by Kathy Lyons
“I’m not jealous of my dweeb of a little brother!” he snapped, though even he heard the childishness in the statement. Because he did envy his brother. Josh was smart, as in PhD in chemistry smart. He had true friends like Savannah, who was worth a dozen of the dumbass jerks Bruce had surrounded himself with in high school. And yes, Bruce had found a team in his fellow firefighters, but they all had their own lives. Sure, they had his back in a fire, but at the end of the day, they went home to their families, whereas Bruce just went home.
“Why are you doing this?” Bruce asked.
“Why do fairies do anything? Because we’re bored. And in this case, I’m waiting for dawn over White River State Park, when your brother and his lover fix my problem and become my slaves forever.” He grinned in a truly malevolent way. “Why are you doing this?”
Bruce dropped his voice as dread slid through his body. “What do you mean ‘slaves forever’?”
The fairy waved a single carrot-stick finger at him. “That’s need-to-know only, brother. And you don’t need to know.” He waggled the sliced onion that served as his eyebrows. “Unless, of course, you want to be what he is. Then all you have to do is pop the cherry into your mouth.”
“And become your slave forever?”
“Nope. That there”—he pointed to the cherry—“that’s a freebie. Eat it and you’ll get exactly what your brother has—no more, no less. You’ll be stronger than you ever have been before. Faster too. Think what a difference that would make at work.”
Bruce did think about it. He thought about all the times he’d been too slow or too weak to save people in trouble. A boy had died because Bruce hadn’t been able to carry both him and his sister at the same time. A floor had collapsed, breaking his best friend’s back, because Bruce hadn’t been fast enough with the axe to get them both free. What would it mean to be better at work than he’d ever been before? Who could he save if he ate that beautiful little cherry?
But the fairy prince wasn’t done. While Bruce was still feeling the desperate pull of temptation, the creature waved his hand over the dash. Suddenly next to the cherry there was an apple, as big and beautiful as the one that had tempted Snow White. The color showed like a dark ruby, and its scent filled the interior of the car with the smell of warm apple pie. It filtered into his thoughts and his darkest desires. Bruce was already reaching for it when he stopped short.
“What is that?” he demanded as he forced his hand down.
“That, my friend, is going to cost you. Eat the little fruit, and you get the same thing as your brother. Same wolf nature, same wolf power, same wolf needs.” He hesitated for a moment on that last word, and Bruce was smart enough to note that it was significant. But he didn’t have time to ask, because the fairy kept talking. “But eat the other one and you get more. More power. More strength.”
“More needs?”
“Hell yes,” the guy said with a grin. Then he shrugged. “Look, if you don’t want it, don’t take it. I’m not forcing anything on you.”
“Just offering me a gift horse, and I’m not supposed to look into its mouth.”
“It’s shaped like an apple, so it doesn’t have a mouth.”
He was trading witty words with a salad elf. And he wasn’t even drunk. Best to focus on what he cared about. “How—exactly—is my brother enslaved to you?”
The elf shrugged. “He’s not yet, but I’ll get him. He’s one little fairy promise away from taking orders from me.”
The elf’s confidence was annoying, but it didn’t seem misplaced. Josh couldn’t resist diving into weird shit. He was a nerd, a geek, and a freak, all rolled into one gullible package. If anyone would take what this fairy offered—hook, line, and sinker—it was Josh. Which meant that if Bruce wanted to be a good big brother and not an asshole, he had to do whatever it took to save Josh from himself.
But he wasn’t going to do it by eating fairy fruit.
He was going to talk to his brother, even if it meant facing off with Nero. So without another word—and only a single last glance at the cherry—Bruce opened his car door. Or he tried. There wasn’t a door latch. He fumbled around trying to feel for where it should be, but all he got was smooth paneling.
“I can’t let you interrupt him right now,” the fairy said cheerfully. “First off, what they’re doing now—nobody wants you to see that. Second, there are rules to a fairy offer. You don’t go getting cherries without popping somebody’s cork somehow.”
“What?”
“Mixed metaphor?” the fairy asked. “Human language is so hard to understand sometimes.”
Bruce shook his head. He’d started this day after a long night shift, and now it was well past one. That was probably the real reason he was talking to a salad fairy. He’d fallen asleep in his car and was dreaming. “Let me out of my car.”
“I can’t let you interfere with tomorrow’s events. There’s too much at stake for both our worlds. It’s too dangerous.”
“But you will if I eat the cherry.”
“Pop the cherry! Isn’t that the expression? Don’t you want to pop it?”
“Answer the fucking question. If I eat the cherry, do I become immortal?”
“Hell no. You become a werewolf, just like your brother. He’s not immortal. He’s optionally hairy and somewhat immortal under the right conditions.” He grinned. “Like when he starts working for me.”
An immortality enslaved to this asshole? “Over my dead body.” None of this made sense except for that. This fairy prince meant his brother harm. Ergo, Bruce was going to protect him.
The fairy snorted. “You can’t stop me if you don’t play.” He wiggled his fingers at the apple.
“Watch me.” Bruce reached behind his seat and grabbed the brick he kept in his car in case he had to break a window… or a fairy face. It would hurt him to smash up his car, but his brother was worth it. Assuming he could talk sense into the guy. Which was pretty funny considering he was the one talking to a salad fairy.
“Are you sure you don’t want to go for the fruit? It’s not a bad deal.”
“No,” Bruce said firmly. “Now let me out of my car.”
“Fine, fine,” the fairy said with a smile. “But it’s pretty late. Don’t you think it’s time for a nap?”
Bruce knew he was in trouble the moment the words left the fairy’s mouth. Because the words had power. Bruce’s eyelids started drooping, and the brick fell from his lax fingers. He fought the suggestion. Hell, he fought it with everything he had, but it wasn’t enough.
The world went dark.
HE WOKE when the sun burned into his retinas.
“Fuck. Fuck. Fucking hell!”
It was morning, and the cherry and the apple still sat on his dash, looking as perfect as they had the night before. More perfect, even, because they were now in sunlight. His mouth watered just looking at them. But rather than take a bite, he grabbed them both and dropped them into his jacket pocket. No way was he touching them any more than he had to. The temptation was too strong.
He started the car and headed as fast as he could to White River State Park. He hadn’t missed it when Bitter-ass had dropped the location of whatever was supposed to go down. Plus, his brother was never on time for anything, so Bruce still had hope that he’d be able to stop any enslavement from happening.
He found Nero’s car after seven long frustrating minutes of searching. And then it was quick work to follow the trail up to a wood-enclosed glen. He saw clothing and a backpack stacked neatly beneath a tree, but before he could get there, Mr. Salad Fairy appeared, only this time he was tall, dark, and sneering. But the attitude was the same, as was the way he plucked the fruit out of Bruce’s pocket.
“Looking for these?” he taunted.
“No. Looking for my brother.”
“Well, you’re in luck. He’ll show up here in a moment.”
“As your slave?”
“Not this time.” The asshole waggled his very dark, very sculpt
ed brows. “But I’ll get him eventually.” He waved the apple in front of Bruce’s eyes. “Unless you want to play?”
“No, thanks.”
“Suit yourself. But you can give them a message for me, can’t you?” He plucked a green piece of parchment seemingly from the air and handed it to Bruce. With it came the cherry, which seemed to hum in the palm of his hand. “That’s the freebie,” he said. “It’s so you can have what he has, Even Steven.” Then he held the apple in the sunlight, where it shimmered and glowed as if it had come from the Garden of Eden. “This gives you more.” He stressed the last word like he was offering up Eve’s temptation. “Call out my name three times. Do you remember it?”
He did. Jonas Bitterroot. But that’s not what he said. “I’m not calling you. I just want to talk to my brother.”
The asshole shrugged. “Suit yourself. I got a more interesting slave this time. But your brother is still on my radar, and I do like the way he thinks.”
“Buzz off,” Bruce growled. “Or blink out. Or do whatever the hell you….” His words trailed away. He was alone in the clearing. “Asshole,” he muttered.
Then he read the note.
When you’re ready, call me. I will have five shields, hoodies, and a magic bullet available for your use. No charge except for the dragons.
The words didn’t make any sense, but he supposed that was the point. If he wanted to understand, he needed to play. Pop the magic cherry, swallow the red pill, or walk the yellow brick road. It was all an invitation to danger where fairies could change appearances and mess with his head at will. It didn’t sound remotely safe, and his little brother was smack-dab in the middle of it.
He held out the cherry and felt it pulse right there in his palm. It would be so easy to pop it down, but then what would happen?
He didn’t get the chance to answer as sounds came from the clearing. His brother’s voice. And Nero’s response.
“So it’s done? We’re… free?”
“I think so.”
There was more talk that Bruce didn’t follow. He got closer and saw that Nero was naked and Josh was wrapped in his arms. He wanted to sneer at that. He wanted to make some sort of sound to at least make them jolt apart, but he couldn’t. He was too busy seeing how completely devoted they were to each other. Happy, sad, laughing, and crying, all at once. They were in love, damn it. And that made him shrink back into the shadows, feeling like he was spying on a honeymooning couple. Whatever Josh had found, it was making him happy.
But was it real?
He didn’t know. He did believe that Bitterroot was still watching Josh, which meant he was still in danger. And if Bruce wanted to protect Josh, then he had to stick around. Even more important, he had to understand what was going on.
There was only one way to do that, and it was pulsing in the palm of his hand.
“Congratulations, little brother. Looks like you found love,” he said.
Josh and Nero jerked apart, but it was Josh who spoke. “Bruce, what are you doing here?”
“Following you. Watching you.”
He saw his brother’s eyes widen in horror. “Look, I know it seems strange, but—”
“It seems like you’re both werewolves who make fairy deals.”
Nero tensed and his eyes narrowed. “What makes you say that?” he asked in a too-casual tone.
“The freaking fairy told me.”
“What?” Nero exploded.
“The short one who acts like we’re all idiots.” He didn’t want to say Bitterroot’s name out loud.
Josh jolted forward. “You didn’t make a deal with him, did you? You didn’t—”
“All I did was listen and agree to hand you this.” He passed the message over to Josh, who shared it with Nero. They cuddled together to read it. He knew they didn’t mean to look so cozy together, but that didn’t change the way they fitted each other perfectly.
Meanwhile, Nero frowned. “What the hell does that mean? We already killed….”
Josh groaned. The sound was thick and deep, and he slapped his palm against his forehead for emphasis. “We’re back in this timeline. In my timeline, where I was recruited to find a way around the fire blast.”
Nero nodded. “Yeah, I know.”
Josh held up the parchment. “Don’t you see? In this timeline, the demon is still killing Wisconsin.”
“What? No, we….” Nero’s voice trailed into a loud groan. “We risk our lives, and he gets dragons.” He crumpled the paper in his fist. “Did I tell you that he’s the one who told us about the demon in the first place? He’s the one who sent us on this hunt. Unbelievable.”
Josh looked at his brother. “Did you read this?”
Bruce snorted. “Of course I read it. He wanted me to read it. Otherwise he would have put it in an envelope.”
Nero was staring at Bruce. His eyes were laser focused, and his stance shifted so he could quickly step in front of Josh if needed. Damn it, the man was protecting Josh in the way Bruce should have been doing as the older brother. In the way that Bruce had wanted someone to protect him for most of his life. And now Josh had it in a huge brute of a werewolf lover.
“What else?” Nero demanded, proving he wasn’t as stupid as he looked. “Fairies don’t give up information for free. What else did he offer you?”
Bruce held out his other hand. Nestled in his palm lay that dark red cherry. He lifted it up to the sunlight, and all three of them were temporarily mesmerized by the beauty of the simple fruit.
“He said if I want what you’ve got, I just have to eat this. And I do. I want it.” Bruce had been staring at the fruit, feeling the pull of desire. He was going to resist, but then he looked at his brother and Nero. Josh had certainly fallen head over heels in love, but Bruce didn’t trust Nero as far as he could throw him. The man wielded too much power over Josh, and that spelled disaster for his little brother.
But he couldn’t protect Josh unless he played. And the only way to do that was to eat the cherry.
So he tossed the thing in his mouth. And out of the corner of his eye, he saw a butterfly burst up from a leaf and fly off.
“No!” Josh cried out, but it was too late. Bruce chewed quickly and swallowed after spitting the pit into a nearby bush. All three waited in tense silence, prepared for something dramatic to happen.
Nothing.
Wasn’t that the way? Even in fairy magic, his brother had all the luck. Nero sighed and slapped his car keys into Josh’s open palm. “Go get my phone from the glove compartment and call in. Tell them that we’ve got another recruit.”
“But why?” Josh asked. “Nothing’s happened.”
“Yet.”
Bruce felt the heavy pressure of disappointment. That cherry was a big fat zero of—
Heat burned through his body. And since he’d been waiting for something, he noticed the tiny increments that built in his gut before expanding through his nerves. It felt like a small fire burning low, except that the base of his spine fired with a kind of electric pulse. Each beat shot up his spine, pounding in increasing strength. Up his spine, down his legs…. His muscles contracted in response. His back arched, his arms went wide, and his head jerked backward as he tried to scream.
It reached his brain faster than he expected, and once it was there, his mind whited out, although he felt the glow of a thousand suns right in the center. And once he saw that, felt that, knew it as something gloriously special, it all collapsed. The heat, the power, the joy—everything inside him fell apart. And when it reformed, he stood on four legs. His face was reshaped, and his backside moved as never before.
“Crap,” Nero said from somewhere above. “I hope he fits in my car.”
He wasn’t going into any car. He was going to run and bound and smell things. He was in the woods as a wolf, and the power in his body was glorious. So he tensed his muscles—
And collapsed.
He stood and leaped away, except only his back legs moved. His front went
lax and he dropped his nose into the dirt. He focused all his attention on what muscles worked how, and he completely failed.
And that was how Nero and Josh got him to the car. And then some movie-star gorgeous guy looked him in the eyes and told him to sleep.
Chapter 3
MEANWHILE IN MICHIGAN, LADDIN QUITS WULF, INC.
“YOU CAN’T be serious. They were just rabbits.”
Laddin looked up from where he’d been staring out the window at the Michigan woods. He was in Captain M’s office, delivering the bad news in the firmest possible way. “It wasn’t just the rabbits,” he protested, but she cut him off.
“You can’t leave Wulf, Inc. because you ate a bunch of rabbits. The woods would be lousy with furbies if we didn’t keep the population down.” The woman was his trainer and also the administrator in charge of all the combat packs at Wulf, Inc. She’d been with him from the moment he’d been brought into headquarters as a werewolf, and she’d wasted no time in making use of his talents. Not just his ability to blow things up, but also his tendency toward OCD. Everything in its place, and all that. She’d set him to organizing her office workflow, and he’d taken to it like a duck to water.
Oh hell—that was another creature he’d eaten the last time the moon shone bright. Apparently he was the kind of werewolf that lost its mind every full moon and ate anything that ran, flew, or hopped.
“You have to get past this, Laddin. You’re a predator now. And predators—”
“Eat bunnies?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
She shook her head. “It’s hard going through life hating yourself for what you are.”
Been there, done that. He used to hate himself for his deformed hand—a birth defect that becoming magical hadn’t fixed. But he’d made peace with it, so he had to believe he’d find a way to survive without eating living meat.
“Look, it’s not just the rabbits. Nobody asked me if I wanted to be made into a werewolf.”
She shifted uncomfortably in her seat. This was a major problem with Wulf, Inc. They couldn’t tell people they had the werewolf gene before they activated it. The Paranormal Accords said as much. And so Wulf activated the gene and then hoped the person would sign up with the organization afterward. It was ass-backward, and everyone knew it.