to hear. “Lewis.”
His head jerked up, and he darted his eyes around before they landed on me. Confusion marred his forehead as his gaze met mine. “Did you say something?”
Smiling, I set my glass on his table. “You’re Lewis Tate, right?”
“No. Sorry.” His body tensed, and he put his hands on the edge of the table.
“Really? You look exactly like him.” I held up my phone with the Agency photo of him displayed on the screen. “He could be your doppelganger.”
He jumped to his feet and pushed past me. He was bigger than I was, but that didn’t matter when I stuck out my foot, sending him crashing to the floor. It was almost too easy to roll him onto his stomach and shackle his hands behind his back. If all captures were like this, I’d be rich.
A chair scraped on the floor, and I looked up at the other man, who seemed to be contemplating whether or not to come to his friend’s aid.
“I’m not here for you. That will change if you interfere in Agency business,” I told him, pleased by how tough I sounded.
He looked from me to Tate, and then he took off for the door. Kim was right. Attitude was everything in this business.
“Up you go.” I took Tate’s arm and helped him to his feet, aware of the many pairs of eyes on us. The other patrons of Teg’s might be curious, but not one of them moved to help Tate.
“I have money, lots of it,” Tate babbled. “I’ll pay you whatever you want if you let me go and pretend you never saw me.”
“Sorry. Can’t do that.” I steered him in the direction of the exit.
We’d made it past the tables when a woman drawled, “Now, where do you think you’re going with our boy?”
I tightened my grip on Tate’s arm when the two Texas hunters stepped in front of us to block our path. I’d seen them at the Plaza a few times, but I hadn’t spoken to them since my run-in with them the night of the raid. I’d heard from several hunters that they weren’t making any friends in town with their aggressive behavior and disparaging comments about New Yorkers.
“Your boy?”
Leah, the brunette, pointed at Tate. “We were here first. You can’t come in here and steal him from us.”
Natalie, her blonde partner, smirked. “Yeah.”
“He’s wearing my shackles, which makes him my capture. If he was yours, you should have said something before I took custody of him.”
“We’re saying it now.” Leah took a step toward me, and Natalie did the same.
“Your butch friend is not here to stick up for y
ou this time,” Natalie taunted. “We’ll be taking our capture, if you don’t mind.”
“I do mind.” I sized them up, taking in their heavily made-up faces and the slight slur in their voices. They were here to drink, not hunt, and I’d bet my entire bounty they hadn’t even known Tate was here until they saw me with him.
They tittered, and Natalie said, “In case you hadn’t noticed, honey, you’re outnumbered.”
I waved away the alcohol fumes on their breath. “You do know it’s illegal to drink when you’re hunting.”
Leah made a sound of contempt. “You Yankees and your rules.”
“Those are federal regulations. If you took a Breathalyzer right now, you’d fail.”
She poked her finger in my chest. “I’m still a better hunter than you’ll ever be.”
“What is your problem?” I stood my ground. This was their second time trying to pick a fight with me. I didn’t know if they hated everyone or just me.
She sneered. “You are. We worked to get where we are. We didn’t have it handed to us because our parents were some hotshot hunters.”
“No one handed me anything, and my parents weren’t even here when I started hunting.” I knew that wouldn’t matter to these two. They didn’t come across as people who bothered with facts.
Natalie let out an ugly laugh. “Oh, that’s right. They’re goren junkies.”
Anger ignited in my gut, but I refused to rise to the bait. I stared them down while I thought of how to get out of here without having to fight. Giving up Tate was not an option.
Natalie’s eyes narrowed when her insults didn’t get a reaction from me. “I’m tired of this BS. Hand him over, or we’re going to take him from you. It’s as simple as that.”
Her gaze flitted to Tate a second before she made a grab for him. I pushed him behind me, and she snarled when her hand touched nothing but air.
I took a step back as Leah’s fist glanced off my cheekbone. My eyes stung from the blow, and warmth trickled down my cheek. I looked from her smug smile to the bloodied class ring on her right hand.