Good Luck

by KM Mahoney

  “But—”

  “You can give your brothers directions to your place. I want my own bed tonight because honestly? While I love your house, your mattress sucks.”

  “Alli, I’m not leaving you alone all night,” Michael said in a harsh voice.

  “Well, of course you’re not.” Silly man. “You’ll be here.”

  “I don’t think— Wait, what?”

  “Go have a drink,” Alli advised. “You’re stressed out.”

  “Gee, I wonder why.”

  “There’s no need to be nasty,” Alli said indignantly.

  “Sorry.” Michael sighed. “I’m just worried about you.”

  “No need,” Alli assured his overprotective lover. “It’s only six-thirty and so far, everything has happened after dark. You’ll be back well before then. I’ll be safe.” He reiterated the last part emphatically.

  A long pause reached Alli, Michael obviously trying to think up some new arguments.

  “I need some time by myself, Michael,” Alli said quietly. “It’s been a long week. I need a long hot shower and a while to decompress.”

  “You’re sure you’ll be okay?” Michael asked with reluctance.

  “Absolutely.”

  “All right.”

  Alli nearly cheered when Michael gave in, but he thought that might make the man reconsider.

  “But I’ll only be gone an hour,” Michael added.

  “Sure, that’s fine. See you then.”

  Alli hung up before Michael could say anything else. He stood in the middle of the living room, waiting with bated breath, until he heard a vehicle pull away. The instant the engine faded, Alli stuck his head out of the front door, looking around cautiously.

  All clear.

  Alli pulled the door shut, locked it and darted down the sidewalk.

  He’d told Michael he would be safe. He’d never said anything about where.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Flora looked eerie after hours, locked up tight and windows darkened. The plants in the front windows created strange, dark smudges on the glass. Alli slipped the key into the lock and pushed the door open carefully. The bell jingled lightly.

  Alli took a deep breath, smelling plants, moist earth…and magic. Very familiar magic.

  Oh, he was going to kill the jerk. Alli scowled, anger swiftly wiping out any hint of unease he might have felt.

  He planted his hands on his hips, braced his legs, tossed back his head, and shouted into the dark.

  “Magnetious Alexander Flame, get your scrawny ass out here right now!”

  Alli’s voice rang through the store, echoing off the bare holes where merchandise and foliage used to be. The sound faded away, replaced by a deep, unnatural silence.

  “Stupid, idiotic…” Alli stamped deeper into the store. When he reached the counter, he flipped the switch under one edge. The lights slowly flickered to life, the bright bulbs illuminating corners and chasing away shadows.

  “I’m not going to ask again,” Alli warned. He took another deep breath, this one in preparation. It was risky using his magic on this side, very, very risky. But here in his sanctuary, surrounded by the children of Nature, Alli’s power was strongest, easiest to call. It could still backfire, but the chance was lower. So long as he didn’t try anything complicated, that was.

  Alli flexed his fingers, concentrating with every ounce of his being. He didn’t want an actual spell, that would just warp and twist, but if he called up raw power and shoved…

  Alli was so focused on his inner self he didn’t hear the rustle. The body slammed into his side and he yelped, flying sideways.

  He hit the tiled floor and slid, fetching up against the base of a folding table. Plants and pots rained down around him.

  Alli yelled, arms coming up to protect his head as shards of pottery slammed into him.

  “Mother of—”

  That wasn’t him.

  Alli kicked out, grunting in satisfaction when his toes connected with something soft.

  “Goddamn fairy bastard!”

  “Look who’s talking,” Alli retorted.

  Alli shook his head, dirt cascading out of his hair. He blinked a few times to clear his eyes.

  Piercing blue eyes glared fiercely out of an almost impossibly narrow face. A sneer graced full lips that would have otherwise been attractive.

  Well, this was unexpected.

  “Marandon?” Alli gaped. “What are you doing here?”

  Alli’s former lover almost snarled, rage twisting his stark features. “What do you think?”

  “I honestly can’t even imagine.”

  “You ruined everything!” Marandon bellowed.

  “Me?” Alli braced both hands on Marandon’s slender chest and shoved. The fairy toppled over backward and Alli scrambled to his feet. “I’m the one who had to flee to Earth! Do you have any idea what it’s like, living here? How blasted hard it is?”

  “Seems like you did all right,” Marandon retorted. “You always did have the most damnable luck. I knew you would land on your feet.”

  The curses flew to Alli’s lips, spilling out so fast the individual words were pretty much indistinguishable.

  “You wrecked my store,” he accused. “You killed my plants!”

  “Oh, get over it,” Marandon snarled.

  “Why?” The word came out too damn close to a wail but Alli was past caring. He was angry and hurt and this was a huge mistake. He should have waited for Michael.

  It was a stupid time to realize that he didn’t want to be independent anymore. That maybe sometimes, it was okay to lean on someone else, particularly someone named Michael.

  “I thought if you were scared you’d come running back home,” Marandon said.

  “Well, that’s a stupid thought.”

  “You really haven’t changed. You’re still a grumpy jerk.”

  “Then why the hell did we ever get together? You clearly can’t stand me.”

  “There weren’t any other options,” Marandon muttered.

  “I thought you would have been glad to see the last of me,” Alli pointed out, crossing his arms over his chest.

  “I was! Then everything went wrong. The king found out you were banished and he completely lost it! The man’s gone insane.”

  Alli sputtered at the pure arrogance of Marandon. No one insulted the king. Not if they wanted to live longer than a few more weeks.

  Marandon continued, utterly oblivious, warming up to his rant. “He started digging and found out about the Fayte’s tolerance for differences.”

  “Which are none,” Alli stated.

  “That’s not true,” Marandon protested. “But the king decided he wouldn’t tolerate our traditions. He’s all about equality and living in harmony.”

  “Imagine that, what a horrible goal for his kingdom,” Alli drawled in his heaviest sarcastic tone.

  “He fined our nobles, raised the taxes, increased patrols. He’s making life impossible!”

  “I still don’t see what this has to do with me,” Alli said.

  “My parents are furious.” Marandon was pacing now, hands clasped behind his back, dark wings fluttering madly. “They refuse to keep paying for my lifestyle.”

  “Now we get to it.”

  “Your parents are having regrets. They actually demanded reparations from my family!”

  “Good for them.”

  “You caused it! If you came back, came home, everything could go back the way it was!”

  Alli blinked. That made absolutely no sense at all. Absolutely. None.

  He guessed the nutty didn’t have much use for logic. And Marandon was clearly nutty. Alli wondered how he’d never seen it before.

  “Go home,” Alli ordered. “I’m not going back. I have a life here. I’m happy. You’re the cause of the problem, not me, and it’s not my job to fix your mess.”

  “I need you!”

  “No, you want me. And you can’t have me.”

  “You’r
e damned right, you can’t.”

  Oh, good Lord, not now. Alli squeezed his eyes closed before swiveling around. He pried one eyelid, just a bit, hoping he’d imagined… Nope. Michael stood framed in the doorway, fierce and growly and looking more pissed off than Alli had ever seen him.

  “Marandon? I would run,” Alli advised. “Now.”

  Marandon had never been the brightest Fayte Alli had known. He stayed.

  “Who is he?” Marandon asked belligerently.

  “My boyfriend.”

  Damn. That furious shriek hurt. Alli couldn’t hold back a wince, and he really wanted to cover his ears. However, with Michael growling away, it probably wasn’t a good idea.

  “Michael, I have this all under control.”

  Okay, that wasn’t a good idea, either. Apparently, Michael wasn’t in the mood to be soothed.

  “I’ll get to you later,” Michael snarled. “In the meantime, who is he and can I eat him?”

  “Marandon, and no, you can’t.”

  “He’s irritating.”

  “Yes, he is.”

  “And loud.”

  “That, too.”

  “Unless I miss my guess,” Tristan said from behind Michael, “he’s also the one who was sneaking around Alli’s backyard.”

  Michael lunged for Marandon. Marandon yelled and backed into another table, which collapsed with a humongous crash. Alli latched on to Michael’s arm and tried to stop his forward momentum. It was a bit like trying to hold a car in place with a rope.

  “Not helping,” Alli shouted at Tristan. “Now do something constructive.”

  “I’m enjoying this too much,” Tristan replied. “Best farce I’ve seen in years.”

  “I am going to hurt you, just see if I don’t.”

  “Enough!”

  Alli had never been so glad to hear Chris’ familiar bellow.

  The man in question stomped into the room, looking hard and cold. Not good.

  “You,” he barked, pointing at Tristan. “Keep your mouth shut. Michael, move another inch and I will slap you in handcuffs. And you won’t like it. Little strange man, don’t do anything stupid. You I will just shoot.”

  Then that angry focus turned to Alli.

  “And you. Start explaining. Quickly.”

  “He’s an old lover,” Alli said hurriedly. “Never anything serious, but we were caught together. The Elders were enraged and disgusted, traditional old bastards that they are. Marandon’s family is influential, though, so I took the blame. They kicked me out, I came here—”

  “Today, Alli!”

  “Right. Sorry. Apparently, things have gotten a bit messy back in Faerie.”

  Alli managed to sum up Marandon’s weird theories in a few succinct sentences. Tristan listened with utter absorption. Evan, who had arrived halfway through the story, just looked confused. Chris’ expression didn’t change very much, but at least Alli didn’t feel like the deputy was going to shoot anyone in the next few minutes.

  Alli couldn’t bring himself to look at Michael to see how he was handling the situation. Honestly? Alli was terrified. He’d screwed up this time. Maybe for the last time. Michael had put up with a lot since they’d met. What if this latest incident was the last straw? Then what?

  God help him. If that happened, Alli just might give in to Marandon and go back to Faerie.

  Alli wrapped up his story and took a deep breath.

  “So,” Chris drawled. The edge in that one word sent a small chill up Alli’s spine. Chris’ good-natured front had fooled more than one person into overlooking the dangerous man buried underneath.

  “So?” Evan urged when Chris stopped talking.

  “So, you’re the one who’s been causing problems in my territory.”

  Marandon folded his arms and donned that supercilious smirk he’d no doubt learned at the age of two. It was very well practiced. “Maybe. However, I don’t believe this is any of your business. I am here to speak with Alli, not you.”

  “Actually,” Alli interjected. “I believe you were here to cause more destruction and mayhem. Talking was never really your strong point, particularly if it wasn’t about you.”

  “I’m handling this,” Chris snapped. “And it does concern me. I wonder how your precious Elders would feel if I let them know you’d been entering other realms and committing crimes.”

  “I didn’t… I wasn’t… You can’t contact them!” Marandon finished triumphantly. “You’re human. The Elders wouldn’t believe you.”

  “Oh, no? I may be human, but I’m also the primary law enforcement officer in a town almost entirely inhabited by paranormals. I have a lot of contacts, a lot of friends, and a solid reputation. In fact, why don’t I bypass the Elders entirely? I’m sure your king would be—”

  “You wouldn’t!” Marandon screeched.

  “He would,” Tristan said. “And if he doesn’t, I just might.”

  “I suggest you leave immediately and don’t return. In exchange, I won’t tell the king. The Elders, however, will be informed. They will also be told that I expect them to watch your actions and ensure this doesn’t happen again.”

  “Wait!” Alli took a step forward, jerking to a stop when Michael grabbed his arm, keeping Alli from getting too close to Marandon. “How did you fake the signature?”

  “Huh?” The word emerged in stereo from multiple voices.

  “By the hedge,” Alli clarified. “You have to be using portals to cross over, but the only magical signature I picked up was from my brother.”

  “You have a brother?” Evan asked. “Neat. Do we get to meet him?”

  Evan yelped in pain when Tristan smacked him alongside the head.

  Alli manfully ignored the exchange. “Well, Marandon?”

  “You picked up your brother’s signature because I had him open the portals,” Marandon said smugly. “Your brother misses you and thought if he helped me, you would come home.”

  “And that way no one could trace the incidents to you,” Tristan added.

  “Precisely. Wait, no.” Marandon tried to backtrack as he realized he’d just admitted everything to more than just Alli, but it was too late.

  “All right,” Alli said. “Questions answered. Now you can go.”

  “But Flame won’t open the portal for another twenty minutes,” Marandon protested. “I can’t—”

  “Open your own damn portal,” Chris snarled. “Just get the hell out of my jurisdiction.”

  Alli studied Marandon with narrowed eyes. “There’s another reason you needed my brother,” he suddenly said. “You’re not powerful enough to cross between the realms.”

  The belligerent expression on the face Alli had once thought handsome confirmed his suspicions.

  “Fine,” Chris bellowed. He stalked forward, pushing Michael aside. Marandon backed up in alarm but Chris latched on to the man’s arm. “You can come with me, then. I’ll stick you in a cell until I can find a witch capable of opening up a doorway.”

  “Careful,” Alli called as Chris stalked away, dragging a protesting fairy behind. “In another hour or so his magic is going to start going haywire!”

  Chris waved over his shoulder in a brief acknowledgement. The door clanged closed, leaving Alli alone with the Lakkis brothers.

  It was actually over. It took a moment for the thought to sink in. After the last week, the whole scene seemed a bit anticlimactic. Marandon was an annoyance, but Alli had trouble thinking of the man as a real, honest threat to his safety.

  “I think I’m going to… You know, Maryanne is probably wondering… I should go call her.” Evan kept a wary eye on the youngest Lakkis as he fled the shop.

  Tristan smirked. “You’re on your own,” he told Alli.

  Then he, too, was gone, leaving Alli alone with Michael. Alli could literally feel the anger vibrating in the still air. He turned, raised his eyes slowly from the floor.

  Michael’s eyes were dark and hard with emotion. The fury was there, yes, but so was hurt.
A lot of hurt.

  Alli swallowed hard, mind racing for something, anything, to take that mixture of emotions from Michael’s eyes. The anger he could cope with. It was the disappointment and pain in Michael’s gaze that kept Alli struggling for words.

  How the hell did he fix this?

  Chapter Eighteen

  “You don’t.”

  Alli had obviously once again spoken his thoughts aloud without meaning to, judging by the surprise on his face.

  Well, too bad. Michael wasn’t feeling very sympathetic at the moment. Although he was such a mess inside, it was impossible to tell exactly what he was feeling.

  Taking in Alli’s guilty visage, Michael felt his anger drain away with shocking suddenness. He was just…tired.

  “I don’t even know what to say to you,” Michael admitted softly.

  “You can yell, if you want.” Damn if the man didn’t sound hopeful.

  Michael shook his head. “I’m not even mad anymore. Just…why, Alli? Why do you keep fighting me? What possibly possessed you to come here, alone, and face that jerk?”

  “I thought I was going to find my brother! And Marandon is harmless, really.”

  “But you didn’t know that!” Michael’s anger was stirring again at the thought. Or no, was that fear? Anything could have happened to Alli. Anything.

  “I did. Sort of. Look—”

  “You told me you wouldn’t leave the house!”

  “No,” Alli corrected. “What I said is I would stay safe.”

  “You didn’t do that, either!”

  “I didn’t mean to put myself in danger,” Alli protested. “When we were poking around the backyard, I caught the residues of magic used to keep a portal open. I recognized the signature as Maggi’s.”

  “Who?”

  “My brother, remember? I thought, since he had been in the yard, that it must be him behind the vandalism and attempted break-in. I wanted to talk to him, figure out why he was doing it.”

  “And it never occurred to you that he might be dangerous?” Michael snarled.

  “Maggi would never hurt me.”

  “And you can be damn naïve.”

  The silence stretched out uncomfortably. Alli wouldn’t look at him. Probably smart of him. Michael wasn’t fully in control.