A lanky boy with midnight eyes and moonlit hair towered over me a second later, snatching the girl out of reach. Even his snarl was melodic.
The discordant sound wiped the cobwebs from my head, and adrenaline dumped ice down my spine. I leapt to my feet, startling him backward. His lips parted, and the air contracted around me. I ducked my head and ran as hard as my legs would carry me. His music wrapped me in a binding, squeezing my ribs until one popped in an odd countermeasure to his song.
Grunting through the agony, I pushed harder to escape his range. Every slow inch I earned sapped my strength. Lungs and heart thrashed within his gruesome melody. Bone snapped in my left foreleg. Being an old pro with broken bones, the radius was my guess. I stumbled forward, my good paw rolling under, getting pinned beneath me.
Red light burst in an arc around me. I had tripped Isaac’s panic button.
Big hands fisted my fur and yanked me up and up, higher and higher. Paws off the ground, legs dangling. I blasted out a hard breath as a bony shoulder jammed into my gut. Carried. I was being carried. Away from the danger? I touched my nose to the fabric under my chest and inhaled.
Zed.
Safe.
“Wake up.” He jostled me on purpose, and my joints ached. “Hold it together. You’ve got to remember.”
I raised my head and licked his ear, a whine in my throat.
“I know it hurts, Delly, but you didn’t do this for nothing.” He rubbed his fingers through my fur. “We’re almost back to the truck. I won’t hide you under the tarp this time if you stay awake, okay? You can sit up front with me. I’ll even let you stick your head out the window if you want.”
The wolf perked at the idea of her nose surfing the wind, the cool air ruffling her fur.
But I was drifting, an anchor too heavy for the wolf’s buoyant mood to lift.
“Aww hell” was the last thing I heard before I shut my eyes and they stayed that way.
Chapter 18
Burnt metal teased my nose, a wisp of a dream forgotten as soon as my eyes cracked open. I wasn’t at the clinic. I wasn’t at my RV. But I was in an RV. Isaac’s. I recognized the wall in front of me, the feel of the mattress beneath me. I rolled onto my back and spotted a figure slouched in the doorway.
Isaac sat on the floor, his back against the doorframe and his chin resting on his chest. He didn’t snore, but he breathed deep, like even in sleep he was determined to live his life to the fullest. Who knew where his dreams carried him? What brave new worlds he documented behind his eyelids?
One of the books Cam had loaned me carried a single footnote on Gemini, and I couldn’t get it out of my head. The scribble said Gemini were the explorers of Faerie, the adventurers. They quested until they hit a wall, until they had documented every inch of their homeland, and that’s when they came to Earth.
There were no more Gemini in Faerie. They would not stay in a place they had already been. Where they would go once they saw all the sights here, who knew?
I lay there watching him sleep for the longest time. The wolf stared through my eyes, and we soaked up the knowledge he was here, and he was safe. And if he didn’t love us, he cared for us. That would have to be enough. It might be too much.
How could we heal with him so close? How could we bear it if he left again?
We survived once. We’ll survive again.
I couldn’t tell if the encouragement came from the wolf or my own subconscious. Either way, I would take it.
“Hey.” I grabbed a pillow and tossed it at him. “Wake up. Some nurse you are, sleeping on the job.”
Isaac’s head jerked up so fast, he smashed it against the doorframe. “Dell?”
“Who else? What am I doing at your place?” Brain sloshing like soup in a can, I pushed upright and swung my legs over the side of the bed. “I live next door. Why aren’t I in my own bed?”
“There wasn’t enough room for me to watch you there without sharing the mattress with you, and I doubted you would appreciate that.” He shoved to his feet, movements stiff. “Abram checked you out and gave you a pass to go home and sleep off the enchantment.”
“What did Enzo say?” Last time this happened, I’d ended up sucking on a rock.
Isaac’s shoulders went rigid. “He agreed.”
I wiggled my fingers at him. “And they just let you spirit me away?”
His smile exposed teeth. “I asked nicely.”
“Where’s Zed?” Was he so miffed over the gamma thing he let Isaac have me without a fight?
“He lost the coin toss and went to pick up breakfast.”
Relief must have shown on my face.
“We weren’t alone last night.” Muscles in his jaw twitched. “Zed slept on the pullout.”
The bed sat so high, I could almost swing my long legs. “Did you spend all night on the floor?”
“No.” He turned and headed into the kitchen. “That’s just where I ended up when my legs gave out from pacing.”
My arm outstretched toward his retreating back, but I managed not to call his name. The movement brought the red-and-black flannel shirt I wore to my attention. I fingered the soft fabric and summoned all my willpower to prevent myself from sniffing the material.
Now that I was awake enough to wonder, I don’t know what I had expected. Other wargs didn’t care if I was naked or not. They had seen it all. Me nude was nothing newsworthy to them. Even Enzo accepted me in my birthday suit without blinking. But Isaac had clothed me. His fingers knew the geography of my body, and he had covered it while I slept. What did it mean? Did I care what it meant? Most importantly, would he mind if I kept the shirt?
“What do you remember?” Isaac poured amber liquid into a glass then walked it back to me. “Sweet tea is all I’ve got. I hope that’s okay.”
I murmured it was fine. Drinking sweet tea for breakfast wouldn’t offend my Southern sensibilities. “We went back to the field, and I skulked around the stone house we thought was abandoned. It must be glamoured to the rafters, because it’s the opposite of vacant.” A jolt of sugar hit my system and helped prop my eyes open. Isaac brewed his Red Diamond stout and super-duper sweet. “I heard kids, Isaac. A lot of kids.” I lowered my drink. “Two teens—a boy and a girl—seem to be running the place. The robbery was their way of feeding the younger kids.”
“The same message was left at the grocery store and the restaurants, right?” He leaned in the doorway. “That means these fae kids are involved in the disappearances too. Did you spot Mr. O’Malley or Ms. Zhuang?”
“No.” There hadn’t been time. “I only identified one threat, a boy.” I wiped drops of sweat off my glass. “He’s definitely a siren with a voice like that.” Sharp enough to cut, soft enough to caress. “He sang to the children, and it was the most beautiful sound I’ve ever heard.” Reliving those first long notes made my chest ache. “Or at least I thought so until he turned it against me.”
“His voice broke your bones?” An odd note spiked his tone.
“That part I remember very well.” My hand pressed against my ribs. “There was nothing to fight against. It was air. Sound.” I dropped my hand. “We can’t leave them out there. They’re too dangerous. They’re kids but…”
“They’ll bring the humans down on us,” he agreed.
“The trouble in town just started. They can’t have been here that long.” I voiced what bothered me most about the whole situation. “Where did they come from? Where are their parents?”
“We’ll figure that part out later.” He dared me to argue with a tight frown. “Right now we need to focus on how to capture them without getting killed in the process.”
“We can’t hurt them.”
“We won’t if we can help it.” Muscle ticked in his jaw. “They almost killed you. Twice. Kids or not, they’re not going for lucky number three.”
“I need to talk to Cam.” I rubbed my forehead. “She needs to know what we’re up against, and it won’t hurt to ask if she’s got any b
right ideas on how to counteract his power.”
“Call her if you want, but I can tell you the answer.” He toyed with an object on the counter. “The only sure-fire way to combat one siren is with another.”
Icy dread squirmed through my gut, and I fisted his sheets. “Tell me you’ve got some kind of techno toy that bounces sound like sonar or a gadget that emits a high-pitched frequency that will render the boy tone deaf.”
“Given time, I could make either of those happen.” He palmed the object. “We don’t have that luxury. The kids screwed up and let you escape. Their safe house is compromised.”
“We don’t know that.” I flexed my cramping fingers. “They always stayed put before.”
“You stumbling across them the first time could be dismissed as a fluke. What he did to you would have killed a lesser fae. That might explain why they weren’t too worried when you got away. Then Zed came sniffing around, proving they weren’t as safe as they thought. They attacked him and left him for dead.” He balled his hands at his sides. “They would have crushed you like a Coke can if you hadn’t been strong enough to get away, if Zed hadn’t been there to scoop you up and get you home, if you hadn’t pressed the panic button in time for me to have Abram and Enzo in the exam room waiting.”
“That’s a lot of ifs.”
“Too many ifs.”
“How is what you’re proposing any better?” I stood and brought him the glass.
Stubborn to the core, he pressed his lips together.
“Don’t play dumb. It’s not a good look for you. There’s an organic solution, and you know it as well as I do.” My pulse leapt when his fingers brushed mine around the glass. “How are you going to get close enough to the boy to get a drop of his blood?”
Isaac didn’t answer. He put the glass in the sink then revealed the item he’d kept hidden in his palm. The simple leather bracelet from last night was gone, replaced by a thicker band with a digital watch face. “I made some adjustments to my prototype.”
“I see that.” His warm hand gripped my wrist, his thumb smoothing over my pulse to fasten the closure. I had to swallow twice to rediscover my voice. “Why so fancy?”
“It’s a modified smartwatch,” he said, as if that meant anything to me.
“Mmm-hmm.” I jiggled my wrist, but it held flush against my skin. “And that means what, exactly?”
“The GPS functionality is still there.” His finger trailed my wrist bone. “Press this button, and you can call me direct.” His gaze flicked up to meet mine. “Knowing you were hurt but not knowing what was wrong… I can do better. This will allow you to relay messages when other means of communication aren’t viable.” He pressed the button, and his phone rang. He removed it from his pocket and flashed the display at me. Dell. He’d made me one of his contacts. “The panic button works the same way.” Ending the call, he tucked his cell back where it came from and then pressed the watch face. “The surface area is even greater, which means you’ll have an easier time pressing it in either form.”
Red light washed over the walls, fading again in a blink. “You’ve been busy.”
“I was motivated to find a better solution.” A point-blank statement fired right at me.
“Did Zed get an upgrade too?” I removed my hand from his, because it felt too good leaving it there.
“I didn’t have enough time for two,” he admitted without a hint of remorse.
Dull knocks at the front of the trailer saved me from poking at his motives.
“That’s probably Zed,” I prompted, when Isaac didn’t make a move to answer his door.
His lips parted, fingers trailing my arm, but he let his hand fall and went to let Zed in.
“It’s about time,” my reluctant gamma complained. “They were out of trays. Grab some of this off the top, will you?”
Isaac leaned out and reappeared with three paper cups with plastic lids.
The rich scent of roasted coffee hit my nose, and I groaned. “Zed, you’re an angel.”
“She shouldn’t drink so much coffee.” Isaac thumped his haul on the table. “She needs sleep, not stimulants.”
“I was here before you, and I’ll be here long after you.” Zed set down his bags then passed a steaming cup to me. “Don’t tell me how to take care of Dell when you won’t be here to fulfill your own prescription.”
“Play nice.” I punched his shoulder. “You don’t have to pee on my leg. He gets it. We’re BFFs, and your vote trumps his. Especially when it comes to coffee.”
Isaac made himself busy finding silverware and set a roll of paper towels on the table. He waited, places set, to see whose side I would choose. Zed stood beside him, grin cocky. He knew I would sit next to him rather than rub elbows with Isaac.
Except I had woken to find Isaac slumped on the floor, a guardian angel with a crick in his neck. And I was wearing one of his shirts, the fragrance of his skin filling my lungs with each inhale. His bracelet, which must have taken him all night to create, weighted my wrist with a promise he would be there for me.
Until he wasn’t.
This much Isaac exposure did weird things to my head. Like making the teensy part of my brain that didn’t require caffeine to function agree he might be right about the cream-and-sugar crutch I had been limping around on lately. That alone was proof the man drove me crazy.
I cozied up to Zed, and Isaac took it as a hard pass on my part. He slid into the booth opposite us and opened his container. Zed’s glee earned him another punch in the shoulder. Sticking out my tongue, I pushed my food across and sat next to Isaac. His eyebrows shot up his forehead, and a pleased expression settled on his features. Zed glowered at me, and I kicked him under the table.
Be nice, I mouthed.
Zed dug into his meal. I did too. The wolf had expended too many calories the night before, and coffee only made us feel invincible. It wasn’t the cure-all I wanted it to be. Isaac ate slower. We had finished by the time he started on his eggs, so I caught Zed up to speed on what I had discovered.
“What’s our next move?” Zed picked at the lid to his orange juice. “Now that you’ve had coffee, I expect to be blown away by your strategic brilliance.”
“We get Isaac close enough to steal a drop of blood from the siren boy, and he uses the kid’s magic against him. Once we have the boy subdued, the others will fall in line.”
“What about the girl?” He leaned forward. “Do you think they’re an item? Siblings? Either way, she’s not going to thank you for taking him down.”
“We don’t know what she is—or what the others are. Based on her age and her tone, my guess is she’s the one crafting the glamours that protect them. We’ll have to be careful. Just because they let him do the heaving lifting doesn’t mean they’re not powerful in their own right.” I downed the last inch of my first cup of coffee and started on the second. “We also have to keep in mind they may have hostages.”
“Kids,” Zed breathed. “Why did it have to be kids?”
“Children are prey in Faerie.” Isaac finished his breakfast. “Even earthborn fae are raised to fear the old ways, the predators who thrive on sweetmeats. These kids are cornered prey, and they’ll know it once they spot the wargs coming.” He shut the container’s lid then reached for his drink, which smelled of spices and made me think of chai…and Cam. How I wished the alphas were here to make this call instead of me. “Underestimate them, and they will kill you. They aren’t half as innocent as they would have you believe. None of us are.”
The doubt hanging over Zed was palpable. “They’re kids.”
“Some fae breeds don’t come into their powers until puberty. Others are born with magic in their fingertips.” His lips pressed hard together. “I almost killed my brother once. We were two. One of Mom’s short-term renters was a manticore, and he brought his son over when he came to pay rent one week. I pricked his finger before she realized what happened. I sprouted a scorpion tail, freaked out so badly my hindbrain took o
ver, and stabbed the nearest threat. Theo.”
“That’s horrible.” Needing to comfort him, I rested my hand on his arm. “But it wasn’t your fault.”
“My brother would have been just as dead if the manticore hadn’t traveled with antivenin in case of emergencies like that one.”
What could you say to that? He had made his point. As much as I hated the thought of harming kids, I had to be prepared to defend the pack against all threats. That included ones not out of diapers that could atomize us with a sneeze.
Chapter 19
I called a pack meeting at the office to discuss strategy. That left two of the most capable Stoners in charge of patrolling the perimeter of the wards. With those in place, I was less afraid of their inexperience than I otherwise would have been. Like starting kids out with bumpers in the gutters at a bowling alley.
“Thanks for coming.” I smiled out across all those familiar faces. “Except you, Isaac.” I winked at the others. “Never thank a fae, remember?”
Chuckling, they nodded dutifully.
“I have some news, but first I want updates. It’s been too long since we all sat down together and talked.” I was burning precious moments, yes, but this type of unity was what glued packs together. The warm glow in my center told me the wolf was pleased, and that meant the others would be basking in their own contentment too. “Who wants to go first?”
Haden’s hand shot up in the air. “The Stoners are driving me insane. They’re like big, furry kids who won’t share their toys or food or oxygen if they can help it. Can I not be the liaison?”
“Request denied.” I banged my fist on the desk gavel-style. “You’re performing a valuable service to the pack, and you’re great at it. You’re a people person, and they relate to you. You’re smart enough and tough enough to keep them in line. Plus you’re the youngest, and you get stuck with the shite duties. It’s all in the fine print. Sorry you didn’t read your contract.”
“We didn’t sign contracts,” he protested.
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