“Although, I think I’m starting to understand this rule,” Gavin said, observing the guys stumbling over one another. “They seem to have a significantly lower tolerance for ale.”
“How can you say that?” I asked. “You don’t know how much any of them had to drink.”
“Have you ever been so inebriated that you couldn’t form cogent sentences or walk straight?”
“You may have a point,” I said, entering the house. “Just try to blend in.”
We stepped into the home met with a swarm of bodies. I took off my jacket, finding it warm in there with so many people. Gavin shook his head in disgust, making me smile. We rarely entered the Human Realm, mostly because we were unfamiliar with their customs but the look on Gavin’s face was priceless. He didn’t even try to act as though he belonged. Even though the women were enticing, he stood undeterred from the reason we were here.
No, this was just another task for him. He wanted to complete our mission and go home as soon as possible. I, however, liked having the opportunity to visit and explore this realm since we were only meant to guard the palace. In fact, I welcomed the opportunity. Not that we had much of a choice. Prince Aurelio would have our heads on a pike if we didn’t return with the gift for his betrothed.
“We should split up,” I suggested.
“Why?” he asked.
“Because you’re doing a poor job of blending in. I’ll do better on my own.”
He snorted. “I’m much better at tracking than you.”
“Sounds like a challenge. Two night shifts at the palace—once we’re official, of course—to the one who finds it first?”
“That is a wager you will lose.” He retreated with a renewed purpose, eager to leave me in search of the gift.
I was just happy to not have him around so that I could indulge in this rare occasion. If this was my last night of freedom, I wanted to take full advantage of it. Our punishment could wait another day.
Chapter Seven
Keri
I adjusted the wings of my costume while appraising myself in the wall mounted mirror. If I hurried, I could still make it to the Halloween party.
I flicked off the lights and texted Tasha on my way out the door. See you at the party.
I still used Jasper’s truck, figuring the evening should be on him. I’d return his truck tomorrow. Tonight was on him.
I drove down Lafayette Street and took a left on Ford Street to the house party that Tasha had been talking about for weeks. I was actually glad I was going to get a chance to go. I needed to blow off some steam. I worked all the time and seldom had the chance to go out with friends. That was going to change starting tonight.
The street was packed with cars when I got there, so I had to drive back around to park a few blocks away. No biggie. It was a nicer part of town and I wasn’t worried about anyone wanting to steal Jasper’s hunk of junk.
I hastened my steps, my wings fluttering in the night air as though I were a true fairy.
“Nice wings,” a guy in a toga said.
“Thanks,” I said, running up the steps and into the fraternity house.
I made my way through the crowd to get to the keg and poured a beer. The rock music was loud, so I didn’t bother trying to call Tasha. I texted her and tucked my phone in my pocket so that I could feel it vibrate when she replied.
Swaying to the music, I let the undulating bodies surround me as I lost myself to the melody. Hands wrapped around my waist, prompting me to open my eyes. He was gorgeous. Short dark blond hair, ocean blue eyes, chiseled jawline. Definitely not your average frat boy.
“Hi. I’m Keri.”
He smiled. My eyes were drawn to his lips, because the music was so loud I couldn’t hear him. He mouthed something to me.
“What?” I said.
He leaned in. “I said hello.” He moved back to look at me, pointed across the room for me to follow him, and headed in that direction.
We reached the hallway where it was easier to hear him.
“Much better,” he said. “Mekhi. I think you said you’re Keri.”
I nodded. “Yes, nice to meet you.”
“Likewise.”
“I hope you don’t mind that I pulled you away. You seemed like you were enjoying the music.”
“No, this is fine. I want to talk to you. Do you go to school here?”
“No. Not yet.”
What? There was no way he was a freshman. My eyes roamed over his body making out the outline of his muscles that bulged against his t-shirt.
“I just moved here,” he added. “Thought I’d see the school first and then some nice girls invited me to this party.”
I bet they did. He was hot. “Oh, that was nice of them.”
“Wasn’t it?”
I started to ask where he was from when I noticed my cousin dancing in between two frat brothers. I turned to Mekhi, dreading potentially losing him in this crowd, but I had to get my underage cousin away from those guys.
“You know her?” He hitched his head at my cousin.
“Yes, I’m sorry but I need to—”
“Of course.”
Most of my beer sloshed over the cup as I moved through crowd. In the midst of her hooking an arm around the frat guy’s neck, she spotted me and waved me over. Then frowned when I pried her out of their arms.
“What the hell, Keri? Those guys are hot.”
“And too old for you.”
Her eyebrows almost reached her hairline, horrified that I practically yelled she was jail bait. “Thanks a lot, cous.”
“What are you even doing here?” I asked.
“I told you I was going to a party.”
“Right but I had no idea it was a college party. Does Grandma know?”
She lowered her chin. “You know she doesn’t know.”
“I’m taking you home.”
“What? No.” She pouted. “I’ve been cooped up in the house for two weeks. This is the first time I’ve been out and I just want to have fun tonight. Come on. Like you never went to a party with older kids.”
I did, obviously, but I knew better now and I didn’t want anything to happen to her.
“Please, I won’t drink anything. Besides I haven’t seen you in so long.”
“I know.”
She grinned like she knew I was caving in.
“Fine, but then you have to go straight home.”
“Promise.”
“Okay.”
“Yay!” She squealed and wrapped her arms around me. “I’m so glad you were able to come out tonight. Where’s Tasha? Is she here?”
“I don’t know.” I glanced behind me, finding Mekhi was gone. “She was supposed to be here, but I haven’t seen her yet.”
“She’ll turn up.”
“Yeah. It’s okay. It’ll give us time to catch up. Come on. I think I saw some empty seats on the sofa.” I hadn’t seen her in almost a year and she’d blossomed into a gorgeous young lady. So much so that she looked old enough to get into this party. Not that there was anyone guarding the door. Still, she looked like a college student.
She nudged my arm playfully. “You’d know if you came around more often.”
“You do know why I left. Right?” I sat at an angle so that I was facing her more. “What did they tell you?”
“Oh, you know Jasper. He’s always going on about how you think you’re too good to work with our family.”
“Trust me if you knew what they were doing, you wouldn’t want to have any part of it either.”
“Is it that bad?”
She hadn’t come into her powers yet, so they wouldn’t tell her about their dealings until her ability manifested. The choice would be hers, but I’d make sure I’d be there to support her if she decided to leave too.
“Oh, honey, you know tradition dictates that I wait until you’re eighteen.”
She shook her head. “I don’t understand why I have to wait.”
“Because if you don
’t you won’t have command over your ability. It’s how it’s always been. Remember, Uncle Nate?”
She scrunched her nose. “He moved to Alaska for that job.”
I shook my head.
“Really?”
He thought the rule was archaic and superstitious and decided not to wait for the ritual to bless him. After he started using his power, he was never able to gain control over it again. “Well, he did move to Alaska but it wasn’t for a job. It was to isolate himself.”
“Now you’re starting to freak me out.”
“It’s fine. Your dad has to wait until you’re eighteen to enact the ceremony and when that happens just call me and I’ll come get you. Okay?” She shifted on the sofa, ruminating over it. “I wish I could have taken you with me, but I don’t want that to happen to you and your dad would lose his shit if I even tried.”
“No kidding.” She sat back, deflated.
“You will be fine. I will be there for you.” To take her mind off it, I pulled her back to the living room to dance again. We still had time. Her birthday was in seven months, which meant she was safe for now.
I twirled her around and we danced until her phone buzzed. She showed me the screen. It was from our grandma.
I’m outside. We’re going home. Now.
“Shit. How did she know I was here?”
“I don’t know, but I’m not surprised. You should go before she comes in here.”
“Ugh, don’t say that. I’m going.” She hugged me. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
As she made a dash for the door, Mekhi strolled past her with a beer in his hand and walked towards me.
Chapter Eight
Keri
“I thought you left,” I said, sipping from what was left of my beer.
He showed me his phone. “I left it in the washroom and went back to retrieve it.”
The washroom? I thought, grinning. Who was this guy?
“Where did you say you were from?” I asked, intrigued.
He palmed the back of his head. “The south.”
Hmm, he did have a debonair quality about him, except he didn’t have an accent. “Born and raised?”
“No, my family moved quite a bit when I was young and we ended up settling in Texas.”
“That must have been fun—moving all the time.”
“It wasn’t so—” he started, but was cut off when some coeds, bumped into him in passing.
He collided into me, spilling his beverage on my costume.
“I’m terribly sorry.” He set his beer down in search of napkins.
“It’s not your fault.” I opened my purse and sent the rest of its contents tumbling to the floor when I pulled out my scarf. He crouched down to help me pick everything up and halted when he saw the bracelet, then slowly picked it up to study it. “I can be such a klutz sometimes.”
I stretched out my hand in front of him when he didn’t immediately hand the bracelet over.
He hesitated for a moment, but handed it to me. “That is lovely.”
“It is pretty. I honestly meant to leave it home, but neglected to take it out of my purse before I came here.”
“Right,” a guy with shoulder length dark hair said, standing over me, “give it to me.”
“What?” I stood up, placing it back into my purse. “Are you crazy? No.”
“Gavin, hold on a second,” Mekhi said, stepping in between us.
“You know this jerk?” I said.
“Jerk?” Gavin replied, scowling at me with menacing brown eyes. “She has it.”
“And she’s keeping it.” I spun around, headed out the door, and across the lawn.
“Nice try,” Gavin said, latching onto my arm. I didn’t realize he’d followed me outside.
“Excuse me. Who do you think you are?” I asked, irritated that he grabbed me. “Let go of me.”
“That doesn’t belong to you.”
“Well, it certainly doesn’t belong to you. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”
“Sorry, can’t do that.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, chopping my free hand across his neck, forcing him to release me. Gagging, his hands went to his throat. Over his shoulders, some other guys were exiting the party, heading in his direction.
They were more than likely his friends coming to his aid, but I didn’t intend on sticking around long enough to confirm it. I backed up and took off down the street. I just needed to get to the truck, but the darn thing was maybe two blocks away, because I had a hard time finding a place to park.
“Hurry up,” Gavin rasped. “She couldn’t have gone too far.”
I kept going, but paused when a dark maroon van stopped at the end of the street. It had tinted windows, so I couldn’t see who was inside. It was probably harmless, but I didn’t like how the van just sat there idling. Like it was waiting for me to pass it.
Yeah, that wasn’t happening.
I backed up, opting to cross the street when the doors of the van slid open and a man leaped from it heading straight for me. Then another joined him.
I slid over the car in front of me and rammed into Gavin.
“Hmm, did you steal from them, too?” He barked at me.
“What? No. I don’t know them,” I replied, trying to move past him, but this time he kept a firm grip on me. “I swear.”
“If you think for one second—”
I shoved my finger behind him at the men approaching us. “Look out.”
He pushed me out of the way while Mekhi spread his hands and propelled the men back with a gale.
I struggled beneath Gavin, grimacing at the pain radiating from my ankle. The galoot landed on me and sprained my damn ankle.
“Get off,” I said, his weight crushing me.
“I just saved your life,” he said but complied and rolled off of me.
Mekhi looked over his shoulder at us. “Get her out of here.”
Gavin nodded, then hoisted me up, making me cry out again. I tried wrenching my arm out of his grasp when he tightened his hold.
“Do you want to die?” he asked. “You won’t make it very far on that foot on your own.”
I obviously didn’t want to die and it would be quicker to let him help me get to the truck. So I stopped fighting him.
“Good,” he said, pulling me away from the melee. “Did you park close by here?”
“Yes, down there.” I held onto him as I hobbled down the street.
When we reached the truck, Gavin held out his hand. “Keys.”
“Not on your life.” He was the reason I’d left the party in the first place and now he expected me to relinquish control of the one thing that could get me the hell out of there. “I don’t think so.”
“You are insufferable.”
I snorted. “Back at ya.”
“You can’t drive in your condition.” He looked back at Mekhi then at me again. “There’s no time for this. Mekhi can’t hold them off for long and right now we’re the only thing keeping those men from taking you.”
Mekhi broke into a sprint towards us. I groaned but shoved the keys in Gavin’s hand and reached for the passenger side door.
Chapter Nine
Gavin
I pulled away from the curve, glancing in the rearview mirror while Mekhi fought off those men. Were they from the palace sent to dispatch us?
It couldn’t be. We’d been very careful not to disclose our gaffe. The prince would be livid, but sending mercenaries after us for our failure would be rash even for him.
Using the air, Mekhi forced the men back once more. Then he ran and vaulted onto the bed of the truck. Those men didn’t try to follow him on foot. They piled back into the van to pursue us.
So, they weren’t fae.
Just nefarious humans and they were after the girl for some reason.
“What did you do?” I asked.
“I told you that I have no idea who those men are,” she said. “How do you know they’re not a
fter you?”
“Because they were waiting for you to pass them so they could grab you. They went straight for you. They only reacted to us when we fought back.”
“Well, it doesn’t prove anything.”
“Oh no?”
“Yes, I saw what Mekhi did with the wind that seemingly came out of nowhere. That’s not normal.”
“That’s absurd. They couldn’t care less about our powers. They were after you and you know it.”
She glared at me but said nothing else.
The truck lurched forward as the maroon van slammed into us, knocking Mekhi onto his back. He righted himself, shooting arctic wind at the van and moving several parked cars in their path so that they couldn’t follow us.
I floored the gas to get away from them. Once I’d covered several miles, Mekhi tapped the roof to let me know we were safe. I eased off the gas and drove towards the motel we were staying in.
“So what are you?” Keri blurted out.
“I beg your pardon?” I said. “What are you?”
She folded her arms, not letting go of this notion that Mekhi and I were the targets. “Human.”
“Well, that explains your rudeness.”
“You’re kidding. You threatened me.”
“I most certainly did not.”
“You followed me out of that party like some thug and manhandled me. No, that’s not threatening at all.”
My shoulders sagged as I took in her slender form. She was much smaller than me in comparison. Most fae were tall, but I was also bulkier. My broad chest and shoulders had taken up half the space of the truck. Of course, I’d frightened her. “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to scare you.”
She shifted in her seat and searched through her bag until her hand resurfaced with a pen and scrap of paper. “You were rude and my reaction was completely warranted.”
I’d already apologized, I wasn’t going to say it again nor would I allow her to deflect what was happening back on me. “You’ve never seen those men before tonight?”
“No, I don’t know them. I don’t know what their problem is.”
A thought came to mind as I recalled an old practice that had been outlawed amongst the fae since the five royal families took the throne. A practice in which the fae traveled to the Human Realm for the sole purpose of taking childbearing females across realms. These men could have targeted her for a similar purpose.
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