Iron Master (Shifters Unbound Book 12)

by Jennifer Ashley

  Heat shot through Reid’s body, and his heart banged. “So am I.”

  “Uh-oh.”

  Reid jerked his head up and glanced around, thinking someone was coming upon them, but Peigi had her gaze fixed on him.

  “Uh-oh what?” he asked nervously.

  “We’ll have to have Shane or Nell stay over again. Because once the frenzy takes hold, we won’t be doing anything else for a while.”

  Reid growled in his throat, a very Shifter sound. “I am so looking forward to that.” He was tempted to start immediately, but he knew that if Graham expected them, he’d storm around and pull Reid out of the house, even if Reid was deep in bed with a mate-frenzied Peigi.

  “I’m looking forward to it too.”

  Peigi’s whisper chased the fires already burning inside him. Reid kissed her, harder this time, fingers threading her hair, but instead of relieving tension, the kiss only ramped it up.

  When he eased from the kiss, Peigi gazed up at him, a half-smile on her lips. Reid knew that if Peigi refused him it would be the hardest thing he faced in his life. Even the hoch alfar dumping him in the human world and sealing him from his home would be nothing in comparison.

  Peigi unwound their fingers and walked on, her back view enticing. Reid waved at the Shifters he knew lingered behind the window, and quickly followed her.

  Graham was at home, as Eric had said, dealing with a cub thing. That turned out to be Kyle and Matt on the roof attempting to set up a skateboard run. They’d already constructed a few ramps, Misty told Peigi and Stuart when they arrived, which Dougal, Graham’s nephew and second, quickly dismantled, but Kyle and Matt rebuilt as fast as Dougal tore down.

  Graham stood on the roof yelling at everyone, but Misty was in the kitchen, calmly making tea. Her cub, a boy called Hamish, sat in a high chair, slamming his fists against the tray, threatening to topple the baby bottle on it and making almost as much noise as Graham on the roof. Hamish had a thick quantity of black hair on his head and penetrating wolf-gray eyes.

  “Want some tea?” Misty asked cheerfully after she invited Peigi and Stuart inside. “I heard Stuart made the mate claim.”

  Peigi halted, eyes widening. “How did you know that?”

  “Nell called me, right after you left Eric’s.” Misty’s smile widened. “She also told me to keep it quiet, as you hadn’t given your answer yet, but I thought I should warn you. All Shiftertown will know within the hour, I’d bet.”

  Stuart showed no alarm at the prospect. “I don’t mind.” He brushed the back of Peigi’s arm, sending pleasant tingles through her. “Think Graham’s in the mood to chat?”

  “I think he’s in the mood to chain the cubs in the basement. Not that chains would keep them in.” A huge bang on the high chair caught her attention. Misty rescued the bottle that six-month-old Hamish had smashed to the tray, and set it upright. Both tray and bottle were made of sturdy material, built to withstand the strength of a baby Shifter. “You can always try. You’ll have to go up on the roof, though. Graham won’t come down until the cubs do.”

  “I can deal with that.” Stuart kissed Peigi’s cheek. “Be right back.”

  He vanished with a pop. Peigi, used to it, didn’t even blink in the rush of air he left behind. Hamish stared, wide-eyed, then he squealed with laughter and banged the tray with gleeful enthusiasm.

  “He wants an encore.” Misty went to Hamish and brushed a tender, motherly kiss to his head. “So, the mate claim,” she said to Peigi. “Are you ready for that? Everyone at Eric’s was trying to push you into it, right?”

  “They were.” Peigi sighed, the weight of their expectations pressing at her.

  “That’s because they want you to be happy.” Misty moved to the counter, poured a cup of steaming tea, and brought it to Peigi. “If you’re happy, they can stop worrying about you. Problem solved—for them.”

  Peigi took the warm cup, inhaling the tea’s rose-scented fragrance. “Cassidy and Diego rescued me. Eric mate-claimed me temporarily so the male Shifters wouldn’t pounce on me as fair game. Nell has made me an honorary member of her clan so she can protect me further. I owe them everything.”

  “Do not accept a mate claim because you feel obligated to Eric and his family,” Misty said sternly. “Or Nell and hers. It’s not fair to you, and it’s not fair to Stuart.”

  “Stuart.” Peigi repeated his name with longing. “Is it fair to him for me to accept?”

  Misty gave her a sage look. “You mean keeping him with you when he’s being asked to help his people, don’t you?”

  “Yes.” Peigi sipped the tea but decided she was too restless to handle dainty bits of porcelain and set the cup on the counter. “How can I keep him with me when dokk alfar might die by the hundreds if he doesn’t go? At the same time, I know if Stuart fights, there’s a good chance he’ll be killed himself. I mean, high Fae with poisoned arrows? Against Stuart and a few people Cian puts together?” Peigi realized Misty might not know the whole story and what she was talking about, but her fears poured out of her. “It will be slaughter. Stuart can do tricks with iron, but even with that, he can’t take on the entire Fae army by himself. And there are Shifters working for the Fae, who aren’t bothered by iron touching them, or bothered by killing dokk alfar.”

  Peigi ended up in the middle of the room, arms jammed over her chest, tears on her cheeks.

  Misty went to her. The smaller woman reached up and wrapped her arms around Peigi, pulling her close. Misty smelled a bit like rose petals herself, and her softness was comforting.

  “I know,” she said. “Trust me, Graham gets himself into horrible situations, and I can only wait and worry. You, on the other hand, are a kick-ass bear. You can make sure Stuart survives.”

  “And if we’re both killed?” Peigi asked. “What happens to the cubs?”

  Misty pulled away but rested comforting hands on Peigi’s arms. “In this Shiftertown? If Nell and Cormac, or Iona and Eric, or Cassidy and Diego don’t take them in, I know Graham would. He’s all growly, but he adores cubs. The more the better.”

  At that moment, Graham’s voice rattled the windows. “Matt! I said no! Put that down!”

  The two women looked at each other and burst out laughing. Hamish banged the tray, gurgling baby squeals, happy in his mother’s presence, with his father’s voice ringing down from on high.

  The roof of Graham’s two-story house was mostly flat, as was typical in this older desert neighborhood. A large AC unit and various exhaust fans and pipes poked out of the roof at intervals like stunted metal trees.

  The two wolf cubs had built a series of ramps out of plywood and crates, plus a wide plastic board that had once been a slide on a play set, and PVC pipe of various lengths. Dougal, the wiry young wolf who was Graham’s second, and Graham himself, had given up trying to dismantle the obstacle course and settled for making certain it was sound. Matt pounding at anything and everything with a hammer wasn’t helping with the noise.

  “Uncle Stuart!” The little boys shouted in unison when Reid abruptly teleported onto the roof.

  “Hi, Uncle Stuart!” Kyle ran at him while Matt continued to smash his hammer against PVC pipe until the pipe broke. “We didn’t rescue you this time,” Kyle yelled. “Uncle Ben did.”

  “He did indeed,” Reid said. The view from the roof was good, the house taller than those around them. From this vantage point, Graham could observe all Shiftertown. “By the way, have you seen Ben?” Reid asked Graham.

  “No,” Graham growled.

  Matt raised his head. “I have. He was just here.”

  “What?” Graham demanded. “When was this?”

  “You were busy arguing with Dougal. He explained how to make that.” Matt pointed with his hammer to a complicated setup of four low ramps bolted to a wide crate.

  “Yeah?” Graham asked. “How did he get up and down without me seeing?”

  Matt and Kyle glanced around, brows furrowing in perplexity. They went to the lip of the
roof and glanced over at the long ladder against the side of the house as though expecting Ben to be clinging to it. “Maybe he can fly,” Matt suggested. “Or teleport, like Uncle Stuart.”

  Graham turned his scowl on Stuart. “Perfectly good ladder right there. Why didn’t you use it instead of scaring the shit out of us?”

  “I wasn’t scared,” Kyle said confidently.

  The ladder was spindly, resting on two narrow feet far, far below. A Shifter wouldn’t think anything of climbing it, but Reid shuddered.

  “No thanks,” Reid said with feeling. “I wanted to make it without broken bones.”

  Graham continued to scowl. He always had to growl to Reid about his teleporting—it was like a greeting ritual.

  “Eric called me and told me some of the shit you went through,” Graham said. “So how did it feel to go home?”

  “Weird. I haven’t had time to think about it.” Emotions clamored for Reid’s attention, but he pushed them aside. “I came to ask what you would do.” He filled in details of his discussion with Cian. “I’m interested in your opinion,” he said when he finished.

  “Huh. I guess I’m flattered.” Graham paused to hammer a stout nail next to a bent one Matt had pounded into a piece of wood. “You want the truth? I’d bounce this Cian guy on his head until he told me everything he wasn’t telling me. Then I’d find whoever stole this whatsit, rip his limbs from his body, take the thing, and go home.” Amusement glinted his eyes. “Not what you wanted to hear, right?”

  “Actually, it’s helpful. Refreshingly direct.”

  “Yeah, well, that’s me. Direct. Eric can think a thing to death. Or have endless meetings about it.”

  “Sometimes the problem has solved itself by the time all his meetings are finished,” Reid pointed out.

  “True enough. Eric’s a crafty bastard. Anyway, want me to go with you and kick some Fae ass? Some Shifter ass too if necessary?”

  “I’ll hold you in reserve,” Reid said. “Haven’t decided to go back, if I even can.”

  Graham nodded, with a glance at Kyle and Matt. Dougal was desperately trying to explain that a piece of string wasn’t strong enough to hold heavy pieces of wood together.

  “I get that,” Graham said. “Mate and cubs changes everything.” He pinned his gaze on Reid, the softness leaving it. “If Peigi hasn’t accepted the mate claim, it’s because she’s afraid you’ll vanish and leave her hurting and alone. Not because you’re a weird, fucked-up dark Fae shit.”

  “Thanks,” Reid said. “That’s almost a compliment, coming from you.”

  Graham huffed a laugh. “You’re not so bad.”

  “Stop it,” Reid said, deadpan. “You’re starting to embarrass me.”

  “All right, all right, I’ll shut the fuck up. Eric said Dylan’s coming to give you the third degree. Want backup?”

  Reid shook his head. “It’s all right. I’m not afraid of Dylan.”

  Graham’s eyes widened. “Just when I think I’ve figured you out, you say stupid shit like that. We’re all afraid of Dylan. Like and respect the guy, but damn, he scares even me.”

  Stuart shrugged. “Maybe he doesn’t intimidate me because I’m not Shifter.”

  “No, it’s because you’re ignorant and lack common sense. I’ll come anyway, because if he dicks with you, Peigi and Misty will be all over my ass for not protecting you.”

  “I’m touched,” Reid said dryly.

  “Touched in the head.” Graham tapped the side of his. “Do me a favor, climb down the ladder.”

  Reid glanced at it and shuddered again. “That terrifies me. See ya, Graham.”

  He picturing the ground in front of Graham’s back porch, and willed himself there. Reid broke into a grin at Graham’s frantic Son of a bitch, as he popped out of existence and reappeared on the back doorstep.

  Stuart tried to talk Peigi out of accompanying him to see Dylan. Peigi and he had a loud argument about it, which Peigi decided to win.

  “I’m not your mate yet,” she growled, halting on the road that led from Graham’s to their house. “I don’t have to obey you.” The day had clouded, and cold rain began to fall, dripping into Peigi’s eyes. “And anyway, I won’t have to obey as mate if I think you’re wrong. Mates don’t give orders. They give suggestions.”

  “Not what I’ve heard,” Stuart said, folding his arms.

  “Only because you talk to male Shifters. You think Nell does whatever Cormac tells her?”

  She had him there. Stuart glared back at her, but she knew his irritation came from worry. He stood close to her, as he had when he’d kissed her—in front of this same house, Peigi noted. The Shifters inside were getting an eyeful today.

  “If I am your mate,” Peigi went on. “That means I protect you. It goes both ways. And like hell I’m okay with you meeting Dylan alone.”

  “I won’t be alone. Dylan will bring trackers, and Graham volunteered to back me up. Eric will either be there or send Brody or Shane.”

  “All the more reason,” Peigi said. “They’re all Shifters, and you are not. I know Eric and Graham go on and on about how much you’ve done for them, but in the end, you’re still a being of Faerie. When the shit goes down, Shifters will save Shifters. I will save you.”

  “And what about you?” Stuart demanded. “They still see you as the victim they rescued from that warehouse. Proud of you for coming this far, but you’re still not one of them. If Dylan had decided you should live in his Shiftertown, you’d be there, no matter what Eric said. Dylan could demand you be moved any day, and Eric and even Graham would send their seconds over to help you pack.”

  Peigi had drawn a breath to yell more arguments, but she knew Stuart spoke the truth. The Shifters had been very kind, but they did scramble to obey Dylan.

  “Is that why you made the mate claim?” she asked, voice shaking.

  Stuart looked at her with his midnight eyes that held so many secrets. “I think I told you why. This is another reason.”

  “To protect me from Dylan.” Peigi’s heart thumped.

  “To protect you from all Shifters.” Stuart’s hands warmed her arms, his body shielding her from the falling rain. “From the whole fucking world.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Peigi stared up at Stuart, her heart thumping. His eyes blazed with anger, but also determination and behind that, desire. Stark, mirroring her own. That desire had been in him a long time, and so had Peigi’s, hidden until all the barriers were down.

  “Because I’m fair game.” Her voice barely worked.

  “Not anymore you’re not,” Stuart said fiercely. “By Shifter rules, any Shifter who wants anything from you, even to borrow a cup of sugar, has to come through me. Including Eric. Including Nell. Including Dylan.”

  Peigi swallowed, then nodded. She was shaking, from cold and from his declarations. She also tasted triumph as she saw a chink in his reasoning.

  “By Shifter rules, we protect each other,” Peigi said. “So I’ll be going with you to see Dylan.”

  Stuart started, as though he’d been certain he’d won the day. He blinked a few times, his scowl remaining in place.

  “You’re devious,” he said.

  Peigi slanted him a smile. “I don’t know why that’s so surprising.”

  “And it’s sexy how you turn my arguments around on me.”

  “Is it?” Peigi brushed her lips across his. “That’s what I was going for.”

  Mating frenzy rose in her, hotter than before. She didn’t know if she’d be able to contain it much longer. She slid her arms around Reid, flowed into his body, and deepened the kiss, deciding to give the Shifters watching from their window a show worth seeing.

  Dylan met them later that evening in the most neutral space in the Las Vegas Shiftertown—a level cement platform in the middle of the back yards between Eric’s house and Graham’s street.

  Visitors to Shiftertown sometimes asked if the cement slab was a sacred place, perhaps dedicated to rituals to t
he Goddess, but this was not the case. It was where Shifters set up their barbecues and makeshift bars for community celebrations.

  Reid saluted Dylan’s wisdom for meeting there—if Dylan had gone to Eric’s house, Graham and his Lupines would have been furious. If he’d gone to Graham’s, Eric’s Shifters would have feared that Graham was about to turn on Eric.

  The barbecue slab was a stroke of diplomacy, even if the rain kept coming, and Shifters stood around getting wet. None of them, including Reid, owned an umbrella.

  Dylan arrived, flanked by two men, one bulking tall with orange and black striped hair, the other black-haired and blue-eyed, like Dylan, the hilt of a Sword of the Guardian rising above his left shoulder.

  Reid easily recognized Tiger. The Guardian was Sean, Dylan’s son.

  Dylan nodded a greeting to Stuart, and Peigi behind him. Peigi had won the argument about coming along.

  Dylan’s dark hair was touched with gray at the temples, his eyes a deep blue. Sean looked much like him, not only in hair and eye color but in the shape of his face, his easy stance.

  Graham headed over with Dougal, approaching from a different angle than Eric and Diego. Reid usually enjoyed watching Graham and Eric dance around each other, but today he was impatient to get on with things.

  Stuart didn’t bother to greet Dylan or wait for the others to be in place. He knew from experience the Shifters could stand around a long time talking about nothing before getting to the point.

  “What are you here to tell me to do?” Stuart asked Dylan abruptly.

  Dylan was a difficult man to startle. He didn’t change expression as Reid’s words echoed in the wet air.

  Sean let out a laugh, his breath steaming. “He’s taken your measure, Dad. You wouldn’t have run down Marlo and hopped on his plane if you didn’t have an agenda.”

  “Thank you, Sean.” Dylan kept his gaze on Reid. “I think everyone knows why I’m here.” He flicked his focus to Peigi and gave her a grave nod. “How are you, Peigi?”