My hand fell upon an old book, one that my ancestors have carried with them for nearly 150 years. I flipped through it, landing on the page in question. I cursed as I handed it to Blaize, who looked down at it curiously.
“I hate it when you’re right.” Because it always seemed like she was right, in one way or another, even if she didn’t know how or why. She just had this intuition which made her great at this demon hunting thing.
“What am I looking at?” Blaize asked.
“This.” I tapped the page.
She rubbed at her eyes. “I’ve been driving for twenty hours.” She looked up at me, and I noticed how tired she looked. “You’re going to have to throw me a bone.”
The wolf made a noise that sounded like a laugh, and I shot him a glare that seemed to shut him up. He shifted uncomfortably in his spot but didn’t lose his wolfish grin.
I really didn’t like him.
Chapter Eight
Cassidy
“I’ve been doing research about fairy history,” I explained. “The four courts haven’t always gotten along together. And when you’re both hunting and dating fairies, you have to know all about their pasts.”
“And what does that have to do with werewolves?”
Blaize never did have much patience.
“This,” I tapped the passage again, “tells the story about how one of the past kings of the Winter Court used familiars to gain footholds in the human realm.” I leaned toward her to meet her eyes. “He used werewolves at one point to do his dirty work.”
My words hung in the air for a few heartbeats as Blaize took this in. “Werewolves?” she asked incredulously. “As in, like Wolf?” She nodded towards the beast in question.
I nodded.
“Aren’t werewolves and fairies, like, enemies?”
“Maybe that’s the reason why they are enemies,” I said softly. “You know how wolves can hold a grudge. Maybe that’s the reason why. They hate fairies for using them like slaves.”
“We never met a werewolf familiar, though,” Blaize protested. “Do you know anything about this?” she asked, looking at the monster. He gave a very human-like shake of his head.
Negative. As I expected, given how old the story was.
“There’s only one mention of it,” I said, taking the book back from Blaize. The book was old, filled with lore that was part fiction, part truth. And I never could figure out where one piece ended and began. “It’s over three thousand years old, part of an ancient magic that very few kings can tap into. That’s why I didn’t think of it first.”
“Three thousand years old?” Blaize blinked. “But we didn’t even know about it. How would werewolves know?”
I shrugged. “Prejudices run deep. Not just in human circles. Shut up,” I added when Wolf gave me a pointed look. “They don’t have to know why they hate fairies, only that they’re supposed to.”
Blaize was still unconvinced, although I was willing to give her a reprieve since she had been awake for who knew how long. “And we’re supposed to believe that, if it were possible, fairies haven’t used it since then? That we haven’t encountered fairies controlling werewolves in the past?”
I sat back and crossed my arms as I watched her. “According to this book, it took a Winter king of exceptional power.”
I thought about Kellan, a gorgeous, proud man who stood at least six and a half feet tall, corded with muscle. None of my three fairy princes had a high opinion of him, but they all conceded that he could use magic like none other.
Was he strong enough to command a bunch of werewolves as his slaves?
Based on what I saw, yes. Unless a pack of wolves just suddenly decided to take the Autumn fairy prince, which was very uncharacteristic of them.
Plus, I really wouldn’t put it past Kellan to pull some shit like that.
“I think they have someone powerful enough,” I said softly.
Blaize paled as she considered that. “Shit. So, what we do next?”
“You’re asking me?”
She pointed to me. “Fairy hunter.”
I flipped her off. “You’re the werewolf hunter.”
She started laughing tiredly, combing her hand through her black and red hair. She shuffled her feet before resting her elbows on her knees and shaking her head. “Well, aren’t we a pair then? World’s worst supernatural hunters ever.”
Despite my worry, I cracked a grin. This almost felt like old times. Except instead of Gracie, we had a wolf with us. But I missed this. Camaraderie with one of the few people who knew how fucked up our lives could get.
My phone rang, and I froze, recognizing the ring tone. They’d called me in the past before, somehow getting my number from Drake. Those conversations never went very well, and I dreaded what they would say when I answered.
“Whose ringtone The Imperial March from Star Wars?” Blaize asked.
“Drake’s parents,” I muttered, picking it up. “They must be in our realm if they’re able to call me.”
Just the worst luck ever. I’d been hoping to avoid contacting them at all, because as soon as they knew their son was kidnapped by werewolves, they’d unleash a war on the pack, destroying San Francisco. At the very least.
If I talked to them, they’d know what happened. Then again, if I didn’t pick up, they’d send the entire Autumn Court to my apartment looking for him. Still the same outcome.
Better answer, then.
Fuck.
“Hello, this is Cassidy,” I said with fake enthusiasm.
“Cassidy.” It was a man on the other line, meaning that it was King Aelfdane, Drake’s father. Even worse than if it had been his mother, who I at least had a smile from once. No such luck from Aelfdane.
“Hello there, Your Majesty,” I said, wondering how I should speak to him. I never picked that up from my three fairy princes—you don’t ever call your boyfriend “Your Highness” or “Your Majesty.” Even when you had three of them.
“Where’s Drake?”
His harsh words cut through me, and I flinched.
“Your Majesty—” I started, hoping to soften the blow.
“Where. Is. Drake?” Aelfdane asked, icily punctuating every word. “He hasn’t been answering our calls, and we need him to come home. Immediately.”
I looked up to meet Blaize’s eyes, who watched me questioningly. Wolf’s lip curled, meaning that he could hear every word, but there wasn’t anywhere I could go in my apartment.
“He’s busy,” I said finally.
A pause. “You know what I dislike about humans, Cassidy Irons?” he rumbled, his voice vibrating through my teeth with his power. “You creatures are so bad at lying. One of the many reasons why I don’t approve of his little... charade with you and the other bastard princes.”
I closed my eyes and sucked in a deep breath through my nose. I literally bit my tongue to not spew a long line of curses and insults for his views of those I loved.
It was hard to keep my mouth shut.
“Now,” Aelfdane said, his voice lilting just a bit with sugary sweetness. “Where is Drake?”
I steeled myself and groused. “He’s between my legs right now, fucking this human. In other words—busy.”
Now there was shocked silence on the line. Blaize looked at me like I had just lit myself on fire, and with how hot my cheeks were, it certainly felt that way. I hurriedly licked my lips and turned away, unable to believe that I said that.
Drake’s going to kill me for saying that. If I could get him back.
“Well,” Aelfdane finally, his voice slightly strangled. “Have him call me back. Better yet, have him come home.”
I shivered. “For what?”
“None of your—”
“Tell me, I’ll pass it on to him,” I lied. With my lewd comment earlier, I could probably get away with telling him the human realm’s sky was purple and he’d believe me enough to get me to stop talking.
I heard Aelfdane’s sigh. “There’s a meeti
ng. The Winter Court has summoned us for a challenge.”
My ears perked at that. “Winter Court?”
My mind reeled through a thousand different possibilities. I learned a long time ago that there were no such things as coincidences. If the Winter Court was summoning the courts, it had to be connected to Drake’s disappearance.
“Just be sure to pass it on to Drake,” Aelfdane said icily. “He’s needed at the court by time the moon is full.”
The line went dead. The bastard didn’t even have the balls to tell me good-bye. I cursed as I looked down at the phone. I knew better than to call him back and demand answers. He was probably on his way back to the Autumn Court even now, out of cell phone reach.
If only I could get a message out to Orin and Avery.
“What is it?” Blaize asked. “You look like that didn’t go very well.”
I shook my head, trying to calm my whirring thoughts. What did Aelfdane mean?
I flipped through the book again—it turned out to be very helpful today—and I stopped on a page.
“Fuck,” I muttered. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
“What?”
A slightly hysterical laugh escaped my throat as I read the passage that told me all I needed to know with too sparse of details. “Drake needs to be home by the full moon. The Winter Court has issued a challenge.” At my cousin’s blank look, I sighed. “They’re challenging the line of the Autumn Court by having a vote. And if Drake isn’t there, he’s a no-vote.”
Blaize’s eyes narrowed. “And what happens with that?”
I chewed on my bottom lip. “Unless it’s a unanimous no, the Winter Court will get the Autumn Court’s lands.”
“That doesn’t seem right.”
“Fairies don’t make a lot of sense.” I shuddered as I read another passage. “But according to this, it was meant to be a way of peacefully ceding power to the different courts. Fairies live so long, if one became crazed, then it was an easy way for them to usurp a ruler.”
“That’s...screwed up…” Blaize admitted.
No worse than our own government, I thought dryly. I glanced out my window, overlooking the sunset over San Francisco. “When’s the next full moon?”
“Well, that’s one question I can answer,” Blaize said. “Two days. Why?”
I stared at her, the icy fingers of dread making their way up my neck and nearly choking me. “Drake has to be back by the full moon. Or else the Winter Court will overtake the Autumn Court.”
Chapter Nine
Blaize
“So, what you’re telling me is that if your boyfriend Drake, Prince of the Autumn Fae court, fails to check in with his family in the next forty-eight hours, then the entire supernatural political structure of the fairy realm is going to break down?”
“Pretty much.” Cass raised one eyebrow at me. Her expression would have been sardonic if she’d had the energy put into it. As it was, she just looked...blank. “Even better, that’ll probably spill over to our world, too.”
Oh, great.
“I don’t even know where to start,” I said, feeling as empty as her expression.
But Cass was already up and moving toward her closet, opening the door to use it like a screen as she changed out of the yoga pants, tank top, and granny sweater she’d been in until now. “First, we need to see if we can track down the Alpha of the local werewolf pack. Isn’t that supposed to be your specialty?”
“I don’t know how to negotiate with werewolves. I just track them down and chop their heads off.”
She moved out of the closet, hopping on one foot as she strapped on a high-heeled sandal. “That’s your answer to everything, isn’t it? Kill first, sort out the details later.”
“They’re monsters, Cass. That’s what we do.”
She let her hair out of the clip holding it back and it fell in a long blonde wave past her shoulders. “Well, it’s not what we do today. Today we save fairies.” Snagging a purse off its hook on the back door, she slung it over her shoulder and opened the apartment door. “And if we have to, we negotiate with werewolves. You coming, or not?”
Wolf and I were still in the middle of the apartment, staring at her with what I suspected were matching expressions of bemusement. With a blink, I moved and followed her out the door. She slammed it shut behind me, barely giving Wolf time to scoot out first.
“Are you really wearing those shoes to go hunting?”
“Yep. And I’m going to look great doing it.”
I felt like a clod, clumping along behind her in my dusty boots, blue jeans, and plaid shirt, while Cass practically danced on the air beside me in her slim black pants, black leather jacket, and high-heeled sandals. The shoes were red on the bottom. I was pretty sure that meant something—like they were expensive.
I bet her mattress was a hell of a lot more comfortable than the one in my van. It would have to be if four people were okay sleeping on it.
She led me to the elevator, and I frowned. “You think it might be better for us to take the stairs?”
“Feeling claustrophobic?” Cass pushed the call button.
“No,” I said defensively. “Maybe. A little.” The door opened, and Wolf crowded into the elevator behind me until I turned to face forward, and then he sat down so close in front of me that his lupine butt landed on the toes of my boots. I nudged him, and he flinched, but he didn’t move off me. I guess elevators made him as antsy as they made me.
“Seriously,” I asked after a few seconds. “How do you stand being surrounded by this much steel all the time? Doesn’t the iron in the building bother you?” I was uncomfortable for her, and I didn’t react to iron like she did.
My cousin’s quiet laugh was as light and airy as the rest of her. No wonder she dated fairies. They were probably the only ones who suited her. She was all light and air, the exact opposite of someone who might be weighed down by iron.
The exact opposite of me.
“It’s a matter of degree,” she said. “I’d be a lot more uncomfortable in that van of yours, stuck inside driving around all the time.” She flicked her eyes up when she gestured toward the elevator ceiling, as if encompassing the whole building. “Here, I’m able to choose where I live, find the buildings that have less iron in their construction. Or maybe just the ones that have more building materials between me and the metal. Either way, it works—if there’s enough insulation packed around it, I can hardly even tell it’s there.”
I shook my head. “So, it doesn’t bother you?”
“I didn’t say that. I said I can hardly tell it’s there. Drake says…” Her voice went flat, as if she had managed to forget for just a moment the someone she loved was missing. “Drake says city fae develop a slight immunity to iron because they’re around it all the time. I guess I have, too.”
Someone she loved was missing. For the first time since she’d told me about all her fairy boyfriends, it really hit me—this was the second time in less than six months that Cass had been faced with the possibility of never again seeing somebody she cared about. Even if I didn’t understand what she was doing with the fairy-court princes, that was real pain I heard in her voice, saw in her eyes. She was hurting over this guy’s disappearance.
Shit, shit, shit. I wasn’t going to be able to half-ass this. Not if I wanted…
Wanted what? To be able to call on Cass if I ever needed her? That was definitely part of it. But even thinking that made me feel cold and callous. Then what? Wanted to do right by my cousin?
Possibly.
It was good enough for now, anyway—it gave me a reason to keep going, to help her track down her Autumn Prince boyfriend.
The elevator thumped to a halt on the first floor. When the door slid open, Wolf all but bounded out into the lobby, almost bowling over one of those little bulldogs we had seen earlier. It yapped at him, and he didn’t even stop long enough to do more than throw a growl over his shoulder. I heard a snicker and turned to find Cass almost laughing.
“Okay,” she said. “Let’s see what we can find out.” She strode out the door but then stopped on the sidewalk, pulling out her phone.
“What are you doing?” I asked. She seemed to know where we were going, so it seemed strange for her to suddenly stop and check her phone.
“Calling a Lyft.” She tapped the screen a few more times and put the phone back in her purse with a tight grin. She may have been grim, but it felt like the old Cass was shining through somewhat. She always liked getting out there and doing stuff.
“Lyft?”
“Like a taxi.”
“Why? I can drive.”
Cassidy tossed a look at me like I was crazy. “We don’t have time—we’ll never find parking. This will be much quicker.” She peered down at Wolf. “I doubt the driver would be okay with a werewolf in his car. Then again, we are in San Francisco.”
“What does that mean?”
Another smile flitted across her face. “They’ve probably seen much stranger things.”
Chapter Ten
Cassidy
The Lyft driver kept flicking his eyes in the rearview mirror to look at the werewolf in the back seat with Blaize. Usually they were more talkative than this, but this one was oddly quiet, like he was afraid to ask.
To be honest, in his shoes, I would be, too. But, like I said, this was San Francisco. He must have seen far weirder things. Surely.
“There’s a bar in SoMa where we should be able to get some information,” I explained from the front passenger seat. I left out the crucial parts that would take the driver from thinking we were strange to throwing us in the looney bin.
Blaize watched the buildings go by as we started and stopped our way down Market Street. All the people walking around, the cars, the homeless people holding up signs at every light.
For someone who roams in the middle of nowhere, San Francisco must be overstimulating, I thought.
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