As we all trudged up to the Knight brothers’ apartment ten minutes later, the dragon triplets ran up the stairs, all three wearing nothing but see-through thongs and nipple pasties. Apparently, they’d found a creative interpretation of the “clothing mandatory” policy. They gave me toothy grins as they passed. “We’re wearing clothes,” Sara called when I passed without comment. “Always.”
“Unlike some people,” Clara yelled over her shoulder.
“Fine,” I yelled after them. “But if you attack someone again, I’m going to evict you like I should have done the first time!” My voice was hoarse by the end of the yell, and I felt about six hundred years older than my twenty years.
“Interesting tenants,” Jane said with a small grin and a spark of interest in her gaze. Obviously, the super-model triplets’ little exhibition was interesting enough to get Jane to stop looking at her phone for thirty seconds. The woman was amazingly skilled at functioning in the world without looking away from her screen.
“Three pains in the asses that are causing more problems for Scarlet,” Darrel muttered.
“It’s fine.” The clothing issue was a battle I didn’t have the time or energy to win, so they could run around in rubber underwear while I went to shower and dress in my own clothes for the long day that awaited me. I didn’t even want to know what Marie would have to say about my disappearing act. Remembering her “everyone has a sob story” stance, I didn’t think she’d give a shit that I was late because I was kidnapped and hunted through the night. I would deal with her later. She was already pissed at me, and at the moment, Zane and Zeezee’s situation was much more dire.
After showering, grabbing some coffee, and making sure nothing urgent needed my attention at the apartment, Lance, Jane, and I headed back out. Zane knew more than he’d told us, and this time, he was going to fucking talk.
“I’m glad you’re here for your wolf,” said the policeman who let us in. He gestured for us to follow him to a small, cluttered office. “We’ll be releasing him into your care today.”
“What? No.” I grabbed the desk, making the officer jump. Attempting a calm tone, I explained, “You can’t release him for another two. That will endanger the life of the only witness.”
The officer gave me a wry look and shuffled through some papers. “And the only suspect.”
“We haven’t finished investigating.”
“Look, lady, my hands are tied,” he said, raising both hands in a gesture of surrender. “My sheriff was reassigned because of this issue, and if I don’t stick to this, the governor will reassign me, too, and my replacement, and so on. That’s all I can do. We held him as long as we could and then some.”
“But if he’s the only suspect, don’t you want to hold him longer?” I asked. “Some new evidence might materialize at any moment.”
The officer shook his head and pushed a packet of papers across the desk at me. “We’ve got nothing to do with it now. There were no humans involved, and your faery queen took over the investigation a few days ago.”
“What do you mean, no humans?” I asked. “There were four humans there.”
“When we identified the victims, they weren’t human after all,” the officer said. “Joshua Bright, Helen Blane, George Mitchel, and Marisa Tyler were all born mages. When we contacted the Witch and Wizard Assembly, they said they would handle the investigation internally.”
“We need forty-eight more hours,” Lance said. “What do we need to do to make that happen?”
The officer shook his head. “There’s nothing in the world that either of us can do to make that happen, sir. We’re turning the investigation over to Queen Titania, the mages, and you.”
Just what I needed. One more impossible problem, one more wolf I had to protect. Unfortunately, I couldn’t give my full attention to any one of the ten different people and problems that badly needed it.
Lance nodded into the waiting room and pulled me aside. Leaning in so close his breath warmed my cheek, he whispered, “What if we fly Zane to San Francisco?”
I considered. San Francisco was a larger pack, and they could definitely protect him better than my small pack. On the other hand, I didn’t want to bring the wrath of Titania down on any more wolves than necessary.
“Wouldn’t that put your wolves in danger?”
“We have several safehouses. It will be impossible to simultaneously protect Zane and finish the investigation here.” Lance leaned back to study me with his emerald eyes. “Queen Titania will come for him if you hide him with your other submissives, and the fae will tear through your dominants to get to him. I have enough wolves to keep Zane safe, secure, and out of the way. Let me do this.”
I wanted to argue that we’d be putting his pack in danger if we took Zane there, but keeping him here would be guaranteeing the mass murder of my packmates. We had to take him somewhere, and the fact was, Lance was right, as much as it pained me to admit. Everyone would be safer if Zane wasn’t here, and Lance’s pack strength and distance from the fae stronghold would be better able to fend off an attack.
“Fine,” I said. “You’re right. And thank you.”
An hour later, I was rethinking saving Zane’s ass.
“I’m not leaving without Zeezee. Take me to my apartment,” Zane demanded, glancing from the van bench seat beside me as we waited in the parking lot of the small-plane airport East of Eureka. The airport was little more than a single hanger and airstrip next to a small parking lot. All of it was surrounded in a barbed-wire fence, but unless that barrier was made from pure iron, it wasn’t keeping the fae out.
The airstrip sat on one of the topmost steps of Eureka, but where there should have been a view of the bay, ocean, and forest, I could see only mist rolling past, swirling over the structures and cars. The private shuttle Lance used was due for a landing any moment, but I couldn’t see anything through the fog bank.
An engine rumbled, and Darrel drove by us on his bike again. Every time I saw Darrel’s silhouette through the blanket of fog, I felt a pulse of relief. Risking my mates’ lives to protect my asshole ex-boyfriend felt all kinds of wrong.
“Hey, Zane,” I said, interrupting the man while he was demanding that we not only release him but also take him somewhere he could shower, change, and have a decent meal. “Show a little gratitude, yeah?” I bared my teeth in his direction. “The moment we stop protecting you, the fae will kill you.”
He straightened his posture and lifted his chin. “I can hold my own.”
Many submissive wolves could hold their own in the right circumstances. It just wasn’t their inclination to fight. Zane wasn’t one of these wolves. I didn’t look down on him for it, but I wasn’t going to let him get himself killed out of hubris, either.
“Sorry, no.” I turned to survey the parking lot, scanning the little bit of it I could see through the blanket of white. “I’m pretty sure you can’t kill the queen’s hunters by making entitled demands at them.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Jane mumbled from the front passenger seat of the van as she continued to read from her phone screen. “I feel myself slowly dying inside every time that man talks.” She hadn’t lifted her attention from her phone the entire time we escorted Zane to the airport, but clearly, she didn’t escape Zane’s agony-inducing arrogance.
Likewise, Lance looked distracted as he held a book of demonology before him in the driver’s seat. He’d been turning the pages every so often, but I was getting the feeling that his attention was on our surroundings.
I sighed and explained to my packmate, “All of us are doing this so you’ll survive today.”
“I don’t deserve any of this,” Zane snapped. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”
I turned my gaze on him, letting my wolf forward into my eyes. I had let this bullshit go on long enough. “Didn’t do anything, Zane? You lied to your alpha while your alpha was risking her life to prove your innocence. Do you know what kind of punishment Jacob Knight would hav
e given you for that? Scratch that. Jacob would have had you killed the moment the police let you go without investigating because you drew too much heat, and he wouldn’t have risked a single hair on his head for your sorry ass.”
Damn, that felt good to get off my chest.
“What are you accusing me of?” Zane asked, staring at me with wide eyes.
“Zeezee was at that party. You two were there to sleep with the queen of the fae.”
Zane’s gaze dropped to the bench seat. After two days in jail, he was more disheveled than I’d ever seen him. He usually had his hair gelled to perfection and his clothing impeccably pressed. Right now, he looked wrinkled, scruffy, and a whole lot younger than his twenty-five years.
“I was trying to protect her,” he whispered.
“You were trying to protect her from punishment by me. There was no other reason to keep that a secret. You weren’t trying to protect her life. If you’d told me what was really going on, I could have put all my effort into finding Zeezee when she was still in phone contact with us. Now, she has a demon after her, and no one can find her.”
“A demon?” Zane’s head shook slightly. “What?”
“Zane, tell us anything about the humans who were at the party,” I said. “You knew one of them. She was a nurse at your hospital.”
“I didn’t know any of them,” he said. “A demon?”
“They weren’t humans. They were mages from the Mage Union. Did you see any of them do anything unusual?”
“I was having sex.” Fur sprouted along his arms as his breaths came out in ragged pants. “I was having sex. I wasn’t paying attention. I was having sex.”
“Deep breaths, Zane. Calm down.” Reaching forward, I grabbed Zane’s shoulders and let my wolf fully into my eyes. “Calm down.” For a few seconds, I breathed with the man, inhaling and exhaling. When his hair had receded into his skin, I let him drop my gaze.
“When did you and Zeezee separate?”
He closed his eyes. “I told you how I shifted. Well… My wolf took over, and I panicked. Zeezee got in front of me, but I charged for the door, smashed through it, and ran away.” He drew a shaky breath.
I could practically feel the shame rolling off him. This was likely the other reason that he didn’t tell me what happened. In Zane’s eyes, he had abandoned his mate during a massacre.
“Zane,” I said, leaning down to catch his gaze. “Your wolf did the right thing by running. Zee’s the dominant wolf, it was her job to protect you, and your job to flee so she wouldn’t have to keep protecting you. You made all the right choices up until you lied to your alpha.”
He swallowed, his eyes still downcast.
“That was the point you endangered your mate,” I said. “That was the point you endangered your whole pack. Now, you’re going to San Francisco until I can clear your name and end this conflict, and if you ever, ever want to be welcomed back, you are going to be the most honest and forthright wolf in the Six Rivers Pack. Am I clear?”
He nodded. “Yes, Alpha.”
“Also, I’m evicting you from Meadows.”
Zane’s eyes snapped up. “What?”
Lance shot an amused look over his shoulder at me.
“You can’t do that,” Zane protested.
I shrugged. “Just did it. You should be glad that I’m not demanding the money you stole from the pack right away. You guys can pay it back the first of the month. After the disgusting mess that you left in the apartment, I’m going to guess that I’m not getting the deposit I paid for that apartment back. I have the feeling I’m—”
“Disgusting mess?” Zane smacked his hand down on the seat. “That apartment was spotless when I left for the party.”
“Your house was trashed,” I said, though my tone reflected the uncertainty I felt. We’d already theorized that maybe the incubus trashed the place looking for Zee. Nothing explained the huge amounts of drain cleaner that had eroded the pipes and caused the mess, though.
“He’s landing,” Lance said. From above, I saw flashing red and white lights illuminating sections of the fog.
“Zane,” I said, grabbing his arm. “I want to ask you one more question.”
“Okay,” he said, his nervousness evident as he patted at his chest and tugged against my arm.
“We found Zeezee’s earring at the site,” I said. “An iron horseshoe.”
I really didn’t want to think Zeezee had worn those planning to attack the queen of the fae, but it wasn’t beyond the realm of possibility. “I don’t want to believe that Zeezee would do it. But, taking it upon herself to assassinate our pack’s biggest enemy is exactly the type of thing Zeezee might do.”
Zane shook his head and touched his finger. “They were a gift. Some woman gave them as a tip at the strip club. I think Zeezee might have gone home with her.” He lifted his shoulder. “She always brings me little gifts when she goes home with someone. It’s her tell.”
“Um, okay.” I squeezed my eyes closed and counted to three. “You guys do you. But are you saying that Zeezee has sex with people and then steals stuff from their houses to give to you?”
When I opened my eyes to look at Zane, he had a contemplative look on his face for just a second, and then I saw a light of realization in his eyes. Yep. That was what my lovely sister was doing. She was going home with people, fucking them, and pocketing their valuables like a magpie to bring home to her nest. Zane definitely had a very different set of expectations for my sister than he’d had with me.
“Wait, no. Maybe sometimes, but this time, I really doubt it. The earrings and matching ring were in a box. They were a set. Earrings and a big, broad ring for a man, both with horseshoes. Zee said they were a gift from a big tipper named Nancy—”
“Nancy?” I demanded. “Her name was Nancy? Maybe Necro-Nancy?”
“I don’t know,” Zane admitted, sounding hesitant. “Zee brought the jewelry home the night before the party. I was nervous about fulfilling the queen’s expectations. I haven’t had much experience.” He gave me a look.
I pointed into his face. “Don’t you even go close to blaming me for that one, Zane.”
Lifting his hands in surrender, he said, “I just meant that I was intimidated. Queen Titania is ancient and powerful, and she’s had her share of partners from what I’ve heard. I was afraid I wouldn’t perform, if you know what I mean. So... Zeezee brought home the jewelry and told me that they were given to her by a mage.”
“So you thought an iron ring would be like Viagra while you bedded a fae?” Jane asked, her tone making it clear how believable she found this story.
“We didn’t know the jewelry was iron,” Zane said defensively. “This Nancy chick told her we should wear it whenever we planned to have sex and it would bring our pleasure to the next level. We were going to a sex party and thought it was a good time to try it out.”
I exchanged another look with Lance and Jane. Whoever this person was, she was becoming more and more involved. Oxonos had said she was at the crime scene, and she’d clearly had contact with my sister before the party. The only question was how she was involved. Had she set my sister up? And why?
“Scarlet, you ready for the drop off?” Lance asked. Beyond him, the passenger plane had landed and was now taxiing. I would have liked some more time to question Zane, but we needed to move out, the sooner, the better. If Titania found out Zane had been released, she was probably already after us. I glanced around, an uneasy feeling creeping up my spine. All I saw was the same mostly empty lot.
Darrel made another loop around the parking lot on his bike, splitting the low-hanging mist.
“Jane, you wait in the driver’s seat, and be ready to drive,” Lance said as he climbed out his door.
We stepped into the lot, flanking Zane on both sides as we rushed toward the landing strip.
“Shit,” Lance swore, ripping his shirt off, his claws already extending before I could spot anything in the mist.
Zane spun li
ke he was going to sprint back for the van, but I grabbed his arm and squeezed his bicep. “If you’re going to run, it’s toward that plane.” My voice came out garbled from my teeth growing in my mouth. “And you’ll wait for my signal.”
His eyes widened. “Yes, Alpha.”
A figure emerged from the mist, a fae of medium height and build with curly brown hair. My heart skipped a beat as I questioned whether this was the brother Mack called Spring, but as he came closer, I got a better view of this man’s distinctive face. His eyes were far apart, cat-like, with a slit pupil and facing forward like a predator’s eyes. He had a sharp, upturned nose that seemed a little feline also. The fae smiled, baring a set of fangs to rival our own.
From what I could tell by scenting, he was alone.
“Go,” I hissed to Zane, pushing him toward the tarmac. “Get on the plane and go. They’re expecting you. Tell them to take off right away.”
As I turned back, my heart sank when I saw Darrel’s motorcycle race into the parking lot. I didn’t want to endanger him with our mission, but I had no choice now. The fae man leapt, flying through the air over our heads and plowing into Zane’s fleeing back.
It happened so fast. I barely saw him move before he struck. Without waiting to disrobe, my wolf exploded from me. Shreds of cloth rained down around me as I bounded forward. The fae bit down on Zane’s arm, which he had used to block his face. My jaws clamped shut on the fae’s hip, and bone snapped and crunched under my grip. I wrenched the fae away, flinging his body from Zane.
Zane lay on the ground, eyes wide and face slowly prickling with fur.
Darrel grabbed the submissive wolf by his collar and hauled him to his feet. “Move!”
I’d been watching a second too long, and searing pain lanced through my leg. I turned to snap my teeth closed around any part of the fae I could reach. A silver blade flashed toward me. Lance flew past in a blur of teeth and fur.
The fae dodged Lance, his curved silver blade going wide. Before he could get his footing, I leapt, hitting him with my forepaws, knocking him to the ground. He was on his feet in a flash, darting in with blade raised high. I dove for his middle, slashing my claws toward his abdomen. Before I reached him, he leapt through the air over me and under Lance.
Filthy Fae: A Dirty Alphas Novel (Heartland Forest Book 2) Page 16