by Meg Xuemei X
“I said you could blow his head off,” he replied, smirking at me. “It’s easy to convince mortals.”
He’d used the Fae power on the driver, just as Baron had tried to use the same on me. I could feel that this Winter Fae’s power was like a firefly’s compared to either Rowan’s or Baron’s.
“Then compel me and see how far you can go,” I said icily.
“King Rowan will have my head if anyone uses glamour on you, Lady Evelina,” he said.
“Why did you lie to the pizza guy?” I demanded. “I thought Fae couldn’t lie.”
“I didn’t lie,” he said. “I told him you could blow his brain off. I didn’t say you would. That human could have been an assassin. We can’t take any chances when it comes to your safety, my lady. As a Winter knight, I’ll lose more than my honor if a hair on your head is harmed.” He scowled at a Summer Fae on the other side of the fence gate. “Besides, we must show our inferior rivals that we’re better suited to guard you, or our king’s reputation is at stake.”
I gripped the elephant gun so hard my knuckles hurt, debating if shooting these arrogant minions would send the right message to their asshole bosses. The otherworldly beings had brought me nothing but grief.
When I had my first cash paycheck from the Claws, Fangs, and Fiends, I would purchase spray guns to shoot iron powder into the air and all over the perimeter of my property. Baron and Rowan might overcome the effect of iron, but their less-powerful goons would suffer.
“We won’t leave you unprotected, Lady Evelina,” the Summer knight cut in, purposely ignoring the scowl from the Winter Fae. Judging from the Summer Fae’s distinct, decorated armor, he might be important—not that I cared. “Summer knights will rise to the challenge and prove that we’re better at guarding you.”
So this wasn’t really about me. It was still about the two “kings” comparing the size of their dicks.
“I don’t want any of you here,” I growled.
The two Fae ignored me and started arguing in the Fae tongue.
“I wonder if this one could survive in the Winter Court,” the Winter knight said.
“Summer Court will be tougher for her,” the Summer Fae snickered. “But I won’t worry about it. King Baron will soon lose interest in her, as he did with all others, be it a human or a Fae.”
They talked about me as if I didn’t exist, and the Fae douches had no idea that I could understand their language just fine.
“When your kings arrive,” I interrupted them, my voice harsh, “tell them I need a word with them. Or you can simply pass on this message: I want none of you around. Try my patience and you’ll be served with court orders.”
They did not look impressed, and that only pissed me off more.
“By the way, your costumes are so last season,” I added, thinking maybe attacking their vanity would be more effective. “You might want to look into Germany’s Flecktarn uniform, which is more contemporary and less ridiculous.”
I spun on my heel, my hair flying out behind me, and stomped back into the house. First I returned the Legend Heavy to my room. Then I looked outside to see the Fae thugs had disappeared, though a quick sweep of my senses told me they had only resumed their previous positions.
When I got into the kitchen, all the pizza was gone, except for a slice of pineapple pizza. I shook my head in disgust and ate the cold pizza. I had no energy to pursue who took my other slice.
After I devoured the pizza in a few big bites, I felt more settled with something in my stomach. Then I pulled out the whistle from this morning and let out an ear-splitting blast. Groans emanated from all over the house, but my siblings came running so I wouldn’t blow the whistle again.
“I need everyone to help search the house after you finish your homework,” I said after they all arrived. “Don’t be afraid of turning over every stone. We need to find the clues to Dad and Mom’s…” I couldn’t bring myself to say “disappearance” in front of my siblings. “Last business trip. Any notes, passports, photos, passcodes they left behind are all useful. Every detail matters. And if you find any cash left in any hidden boxes, hand it over to Emmett, who’s now our accountant.”
Safiya’s eyes gleamed, and so did the twins’. I pointed at them accusingly. “If you stack the cash should you find it, I’ll know it. And when I find out about it, I’ll publicly shame you before I cast you out. Keeping food on the table and this roof over our heads is expensive. We need every penny you find.”
If we had enough cash, I wouldn’t have to return to the lair of monsters and work for Rydstrom. And I would manage to stay away from all Fae. The chance of finding my parents’ stash was slim after my previous searches turned up nothing, but I would hold onto the last ray of hope. I had to.
“What can I get if I find a crucial clue?” Cassidy questioned me, his hazel eyes sharpening in calculation.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Really, Cassidy? You’d take advantage of a family crisis like this?”
He flinched, then crossed his arms. “Everyone knows I’m the best at finding things.”
The little prick was right about that. If anyone could find anything, it’d be him.
“I’m a talent,” he added, standing his ground. “I just don’t want to be taken advantage of.”
Even Emmett rolled his eyes at him. “And next you can ask Fawn to be your agent.”
“I’ll buy your favorite ice cream,” I said. Ice cream and other treats were a luxury for us while we were on a tight budget.
“What size?”Cassidy inquired.
“Reasonable size,” I said.
“We must put the exact size in terms of the contract,” he said. “Or you’ll trick me like you always did.”
I stared him down. “You should trust your commanding officer.”
“What size then, Commander?”
“Small to medium,” I said vaguely, waving a hand to dismiss him.
“I want an extra large carton. Or I won’t do your bidding,” he insisted.
“No freaking way you’re getting an extra large, which doesn’t even exist. The best you’ll get is a large size, and you’ll share the ice cream with Fawn. That’s my final offer. Take it or beat it.”
“I’ll take it,” he said, extending his little, greasy hand for a handshake.
Chapter 13
Despite my siblings’ enthusiasm and best efforts, they didn’t find anything useful, but they promised to keep working on it. At east, it’d keep them occupied for a while. It also thrilled them that I let them into my plan of investigation, and their sense of helplessness and fear lessened a notch.
I would do everything in my power to keep our family under one roof. I wouldn’t let them fall apart. Yet, I myself wasn’t feeling too hot. I tossed and turned in bed when the needle in the retro clock already passed 2:00 am. I had three more hours of rest before I had to get up making breakfast for my siblings, then dropped them at schools, and then drove to work in the Claws, Fangs, and Fiends.
The mafia Fae boss had warned me that if I was late, he’d deduct my pay.
Yet I couldn’t fall asleep no matter how hard I tried as cold dread kept seeping into my mind. What if my parents never returned? What if something worse had happened to them?
No, no! Nothing bad had happened to them. I screamed silently, yet bleak reality kept tossing its dark, cold wave at me. My body turned to ice. My toes felt like they would fall off at the cold numbness.
My teeth chattered, and I clenched my blanket to my chest to fend off the cold panic. No, I couldn’t allow this fear to overcome me. I wouldn’t fall apart. I was the last defense line for my siblings.
I roared at myself to get a grip. I bolted up, breathing in and out, deeply and slowly, as Mom had taught me when I felt like this last time. I didn’t recall exactly what had happened at that time. It might have to do with some kind of mark in the shape of poison vines suddenly radiating and spreading on my stomach, and then I’d felt something beastly and dark stirrin
g and moving inside me, roaring to be unleashed. I could see my skin fluctuated in waves as it moved restlessly. My parents had reached me in time when I screamed bloody murder and cried like a banshee. They had chanted like two exorcists. Dad had shaken, beads of sweat forming on his broad forehead. I’d never seen him like that and regretted putting such a burden and scare on him. Mom had held me the entire time while I wailed and apologized for being such a freak.
“Don’t ever say that, my daughter, my princess,” Mom had said. “Now breathe deeply and slowly… Nothing will ever happen to you as long as we’re with you.”
But now my shelter was gone. I sniffed in a sob as I practiced deep breathing. The ceiling and sky no longer fell on me until I fell asleep in my tears.
I might have nodded off for a few minutes when a sharp vibration of the phone jerked me awake. I fluttered open my eyes and grabbed the phone from the nightstand. Did the police finally have some news for me that they reached me at this hour? Or did my parents call me to pick them up?
My heart stuttered but soon dropped as I stared down at the screen.
It was Richie, my boyfriend. He usually texted me. He’d never called me this late. Besides, we’d already texted and talked briefly while he was at a party with…some girls. I thought he was busy today.
Also, today’s scene—how I’d danced for the Fae boss—swirled back, sending a twang of guilt and shame into me. Reality check: I hadn’t ended with Richie, so I shouldn’t have stripped for another man. I’d never cheated on any of my past boyfriends. I’d thought I was incapable of cheating or even being attracted to more than one man at the same time until today.
I’d been burning with lust at first sight for all three Fae, who weren’t even my race. My panties were soaked whenever they were around. My body had never reacted to any man like that before. It was like it just awoke from a long slumber, and then it was suddenly searing with wildfire.
I hesitated before pressing “accept the call” after a few rings.
“Hey, Richie, is everything okay?” I asked.
“Everything’s fantastic, babe,” he said, his voice slurring with drunkenness. “I miss you so much.”
“I miss you, too,” I said automatically, then suddenly realized that I wouldn’t be with him anymore.
I liked Richie. It’d been fun with him, but my path had changed.
“Uh, Richie, I think we should—”
“Don’t think, babe. I think of fucking you all the time. Will you let me fuck you on the phone?”
“What?”
“Phone sex, babe.” He chuckled, and I used to think his aristocratic voice was sexy. “We never tried it before, but it’s never too late to start now. Tell me how much you want my big cock.”
His cock wasn’t that big and right now I didn’t want any cock. I just wanted to sleep. I was exhausted, sad, overwhelmed. I was a mess.
“You woke me up at three am because you wanted to have phone sex?” I asked, and my voice was nowhere near sexy.
“Don’t you want it, babe? I haven’t had sex for over a week now. My cock is so hard for you. It wants to get wet. Moan for me.”
“I’m not going to moan for anyone, Richie,” I said, tired and angry. “I haven’t slept full hours since I came home. And now I have less than two more hours left before I have to get up and prepare breakfast and lunch for my siblings.”
“Why don’t you get a nanny?” he asked.
Rich boys thought everyone could afford a babysitter.
“I’m the nanny,” I said. “Listen, Richie, I might not return to Columbia for a long while. I don’t want to string you along.”
A pause on the other end of the phone.
“Are you breaking up with me on the phone?” He chortled drily as if he didn’t believe any girl would dump him, but his tone was more somber now.
“We both know none of us are built for a long-distance relationship,” I said. “So that’s that. I’m going back to sleep.”
“Wait, babe,” he said. “Help me jerk off just this one last time, please.”
“Good night, Richie,” I said. “And—”
And a roar, two roars, broke out outside my window.
“Evie, who the fuck is talking to you?” Baron barked under my window outside. “Why did the human boy call you babe? How dare he demand to have an intimacy with you! I’ll slay the prick!”
“The human shall never come near you if he wants his dick to stay attached,” Rowan said icily beside Baron.
“What the f—” Richie’s voice came from the phone, but I didn’t let him finish. I powered it off, so he couldn’t call back again.
Fortunately, my siblings’ rooms were on the other side, or no one could get any sleep.
I jumped off the bed, shrugged on a robe, picked up Legend Heavy, and rushed to fling open the window.
Rowan and Baron stood beneath it with their minions patrolling at the alley.
“What the fuck, dudes?” I asked, my eyes burning with rage. “What’s wrong with you?”
“That human boy was bothering you,” Baron said. “I won’t allow it.”
The damn Fae’s ears had caught everything Richie and I said on the phone. They were indeed supernatural beings.
“It’s none of your business,” I said. “He’s my boyfriend, well, now ex-boyfriend.”
“And he’ll try very hard at keeping his ex status if he wants to stay alive,” Rowan said, blowing a puff of icy steam.
“Are you threatening me?” I asked, leveling the rifle against the windowsill.
“I was promising death toward your ex,” Rowan said. “I’ll never threaten you, Lady Evelina. Instead, I’ll take out any threat to you.”
That was why the two Fae gangster bosses sent their goons trolling my neighborhood.
“So, you admitted that you’re stalking me?” I asked in icy anger.
“Yes, I’m your stalker, Evie, and nothing can stop that,” Baron said. The timbre of his sensual voice caressed me, sending shivers all over me.
Or maybe it was just the cold of the night.
“Did your lackeys pass on the message that I want all of you gone?” I asked. “Or you’ll be served with a very strict court order, both of you.”
“We’re the ultimate courts,” Baron said smugly. “No human court orders can stop me from protecting you.”
Could anyone be more infuriating and unreasonable? But then I was probably handling them the wrong way. They didn’t think like humans and their world had different rules, and I had the iceberg of it in the Claws, Fangs, and Fiends.
“You got the wrong girl,” I said, my voice softening and pleading as I swallowed my pride and changed my approach. “I’m nobody but merely a human girl and a college dropout. I’m a plain Jane and I’m nothing special. You should not waste your court’s precious resources and manpower on me. Just move on. There’re tons of other girls out there, who are younger, smarter, funnier, and prettier.”
I felt a bit sorry for throwing other girls under the bus, but I was sending the Fae on a wild goose chase by not giving any specific names.
“My mate is tired if she talks like that,” Rowan said to Baron in a hushed voice. “You should not harass her again, or you’ll answer to me.”
Baron sneered. “You have no claim on her. She isn’t yours.”
“May the best male win then,” Rowan said tightly and grumpily. “That’s our pact before we draw blood again.”
“Agreed,” Baron answered, his voice turning lethal. “She’s mine and will be mine in truth. I’ll do everything in my power to protect and keep what’s mine.”
“When she chooses me,” Rowan said, his tone equally dangerous, “you’ll back off, half-brother. I don’t want to kill you, but I will. I’ll slay anyone who stands between my mate and me.”
Their threats to each other chilled me, yet their menace and possessiveness and domination also strangely appealed to me as if they struck the chord deep within me. As if the very depth of m
y soul had always carved to be claimed and dominated.
No, no way. Now my cold logic also returned. The two Fae thug bosses couldn’t be reasoned with. They’d said it very clearly this night that they wouldn’t allow any male to fuck me, except them. They couldn’t bully or cut down Richie since he was thousands of miles away. But what about Rydstrom? I got the job, and he might ask me to dance for him again. I might do that, and if I couldn’t stay cool, we might go further. I couldn’t promise myself that I could trust myself with him alone. I’d nearly begged Rydstrom to fuck me last time if that astral image of the Fae female hadn’t stopped me.
I couldn’t trust myself with any of the three Fae.
I was sure Rydstrom could take care of himself if the three of them ever crossed the paths. He was just as dangerous and powerful as Rowan and Baron. And if three of them crash—
I shuddered.
I shook off the troubled, chilly thoughts. I wouldn’t go there. I’d try my best to prevent the three of them from ever meeting each other. Peeling the layers of my cool and bravado, I didn’t want any of them hurt, though I barely knew them.
“Go back to bed, Evie,” Rowan said gently. “While I stand in guard, no one will get to you. I’ll protect you from anyone.”
“And who’s going to protect me from you?” I murmured.
“I am,” Baron said with determination. “Sweet dreams, my Evie.”
As I rubbed my eyes and peeked out the window one last time, I swore I saw a massive golden lion trot across the front of my house and merge into the shadows. I nearly yelped in alarm. When I blinked again, a huge silver wolf stood in the center of my yard, raised his head at the moon, and howled silently.
My world was so fucked.
Chapter 14
I hurried toward the blue Victorian building the next morning, exhausted from only two hours of sleep. The name Claws, Fangs, and Fiends on the sign above the door faded in and out in the brilliant sunlight.
A laughing family of four bumped into me while I headed toward the granite walk that led up to the club.