“The good ones,” I said, giving him a tight-lipped smile.
He quirked an eyebrow. “Am I to believe that you came all the way out here just to save Drake?”
“When you steal someone that I love, then yes.”
“When you have two other fairy princes to dote on you?” He came closer, his breath coming out in white puffs against my cheek. Revulsion slithered through me. He gripped my chin, forcing me to look up at him. “Or would you be interested in another fairy royal? One who’s more powerful?”
Dammit, why did everyone think I was some sort of slut for having three boyfriends? I was an adult and a woman who could choose who I loved and who I was with. All this stuff could fuck right off.
In fact, I spat right in his face, a big loogie that hit him in his left eye. “That’s what I think about that particular fairy royal.”
Something ugly passed across his face, and I had a split second of satisfaction that made what came next almost worthwhile.
Almost.
He leaned in close to my ear. “I could take care of your fairy and werewolf problem once and for all. But…now…we just need to keep you subdued until the fairy courts convene.”
“Why not just kill me?”
He gave me a grin, and this time, it did reach his eyes. A thrill of fear went through me. “Because there’s no better way to get through to Orin and Avery than by torturing you.”
“Can’t wait.”
He nodded to the fairies behind me, and they dragged me away from Kellan. Away from Blaize. Away from everyone.
The headache started even before I saw the iron. I hissed a sharp intake of breath, even felt the fairies behind me tense at the taste of the iron in the air. A werewolf appeared, an iron mace in its jaws. One of Blaize’s weapons, and I saw more just out of sight. Shit, the werewolves could touch it, but the fairies and I couldn’t, making it the perfect way to keep me in pain and out of commission. The fairies let me go and walked back, allowing the werewolf to approach me. The world spun around me, and I gritted my teeth as I staggered to the ground.
Worthless. Unable to fend for myself.
Time was ticking. And I had just failed everyone.
Chapter Eighteen
Blaize
The fairies dragged me away from Cassidy, away from where she stood talking to the fairy prince who had gotten Wolf killed. Because, for all that part of me wanted to blame Cass for Wolf’s death, I knew whose fault it really was. And given half a chance, I would cut him into a million pieces with cold, hard iron.
But instead, his henchmen dragged me into a shed on the side of the trail. The tiny wooden cabin was barely big enough to hold two people. In fact, I suspect that it wasn’t anything more than a way station for hikers.
The fairies had commandeered it, fortified it enough to hold me. I tried to shove against the door to open it and felt the heat of silver burning me through the wooden door. I glanced around and discovered touches of silver everywhere. The werewolves couldn’t come for me here—no, this was set up entirely for the fairies to be able to keep me, or maybe the werewolves, prisoners.
I listened for the fairies who had shoved me in here, hoping they would leave, but they stood just outside the door talking.
Fine. I’d have to get out of this one room cabin, take out the fairies standing guard—when I didn’t have any weapons at all—and go save Cass. And then we could find Drake and leave.
I shook my head, trying to dislodge the thought that followed on the heels of my ill-conceived plan.
I can’t leave Wolf’s body out here.
I needed to at least check to make sure his corpse had shifted to human form after death, as I knew werewolf bodies often did. I didn’t want to set off some sort of panic in California over wolves in San Francisco.
A sob welled up through me, and I shook with the effort to hold it down. I didn’t want the fairies standing guard to hear me crying. Anyway, I couldn’t afford to get too emotional right now. I had to get us free first.
But every time I made my way around the perimeter of the room, I found evidence of more silver.
“It’s like they wrapped silver chains around the whole thing or something,” I muttered to myself as I felt up and down the walls, making note of the places where I felt silver burning more hotly. Maybe they’d used silver particles, something like colloidal silver to soak the wood?
Whatever it was, I couldn’t figure out a way around it. I was trapped. Finally, I dropped to a sitting position on the floor, my knees drawn up to my chest with my arms wrapped around them, my head resting on my arms with my eyes closed.
I would conserve my strength and as soon as the fairies open the door, I would jump them, silver or no silver.
I was still sitting like that when I heard a strange thunking sound outside.
“What the—” A fairy-guard’s voice was cut short with another thunk.
Something interesting was going on outside, and I was trapped inside here.
I flowed to my feet, my hair having come out from under the cowboy hat, lost during the fight. Where it wasn’t matted, it stood straight out, floating in the magical crackle of the earth power I drew into me at the sound of footsteps approaching.
The floor underneath me creaked and groaned as I worked to pull rocks up through the dirt so I could throw them, use them to disable the elves coming back inside to get me.
But my magic wasn’t strong enough, or maybe I wasn’t fast enough. When the door opened, two male fairies stood outside. One of them held a bow and arrow and kept his back to me, watching behind them. The other one leaned in and grinned, an open, cheerful smile—completely at odds with how I was feeling.
He held one arm inside the cabin, palm up. “Come on,” he whispered. “It’s time to get out of here.”
My legs went stiff as I dropped my head down and peered up through the matted hair hanging in front of my face. I felt my eyes grow hot, and I let out a low, fierce growl. Like Wolf.
“Whoa—hold on. You don’t know who we are, do you?” The first fairy drew back a little bit. He had an interesting accent, almost British, different from the Winter Court’s prince.
Did that mean they were from different courts?
The thought was enough to hold me still. I didn’t attack—but I didn’t move, either.
“Come on,” the one holding the bow and arrow whispered harshly. “If we don’t get her out of here, we’re going to get caught, and I will never forgive you for insisting we come here before we get Cass.”
Chapter Nineteen
Blaize
I blinked for the first time since the door had been flung open. “Who are you?” I rasped.
“I’m Orin,” said the one holding the door open for me. “And the one snarling at me over there is Avery. We’re here to rescue Cass.”
“And you, if you’ll get a move on,” Avery snapped.
I nodded slowly. I had no way to verify their claims, but I had even less reason to stay here. “The let’s go get her.”
“No,” Orin said. “We need to get you out of here first. Kellan won’t kill Cass. He thinks he needs her to get to us.”
Avery added, “But he won’t hesitate for even an instant to kill you—not if he thinks you can be used to control Cass.”
I started to argue, but then an idea occurred to me. “Okay. But there’s something I need to do first,” I added, not wanting to seem to acquiesce too quickly.
We slipped back along the trail toward the clearing where Cass had shot Wolf. We hadn’t been gone long, and the clearing was still littered with bodies in werewolf, Fae, and human form.
Even in death, Wolf’s fur glowed the moonlight.
“Where are they keeping Cass?” I asked, not quite ready to touch my companion’s body yet, despite the growing urgency I felt to get my cousin out of there.
“Over that hill.” Orin gestured with one hand. “There’s a fairy mound nearby—a trail that leads into the Winter Court.”
“No—he’s still in California, almost certainly somewhere nearby. I don’t think Kellan is quite ready to present his claim to his own family.”
“No,” Orin agreed. “He really wants all three of us. That’s why he has Cass.”
“How can I help?” I asked.
“Get yourself somewhere safe. We will take care of Cass and we can all meet up at her place later.” Avery kept a watchful eye on the clearing.
Drawing in a deep breath, I sank down on my knees beside Wolf and ran my hand along his back. “Can you help me get him back to the van? I…” My voice broke. “I need to bury him somewhere he won’t be found, won’t cause humans to look any closer at wolves.”
“Bury him?” Orin asked, startled. “Why on earth would you bury him?”
“So the humans don’t start looking for the monster wolves in their midst,” I explained again, slowly this time.
“Why would you bury him alive?” Orin asked.
“Alive?” I dropped my head down to his chest, listening for heartbeat. “He’s alive?”
I could feel the silver bullet inside him, feel it eating away at his flesh. I didn’t know how he could survive that.
“Move out of the way.” Avery pushed me, but gently, taking my place at Wolf’s side as I stood and stumbled out of the way. I wrapped my arms around myself, not daring to hope as Avery began weaving some complicated fairy magic over Wolf.
Sparkling gold-white lights the color of spring sunlight wrapped themselves around Wolf, spinning and swirling and drawing in tighter and tighter, like a rope, until it formed a web that through his fur, and then deeper, leaving behind sunlight sparkles all over him. And then that was absorbed into him, too, and was gone.
Seconds later, the silver bullet wormed its way out of Wolf’s body, dropping to the ground beside him.
Avery picked up the spent slug and dropped it into a pocket.
“There,” he said, leaning back on his heels. “It shouldn’t take more than just a minute…”
Wolf sat up and shook his head, and with a muffled cry, I threw myself at him, wrapping my arms around his furry bulk, holding him tight as tears ran down my face.
“We have to go to Cass now,” Orin said. “If we stay here any longer, we’re likely to be seen.”
“You get out of here, okay?” Avery said. “Cass will never forgive us if anything happens to you.”
I nodded and stood up. “Come on Wolf,” I said. We stumbled away from the clearing, back toward the van. But as soon as Cass’s boyfriends were out of sight, I stopped. “I have an idea. Come with me,” I whispered.
Wolf nodded, and we doubled back, tiptoeing through the woods until we came up over little rise. Nearby, Cass was tied to a tree trunk, her eyes closed as werewolves in forms ranging from human to wolf used my iron weapons, dragging them across her skin until she screamed.
My lips tightened. I knew where she was now. And I wasn’t about to leave her behind.
Not for long, anyway.
“Come on,” I said to Wolf. “Now I have a plan. We need to go steal a truck full of iron.”
Chapter Twenty
Cassidy
I swam out of consciousness as fingers flitted across my face. I could barely sense the world around me through my pain, the iron too much for me.
“Cass. Cass, wake up.”
I recognized the voice, even though the ringing in my ears warped all sounds around me.
“Avery?”
“And Orin,” another voice added. Concern laced the Summer Prince’s voice. “Are you all right?”
I smiled painfully as my eyesight blurred. “What do you think, Captain Obvious?”
“So you feel as bad as you look.”
I snorted in answer.
I felt his lips brush against my forehead. Orin had always been the most romantic out of all my boyfriends. I sighed into his touch. Avery stroked my cheek and I looked at him, my vision finally clearing enough to see my fairy boyfriends.
“What are you two doing here?” I whispered. “I thought you were in the fairy realm.”
Orin grinned, although he looked pained to do so. “Aelfdane came back to the realm and raised hell about you and Drake.”
I chuckled dryly, remembering that I had told the Autumn King that his son was fucking me over the phone. “You two got jealous?”
The two princes stared down at the ground, and I couldn’t believe how adorable the two of them were in front of me. It doesn’t matter if a man is human, fae, or otherwise, they get jealous over the most stupid things.
“It was Avery’s idea,” Orin said. “To come back early.”
“And when we did,” Avery added, “we got your messages. And came out here to save you.”
“I guess it was a good thing I texted you where we were headed.”
“You have no idea,” Avery said.
You could never be too careful when you’re going into enemy territory. I made the mental note to never go anywhere without texting my boyfriends.
And that was only confirmed as I saw the pile of bodies around us. They had fought their way through a throng of fairies to get to me. How romantic.
“Where’s Blaize?” I asked, glancing around frantically, which caused the porridge inside my skull to rock painfully. I cried out in pain and clutched at my head.
My heart leapt into my throat as I couldn’t see my cousin anywhere.
“Hey, calm down,” Orin whispered. “She has a plan. So she says.”
“So she says,” Avery agreed with a sardonic grin.
Blaize’s plans usually involved big explosions, big weapons, and even bigger messes. I hoped she would rock it. “And Wolf?” I asked, remembering that I had shot him.
“I healed him,” Avery said. “You really did a number on him.”
I hung my head, glad that I had done that part right, at least. “I didn’t want to kill him.”
He smiled gently at me. “You didn’t. You save his life.”
I closed my eyes and something that sounded like a sob escaped my throat. I was never so happy to hear that I didn’t kill something in my life.
“Think you can stand?” Avery asked as he threaded his fingers with mine.
I looked down at the ropes that had been cut and noticed for the first time that I’d been untied. “I think so. Where did the iron go?” There had been so much of it. So much that kept me immobilized.
Orin held up his hands, where angry blisters marred his smooth skin.
“Orin…” I whispered, crestfallen. Because it was from iron, Avery wouldn’t be able to heal the wounds, and they’d probably scar .
He shook his head, though. “It’s no big deal,” he said quickly. “We just had to get it done.”
“Orin chucked them somewhere,” Avery explained, suppressing a shudder.
“I could kiss you for that,” I told Orin, and the Summer Prince rewarded me with a kiss.
“How’s that?”
“Perfect,” I said through half-lidded eyes.
“And me?” Avery said with a half-whine. I kissed him too, tasting both him and Orin at once. My princes. My lovers.
And that thought cleared my mind enough to really take in my surroundings. We were still in the Purisima Creek Reserve. Still cut off from the rest of society. Still in enemy territory. Still missing the Autumn Prince.
“Have you seen Drake?”
They both shook their heads.
“We wanted to save you first,” Orin said almost sheepishly.
Oh, God, could they be any cuter? I took a second to admire them. “If we get out of this alive,” I said approvingly, giving their hands a squeeze, “you guys are getting a reward.”
Avery raised an eyebrow suggestively.
“If we get out of this alive,” I reminded him. “And that means we need to find Drake.”
“Kellan probably has him close,” Orin surmised. “He wouldn’t have the h
eir of the Autumn Court anywhere else while he’s trying to make a play for the throne.”
I clenched my hands into fists. “You fairies truly have the stupidest laws.”
“Yeah,” Avery agreed. “Well, the ones who made the laws benefitted from them the most. There used to be more courts.”
“More seasons?” I asked, wondering what they could be.
Aver cursed under his breath. “Yes, yet another reason to get Drake back.”
I nodded and looked around. “We should find my weapons.”
The three of us may not have been able to wield any iron weapons against fairies, but my silver daggers, stakes, and guns could take care of the werewolves. They might have been under Kellan’s influence, so if I could just subdue them long enough to take care of Kellan and stop him from using the wolves as familiars.
Then again, I had no idea how to “take care” of Kellan. I couldn’t exactly kill him, not without creating bigger problems in the fairy realm than one king trying to take over another’s court. I’d be on the most wanted list for killing one of the royals, even though Kellan was the bad guy here.
Surely there must be something that we could do to make sure that he didn’t try to use any of us to make a play again?
First things first: Get Drake back. We’d figure out the rest.
A snarl behind me had me reacting before I processed what it even was. I gave a roundhouse kick, my foot connecting with the jaw of a werewolf, slamming him into the ground. The movement surprised everyone, including the fairy princes, but I stood over the creature.
“Where. Is. Drake?” I growled.
The wolf replied something in yips and growls, but I honestly didn’t care that I couldn’t understand. I could tell he wasn’t going to help based on the glint in his eyes as he snapped toward me.
Don’t kill him, I told myself. I took a moment to steady myself and quell my anger before I slammed my fist into his face, knocking him out.
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