by Jasmine Walt
“You don’t exactly blend in like this, either,” I pointed out to him aloud, after getting over the shock of having someone else’s voice in my head. “How am I supposed to keep you around without drawing attention?”
“I believe their kind can change size,” Maddock said, approaching. His gaze was steady as he locked eyes with Darun, and the wolf bristled.
“A Seelie fae?” he snapped. “What is he doing here?”
“He’s a friend.” I stroked Darun’s coat, trying to soothe him. “He’s bound by oath to protect me, so you can’t hurt him.”
“Not that you could, anyway.” Maddock crossed his arms over his chest, a smug look on his face. “I have fought your kind before.”
“Would you both stop it?” I shouted as Darun let out a hair-raising snarl. “I can’t take him if they can’t get along,” I said to my father desperately.
“I’ll behave,” Darun grumbled, reluctantly subsiding. He shook himself all over, abruptly becoming the size of a normal wolf. “And he’s right, I can change size.”
“You’re still huge for a dog,” I said dryly. “You’re going to scare the shit out of my neighbors.”
“You can just tell them he’s a husky-wolf hybrid,” Maddock suggested, looking impatient now. “We really must be going.”
“Yes,” my father agreed. He pulled a heavy leather pouch from out of nowhere and handed it to me. “There is a—what do you call it?—oh yes, a trust fund, waiting for you back on Earth. Oracion will give you the details when the two of you next meet. But for now, this should tide you over.”
I glanced into the pouch, and my eyes widened at the sight of round, thick gold coins the size of my eyeballs. “You don’t have to give me all this.”
“You’re my only daughter.” My father gave me a crooked smile. “Who else would I spoil?”
A rush of emotion filled me, and tears stung at my eyes. “I’m going to miss you,” I said, stepping into his arms for a hug. “I wish I’d had more time.”
“As do I,” he said gruffly, hugging me back. His pine-and-snow scent engulfed me like a comforting blanket, and I committed the scent to memory, wrapping it around close so I could take it out when I wanted it for comfort again. “But we shall meet again, much sooner than the last time, I hope.” There was a question in his voice.
“We will,” I vowed, stepping back. “Thank you, for all that you’ve given me.” Somehow, I didn’t think the ‘thank you’ rule applied to my own father. He nodded, then turned to Maddock. “I will hold your oath close until you return with my daughter again.”
Maddock nodded stiffly, then held out his hand to me. “Are you ready?” he asked, his voice gentler than I anticipated.
I stared at his hand for a long moment, then put my own into it. His finger clasped mine, strong and warm, and a sense of determination and hope filled me.
We were finally going home. Together. Maybe it was a home that didn’t like me, a home filled with enemies who wanted me for murder. But I’d figure out that shit later, because I was tired of running away. I was a princess, not a fucking doormat, and it was high time the world I’d left behind learned exactly who they were dealing with.
Chapter 15
As it turned out, the trip back to Earth was much shorter than I’d anticipated. My father kept a portal to the human realm on his lands, which Oscar used regularly to nip in and out of the castle. Darun led us straight to a group of caves. Within only a few moments of walking through a narrow stone tunnel, we were stepping out into cold and snowy Chicago.
“Wow,” I said, pulling my hood up against the flurries of snow whipping through the air. We were standing on a suburban street that was only a few blocks away from Oscar’s house, and there were piles of snow drifts stacked along the edges of the roads. “I’ve been gone a long time. What’s the date?”
“January 14th, 2017,” Maddock said.
He snagged me around the waist before the enormity of that could sink in and bunched his hand into the scruff of Darun’s neck. I opened my mouth to tell him to stop, but the magic was already humming in the air, and the world was spinning, faster and faster and faster…
“Jesus!” I snapped as everything came to an abrupt stop. We were inside Maddock’s house, standing directly next to the small, flowing river in his living room. Thankfully, I only experienced a mild queasiness this time—had my increased exposure to magic made it easier to deal with teleporting?
“Couldn’t you have given me some warning? It would have been nice to grab a slice of deep dish at least.” I’d been struck by an unexpected bout of homesickness when we’d landed in Chicago—spending an hour or so there would have been nice.
Before Maddock could answer, Darun let out a high-pitched whine. We turned to see him curled into a ball on the floor, shaking, his eyes squeezed tightly shut.
“Blast it,” Maddock swore. “I didn’t think it would take effect so soon.” Kneeling, he pressed his hands against Darun’s side and barked out a spell. A strange blue glow pulsed from his palms, spreading all over the wolf, and he quieted almost immediately, his body stilling.
Relief washed over me, and I opened my mouth to ask what the hell just happened when a sudden, intense itching broke out across the back of my neck. Agitated, I reached up to scratch it, but scraping my nails over the area only made it worse—it was like having a sunburn and a rash all at once.
“Oww!” I squirmed as the rash began spreading down my back. “What the fuck!”
“Hold still,” Maddock ordered as Darun began barking. He put his hands on my shoulders and chanted the same spell again. The blue light sank into my body, sending a burst of cool energy that instantly calmed whatever was breaking out across my body.
“There’s a blasted spell over this place,” Darun growled in my head. “One that specifically targets Unseelie. Think your friend could have mentioned that?”
“Oh.” A lightbulb switched on in my head, and I gave Darun an apologetic look. “Sorry, I guess we both forgot about it. Maddock’s set up a special ward around his territory that keeps out anything Unseelie.”
“Yes, that was my error,” Maddock said tightly. “It was a good thing your friend is in his wolf form—otherwise, the reaction would have been much worse. Perhaps even fatal.”
I glared at him. “I would have never forgiven you if Darun had been killed,” I told him. Or myself, I added silently. God, I really did have to get my head back in the game. I knew about the artifacts—I should have thought of this.
“Yes, well, you’re both safe now,” Maddock said brusquely, “so there’s no point in continuing to moan about it. Now that I’ve spelled you properly, the barrier I’ve set up should no longer affect you.”
“I still don’t like this,” Darun growled. “None of my other kin will be able to come to your aid, should we call for them.”
“We won’t need them,” Maddock said, sounding utterly unconcerned, when I relayed the message. “My men and I are sufficient to deal with the threat, now that we have you.”
I would have rolled my eyes at his arrogance, if not for that last part. And besides, this was no time to be fighting. “So…” I said, taking a seat in one of the armchairs. “You said it’s January? So I’ve missed Halloween and New Years and everything?”
Maddock nodded. “Time moves differently in Faerie, and on top of that, the Morrigan’s island was completely out of time. There’s no telling how many days you actually spent there, but only a few weeks’ time in Faerie would have passed.”
“Damnit.” I scooped a hand through my hair. “All right, well fill me in. What’s happened since I’ve been gone? Do I still have a place to live? Where are my clothes? Fuck!” I jumped up, agitated by a sudden realization. “Does the Morrigan still have my weapons?”
“Aye,” Maddock said. “There’s no telling what she might have done with them. However,” he added, conjuring a gun out of thin air. “I took the liberty of making another one for ye.” He spun the wea
pon around and handed it to me, handle first.
I took the gun, astonished, and popped the magazine out. “Vampire bullets,” I exclaimed, examining the gun all over. It was a custom 1911, just like the one I’d lost. I felt much better about carrying this thing around than I did the dagger I’d found, even if it was enchanted. “Do I get iron ones, too?”
“Of course not.” Maddock sounded highly offended. “I refuse to hand you a weapon that you can kill me with. If you want iron bullets, you can procure them yourself.”
“All right, all right.” I held up a hand. He had a point; I just hadn’t figured he’d be so touchy about it. But even though I understood why he didn’t like the iron, didn’t mean I was going to give it up. I didn’t care that Father James was the one who’d turned me onto them—it was obvious they worked on the fae, and I wanted every weapon I could get my hands on at my disposal.
“As for yer clothes,” Maddock continued, “I managed to recover them, along with yer belongings, before the apartment owner who’d ye’d been subletting from had a chance to sell them off to try to recoup her losses. She’s was right pissed, but I erased her memories of ye, so ye’ve no need to worry on that front. As soon as we find a new place for ye to settle, we can get yer belongings out of storage.”
“Wow.” For a moment, I couldn’t say anything else—I was overcome with emotion. Maddock had stepped up to the plate while I was gone, taking care of my affairs. “You’ve outdone yourself.”
“I dinnae do anything by half measures,” he said simply. “And the apartment is the least of yer problems, honestly. The Salem Police Department has a warrant out for yer arrest. Detective Baxter is convinced ye are guilty of the murder of Captain Randall, and he’ll be on ye like a rabid dog the moment ye set foot in Salem again.”
“Shit.” The memories I’d received from Oscar had clued me in on that much, but hearing someone else say it out loud hit me like a ton of bricks. “I knew making Randall disappear was a bad idea,” I grumbled, glaring at Maddock.
“It was the best I could do under the circumstances.” Was it my imagination, or did Maddock sound defensive? “And with the Daire Coven’s incessant harassment, I haven’t been able to do anything about the Salem PD. The sooner I can get those witches off my back, the better,” he growled, his eyes blazing.
“Being wanted by the police is going to make it pretty hard to deal with the Daire Coven, since they’re attacking from a legal standpoint,” I said. “We have to tackle both problems if we’re going to move forward. Why don’t we bring Captain Randall back? If we can produce him alive, the Salem PD will have nothing on me. They can’t convict me for a murder I didn’t commit.” I folded my arms across my chest. “I never wanted you to make him disappear—I just wanted you to work your fae mojo on him and maybe intimidate him.”
“Aye, but getting him back is not an easy task,” Maddock said. “I gave him over to a powerful fae who makes a hobby out of collecting supernaturals as pets. There is no guarantee she will be willing to part with Randall so soon after adding him to her menagerie—that will take some very skillful and time-consuming negotiation.”
“Fine.” Sighing, I leaned forward and buried my hands in Darun’s fur when he curled up by my feet. My wolf companion was warm and comforting—an anchor in the ever-increasing chaos of my life. Maddock’s eyes narrowed as he watched me, and if I didn’t know better, I’d say he was jealous.
But that was ridiculous. Why would Maddock be jealous of a wolf? He probably just didn’t like that I had another companion to rely on. He was all about control.
“Do you at least have a good lawyer you can recommend?” I asked. “If I have to wait around for you to produce Randall, I’m going to need legal counsel in the meantime.”
“Yes—I know a solicitor on retainer here in Boston who will be perfect.” Maddock rose from his chair and offered me is hand. “We can go visit him later, if you’d like. But before then, let’s go and check on the Daire Coven.”
I blinked as I took his hand. “Now? But we haven’t even eaten.”
Maddock rolled his eyes. Pulling me to my feet, he yanked me against his big body. “Women. Always wanting to be wined and dined. Let’s get the work done first, if ye dinnae mind, while there’s still daylight. We’ll get yer pizza later.”
And as he teleported the three of us out, I couldn’t quite keep the grin from showing on my face. Yeah, life was shitty right now, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t enjoy these little gems as they came. Especially since I knew the hardest part was yet to come.
Chapter 16
As soon as the world stopped spinning, Maddock immediately threw a glamour over us to disguise our outlandish clothing and distinctive features. We were on the side of a road, at the outskirts of the forest, and Darun immediately started sniffing everything, his bushy brown tail wagging furiously as he went.
“Darun,” I hissed before he disappeared without us. “Don’t go wandering off!”
Darun lifted his head to regard me with a baleful glare. “I’m checking the area for potential threats,” he said, sounding offended. “I’ll not be trusting that Seelie bastard to do it for you.”
I held in a sigh, then turned to Maddock. “Can you glamour up some kind of leash or something? People are gonna freak if they see him wandering around freely.”
“Aye.” Maddock turned his hand palm up, and a brown leather leash and collar appeared. “Wolf,” he called. “Let’s get this on you.”
Darun bared his teeth, and this time, I did sigh. “Don’t be an ass. It’s just for appearances—you know it’s not real.”
After managing to coax Darun into accepting the harness, the three of us headed into the dense forest. The trees had been stripped completely bare, save for the snow clinging to their branches. I raised an eyebrow as I noticed that someone had cleared the path of snow—this wasn’t a public hiking trail, so I didn’t see this being the work of city laborers. No, it had to be the Daire Coven. As we ventured farther inside, a sense of familiarity settled over me. This had to be the right place. I’d been here before, back when I’d sealed off the channel.
“I can sense the channel already,” Darun said, lifting his furry head. “It’s powerful magic. How have these witches not already found it?”
“That’s the barrier you’re sensing, not the channel,” I told him, testing out my telepathic muscles. Hopefully I was speaking to him, and not just inside my head. “You won’t be able to sense the channel, not even if we’re right on top of it.”
Two men chose that moment to walk around the bend, and they froze as they saw us. “Who are you guys?” the one on the left demanded, and I blinked at his Canadian accent. He was a tall, thin man with dirty-blond hair, his companion a beefy black-haired man. Both were dressed in heavy winter camo…but I didn’t believe for a minute that they were hunters. They were looking at us far too suspiciously for that, and they were right next to the barrier.
“I’m Cameron Tate, and this is my wife, Delia,” Maddock said, angling his body so that it was slightly in front of mine. Darun did the same thing, his body tense, though he refrained from growling. “We’re just out here on a walk. Who are you?”
The warlocks seemed to relax. “I’m Dave, and this is Luke,” he said, gesturing to his companion. “We’re survivalist, and we come out here to camp a couple of times a year.”
“Sorry we snapped at you,” Luke said, extending a hand to Maddock. “We’re not usually this rude. It’s just that we chose this spot because no one else camps here, so we’re not used to seeing other people.” He narrowed his eyes as Maddock returned the handshake. “What made you choose this spot for a hike?”
“Oh, we just moved to this area, so we’ve been exploring.” Maddock put his arm around me, gathering me close. I frowned, noticing his face was a little pale, but he gave the warlocks an easy smile. What was going on? “My wife and I are very adventurous.”
Almost snorting, I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes
. I wished our adventures were only limited to hiking and exploring the outdoors. My life would be much safer that way.
“Yeah, I can see that.” Dave glanced down at Darun, who was watching the warlocks with baleful eyes. “Not every day you see a couple walking around with a wolf. Where’d you get him?”
“A shelter,” I said. “He’s actually a mixed breed. Husky and wolf. His previous owners couldn’t handle him; the shelter was going to put him down.”
The warlock gave Darun an uneasy glance. “Biggest damn dog I’ve ever seen in my life.”
“Well, we should really be going,” Maddock said smoothly, sidestepping the man. “It was nice to meet you.”
“Hang on there.” Luke pressed a hand against Maddock’s shoulder.
Maddock stopped, but the air changed subtly, charged with aggression. Realizing his mistake, Luke immediately dropped his hand. “Don’t go any farther up that way. Some bears have been passing through the area, and I wouldn’t want your dog to get near one.”
“Bears?” My eyebrows rose in mock surprise. “Shouldn’t you be going home, then? It’s dangerous for you to camp out here if there are bears.”
“Oh, don’t worry about us,” Dave said. “But I wouldn’t bring my dog out this way, that’s for sure.”
“You’re absolutely right,” Maddock said, taking my arm. “We’ll find a safer place to hike. Thank you for the warning.”
Maddock steered us back down the path, then teleported us back to his house the moment we were out of sight.
“Well?” he demanded as I grasped the back of a chair for balance. “What did you feel as we approached the barrier?”
I blinked. “The same magic tingles as usual,” I said. “Why?”
“You didn’t experience any kind of nausea or other unpleasant symptoms?”