Forbidden Instinct
Page 27
Niall laughed. “You’re a fine catch, Shade. She’d be crazy not to see it. That’s why it’s on you to keep the pair of you apart.”
“I know.”
Niall shook his head again, a distant look in his eyes. “There’s not a day that passes where I don’t think of Margaret. It’s been tearing me up for over six hundred years. Just know that I would spare you that pain.”
A knot wedged itself in Shade’s throat. He couldn’t speak, so he nodded.
Niall cast a sad smile at him and started to turn away, but stopped suddenly. Shade felt the hairs rise on the back of his neck.
“A three count, on your six.” Niall kept his voice low and steady.
One. Two…
Shade lifted his sword as if he was about to wipe it clean.
Three.
He turned and stabbed upward in a fluid movement, his sword finding little resistance in the form that had suddenly appeared behind him. Blue blood gushed over the blade.
Niall was at his side in an instant, ready to help fight the new attacker. But there was no need. His sword was heavily laced with iron.
Shade lowered the dying fey being to the ground, taking in as many details as he could before the body disintegrated. Large green eyes, delicate features, pointed ears.
“Shit,” Shade said.
“Bloody hell,” Niall whispered.
“An elf. This guy’s an elf.” Shade turned to Niall, wanting to be sure his partner was seeing the same thing he was. “What is a member of the High Court doing in Olympus?”
“The same thing they always do. Preying on humans.” Niall let out a long breath through his nose. “Fucking fairies.”
It might be Shade’s imagination, but it seemed like the shadows under Niall’s cheekbones had deepened. There was a rumble to his voice that might not be part of his Gaelic burr. His hair had grown longer and darkened to more of a reddish brown.
“Niall, you still with me?”
Niall shook his head, but said, “Yeah. Just… If the High Court has come to town, things are about to get ugly.”
“We have the advantage of surprise. If he’d known the Knights of Antares were here, the elf would have been wearing full armor. He would have brought weapons and enchantments along on his hunt.”
Which might have resulted in Shade or Niall—or both of them—being killed.
Elves were teleporters. Engaging them in battle was always dangerous. Shade watched the blackening body turn to ash and slide from his sword, exploding into dust as it hit the ground.
The Knights were trained to fight all manner of fey. High Court like the elves or Low, like vampires and werewolves—the ‘made’ fey as opposed to those born of bloodlines. Niall and Shade, along with their comrades-in-arms, had centuries of experience on their side. That didn’t mean they could let down their guard.
“Why was he here at all?” Niall said.
“Antares always knows where fey activity is about to grow. He gets us there before it happens somehow.”
Niall shook his head. “I mean in this alley. There are no humans near. The vampires are—were—the only living beings I sensed within half a mile. Not even any homeless.”
“It’s been a long time since we’ve seen an elf,” Shade said. “And they’ve never worked with vampires before.”
Shade looked around at the piles of ash scattering in the night breeze. Why would a High born elf be hanging around vampires? The two courts didn’t interact. Hell, most members of the High Court couldn’t stand working together. It was a big part of what helped humanity survive.
If the fey ever united against humans and revealed themselves in open warfare…
That line of thinking would freak Shade out. They needed to process the information they had, and get it back to the others.
“Come on.” Shade bent down to pick up the vampire’s dropped gun. He tossed it to Niall, who bent the barrel, then chucked it into an open trash bin.
“We have a stop to make on the way home,” Shade said. “Antares needs to know about this.”
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